City Streets
A loud scream was heard from within the battlefield that was still open just further down the streets from where the previous two battles had concluded their course. Within the flames that were there, Ratie was panting heavily as she held no cards in her hand and all five of her rear-guards being Locked as her Legioned Vanguards, Mesmerizing Witch, Fianna and Witch of Reality, Femme could only stare on in horror towards Schwarzschild Instrumental Dragon and Anne as they were charging up black and red coloured energy all around them to prepare for their final attack as Futase merely glanced towards the former Quatre Knight.
"It seems your spells ended up benefitting me in the end," she muttered "How disappointing."
"M... Misakin..." sobbed Ratie as she closed her eyes "I'm sorry..."
"Finish it," Futase declared as she sent forth both Anne and Schwarzschild to finish the fight "Dominate End!"
Within the Cyber Dragon's jaws emerged a orb crackling with energy before it shattered and erupted into a beam as the LRIG at the same time enhanced the attack with her own power through her staff, the combined force striking both Witches head on. An explosion shook the area which knocked Ratie down onto the ground as her sixth point of damage flew out onto her table, the lack of a Heal Trigger marking being enough to end the fight. As the flames of the barrier disappeared, she cringed in pain as the Mark of Penalty engraved itself upon her right hand as her blank cards fell and scattered to the pavement before her. Merely sighing, Futase held out her blank card and held it out before announcing the word "Open!" as she vanished from the scene in a blinding red flash of light.
As the former Quatre Knight strugged back onto her knees, she gathered up all of the blank cards on the ground in front of her as the sound of fast paced footsteps came towards her from two directions.
"Ratie!"
Ratie glanced to her left to see Neve coming towards her from the left whilst she noticed that Kai and Miwa were hurrying to where she was from behind her. The taller of the former two Quatre Knights helped her back onto her feet by the time the other two had arrived as they all soon saw the Mark of Penalty that was upon her right hand.
"What happened here?!" he asked.
"I... Futase beat me..." she replied "And..."
"And...?" Miwa pondered.
"Don't tell me!" Kai muttered "If Tokura isn't with you...!"
"Futase banished Misaki to the other world with none of her other units..." Ratie answered sadly "She couldn't stop her..."
The tense aura that hung in the air around them only grew thicker as they now understood the severity of the situation that had transpired throughout the night. Shingo, Miwa, Ratie and Misaki had all been defeated by their respective two opponents with the latter now having been sent over to the other world with none of her other units in hand and little to no physical familiarity of the setting around her. Neve's expression could only grow grim upon taking this into consideration as the others around him could tell.
"So you're..." Miwa spoke.
"Yeah," he answered "As it stands, I am the only remaining Quatre Knight who can still fight."
Before Ratie could speak about what she and Misaki had learned about Futase and her own situation during the previous fight, a bright light shimmered in the sky above them, catching all of their attention towards it and someone who was at the top of a nearby building. Kai's gaze immediately became fierce as he glanced up towards the all too familiar cruel demanoured Selector.
"Urith!"
"Ah Kai Toshiki, I didn't expect to see you again that quickly," she sneered as she held out a card before her "See this?"
"What is that card?!" he demanded.
After being responded to with a scoff, Urith turned over the card to reveal something that was very familiar to both the Kagero user and his closest friend who gasped in shock at the figure that was depicted on it.
"Tawil...?!" Ratie pondered, having now seen the mysterious LRIG in art form for the first time.
"And it's Grade 5!" Neve interjected.
"So Tawil has now been completed...?" Kai muttered.
With a soft chuckle, Urith threw the card into the air, spinning around as it did so until it stopped at the top of its ascent and glowed brightly, blinding those on the ground as they were forced to cover their eyes.
(Cardfight! Vanguard V Series Unreleased Soundtrack: The Beginning of the End)*
As Kai and Miwa fought against the light to keep their line of sight, a second flash of light appeared above their heads in the night sky as a shadow emerged from within the glow. The darkness vanished to reveal the figure of Tawil desending from the clouds, dressed in what little armour had been covering her body and having wings sprout from her waist and back. Even newer portions of her pink hair seemed to resemble a small pair of wings. A breath escaped her lips as her turqoise coloured eyes opened up in an instant, showing a seemingly blank look within them as she gazed down at the group beneath her.
Wordlessly, she spread out her arms as the sky above her shone a bright colour of dark blue before several rays of orange coloured light came down from the sky and began striking the ground all around the group as they stepped back in surprise to dodge one. They glanced at the pavement where the disappearing beam had struck, having left a small crater in the destroyed tiles place.
"What's going on?!" Miwa exclaimed.
"Her powers have real damage?!" Neve interjected.
As Urith continued to chuckle loudly, more beams of light struck the ground as the group realized that now, they were not the only ones who had their attention focused on Tawil.
Meanwhile at Card Capital, Shin and Tama could only glance from the top of the stairs leading to the home above at the LRIG in the far distance whilst being on the lookout for any stray beams of light that could strike in their direction. The girl of white could only stare towards what little she could see of the LRIG, letting out a sound of curiosity from her lips.
"What is it?" the owner asked "Do you know something about that?"
"... Tama's not sure..." she replied "Tama thinks it feels familiar somehow."
Further away, Ruko and Kiyoi were hiding with an unconscious Shingo in the entrance of an alleyway to avoid being struck by the beams that Tawil was raining down upon the city. The effects had only worsened as traffic from the nearby road had been swerving about to dodge the destructive rays with only a few cars having crashed into a nearby building across the street.
"How awful..." the Selector breathed before she glanced to Kiyoi who had been clutching her head.
"That's definitely an LRIG's power..." she muttered as she looked up at the LRIG in the distance "But, I can't tell who it is from this distance."
"Even so, it's dangerous to set foot until this bombardment stops, if ever," Yuki interjected "It's a miracle that she hasn't struck any buildings with those deadly rays."
As a nearby beam almost struck the position at where they were, the two girls heard a groan from behind them as they noticed Shingo beginning to stir awake from the noise of the impact. As his eyes fluttered open, he looked towards Ruko and Kiyoi before moving towards them and noticing the spectacle unfurling before them, whilst also noticing what little of Tawil he could see in the distance from the sky.
"W... What is going on?!" he exclaimed as the calamity continued to unfurl.
Before either of his accomplices or Yuki could answer his question, a loud scream was heard from nearby as they peered around the corner to find someone who was desperately trying to avoid the beams of light that Tawil had sent in his direction. That person just so happened to be Morris who fiddled with his glasses that had been dislodged slightly from the force of the last impact.
"Wait... I know that person!" Shingo gasped as Ruko and Kiyoi gazed at him in curiosity.
"Who is he then?" Ruko pondered in confusion.
"Eek!"
Morris glanced towards Kiyoi in fright upon recognizing her face in one form or another, much to the former blue LRIG's sudden confusion of her own as he stepped back slightly.
"Mayu's LRIG of Misfortune...!" he gasped "She's sent her here!"
He then ran off from the scene, leaving the group of four bewildered in confusion as he immediately screamed again right as another beam summoned by Tawil had barely missed him.
"Wait!" cried Ruko as she ran after him "She's not Remember!"
"Ruko!" Kiyoi called before Shingo immediately pulled her back to avoid another attack by Tawil which struck the ground that she was about to stand on.
"That person is the Serra Family's butler!" he replied "With whatever's going on now, he could be leading her into a trap with all those rays!"
Right after he had finished his reply, the sky above them began to dim down as the final of the beams of light stopped at last, causing them to glance at the figure that was Tawil in the sky, leading them to ponder why she had not vanished along with the concluded attacks. All the same, Ruko was now out of sight from where they last saw her and they had no idea of which way she had gone to pursue Morris.
Back at the spot where the mysterious white LRIG had been summoned by Urith, the cruel demanoured Selector herself seemed a little disappointed that the calamity that had been summoned didn't last as long as she had wanted to. But she quickly got over that factor before glancing to the summoned girl that still hovered above the ground with her eyes flashing a blank white as a teal coloured aura enveloped her, glancing down towards Kai, Miwa, Ratie and Neve as she did so.
"I am Ut'ulls," a voice spoke from within, her voice overlapping with Tawil's own "The high being of the Selector Battles."
"Ut'ulls?" the blonde haired boy pondered in confusion, curious as to why this being was speaking through Tawil.
"Right now, you're not Tawil," Kai spoke as he glanced up at the white LRIG's form "You're the LRIG of raw power that Mayu attempted to create all those years ago."
"You are only partly correct, human known as Kai Toshiki," Ut'ulls replied "Tawil is me. Umr is me. And their unification is me."
Neve and Ratie could only stare up at this 'high being', still in disbelief that the same being that possessed Tawil now was apparently now the same LRIG that Mayu attempted to create that split into both the white LRIG as well as Umr who was still in Aichi's possession.
"You now know the power I will possess once my resurrection is complete," she spoke "The portals to Mayu's White Room will open in both your dimension and the one where the Selector Battles will draw to their conclusion and I along with her forces will reduce those worlds to nothingness so that a new age of the Void shall rise in their place. Then, the battles will begin once more in new dimensions and the whole crisis will begin all over again."
(End Music)
As the group stared up at Ut'ulls, now realizing that she had shared the ideals of Mayu and Chaos Breaker and had been born with them to carry out their will, the will of Void, she in turn glanced back at them with Tawil's souless blank white eyes.
"But... if you're that powerful, how does Tawil and Umr play into your revival?" Neve questioned.
"That's easy," Urith interrupted with a sneer "Umr is the physical being of Ut'ulls. Tawil is the mind and will of Ut'ulls. With that in mind, it would have been easy to have them become one. However, they instantaneously developed their own wills and conscience making it impossible for that. That was why Project: Locked Soul has been long ongoing up to this point."
"And right now, you're saying that Tawil has now fulfilled part of the conditions to revive Ut'ulls," Kai replied "That means..."
"Correct," Ut'ulls spoke "Once we make our move to capture Umr at the right time, my revival will be at hand. Until then humans of this world, struggle in vain. Doomsday will by at your door and the Planet Cray will also pay for interfering."
With a bright flash of light, Tawil vanished from plain light as the card that was used to summon her for this brief period of time manifested from particles that swirled into Urith's open palm. The cruel demanoured Selector had kept her eyes shut and a sneer hidden from all, as if she had her own ambitions coming into motion around that time. Then, switching out the Grade 5 card depicting Tawil for the one she used to travel between dimensions and the White Room, she announced "Open!" and disappeared from the city in a flash of dark red light.
After her presence had vanished, the group of four were now alone once again as they knew they had much to consider during the time of this evening. The loss of more units from amongst the majority of each other was a concern of itself, but what had unnerved them more was the impending ressurection of Ut'ulls who had now regained her sentience through possession of Tawil, her mind and will as Urith claimed the white LRIG had represented, and the banishment of Misaki who would no longer possess any of her units and within a world unfamiliar to her with its own dangers. Knowing that they would have to report the news of the latter's whereabouts to Shin, they all began to make their way to Card Capital.
Meanwhile, Ruko was still in pursuit of Morris who was panicking in the midst of his sudden retreat from her small group earlier, presumably from the sight of Kiyoi believing she was Remember like many she had previously encountered. During the midst of the chase, she had noticed along with Yuki that Ut'ulls through means of possession over Tawil, despite having no knowledge of either of their names regarding the distant figure in the sky, had ceased their attacks and disappeared altogether. Despite pausing to see the disappearance, she had immediately resumed her trail and was running to keep up with the seemingly frightened butler.
"Wait...!" she panted as she struggled to keep her pace "I'm not with the Selectors Mayu has sent after you!"
But that did little to stop Morris as that only succeded in making him speed up in his pace, eventually and rather frantically turning around the nearest corner he could see. It took her a few seconds to reach that entry point, but the Selector had eventually arrived and found Morris who was now at a dead end of the alley, believing that he was very much trapped with no escape from her.
"So the only way out is through you...?" he muttered as he struggled to regain his breath "I hate to disappoint you, but I don't have any units for a second serving to your mistress!"
"Excuse me... um, mister!" Ruko replied "I'm not here to hurt you! And that wasn't Remember you got scared of now!"
"I'm aware of that!" he snapped back in reply "But as the original LRIG of Misfortune to Mayu, Kiyoi is still a threat to me and to all fighters!"
"LRIG of Misfortune...?" Yuki breathed, having not heard about the 'nickname' Mayu had given to Kiyoi when she was still Piruluk.
Sensing that Morris was refusing to make a move or talk to her anymore, the Selector breathed slowly to regain her composure and approached him slowly. Morris remained apprehensive until she was close enough to speak with him, having now regained her breath from chasing after him several minutes earlier.
"Were you marked...?" she asked "Is that why you got spooked?"
The butler of the Serra Family glanced back at the girl, noting the concerned look in her eyes and studying her expression for himself. After taking a deep breath of his own and hoping that his judgment would be for the best, he cleared his mouth and pulled back on his right glove, revealing the Mark of Penalty that was engraved upon it.
"You possess a LRIG, yet you do not work with them?" he asked.
"Yes," Ruko answered "I'm actually working against them with my friends to get back everyone's units and stop the Selector Battles in my world. Who are you?"
"I am Morris Pennyworth," Morris spoke, bowing once before her "At your service, miss..."
"Ruko, Kominato Ruko," she clarified "Good to meet you, Morris. Sorry if Kiyoi scared you."
Morris glanced back at her with a seemingly curious expression, studying her once more as she merely glanced back in confusion before turning her gaze down to Yuki who merely shrugged, unsure of what to make of this situation.
"So the rumours were true," he spoke "The one leading the attacks indeed had a rogue daughter. And for the better as I can see."
(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Empty Me)
Ruko could only gasp in shock that the butler already had knowledge about Miyako and if her questions would hold true, would be somewhere in the world that she had been brought to as well.
"You've seen mother?!" she exclaimed "Do you know where she is?!"
"I have met her a few times," he answered "I've spoken with her, overheard a mention about you through her and... initially worked with her."
"Initially...?" Yuki questioned with a sharp glance "Are you saying...?"
"No, I have personally not marked anyone or taken their units," Morris answered with a shameful expression "But... I never knew this was what she wanted. The capture of Cray's units and the destruction of our world. And worse still... she's convinced my master to stab me in the back to take mine!"
Ruko could only feel guilty for what had happened to him, having had little knowledge of Miyako's involvement with Serra at this point and knowing that this was information her circle of comrades needed to learn for themselves. Having thought about that however, her mind flashed back to the battle with Kai and Miyako, recalling the anger and personal resentment towards the woman for both the lack of qualm regarding the involvement of her own daughter and brother in her schemes without a care in the universe, all to purge that same universe for what she believed to be the scourge and take vengeance for Mayu's death in the process through her extreme endgame that was her final plans. Sensing her unease, Morris chose to speak again.
"There's no need for concern," he said "I can tell you don't hold the same desire for destruction as your mother."
He then paused for a moment and looked at the ground.
"But maybe..."
"Hmm?"
Ruko then blinked for a moment, having taken note and somewhat of an interest in what the butler just mentioned in the midst of his ponder decided that she had to speak up.
"What are you saying?" she asked.
"Well... it's a small theory," he spoke "But, maybe her motives as of yet and why my master betrayed me have to do with the unit she uses."
"You mean... she might not entirely be responsible for all her actions?" the Selector pondered, her eyes widening a little "That Chaos Breaker... might be controlling her somehow?"
"I wish I could be certain," Morris replied "But given the aura that exhibits around her and how far she's willing to go to achieve her goals... it's certainly a possibility. A small one, but a possibility nonetheless."
Ruko pondered on his words for a long while, not knowing how quite to react to the theory that the person in front of her. Deep down, she always longed for actual love from her mother for the longest time, even when she was being thrown into Hatsu's care so that said mother could cover her tracks back to Chaos Breaker and Mayu. If there was indeed some kind of possibility that not all of her thoughts and actions were of her own volition, even if the chances of that were indeed very miniscule...
"I don't know about this Ruko," Yuki spoke, bringing her attention down to her.
"What's wrong Yuki?" she pondered.
"It's just that I have not known much of your mother personally," the girl of black answered "Even then, her actions and her ideals before joining Mayu and being the first amongst her ranks from the world outside the White Room and her willingness to use Chaos Breaker as a card to achieve those means... I just don't like the chances that there may still be something human left in her."
"But, she didn't go as far as she did before joining Mayu," the Selector replied "It's just that... well..."
She then flashed back to the battle between Miyako and Kai, recalling during a pause in the past that her mother was explaining to her opponent and the battlefield's audience that briefly during the confrontation, Chaos Breaker had been gazing at her, sneering at her with an evil glance within its eye. That memory and what she was now being told by Morris had only tightened her conviction about her mother's situation somewhat.
(End Music)
"You do not have to dwell on it for now," Morris spoke in a reassuring tone "It is... a rather difficult subject for you to think about."
The Selector nodded back in response before she noticed the butler glance at his watch before walking past her to the edge of the alleyway and looking back to her.
"We will speak again soon, Kominato Ruko," he said "For now, I would advise keeping this conversation between us and Yuki to ourselves until the time is right."
"Why is that?" Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow in turn.
"I understand that Kai Toshiki has a rather unhealthy grudge against her in regards to his past sin," Morris answered "If word gets out to him before we can settle our discussion, the possibility we could have of restoring your mother's humanity will be squandered."
"I understand," Ruko replied "I'll talk to you again soon and hope we can figure out something."
The butler bowed to her one final time before leaving both her and the girl of black that she was holding in that single card on their own once again. That sort of scenario had brought some kind of melancholic feeling back to the Selector, of when she had to avoid as many people as she could when Reverse was a part of her single LRIG at the time and couldn't help but compare it to her current situation now where there was currently just too much to think about.
"We should get going," she said "We don't want to worry Shin and Misaki."
She then glanced down at Yuki who was still deep in though regarding the conversation that had just occurred between both her Selector and a butler who had some kind of knowledge regarding her mother, her current behaviour and what had been happening with her and this master that he had mentioned. Upon seeing her worried Selector, she shook her head of lingering thoughts.
"It's nothing," she said "I'll keep my word of the agreement, but only if he is willing to give us the full story when we next see him."
"I understand," Ruko said with a smile as she then put the card in her pocket and began walking back to Card Capital.
Wixoss World: ?
Deep within an open area building, Akira was breathing heavily as she stood on her knees with various glowing tubes connected to her arms and legs and hanging from a device on top of the ceiling. A door in the far distance slid open, revealing Urith who entered the large room and walking over towards her cohort in crime regarding the invasion of the other world for units. After a near blackout experience with Dragonic Dark Overlord taking its toll on her body and health towards the end of her fight with Miwa, the Selector was doing her best to recover from the ordeal.
"You alright, Aki-lovely?" Urith asked in a seemingly concerned tone.
"... You're one to talk," Akira huffed with a forced smile "But, that fight's final moments were truely exhilirating. I only wish I didn't lose my strength sooner before fighting Kai."
"Now now," she replied "I've arranged the fight now that his friends have been depleted in fighting numbers. He will come to us, certainly. What you need now is rest."
The Selector dropped her smile and then stared to the ground as several of her bolded veins began to vanish from her right arm, showing that the damage done to her from the presence of Dragonic Dark Overlord at the end of the fight was slowly beginning to heal. But she knew that not all things could be healed from her body and that the scar on the right cheek up the side of her face was testament to that. A freak accident that occurred during her paranoia of a tainted wish that her former blue LRIG for some morbid reason decided it would be somewhat amusing for her to trick her into thinking that was the case, despite not expecting or wishing for that kind of injury for her former Selector herself.
"It's funny, really..." she muttered to herself, looking at some nearby broken glass to catch the reflection of her scar.
"What is?" Urith pondered, this time her curiosity being genuine.
(Insert Music: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Unreleased Soundtrack: Bohman (Piano Segment))
"How you were originally my enemy at first," Akira answered "Back then, my career was in jeporady because of your Selector who hardly cared about what was around her. As such, unless I got rid of her and any other obstacles, I would remain in the deluge that was poverty."
"I recall through Iona's memories that your family is still poor then," the cruel demanoured Selector replied "And you believed that by defeating her, you would either force her to consider you an equal in the job you shared or if you tainted her wish, her career would be the one to come crashing down. All of that ended before you even met Kai because of your uncooperative LRIG tricking you into thinking our first prematurely ended battle was your actual first loss."
"That's right," she said "But, I don't care about meaningless things like that anymore. With the power I possess and you being my saviour after that time, who needs monetary standings. Poor, rich, strong, weak... it means nothing to me anymore. All that matters is victory and the first step for that... is defeating the one who humiliated me."
Urith merely kept her glance at Akira, sensing how much she had changed ever since she first started out as a poor girl who barely managed to land herself outside of poverty only to be corrupted by her greed in wanting all of the power that Yuki had possessed as Iona and the generosity she in the former person's body having erased that to leave only the desire for victory behind. Despite her colleague's continued defeats, she continued to grow stronger and her recent victories in Vanguard fights for Mayu's cause, even if the Selector herself was partly unaware of what she was contributing to, were testament to that in spite of a defeat to Mitsusada Kenji.
"You really care that much," she spoke "Well then, I'll leave you to recover. Your new deck will be complete by tomorrow morning for your promised fight."
(End Music)
As she began walking away from Akira, she went towards the door leading to the empty building and was about to close it when she noticed the Selector had something to say.
"Urith," she said, stopping her for a moment, smiling warmly "Thank you, for being there for me."
Urith then closed the door to the building, leaving the recovering the Selector to do nothing more than to fall asleep for the night. As she left the giant building, now revealed to be a disused warehouse in a large empty area of this world's Tokyo, she merely scoffed to herself before returning to the estate of the Urazoe family to keep up her guise as Iona and turn herself in for the night as well.
Vanguard World: Card Capital
The very next morning, as many cardfighters began entering the store to take part in fights of their own and discuss more gossip about the attacks that were coming along from Mayu's forces, Ruko could see that many of them were victims from recent ones and that some of the gossip was in regards to Ut'ulls' demonstration of her destructive powers, or what little of them were currently available to her, through the body of the white LRIG Tawil. She then looked behind her at the counter to see Assisticat purring quietly to itself. She walked over to it and gently stroked its head, causing it to meow happily in response to her gentle touch. She was only thankful that Tama hadn't chosen to say 'Nya!' back to it in the midst of a relatively busy store for the day.
The Selector then glanced up at Shin to see that he was still in a rather concerned mood and she couldn't blame him. When news broke out to both him and her as well as Kiyoi, Kamui, Shingo from Kai's group, her uncle was rather shocked by the revelation and the reasoning why Futase had chosen to banish her to the other world without any units to make her struggle. Deep down, he was very furious when he was trying to take word of what had happened to heart, but was barely able to restrain himself from saying or doing something very rash.
"Am I alone once again...?" he muttered to himself worriedly "First her parents... then Rive... now Misaki's gone."
"Shin?"
He then broke from his stupor and glanced over to Ruko who was looking rather worried for him on the other side of the counter. Sensing her concern, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry I worried you," he said "This sudden disappearance has put a lot of uneasy thoughts on my mind."
"But at least we know Misaki is somewhere in my world," she replied calmly "If she's been sent to Tokyo where most Selector Battles happen if what Yuki says is true... Aichi and Hitoe should hopefully run into her."
"I just hope so..." Shin spoke before the door to the shop opened, catching his attention "Welcome."
"Hello," Miwa said in a cheery mood, trying to take his mind off the stinging sensation of the Mark of Penalty and his defeat to Akira "Not feeling as bad as I was last night, but I'll be okay."
"I'm sorry you've had to hear the sudden news of Misaki's sudden disappearance," Kai interjected as the two stepped inside.
"Kai, is everything alright?" Ruko asked "If what you said last night is true, you'll have to fight Akira at some point today."
The Kagero user merely glanced back at the Selector who glanced in concern for his well-being. She didn't know about the full extent of what had happened to Akira when she had played Dragonic Dark Overlord, but the story that both he and his closest friend had given to him about the fight was enough to spook her with the description of her veins bolding out across her body freaking her out somewhat.
"I do not know what Akira intends aside from her vengeance against me for tainting her wish and her desire to possess the real Dragonic Overlord," he spoke "But today, those plans will end in our next fight, one way or another."
"I see," she murmured "Did you see Kiyoi this morning? I was going to ask if she would help me playtest the changes to the deck around Yuki, but she already left."
"She's wanting to explore more of the city," Miwa replied with a smile "Kamui's acting as tour guide and he's the one that gets on well with her out of all of us, so everything should be fine. From what Emi said this morning, Aichi's mother said she'd be interested in meeting with you at some point today as well."
Ruko cheered up slightly from his answer, sensing that if all went well, no harm would come to the Nova Grappler user and the former blue LRIG as of today unlike those that would be involved in a conflict of their own soon enough. All the same, she couldn't help but ponder on what Morris talked with her about in regards to Miyako in spite of her promising to keep word of their conversation a secret for the time being.
City Streets
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Itsumo no Nichijyou)
"And over there is Shop Handsome. A great place for fighting older people, but also where Nagisa happens to be lying in wait."
Further away from Card Capital, Kamui was walking around other parts of the city with Kiyoi in tow to satisfy her interest in seeing what else the city would have to offer to her before Christopher and Tetsu could succeed in finding a way to repair the Sanctuary Gateway that Aichi's group used to enter her world to find Kai. So far, aside from some interesting spots that were unique from a similar city in her version of Japan, it was otherwise ordinary as she had expected with the exception of the amount of local card shops they had passed by. Upon noticing that her mind was somewhat preoccupied with something else within the previous twenty minutes of their walk together, the Nova Grappler user decided to question her.
"Earth to Kiyoi, you alright?" he asked.
"..."
Upon seeing that she was giving him the silent treatment for the first time in a long while, he cleared his throat and decided to try and speak to her again.
"Another nightmare?" he asked again.
She briefly broke away from her usual blank expression for a moment, now giving away the idea to him that he had indeed been correct with his prediction on her current mood.
"So it is that memory again..." he muttered, trying to keep his slight annoyance in check "Look, I'm not gonna pretend I saw anything with you there. But if you wanna talk, I promise I'll keep my lips sealed about it from everyone else this time."
"I'll be fine," she replied in her usual monotone "It may be difficult for me to face the memories Remember stored inside my own, but it's something I must do on my own."
"If you say so," he shrugged before they came up to a giant mall before them "This is..."
Kiyoi then turned to Kamui before glancing back to the building that they were standing before, pondering if this place held some kind of signifcance for him to say the words that he said.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I wonder... if they're still around here?" he pondered as the two of them entered the complex.
Eventually, the two of them had ascended high enough to find an opening in the shops amongst them that led to a corner and a sign pointing to their left at the end. Engraved into the sign above the arrow were the words, PSY.
"Huh. Didn't think this place would still be around with what happened," Kamui pondered "Then again, it was when Kai was trying to look for Aichi-oniisan."
"You know what lies here?" Kiyoi pondered.
"Yeah," he answered with a smile "One of the weirdest, but also one of the strangest card shops around here. Let's see if they're open."
Upon approaching the sign and turning to go down the direction of the corridor, they eventually reached a pair of automated doors which were closed shut. Light was emitting through them as the two approached, but the doors wouldn't open up in their close proximity. Eventually after a short wait, they opened up allowing them entry.
"Kiyoi, welcome to Card Shop PSY!" he announced as they entered a corridor like room with several pedestals around them.
Above them appeared a skyline that was printed onto a circular oval shaped portion of the ceiling above them, resembling a night sky view of the Planet Cray itself. In the middle of the pillar shaped pedestals were rotating cards that seemingly spun freely in a slow manner. Although it wasn't the first time he had come to this strange shop and met the people who were normally inside of it, Kamui would always be overjoyed to see the rarest of cards amongst those on the pillars in this room.
(End Music)
Kiyoi, now having her interest piqued at the strange shop that the Nova Grappler user had brought her to, glanced at the rare cards that were seemingly on display around her and her companion. Looking to the card named Crested Dragon, she reached out of curiosity to touch it, only for her hand to phase right through it.
"A hologram..." she breathed as she retracted her hand "Quite intriguing."
"Welcome to Card Shop PSY! How may we help you?"
The two of them glanced to the other end of the room where a short girl with orange hair shaped into spiral pigtails and purple eyes waved gleefully towards them.
"Rekka!" called Kamui as he waved back "How are you doing?!"
"Doing good as always," she replied back, albeit in slight confusion "Although... am I supposed to know more about you outside the Asia Circuit?"
As Kiyoi could only glance at Rekka in curiousity as to how she would supposedly know more about the Nova Grappler user and yet none at the same time, he came over to her to clarify something for the former blue LRIG.
"When Takuto left to banish Link Joker from our world, she and the rest of Ultra Rare got amnesia," he said "Onii-san had been visiting Kourin to try and jog her memories slowly."
"I see..." she murmured back before looking forward to see that the youngest of the idol trio was now immediately in front of her.
"And you are?" she asked gleefully.
"Mizhushima Kiyoi," Kiyoi replied "... Nice to..."
"Ooh, a new visitor!" Rekka cheered as she suddenly pulled her through to the other side of the opening at the end of corridor.
"H... Hold on, wait a minute...!"
Kamui could only laugh a little as he overheard Kiyoi trying to call for her new accomplice to slow down for a minute against her wishes. He knew Rekka could be a handful, but her bubbly nature was always something he had appreciated for positivity since he freed her from Reverse during that crisis.
"Some things never change," he chuckled before following the pair into the next room.
When he entered through the doorway, he was now in the midst of a bigger area with a large and very long table in the center with a large rectangular glass case dividing both ends. This had brought back memories from previous visits he had to the shop, having seen Ren for the first time here and training against Ultra Rare with Aichi and Misaki to have a chance at the Japan stage of the Asia Circuit.
"Welcome," a voice spoke out.
Kamui then turned over to see a taller woman along with a slightly shorter accomplice appear in the room before him, Kiyoi and the now calmed down Rekka, much to the former's slight relief. The one that had spoken out had teal coloured hair with dark blue eyes and the other had blonde hair with a portion wrapped in a black hairband and had green eyes that shimmered in the light provided by the room.
"It has certainly been a long time, Asia Circuit champion," she greeted in a soft tone.
"It has been a while Suiko," Kamui replied sheepishly "You too Kourin."
Kourin did not speak back to him, but smiled to kindly acknowledge his greeting. She and Suiko then glanced over to Kiyoi who could sense that they were indeed curious about her. The latter then stepped forward to meet with her as Rekka backed away a little to give them some space to talk.
"So your name is Kiyoi," the taller of the pair spoke "It is certanly intriguing to meet you."
"The same could be said for you," she replied "I must admit I've never seen a place like this in my world. If Kamui is correct, you three seem to have memory issues."
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Mezameru Chikara)
"That is correct," said Kourin "Mine are still fuzzy like the rest, but Sendou Aichi has been a help in recovering what little I have so far. The only memories we had then was our duty to the Tatsunagi family and the achievements of a few faces. Before he left to search for Kai Toshiki, he did help me to recollect some of my time at Miyaji Academy and that we were close friends with others."
"I assume the reason that you and the others haven't fully recovered them is because he didn't want to force the burden upon you," the former blue LRIG continued.
"Yes," Suiko answered "He said he would turn to helping me and Rekka once Kourin was certain she could remember enough to recover her remaining memories on her own. Now onto business. When you and Kamui came through the display corridor, some of the holograms of the cards seemed to react your presence."
Kiyoi could only blink in confusion at her statement, recalling that she did indeed touch the hologram of Crested Dragon's card if only out of curiosity for the way it was being displayed.
"I... didn't glitch the system when I touched that hologram, did I?" she pondered.
"I dunno," Kamui replied "I mean... no glitches or anything happened when Aichi said he touched one of the holographic cards on his first visit. Then again... it's not the first time they've had something weird..."
At this point, he went back into the display room with the four girls following him shortly afterwards before stopping in the center where they could be in the view of all of the displayed cards around them.
"I do know for some reason... I got my Beast Deity, Illuminal Dragon after I trained with Q4 against Suiko and the others when the cards in here acted weird for some reason," the Nova Grappler user pondered "Onii-san got Platina Ezel and Misaki got her new Amaterasu then when it happened as well."
Glancing at the displayed cards around them, Rekka could only feel as confused as Kiyoi, having not seen anything out of the ordinary for herself or why Suiko had claimed that the cards reacted for some reason to the former blue LRIG's presence.
"I don't see anything," she murmured "Suiko, are your eyes playing up again?"
"I know my memories from our previous times here are fuzzy," she said "But this feeling is definitely not mistaken."
"Maybe... her cards could hold the answer," Kourin pondered before she glanced to the girl in question "Could you bring out your deck?"
Kiyoi despite being unsure of what to make of this, was more than aware that this was indeed not the first time that she had to deal with weird situations of her own like the issue that she was in opposition to with her companions. She then brought out her deck case and took out her cards as the holographic cards on the display pillars suddenly began to shine a bright rainbow colour. Then, auras of bright light burst out of them into a multitude of colours before they suddenly struck her deck, causing a bright shine that blinded everyone in the room, including a silhouette from the entrance where they suddenly retreated from the automatic doors.
Opening her eyes for a sudden instance, Kiyoi was shocked to find herself, or rather her own spirit, on the surface of the Planet Cray in one of its many open rocky plains, a general battlefield most would imagine in the game of Vanguard. Before she could question herself on why she had been summoned like this, she could see a multitude of units that were before her and she could certainly recognize all of them. They were all the units she had in the deck she had assembled for herself as well as the Beast Deity units and several of the Raizer crew and machines. The presence of Kamui's units had stirred memories of the battle they fought together to save Sakaguchi's spirit from Remember's clutches and Amika's mother from another tainted wish.
Then above the Blau machines and their crew appeared the giant silhouette of a much larger mech who was covered in shadow and had eight pronged wings shining a bright neon green colour. As the image before her played out for several more seconds, before she knew it, the former blue LRIG stumbled backwards and found herself back in Card Shop PSY, still holding onto her deck.
"Hey Kiyoi!" called Kamui as he ran over to her "You okay?!"
"Shaken..." she murmured "But..."
Before she could say anything more, she glanced to the front of her deck which seemingly hadn't changed much out of the ordinary, but once she had fanned it out, she could see that several of her units had been replaced with newer cards and one in particular had managed to catch her attention as she picked it out.
"Could it be...?" she pondered.
"Don't keep me in suspense, lemme see!" the Nova Grappler user said excitedly.
(End Music)
Right as Kiyoi was about to reveal the card in question to him, the sound of electricity crackling brought everyone's attention to the front doors of Card Shop PSY having electric currents run across the frames before sliding open abruptly to reveal the intruder that had now broken their way into the store for one reason or another. Everyone glanced at the girl that stepped into the store with a sneer on her face before the former blue LRIG took a closer glance and realized who exactly she was.
"You're...!"
"Missed me?" she chuckled "Then again, it has been a long time since you've seen me like this, Kiyoi-chan."
"Hold on!" Kamui exclaimed "You've conned another Selector into giving you another body that quickly Remember?!"
"No..." Kiyoi interrupted "If anything, Mayu's overriden the rules of the Selector System... and given Remember back her body from whichever LRIG had it!"
"Then... this is what Remember really looks like?!"
The Ultra Rare trio couldn't help but be confused somewhat at the intruder that had broken through the doors to the shop as they had no idea about this particular person that the two before them seemed to recognize and not in a good light.
"Wait..." Rekka pondered "Are you saying she's one of the people on the news? You know, those people marking fighters and stealing their units?"
"If so, it seems Kiyoi and this Remember have a history of some kind..." Kourin murmured.
"It's a long, nasty and... really personal story if I'm being honest," Kamui replied as he looked back to Remember "If you wanna go again, then I'm...!"
Before he could challenge the former LRIG compatriot of his friend, he felt a hand on his right shoulder telling him to stop as he saw that Kiyoi was also glancing towards Remember with a bit of anger in her mind.
"Remember, I will be your opponent," she said as she brought out her deck.
"Are you sure you can handle this?" the Nova Grappler user asked "I can take her."
But as soon as he saw the look in her eyes, he immediately understood why it felt like that she had to be the one to take down Remember on her own. This wasn't just a fight to keep her units safe from Mayu, but to also close the door on her personal history with the former LRIG she was once foolish enough to trust her wish to in her most desperate time and the same person who caused her own mistrust with the people around her into believing the world was a dark and drearier place than it actually was.
"I got it," he said before holding out a closed fist to her "Take her down."
Kiyoi turned to him, uncertain of how to approach such a motion that he was offering to her for good luck in her upcoming fight. Sensing that her lack of experience in properly interacting with people until recent times had come back to bite her somewhat, she awkwardly raised her own left fist and gently tapped Kamui's own. Seeing that she was somewhat at a loss for words, he just smiled.
"You'll get used it," he said "One of these days."
"How touching," Remember chuckled as she brought out her deck "But this shop is too cramped for our kind of fight. That and I don't wish to destroy any more of the decor. Truely, I do."
"Very well then," Kiyoi replied "Let's settle this once and for all."
And there we go! Despite her best efforts to stop Futase, Ratie is defeated and loses her own units to the vengeful LRIG and Schwarzschild in turn. As Neve, Kai and Miwa join her, the being known as Ut'ulls demonstrates a fraction of her strength upon the city as a warning to those that the devastation will be much greater once her revival is complete with Tawil and Umr becoming one. Meanwhile in the midst of the chaos, Ruko pursues Serra's butler Morris and discovers that Miyako and his master have seemingly betrayed him, even marking him and taking his units, leaving her with much to think about. As this happens, Kiyoi and Kamui go to Card Shop PSY where she meets the still amnesiac Ultra Rare trio before she is briefly summoned to Cray and challenges Remember who has come to settle the score with her once and for all.
What will unfold in this upcoming grudge match? 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!
*This plays in Episode 50 when the Destiny Conductor rides Wandering Starhulk Deity, Brandt Ringer.
