Events after this take place some time after s2 ep 21 so minor spoilers for eps up until then. Featuring Sofia as the most awkward wingman ever. Warnings for some violence.
Prompt: Sacrifice
Rouga travels up Mount Fuji, flying above the trees using Disaster Force with Cerberus by his side. "The girl said the monster appeared a month ago." Cerberus says.
"It might have been one of the monsters that actually got through Kyoya's portal." Rouga says. He thought he and Tasuku had managed to close it in time, but apparently not. There was no other explanation he could think of.
The land at the top of the mountain, where there's a large cave the size of the Buddy Police building, covered in snow top to bottom. "It feels like the dragon's den." Cerberus admits, transforming back into their usual size just in case.
"I can handle dragons at least." Rouga laughs, and they walk forwards into the cave.
It's completely dark, and after walking in the dark for fifteen minutes Rouga's tempted to maybe think the kids were just making up stories and the adults had just gone somewhere else for a while. "Battle Aura Circle." Rouga casts, letting the orange light flaring out from his palm illuminate the cave. "Where are we…"
He stops when he sees the blood on the walls.
Rouga steps back in shock, hearing a splash at his feet where his foot lands. He scrambles away when he realizes it's a pool of blood, trying to shake it off his shoe. There's a growling noise echoing off the walls. "Cerberus? What's wrong?"
"That's not me!"
Rouga's eyes widen, and he leaps to the side just in time as something huge barrels down the center of the cave, kicking up dirt and dust flying in his face and extinguishing the only source of light he had. It roars, and Rouga holds his ears because it feels like they'll break if he doesn't. "Demon Slay Slash!" Rouga yells, slashing downwards with his spear and sending a shockwave towards the general direction of the beast.
He hears a louder growl when the attack hits, and takes the chance to cast another Battle Aura Circle. In the dark, with only the flames illuminating the cave, the beast is huge. It reminds Rouga of Azi Dahaka at full stature, and he never fared well against Azi Dahaka. Let alone this thing.
Rouga casts another Demon Slay Slash, running out of the beast's line of sight. The strike bounces harmlessly off its side. "What?!" He skids to a halt, not believing what he just saw. "Thunder Devastation!" He yells, sending electric shockwaves through the ground all around the cave.
It sparks around the beast's feet without damaging it at all.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Rouga mutters. "Explosive Axe, Ricdeau Demon Slay!" He casts, gripping the axe in front of him and rushing forwards to attack. He slashes at the monster's back, it roars, it turns to push him away and Cerberus leaps up to bite its arm. It bats Cerberus away with one paw, and Rouga turns to fly after his buddy, dodging two more strikes.
"Are you okay?!" Rouga yells, pulling Cerberus out of the dent it made in the cave wall. He looks at the monster again and grits his teeth. It doesn't look like any Darkness Dragon World monster he remembered. In fact, it looked a bit like a black Rottweiler. If a Rottweiler could be ten stories high and bloodthirsty.
Rouga wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it wasn't this. He didn't even think it was possible for anything to be impervious to Disaster Force.
He charges forwards with the axe again, aiming a strike at the head. The beast catches the axe before it lands, breaks the axe in its paws and throws Rouga down into the ground. The air flies out of him, and his body can barely move as he struggles for breath. Above him, the beast aims a foot down towards him, to stomp him into the ground. Rouga scowls, grabbing his Dark Core spear and holding it above him to catch the attack, wincing at the force pushing back his arms as the foot hits the spear, pushing him further into the ground.
And his spear breaks in his hands.
"Rouga!" Cerberus yelled, tackling him aside as the monster swipes at him again. The two crash into a wall, and Rouga watches the broken parts of his spear transform back into the Dark Core, with the jewel on the front cracked and deactivated. His hair's extra length added by the Dark Core sheds off, and he can feel his hair's natural length. It's unnatural.
"Oh no, no no no," Rouga panics. "Disaster Force, activate!" He yells, holding it in the air. Nothing happens. Cerberus growls, then charges towards the beast again, but without Disaster Force to sustain them anymore, they transform back into the card and floats to the ground uselessly before even reaching the beast. "Disaster Force, activate!" Rouga yells again, his hand shaking around the deck case.
He doesn't have Disaster Force. He's powerless.
Rouga grabs Cerberus's card from the ground, the Battle Aura Circle extinguishing long ago. He runs out of the cave as fast as he can, his only luck being how the beast didn't follow him in the dark.
Rouga ends up in ChouOsaka, watching news broadcasts on TV in a dingy café. He stirs the coffee put in front of him absentmindedly. The incident with the strange beast on Mount Fuji two days ago kept weighing on him. To begin with Disaster Force had been created to destroy the world eventually, but still. He had gotten that case from Kyoya.
He has no power currently. Cerberus could only appear in their buddy form, and that was only occasionally. They had gotten injured in the fight with the beast, and were off in Danger World getting maintenance and help.
He had left the bag that Gao's family had given him of food back at the village too. While it was nice that those kids would have some more food for a few days, he himself had no food.
"And next on the news, Gaen Kyoya announces a new plan to expand his company further to the outskirts of Japan."
He needs some fresh air. Rouga finishes the coffee, drops a few coins on the table and leaves.
This was probably a bad development. Most of Rouga's survival plans had depended on the Dark Core. He had it active for so long, he wasn't used to the feeling of not having power constantly ready go when he needed it. He felt exposed, weak. He feels cold with his hair so short. Rouga grumbles some more, his hands in his pockets as he walked down the streets of ChouOsaka. It's a cold November, and he isn't at all prepared for winter. Rouga sighs.
How do you fight against something even Disaster Force doesn't work on?
He finds himself down a dark alley, near the entrance to this week's Buddyfight Club. Annoying scum, they were. It's in a rundown hotel, with a few guards at the entrance. He hates the place, but he's been here a few times before, and the guards recognize him.
"Hey, aren't you Aragami Rouga?"
"Why's your hair short now?"
"None of your business." Rouga mutters, continuing to walk past them.
"You haven't been here in so long! You sure you don't want to go in, just for old times' sake?"
"No thanks."
He didn't even have a Core Deck Case for buddyfighting right now, let alone his buddy. Things would only end in disaster if he went in.
"We're not raising the price, and we're not done here." Rouga hears from inside the hotel, then the doors burst open and a man is flying out, landing face first in the dirt at his feet. And strolling out right behind him is Sofia Sakharov, long hair flaring out.
"Hey, what are you─" The first guard begins, and then both are frozen in their places at a wave of her hand.
"You began at four hundred, so we're staying to four hundred." Sofia says, walking over to the man, who's currently cowering in fear and crawling away. They both stop when the man bumps into Rouga's feet. "Aragami Rouga?" Her eyes flash dangerously.
The man takes the chance to try and make a run for it, but before he even gets to his feet, he's frozen into an ice sculpture. Sofia's bow and arrow are in her hands, pointed at Rouga's heart. "Leave immediately." She demanded.
"You don't have to order me for something like that, I was just leaving anyways." Rouga says, turning to go. He couldn't exactly fight her on equal terms currently.
"Wait. Where's your Disaster Force?"
He just shrugs. "Lost it."
An arrow grazes the flesh of his left arm, and he howls in pain, catching it with his other hand and turning back to glare at her. "What?!" He yells, wincing as he threw the arrow back at her. It misses by a whole meter.
"Lost it? Don't joke in front of me." Sofia says, another arrow already pointed at him. "You want to die a dog's death that badly?"
Rouga smirks. "Are you kind enough to grant me one?"
Sofia's face rarely changes, but years of spending time with her had led Rouga to be able to pick up on the little changes that represented her large emotions. That downward twitch represented her scowling in annoyance and reluctance. Her gritting her teeth meant she was really, really frustrated. "Do you know how much I've sacrificed for Kyoya-sama? How much he's sacrificed for the sake of the world? And you doubted his plans and power."
"He's the one that discarded me."
"There's no need for pawns if they don't do exactly what you want them too."
"So you're the perfect pawn then. Congratulations, you want a medal?"
"Those without power have no right to talk."
Rouga stops talking. Sofia pulls back the arrow further, and Rouga can actually see anger in her eyes for once. "Right now, Kyoya-sama is being an idiot like the rest of you. He holes himself up in the office and barely eats or sleeps. He's not paying attention to anything he's doing. It's because of people like you!"
"What are you talking about─"
"He's acting like a heartbroken idiot who can't get over his first crush." Sofia says. "And so are you."
Heartbroken… "Oh." Even with a bleeding shoulder and the threat of another pointed straight at him, Rouga feels his face flush. "Okay."
Sofia has a disgusted look on her face. "I never liked you. Do what you want. Play with your 'friends'. Don't get in my way again." She grabs the back of the collar of the still frozen man. "Don't go around causing me more work." He faintly hears her say.
"Y-Yeah, sure." Rouga mumbles. Sofia has already lowered the bow, but he doesn't feel free to go. Or really want to. He does want to find out more, but he also doesn't. And not from Sofia of all people, who could barely feel emotions to begin with. "So, what does that─"
"Grow a backbone, you self-sacrificing idiot." Sofia turns away and disappears into a portal.