Now that I think about it, the Tail joe's lines kinda make me think they're rapping lol

"I, I, Itou! A, Am I dreaming here?! How are Vanguard units alive like tha, uph?!"

I quickly covered Chihiri's mouth with my hand. I held my breath, trying to make as little sound as possible as I carefully looked around. My body jumped. One of the Tail joes was dangerously close to us. We could see the long giant body of the centipede, creepily slithering right outside the alleyway, where me and Chihiri was hiding.

We were almost in the middle of the alleyway. There were only two openings in this alleyway. Judging by their speed, if even one of them entered, it was almost impossible for us to escape.

Luckily, it was just passing us. The Tail joe kept moving forward until we couldn't see it's long metal body. When the coast seemed clear, I removed my hand from Chihiri. Me and Chihiri finally exhaled, and we both breathed in as much air as possible. It felt like my life span just decreased. My heart pounded so fast, my whole body couldn't stop trembling.

"Hah... Sorry. Ha... T, That was louder... than I... ha... thought... Thanks... for stopping me..."

"D, Don't... sweat it. Why don't we... hide here... for a while?"

"A, Agreed..."

Still gasping for air, Chihiri nodded her head for approval. Right after that, she immediately plopped to the ground like her legs just gave in. I also sat down on the ground to take a breather. We both leaned back on big trash bins, that was almost half of a adult's height. The alleyway we were in was full of trash bins. It was perfect for hiding our bodies from the Tail joes.

With all the trash bins around, the alleyway was a little stinky, but it didn't smell that bad. Also, since we had bigger things to worry about, we quickly forgot about the smell.

"Shit... If it weren't for your visions, we would've been dead already!"

"Yeah..."

Leaving my visions aside, it was sheer luck that we survived from all those Tail joes. Over twenty of Tail joes relentlessly chased us around and around, like a swarm of hungry ants. Me and Chihiri didn't have a moment to stop and kept on running. Not only did they chase us from the ground. They even sticked to the building's walls and chased us that way.

While we ran away from them, their deadly tails came flying towards us. With my visions and a streak of luck, we managed to dodge them. But the tails that missed us destroyed whatever object that was in it's way.

Metal or concrete, it didn't matter. Their tails broke everything.

The longer we ran, our bodies started to get exhausted. Unlike us, the Tail joe's metal bodies didn't show any signs of fatigue, and came at us non stop with full force. It was only a matter of time before they caught up. When my legs and visions stopped working, I thought it was the end for both of us.

"Hah... I don't think I'll be able to outrun them again.."

"Same her..."

Tat! Tat! Tat! Tat!

We both stopped talking at the sudden sound. The sound of metal scratching concrete, wasn't far from here. Something was quickly coming this way, as the metal sounds was getting faster and faster like an insane drum beat.

"Chihiri! Another one's coming!"

"Shit! Didn't they already search this place?!"

"Who cares?! Just hide!"

I quickly tossed an empty cardboard box to Chihiri. While she hid inside the box, I hid myself behind another trash bin. Unlike the one I hid before, the one I chose to hide smelled awful. It clearly wasn't emptied for a very long time. I felt like I was going to hurl just by getting close to it.

The sound was dangerously close. I didn't have time to pick another one. I quickly covered my nose with my hand and tried my best to endure it.

"P-Proceed t-t-o search a-a-area sev-v-v-ven."

One Tail joe quickly appeared in front of the alleyway. The Tail joe turned it's body towards us, like it was trying to enter the alleyway. Seeing it coming close, made my legs tremble like crazy. Yelling me to run away, before it's too late.

As it was going to enter, the Tail joe stopped. It turned it's long metal body around, and looked back away from the alleyway. The Tail joe stood in front of the entrance. It's head moved right and left regularly like a surveillance camera. Looking closely at the streets and the buildings windows like a hawk searching for it's prey.

'Whew... Talk about dodging a bullet... But that thing being this close is dangerous...'

The distance between us and the Tail joe, was barely six meters apart. Having a killing machine that close, I wasn't even able to breath and gulp properly. The Tail joe changing it's mind, was a real life and death situation to us.

But with one problem gone, another one came along. The Tail joe was blocking the entrance with it's body, which was also our way out that was fairly close to us. If one more showed up to find us, we were in real trouble.

'I guess it's useless to hope they'll 'malfunction' again.'

When the Tail joes was this close to catch us. Against all odds, we managed to escape and still be alive at this moment. But it wasn't something that we did to them. It was something that 'happened' to them.

When we were about to be caught, the twitching man behind the Tail joes suddenly screamed in agony, as he wrapped his head with his hands. At the same time, every single Tail joes helplessly fell to the ground. Their metal bodies twitched like they were malfunctioning, while letting out a deformed shriek, as if they were suffering from something.

We didn't understand what was happening, but it was the perfect opportunity, and the two of us ran as far as we can, while the Tail joes couldn't even lift themselves from the ground.

When Chihiri fell to the ground, we both knew we couldn't walk another step. While helping her up, we heard the crawling sounds of the Tail joes getting louder and louder. With no place to run, we found this alleyway and decided to hide here before they came.

My skin crawled when I saw the whole street being completely covered with the herd of Tail joes. It was like seeing a whole sea made of gross bugs. Seeing all of them moving at top speed, I thought it would take minutes until they came back. But they knew that we couldn't have gotten very far. While we were just starting to take a breather, they came back in mere seconds and started to search the area.

And kept searching for us ever since.

Kreeeek-

"Urgh!..."

An ungodly sound messed up my concentration. I frowned at the disturbing sound coming from the Tail joe, while it moved it's head left and right. Every time the Tail joe moved, the sound of creaking metal echoed from it's body. Calling the sound 'unpleasant' was an understatement. To our ears, it was like listening to a nail constantly being scratched on a chalkboard.

It was also fear inducing, since it meant a Tail joe was close to us. The temptation to cover our ears was strong. Despite that, we had to endure the fear, when the obnoxious sound was the only way for us to know where they are. But the biggest reason was to use our hands to cover our mouths. Because the two of us weren't sure that we had the will to not scream.

"A-Area seven, d-d-d-disap-pointing.'

"When is that thing gonna move?..."

"I don't know..."

Chihiri slightly lifted her box, and asked me as quietly as she can through the box's opening. I didn't know why she was asking me, when I had no answers of my own. Although, Tail joe didn't seem to know that we're here. There was no reason to keep looking around if it found us. But I wasn't so sure. Tail joe wasn't moving from this spot for almost ten seconds. We wanted it to go somewhere else, but the Tail joe kept looking, while it stood still like a rock.

The only thing hiding me and Chihiri was the trash bin in front of us. If it heads inside the alleyway, it was game over for us.

"T-Target s-s-sighting... Z-Zero."

Just when I thought we were gonna be stuck here. The Tail joe looked like it finally decided to move. Seeing it's long body moving, me and Chihiri sighed quietly in sweet relief.

Or so it seemed.

"W-W-Wait."

""Shit!...""

Another Tail joe showed up to the alleyway. When we finally thought we could relax, me and Chihiri had to crouched down as low as we could. The Tail joe that was supposed to leave, turned right back and stared at the second one's face, putting it's head on the side as if it was wondering why it was called. This was bad. One Tail joe was bad enough. If there were two, it was almost certain that they'll find us.

"W-W-What is the m-matter?"

"H-H-Have you f-f-finished the search o-on this p-p-place?"

"A-Affirmative. About to l-leave to n-n-new locat-t-tion."

The two Tail joes twitched like an unstable mad man every second they talked, and the screeching metal noises coming from it was worse than before. Hearing it this close was torture to my ears. It was so irritating, that I hated them so much more than I already did.

"I s-see. B-B-But, y-you did no-o-ot s-s-see e-e-everything."

"W-What do you m-m-mean?"

The other Tail joe's eyes glowed in a bright red light. A menacing smirk sprouted on it's face, as it widely opened it's teethless mouth. The Tail joe looked directly to our direction. Like a child who found it;s toy, the Tail joe's head slowly entered the alleyway. as it hummed static noises like it was coming from a broken radio.

'No... No, No, No, No!'

My legs froze in it's tracks. There was barely four meters left before it bumped into us. Hiding was out of the question, and it was too late to run away. The Tail joe's smirking face was slowly coming towards us, as the static humming noise coming from it's mouth, echoed through the alleyway like a small cave.

"H-Hah!"

The Tail joe let out a screeching cry. Like a hundred crows crying at once, the loud, deformed sound of the Tail joe deafened my mind. I closed my eyes shut and waited for the inevitable.

Crack!

Hearing a completely different sound than I thought, I opened my eyes in confusion. Something was smashed by the Tail joe. But it wasn't me or Chihiri. It was something that wasn't made of flesh. The deafening sound the Tail joe made, quickly got smaller as if it wasn't in the alleyway anymore. Breathing a small gulp of air, I carefully tilted my head to the right to see what happened.

What I saw made me speechless. In a completely different reason.

"L-L-Look. P-P-Perfect sh-hot without l-l-looking."

The Tail joe happily wiggled it's body. In the end of it's tail, a damaged Izakaya sign that said 'sake' was dangling on it. The Tail joe's pincer completely penetrated the middle part of the sign, and the sharp metal end came out from the other side. The sign was crushed beyond recognizable. It looked like a car just smashed into it. But it was most likely due to the immense force when it was penetrated.

"Oh. I-Impressive. A-A-Admirable i-indeed."

The other Tail joe clapped it's forty small metal legs simultaneously, greatly praising the one in front of it. The two Joes left the alleyway, as they laughed out loud like a broken radio until we couldn't hear them anymore.

I was left completely dumb founded of what I just saw. The Tail joe didn't move his head in the alleyway, because he saw us. He moved his head, because he wanted to see the other way, to show another Tail joe a stunt move with only his tail.

We survived. But after realizing that, I was so ashamed that I couldn't even lift my head up. I felt like an idiot, that I almost cried because of two dumb bugs.

"Itou!... Are they gone?..."

Chihiri quietly lifted her box. She cautiously looked sideways to see if the Tail joes were gone, like a baby deer caught in the headlights.

"Yeah, they're gone. I don't know if any others are around, but for now I think we're in the clear."

"Really? Thank god... I was so scared, I thought I was going to die of a heart attack! Especially when I can't see and can only hear their damn noises! Brrgh!... Straight up nightmare fuel!"

Chihiri threw away the box that she was hiding, as if taking off a fur coat in summer. She stretched her legs and her back, that would have been pretty tense from crouching inside a box. Not only that, the fear of death would have made Chihiri's muscles cramp up even more.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? You have a kinda 'self ashamed' aura around you. What did that two bugs do exactly?"

"...Nothing."

"Really? But I heard nothing but their ear gouging sounds all the way. They must have done somethin..."

"I told you. It was nothing. They left, and now they're gone. Let's just be happy that those GOOD FOR NOTHING PIECES OF BUG SHIT, are not our problem, OKAY?~"

"O,Okay."

Seeing me grab onto a trash bin lid, and grabbing it so hard like I was strangling a sworn enemy, while shaking my upper body like I was going to break it in half, Chihiri backed up and nodded her head several times without further questions. An awkward smile saying 'I'm scared shitless' on her face, while her body trembled in fear like a little girl who saw a ghost.

Nobody must know about the truth. Except me, and god above.

"Ugh... I still can't believe this, Itou... If they catch us... We're going to die, right?"

After leaning against the wall, Chihiri slid and collapsed to the ground as if her legs just gave in. Chihiri frowned her face for a second, but besides that she didn't acknowledge that it hurt, acting like it didn't matter. Chihiri surrounded her head with her hands, and she firmly grabbed her hair like she was suffering from a headache. Her hands shook as the straight brown strains of hair surround her own fingers.

"This... This is some sort of nightmare, right? F, For playing to much vanguard, or something..."

Chihiri's body was constantly trembling, as if she was freezing cold. When I saw her stretched out legs shaking like crazy, Chihiri noticed me and she swiftly folded her legs, like she was trying to stop the trembling. It was clear that Chihiri tried her best to stay calm.

But even if she tried to hide it, her whole body shook, and the fear around her was thick as a black fog to not notice.

Chihiri didn't have to hide anything. Unlike her usual bravado self, seeing the Tail joes in real life didn't make her excited. Like everyone else, she was legitimately scared for her life. Anybody in this situation would be as scared as she is, or worse.

I understood how she was feeling, I really did. And that is why, I had to snap her out of it.

"If you were really dreaming, you would have already waken up by now. Also, it wouldn't have hurt when you skinned your knee."

"T, Then, they could be holograms or illusions... Really... real like ones..."

"Are you listening to yourself? Do you really think a hologram can cause THAT much damage, let alone flung a car that weighs at least half a ton?"

As I continued to prove her wrong, Chihiri raised her head and looked at me all annoyed. She slightly frowned, giving me a look saying 'stop it.'. But I folded my arms and pretended that I didn't see her.

As if that was the final straw, Chihiri leaped from the ground, then furiously walked towards me. Her feet slammed the ground with anger, like she was squashing a bug with every step. Seeing her frowning face directly in front of me all irritated and angry, I half expected Chihiri would punch my face the moment she was close.

Thankfully, Chihiri just yelled at me. She also didn't forget the danger of our situation, and toned down her voice, even when she was angry enough to shout her lungs out.

"What the hell, Itou? Do you have some kinda grudge against me? If this is some kind of joke to you, it's really irritating!"

"A joke? Well, look who's talking! Aren't you making a fun of yourself, when you're trying to deny everything like it's not really happening?"

I grabbed Chihiri's shoulders and slightly pushed her away from me. Chihiri squirmed her body to try to get my hands off, but she failed and kept moving her head, as if she was trying to avoid eye contact with me.

Chihiri didn't get away from me, because she was physically weak. She wasn't stronger than me, but she was at least strong enough to push me away.

"I... I know that, but!..."

"No buts! Face it, Chihiri. No matter how much you want to deny it, THIS is all really happening. So, wake up!"

Chihiri clenched her fists in anger, shaking uncontrollably like she was ready to hit me. Her angry glares flew on to me like sharp arrows. She gritted her teeth, like she wanted to yell at me, telling me that I'm wrong. But Chihiri couldn't get a word out of her mouth, and stayed quiet like she had nothing to say.

Chihiri stopped moving as if she gave up on getting away. I felt no strength from her arms. Her eyes and reaction was down right depressing. Seeing how powerless she was right now, I knew it was meaningless to keep grabbing on to Chihiri, and I let her go.

The moment I let go of Chihiri's shoulders, her legs were all loose and she helplessly stepped backwards, as if she was going to fall down on the ground again.

"Whoa, Whoa... Easy there..."

Before she fell backwards, I quickly grabbed on to Chihiri's hand and pulled her back to me. Trying to make Chihiri comfortable, I carefully sat her on the cardboard box that she used to hide.

I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't muster the courage to talk first. Chihiri didn't say a word, and it wouldn't be surprising if Chihiri never talked to me again. I felt really terrible, treating my best friend like this.

But I felt it was necessary to remind her the truth, even if I had to be rough to Chihiri. If there's one thing I've learned inside the 'nightmare'.

Was that you can't move forward, unless you confront the truth. No matter how hopeless it is...

"Hah, jeez..."

Chihiri finally opened her mouth. Looking at her, she didn't frowned at me when I saw her. She didn't say it so I wasn't sure, but it was safe to say she was no longer upset. But she was far from relaxed. Chihiri sighed deeply like she was trying to divide the ground with it. It looked like she still had trouble fully grasping our current situation.

Although, to her defense. It did sound pretty ridiculous.

"Seriously... Over twenty giant bugs that are out to get us... This is like a bad joke..."

"Chihiri..."

"Look, Itou. I'm not trying to deny the truth. Well, I did a second ago, but not now. It's just... a little hard to understand this whole thing, you know?"

"...Yeah. I know."

"Man, I WISH i was crazy right now. Then at least some of these things would have made sense."

Chihiri chuckled to herself as she fixed her hair, which was slightly tangled when she grabbed hold of it. Chihiri still wished this whole thing wasn't real. But this time, she just 'wished' it wasn't real and didn't actually believe it. She was starting to get a grip on reality. It wasn't much of a change, but it was at least a good one.

"Hey, Itou. Aren't YOU scared? You're acting like this whole thing is completely normal to you."

"...Being scared doesn't get us anywhere, does it?"

I answered her question right away. However, the truth was far more complicated than the simple answer.

Chihiri was looking at me like I wasn't shaken up by the whole thing. But I was just as scared as she was. I didn't look like it, because I was pinching my thighs to pretend I wasn't scared. If I didn't, I would've fell down way faster than Chihiri. If I haven't met Amateratsu, and didn't know about Cray and it's units, I might have been the one who would have freaked out, not Chihiri.

Because of that, I had to endure. No matter how scared I was, I had to act 'brave'. If I didn't, there was no way out for the both of us. The Tail joes said 'Pioneer confirmed', which meant they were after me. And Chihiri who had nothing to do with this, was caught in the crossfire, just because she was next to me.

I swore to myself. That I'll get her out of this mess, no matter what. Even if I die trying.

"So cheer up, Chihiri. We'll definitely get out of this. And besides, what's gonna happen to your 'motto'', if you stay down like this? We can't have that, can we?"

Seeing me being serious would just make her worry, so I gave her a big smile while I held out my right hand. Chihiri looked at my face, then stared at my hand in front of her for a couple of seconds, like she was seeing something on my hand.

Tup!

Soon after that, Chihiri suddenly laughed and firmly grabbed on to my hand. Through my hand, I could feel Chihiri grabbing it with quite the strength, that equals guys of the same age. Completely different from her powerless state that she was just in.

"Yup! You're god damn right! I can never let my motto, 'Game over's are for losers' go to shame!"

I pulled Chihiri's hand and she stood up from the ground in one go, like a roly poly. After she let go of my hand, I finally felt blood running through my hand again. I didn't know she was holding my hand that tight, until now. Chihiri smiled with so much energy that it felt like her face was the sun. I saw her energetic smile so many times, that I got tired whenever I was with Chihiri.

It was loud, it was distracting, it was annoying, and it was the brightest and warmest smile I've had the privilege to see everyday. In my nightmare, it might have been only natural for Chihiri's voice to show up to keep me going.

"I really acted like a wimp, didn't I? Uuuu... Why did I do that?..."

"Come on, it wasn't THAT bad? We all have our moments denying things that we don't like."

"But I'm NOT the every man! I'm the GREAT Chihiri! I'm supposed to overcome my hardships like a boss, and be awesome!"

At this point, I was loss of words. Chihiri was extremely embarrassed, and overreacting on her previous action. She mumbled regrets as she constantly scratched the back of her head. Not only was Chihiri's cheeks turned red like tomatoes, she groaned while wildly shook her head sideways like she was trying to forget a traumatic event.

"Sure..."

I raised my eyebrows in suspicion, for the 'great Chihiri'. This was what's commonly known as, confronting one's 'darkest timeline'. She just needed some time alone. But there was no way I was getting close to her, while she was mentally suffering for different reasons. I just wished that it wasn't traumatic enough for Chihiri, so that she could forget about it, and not be stuck on her memory for the rest of her life.

When it seemed like Chihiri was finished coping, she grabbed my shoulders and looked at me with sincere eyes.

"Itou, I have a favor to ask you."

"As long as it's not anything weird. Which you do 90 percent of the time."

"Uuu... It's not like that. It's just... If I act weak again, I want you to punch me out of it."

"What? You serious?"

It sounded like a weird request, but Chihiri wasn't laughing at all. She was truly serious about it.

"I mean it. If we're going to make it out, we BOTH have to be strong. I'd rather die than be a liability. Especially to you."

Every word that she said was sincere. I didn't have to listen to another word to figure out she wasn't joking around. Chihiri might think she's a liability, but she wasn't at all.

I thought I had to step up to get both of us out of here. But after that speech, Chihiri was stepping up so much, I was legitimately worried that I might be a liability to Chihiri.

"But don't hit me too hard, ok?"

"Hah! You got it."

I would be lying if I wasn't proud of her.

Whew, finished!

Two high school students in a ghost town, surrounded by giant centipedes! What could go wrong?~

I recently knew that there's no 'action' categories in the genre selection. I wonder if it's same in other stories, or is it because this is a story about card games.

It's really weird that this is a fan fic about CFV, and there's still no cardfights.