Cardfight Training Area

"Report", the commander requested, then turned back to Dalis. "I'll be back with you soon, I'll figure out something."

Being led to Seifer's Emergency Room, the sight of her younger brother in a vegetable state caught her off guard.

"What the hell happened?!"

He rubbed his eyes, after hearing the shocking news of Dalis and her battle with the seed. He would have had something to say in sympathy, considering he himself was a seed-bearer for sometime. But instead he kept his mouth shut and listen to her desperate cry and plea to Yukino who defiantly refused it all. She would fix this... No more casualties.

Save everybody.

Haruka's original motto became something that Yukino seemed to nearly live by at this point.

Upon the doctor rolling around and delivering the news, he promptly followed behind Yukino after stretching out his back and waving good-bye to Dalis. They would be able to talk later maybe...

Grabbing a cup of coffee on his way to the ER bay, he nearly dropped the thing in despair when he saw what he did. Seifer. Comatose and cold in bed. If Haruka's skin could gain anymore pallor, it was bleach white at this point. He felt ghostly inside.

With a large gulp, he set the cup on a dresser, slightly pushing passed Yukino.

"S-Seifer... No... Nononono..." He shook his head, lip quivering. Not to his knowledge, he never knew Seifer woke up at the park and went to fight against some evil deity later. To his knowledge... he was in disbelief, but to think that Sera had done to this him in the end. Haruka cursed his own existence again, kneeling at the bedside almost ready to shout at the sky.

He sighed, resting his forehead on the bedside, and lightly clapping his hands together and folding them into prayer for the boy. He had no magic, like his girlfriend. He wasn't a lover, like... What was her name again?

Haruka was just a boy with a lot of heart and too much arrogance for his own good sometimes. This wasn't one of those times, however.

"Yukino... is there, er, anyway to help him?"

This was probably now very inconvenient for the doctors to discuss, all things considered. But as the brunette lay there, strapped to machines to keep him alive and functioning, the main doctor walked up to Yukino and Haruka, wearing a grim face. "I'm sorry, we can't determine the cause just yet, but he's... Comatose. We can't get him to awaken yet either, not for lack of trying either." her frown grew even darker as she pulled a card from her coat, holding it out to the ivory haired woman and Haruka. "The recovery team found him in a critical state where the final battle with the enemy took place. This was the only thing found on or near him that seemed to be of any importance." the card was Nebula Lord Dragon, though the picture was different, a red cross shaped scar across it's chest. After passing the card off, the doctor turned back to the brunette, who... While in severe circumstances looked peaceful. "I'm sorry." that was all she finished on.

Yugure deduced that he must've fought Glendios and suffered a mindnumbing loss. Still, no one else was in a coma, so why him?! The Chosen Sword spend her time doing two things: thinking of why only him and thinking of how to wake him up. The woman turned into one of more progress. Even through despair, finding answers was absolutely necessary to keep moving. ... So why did nothing come to her mind? ... It took the doctor handing them Nebula Lord Dragon's card to snap the commander out of her trance.

"What is this red star? This... doesn't look like a wound I left. I don't think."

The doctor apologized, but Yugure knew cards changing like this usually meant something important. This may be Seifer's important thing. Puzzled, the general kept staring swords into the card... literally, her bladed pupils activated. The last time she saw this monster out of his card form was when she tore him apart. Now that he sat with Seifer, her younger brother, he better have had an answer of some kind.

... Anything...

Xat let out a sigh seeing no sign of  yugure anywere. She then begans to head back the way she came. She passed the Medical bay and saw people there thinking they might now were yugure was she went over to them. "Excuse me, do any of you happen to know were yugure is?" She asked them.

"I'm in here, Xat."

Yugure heard the girl asking for her in the halls, and called out to her from Seifer's room.

The look was enough to frighten just about anyone. That wasn't the reason however, that within Yukino's mind, she'd be taken to the place where she had fought Seifer the first time he was in a coma. When he was initially reversed. The same dark space with a single, faint light source illuminating a platform. Seifer himself was no where to be found. However, at the opposite edge of the platform, not even standing on it, merely beside the platform, was the giant form of Nebula Lord Dragon. His sheer size would dwarf Yukino's, and the cross shaped scars would be more prevalent. "Interesting. I never thought I'd see you again." his voice was booming, echoing across the deafening darkness. "What brings you here woman? ...Ah let me guess, him." it wasn't hard to figure out just who the dragon was referring to, considering where they were.

"Likewise", Yugure responded to the notion they'd never meet again.

The Chosen Sword stood in a space that was similar, if not, the exact same as the one from back when Seifer was reversed for the first time. She stood undaunted by Nebula Lord's vast size. The worst of the Star-vaders was over, so she had nothing to fear concerning the dragon's being alive again.

"What happened to Seifer? What happened to you when you fought Glendios?"

Xat walked over to the room and saw yugure. "I finally found you, i need to talk to you. Shirayuki said that I need to warn you what had happen." She said to her hoping Yugure had time to talk

While Seifer technically mattered, Satoshi was in no mood to consider something equally as sad as the loss of Tsubasa. He'd get informed as to the exact details of what was going on with him later.

He continued to stare at the blank card, trying to pry into its very being.

"Seifer is..." the massive black cyber dragon paused, staring down at the woman with some form of... regret? How could a Star-Vader feel... Anything? "Seifer is comatose due to his... Irresponsible use of his own abilities, and his new found... gift." Nebula emphasized gift, referring to the brunette's recently acquired ability to use Link Joker. "Really amusing to say the least. He looks up to you, and both adores you as his older sister, and envies you. Your strength, determination. Just about everything that makes you the leader of the resistance. And yet..." the dragon paused again, opening his arms wide. "As hard as he tried to do some good with his life he failed. ...And I am to blame for that. ...I couldn't stop him from pursuing Sera... Glendios. ...We fought Sera, fought against a god from another timeline..." the dragon paused once again, seeming to stare deep into Yukino's eyes, almost like he was peering into her soul.

"Haruka and Seifer's timeline to be exact." the massive dragon let his arms go back to his sides once more, still staring at the tiny figure before him. "The scar upon my chest was delivered by Dragonic Overlord's Reversed form, however... In our battle with Glendios... We were defeated outright. By World End. The ultimate despair made by the Clown's toy." the giant dragon sighed. "He was already to weak, could barely even stand on his own. And yet through some willpower, after we defeated Overlord and Sera, he moved on to challenge Glendios. He was the first to do so. Sad really, it took a man at the end of his rope to push everyone else to fight. Selfish creatures." yet again a display of emotion: Disgust. Realistically this shouldn't be happening but, maybe it was something to do with having awoken within Seifer's soul? "Really, you should teach them better. ...That aside, after we lost... The rest of his energy was expended. He pushed himself to the breaking point, and far beyond. Glendios massacred the rest of our comrades as well. The ones who decided to fight for Seifer. I'm... The only one that was spared by some miracle." A pause. "Or maybe a curse? A reminder of his failure to protect the people that mean the most to him. ...He would much rather fight in your and Haruka's stead. Maybe even taken the same role Haruka had, just so that you and he didn't suffer nearly as much." Yet another pause, this one shorter. "...However, for failing to protect him from this fate, I apologize. To you both." at the end of the speech, the dragon who should not have emotions, apologized to Yukino, and indirectly to Seifer.

It felt... eerily quiet. Yukino provided no response except to Xat, who was out in the hall. Haruka lifted himself from the bed, seeing Yukino nearly in what seemed to be a daze. Maybe she was just in shock still... no use bothering her.

He scooted past her, telling her good night and resting a kiss on her cheek before exiting the room, where Xat took his place inside. He strolled down the hall to his old holding cell in the medical bay. Closest place to home he has now...

Opening the door, he kicked off his dusty boosts, rustled his hair, unbuttoned the top two from his Henley and laid in bed. Staring at the concrete ceiling, he felt dejection succumb in his chest. Today just wasn't that great of a day. Aside from the coffee with Butler-san, nobody came over for breakfast in the morning, and there were very little smiles today...

"So Yukino... where is that future you promised me...," he whispered aloud to nobody in particular.

He shook his head, shutting his eyes and giving into the weariness dragging at his eyes. He hadn't passed out yet, but it would only take a second to finally delve into deep unconscious slumber. His phone was finally on charge though, so at least calls and texts were now a thing.

Yugure couldn't really respond, muttering "warn me of what" and "goodnight" in response to what was spoken to her. Her eyes glowed with the same light they would when overexerting power. Thankfully, it wasn't killing her like it was before. No, instead, this was being used for intense focus on Nebula Lord Dragon. She had half a mind to yell at the cyber abomination for calling Seifer irresponsible with his... "gift". These parasites aren't gifts in any manner, they're more like leeches.

Still, the emotion in Nebula Lord's tone of voice... caught her attention. He spoke of Seifer's admiration of her, and yet... he still failed to defeat Glendios. It was still odd, however. The Cyber Dragon blamed himself, and he wasn't even berating her for being the leader of a "puny" resistance like she expected the commanders to.

"Overlord? Seifer and Haruka are from the same timeline?" That was news to her actually, and explains where the random scar in the Joker's chest came from. How ironic. A scar in the shape of a star for the Star-vader. Seeing these tyrants get what was coming to them made the Chosen Sword smirk. Though, it faded hearing about world end.

"World... End? The Clown can make a toy with power like that?!"

Clearly the jester of a madman was worthy of being the most dangerous Joker. Close enough to be a Reaper, probably. She never even saw Seifer go through the portal... he must've done it while she was passed out. The woman didn't even know how the battlefield was beyond Tsubasa's death. Part of her wanted to assume Nebula Lord was spouting more garbage about humanity, but at the same time, he hasn't really insulted her, nor lied here. ... Which means he was likely telling the truth, and the people on the battlefield were busy twiddling their thumbs like idiots.

Maybe the commander should teach better. Then again, her example was ignore personal health and go fight. Not the best role model material. Anyway, it seems Glendios was just a mad beast that devoured everything in sight, including the Star-vaders. Chaos Breaker could've designed it like that, since he was the outcast of the clan... or perhaps it was an accident? Nobody ever actually found Chaos Breaker on Cray again so far, and he couldn't have been dead after the fight with Liberators...

"Forgive me", Yugure started after hearing Nebula Lord's apology. "There wouldn't be a "fate" to protect him from if you blights of space didn't exist", the soldier hissed. Her hatred of Link Joker still ran strong, even after the war. After an enormous amount of suffering and her own timeline simply being completely erased, she had no pity or sympathy for these horrible creatures.

"I know the kind of person Seifer is, because I can think like he does", she began. "If he was in my shoes, I'd wish to be in his so he wouldn't have to suffer. You are the reminder that he couldn't do that, and I personally hope you burn to bits in the fires of Gehenna. At the same time, because he's like me, I believe he can pull through regardless of the "reminder". You tried to protect him, and that's good enough.

As imperfect beings, all we can do is try. Even if I constantly preach that we will succeed, the truth is, we can only make attempts."

Yugure let loose a couple of snarls while also giving Nebula Lord his credit. Seifer isn't stuck in this coma of his, she simply refuses to believe it'll stay that way.

There seemed to be a... Smirk? Something akin to amusement in the dragon's next choice of words. "Well spoken. Remember this though. Light cannot exist without darkness, and the darkness... They can consume everything, but in the end the fate would be the same as the light if there were no dark. ...Non-Existence." it was phrased oddly but the dragon continued anyway. "Your anger, hatred of us. The so called "blights", in the end, we're not so different. It only seems that way. ...I remember something I shouldn't. The night Seifer allowed himself to die by your hands. He spoke of acceptance for your enemy. That there could be peace." the dragon allowed that to sink it for a moment. He really shouldn't remember it, but then again... If he can, for something that happened long before Seifer obtained Link Joker, that would mean... Something akin to a full bond. "I believe, woman, that he might possess the ability to make it happen. ...And it would all start, with the resistance. You who fought so many bloody battles against us... You should be the first ones to accept us. To that end... I will prepare him to fully use our abilities. Whether you give your consent of it or not, Seifer will come to master the power o Lock." at this point it was hard to say if he was threatening, or merely saying. Nebula Lord Dragon left it ambiguous. "For that, his body will need to be adjusted to the power. ...To that end, he will remain in this coma for three months. Not only to allow him time to adjust, but allow his spirit, which was broken by Glendios to mend." the black dragon informed the woman that her brother would be out for a while longer. After this statement, if she had anything to say to him, she'd be repelled out of the space after speaking.

After some thought, Darren went with his feelings in that the best place to learn more about stabilizing the Seed within him would be to go to the Training Area. It was the first place he could think of that would have the equipment he would need. If he was lucky, there would be less people here than before since the Reverse seemed to be dying out without that giant robot golem... thing. Telling his friends what was inside of him wasn't something he was prepared to do yet.

Darren walked inside, looking around as it seemed like people were busy. He hoped that no one would see him or ask questions as he walked through the building. It wasn't long before he saw his friends, Yugure and Xat and.... was that a black dragon?

A non-malicious Link Joker unit. Seifer was a general, so perhaps he tamed it to our side.

He couldn't exactly see it, but he could sense that it was there. The fact that he was able to identify it as a dragon was just the Dimensional Robo's knowledge of just trans-dimensional phenomena. Darren had a feeling he just needed to keep away from all of that. Still, he was curious as to what they were saying.

"This same drivel Satoshi spoke of when he was Reversed with you in control!" The woman shouted. "Light and darkness cannot exist without each other, I even preached such during the civil war of Royal and Shadow. However, you parasites aren't darkness! You're just evil and void! I'll never believe in the stupid notion that you abominations could ever co-exist with living beings that you don't try to lord over through Reverse and other means of manipulation!"

First her best friend tried to convince her that the Star-vaders maybe just wanted a home, and now Nebula Lord himself is talking about how Seifer could make it so they could all accept one another. The very thought was ridiculous rubbish. It's because of Link Joker that ten full timelines at least are in pieces: the Seeds, Haruka's, and her own doesn't even get to exist anymore. Until the day she died, she would hate them all. Every last one of them that were responsible for all these happenings. Even if they showed some form of "remorse" or "apologized".

"I'll never accept you. Even if Seifer learns your power, I'll never let you steer him away from who he is. And if you so even try three months after his spirit recovers, I'll rend you to pieces again.

... That is a promise."

Yugure suddenly covered her eyes back in the medical room, back in reality. The glowing of her eyes faded, and her pupils reverted. The woman grit her teeth, incredibly irritated. Staring over at Seifer... she whispered.

"Don't worry about what happens to you... Let me do that. I'll make sure... I'll make sure you don't wind up miserable like me. Your efforts will be worth the world."

Darren poked his head into the medical room. He felt Yugure's energy shift as it did and also saw that she seemed upset. He couldn't help but be curious. Seeing Seifer in that state made him want to go inside. He could only hope that no one could tell what he was right away.

"Uh... Hey, Yuki..." He said to her with a small smile. "I... was there to see what happened. Sorry that I didn't step in... I know what happened as a result."

"Darren! I haven't seen you in awhile. So you were at the battlefield... and didn't step up."

Yugure acknowledged Darren's arrival, and her voice had disappointment in its tone. It was disgusting how Nebula Lord was right.

"Where have you been?"

Darren frowned as he walked forward. Hearing her disappointment made him realize he had to tell her why he didn't step up to the challenge, the full reason.

"Well... actually..." Darren hesitated for a moment. He didn't know what he should say at first. He looked away for a moment before Daikaiser said, If you're going to have this much trouble then I'll say it. You're connection is strong enough to touch Yugure and she should be able to hear me.

Darren stood so that he was right in front of her as he said, "I guess its better if Kaizard says it instead of me..."

Darren placed his hand on her shoulder. When he did, Daikaiser's voice came to her. Don't worry, this shouldn't use any of your energy. Its not Darren's fault that he didn't fight. I didn't allow him. A lot of things happened before Glendios appeared and it would have been bad for everyone if he fought... especially Daiyusha...

Yugure closed her eyes, listening in on Kaizard's voice. Hearing Kaizard preventing him from fight because it would've been a disaster for everyone else if he specifically fought... piqued her curiosity. Especially for Daiyusha, apparently?

"Elaborate. Why didn't you let him?"

Yugure's eyes opened, widening in shock. Another person she didn't get the text to in time?! Letting out a bit of an irritated, desperate growl, she continued listening to Kaizard. The soldier never honestly expected anyone to be able to take the lives of Seeds with their comrades' faces, even if they were time-parasites. She herself was prepared to kill them all if no one had the stomach for it. Dalis didn't even know, and Darren simply couldn't have even if he did according to the Dimensional Robo.

Unfortunately... she couldn't really offer him much.

"We... don't have a solution to extract it from him right now. I didn't know Daiyusha did all that... that you all did this..."

She bit her lip.

"I'll figure something out. Darren doesn't have to disappear or anything, so don't even think about isolation."

We aren't looking to extract it yet... We know that's not possible right now. The best we can do is seal it away. All we are looking for right now is a way to finalize the seal and fortify Daiyusha's body. He couldn't use his Ultimate Dimensional Robo form without crippling Darren's deck. Even now, Daiyusha cannot be a part of it. Honestly, Darren is taking that hard. He just started to fully trust Daiyusha after the Reverse incident, even though the voice he heard was actually not Daiyusha's at all. To go from that realization to having him sacrifice himself for the kid... you can imagine what that means for him.

Darren looked down at their words. He could hear everything Kaizard was saying to her. He finally said, "I didn't want to be your enemy... no matter what happens..."

"You're not the enemy", Yugure spoke to Darren. "You never will be, do you hear me?" The woman gave her aggressive assurance. It was touching how Daiyusha went to prove his loyalty, even if Darren had his suspicions about him after being Reversed. So touching that now the Chosen Sword was even more devoted to finding a way to assist. To start, all they could do for now is finalize the "seal" until a long term solution was created. "Hmm..."

"Let me handle that, actually", Ezel suddenly spoke up. "I can get in touch with Blockade and the Seal Dragons about... the seal. I myself can help fortify Daiyusha's structure."

"... How much of your power do you think that'll take?"

"Pheeeeew, uh... boatloads? Probably. Look, I got this-"

"Absolutely not. I'm not losing you again. I'll figure it out. I could even give my own energy to-"

Ezel's astral form gripped tightly at the Chosen Sword's shoulder, interrupting her with the fierceness of it.

"Listen... I'm not in the best place right now. I just lost one of my best friends, and then I hear we might lose another. Then we even may lose a kid that the Dimensional Robos busted their asses for? Dimension Police doesn't do that for just anyone, y'know. They'll save you from the villain, but they can't cure your human ebola or anything like that. They're still going out of their way for Darren, and that alone proves to me he's a good kid.

And just like how I found an answer to stop Lock and Reverse, you can sure as hell find one for this in the meantime."

Yugure couldn't really... speak. When Ezel went on like that, his mind was usually made up. He was taking Tsubasa's death hard, and two of their friends becoming Seeds even harder. The lion may not have been right on the money about the police, as he didn't really know them all that well. Still, the hero would put himself out there... to really save someone this time, instead of watching one die.

"... And you're sure?"

"Positive."

"Darren... I'm going to..." Yugure took out the two copies of Ezel Scissors she had, and they merged into one. "... going to give you Ezel, so he can enter the place Daiyusha went to contain the Seed. Is... that alright?"

She wanted to help Darren and the Dimensional Robos, but to lose Ezel again for any amount of time was just...

Darren heard the conversation. It was happening right there, after all. Kaizard was listening as well. They both sighed, almost in unison. This wasn't exactly what either of them had in mind.

A better idea. First of all, yeah kid, Ezel is going to come and assist with this. However, he's not going to be the only one offering energy to fortify Daiyusha's body. You can't imagine how much I want to do it myself, but I promised him I'd look after the k... our Vanguard for him. Still, there are Dimension Police with large reserves of energy and not much ability to use them. If they help, Ezel should be weakened but not gone.

Darren accepted the card, looking at it for a moment. "Gold Paladin..." Something about it was warm. Still though, he couldn't shake the fact that he was taking an important friend from Yugure. That wasn't what he wanted. "I'll make this up to you, Yuki. I promise I will...

He smiled lightly, understanding what Ezel said as well. Too many people were already lost for more to be included. He didn't want to bring about anymore sadness or pain to any of his friends.