Umano Underground Slums

"Korean Champion?" Yukino's eyes widened at this information, seeing how Aoi was already the Chinese Champion... having two national tops in the army would vastly boost their chances for survival and victory. "This is... amazing. First we kill a reaper, now we get supersoldiers! Yes, welcome to the Resistance! I'll get you a Reality Bangle in a moment once I figure out your size!" The ecstatic commander approved of this immediately. Though Sakuya may not have been powerful at combat herself, being a professional meant skill with the game, and they were using the game to fight this war, so all the better.

Turning to Carlos and hearing him out was heartwarming until he only just now realized her actual birthname. "Yes, I prefer Hikari", the woman repeated yet again.

"We're not gonna laugh! That's pretty understandable!" Aoi replied to the boy's worry and desire to get stronger.

"I've actually been feeling like that myself. I started getting some training too, just to start pulling my own damn weight for once. In fact, Jessie and I will help you too, buddy." Bashiro offered, explaining a bit of his own emotional turmoil.

"Don't sign me up for stuff without asking me man. I'm willing to, though." Jessie stated.

"I can assist when I'm free", Yukino agreed. Then turned to Okuri, noticing a bit of... difficulty getting the bangle on his spirit form. The queen had to refrain from chuckling a bit, and was starting to wonder if a collar actually was a good idea like Aoi had suggested before. Perhaps a little project to work on later? Regardless, the joyous leader smiled in response to the spirit's gratitude. "I need to get back to work, so I'll talk with you all again in a bit." Hikari told her loyal soldiers. The woman walked past the lot of them, deeper into the slums to speak with strategists about next possible assaults, and any information retrieved from Kraken's essence that wasn't deleted.

In the distance rather far from the main gathering in this shithole of a place Sen slowly made his way towards them spotting his usual getup one would instantly connect with the word "Clown", now with a mask with a painted smile on it and a minature tophat tilted to the left. His hands behind his back he'd lean forward with each step he took leaving an impression of simply not caringa bout anything and being high on life. Slowly he approached the soldiers all around the place, greeted them and assured them he's of no ill will and accepting the random search he was forced to undergo before being finally let through to the main group. Sen bowed, even taking off his mini tophat. Tilting his head to the side he spoke with concern in his voice.

He slowly moved his gaze upon each person and although he had a mask on his face, it was pretty easy to feel that behind it was a face feeling genuine worry twoards them

"I'm not okay", Aoi cried for some reason after being so chipper. "I'm hungry and bored..." The girl complained, and Jessie was confused she didn't ask for a share of chips. Bashiro had a similar question as the other grown soldiers in the area painted on his face: "Who is this clown?"

"So I guess... this is a rough enough job to hire some entertainment", a random soldier noted. But then again, considering Hikari's hate for anything fun in the face of Link Joker, did she actually approve of this? Or was he not hired?

"Y-You can? You will?" Carlos replied, hearing Hikari's response. The comments of Aoi, Bashiro and Jessie nearly moved him to tears. "Thank you so much! You guys are the best! You won't regret it, I'll work hard every day and I'll even make Chronos' gift do something more than being a piece of paper!" He said enthusiastically, referencing the vanguard circle of paper given to him by the aforementioned agent of time.

"So Yukin- I mean, Hikari. When do we- Wait, where is she?" He asked the now gone commander. The young cardfighter was so moved that he didn't notice the absence of the commander. "Oh... She's gone. Well, I think it's just us. When do we start guys?" He was ready to start the training any moment from now, but the sudden arrival of a unknown masked man resembling some kind of clown asking how they felt distracted him for a moment. "Huh, I'm feeling fine, thanks for asking" He answered.

"Did you hire a clown? Because that's awesome" Carlos whispered to Jessie, leaning towards him and making sure that the man didn't hear him.

"Wasn't me..." Jessie replied to Carlos, although, he wouldn't have the authority to in the first place. Bashiro was still confused, but the eyepatched thug turned to Carlos again.

"We can practice whenever you want."

"Really? Then what are we waiting for!?" Said the young man with more enthusiasm than the usual. Again, it was likely thanks to the good atmosphere of the place. "Lead the way my friends! To a place where we can train! I still don't know this place very well, so that's why I'm not leading the way!" He said to Bashiro and Jessie.

Before leaving, Carlos asked the others if they wanted to come with them to train. "Hey, wanna come? You know what they say - The more the merrier. Or something along those lines".

"Wait, we can just do it here!" Bashiro called out to Carlos.

Yukino carried herself with grace, yet haste to make it in time for the coming date. The queen needed to rush home and change into something formal - something to get Haruka's attention mostly, hopefully. Surely, relaxing from work couldn't have been too bad. Plus, if she didn't, they'd probably drag her out of an office one of these days. Staring straight ahead, she started making her way out of the Slums.

Some sort of performer had appeared in front of the group and some of the others were on about practicing vanguard. Okuri was about to join in when he saw Hikari making her way past. Remembering Seifer he felt the sooner he told her the better however busy she might have been at the time. He stood up, shook himself a bit and took off at a relaxed running pace to catch up to her. He managed to catch her fairly easily and the two were out of ear shot of the others. Looking at her he noticed her mind seemed otherwise occupied. He called out to get her attention.

"Excuse me Hikari, I know you must be busy. But before you go I wanted to talk to you about a man I met at the park earlier claiming to be your brother. Seifer I believe he said he was called." he said, a note of concern apparent in his tone.

"Ah, that's no good, boredom isn't healthy and neither is hunger!" Sen exclaimed, tilting his head to the side and added, "But we'll take care of that real quick don't you worry". He leaned forward and took off his mini tophat presenting the inside of it to the girl, it was empty, and as he wasa bout to do the classic pull something out of the tophat magic trick he dropped the hat.. he attempted to grab hold of it again in panic but only ended up making a fool of himself and the hat fell to the ground. But what's this? it started to move around? In the blink of an eye, a rabbit appeared out of nowhere wearing the fallen tophat and it was no ordinary bunny and instead - "Blassie Bunny".

The clown laughed under his nose, rubbing the back of his head and acting like it wasn't all staged "Ah! My assistant bunny! If it wasn't for you, my tophat would've gotten dirty!", the bunny ignored Sen and instead rubbed it's head against Aoi's leg "Oh? You're lucky miss, my friend here rarely likes people and him asking to be pet by another person is a sign of great sympathy!" Ofcourse, that was a lie.

"Also, here!" Sen added after a while, reaching behind his back and pulling something out of it as if it was bouqet of flowers but no! It was a tiny child on a unicycle holding two bags of popcorn! "Here you go, the finest popcorn from this side of the earth!"

Hikari stopped her movement to see Okuri and hear him bring up Seifer, knowing this was a family matter to grab her attention. This was either good news about him being alright, or bad news about literally anything else. Knowing her life and her luck, it was going to be bad news. "What about Seifer?"

Aoi clapped a little and a bounced in place, excited for this performer to make her day. But when he tried to do a classic magician's trick... the hat was dropped... twice. Everyone began to sweat as they watched it begin to move after the magician's blundering. Much to their surprise, a Pale Moon unit was revealed underneath! The militia, Jessie, and the China girl all collectively went: "ooooooo!" Bashiro gave a "are you serious" expression with several other soldiers who clearly didn't buy this not being staged.

Aoi perked up at the sight of the rabbit snuggling up to her leg. Picking it up, petting of a cute, fluffy animal commenced. And she was even further surprised when the man not only pulled out a tiny child on a unicycle, but a child on a unicycle with food!

"Wooooo!!" Many spectators began to cheer, and Aoi's eyes were that of a small kid living their dreams in a carnival. But she also didn't want to let go of the bunny, yet, if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to hold the popcorn.

What a dilemma.

Hikari's reaction confirmed they were indeed siblings. Not that he hadn't trusted Seifer he was just never sure how to confirm two humans were related and them both saying they were made it easier for him. Satisfied that they were siblings and that Hikari would be concerned, Okuri gave his report.

"I apologize if this isn't anything new, you're his sister and it's likely you know more about it. I spoke with him earlier and he told me of losing his will to fight and yet how he had to continue doing so. He spoke like one who's days are numbered and I fear he may do something rash in the coming battles. I'd recommend you keep an eye on him for a while if you can." he said as he looked down to the ground. "I'd have tried to help him more but there was some strange red glow in his eye and I could tell he was managing to see past my illusion and it unnerved me. I'm not sure where he is at this point." he concluded.

"... Thank you for your report." The commander replied after hearing all of it, but her expression very easily broke down into what was truly on her mind: the sympathy that came from fighting a battle with no end in sight after suffering for so long. "We all... have to keep going", she started somberly. "However... I won't let him do something stupid. I'm going to drag him back home soon. I'll look into this red glow as well", Hikari pressed on with determination for her little brother and gave herself a new task on top of hundreds. With a curtsy, the queen departed with gratitude toward Okuri.

"Here? Like, right here?" He asked Bashiro. "Oh. If that's the case, then let's go! And don't get too cozy, Jessie. You're next" Carlos warned the teenager.

The cardfighter took his deck and prepared himself for the coming match. "Well, let's go". He positioned himself in a nearby table and placed his starting vanguard face-down in front of him. "Please, don't be gentle" He said to his opponent defiantly, in a playful tone.

The fight went on as normal. Once they passed the shock of knowing that they used the same starter Vanguard (Well, Carlos was more shocked than Bashiro) and deducing that they knew about the existence of each other thanks to Aoi, the Narukami users resumed their fight.

Carlos used the match not only as a training session, but as a mean to know more about his opponent and befriend him. Unlike with Jessie, the young cardfighter knew little to nothing about Bashiro. He asked him about his life before the Reapers invasion, how he got to fight with the resistance and know Hikari... And if he and Jessie were really brothers (Turns out they are). Yeah, it was a strange confusion caused by how different the name of the siblings are.

Carlos rode Armor Break Dragon, using its Limit Break skill for the first time to unleash a barrage of attacks on Bashiro and his trusted Brawlers. However, he was able to block every single attack. But then, the young cardfighter responded by guarding against the next set of attacks done by his opponent. It was a pretty close fight that none of them was willing to lose.

In the end, Bashiro came victorious after using his Avatar card - Brawler, Big Bang Knuckle Dragon. Carlos even confused a bad play from him as a test to see if he was worthy to face his best card. The young man got what he wanted from the fight and, unbeknownst to him, his opponent got to know more about him as well.

"Don't get to cozy, Jessie. As I said, you're next" Carlos reminded the teenager. "Hey, where's my stereo?".

They are a duo - united they stand. If one fails, so does the other. If one succeeds, the other does as well. The image of Bashiro and Jessie appeared as Bigbang Knuckle and Slash respectively on the vanguard circle, as if they perform Legion with one another. The thug even referred to Slash as Jessie in general. Bashiro's game with Carlos went on a bit with conversation and the man... being less than honest about the fact that he couldn't perform Legion with Bigbangs due to his one copy of Slash being in soul and no Rising Phoenix in sight. Carlos believed it was some form of motivation to be worthy to fight the leader of the Brawlers, and the thug simply let him think that while lying.

What an asshole.

He wished for a simple life, and Carlos, in his eyes, was a simple soul. Not like Yukino and others with special powers or vendetta, less connections to Cray, and the desire to save the world was mostly from the desire to help and save people.

Victory is in a simple soul.

Bashiro ultimately won after a long fight, and Jessie congratulated him before stepping up, taking his eyes off of the fabulous magician's trickery. "I know, I know. I'm not gonna bail! And your stereo's right here", Jessie said and pointed to the musical box nearby the spot he was sitting at.

WEE WOO WEE WOO WEE WOO

Alarms blared throughout the makeshift Resistance Headquarters, assaulting the ears of the militia with company inside and out. The announcement of Reapers being spotted was made, but with a rise in the level of danger. The threat was doubled - two Deletors being revealed on screen for those with equipped Reality Bangles to see. Bashiro and Aoi became wide eyed at the sight, immediately feeling daunted by seeing another one appear. Not only was this a fast rebound of attack from their perspective, but it had already been so hard just to kill one alone...

"Alright! Some action!" Jessie exclaimed excitedly. "Carlos, we'll fight after this! The clown can get a bangle from Boss Lady and come too!"

Jessie already ran out, worrying his older brother greatly. Soldiers and the two began going out with them.

Sakuya had followed Aoi and the others, examining the Reality Bangle as she tried to fit it around her wrist. It fit snugly, if a little bit loose, but Sakuya had to admit, it at least looked pretty.

Then, the alarm sounded.

"Huh? U-Uh, what's going on? Is another one of those monsters attacking?" Sakuya asked with a frantic voice, turning to Aoi, then Bashiro. "What should we do? Are we going to go help the others? Aoi? Mister Bashiro?" She said to each of them in turn, a worried look plastered all over her face. She wasn't quite sure she would be ready to actually fight against one of these monsters so soon after joining the Resistance, and she prayed silently to Tsukuyomi for guidance.

"What!? Another attack!?" Said Carlos surprised after hearing the alarm, picking up his deck from the table."But we haven't finished celebrating our last victory! And they're interrupting my training!" He was clearly angry.

"Wait for me, guys! I'm going!" He then followed his comrades to the location of the invaders. However, Carlos had the feeling that he wouldn't be of much help again. But this time, he was determined to prove himself wrong. "No matter how many of them are out there, we'll beat them again!".

Okuri had been sitting about the slums peacefully waiting the day away after he had finished speaking with Hikari about her brother. However that peace wasn't to last as alarms sounded everywhere alerting the group to another Reaper attack. Looking at the screen Okuri for the first time caught a glimpse of what it was that had been harming the earth. The sight of them horrified him. These were creatures beyond the comprehension or imagination of man or beast alike. To think humans could really have fought and defeated one of these creatures was truly amazing.

There wasn't much time for gawking, the others were moving fast. These monsters could really do some damage if not intercepted quickly so it made sense. Okuri checked himself over for decks and the reality bangle to ensure all was in place and took off running alongside the others as they moved out to meet the monsters.

"We keep losing, losing, losing!" were the words that Haruto heard all the while he was asleep, it was through Yukino's voice but at this point he could not tell if it was a dream or not.

"....Huh..." he said, as he opened his eyes and found himself resting at the resistance headquarters at the slums, though he was too tired to the point where he did not want to get out of bed right away.

He took out his phone and just began to fiddle with it for a bit until he saw a notification that a message had been sent to him, it was from Xat, "If she wants me to drop by this must be important, I hope no more assassins are after her." he thought.

"I'll be there soon, don't do anything rash." was what he sent as he got out of bed and tried his hardest to speed his way to the aquarium as Xat specified. "Why would an assassin target her at a public aquarium, it makes no sense."

The journey back on three legs had taken a while. Normally Okuri might have appreciated the time to think but with how tired he was his mind wasn't particularly up to the task. He wandered back into the slums amidst others of the resistance cheering and celebrating another reaper destroyed. Hikari's sadness aside he figured that perhaps it was a victory to have one of the monstrosities destroyed. But how many more would take its place?

Off to the side of the main building Okuri had first met Hikari and Aoi outside of he found what looked like a nice enough spot to lie down on. Beds were nice enough when he had one handy but for now he just wanted to rest. Almost collapsing down as he did reminded him how the one leg was hurting. Without much thought sleep took him quickly. The illusion disappeared entirely as he was no longer conscious to maintain it and anyone in the slums who happened to look around the side of the base would find a large canine sleeping peacefully up against the wall. Definitely nothing strange about that.

Bashiro had taken Haruto back to HQ, walking with Jessie, and the two stuck around for awhile trying to deal with a few more asinine tasks on the list of Cero's bullshit requirements to train them. The militia helping them out was nice, but it was still nearly impossible to get even the ones that seemed possible done. Quite frankly, the thug needed a drink, and told Jessie he's "going out with the boys".

That was lingo for go get piss drunk.

Jessie simply walked about on his own and... saw a dog? A... rather large and strange looking one sleeping against a wall. The boy was a bit wide-eyed and freaking out over the sight. Curious and a bit frightened, he didn't really want to disturb it, but wanted to see if it was actually real or not. So he... got a stick... and began poking Okuri.

Okuri had been peacefully dreaming of days long past, of a much less developed and populated Japan. He was wandering through the mountains of his old home with not a care in the world. Yet something started jabbing at him. Okuri's eyes shot open as he jerked awake. Primal instincts kicked in and he jumped to his feet only to feel pain in his left front leg still to which he quickly held it off the ground. He let out a loud bark in response and turned to face whatever it was that had awoken him. With an agitated growl he eyed down Jessie with the stick in hand and realized he'd seen this person before. His body language relaxed and the growling stopped.

"Oh it's jus-" he started realizing why this was all happening. His illusion wasn't in place due to having practically passed out. Best to not make a sound and get away before activating it and coming back. Okuri stared the boy in the eyes hoping both to intimidate him a little but also to examine him in more detail.

Jessie dropped the stick and put his hands up as if the police had found him dealing drugs. The bark from such an abnormally large canine was rather terrifying and it was even worse that he was the one who pissed it off. "Sorry, sorry!" The boy apologized fervently, stopping to hear it... speak... human... words. The spirit relaxed, but he himself was now beyond confused. Was this a dream? Those eyes got a bit more intimidating, even after the silence, and Jessie reached to pinch himself.

Nope, this is real.

"... U-Uh..." Jessie begun to step back a bit.

It seemed the whole attempt to scare Jessie off tactic was somewhat effective. He was inching away but not very quickly. Okuri simply wished he'd caught himself on the speaking sooner. He never had been very good at trying to be scary though and soon his face and eyes relaxed too as they shifted to merely looking at the boy. With a bit of a sigh he decided he might as well speak.

"It's alright you don't have to panic. I saw you earlier with the one they called Bashiro didn't I? I apologize for scaring you earlier, I wasn't counting on being woken up quite like that and with my leg in the shape it's in I couldn't quite control myself." he said to the boy as he took a sitting position. He made sure to keep his injured leg off the ground still not wanting to push things. He really should have been more careful. At the rate he was going he was going to end up just dropping his illusion entirely. The thought was almost exciting though, the idea of not hiding any more.