Hoshiko Shopping District

The evening came quick and the wind began to blow across the desolate remains of the Hoshiko Shopping District. Haruka had little leeway from the Resistance base, stilling having Re-Birth with him and all. However they gave him a day-pass with a tracking bracer on his leg, allowing him to freely roam about the nearby area.

Haruka walked upon the pile of rubble his vessel once stood upon. Here last, Sera made a threat to Yugure. Now, Haruka stood here, watching the darkness of night cover the streets as stars lit-up the sky.

"Illuminate."

Just whispering this out forced a puff of his breath to show into the evening air. It was gradually getting colder and colder every day. Winter was coming.

With a deep breath, Haruka stuffed his hands into his coat pocket after adjusting his scarf. Ah, scarves. Haruka was a big fan of these guys, hadn't worn once since Sera had been taking charge... which is what caused this mess in the first place. If it weren't for that devil incarnate being created within Haruka, he never would have gone on to create an army of mass destruction and annihilate the city he loved and cherished. His work, his favorite ice cream shop, the ramen shop, all of it... Gone in an instant.

Another breath, another cloud of fog rolls from the cracks of his lips, only now slowly trekking down the long lane of the district. It felt like one long, endless corridor of nothing but memories; waves of nostalgia and experiences flooded his mind like a powerful torrent.

"How long has it been since I last reemerged here..."

Another breath, another cloud of fog. When will the snow fall?

Fubuki decided to investigate what had been the largest incident regarding Reverse. The complete and utter destruction of the Hoshiko shopping district. She wasn't totally sure exactly what happened, beyond there being a huge media cover-up of what actually happened, but she was pretty sure Reverse had something to do with it. The area had been completely abandoned, and supposedly the public wasn't allowed access to it. However, sneaking in there wasn't all that difficult as there was barely any security. Who would want to go to an abandoned shopping district with nothing of value? Someone who wanted to investigate it, apparently. And someone else. It wasn't someone Fubuki really recognized, and it was kind of a surprise to see someone else here. She figured it'd just have been her. Unsure of whether or not to approach, he hastily hid herself, making more noise than intended in the process.

Despite Sera's disappearance from the host body, Haruka maintained a majority of Sera's heightened senses. Haruka took a deep breath, letting out one more breath of fog before steadily turning around, scarf beginning to flap in the brisk wind, now leaving frostbite on his cheeks. A small smile formed, as he squinted against the light wind passing by.

"Hi, hello, yes. Who is there? Its a bit dark out, if you haven't noticed..." Haruka waved in the direction of the noise. It was subtle, but also clumsy at the same time. The person probably accidentally stepped on some lose rubble, clacking rocks and debris together. The area was mostly a fraction of its original size, but it stilled echoed in sound as it used to.

"Come on out. We can talk. I'm not security, promise."

Haruka slowly held his hands, adorned in tight leather gloves, up into the air. He wasn't armed with anything, other than his deck and a pack of sugar-free gum. Ew. And he wasn't up to fight now with that blasted devil card in his deck anyways.

"Hello...?"

The man had noticed her. Staying in her hiding place, Fubuki tried to keep herself under control. There was no point in hiding anymore, based on what he said, but that could be a lie. Maybe he'd think it was a mouse if she just stayed where she was. She peeked out from her corner, her white hair being in great contrast to the surrounding area. Good job, Fubuki, you gave yourself away. Now there really was absolutely no point in hiding. Stepping out from her hiding spot, she looked at the man, an obviously fake smile on her face.

"Uh, hi there...?" she said, rather unsure, keeping her hands behind her back. This was extremely nerve wracking. She had just gotten caught trespassing by another trespasser. Hopefully this wouldn't end poorly.

"Evening. A bit cold out, no?" Haruka chuckled as the chilly atmosphere set in further, causing Haruka to even shiver a bit. The cold wasn't something he had been used to for a really long time now.

"Whatcha' doing here? Its an off-limits zone." Haruka was fully aware he was trespassing to, but in actuality, it would be difficult for even the security to really stop him. Besides yelling at him to leave, they weren't going to be able to catch him sprinting through the rubble.

"Taking a trip down memory lane maybe?"
Maybe.

"Cold?" Fubuki hadn't really noticed it so far, even though this stranger's breath had been visible. Maybe she was just immune to the cold... A matter for another day.

"Oh, uh... Sort of, I guess," Fubuki replied, trying to hide her real reason for being here. "I'm, uh... Just... Looking for something. Yeah, looking for something." She hid her face a bit as she said this, hoping her half-truth wouldn't be questioned any further. "W-what about you?"

"Yes, cold. The temperature is pretty low, don'tcha think"

Haruka laughed a bit more, releasing his gloved hands from their suspension and sliding down the debris pile towards the lass. He had been rather tired as of recently but meeting another partner in crime, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to get to know them a bit better.

"So, what's your name?" He sort of discarded the reason she was here. He didn't really mind, or rather, care, anymore. He was more or less intrigued with the person them self, just the fact they are around the area is interesting. Maybe she wanted to figure out some things about the area? The area was quite mysterious after all. A sudden destruction of miles of Japan with no clear reason as to why, or who was here, or who was even injured? OR WHAT CAUSED IT?

Very mysterious.

"Alsooo, you should probably wear more layers. If you aren't freezing your butt off right now, you might be in an hour."

"My name?  It's...  Kaiyo," Fubuki replied to the odd man.  He seemed to lose interest in things quickly, though it was rather relieving he hadn't pried too much into her reasoning.  

"I, uh, yeah, I should go get some more layers..."  She took the chance to get out of the conversation rather quickly.  She didn't want to be kept here too long, lest she be discovered, or worse, actually start feeling cold.  Stepping back, Fubuki left the man without ever asking for his name or even if he knew anything about what happened here, then stopped just before she left sight.  

Turning around, she shouted back, "Wait, do you know anything about what happened here?" Then realizing shouting was a bad idea, she quickly went back towards him, grabbed him before he could respond and dragged him to somewhere that was a bit more hidden.

She's a tsundere. No doubt about it.

Silence.

Oh right. No more Sera for funny retorts.

Aw man...

As the girl, Kaiyo, stormed off, she quickly shouted back at Haruka. He tilted his head, furrowing his brow. He knows about the area, of course... He helped cause it. However what was even stranger was the girl nearly speed-walking back into his direction, grabbing by the coat and dragging him away towards a more hidden location. As if they weren't hidden enough in an abandoned ex-warzone at night. This already looked super sketchy from all over.

"Uh, yeah I know." Haruka dropped his voice to a whisper, as the girl probably would have preferred. She seemed intent on hiding at the moment. Haruka seemed less worried about the whole ordeal but, well, whatever.

"You really wanna know?" Haruka crossed his arms, peering at the girl. He wasn't particularly skeptical or anything, but should she find out about this information, things could go really south or she might not know how to handle the war that happened here. Utter chaos in the human brain is not what is needed right now.

"Yes, I want to know! I'm trying to get to the bottom of this whole... Thing so I can put an end to it! No one else seems to be capable, so... So I have to take matters into my own hands!" She hissed out. Fubuki ended up letting out more information than she initially wanted to. What if he was the enemy? What if she just told the very source of evil she had been seeking that she was going to stop it? Probably should've thought before speaking. Oh well, too late now. Time to hope for the best.

Fubuki retreated from the stranger a bit, now eyeing him with very obvious suspicion. She positioned herself to escape as quickly as possible if needed, prepared to run at the slightest hint of hostility.

"You're a jumpy one, aren't you." Haruka placed his hands on his hips, breathed a breath of fog, just for fun, and smiled.

"Cool..."

He shook his head, returning his attention to the main source of hissing and what felt like animosity towards Haruka. She didn't want to be toyed with, that's for sure. Haruka pinched the bridge of his nose through his gloves, bit his lip, then clapped a light clap with a "eureka" expression on his face.

"Okay. Let me tell you it from my point of view. I was dead, you see? I died. Then, inside of my body was this freak who was fighting my girlfriend, who brought my back to life because 'reasons.' Long story short, a few weeks ago, a lot of stuff went down regarding the Reverse zombies and the 'Resistance', a group of fighters banded together at the Cardfight Training Area as HQ. They're fighting back the Reverse catastrophe as we speak..."

Beep. Beep. Beep. The tracker on his ankle started to go off. Time to get to bed, it seems.

"Speaking of... that's my cue to head back there. You're welcome to follow me back if you wanna meet the heads of the operation. By the way, I'm Haruka, Haruka Nakahara. Honor to meet you, Kaiyo." He extended his hand somewhat fleetingly as he was slowly starting to walk out from the hidden spot and begin the trek back to the training area before soldiers came looking for the boy.

The comment about her being jumpy kind of bothered Fubuki, but she tried to ignore it. Apparently he found it... Cool? How was that possible? And then he said he was dead. Then something about someone else in his body, fighting a girlfriend, then he's alive again. What kind of whacko nutjob was she dealing with? What actually happened here? Why does no one make any sense in this city!? Questions for later. Apparently a resistance had formed at a Training Area? Well, it was worth che---

"What was that beeping? Why is something on your ankle beeping? Wait, cue to head back there...?" Was his girlfriend keeping him as some kind of pet... slave... thing? Apparently his name was Haruka. He extended his hand, but Fubuki ignored it. She was simply way too confused by what was happening. Once he was almost gone, Fubuki realized that she should probably follow him to the resistance HQ.

"Hey, wait up!!"

Heero wandered through the desolated Hoshiko shopping area. This felt a lot closer to home. This was the state of affairs after anarchy broke out across the world following the elimination of its leaders. The boy was half-expecting to see a head poke out that he could threaten with his method of silence as he usually tended to do. It appeared people didn't live here, though. Made sense, since the rest of the world was in good shape. Why live in an area of decay if you had a better place to be?

Heero spun his pistol on his finger, trying to determine where the flare of power was coming from. It felt like it was coming from here, but it still felt rather distant. It also felt...familiar, as if someone had just managed to release their Generation Zone. Likely one of the other travelers, but it was worth the investigation.

He decided to take his time walking. No matter how long it took, he was going to find that power and end it. For everyone's sake.

Yukino ended up wandering away aimlessly while waiting for an audience with Zenon. No one could even get a hold of him for some reason. The queen gave an annoyed growl, being unable to figure out anything of the situation so far. An irritated gaze into the sky came from the woman on a bench. Better to not have everyone around the house asking her if she's alright or what she's thinking about. She'd rather not draw conclusions and give them to people until she had some idea and confirmation.

Ahmes quietly watched the Seekers fight amongst themselves, feeling a sort of sickening premonition. Zenon should've responded by now, so something must be off.

Cero arrived in the shopping district. He was here in search of more unknown cardfighters with potential that perhaps they hadn't realized themselves. For several hours, he wandered around from building to building, watching cardfighters yet finding no one. At some point, he saw someone on a bench. Hikari. Cero looked down at his secondary deck. Revengers. A deck he had chosen to represent his new path. A slight smirk crossed his face for a moment as he walked towards Hikari. This would be a fitting match to test out his deck.

Once he was near, he shouted at her, "Hikari!"

Yukino turned to see... Cero? He's still here? The queen didn't think Europe was... so confident in having their king of vanguard stay away for so long. She stood, putting Seekers back in the deck case of her hip.

"Cero?"

She seemed surprised at Cero still being here. Which was a proper reaction. Cero should probably have returned to Europe during the past three months, but no. He stayed. His home continent was quite upset with him for this, but they'd forgive him when he returned. Maybe. Hopefully. If not, he'd just have to win another continental tournament.

"Yes, me," Cero said as raised his Revenger deck. "I'm here to challenge you to a cardfight."

"Now? Can't it wait?"

Yukino wasn't really in the mood to further their little rivalry, but then thought about something. She never played Seekers before, and this may be her only chance before the Reaper invasion. Now... might be the best time to try with Cero. He should still play Narukami, so she can practice against a retire matchup.

"... Sure, Cero", the woman accepted his challenge, retracting what she said. "Why now though? And have you even been back to Europe?"

"I haven't been back to Europe yet, no," he replied to Yugure's question. He didn't answer the other part, seeing as it would be revealed with his starting Vanguard. They placed their starting Vanguard's facedown, and when they flipped them face up, Cero was revealed to be playing Revengers against Yukino's Seekers. The beginning game was fairly close, though Cero's inexperience with the clan showed as he forgot to use Judgebau's skill when Mordred hit. Twice. In a row. Yukino was the first to reveal her Legion: Seeker, Sacred Wingal. It called forth Blaster Blade to the Vanguard circle, and an extra Rear-guard. This seemed to switch the direction of the game to Yukino's favour, accompanied by a double critical trigger that would've ended the game had Cero not healed. Cero, however, had been waiting for this.

He performed a Breakriding, revealing his own Legion unit. "Descend now, Corrupted dragon of the sanctuary! Be released from your seal within the blade of determination, and unleash the power to destroy all! Breakride, the Vanguard! Revenger, Phantom Blaster "Abyss!" The abyss dragon that had once terrorized the sanctuary appeared once again. Not only that, its Legion Mate was Blaster Dark "Abyss." Cero attacked, and got his own double critical trigger, though Yukino also got a heal on her sixth damage. It wasn't over yet, however, as Phantom Blaster "Abyss'" Legion Skill activated. Three rear-guards were sacrificed to the dragon, allowing it to stand and attack once again. A perfect guard stopped its attack this time, though Yukino had been left with almost nothing.

She attempted to counterattack with another Legion unit, however its attacks were stopped with ease by Cero. Once again, he rode Phantom Blaster "Abyss" and performed a second Legion. He called a field, and attacked once more, ending the cardfight with another set of double critical triggers.

Cero looked down at his new deck, smiling. Its power was far beyond what he had anticipated, being able to defeat his rival with hardly any effort. "I see..." His gaze returned to Yukino. "My thanks for the chance to test my Revengers."

"Revenger, Phantom Blaster 'Abyss'."

Yukino thought she was getting the hang of Seekers, identifying them to be similar to Royals in general. They were Royal Paladin, after all. That much hadn't changed. The power of bonds and numbers, yet... seeing Blaster Dark line up with his enemy - the Dragon of Hell that used him for his own ambitions... The "Abyss" Legion took away Yukino's mind and breath for the rest of the fight.

"Yunos!" Hikari and Ahmes called out to. Though Blaster Dark didn't answer, the swordsman of darkness seemed rather shocked to hear them.

It was far too much.

Phantom Blaster scored two turns of Double Criticals after Cero survived her own set of them, and the queen was left... breathless. Her worst nightmare had returned, and in the hands of her rival who believed in achieving the ultimate power through sacrifice...

"Holy shit, Hikari! Wake up!" Valrod shouted. The woman's eyes formed swords akin to that of the Legion symbol, and... on Cray, a Reaper appeared.

... A... Reaper...

... appeared.

"What?!" Yukino shouted, unable to really respond to Cero's gratitude. The queen looked off toward the distance, and saw a massive "creature" in Kizoku. "No... No, no, no, no, no!"

"Everyone with an able body who can fight, I need you at Kizoku!"

Raiden was walking through the shopping district. He had hoped he could find more information here, but he wasn't able to get anything. After what happened before, most fighters that were there were all traumatized or injured. He sighed as he looked at his own deckbox. It was empty. It was a difficult thing to see, especially in this time of need. "I can't help anyone like this... I need the strength to be able to fight," he said lightly. He closed his eyes, then thought about something. Was fighting really the best way to think about this. For him, Vanguard was always about building bonds with others. Why did that change now? It shouldn't change.

Mirai was aimlessly walking around, being distracted by almost every shop that sold sweets as well as clothes. Window shopping on most since even she would know that going crazy buying everything would leave her dirt poor. That wasn't the only reason why she was in the shopping district. She has been searching through any card shops she found to finish her mission of remaking Mr. Thunder Man's aka Raiden's Gold Paladin deck. Luckily, she was successful... somehow. I finally finished Mr. Thunder Man's deck! Mirai deserves a cookie! The blond nodded on her own thoughts for a sweet treat and looked through the party shops for something appetizing.

Raiden opened his eyes, looking outward as he saw the girl once again. Mirai... He remembered the spirit from his vision saying she would have the deck for him. He walked up to her, wondering if she really did. Even now it was hard to believe that they would know something like that. "Mirai..." he said to her. "I'm surprised to see you here. What... are you doing?"

The poor girl was drooling a little over the sight of the good looking pastries. She had a very big sweet tooth. Must.... have.... Mirai was hypnotized by the pastries that she would probably break through the glass just to get some. That was when she heard a familiar voice and looked up with a lost look in her face. It was Mr. Thunder Man! What good timing, now that his deck was ready to go through a few rounds.

"Heeeeeyyyy!! What a surprise! Just when I realized I had no way of getting a hold of you! I would of been a thief if I never found you again! Thank goodness I'm not going to jail." Mirai nodded almost as if she would believe that she would actually go to jail if she was caught with a deck that didn't belong to her. Her imagination sure did run wild but at least her randomness is consistent if that makes any sense. That was when she returned his deck, now new and improved with the power to Legion. "Want to give the deck a test run to see if you like it?" Asking, again with the same innocent smile she made with Noel before they had their fight.