Umano Underground Slums

"Nrgh..." Bashiro turned to lay on his side when the magazine was removed, like his mother opened the curtains of his window for the next day of school. "Come on baby, just five more minutes..." ... Okay he was thinking about a girlfriend more than his mother. He was so sleepy and oblivious, the man didn't respond to Karin's foot being applied to his chair, or even her hand grazing his face.

In fact, it was like a dream. His loving wife was trying to wake him up for work. A gorgeous blond, even. "Rise and shiiiiine, sleepyheaaaad", she would call and giggle ever so sweetly. He was in love, but just didn't want to get up yet.

Karin's smile immediately dropped into a very displeased frown. This man was dreaming, and was only getting deeper into it with Karin's actions. Wonderful. Karin had never felt more disgusted in her life, and the annoyance that was beginning to well up inside her was only aiding it. No wonder the other guys here wanted this oaf gone. Karin removed her foot from the chair and reeled herself back for a few moments, deciding her next action; A decision she made within an instant.

Stretching her arms to her sides, she grabbed the bottom of the chair the man slept on, and, with her insane strength, lifted both the chair and the man himself up into the air above her head. She lowered her stance down, folding herself into more of a crouch or squat. Then she sprang back up, and the man was now up in the air a few feet above Karin, the chair still in her hands. Throwing it forward and overhead with ease, she reared her leg back as the tossed chair crashed into a wall.

Karin wound up and released, her foot connecting to the man's stomach perfectly. He was launched into the wreckage of the chair. Karin's foot landed firmly back onto the ground.

"Wha-" Bashiro suddenly awoke at the feeling of sitting... high up. High up in the air. Because he was high up, this crazy chick came out of nowhere, and was picking up himself and the chair! The eyepatched bum couldn't even comprehend what on earth was happening by the time the chair was thrown away, and he was in mid-air. Everything felt floaty and instantaneous... seeing the chair go flying, watching the woman wind up, and witnessing the world below him all at once. It all came to an end when the girl's foot hit him in the gut. "Bhhrrhgophf-" gibberish came out of his mouth as he was sent flying into his old chair into the wall.

Everyone else was busy cheering. Long live ferocious dropkicks.

"What the hell?!" Bashiro got up almost immediately, and then stopped to lean against a wall from being discombobulated. "What the hell are you doing, I was takin' a nap!"

Such a nice dream, too...

Wait, why is everyone cheering and laughing-

"Oh, did you bastards put her up to this?! That's cute, you buncha backstabbers!"

He was really betrayed, honestly. Everyone here felt like a drinking buddy to him. ... As long as he never paid.

Karin put her foot down in front of her now, giving off a fiery, intimidating aura, the sound of her step echoing throughout the building. "Eyes on me, oaf. I've been getting report after report that you're causing way more harm than good down here, and I'm here to put a stop to it. If it isn't clear already, you've annoyed a lot of the wrong people." Karin dropped into a battle-ready stance, her eyes locked onto her target. She couldn't tell if this guy was still half-asleep, or just clueless. Admittedly, he seemed like both. "The Resistance has put a lot of effort towards keeping the peace. We're not about to have you come in and ruin all that work. Now do you need another kick, or are you going to start behaving yourself?"

"Huh?" Bashiro was completely confused as to what she was talking about. More harm than good? He wasn't really doing much but knocking people that bothered him into... second floor basements of abandoned buildings. Maybe he is doing a bit more damage than expected. Still, the fury she emitted was a tad bit unnecessary, wasn't it?! "Okay, hold on", the thug tried to calm her to listen. Let him give his testimony at least before giving him another sentence to ferocious dropkicks. Rule number one: don't physically fight women unless it's... not really a "fight". More of a... y'know.

"I've no idea what this Resistance thing is. Is that the group of guys who hung out here three months ago? I've just been kicking back and relaxing since then. Though, with Hikaru gone, all hell eventually broke loose, and I'm just tryin' to defend myself. I... may have caused a bit of destruction in doing so. I apologize."

Bashiro was a man of honor and sincere apologies when called for. The eyepatched brute got down on his knees, and bowed to emphasize that fact. Great, now the other gang members felt bad for their joke. ... Then again, he's done this same crap with buying drinks, and he still hasn't paid anyone back!

"You lyin' dirtbag!"

"I'm tellin' ya the truth, man! I ain't here to mess with peace, I want peace!"

"How about peace with the money you owe us, eh?!"

"... Lemme get back to you next week."

Liar!

"See?! He can't be trusted! He's said since last year!"

Karin stepped up to the man, now that he was bowing. At the very least, he didn't seem like he was necessarily evil or anything like that. A lazy oaf and a total jerk, maybe, but that didn't mean his intentions couldn't be... well, relatively good. Karin put a hand to her hip, shaking her head again. "Well, I'm not going to just let you go, but if you're willing to apologize, that's certainly a good start." Karin whipped out her notepad again and, flipping it open, began scribbling something down. "Shows signs of genuine remorse... willing to make promises of change for the better... likely unreliable to follow through on said promises..." Karin listed off her notes quietly as she jotted them all down, making reference for her later report after finishing her rounds. She flipped the pad shut and tucked it back into her pocket before returning her attention to the oaf. "Alright, let's get things straightened out. If my info is right, then the Hikaru you mentioned is the same Hikaru who acted as a leader for all the gangs down here until he went missing some time ago. Because of that, this place has gotten significantly more violent, or at the very least active. And yet, whenever something happens down here, there's always a reason for it. You, on the other hand... Have just been attacking people for, as far as the reports can tell, no reason whatsoever. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't realize the impact of your actions, but that doesn't excuse them." Karin spoke with a bit of edge on her words to get her points across, and to make sure the man would actually pay attention to what she was saying. "Now, I'm sure you'd like a chance to defend at least some of your actions, and that's perfectly fine. The people you've attacked, most of them at least, were also itching to have a word or two with you about what you did to them. Chris, Louie, Cindy, Albert, Roger, Jeffery, both Williams, Frank, John..." Karin rattled off name after name, counting out each individual victim of the man's violence. The list took a solid three minutes for her to read through. "...Anna, Charlie, Carla, Ted, and finally Larry. All people you've attacked at some point or another in the past few months alone. Your assault count is almost as high as the death count from three months ago. So, I'm here to tell you that you need to get your act together, or I'll have to take even more drastic actions. Which may include more dropkicks."

"Hey, hey, what the hell are you writing?! I hear you mumbling, that's about me!" Bashiro stood up but he... didn't exactly deny the last part about him being unreliable. He just didn't want that on his record, or any record. ... Then again, it was on most police records. After sweating nervously a minute, he grinned a bit. At least she could see he wasn't necessarily a bad guy. Sure, he... was willing to pay someone else to do his time. He wouldn't try a jailbreak or anything though. ... These Resistance guys didn't arrest people, right?

Giving a bit of an annoyed sigh, the brawler scratched the back of his head. This was ridiculous, and he wanted to go back to sleep. The snickering of those traitors in the background only served to further irritate. Folding his arms and holding his head up, he began listening to the "report" of this madwoman. She was right on the money until she mentioned him attacking people for no reason.

"I'm doin' it out of self defense!" Bashiro shouted when she finished. At least that part was true. Though, for some odd reason, she started making a... list of names. Now he was sweating again... the girls on that list were... probably not due to acts of direct violence. Though, some names like Cindy and Carla brought back some angry bar fight memories with Chris and Jeffery. Didn't help Ted got involved at the time too. In fact, a good number of those people she named were at the bar way back.

He must've gotten on bad terms with them through the months after that bar fight.

"Uh..." Bashiro was honestly at a loss for words. He couldn't exactly deny that he did rough up the guys, and the girls might've been hurt by him hurting their "boy-toys" or him being drunk. He did need to get his act together. "... Uh..."

Unfortunately, due to his lack of taking responsibility, that's all he could really mutter.

Dammit.

Karin put her other hand on her other hip now. Both hands, man, this was serious business. She leaned forward again, staring him straight in the eye. "Self-defense or not, you single-handedly quintupled the crime rate here. Sure, some of them may have been true self defense and you did the right thing at the time. But there's no way all of these reports are wrong, and I'm damn well sure you could do a lot better than you are right now. So I'll tell you again, just to make sure it's clear for you, and so there's no misunderstandings." Karin leaned in right up to the man's face, only about a foot of empty air spanning between them. "If I hear even one more report about you hitting someone, including hitting on someone, you'll be seeing a spectacular view of the whole underground complex as I punt you into the sun. With my preferred foot."

Okay so maybe he had been drunk a number of times. "Q-Quintupled?!" Bashiro was awestruck by the damage he had caused on accident. She or someone had to be making that up, man, he didn't do it! Well, he didn't do most of it! Oh man, this is a cruel setup. Where's an attorney when you need one? His train of thought was cut off when the woman suddenly invaded his personal space, making him flinch. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

"Hitting on someone?! That's not a crime!"

At least let him have his women, man.

"Can't we work something better out? That doesn't involve me getting kicked into space?"

Karin stepped back and pulled herself upright again, folding her arms now. "Of course we can work something out, as long as you understand the gravity of the situation you're in. If you'd like, I can call up my boss, and see if she'll talk with you. I'd imagine you'd be able to cut some sort of a deal with her... assuming she doesn't cut you first, that is." Karin only muttered the last part of her sentence, almost inaudibly, to herself. "One way or another, though, the random assaults have to stop."

Wait, her boss was a woman? ... Wait, her boss was a woman. A bit of a interested chuckle was let out. Now he wanted to meet her, boss ladies were always amazing gems in the rough. He understood the gravity of the situation, and apparently did nothing with that understanding. He didn't even hear about the possibility of him getting cut.

"Let's work out some kind of deal, yeah? Maybe something else to fix this, like... Like! Like a game of vanguard! Kids these days use that to settle stuff, right?"

He's meeting this boss lady, but only after this lady here assures there won't be any further dropkicks. If he has to do a card game to do it, that's fine. It doesn't require anyone getting hit or hurt, at least. He couldn't hurt a woman, but he can play a game of cards with her.

"A game of Vanguard... Right..." Karin was only a little skeptical. Now that it was mentioned, she knew it would probably result in a cardfight, though she couldn't help but feel like it would prove pointless in the end. But, this man was willing to cooperate, at least there was that. "Alright, alright. I'll give her a call and we'll take it from there."

Pulling out her phone, Karin hit her speed-dial for Yugure, and put the phone to her ear. "Miss Yugure, this is Karin. I found the source of last Thursday's crime spike in Umano. He says he's willing to cooperate, at the very least... Though he said he wanted a cardfight."

"Not with her!" Bashiro rushed up and took the phone from Karin, quietly closing it to hang up. "With you!"

He really didn't want to meet the boss until this matter was settled first.

Karin snatched the phone back from the man, sighing as she stowed it away. "Alright, alright, geez. I'll fight you." Karin pulled her own deck out now, moving over to a stray table and laying her deck out onto it.

A "brawl" in the Dragon Empire broke out. Hosted by... the Brawlers of Narukami, a new faction that displayed immense power. They took the empire by storm by punching a fleet of antagonistic aerial fighters out of the sky. Now they stood against the Empire's very best: Dragonic Overlord. Bashiro was pretty sure he bit off more than he could chew, fighting against one of the strongest Kagero. Still, if it meant not getting his face beat in... The two played an interesting game of maddening front row hate. Everything the other did could destroy the frontline, and would the entire game forever. So the thug played the waiting game. Waited until she slipped up and called a full field trying to tackle him down in a full rush. ... And it never happened.

At the very least, the bum was no idiot. He avoided the Great's Legion Skill while letting Skyhowl in the back get retired. In addition to that, he kept a massive supply of shielding in hand to match Karin's along with constantly refilling his deck of triggers. His drop zone was even devoid of them half of the game. Though, he got rather sick of waiting in a grind game of an endless cycle. They'd just keep retiring the same front row until someone died of old age or ripped a bunch of triggers at once.

So he let Bigbang Knuckle Dragon loose.

Even more, his "specialty" gave all of his units power when he would hit.

A punch to the air was made by the man, moving in tandem with his Legion. The human's fist blew away some cards, and even some people behind Karin. His superhuman strength was revealed and synchronized with the thunder dragon. Had Karin not Perfect Guarded, even if he didn't get a critical...

He just shrugged it off.

Kagero players are tough, man.

A man up in the mountains who also played the clan told Bashiro: "Thinking with your fists first usually works out, for you". It's how he gets into messes, and how he gets out of them. Yet, it's simple enough for him to live by. He is but a simple man, you see. That's why Karin releasing some "Generation Zone" made no sense. ... Until a 26000 powered behemoth appeared with Triple Drive.

"The power to surpass reality", she called it.

A memory. A memory of Bashiro and someone else in the mountains, lying on the ground. Towering above was a massive, celestial entity that had taken them both on at once. An unknown "geezer" sat in the back of the shadows, having won a cardfight.

It was the same power.

Bashiro kept that to himself and made a joke. "The only thing I'll want to keep surpassing is the credit card limit of my drinking buddy", a sneer. Stride was ridiculous, and way over his head. It was... interesting and left an impression of strength. But it just wasn't him. Despite pumping his deck with Heal Triggers and Perfect Guarding the Imperial Dragon Emperor, Root Flare, he couldn't get the heal he needed to survive.

They exchanged names.

She wasn't giving him her number.

"No need. It's already been engraved... in my heart." A grin with a little twinkle.

Good lord this guy is an asshole.

"You've left an impression on me. So I'll be good, like I promised. Just... the thing you did... was far more painful than necessary."

He admittedly saw a destructive image of Root Flare and "Sharyu" on Cray, blasting Bigbang Knuckle Dragon and Bigbang Slash with flames that could engulf the world. ... Even with a scary thought like that, the oaf was proud enough of himself. Holding his own and getting a pretty girl to show him something neat?

Probably another that fell head over heels for him.

An arrogant chuckle came from the brute.

Karin scooped her cards back up and tucked them away neatly after the fight. They exchanged names, and Karin proceeded to jot down his promise to behave into her notepad. "No, I'm sure it was quite necessary." It was beyond necessary, of course, but Karin relished putting an oaf like him in their place. Besides, exercising her power every now and again was healthy. At least, to her it was. "Well, if that's all, then I have a job to get back to." Karin flipped her pad closed and slipped it back into her pocket, heading for the door to go off and finish her rounds of the underground.

"Lady, I barely had a hand to guard with! How was that necessary?!" Bashiro shouted. In what world is a Triple Driving behemoth necessary when he only had three cards in his hand?! Especially the part with getting two heals off of it! "Oi, wait!"

She was gone.

Everyone was laughing at him again-

He kept his promise for about ten seconds before punching one of those backstabbing, giggling punks into a nearby building.

"Forget this shit man", Bashiro sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. The lazy bum departed while the others rushed over, showing concern for the poor sap who got hit.

The one who rushed over was.... in fact, not Haruka. No, he was conscious now, but he was still unable to really do much besides talk, drink coffee, and watch television idly.

Sera made the mad-dash from Hoshiko's rural district back to the slums. Appearing on the scene, I sucked in his heavy breathing to appear as if he just showed up without much of a reason besides the text Yukino had sent out about heading to this district for regrouping. Sera was unscathed and somewhat stricken by survivor's guilt, but would have suffered from deserter's guilt if he left Haruka to die.

Guilty man, guilty life... guilty crown.

Sera stood out front of what he presumed to be the HQ that Yukino mentioned in the text. He wasn't particularly sure if anyone was really here or not. Besides brooding thugs and brutes and a few creepy weirdos Sera wasn't particularly interested in getting to know. He waved his hand to them, walking by.

"So... what's going on here then..." He muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and pouting a bit.

Cero had sneaked out of Kizoku after his loss against the abomination.  He had ignored Seifer, and instead of checking on him when got slapped by a tentacle, took the opportunity to escape.  There was no way he could help any more in that battle, so there was no point in staying and letting his pride be injured further.  When he received the message on the bangle, he reluctantly headed towards the Slums.  When he arrived, he leaned against a building, gripping his left arm.  At some point, it had been injured but Cero hadn't noticed right away, because, well, adrenaline.  When he arrived, he saw....  Nobody important.  Figures.

"Oi, big guy. Over here."

Sera crossed his arms and craned his neck, expecting a response relatively soon. While the two aren't on particularly great terms, obviously, it couldn't kill him to at least speak up or something when somebody was talking to him.

"You got the same text?"

Sera pulled out his phone, waving it in the air like it was some Magical Girl summoning tool. He almost struck a pose too but realized in the area he's at, he might just get beat up for that.

Or at least they could try. And that was enough of a reason to keep Sera on the straight and narrow.

Soldiers and the like were flooding into the area, and Bashiro had followed along with his hands in pockets. The residents of Umano greeted them warmly, which made the thug a bit jealous since nobody else did that for him except the guys at the shop. Sigh, whatever. Buncha backstabbers that sold him out anyway. Doesn't look like anyone's boss was here though.

"Bro!" Jessie called out to, rushing over. When Bashiro looked, he also saw Cero in the same direction.

"Oh, shit", Bashiro cursed, grabbing Jessie when he approached, moving away from that crazy asshole from the other day. "Hey... little man. Where'd the others go?"

"Ran there asses back here, wondering where you were."

"I had some... unfinished business."

"Stop trying to be cool and just tell me you doofus."

"Stayed back and fought that thing."

"Are you insane?!"

"Probably", the man shrugged, walking in the middle of the bustling activity.

--------------------------------------------

There was an explosion- no there wasn't. It was a silent blast of void erasing the bars that contained a prisoner of the highest threat level.

"T̶̡̡́͜i͜͜͟͜͠m̨͡͝e̶͡ ́t͞҉̡̨͠ǫ̢͘͞ ҉̸́͘͞c̢͏̶̡͏o̵̢m͏͘è̵̶ ̧̀͟b̸̷̕a͝͡c̸̢k̷̛̕͡ ҉́̀ẃ̛̛͝i̡͘t̨́h҉҉̶̵̧ ̷͘͝͠u̶̕s̛̀̕͜,̶̡̕͞҉ ̨̕͜͝҉i̵d̵̢ì̵̕ǫ̴́́͞t́͝.̧́͞ ̴҉̨͞Ģ̷̀̕ơ̧͞͠í̡̧n̢̧̕͜͞ǵ͡͞ ̷̨͞t̸̨͜͞ó͘͢͡ ̀͢͝h͘̕a̴̡̡̕͝v̀͝҉̴͟e҉̷̢́͡ ̧͝t͘͜͜o̧̨͏ ̛͠ś̶̨̧́è̶̢͠͝ę̵͘ ̵̨̀͜͞ẁ̡h̸̵̕͜͞a̡̛͟͜t́ ̵̸̴̧͡I̵̛̕͜͡ ̷̶̸̨c͟͝a̴̡̛͜͜n̴̴ ̨̀d̷̵̛͡͝o̧͘ ̶̴͟a̢̛͞b̛͠͡o̡̡ư̷̸͞͞t̷̴͞ ̢̀͠͠ẃh̵̷͟a͝҉̡҉͏t̷̵̷͜ ̡̨́G̡͘̕͜͡l̨̡̢e̢̢̡̨n̴̵̡͘d̷̢̡̛͝i̴͟͏̕o̢͠ś̵ ̨̨͘a̛͏̀͝ņ̕͘͠d̷̨͞҉ ̨͘͘t̵́͘͞h̶͜è̵̢͟ ̢͢͟҉C͞͝l͢ò͘w͢͏͝͡n̶ ͘͏a̵͢͡͠r̨͟͠͏͝e̵̢͝͡ ̡͜͠d̛͞o̡͝͠i̛͜͞͞͞ń̵̸g̢̀͢͜ ̵͝t̛̛́͘͜o͟͜ ̸y̛͘͜o̸͜ú̢͡͡҉.̶͢" Was hissed and screeched quietly by the big-breasted redhead from Kizoku. Two Deletors that seemed similar to each other with one having a single enlarged right arm, and another having a larger left arm appeared. These servant drones went inside, and picked up the comatose Shiki.

"C͠͝ú̴̢͢͟t͡͠è̸́͜͝ ̵̶̧́̀b̷̡̛͜ó̵͞y̵̷ ̶́͡w͟͞h̢í̡͟l͟҉͏̵͏e̶͏̴ ̵h͝e̕͢͟'̶̡̨s̷ ͘͠s̛҉̸̸̴l͢͢͡ȩ̶ȩ҉̶̧͡p̶̛͞͏i̛͡n̷̨̢͡g̡̕͏̡͢.̧͢͜͞ ̸̨̛͝͠D̷̀͡ǫ̶̶͢͠e̵͝ś̶͞n͘͟͡'̡̨͜t̛͢ ̷̛́͏̧l҉̸̶̢o̸̷͘͟o͘͡͏́͢k͏̢̨́ ̕͜l̷̨̕͞i̸͢͏ķ̛̕͢ę́͝ ̨͟͝͏h̡̕͢e̕ ́͜͝͠͠f̵̵̕͢͝i̵̵̷҉g͏̷̷̨͠u͏̢̕r̶͡e͝d̕͟ ̡̢o̵̢͝͠ư͢͞t̡́ ̵́a͞҉҉n͜͠y͏́͞t̢͏̵̛̕h̡͏i̷̷n̛͘͟͢͏ģ̶̶ ̵̴̧i͜͠ǹ̴̢͘͟ ̷̢t̷̛́͠h͝҉̡͠i̴͝ş̶͢͝͝ ͜҉̷̢͘t͏̡̡i̶̡m̛͜͝e͏̶͟͝ļ̕͘͜i̴̧n̴͟͜e͏͠͡҉ ͝͏̡͟e̡͏į́t̷̢̕͟h̶̛e̵͏̷̛r̷͘͢ ̨̕͝t̶͘͜͠h҉̶̡͜͜o̶̧͏̶͠u̕͏͘͝g͜͡h̷̛̀͢͞.̛̀" The woman let out garbled speech, speaking of the boy's "cute" look while sleeping, and something about the Clown. The drones gave him to her, and she nuzzled him like a child. Being his higher-up among Link Joker, she was practically entitled to be his mother anyway. After all, the reapers are cleaning up their mess.

She simply walked away, carrying him with the ethereal Deletors following.

Where were the guards?

...

What guards?

"Oh. It's you. Yes, I got the message," Cero responded. He looked at Sera with confusion, as the wave made him look more feminine than some women. Admittedly, Cero was half-expecting someone from the slums to try and beat the snot out of Sera when he did that. Out of the corner of his eye, Cero noticed Bashiro had arrived. The temptation to walk over and knock Bashiro out was strong, but Cero resisted it. For now. He returned his attention back to nothing. No one here was particularly worth the time.

"Ah... right then." Sera simply dropped the act and put his phone in his pocket, climbed up a nearly stack of boxes and sat atop it, looking through his deck for evidence of any new changes since he got it. Besides Zodiac, some very very specific support sat in it... Would have to try this one day.

In the meantime, dreamtime. Sera passed out sitting up. His hair dropped over his eyes so it didn't look so weird that not only did he fall asleep sitting up; but with his eyes open.

Great, I think he saw me, Bashiro dreaded, looking away from Cero. Last thing he wanted was to communicate with that guy again.

"Attention, maggots! Commander Hikari is back on the premises!" A high ranking general told the other nameless soldiers, not referring to higher powers like Cero, Sera, and the like. The ice queen marched in with a squad backing her, along with Raiden and the following Carlos. The Umano dogs welcomed the woman back, and the soldiers saluted their commander. They were told to be at ease.

"This place kind of sucks, but we were able to hook up what we needed, and establish a chain of command", a researcher said.

"I hope you guys don't mind. We'll be using this place as our new headquarters." Yukino spoke to the residents.

"Not at all! At least the damn turf wars stop with you around. They're still scared of trying to pull shit with you here", a thug replied.

"I can answer questions now", the Chosen Sword stated, giving her Reality Bangle to researchers to testing. "I figured out what happened to Stride, and I need you guys to confirm. Also, try to find Kraken, if you can. Try to get medical reports to me as well, and find Haruka."

"Sir!" They saluted, they departed.

Raiden walked in behind her, looking around the slums. He had asked quite a few people here question within the time he was researching. As a result, he knew the place well. It wasn't ideal for a base of operations, but it would do. It was all he needed.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then said, "I cardfought many people here for information. It feels strange being here without the power to do the same. At any rate, I'll inform Xateramusa about this. She can assist with communicating with Cray."

He sent a text to her. Yukino and I are in the Umano Underground Slums. She wants to know more about your abilities as well as help to find Darren.