"Cardfight in Wonderland" - Zoo Branch

Koga took the candy from Victoria, mentioning that she felt sorry about her brother being so... Let's say absentminded. Yeah, that sounds better. The young girl just nodded at the comment, incapable of saying anything about her brother but also unable to refute it. Soon after that, she began to notice how everyone just took position and, out of nowhere, started running towards the reserve behind the building. Among them were Aoi, Koga, even Jessie, with the former being unnaturally fast for a human being, or even for an animal. The young girl just stood there, trying to make sense of that sudden movement. Somehow, she didn't notice the big 'GO!' announced a little after the performance ended.

Everyone seemed to be in high spirits thanks to the event and were looking forward to have a lot of cardfights today against many members of the Zoo staff. However, Victoria wasn't one of them. She proceeded to walk calmly towards the nature preserve, admiring the building on her way there. Even though she wasn't interested in having any match today, she expressed a mild desire to look for the riddler in order to excersice her mind. Solving riddles are way more fun than winning a gold card, or thats what she thought. 'I promised my brother I'll have fun. And I'll do it in my own way' She said to herself, excusing her way of thinking. 'The preserve looked very beautiful from the outside'.

The bulk of the Zoo staff couldn't have hoped to make it into their places in time given the absurd speed exhibited by the gumball right out the gate and others of comparable agility shortly afterwards. They'd have to move a bit faster than they were hoping if they were going to make it. But before too many of the more relaxed participants got going everything would be ready, albeit with a bunch of out of breath people in animal costumes.

The first thing everyone would notice was just how ridiculously large the preserve was. The branch had been obviously in the middle of the city but this nature preserve barely felt like it was connected to the city at all.

Straight ahead of the branch building and extending some ways back into the preserve, the fighters would encounter the meadow area. There would be very little actually in hiding here as the place was largely grass and flower dominated with some shrubs here and there but next to no trees. The staff employees would stick out like sore thumbs here unless they were lying down in some tall grass. Moving about would be varying types of rodents, rabbits and grazing animals, deer in particular. Most would nervously move out of the way of oncoming fighters but if one were slow enough they might be able to approach something or other. Here was where the gold card obtained without fighting could be found, on the chance one could find Satoshi. From the middle of the meadow one could see clearly all the other areas.

To the southeast was the decently sized lake. Animals from around the preserve would make trips to it for water but birds in particular seemed to flock together here. Ducks were abundant and the lake was literally hopping with fish as some could be seen jumping every few seconds. Along the banks of the lake, wooden bridge like structures had been allowed to float along the surface of the water. They would support a couple of people's weight at a time but too many more and it might be time for people to swim. It seemed the fights on the lake would quite literally happen on the lake. While most were along the banks over shallows there was one long bridge that spanned the entire length of the lake running south to north. At the very middle and deepest part of the lake one would expect to find their gold card challenge. Just getting out there without falling into the water felt like it would be a challenge all its own.

North of the lake and to the northeast of the meadow were a stretch of rolling hills, one of the further back hills pushed up farther than the others and began to resemble something more of a mountain. Wild horses ran about, and reptiles were more abundant here than in the plains. Watch out for snakes! The hills provided a lot of spots for staff members to be just out of sight unless one were to climb a specific hill. This felt like it would get tiring quickly given the abundant up and down of it all. Naturally the tallest mountain felt like the most natural place for the gold card holder to occupy but whether that meant the summit or not was up to them.

To the northwest of the meadow and west of the hills lay a vast desert. The dirt of the other areas abruptly shifted to sand and the sun somehow felt significantly hotter here than anywhere else. Cacti dotted the landscape and sand dunes piled high from the desert breeze. Watch out for scorpion pits. There were camels moving about in place too. Meerkats, coyotes and other such animals could be seen scurrying about from time to time as well. Off in the distance if one looked... was that an oasis? It looked like water, or was that just a heat mirage? Only getting closer could tell, but if it were an oasis one might think to find the gold card challenge there.

South of the desert and southwest of the meadow was the rainforest. It seemed truly out of place that this one preserve could have a lush green meadow, a scorching desert and a dense rainforest all within this proximity of each other. But sure enough there it was. Now usually one would have expected quite the array of wildlife inside. Monkeys, large cats, frogs, birds, bugs, snakes and insects of all varieties. But as the fighters moved through the outer edges of it, while there were certainly staff members a plenty among the many trees, the animals all seemed to be missing. The map indicated there was a small central clearing and as if to confirm it, strange noises could be heard emanating from the center of the place. Almost like the usual noises of life in the rainforest were concentrated into a small area. It sounded unsettling at any rate.

And so this was where the young fighters found themselves. Not the typical setting for a cardfight but something about it felt wonderful and exciting. And at the pavilion at the beginning of the meadow stood the Mad Hatter, awaiting the first of the many excited souls to return.

Hikari's complete focus on the rainforest and the roaring wind in her ears completely drowned out the calls of Rin from behind her. In her single-mindedness, she was almost unaware that other people were even moving in the same direction as her, much less that she was being called after. She merely kept sprinting at top speed towards the rainforest. Coming upon the edge of the forest, she hesitated not a moment and leaped straight into the thick of it, only narrowing avoiding slamming into a tree as she did so. The lack of animals accompanied by all the noise concentrated in one single area was unnerving, but Hikari pushed on undeterred. What she needed to concern herself with was the staff members holding onto the normal cards.

Hikari's eyes darted around the forest as she ran. Spotting something, she changed her course. She grabbed a cluster of vines hanging from a nearby tree, planted her feet against the trunk, and quickly pulled herself up into the branches. With her new vantage point, Hikari scanned the trees, searching for Zoo staff dressed up as animals. After a moment, she found one dressed up as a lion, and descended upon him. Leaping from the tree and landing on the ground was a little more painful than she expected, and her legs felt kind of numb, but she couldn't let that distract her. She took out her deck and called out to the lion-man, "Alright, let's rumble!"

The fight was a total victory for Hikari. The staff member's Great Nature deck was no match as Hikari hit him hard early on by playing risky, calling triggers from her hand to get extra attacks in and rush him down, willingly taking extra damage to build up her pool of counterblasts. When Victor came out, followed by her first stride, Meteokaiser, Vic-Ten, accompanied by a pair of White Hanks, he was faced with an avalanche of units repeatedly standing each other for an almost ceaseless assault. With his hand and board completely depleted by her all-out assault, he was completely unable to defend against her second and final stride with Meteokaiser, Victplasma. Hikari confidently blew through his last remaining defenses and claimed her victory. Now with a Rainforest card in hand, she had only to find the golden card holder and claim another victory.

Much to Karin's surprise, the actual performance was incredibly fun. Once the music started, she immediately got into the swing of things, able to (mostly) sync up with her partners' movements, matching their footwork perfectly even if her upper body motions were slightly off. Though, despite being able to fully enjoy herself in the act, she did still feel a number of eyes falling on her... aimed much lower than she felt comfortable with. But she pushed through it all, managing to end their slightly choppy performance with a bang. Not everyone in the audience cheered for them when they finished, but the majority did, and that was enough for her. It felt good knowing she'd made so many peoples' days at least a little better. Waving to the crowd, Karin made sure to step backwards off the stage in order to avoid accidentally flashing thousands of people due to the unexpected shortness of her skirt. Once she was safely out of sight, she immediately retreated to the makeshift dressing room, feeling exhausted and a little overwhelmed by her first real performance.

---

Sakuya felt the sudden gust of wind, holding onto her hairpiece to make sure it didn't blow right off of her head. She blinked, staring at the empty space where Aoi had been only moments ago, then looked to where she'd gone- She was already out of sight, having dashed into the race at, quite literally, sonic speed. "My goodness... Just as always, you outpace me at every turn, Aoi..." She said to herself quietly, breaking into a run along with everyone else. She had to pace herself a little slower than most others, having not exerted herself physically to such an extent in some time, but she made her way towards the set of hills she saw in the distance, noting that fewer fighters were going towards them or the desert. Hopefully, she could make it to one of the targets before someone else took them out.

Late was an understatement. Seifer had made it finally, having driven through the traffic, his hair now in full frizz puff as the anxiety caught up with him. He'd missed the performance, a tragedy that shall not be forgiven. Making is way through the crowd, the silver haired puff watched the action unfold quietly, hoping that he wouldn't be found by the others immediately.

_______________________________________________
Sighing to himself, a boy in a black and red hoodie scratched the side of his head with the hood up, a few strands of red hair spilling out. The burst of wind almost knocked him over, and the booming left his ears ringing. "Could of blown an ear drum." glancing at the other participants who began taking off, he struck out as well, trying to note where everyone went. Too many to keep up with, so he gave up and started running off toward the desert. Had to start somewhere, and he figured the least populated the better for now. He hoped anyway. In the back of his mind somewhere he still harbored some doubts about this, being the first thing he was coming back to, but what better way to surprise everyone?

Jessie and Koga weren't sure what to expect or think as Aoi's unreal speed actually blew away some of the competition, making several people start late while their ears were ringing from her sonic boom. Not wanting to fall any further behind, thinking the gumball got a massive lead, they ran with everyone inside and separated. With all the fighters having rushed in, it was then some of the staff would notice one of the bunny rabbits - particularly the one Aoi was looking at - was missing. Then, on top of that, numerous ducks from the lake had already gotten out of sight. This was the result of the speedy lass beginning to amass her army of the animal kingdom, obtaining her fluffy bunny companion and being dubbed the queen of duck kind. It was as stupid as it sounded... And now, since Hana was free of her duties, she was looking to get started in joining the event as she finally got to take a look at Karin's skirt... The bluenette had been so caught up in her own performance, she didn't see the damage done to the clan leader's outfit thanks to magical flames, found herself witnessing yet another awkward display of a wardrobe malfunction for Karin. It was almost as bad as her sister's "display" at the Messiah Scramble...

Hana sighed, whereas Aoi was commanding the soldiers that came to follow her goofy cause.

Jessie managed to quickly make his way into the rainforest. While he was athletic and gifted with strong legs that could kick a reaper's head to shatter its skull... He wasn't nearly equipped with the superhuman speed Aoi boasted. He fumbled a bit as he was trying hard to be faster, stopping and breathing heavily to find the area's gold card holder.

The other members of the staff had gotten to place, and the event really got started over time. Though, it didn't take long for players to warn others "don't go to the hills". "Watch out for snakes" was accurate, as the vile "Killer Queen" dominated the land and toyed with the minds of those who trespassed. The gold card holders were supposed to be a band of misfits messing with the natural order of their domain, and she was doing it better than everyone. The exhausting mountain hikes would get to people purely to check where she is, and she'd leave hints that she was at the summit... only for it to be a lie, and she was hanging around the base the entire time. Other times, she would leave blatant clues that she was right by the entrance, but they would only be met by the terror of a multi-colored mutant wearing a tattered, green cape that roared, baring its fangs and instilling horror into souls that met its piercing, green gaze. Participants would scream, and Chrisaline Egao would trample the fearful lambs who managed to find her in the confusion. It was there in the hills that Koga found her "fellow" Link Joker player causing a scene. The cabbage was irritated while the sadistic moth girl was having the time of her life.

Of course a fight ensued.

Chris had gotten with the times, putting down Machining as she utilized the mutant dubbed with the name of the strongest soldier in Megacolony: Intimidating Mutant, "Darkface". Truly, this monstrosity was much more befitting her personality to torment others, and despite her promise to behave, she was laughing up a storm as the psychological warfare of Darkface's unique Generation Break Two caused migranes and tears. "Don't you see how you're acting is only making things worse for everyone else?!" Koga reprimanded, doing her best to retaliate with Neo Nectar's emissary: Ahsha. Thanks to the nature of the deck, superior calls helped in trying to push for game, but the stunning mechanics that opposed her made her Especial Intercept grade one: Vallila, near useless since the stuns event stopped intercepts. It still gained shield for guarding, but... It was one of many issues Koga suffered from, having to use the abilities of Arborea and Gladious - who would normally extend combos - to instead try to outplay Darkface's Soul Blast.

"I have no idea what you're talking about~" Chris replied with a mocking tone, crossing her legs as she sat upon Longhorn Hunter's shoulders while the other soldiers fought. "I'm only having fun. Is that not what Vanguard is all about? Having a good time? Surely, we of Link Joker deserve that." Lips curving into a malefic grin, the chaos-loving she-devil spectated as Koga and others struggled heavily. It was by a miracle Koga was keeping Chris' advantage leveled by using up all her hand and superior calls.

"Fun at the expense of others isn't the way for us to be accepted!"

"Unfortunately for you, I don't particularly care about that."

"You should, because it affects you as much as it affects us, stupid brat! Watch!" The cabbage fought with purpose, striding into a new, royal heiress of a possible future. Riding upon a large, magenta scaled drake and wielding a golden spear adorned with white, red, and pink roses, the first of four sisters - of the Quattro Stagioni descended. Flower Princess of Spring's Beginning, Primavera was the title of the first step toward Koga's resolution and revolution.

"How is playing Neo Nectar showing me your goal?"

"Because Ahsha was someone who accepted me and my past. My old avatars: the maidens and the musketeers accepted me and what I had a part of with the nightmare that took place."

"So what? Darkface and friends can't be the same with me?"

"No, kid. Ahsha believes in the goodness of my heart as I believe in hers."

"Shame, little lamb. I only believe in my joy, and that's through standing alongside Darkface and the Jester." Chris deflected Koga's good will and resolve, keeping her arrogant smirk that caused the cabbage no end of frustration. Paltry attacks were made thanks to Darkface's board-wide stuns and hand generation.

However... "Primavera!" The reformed joker called out to, the lady of the spring season smiling earnestly as her kin bathed in the light of her spear. With the mana of the beloved princess, flowers bloomed and withering life found itself born anew as Koga refreshed her board state for a massive counterblast cost, shocking the moth. "Stand back, brats!" The girl told the nameless background characters of her story, all of them were as confused by the discussion as they were scared of the Killer Queen. "Link Joker's integration into society with the helping hand of Neo Nectar's vitality... It's starting here!" She declared, radiating with conviction as she aimed to shred Chris' hand. Though, unbeknownst to the motivated lass, the demon held a Perfect Guard, enough shield to stop the other swings, and Stride Fodder. The worst possible outcome to dim the flames of Koga's heart...

... yet, she remembered the Clown's wicked glee as he imparted his methodical means of conquer.

"It's easy to break a man's heart. First, give it "Hope", then obliterate it."

"Fine, have your revolution." Chris spoke, surprising Koga as she simply took the last damage from Primavera's attack, ending the game. Many people sighed with relief while Koga was amazed she got through the hell of G Megacolony, not entirely aware of what was in the she-demon's hand. Even so, it was easy enough to tell she was still being played for a fool... Chris brandished a trio of gold cards, chuckling. "Today is your lucky day, Kogaaa~" The woman sang, tossing one of them to the cabbage who caught it without missing a beat. "Go carry on the rest of that determination. I will be watching this little 'movement' of yours. Huhuhuhu~"

Koga was... for a lack of a better word: disturbed. Chris was playing at something, and the two stared each other down. Koga was skeptical, scowling while Chrisaline was still pleased with the results of their bout. Without any further exchanges, the youngest idol turned around and began to depart from the hills, leaving the other unfortunate souls to the demoness.

Varess, who had quickly fixed this costume from Aoi's gust of wind lazily planted himself at the lake, wanting to be near the cool surface of water to try and balance the heat of the costume. He was as leisurely about it as he was in his fights...

A pudding-addicted panda sat in the desert, uninterested as she fought people without even using a zoo clan.

Victoria stood at the entrance of the meadow, admiring how big it looked in person than in photos. She couldn't understand how such a vast nature reserve could be in the middle of a city just like that. It's like it didn't feel like a part of the city. She proceeded to take a look at the different ecosystems the preserve had to offer - Apart from the meadows, the young girl managed to indentify a lake, hills, a pretty vast desert, and a rainforest. Though every one of them looked impressive, she already decided to look for the riddler.

'If I recall correctly, he must be around this area' Thought Victoria, walking past the branch director at the entrance and getting into a brand new world. She began to stroll casually through the meadow, watching carefully in case she could notice something strange apart from flowers, bushes, staff members trying to fight her, and a lot of cute critters. Cardfights were going on left and right, but the young girl already set her mind on seeking the riddler master. She could only deduce how he could look, knowing that dressing as animals was the norm right now.

Sakuya had made her way up and down and all around the hills, following track after track left behind by someone who clearly wanted her running in circles. She'd encountered a couple of the other staff members along the way, necessitating fights as she went. The fights hadn't been anything particularly special, the Korean Champion tearing through her opposition thanks to some particularly good luck on Tsukuyomi's part, nailing the ride chain both games while allowing Sakuya to set up a near-perfect stack. During her second game, the costumed staff member exhibited the same reaction Sakuya had come to expect whenever she fought others outside of the high-end tournament scene: Panicked perfect guarding the moment she hit her stack, despite her triggers being bundled a few extra cards down. Thus did the shrine maiden collect two zone cards on her journey, leaving her more than a little out of breath. But with two fights done and the prerequisite zone cards collected, Sakuya took a short stop on a particular hill to catch her breath, scanning her surroundings thoroughly for the next sign.

Sieg raced through the desert as fast as she reliably could, deck in hand. Even though the heat was getting to her, especially in her dark clothing, Sieg chose to trust her senses, heading straight for the oasis in the center. Its presence and location was logical, and it would make for a very clear spot to have the true challenge. Wanting to spend as little time as possible in this deathly heat, she arrived at the center with only a single zone ticket from one earlier fight. As she had expected, waiting for her was one of the gold card holders.

"I want to be done with this quickly," Sieg said to Ves as she pulled out her Blau deck, ready to fight. But, she was already too late. Someone else had reached Ves before her, and turned her head to look at Sieg though she kept her back in plac.e

"Sorry, kiddo," the woman in red said even though she didn't look much older than Sieg herself. "This fight's mine," she mocked, flashing a total of five zone cards. Just seeing that many zone cards in a single person's possession was completely and utterly baffling to Sieg. Getting that many this quickly should have been completely and utterly impossible, and yet they were right there in front of her. The woman's focus returned to Ves. "Don't cry if I crush you too badly, girly. Now, it's game time."

Fubuki reached the shore of the lake, and chose to waste no time. She analyzed the lake and came to the conclusion that the gold card was waiting for her on the center. Aoi had speed, but Fubuki had planning. In moment, Fubuki came to the conclusion on the fastest route she could take to get to the center without getting wet. A brief moment was spent regretting that she hadn't chosen to wear a swimsuit under her normal clothes today as it would've been really useful. Still, she had to get the gold card. With as much grace as a half-asleep Fubuki could managed, she started leaping between floating panels, occasionally stumbling a bit on her landings but managing to keep herself from falling directly into the water. She even managed to snag a few zone cards as she made her way to the center.

Rin kept chasing after her friend, but as she entered the rain forest she felt extremely creeped out by the atmosphere, and jumped at anything she saw as she tried to chase after her friend. The staff absolutely took malicious advantage of this, one of them jumping out and scaring her so badly he felt bad and gave her a zone card without even a fight. Tears streamed down Rin's face as she accepted the card and forced herself to run after her friend towards the creepiest part of the rainforest, absolutely hating every second of it.

In stark contrast to most people, Alysson was taking it incredible easy and hasn't even made it to the hills yet.

The sounds in the rainforest were intensifying, almost like cheers but there were distinct cries of different animals. The various fighters scrambled toward the central clearing. Eventually Jessie, Hikari, and Rin eventually assuming she hadn't tripped and fallen flat on her face somewhere along the way, walked out of the trees, felt the sunlight and... well. How does one comprehend what's happening here exactly?

A young woman with long flowing red hair was standing there. She wore a bright red kimono with an awfully short skirt that was decorated with pale pink flowers and had yellow accents on the ends of the sash tied about her waist and the inside of her sleeves. There was a matching parasol closed and at her side. She seemed rather calm given the circumstances. She was being attacked by a tiger! And all the animals of the rainforest had come to watch!

What?

Wait a minute.

A sound came from the tiger. It was something of a roar but it ended up sounding more of a bark. An incredibly odd thing to hear. This tiger was no tiger at all. This was Tamotsu, the Great Nature clan leader and rainforest gold card holder! The detail on his costume was actually kind of ridiculous. One would be hard pressed to realize that was a dog with the bright oranges and black stripes with white accents. The tail and whiskers even looked right though his face and general body shape was off enough to give it away. But his habits gave him away even more readily. His tail wagged excitedly and he panted constantly during whatever it was he was doing.

Right he was cardfighting this girl. One had to wonder how she'd gotten here so fast as there'd been no trace of her up until now. Maybe she was a ninja.

"Stride Generation! Amon's Talon, Marchocias!" the woman's voice called out excitedly. That was a Dark Irregulars unit. Ninja probably wasn't right. As it stood both fighters were on three damage and this was the first stride turn. The animals started making more noise as if they were excited about the fight. As it happened they were largely in a semicircle behind Tamotsu and seemed oddly tamed. It was quite the arena for a battle in what felt like the jungle. Another roar-bark sounded as the tiger dog prepared to defend against the incoming attacks.

Like some kind of blue hedgehog, Aoi rocketed in a state of near-infinite boost, bewildering those who saw her - participants and staff alike - with her immense, aimless speed. She was genuinely just running around and exploring the lake, basking in the soft atmosphere by the water as more animals followed her around. The hyperactive gumball then noticed one of her best friends heading for the center, seeing a panda lazing around. The gold card was the last thing on her mind as she swiftly defeated a dressed up hooligan for a zone card with her Ripples, using a different deck today than her Break Ride Hybrid. Racing toward Fubuki, Aoi literally shot herself like a bullet atop the water, kept aloft by pure speed as she hollered. "Fubukiiiiiii!" She waved with a smile as the girls were on their way to Varess.

Which promptly Varess to lament his fate.

"I'm not getting paid enough for this, I think." Same grin, same asshole. He was dreading Aoi's hyperactivity, but not overly bothered by Fubuki's approaching.

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

"Do either of you have pudding?" The panda inquired of Sieg and the woman in red, ignoring their desire to fight as she finished digging through a cup of the sweet tart treat. Her tone was a bit deadpan, and her gaze wasn't even lifted to the two as the now-emptied container had been more important. Her big, blue eyes did eventually come to look upward, seeing the child and the lady who was talking about crushing people. Reminded her a little of her big sister causing a ruckus at the hills... "I want pudding."

Oh boy.

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

Jessie struggled a little due to his lack of talent in Vanguard, getting zone cards at a moderate pace and not necessarily performing as fast as any big names or rising stars in the event. He searched the area as best he could for the gold card holder, brushing off the sounds of wildlife until he heard a shrill cry in the distance. Thanks to the heroic efforts of the Hakaishas in the Reaper Invasion, the brunette wasn't against lending a hand whenever he heard a disturbance. Though, what he found was instead a girl getting a zone card and crying, which... concerned him.

Curiously, Jessie followed the girl who seemed to be chasing after someone, but other members of the staff were on the chase to challenge her. So, dinoboy took it upon himself to use his strong legs to propel himself forward, stopping just between a few of the animal-dressed delinquents and the girl. "Sorry, but you're dealing with me!" Man... that sounded really cool! He was praising himself internally for sounding like a hotshot, despite knowing he was still in the rookie tiers of the Vanguard world. Still, he pressed on and did actually manage to defeat the jobbers as he continued following the girl. She may led him to the gold card holder... or not, but at least he can potentially stop any further tears.

Though, he got lucky, as she did in fact lead him to... Tamotsu. No, that's Tamotsu. He was absolutely positive. A boy knew his dog, and that tiger who must've used every single thing they bought from the store yesterday showed the needless, excessive effort gone into the costume. He wasn't sure about the rest of the animals around, which looked more authentic than dressed up workers... But he was more confused by the person he was fighting and how he was... "roaring".

He was having fun, at least.

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

Sakuya had unknowingly wandered into the lioness' den, the sounds of snakes hissing and cicadas chirping and singing made for ambient background noise. Though, the cicadas were odd since they sang constantly as if it was summertime. The grass at the hill rustled with movement, two especially large, humanoid insects - Longhorn Hunters - in their tall, daunting statures crept up on the shrine maid from behind, beginning to rasp at the sight of new prey.

As Hikari made her way towards the center of the forest, she heard a shrill scream that made her stop and turn around. A short time after, she noticed Rin running towards her, seemingly distraught, and she ran back to meet her. "Hey Rin, Hikari greeted her. She was glad to see her, but then she noticed just how bad she looked, "Woah. Your face is wet, and you're completely out of breath. Are you okay, Rin?" Hikari asked, concerned. She figured that scream must have been her. Maybe one of the staff members had scared her by accident. Poor thing. Hikari forced a smile to her face, hoping seeing her would cheer Rin up, "Well, don't worry, we're getting close to the end of this place, I can feel it!" Hikari grabbed Rin's hand and began running towards the center of the forest again, not considering that suddenly being pulled along like that might be painful for her. Hikari just wanted to make sure she didn't get lost.

Finally, Hikari arrived at the center of the forest. She was a little disappointed to see that someone had beaten her here already, but she was more shocked by what looked like a tiger attacking the young woman. Hikari was a moment away from stepping in a trying to fight the tiger off when she realized what was going on. A cardfight? Against a tiger? Wait, was that even a tiger? It was hard to tell. It certainly looked like a tiger, but something about it was off. And it was barking like a dog. Hikari was baffled. She turned to Rin, "Uh, hey. Are... are you seeing the same thing as me?" There was no way this... tiger... dog... thing... was the gold card holder... was there?

Xat watched the fights happen and smirked a little, and looking at tsurumaru nodded to him in which he went into his sword form as kao jumped down to the ground. "We're going in arnt we?" he asked as xat walked twords the doors with kao following her.

"I'm cerious about this Mad Hatter character besides what life with out a littel fun and scare?" she said and entered the arena and immeditly went to the forest making sure she was on alert. Kao right beside her looking at all the veiws.

"P-pudding?" Sieg and the woman in red responded to Ves in almost identical manners.  "I didn't come here to hand over any of my pudding, I came here for a fight!" the woman shouted, clearly more than a little frustrated that someone would want her pudding.  "If I'm not going to get a fight, just hand over the damn gold card!  You're the one holding them here, aren't you!?"

"I-i don't have any pudding..." Sieg said, distraught, completely and confused by what was going on.

Fubuki closed in on Varess who was waiting at the center of the lake.  As Aoi ran by with a wave, Fubuki wanted to respond but before she could she was drenched in the water that was being kicked up by Aoi's supersonic speed.  Now she really wished she had chosen to wear a swimsuit here.  At least she was wearing multiple layers.  

With a few more leaps, she made it to the platform holding Varess and took out her Nightrose deck, thankfully kept dry by a wonderful waterproof case.  "I'm here for your gold card," she said coldly.

Rin was incredibly thankful that Hikari had found her, and shook her head vigorously when asked if she was okay.  "This place is awfuuuuuuul!  It's so scary and the staff here are meeeeaaaann!" she cried out.  "I don't wanna be in here anymore!" But, when Hikari grabbed her hand, she didn't really have much choice in the matter.  She was dragged through the forest by her friend into the center that emitted incredibly spooky noises.  

Thankfully, what was waiting for them in the center was far less spooky than it sounded.  Instead, it was incredibly confusing.  "A-a tigerwolf cardfighting a woman...?" Rin responded, very, very confused by what she was seeing.  "Maybe I really am living in an anime..." she said out loud without realizing it.  This was just far too out there to be reality.

Meanwhile Alysson has only just made it to the edge of the Hills.

"No pudding, no card." The panda told the girls, casting her gaze back downward, clearly not in much a mood to play Vanguard. This was... unexpected, to say the least, and they were not the first to deal with this obnoxious brat who craved a dessert. She continued to sit, not minding the people who stayed around, felt a lack of motivation to play.

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"What in the hell..." Jessie had a lot of words, and to be honest, he wondered why he was even surprised anymore. Tamotsu had lost himself in child-like wonder, Aoi is mentally five years old, and his brother is probably one of the biggest perverts in the nation. Really, he had been trying to convince himself repeatedly he was tired of these shenanigans, but couldn't deny these are the kinds of people who kept things... interesting. Entertaining and fun.

"Tamotsu...?" He muttered, trying to at least talk to the dog.

"Urgh, fine!" The woman pulled out two cups of pudding and slammed one of them in front of the table, hanging on to the other one. "There! Happy!?" she shouted at Ves. "Now, can I just get my damn card or fight or whatever the HELL it is you're giving, and leave!?"

Meanwhile Sieg was still completely and utterly confused about what was going on.

Tiger Tamo and the girl now had a human audience to compliment the animals in attendance. Most import of them all was Jessie of course, who he wanted to impress with his tiger impression. Having survived his opponent's first stride he let out another bark-roar and strode.

"Jungle Generation! Omniscience Dragon, Cath Palug!" the pup cried out and looked at Jessie. The look on his face said "I'm busy but I'm going to tackle you into the dirt the moment I can". The girl seemed impressed.

"Jungle Generation," she said calmly, "Why didn't I think of that? Guess there's a reason you're the king around here." she said completely missing the point that it was typically lions that were said to be the king of the jungle. The animal onlookers raised a hoot as Tamotsu launched an offensive with Cath Palug and Crayon Tiger making for four fairly beefy attacks that turn. The Dark Irregulars player made it through just barely on five damage as Tamotsu's skills gave his hand something to work with for the turn to come. Nothing great but if it was another round of Marchocias he figured he could live. It would be a bit of a stretch but you never knew. The girl drew her next card and hmm'd curiously to herself.

"This is where I would say 'Striding isn't everything' if I was a normie I guess." she said while moving to her main phase without striding. Then she did the unthinkable. She performed a legendary and archaic technique. Also known as Legion. Astaroth called Amon to the vanguard circle as his mate and the girl followed up with with a column of Hell's Deal and Hell's Draw, adding four more cards to her soul. She then used Amon's skill to push a rearguard into her soul and forcing Tamotus to retire his starter. Astaroth next activated putting three more cards into her soul.

"That's twenty." she observed after displaying the soul for her opponent to confirm. Suddenly Tamotsu was staring down a forty-one thousand power, three critical vanguard column. But it was okay! Maybe. He had enough to guard so long as her twin drive wasn't two triggers.

Well sure enough, two critical triggers quickly emerged. That was five criticals, no chance of healing out. But that wasn't to say Broadcast Rabbit didn't try her hardest as the dog successfully sixth healed the first two times. Three more damage to follow snuffed out that dream but you had to appreciate the effort.

A few of the animals had been getting cozy with the human onlookers while the fight went down. A monkey had handed Jessie a banana hoping to help the confused boy. A few of his friends were attempting to do the same with Hikari and Rin. But now having seen the battle decided the animals and Tamotsu together all let out a collective cry before... bowing.

They were all bowing to the victor. Tamotsu stood again and the sash about his neck began rummaging through his things as he produced the golden card for his opponent. The girl took it without much fanfare and walked past the human onlookers and it wasn't easy to tell if she even realized they were there. It almost looked like she winked at Jessie as she passed but it must have just been a trick of the eyes. Instead of leaving however she sat on a downed tree, seemingly curious as to what would happen with the others who had arrived.

Tamotsu was barking at the other animals, as if relaying detailed instructions but it wouldn't be long before a certain someone would be getting suffocated by tiger fluff.

The panda opened her mouth, giving a cute 'ooo' as she took the first cup of pudding. True to her word, she dug around in the confines of her costume and handed the red lady a gold card. It... it was that easy... It was actually that simple... "Thanks." She expressed gratitude, still holding a monotone voice as she began to practically inhale the pudding. Over time, she was empowered by refueling herself with God's most precious delicacy, humming happily as her eyes lit up. Sieg could probably coax getting a game out of her, but the other girl already got a card for nothing...

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Jessie raised a brow, confused by many things. "Jungle Generation", Legion, and being handed a banana by a monkey. He decided against interrupting the fighters, merely folding his arms as he watched. Dark Irregulars confused him nearly as much as Bermuda Triangle, so he was admittedly more focused on the girl's plays than Tamotsu. Not to root for her, rather, to simply increase his knowledge of the card pool after the embarrassing showing of not knowing how Bermuda Triangle went. The other girls didn't seem to notice him, but he kept checking to make sure the one who was crying before was alright, wanting to prevent it if he could. He appeared to be around... sort of normal women for once. The fighter seemed like a blogger or something judging by the "normie" call, one of the others looked antsy - a little excited like Aoi, but he couldn't judge yet.

His train of thought was stopped by the sight of a 20-soul Astaroth and a double critical, making for Critical Five which is something only Hana had done before in front of him. This one must be strong... Luck is a part of strength, and the number of criticals you can slap your opponent with showed the pinnacle of skill. ... That's what Aoi would think, but Jessie gave a crooked grin. Whether she was strong or lucky, Jessie was a firm believer of the fact that both were different.

At this point, he was preparing for the tackle when the girl's wink made him curious. That was at him, right? Definitely was, but nothing came of it. "Huh..."

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

Varess sighed as Aoi and Fubuki reached him, and he heard Fubuki's declaration. Though, he tried to change the subject. "You sure you don't want a towel first? Thanks to your speedy friend and all..." His eyes trailed off toward the mini-army of animals Aoi had gathered up for seemingly no reason other than to have them around. Ah... he was right, this was going to be irritating one way and possibly relaxing enough the other way.

Hikari was still somewhat confused, but she gladly accepted a banana from a nearby monkey nonetheless. It tasted a little different than how she had expected, but it was still quite good. She munched on the banana casually as she watched the fight unfold. She was in total awe of the lady's ability to push through as strongly as she did. Five criticals! And two triggers! That was the kind of play Hikari wished she could pull off more often. It was super impressive, and Hikari had to applaud the game afterwards. And as it turned out, the tigerdogwolf really was the gold card holder. What the heckie.

Hikari pushed her confusion aside. She finished her banana, tossed the peel onto the ground. She slammed her fist into her palm and looked straight ahead at her foe, "Alright Rin, other dude, stand back," she said, "I'll take this guy on first!" For one, she admittedly really wanted to glory of winning. But she also thought that Rin might not be in a situation to fight right now, given that she was probably even more confused than she was. Besides, if Hikari lost, Rin would end up learning about the tiger's deck from this fight, right? However Hikari justified it, she advanced. Taking out her Nova Grappler deck, she approached the Wolftigerdog. She planted a foot firmly forward and swung her hand holding her deck out towards him, "Tiger-san! I, Hikari Sugimoto, challenge you to a cardfight for your golden card!" she declared dramatically. This was something she hadn't been expecting, even for a Zoo event. This would be interesting to say the very least, and somehow she knew it'd be just as exciting.

The woman took her gold card. This had been way too easy. She left completely unsatisfied, vanishing into the desert. Sieg was still incredibly confused about everything that had happened, but it seemed like now was the only chance she'd get to cardfight Ves. So, she stepped forward and placed her Blau deck down, uttering a silent prayer for victory.

"I, Sieg, challenge you for a golden card!"

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"Yes, actually, I would appreciate a towel, but I think it's for the best I wait until I'm off the lake. Otherwise, a certain bullet train might just drench me again before I'm back to safety," Fubuki said to Varess. "So, I'll deal with you here first."

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

Rin was much less willing to accept the bananas offered by the monkeys, only being driven further into confusion. With the first fight against the golden card holder over, Hikari jumped in to take the next challenge before Rin could respond in her mostly confused, but still sort of scared crying state. Although she was almost annoyed as a true protagonist would have taken the next fight without hesitation, she convinced herself this was better! It was a dear friend sacrificing herself to the enemy so that the protagonist could learn and be able to defeat them in the next battle! Yes! Truly! This was an anime.

"G-g-go, Hikari! You can do this! ...maybe..." The last part was way too quiet for any normal person to hear, but it still wasn't particularly nice.

Upon hearing the rasping of the two lumbering bugs behind her, Sakuya turned around with a small "Eep!", startled by the sudden noises. She hadn't seen insects quite like these, giving her a substantial fright... Until she realized these were probably just more of the event staff in costume. Letting out a sigh of relief, she withdrew her deck once more, ready to fight again if need be. "The two of you gave me quite the scare... Those sound effects were so realistic! I'm very impressed by the production values of these events."

The girl sitting on the tree seemed to appreciate Jessie's confused state. She looked him dead in the eyes and made a loud awkward growling sound. That was different.

"Welcome to my jungle, boy. Enjoy your stay. That tiger's pretty strong." she said, believing that having defeated the king of the jungle makes her the queen of it now. Without skipping a beat she reached for something, producing from her sleeves what appeared to be a manga volume. Rin would likely be the only one capable of recognizing it among the present company as it was a fairly obscure and fairly dark and depressing series called 'Lost K' wherein the protagonist was the literal embodiment of the letter K that had been entirely lost and forgotten to the English language and for some reason that meant she had to become a person and fight teacher demons with her superpowers and stuff. Only it was all just poking fun at the usual shonen tropes one expected to see and actually got crazy heavy and deep.

But none of that matters. She's not going to just explain her manga to anyone if they ask. They have to know what it is already to get it, duh.

More importantly, Tamotsu the tiger-dog had finished giving instructions to his animal friends as Hikari stepped forward to issue her challenge. Another bark-roar resounded as he faced the girl.

"Very well, I accept!" he said without even really checking for her zone cards. Energy was the key to making Tamotsu forget things. Get him excited and off he goes. He stared at the girl dramatically for what must have felt like an eternity, or at least the last two minutes of a badly padded anime episode where the characters are all just thinking about the same thing. Rin even actually voiced encouragement for her friend

"Excuse me for a moment, Hikari-chan" he said as if he were older than the girl. Well technically he was. This version of him was younger but that was all pointless semantics. The much more important task was smothering Jessie in the middle of his conversation with the dog's previous opponent.

"Jeeesssiiieeeee!!!" came the familiar call and excited tackle greeting of dog to boy. Tiger to boy. Dog-tiger to boy. "Bet you couldn't guess it was me huh?!" he said as he continued greeting the poor boy. During all this Jessie would be able to notice that most of Tamotsu's costume wasn't actually a costume. The whiskers where definitely tacked on, and the dog had wrapped something around his tail to keep the usual puffy shape down to the slim shape of a tiger tail. But there wasn't a tiger costume on around him. It was all his own fur. This crazy dog had actually dyed every last inch of himself to look like a tiger, and done a stunning job of it. He would give Jessie a moment to respond before asking his boy to please wait for him to fight the girls here before getting to him. With one last lick for good luck he'd run back to the table Hikari was waiting.

"Ahem, thank you for waiting." he said very smoothly as if he hadn't lost all his composure. The sash that had moved before was moving at both ends now, allowing Hikari to see how the dog played the game. Magic fabric held his cards for him! Never ending trip with this whole Zoo event thing. Regardless the two were ready to fight!

"Your... jungle?" Jessie was even more confused by the girl's words. First the wink, now she thinks she owns the place. Then, he realized she must've thought that it was a war for territory, and she won, meaning the rainforest belonged to her. "I'm... pretty sure that's not how that works." The brunette felt the tallest length of his hair droop down over his forehead as he sweat nervously over the ridiculous notion. To make matters worse, by just looking at the cover of the manga she pulled out, he was more than convinced that she - like many others he met - was crazy. Oh how he wished being Aoi's friend for years desensitized him from this...

And just as he was mentally recollecting himself, the tiger-dog leapt at him. Thankfully, his reflexes were in full gear, letting him caught his energetic companion and hold him in his hands. He raised a brow with a bit of a skeptical look, wondering if Tamotsu actually thought he couldn't be recognized, especially by his owner. Still, Jessie could see how much had gone into it and appreciated the effort. Tamotsu literally dyed himself to fit the role, equipping fake whiskers and keeping tail in bindings to make it less puffy-looking. "Ahaha... yeah, you got me. I would've never guessed." The boy smiled, laughing in response to the tiger-dog's licking before letting him go back to focusing on the other girl. Hikari, he called her?

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

Sakuya thought the Longhorn Hunters were merely staff in costume, which confused the bugs at first as they stared at each other. They seemed a little angry to be thought of as the random pests working at the branch, This brought them to look back at the shrine maiden and roar violently, salivating at the mouth with blatant hostility and no desire to play the "game", posed to lunge at the fresh meat. Fortunately, or unfortunately if you ask some, the chaotic moth girl arrived to the scene, having heard her prey speak.

"Oh, no. They're more than realistic." Chrisaline grinned. "They're actually real."

Uh oh.

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"Sure." The panda was re-invigorated with motivation thanks to the sweet snack gifted by the angry lady. Though, she wasn't overly concerned with how mad that woman was, and simply focused on Sieg.

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"Ah... c'mon..." Varess spoke with woe and dread. He really wanted to avoid fighting, but he didn't seem to have much choice in the matter. Fubuki was pushing for it, and Aoi would obviously speak up if he tried to deny it any further.  "I guess I have to, huh?" He equipped himself with a deck, setting it down and refusing to fight them both at the same time. Unlike his protege, he was lazy and couldn't handle having to do so much. He was already practically running the branch the way Rikuto was always out...

"You look tired, sir." Aoi noted. "And you're wet, Fubuki!" She stated the obvious. "Do you guys want candy to relax?" The child offered her medicine gumballs to the duo, willing to wait on the fight and seeing they didn't quite share her enthusiasm.

"Oh." Varess spoke with a little surprise. "Don't mind if I do. Thanks." It would help in having to deal with a million people running around and him having to actually play.

After making it to the desert, hoodie boy slowed his run to a trot glancing around. For a card game, this had turned into quite the exercise, as he found himself now out of breath. Attempting to shrug it off however, he began searching around, conveniently hearing voices nearby. Spotting Sieg and Ves seemingly about to fight, he opted to stay nearby and watch. If he could get anything out of it at least, he might figure out a way to win. He hadn't played in so long though so maybe he should just hang back and try to take on something a little easier.

"Eh?" Sakuya blinked again. Her eyes shifted towards the newcomer, Chris, then back to the two Longhorns. Then back to Chris, then back to the Longhorns, then back to Chris again. "Th-They're actually real...?" She repeated the moth's words, looking at the Longhorns yet another time. Indeed, upon closer inspection, they looked far too realistic to be just costumes. They looked too tall to be human, they sounded too authentic to be artificially produced. The realization was beginning to dawn on the poor maiden exactly what kind of a mess she'd walked into.

Oh dear.

Sakuya took two steps back, away from the Longhorns. "A-Ahaha... C-Come now, you're the gold card holder for this area, r-right?" The girl stammered out, keeping her deck at the ready. She felt more than a bit unnerved with the two menacing drones in front of her, but she reminded herself that this was still an Association-run event. They wouldn't actually put any of the participants in serious danger... Right?