"Search for the Runic Scimitar" - Magallanica Branch

Ves paid anyone else who approached Kachidoki no mind, staring straight at the Aimless Blade with eyes none have ever seen from the lass before except on very, very rare occasion. Her gaze was steady and focused, hardly blinking to not miss an instant of the game between her future opponent and Jace, taking note of "Touken Ranbu". It was a clan of blade personifications with unique keywords that made it stand out among the other twenty four clans in the game, drawing a personality of magnificent aggression and powerful, various burst plays. A mighty foe... one that could make a precise, perfected swing to tear away at offenders in many situations. This man was an incredibly powerful swordsman just by how she gauged his Vanguard.

"You have a sword..." The blonde made a very obvious observation after Jace was finished. A burning stare aimed toward the sheathed steel that interested her so. Any normal individual would address Kachidoki with respect first on top of being scared out of their mind, as their only safety was the man's good graces and loyalty to his branch director and the event. Yet, she cared not, feeling her yellow locks flow with the motion of stirring wind, her dress fluttering with a serene calmness in the gust. "... You're not the only one." Is what finally came from her mouth after a staredown in silence, waving her right hand as a weapon materialized from a burst of stardust. The particles of light danced, raining like snow - a white and blue blade was brandished. A beautiful long sword with a keyhole at the hilt, matching the keyholes of her attire. Metal design arranged to look as if something within was closed, reflecting the closed off persona of the normally-pudding addicted demon who carried herself about with determination on par with a certain dark knight.

Too heavy for proper motion with one hand, the girl's cute digits gripped the blade's handle. Her foot gently stamped down into the floor, aiming her shoulder to her foe as her braided ponytail draped itself over her shoulder, giving sight to her exposed back.

"My name is Ves Yamata, and I challenge you to a duel."

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"Hwahwahwahwa!" Aoi flailed about as she looked for map pieces within the branch building, confusing the remaining employees. They did ask what the problem was, but exposing her clumsiness was unacceptable! Umi would probably wring out her neck! So, like all wise sages and political figures, she lied by saying this would make the event harder for people if they can't catch her.

That... can't possibly be reasonable, no one can catch her.

Regardless, the hyperactive girl zoomed about the branch building, having some lapses of forgetting why she was running around in the first place but remembering quickly whenever she saw someone in costume. It was even worse when she remembered the dreaded Seventh Cutlass can appear at any moment and chew her out. "Hwa... hwa..." A cold sweat, she was really in trouble now. After she made such an earnest promise to help out only to mess it up! "No, it can't end here!" Aoi clenched her fists tight, assuming a fighting stance. "I won't give up! I'll find the goods, everything will run smoothly, and all will be at peace!" A fist to the sky, she cheered herself up with her invincible enthusiasm which led her to charge forward-

Oh there's Tsubame.

OH THERE'S TSUBAME!

"HWAAAA!!" Aoi had no brakes, crashing into her cynical 'friend' while running at top speed only to be sent flying by the collision and her own momentum, literally rolling across the spacious room and flinging herself into a wall.

"Doof." The gumball grunted painfully.

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Hana fought against the new generation of Nova Grappler headed by the Extreme Battler, Victor - a new model that had entered the wrestling robot scene. Today, those who picked up on her performance would not be surprised as the newly crowned Princess Labrador with her Pretty Prism crew took the stage. Her opponent was a lot better than she heard about from the battle against Varess at Zoo. Though, the girl was hindered by suboptimal rides, she was more hindered by Hikari's seeing an early Critical. An uphill battle to be sure, even with a lack of concrete boosters, but definitely not the end of the world.

The national champion of Japan looked toward Vanguard with a radiating optimism, standing firm in the challenge of daunting odds. Her Labrador turn had earned no triggers, but through incredible strategy, she drew an extra card and returned all five of her rearguards to hand. That was an insane offense-defense combo that exemplified one of the super powers of Bermuda Triangle in the new era: Their bounces were much more reliable, as was their aggression, making a splendid mix of powerful plays with strong endurance, reflecting her competitive nature as an idol to always stand out brilliantly and never miss a beat, hardly breaking a sweat under the most intense pressure.

This - THIS was the Isabella the world had been missing for years.

Hana was pleasantly surprised and impressed with her opponent's ability to take advantage of her poor Triple Drive through Victplasma. Though, it was likely just the best play she had available, Hikari took advantage of Nova Grappler's poor hand advantage and pushed hard for game. This was a smart choice, since she had knowledge of eight cards in the princess' hand.

And none of the unknown cards were Perfect Guards.

Still, not one to die lying down, Hana defended with as much as she could before realizing that she had just enough to guard... should Hikari not see another trigger. Well, Hikari immediately saw two and drew two more after that decision. That was ridiculous - five triggers were at the top of her deck! The new winds most certainly had a power to them as Hana could feel the resonance between the Meteokaiser and the fighter.

A well-spirited new face with a strong attitude and connection.

"I lose, good work. Ye shipwrecked me ship!" Hana played along with the pirate speech once again, accepting her loss while conveying the fun of it all. "Alas, lassie. The scimitar be hidden well! But, for your victory, I shall give ye two pieces of the map and a hint." The princess congratulated only to reveal the treasure was still out of grasp. Requesting a marker from Pallun, she wrote down on the back of Aoi's piece: 'It's not as sandy of a place as you'd think', and handed both parts to Hikari so the other participants wouldn't be able to hear the hint. "Now, scurry off! Before someone else be claimin' the booty!" Admittedly, there was a little cringe in her tone from the 'booty' part, but she still kept strong with her soft voice delving into pirate dialect.

Tsubame was on her back and about six feet or so away from where she'd been walking. Her brain was still trying to catch up with that fact. What had happened? She was just walking. That was pretty normal. Was she dead now? That kinda sucked if true. It couldn't have been that interesting a death if it had caught her so unaware like this. But she could still feel stuff so maybe she wasn't gone yet. In fact her vision was clearing up and she managed to sit up and try to figure out what had happened.

"Aoi?" she said in a puzzled manner. Her energetic acquaintance was currently smacked up against a wall which was weird. But then things started to make sense as she stood up. "Oh we must have collided. Hot damn, that's some wicked speed." she said pondering what could allow a human to walk this fast. She made her way over to the gumball and offered her a hand.

"You alright there? I kinda need to beat you up for the map piece so it'd be pretty inconvenient of you to die on me here." she said playfully.

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Katashi was moving about, half-following and half-leading. Neither Tobi or himself seemed entirely sure where they were going, a thought Tobi voiced but the Genesis player kept to himself. They couldn't be lost. Someone had to be around somewhere right?

"No of course not..." he said with far less than a hundred percent confidence. But as luck would have it the object of his interest came into view. Haruka in a hallway speaking with another individual. It was hard to contain the squeal that tried to weasel its way out of his mouth but he composed himself. He needed to be dependable for Tobi.

"Yeah, we're gonna take him down. Soon as he's ready you should go challenge him. Lead us off strong!" he said, expressing his confidence in his friend's abilities.

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An ocean breeze blew, moving nothing but the hair and clothing of the two swordsmen staring each other down.

Silence for a moment. It dragged on into what felt like an eternity.

So the girl was seeking a sword fight. It was little wonder to the Aimless Blade he'd been feeling something in the air at this point. He'd felt the approaching challenge and his training had him naturally preparing himself mentally. His hand was still on the hilt of his blade. With the other hand he held the length of the sheathed blade sideways out in front of him. Kachidoki slowly pulled back on the black sheath, revealing a stunningly radiant white blade.

"This Masamune cleaves light and dark alike at its whim." he said calmly as his eyes fixed upon the challenger before him. "It and I accept." came the acceptance of the challenge. He tossed the sheath behind him which landed with a clank on the wooden floor of the pier. The white katana shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight.

"Isao Kachidoki, advancing!" he called as he lunged forward at Ves with frankly alarming speed with an overhead strike of his blade prepared. There was little hesitation in his blade. A strike aimed for the center of the head from the start. There was to be no playing when blades clashed.

"If I keep this up, this will end up just like the last event." Frustrated at his continued stroll, Seth was beginning to lose patience at his lack of fights. His footsteps grew louder and louder, until they came to a violent halt and he started to think: perhaps he was going about this all wrong. He planned out his moves but nothing comes out of it if he just waits for whatever comes his way, it'd be the same as idly waiting and twiddling his thumbs. What Seth needed to do, was to do more than just plan the order of who he'll fight.

"Fubuki is my target, but if I'm running around searching for her, I may not even find her nor anyone else. So... let's see if I can switch this up." On his way, Seth had heard a few whispers that Kachidoki was nearby and that Aoi was running around in the event. "If I'm close to one, that's good. The other one is essentially rn-jesus, no point in trying to chase after her."

...

....

.....

"Wait." Seth had a momentary streak of brilliance, that could aid him on his quest. However, it was...

"A long shot." He looked into the sky and weighing his options. He wasn't a firm believer of luck, but should this pull off, no doubt he would become a believer. Slowly he reached into his back pocket and grabbed his deck case. Slowly lifting the blue case and flipping through his deck until his eyes made contact with a card. His fingertips grabbed the tip of the card and held it in between his fingers.

"I could just continue walking as I am, but that won't do much considering there are multiple targets. So my best bet is to kill two birds with one stone right now. If it works, I win, but if I fail... he'll probably slit my throat for risking his card like this." He shut his eyes to the card, as though he was channeling everything into it, as though he was praying. Suddenly, Seth's arm made a swift swipe through the air with his ice cold finger tips releasing the card as it soared into the sky.

"Not gonna waste time, trying to find her. If that card is really important to her, she'll come after me, making it easier for me to go about my travels."

Hikari put the pieces of the map together. Two pieces? That was odd. Maybe she didn't have to defeat all five to get the full map. If that was the case, this would be even easier for her, especially since she'd managed to secure a win on her first attempt. She wondered how many of the other participants had succeeded on their first attempts, or were going to if they hadn't done so already. Everyone who didn't succeed was one less opponent Hikari had to worry about in her position for first. And, Hikari thought, surely it could only get easier from here. Hana was a champion. Captain Umi had specifically called her out as being tough. And Hikari had defeated her. The rest of the competition couldn't be any harder, so that meant it was in the bag for Hikari. And even if she didn't win every game, she only needed enough information to find the treasure. Hana's hint told her it wouldn't be on the beach, which eliminated a large chunk that she wouldn't even need to consider, whether her map pieces showed anything about the beach or not.

Whatever foe was next, Hikari was ready for them.

Once again, Hikari took off in a sprint, leaving Hana and the other cardfighters in the dust. Or sand, as it were. She didn't have enough to go off of just yet. She needed something more. Another map piece or two. A couple of hints, perhaps. And so, she let her legs carry her aimlessly towards whatever foe they had located. As she ran, her body was naturally pulled towards a commotion at the pier. Sounds of metal clanging. As she approached, she noticed two figures on the pier having an actual, real sword fight. What was going on? Was it an actual fight? Part of a show? An attempted murder in progress? Either way, Hikari was intrigued.

Approaching the broken stairs of the pier, Hikari didn't slow down for even an instant, leaping towards the other end. Her short legs caused the jump to fall shy of the other end, but she caught the edge with her hands and managed to vault her light body up with a little bit of effort. Closing the rest of the distance on the pier, she finally got a good look at what was happening. An actual, literal samurai, probably the one Captain Umi was talking about, was having an actual, literal swordfight with... Ves?! Where'd she get that sword?! No, wait, better question, what was such a cute girl doing having a swordfight right now?! Hikari didn't know if she should intervene. She had to assume this was part of the game somehow. That was the only explanation. And, in truth, she was entranced. A real swordfight. Hikari had never seen one in person. "So cool..."

Jace looked between the samurai Isao and the pretty Ves confused. This was one of Hikari's friends, what was so wrong that Jace would need to leave? The air became tense, and his hair and jacket flowing in the wind was one of the few noises he could hear. He looked over and noticed just how beautiful Ves was, despite her stern face. She looked deadly serious, like a painting. It was respectable and surprisingly graceful. How could this girl make this space suddenly unsafe? Jace's mind wandered off for a moment while he appreciated the sight, that is before Ves... summoned a FUCKING SWORD OUT OF NOWHERE. Two sword fighters now faced off against each other, some weird magic stuff happened, and Jace is stuck in the middle, confused. "How did you... why are you... wait you two!" But before Jace can get a word in, Isao charged. These two were nuts, and looked about ready to kill each other! What makes it worse, is Hikari has joined the group... he wasn't just about to let these two murder each other in front of children, but with what little time Jace had left, he only saw one option. His protective instincts kicked in, and he did the only thing he could think of. He just hoped they both had good reflexes and would not strike him. Jace lunges between them, yelling out. "That is enough!" Was this plan stupid? Yes. Could he of thought of a better alternative? Maybe. However his best plan now consisted of body blocking for the two of them, and attempting to kick the blade out of the samurai's hand. Leave it to the japanese to not be able to host a normal children's event.

Sieg set off into the event area, knowing what her first goal was going to be.  There was only one person in this event she could think of to fight after what the lady in red said.  And conveniently enough, it seemed there had been a collision between her and someone else.  It was a bit of an awkward sight to run into, seeing Aoi knocked against the wall and a woman Sieg didn't recognize thrown six feet back.  

"U-um..."  Sieg just kind of stared in awe of the situation for a few moments.  It was clear she hadn't managed to find Aoi in time to get to get the first fight, which was more than a little frustrating.  Still, there wasn't really much she could do about it.  With a tinge of defeat on her face and a clenched fist, Sieg leaned against a wall near the fight that was about to take place.  

"What a nice coincidence," another figure said under her breath, looking down on the events unfolding below her.  Three persons of interest had all gathered together in one spot.  The lady in red took out a box of Pokey to snack on while she observed.  While part of her wanted to jump in, she held herself back for now.

Outside the branch building, Rin was wandering around continuing to awkwardly "EH," not sure what to do.  Hikari was nowhere in sight still, having left with the crowd before Rin could even spot her.  Maybe she'd get lucky and stumble on a map holder or Hikari?  

On the edge of the event's search area, Fubuki leaned against a wall in an alleyway, having chosen to hide herself a little more than the other holders of the map pieces.  Didn't want getting every piece of the map to be too easy.  No one had managed to find her yet, and she let out a small yawn.  It was a little boring out here, but it was better than getting swarmed by a large number of people after a fight.

Meanwhile, Alysson was just calmly walking in the direction of what she thought was a fruit stand to get a drink, not so much a piece of the map.

Challenging the blade that severs light and dark, Ves dashes in immediate response to Kachidoki's charge. Moving gracefully with incredible swiftness, the blonde showcased amazing reflexes when faced with the issue of a bystander getting in-between them. In response to Jace trying to stop them, she hopped - holding her sword perfectly skyward as she spun in the air. "Move, you will get hurt." A stoic warning as a bloody collision was avoided, and how the samurai would handle the kick from the bystander to his sword she did not know. However, she didn't stop as Jace's interruption gave her a chance to get distance and suddenly twirl madly like some kind of saw, beautifully drawn with a blue aura as the steel rend through the pier's flooring, ripping through and spiraling toward the other armed foe.

Jace was right to think this was dangerous, as her attack was something out of stories of the Reaper Invasion...

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"Yeah... I'm okay, I think..." Aoi reassured Tsubame with a bit of a whining in her tone from the pain. She took the girl's hand, getting to her feet and chuckling nervously while nursing the back of her head. Although, the pain was secondary when the map piece fight was brought up, which made the gumball tense up. "Y-Yeah, that's fine! Let's play, let's play!" Her spirit returned, blanketing the inner turmoil over the disastrous issue Umi would kill her for. But maybe it was okay? If she won, no one had to know anything. Yeah...

That seemed like a good plan considering her waning confidence and desynchronization with Aqua Force.

Well, thankfully, the miracle child faced every challenge with pep and cheer, fighting as she normally would against Tsubame's Dark Irregulars. The cynical lass tried to convey that she wasn't as emotionally invested into Vanguard like the others of their group, but Aoi wanted to see through her Vanguard instead - her way of playing. A fight can reveal everything about an individual, and an earnest game showed that there must've been some kind of investment if Tsubame knew to make correct plays, capitalize on her skills, and form magic numbers on attacks. Aoi pushed, but Tsubame's was a little harder and gradual plays to G Units only continued to confirm her suspicions. Though... Tsubame - when riding to grade three - had no ride chant or Stride chant.

That just won't do.

"Where's your ride chant?! Where's your Stride chant?! You gotta go: 'Generation zone, release' and then make your card come out with a BOOM, y'know?!" The child babbled enthusiastically, clearly not meshing with the mellow and snarky vibe Tsubame was putting out. The difference between her and Jessie was that the Jaeger had learned to tolerate Tsubame's sass while Aoi seemed to be overwhelming it almost with her sunny disposition. Such vigor even led to a comical cry of "But Tsubaaaaa..." when the crow girl wouldn't play along. Yet, this ceaseless rambling from Aoi proved to be the downfall of the critic, as a horror was realized: a nickname was born. "Tsuba!" Truly, impossible to stop a maelstrom of bubbly joy and energy that greatly annoyed her foe. But, through Tsubame's turn of Kisskill Lira, she seemed to put more passion into play, leading the ball of sunshine to believe her infectious personality had rubbed off.

Over the course of the game, Aoi recalled Hana explaining that Ripples don't do much with Stride, which can hinder her potential overall since - though this deck is stronger than her others - it has little variance in plays and less progression to expand her horizons as a player. That would not stop her from still pressing onward with the skill and ability that led her to become the Chinese champion, putting together a display of a vibrant assault through Legion, trying to dig for a copy of Genovious to bombard her opponent with his Persona Blast Limit Break. She didn't reach it unfortunately, but she had two Perfect Guards and a lot of triggers in hand, so surely she'd be fine?

Well, a certain Dark Irregulars Stride she was trying to outplay might've still gotten away with killing her, but Tsubame instead matched Aoi's Legion with her own, uniting Astaroth and Amon to create a massively towering pair of demon lords that grew radically in power from soul and Legion's base. The player utilizing the twin evils mentioned some pretty edgy stuff about showing her the depths of darkness and "just dark zone things" like dragging one's soul out of their body. ... Thinking on it, it was the kind of stuff she'd normally make fun of, isn't it?

With a deck of five triggers in seven cards, Aoi barely survived an onslaught and pushed back to only nearly completely blast Tsubame out of the game from two triggers. Unfortunately, only one showed up, and this left Aoi helpless against one last enormous swing, ending the game.

Oh no... Tsubame brought up the map piece.

"Um... a-about that..." Aoi sweat nervously, leaning in closer and whispering. "I uh... lost the map pieces. Don't tell anybody!!"

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Seth's plan was a sound one, as Aoi had a sixth sense for Vanguard and a seventh sense for Aqua Force. Even though she was preoccupied, she would most likely appear... except a bird suddenly swooped in and swiped the card randomly thinking it's food. The avian thief was a lanky seagull squawking triumphantly over its stolen prize. Cawing almost with the tone of a disgusting cackle, it flew away to the branch building.

Kachidoki's sight was focused on Ves yet in this focus his eyes saw all. Jace was acting incredibly foolishly and attempting to stop the clash of steel. This was dishonorable in every regard but thankfully the Oracle Think Tank clan leader was quick to act and light on her feet as she took to the air to take the boy out of the situation. This didn't stop the kick however. That much would be left to the samurai. He quickly relinquished one of his hands from the two handed grip on the hilt of his blade and used the hand to catch the leg heading his way. It seemed an easy task for him but then he still regularly trained his body physically so this was to be expected. He pushed the leg away which would send the boy spinning once or twice about his still grounded leg, perhaps even into the ocean off the side of the pier if his balance wasn't good enough.

There was little time to see what happened there as Ves was on the offensive now, taking advantage of the awkward position Kachidoki had been put in. The girl was spinning, a blue aura surrounding her and coming forth from the blade. He held his blade over head, bringing his other hand to brace the flat back of the sword. "A worthy offensive. I will respond in kind." he said calmly.

"Sonzai Shūryō-ryū: Hansha!"

At his call the Masamune began to glow with a brilliant light. Staring at it directly would prove blinding even to onlookers from the other end of the pier. But more importantly this light burst forth and began pushing back against the girl's aura before the attack landed, slowing the momentum of her spin. Still the attack landed, the clang of the clashing metal sounding loud for all to hear. Kachidoki would then push the blade and swing it in an upward arc to send the girl up and away from him as the light began to fade. The force in his blade felt strange as if it came in two distinct pushes. One was from the man himself but it would also feel to Ves as if his blade itself was fighting her.

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Aoi seemed remarkably resilient as Tsubame helped her up and over toward a cardfight table. Tsubame set her deck down and calmly put Barmaid Grace into place as her starting vanguard. The gumball seemed excited to be facing Dark Irregulars and mentioned how the group almost had something from every nation. This perplexed the girl as she didn't consider herself anything more than a part-timer with the group but Aoi very strongly asserted she was one of them. There was little to do to fight this and so they began the game. Aoi went first as she wanted Tsubame to attack first and show her her vanguard.

"I'm really not that into this whole vanguard thing." the girl said trying to deny any sort of real attachment to the game. "I'm here to watch what absurd things you people get up to not get all passionate about things myself." she continued. Aoi was having none of it as the game went on. She had healed out of Aoi's grade two turn bullying and responded with a fifteen thousand power attack on her ten thousand power vanguard. The Aqua Force player seemed adamant that she had some latent talent or love of the game, which the girl denied.

Tsubame was given first stride and she rode Astaroth for grade three and strode into Kisskill Lira to get things going. But the gumball found issue with this. She hadn't done a ride or stride "chant". Tsubame had to blink a few times.

"You want me to do a... what?" she said perplexed and her opponent went on to explain that she should have introduced Astaroth better then also done something involving and exclamation of Stride Generation! before striding into Lira. "But that doesn't change anything about the game. It's just silly." she said to which Aoi asserted it added energy and excitement. Despite her words Tsubame was feeling a sense of excitement in their ongoing battle and it began to slip into some more energetic declarations of skills and attacks. The gumball then showed her what she meant by stride chants as she strode into the Ripple stride which Tsubame didn't allow to hit, not wanting the girl to gain more advantage off of the on hit. Despite a critical trigger she used her rearguard to attack one of Tsubame's rears, not wanting to leave the girl with any counterblast. The Dark Irrgulars girl asserted that wouldn't keep her out of the game and the long flowing blue sleeves of her kimono flopped about as she energetically started her next turn.

She strode into Amon's Talon, Marchocias and then threw down a stand trigger onto the field. Monochrome of Nightmareland returned itself to the deck, soul charged, counter charged and drew a card. Which as it happened was another monochrome. With two open counterblast, Tsubame was able to call enough cards to get twenty cards in her soul. With Barmaide and Marchocias' skills Aoi was staring down a thirty-eight thousand power vanguard with rearguards sporting twenty-one thousand and forty-one thousand power. The vanguard aside these were perfect numbers. The girl survived and went into legion over striding again. The Ripple board filled up quick and made for quite the offensive but Tsubame managed to guard out.

And now despite having all the cards she could ask for to do it, Tsubame didn't stride. Instead she legioned and Amon joined Astaroth on the vanguard circle. With barmaid and amon's powers combined the legion began reaching unreasonable numbers to which Astaroth added two criticals before drive checks. This power forced a perfect guard out of Aoi against the seventy-two thousand power, critical three attack. Aoi survived to go another round which Tsubame survived purely off of her opponent not seeing two triggers and putting the one she did see onto the vanguard in an attempt to break the guard.

The demon legion stood again. Tsubame had been saying some admittedly edgy anime shit during this last leg of the fight and she would be sure to punish herself later. But for now she went to attack with a fifty thousand power, critical three attack which Aoi didn't have enough to guard for or heal out of if she saw all of her heals in damage checks.

"Well you probably wouldn't have been able to heal out of it anyway seeing as I'm about to double crit you." she said knowing the last three cards in her deck were all triggers. Sure enough, two crits appeared, leaving only a heal in the deck. A critical five attack, just like she'd done against Tamotsu at Zoo. Truly frightening. She'd won though Aoi seemed to be more openly excited about everything. Tsubame meanwhile was ready for her map piece before being told that the girl had lost them.

"You... lost them." she said while staring blankly in disbelief. She should have seen this coming. In fact more than that, "I knew I should have gone looking for Hana." she said as she turned her back on the Aqua Force player. She wanted to cut this girl out of her life one hundred percent. But then this presented a unique opportunity.

"I guess I won't tell anyone how you wasted my time... as long as you agree to something." she said while holding up a finger and turning back to face the girl. "Sometime in the future I'll ask you to do something for me. And no matter what it is, you have to promise right now that you'll do it. Agree and we have a deal. I'll go on my way and no one hears about how the Speed Demon lost her map pieces which are a vital part of the event. Say no and weeellll..." the girl trailed off as she curled her hands about both ends of her mouth and silently pretended to shout.

"You get the point. Everyone gets to hear. The Director especially." she said with a sly smile. Did Tsubame feel bad about essentially blackmailing Aoi? Not particularly. It was all in good fun anyway. The girl wouldn't really get in that much trouble if anyone found out would she? Regardless this was going to be good.

Haruka had two games lined up one after the other, the first with the shrine maiden named Sakuya. Her poison of choice: Oracle Think Tank. When the game started, it had become apparent from the beginning how this game was going to go and the path did not diverge. Something about the opening hand spoke volumes to the aged commander of the sea. Something awfully familiar.

It began with a flourish of early aggression and triggers on the side of Haruka. The commander brought one of his old reliable men to the front; Tidal Assault taking an aggressive lead as both the Vanguard and the on the rear. As luck, or perhaps fate as Sakuya might've put it, the odds weighed greatly in the Aqua Force leader's favor as her defenses dwindled even from that early on. To add insult to injury, Draw Triggers found themselves checked in spades on Haruka's side. His hand had amassed and the tools to acquire and swift victory was at hand.

Though, Haruka felt a tinge of fear on the back of his neck when it came to Sakuya' stride turn. In all honesty, his hand was large but lacked much potential to create a defensive formation. Even if her board wasn't terribly difficult to defend against, he had some background knowledge of the deck he played against and could sense a sort of impending danger looming over the game. The Tsukuyomi Chain deck, infamously known for stacking the odds in its owner's favor, quite literally. Haruka smirked, challenging Sakuya's fate to a gamble for the top three cards of her deck: the infamous triple drive, triple critical. If she could check three critical triggers, Haruka's fate would be instantly sealed. Unfortunately only one of the three-kind she needed appeared, leaving her to the untimely fate of Haruka's Marine General and newly evolved from Grade 3 status, Generation Unit, Lambros.

He took the next competitor quickly after, a spry young fella by the name of Tobi. Tobi was at first so very confident, and quickly that confidence deteriorated. Even before he started fighting, he saw how quickly the tides shifted in favor of the white-haired idol in front of him. It was like he bent the will of the game his way. All of it seemed like a creepy kind of black magic and he felt really awful for the girl who just fought him, wondering if she was okay. Granted, he wasn't going to approach her or anything, not with the game now in his hands. He set his deck down, barking out "Alright, it's my turn and I'm gonna crush you old man!"

Haruka's face remained stagnant, unchanging. A fervent lip curled upwards, twitching. His left eye followed suit, before his teeth grit together. "Who're you calling an old man, punk?"

The game started with ferocity on both sides. Granted, Tobi was even greener than most of the newbies here at the event and was handled as one. He was dismantled before he was able to stride, being torn asunder by Haruka's decisive critical triggers on his first stride turn, allowing two Adelaide's to batter Tobi's damage zone and call his bluff on his strength. With a flip of his hair and a snide smirk, he waved Tobi off for his last challenger; a boy with mid-length brown hair and a bit tanner of a complexion.

"Alright, you're up now. What's your name?" He gave a grander smile in comparison to the expression he spared Tobi. He was clearly more grateful to someone who'd yet to attempt to wound his pride in any manner. In reference to Katashi, he gave a slight bow and looked up awaiting an answer.

Katashi stood in awe as the idol went to work. He had two opponents, both of which he seemed to easily defeat. He'd heard word of the musician's talent in vanguard but seeing it in person was something else. The woman he fought seemed to have everything turn against her on her side but at the same time Haruka's board and hand came together perfectly so as to overwhelm her. The same held true for Tobi whom he was more hopeful for. The game ended very quickly and the boy now had to nervously gulp some as his object of admiration addressed him as if ready to mow down the next victim.

"K-katashi Mihara sir!" he said, unable to really contain the excitement well. His expression seemed kinder to him and to have someone he'd always wanted to meet courteously bow to him was more than he thought he could handle. "I'd like to challenge you as well Nakahara-san!" he said eventually managing to put down some of his fanboying aside to get into the vanguard mindset. Before he took to the fight table he put a hand on Tobi's shoulder. There was encouragement to offer here.

"You did your best Tobi. Now it's time for me to do mine. We'll get a piece of the map for sure, just you wait!" he said with a wide smile that portrayed genuine caring and determination.

"Dark Irregulars, huh?" The lady in red watched the fight between Tsubame and Aoi play out, not sure if she found Tsubame's deck too fitting or oddly ironic.  A battle between two Legions in this day an age was a rare sight, and was enough to keep the woman's attention.  Sieg watched the fight with intensity, sweating a little bit at the thought of fighting Aoi from what she was seeing.  To make matters worse, it was with a deck she was less comfortable with.  Still, there wasn't really much of a choice.  While Sieg couldn't see the lady in red that had stolen her precious Blau deck, she knew that woman was probably watching right now.  However, what happened after the fight was more than a little jarring for Sieg.

"Y-you...  Forgot your map pieces..."  Sieg let out a massive sigh, which confused the lady in red, not having realized Aoi's lack of map pieces. She was about to leave, as it seemed like the main event might not be happening anymore but Sieg walked towards the pair and spoke up.  "I...  I want to fight you anyways!" Her voice was a strange mix of hesitation and determination, and as she raised her deck, her arm was visibly shaking a bit.  As much of a downer as it was that Aoi didn't have her map pieces, there was a lot more to this fight than the event for Sieg.  

The lady in red smiled a bit. It seemed the main event was about to take place, even if it was a bit too soon for her taste.  She went to grab another stick of Pokey from her box, but she had run out during the fight between Tsubame and Aoi.  "Well, shit."  That was a little irritating.

Jace felt the girl lightly jump on his head... how could she leap so high? The athleticism and determination to be stupid surprised him and distracted him. Then, in his awkward placement... he spun... and spun... and stopped spinning but was now... falling? The samurai's strike was strong, and sent jace on an unexpected course. "Crap!" The last thing Jace could see as he fell, looking up at the fight continuing, the impressionable young minds starring on, before his eyes closed. Cold. It was cold and wet, and Jace lost all bearing of what was up and down. Wet... wet... his deck box! He opened his eyes and looked feverishly for his cards, catching the box in his hands luckily after a few turns. Jace finally caught his bearings when his face met and scratched the sand and shells of the ocean floor. He began orienting himself to swim back up, only to find himself weighed down by all of his things. Something was caught... his bag! Jace was losing air fast, he tugged at his bag harder and harder before he finally got it free. On the surface, the bubbles stopped, as by this time Jace began drifting under the pier. Jace rose rapidly as he did his best to swim. He wasn't a fantastic swimmer, which proved itself evident when he gets ambushed by a wave. Jace loses his breath, and gets carried ashore in a tumble as he gets beaten against the dock's supports on his way to the shore. Water... lots of water gets coughed up by Jace when he finally reaches land. He was soaking to the bone, and shivered at the sudden exposure to the air. "D-d-d-dammit." Was all he could let out before lying down on the warm beach on the other side of the dock, sapped of energy and hurting from the tumble.

Hikari was completely thrown off at seeing Jace rush in to try and stop the two sword-wielding warriors. "Jace, wait!" she called after him, reaching out to try and grab his arm, but she hesitated too much and was unable to stop him. What was that idiot thinking!? Didn't he realize he was about to get himself killed?! Luckily, it seemed Ves and Kachidoki had excellent reaction times, befitting of their skill with their weapons. Hikari watched as Ves leapt from Jace, and Kachidoki caught Jace's kick, and threw him aside, where he spun and then fell into the sea below. Hikari rushed to the side of the pier where he had fallen, taking care not to get in the way of the two warriors, "Jace!" she called out, her voice a mix of concern and fury. If this idiot somehow survived this, she was going to kill him. She could see him struggling beneath the ocean's surface, and, in a panic, tore off her hoodie, tossing it aside, in preparation to dive in after him. A moment before she leapt, though, a strong wave came through and tossed Jace onto the shore. Stopping herself from leaping, Hikari collapsed onto the pier and sighed. "Being a sensei is a lot harder than I thought..." she grumbled, "I wonder if all Americans are this dumb."

Hikari ultimately decided to leave Jace where he was on the beach, instead of going to help him. He was a grown man, not a helpless girl like Rin (Or Hikari's perception of Rin, at least). He would be fine as soon as he'd dried out a bit. Maybe, she thought, this would serve as a lesson to not throw himself in front of people with swords. After the event, she'd be sure to yell at him. Beneath her anger at Jace's suicidal move, she didn't want to admit that she was actually incredibly relieved that he had made it out of that situation relatively unharmed.

From her collapsed place on the pier, Hikari continued to watch the fight. At this point, the two warriors were pulling out all kinds of crazy shit. Blue auras, brilliantly shining blades, some sort of weird energy for sure. It was incredible. Like something from an anime or a video game, more than real life. But Hikari was seeing it in person, so it had to be true. Although she was in complete awe of the fight, she began to worry, just for a moment. What did this mean for her? No. No, none of this mattered. Hikari's weapon of choice was Vanguard, and no matter how sharp Kachidoki's blade may have been, Hikari was confident that she could best him when it came to the game.

The third game on the chopping block and Haruka's hot streak hadn't gone down even a little bit. His last competitor in the gauntlet that presented before him was a friend of the punk he'd creamed only a minute ago; Katashi Mihara. He seemed kind of anxious at first when they met, but it became clear once the preliminaries of the game started. He exclaimed how he was a fan of Cyan Sea ✩, and furthermore, a fan of Haruka during his solo career before it. The idol nearly broke down into a sob of happiness, holding it back with a jovial smile and a warm face. He replied in similar kind, explaining how he awful he'd felt given that all the other idols tended to capture the audience more than himself, likely because they were all girls and a majority of the Cyan Sea ✩ fanbase was male, it was kind of a clear cut response Haruka should've anticipated upon the formation of the group.

Nevertheless, he didn't allow his fan to overcome him so much that his ability to play Vanguard was deterred in any form, in fact it was somewhat the other way around. Haruka's humility reflected onto Katashi, causing him to stutter and stumble about during the match a few times. It was likely something that came with maturation and just overall age. Haruka lived a life of all kinds of emotions by the end of his high school career, only now taking flight into adulthood. Katashi certainly had a ways to go.

The fight was an excellent array of attacks from both ends but the divine luck of Haruka's trigger checks and perhaps the penultimate un-luck of Katashi's own drives sealed the game quite early. Katashi's ability to only check Grade 3s from his first Twin and Triple drives made the barrage of Aqua Force nearly unstoppable. On top of that, Haruka retrieved three more Draw Triggers in this game, once more amassing a hand that created a defensible barrier between his damage count and the opposing board. Lambros drew his hydrosabers and swiftly ended the game without much to say.

With a short after-fight display of pleasantries, Haruka called the three fighters together in a group to grant them their hint. None of them were able to defeat the idol, so no map pieces of his were given out as a result. Instead, he granted them all a small clue as to where the potential whereabouts of the treasure may be.

"Ah, you were all incredible fighters in your own right! I don't mean to patronize, I promise, it is simply unfortunate that the games were not so favorable in your odds. Perhaps next time we face as peers, you can demonstrate your strength then. But until then, I leave you with this."

Haruka sneakily put a hand up over his cheek, as if to block other listeners from hearing what he had to say.

"Coming to find me might've been a mistake, you see... What you're looking for isn't inside the Branch Building."

Haruka winked to the group, allowing them to go off if they wished or partake in short conversation thereafter. No one else was around yet so it wouldn't hurt for the moment.

In a sense, Tobi was floored. Katashi was a fan of idols?! He actually liked that crap? That was the kind of thought that Tobi had in his head when he saw the way that Katashi practically fangirled over the enemy who held the pieces of the map hostage from them. He let a hand hit his face in disappointment, shaking his head somewhat in disdain before letting it fall to the wayside. They both lost after all, and in the end their likes and dislikes didn't change their passion for the game so it was sort of a wayside thing.

Still, Tobi let out a grunt of disappointment. Not only did they lose handedly to the guy, but they got a hint that told them they were in the wrong place entirely! The western walkway of the office building was about as far from the treasure as they possibly could be! He grabbed at his hair with his hands, pulling at it in frustration for a moment, then turning tail down the hall.

"Alright Katashi, the event isn't over yet! We need to go find someone else to beat and get piece of the map! If we're lucky, it'll show us exactly where outside we need to look! C'mon, hurry up!" Tobi was waiting at the end of the hall, hurriedly.

In the back of her mind, Sakuya had told herself challenging an Aqua Force user even stronger than Aoi could only end in disaster.

And sure enough, every card came up disastrous. The game's opening was a cruel twist of fate- Not only did she miss the first Tsukuyomi ride, but she wound up having to put two of her grade 2 Tsukuyomis on the bottom with the initial Ichibyoshi check, effectively locking her out of every part of the ride chain. All she could do was ride and attack alone each turn, getting stuck on a nine thousand power-base grade 3. That number in particular, as Sakuya knew full well, was practically a death sentence against Aqua Force. Tidal Assaults lined up to beat down on the poor moon goddess, relentless in their assault. It was all Sakuya could do to prolong the game to Haruka's second stride, but that stride's power made it a clear-cut victory. Lambros, a stride that had earned a level of notoriety in the competitive scene, descended and sealed the game in an instant, with its powerful skill to restand two rearguards with an additional ten thousand power to their names- In this case, two Tidal Assaults, capable of restanding a second time with fourteen thousand power after the fact.

Event luck was not treating her well.

Gathering up her deck and stowing it back away, she gave her opponent a small bow. "It seems I still can't keep up with an Aqua Force player. And as the rules of the event state, I'm forced to retreat. But thank you for the game regardless, sir Haruka."

With gratitude expressed, Sakuya departed the main building, heading back out into the outdoor areas of the event field to look for her next foe.

Ves felt very little toward the misfortune that befall Jace, shown by her lack of even glancing to see if he was okay from the fall. Others knew to stay out of the way now that the duel had begun and the clan leader knew not to spare thought to causalities that threw themselves forward. It was unorthodox and officials nearby weren't sure what to do, so this let the blonde focus entirely on the opponent before her. The blade's vertical axis transformed her into a human saw, which Kachidoki had to act quickly to stop between moving the civilian and stop the attack. Alas, the samurai spoke calmly in response to the assault and unleashed the magical power of his sword, radiating with blinding light that cut off the swordswoman's vision along with pushing back with a force, slowing her rapid movement. Even so, the steel of the fighters clashed with energetic, vibrant sparks and a resounding clang.

"Tch." Ves hissed, sucking on her teeth at she was knocked backward by the force of the man and his sword, feeling the showdown against not one, but two entities. If she was deterred by this fact, she didn't show it. Instead, her own sword was gripped tightly while airborne and proceeded to swipe at the air in several directions, painting a beautiful blue stream with miniature blade designs jutting out of it - as if an artist with a brush. Twirling about and dancing in the sky, she would slash forward and the arc of light became a whip. The structure of the ethereal rope becoming its own weapon that flung at Kachidoki.

But that was not the end of her attack, as she would move quickly upon landing to take an additional swipe of sword by disconnecting the first spectral wire and creating a new one, taking advantage of the great range with two speedy swings - another stream of a bladed cord slinging to the swordsman's side.

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Aoi didn't understand blackmail nearly as well as she thought, and assumed the same mindset of when she and Jessie would make dumb bets. The loser would have to do anything the winner said, and this seemed akin to that situation. Tsubame was threatening Aoi that she would have to conform to her one demand at some point, yet... With a small drop of sweat representing worry, the gumball conceded. "Alright! I promise I'll do the thing in the future, you can count on me!" Umi would kill her upon discovering the missing map pieces and it was surprising she wasn't called in to be yelled at already, but the cheerful soul rolled with it while keeping her usual open-mouthed smile. "Thanks Tsuba!" The youthful, windy lass expressed her gratitude.

Then someone else heard anyway. How, when she was whispering, she would never know.

"Mmmnnyeh?!" Aoi spat out a random noise of shock at Sieg's voicing her upset. Though she was about to try to have Sieg swear a blood oath to not tattle, the younger girl requested a game with the miracle child anyway. "Mmm?" A curious mewl, staring down at the new challenger. The Chinese champion couldn't help but raise a brow at the hesitation in tone and trembling arm... Was she going to be okay? Not understanding the sentiment and purpose, all the representative needed was a reason to play. "Okay, sure!" A thumbs up as Ripples were hastily collected and organized. "No reason to not play Vanguard! That's a good mindset!" The Vanguard Idiot was content with this, asking no questions - not drilling into Sieg's desire for a pointless game. To Aoi, there was no such thing as a meaningless fight.

"It's Tsubame." the girl replied to Aoi's new nickname being used once again. There was some clear irritation on her face as she did but it wasn't worth fighting it out much past this. The gumball's attention would quickly be diverted to another approaching fighter as it was. If the Amon-player cared at all to see what this challenger who knew there was no prize to be won here but still wanted a fight had up her sleeve, she certainly didn't show it as she waved lazily to Aoi before heading off on her way. It was back to the original plan now. Finding Hana. She needed someone to poke fun at after suffering through Aoi's endless enthusiasm and who better than an idol?

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Katashi was rather disappointed with how his fight with Haruka had played out. He had very much wanted to give his favorite artist more of a fight than that but when grade threes flock to your hand there's only so much you can do. Still, Haruka seemed to enjoy the fight plenty and even told the boy to call him by his first name. He couldn't actually believe a celebrity would want to be on a first name basis with him, let alone one he admired. The idol had a clue for the defeated trio at the least which was welcome news. The treasure wasn't inside the branch building he said. So their search needed to take them back outside and likely to the other reps with map pieces. Tobi seemed raring to go and called Katashi to get a move on but the boy seemed stuck in place a bit as he fidgeted through his pockets.

"H-haruka... I was wondering if maybe..." he began, the hesitation setting back in now that the energy of the fight had subsided some. Eventually he built up the courage and produced a CD case which he held out in front of the man. "I was wondering if you would sign this!" he said in a rush to make sure he got it all out before stammering again. As Haruka looked closer he would see something very familiar to him. It was the man's first album from when he was still a solo act. Katashi had brought it with him for this very purpose. When he'd heard Cyan Sea✩ had performed at Zoo he hoped they would be at Magallanica too. And sure enough they were and here he was now. There would never be another opportunity like this.

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Kachidoki remained solid in his stance as he kept his feet well planted to respond to Ves' next move. The girl had very good responses and began another assault before even landing. The Clan Leader swung her sword about in the air, carving out arcs of light that she then launched at the samurai. He knew well enough these would prove to be projectiles and once she had landed she sent another. The man held his katana vertically in front of himself this time.

"Sonzai Shūryō-ryū: Mukōken!"

Another special attack but this one much different than the previously named of the same style. The blade turned pitch black this time but as the man moved it into a position to intercept the attack, a tail formed behind it. A tail of darkness that seemed to linger and that obscured the true position of the blade. An arc of darkness would form around him as he moved the blade. This arc collided with the incoming projectiles but where Kachidoki's sword, or most of his arm for that matter, was proved difficult to tell. Without losing any ground the man held the position. Ves would see her attacks seem to bend around the man and clash with each other a few feet behind his back after having grazed his shoulders. Unlike the light from before, the darkness from the man's blade did not subside. Instead he held his arm down by his side, the blade pointing forward as best anyone could tell. Only he knew the true orientation of his weapon at this point.

"I will say I was not counting on one such as yourself being so talented with the blade. I had not intended to show you the Mukōken. But now you've seen it. This blade will cut either light or darkness. So long as you assault me with light you will see little results for no light can enter the space it cleaves." he called out to his opponent as he raised his blade and took hold of it with his other hand which also became obscured in the all-consuming darkness about the blade. "You will only prevail when steel meets steel." he said, challenging the girl to another direct confrontation but now with limited information on how his blade moved or struck.

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Tamotsu had gone in a circle or two trying to track Aoi's scent. But it seemed very unlikely now that he was ever going to find the girl for their fight. He'd found someone else. Well a few someones else. A group of girls who weren't participating in the event and were just walking about town together had collectively swarmed the pup wanting to pet him to which he was not at all opposed. So distracted was he in fact that he began trotting along with them as they moved about to go shopping. Nothing quite like thicc girl from before running to the event but they were nice.

It seemed at this rate the fated clash of Fuwa-tan and his gumball would never happen.

Jace sighed and crawled further up the beach, before getting up fully and sitting upright. He took a breath, but then gagged, coughing up more water and a bit of blood. He took it easy and sat for a moment, looking over the horizon, intentionally evading looking at the pier... where no one seemed to be looking at him anyway. Those two are nutjobs, that is what Jace is certain of, and he is lucky to have left that scenario alive... should he call the police? How does someone handle two people assaulting each other with deadly weapons? Jace flipped open his phone to find it off... and leaking water. In fact, most of his things were wet. Luckily Jace didn't bring his collection that day, and his deck was double sleeved and in a sealed box. The precautions knowing he was going to be at a beach paid off in spades. As much as Jace wanted to sulk in pain, he had to do something... contact someone, talk to someone who worked with the branch... they couldn't all be crazy right? He got up and winced in pain, he was covered in scrapes, and had cuts all over his face and hands. He hobbled as he walked, having sand all caught up in his clothes and pain writhing through him. It was not likely Jace would be able to continue the challenge now at a sufficient enough pace to win it, but he was going to at least try, and if not salvage the day be completing a quest.

So, the waterlogged and battered Jace hobbled into the branch building of Magallanica, looking for a staffer or preferably, a clan leader to report the situation to, and to re-look over the details of that quest he remembered seeing for this event.