(GS3) Field: Umano Underground Slums

[Lance Korilum]

  Atfer his loss in the finals of the National tournament, just one step away from his goal, Cero left the arena infuriated.  He chose the to unleash his rage in the underground fight tables of the slums, defeating them one after another without being challenged and without caring.  "This is pointless," he thought to himself, "I've already reached my limit..."  The thought of being unable to achieve new strength was infuriating for him.  He had hit a wall, and despite the speech he had made, he couldn't see how to climb over it. 
  "I need something, someone...  Some way of surpassing myself, but I can't find it..!"  He was on the verge of tears, having gone through over 10 cardfights with the people of the slums.  "WHY!?  WHY CAN'T I, EUROPE'S KING OF VANGUARD, SEE HOW TO CONTINUE!?"   Cero looked at his deck, the deck he worked so long to perfect.  There was no way for him to improve the deck, he felt he had customized it to its limits, made it as close to his perfect deck as he could...  Yet it still wasn't enough...  He still couldn't claim the title he had been working so hard for...  "What am I missing...  How do I get it..!?"
  He continued cardfighting, over and over, hoping he'd see what he was missing, the thing he lacked, that which he need, the way to surpass his own limits.  It was no use.  Cardfight after Cardfight, he failed to see what he was lacking.  Whether it was his pride blinding him or that he had actually made himself as perfect as he could, he wasn't sure, but he knew that he couldn't get any further than he was now at this rate.  With the unbearable feeling of defeat and hopelessness, despite all he had been through with his deck, Cero turned and began to leave the Underground Slums.

[OverDrive]

Disappointed by his loss, Tsubasa wanders the streets thinking about what he saw at nationals and of any way that he can improve his deck.

"I lost during the first round of nationals...why?...was it luck?...was it my deck?...was it my opponent's deck?" he thought as he continued walking without a direction in mind.

"Itou utilized the Royal Paladins differently compared to me...he setup his units in a way that would keep him at an advantage in terms of power and field....maybe if I did this..hmmm"

(Itou +1 Affinity)

Nothing could alter Tsubasa's focus at that point he was so fixated on the changes to the deck he was making as he walked through the streets, until a strange aroma made his focus shift to his surroundings...

"What happened here...?" he muttered, as he stared at an array of unconscious individuals.

Tsubasa examines the debris until he finds something astonishing left near the bodies as well as in their hands

"...Those are...Vanguard cards ....is it possible that all of these people are unconscious because they lost in cardfights??!" he thought. "...Who would do this..?"

[Nika]

I walk around dumbfounded through out the streets of the unfamiliar territory I had come a crossed. Of course the whole city was new to me, but this part I did not like at all. It smelled so foul, I wondered to myself why not turn back. Something was telling me to keep moving so I did as myconscience dictated. I soon stumbled across dozens of cardfighters lying on the ground unconscious. 'Who would do such a thing ?" I said to myself scanning the perimeter of the area. "How is this possible?" Questions flowed in and out of my mind. Anger started to swell within me as I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth. "This game is suppose to be fun, not bring pain and misery to others. Once I find the person responsible..." I looked up and saw a young man, well dressed with glasses scoping the scene. "OI!" I shouted, trying to get that stranger's attention. "He's looking at their cards....he has to be the one that did this!" I race towards him and without delay I challenge him so I can put him in his place and show him how unacceptable this is. "Take out your deck, I'll make u regret harming people with this game!"

[OverDrive]

Tsubasa continued searching the slums for any conscious individual who can explain to him about the events that took place in the underground, causing this sea of unconscious cardfighters. A few moments later he is interrupted by a loud shout from a distance.

"Huh, who's there?" he said, as he scanned the area around him with all of his senses.

He noticed a dark figure standing in the distance, and it was only after the figure starting moving towards him that he was able to notice that it was a young lady. Before he could ask her if she knew about what had happened, he was abruptly stopped by her cardfighting challenge and her threat of "making him pay for what he has done" as she took out her deck and pointed it at him.

Tsubasa could not make out what clan she was using due to the lack of strong lighting in the area, but for some reason, something about the deck felt familiar to him.
 
Originally he thought that she was the person who caused this massacre, but her appearance did not fit the profile.

In his mind he thought, "She's too clean...if anyone cardfights against this many people within these conditions, he or she would look a lot similar to those lying on the ground", as he assessed the person standing in front of him.

"Who are you?" he asked, but the young lady ignored his question and set her deck on a fight table nearby. "I guess if I want answers, i'll have to cardfight her to get them."

The cardfight ensues as both individuals shout "Stand Up The Vanguard!"

[OverDrive]

Tsubasa wins the cardfight and proves his innocence to the young lady, however, before they can even say a word they begin to hear movement among the debris....the low lives of the underground slums have regained consciousness.

"You should go...if the fight conditions here are as i've seen then this is no place for u to be." Tsubasa said, as he tries to get the lady to leave the scene before the situation escalates.

The low lives did not appear in the mood to talk at all, they looked at Tsubasa and the young lady with a dangerous intent visible within their eyes.

"I have a score to settle, I won't let whoever did this get away with it!" exclaimed the young lady, refusing to leave.

In a matter of moments, the low lives all arose from their short rest and attempted to challenge Tsubasa and young lady as they uttered these words over and over again.

"We will cardfight...Europe's King of Cardfight...fight us.."

"What are they talking about? Europe's King Of Cardfight, could he be the one responsible, it's too soon to say that.." he thought.

"It does not look like the person responsible is here, and since u chose to stay until it was too late to leave with ease, then I have a favor to ask." he said, addressing the young lady.

"You want to fight them all??!" she asked in astonishment.
"We have no choice unless u want to stay here any longer." said Tsubasa, as he prepares his deck.
"...Fine lets get out of here!"

The low-lives begin to rush at the two as they prepare to take them on.

"..Btw, I did not catch your name until now." he said.
"Tsubaki Ayako, you?"
"Tsubasa, Tsubasa Hayato is my name."

The Cardfights begin!

"Stand Up The Vanguard!!"
"Stand Up The Vanguard!!"

After some long lasting fights the two make their way out of the underground slums.

"You okay?" she asked.
"Trust me, they're blows were nothing special, they did not come close to the blows of some people I know, how about you?" he replied.
"I'll be okay."
" Good, then this is where I take my leave, hopefully the next time we meet it will be under better circumstances."

Tsubasa starts to walk away from Tsubaki but he stops after a second or two and points his finger towards a certain road.

"If your trying to get to the train station, then take this road, they should be able to help u." he says, then continues to walk away.

This experience left Tsubasa with a different perspective on the game of vanguard, he now knows that the game can be misused to attain strength but he also is reminded that there are those who are willing to fight to make things right in this game, regardless of their clan.

"Tsubaki Ayako...you're a strong cardfighter indeed...hopefully we will meet again,....amidst all that chaos I actually enjoyed our game." he thought as he continued his walk home.

Tsubaki Ayako +1 Affinity

[Kisaragi Zane]

"My Blaster Dark charges in for the final attack at your vanguard!"

The Knight of Shadows charges at the robotic titan, Asura Kaiser, slashing him from the top of his head causing him to tumble over. Landing behind the malfunctioning Kaiser, Blaster Dark stares into his opponents eyes with a malevolent gaze, as if he was about to finish off his opponent. The allies of the Asura Kaiser stared in fear of Blaster Dark, all of them running away, vanishing. The field turns back to regular underground slums, gated and barren like a graveyard in the dead of knight. Blaster Dark dashes back to his partner, the blonde male: Jellal. His eyes, looking down at his opponent, were as vicious as his avatars.

"Who's next?" he said while turning to the side at the surrounding fighters. His voice was rough and cold, shivering the spines of everyone who could hear his next challenge. "I can't believe I lost..." he thought to himself. "I needed to win..." the wind viciously passed by Jellal. "Damnit!" he said while smashing his fist on the table.

"C'mon who's next?!?!" he shouted as his eyes grew darker. Whispers in the crowd: "Who wants to take him on?", "I don't wanna get demolished", "Yo he's too strong", "What a bloody savage", "He lost in the semi finals of nationals and is taking it out on us?", "It's 2AM, I gotta get home to my mommy".

Jellal looked down at his cards, replaying the fight he had with Cero. He felt a stronger connection to the Shadow Paladins, as they pulled through for him throughout the tournament, however, frustration was getting the best of him. The thought of him failing his one chance to help Aqua Force, and to get stronger to rematch Kaze. "I don't know what to do anymore..." he said in a sad voice, slowly releasing his grip, spreading his fingers over the vanguard circle. The tip of his pinky, touching his avatar: Blaster Dark. He kept asking what he should do, each time getting sadder.

[Hope]

The wind gathers around Jellal, everything around him is blown away by the wind. A dust cloud forms from the gust as a result.

"It's time now." The deep voice from before returns.

Below him, the rift opens and he falls. By the time the dust cloud dissipated, Jellal had disappeared, taken into the rift.


- Jellal has been taken into the rift, please post the next roleplay post in there -

[Cherry]

In next to no time at all, most of the underground's men were stomped on by the new queen, Yami. The sword of darkness rampaged, having a thirst for power that needed to be quenched. An order was given: bring out all the stops. Cheat as much as possible if necessary. While the slums' dogs were skeptical, despite loyal to the queen as it was already, they complied. ... And they still lost. This was ridiculous, she almost always opened with Blaster Javelin, and the times she didn't, she just drew into it normally to get the chain. The raw emotion she displayed was different from Jellal, as he had Shadow Paladins be a tool for his own ends. Yukino, however, was entirely in sync with them, and only desired to keep fighting.

After the onslaught, her majesty began her departure, disappointed.

[Kaze Natsume]

After spending most of his time during the day in the park Kaze decided to head over to where the underground fights take place. Hoping to find clues for Jellal or Jellal himself.

Kaze arrives at the Umano Underground Slums. "Not much has changed I see." he said. Kaze runs into the guys from last time again while walking around. The guy goes up to Kaze "Hey you." Kaze turns looks at the guy "Oh, its you again what do you want from me didn't I already embarrass you last time I was here." Kaze states while looking around. "Why you smart ass!!!" the guy replies with an annoyance in his voice. While looking around Kaze ignores the guy and walks over to a crowd surround a table. "Whats going on here?" Kaze asked one of the guys watching. "There's this girl going around betting everyone."

Being interested in what the guy told him he squeezes through the crowd to see who's playing. He sees a pretty lady at the table "I-Its Yukino... whats she doing here." Kaze said to himself. "Something seems off about her might as well go see what's up." He said to himself walking up to her.

[Killa]

Good Crud

Makuto decided to visit the Slums for the first time even though he swore he would never enter such place. Being disgusted by everything and everyone, he got more motivation to beat every single person there. Soul charging efficiently, using Dimension Creepers with Doreen reaching high numbers and with Death Anchor standing in the Vanguard circle, he believed no one could stop him. Not only that but everytime Akuma took over, everyone got scared even more.

"So this is how it feels huh, the power that i need to achieve my persona goal!!!" said Makuto as he laughed hystericly.

He felt the power running through his arms and deck, as he fought the people there. Defeating every single one that accepted his challenge he then realised beating them gave him no profit anymore as he realised what he was capable of. He then decided to wander through the place in search for stronger opponents.

[Cherry]

Nearly leaving, the purple-blade eyed royalty saw Kaze approach her. From yesterday... the boy who played Royal Paladin that seemed enamored with her. It almost seemed like a dream, how happy she was before. But now, she was even happier that she had the means to keep evolving. Blaster Dark urged her to keep fighting in the slums, strong people are attracted to this place more than Card Capital. Dirty, rotten cheaters made high level challenges, and then fighters who wanted to combat this while coming out on top... they were the pinnacle.

A resolute gaze, yearning to keep getting strong, turned itself to the boy.

"What is it?" she hissed. If he was stronger than these rejects, then the queen would wait for him to challenge her.

[Kaze Natsume]

After approaching Yukino Kaze was hissed at. In shock he paused "What happened to the girl from yesterday..." he thought to himself. I guess if i cardfight her i might be able to fine out whats wrong. Kaze told the guy on the other side of the table to move, and places his deck on the table. "Yukino I challenge you!"

[Kuro]

Haruki decided to visit Sydney for some training. He learned the slums were not as spooky as he expected after visiting there with Manager. Sure, the place was dusty, rusty and wasn't known for having cardfighters with good sportsmanship, but he definitely felt like it wasn't as bad as before. In the outskirts of the underground, the silver hair man was leaning against a building, waiting for Haruki after he got the call. "Hi Sydney!" the boy called out after seeing the man.

"Hey Haruki. You said you needed to train or something?" The sickly man from before now looked rough and tough and super, duper cool. "First things first, what decks have you used so far?"

"Well..." Haruki started counting off on his fingers, "I've played the Spike Brothers, Oracle Think Tank, Bermuda Triangle, and Granblue clans so far."

"Only four? Hmm," Sydney thought about how he should go about the training. "We'll need to have you start using all kinds of decks first, and find out the best match up for you. I've only seen you use Spike Brothers before, so there's not much to go by on my end. Follow me to the fighting area so we can get started."

"Are you sure it's okay for me to fight over there? They might not fight someone new like me."

"Nah, it's fine. I'll be the one fighting you today, even turning off the shock factor for these fights. Deck collection is in the back so you can test whatever you feel like."

"Okay! I'm ready for this training!" The passion for fighting was bursting inside Haruki, as he rushed off towards the fighting arena, with Sydney casually walking behind him. When they got there, many people were already defeated however, and only a few remained. A couple of faces Haruki had recognized, like Yukino and the cookie guy from a few days ago.

"Listen, Haruki, we might have to come back later," Sydney calmly, but seriously said. "On days like this, it's not safe to go out for cardfights in the slums. Too many of the local guys seriously get hurt from people like these."

"But I know that girl, and met that guy before. I don't see how they could be so bad." Haruki was confused about Sydney's position on this, and decided to continue anyway. "I still want to get stronger, so I can be just as good as you and tons of other fighters in the world. Let's train no matter what."

Sydney realized Haruki's determination, and figured he had no choice but to comply. "Alright, let's get to work." He lead Haruki to a table that was a bit away from the others and grabbed one of the decks from under it. "You'll start with this clan." They set up the field and started the first game.

"Stand up, Vanguard!"

[Cherry]

Facing Kaze seems to have agitated the black knights, all harboring ferocious anger toward the holy warriors. Blaster Blade and Alfred especially infuriated them, with their queen only began grinding her teeth at the sight of the former. This drive led the denizens of darkness through the battle, getting a strong head-start, ignoring the Dragon of Hell almost entirely. That angered Phantom Blaster more than anything, how "Yami" scoffed off his existence in favor of The Dark Dictator - Alfred's shadow. A simple creation made from her old Alfred... surpassing it?!

Not sure if proud or jealous.

Yami collected her cards, thanking Kaze for the fight. She told him why Royals aren't with her - she isn't worthy of them. Yunos and the queen would wield the sword of courage once they've earned the right to.

Kaze +1 Affinity

Blaster Dark was pleased, more than the others among the terrorists. He, as her avatar, was already bound to her by the same dream. But this isn't enough, Yukino needed more fighting, more training, more time to hone her skill to take hold of Blaster Blade.

More fights required.

[Kaze Natsume]

After hearing Yukino thank Kaze for he said "Your welcome..." he couldn't believe he lost, he wanted to save Yukino from her twisted illusion. "How could she not have the courage to wield Blaster Blade anymore." Kaze packs up his cards and puts them in his pocket. Getting ready to leave he puts his hand on Yukino's shoulder walking passed her "I hope you return to your old self because this isn't the real you." Kaze said to to her in a hushed tone. He puts on his hood and continues to walk towards the exit.

"If I'm not strong enough to help one single person what good am I?" Kaze asked himself. Kaze leaves Umano Underground Slums in frustration of not being able to save Yukino.