(GS3) Field: Forest

[Hope]

Along the woods, a strange door opened up. It was an unfitting building, covered in the trees. Smoke emanated from the open door, and a cool breeze flowed out, carried by the wind which traveled across the trees.


You've been invited to PSY Shop. Post an RP of entering within the shop in order t accept the offer.

[Jello]

Morning light shone through the treetops of the forest. Haruka paced through a trail, trying to find a place to sit and contemplate what had happened in the last 4 hours. He felt something had a grip on his body and it wasn't letting go. Whatever it was, the feeling had started to fade only a few minutes ago, but the presence was still there.

"Ow ow ow..." Haruka bumped his arm into a branch. Normally this wouldn't evoke such a pained response, if it weren't for earlier in the morning.


The early morning had come and Haruka never did fall asleep, as the word he had heard all night rung in his ear for what seemed like indefinitely.

Seraphim.

Eventually, it did stop, though. Around seven in the morning, Haruka found some peace and quiet at last. He laid on his bed, dripping in sweat and tears, finally able to rid himself of the damned name. It was a cursed name he remembered from his youth, but never knew why he was called it. Only one person called him that, and he couldn't even remember their name. Not even who they were.

However, the end to the living nightmare didn't end there. Of course it didn't. Haruka braced himself for another round of name-calling, but instead, he got something different. He heard one word, and heard it only once. The echo of it resounded in the halls of Haruka's head and he couldn't take a second of it.

Betrayal.

The instant he realized what the voice had said, Haruka began to thrash about. He hit walls and threw chairs, running through the house on an unstoppable rampage. The tables were toppled and the dressers were now blanketed in holes on all sides, trinkets and decorations now lay in shambles on the carpeted floor.

An hour passed of this, on and off. By the end of it, Haruka ended up on the floor of his living room, staring at the ceiling fan. His mind was blank and had only a vague memory of what just happened. He felt so guilt-ridden but also so fearful all of a sudden.

Who was going to betray me? What for? Did I betray them before? What should I do about it?

With these questions floating, he remembered something.

Right, gotta text Yukino. Satoshi must've spent the night at the mansion.

"Hey, just woke up. text me when you get this

- Haru"

With that message, Haruka went to the nearly untouched bathroom and took a shower. After the blood on his arms and hands had been washed off and the cuts had been disinfected, he bandaged up his arms and hands, and made some headway into the morning. He didn't want to stay in the house anymore. It was unbelievably lonely this morning.

He wore a yellow and black varsity jacket to go with his bumble-bee striped scarf and dark jeans. Covers up the arms and he can just keep his hands in his pockets. Nobody will worry, and the day will progress as usual.

He grabbed Vortimer and the Gold Paladins, and went out to the forest for some fresh air.


And with that, we now find Haruka rubbing his now awfully sore arm.

"Ughh... I need some coffee."

[Spectre Diamond]

In the silence of the sincere forests Hikaru wearing a dark blue coat and carrying a bag as he silently walks to one of his many bunkers hidden under the tall trees. Closing in on to the forest bunker. He then moves the large boulder aside as he walks inside the cave. Inside the cave was a dusty mat, a sleeping bag, a wobbly desk and chair that was on the right side of the cave, as well as some of the other things he left in this bunkers.

"If there's one thing that those crooks had taught me, its the many bases they set up all around the city. Its been a week since i've last been here." He proceeds to drop the bag on the ground and sets up his sleeping bag.

[Lance Korilum]

  Wandering in his fury, Cero found himself in a forest.  Realizing he was likely alone here, he stopped trying to hold in his emotions and let loose, punching a nearby tree repeatedly.  That woman...  Whatever her name was...  Insulted him.  She didn't acknowledge strength.  She mocked his ability  She riled him up, and he fell for it.  Cero continued punching the tree, despite the blood now dripping from his knuckles.  That woman held back against him!  He could accept defeat in most cases, defeat was just part of the journey to become stronger...  But THIS!?  Losing to someone who mocked and embarrassed him so!?  Falling to his knees, Cero almost started crying.  He thought he had become powerful...  He thought he had surpassed everything...  He thought that he now had the strength he had been after so long...  But he didn't.  He was still weak now, like he was before.  Cero took out his deck, staring at it.  Why?  Why was he weak again?  There was no way he'd find the answer just sitting here, but his pride was shattered from what had just happened.  With no drive left, he simply sat there in the middle of the forest, wondering.

[Crystalia]

In the end, she ended up in the forest. She didn't really register how she made it there, she hadn't been paying attention. Walking through the forest again brought back memories of a few days ago, the walk with Hana. She continued walking, with no real set goal in mind, just walking to keep her thoughts flowing.

After walking for a while, she heard a small sound. Wondering what it was, she headed over. When she got there, she saw that a tree had a bit of blood on it, and it was just a bird pecking away at the blood. 'Slightly strange' she thought. 'Where did the blood come from?'. She almost missed the man sitting in the forest. 'Whoa' she accidently shouted, unable to hide her suprise. She jumped back for a second, but moved closer again. Having a closer look, she realised it was Cero the King, although he looked different from what she remembered. Miyuki had seen him briefly the day before, challenging Yukino before she passed out.

Still, something was definely up. There were tears on his face, and blood on his hands. His eyes looked a lot like eyes she had seen previously, looking full of despair. 'Are you alright?' was all she said, waiting to see his response.

[Cherry]

"So the brats actually joined the alliance faction? Ha! I would've expected them to keep moaning", Yunos communicated with Yugure in his spirit form. They were taking a stroll, as the manor began to feel suffocating with how all the servants kept pestering the young mistress. Having Blaster Dark back put her in a better mood, especially with seeing him being himself. Which was rude and sarcastic, with a hint of care. Unfortunately, the other Gold Paladins could only see him in battle. Ezel and Garmore were able to speak to him normally only because of their connection with the queen.

"You would've been just like them if it wasn't for me", Yukino replied. The swordsman chuckled.

"Ha, maybe. I wasn't all too much for aligning myself back with the prim and proper until I got to you. Honestly, I'm still not, but I don't much care to see the United Sanctuary in pieces."

Shadow Paladin may have been terrorists, but it was Phantom Blaster Dragon who drove them to near-mindless destruction. Now, they simply reside as the Sanctuary's darkness... or would've liked to before the War of Liberation.

"So everyone on Earth except those connected to Cray forgot the four missing clans existed... And it's because that little brat showed up after everything was done and over with."

"Yes."

"Tch. Always something or another, and she hauled your ass twice now. So you think failure's your new destiny?"

"..."

"I'm not going to lecture you, because if a couple of words could fix your attitude, I'm sure your buddies would've done so already. Including Ezel, that fiery asshole. Or at least Garmore."

"Yunos..."

"Yami- Yugure. I'm going to stay by your side as I can for now while we figure out how to wake Ahmes' sorry ass up. In the meantime, remember that the sword of resolution is in your hands because it's supposed to be and it wants to be. The Sword of Courage will come to you all the same."

With that, the spirit vanished. Yugure was left alone, looking down at her feet. Sad, but thought-filled. Her eyes opened, however, when hearing a sound of collision with a tree. The queen went to see what it was, and it happened to be a fallen king and Miyuki. Garmore looked upon his king with sorrow, but it was fleeting, seeing as he'd have to accept Cero's deck change eventually. Ezel placed a hand of the wolf's shoulder, and nodded. Wolf boy nodded afterward.

[Lance Korilum]

Cero barely registered someone had approached him.  His head turned towards the voice, but he simply went back to staring at his deck without answering Miyuki's question.  Did he even deserve to call Vermillion his 'Avatar' after this?  Not only had he lost, his determination was weakening, his drive to become the strongest wavering...  Cero slammed his fist into the ground.  This wasn't who he was.  This wasn't what he had trained to become...  A crying mess on the ground in the middle of the woods...  But what else could he do?  Everything about him and just been blown away by one woman.  His deck slipped from his hands, leaving Cero staring at the ground in defeat.

[Crystalia]

He didn't reply. Perhaps he hadn't heard her, or he just chose to ignore her. In the end he seemed to slip further into despair, dropping his deck and punching the ground. He was indeed a mess, a shadow of his former self. For some reason, she felt the urge to look through his deck. She did so, and saw the card 'Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion'. 'Him again?' she thought, puzzled. 'Neo uses this card as well, and this card seemed to resemble another card. Dragonic Overlord. Why would Cero have him?' She shrugged, considering her options.

Cero was obviously quite down, some event must have happened to him. She could ask him what happened, or perhaps ask for a fight. The idea of a fight could end badly though. If she lost to him, he might regard the victory as hollow, and if she won he might lose hope again. Either choice just felt bad to her. However, something insider Miyuki told her to offer him a fight. Just before she was about to open her mouth, she noticed Yukino standing nearby. 'When did she get here?' Miyuki was about to go over to Yukino, but she stopped. Yukino was quite possibly still down from what happened before, she didn't want to push her. Added to that, if she couldn't even try to help this man on her own, how on earth would she manage to support Hana?

'Hey, Cero the King was it?' she called out. Crouching down to try and get his attention, she continued. 'You are a vanguard fighter right?' Trying to put emphasis on her words, and using a slightly harsher tone felt weird, but she put up with it.

 She offered him his deck. 'If you have time to be moping around, how about a fight? Just sitting around won't solve much, and it wouldn't hurt to have a fight would it?' She had no idea why she was doing this, perhaps it was merely the fact that she'd seen one too many people sitting around like this, wallowing in despair.

[Lance Korilum]

Cero looked up at the person offering him his deck.  It was the girl from the ramen shop months ago.  He didn't offer a verbal response to the challenge, only nodding and taking his deck back.  Cero stood up, still barely paying attention. 

[NeoBuster]

Neo was walking home from the construction site and was passing through the forest. He noticed a cardfight going on so he decided to go inspect it. And thats when he noticed it:

"Another person using Narukami!" Neo said

Neo decided to watch the cardfight from a distance to see if he can find out anything.

[Crystalia]

The man had seemed completly broken. His fight in general lacked spirit, even Vermillion hadn't come to him. To try and speak to him, she questioned him. Told him that the strong don't stop for anything, that they move past defeat. She didn't know where she got those words from, she just went with it. These seemed to reach him however, as he responded with a Limit Break. Even after Farah's trick, he would not give in. His avatar came back to him in a resounding flash, and unleashed his power. Truly showing off his spirit, even when faced with almost certain defeat, he didn't back down. As he took the 6th damage, it was a heal trigger, stating his resolve. Roaring back, he used his avatar to once again claim victory.

Hoping that this helped him, she bowed, asking if she enjoyed the performance. As long as it did, she was happy. She felt drained, but it was still a good feeling. She noticed Neo had arrived, and nodded to him slightly.

(Cero +2 AP)

[NeoBuster]

After witnessing the cardfight, Neo noticed Miyuki nodding to him. He nodded back.

"It seems like the situation is getting worse and worse" Neo said

Neo then decided to stick around walking around the forest to see if anyone else was around.

[Cherry]

Jealousy.

Yugure saw Cero's spirit return in no time. Ridiculous and unfair, while she still wallows in misery. Keeping quiet, the queen slipped away without giving them any hint of her presence if at all possible. Miyuki already saw her, but maybe she'd forget or just ignore it. The envy that connected her with Yunos was still strong, but they lacked the courage to face the power of people they yearned to have.

Still down, her phone buzzed. It was from Satoshi. The triad was supposed to go to the park today, but she completely lost the mood. ... No, more like never had it.

"In the woods."

Was her short response. Leaning back against a tree, the woman sighed, holding her face again.

Garmore sighed too. There was no place for him in Cero's spirit to share with Vermillion.

Ezel and Yunos sighed as well, these sadsacks are downers.

[Beryl]

The forest, as it turned out, wasn't too far from the beach. Having put on a shirt, but still wearing his swim trunks, Satoshi stepped through the woods, remembering it was the place where he went to PSY Shop a long time ago. He sent another text:

Nothing really happened today. I actually beat Neu, but her decks that use the sealed clans are strange. From what I can tell, they all have units with Limit Break. When I played against "your Royals," for example, Neu had this guy called White Dragon Knight, Pendragon. Today, she used "Haruka's Kagero," and it had these other cards in it, Dragonic Lawkeeper and Cross Shot, Garp.

I'm not sure why, but the fact that she's been able to somehow take the clans and make them break their limits, even though they're sealed, is worrisome. It's like the Rift gave her the ability to manipulate the clans without having a real connection to any of them.

I hope everything's going alright on your end, I'll see you in a few minu---

Satoshi's text abruptly ended and sent as he walked smack into the tree Yukino was leaning on.

"O-ow..."

[Lance Korilum]

  The fight was significantly closer than any, and for once since his return, Cero's victory didn't feel empty.  He was able to use his Garuda/Saishin combo on his second turn to retire Miyuki's starter, which she responded to by rushing him on her second turn.  However, Vermillion failed to appear to Cero, forcing him to ride Dungaree. 

  Miyuki commented on this, saying, "Hmmm, guess you aren't in the right state for him right now."  This comment only made Cero more upset at himself...  She was right.  He didn't deserve Vermillion, not after letting his own determination waver like this...  He hadn't failed yet....  Dungaree attacked to tie up the game, but Miyuki challenged him again, "You're a king right?  You strive to be strong, don't you?"  ...  She hit the nail on the head.  But his desire had been crushed by that woman...  His desire for strength lead him to his defeat...  She continued, "You need to overcome various things in order to be truly strong, don't you?  Slowing down now is just insulting to your initial feelings."  Again, she was right...  If he let himself stop here, there was no point in abandoning Garmore...  There was no point in coming back to Japan, no point in finding Narukami, no point in Cardfighting...  Cero's determination returned.  He'd continue, and he'd become stronger, far stronger than even that woman who dared insult Vanguard!  He activated the Limit Break of Dungaree, and next turn, as if in response to Cero finding his determination, Vermillion appeared.  Cero rode his Avatar, and began his comeback, however he had been pushed to 5 damage, and had barely any cards left in his hand...

"Not yet...  I can't let it end here...  I won't let it end here!!!"  Again, his deck responded to his determination.  A sixth heal appeared, giving Cero one final chance, a chance he took with everything he had, bringing him victory and regaining his pride.  "Thank you, Miyuki," Cero said, actually meaning it.  If she hadn't have helped, Cero might've given up on Vanguard completely.

Miyuki +2 AP