(NYC) Field: New York National Hall

[OverDrive]

Seifer and Tsubasa had met before, but did not get the chance to face one another. Seifer's mastery of the great nature clan gave him a strong edge in the match, creating strong rear-guard columns capable of forcing Tsubasa's hand to drop or his damage zone to flood quickly. In the end it was a battle of who could outlast the other both sides pushed with all their might ending up with a score of 2-1 in Tsubasa's favor.

"First round victory goes to Tsubasa! Second round victory to Seifer!! and clinching the final round win Tsubasa, takes the match!" said the announcer, as the crowd shouted with excitement after the cardfights.

The cardfights gave both fighters a chance to understand a bit about each other, in Tsubasa's case his respect for Seifer grew due to Seifer's nature and style of fighting. However, something was odd about Seifer as he weilded the Great Nature clan, while he was skilled with it, Tsubasa felt a similar reaction to that of someone who is 'missing something'.

"..He left the stadium with his hand gripping the side of his face...I know that style of play with a clan...Seifer...could you possibly be a victim of clans being sealed as well..." he thought, as both players exited the stadium

[Kuro]

Haruki and Shin'en began their second round match with a burst of energy. Attack after attack, they continued to go against the opponent's vanguard until Shin'en pulled through with a triple critical Silent Tom. They quickly went into the second game, which Haruki won with his double critical avatar, Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha.

The third game would decide which of the two fighters would go on to the semi-finals of the World Tournament. Shin'en fought with all he had, pushing Haruki to 5 damage with ease, but the young man of justice found victory on his next turn, with his critical Daiyusha breaking through Shin'en's guard by checking two heal triggers. Haruki bested his opponent and had a fun match. He moved on to the next round.

[Hope]

The lights across the stadium shut, causing confusion among the onlookers. A voice rang across the stadium.

"Man, this is so boring!"

With a quick flash of light, Neu appeared upon the center stage and the brightness in the stadium was restored. The crowd looked with a gasp and the announcer panicked, juggling his microphone in his hands while trying to decipher who the mysterious figure was. He eventually recognized her and quickly attempted to get back into character.

"I-It's, our National Champion! Neu Edelweiss!"

It took a little bit to register with the audience and they laid in silence for a good amount of time. Last they remembered, their National Champion had black hair and two orange eyes. The one that stood before them now looked almost completely different, she didn't even seem human. The crowd burst into a sudden applause, thinking this was all part of the show. The announcer himself was leading them on it, but his face showed evident signs of fear. This wasn't at all part of the plan.

"Alright, you know this is really dumb, you guys may as well turn yourself into slaves of those who are stronger than you by supporting this whole thing." She shook her head, "Uh, let me cut to the chase. I'm calling this off, there's more important matters to attend to that this lame contest of ego stroking."

The announcer gripped his microphone tightly, trying to speak but words were unable to escape his mouth. A good amount of the crowd went started booing, another became silent, and some started kind of laughing, thinking this was a prank. Neu looked all across the stadium and scanned all of their faces.

"Actions speak louder than words, so let me show you guys could probably be doing by now."

Show me the world's Vanguard, and prove to me that this is a world worth leaving in your hands.

She snapped her fingers and in that moment.

Everyone in the world had their memories of the sealed clans completely restored.

The crowd fell silent, New York City fell silent, America fell silent, The World fell silent. All in all, Neu stood there and looked at their faces again, their expressions changed to a panic. They all wanted action, they no longer wanted to to be here. They were all asking themselves, "how long has it been? Why am I only remembering now? What can I do? What have I been doing?" A single loud cry could be heard from the audience, then it was followed by a scream, and then all of the sudden, mass hysteria.

"Royal Paladin? Where are they!? Where's my clan?"
"Blazing Flare Dragon? Was my avatar... why am I using Narukami?"
"Where are they? I haven't seen them in so long..."
"How do I get them back!?"

The crowd stood up and moved around aimlessly, they were lost. Some just sat there, others tried to exit the stadium, pushing one another out of the way. A good amount looked at Neu, suspecting her as the cause of all this, well, they were right. She herself didn't like the chaos that was happening at the current moment, but she needed to move the world forward. In order to end this stupid contest and decide the heroes of the War of Liberation who would be able to show her the world's way of Vanguard.

Everyone was a panic.


On Cray, Hana appeared within the council meeting chamber. Five clan representatives quickly hurried to the Princess, knowing the current situation at hand. They asked her to act with haste, the situation had to be controlled before it got any worse. The results of the War of Liberation had to be announced in order to assure everyone that their clans will be saved.

The screen on the stadium, Times Square, and just about everywhere else turned on. A video from Cray, it was Hana sitting down in her usual princess' attire.

"Everyone please calm down, there is a way to save those clans that we have lost. The War of Liberation has come to an end, and yes it was no myth, it was an actual contest that had been going on among clans of Cray during these past weeks. Now one champion, yes one  Vanguard Fighter from each clan will join me and lend me their power in breaking the seal."

She paused.

"Champions of the Gold Paladin, Great Nature, Narukami, Aqua Force, and Neo Nectar clans, I will need your help in restoring those whom we have lost."

[Cipher Izanagi]

At the announcement, Seifer was in Times Square watching it and clutching the Great Nature deck that his Kagero deck was replaced with. He'd listen quietly for a moment before walking off toward the stadium. He wasn't entirely sure what it was he was going to actually be doing but that didn't stop him from going. When he reached it and the possible crowd still there being annoying or panicked, Seifer waded through the crowd to join Neu on stage, both of his hands shoved in his jacket's pockets. Stepping up beside the girl he'd fought the previous night, he glanced first up at the screen with Hana on it, before shutting his eyes and breathing out slowly glancing out at the crowd. He didn't say really anything to Neu, but Hana was his friend so he'd answered the summons. And if he could get Kagero back this way, he'd do what was required of him.

[Jello]

The balcony was calming. The city below was bustling, the sky above was still and beautiful and ocean was calming as its ebb and flow pulled the world 'round. Haruka was out here more often than not at the time. He was resting his elbows on the edge, sort of staring out. A sweat started to form. He was warm. Unnaturally warm.

Which for him was natural.

Haruka reached for his deck and was out the door before the bell boy's had a say in his sprinting down the halls. He was down the stairs and out the hotel in flash, racing toward the destination. The tournament stadium. He had heard no voice, he had no motive or reason. Just a gut feeling. He literally had no other real reason to be there, no deductive reasoning required. His heart and his head had the same idea. And so that is where they ended up after a short bus ride.


The timing could not have been more impeccable. Sudden panic filled the hall. Haruka was looking around for notable faces. He assumed if this feeling had suddenly hit him that other champions would have shown up. However something in Haruka had clicked well earlier today. About the War of Liberation and everything. Haruka was not the one who was going to clean up the mess and save the clan and become a hero. Not today. His job was to support the champions, at least until he was no longer able to. So he was here for them, as Hana had said, the Champions of Gold Paladin, Narukami, Great Nature, Aqua Force and Neo Nectar.

He raced down the bleachers and towards the front stage. Despite zipping and zooming around, he was stopped by a large crowd of people, all surrounding the only entrance down to the stage level near the fight field. He chewed his lip, staring out at the monitor where Hana stood making her final words. Only one particular face stood out. His outline.... seemed to glow? No, not glowing. He was radiant, but not glowing. Haruka saw the boy and tempted the thought of yelling out to him, but didn't particularly know him and didn't want to pressure him or something. Instead, he pockets his hands as usual, breathes out heavy. And steps back, taking a seat and awaiting the arrival of the rest of the champions.

[Lance Korilum]

Cero looked at the TV, seeing the woman that defeated and mocked him...  Neu Edelweiss, the American national champion.  Oddly fitting.  However, Cero entered a rage when he saw her.  Dashing out of his hotel room, deck in hand, down the stairs, out into the street and straight to the Arena, Cero arrived on stage.  It began raining as he had been running, storm clouds gathered overhead.  The crack of thunder was heard in the distance

"Neu Edelweiss, I demand a rematch!  I will prove here and now before the entire world that my way, the way of Cero Kirguis, Europe's King of Vanguard, is the true way of Vanguard!"  He slammed his deck down on one of the tables, ignoring the rain pouring down from the arena's open ceiling.

[NeoBuster]

Neo ran as fast as possible to the stadium and noticed Seifer there.

"Hey Seifer!" Neo said with urgency.

[Lance Korilum]

  It was the same deck as last time...  Shadow Paladin.  The fight started off in Neu's favor, getting an early rush and pushing Cero to four damage while she was at one.  Cero was forced to ride Rumble Gun initially and was unable to assemble a full field, while Neu attacked him over and over with full fields, no matter how many times Cero wiped away her rear-guards.  Cero was backed into a corner...  He had 3 cards in his hand to Neu's and 5 damage to Neu's 3....  The odds were against him.

"I will not let it end here! I Won't be defeated so easily," Cero shouted, a determination in his eyes that was different from any before, "Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion, respond the roar of my soul!"  Raising a card to the sky, Cero chanted in the storm, "Embodiment of thunder, emperor of lightning, Feel the thunder that roars from my soul!  Understand my determination, the power I strive for,  and ascend to a level beyond limits alongside me!"  Lightning descended from the heavens, striking the copy of Vermillion, flowing through Cero, causing him to cry out in agony and fall to his knees.  He dropped the cards in his hand, grasping the arm holding Vermillion as the lightning continued to burn his body...  Despite the excruciating pain, Cero stood up, and when he did, the lightning stopped. When it did, he looked down at the card in his hand.  He had done it.  Vermillion had heard him.  Returning his gaze to Neu, Cero shouted, "Behold my power!  Come forth, Heavenly Dragon Emperor!  Make the Soul of the very world shake with your presence!  I RIDE DRAGONIC KAISER VERMILLION "THE BLOOD!"  Cero slammed the new form of his card down, and activated its ability...  An Ultimate Break!  With this new card, Cero was able to turn the entire game around, bringing him victory. 

  However, he knew it wasn't a true victory...  Neu had held back against him again.  She went on about how Vanguard should just be for fun.  Disagreeing with her, Cero said he played Vanguard not to have fun, but to test himself, to see the strength of others, and to surpass himself.  Even if his path brought him solitude, he'd continue to walk it, and believed others should walk the same path, and those that didn't were not worthy to call themselves cardfighters.  As they left, Neu said she'd meet him in "that place" if he could make it there, and use her full power against him.  Cero promised he'd be able to make it there as Neu vanished, leaving Cero alone in the arena.

[NeoBuster]

Neo had never faced someone using Vermillion before. But he was up to the challege. Both Neo and Cero both not only had the original Vermillion but both had its final Evolution The BLOOD! With Limit Breaks and Ultimate Breaks flying around everywhere, both fighters were fighting there hardest. Neo even had the help of a few miracle 6th damage heal triggers. But the 2nd Ultimate Break by Cero and his THE BLOOD was too much for Neo to handle and he lost the fight. Keeping a smile on his face, Neo shook Cero's hand firmly because he respected someone who used the same avatar as him.

"Nice fight Cero" Neo said to him while shaking his hand.

+3 AF to Cero

[Cipher Izanagi]

Seifer watched the fight between the two, oddly indifferent about the outcome of the fight. Yeah he hated that his friend lost but, for some reason it didn't bother him as much. Crossing his arms at the end of the two Narukami player's fight, the male sighed. There were three others they had to wait on at the moment, and with each passing second, the curiosity of what it was they were going to do to unseal the clans grew. It bothered him somewhat as well since he had only just gotten roped up in all of this.

[Lance Korilum]

  After defeating Neu, apparently someone had remained behind in the arena and issued a challenge to the King of Vanguard.  Although at first reluctant, Cero decided to accept the challenge.  When the battle began, the first thing Cero noticed was that his opponent used Narukami as well...  At first, Cero ignored this fact, playing as he normally did.  Then his opponent copied him and rode Vermillion after Cero, saying it was his Avatar as well.  This person was copying him!  Not only that, his opponent also somehow had obtained "THE BLOOD."  On top of this, for whatever reason, his opponent kept going on about how he had "bonded" with Vermillion like it was his best friend.  Cero challenged this by asking his opponent to show him the power of this "bond," which took the form of two miracle heal triggers.  However, this wasn't enough to defeat Cero.  With the true power of "THE BLOOD," Cero was able to end the fight with his opponent, who's name he learned after the fight.

"You were a worthy opponent," Cero replied, shaking Neo's hand.

Neo +1AP

[AlwaysAwake]

Alexander blinked, the sighting of Neu and her words causing him to remain silent, though the return of his memories caught him off guard. The young man had a rush of lost information flooding back, the fuzziness surrounding his earlier experiences dissipating slowly. "So that's what happened... " He would mumble to himself, contemplating his next move with a look of anxiety about him. "Shadow Paladin gone as well." That revelation causing a bit of discord, the situation he had with that clan having been an odd one.

Then suddenly the monitor would turn on, visible to any and all cardfighters in the world watching a screen, his head turning instantly at the noise. There sat the princess of cray adorned in a over the top dress as she said her words, yet what followed was a wad of disappointment that welled up within him. He was disheartened by the fact that Nova Grappler wasn't one of the clans called, but there was solace in the fact that maybe with those champions a chance at getting back other peoples clans was cemented.

Remaining in the arena, he uneasily walked up nearby to the stage where furious battles had taken place, watching silently as he remained uncertain of what to say. Maybe there was a chance of said champions to come to the Arena? For now he took that chance, for he wished to at least witness the aftermath of this "Liberation war". Having missed a chance to at least challenge the thief due to his own shock of the events, that and Cero having been closer at the time.

Feeling an odd pulse he rapidly pulled out his deck, eyeing it for a moment as he flipped out Azure Dragon. For a second the image changed within it from the deep azure to a different silhouette of pure gold, a mirage like image coming through only to instantly revert back to it's normal azure state. The young man blinked, uncertainty about this event taking place as well but attempting to return to the task at hand of waiting for something to happen. Besides the chaos of the people running both in and out of the circuit arena that is.

Considering his inability to offer any fighting aid, he hopped on to the stage where Cero was, approaching him or at least trying. "So, I'm guessing you'd be the Narukami Champion? I mean, you have an Ultimate Break unit, just like Tsubasas Ezel. Unless maybe that doesn't seal the deal on being a clans champion huh..." The lad rubbing his chin as he always did when he was thinking, unsure of the situation all too well. "Eh, either way. You looked like you knew the American Champ, is she also trying to get the clans back as well? Wait but she had Shadow Paladin..." Alexander asking quite the number of questions, his tone inquisitive though there was an odd air of restlessness and unease about him even if he did try to play off the situation as him being calm and in control.

[[R.T] SpiderHunterMD]

Amon walked into the stadium, it was quiet and frantic. People where fussing and freaking out about their clan's and deck's being swapped. Amon could care less. [Looks like someone decided to drop the bomb on these people by restoring their knowledge about the clan's] Amon was thinking to himself who could have done this, before he passed a monitor replaying the event before him. It happened right after The American National Champion came out and wanted to cancel the event. "I knew something was off with her from the moment I met here. But what does she know, or how much does she know about this sealing of the clans. I wonder...." Amon spoke to himself before reaching the stands. It seemed like a new form of chaos has appeared before him. He wanted to settle the score with golden boy after his threat, before this however, he wanted answers.... and he was not leaving without them.

[Cherry]

Yukino and Ezel had entered thew stadium of New York's stage in hopes of finding the other Gold Paladin champion. The chaos spurred from everyone's memories returning subsided some from yesterday, however, was still prominent. They had it easy, though. Nothing important was lost to them. They simply woke up with new cards one day that did close to the same as their old decks. A Vanguard of ignorance, but one that people had been content with until now. The queen was being a bit harsh with that idea though. If they had known, maybe they would have helped in trying to bring them back.

Not much was left for the masses to do anyway.

The duo simply lied in wait.

[Jello]

With the previous evening's chaos mostly in check, people had calmed down. In fact, a majority of the people were sitting back down, patiently waiting for the champions to arrive. Strangely enough, nobody really left or went home. You'd think by now people would realize that there is a real world outside but nope. Still here.

Haruka included.

He stayed put for hours, checking messages and calling people to speed up the process. Sadly most calls and texts drop before even leaving the stadium. Crappy connection, probably. He leaned over the railing of the bleacher's side to see faces all around, but none too prominent. The night before had laid a few battles of epic proportions. Neu and Cero had gone a round, leaving the crowd in a higher level of hysteria than when she appeared in the first place. The second round of fights were between two champions-in-waiting, Neo and Cero, both of Narukami. The fights had gone back and forth, THE BLOOD for THE BLOOD, until finally Cero had emerged victorious out of the fight set.

Unfortunately.

Neo had promptly disappeared from the building afterwards, despite his normal bubbly nature, he was already gone and out of there. Maybe that fight actually pinched a nerve? No way Haruka would know, his texts to Neo weren't leaving the hall. He grew impatient and sleepy. He hadn't really rested much, except for when he got about a twenty minute rest during the night when a majority of the hall had gone to sleep. It was a public hall in New York City after all, it didn't exactly have a closing time, especially with the sudden panic caused.

Strange though, you'd think maybe police or something would intervene, but no, that didn't happen either.

Finally, after grueling hours, a person Haruka knew personally made her grand entrance. Well. Not so grand as she sort of just walked in, but Yukino was finally here. Haruka had come to the assumption she was the Gold Paladin champion of choice, it only made sense to him anyways considering the only Gold Paladin players he knew by name were himself and her. He raced off to the side of the bleachers and down the metal stairs to greet her, despite his ghostly appearance. The stairs were a bit of trouble, Haruka nearly tripping down all twelve of them. How? He wasn't sure. Perhaps the deprivation of sleep the night before was really getting to him now.