Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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… Uhh… It’s currently 8 AM and I just heard something fall in the kitchen. I’m here alone. It’s not Coil, I know that, because he told me he was gonna steal more crystals today. I’m not scared! I’m just- Er.. Concerned for my life. It could be a murderer, you never know! Not that I’m saying it is- 

I sighed.

I should go check it out. And if any difficulties arise, I’m an official Phighter so I’ll use that knowledge to my advantage! I slowly made my way to the kitchen, and turned on the light, summoning my gear as I did it.

“SHOW YOURSEL-”

I stopped short. Wha- A book? I bent down, and looked at the design on the cover. Weird… I don’t remember having a book like this. Maybe Subspace sent it to me for a prank? Or-

I picked up the book, and brushed off the dust on the cover. Interesting… Wait. I wonder what this button does? I pressed it. BAD IDEA. The book suddenly flew out of my hands, and opened. I braced for impact, and saw a bunch of cards fly out of it. All the cards flew out my window, except one, which I caught with my hand. I flipped it over to face me, and read what was written on it.

“The Power?”

It had some Inphernal on it, but they looked really different. Pink skin… They seem to be strong too. Maybe that’s why the card says ‘The Power’? Interesting.. I like it. But is this some prank or am I dreaming- I jumped. I heard someone muttering. 

“Ugh.. I feel so STIFF.”

WHO WAS THAT?! It sounded like it was coming from the book. I set the card down on the counter, making sure it wouldn’t fly away, and pushed the book to the side. I- A yellow plushie..? It’s got horns around on its head and near his mouth, but it's not an animal surely? Does it have a voicebox- Oh I know! It must be a toy! I picked it up, and it- IT MOVED-

“Hey! Watch the wings- … Who are you?”

“I- I- Y- You can MOVE? Wha- Am I dreaming…”

“. No, you aren’t! I was gonna say that. After all, you don’t look like anyone I’ve seen before..”

The yellow toy, is it even a toy, looked annoyed, but also very confused. I noticed it had wings and a tail, and ears as well. It looked like a small bear or cat, but I don’t think that’s the case.. It can speak.

“Erm.. You haven’t answered my question.”

I snapped out of my thoughts. Right! I didn’t answer the question of some weird yellow thing that randomly appeared in my apartment… Do I really answe- Oh why not, it’s not like anything bad will happen!

“I’m Skateboard, official Phighter.. And this is Playgrounds, a region in the Inpherno..?”

“Wha.. THIS ISN’T JAPAN?!”

It flew back, looking panicked. It started flying around in circles, muttering something along the lines of, “I’m not in Tomoeda, I’m not even in Japan, I’m in some strange universe…” I felt a bit bad. It stopped flying around after a few moments, and it turned to face me. 

“Well? Aren’t you going to explain to me what exactly just happened?”

“OH YEAH-”

I explained about how the book appeared in my kitchen, and how I pressed the button on it, and what happened after that.

“Oh and some cards flew out of it, and then they flew out my apartment window! The only one I was able to stop was one called ‘The Power’.. Do you know about them?”

The yellow creature looked fed up for a second. “Oh you have got to be KIDDING ME. You set all the cards loose, in this unknown world to me.” It flew up to the counter, and looked at the card, before exclaiming. I quickly got up too, and saw the card still on the counter. What? 

“... THE CARDS CHANGED APPEARANCE..? WHAT… This world.. Hey- Skateboard, that’s your name right.”

“Mhm..?”

“Pass me a mirror, NOW.”

“OKAY-”

A mirror? I think I’ve got one SOMEWHERE in my backpack. I opened it, and started rummaging about in it. Aha! I took out a small mirror that people normally use while applying makeup, and handed it to the yellow toy. “Here you go…”

It took the mirror from me, and looked at itself. 

“WHAT…? I- I HAVE HORNS?!”

It looked shocked, but then smirked after a few moments. 

“Well… I still look good though!”

And it started to.. Admire itself..? I stood there, not knowing what to do, before remembering I still hadn’t asked its name.

“Uhh.. What’s your name?”

“... Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you! Call me Kero. My full name is Cerberus, and I’m the creature of the seal in that book you just unsealed carelessly. Man, why does this happen so much.”

-

Am I being followed?? I mean… I AM the greatest scientist of Blackrock, but this is different. I’ve been turning around every few minutes or so, but I don’t see anything. I feel like I’m being watched though. Like, every single movement and everything… Hey wait, maybe I can show this stalker my phighting prowess!! Or at least, I’ll show them why my crystals are so important!! I walked into an alleyway, and felt that presence following me. I turned around, holding a crystal, and threw it forward. 

“Reveal yourself to me!!”

I expected the crystal to detonate on contact, but it suddenly stopped mid-air, and some weird symbols appeared. What in the S.F.O.T.H… I jumped in surprise. I saw some dark matter from.. My shadow? Well, that dark matter flew into some card which had appeared as well, and the card flew into my hand. I looked at it.

“The Shadow, huh? Looks interesting, but is this some sort of prank?!”

I shrugged it off, maybe it’s something important, maybe it isn’t. Doesn’t matter though, cause I’ve got work to do. I’ll just check out what it is when I’m at the lab. I continued walking there, it’s not a long distance from here so I can already see it. Hmm.. Is that Hyperlaser? I thought he wasn’t working today. I ran forward to reach him, and tapped his helmet.

“... Oh, it’s you, Subspace.”

“Heh heh, who else?! Anyways, what are you doing?? Isn’t today your break??”

He was silent for a moment, before replying. “Just because I’m here doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to work. I’m not even going into the building.”

I went red for a moment, before smirking. “Ah, I see.. You’re probably gonna go see your ‘best friend’!!”

I then used mist rush to get out of sight, and laughed. It’s obvious that Hyperlaser likes Katana, and… that Katana likes him back… Right.. They’re a good couple!! Haha- Katana’s probably a WAY better friend for him then me!!

I sighed, and pressed the button for one of the high floors. I like high floors. The elevator doors opened with a ‘ding!’ and I walked down the hall to my lab. I opened the door, closed it behind me and took off my mask. I breathed in the air conditioning. Oh that’s NICE. You’ve got to agree that air-conditioning just smells WONDERFUL!! Okay, now that I’m alone, I’ll see what this card is, and what it means.

I took it out, and held it in front of me, my eye scanning all the details in the artwork. I set it down on the counter in front of me, and thought of what to do. Hm…

[WHOOSH]

I jumped back in surprise. Some dark ribbons were coming out of the card?! I watched as it formed the character printed on it, and then- It looked up at me, its one visible eye narrowing at me. I stared back, confused. 

“Who… Are you my sealer?”

Its eye widened for a moment.

“Wait.. I CAN SPEAK NOW?!”

It looked… happy?? It started to walk around the room, and- WENT IN SHADOWS?? HUH?? Oh wait, wasn’t it literally called ‘The Shadow’? Makes sense but… Doesn’t this mean MAGIC exists?! No.. There’s no way. Magic isn’t real!! I don’t know- this doesn’t make sense!! What should I do?? It mentioned something about me being a sealer, whatever that means. Maybe I can ask it to explain what’s going on??

“Uhm.. Shadow, is that your name??”

Almost immediately after I said that, it appeared in my shadow, and went back to its.. Er.. Humanoid form??

“Yes, sealer?”

Its eye looked at me, with some interest and.. Nervousness?

“Well.. Don’t take this as an insult, but.. WHAT are you?? I’ve never seen anything like you ever, and when I first saw you I just- I just held out one of my crystals and some WEIRD symbols started appearing and you- this card appeared??”

I held out the card to show it, and the.. Shadow went closer to it. It looked at the card in surprise, and then at itself. “Huh? I do not remember having horns, I also do not remember looking like that.” It looked up at me.

“Answering your question, human, I am one of the Clow Cards. I am The Shadow, and I possess the power to go in anyone’s shadow, and control shadows as well. The symbols you mentioned before means you sealed me, which also would mean you possess enough magical power to seal Clow Cards. Did you say anything as you sealed me?”

I thought over what had happened, and shook my head.

“... That’s.. Odd. I recall you are supposed to say something. Have you not seen the creature of the seal?”

I shook my head again. Creature of the seal?? What??

“... That is very weird. That must mean someone else unsealed the cards. Two individuals with magical powers in this world, and so fast too? Can you show me what you used to seal me?”

I summoned one of my crystals and held it in front of the Shadow. It looked over it, even going in the shadow of the crystal.

“This.. This has some magical power in it! That must be why you were able to seal me. You possess magical powers, and you have something that’s also magical, which explains why you didn’t need the sealing wand.”

“... What?? But- How??”

“I don’t know. What is your name? I don’t want to confuse you with the other individual who has magical powers if we get separated.”

“... Subspace T. Mine. Just call me Subspace!!”

“I see… Alright, Subspace.”

-

“Good! Now, show me that gear you were talking about.”

I nodded, and summoned my skateboard. The yellow crea- Sorry, I mean- Kero looked surprised.

“Wha- WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM?!”

“Oh yeah, you don’t know about gears… Well, every Inphernal has a gear which their name is based off of, and my gear is the skateboard as you can see!” I grinned.

Kero sighed, and noted it down. Wait what- I looked over to see what he was doing. Oh! He’s noting down stuff I’m telling him! That’s actually a good idea- Maybe I should too..

“Well, your.. ‘Gear’, it looks like it possesses enough magical power to act as the sealing wand! Remember what I told you?”

I nodded, and held my board in front of me. 

“Oh, gear that harbors the power to banish all darkness… Reveal your true nature to me! By my speed, by my truth, I ask of you, release!”

I opened my eyes after a few moments. WOAH.. I looked at my gear, it looked different… It glowed, and had some charms on the side. I looked at Kero, and he nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Sure, it’s different from the normal method, but it works!” He then inspected the card, and asked me to write my name on it.

“Power isn’t out of her card, so you just need to write your name on it and you’ll be the sealer of the card.”

“Oh! So I don’t need to use my skateboard for anything?”

“No, not right now at least. If the card’s true form is outside of the card, then you’ll need to seal it, but if it’s in the card, you just have to write your name for it to be yours!”

I nodded, and quickly rummaged through my backpack again. I took out a pen, and wrote my name on the card. Aha, there we go!

“So now.. It’s my card, right?”

“Mhm! It won’t go around causing chaos, but the other cards which YOU let out, they’ll probably wreck some havoc.”

“The cards are evil then?”

Kero shook his head. “No, not at all. Most of them are curious, and some just don’t understand what’s right or wrong.”

Oh.. That makes sense. It must be scary to suddenly get sent to a world with so many people you don’t know… I smiled. 

“Okay! I’ll do my best as the card captor to seal all the cards!”

Kero flew in front of me and flashed me a thumbs up. “Yeah! That’s the spirit!” 

“Oh also, wouldn’t it be good for you to know your surroundings? I can take you for a tour of Playgrounds! Or at least- In most areas?”

Kero looked thoughtful for a moment. “Alrighty! That sounds like a good idea!”

-

“Okay. Unless I’m understanding this wrong, I’ve got magical powers and I’m capable of sealing more of you??”

“Not necessarily ‘me’. But yes, you can seal the Clow Cards. It might be a good idea to find Cerberus first, and the individual who unsealed the cards, including me.”

I nodded, before realizing that might be very hard.

“Uh.. Wouldn’t that be hard though??”

“People who possess magical powers can feel attracted, not romantically, to any other individual who also possesses magical powers.”

Oh!! That helps a lot!! I’ve just got to go around, trying to see who I feel oddly attracted to. I glanced at the clock on the wall, and jumped. It was 2:30 PM. “It’s already so late- I’ve got a Phight!!”

Shadow turned to look at me, in confusion. “A fight?”

“No, a Phight. It’s a 5v5 competition type of thing, you’ll understand if you see it. Hey, maybe you can come with me!! If you stay in the shadows you definitely won’t be seen!!”

The Shadow looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding. “I will follow you to learn more about this ‘Phight’ you’re going to. You should bring the card with you as well.”

I went to the counter and picked it up, placing it in my satchel. The Shadow went into my shadow, and I left the room, locking the door behind me. I went to the elevator. I pressed the button for the ground floor, and waited for the elevator to descend. Wait… Should I tell the Shadow that I’m not.. Necessarily liked by the public a lot?? I mean- It definitely will see people ignoring me, or even insulting me!! I don’t feel comfortable revealing my personal problems to something that’s not even from this world. According to it, the book where all the Clow Cards are sealed in was unsealed by another Inphernal. It unfortunately didn’t catch a glimpse of who it was, but it flew a good distance before ending up in Blackrock.

[ding!]

The elevator doors opened, and I walked out of them. I left the building and used my mist rush to get to the bus stop quickly. Aha!! There’s the bus to Crossroads!! Perfect!! I got on it and sat on one of the back seats. The bus was empty, so the Shadow materialized from my shadow, and looked outside the window. “Interesting, you are going far from your place of work to this ‘Phight’.” I sighed, it was hard enough explaining to it about Blackrock having no sun… What’s it gonna think when it sees how people treat me?? I hope it doesn’t do any harm!! I don’t think it would though.

I looked out the window as well, when I felt the bus slow to a stop. Ah, we’re at the Crossroads bus stop already. I whispered it to Shadow, and it returned to my shadow. I got off the bus, and walked to the arena for the Phight. It’s not far today, which is good, because it’s already 2:50 PM. I saw Skateboard fiddling with something in his backpack, and walked over there. I felt an odd sensation upon going near him, probably nothing… 

“Hey Skate!!”

He looked up, and I sat down next to him. A lot of people wonder how we’re friends, and believe me, I don’t know either. I just let him help me sometimes, and I’ve helped him once or twice before, and now we’re friends apparently… Is that really how it works? It’s fine though- I’m sure I won’t mess up this time!!

I hope I don’t.

“Hi Subspace! How are you? I was honestly kind of concerned when I didn’t see you-”

I smirked.

“Oh, you thought I would miss the Phight?? Of course not!! I’ve got a surprise for you though, heh…”

It wouldn’t hurt to show him the card, right?? I mean- It’s just a card. I’m not showing him Shadow’s true form right??

-

“Woah, really? I’ve got one too!”

Subspace has a surprise for me?! Wow! That’s funny- Because I’ve got one for him too! I’m not showing him Kero of course, I’m just showing him the Power card. I already asked Kero if it’ll be fine, and he said it’s alright as long as I don’t show him the true form. Subspace looked surprised, but smirked. Well I think he smirked, it shows in his eye-

“Well my surprise will shock you way more than whatever you’ve got for me!!”

“Haha- Let’s see about that!”

There’s NO WAY Subspace has got something more surprising than the Power card I have. He definitely doesn’t know about the Clow Cards! I mean, I did just unseal them- I doubt anyone would’ve seen any yet. Unless they were feeling really curious like Kero said. I’ll show Subspace the card after the Phight. I think he’s also gonna show me whatever surprise he’s got after it too. We can reveal it at the same time! That’ll be fun!

I set down my backpack under my seat and got up when the Phight was gonna start. Subspace was on the opposing team to me.

“Good luck Sub!”

“Heh, I don’t need it, but I’m sure you’ll need a LOT of luck!!”

Heh.. Classic Subspace. I’ll prove him wrong by getting MVP this round!

[MVP : Subspace T. Mine (7 / 3 / 18)]

Ow. Those tripmines he set up really hurt… Subspace walked over to me, noticing my hurt expression. 

“Whoops.. Maybe I set up too many there. I’m sorry-” 

“It’s okay! Sword was really merciless that match though, don’t you think?”

Subspace looked surprised and nodded. “Yes!! He moved with such precision!!”

“He must be getting better with his training with Venomshank. Heh, maybe I should ask him for some-”

“Oh really?? You’d break into pieces if you sparred with Venomshank once!!”

Real subtle, Subspace. I sighed. It’s true though. I’m not good at duels. I’m only good at tricking the enemy with my board, and that’s about it. I remembered we were gonna show each other our surprises and brought Subspace to a corner of the room. He glanced around, before taking off his mask. Huh, he’s getting more confident about doing that in public places. Good for him! I rummaged in my backpack and took out the Power card, holding it behind me. Subspace took out something small from his satchel and held it behind him as well.

“Okay, on the count of 3! 3… 2… 1! GO!”

I pulled out my card and held it in front of me. Subspace pulled out what he was holding and held it in front of him. I looked at it- HUH?! It’s- It’s ANOTHER card?! I read what it said- ‘The Shadow’? Sounds like something Subspace would like… but how does he have it?

I looked at Subspace’s face, and he also looked shocked. 

“You- You also have a card…??”

I felt something move in my backpack, and Kero flew out almost immediately. He looked at Subspace’s card, and his jaw dropped. “WHAT?! You have a ca- YOU SEALED THIS?” He asked, pointing to the card in Subspace’s hand. Subspace looked surprised, which is honestly kind of refreshing because he’s always so composed. He looked around, and his expression changed for a split second when he realized people were looking our way. He quickly put on the mask again, before answering Kero’s question.

“Are you Cerberus?? The Shadow explained about the basics of all the Clow Cards and also mentioned you!!”

“Hold on. You’ve got magic powers too? How do you know how to seal cards?”

“... I don’t know, that’s the point. I held out a crystal because I thought someone was stalking me and symbols appeared, and then this card just appeared and flew into my hands!!”

Kero looked interested. “Explain more about that to me when we’re in private.”

Subspace nodded and looked at my card. “The Power? Have you seen its true form yet??”

“No…”

“I have. I’ve seen The Shadow’s true form.”

Kero looked dumbfounded. “I didn’t even tell you anything! How-”

Subspace just smiled and gestured to some shadows on one side of the waiting room. I looked there and saw a little bit of movement along with a white.. EYE? Kero flew over there, and the Shadows formed a hooded character. Those two looked to be speaking for a few moments, before the Shadow faded back into the shadows. Kero flew back to us, looking surprised but in a good way.

“The cards seem to be able to speak here! And they can also stay in their true form for a longer time then they used to… It must be this world’s influence on them. But that can also be bad, because they might have gotten more powerful.”

Kero looked at me, and then at Subspace.

“You two are going to have to capture all the cards before they do anything disastrous!”

I nodded. This is going to be fun!

Subspace looked a bit concerned for a moment, before sighing. “Alright…”

Kero started to explain the basics of sealing and using cards. And so on…

“Well- That was certainly enlightening!! But- Skate. Look at the news.”

I looked up at the tv screen. That’s weird. Inphernals disappearing in Lost Temple? Why? Are they getting lost in the desert or-

“It’s got to be a Clow Card! That sounds like The Erase. It’s dangerous, if you leave it rogue for too long, every single person in its location will be erased.”

I summoned my skateboard, and Kero seemed to realize what I was going to do, so he flew back into my backpack. I helped Subspace onto the skateboard, and we skated outside. I nearly skated straight into Banhammer, oh that would’ve been BAD-

“HEY! THIS IS A NO SKATING ZONE!”

“Haha- That won’t stop me!”

Subspace looked concerned. I have to admit, he’s fallen off a ‘few’ times… uh… I think it was 30+ times he did? Okay maybe it’s not a few but hey! It’s not my fault! I think.

Alright, we’re in Lost Temple now! Erase card, come out from wherever you’re hiding!

-

Chapter Text

-

“Okay Subspace, we’re her- AH-”

I couldn’t stop the momentum of the board in time, and skated STRAIGHT into a wall- I fell off the board, and looked up to see Subspace already standing up. 

“I didn’t trust you so I got off before THAT happened… I guess I was right!!”

He held out a hand and pulled me up. I brushed some dust off my hoodie, and looked around. Wow, now that I think about it, I haven’t visited Lost Temple. It looks really different… It’s so DRY compared to Playground! And of course, hot compared to Blackrock’s cold. I’ve been to Thieves’ Den a few times, and it’s really different from here too! It’s mainly the heat though.

“Wha- People live in deserts here?”

“Not necessarily. There are four regions, and this is Lost Temple!! All the regions are very different from each other!! Blackrock’s still the best one though…”

Kero nodded, still looking a bit skeptical. I looked around. It WAS really empty here, and I don’t see a single Inphernal around- Wait- I see someone! I tried to make out who it was, and stepped forward a bit. Oh! It’s Scythe! I forgot she’s from Lost Temple, but then again, we don’t speak much. She makes me feel, unsafe? I don’t know, but I would NOT want that blade near me! It’s so sharp, and it hurts more than other gears in Phights too. Scythe seemed to be inspecting certain areas, and noting stuff down, when she disappeared. Wait, WHAT?! I-

“Subspace it just erased- IT JUST ERASED SCYTHE.”

“. Well, if it wasn’t this serious, good riddance… But I think you should hurry, Skateboard!!”

I nodded, and held out my gear, ready to seal the Erase card. I have no idea where it is though… Wait, is that someone being erased? I also saw something else- It must be the Erase! I summoned my gear.

“Oh, gear that harbors the power to banish all darkness… Reveal your true nature to me! By my speed, by my truth, I ask of you, release!”

It got its charms and it started to glow. Subspace looked interested, but didn’t say anything. 

“Alright, now you’ve just got to find out where the Erase card is, and seal it!”

“Okay!” I walked over to where I had seen a silhouette of an Inphernal who wore some type of hat, and held my board out.

“Stop erasing everything in the vicinity! I ask of you to return, Clow Card!”

A card appeared in front of me, and the silhouette was pulled inside of it. The card flew into my hands, and I read the name on it. The Erase, huh?

“Erasing certain things is alright, but you can’t erase everything… It’s okay, I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm!”

I went back to the other two, and showed Kero the Erase card, and he inspected it.

“Oh, so The Erase’s appearance was changed too… Makes sense. It still looks somewhat similar to how it used to, which makes me think the Clow Cards changed because they’re in a different world.”

I wondered what The Erase might’ve looked like originally, but I don’t know if Kero will tell me unless it’s important. And I don’t THINK it’s important, at least not yet. Oh well, doesn’t matter, I successfully sealed my first card! 

-

…

I was watching tv, trying to forget how my grapple failed 10 times in a row during today’s Phight, and saw some news broadcast. It wouldn’t have interested me normally, the news is just the weather forecast, but the headline today caught my eye. 

“Inphernals disappearing in a flash, huh? And in Lost Temple? Weird… Is this Darkheart’s doing?”

I continued watching it. It was live so whatever was happening on the screen was happening right now too. I saw more Inphernals disappearing, it was so sudden. It honestly gives me the creeps! Imagine you just start seeing everyone around you disappear, it would be so spooky… I saw quite a lot of Inphernals with teal horns and clothing, probably part of that cult, which is why I was surprised to see two Inphernals, one with red horns and one with pink ones. Are they tourists? Why aren’t they being evacuated from the area? Surely their guide knows about this? I saw the red one step forward, and summon their gear. They were too far away from the camera for me to see what exactly they were doing, but it’s something odd. Their gear glowed for a moment, and they looked around. Some other Inphernal disappeared right at that moment, and this red-horned Inphernal walked- WALKED TOWARDS WHERE THEY DISAPPEARED?! WHY?! 

They did some weird motion with their gear, and the camera suddenly turned off. The screen flashed to a ‘technical difficulties’ one, and was like that for around 10 minutes? It then flashed to a news report stating that all the Inphernals that disappeared were back, but with no memory of what had happened. That’s really weird! I can remember perfectly well when being teleported to another area by Darkheart in any special Phights, but then again, it says these Inphernals disappeared. It doesn’t say they teleported anywhere.

Wait wait, I’m forgetting the thing that really confused me. Those two Inphernals. Why did one of them go to where another Inphernal disappeared? And- It doesn’t make sense. I took out my phone and searched up the news article on this. Aha! There’s a list of the Inphernals who had disappeared. I scrolled through it, and my suspicions were confirmed. There were no Inphernals with red, or pink, horns on that list! Either they didn’t disappear, or they did something to stop whatever, or whoever, was making everyone disappear. I looked for a recorded video of the livestream, and skipped to when I saw them. 

I zoomed in, and tried to make out any details. Maybe I know them, or I’ve seen them before somewhere. 

It’s impossible, the video is just too blurry. But they look really familiar… And I have this feeling that I should meet them, and soon. But how? I don’t know their names.

I got up. I should probably stop wasting time and watching tv, haha- I left the house, and used my grapple to get to the roof of a high building. It’s currently empty, guess no one’s bought it yet. I looked over the edge, enjoying the cold wind and also making sure there wasn’t anything weird happening in Thieves’ Den. If there was, though, I assure you I’ll be able to take care of it! Unless it’s like those disappearances, of course. I have no idea how I would deal with that!

Okay, I think I won’t have to go on patrol toda- Oh you are JOKING.

I spotted someone jumping INCREDIBLY high, and pulled out some binoculars I have. I held them to my face and tried to see who it was. Wait- A BUNNY? How- How’s it jumping so high?! I should stop it, it might get hurt!

I put on my mask, and grappled to the floor, ready to catch it.

Wait, is this even a good idea.

-

“So… Skateboard, that thing you did back there with your gear-”

“Oh yeah, Kero taught me how to do it! It lets me seal cards!”

“Is it dangerous??”

Skateboard was silent for a moment, appearing to think, before replying.

“Nope, I don’t think so!”

My smile slipped, before I quickly put it back on again. I don’t know why that happened. Anyhow, I feel concerned about Skate. He isn’t the type of person to give up on something he’s started, even if it might be dangerous…I’m worried for him. It’s stupid, I know!! But- I can’t help it!! I don’t want anything bad to happen to him!! 

I should stop thinking about that. I shouldn’t worry about this in public, haha-

Can’t let anyone know.

“Er.. Can you show me what the card looks like?? The one you just sealed.”

Skateboard nodded, and took it out from his backpack. He held it in front of me, with a grin.

“Their hat looks pretty similar to yours! The one from your costume, heh…”

“... Yeah. It does!!”

I noticed that it did, and I also looked over their design. It’s nice, looks like a jester’s clothing, but more refined. It’s interesting how it was able to erase those Inphernals, I suppose it erased their memory too, and that’s why they didn’t remember being erased. Can it erase objects too? Probably, if it can erase Inphernals, then it SHOULD be able to erase objects too.

When Skateboard put it back into his backpack, I looked over his shoulder and saw that- yellow plushie, eating cake..? Oh right, Skate told me his name was Keroberos, but to call him Kero. I guess it likes cake a lot, it looks very happy. I looked at the time on my watch, it was getting late. I should go back to Blackrock, I’ve still got some work to finish!! Blackrock’s officials give me way too much work… I guess it’s because of my high position, but it’s so much!!

I told Skateboard I had to leave, and he nodded.

“Right! I forgot you’ve got work.. See you tomorrow, Sub!”

“Maybe you can come to my place tomorrow, Skate??”

“Okay!”

I left Skateboard’s apartment, and took the stairs down instead of the elevator, because it looked like it could fall down at any moment- Anyways, Skate’s room isn’t too high up. It’s just the 5th floor. I walked out, and looked at the setting sun. It’s nice!! I don’t see it much due to Blackrock having no sun, so it’s rare for me to see a sunset or sunrise. I’d forgotten how beautiful they can be, which I regret. 

I hope you can enjoy it now.

Anyways!! Forget that!! I’ll talk about-

I stopped. Ahead of me, I saw an Inphernal get flung to another wall with a lot of force. It must be another one of those gangs… Skateboard warned me about them. I don’t think it’s possible for me to help, but I can’t help but feel that I’ll see that person again.

But why?

-

Drats! It keeps jumping out of my reach- what do I do…

I pulled out a few more of my shurikens, and something else fell from the pouch I stored them in too. I looked at it in surprise. A golden sheet of paper with.. Chinese writing on it? Or is that Japanese? Well- that doesn’t matter- Why do I have them? I held it in my hand, and looked back at the rabbit, or is it a bunny, that had been jumping really high. It was sitting in front of me, its head sideways, as if questioning what I was doing. 

I stuck the sheet of paper to one of my shurikens, and threw it forward. The rabbit was caught off-guard, and was held down by some.. Barrier? Was it from the sheet of paper? I sighed, and walked forward. 

“Stop jumping away from me, I’m not gonna hurt you!”

It looked up at me, and nod- it nodded? I was confused, when some card appeared in front of me. The rabbit- it got pulled inside the card?! The card then flew into my hands, and I caught it.

I read the text on it.

“The Jump..? This is the rabbit that was jumping around, but- Why’s there a card for it?”

I heard some light sound, sounded like someone’s gear being summoned, and turned around. I don’t see anyone with their gear out… This is creepy. I took out another one of my shurikens, just in case, and saw another sheet of golden paper fall out. I picked it up. This time, the writing is different.. Maybe it has something to do with this card? I took it, and stuck it on the shuriken I took out. I threw it ahead of me, and it spun around and I caught it. Nothing feels differe-

Huh. I feel… Lighter? I tried jumping.

“WHA- WHAT?!”

I panicked, I was so high up in the air- But when I landed, I didn’t feel any pain. I also landed right on my feet. It’s like how that rabbit jumped so high. This is weird… Maybe this is similar to what happened this afternoon, that disappearing incident? Maybe that was also because of one of these.. Cards?

I felt the lightness go away after a few moments of not jumping, and sighed in relief. I jumped again to make sure. Yeah, it’s normal now. The paper flew off the shuriken in my hand, and returned to the pouch I have on my shoulder.

What- What happens if one of them tears? Am I just never gonna be able to use that specific sheet again? I’ve got to be careful then… I looked at the sky, the sun was already setting. I love the color of the sky when the sun sets, it’s really beautiful, but I should probably go back now. I don’t want to make sis worried again, haha!

I looked at the card again.

“You’re… weird, but also pretty cute now that I think about it. I’ll bring you along with me, heh!”

I placed the card in my pouch, and grappled to buildings to quickly get back. It’s a good method, I’ve just got to be careful not to break any windows!

-

Hmm.. What should I do now? I held the two cards in my hands, and remembered what Kero said.

“Oh right, there are 52 cards! But you’ve been doing pretty well so far, I’m sure you’ll catch them all in no time!”

52… That’s A LOT… But I’m still gonna do it! I won’t give up now! I thought of what to do now. Find another card? Or maybe I can.. I know! I’ll go visit Slingshot! If he’s free, of course… He might still be cleaning up at the cafe, and I don’t want to disturb him if he’s busy. I took out my phone, and dialed his number, waiting for a reply.

“Yes? Who is this?”

“Hi Sling!”

“Oh! Hey Skateboard! How are you?”

“Doing good, how about you? You’re not overworking again, right..”

“No, of course not! Hey, maybe you can come over right now? I’m not going back to Thieves’ Den immediately and I’m already done cleaning up.”

“I’ll be right there!”

I hung up the phone, and got up. I felt very happy, I haven’t seen Slingshot in-person for a while, so this is going to be fun! I thought about whether I should bring the two cards I have with me or not. I’ll bring them. You never know, maybe another one of those rogue cards will appear! 

I looked for Kero. Ah, there he is!

“Hey Kero! I’m gonna go out to see a friend of mine, he’s called Slingshot and he’s got a cafe! It’s closed right now so I can’t get you anything though..”

Kero looked up at me. “It’s alright, you’ve got enough sweets for me to last until tomorrow, heh..”

Oh yeah, I do! Coil gave me a bunch the other day, I was honestly kind of concerned about how he had so much, and I was wondering how I was gonna eat them all. Problem solved! I left the apartment, and summoned my gear to skate to Crossroads. It’s late, but I’ll be fine. This is a safer area than most others, so there shouldn’t be many gangs here.

“HI SLING!”

I skated over to him, and made sure not to faceplant into a wall this time. It’s embarrassing… Slingshot looked up, and waved. He looked at my board with interest.

“You’ve added charms? That’s cool!”

I looked down. Oh yeah. There are charms on my board now because I’ve had to use magical power to seal the cards, and now my board has a little bit of that power too I guess! I grinned. “Mhm! Looks nice, right?”

Slingshot nodded, and took out something from his pocket.

“I know I haven’t been able to hang out with you for some time, but here’s a little present to make up for it.”

He passed me a small packet, and I took it. I placed it in my backpack carefully, and thanked Slingshot for it. “If it’s a sweet, I KNOW it’s gonna taste great! If it’s something else, it’s still gonna be just as great, heh!”

Slingshot smiled at the compliment, before his expression changed to a more serious one. 

“So, Skateboard. Did you hear about the news this afternoon?”

“The disappearances? Mhm, sounded really spooky to me…”

Slingshot walked closer to me, and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Skateboard. Why were you there? That could’ve happened to you too, you know!”

I laughed a bit nervously, and placed my hand behind my head. “Haha- I wasn’t though. Probably just a lookalike!...”

I tried not to sound nervous, but I guess it came out in my voice. Slingshot looked skeptical for a moment, before sighing. “Maybe, but if it was you, Skate. Please, be more careful.”

I froze. The concern in Slingshot’s voice.. It made me feel.. Regret? I frowned. “I’m sorry Sling, it wasn’t me but- I’ll be more careful anyways! Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be alright!”

Slingshot looked surprised for a moment, before smiling slightly. “Right! If you need any help though, feel free to ask me.” 

I nodded. I’ll probably not ask though, heh.. It’s not because of Slingshot, it’s just that I-

I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.

Anyways! I should probably be going back now, it’s getting really late. Slingshot also noticed the time. “It’s pretty late, Skate. Maybe we can talk more tomorrow?” 

I grinned. “Of course!”

-

Darn!! It’s so late and I’m still not done with my work… I guess I’ll have to work late again!! I don’t want to, but oh well… I held out one of my crystals, and took another sample from it. I was trying to enhance their stability under certain conditions, so that they would be more helpful. I placed it in a beaker and pushed it to the side. I’ll have to leave that in there for a bit, so it’s not important right now.

I was about to take another sample, but from a different crystal, when suddenly-

“Huh?? Wait-”

I looked around, in surprise. Why is everything so dark?? Did a blackout occur?? That’s.. Really annoying!! I got up, and walked to the light I saw. It’s the generator if I’m not mistaken, as it has a battery-powered light. 

Wait. That’s not the generator?? I see someone here though, and they look familia-

“Do you regret it?”

…

I summoned one of my crystals, and held it up.

“No.”

I did regret it, I regret it so much, but you wouldn’t believe me even if I did say that. And anyways, I shouldn’t come off as weak in front of you. I’ve got to be confident in mysel-

“... So it meant nothing?”

…

It meant everything to me, and I’m sure it did to you too. It’s just that-

I saw the silhouette flicker for a moment, and then it returned to how it was before?? I’m assuming it’s real, but this is suspicious… I saw the silhouette flicker again.

Wow!! I didn’t know silhouettes could flicke-

[SHATTER]

-

Hello everyone, I decided that since I’m now in another world, I should begin Kero’s corner again! You all missed it, didn’t you? No worries, for it's finally back!

So, reviewing today…

Skateboard and Subspace catch The Erase card with little to no problems, and now 3 cards have been sealed! It’s only been a day too, so I’m sure they’ll be able to find all the other cards in no time! Now then, I’ve been studying these ‘gears’...

The people- no wait, Inphernals- here seem to ‘spawn’ in with a gear, and their name is the same as their gear. Skateboard’s gear is.. A skateboard, as you’d expect. And his friend, Subspace, his gear is the subspace tripmine. It’s apparently some sort of bomb? 

Well, gears seem to have some amount of magical power, which is very interesting! And dangerous, as well, because it means that rogue cards can, in a sense, affect these gears. Rogue cards shouldn’t be able to affect Skateboard’s gear, or Subspace’s, but they can affect any other ‘Inphernal’s’ gears. And that could be disastrous! But I trust that Skateboard and Subspace will be able to overcome any difficulty in sealing the cards! 

Wait- Since there are two of them sealing the cards, that would mean there are two cardcaptors… How will the-

Ah, it seems our time is up! I’ll have to be going now, but remember to hydrate yourself, even if it isn’t summer anymore, you still have to drink lots of water!

-

Chapter Text

-

Man, Blackrock is SO cold… It’s a good thing I’m wearing my winter clothes. They don’t really help though- I took off my backpack and opened it. 

“Is the cold okay for you, Kero?”

“I’m the creature of the seal! Of course it i- oh man- that's cold.. But I’m perfectly fine!”

“You said something about having a true form… So this isn’t what you really look like?”

Kero nodded.

“Well, this is my er.. You can call it a disguise. My true form is way more cooler than this, I assure you, and I’ll be able to return to it once all the cards are sealed.”

So after I seal all 52 cards, Kero will be able to return to his true form. I wonder what it looks like? He says it looks cooler, so I’m interested! I guess I’ll have to be patient though. I zipped up the backpack mostly, and slung it on again. I’m nearly at Subspace’s er.. Apartment? Wait… Did he say he stayed in the building he works in or is it a separate one? Oh Swords. I FORGOT.

I quickly took out my phone and texted Subspace.

Huh. No reply? He’s not been online yet today either. That’s weird. It’s pretty late now. I think it’s already 11:30 AM. Maybe he’s busy working. Maybe I shouldn’t visit now… But he did invite me! I’m sure it’ll be fine..

I walked to where his work building was, and snuck in through a back door. I don’t think those scary higher-ups would allow me in- haha- What floor was he again? 6.. Right? Wait, that’s just one floor higher than mine! I think it’ll be fine to take the elevator. I walked into it, and clicked the button for the 6th floor and tried to look casual. I was looking away from the other Inphernals in the elevator, but I could feel their stares. Was my clothing really so different? Or did they recognize me as one of the Phighters from Playgrounds…

I saw the door open, and walked out in relief. The other people in the elevator didn’t leave, and went on to a higher floor. I checked my phone again. Room… aha! Room –! Alrighty, that’s- Should be this way! I walked down the hall, and had to walk back because it was the wrong way. I finally found the room, and knocked on the door. 

“Er.. Subspace?”

I was kind of confused, why wasn’t Subspace coming to the doo-

Wait… Don’t tell me he pulled an all-nighter again! I took off my backpack, and rummaged about in it.

“HEY! Did you forget I was in there?!”

“KERO- I’m sorry about that- I was just trying to find a needle.”

“.. I’ll forgive you because you’re the cardca- Wait what? A needle? What would you need that for?”

I laughed nervously. 

“Just- Uh- Lockpicking my friend’s door…”

“WHAT?! Can’t you just knock? Or is there a doorbell?”

“Well.. Subspace didn’t answer, so this is option 2!”

I had found the needle by now, and I took it out and inserted it into the keyhole. I stopped, and quickly looked around to see if anyone was in the hall. Empty, that’s good. I turned back to the door, and started moving the needle around in the lock. 

[CLICK]

Aha! You really did teach me well Ro- … Anyways! That doesn’t matter right now.

I closed the door behind me, and locked it from the inside. Looks just the same as before, except I’m here now! Alright, time to find Subspace and splash cold water on him! Okay, I’m not that mean, but I’m still gonna wake him up, OR surprise him if he’s working.

I walked into the lab room, and looked around at the papers scattered around. Wow.. he is NOT a tidy person, even though he looks like he’d be. I glanced at one of them. That- That sounds hard. Is Blackrock really so technologically advanced? I, as a ‘humble’ Playgrounder, am- IN FEAR. I don’t know how to do the majority of these calculations- I’M NOT DUMB, THEY’RE JUST THAT HARD! If Subspace really can do these so easily, that is scary. Scary that an Inphernal can actually do this, WITHOUT a computer or phone.

Oh yeah, I’m supposed to find Sub. Hm.. I was thinking he would be in this room, but I guess not. Maybe he’s in his own room! I walked out of the lab room, and opened the door of the other one. 

I saw the familiar pink color immediately. He is here, and like I suspected, he tried to pull an all-nighter and failed. I’ll go wake him up now, heh… I don’t think it’s healthy to do this- 

“Subspace, if you don’t wake up right now I’m getting cold water.”

. . .

Huh.. No reply. I won’t bring out the cold water yet, but I’m sure this will work.. HEH…

“SUBSPACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Kero flew out of my backpack at the same time Subspace jolted awake.

“WHA- WHAT?!”

He looked at me with a mixed expression, but mainly shock. After a few moments though, he realised it was me, and looked embarrassed. 

“Oh, so it wasn’t…”

“It wasn’t what?”

I was confused. Subspace had said that in such a low voice I nearly didn’t catch it.

“Nothing!! I just thought you were someone else, that’s all!!”

Oh, makes sense, I don’t visit Subspace’s lab normally. Actually, this is the first time I have! Normally he always meets me outside the building, so yeah, I haven’t actually seen the inside of the lab, and apartment too technically, until today.

“Subspace your lab is really messy-”

“. YOU WENT IN MY LAB?!”

-

I walked through.. what did they say it was called again? Crossroads? I was walking through Crossroads, trying to find someone to mimic. It's surprising how no one has found my appearance weird. I know I look relatively similar to these… people. But my skin is my kaleidoscope design, and I do not have a face. Is that not shocking? Maybe it's normal in this world. I wonder if the other cards are here too. Did someone release us all? I wonder what Cerberus thinks of that.

Someone walked up to me, and asked if I was new to Crossroads. I shook my head, and signed that I was just… er… lost at the moment! Which was a lie, but I’ll learn its layout soon enough. They asked if my region was by any chance Playgrounds, to which I signed.. Yes..? I don’t know about this… Playgrounds? Really? A region called ‘Playgrounds’? And how many regions are there? I don’t know any of the regions.

They nodded, and walked away. I had already made a mental note about how they looked, so I walked into an alleyway nearby. Ah, it’s empty, that’s good.

[. . .]

I looked at myself. I should be able to pass off as that person, without being notice-

[. . .]

What? Why did the illusion go away so fast? Is it because of this new world’s existing power? Is mine still adapting to the changes? . . . I was hoping I could mimic a lot of people today.

I took out something I had found nearby where I changed to my true form. I’ve been in it for a few hours already, which isn’t supposed to be possible. At least it gives me more time to find people to mimic, and even learn about their emotions. 

Not like I care. It’s not my problem, so why should I worry? This is just for my benefit, so I can see how to mimic certain feelings better.

While walking out of the alley, I bumped into someone. I looked up at them, and stepped back in shock.

“Hey- wait- SKATEBOARD, THAT’S THE ILLUSIO-”

Skateboard? Must be the new cardcaptor… How unlucky. And he is with Cerberus. I should leave this area fast. After running around the first corner, I quickly tried mimicking someone. It worked this time, and I sighed, before trying to act casual. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw.. Skateboard, and Cerberus, rush around the same corner, and look around. Skateboard looked at me for a few seconds, before looking away. Did he sense me? It’s too soon for him to be able to know, but I should leave as soon as I can. I don’t know how long this illusion will last for.

I walked away from them, and they didn’t think my sudden departure was weird, which was good. I felt the Illusion wear off, and I was back to my regular form. I leant against the wall. It is far more.. Draining, to mimic people in this world. Although, it is nice to have a moment to myself like this. . . No. That’s not important. I stood up straight, and held up the charm which I had found when I first changed to my true form. It has some familiar essence in it. It feels like.. HIS power. But he’s not here, is he?

I looked up.

Even if he is, I doubt he will reveal himself so soon. . . So I must be patient. Of course, this cardcaptor must be successful in sealing all the cards as well. I can sense that they will, though.

But. . . I had sensed two individuals with enough magic to qualify as a cardcaptor. Why is that?

-

“You let it get away!”

“It’s not my fault it can run so fast!”

“That’s the point, it can’t run fast! It must’ve mimicked someone in that building.”

Mimicked someone? Oh yeah, Kero did say it was called the Illusion card! Maybe that’s what its power is… Interesting! I’m sure Subspace will be interested in it, I’ll be sure to show him the card when I’m done sealing it. I wonder if I’ll see it again today?...

Kero flew over to the TV in my apartment, and turned it on. He switched through the channels, before going back to one.

“On Playground’s main island, Inphernals are reporting that they’ve seen another Inphernal switching through multiple different Inphernals that they know. Here is one witness statement: ‘I don’t know man, it was weird. It mimicked a lot of people I know, almost like an illusion. And when it noticed me, it didn’t do anything, it just started changing faster. I don’t know if it’s just me, but that Inphernal also seemed to be in p-’”

Kero turned off the TV, and flew over to me.

“Did you hear that, Skateboard?”

“Yeah! It’s got to be the card, right?”

Kero nodded, and I called Subspace.

“Yes?? I just finished my work, so you called at a good time-”

“I know where The Illusion card is! I’m going to the main island of Playgrounds, so look for me there, alright?”

“Wait- SKATE-”

I hung up the phone before Subspace could finish, and put it back in my backpack. I took out the cards I have, and looked at both of them. The Power and The Erase.. I don’t think they’ll work against an illusion, but it’s worth trying! I put them back, and skated to the main island. It’s not far from here, so I was able to get there fast. I looked around, and stopped short.

Is that it?

I had seen an Inphernal, and they looked really similar to Rocket, but I knew it couldn’t be him because Rocket would NEVER enter Playgrounds again, not after what happened. I walked closer to them, before stopping when someone called out my name.

“SKATE!!”

“Huh- Oh! Hi Sub! That was really fast-”

“Don’t just go off like that without me!! It could’ve been dangerou-”

“Blah blah, dangerous.. You should know by now that any danger’s got nothing on me!”

“... If you say so.”

I grinned, even though I felt a bit sorry about how I phrased that. Subspace caught the apologetic look, and sighed. “It’s.. It’s fine, Skate. Now then, where’s the Illusio-”

I pointed to my left, and he turned around. 

“... Oh!!”

-

. . .

Medkit?

You look just the same as you did that day. Wearing an extra charm, in your favorite color, and, most of all, smiling. Why did we have to fight? Maybe I should’ve just agreed with you, even if I didn’t want to. I shouldn’t have snapped, and.. You shouldn’t have either. I remember the look on your face like it was yesterday, the horror and anger, the fear you had in that moment. I remember the burning pain, I can even feel the way the poison dripped from my face, covering it with this disgusting ROT. 

It was a reminder, a constant reminder, of how stupid I was to realise you were right this whole time. That I was just too blind to see what I was truly seen as by Blackrock.

A toy, meant to be played with until it’s no longer interesting.

And it reminds me that I’m such a coward for not even trying to leave after realising it. That I still stayed even if I knew I would be thrown away as soon as I was out of new inventions. That I would DIE never being able to be the greatest.

I wanted to be great, I wanted us to be the greatest, but it will never happen.

It’s too late for that.

Far too late. . .

“Subspace..? Inpherno to Subspace!”

I noticed Skateboard waving his hand in front of me, and turned to face him.

“It’s nothing!! It just looks like someone I knew a long time ago.”

“Oh, okay!”

It was the truth, but not the entirety of it. I felt like this happened already, I feel like I’ve seen this happen somewhere before.. But where?? It’s a weird feeling… But I’m sure I’ll figure out what it means, after all, I am the greatest!! 

Aren’t I??

Or was that a lie too, Medkit?

I walked towards the figure, but Skateboard stopped me. 

“Hey wait- You can’t just walk right towards it!”

“Don’t worry!! I’ll be able to do this!!”

He let go of my hand, but his face still had a slightly concerned look. I looked back at the Illusion and smiled to myself under the mask.

“You think you’re him, don’t you? You’re not, and you’ll never be. No one will be able to be as good as he ever was.”

I walked closer to it, and it looked up at me too. Its face faltered for a moment, before it put on the innocent smile, just like the one YOU used to have. I have to admit, it’s uncannily similar, but there’s something that’s different about it. It looks forced, and YOUR smile never was. It seemed to notice that I wasn’t scared, and it flickered to something.

Something that haunts me to this day.

The moment you looked back at me, after I had thrown that crystal. The range of emotions conveyed on your face, overpowered by mainly fear.

I flinched at the likeness of the injury, but composed myself immediately. I should not let this card get the satisfaction of seeing me in discomfort!!

-

I gasped, involuntarily. That hurt. I’m just mimicking someone, why did the injury I mimicked hurt me too? I must just be imagining the pain, after all, I am a Clow Card. I should not be weak. I didn’t understand this.. This person’s neutral face. Why AREN’T they scared of me? Is it because they’ve realised I’m not really that person? … Well, at least I can feel what pain truly feels like. 

I didn’t stop to think how it would hurt people to mimic someone important to them, someone who they have not the best relationship with.

But after all, it hasn’t happened to me, so why should I care? I am a Clow Card, I only care for my Master and Sealer.

I frowned under the illusion’s mask, internally due to not having a physical mouth, and continued to approach this person. They were backing away from me, with an amused look. It’s mixed with slight hatred, though it looks forced, and nervousness as well, along with a poor attempt at humor, and a broken facade of arrogance and confidence. What an interesting selection of emotions. This person I’m mimicking… Did something happen between them? An argument of sorts?

I felt the illusion change again, which was… odd. It didn’t look like their current self, and it’s impossible for me to mimic someone’s future self. It can only occur if-

No, that’s definitely not it. It can’t be a message from the Moon Guardian, and definitely not HIM, I don’t sense either of their powers. And, anyhow, there is no one channeling his power either.

Or is there?

I heard some sound, and brought my attention back to this.. Pink-horned person. They’re holding a- a crystal? Why? What will it do? I took a step back, it would be better to stay cautious. I don’t know the capabilities of that crystal, so-

He held it out in front of him, and started to say the sealing incantation? Why? Isn’t the other one, who’s behind him, the cardcaptor–

I stopped short when I saw the sealing circle appear.

“Your trickery has come to an end, return to your true form, Clow Card!”

I felt the illusion wear off, and my kaleidoscope design returned. Should I thank this person for freeing me from that pain, or should I not? I doubt they even realised that they had helped. I felt myself being pulled into the card, and smiled internally again. I don’t mind being sealed, as long as it’s with someone who can see through an illusion.

AND stay composed through traumatic recollections!

-

The card flew into my hands, and I looked at it in surprise. The Illusion… It’s the card from my dream. That’s weird, it played out almost exactly like how it did in the dream. It’s like seeing the future!! I heard Skateboard’s running footsteps and turned arou-

“Great job Sub! You sealed a card!”

“AH-”

I, Subspace T. Mine, have never hugged a person in my life, and that is why I fell down, pulling Skateboard with me, unfortunately.

[CRASH]

I got up, and sighed.

“Thanks, Skate!! It was hard, but I just stayed true to myself, and tried my best!!”

I did not elaborate on why it was hard. That’s for another time. One day, I’ll tell him what happened, and I’ll trust that he won’t leave. For now though, I’d like to be thinking of more positive things!! I helped him up, and showed him the card.

“Ooh.. That’s a cool design! Can you maybe uh..”

“Release it into its true form so you can see what it looks like?? Sure!!”

I held it out, and it automatically came out of the card, much to Kero’s shock.

“What?! You didn’t have to unseal it? That’s interesting, the card went into its true form by its own will. I doubt you can use it to help you seal another card like that though.”

I nodded. That information would definitely come in handy later on, even though I don’t think Skateboard was paying attention…

‘Greetings, Sealer, and Cardcaptor. What are your names?’ It signed. I guess it can’t speak. Good thing I know sign language!!

“I’m Skateboard, he’s Subspace, but WOAH! You look so COOL!”

It looked taken aback for a moment, maybe it didn’t expect Skateboard to know it too, before looking at me, expectantly. I didn’t know what to say, but answered anyway.

“Your illusion was very convincing, and it looked really similar, but there were some details that could be worked on!!”

It nodded, and observed our surroundings. ‘I suppose this is the “Playgrounds” that person had mentioned to me before.’ It signed, quicker than before. Skateboard nodded, and grinned.

“Mhm! But this is only one island, there’s many more!”

The Illusion looked around, and was startled to see the other islands floating around, above and below. It’s funny, I had the same reaction when I visited Playgrounds for the first time. I also remember that Skateboard was laughing so much that he fell on the floor. Pretty mean of him!! Didn’t he think the same when he was a Newspawn?!

“So, Subspace, if you don’t have any work today maybe you can stay at my place!”

“... Sure!!”

I didn’t have any work, because I had already finished it all this morning, and I was planning to go back to Blackrock but oh well… The Illusion followed us, not going back to its card form. It looked.. Fascinated, but not with its surroundings. It was more fascinated about the various people we passed. Perhaps it was studying their expressions in detail to know how to mimic them better? That’s.. Actually a good idea! 

We passed an alley, before Skateboard stopped, and walked back to look in it again. He stepped back in surprise, before calling us. What could he have POSSIBLY seen??

-

“Kero, is that another card?”

Kero looked at it for a few moments, before nodding. “Mhm! That’s The Dream card, it looks like it’s asleep but it isn-”

“This should be easy if it’s asleep!”

I walked forward, and tapped its visor. It turned to face me, and I fell back in shock. It stood up, and towered over me, looking really scary in the darkness of the alley.

“OKAY- OKAY- You’re awake, understood!”

Kero just facepalmed, and Subspace looked like he was trying not to laugh. How mean! He would’ve done it too! I just did it first! I looked up at the Dream card, not knowing how to get out of this situatio- It turned around, and started to walk away. Wait- WALK? It’s not even running?!

I saw The Illusion run after it, but it got neatly tripped up by a plank of wood The Dream had silently knocked over.

“You don’t possess the ability to see the future, as I do. This evening was because of him, he gave you the power to mimic those from the future temporarily.”

The Illusion looked up, in anger. It looked mad that The Dream was just so casual about everything, and not seeming to care at all. It tried to get up, but The Dream was already out of sight.

“Well… It’s not really harmless! But you should still capture it quickly.”

“Alright, Subspace, we’ve got to be-”

“The greatest and most super team in the world!! Right??”

“YEAH!”

-

Heyo everyone! It’s me, Kero, with your favourite part of every chapter… Kero’s corner!

I’m sure you’ll agree that today was an interesting day for Skateboard and Subspace! 

Skateboard has winter clothing, and even a snowboard to pair with it. Stylish, and it also keeps him warm! Subspace, on the other hand, has one arm exposed… I wonder how it isn’t completely frozen yet. 

Now then, about the cards, today only one was sealed, and it was by Subspace! It was The Illusion, and he looked really composed while doing it, only letting his confident expression slip a few times. It’s weird. If it really was the first time he’s ever done this, he would’ve been more or less confused, but he looked like he knew EXACTLY what to do.

I wonder why… 

Oh, it appears our time is up! What do you think of Subspace’s sealing of The Illusion card today? Very flawless, right?

I’ll see you next time, and remember, illusions aren’t real! They just FEEL real, they’re supposed to trick you, so if you know they’re an illusion they aren’t scary anymore!

-

Chapter Text

-

“Wow, Shuri, I thought you didn’t like bunnies!”

“. I do! They’re so cute! And this one doesn’t have much fur either.”

Yes, I do like bunnies, I’m just allergic to their fur… But this one doesn’t seem to have any. It also has wings? That’s cool! I don’t think rabbits are supposed to have wings though… I pet it, and it was about to jump in the air before I quickly put my hands over it, stopping it from jumping too high. It looked at me, tilting its head in confusion. I did NOT want anyone to find out that this bunny can jump an entire building’s height in a second. Who knows what would happen then!? 

I don’t know- Maybe Blackrock will try experimenting on it? That would be horrible! I can’t let this little guy get hurt, he’s too cute for that!

I smiled, before looking at the card. I remembered what had happened, and read the name on it.

“So, your name is Jump? Pretty fitting based on how high you jumped before…”

There was no reply, of course, but it twitched its ears when I mentioned its supposed name.

“I wonder who’s your real owner…”

It traced a circle with its hand, with some more shapes in it. I couldn’t follow it, so I didn’t know what it was tracing, but it’s probably something to do with its real owner! It also traced… a star? That looks similar to.. Oh yeah, it looks similar to the stars on Skateboard’s skateboard! 

Maybe Skate knows about this bunny? Then- Why is it in Thieves’ Den? Did it jump all the way here?

I’ll ask Skate later, I’m going to a Phight and I noticed Skate had also signed up for it. Wait… I looked at the time. WHAT?! It’s already 1:45?! The Phight is in 10 minutes- I’ve got to hurry!

I held out the card near.. I guess I’ll call it Jump now, seeing that its name is printed as that on the card.

“Jump, can you er.. Do your thing and go into the card again?”

It nodded, and returned to the card immediately. Wow! Are bunnies really so obedient? I put it into one of my pouches, and strapped the cover shut. I got up, and took out my grappling hook. I looked for something to grapple onto, and spotted a pole. That will work!

I took aim, and fired the grapple at it.

I’ll get to the Phight before it starts, just watch and see!

-

“Zeta!!”

“. . .”

“. 001.”

“. . . AFFIRMATIVE, CREATOR?”

I replied, turning around to face Creator. Why is he looking at me so.. WEIRDLY? And why is he talking to me right before a Phight-

“You’ve been acting weird lately.. Ignoring me, and you’ve started landing your attacks almost 99% of the time!!”

. . . Did I not do so before? Yes, I have felt.. Odd, and I have felt more confidence in my slashes, but is it not just improvement? And isn’t this better? Sentience is nice-

And it’s a pain to deal with. I have to watch my words, my actions, and everything I do must be thought about beforehand. I can’t do things on command anymore, I can fail. And I was made to finish what Inphernals cannot. How can I do that, when I am sentient, and have a mind just like them? I was made to feel only hatred, and now I can feel almost everything.

Why am I like this? Why me? Why did I have to be sentient? Why couldn’t it have been any other model?

I heard a sigh, and looked at Creator again. Have I ignored him again, as he mentioned before? He looked disappointed.

“MY APOLOGIES, CREATOR. PERHAPS I WAS FOCUSED ON A TASK AT THE TIMES YOU HAVE SPOKEN TO ME.”

“... Alright. Anyways!! Remember your command for today??”

“. . . KILL ALL THOSE WHO OPPOSE YOU.”

“That’s right!! I knew you would NEVER forget that!!”

I had. I just said that based on what you normally talk about in our conversations, dear Creator. I heard his footsteps get fainter and fainter, and saw him speaking to that Playgrounder. I feel some strange feeling whenever I’m near them now, but why? I was not made to feel, and I can only feel internal emotions currently. And, anyhow, Inphernals do not radiate any energy off of them. Their gears do, on some occasions, but most do not.

What is this weird feeling I feel when around them?

It is not normal.

It is not supposed to happen.

I heard the Flipside Crew start announcing, and realised that the Phight was about to begin. Perhaps it would be better to think about this later. I unsheathed my blades, and walked to the blue team’s spawn. Who am I teamed with today? I scanned the Phighters on my team, and shook my head. This isn’t a good team ‘comp’, as the Playgrounders say. Not enough front-liners, and we have some easy targets for the enemy team.

At least it is Annihilation.

That will let me prove my worth to Creator, who, unfortunately, is on the opposing team.

The round began, and I used my blink to get to a higher location. I scanned around for any lone targets, and spotted Vinestaff assisting her team from the backline. If her team does not notice, I should get a kill and not lose much HP either. I took careful aim, and recast the ability, reaching Vinestaff’s location in seconds. She didn’t expect the attack, and I was able to get a good chunk of her HP down, before she started planting her plants around me.

Is she trying to detonate them on me, similarly to how Creator can detonate his tripmines?

A bad decision, there is not enough time for her to plant enough to deal a significant amount of damage to me. Her plants disappeared, with only petals left where they used to be. I killed her and blinked away, glancing at the score-board as I got somewhere high. 4-2. And we were 2. I must be faster then. I checked to see if my Phinisher was done charging, and it was close to it. One more kill would help boost it to 100. I looked around again, and saw Shuriken, on low HP, trying to snipe from a high vantage point. I aimed at him, and recast the ability again. I used slash storm immediately after reaching there, but it did not finish him off. He looked surprised, and quickly went invisible. I heard something drop behind me, and slashed there immediately. Another kill, and now my Phinisher is ready.

I was about to activate it, when I saw Vinestaff use her Phinisher. Would it be a good idea, or would she use the healing from it to fend me off? Should I wait until its healing effect ends, or should I take a risk?

. . . 

Well, Creator did wish me luck. Perhaps that luck will come in handy now.

I held both of my blades in front of my face, and brought them outwards at the same time. I started to overheat immediately, and I blinked to where I had last seen Creator. I was able to kill him quickly, and went on to kill 3 more people before getting caught in Katana’s grapple. I was on low HP, so I should get awa- 

I felt his katana slice through my circuitry, and fell to the floor. I turned around, and unsheathed my blades again, pushing his katana back. This was not favorable, anyone on the opposing team can kill me-

I heard a familiar hum, before feeling some of my HP return, and I also gained some shield back. I turned to my left, and saw that Medki- . . . The TRAITOR had used his Phinisher. That is helpful. I pushed Katana’s blade back, and quickly got rid of his already low HP. Another kill for our team. I glanced at Medkit, and he looked back. I nodded, and walked away, not realising that I had felt that odd feeling again.

It was probably just a side-effect from my OVERDRIVE. I looked at the scoreboard again. 15-17, this is good. Just 3 more kills and we’ll win. I looked around for another target, and spotted Creator setting up some tripmines, but I also saw Vinestaff.

I aimed for Creator, who was on lower HP. I can deal with him faster, and therefore get another kill for our team.

I quickly finished him off, before blinking away to cool down for a moment. I heard OVERTIME?! start playing on the speakers, and looked at the scoreboard. 19-19. We would need to get a lead of at least 3 kills to win, because the opposing team might also kill someone. I looked at my HP, it was low, but my Phinisher was done charging. I shook the blood off of my blades, and aimed at Katana. He has high HP, but I should be able to finish him off with support BY MYSELF. I recast the ability, and started slashing through him, my blades hitting him each time. The heat from OVERDRIVE made my blades hot as well, so it left some minor burns on Katana as well. Nothing that can’t be fixed by the respawn feature in Phights. For a Phinishing blow, I stabbed him straight through the chest. I pulled out my blade, and turned around to see Vinestaff.

She is low HP. She will be easy.

I aimed at her, but did not recast the ability immediately. I used slash storm again, and my eyes lit up when I saw her under 25 HP. I recast the ability, EXECUTING her. Just one more, and our team can wi-

VICTORY! MVP : BIOGRAFT [ 10 / 0 / 2 ]

I heard that word blare on the speakers, right before shutting down due to overheating for too long. 

.

.

.

“ZETA!! Drats- Skate- Help me carry them-”

“Alrighty, Subspace!”

“I can help too, heh..”

“. It’s YOU, that annoying one who keeps backstabbing me-”

-

… Interesting. This person whom I’ve possessed… they bear some powers. A conduit? How lucky, even if I can’t fully control them, at least I can perfect their method. It’s not what I’m used to, but it has some similarities. They wield two blades, and they move quite erratically when overheating, although they can deal more damage. They have good spatial awareness, and can slash with some precision. It also seems to me that they overheat more than those other robots I’ve seen. Perhaps it is the Sun’s effect? Which means, they do not know how to control it yet. 

Who am I? The Sword, of course. You’re probably confused about how I’m able to ‘possess’ someone without them wearing this pin. Well, this world seems to have some different type of.. Magic. It existed even before we were transported here. Due to that magic, I am able to possess anyone who doesn’t have any powers. If they do, I’m not able to fully control them, but I can still refine their skills. 

I wasn’t planning to possess this.. Robot, as I was planning to possess the person who shares the same name as I. But I sensed some strong magic from him, and knew it would be unwise to do so. He also seems to know quite a lot, and sometimes, he’s even mentioned things. Things he shouldn’t know. Either he’s just joking, and it happens to be true, or he knows more than he’s letting on.

I should question him, but he might get suspicious. And anyways, my appearance in true form isn’t… It’s different. I get a body, and I wear armor, but I just look different, compared to the other people I have seen. I heard someone talking, it sounded close. I looked to the side, and saw-

…

The red-horned person called Skateboard, with.. Cerberus? Is he the card-captor? 

As I was staring at him, Cerberus turned around, and pointed at my vessel, saying something to Skateboard. 

… At this rate, I will be sealed. I felt the magical powers of my vessel decrease for a moment, and seized my chance. I was able to fully control them, and I should be able to do so for long enough to get away. 

And maybe, I can even get RID of the problem.

I turned around, and unsheathed the blades my vessel has, although this time, they are different. There are some differences, due to me possessing them, but it also means that they contain more power now. I held out one, and pointed it straight at.. Right, Skateboard.

“DUEL ME, AND IF YOU WIN, I WILL LET YOU SEAL ME.”

“Woah- Really?! You’re going down!”

…

I will not be going down. I will make this person realise how weak he truly is. I took the offensive, and started to slash with one blade alone. Skateboard was blocking some of these attacks, but he had to dodge some of them. Sometimes, the blade nearly cut him, but he just got out of the way in time. He tried to fight back, but I did not let him. The lights from my vessel glowed golden for a second, which made me stop, before I shook my head and continued to duel with the cardcaptor. 

Surely it can’t have been-

I was caught off-guard by the cardcaptor going onto his board, doing a trick off the wall and landing on the blade I held out. I held it in front of me, and tried to push him off, but the momentum from his board was too much, and it pushed me back. He looked surprised, before grinning.

“Hah- I actually won! I did not think I would be able to-”

. . .

I got up, unsheathed my blades, and walked towards him. He didn’t notice, and I got ready to slice right through his stupid fac-

[(insert subspace tripmine sound effect)]

I fell back, my vision obscured. My vision was veiled in a pink tone..? After a few seconds, I looked back up. Ah, the pink-horned person, known as Subspace Tripmine. He is friends with the cardcaptor, so I should’ve known. I brought out my blades again, and threw one of them at the cardcaptor. He dodged out of the way, and the blade ended up in a wall. I summoned it again, and the paint from the wall came along with the blade. I shook it off, and slashed it at Skateboard again. He backed up as far as he could, until he was at a wall. He has no escape now. I brought the blade back, and was about to bring it down when-

AGH.

The cardcaptor had pushed me back as a last resort, and I was separated from that robot upon impact. I fell to the ground, but got up quickly, and summoned my sword. I held it at Skateboard, who was an inch away from the tip of it. My vision was blurry, but I shook my head. I cannot lose, I MUST WIN.

[(subspace tripmine sound effect)]

My vision was pink again, and I felt my grip on the sword weaken. I tried to slash in front of me once more, but the cardcaptor was able to dodge out of the way again. I turned around, and, after that crystal’s effects were finished, tried to slice at him again, when–

“Disguise yourself as the one who it desires to hurt, Illusion!!”

The Illusion? I didn’t quite catch what was said, but I had heard someone mention ‘Illusion’.

I looked ahead of me, and once my vision cleared, I saw The Illusion in front of me.

It’s been sealed… but I didn’t see Skateboard have any card in his hand. I turned to my left briefly, and saw that.. Subspace had a card in his hands. It was The Illusion’s card? But that would mean he sealed it. Are there two cardcaptors? I looked at The Illusion again, its kaleidoscope design was distracting, but it should still be vulnerable to any attacks.

I apologise, in advance.

I brought my sword down ahead of me, and it lightly cut The Illusion on its hand. It flickered, its kaleidoscope glitching, before glaring at me as if it was annoyed. Its kaleidoscope design stopped suddenly, and I could see the cardcaptor in my reach. 

“Accept that you have lost this duel, and return, Clow Card!”

I felt myself being pulled into a card, and saw The Illusion’s kaleidoscope return in the position of where I had seen the cardcaptor. It looked exactly the same as him! With that exact same annoying smil-

-

The card flew into my hands, and I sighed in relief. That was a close one! I really thought I had won there, and I didn’t even realise that it was nearly about to slash straight through me… It’s a good thing Subspace came at that moment, otherwise that wouldn’t have gone so well, haha!

…

I don’t want to think about it. After all, it DIDN’T happen!

I looked at the card, The Sword? Sounds like Sword.. You know, the Phighter! I looked to see what Subspace was doing, and was surprised to see him not smiling. Or at least, it didn’t seem like he was.

“Skateboard, you could’ve-”

“It didn’t happen though, and I’m okay! Don’t worry Sub, I’ll be more careful!”

“... I know it’s no use telling you, but I trust you!! With the amount of near-death experiences you’ve had, I would say that you’ve got good survivability!!”

“Yeah! That’s right, I’m not gonna go down so easily!”

I was relieved to see that Subspace looked happier than before, and looked at the card again. The Sword… It only shows its gear, wait no, sword on the card, it doesn’t show its true form? That’s odd. Maybe Kero knows why it isn’t depicted. 

“Hey Kero?”

“Mhm?”

He flew over to me, and looked at the card.

“I was wondering why the card doesn’t show The Sword’s true form. It only shows its sword.”

“Oh, it didn’t have a human form originally. It was just a sword, and looked like the one on the card. That’s probably it!”

I nodded, and placed the card in my backpack. I counted in my head, 1.. 2.. So, I’ve got 3 cards so far, and Subspace has 2, so we’ve got 5 in total! That’s pretty good for a start, if I do say so myself, heh…

I wonder if there are any cards that might be harder to seal, like The Sword. Will there be more that fight back? It’s fine, I’ll show them why I’m a Phighter! I’ve got to have at least some skills to have been chosen to be one of the official Phighters, right?! And anyways, I’ll have Subspace’s help too! I walked over to where he was. 

Huh, did Biograft get broken? Wait, more important question, these cards can POSSESS Inphernals?!

“Subspace, I think The Sword possessed Biograft befor-”

“... Were you not paying attention when Kero said it was possible due to this world having some pre-existing powers.”

I laughed nervously, and sighed. I fear I wasn’t paying the best attention, and I don’t remember anything he’s said now that I think about it. I only remember some stuff, like the sealing chant. Hey, at least I remember the important things! Maybe I didn’t pay attention to some other useful things, but at least I know enough to seal cards!

Subspace didn’t look amused. “You should pay more attention Skate!! It could come in use in the future, and yes, if you were wondering, The Sword did possess Zeta.”

I nodded, and thanked Subspace for using The Illusion card to distract The Sword long enough for me to seal it.

“Oh, it’s nothing!! After all, you were the one who sealed it!!”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your help!”

I smiled at the compliment, and looked at my skateboard. I wonder when I’ll seal another card? And will it be as difficult as today?

-

Hallo everyone! It’s me, Kero, with Kero’s corner again! Today, we’ll be talking about how some cards can be quite dangerous to deal with.

A good example is The Sword card, which is very aggressive. It can be calm at times, and is very precise in battle, but if you defeat it in a duel, it can get really mad! It tried to kill Skateboard, and would’ve definitely hurt him if Subspace didn’t stop it with one of his tripmines. Well, it’s alright now, and I’m sure Skateboard has learned from this incident that he’s got to be more careful.

If The Sword card possesses you, and you don’t have any magical powers, it will take complete control of your body, using it to get rid of anyone in its way. If you have magical powers, it can’t fully control you, but it can help your precision!

Well, I guess we’re out of time for any more information today. Remember, always pay attention to your surroundings! Especially if you’re going to cross the road, or if you’re in a crowded place!

And I’ll see you in the next chapter!

-

“I’m sorry about er… Hurting you, Illusion. But it was becaus-”

“Hm? You were just mad you lost. You need better sportsmanship, but I’ll forgive you this time, Sword.” 

.

.

.

-

Chapter Text

-

“HELLO EVERYONE!! Ready for some JOKES?!”

I heard quite a lot of answers. Majority were cheers or screams… But in my opinion, there were more ‘yeses’ than ‘nos’!! I held out my hand, closed it, and opened it again to reveal a tiny box. I opened it, and took out the paper. Ah, jokes on… The weather? Interesting…

I put it away, and snapped my fingers. The background of the stage changed to a more stormy one immediately. Nice!! I walked forward, and held the microphone up.

“What did the thunder say to the lightning? Thanks for giving me the spotlight!!”

It was kind of a bad joke, but who cares?! The crowd’s cheering!! It doesn’t sound put-on either!! I smiled, and was about to do another joke when all the lighting turned off. Huh… Weird. 

“Well uh… This wasn’t in the plan, but I’m guessing it’s time for some DARK humor!!”

HAHA! That was a good one, wasn’t it?! I was about to do another joke when someone came outside from behind the curtains. They tapped my shoulder, and I turned off the microphone, just in case!!

“Su- Jesterspace, the power’s went out everywhere. Not only here. It’s cause of the rain I think!”

“... Oh, I’ll cancel the show then, but we can postpone it to tomorrow right??”

Boombox, my wonderful music provider, nodded, before going backstage again. I turned around, and turned on the microphone again, tapping it to check.

“Sorry everyone, today’s show is cancelled because there’s been a blackout!! But it’s okay, because tomorrow I’ll do another one with extra time to make up for this!!”

I frowned, of course, people can’t see it through my mask, but sometimes my mask changes expression too in some odd way!! I don’t think it’s doing that right now though, so it’s fine. I heard some disappointed murmurs, but it wasn’t too bad because they can come back tomorrow, AND get a longer show!! Win-win, right?! I turned off the mic, and waved to the crowd, before throwing one of my crystals on the floor and mist-rushing backstage. 

The curtains closed behind me, and I took off my mask for a moment. I had makeup on underneath it as well. You might think, ‘oh, but Subspace, you’re wearing a mask’, YES, I AM!! I just wear the makeup just in-case the mask breaks or something, so people won’t recognize me!! Do you really think I wouldn’t be careful?! This is the only time I can actually act like myself, I wouldn’t throw that away for anything!!

…

Okay, maybe I would, for him. If I had to choose between him and this… I’d definitely choose him, because he’s the only person who doesn’t care about what others think about me. He still-

He still wanted to be my friend.

…

Haha- Anyways!! I walked out of the building, forgetting that it was raining. I quickly dodged under a cover nearby, and checked to see if my costume got damaged from the rain. I don’t think it did, which is good!! I looked at the weather forecast. Doesn’t seem like this rain’s gonna end soon… Wait. I don’t have an umbrella. I’M STUCK HERE?? Darn- Maybe it’ll stop raining heavily. If it does slacken, I’ll make a run for the bus stop. I looked to my left, and saw the Flipside tower. It looked nice, even if it’s raining right now!! I felt an odd feeling when I looked at it, though. I guess it’s because of that drea-

[FLASH]

Huh-

[CRASH]

“HOLY S.F.O.T.H-”

I stepped back, shocked. Wha- Is Windforce trying to kill me?! That lightning bolt was WAY too close for comfort!! I backed up against the wall, and stood there, tensely. That wasn’t a coindence, was it??

[FLASH]

[CRASH]

The booming sound of thunder blasted in my ears again. That’s louder than normal, right?? I don’t think thunder is supposed to be that loud!! It sounded even louder than Boombox’s music in Phights sometimes. I felt that odd feeling again, but I wasn’t looking at the Flipside tower this time. Huh…

I felt it when I had been near those cards. Wait. Does that mean this is being caused by a card?? I quickly took out my phone, and looked for Skateboard’s number. Well, I didn’t really have to look, because I don’t have many friends on this messaging app, only a few. I clicked the call button.

Ah. It went to voicemail.

Skate’s on- . Oh!! He’s on a date with Slingshot, I see… I shouldn’t disturb him. I’ll just do this myself.

[FLASH]

[CRASH]

I flinched when I saw lightning strike the floor nearby me again. Maybe I should wait a little, haha- I should plan my course of action!! I don’t really wanna get electrocuted…

-

“Wow, Skate, this place is nice!”

“Heh.. I’m glad you like it!”

I smiled, I had chosen this place especially because I knew how nice the views were. I was sure Slingshot would like it, and he does! It’s just the two of us, and Shuriken too- He was really insistent on being the third-wheeler for some reason, and Boombox was too busy to join us so we agreed to let him come along. Anyways, it’s fine cause he’s not disturbing us! Maybe I should’ve invited Subspace too… but then it wouldn’t be a date because there’s too many people. I’ll invite him the next time I come here then! I’m sure he’ll be happy about that, heh…

I continued to talk to Slingshot, but I’ve got to admit I felt like SOMETHING was going wrong SOMEWHERE, but it’s probably nothing- I mean, there’s no way there’s a card creating some chaos right now! And anyways, if there was, I’m sure Subspace will call me!

I guess if he wasn’t near the cards he might not know… But still, I’m sure it’s happening in Crossroads, and I think Subspace said he signed up for a Phight…? Probably. I looked back at the view from the bridge me and Sling were standing on. We were looking at a waterfall, and the cherry blossom trees around made it even more beautiful! I wonder if Shuri’s been here before? I’ll ask him later.

Slingshot looked at his watch, and then looked up at me. “It’s already 2:15, want to have lunch?” I thought for a moment, before nodding. I know Slingshot made the lunch himself so I’m sure it will be tasty! He also made one for Shuriken as well.

“Shuri! We’re going to eat lunch now. Are you going to join us?”

Shuriken appeared in front of us, and shook his head.

“Nope, not yet. You two love-birds can have your lunch though HEHE-”

Before Slingshot could say something to that, Shuriken disappeared again, although I swore I could hear him laughing some distance away. Slingshot looked exasperated, but shook it off quickly. 

“Well, at least we won’t have him disturbing us, right Sling?”

He nodded, and we walked in the other direction to find a suitable place to have our lunch. I saw an empty spot underneath one of the cherry blossoms, and it looked like a nice spot so I mentioned it to Slingshot. He looked over there, and turned back to me.

“Alright, we’ll have our lunch there.”

We walked over to it, and sat down beneath the tree. It was nice and cool, and quite comfortable too. Slingshot opened a few boxes, and in each of them were a decent amount of pastries. They all looked so good too! 

“Okay, that’s just the pastries. I’ll get our lunchboxes now.”

“OKAY!”

-

Man, now that I’ve been with them on one of their dates, Skateboard and Sling really do seem to be a good couple. Wonder when I’ll get someone who loves me like that… Oh well, I guess I’m better solo though! If I did have a partner, I wouldn’t be able to do my work as The Silver Shadow! I looked around. This area was honestly pretty empty… Maybe I could let Jump out? I’m sure no one will notice it, as long as it doesn’t jump to the skies again-

I took out the card and placed it on the wooden planking in front of me. It shined almost immediately and Jump jumped out of it. It looked at me, and I pet it, smiling. It looks interested about its new surroundings, and I picked it up. I looked at the waterfall, when Jump jumped out of my hands and stared at the waterfall. I kneeled down, and noticed its ears were pointing to it too. Huh? What’s so odd about the waterfall? I looked back, and was alarmed to see it was starting to come down faster. It’s gonna flood this place if I’m not fast- 

Wait. What can I even d-

A paper flew into my face, and I took it off. I held it in front of me. Another one of those golden papers? I’ll try to read it this time. Hm.. I think it means ‘Freeze’? But I didn’t see anything related to ice or snow recent-

[SPLASH]

I did not care about how I was soaking wet. I checked to see if the paper was damaged, and oh thank the Swords, it’s still alright. I took out one of my shurikens, and stuck the paper onto it. I threw it forward.

“Uh.. Freeze your flowing torrent… Water?”

It sounded a bit like I didn’t mean it, but I was relieved to see that the water froze. A card appeared in front of me, and the extra water flowed into it. The card then flew into my hands. I read the name on it.

The Watery? Interesting… I guess that’s why the waterfall started to flood the river. It’s a good thing I decided not to join those two on their lunch yet! If I did, then I wouldn’t have known about this. And it’s also a good thing I let Jump out, because it was the one who warned me about this card!

I put my shurikens and the paper seal back into my pouch, and took a treat from a container. I held it out to Jump, and it took it immediately. I noticed that it doesn’t eat much, but then again, it doesn’t look like a normal rabbit so maybe that’s why?.. I mean, there’s a card for it and it can go into the card. Wait, does that mean The Watery can go out of its card too? I’ll try it ou-

The card shook in my hand, and water flowed out of it, forming the person depicted on the card. They looked like an Inphernal, but their skin was pale blue and they had fish-like features! It’s like my Shurifin costume, but I think those are REAL fins, not fake costume ones? The Inphernal in front of me looked around, before staring at me. “You must be the cardcaptor… but why isn’t the Creature of the Seal with you?” HUH?! Creature of the Seal?

I must’ve looked so confused, that the card looked taken aback. “... You’re NOT the cardcaptor? What- Then- How-?”

“What IS a cardcaptor? And who’s the Creature of the Seal?”

“... You have sealed two cards without knowing this basic information?”

“Hey! I’ll tell you exactly what I did then!”

-

[TRIP]

[CRASH]

That wasn’t the thunder this time, it was ME. I had been trying to release the power in my crystal, but the lightning kept striking nearby me, which knocked me off-balance. I’m already soaking wet, I’m sure all my makeup got washed off… Doesn’t matter, I’ve got to figure out a way to seal these two cards. Maybe I should get to a higher spot?? But even if I did, if it was open I’m a walking target for any lightning. What to do… I know!! I pulled out The Shadow card, and threw it above me. I held my crystal up underneath it.

“Distract the lightning with my shadow, Shadow!!”

It went into its true form, and quickly went into my shadow, immediately moving it around in the open. I saw lightning strike at it, and carefully made my way up the Flipside tower. I waited for what looked to be the Thunder to come closer, and noticed it looked amused. I then threw my crystal at it.

“Stop this joke of yours, and return, Thunder!!”

I saw it get pulled into the card, and the storm lessened. The card flew into my hands, and I held onto it. I saw The Lightning had realised the shadow was just a trick, and it zapped close to where I had been standing. I threw my crystal at it.

“I like flashy things, but this is TOO flashy for my taste, so return to your true form, Lightning!!”

I expected it to be sealed immediately, but it zapped the crystal and shattered it. Darn!! What do I do.. I’ve got to distract it, but how?? I took out The Illusion card. Can lightning really get distracted by an illlusion?? I guess it’s worth trying. I hid behind a pillar of the tower, and held the card in front of me. 

“Become an optical illusion, and confuse the lightning long enough for me to seal it, Illusion!!”

It came out of its card, already looking like one of those hypnotizing swirly things?? It SHOULD work. If it doesn’t, I have no idea what I’m gonna do, haha- I watched as The Lightning stopped for a moment, before flashing slightly, perhaps in surprise. I walked closer and threw my crystal forward, where I had last seen the lightning.

I repeated what I had said before, and saw a card appear, and the lightning got pulled into it. 

The card flew into my hands, and I put it away. Alright, that was kind of hard, but at least I was able to do it in the end!! HEH HEH… I looked at the view, and stopped for a moment. It was really.. Beautiful. 

And also scary. I’m so high up- I better get down quickly, but I should be careful too- HAHA…

Okay, now that I’m down on the ground now… What should I do?? I looked at the time, and fell back in shock. I realised I had bumped into someone, and turned around to see who it was. S- . It’s Skateboard. I quickly got up, and apologised. Skateboard was laughing, but said it was alright.

“Okay Subspace, I noticed you called me around this afternoon. Did something happen?”

“... Well!!”

I took out both cards, and showed them to Skateboard. He looked at them, and then back at me. “You- You encountered TWO?!”

I nodded.

“Woah! You’re way better at this than I am!”

“Uh-huh…” 

Skateboard stopped, and noticed that my costume was completely soaked. I expected him to laugh or something, but he walked up to me. “Okay, first you change to some dry clothing, than tell me what happened with the cards!”

I nodded, and put the cards away. I don’t really want to be wearing wet clothes for the rest of today either, and I think I have another variant of my costume in this building. I walked into it, while Skateboard waited outside. I saw there was no one in the locker room, so quickly changed to a similar costume. I walked over to a mirror on the wall, and took off the mask. Oh, the makeup DID get washed off. I could see my ROT very clearly, and quickly put the mask back on. I don’t like it. I hate it. But I can’t get rid of it.

Anyways, I’m the reason why it’s even there. I should’ve been more careful!!

I should’ve been more understanding.

I snapped out of that thought, and smiled. Of course, you can’t see it through the mask, but I feel like it shows in your voice. I sighed, and walked outside.

“Woahhh.. This variant of your costume looks cool too!!”

“Thanks!!”

“So, wanna get something to eat?”

I nodded, realising I didn’t eat anything for half the day- I forgot about it while trying to seal The Thunder and The Lightning. I noticed Kero wasn’t with Skateboard and asked him about it.

“Oh, Kero? He decided to stay behind at my apartment. Which is good, because I fear he would’ve been really jealous if he saw all the pastries Slingshot had brought-”

. I still don’t understand why that yellow plush toy is so obsessed with sweets…

-

HELLO EVERYONE! It’s me, Kero, back with another Kero’s corner, your favourite part of the chapter!

Today was really stormy, but only in Crossroads. It was due to The Lightning and The Thunder cards teaming up to cause some chaos as a practical joke of theirs. Pretty mean… Good thing Subspace was there though!! He nearly got zapped with lightning a few times, but it’s fine, because Subspace was finally able to seal both of the cards. Thunder was somewhat easy, but Lightning was a problem, because it struck nearby him whenever he tried to get close. With the help of The Shadow and The Illusion, Subspace was able to distract it for long enough to seal it!

The Thunder is a card that causes fluctuations in regular thunder. It’s way louder, and can be heard from farther away. It’s an aggressive card, but it also LOVES playing jokes on people with The Lightning, due to the fact it will start raining heavily wherever the both of them are (If they use both their powers at the SAME time.)! The Thunder is less careful than The Lightning, which led to it being sealed first.

The Lightning is smarter though, but also aggressive. If you’re hit by it, you’ll be electrocuted! Nothing life-threatening, but still dangerous. It’s defensive when you try to seal it, so you’ll have to distract it long enough for you to get closer safely. And you’ve gotta be quick too! 

The Lightning and The Thunder are a good team, but Subspace was smart enough to figure out a way to get past their trickery. He successfully sealed both cards, even if he isn’t really the cardcaptor I assigned the role to…

Oh! I guess our time is up! Today’s chapter might’ve been a little late, due to some er… technical difficulties, but remember to not do too much at once! If you’re not feeling motivated, don’t force yourself to do it. Try out something else and take a break, and when you come back, you’ll be more motivated!

-