(Canon) The Fall of Heartland
Apr. 21st, 2017 02:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
togepi_writes- The Fall of Heartland -
Characters: Akari Tsukumo, Haru Tsukumo, Yuma Tsukumo, Kotori Mizuki, Kana Mizuki, Yuya Sakaki
Synopsis: A mysterious army suddenly attacks Heartland with no warning, prompting Yuma's family and Kotori to flee the city.
"So, what do you think?"
Mrs. Mizuki looked at the pink dress displayed in her daughter's room with interest. Kotori's sewing skills had really improved in leaps and bounds in the last four months, to the point where she was now able to make full garments on her own. Although the dress wasn't anything fancy and was quite simple in design, this was still a big milestone for her daughter.
Inspecting it closer, she looked at the little embroidered hearts that lined the top of the dress, as well as around the sleeves.
"Your embroidering skills have gotten a lot better" Kotori's mother commented. "And to think you can make an entire garment on your own now..."
Kotori beamed at her mother's compliments. "I still have a lot to learn, but I'm really proud of this!" She then blushed slightly. "I was thinking of wearing it on my date with Yuma, while he's visiting for the holidays."
"Oh really...?" Mrs. Mizuki thought for a moment, then smiled. "Actually, I think I have something that will go with this. One moment."
Kotori watched on curiously as her mother left her room and came back moments later with something in her hand. "I've had this locket for a long time, since I was eighteen actually, it was a present from your grandmother."
In her hand was a beautiful pink coloured locket in the shape of a heart, it was outlined with shiny little red gem stones. Mrs. Mizuki held it up to the dress and looked over at Kotori to get her opinion.
Clasping her hands together, Kotori's eyes lit up at it. "It's beautiful! But... is it really okay for me to have that?"
Mrs. Mizuki nodded as she approached Kotori and placed the locket around her, fixing the clasp so it hung neatly around her neck. "I was actually planning to give it to you for your eighteenth birthday, but it doesn't hurt to give it to you a little bit early."
Kotori took the locket in her hand to look at it a little closer for a moment, before pulling her mother into a hug. "Thank you so much, mom!"
Mrs. Mizuki returned the hug, then looked at her daughter.
"I'm really proud of you, Kotori. You've really been trying hard at improving on what you wish to do and the results are very impressive." She gently brushed some of her hair away from her face with a tender smile.
"You've really grown up in a flash, but I know you'll continue to do amazing things."
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Kotori walked briskly along the streets of Heartland City, the heart-shaped locket faintly swinging from side-to-side as she did. She was heading towards Yuma's family home where Kotori was going to share lunch with Yuma's sister and grandmother, something she had continued doing even while Yuma was at the Academy. Smiling, she clutched a white box she was holding to her chest. The box contained the same dress she had shown her mother a few days previously and she was now looking forward to showing it to Akari and Haru.
Taking in a deep content breath, Kotori watched it hang in the cold air when she breathed out, before looking at the streets around her. The trees, that she admired the autumn foliage of only months earlier were now mostly bare as winter had taken full hold. Despite that, the weather, although cold, was sunny and pleasant. This meant there were a lot of people out; couples, parents with their small children and older children playing and laughing. A few people on the street smiled and waved to Kotori as she passed them and she returned the gesture.
This was what she'd always loved most about Heartland. Everyone was always cheerful and most people had a smile for others. It fitted the bright and colourful look of the city itself.
As she approached Yuma's house, she spotted Akari and Haru taking groceries out of the car that was parked in the driveway, so cheerfully she ran up to greet them.
"Akari-san! Haru-san!"
Both the women looked over and smiled as they saw Kotori approaching them.
"You're early, Kotori-chan." Haru commented.
"I thought I'd come over early to help you both prepare the meal." Kotori replied. She then looked down at the white box in her arms. "There was also something I really wanted to show the both of you."
Akari picked up a bag of groceries from the back seat of the car, then looked over at Kotori. "Very well. We'll get the groceries in the house and we can--huh...?"
Akari stopped her sentence short when she looked up and noticed the strange and sudden grey clouds that had gathered over the city. Following her gaze, Kotori also looked up at the sky, looking puzzled.
"Wasn't it sunny just a moment ago?"
Akari raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip, a bag of groceries being held by her other. "I'm sure the weather didn't mention anything about rain today."
All of a sudden, several bolts of lightening came out of the clouds and hit the city in various different places, including the very street the Tsukumo family house was on. Kotori, Akari and Haru shielded their eyes from the bright light and once it cleared, they looked up again to see some strange people standing in the road, wearing what looked like to be red blazers.
"Where'd they come from...?" Akari pondered. As she did, the people seemed to activate what appeared to be duel disks on their arms, resulting in a sword like holographic blade. They then silently, in unison, placed cards down on the duel disks, making some mechanical-looking monsters appear behind them. Kotori and the others watched on as one of the monsters seemed to power up an attack, then shot it directly at an Obot that was wandering down the street. There was a huge explosion, leaving nothing but a smouldering crater where the Obot had been.
Before Kotori and Yuma's family had the chance to even wonder how the monster had been able to do that, more powerful explosions rang out throughout the city, shaking the ground beneath them.
Complete panic was let loose, as people began screaming and running from the chaos.
One of the invaders glanced over at Kotori, Akari and Haru, a sadistic grin growing over their face.
"Kotori-chan. Granny. In the car. Now. NOW!"
Quickly, the three of them got into the car as Akari started the engine. As quickly as she could, she backed out onto the street and drove down the road, as a barrage of attacks were shot in their direction. Two hit the house, one hit the driveway where they had just been, and a few narrowly missed the car, hitting the road behind it, making Kotori scream as they did.
As they drove away, Kotori looked out of the rear window in a panic.
"W-why are they attacking us?! Who are they?!"
"I don't know." Akari replied. "But this is happening all over the city. We need to get out of here and fast."
As they sped down the street, they could see more of these people and more of these monsters, attacking buildings, attacking people. No-one was fighting back, nobody COULD fight back, but they continued their assault, laughing, chasing people, cornering them. As Kotori watched on horrified, she witnessed a couple of people being cornered by the attackers. They held up their duel disks as a strange purple light emitted from it. Once it cleared, the people had disappeared and Kotori caught what looked like to be cards falling to the floor in their place.
Just what was all of this?
Suddenly, something hit the car from the side with force, sending it swerving, then it was hit from the other side, doing the same. Looking out of the windows, they could see that what was tackling the car were two mechanical looking dogs.
"They're trying to run us off the road, damnit!" Akari exclaimed as she tried to accelerate faster in order to lose them. This seemed to be the case, as the dogs appeared to back off at first, but just when they thought they were rid of them, one of the dogs was able to catch up to the car and jump, crashing through the back window, sending a shower of glass over Kotori as she screamed and tried to cover herself with her hands. Despite the small shards that caught part of her face and hands, Kotori had no time to think much on her injuries as the mechanical dog, which was half through the broken window, opened it's mouth and appeared to be getting ready to fire an attack at them.
"Quick, Kotori-chan!"
Haru, from the front seat, quickly grabbed her walking stick and tossed it to Kotori who caught it. Kotori wasted no time in hitting the mechanical dog with it over and over, harder and harder, until the creature sparked a little from the damage, lost it's grip on the car and fell. Kotori breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived as the sound of something hitting the top of the car could be heard. Bang after bang, the roof of the car was noticeably starting to get visible large dents in it.
"I-I think one's on top of the car!!" Kotori exclaimed.
Akari tutted and clenched her teeth in annoyance. These things just didn't know when to quit. She then spotted a turn coming up in the road.
"Granny. Kotori-chan. Hold on tight. I'm going to try and shake this thing off."
As she got to the turn, Akari swerved around it as sharply as she could. Kotori and Haru hung on for dear life as the car took the corner sharply, but thankfully was at just enough force to make the second mechanical dog fall from the roof onto the road. As soon as they were around the corner, Akari accelerated as fast as she could, not wanting to give the dog the chance to right itself and catch up again.
As they drove onwards, they entered onto one of the roads that overpassed over the city. From here they could see the full extent of the invasion. Many building were on fire, some were now nothing more than rubble and there were many large robotic monsters walking amongst it. All that could be heard were screams and explosions.
Their once beautiful city had now become nothing but a war zone.
Kotori slowly pressed her head against the window next to her as she watched the carnage, her thoughts going to her family and friends, who were likely stuck in the middle of it, but she knew that she was unable to go and help them. Closing her eyes, her heart sinking in defeat, she could only hope that somehow, they'd found a safe place to be.
Suddenly, a fireball came out of nowhere and hit a building they were passing by, showering flaming debris onto the road below. Akari acted quickly and manoeuvred the car with great accuracy in order to avoid as much of the debris as she could.
As they drove away from the building, Akari looked in her rear-view mirror at it momentarily. "That was way too close for comfort."
Kotori looked at the building from out of the broken rear window in disbelief, she then turned around and a look of sudden horror appeared on her face.
"AKARI-SAN! WATCH OUT!!"
Akari quickly focused back on where she was driving, only to see a massive hulking mechanical robot, which seemed to be made out of several dog-like heads, hovering over the road ahead of them. On it's shoulder stood one of the invaders, wearing the same sadistic smile on their face as the others. Akari just stared at the monster in disbelief, she wasn't sure how she was going to get her grandmother and Kotori to safety anymore.
"Akari."
Akari briefly turned to Haru, who was looking at the monster before them with a hard, determined expression.
"If we stop here, then we would be surely done for."
Looking back at the situation, Akari knew that her grandmother was right. It was pretty much a 'do or die' situation right now. If they stopped, it would be over, but if they continued, then there would be a chance, a small chance, but a chance.
Akari watched the monster closely. Just like with the others, it appeared to be charging up an attack to use on them. Despite this, she stayed at the steady speed she was going at, no matter how much she just wanted to speed up. Her timing for this needed to be perfect.
'Just wait... just wait for it...'
As soon as she noticed the monster was readying to unleash it's attack, she quickly pressed her foot down on the acceleration, speeding up suddenly just as the attack was released.
"AKARI'S GONNA KATTOBING!!"
-BOOM-
The attack hit the road just behind the car, sending debris, smoke and dust into and around the car. Kotori screamed in terror and covered her head, while Akari tried her best to keep driving as fast as she could, despite the dust that was in her eyes, the debris that was hitting her, and the fact that the dust cloud around the car was making it difficult to see where she was going, but it was also giving them cover right now, meaning it was possible to get under where the massive monster was without being detected.
Soon enough, they sped out of the other side of the dust cloud and down the rest of the road. As they did, Akari looked up and inspected the rear-view mirror. Through the clearing dust she could see that the overpass, where the attack had hit, was now completely destroyed. If she had been only a few seconds later on accelerating, that attack would of hit them. She then noticed that the huge monster was starting to turn around to follow them, as their attacker had spotted them.
The hulking monster began smashing into buildings on it's way to follow them, leaving the buildings in ruins, but barely scratched the monster itself. Akari looked ahead and could see their salvation, a tunnel that lead out of Heartland City. If they could just reach it, if they could just get through it, it would give them cover and the monster itself was too huge to follow them through it.
Looking back, she could see the monster crashing into more buildings as it gained on them, but it didn't look like it was powering up another attack on them.
It was then that Akari realized that their attacker knew they were heading for the tunnel and was trying to get there before them.
As the monster began looming over them, they could hear their attacker laughing mockingly at them.
"I'm not going to let you get away~!"
Akari gritted her teeth. This guy was hunting them down as if it was some kind of game to him, but right now the lives of everyone in the car was resting on her shoulders. She needed to get to the tunnel before their attacker and his huge monster did.
Speeding down the road, the tunnel got closer and closer. Akari was not at all prepared to give up. As they approached the tunnel, the monster lifted it's gigantic hand into the air, before quickly bringing it down.
"IT'S OVER~~~!"
"LIKE HELL IT IS!!"
Akari accelerated as fast as she could, pushing the car to it's very limit as they sped into the tunnel...
-CRASH-
The monster's large hand hit the entrance to the tunnel, caving it in. The force of it hitting just behind the car sent the vehicle flying upwards as large amounts of debris hit it. As the car came down, it screeched and skidded as Akari fought hard to keep the car upright and still moving. After a moment, the car settled on all four wheels and continued through the tunnel. Soon after, they came darting out of the other side into the road that lead through the forest that surrounded Heartland City. Akari looked around, but couldn't see much of the sky through the density of the branches of the trees. She didn't know if she'd lost the monster or not, all she could do was keep driving, to get as far away from Heartland as they could, knowing that if she stopped the car now, with the damage it had received, it probably wouldn't start again.
Just keep driving... just keep driving...
It was half an hour afterwards of nothing but driving in complete silence when Akari felt for sure that they were safe. For a moment she was in disbelief that they had made it out of such a thing alive, but they had. They were safe now.
Slowly, she looked over at her grandmother who was sat beside her in the front passenger seat. She wore a look of stern seriousness on her face, which only broke when she had small coughing fits. Her grandmother was always of good health, but the smoke and dust that had entered the car had not been kind on her old lungs. Thankfully though, Haru didn't look in distress with it, which set Akari's mind slightly more at ease.
Akari then reached up and adjusted her rear-view mirror to look at Kotori in the back. She was huddled in a ball on the back seat, obviously in shock. She was sat amongst the shattered remains of the back window, clutching the white box she had with her to her chest and holding the locket around her neck. She was injured, but thankfully nothing life-threatening. She had been lucky that only the smaller shards of glass had hit her. She was also covered in dust, just like they all were.
Looking down at her fuel gauge, Akari wondered where she was even driving to. It only took her a moment to realize there was really only one place they could go and that she had already been subconsciously heading in that direction. The fuel was low, but should be enough to get them to where they were headed.
"Kotori-chan."
Kotori's head slowly lifted as Akari addressed her.
"I need you to do something for me. Okay?"
Kotori silently nodded.
"Call Yuma. Tell him we're okay and that we're heading to Domino City."
Kotori slowly placed her hand into the pocket of her coat and brought out her D-Gazer. "Okay. I will."
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In Domino City, Yuya and Yuma were looking in the window of a shop in the cities shopping district. Yuma, especially, was looking intently at the items in the window. After a moment, he groaned and rubbed his head.
"Gah! I have no idea!!"
Yuya looked at him, exasperated. "Yuma, this is the fifth shop we've been to. There's loads of good stuff in this one."
"I know! I know!" Yuma replied, looking slightly panicked. "But I need to get her something super special for a present! This is the first Christmas since we started dating after all!"
Yuya just laughed lightly at him. "Come on, you don't need to get her something extravagant for a present! I'm sure she'll love whatever you get her, no matter what it is!" Yuya then gestured towards the shop they were outside of. "How about we take a look inside?"
Yuma was about to agree when a sudden news bulletin appearing on a large TV screen on one of the nearby buildings caught their attention.
"This is an urgent news report. We're getting reports of a massive incident occurring in Heartland City---"
Yuma's eyes widened as he heard the name of his home city being mentioned.
"We now have some pictures coming in from our eye in the sky helicopter." the reporter continued as a sudden video taken from a helicopter at a distance from Heartland appeared on the screen, showing smoke rising from the city.
"We do not know what is happening at this current time, but it appears that numerous explosions have been heard through the city and a large amount of buildings appear to be on fire.
Any attempt to get closer to the city has been met with hostile intent."
All Yuma could do was stare at the pictures on the screen. This couldn't be real, right? There's no way this could be real.
But it was real.
Instantly worrying for his family, Kotori and everyone else he knew back home, Yuma suddenly turned to walk away, but Yuya reached out to grab Yuma's shoulder.
"Y-Yuma! Where are you going?!"
Yuma spun around to face Yuya, looking completely panicked and distraught.
"What do you think?! I need to get there as soon as possible! Even if that means taking the airship over there!"
"But... Yuma! You shouldn't just run off over there without knowing what's going on! The news reporter just said that the helicopters can't even get close--!"
Clenching his teeth in anger, Yuma suddenly reached out and grabbed the front of Yuya's coat, pulling him closer vigorously. "And what am I supposed to do?! Just sit here while my family could be hurt or worse there?!"
Yuya didn't respond, feeling shocked by the way Yuma grabbed him. He just didn't want Yuma to act on impulse and run blindly into danger. He understood that he was upset, but it was obvious that whatever was happening at Heartland, it wasn't something Yuma would be able to take on all on his own.
For a moment, Yuma stared Yuya down angrily, but then his duel disk attached to his belt began buzzing. Quickly letting go of Yuya, Yuma looked at it, his eyes widening as he did.
'KOTORI: CALLING (Voice Only)' was displaying on it.
Without hesitation, Yuma answered the call.
"Kotori! Are you okay?! What's going on?"
He could hear Kotori's voice on the other end. It was quiet and sounded obviously shaken up.
"I-I'm okay... I'm with your sister and grandmother... we got out but... Heartland... it's... it's..."
It broke his heart at how scared she sounded. In order to not work her up any further, Yuma forced himself to speak to her in a more calm tone. "...where are you now?"
"...We're heading to Domino City. We're about an hour and a half away."
"I'm in Domino right now." Yuma replied. "Once you all arrive, I'll meet you at the plaza, alright?"
"Okay."
Yuma paused, not really wishing to end the phone call, but he knew he had to. "I'll see you all then."
Once the call ended, Yuma simply placed a hand to his face and stood in silence for a moment in order to take everything in.
"I'm sorry." He eventually said. "For grabbing you. I shouldn't of done that."
Yuya stepped forward and once again placed a hand on his friends shoulder. "It's fine, Yuma. You were upset, but... they're okay, right?"
"Yeah." Yuma replied, before moving his hand away from his face and looking back up at the footage on the TV screen. "... but what about everyone else?"
Looking defeated, knowing that he wouldn't get an answer to that right now, he began walking towards the plaza, with Yuya following beside him.
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Waiting at the plaza nervously, sat on the small wall that surrounded the clock in the centre of it, it felt like an age had passed to Yuma. All the while, Yuya sat by his friends side, giving him support and reassurance where he could.
"YUMA!"
Yuma's head quickly lifted up when he heard the familiar voice calling his name. Kotori was stood at the other side of the plaza. She looked over at him for a short moment, and then she just ran as quick as she could towards him. She didn't care about the other people in the area that were staring at her and the state she was in, she just wanted to be with Yuma.
Yuma, in response, stood up and ran towards her. The two met in the middle, throwing their arms quickly around each other and pulling each other into a firm, emotional hug.
"When I saw it on the TV, I really thought I might of lost you all." Yuma said to her, his voice cracking with emotion. Soon after he pulled back from their hug and placed his hands on either side of her face, noticing her injuries.
"You're hurt...!"
"T-they're just scratches..." Kotori responded, lifting her hands to hold his arms gently. "I-I'm fine, really..."
Yuma felt like they looked more than just 'scratches', though the dried blood on her face and hands were probably making it look worse than it really was.
"Even if they are, we'll get it looked at."
Yuma then looked up from her to see his sister and grandmother slowly approaching them. "Sis! Granny!" He looked back at Kotori, who gave him a small nod to tell him that he was okay to go over and greet them. When he did, he pulled the both of them into a hug too.
"I'm so glad you're both okay!!"
"We have Akari to thank for that." Haru responded. "She was the one who managed to get us out of there."
"I just did what I had to." Akari replied as Yuma broke the hug between them all. "Really, it was dad's old car that got us out of there. I'm surprised it managed to keep going after all the damage it received."
As Yuma reunited with Kotori and his family, Yuya was stood off to the side, silently watching them and feeling slightly awkward, not knowing if he should say anything or if he should just stay quiet. It wasn't long before Haru noticed him and gave him a friendly smile.
"Ah, I see your friend is here too. Yuya, correct?"
"A-ah, right!" Yuya walked over to them slightly, looking at them all sadly. "I'm sorry. For what happened to you all."
"What are you apologizing about, Yuya." Akari replied. "It's not like you're the one who sent an army to attack us."
"An army...?" Yuma retorted in a gasp.
Akari's face became more serious. "I don't know exactly who these people were, or where they came from, but they attacked the city with these mechanical duel monsters that could somehow cause real damage to the streets and buildings. They seemed to be laughing and enjoying it, as if attacking us was like a game to them or something..."
"I... I swear that I... that I saw one of them do something strange too..." Kotori added on. "Some kind of strange light came out of their duel disk and a swear it turned a couple of people into cards, but... there was so much going on at the time, maybe I was mistaken..."
As the group contemplated what Kotori has said, Haru suddenly let out a cough that made Yuma look at her with concern.
"Right now we should get you all to the hospital to get looked at!" He then looked over at Yuya. "Yuya, you help granny if she needs it and we'll walk with them to the city hospital."
Yuya nodded in agreement and went over to walk beside Haru, while Yuma walked beside Kotori and Akari.
Yuma didn't know what was going on, nobody did. Why Heartland was attacked like that was a mystery to them all, as well as what could of happened to everyone else who lived there that weren't as lucky as his family, but right now Yuma knew he needed to concentrate on them and do whatever he could to make sure that they were all going to be okay.
Characters: Akari Tsukumo, Haru Tsukumo, Yuma Tsukumo, Kotori Mizuki, Kana Mizuki, Yuya Sakaki
Synopsis: A mysterious army suddenly attacks Heartland with no warning, prompting Yuma's family and Kotori to flee the city.
"So, what do you think?"
Mrs. Mizuki looked at the pink dress displayed in her daughter's room with interest. Kotori's sewing skills had really improved in leaps and bounds in the last four months, to the point where she was now able to make full garments on her own. Although the dress wasn't anything fancy and was quite simple in design, this was still a big milestone for her daughter.
Inspecting it closer, she looked at the little embroidered hearts that lined the top of the dress, as well as around the sleeves.
"Your embroidering skills have gotten a lot better" Kotori's mother commented. "And to think you can make an entire garment on your own now..."
Kotori beamed at her mother's compliments. "I still have a lot to learn, but I'm really proud of this!" She then blushed slightly. "I was thinking of wearing it on my date with Yuma, while he's visiting for the holidays."
"Oh really...?" Mrs. Mizuki thought for a moment, then smiled. "Actually, I think I have something that will go with this. One moment."
Kotori watched on curiously as her mother left her room and came back moments later with something in her hand. "I've had this locket for a long time, since I was eighteen actually, it was a present from your grandmother."
In her hand was a beautiful pink coloured locket in the shape of a heart, it was outlined with shiny little red gem stones. Mrs. Mizuki held it up to the dress and looked over at Kotori to get her opinion.
Clasping her hands together, Kotori's eyes lit up at it. "It's beautiful! But... is it really okay for me to have that?"
Mrs. Mizuki nodded as she approached Kotori and placed the locket around her, fixing the clasp so it hung neatly around her neck. "I was actually planning to give it to you for your eighteenth birthday, but it doesn't hurt to give it to you a little bit early."
Kotori took the locket in her hand to look at it a little closer for a moment, before pulling her mother into a hug. "Thank you so much, mom!"
Mrs. Mizuki returned the hug, then looked at her daughter.
"I'm really proud of you, Kotori. You've really been trying hard at improving on what you wish to do and the results are very impressive." She gently brushed some of her hair away from her face with a tender smile.
"You've really grown up in a flash, but I know you'll continue to do amazing things."
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Kotori walked briskly along the streets of Heartland City, the heart-shaped locket faintly swinging from side-to-side as she did. She was heading towards Yuma's family home where Kotori was going to share lunch with Yuma's sister and grandmother, something she had continued doing even while Yuma was at the Academy. Smiling, she clutched a white box she was holding to her chest. The box contained the same dress she had shown her mother a few days previously and she was now looking forward to showing it to Akari and Haru.
Taking in a deep content breath, Kotori watched it hang in the cold air when she breathed out, before looking at the streets around her. The trees, that she admired the autumn foliage of only months earlier were now mostly bare as winter had taken full hold. Despite that, the weather, although cold, was sunny and pleasant. This meant there were a lot of people out; couples, parents with their small children and older children playing and laughing. A few people on the street smiled and waved to Kotori as she passed them and she returned the gesture.
This was what she'd always loved most about Heartland. Everyone was always cheerful and most people had a smile for others. It fitted the bright and colourful look of the city itself.
As she approached Yuma's house, she spotted Akari and Haru taking groceries out of the car that was parked in the driveway, so cheerfully she ran up to greet them.
"Akari-san! Haru-san!"
Both the women looked over and smiled as they saw Kotori approaching them.
"You're early, Kotori-chan." Haru commented.
"I thought I'd come over early to help you both prepare the meal." Kotori replied. She then looked down at the white box in her arms. "There was also something I really wanted to show the both of you."
Akari picked up a bag of groceries from the back seat of the car, then looked over at Kotori. "Very well. We'll get the groceries in the house and we can--huh...?"
Akari stopped her sentence short when she looked up and noticed the strange and sudden grey clouds that had gathered over the city. Following her gaze, Kotori also looked up at the sky, looking puzzled.
"Wasn't it sunny just a moment ago?"
Akari raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip, a bag of groceries being held by her other. "I'm sure the weather didn't mention anything about rain today."
All of a sudden, several bolts of lightening came out of the clouds and hit the city in various different places, including the very street the Tsukumo family house was on. Kotori, Akari and Haru shielded their eyes from the bright light and once it cleared, they looked up again to see some strange people standing in the road, wearing what looked like to be red blazers.
"Where'd they come from...?" Akari pondered. As she did, the people seemed to activate what appeared to be duel disks on their arms, resulting in a sword like holographic blade. They then silently, in unison, placed cards down on the duel disks, making some mechanical-looking monsters appear behind them. Kotori and the others watched on as one of the monsters seemed to power up an attack, then shot it directly at an Obot that was wandering down the street. There was a huge explosion, leaving nothing but a smouldering crater where the Obot had been.
Before Kotori and Yuma's family had the chance to even wonder how the monster had been able to do that, more powerful explosions rang out throughout the city, shaking the ground beneath them.
Complete panic was let loose, as people began screaming and running from the chaos.
One of the invaders glanced over at Kotori, Akari and Haru, a sadistic grin growing over their face.
"Kotori-chan. Granny. In the car. Now. NOW!"
Quickly, the three of them got into the car as Akari started the engine. As quickly as she could, she backed out onto the street and drove down the road, as a barrage of attacks were shot in their direction. Two hit the house, one hit the driveway where they had just been, and a few narrowly missed the car, hitting the road behind it, making Kotori scream as they did.
As they drove away, Kotori looked out of the rear window in a panic.
"W-why are they attacking us?! Who are they?!"
"I don't know." Akari replied. "But this is happening all over the city. We need to get out of here and fast."
As they sped down the street, they could see more of these people and more of these monsters, attacking buildings, attacking people. No-one was fighting back, nobody COULD fight back, but they continued their assault, laughing, chasing people, cornering them. As Kotori watched on horrified, she witnessed a couple of people being cornered by the attackers. They held up their duel disks as a strange purple light emitted from it. Once it cleared, the people had disappeared and Kotori caught what looked like to be cards falling to the floor in their place.
Just what was all of this?
Suddenly, something hit the car from the side with force, sending it swerving, then it was hit from the other side, doing the same. Looking out of the windows, they could see that what was tackling the car were two mechanical looking dogs.
"They're trying to run us off the road, damnit!" Akari exclaimed as she tried to accelerate faster in order to lose them. This seemed to be the case, as the dogs appeared to back off at first, but just when they thought they were rid of them, one of the dogs was able to catch up to the car and jump, crashing through the back window, sending a shower of glass over Kotori as she screamed and tried to cover herself with her hands. Despite the small shards that caught part of her face and hands, Kotori had no time to think much on her injuries as the mechanical dog, which was half through the broken window, opened it's mouth and appeared to be getting ready to fire an attack at them.
"Quick, Kotori-chan!"
Haru, from the front seat, quickly grabbed her walking stick and tossed it to Kotori who caught it. Kotori wasted no time in hitting the mechanical dog with it over and over, harder and harder, until the creature sparked a little from the damage, lost it's grip on the car and fell. Kotori breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived as the sound of something hitting the top of the car could be heard. Bang after bang, the roof of the car was noticeably starting to get visible large dents in it.
"I-I think one's on top of the car!!" Kotori exclaimed.
Akari tutted and clenched her teeth in annoyance. These things just didn't know when to quit. She then spotted a turn coming up in the road.
"Granny. Kotori-chan. Hold on tight. I'm going to try and shake this thing off."
As she got to the turn, Akari swerved around it as sharply as she could. Kotori and Haru hung on for dear life as the car took the corner sharply, but thankfully was at just enough force to make the second mechanical dog fall from the roof onto the road. As soon as they were around the corner, Akari accelerated as fast as she could, not wanting to give the dog the chance to right itself and catch up again.
As they drove onwards, they entered onto one of the roads that overpassed over the city. From here they could see the full extent of the invasion. Many building were on fire, some were now nothing more than rubble and there were many large robotic monsters walking amongst it. All that could be heard were screams and explosions.
Their once beautiful city had now become nothing but a war zone.
Kotori slowly pressed her head against the window next to her as she watched the carnage, her thoughts going to her family and friends, who were likely stuck in the middle of it, but she knew that she was unable to go and help them. Closing her eyes, her heart sinking in defeat, she could only hope that somehow, they'd found a safe place to be.
Suddenly, a fireball came out of nowhere and hit a building they were passing by, showering flaming debris onto the road below. Akari acted quickly and manoeuvred the car with great accuracy in order to avoid as much of the debris as she could.
As they drove away from the building, Akari looked in her rear-view mirror at it momentarily. "That was way too close for comfort."
Kotori looked at the building from out of the broken rear window in disbelief, she then turned around and a look of sudden horror appeared on her face.
"AKARI-SAN! WATCH OUT!!"
Akari quickly focused back on where she was driving, only to see a massive hulking mechanical robot, which seemed to be made out of several dog-like heads, hovering over the road ahead of them. On it's shoulder stood one of the invaders, wearing the same sadistic smile on their face as the others. Akari just stared at the monster in disbelief, she wasn't sure how she was going to get her grandmother and Kotori to safety anymore.
"Akari."
Akari briefly turned to Haru, who was looking at the monster before them with a hard, determined expression.
"If we stop here, then we would be surely done for."
Looking back at the situation, Akari knew that her grandmother was right. It was pretty much a 'do or die' situation right now. If they stopped, it would be over, but if they continued, then there would be a chance, a small chance, but a chance.
Akari watched the monster closely. Just like with the others, it appeared to be charging up an attack to use on them. Despite this, she stayed at the steady speed she was going at, no matter how much she just wanted to speed up. Her timing for this needed to be perfect.
'Just wait... just wait for it...'
As soon as she noticed the monster was readying to unleash it's attack, she quickly pressed her foot down on the acceleration, speeding up suddenly just as the attack was released.
"AKARI'S GONNA KATTOBING!!"
-BOOM-
The attack hit the road just behind the car, sending debris, smoke and dust into and around the car. Kotori screamed in terror and covered her head, while Akari tried her best to keep driving as fast as she could, despite the dust that was in her eyes, the debris that was hitting her, and the fact that the dust cloud around the car was making it difficult to see where she was going, but it was also giving them cover right now, meaning it was possible to get under where the massive monster was without being detected.
Soon enough, they sped out of the other side of the dust cloud and down the rest of the road. As they did, Akari looked up and inspected the rear-view mirror. Through the clearing dust she could see that the overpass, where the attack had hit, was now completely destroyed. If she had been only a few seconds later on accelerating, that attack would of hit them. She then noticed that the huge monster was starting to turn around to follow them, as their attacker had spotted them.
The hulking monster began smashing into buildings on it's way to follow them, leaving the buildings in ruins, but barely scratched the monster itself. Akari looked ahead and could see their salvation, a tunnel that lead out of Heartland City. If they could just reach it, if they could just get through it, it would give them cover and the monster itself was too huge to follow them through it.
Looking back, she could see the monster crashing into more buildings as it gained on them, but it didn't look like it was powering up another attack on them.
It was then that Akari realized that their attacker knew they were heading for the tunnel and was trying to get there before them.
As the monster began looming over them, they could hear their attacker laughing mockingly at them.
"I'm not going to let you get away~!"
Akari gritted her teeth. This guy was hunting them down as if it was some kind of game to him, but right now the lives of everyone in the car was resting on her shoulders. She needed to get to the tunnel before their attacker and his huge monster did.
Speeding down the road, the tunnel got closer and closer. Akari was not at all prepared to give up. As they approached the tunnel, the monster lifted it's gigantic hand into the air, before quickly bringing it down.
"IT'S OVER~~~!"
"LIKE HELL IT IS!!"
Akari accelerated as fast as she could, pushing the car to it's very limit as they sped into the tunnel...
-CRASH-
The monster's large hand hit the entrance to the tunnel, caving it in. The force of it hitting just behind the car sent the vehicle flying upwards as large amounts of debris hit it. As the car came down, it screeched and skidded as Akari fought hard to keep the car upright and still moving. After a moment, the car settled on all four wheels and continued through the tunnel. Soon after, they came darting out of the other side into the road that lead through the forest that surrounded Heartland City. Akari looked around, but couldn't see much of the sky through the density of the branches of the trees. She didn't know if she'd lost the monster or not, all she could do was keep driving, to get as far away from Heartland as they could, knowing that if she stopped the car now, with the damage it had received, it probably wouldn't start again.
Just keep driving... just keep driving...
It was half an hour afterwards of nothing but driving in complete silence when Akari felt for sure that they were safe. For a moment she was in disbelief that they had made it out of such a thing alive, but they had. They were safe now.
Slowly, she looked over at her grandmother who was sat beside her in the front passenger seat. She wore a look of stern seriousness on her face, which only broke when she had small coughing fits. Her grandmother was always of good health, but the smoke and dust that had entered the car had not been kind on her old lungs. Thankfully though, Haru didn't look in distress with it, which set Akari's mind slightly more at ease.
Akari then reached up and adjusted her rear-view mirror to look at Kotori in the back. She was huddled in a ball on the back seat, obviously in shock. She was sat amongst the shattered remains of the back window, clutching the white box she had with her to her chest and holding the locket around her neck. She was injured, but thankfully nothing life-threatening. She had been lucky that only the smaller shards of glass had hit her. She was also covered in dust, just like they all were.
Looking down at her fuel gauge, Akari wondered where she was even driving to. It only took her a moment to realize there was really only one place they could go and that she had already been subconsciously heading in that direction. The fuel was low, but should be enough to get them to where they were headed.
"Kotori-chan."
Kotori's head slowly lifted as Akari addressed her.
"I need you to do something for me. Okay?"
Kotori silently nodded.
"Call Yuma. Tell him we're okay and that we're heading to Domino City."
Kotori slowly placed her hand into the pocket of her coat and brought out her D-Gazer. "Okay. I will."
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In Domino City, Yuya and Yuma were looking in the window of a shop in the cities shopping district. Yuma, especially, was looking intently at the items in the window. After a moment, he groaned and rubbed his head.
"Gah! I have no idea!!"
Yuya looked at him, exasperated. "Yuma, this is the fifth shop we've been to. There's loads of good stuff in this one."
"I know! I know!" Yuma replied, looking slightly panicked. "But I need to get her something super special for a present! This is the first Christmas since we started dating after all!"
Yuya just laughed lightly at him. "Come on, you don't need to get her something extravagant for a present! I'm sure she'll love whatever you get her, no matter what it is!" Yuya then gestured towards the shop they were outside of. "How about we take a look inside?"
Yuma was about to agree when a sudden news bulletin appearing on a large TV screen on one of the nearby buildings caught their attention.
"This is an urgent news report. We're getting reports of a massive incident occurring in Heartland City---"
Yuma's eyes widened as he heard the name of his home city being mentioned.
"We now have some pictures coming in from our eye in the sky helicopter." the reporter continued as a sudden video taken from a helicopter at a distance from Heartland appeared on the screen, showing smoke rising from the city.
"We do not know what is happening at this current time, but it appears that numerous explosions have been heard through the city and a large amount of buildings appear to be on fire.
Any attempt to get closer to the city has been met with hostile intent."
All Yuma could do was stare at the pictures on the screen. This couldn't be real, right? There's no way this could be real.
But it was real.
Instantly worrying for his family, Kotori and everyone else he knew back home, Yuma suddenly turned to walk away, but Yuya reached out to grab Yuma's shoulder.
"Y-Yuma! Where are you going?!"
Yuma spun around to face Yuya, looking completely panicked and distraught.
"What do you think?! I need to get there as soon as possible! Even if that means taking the airship over there!"
"But... Yuma! You shouldn't just run off over there without knowing what's going on! The news reporter just said that the helicopters can't even get close--!"
Clenching his teeth in anger, Yuma suddenly reached out and grabbed the front of Yuya's coat, pulling him closer vigorously. "And what am I supposed to do?! Just sit here while my family could be hurt or worse there?!"
Yuya didn't respond, feeling shocked by the way Yuma grabbed him. He just didn't want Yuma to act on impulse and run blindly into danger. He understood that he was upset, but it was obvious that whatever was happening at Heartland, it wasn't something Yuma would be able to take on all on his own.
For a moment, Yuma stared Yuya down angrily, but then his duel disk attached to his belt began buzzing. Quickly letting go of Yuya, Yuma looked at it, his eyes widening as he did.
'KOTORI: CALLING (Voice Only)' was displaying on it.
Without hesitation, Yuma answered the call.
"Kotori! Are you okay?! What's going on?"
He could hear Kotori's voice on the other end. It was quiet and sounded obviously shaken up.
"I-I'm okay... I'm with your sister and grandmother... we got out but... Heartland... it's... it's..."
It broke his heart at how scared she sounded. In order to not work her up any further, Yuma forced himself to speak to her in a more calm tone. "...where are you now?"
"...We're heading to Domino City. We're about an hour and a half away."
"I'm in Domino right now." Yuma replied. "Once you all arrive, I'll meet you at the plaza, alright?"
"Okay."
Yuma paused, not really wishing to end the phone call, but he knew he had to. "I'll see you all then."
Once the call ended, Yuma simply placed a hand to his face and stood in silence for a moment in order to take everything in.
"I'm sorry." He eventually said. "For grabbing you. I shouldn't of done that."
Yuya stepped forward and once again placed a hand on his friends shoulder. "It's fine, Yuma. You were upset, but... they're okay, right?"
"Yeah." Yuma replied, before moving his hand away from his face and looking back up at the footage on the TV screen. "... but what about everyone else?"
Looking defeated, knowing that he wouldn't get an answer to that right now, he began walking towards the plaza, with Yuya following beside him.
--------------------------------------------------
Waiting at the plaza nervously, sat on the small wall that surrounded the clock in the centre of it, it felt like an age had passed to Yuma. All the while, Yuya sat by his friends side, giving him support and reassurance where he could.
"YUMA!"
Yuma's head quickly lifted up when he heard the familiar voice calling his name. Kotori was stood at the other side of the plaza. She looked over at him for a short moment, and then she just ran as quick as she could towards him. She didn't care about the other people in the area that were staring at her and the state she was in, she just wanted to be with Yuma.
Yuma, in response, stood up and ran towards her. The two met in the middle, throwing their arms quickly around each other and pulling each other into a firm, emotional hug.
"When I saw it on the TV, I really thought I might of lost you all." Yuma said to her, his voice cracking with emotion. Soon after he pulled back from their hug and placed his hands on either side of her face, noticing her injuries.
"You're hurt...!"
"T-they're just scratches..." Kotori responded, lifting her hands to hold his arms gently. "I-I'm fine, really..."
Yuma felt like they looked more than just 'scratches', though the dried blood on her face and hands were probably making it look worse than it really was.
"Even if they are, we'll get it looked at."
Yuma then looked up from her to see his sister and grandmother slowly approaching them. "Sis! Granny!" He looked back at Kotori, who gave him a small nod to tell him that he was okay to go over and greet them. When he did, he pulled the both of them into a hug too.
"I'm so glad you're both okay!!"
"We have Akari to thank for that." Haru responded. "She was the one who managed to get us out of there."
"I just did what I had to." Akari replied as Yuma broke the hug between them all. "Really, it was dad's old car that got us out of there. I'm surprised it managed to keep going after all the damage it received."
As Yuma reunited with Kotori and his family, Yuya was stood off to the side, silently watching them and feeling slightly awkward, not knowing if he should say anything or if he should just stay quiet. It wasn't long before Haru noticed him and gave him a friendly smile.
"Ah, I see your friend is here too. Yuya, correct?"
"A-ah, right!" Yuya walked over to them slightly, looking at them all sadly. "I'm sorry. For what happened to you all."
"What are you apologizing about, Yuya." Akari replied. "It's not like you're the one who sent an army to attack us."
"An army...?" Yuma retorted in a gasp.
Akari's face became more serious. "I don't know exactly who these people were, or where they came from, but they attacked the city with these mechanical duel monsters that could somehow cause real damage to the streets and buildings. They seemed to be laughing and enjoying it, as if attacking us was like a game to them or something..."
"I... I swear that I... that I saw one of them do something strange too..." Kotori added on. "Some kind of strange light came out of their duel disk and a swear it turned a couple of people into cards, but... there was so much going on at the time, maybe I was mistaken..."
As the group contemplated what Kotori has said, Haru suddenly let out a cough that made Yuma look at her with concern.
"Right now we should get you all to the hospital to get looked at!" He then looked over at Yuya. "Yuya, you help granny if she needs it and we'll walk with them to the city hospital."
Yuya nodded in agreement and went over to walk beside Haru, while Yuma walked beside Kotori and Akari.
Yuma didn't know what was going on, nobody did. Why Heartland was attacked like that was a mystery to them all, as well as what could of happened to everyone else who lived there that weren't as lucky as his family, but right now Yuma knew he needed to concentrate on them and do whatever he could to make sure that they were all going to be okay.
