#Caught By The Flames [Soulburnings]

[sworntolight-a]

Seven months. It had to have been seven months, at least, since... A light sigh passed through Alanna’s lips, a hand lifting to let fingertips brush the golden sun marking her chest. The world had changed so much since then, she decided; ever growing and ever brighter, it resembled little of the network he’d left behind. The sun shone, people laughed... Even the skies looked different, laced with different designs and code she couldn’t begin to decipher even if she wanted to.

Even she’d changed, stepping forward into the future she’d found with her head held high. Would he recognize her, she wondered? Had he not died in that war, would he have remembered her as the same nervous, fidgety girl he’d met... A year ago now, at the very least, a realization that made her give a soft snort of surprise. Had it really been so long already since she’d met Flame? So long since his passing?

We’ve come far. Though she was sitting up on a floating island, resting her nerves after a turbulent D-Board practice session, she didn’t trust the area to be void enough of people to speak her thoughts aloud. Humans have changed a lot in such a short time... Takeru’s changed, too. I’ve changed. But... Had he? She’d never expected to quite literally bump into a revived Earth, let alone learn how they’d all come back, somehow, but... Just how much was different, now?

As curious as she was, the thought still made her chest ache. She thought she’d come to terms with Flame’s death months earlier, and yet hearing his name still made it hurt. Knowing Earth was alive did, too; they’d failed to protect the ignis. Failed in keeping them safe away from harm, from falling into the traps Lightning had set. And now that they were back, she wasn’t about to stand by and let it all possibly repeat itself. Not being able to tell anyone would perhaps make it the hardest thing to handle, especially given her closeness to one of their origins, but...

Yet they weren’t back intact, she reminded herself. Earth had mentioned something about their recovery having a flaw; Would Flame even be the same Flame she remembered saying goodbye to... Tears quickly formed, fingers pressing against her chest with the memory. She’d seen them off with a smile on her lips, reminding both origin and ignis she’d be waiting for them... And only one had returned, expression fallen and looking like his very soul had been crushed. It hadn’t taken long for her to shatter with him, fighting to hold it back until he’d come to terms with it, first.

And now you’re back. I can’t see you... But you’re back. You and Earth both... I promise both of you, no matter how you’ve changed, I’ll make sure you’re safe. I sat back before and couldn’t do anything... Not again. NEVER again. I hope someday it’ll be safe to tell Takeru, Fujiki-san, Kusanagi-san...To see you both and show you the world born from your sacrifices. Until then, I swear I won’t let you hurt again. You’re safe. I promise.

Just like she’d done before, she’d stake her very life on it.

You’ll never hurt again, so long as I breathe.

[arkadiaasks]

What do you think of Atsushi Maekawa's work on Yugioh franchise?

Let's see...

Duel Monsters

His Battle City stuff (Roba, God 5 Combo, the Anchor Duel, Bakura vs Yugi, Bakura vs Marik) were generally pretty solid competent adaptations along with Hikokubo's Duel Reconstructions.

I liked Jounouchi vs Big 3, and was a fun combination of Luck vs. BS Fusion Strategy. The Big 5 Merger was a pretty fun Duel in terms of intensity. The villains might of not had much to really forward them but you can't say it wasn't a fun hammy over the top Duel.

And Exodia Necross was pretty cool. Like at worst, it was just good over the top, at best DM tried to let Gozaburo have his 15 minutes.

He generally handled Alcatraz as showrunner/head writer at the time pretty well, I think, as most of the stretch bloat of that arc was giving Takahashi breathing room

I liked the Train Duel stuff in DOMA, yeah, that was fun? And his Memory World stuff was as good as any of that mess could really work out, since it felt like the writers got passed notes to make it more "Duel-y" and streamline it.

GX

Never was huge on the first Asuka focus Episode (3).

Liked Hayato's Dad, whose Duel was one of the most interesting in GX. (9)

Super Animal Learning (13) and Tennis (15) were fine filler. I think Tennis was a reference to him having worked on Prince of Tennis.

Umi Duel I always remember because of the damn joke from the beginning, and the "UNDERWATER DUEL ACADEMY".

ARC-V

Uh, I think he generally got handed a shit hand having Kamishiro Tsutomu as his superior, as did many of the writers.

I think his part of Edo vs Yuya was okay (110) but that was never a Duel that was going to please people.

I think 115 and 116 he did capture the spirit of GX's dumb randos of the week, but this probably wasn't the place to do that, or they should of felt more meaningful as like Elite Mooks on home turf.

119 he caught how Ruri vs Shun should of stayed as the result. That worked perfectly as a catharsis moment for Shun saving his sister from mind control, and Ruri have control in stopping her own brainwashing.

He sold Battle Beast in 120 pretty okay.

124 to 125. Was. Okay? He generally got a good energy with letting Yuto take over, but I think people are still mad from no corrupt Lunalight Fusion and Ruri's Deck being wholely Parasites basically, basically the thing just felt like a general L creatively.

Massively indifferent to 130-131.

Not fond of Z-ARC!

141-142 I liked for the Train Samurai Duel.

And 145 was a perfect capstone for Shun that got shat on by Mr. Kamishiro.

So Ambivalent but when he did good stuff he did good stuff for ARC-V?

VRAINS

6-7: Hot Take, this was fine for setting up Aoi's character, arc and world setting.

16-17: This was okay Duel fluff, which Mr. Atsushi does well.

24-26: Same as 16-17.

29: Someone had to write it.

Like, he does try to give Aoi a decent shake in a progression for her arc. So most of her early on stuff people liked was from him.

39-40: This was a pretty good Duel, I liked Go vs Revolver.

51-52: Go going psycho worked here in all honesty. Go was always driven by his shitty petty pride, and him going to become toxic out of his desire to cleanse his sense of pride works!

62-63: I view this mostly as filler fluff for Yoshida to escape Beer Bar Anime Hell, and it was generally funny to have Soulburner already dealt and approached a previous trauma.

66-67: I liked these, with Earth and everything. He made Earth feel pretty relatable.

76-77: Look, if you're going to have to stitch Aoi into the plot for Aqua and give her a cardboard cutout MacGuffin friend for her to chase, this works.

90-91: Don't like these but I realize Aoi's arc ending this way was chiefly the result of VRAINS' anemic as fuck pool of cardable opponents, wrestling lingo wise. And if I recall she did nearly bounce Bowman into a wall.

94-95: This was. Okay. It was a shit arc, Flame and Soulburner got a pretty cool fight.

110: I generally liked Ai's arc.

VRAINS was fine, he was pretty good to Aoi, Soulburner and Go, main problem was VRAINS was a creature of its own creation conditions, but he seemed to give the cast decent time of day.

Like his tenure for the franchise has been fine, he gave characters decent focus and he was good at comedy episodes, and at worst, he did some some pretty kino boss fights.

[xxxcrimsondreamsxxx]

Enlightened: NEW CHAPTER

02: No Doubts

"Remember, Soulburner."

He bit his lip, grunting in response and crouching his head again, refusing to listen. He caught his ears in his hands as if he wanted to rip them off. "No. I can't."

"You can."

Those words echoed more than the memories insisting on coming back and Soulburner pushed the invisible fire to burn them.

"But I don't want to!"

His yell echoed in his head, he felt as if he were inside his mind, being able to hear and feel his thoughts while being by their side. The more he denied those memories, the more they insisted on appearing.

The voices, the screams, the cries.

His parents' faces laughing just to fade into those expressions of disappointment and sadness at the wrath of his six-year-old son whose last words before slamming the door were of him yelling at them:

 I hope I never see you again!

His chest was painfully squeezed, feeling each of those words, wanting to burn himself with the flames coming from his knuckles. It was like an indirect desire, one that he never genuinely kept in his heart but still yelled out.

All for a stupid tantrum.

Keep reading on AO3

[incorrect-vrains-quotes]

post-s2 takeru invites the kusanagis and yusaku to his hometown for some summertime relaxing. its a small, cozy village, and the homura state is massive. it should be fine for the four of them to unwind in peace and privacy. buuut of course one day they cross paths with the idiots takeru dueled back during his trauma flashback: did he even told his new friends about his delinquent days? or his troubling conffesion to windy -that he had been totally apatic towards his own life for years?

I don’t think Takeru has ever mentioned his past, beyond the Lost Incident, to Yusaku or Kusanagi. I think the closest he came to maybe implying some stuff happened to him was after his duel with Blood Shepherd and Yusaku may have caught some oblique audio before his duel with Bohman regarding who he was before he met Flame, but nothing which would be a ground breaking revelation. I think in his external monologue on the way to fighting Bohman, Takeru may have said something to the effect of “Before meeting Flame, I was listless and aggressive” and we got the specific moment he was recalling but I don’t think he articulated it.

So, uh, yeah, I think in this scenario, if Takeru were to encounter Ryu and his gang, with Kusanagi and Yusaku in tow, there’d be a little shock. 

But I know popular fanon includes Takeru being a bit rougher than he presents himself canonically and that he’s still trying to put his delinquency behind him. Be it through sometimes slicking back his hair, getting frustrated, cussing, etc.

I think this would probably change how Kusanagi and Yusaku perceive Soulburner and his aesthetic, I guess you’d say. I think without the context of Takeru’s backstory as the rough and tumble delinquent, you’d probably assume that Soulburner is a manifestation of Takeru wanting to break out of his shell since he does seem quite ‘mousy’ irl with his fluffy, friend-shaped hair and glasses. 

I don’t think that Yusaku or Kusanagi would be like what the fuck over it, especially if things escalate and Takeru resorts of violence rather than words (though, they might be wtf if they later meet up with Kiku, tell her what happened, and she just scolds Takeru like beating up ppl is a much lesser crime) (she’s jaded lol when it comes to Takeru lmao).

All in all, I think it would be nice to have a breather episode where we take the gang back to Takeru’s hometown and they get to have some rural R&R but I doubt we’d get one :c

- Mod Playmaker

[lily-liegh]

requesting Takeru and Yusaku with 2 or 5, if you're still up for the prompts. thank you!!

hi there, apologies for the minor delay! but thank you so much for sending in this ask, and i hope you enjoy! this is vaguely set before the Soulburner/Revolver duel as sort of prequel fic.

(edit: friend pointed out a couple little tweaks - thank you! hope this reads a bit smoother now ^^)

02: things you said through your teeth

Work together with Revolver? In his dreams. The last thing Takeru wants to do is work with someone who might have been involved in the traumatic Lost Incident and whose goals only partially line up with theirs. Just what is Yuusaku even thinking? He can understand wanting to work with someone whose goals are at least on the same track for the first bit; they both want to stop Lightning and Windy from wiping out humanity. They won’t let Revolver and the Knights of Hanoi eradicate all the ignises either, but at least justice will be served. But partnering with the Hanois who locked them away and experimented on them? Now that just seems stupid.

But Yuusaku works with Revolver as though he works with anyone else, Takeru included. He listens to his plans and schemes, and when Revolver says, “We’ll head off and kill an ignis,” or something like that, Yuusaku sees this as a worthy plan to consider, not to simply throw out the window. Yuusaku was a victim of the Lost Incident too—doesn’t he see how stupid this plan is? They’re not just walking into one enemy’s trap; they’re already trapped by the Hanois.

On his wrist, Flame watches him seethe. It doesn’t bother Takeru in the slightest. He’d rather Yuusaku notice that he’s not all right with this plan than be sidelined for the sake of the greater good of humanity. Greed and jealousy sit ill with him, but right now he’d much prefer his opinion being considered in all these plans.

“If you have a problem, you should talk to Yuusaku about it.” Flame says it so casually that you would have thought he was commenting on the weather.

Takeru grinds his teeth back and forth. “And what good would that do? It’s not like I hate every part of this plan. It’s just …”

“Hesitation will only breed conflict.”

“Well maybe that’s what needs to happen,” he says under his breath, but he snaps his jaw shut as he catches Yuusaku’s eyes on him. He looks concerned, as much as he can in spite of everything else on his shoulders.

“Everything all right, Takeru?”

“Peachy.”

A stiff nod. In his Playmaker attire, he looks like a lithe hero able to slip through the enemy’s defenses. It makes sense that Revolver and his lofty terrorist plans would hire Yuusaku to assist him with the job. But for Yuusaku to agree so easily? Unfathomable.

“We haven’t had much luck on finding Lightning yet, but he’s around. We’ll find Kusanagi Jin there too.”

Takeru flicks his gaze out onto the dusty horizon. Dyed pink and yellow, the sunset drips across the virtual world. He used to love Link Vrains, an escapist world away from reality’s problems. But there’s been as much trouble in here as there has been out there, and the virtual world feels scratchy and uncomfortable on his avatar’s skin. Is this really where he should be?

“Where’s Revolver?”

“Out.”

If he had pockets, his hands would be in them. He slinks back on the balls of his heels, leaning from side to side.

“He should be back soon.”

“Is it so easy for you to trust him?”

By the rise of Yuusaku’s eyebrow, he’s caught him off-guard. Good.

“How can we be siding with someone who only has one tiny thing in common with us? That’s like ordering your least favourite food because, well, it has one nice ingredient in it.”

Ai chuckles with gusto, popping out from Yuusaku’s duel disk. “Because Yuusaku here and dear Revolver had a heart-to-heart and made amends, and now they’re buddy-buddy.”

Yuusaku’s swats him back into the disk disk. “Not a chance. Revolver and I just have similar philosophies, and our plans are coinciding. Besides, we can’t win this war alone. We need allies, and Revolver and Spectre are valuable comrades.”

“Of all the duelists in all of Link Vrains, you pick terrorists as your comrades? Terrorists who want to wipe out the ignises—not just Windy and Lightning, but Ai and Flame too. You don’t think that there might be a disagreement lining up to happen? That at some point we’re going to have to fight our allies? I’d rather not make friends with future enemies.”

As calm as Yuusaku is, he doesn’t waver in his resolve. “I trust this alliance between us and Revolver. Nothing more.”

“Well I don’t.”

“Does that make Takeru our enemy?” Ai singsongs, but Yuusaku swipes another hand at him to silence him.

“Takeru,” he says, voice calm even in the tenseness of the conversation, “our enemy is not Revolver. What he has done is not right, but at the moment there are more pressing duelists to challenge. I do not want to start unnecessary conflicts, not while Link Vrains is already in such peril. We’ll only lose to Lightning if we fight among ourselves; we’re saving him the energy of dueling us himself.”

When Yuusaku says it so simply, his blood only boils more. Placidity won’t get them to Lightning. It won’t do them any favours to pretend like Revolver isn’t a terrible part of this mess. Forgiving him makes his blood curdle. In the corner of his eye, he spots a landing D-Board, and on it stands the Hanoi King himself, decked out like a white knight ready to put a bullet in the first ignis he sees.

“Takeru …”

“I’ll sort this out with him then,” Takeru grounds out, storming away. If Yuusaku wants to play allies with the Hanois, then fine. But by no means will he stand aside and watch their battle be plunged into the earth. Revolver doesn’t understand. He won’t understand. And Takeru won’t sit by and let him run this operation.

[breakdawn-avenue]

Can you do #64 for Yusaku and Ryoken?

from this “sentence prompts”yes, I can :> here you go!Summary: Playmaker’s team managed to get back Earth thus finally reuniting him with Specter. Much to their surprise, Earth then reveals something unexpected. No one knows if this is only a trap by SOL Technology or if they found out something that not even Vyra, Faust or Dr. Genome were aware of. Or most of all, Ryoken.Word count: 1.092Note: it actually took me a bit to come up with sth for this prompt but then I thought why not combine it with the previous prompt I did? (I took some liberty with this prompt, just so y’all know)

It should’ve been so much harder to check on SOL Technology’s current actions in Link VRains. Since Yusaku never really bothered with the town’s biggest company, he has never been confronted with their security measurements. Or rather lack of security measurements. Despite getting back his position as Security Manager of the town’s biggest company, he isn’t giving them a hard time to get through their security measurements. If Aoi and Takeru would learn a little bit about hacking, even they would’ve been able to dismantle the weak programming of Zaizen’s security measurements. But he knows that Zaizen is only helping them in secret. He tries to save his face in front of his bosses. As long as he is still working for this company, he can provide them with valuable intel in secret. Much to the group’s discontent, SOL didn’t give up on their idea of creating an ultimate Ignis. Even though they managed to take back Earth thus finally reuniting him with Specter. Zaizen’s bosses ordered him to hunt them down, more than before, with violence if necessary. They aren’t shy anymore about their motives.They checked Earth’s data, making sure that SOL didn’t infect him with any kind of virus. But he suddenly surprised all of them by talking about a seventh Ignis. His time in SOL’s captivity made him remember her again. He told them about a white, female looking Ignis but she was doomed incomplete by Kogami. Upon questioning the other six Ignis, they reluctantly admit remembering vaguely that Ignis. But she kept herself hidden most of the time in the Cyverse world. All Ignis had various reasons not to interact with her properly. Even if Ai had spent the most time with her, he didn’t know where she went when Revolver attacked the Cyverse world. Whereas all Origins were worried about her, the most concerned about this is Ryoken. He promises, vehemently insists that the Lost Incident only took place once. Neither two, nor three times. His father never experimented with him, just like Windy pointed out in their duel. But he can’t explain the existence of this seventh Ignis. It would imply so much. It definitely would imply his father lying to him. If it hadn’t been obvious before, then it was definitely now.It would imply that there was an experiment before the actual Lost Incident. Kind of like a pilot test. It would imply that there was another child, a seventh child who starved, who was fed with the same pills as the other six had to take, and who got struck with electric shocks. No one speaks out their fear that the seventh child could’ve even not been able to survive the pilot test which is why the Ignis turned out to be incomplete. Which is maybe why it’s kept in secret. Way more than the actual Lost Incident. It doesn’t even help that no one, none of Kogami’s colleagues – neither Vyra nor Faust or Dr. Genome – know about this pilot test. It might be a trap from SOL Technology since they could’ve assumed that they’d lose Earth. But the possibility that there might be a seventh child in the real world, despairing over what happened to them during their time at the Lost Incident, a seventh Ignis wandering through Link VRains, alone and scared and not knowing anything, is enough for Ryoken to pull some all-nighters. The Ignis try to provide with the information they have about the seventh Ignis. Yusaku, Kusanagi, Ema as well as Ryoken’s subordinates help him in scanning Link VRains for any hints for the apparently lost Ignis. The others try to gather any information about the seventh child in the real world.While the child remains untraceable, they managed to take up some hints about the seventh Ignis. But they had to return to SOL Technology’s database for this. They discussed the possibility that this might be a trap by the town’s company. But since all Ignis seem to remember the seventh Ignis, and all of them apparently regret forgetting her, their Origins urged Ryoken to take the risk. Albeit reluctant because he hadn’t been able to come to terms with everything the seventh Ignis as well as the seventh child possibly entails, he agreed on looking for her. Kusanagi, Ema and his knights prepared a safety route to SOL’s database within some hours. In the evening, they were ready to go. But the infiltration team only consisted of Playmaker, Revolver, Blue Maiden as well as Soulburner. The others monitored the infiltration with keen eyes. Even if SOL put up a firewall in the meanwhile, it wasn’t a big hindrance. The Origins as well as Revolver went through it with ease. But it seemed that Ai as well as Flame caught on something because they refuse to leave their Duel Disks.Distracted with them seemingly catching a virus or something similar, both Origins didn’t notice the additional safety measurement in form of a deformed monster, consisting seemingly only out of data. Revolver was able to summon a Duel Monster. He pushed Playmaker behind him as fast as he could so that the other monster wasn’t able to hit him while lashing out. Blue Maiden pulled Soulburner to her so that when the other monster crashed on the floor, it didn’t have a chance to bury the Duelist underneath him. But it didn’t dissolve in white cubes like usually Duel Monsters did when they got beaten by another Duel Monster. The impact was strong enough to let the floor split and got pulled down into the depths of Link VRains. The split closed slowly. Taken aback, Playmaker looked back to the other teen. Revolver, for whatever reason, avoided his gaze. If they would’ve been in the real world, Playmaker somehow could imagine his cheeks blushing.“ …What was that- ”“I was just… trying to protect you!”Playmaker blinked. He blinked again. He could feel the muscles around his lips move. Almost on their own.“I appreciate the thought but I’m fine. We should continue, though” he prompted.Revolver looked like he wanted to add something. But then he shut his mouth and nodded. He looked back to their other team mates who managed to catch up with them.“Are you all okay?” he asked them. “Once we’re done here, we should meet to check on the Ignis. Maybe the firewall left something behind.”The other agreed to his idea. Revolver nodded again and raised his left wrist with the Duel Disk. After that, he took the lead.

[darkzorua100]

My thoughts to episode 70 of Vrains.

Before watching the episode: Soulburner better do his fire tornado thing to save Playmaker or else I’m going to be very disappointed with this episode.

After watching the episode: Well...uh...that escalated quickly. Yeah never mind about the whole fire tornado thing, what the actual f*ck just happened here?!

I walk into this episode expecting the basics. Revolver to Synchro Summon Borreload Savage Dragon, Soulburner and Flame rescuing Playmaker and Ai, Windy getting out right murdered. I did not expect us to get two more Lost Children/Ignis pairings, that gorgeous freaking Synchro Summoning being so technology heavy, and Windy getting out right murdered like that. Yeah, have fun censoring that one, dub. 

Just like episode 68, where do I even begin with this? Again, I guess at the beginning where it is revealed that Windy is actually an out right psychopath. He literally tried to murder his kid in a car accident. Of course, we don’t know his actual condition now because of this. His kid could very well be dead but I highly doubt that. The Lost Children are to important to the story for the writers to just have killed any of them off like that before we even had a chance to meet them all, similar to the whole Aqua situation where some people thought she was dead after episode 66 airing with the way Earth was speaking about her. At the very least, he’s in a coma, physically disabled, life support if we want to get that dark, or heck his whole body could have been replaced with an artificial one. Geez, and we talk about how Jin couldn’t catch a break after the Hanoi Project. The Wind Child probably has mental and physical problems  to boot because of his little sh*t of an Ignis. Also, what is this? The third car accident now? God, I knew I was onto something about this being sabotage. Of course, this could all be different car accidents, and the writers really have no creative ideas when it comes to terrible backstories (yeah there are boundaries they can’t cross because this still is a kid show after all) but this has cross the line of just being just a coincidence.

First time is an accident (Aoi and Akira’s parents) Second time is a coincidence (Blood Shepherd and his mom) Third time is a pattern (Windy’s Lost Child)

And this isn’t even factoring in Takeru’s parents, who we still don’t know how they dead. If it was also a car accident, we definitely have something more then just a pattern. We saw in Blood Shepherd’s backstory that his car started to glitch out which to me looked like something was interfering with the signal but if it was Windy taking over it to hit his kid’s car, that would explain a lot. Blood Shepherd really was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and his vehicle was just a means to a end for Windy. The Zaizens, and Takeru’s parents, if they were also involved in this, might have just been caught in the cross fires. Also keep in mind, if this all happened in the same accident, the Wind Lost Child would have only just been freed from the Hanoi Project when Windy decided to kill him based on the fact that Aoi and Takeru were both little kids when they lost their parents. Heck, the Wind Lost Child might have been on his way to the hospital, like Takeru was after he was freed, when Windy decided to play some Grand Theft Auto with him. Windy claims that he did this because he didn’t need his partner but at this point, I’m pretty sure that Kogami might have put in a Fail-Safe program in the Ignises that can only be activated by their respective kids that can destroy the Ignises for good. After all, it can’t just be a one way relationship between the two. All of the Ignises know who they were based on and have shown the ability to be able to find them instantly. If Windy knew about this Fail-Safe, he might have went after his kid to make sure that he never would have had the chance to use it. Same could probably be said with Lightning.

Oh and then there’s Lightning to talk about here who I think just became my favorite Ignis at the end of this episode because he’s a literal sociopath. At the end of this episode, Revolver actually tries to murder Windy and it is brutal. Like holy crap, Windy is screaming his head off and Lightning is just standing there, watching the whole thing so emotionlessly, as Windy is begging him to save him. He does, but only at the last second, and when he does, Windy is almost completely destroyed. Like we know he can repair himself, but geez, Lightning is just...wow. I mean, we all knew Jin was messed up because of the Hanoi Project but how messed up do you have to be to create that? Oh and yeah, Jin was confirmed to be the one Lightning was based off of and sh*t, I was kinda right about him being who the silhouette character was. Maybe not the actual character, because it was Lightning, but as for the silhouette itself, yeah I was right. Lightning actually stole Jin’s consciousness to use him as a weapon. It is even creeper when you remember that Lightning already had the silhouette of Jin created before he got his consciousness's data. Yeah...uh...crap...well...we might have to put Yusaku, Takeru, and Spectre into Witness Protection now because if Lightning could do that to Jin, if he can hivemind Ai, Flame, and Earth (because yeah, Earth is basically confirmed to be Spectre’s now if there was any doubt before between him and Windy), then we are going to lose them to the Light Side (I seriously love how they are making Darkness (Ai) good and Light (Lightning) evil again for this series). Spectre who knows with him, since Earth doesn’t seem to want anything to do with him (not that anyone could blame him), Yusaku possibly since Yu-Gi-Oh isn’t afraid to make their protagonist evil for some time (looking at you Judai and Yuya (though if they do do this to Yusaku, I see it more like what happened to Yuma and Astral with the whole Dark Zexal moment), and as for Takeru, oh he’s definitely going to get brainwashed for sure because we can’t have a Yu-Gi-Oh series where the best friend character doesn’t get brainwashed, possessed, or turns out to be evil all along sometime later during the season. 

Oh and we haven’t talked about Kusanagi’s reaction to this reveal. My god, the opening foreshadowing is coming soon. He is so going to flip when Yusaku and Takeru return. Lightning is going to manipulate him so hard through his brother to get what he wants. Or Kusanagi might just try and murder Ai and Flame instead, blaming them for what has happened to Jin. Either way, Kusanagi is definitely not going to be in a good place in the upcoming episodes.

As for the conclusion to Revolver vs Windy, yeah Revolver out right destroyed him with his new Synchro Monster and my god, the animation for the Synchro Summon was freaking amazing. They went all out on this one like damn. The Knights also got to show up the end too, after out right destroying all of the Echos, watching as Revolver proves to everyone again why he is the leader. Spectre stayed behind and we got the meeting between him and Soulburner (hell yes to this! Though I have to wonder if Soulburner actually does know if Spectre is a Lost Child just like him) and the dialogue was just amazing between them. I loved how Spectre just flips on a dime like that like one second he is being friendly to Soulburner and asking him to view for himself if the Ignises can be trusted or not and if he still wants to work with Flame after all of this, he would destroy him personally himself. Soulburner vs Spectre foreshadowing? I hope so because my god, that would be amazing. 

Soulburner and Flame save Playmaker and Ai from their spheres but not before Revolver has the best reaction to Soulburner and Flame’s appearance.

“Oh? Four Ignis in the same room.” Just the way he said it got me hyped because yeah, as long as Takeru has Flame, we are getting Soulburner vs Revolver and I want this match up so badly. I need these two to fight to the death. It would be fantastic.

A few last things I like to note about this episode on the top of my head is that Windy used Storm Access during this duel and I seriously wish this wasn’t a thing. Having the people in Lightning’s group have Storm Access as a Skill would be one thing, even though that would be annoying to begin with because that is Yusaku and Ryoken’s thing (they are called Datastormshipping for a reason) but for them to just continue to screw the rules and use it during a Master Duel just will continue to irritate me since they shouldn’t be able to do that. Sure, they are advanced A.Is that can break the system but the system should still be able to say “no, you can’t do that” and automatically give the opposing player the win, or at the very least give the people in Lightning’s group a penalty, such as in ARC-V where we had the intrusion penalty whenever someone should join in on a already ongoing duel. Like if they can just break the rules like that, why not just screw the rules entirely and play with Duelist Kingdom logical? Seems kinda stupid to just break the rules and not take full advantage of it. And they are supposed to be the smart ones here.

Also, during the duel, Windy does what I wanted him to do since the beginning of the duel and out right taunt Revolver, using his father against him, saying stuff like he’s a failure and that if his father believed in him, why didn’t he use him as a test subject for the Hanoi Project, and that Ryoken’s true reason why he wants to kill the Ignises is because he is jealous of them for being the “chosen ones” in his father’s eyes. Revolver has a flashback to when his father died, saying how he never wanted to involve him in this, which Revolver fully believes, and honestly, I think at this point we can all agree that Kogami is full of crap. Never wanted to involve Ryoken in this is out right bullsh*t. Windy does bring up some good points with this though. Ryoken has ever right to hate the Ignises, not just because of his father’s goal, but because like Windy said, they were the chosen ones in Kogami’s eyes, not his own flesh and body. Kogami said it himself, he viewed the Ignises as his own children to his own son. Ryoken has ever right to hate them out of pure jealously. And since I fully believe that Kogami is full of himself when he said he didn’t want to involve Ryoken in any of this, why didn’t he use his own son for the Hanoi Project? I talked about how Ryoken is basically an unofficial 7th Lost Child of the Hanoi Project but he seriously might just be. He’s Dr. Kogami’s son after all. If the Lost Children are the keys to destroying their respective Ignis with some kind of Fail-Safe built into their program, Ryoken might just unknowingly hold the instructions to activating those Fail-Safes hidden somewhere deep inside his consciousness. Or if we are to believe the major plot twist done the line that Ryoken might actually be an A.I. himself like some people theorize he could be, Windy might just mean this literally. Ryoken might have actually been the chosen one, the first successor to humanity, or a simple prototype to the Ignises that wasn’t what Dr. Kogami wanted, a failure as Windy claims him to be, and was effectively replaced by the Ignises. That’s why he wasn’t used for the Hanoi Project. He had no free will to take to use to create the Ignises. If anyone has seen or played Detroit: Become Human, Ryoken’s case could be something like that. He was reprogrammed to be Dr. Kogami weapon but he started to gain a free will of his own after witnessing the torture of the Lost Children and speaking to Yusaku and especially after coming to his own decision to save them. Interesting thing to look back on if the “Ryoken is actually an A.I.” theory does actually turn out to be true. 

But yeah, I think that about does it for episode 71. As for the preview for 72 and the cast list, Playmaker and Ai seem to be chasing after Jin and Lightning which is what I guess leads to the Playmaker vs Bohman rematch since I figure Bohman is trying to stall for time for them to get away and do whatever it is Lightning is trying to do in the preview at the end. Looks like he’s trying to rise someone from the dead or maybe this is a flashback to him giving Bohman new memories once more? He could also be creating more minions to shall for him as he prepares to attack the real world or also be trying to fix up Windy since in the preview, he has seen better days. SOL Technologies people are back (Akira, Blood Shepherd, Hayami, and Go’s goons) and here in this fake Cyberse World to destroy some Ignises from what we see of BS in the preview with him destroying copies of Bit and Boot. No Emma or Aoi (is anyone surprised at this point though?) so who knows if we actually are going to find out what happened with that stand off between BS and Ghost Girl. No Go either so I really want to know now what kind of special mission he is on if it is more important then this mess right now. Faust and Baira aren’t speaking so I wonder what happened to them? Kusanagi is more then likely going to be losing his mind in the real world over the whole Jin situation so that just leaves Soulburner, Flame, Revolver, Spectre, and Dr. Genome speaking. Revolver is probably going to send Spectre and Dr. Genome after Lightning, Jin, and Windy so I wonder if he’s actually going to try and take on Soulburner to try to destroy Flame? Soulburner has to do something during the Playmaker and Bohman duel, same with Revolver, and I don’t see the writers just having them destroying Bit and Boots during this time being. Honestly, I have no idea what’s going to happen at this point. We have a lot of characters in one area so a lot can happen in these upcoming episodes. This is going to get good for us as the viewers, and bad for the characters, is all I can say.

[shidoukanae]

How Does Takeru Homura Recognize Playmaker?

So, okay, with the advent of the latest preview for episode 50, there’s already been a major question pulled up that a lot of us have been wondering for awhile:

The question, of course, being: How does Takeru Homura (or Soulburner) know about Playmaker? 

Aside from the obvious clues that Yusaku drops that someone like, say, Aoi might have caught on to before (old duel disk, Ai inside, three things), a transfer student wouldn’t as privy to the similarities between a new peer and the hero wonder of Link VRAINS.

Therefore, with that in mind, it’s interesting to think where, perhaps, Takeru might have gotten the information to lead up to him discovering Playmaker’s secret identity.

Annnnd that’s where I want to point to the ending of the Data Bank arc. You all may or may not remember by now (especially since it’s been so long and has never been brought up again), a certain scene that needs resolution.

Namely, this scene:

After 30+ episodes since this scene (ep 20), we still don’t know what Ema ever did with this data on the Hanoi Project. Not only that, but it’d be rather weird to tease us with this scene if it wasn’t going to have importance down the road. This data deals with the six kids, with the mastermind of Hanoi and deals specifically with the lost incident. 

This data specifically affects and would only truly interest the lost kids (and, well, treasure-hunters, SOL, and news-reporters but considering one of those parties already has the info, the other already has it, and the last hasn’t made any reports on it, not likely) and therefore the best clients for Ema would be those most desperate to know about it: the victims of the incident.

And, well, who is the most obvious victim that we know of who might desire this information? 

Answer: Takeru Homura.

He’s been offscreen for so long that I can’t help but wonder if this plot point leads back to him since it’s been left open-ended for so long. I mean, imagine that Ema advertises this information to parties that are interested. She sniffs out potential clients and, lo and behold she snags Takeru, one of the six kids desperate to know like Yusaku just what, exactly, happened. If she sold him the information, giving him the opportunity he once longed for, imagine the consequences.

For one, Takeru would know that Hanoi and Playmaker are heavily intertwined with the Lost Incident. For another, if he puts together the pieces, he’ll realize that Playmaker is a lost kid just like him. And, if we assume that Flame has come to him sometime before or after Takeru has learnt about this, he might have even further reason to believe that he and Playmaker are linked.

This would set off a whole chain of reactions on putting the pieces together. If Playmaker is a lost child like him, then Playmaker would be person Takeru would need most in his life. If Takeru wanted resolution, much like Playmaker himself wants, he’d seek out someone similar in order to figure out just what, exactly, happened to him in the past. 

How or when Takeru put together all the pieces, I can’t quite say. However, Takeru seems like a very smart individual if he’s already put together the pieces before transferring over to Den City’s school where Yusaku resides in. 

However, it might help that Yusaku had an unknown helper in the Tower of Hanoi arc. Specifically, when Yusaku falls off the bridge and a data storm pulls him to safety. We still don’t know who did that and it’s highly likely that someone else other than Ryoken would have an interest in keeping him alive (SOL excluded because they don’t do shit the entire arc). If Takeru already knew about the Lost Incident and/or had Flame, then he would’ve have the ability to, like Ai, control the Data Storm to bring Yusaku to safety from the shadows it would also explain why a Data Storm exists when it only speeds up the tower if Takeru summoned it without knowing the consequences of doing so.

This all said, I think it would make sense canonically if this whole chain of events of an outsider figuring out who Playmaker is starts with the end of the data bank arc. If Ema gives the information to someone who seeks it badly and that someone is Takeru then it would make sense that Takeru, knowing he and Playmaker are connected, would track down Playmaker’s true alias through the information he’s been given. 

How or why, I couldn’t exactly explain (maybe he’s very smart and a hacker who is able to figure out the weird events are linked to Yusaku? Maybe he figured out Ryoken existed as Dr. Kogami’s living son from the data and linked Yusaku to Ryoken by watching the events of ToH both in Link VRAINS and in real life? There’s so much of a gap there it’s hard to say) but I do want to say that Takeru probably figured out who Playmaker is because Ema gave him the data after the data bank arc that led straight to Yusaku Fujiki.

[pendulumprince]

52. Fucking finally.

We got a flashback of Homura immediately after the kids were found. He was taken to the hospital, where his grandparents came to get him. They tell him that his parents searched for him endlessly, but were killed in an accident. HM, I WONDER WHO ELSE’S FOLKS DIED MYSTERIOUSLY IN AN ACCIDENT 10 YEARS AGO.

Anyway, the duel went on. Hayami deployed some dirty tricks against Soulburner because she doesn’t want to see Akira demoted again. She pulled some borderline-crazy faces. That’s wifey right there tbh

‘Go’ took the hit meant for Soulburner, Hayami got caught, Akira wasn’t even all that mad I think? Does want to “talk to her in the office” later, though...

But it should be noted that ‘Go’ protected Soulburner of his own volition. Soulburner was so happy lol

We also learn that Homura went to Den City on his own violation to be around his heroes (Playmaker, ‘Go’, and presumably Blue Angel as well since he thinks of her). He isn’t a native of Den City, which may or may not be important down the line.

“After The Lost Incident, I hated everything. I stopped dueling and sealed away my past memories. But during that time, I learned that duelists were fighting against those who made me suffer. I couldn’t sit still, so i came to Den City. (Notable that Flame tries to interrupt him here, but Soulburner keeps going) I can’t forget about the past!”

(If you didn’t know, that’s his pre-asskicking monologue.)

‘Go’ gets his ass kicked once again. Hopefully this snaps him out of his latest life crisis, but who knows.

‘Go’ doesn’t accept Soulburner’s hand up, but our fire boy reiterates that ‘Go Onizuka’ is his hero.

But when Soulburner said he had to keep winning to get his ‘real self’ back, ‘Go’ shut him down: “Listen, I’ll tell you this. No one can always win. Everyone experiences defeat. Will defeat rot you? Or will you use it as a springboard? When you lose, the true you is revealed!” Oh look at that. More foreshadowing.

So Playmaker and Ai made it to the area Shoichi was talking about, where Blood Shepard ambushed them. I smell another duel~

[sworntolight]

Tag Drop Pt. 2

[sworntolight-a]

Title: Five Times Kissed

Ships: Entrust (KikuxTakeru), Solarflare (Mako(oc)xTakeru), Fireflower (MakoxTakeruxKiku)

Summary: Five kisses. Five moments. Five of thousands, likely more - All shared across a lifetime spent bound together by the phoenix’s flames.

A drabble set for @soulburnings of our trio of fluffy, loving dorks - Happy birthday, Kasa! <3333

This way. Kiku wasn't sure why she hadn't expected a shortcut down an alley, honey glancing about their surroundings. Wasn't he always telling her not to go near them, always reminding her how dangerous they were with the Mizunuma brothers and their gang lurking around any and every corner? “Takeru, are you sure?”

“You said you didn't want to be seen.”

That was true, and she was thankful for his slowing to a stop and look back to her, first to meet her gaze, then down to the mess staining her blouse. She hadn't wanted to wander through the shopping district where everyone could see her, not when she'd slipped and fallen in a pile of fish guts just an hour earlier; who would with tendrils of fish skin, scales, and various parts making their clothes and hair stick to them? The smell was bad enough, but to be seen would be twice as bard – Especially with the next day being sunday and most of their classmates out for the evening!

All the same, she hadn't expected him to take her concerns to heart, either. Takeru rarely cared what anyone thought of him, and he'd made his thoughts on her needing to look pretty and presentable known more than once. She looked fine, he'd always remind her. Her scarf might have been askew, or her hair frizzy, but he'd always say she looked fine... Except for now, she noted. Now there were no promises of looking 'fine', no comments on her skirt or braid being a bit off, no teases – Just a concerned light in his eyes and free hand reaching out, thumb gently brushing a scale off her cheek.

He rarely cared what others thought, and yet he was all too willing to lead her through back alleys by the hand just so she could rest assured nobody had seen her looking like a whale had exploded.

He didn't have to, didn't have to care, and he was.

For her.

Slowly, Kiku stepped closer, rocking onto her toes and laying her hand against his chest. Despite the fish stuck to her and the awkwardness of it all, she couldn't stop herself from tilting her head towards him... Or her lips from brushing against his, instant coloring her cheeks a vibrant pink, and, she'd find as she pulled back, his bright red, sky-colored eyes wide in surprise and hand tightened around hers. But why... Was her heart pounding so hard against her ribs, now? Why had that felt so... Good? “Thank you, Takeru.”

“Uh...”

“Did you forget how to breathe?”

Gods knew she had.

~~

“You haven't seen my shirt, have you?”

“...What's a shirt?”

Mako didn't have to look to know Takeru's stare had turned blunt, let alone pinned on her. Not when she'd gone and parked herself on top of the shirt in question, casually continuing to scroll through settings in her 3DS game without so much as cracking a smile – No matter how much she wanted to. What was the worst he could do, anyway? Flip her off it? “Never heard of this 'shirt', Takeru. Sorry.”

“I can see it under you,” came his reply, closer than before – Yet she still wouldn't look up. In her opinion, there was no point; they'd been living together for two months, sharing her bedroom for at least one, and aside from some heated playfighting, there was little reason to think her boyfriend would do anything aside from order her off his shirt. And why would she want to do that when keeping it for herself meant he'd have to join her without one?

Yet before she could get out another sound, she'd find her game plucked from her hands, replaced with her phoenix's smirking expression. A smirk that made her own lips curl into a smile; he was looking for a playfight, wasn't he? “It's my shirt.”

“You're mine,” Takeru countered, though Mako could read between the lines: You're my girlfriend, so that makes you AND the shirt mine, doesn't it? “Give it to me.”

“Depends on what this it is.”

“Mako. I want to go to bed.”

“No you don't.”

“I want to sleep.”

No he didn't, not with that look on his face, but she'd not point that out a second time. Instead, she'd simply lift a hand to cup his cheek, guiding Takeru closer for their lips to meet in a soft, loving kiss – A gesture laced in fire and desire. It'd only been a month of sharing a room, and yet, she still caught herself melting far too easily underneath his advance, melting into her pillows like pure putty under his shift to lean over her. “Mmm... God, I love you-”

“You too-”

She'd still never give him back that shirt though.

~~

Gentle touches had always been her favorite, Kiku decided. Even a year, two years earlier, when he'd been little more than a thug and she clueless to the ways of the world, his touch across her hand and cheek had always been enough to lay her every trouble to rest. The rest of the universe seemed to melt away with each soft pass of skin on skin – All that was left was them, in a world all their own.

“I missed you.” She didn't trust her voice above the whisper it'd come out as, fingers curling into his sweatshirt. I missed you. Three words she shouldn't have been so wary to say, but he'd been gone for a reason, too, and she didn't want him to think she hadn't been supporting him the entire time. But now... He was real, right?

She didn't have to ask that question, Takeru's nose nudging hers a second later with a whisper of 'you too'. She'd never thought his return would make a moment like this... Nor had she ever expected she'd spend the day after her birthday hidden away in his bedroom, wrapped up in his arms as the sun slowly sank bellow the horizon outside. He was real, and she was finding that out in the best way possible, snuggling herself against her best friend – Her boyfriend. The boy she'd loved for so long, and nearly lost.

The boy who'd protected her for as long as she could remember.

The boy who made her heart skip a beat with every touch and every smile.

The boy who owned her heart, always.

And for the first time, her lean in was met halfway by a nervous yet eager Takeru, lips barely brushing before bravery took over and met for a far more solid, loving kiss. Their first as a couple... It was enough to send a shiver down her spine, pulled closer the second he noticed. If he thought she was cold, she wasn't sure, but she wasn't about to complain – Let alone pull away from the fire.

Let it consume me – There's no better birthday gift than to be surrounded by him, always.

~~

Takeru's heavy sigh and flop onto their shared bed was more than enough to make Mako laugh, slow fingers undoing the floppy bow tying her hair back into a loose bun. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him nervous; tests when they lived in the city had done this to him, too, as had every mention of ever talking to her parents, but actually meeting them in person as he had seemed to have been her fiance's breaking point. Not that she could tell by the unamused stare he pinned on her a second later, of course! “You survived, didn't you? And I told you they'd like you.”

“Your father talked about the ancient rights of cows,” Takeru reminded, peeling his mouth from the pillow he'd shoved it into. “That's not liking me, Mako, that's- ...What is he?”

“Mom and I have been asking that for a long time.” Hair flopping down against her back and ribbon set aside, she wasted no time in crawling onto the bed and over him, welcoming his quick roll onto his back and arms snaking around her middle. Being on their best behavior, on top of his nervousness all through dinner, had meant touches were kept to a bare minimum – And being pulled down to lay against his far more solid form, warmth almost seeming to wrap around her like the heat from a fireplace, easily drew a content sigh from her lips. No matter how awkward the day, or how bad, laying with him always made it seem like it'd never happened... “They loved you, you know.”

“Mmm...”

“I know that hum.”

Slowly, his head lifted off his pillow, a light kiss connecting them for but a moment. “It's a tired hum.”

“I'm sure.” That was an I hope so, Mako decided, biting the words off the tip of her tongue in favor of another soft kiss, shuddering under the hands slipping under the back of her blouse for a skim of careful fingertips against her skin. Even if she'd wanted to point it out, his touch alone kept her voice from moving past her throat – And made it all to easy for her to 'steal' a third kiss, gently nipping at his lower lip along with it.

It didn't matter if they liked him or not, she reminded herself. It didn't matter if the world did, or what anyone thought of their relationship – Not when- “I love you, Takeru.”

“Love you too, Mako-chan-”

Not when he owned her with such a simple, soft smile.

“Always.”

~~

“It's not like him to sleep this late,” Kiku sighed out, looking away from the living room's wall clock at the sound of a cup clicking against the nearby coffee table. “He's usually up by now, even on bad days. Did he say anything to you?”

Mako shrugged, plopping herself down beside her partner as carefully – and yet as ungracefully – as possible. The infant in her arms had only just stopped fussing no more than a few minutes earlier, and the last thing she wanted to do was set off another crying fit so soon. “It's how things like this go, you know. Sometimes it takes longer to come back from.”

“It's ten, Mako.”

“Mental illness sucks, Kiku.”

Though her lips parted to reply, Kiku quickly pressed them back together. Mako wasn't wrong, and they both knew it – But it wasn't like their household to be so quiet so late into the evening on a bad day, either. Sure, Takeru had spent days on end avoiding most everything on a bad day before, but he'd also made himself known to them all by 8, 9 the latest, too. Knowing it was nearly their eldest child's bedtime and he still wasn't out of bed yet worried her, something Mako quickly picked up on and countered with a soft smile.

“He'll be fine,” she offered, reaching up to brush a strand of raven hair behind Kiku's ear as Hiko crawled up to settle between them, Sumi instantly turning her attention to her brother from her mother's arms. “I promise. We'll just find him in the kitchen before us in the morning, that's all. Hope you didn’t want to keep those muffins for a rainy day.”

“I don't eat that much.”

Unlike the pure relief on Kiku's face at the sound, Takeru's voice only made Mako laugh, reaching out to catch their husband's hands the moment he was close enough to the couch. To the untrained eye, he looked content enough; dressed in sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, he looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, breaking into a smile the moment Mako gave his hands a light squeeze and Hiko scooted to the side for him to sit with them. Of course, Hiko wouldn't stay there long, either, scooped onto his father's lap half a second later, hugged tight against the elder's middle with giggles galore.

But to his wives, the wear was more than obvious. Bright blue eyes had gone dim, equally as vibrant smile still warm, yet nowhere near as wide. Even his posture was more slouched than normal, and despite his chuckle over Hiko's laughter and Sumi's gurgling in his direction, a finger offered for the baby to grab at, he'd clearly not recovered enough from his 'bad day' to stay up for long. “...Sorry.”

Sorry I worried you. Sorry I was in bed all day. Sorry I haven't been out here. Sorry you had to take care of the kids all day alone- The meanings behind his apology were endless, Kiku leaning in to silence him with a sweet kiss before another could slip free. He had nothing to apologize for, after all, relishing in the faint smile he let work its way into the gesture. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mm-mm.” Once more, he didn't need to elaborate, leaning back into the couch, welcoming both women's snuggle into his sides. Sleep rarely came easy when his PTSD decided to make a reappearance, but after ten years of marriage and twice as long of friendship, even he knew he didn't need to explain himself. “...Mind if I stay here?”

Mako let out a light laugh, fingertips tracing over his jawline, guiding his head to tilt to the side for her own kiss to find his lips, soft and loving. “You make it sound like we'd let you go,” she reminded right after, expression softening as his smile grew a little more. “You're stuck with us, for the rest of your life. Hope you like scratches and cuddles.”

“Love them.”

“Good...”

“'Cause we've never letting you go. Ever.”

Five kisses, five moments... Just five of thousands across a lifetime shared together. No matter what the world tries to throw their way, there's nothing they can't beat-

Not when they can face it as a family, forever bound by the flames.

[kuriboo]

Vrains Rarepair Weeks - Day 14

Time Travel / Superheroes

Prompts can be found over here! Also posting over at AO3

Soulburner hit the ground hard, tumbling backward until he lost enough momentum.

It was a few seconds before he sat up, rubbing his head.

“Are you okay?” Flame asked, sticking his head out of the duel disk.

“I think I’m okay,” Soulburner answered. “I just... What did Lightning even do? I missed it.”

“I’m not sure. But it looks like we got separated from everyone else.”

Soulburner scanned the area around him. Indeed, Playmaker, Blue Maiden, Ghost Girl, Lightning, they were all gone. Lightning must’ve removed him from the situation, literally. He was somewhere entirely different now; it looked like a rooftop somewhere in Vrains, but the area didn’t look familiar.

“We’ll have to find them again,” Soulburner muttered. He pushed a button on his duel disk, the one Kusanagi had drilled in his head was for communications. “Playmaker? ...Kusanagi? Either of you there?”

No response.

“Communications must’ve been broken. We’re not going to get any help, not right now at least.” Soulburner sighed. “Now what do we do? Log out? Try to look for them?”

“Wait for a moment. Let me see if I can get a message through to Ai,” Flame told him.

A few seconds later, Soulburner heard the sound of an approaching hoverboard. He looked up. He recognized that hair, that had to be Playmaker.

“Wow, that was fast. Good work, Flame.”

“As much as I’d like to take the credit, I haven’t even finished writing out the message yet. I didn’t send anything. They found us all on their own,” Flame corrected him.

Playmaker landed on the rooftop, jumped off his hiverboard, and began to walk towards them.

Soulburner waved. “Hey, Playmaker!”

Before he could get in another word, Playmaker looked down to his duel disk. “Are they Hanoi?”

“Nope, no signs of Hanoi here.” Soulburner couldn’t see Ai, but he recognized his voice. “But if he really just appeared like that, that’s strange. People don’t usually do that, even in Vrains.”

“Uh....” Soulburner frowned. This wasn’t the conversation he’d been expecting. He had no idea how to respond to this one.

“Were you dueling the Knights of Hanoi, then?” Playmaker asked, looking up to Soulburner now.

“No? They’ve mostly been in hiding, we haven’t really been...” Soulburner rubbed one of his hands against the back of his neck. “Why are we talking about them, Playmaker? We’ve been focusing all our efforts against Lightning, not the Hanoi.”

“Lightning?” Yusaku glanced down at his duel disk once more.

“I already know what you’re gonna ask. And, nope. I have no idea who that is, either,” Ai replied.

They didn’t know who Lightning was? Then, maybe Lightning did something to alter their memories somehow, and someone else got Soulburner away from Lightning in time so he was spared? No, that sounded like a complicated video game plot, that couldn’t be it. Did technology really work like that, where AI could change the memories of a human in virtual reality? Soulburner didn’t know nearly enough to say.

“Okay, Playmaker, Ai, this joke isn’t funny anymore,” Soulburner told them. “How do you forget about an incoming war between AI and humans? Or an AI that stole human consciousness? There’s no way, you didn’t really...”

“Oh, the stranger knows my name!” Ai’s head and shoulder popped out of Yusaku’s duel disk to look at Soulburner. “I told you I have fans, Playmaker! I—“

Yusaku pushed something on his duel disk. Ai was instantly muted.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, or why you think you know me or my AI,” Playmaker stated. “But you must have the wrong Playmaker, or you must’ve imagined it. I don’t know who you are.”

“I’m...I’m Soulburner.” Soulburner crossed his arms against his chest. “Don’t tell me you don’t... We’ve been working together awhile now. We’ve covered each other in duels, we...”

“‘Playmaker’...” Playmaker lifted his chin. “Does not work with anyone who duels in Vrains.”

Before the conversation could continue, a voice interrupted them. Soulburner recognized the voice as Kusanagi’s, coming from Playmaker’s duel disk.

“Hey, I know I’m the one who told you about this and I’m the one who sent you in case it was related to Hanoi, but I think we have a bigger problem on our hands. Someone appeared right next to my chair, like, in the real world. And besides the fact that no one else knows what we’re doing here, that’s not a thing people should be able to do.”

“Understood. Logging out.”

Before Soulburner could get another word in, Playmaker had logged out.

“Perhaps we should log out as well,” Flame suggested.

Soulburner nodded, and the two of them logged out as well.

When Takeru logged into Vrains, he’d been in one of the secret, hidden away rooms in Cafe Nagi.

So he had no idea why he woke up laying down on the floor in the middle of the vehicle.

Kusanagi was sitting in one of the chairs at the computer, which was actually pretty close to where Takeru was laying down. Kusanagi’s attention was off the computer, though; he watched Takeru as he opened his eyes and sat up, ignoring the way his back complained at laying down on the floor. A few seconds later, Yusaku stumbled out of one of the hidden away rooms and stared down at him, too.

“You okay?” Kusanagi asked Takeru.

Takeru rubbed his head. “I don’t know...what’s going on anymore.”

“You and me both.” Kusanagi sighed. “The last thing I need is random kids appearing in here, we can’t risk anyone figuring out what you’re doing here.”

“I...already know Yusaku is Playmaker?” Takeru frowned. “I don’t see what...”

Kusanagi turned to look at Yusaku. “He is wearing the same uniform as you, must go to your school. You know him?”

“Never seen him before.”

Flame popped out of Takeru's duel disk then. "Takeru, I--"

"Whoa!" Ai popped out of Yusaku's duel disk as well, interrupting whatever Flame was going to say. "You look like me! And you know who I am, too!"

"I...of course I do, Ai. We lived in the same world for years," Flame reminded him.

"Did we?" Ai asked.

"We...can have this conversation later." Flame sighed. "Takeru, I think I've figured out what may be going on. I happened to check the system clock in Vrains, and it appears we've been sent to the past. After Playmaker's first duel with Revolver, to be more precise."

"Sent to the past?" Takeru repeated.

Was that really something that was even possible? Did Lightning have that sort of ability? How did it work, and why would Lightning have used it? Or was it someone else, not actually Lightning? Takeru supposed he couldn’t really question it, though, even if it did sound farfetched. If the date confirmed they somehow ended up in the past, they must be in the past.

“Just look at these dates.” Flame brought up two bits on information on Takeru’s duel disk.

The first was a conversion of Vrains’ server clock to plain terms. The second was Takeru’s duel record as Soulburner in Vrains. All his records were usually wiped to help protect his identity, so there was only one. That was right...they had engaged duel mode on their duel disks before he disappeared, hadn’t they? Playmaker, Soulburner, Ghost Girl, Blue Maiden VS Jin Kusanagi, WindyAI - No result. The date on the second was after the date on the first, which was supposedly the present date.

“It’s farfetched, to think you travelled through time. But you’re not Hanoi, and you don’t seem to have any reason to lie,” Yusaku observed.

“But...” Kusanagi and Yusaku were looking at Takeru’s duel disk as well, and Kusanagi froze. “Why was Yusaku dueling against my brother? Why were you apparently involved?”

That was a bit of a story, especially if Ai seemed to not remember the other Ignis. Meaning Kusanagi and Yusaku probably didn’t know about them, either.

Takeru sighed.

“You can both call me Takeru. My name is Takeru Homura, and in Vrains I am Soulburner, though if we have really gone to the past, the me in your time hasn’t gone in Vrains at all yet. I am also a victim of the Lost Incident. And, before I explain... Kisanagi, I’m so sorry about what happened to Jin.”

“Normally, I wouldn’t care if something happened to Ai’s home.” Ai made an offended noise at that, but Yusaku easily ignored him. “But if the culprit will target Kusanagi’s brother as well, you’ve caught my interest.”

“Jin...” Kusanagi glared at the floor. “To think something like that will happen, even after everything else he’s been through. I swear, I’ll do whatever I can to protect him, to ensure this doesn’t happen to him.

It was like a light switch turned on in Takeru’s head. “That’s it, Flame!”

“What’s it?” Flame asked.

“If we’re in the past, maybe we can do something to prevent the destruction of Cyberse World.”

“We haven’t found a way to completely disable Lightning’s Judgement Arrows yet,” Flame reminded him. “But, you have a point. I’ll head to Cyberse World and see what I can do.”

"In the meantime..." Kusanagi glanced at Takeru's duel disk again, the information that Flame brought up still visible. "Let's see if we can get you back to your own time. If you got here, there must be a way for you to get back."

"You're willing to help me with that?" Takeru asked. "I'm a stranger to you both."

"It's the least we can do, in return for your warning," Kusanagi replied.

"And it sounds like it wasn't your fault you ended up here, anyway. You deserve some help," Yusaku added. "Hanoi's still my top priority, but whenever we're able to get a break from dealing with them, we'll do what we can."

Takeru smiled. "Thank you both. I appreciate it, and I promise I'll make it up to you, in the future and now. I know you know nothing about my dueling capabilities, and most of my dueling record is gone. But I promise I'm fairly good. And I'm not enrolled at school in Den City yet, and it'd be weird if I was attending two different schools at the same time. So if you like, I can help out with fighting Hanoi, especially during school. Yusaku won't be suspicious if he's not disappearing during class, right?"

"That's true," Kusanagi agreed. "Maybe we can try it on a, like...trial basis?"

Yusaku frowned. "We can see how it goes. But only duel against the weaker Knights, leave Revolver and the stronger Knights to me. If you can't even handle the weak ones, then stop and stay out of the way. If you do well, maybe we'll let you take on stronger Knights."

Takeru would've loved the chance to duel against Revolver himself, after everything Hanoi put him through...

But that was Yusaku's battle. He didn't really have a place here in this time, anyway. And like he already said, Yusaku and Kusanagi had no reason to believe he could do well against anyone in a duel. They didn't really have any reason to trust him. He was lucky to be getting this much, and shouldn't try to do more. Takeru wasn't any expert in time travel, but weren't people supposed to try not to alter the timeline much?

"I can fight the weaker Knights. I promise I won't let you down."

"Well, Cyberse World is still hidden and intact," Flame announced as he returned to Takeru's duel disk.

"That's good to hear." Takeru breathed a sigh of relief. "From what it sounded like when you told me everything, it'll be awhile yet before it's destroyed, right? So unless it takes awhile to get home, we can't do much, but I'm still glad."

He stayed vague on when exactly Cyberse World would be destroyed. He knew the timeline as well as Flame. But Takeru was sitting on the floor in Kusanagi's truck right now, Kusanagi hard at work on the computer. Takeru had left out a lot of details when he told Kusanagi and Yusaku what would happen to Cyberse World and Jin. Enough to help prepare them and answer most questions they might have, but if he told them everything that would happen, he wasn't sure how much that would change things. He didn't want to be irresponsible about all this.

"I didn't say a word to Lightning, of course. And obviously Ai's here, and...not quite acting himself, pretending he's missing memories, so I didn't talk to him, either. I don't know what Ai's up to, but I'll let him play this amnesiac game for now," Flame muttered. "The Flame of this time believed me, which makes sense. If I saw another me, I'd believe my story. Aqua knew I wasn't lying, so she believed me, too. Earth and Windy didn't care all that much, which is hardly surprising."

"I see." Takeru hummed in thought. "I know this is off topic, but can you do me a favor? I need a temporary new Vrains avatar, since 'Soulburner' isn't supposed to appear yet. I don't want to influence or change anything for the worse."

"That's easy, I've already done it. If you're going to ask a favor, I'm capable of much more difficult things than that. You can come up with your own new name for yourself, though."

Takeru rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

"Hope you're okay to go into Vrains," Kusanagi interrupted. "But a couple of Knights have been spotted making trouble. Are you okay to take care of them?"

It was just Kusanagi and Takeru (and Flame) in the truck.  Kusanagi was taking a lunch break at the moment. Yusaku was at school right now, classes were still going (Were they almost over by now? Takeru was already having trouble remembering, not being in class himself. It felt like traveling back in time was trying to revert him to his days of skipping class and not putting effort into anything.) so he wasn't there. Takeru was on his own for this, but he already knew he was more than capable of handling it. He just missed the future, his present, where Kusanagi and Yusaku knew by now he could take care of himself.

"I can handle it." Takeru stood up. "Don't worry about me."

He dashed into the room Yusaku used to log into Vrains at Cafe Nagi. The second room Takeru usually used wasn't here, so this would do. He set his deck in his duel disk and logged in.

Soulburner, or the duelist not yet known as Soulburner, did a quick visual sweep of the area of Vrains around him.

"No sign of them here," he mumbled.

That determined, he took a quick second to see what kind of avatar Flame had made for him. He'd lost the fiery theme that Soulburner had going for him, which was good. His hair was mostly pushed back and out of his face, more like his present day self than his future self. His hair and clothes were full of greens and dark grays; much darker than Soulburner. In some was, the color scheme was a bit similar to the clothes Playmaker wore, but he looked different enough that no one would probably try to accuse him of being a fan or a fake.

"Nice job," he told Flame.

"Thank you," Flame responded. "Seems like they aren't too far away. Should be just ahead."

Soulburner ran forward. It only took him a couple of moments to find the members of Hanoi. Flame was right, they weren't too far away.

"You're not Playmaker," one of them sneered. "You don't have an Ignis or any Cyberse monsters for us to destroy, so why don't you scram? I'm not really in the mood to play."

"You might want to look again." Soulburner lifted the arm his his duel disk was on. "You're looking for Cyberse? I've got a deck full of them right here!"

Only Playmaker was supposed to have Cyberse monsters, but in that moment he didn't care. He needed to catch their attention, get them to duel him somehow. His monsters would be safe, he wouldn't let them to anything to them. He refused to alert the Knights to Flame and put him at risk, but...

Now that he was here, actually in front of Hanoi, Soulburner was starting to see red.

"Another duelist with Cyberse monsters?" the other Hanoi member asked. "Just who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter," Soulburner spat. "Hanoi took everything from me. And now I'm going to make you bastards pay!"

Soulburner was starting to see red. Because now that he was here, it was like he was six again, suffering for every duel he lost. Hearing that his parents looked for him every day he was missing. Learning they were in an accident while they searched.

His parents were gone because of them, and a decade later, he still hadn't really gotten his life back.

"Well, if it's a duel you want..." The first Knight spoke as both of them activated their duel disks. "If you have Cyberse monsters, I'll make an exception for you. You picked a fight at the wrong time, because you're outnumbered. You don't stand a chance."

"You should double check your math."

Soulburner did a double take. Playmaker was beside him now, his duel disk activated as well. When did Playmaker get here? Wasn't he at school?

"What are you doing here? I can take them on my own," Soulburner insisted.

"Class just ended." Playmaker spoke quietly, making sure no one but Soulburner heard him. "I'd be able to beat them both on my own as well. But this is a good opportunity to see if you're mor than just talk."

"Looks like your knight in shining armor has arrived, mystery Cyberse duelist!" the second Knight laughed. "Fine by me, we'll have a tag duel, then."

The duel began. Playmaker and Soulburner both started out strong, much stronger than either of the Hanoi members did. Soulburner made sure to leave his Ritual and Fusion monsters out of it, sticking to Link Summoning, since Vrains wasn't seeing a lot of other summoning methods during this time. He did his best to support Playmaker as well, bringing out his best monsters while helping Playmaker bring out his own best. With Decode Talker and Heatleo on the field, no one stood a chance against them.

After Decode Talker battled during his turn, Soulburner brought their enemies' life points to zero with an attack from Heatleo. Defeated, the Knights scrambled away from them in fear before logging out.

"You're better than you implied," Playmaker mused, giving Soulburner a thoughtful look. "That was...an enlightening duel."

"Enlightening?" Soulburner asked.

"We worked together well. You seem to know my deck and strategies well, though at times it almost seemed like you were helping me set up for something even better than I'm capable of now. Which must mean I'll work on my deck and become a better duelist."

Soulburner smiled. "Of course I know how you duel. You're Playmaker, you... We're in a team, in the future."

"For many reasons, I prefer to work alone," Playmaker stated. "Kusanagi's the obvious exception, his work and his help is invaluable. But... I don't think I'd mind taking on trouble in Vrains with a partner like you. You're good. And besides that..." Playmaker looked away. "Dueling on the same side as you...felt nice."

"I like working with you, too. It's probably the first thing in my life that's felt right in years."

Playmaker smiled.

"I think we finally have it figured out," Kusanagi announced.

"Have what figured out?" Takeru sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. It was late, he'd nearly fallen asleep in the truck.

"Between me, Yusaku, Ai, and Flame, I think we've got a way to send you back to the future," Kusanagi told him.

"Send us back..."

Would it be the exact time? Would the duel against Lightning still be going, would it be over? Would everyone be okay? He hoped he hadn't worried anyone, though depending on what time he arrived to, that would probably be impossible.

"All you have to do is log into Vrains, and the program we gave Flame should activate and take you back," Kusanagi told him.

"I already deleted your temporary avatar. You'll log in as Soulburner. Don't want to confuse anyone more than we already have, Flame added.

Well, there was only one thing for Takeru to do, wasn't there?

"Thank you, for everything," he told Kusanagi, Yusaku, and Ai. "You've helped me out so much. I promise I'll make it up to you in the future."

"Don't worry about it," Yusaku told him.

"You can make it up to us by starting up the Ai Fan Club!" Ai said, earning a glare and a mute from Yusaku.

"Safe travels," Kusanagi said.

Takeru smiled. In a way, he'd sort of miss these past versions of their group. It'd been interesting getting to know them all over again, even if he'd still known them for such a short time in the future. But he missed the future versions, the ones from his present, a lot more. Where Kusanagi was a bit more open, Ai was more honest, and Yusaku trusted him more, hung out with him more.

"Well, then... I'll see you all soon," Takeru said.

He logged into Vrains.

[metalshockfinland]

Frontiers Music Srl is honored to celebrate JORN’s 50th birthday in 2018 with the release of the ultimate JORN box set, “50 Years on Earth – The Anniversary Box Set” on December 14th.

Jorn Lande was born on May 31, 1968 in the heart of Norway, between massive mountains in a little town called Rjukan. The little blond Viking grew up roaming the forests and mountains and rocking out to Elvis Presley and bands like Sweet, Slade, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Free, and Black Sabbath. Eventually, he would become one of the world’s most renowned voices in rock and metal.

Fifty years later, a celebratory box set – a limited edition release – celebrating the artistic production of the fine Norwegian singer is prepared with the intent of closing a major chapter of Jorn’s artistic career and opening up the “second phase” of his musical journey.

A definitive overview, “50 Years on Earth” is comprised of 12 CDs including all Jorn albums from “Worldchanger” (2001) to “Life on Death Road” (2017). The CD artwork has been recreated in a stunningly visual vinyl replica format.

In addition to the studio albums, an exclusive collection of JORN’s best live tracks taken from his albums “Live in the USA” and “Live in Black” and of his best cover songs are included. Finally, there is a disc which includes 16 rare and bonus tracks, which are going to whet the appetites of the Jorn completists.

This attractive package also includes a beautiful booklet with handwritten notes from Jorn Lande.

In Jorn Lande’s words, “I’m proud to have made it this far and to still be around and relevant. This is first of all a thanks to all the music lovers around the world who keep believing. Thanks for all your support! I am blessed to have been given the opportunity to work with so many great and talented people. This rollercoaster of a rock and roll journey still has it’s wheels on the tracks and I’m truly excited about the future and what’s to come… bring it on!”

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Cd #1 “Worldchanger”

1. Tungur Knivur

2. Sunset Station

3. Glow in the Dark

4. House of Cards

5. Bless the Child

6. Captured

7. Worldchanger

8. Christine

9. Bridges Will Burn

Cd #2 “Out to Every Nation”

1. Young Forever

2. Out to Every Nation

3. Something Real

4. Living With Wolves

5. Vision Eyes

6. One Day We Will Put Out the Sun

7. Behind the Clown

8. Rock Spirit

9. Through Day and Night

10. When Angel Wings Were White

Cd # 3 “The Duke”

1. We Brought the Angels Down

2. Blacksong

3. Stormcrow

4. End of Time

5. Duke of Love

6. Burning Chains

7. After the Dying

8. Midnight Madness

9. Are You Ready

10. Starfire

Cd # 4 “Lonely Are the Brave”

1. Lonely Are the Brave

2. Night City

3. War of the World

4. Shadow People

5. Soul of the Wind

6. Man of the Dark

7. Promises

8. The Inner Road

9. Hellfire

Cd # 5 “Spirit Black”

1. Spirit Black

2. Below

3. Road Of The Cross

4. The Last Revolution

5. City In Between

6. Rock And Roll Angel

7. Burn Your Flame

8. World Gone Mad

9. I Walk Alone

10. The Sun Goes Down (original bonus track Europe)

Cd # 6 “Song for Ronnie James”

1. Song for Ronnie James

2. Invisible

3. Shame on the Night

4. Push

5. Stand Up and Shout

6. Don’t Talk To Strangers

7. Lord of the Last Day

8. Night People

9. Sacred Heart

10. Sunset Superman

11. Lonely Is the Word – Letters from Earth

12. Kill the King

13. Straight Through the Heart (live)

Cd # 7 “Bring Heavy Rock To The Land”

1. My Road

2. Bring Heavy Rock To the Land

3. A Thousand Cuts

4. Ride Like the Wind

5. Chains Around You

6. The World I See

7. Time To Be King

8. Ride To the Guns

9. Black Morning

10. I Came To Rock

Cd# 8 “Traveller”

1. Overload

2. Cancer Demon

3. Traveller

4. Window Maker

5. Make Your Engine Scream

6. Legend Man

7. Carry The Black

8. Rev On

9. Monsoon

10. The Man Who Was King

11. Arctic Night (Bonus Track)( Instrumental)

Cd# 9 “Life On Death Road”

1. Life On Death Road

2. Hammered To The Cross (The Business)

3. Love Is The Remedy

4. Dreamwalker

5. Fire To The Sun

6. Insoluble Maze (Dreams In The Blindness)

7. I Walked Away

8. The Slippery Slope (Hangman’s Rope)

9. Devil You Can Drive

10. The Optimist

11. Man Of The 80’s

12. Blackbirds

13. The Optimist (Acoustic Version) (Bonus Track)

Cd# 10 – Original Bonus Songs (studio versions)

1. Out To Every Nation

2. Burn Your Flame

3. Something Real

4. Young Forever

5. Walking on Water

6. One Day We Will Put Out The Sun

7. Starfire

8. I Came To Rock

9. Like Stone In Water

10. Gate Of Tears

11. End Comes Easy

12. Gonna Find The Sun

13. Noose

14. Showdown

15. Abyss Of Evil

16. Where The Winds Blow

Cd # 11 – Bonus live cd

1. Road Of The Cross

2. Shadow People

3. Soul Of The Wind

4. War Of The World

5. Below

6. The Inner Road

7. Rock And Roll Angel

8. We Brought The Angels Down

9. Blacksong

10. Godless And Wicked

11. Soulburn

12. Are You Ready

13. The Whitesnake Medley

Cd # 12 – The covers (studio versions)

1. Naked City

2. Hotel California

3. I Know There’s Something Going On

4. Fool For Your Loving

5. You’re The Voice

6. The Final Frontier

7. Don’t Stop Believing

8. Cold Sweat

9. Perfect Strangers

10. Live To Win

11. Running Up That Hill

12. Die Young

13. The Day The Earth Caught Fire

14. Run To You

15. Egypt (The Chains Are On)

https://www.facebook.com/OFFICIALJORN/

JORN LANDE To Release “50 Years on Earth – The Anniversary Box Set” In December Frontiers Music Srl is honored to celebrate JORN’s 50th birthday in 2018 with the release of the ultimate JORN box set, …

[hentaihunblog-blog]

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS Episode 48

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2018/04/19/yu-gi-oh-vrains-episode-48/

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS Episode 48

/SCREAMING YESSSSSSSSSSSSS IT’S HAPPENING!!!! RITUAL MONSTERS AND SPELLS ARE BACK BABY!!!!!!!!! OUR WISH HAVE BEEN GRANTED!!!!! AND THEY LOOKED SO FREAKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! I don’t even care about how or when Yuusaku picked them up, but it is freaking fabulous (albeit it would’ve been nice to have seen how he got them in the first place, but I ain’t even mad!). I absolutely love the summoning sequence for it, it’s definitely my new favourite simply because of how gorgeous it is. I just hope this isn’t going to be a one-shot wonder sort of thing. I would love it if we can continue see more Ritual Monsters in the future. It just adds more diversity to his deck and just IT’S BEEN WAY TOO LONG!!!!

Alongside the ritual monsters, Shoot Code Talker made its debut! I am absolutely in love with its design, but its combat animation definitely needs a bit of polishing. It looks a bit rough, but I’m sure it’ll look better in due time.

It was entertaining to see how our favourite duo pretty much had it with Bohman when they discovered he has no recollection of his actions or identity, and resorted to using the data storm to end it quickly. And Yuusaku was able to finish him no problem, except the enemies were prepared for them to try and take his data, so Haru had installed an Anti-Ignis program, preventing Ai from obtaining any information whatsoever.

I will laugh though if they promised “trade” doesn’t play out. It would just show how they can bend the rules so that it doesn’t apply to them. Regardless of the fact they could have also modded themselves to be able to refuse such trades, it only makes me more suspicious that these guys are also working for SOL Technologies. It wouldn’t be unthinkable to have two separate units going after Playmaker, by using their publicly hired Bounty Hunters as a cover for their true operation, which seems fitting considering their higher ups are anonymous, even to Akira.

But on the other-hand, they could be an entirely new organization, or may even be a revamped organization of the Hanoi Knights. The Anti-Ignis programs capabilities is nothing to sneeze at. So whoever is running the show has the intelligence and resources needed to combat the Ignis species. Something we know Ryoken is likely perfectly capable of, should he put his mind to it.

Regardless, the enemies have no intentions of letting Yuusaku obtain any information, and had back-ups ready to be deployed when Bohman was defeated. But luckily for Yuusaku, he can continue the chase (but may not be able to get anything out of it) while Soulburner enters the scene to deal with Bit and Boot, the two latest members of the mystery organization to get involved. They arrived to capture Ai, but they were certainly not expecting to see another one, that is Flame, making his debut. He definitely has a more sinister/intense aura about him than Ai… I hope he doesn’t turn out evil because that would make Soulburner a potential backstabber we fear of.

I am curious to find out how long Flame and Soulburner have been together. Flame regards Ai as an idiot, so it wouldn’t surprise me when Ai had left in attempt to protect their world, Flame took it upon himself to ensure his survival and ended up with Soulburner. If they have been with each other for a while now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the two had deliberately made the decision to lay low and stay off of Link VRAINS altogether during the period the Hanoi Knights were running rampant. But with what happened to the Cyberse World, it could have forced Flame to get involved.

As for Bohman and Haru… Apparently the two of them are brothers (sounds a bit sketchy to me…) and together they are trying to recollect Boham’s lost memories. The dude is in pretty shit condition since he can’t even remember who he is, what he recently did (robbing Jin of his consciousness) and it speaks almost like a cyborg. But if there’s one thing that drew my attention is the theme of “recollecting memories”. This is something that is particularly present in the new ED Theme, so it makes me wonder if they will be addressing the possibilities of the victims who were caught up in the Lost Incident, who had lost a piece of themselves (highly theorized as memories). It has yet to be explained why Yuusaku lives alone, what are his origins, and whether or not he even remembers life before the incident had happened.

With this in mind, I wonder if this means whoever is running the show with the newest enemies made a bold claim to Bohman (and potentially Haru as well) that if they were to capture the Ignis, they will be able to regain Bohman’s lost memories. But that still wouldn’t explain why they went after Haru and stole his consciousness, unless it’s supposed to be a way of “rebuilding an identity” by stealing others’ consciousness… Or something along the lines.

However, the one thing at strike me the most is that if Bohman happens to be one of the six children, then he could perhaps be a major example of suffering from the extreme side-effects some of the victims are being tormented by. We don’t know if there were children who couldn’t win enough duels, and what became of them should they had little success. Spectre was a bizarre exception, where he thrived in such environment, but for others who struggled, it was sheer torture, even more so for the ones who were weak.

That being said, I am absolutely loving with how the new season is kicking off. It’s a plus in my books to see several characters, especially on the villains side emerging from the shadows, which is great considering how contained the previous season’s cast was. Also I am absolutely hyped to see Soulburner duel!!! BRING IT ON!!!!!!

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[sworntolight-a]

10. Who takes like 10 minutes of persuading to get out of bed each morning? (for both!)

Pom’s a sucker for OTP memes-

10. Who takes like 10 minutes of persuading to get out of bed each morning? 

Amusingly, for both girls, the answer’s the same: Takeru!

For Kiku, mornings are a struggle; she’s a naturally sunny-in-the-morning kind of person, and getting her fiance out of bed to face that definitely is easier said than done. She’s had to pull his blankets and pillows away from him just to make sure he gets up, and won’t leave the room aside from to shower until he does - And if he’s not up by then, she’s dropping pillows on him until he gets annoyed enough to drag himself out of bed!

With Mako though, she’s got a different method: Food. Having lived with him as long as she has, both legitimately and as his hangout after school, she’s picked up on a few things - namely just how much Takeru budges for a good, hot meal. She’s not much of a morning person herself if she doesn’t have to be, so if lazily nudging him while she’s getting up doesn’t work, or even stealing his blanket in passing,then her next stop is making breakfast and teasing him with the scents - and a glimpse from the doorway of his plate - until he grudgingly  gets up. Usually to steal a piece of bacon from her plate instead. Spoilers: She always lets him-

BONUS: In their Fireflower verse, it’s both Mako and Takeru that take forever, leaving Kiku to huff at the two of them usually trying to become a pair of pure blanket loafs together. Two normally outnumber one, but when that one is their ‘keeper’... Bed’s usually empty faster than they can blink. Nobody crosses the butterfly. She always wins. XD

[sworntolight-a]

💗 One for Mako

Send 💗for sudden, tight hugs!

She didn’t even think about it - The moment Takeru’s arms wrapped around her, Mako had all but snuggled herself into his hold, eyes drifting closed with the warmth of him. He’d always been warm, like sitting by a fireplace on a cold day… A natural heat she couldn’t help but lose herself in every time, without fail. It was why she often cuddled into him whenever they were lounging around one of their apartments, and exactly why she’d never hesitate whenever he gave her the cue for more.

And when he didn’t pull away, she let a content hum escape her, head tilting just enough to nuzzle her face into his shoulder. It almost felt like a real fire had reached out for her, curled around her and pulled her into somewhere safe, where she’d be protected and-

“I love you… Takeru…~”

Maybe he wouldn’t mind if she stayed there forever…?