Sometimes, Hope Is Lost

unexpected meeting

The voice was there.

It had been there all this while. Ever since Aichi's royal paladins disappeared, the gold paladins in their place.

The voice was noisy to say the least, screaming and whining whenever Aichi got into a fight.

The blueberry remembered it vaguely, screaming at the back of his head when he fought with Leon. Never stopping until the boy managed to beat the blonde by the skin of his teeth.

It was only until then that the voice ceased it's screeching and calmed down to a gentle whisper of thanks.

Aichi remembered.

When he passed out due to exhaustion.

There stood all his royal paladins, all standing side by side and in the middle, beside blaster blade, stood a blonde male in a hospital gown.

The male smiled at him, hand reaching up to touch his shoulder length blonde locks.

" Thank you. You have freed us. My friends and I. I'm sorry for my tardy appearance as well as for what my brother has done to all of you. I'm sure he didn't me-"

"No. It's alright. I did it for Cray. "

The blonde smiled before letting go of his hair.

" Still. Thank you. I'll leave you to your units now. We will meet again"

And with that the male slowly faded away.

Which kinda brings us to the current situation.

A blonde male, staring at the group of regular customers, of course the main characters.

" Hey is this card capital? " The newcomer broke the silence.
Misaki nods in reply as she continues to stare at the male.

"That's good. I've been looking for this shop everywhere. By the way, have you seen my brother Leon Souryu?"

The occupants of the cardshop simultaneously shake their heads slowly as they looked on at the male walking further into the cardshop.

"Bad luck I guess...... Anyways, would anyone be interested in Cardfighting me? I'm not too sure if I have gotten rusty over the time I was sealed."

" You're the guy from that dream!" Aichi squeaked out while clutching his deck close to his chest.

" Dream ? What dream?"

" After I ended my cardfight with Leon-kun" the blueberry explained.

" Oh I'm so sorry. It seems that I have lost my manners while I was sealed. My name is Leo Souryu. Aged 17. Nice to meet you."

" what!?!?!?"

Misaki looks at Leo, confused and curious.

" Anyway, what did you mean sealed?" Leo blinks.

" Oh sorry ..... You weren't aware. It seems that when my brother made a deal with the void, I was sealed as well, since of course it was stated in the deal. But I don't think Leon really noticed it. He was more concentrated on getting stronger. It seems that the different clans have gone back to their respective vanguards ."

" You mean to say that your own brother sealed you?" Kamui cries out in disbelief.

Leo nods in affirmation. While the spikey haired junior ruffles his hair to get rid of the itching thought in his head.

" I don't get it at all..." Many agreeing to the 'boss lady's' statement.

" So you mean you were sealed along with our clans?" Aichi asked.

" Not all of them of course only kagero, royal paladin and shadow paladin,  Anyway, I have to thank you for saving me and I apologise for all the troubles Leon had caused you. I was kinda hoping to see shadow paladin with their vanguard does anyone know of a Ren Suzugamori-?"

" nii-chan!?!?"

A shriek echoes throughout the shop
" Too loud!!!!" Shin whines while rubbing his ear.

Everyone turns to see Leon standing at the doors staring at leo with Sharlene and Julian by his side.

" Leon! How great it is to see you again. Oh my how much you have grown! "

And Leon did the most unexpected thing a younger would do as well as what was most unexpected of the mature blonde.

Punch him

Leon punched leo square on the face, receiving shocked stares from almost everyone.

" That hurt......"

" So... who is older?" Kamui questioned while giving a shocked/ confused look on this face.

" I'm younger than him. Just that I'm more mature than him or so many say. " Leon looked up receiving many looks of confusion

" Anyway, what are you doing here Leon-Kun?" Aichi asked." To find my brother before he creates anymore trouble. "
"Since you are here, let's have a match don't you think it'll be fun?" Leo suggested while moving his eyebrows up and down repeatedly, hinting playfully

" No"

Fat crocodile tears spilled out of the older's glistening amethyst eyes.

Leon surrendered after looking at the wide puppy eyes the older was giving him.

" Fine....." The younger agreed begrudgingly

Time skip

" Sepron finish him off!" Leon couldn't guard "drive check. Critical trigger! All effects to sepron. " Two damage goes to Leon's damage zone making it six. "I lose" leo collected his cards and started walking to Leon. " Why not try this formation next time. " Leo swapped a few cards around the battlefield and stood back " did Leon souryu just lose?" Shingo asked in disbelief. " I've never seen that deck before. Misaki, have you?"" No sorry aichi." " What is that deck?" Kamui asked leo. " "Aqua elemental. It's good. I built it myself. Wanna try it? " Leo asked while passing his deck to kamui. " Nii-chan. We need to go now." " Wait, leo-Kun, can you have a match with me?" Aichi asked. Leo looked at Leon. Leon just shrugged. Leo turned to aichi." Sure. I wanna see how well you taught blade." They set their starting cards. " Ready? Stand up! ( My: leo) vanguard!" Both flipped their starters.

Leo: serpent tail, wavelash!
Aichi: stardust trumpeter!
Leo: I'll go first. Draw, I ride serpent rider, promos.
Aichi: draw, ride little liberator marron . I attack
Leo: no guard
Aichi: drive check. No trigger
Leo: damage. No trigger either. Now I draw and ride serpent's descendant , lavvy. Attack.( Aichi shook his head) drive, draw trigger. I draw.
Aichi: damage, no trigger. Draw. Rise my avatar. I ride. Blaster blade liberator. Skill wave lash off the field. I call! Attack!

Time skip.....

"Aichi onii-chan....." " Lost......" Miwa cut into Kamui's sentence. Both, jaws gaping open.

" It wasn't a big deal. Aichi is a worthy opponent but he had a few flaws..... here Aichi"

The older male walked over to Aichi's side of the table before fiddling around with the play field, then proceeding to pull out a card from his chest pocket.

" Here. Keep the card. I don't usually use royal paladin. It works for your play style ....  Should work..... "

The blond then turned. "Well then, I think I had a bit of fun, shall we be off Leon? I'm a bit tired. "

Leon sighed. " You shouldn't be moving around in the first place. The least you could do was to not exert yourself through playing."

Leo shrugged his shoulders in dismissal at his brother's words. " Let's go then?"

The younger sighed again. " Yeah. Let's do that. Thank you Sendou , for babysitting my brother. " And with that the duo left , a gust of wind rushing through the doors of the cardshop.