Reverse
A Cardfight! Vanguard one-shot

Summary: All I wanted . . . All I wanted was to be accepted. Not as a rival, not as the strongest Vanguard player, but as your friend. If it takes acquiring this force for you to see that, then I'm willing to take the risk. Third person Contains spoilers.

Takuto Tatsunagi's Mansion – Vanguard Room

Kai watched in horror, bullets of sweat pouring down his face, as the card on top of his deck flew from the impact of Takuto's attack. The breeze coming from the impact flipped the card over, revealing that it was not a trigger. The damage was 6 – 4. Kai Toshiki had lost.

"D-Damn it . . ." He muttered, clenching his cards tightly as if to crumple them together. "How could I have lost to you? Again?" As soon as he said this, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, causing him to clutch the neck of his shirt.

"Face it, Kai," Takuto responded, arms out as if he was giving thanks to a deity for his victory, "you'll never defeat me. And at this rate, you'll never get another chance to fight me again. Reverse is already taking its toll on you, and you'll be dead within minutes."

"What did you say?" Kai snarled, but before he could get another word out, he felt the pain in his chest getting stronger and stronger, causing him to fall to his knees. He felt as though he couldn't breathe; despite this pain, he placed a hand on the table and forced himself up to his feet. All of this pain . . . because of some card that had Reverse in its name? Is this what Aichi experienced in his fight with Ishida?

"Oh, my my. You still have the energy to stand? I'm impressed, Kai," Takuto noted with a slight chuckle. "In that case, how about I make you a deal? I can tell you've been struggling with Psyqualia for quite some time, and that Psyqualia has given way to Void. Having two powers wouldn't hurt you one bit. What do you say of joining Link Joker and having Reverse?"

"Like hell!" Kai snapped. "I've seen what you've done with Ishida. I've seen what Reverse can do. And you're trying to tell me it's not going to hurt me? You're a liar, Takuto. And I don't know where you got this crazy idea that I had Psyqualia either. Maybe you should stop living in your fantasy world and start living in the real world."

"Heh. I wonder which one of us is really living in the fantasy world, Kai," Takuto remarked with a sly smile. "Sounds like someone's in denial. Then what do you call seeing that image of Suzugamori Ren and Sendou Aichi's fight in the recent tournament then?"

Upon hearing this, Kai's mind froze, and he immediately looked up at Takuto with disbelief and shock in his eyes. "H-How do you know about that?" he sputtered. He thought that he was the only one who saw that vision apart from Ren and Aichi. Takuto wasn't even there! How could he possibly know . . . ?

"Idiot. You don't think I'd know about the state of something I had a hand in creating?" Takuto snapped for the first time that day. Realizing what he had just done, the boy composed himself and walked towards Kai, grabbing his right arm. At that moment, the reflection of Psyqualia flashed not only in Takuto's eyes, but in Kai's as well. Kai felt a surge of an unknown, yet familiar force throughout his body and, terrified, instantly backed away from Takuto. The force Kai had felt was Psyqualia, although Kai didn't realize it. He remembered having experienced something like this before, when he was fighting Leon, and because he had felt that force, he equated it to defeat. To feel something like this again at this time . . .

"What are you talking about?! What are you doing?!" Kai yelled angrily. "Something that you created? Give me a break!"

"So you felt it too," Takuto stated calmly. Kai widened his eyes as a response, but didn't say anything. Takuto then continued, "The force of Psyqualia. I always knew you had it, but for some reason, it went into a dormant phase with you. But after that fight with Leon, you've been struggling to keep it – the desire for stability and the desire of the power to achieve that stability - under control."

"N-Nonsense!" Kai denied immediately. But inside, Kai knew he was speaking the truth. The reason he gave Morikawa his deck for that one match, the reason he helped Izaki and let him fight Aichi . . . the reason for all of that was because he was struggling with some force that hungered and thirsted for power – Psyqualia, as Takuto kept calling it. Kai understood that if he were to let his emotions go, let this force take over him, he knew it would be over.

His life would be over.

Any relationships that he had established would disappear in the blink of an eye.

It was because of this force that he had lost his parents. It was because of this force that he lost Ren. It was because of this force that he was losing Aichi.

To succumb to it would mean defeat for him.

He needed to be stronger.

He needed to be strong enough to keep Aichi from getting stronger, from getting away from him.

He needed to be stronger than Psyqualia.

"Is it really nonsense, Kai Toshiki?" Takuto inquired. "You say one thing, but your face is telling something completely different."

"Answer me this, Takuto," Kai interjected impatiently, his voice cracking. "If I do join Link Joker, promise me this: You'll stay away from Aichi." At this, the pain in his chest intensified, causing him to collapse on one knee.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's Link Joker's goal: To get rid of the kid," Takuto sighed.

"W-What?" Kai choked.

"But, tell you what. If you join us, we won't bother with the kid; that'll be your job. And don't worry. You'll be stronger than him, if you join us. In fact, you'll be stronger than Psyqualia itself. So you would have nothing to worry about. Like I said, I had a hand in creating Psyqualia, so I would know. I know all its intricate flaws, so I could help you find Aichi's weak point."

Kai, at first, didn't believe at all what Takuto was saying. But, he realized that he didn't have time to not believe him. He could feel himself slowly dying, slowly losing touch with reality. His heart was beating extremely fast within his chest, causing it to throb and hurt tremendously.

He was dying, and he knew it.

And the only way he could stop the pain – not only the physical pain, but the emotional pain – was to accept Takuto's offer. He wasn't about to die. Not without putting a proper end to the emotional misery that he had endured for the last couple of months – no, years rather. Not without Aichi recognizing him not just as a Vanguard prodigy, not just as a rival, but as a friend.

And if it took joining Link Joker to accomplish that, so be it.

"T-Takuto . . ." Kai gasped, clutching his chest even harder, "I-I'll join. I'll join your organization. Just . . . please. M-Make the pain stop . . ."

"Eh? Well, this is unexpected," Takuto remarked with a smirk, his eyebrows raised. "The great Kai Toshiki, begging for help. Well, Link Joker needs more people such as yourself, full of emotional baggage and struggle, so not to worry." He bent down to Kai's level with a Vanguard card that was glowing purple in his hand. "It'll all be over soon . . . Kai Toshiki."

Takuto's face then revealed the characteristic Link Joker markings on his forehead, which indicated his rank of second in command of the organization, although Kai failed to notice due to his vision deteriorating. Takuto then stood up and placed the card, back of the card facing upwards, which was in his hand, over Kai's head. He chanted a prayer, and Reverse flowed from the card to Kai.

At this instant, he felt his strength improve tremendously, almost back to what it was before he faced Takuto. But, he also felt something else; he felt a different kind of strength that he had never experienced before. The kind of strength that could suck the ocean dry if he wanted to, the kind of strength that could demolish a mountain, the kind of strength that could make people feel they were on the top of the world.

"This . . . This is Reverse," Kai whispered as two red stripes began to form under his eyes.

"Yes, Kai. This is the force you'll use to stop Aichi. Guaranteed to be much stronger than Psyqualia by far," Takuto smirked. "What do you think?"

"I . . . I like this. I like this a lot," Kai almost laughed, clenching his fist.

"Good to hear," Takuto commented. "Glad to see we didn't have to resort to purifying your mind or wiping your memory. We had to do that with Naoki, and that was such a hassle. It's nice having obedient subordinates."

At this moment, a noise rang throughout the room, one that sounded like a doorbell. Takuto was slightly irked by this turn of events, but maintained his composure as he walked toward the door to open it. When he opened the door, he saw Kourin standing there. At once, his entire demeanor changed, and he greeted her cheerily.

"Takuto," she cut him off abruptly, "The head of Link Joker would like to speak with you. He sounds quite upset."

"What, now?" he sighed irritably, "Fine. Kourin, watch Kai for me while I go talk with him. Especially make sure you give him this." He handed her the card he had used to transfer Reverse onto Kai with, and then walked briskly out of the room towards the communications room down the end of the hall.

"Kai Toshiki. I would have never expected to see you here in all places," Kourin said, almost laughing a bit. "What, did Aichi send you here to - ?"

"Don't you dare talk to me about him," he snapped, standing up on his own two feet for the first time since his near-death experience. Regaining his composure, he explained, "I got curious after what happened to Ishida. And found my way here."

"And you clearly got more than you bargained for, I see," she mentioned, taking note of the red markings under Kai's eyes that were disappearing very slowly. "Speaking of which, I was told to give you this." She walked towards him and handed him the card that Takuto had used earlier to transfer the force of Reverse onto him. He grabbed the card from her and looked at it; it was a card he had never seen before: "Twin Blade Hollow, Binary Star".

"What am I supposed to do with it?" he muttered, staring at it. "It doesn't fit with my deck at all."

"Did Takuto not tell you? Anyone that joins Link Joker gets a new deck, since Link Joker is busy trying to take over Planet Cray. We don't want to have any mix-ups," she explained.

"Huh," Kai remarked, staring at the card. He had noticed the card strangely looked a bit like Blaster Blade, only much more sinister. "And when will I get to see this new deck?"

"After Takuto's done talking with the leader of Link Joker, I suppose. I wasn't informed of all of the details," Kourin responded with a sigh, shrugging her shoulders.

"So wait a minute," Kai interrupted, "How come you're a part of all of this? Isn't that what you went to Miyaji High for? To get away from it all?"

"Heh. Well, it's kind of a long story."

"I have time."

"Well, it started right after the Asia Circuit tournament was over . . ."

Kourin's Flashback

Takuto had taken a sip of his cup of herbal tea as Kourin, Rekka, and Suiko stared incredulously at him while they were sitting opposite of him in the Tatsunagi meeting room.

"You want us to do what?" Kourin interrogated standing up.

"Be normal school girls but investigate the ones that have Psyqualia," Takuto answered the flustered girl calmly. "Rekka will go to Miyaji Middle, Suiko will go to Fukuhara High, and you will go to Miyaji High. It seems that Link Joker is upset with someone in one of those schools, and those are the only schools I could think of that could possibly have people with Psyqualia."

"Eh? So Kourin gets to go to Aichi's school? Hmmm," Rekka commented with a sly smirk on her face, looking in Kourin's direction, but Kourin merely huffed and said, "Rekka, please. We're in a meeting."

"But she doesn't deny that she's excited about it either . . ." the red-haired girl muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Kourin snapped.

"Nothing~"

"Girls, please," Takuto interjected with a sigh, "this is serious business. My guess is that the one Link Joker is upset about it Sendou Aichi. Link Joker didn't want the Gold Paladins and the Royal Paladins to ever join forces, but since it happened, the organization is royally upset. But I don't know that for sure. That's why I'm sending you three to investigate."

"But how will we know which one is the responsible person?" Rekka asked, tilting her head. "We can't just automatically assume anyone with Psyqualia is responsible for making Linky upset."

"Link Joker," Takuto enunciated as he put his hand to his forehead. "That aside, you're right, Rekka. The only way you'll be able to tell is how the Psyqualia reacts in a fight. If the Psyqualia takes a while to appear during a fight, but you can sense the person has it, then you have found the culprit. When you do, tell me immediately."

Takuto Tatsunagi's Mansion – Vanguard Room

"So you're saying that Link Joker has gone insane . . . because of Aichi?" Kai asked after a period of silence between the two of them.

"You pick up fast," Kourin commented. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. So I was sent to Miyaji High to look after him, although I figured since everything revolves around him, he had to be the one that's putting Link Joker in a bad position."

At this point, Takuto walked into the room, breathing as though he was running out of breath. "Kourin, they want to speak with you. You have a new target now."

"New target? What happened to me fighting Aichi? Did that change?" Kourin inquired.

"Yeah, uh, you see, we're kinda sending Kai to go after Aichi," Takuto explained.

"Oh," Kourin responded as-a-matter-of-factly. "Well, thanks for letting me know . . . not." She then walked swiftly out of the room; she walked so fast that she nearly caused Takuto to lose his balance and fall over.

"That Kourin. Her temper is definitely one to be reckoned with," he remarked after Kourin was well out of sight. "I'm sure by now she's told you the whole story, including the fact that you're getting a new deck, Kai."

"She did," Kai responded bluntly.

"Oh good," Takuto grinned, "Makes my job a whole lot easier, which is always nice." He pulled a deck out from one of the pockets in his clothes and handed it to Kai. "It's still glowing purple because Link Joker just sent the deck to me. Don't worry; it'll wear off with time," he explained, handing the deck to Kai.

He grabbed the deck and perused it carefully to familiarize himself with it. "When can I start my assignment?" Kai inquired as soon as he finished looking through his deck.

"Well, it's a bit late in the day to do anything now," Takuto remarked, noticing the setting sun outside, "So I think it'd be best if you wait until tomorrow. Show up at Card Capital as usual after you finish school, challenge Aichi to a fight, you know the drill. Just make sure you summon that reverse card, whatever you do. And let me know the results when you're done. But are you sure you're ready to face Aichi? You've only looked through your deck and haven't even tested it out yet."

"I have never been so sure in my entire life, Takuto," Kai answered, gripping his new deck tighter in his hand, "Don't worry about me." As soon as he said this, Kai walked out of the door, out of the Tatsunagi mansion, to wait.

Sendou Residence

"Aichi, you better go to bed. You have school in the morning!" Shizuka Sendou called to her son from the bottom of the stairs. She could tell he was still awake at 11:30 at night by all the rustling and footsteps she heard.

"Okay, Mom," Aichi called back. He had been looking over his deck again to make sure there were no adjustments that had to be made before it was to be used again the next day during the Cardfight Club meeting. Misaki had agreed to help him improve his fighting in the absence of Ishida, who was to be in the hospital for a couple of more days, and Kourin.

He finally decided that he had done all that he could do for the night, so he rose from his seat, turned off the lamp, and went to sleep.

However, within a couple of hours, he was surrounded by the familiar purple and black shadows, and in front of him, he saw Kai Toshiki.

"K-Kai? Kai-kun?" Aichi called out, confused as to why he was in his dream. "Kai-kun!"

However, when Kai turned around, the boy gasped. It was Kai . . . but it wasn't Kai.

Kai had a malicious expression on his face, and he was holding a card that was glowing red. He had two red marks under his eyes, and they looked exactly like the ones that Naoki had!

"No . . . Kai-kun!" Aichi called out as he stepped forward, his voice cracking.

"Aichi . . ." Kai responded, a small smile forming on his lips, his eyes widening tremendously "I'LL LOCK EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU . . . !"

At that instant, chains appeared out of thin air and grabbed Aichi by both his arms. The boy tried to struggle free, but without any success. Kai looked at the struggling boy with great satisfaction and walked over to him until their faces were mere centimeters apart.

"How does it feel, Aichi? How does it feel to not have any strength? Feels miserable, doesn't it?"

"K-Kai-kun . . ."

"You're lucky this is only a dream. But just you wait. Tomorrow, I'll find you and lock you for good. I'll make you recognize me, Aichi, even if it kills me."

At that instant, the card in Kai's hand emitted a red flame that immediately engulfed Aichi, causing the boy to scream. He then woke up from the dream and found himself sweating profusely, his arms stretched out towards the ceiling. The boy was relieved to find it was only a dream. But . . . it had felt so real.

"Kai-kun . . ." Aichi whispered, "You make a horrible liar."

Author's Note

Kai Toshiki indeed is a very horrible liar. /sarcasm

Third Vanguard fanfic to date. I may or may not be getting the hang of this. But, as usual, if you see any blatant errors, like characterization or grammar, kindly point them out in your review if you are kind to give one.

And yeah. I left the one-shot at a ginormous cliff-hanger because I couldn't bring myself to continue from that point. Originally, I was gonna actually have Kai and Aichi confront each other at Card Capital, but I feel I already made my point and going any further would be redundant.

And my titles are very creative yes.

Now excuse me as I go cry.

Hakase Fudo: June 14, 2013