The Regional Tournament

The day came as everyone was to meet at Card Capital to go to the Regional Tournament. Forte was running to the shop, panting lightly as he had woken up a little later than he should have. He slid on the sidewalk in front of the shop so hard that he tripped as the Manager and Yuki were both packing what they would be taking with them. "Oh, Forte... you came right on time," the manager said.

"You're slow." Yuki simply said as she puts a box inside the bus that the team was going to ride in. "Hurry up and get inside. You'll be leaving soon."

"Bah, why do I have to be stuck with the sour mannered guy and a shorty here?" Zora groans, filled with sarcasm, taunting/mocking, and annoyance.

"What the heck's that suppose to mean?!" Forte said as he gave a fiery look of anger at Zora. He stopped for a moment and lightly said, "But I guess you're right about one thing... doesn't seem right that its just us."

Nova was already in the van, looking on as the manager loaded in the last bag. "Okay, I think that's everything! It looks like we're ready to go." Forte pumped his fist in the air and called out, "Alright! I'll take out everyone for Nee-chan's sake!" He then got into the bus, looking for the nearest window seat.

Zora grins rather evilly as she was the one who took the window seat fartest away from the door. "I'm sorry, did you want this seat?" she mocks Forte as she stretches. "Too bad. I always take the window seats. No exceptions, even for a tiny little kid."

"All right, we'll be watching the regionals from here." Yuki said, closing the trunk as she walks over to the side. "Don't go crashing into other cars like last week."

Forte growled as he looked to see that Nova had the other Window seat. Nova got up, moving to another seat without a word as Forte sat down there, glaring at Zora for what she did. "Ahh... its not like I'd do that..." the manager said as he went to the seat. "Okay, let's go everyone!" With that said, he started the van and the trip to the Regional Tournament began.

"Oi oi, Nova, don't go spoiling the kid. He shouldn't just get what he wants because he's all mad and stuff." Zora says, rolling his eyes as the male moved. "Well whatever...the sooner we get this done, the better."

Forte stuck his tongue out at Zora from her response as Nova simply remained quiet. The manager sweat-dropped with a sigh and muttered to himself, "The team aspects are a little lost to us, aren't they?"

After a long and somewhat awkward drive, they arrived at a somewhat large stadium. The Manager smiled as he opened the doors, letting everyone leave the van as they wished as he himself left. "I'll go register us, so you guys just head to the front entrance." he said as he left to the front desk.

"Finally!" Zora shouts, getting out oft he van and stretching. "Jeez, thatw as a really long drive...I almost thought I'd die from staying with that beansprout for so long!" She grins, knowing what kind of reaction she'll get from Forte.

"You are you calling beansprout?!" Forte said as his eyes glared at Zora yet again. He started running at Zora just as someone else was walking by, crashing right into them. Forte fell down, shaking his head in a daze before he looked up and said, "Sorry about tha... Oh, its YOU!"

The man in between Forte and Zora was tan skinned with black short hair. He grinned as he looked down and said, "Well, if it isn't the little boy Forte. You had the guts to show up here to watch us win, huh?" Forte jumped up and said, "I'm here to win, damnit! Don't think this'll go like last year, Durbin. I was't around last year."

"He a friend of yours shorty?" Zora says, turning around to see the tall and tanned boy. She stretches out her arms again and groans. "Great...so now you're going to lose your cool against this guy and make us lose...and here I was hoping to screw around in the tournament."

The boy grinned as he turned to Zora. "This is your teammate? It looks like you would've been better off in Shop Handsome after all. This girl looks puny and weak." Forte started to walk, trying to keep his cool as what Zora said wasn't wrong. "Who needs your shop? We can win just fine..." As he spoke, Nova walked forward, his eyes closed as if it didn't matter that a rival team member was in front of him. "Weak dogs bark loudest," Nova said lightly as he started to walk to the front entrance, causing Durbin to become furious.

An angry vein appears on Zora's head as she grabs a hold of Durbin, pulling him close to her. "Oh? I'm puny and weak, am I? Why don't you try saying that after I kill you?! I don't care of you and Forte have a history, I'll be the one to finish you off!" With that said, she lets him go and shoves him back before heading ovr to the front entarance.

Forte followed after her, sighing lightly as he said, "Sorry about that... He's a part of Team Handsome... They made it to the finals last year and almost won the whole Regional Tournament. Their shop is near where I live, but to be on their team you need a specific type of deck and I didn't wanna give up using my Blaster Blade." Nova gave a small, unseen smile as he heard Forte speak. He then looked upward at the Stadium as it drew closer. "A Foo Fighter team won the Regionals last year. Foo Fighters is a large organization with many members. They all enter different regional tournaments in an attempt to sweep the National tournament just to flaunt their power. Its said the top 8 teams from last year's National Tournament had 6 Foo Fighter teams, one coming from this tournament."

"...Foo Fighter..." Zora repeats, rubbing her chin. "It's that giant building we saw...and that Shinra guy, right? Are you saying we'lll have to fight someone like that?" She thinks carefully before laughing out loud. "Well, I'll just screw around unless we fight a Foo Fighter team!"

"If you don't take this seriously that means Nova and me'll have to do that much more work," Forte said, shrugging lightly. When they arrived at the front of the building, the manager was there waiting for them. "Someone will be at the van later to pick up the things we need, so for now we can go inside and get ready."

"Well, I wasn't playing seriously in the Card shop Tourney so bite me." Zora hisses back at Forte, sticking out her tongue before turing to the manager. "Well..there's not really much to do here, is there?"

"If you need something to do, look over your deck," Nova said simply as he walked inside. Inside, the space was very large and there seemed to be many people walking around. There was even a big screen with the stage in front. "Hey, everybody! Welcome one and all to the 3rd annual Vanguard Kanto Regional Tournament! I'm your host of the day, MC Mika and joining me is a special guest who I'll give it up to right now!"

"Hi, everyone!" Said a cheerful, red haired girl. "I'm Mimi! I hope to see really cool fights today!~" She grins as Mimi turns to MC Mika. "Ne Ne, Mika-san, what do you think of the current teams signed up for the tournament?"

"Well we have last years Runner Up, from Cardshop Handsome is Team Star Striker!" the MC said as the boy's picture from before came up with two others. "Its rumored that only Durbin of the team from last year remains and that two even stronger competetors have the other two spots in the team! But even that will be a tough match for the returning champs, Team Cray from Foo Fighters!"

"Ahh! Team Cray as well as the rest of the Foo Fighters are aiming to overwhelm this years National Tournament again!" Mimi said with a grin. "But I see a lot of new teams here today that we haven't seen before...I can't wait for today's tournament! I even saw a really handsome guy earlier with green hair! I say their team wins this year!"

"Green haired boy..." the MC said as he looked through the list. "Ah, I see it! The last entry of the day! Team Divine Souls!"

"Divine Souls?" Forte said as he heard the name. "Oh, does that mean we're the chosen fighters with pure hearts meant to fight together?" The manager scratched his head lightly and said, "Um... I kinda just wrote that because it sounded cool at the time..."

"Nyahhh! I hope they win, then!" Mimi cheers, blushing lightly as she grins.

Zora rolls her eyes at the Manager's comment before clearing her throat. "All right...so what do we do?"

"Now then..." the MC said. "Since all the reams are registered, we can pair them together now and begin the Tournament!" The board filled the screen as the names all moved in random order. In seconds, all the teams were placed on the screen with their opponent's next to them.

"Looks like our team's okay for now," Zach said as he was with Sera in the Hospital. His laptop was on a deck near the bed where they were both watching the event. "If they battle Foo Fighters now, it'd be trouble, but it seems like that's not the case."

"Yaaaay! I hope everyone out there gives it their all today!" Mimi cheers as the pairings were up. "Good luck~"

"Yeah..." Sera said lightly as she was sitting up on her bed. She starts coughing lightly, trying to control it as she looks at the computer. "I-I hope they'll win."

"Our match isn't far from now," the manager said as he turned to the team. "We should probably talk about team order from here." Forte raised his hand and called out, "Ooh, ooh! I wanna go first!"

Zach was worried and concerned for Sera. he handed her a glass of water away from the computer and said, "They should be fine. They have Nova, and that kid was good enough to beat you and me both. You'd do great in there, but we can leave it to them right now, right?"