deepseahunter_shark

::I am not Shark's Sister, I have a name you know.

She waits with her brother.::

*Soon after you knock, Akari opens the door.*

Thank you both for coming. Please come in.

*She steps aside to let them walk into the area by the door where shoes are kept. Once they have removed their shoes, Akari leads them up a couple of small steps into a hallway with laminated flooring. The first thing they may notice is the... interesting decor on the walls, seemingly things such as tribal masks and other strange items.

She leads them into the living room area, which also has laminated flooring. This room, too, has very strange decor, like small totem poles, wooden carvings and other similar items. The room also has some nice indoor plants, but the whole room looks quite 'exotic'.
In the middle of the room are two sofas, set in an 'L' shape. It seems they are also not the only people in the room. A little old lady appears to be setting down a tray containing a teapot and teacups onto the low table in front of the sofas, a green-haired girl is sat on one of the sofas and a tall boy around her age is stood near to her.*

*not being immediate in recognizing either of them from their online pictures, he's... admittedly a little bothered by the girl and boy being around like that. the old lady is one thing, but...*

Are they gonna to be sticking around for this?

Edited 2016-10-10 14:24 (UTC)

If you'd rather they not be, I can ask them to leave, but I felt it was important for my grandmother, Kotori and Yuma to hear your account of what happened in Heartland, as well as give you both the chance to ask them any questions.

*he gives one look at who he assumes is Kotori, then, before looking back at Akari*

Fine. They can stick around.

Very well. Please, take a seat.

*She motions towards the second sofa, before going to sit down on the sofa Kotori is on. Haru pours them all some tea and sets up a plate full of home-made biscuits onto the table, before going to sit down between Akari and Kotori. Yuma kinda sits on the arm rest of the sofa, next to Kotori.
Akari sets up what seems to be a small handheld recording device onto the table and picks up a pen and notepad to make additional notes.*

The best place to start is with introductions.

*he sits down, likely with Rio next to him*

Fine. I'm Shark, then.

You should use your real name in situations like this, older brother. It's one thing to use your nick name, but to the point of using it in place of your real name is just ridiculous.

*... che* Fine, fine.

Kamishiro, Ryoga. You happy, Rio?

Exceedingly so.

I'm Kamishiro Rio.

It's nice to meet the both of you.
As you know, I'm Tsukumo Akari.

And sitting next to me is my grandmother, Tsukumo Haru, my younger brother, Tsukumo Yuma and also Mizuki Kotori, Yuma's girlfriend.

*She motions towards each of them as she introduces them.*

I guess I'll start by asking the two of you to recount what you experienced when the attack on Heartland happened. If there are any areas difficult for either of you that you don't want to mention, that's fine.

... Alright. Let's start this off then.

*taking a breath*

We had both been visiting Heartland, to see our parents. It was only the day after we had come back, when the attack had even happened, right out of nowhere. There wasn't any warning or anything, but we had all managed to hide ourselves out of the way, even while it went on. Not that we couldn't see what had gone on to start-- those people commanding those Ancient Gear monsters to destroy buildings and go after people...

*... he looks away* We could really only hide for so long, though, even once we got settled. After a couple days, things seemed to had calmed down enough that we could try to sneak out-- maybe even force our way through if it came to that.

Of course, we ended up having to do just that.

And it was just one Duel after another. We kept trying to push to the city limits and escape. But between where we hid and the edge of the city were... for lack of a better word.

Child soldiers, skulking around looking to pick off any remaining people within the city, near as I can tell, and taking out any of the JSDF that tried to break into Heartland.

Frankly, I barely remember half of how we kept pushing but we kept Dueling, Dueling to the point of exhausting.

Smashing those giant Ancient Gears, and the wolfs with them.

And every time we knocked them down, it seemed like another two joined in the fight...

*There was a silence in the room as the family contemplated what the two siblings were telling them. Akari considered themselves lucky. They were able to get out fairly quickly, but these two had to fight in the worst of it, in order to make their escape.
And the attackers were only children themselves? Everything had happened so fast when they escaped, Akari hadn't even considered the age of those who attacked.

Breaking the silence, Akari spoke to continue the interview.*

And you witnessed something while there, right? You witnessed what happened to those who weren't able to make it out.

*Kotori noticeably looks up at them when Akari says this.*

... Yeah.

When we were escaping, it was inevitable that they'd try to go for some underhanded strategy.

While we were focused on what was happening right in front of us, some of those guys tried to come up from behind and to the sides.

Our parents noticed though, and tried to block them from doing anything. When they yelled out, we turned around to see what was happening.

... Only way I could describe it is that... They were there the first moment. And then the next moment, there was this flash of light-- it looked like it had come from the attackers' disks, to me.

And... Then after that, our parents were gone, and two cards were on the ground. With their images on them.

It was like out of something you see on a weekend cartoon. The monster casts a magic spell or uses a strange space invention and turns people into hats or something.

Except this was with cards. We didn't directly see it, but...

After that, Shark and I. We lost it.

And basically by the time we calmed down, the entire area looked like it had been shelled out by bombs.

*From the shock on the faces of Akari's family, it was obvious that Akari hadn't told them beforehand of what she had discussed with Shark previously.

Kotori held her hands over her mouth slowly as the realisation of what they had said sank in.*

T-they... they were turned into cards? That really happened?

*given that Kotori might've also seen that, he really tries to not have a kneejerk feeling of being accused, but the look on his face is kinda painful.*

It's absolutely undeniable what happened.

If only we had kept ourselves together enough to at least grab their cards...

::Has this look of shame on her face, as she puts her hand to her mouth.::

*Kotori looks down a little, as she moves her hands to her chest, holding them over a heart shaped locket that is hanging around her neck.*

I saw it too, but, it happened so fast and there was so much going on, I always thought I had just imagined it. It was the same thing... there was a flash of light from their duel disks and then the people they had cornered were no longer there. All I saw were cards falling to the floor...

*Her grip on the locket tightened as her expression became more sorrowful, knowing they'd lost their family, much like she had.*

I'm sorry for what happened to your parents.

*Akari briefly looks over at Kotori, knowing this was hard for her. It was hard for all of them to have to relive this over, but she had to press on.
She turns back to Shark and Rio in order to continue.*

And how were you both finally able to escape? Were there any other things you noticed while doing so that you'd like to mention?

*he took note of Kotori's statement, and while he didn't say anything about it, he did nod a bit. what else could anyone really say?*

Hnm. After we had managed to calm ourselves down, none of the attackers really wanted to try to go at us. It was terrible, but it made it easier for us to push through the last one we had to go through, until we finally got to the city limits. There were some members of the JSDF out there, and they grabbed us once they could.

As for what we noticed... Along with looking like teenagers or something, to us, some of them were wearing red outfits. Others were wearing blue outfits and strange masks.

Their duel disks were one of those newer types, too. The type with that hardlight interface and all. But the playing surface looked weird-- like a sword, or something.

Mmm...

::Coughs.::

And for some reason, their uniforms. And I think you might want to withhold this from your article.

Seemed an awful lot like the Osiris Red Uniform from Duel Academy's central school.

Eh?! Uniforms similar to Osiris Red?!

Now that I think back on it, those that we saw were also wearing a red uniform...

*She makes some notes in her notepad.*

I agree that should be withheld from the article. Chances are that's probably just a coincidence, but either way, we're looking at what seems to be a planned attack, by some kind of group or organisation, that isn't afraid to train children to fight for them. But why Heartland? And why turn people into cards?

*She gives out a sigh.*

I'm unsure if getting this article out will do anything, but getting any and all eye witnesses statements out there is important. Especially since there are so few of us.

If there is anything else you'd like to touch upon, please say. You are also free to ask any of us questions if you so wish.

I agree with Rio on withholding that bit of information. We've compared the uniforms to what we remember-- it was like someone made some kind of knock-off militarized version of it.

*he sighs himself*

Whatever ends up helping in this case, even if it's minimal, is at least something.

Rio and I are going to be on the lookout though for people who use strange Ancient Gear cards. We know one of the teachers at the Academy uses them, but he's apparently been at the school for years.

But along with the duel disk they used, it's one of our best-- or more like only viable leads that we have.

But any one of their members with an actual brain probably knows that any survivors would know we'd know them by them using Ancient Gears, so you'd need to basically force them to use that Deck, otherwise they'll use another Deck.

Though... how did you get out?

Edited 2016-10-12 00:49 (UTC)

We were lucky enough to be together and near a car at the time of the attack. My grandmother and I had just finished picking up groceries. We were having Kotori over for dinner that day and she had come over early to help us prepare it.

The moment they started attacking, I knew something was wrong, so I ordered everyone into the car and I just drove off, leaving everything behind.

We were chased down by their mechanical hounds. They tried ramming us off the road and getting into the car and even when we managed to somehow get them off our tail, we found ourselves right in the path of one of the biggest monsters they were using. It almost seemed over at that point, but granny encouraged me to just keep driving.

It tried attacking us, but at the last second I sped up and was able to only just avoid the attack hitting us. We used the cloud of debris it created to get past the monster, but as soon as they realized we avoided their attack, they began chasing us.
One of the attackers was riding on it, they were jeering at us, like it was all just some sick game to them.

In the end we were able to reach the exit of the city, just as the monster attacked us again. It tried to crush the car, but we missed it my mere seconds. It collapsed the tunnel behind us.

Though I guess the interesting thing was that once we came out the other side, there was no sign of any of them. They didn't follow us after that.

...I still don't know how we managed that in my dad's old car, or how it managed to get us to Domino City in the state it was in afterwards, before finally giving out.

*he sits and listens as Akari describes their own experience. But he seems to give pause when you describe how the attacker was jeering at you.*

... Like a sick game...

That was pretty much how they acted. Like they were having fun trying to corner us.

I don't know who these guys are, or why they wanted to do this, but I'll never forgive what they've done.

Kids, teenagers, or not-- they treated our lives and our home like it was a game to them. And if I ever face one of them again, I'm going to make sure they know I'm not screwing around.

... As if it were like. A military training exercise or a war game, that sounds about right, doesn't it?

::Shudders.::

The worst thing is, if it could happen to Heartland, it could happen anywhere!! It could end up happening here! And we don't have a clue who they are!

*Yuma tightens a fist in frustration as he talks.*

The best thing we can do for now is to keep each other informed if any of us find a lead that could help us gain more information on who caused this.

*... he gives an aggravated sound himself*

Well, let's see what even happens, here.

I still half-expect someone to try to force your article to be pulled out of circulation, if you publish it.

Probably by threatening to pull advertising.

Well, we see. The place I work for will want this published as much as I do, and it's worth at least a shot.

Thank you though, for agreeing to this and allowing me to publish your story. If we get anywhere with it, I will let you know.

Well... Whatever works. If someone does try to pull it though, or tries to push on it, then maybe that's more of a clue than anything else.

*he stands up, hands in his pockets.*

After all, who else would have so much of a desire to suppress this info, than the ones who were involved in it, in the first place?

...

::Stands up after her brother.::

Which means our enemy is in the government or the business industry.

Which doesn't bode well.

So it would be someone with lot of power.

*Akari gives out a long sigh.*

Anyway, thank you for speaking with us. I should have the article done for this weeks release of Weekly Domino News. I'll keep in touch with you both as well.

*With that, she offers her hand to the two of them to shake.*

*he's really not keen on the hand-shaking thing.

But Rio is there, and Rio's likely to elbow him if he doesn't.

So yeah, he'll shake your hand.*

Thanks for even listening to us.

::You can sense her giving you the mental stink eye.::

It was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we stay in contact.

*After you both shake Akari's hand, you see her grandmother holding a bag up to you both, which is full of the home-made cookies she had set out.*

I'm sure we all will dearies and you are both always very much welcome here.
Please, take these back with you, hm?

*I.

Okay, he can't really be rude to the little old grandma, can he. he takes the bag, clearly a little off-guard.*

Thank you very much, ma'am. We appreciate the gift. Especially after everything we've been through.

*Haru gives them a friendly, kind smile and a nod. Akari smiles too before looking at the two of them.*

Granny is right. If either of you ever need anything, then just call by. We'll always be happy to help.

I'll show you both out.

*... che. it's hard to be moody when people are trying to be nice.*

Fine. Thanks.

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