Chapter 7 Wind, you're not only in my head

This week I still hadn't figured out what element I wanted.

"If that's the case, then I'll play it the other way around," I thought to myself, and I started flipping through the player rankings.

Half an hour passed.

"Come on..." I was genuinely indignant.

In the rankings, you could also see basic information about the person. For example, the number of games and the bakugan used most often.

The results were... unpleasantly surprising.

Sure, everyone here is a kid, but something like this... well, 1st place was genius, a person who is simply a "father of thought", and who I guess just took it out on the relics.

1st place: Akira Yamamoto, Pyrus, Knight.

And there doesn't seem to be anything weird here, but... there is one nuance. Pyrus's Knight, as I looked at it, had 360 power points, so without using any special Bakugan, he was just stronger than everyone else, and a game where you're initially unequal... well, it's not that convenient, but that's not the point, it's that this player just threw out a Bakugan, ordered to go into battle, and the slow reacting opponent already lost.

2nd place: Yuki Suzuki, Darkus, Sentipoid. The situation is completely similar, as Sentipoid's strength against Knight.

Of course, it was like this up until 9th place, and all the elements at the top of the rankings had an obviously powerful direct push component.

That is, Pyrus, Darkus, and... everything.

Next in line was the Sabterra player. Well, Tusk... 350g... thanks for the other element at least.

Looking at the top 100, I saw that it was basically just Sabterra, Aquas, Pyrus, and Darkus.

The Chaos theme was left out. For that matter, neither was Ventus.

I'm not going to be particularly interested in playing mirror matches, so Darkus, while still appealing, no longer beckons.

If everyone wants Darkus, he's not so appealing anymore, is he?

Of course, I was sure he'd drop me right to the top of the list, at least he could.

I thought about taking Chaos, or rather, I started to consider that "possibility".

Chaos was certainly interesting.

He had the ability to resurrect a Bakugan and quickly bring an ally into the battle. Also heard something about blocking an opponent's ability, but haven't seen anything like that.

Okay, back to the beginning, and how do I even know so much about Chaos...

I strained my memory.

I remembered piercing loud screams that almost came to a screech.

"Oh, it's so cute!"

"It's a white one!!!"

"Whee! That's it, I'm going to play for Chaos now."

It almost turned me inside out. It's a shame Runo chose to dishonor Chaos. Yeah, I'd rather not.

The element's good, interesting, but that girl's going to be sticky with me... a chill ran down my spine.

Chaos was gone.

And that left... Ventus.

"Are you really the weakest element...?" - I thought.

No, of course I didn't think Ventus was really weak, there were options there to retreat, to attack anyone on the field, but... in terms of pure power this element was really giving up a bit.

The only thing I've heard really powerful from Ventus was Winds of Fury, where all the opponent's Bakugans on the battlefield lost if I put 3 Ventus Bakugans on the field. Of course, it's not like I could activate that card before the conditions were met.

Such conditions were quite difficult to create.

If you compare it to Darkus, it had the same color death, turning the battlefield situation upside down in the blink of an eye, and the ability to cancel a gate card (my new great fall card). And obviously, all the benefits of the dark elemental didn't end with these two overtly powerful cards.

Okay, and from a fun standpoint....

Would I be more interested in playing "weakest" beating "strongest", or "strongest" against "strongest"?

No, that's silly... why would I want to put myself at a disadvantage in the first place.

Although... maybe the advantages of Ventus haven't fully unfolded yet?

I don't like Sabterra simply because of its style: steal a gate card, steal an ability card, hit harder....

Sure, that strategy made sense. If there are only 3 abilities and 3 gate cards, with two abilities you can take 2 from the enemy, so it would be 4 cards for 6. If it's easier, two enemy cards just won't work, but there's nuance here too. No matter how much you intercept Ghost Mind, it's still going to blow up.

Pyrus. No variants. Just no way.

Okay, I've been there. After all, I have a talking Bakugan and no one else has one!

"Ventus, I choose you!" - For some reason, this funny phrase popped into my head.

It was decided on that.

"Vesta!" said I.

"А? - That one revealed itself."

"I have decided to choose Ventus after all."

"And you doubted it?" he asked suspiciously.

I fell silent and scratched the back of my head. And really, I never told him that there were many other options that appealed to me.

When I went to school, I found Dan with Shun.

While Dan and Runo were figuring things out, I decided to talk to Shun for a bit.

It turned out that their group had made more friends, and one acquaintance we had in common was Alice.

They also started calling themselves the Desperate Fighters. Well, I did not tactically hint at their absence from the top 100, nor did I mock them, because... no, why should I? Let them develop themselves, Dan will provide me with Bakugans and cards.

Beautiful, isn't it?

I also learned that Shun's mother, Shiori Kazami, had suddenly gotten worse. Well, I didn't know how to comfort, of course, but I realized that the guy needed that support.

"Shun, things will get better, just don't worry. Your worried look isn't exactly helping matters" I said.

"You think so? I really hope so. It's like my grandfather doesn't care."

"No, he just doesn't show it, you know? Worrying about it will only make it worse."

The words seemed to work, and he thanked me for the advice.

Just then, Dan snorted and stepped away from Runo. Finally seeing me, he completely forgot about her and quickly ran up to me.

"Shinji, buddy, there you are!"

As I thought that, the corners of my mouth started to twitch then. And yet...

"Hey, Dan! I've decided, find me some Ventus Bakugans and Ventus cards, or to those Bakugans. You know..."

"Ventus?" he shifts his gaze confusedly to Shun.

"I'm not giving you mine, Dan. I've only got Moth, Falcon, and Raven as it is, no extra."

"Oh yeah..." I decided to add. "I've been revealing my cards since yesterday, and I can make you happy with something else."

Here I reached into my pocket and pulled out a card, placing it on the table, and then reached into another pocket, pulling out a black and purple colored Bakugan.

"Jugernoid, Darkusa. And a great fall, unique to Darkus."

"Oh-oh-here? How!" he grabbed his head and started pulling his hair, apparently not believing that I could be so lucky.

And what's luck? They, even though they are living creatures, crave battle, so they agree to be tools. And tools... they are the same here, it's the approach to each that matters. So no matter what falls out, everything will be useful.

"Shinji, could it be your talent? Let's try it, and you can open my closed cards?" - Shun suggested, clearly surprised by my luck.

"No, I'm not particularly lucky. Take my other Bakugan as an example, is Sabterra the Robothalian lucky? I think he's the most average. So is Falcon."

"And look at the others, they only get Claws of Terror with Saurus."

I smiled embarrassedly. Really, I had nothing to say.

"Anyway, yeah. Go ahead and look for me... 3 Ventus Bakugan, but 7 cards, of which 2 I want closed."

"Isn't that too much?" asked Shun, but Dan immediately put a hand on his shoulder and shouted loudly.

"GO!"

"Well, well, I don't want to rob you guys, I'll give you another Pyrus Falcon, yeah right now" I gave them a Bakugan and an ability card for it.

Of course, the guys didn't refuse. I bet they did!

Dan had a dazzling smile on his face.

Oh well.

Three days later there was a similar burst of flame again, and I saw more in the images.

Next to me was Vesta again, supporting me as best he could.

The new "shards of glass" were completely different from the previous ones. These seemed to burn with a green flame.

I saw... something scary.

In one reflection a red dragon flew past me, but for some reason the word "wyvern" flashed through my mind, in the distance was a group of some people with pointed ears next to me, who, like me, were bowing down to another tall man with glowing green eyes and three spheres above his head.

Each gaze brought me a searing pain, and I barely restrained myself from screaming, though the flames didn't sting.

I brought my mind back to the earliest image of me fighting the formless darkness.

That shard shrouded itself somewhat in green, and the darkness receded.

It was something like a living, deformed dead man with huge teeth and clawed paws.

The place was in some strange landscape along the lines of a frozen glacier.

I tried to take in the details, but immediately felt a heat in my chest.

"Inhale, exhale... inhale, exhale. Don't look there, just breathe."

After some complacency, I came to my senses, but more questions popped into my head.

"What the hell?"

I had already realized that what was in those shards was me, but not the one here, but... some other one.

And while I've figured out one of the shards, these previously black ones raise only questions. Even the language there is incomprehensible.

However, it seemed that if I went in there, it would only get worse.

I needed calm, silence, and... maybe a light breeze to soothe the pain?