Zephyria

The couch especially, as one could argue that it was actually softer than Tedi. Unreal. It only makes sense then, that Yami found comfort on it, as he sat upon it and napped peacefully. Naturally, Aloe had found herself napping right next to him, leaning on him as she too entered mild slumber. Lowkey cute.

Gale and Hikari rested in their own recliners, each almost as soft, but made up for the flufferino discrepency with built in alcohol dispensers. Gale drank a Soda x Vodka concoction, whilst Hikari settled for a Strawberry u0026 Lime Cider. They observed Ryan and Xero on the couch across the room, playing co-op on the Kingdom"s hottest First Person Shooter "Call of Judy 3".

"Pew pew pew" Ryan voiced, intricately mashing the b.u.t.tons on his controller.

"Hey, you"re actually pretty good" Xero said, playing alongside him.

Amber and Elektra walked up with their bubble tea (courtesy of Rojë) and observed their triumph visibly marked across the huge 100 inch flat screen.

"Mind if we join?" Amber asked politely, though "threat" seeped through her teeth. Quite scary.

Xero and Ryan looked at each other wide-eyed, before choosing play over death.

"Sure thing!" Ryan said gladly, welcoming them onto the sofa. "So you guys wanna 2v2? You and Xero vs me and Elektra?"

Xero smiled cheekily at Amber, handing her Ryan"s player 1 controller. "It"s only fair."

Amber s.n.a.t.c.hed the player 3 controller instead, and Elektra player 4. "Don"t patronize us."

Their same auras from their encounter with the Yakuza earlier that day immediately surrounded them, burning rage for Amber and lightning sparks for Elektra.

"We"ll take you on."

The girls logged into their accounts, and Ryan and Xero"s faces displayed their legitimate shock.

Tier: 2 (1 is the highest tier, 100 is the lowest)

Rank: 10

Tier: 2

Rank: 7

They weren"t scrubs.

"How the heck are you guys so good?" said Ryan, genuinely perplexed by their ranks.

Elektra smiled, but her lightning aura remained."Well, my speed allows for quick reflexes, and I"m guessing AmberChan is just really good with guns c:"

"Oh... okay. Lets do this." Xero said nervously.

.....

"How the heck did you guys beat us?!?!" Amber exclaimed.

Ryan and Xero"s faces could not be more smug, as they pulled up their own profiles.

Tier: 1

Rank: 28

Tier: 1

Rank: 17

Turns out Xero was a slightly better virtual marksman than Amber, whilst Ryan could overcome Elektra"s (controversially unfair) super speed with his own hand skills (courtesy of his mastery over [Cotton] sOr).

Whilst they continued to banter, Gale and Hikari sat quietly behind them, for other things were on their mind. Gale chose to break the silence.

"The Air Force messed up today. Big time."

"How so?"

"AF17 is supposed to be a.s.signed to this airs.p.a.ce. They should have intercepted the Yakuza fleet before they got anywhere near this island."

"Well, did you contact the 17th Commodore to see what happened on their part?"

"I did, and apparently nothing showed up on their radars, nor any visual indication of an attack at all."

"That"s so strange." Hikari said, before shrugging it off. "Maybe they"re just hiding a possible defeat."

"Unlikely. AF17 is one of the best tactical echelons in the kingdom. I have no reason to doubt them. If anything I"d question their tech from Ryan.."

"Ryan"s tech is the best in the Kingdom." Hikari defended, his face and tone now dead serious.

Gale countered such expression. "Well clearly not according to AF17."

The atmosphere was slightly tense, so they both took a large sip of their drinks then loosened up a bit.

"Well Ryan"s guards certainly weren"t the best either." Hikari remarked.

"I also found that strange."

"Found what strange?"

"They said that they confronted attackers on the other side of the island, right?"

"Yea, what about it?"

"Why would attackers come from the back?"

"I don"t know, perhaps to get to Ryan?"

"And why would they do that? No one knows he"s a prince, and the Yakuza don"t even need him because have their own secret sOr tech provider. They even made it clear to you that they weren"t here for him, but rather Amber and Elektra."

Hikari recalled what the Yakuza said to him when they had landed. Gale was right.

"So what would Cialo and Rojë been doing then, during the attack?"

"I don"t know. They"re your people, after all. But they definitely weren"t defending the island from an attack."

Hikari stared at his drink, deep in thought. Everything seemed so strange. The fact that the Air Force missed any sign of attack, the fact that the Cialo and Rojë seemed to be preoccupied with anything other than defending the island. It almost felt like these circ.u.mstances were strung together purposefully.

"Don"t you think the stars aligned for this one? All of this seems to convenient to not be planned."

"That"s what I thought," Gale said, before gulping down her entire gla.s.s. "But I guess that doesn"t matter now. We handled it."

She pinched his cheek and then got up to join the others on the couch, leaving her drink.

Hikari stared at her gla.s.s. The circ.u.mstances were to strange to let the thought go, but he did anyway, at least for now. After all, they DID handle it.

"Can I play?" Gale asked innocently.

Amber and Elektra looked at eachother nervously, knowing that their attempt to beat these boys had failed miserably.

"Umm... sure? c:" Elektra said anyway, pa.s.sing her a fifth controller.

Gale logged into her own account, and all four were shocked at what they saw.

Tier: 0 (secretly the highest tier, actually higher than tier 1)

Rank: 1

Turns out Gale was best CoJ player in the entire kingdom, who then proceeded to smash all four of her fellow Vanguard teammates in a 4 versus 1.

Epic.

"

Those Yakuza lieutenants made it clear they came for Amber and Elektra."