Okay, I actually did it! I am sorry if this was not to your liking in any possible way. If any information is off, then I apologize since I haven't updated this story in a while. Please enjoy yourselves.

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardfight! Vanguard.

A World of the Unknown

Chapter 8: Welcomed and Captured

"Stay still already!"

Kai grunted as he dodged another blow, the sword slicing off strands of his hair. Landing on his feet, he tenderly felt his ribs. Maybe he should have provoked Arata after his wounds had healed. He found out from Kyomi he had been poisoned by something called Nichigo, which explained that burning sensation he kept feeling. Now, thankfully, it was gone, but if Kai were to continue moving around too much, he may end up making his healing rate slow a great amount.

Kai smirked. Then again, it has been fun. For being one of the elites, Arata had not been able to land a single blow. It was fun to humiliate him in front of everyone. Still, something was bothering him. The arrow-shaped mark on his arm was still there and showed no signs of leaving. In fact, it had started to pulse, a dark, murky green illuminating its form. Kai frowned. It hurt, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to worry.

"K-Kai-senpai! Y-You have to stop!" Kyomi shouted in concern from the sidelines. Tuni, her faithful pet, floated beside her, making excited noises of enjoyment.

A large crowd had grown. Kai guessed that was because he interrupted their training. From the looks of it, what Kyomi said seemed to be a good idea. Why did he do this in the first place? He wasn't acting himself.

"Oh no y'don't!" Arata shouted, swinging his swords towards the brunet.

Kai made an annoyed sound before standing up and practically bending backward to avoid being beheaded. He quickly jumped to the right, evading another blow. It worried Kai himself as to why he was being so reckless. He felt too confident, as if he was familiar with the use of a sword.

Nataari... Kaweeeha-ka...

Kai involuntarily froze, his head pounding. Why now? He had barely heard from them since he got here.

Arata saw his opportunity and swung his blade with a shout.

Kai snapped out his reverie a little too late. He clutched his wounded rib, blood spilling out. Kai grit his teeth.

"Enough!"

Both Kai and Arata looked back. Yashihiro stood, one hand clasped on his stick, the other holding a sheathed sword. His light grey eyes looked over the two.

Kai was the only one that suffered damage as he was on the defensive. He slowly stood up, blood seeping out of his gash. He guessed he was in trouble. He was the one that provoked Arata. Kai smirked wryly. It was fun though.

"I do not allow such a fight here," Yashihiro scolded with a slight frown.

Nataari... Nataari...

Kai's hand slowly made his way to his head. As usual, everything seemed to sway. He was glad he could hear them again, but this was poor timing. Kai tried to focus on something else.

After a tense moment of silence, Yashihiro threw the sword in his hand to Kai.

Kai quickly removed his hand from his wound and caught the sword. He looked at the sword then back at the elderly man in question.

"Now the battle is even."

Kai blinked in bewilderment. What?

"Who else thinks we should keep walking without knowing where the heck we are?!" Kamui asked, his voice starting off calm, but ending in an agitated shout.

Reiji was walking with the others, hands behind his head. "People will think we're crazy if we ask anything."

"Who cares?" Eiji kicked a rock absently. "We'd be better off than we are now."

"So, what are you going to do?" Kamui asked Gaillard, who was leading the way. He was suspicious. He had noticed Gaillard sneak out at night when everyone was asleep. Then come back acting strange.

Gaillard didn't respond, instead looking around. "Let's see if we can find him," Gaillard said, purposely avoiding the question.

Kamui frowned but couldn't argue. Instead of splitting up, they stuck together and asked around. They now had a rule that only in dire circumstances would they separate from the group. They stopped by a doc, where people were going into a ship. Their hands were chained, and few men pushed them along. A man that stood on top of the boat was watching them like a hawk.

Gaillard frowned, feeling his body tense up. "I think we should leave," he murmured quietly to the others, silently pulling out his dagger. But it was too late. The man had spotted them and gave a shout.

"Are we going to die?" Asaka whispered nervously.

"They have weapons," Aichi hissed, watching the men run towards him. "How many are there, Kamui?"

"About twenty," Kamui clucked, looking them all over. "We can't out run them."

Reiji glanced at Misaki and Miwa, who had startled looks. "It'll be hard to fight them too. I'm speaking to you, Gaillard!" he shouted at the bluenet, who seemed to ignore the words that were spoken.

Gaillard sent him a glare, but reluctantly placed it back in his pocket. Everyone tensed as the men neared them.

"Well," one sneered. "Looks like we found some extra slaves."

Aichi was about to say something when Gaillard grabbed his hand. He shook his head no to the angered bluenet.

They were forced to empty their pockets, Gaillard being the last, tossing his spike on the ground with annoyance. They were pushed inside the ship and sent below deck, passing people who gave them dark stares. They were shoved into cells. The metal door shut with a loud creak, and locked tightly, echoing in the dark, cold room.

The group sat in silence, each one trying to grasp that they were in a cell as slaves. They felt the ship move and soon realized it had left the doc.

"Any other bright ideas, Gaillard?" Kamui muttered under his breath, sitting on the cold stones.

"You can help me think of a way to get out for starters," Gaillard responded, not taking the bait. He shook the iron bars. They were old, but strong enough to stay put. He scanned the outside of their cell. There was a small window, the only source of light in the room, but it was too small for them to fit through. A door stood directly across from them, almost unseen in the darkness of the room.

"This is getting us nowhere," Aichi sighed, pulling on the locked door.

"We never really had a goal in the first place," Asaka pointed out, trying to keep her voice calm. She knew this wasn't the time to panic. "I mean, what do we even if we escape?"

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing when the door opened. Two men with swords at their sides open the cell.

Ren hissed beside Misaki, his fur curling.

"Now, let's see," one of the men said, looking everyone over as if figuring out who they were. "You."

Gaillard tensed when they walked towards him. "What?"

"Our leader wants to meet you," the other said, his hand landing on the hilt of his sword, sending the unspoken warning if Gaillard were to disagree.

He inwardly took a deep breath and let them push him out of the room. They walked up wooden steps and reached a lavishly looking door. One opened the door, shoved Gaillard in, and shut the door just as quickly.

Gaillard would have sent them a glare if given the chance, but he focused ahead.

The same man that had spotted him earlier was standing ahead of him, fingering a spike in his hand. His face was expressionless.

Gaillard tried to ignore that by looking at the person he was standing next to.

He couldn't help but gasp.

"What do we do?!" Asaka exclaimed, not able to sit in the dark room any longer.

"Like I know!" Eiji shouted his, blue eyes twitching as his hands reached for the lock. "I'm trying to pick this lock!"

Aichi was scanning the room, looking for anything that could help their situation.

"Kamui-san?" Misaki called in a shaky voice, looking at the boy who was sitting on the cold floor, his eyes closed. He hadn't said a word since Gaillard left.

"He's got a good idea," Reiji agreed with a lazy stretch.

"Kamui?" Aichi turned to the black-haired boy, who had yet to do anything.

"I'm trying to remember how many people are here," Kamui responded, his eyes still shut, a frown on his face. "I can only remember seeing forty. Forty-one counting the one who busted us. But I'm sure there's more."

Aichi nodded. "Okay. We have some idea of what we're up against. But we won't last long without weapons."

"They're many of them," Reiji mumbled sluggishly. "They probably have some room filled with weapons."

"So we'll have to get there first," Asaka said slowly, feeling a bit of courage enter her.

"But how?" Misaki asked, marveled by how things started to turn around.

"Not this way," Eiji grunted, throwing the small piece of wood he had found. He sat back with a sigh. "I need something better to open the lock.

"I know!" Asaka jumped to her feet, and pulled a skinny hair pin from her hair.

Everyone smiled, relieved to be getting somewhere. Ren meowed happily.

"This is the one time I am letting you ruin my belongings!"

"Yeah, yeah," Reiji took it. "So you can be useful at times."

Asaka huffed but didn't say anything since he indirectly complimented her.

Eiji was about to try the lock again when Kamui stopped him. "Wait. This will all be for nothing if the guards come back. Let's wait for Gaillard."

Eiji nodded and sat back down. "It wouldn't matter anyway. We're out in the sea. Unless one of us can steer the ship it will all be for nothing."

"So we'll wait," Aichi concluded. "That'll make our escape easier. If some of us go out again for questioning, we'll get a good look at the place."

"Hopefully that will be you," Reiji pointed at Kamui without looking.

"Oi!"

"Hey, your counting skills are better than all of us," Reiji yawned. "I just hope they don't make us work."

"That's right. They called us slaves," Misaki whispered. "Won't they make us work?"

"Oh no they won't!" Asaka shook her head indefinitely. There was no way she was about to work for a bunch of dirty men!

"We may have to deal with it," Aichi frowned. "They can always send off the ship if they wanted. We'll see what we can do. Tokura."

"Yes?" Misaki asked hesitantly.

"Don't draw attention to yourself," Aichi stated slowly. "They will likely ignore you for your age. We could use that to our advantage."

Misaki nodded slowly, nervousness in her stomach but determination in her eyes."And what about Taishi?" she turned to the sleeping toddler who had yet to wake up.

"They will likely use him as our leash," Eiji muttered irritatedly. "Make sure he doesn't speak around anyone."

"All this assuming is getting us nowhere," Asaka sighed. "And this floor is so hard and cold!" she complained.

"Wait," Reiji sat up, sounding serious for the first time. "One, why would their leader want to see Gaillard instead of all of us? And two, won't people come in and out to give us food?"

Kamui and Aichi slowly got over their shock and shared a thoughtful look.

"You may be right," Aichi said, his brows furrowed, a hand placed on his chin in thought. "Unless we eat up on deck after we work. That would make things difficult for us."

"Maybe they noticed Gaillard was our leader?" Asaka mused, answering the first question.

"Maybe," Eiji murmured. "I'm thinking it has to do with that lovely weapon he drools over? I still don't think he's trustworthy."

"But he is!" Misaki insisted.

"Whatever he is," Kamui interrupted, "he should have been back by now."

Kai blocked another blow with his sword, pressing forward. It had taken only a few minutes until he got use to the sword. He had to admit, this made everything so much more interesting. Kai blocked Arata's sword with his, and pushed the man back.

Arata stumbled back, leaving an opening for Kai. He knocked the sword out of his opponent's hand and placed it mere inches away from his face.

Kai suddenly became aware that everything had become quiet. He looked over his shoulder and saw everyone gaping. Some pointed and whispered among themselves. Others just stared, eyes wide. He noticed Yashihiro stare at him expressionlessly. He then slowly raised his staff.

"Kai Toshiki... welcome to Ken-sei!"

And there you have it. Again, I am sorry if this wasn't as good as you would have hoped. Please Review!