Where in Time is Haruhi Takashi?

Darkness....

Silence....

Then there was ringing. Where was she? Who was she? What had happened? There had been a bright flash and a deafening explosion, and then....

A young woman's eyelids flew open and she found herself laying sprawled on floor made of strange material. Who would make floors out of such material? The woman pushed herself up with her hands and then cried out as she tried to move her legs. A sharp pain had burst through her leg and she looked down to discover that one of her legs, her left one to be exact, was bleeding profusely. She reached to her right leg and pressed on the fabric near her calf. The pant leg expanded into a small pocket and opened up, revealing a set of surgical tools as well as bandages and some form of ointment. She took the ointment and squeezed it onto the bandages as she unrolled them. Afterwards, she applied the bandages to her leg, wincing with pain as the ointment burned her wound. Once the bandages were fully applied, however, she began to feel much better.

She looked around her. This was a strange place. There were strange appliances that seemed to look angrily at her. Littering the ground were thousands of glass shards, as well as some items that looked to be food. She found a wrapping that said "bouillon" and unwrapped it. It smelled great! Immediately she stuffed it in her mouth.....and just as quickly spit it out. Yuck! What kind of food was this?!

She cast the wrapper aside and dragged herself to her feet. Her medium length red hair was a mess and she tried to comb it down with her fingers. When that seemed to fail, she decided to do a bit of recon. How did she get in this strange place anyways?

A cloaked figured seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"That was an impressive stunt you pulled. However, if I had not intervened you would have died. Instead, you've been sent back in time. Over a thousand years back, to be a little more exact. You now have quite the opportunity on your hands. You or your family haven't even been born yet. Do you realize what that means?" Hopefully, she would get what he was saying.

Had it not been for her strict military training, she might have jumped, maybe even yelped when the cloaked figure materialized in front of her. Instead, however, her hand instinctively dropped to her right hip, reaching for the pistol she kept on her person. Her hand jerked away, though, as she felt a searing heat coming from the holster. She looked at her weapon and frowned. The sleek pistol had been reduced to a smoldering pile of crap...the metal twisted and melted. Even the aluminum case was smoking...though it was protecting her hip from any heat damage. She quickly unfastened the holster and threw it on the ground, then backed up against a wall, eyeing the man before her.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "What have you done with me? What do you want with me?" Her eyes narrowed as he spoke of time travel...and the fact that she was a millenium behind her time. What was even more suspicious was that he was taking credit for it all. "Answer me!"

The figure sighed. He probably should have expected the questions. Didn't make it any less annoying that he had to answer them.

"I can't give you my real name. I have.... many enemies. You can refer to me as The Master. As for what I have done to you, I saved your life, and made your travel back in time to give you an offer. Your family and your friends have not been born yet. Which means that the attack that claimed their lives hasn't occurred yet. I'm in charge of an organization called Nexus, which exists in many areas of the entire multiverse. It even exists in your time period. For this organization, I'm creating a group of 7 humans that I will call the Elemental Vanguard. Each one represents an element that makes up the universe, and these people will be the highest ranked humans in Nexus. Each of them will be given a special card I have currently gathered 6." The cloaked figure took a few steps forward, and took out a card from a pocket in his cloak.

"Now to get to the point: I want you to be the 7th member of the Elemental Vanguard. If you make a pact with me and join Nexus, you will be immortal. You will be able to save those people from that tragic fate. How you do that is up to you of course. Do you have an answer?"

She tensed as the figure stepped closer to her, and she nearly threw him on the ground when he whipped something out from his cloak. The fact that it was a card made her relax....slightly. "So, you are trying to tell me..." she began slowly, moving away from the wall so she could take a better look at the card he was presenting her. "If I accept your offer....I can't die....and I have a chance of saving my planet from attack?"

She was skeptical. Who wouldn't be? If some stranger came up to you and promised immortality, what would you do?

Her eyes narrowed. She looked at him, but couldn't quite see his eyes. Why did he have to hide, if his intentions were not evil? She thought of declining...but the thought of immortality was....tempting. On top of that, she was being offered a chance to save her family and her friends. She could get them back, AND exact her revenge at the same time...

"Fine. I accept your proposal!"

Void handed her the card. It was blank at first. When it touched her it glowed, and a bright aura surrounded her for a second. Then it vanished.

"It is done. You are immortal, and are now a part of my organization. There is one thing you should know though: You need to give up some of your energy in order to play that card; or some other small sacrifice. Nothing too dangerous though. The card will take it if you don't do anything; some people like to do stuff like blood sacrifices, although that isn't required. It's a very special card; it's why it requires energy. Now then, I have to go over your duties as a Elemental Vanguard, and all that it entails. I'll explain that once you meet the six other Vanguards. Come." The Master held out his hand.

Card he gave Haruhi: Zokusei Kyōki: K (Attribute Madness)

Attribute: Light

Type: Fairy

Attack: 3000

Defense 3000

Effect:

This card can only be special summoned after this card has been tribute summoned successfully. This card must be tribute summoned by tributing 3 LIGHT monsters. Cards cannot be activated in response to this card's summon. and the summon cannot be negated. This card cannot be targeted by card effects that would remove this card from the field. Once per turn, you can select a combination of up to two cards from your opponent's field or hand. Your opponent must show you the selected cards. If this card attacks a monster controlled by your opponent, you can remove from play that monster before damage calculation. Then you can gain life equal to either the original attack or defense of the monster that was removed from play.

As the light surrounded her body, the energy it gave off forced the woman to close her eyes. She could feel something surging through her, amplifying everything within her and then some. She gasped as the aura faded, and her body was able to relax. She held the card breathlessly for a moment, then looked at the hand the man was holding out to her.

Not even a day in the past and she was already making friends. Great. She told herself she needed to be careful and not get too close to anyone. Immortal or not...she was not going to let anyone inside to get to her.

Silently, she took his hand and waited for whatever strange trip he was about to take her on. It couldn't be any worse than launching in a starfighter, right?

"This might be a bit much for you, but we'll see how you handle it." They both vanished without a trace, gone to who knows where.