For those new, remember that Italicized sentences are narration…
On a clear day, a massive stadium sits in the middle of the ocean just outside of the bay. Loud cheers could be heard coming from the stadium as news helicopters fly over it. Inside, a large dragon baring gold armor, raises its blade to the sky; then spreads its wings and flies at full speed toward giant robot with orange and white armor plating. Their swords clash with a mighty explosion. When the smoke clears, the dragon had disappeared and much larger serpent-like dragon with laser guns at its sides appeared in its place.
"THERE IT IS! GENERATION STRIDE!" An announcer shouts over the loud speaker. "The clan leader Mamoru Anjou…" a man with slick dark green hair and a brown suit stands tall on the battlefield with several cards in his hand, "and former world champion Yuji Kyouto…" a slightly younger man with messy green hair stands confident on the battlefield as well, "ARE TAKING THIS MATCH TO A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL!" The announcer screams with enthusiasm.
"It's been fun, but I'm ending this now!" Mamoru tells Yuji thrusting a fist forward and the large serpent dragon prepares to fire its cannons.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Yuji says giving the same gesture and his robot raises its sword and braces for the impact as Mamoru's dragon fires its lasers. The lasers and the sword meet and another massive explosion ensues…
Elsewhere…
In the city, several cars are stopped at an intersection as a young teenage boy, with spiky red hair and a pink swirl on top; stands in the middle of the road, with all the drivers are yelling and griping at him.
"Come on Chrono! You're holding up traffic!" A green haired girl, about the same age, stands on the other side of the street yells at him.
"Like I even care…" The boy says under his breath. At his feet, a small white kitten yawns and runs off. The boy makes a deep sigh and starts walking toward his friend.
Vanguard… a card game that as spread to millions of people around the globe; has captured the hearts of those who play it. And now, a new legend is about to make its mark… The red haired boy, Chrono Shindou, arrives at his school and looks toward the endless blue sky.
Turn 1 – Chrono Shindou
Much later, the girl, Tokoha Anjou, and Chrono sit down for lunch at one of the tables in their school courtyard. Tokoha lets out an annoyed sigh and speaks, "What's the big deal Chrono?! You held up traffic for three minutes!"
"I wasn't about to let them run over that cat…" Chrono tells her and takes a bite of his sandwich.
"My God… your soft spot for cats can really be a pain…" She tells him, still fuming, but then looks away, "I just wish you'd show me that kindness…" she mutters under her breath.
"Did you say something?" He asks her.
"Nothing…" She tells him trying to brush it off.
"Hey stop!" The two of them then hear a young boy cry. When they look in that direction, they see a bunch of cards falling out of a nearby second-story window.
"Oh no!" Tokoha gets up from her seat and rushes over to the cards to pick them up, and Chrono just remains seated.
"Hey there…" As she's picking up the cards, a more manly voice speaks to her. When she looks, she sees two tall and buff boys and a smaller scrawnier one behind them. "We kinda dropped those, mind pickin' them up us?" One of the boys says.
"No don't!" The smaller boy cries from behind the bullies.
"How could you just toss his cards out the window like that?" Tokoha says as she rises to her feet and turns to face them, "You're a disgrace to Vanguard!"
"And what are you gonna do about it little girl?" The other boy shouts at her as he cracks his knuckles and Tokoha steps back in fear.
Seeing this scene unfold, Chrono gets up from his seat, "Hey punks." He says as he steps in between them and Tokoha with a very stern look. When the bullies catch sight of them, they instantly step back in fear.
"Chrono Shindou…" One of them says nervously.
"She's friends with him, let's leave them." The other says as they leave, smacking the smaller boy on the back as they walk away. Tokoha then walks past Chrono and up to the young boy.
"Here you go." She says as she hands him his cards.
"Thank you miss." The boy thanks her with a kind smile and she gives one back.
Chrono leans down and picks up one of the cards. "Is this that card game you play Tokoha?" He asks her.
"Yeah," she replies taking the card from him and gives it to the boy, "I've been playing it for years. I'm just surprised you haven't gotten into it yet; it's like a part of everyday life now. You should try it; it's a really fun game." But Chrono just stays silent and goes to sit back down on the bench. Tokoha looks at him, gloomy and goes to sit back down with him.
"So that's Chrono Shindou?" A boy from the upper window asks.
"Yeah." Another one says, "I heard that a lot of people are afraid of him."
"Really? I'll stay out of his way then." The other replies.
"I just find it funny how he's only kind to that girl. As this conversation is going on, a young boy with blonde hair listens in, but then leaves when he's heard enough.
Later…
Chrono is at his locker ready to open it, when Tokoha comes up to him. "Chrono!" She shouts, "I have to head off early today since I have some things I need to do a home. I'll see you tomorrow!" She says as she runs off waving at him.
"See you tomorrow." Chrono replies and opens his locker, but when he does, he sees something strange. Inside sits a deck of the same kind of cards he saw earlier. He looks at it oddly before looking either way and takes the deck out. "This isn't mine…" He says to himself. He flips it over looks at the card on the bottom, and is slightly shocked by its name, Chronojet Dragon. "Chrono?" He questions seeing his name on the card. He starts sifting through the deck until he finds a folded piece of paper with a crudely drawn map on it and a red X on a specific spot.
Later…
Chrono heads to the spot on the map, and when he gets there, he sees a large building with a sign that says, Card Capital Z, on an upper window. He walks inside and starts looking around. There are several display cases around the store with several neatly arranged inside each one and a large terminal with the word Vanguard scrolling across the screen. "What is Vanguard?" Chrono asks himself looking at the scenery. He then hears cheering just to the side of him. He turns the corner and sees a crowd of people.
"Did you see that? That was so cool!" One of the boys in the crown says in excitement. When Chrono catches sight of the crown his vision is engulfed by a bright white light. When it clears, he appears on an asteroid with several planets surrounding it. He sees a large red dragon in gold armor and a large robot with orange and white armor clashing blades over and over.
"I attack the Vanguard!" A voice from the robot shouts and rushes at the dragon.
"I guard!" another voice comes from the dragon as two more smaller dragons appear out of green circles in front of it and the robot cuts through the smaller dragons.
Chrono is awestruck by the sight he's seeing right now and he can't even speak words. "Time to end this!" The dragon says, "Generation Stride!" A white light shines from the dragon before it snaps Chrono back to reality.
"That was a great fight." A tall man with dark-green hair and a brown suit with the same voice as the dragon says as he shakes the hand of another young man with brighter green hair. "We should do it again some time.
"I'll be here anytime." The other guy says.
"What… was that…?" Chrono quests what he just saw.
"Hey there." A voice says from behind him as he feels a hand on his shoulder. Chrono turns to see who it is, and it's the bright green haired boy. "I haven't seen you here before. Are you new?" the boy continues.
"Umm… yeah…" Chrono says meeting the boy's eyes, and then looks down. "Do you work here or something?" He asks him.
"Yep, part time." The guy says giving Chrono a thumbs up and Chrono just looks at him.
The boy goes behind the front counter and Chrono places the deck he found in his locker on the counter. The guy looks at it curiously before picking it up and looking through it. "Gear Chronicle… Are you serious?!" He says, "They discovered a new clan?! When?! Why didn't they announce it?!"
"You should probably ask somebody else…" Chrono says with a puzzled look.
The boy places the deck on an electronic pad and it starts reading the deck. He looks at the monitor in front of him as stars start appearing on it. Once four stars appeared it had completed the scan. "They're real, the scanner's always accurate." He says before looking back at Chrono, "Where did you get these?" he asks him.
"I just found them… they were sitting in my locker at school…" Chrono answers.
"You just found them?" The boy responds, "That's kinda bizarre…" His face then lights up with excitement and he looks at Chrono, "Wanna try them out?"
"Huh?" Chrono questions.
"You're gonna Cardfight me."
"Wait, what…?"
"The opportunity to test a deck I've never seen… this'll be great!" the boy shouts.
"Hang on a sec man," Chrono says, "I don't even know how this game works!" The boy then turns back to look at him.
"Don't worry, I'll teach you." He responds, "It's a really fun game." Chrono then remembers back to what Tokoha told him earlier…"You should try it; it's a really fun game."
"Alright, let's do this."
Chrono and the boy gather at a fight table, standing across from each other. "Before we get started, let me see your deck." The boy says and Chrono hands him his deck. He looks through it, and then pulls out a few specific cards, "We'll talk about these a little later." He tells him and puts them down on the table. He then puts a devise against the table and it turns on. "First we need to select a battlefield for our fight. Does anything catch your eye?" He asks Chrono and starts swiping through the fields until Chrono stops him.
"The ruins look pretty cool." He says.
"Interesting choice." The boy says, "Those ruins were once left behind by a lost civilization, it definitely wouldn't have been my first choice." He selects the field and a group of circles appear on the table's screen. "Okay, now imagine it."
"Imagine?" Chrono asks.
"This game is all about imagining. The better you can picture the fight, the stronger you'll be come." The boy explains "So imagine it."
"Imagine…" Chrono closes his eyes and before he knows it, he sees the very same ruins that hey selected for their field. "Whoa…" he says awestruck by the situation. It was like he was transported into an alternate dimension.
"Pretty cool right?" The boy says; stands on the other side of the ruins, "You and I have arrived on a far off planet known as Cray in the form of spirits. This is where we'll do battle." Chrono looks at his hands and realizes he's slightly transparent. "However we're powerless in this form, and that's why we call on the warriors of this world to do battle. You even have the ability to take the form of one of these creatures, and that's called…" back in the real world, the boy holds up a card in front of Chrono, the art depicted a mini version of the robot from before, "Vanguard… the one who leads the way." He finishes.
"The who leads the way…" Chrono repeats, pondering what that meant.
"Stand up the…" the boy swings his arm back with the card in hand before raising it above his head, "Vanguard!" He then slams the card onto the table and a white circle appears beneath it for a quick second.
On Cray, Yuji's spirit is replaced by the mini robot shown on the card. "Whoa!" Chrono gasps in surprised.
"I've taken the form of my unit. Go on, do the same." The boy tells him. On Earth, Chrono looks at his face down card on the table, and repeats what the boy did.
"Stand up the… Vanguard!" He shouts. On Cray, Chrono's spirit becomes a small brown dragon clad in rusty gears. "Wow… this is cool!" He exclaims.
"Alright, now let's get into the game." The boy explains. "To start, you draw 5 cards from your deck. You'd normally do this before you stand up the Vanguard, but I wanted to show you the basic imagining first." The boy draws five cards from his deck and Chrono does the same. "If you don't like some of the cards in your Hand, you can do a retry." The boy continues.
"What's that?" Chrono asks.
"You take whatever cards you don't want in your hand, shuffle them back into your deck, and redraw the same number of cards you put back." He explains as he demonstrates and Chrono does the same thing. "By the way, what's your name?" He asks.
Chrono pauses for a second, "I'm Chrono Shindou." He tells him.
"I'm Yuji Kyouto; it's a pleasure getting to fight you." Yuji tells him back. "Alright, I'll go first and show you how it's done." Yuji pulls a card from his hand and places it on top of his other card, "Ride! Exxtreme Battler Kindhol! (G1/8000)" Yuji's robot is replaced by a similar, yet bigger, robot. "I attack!" Yuji declares.
"Wait what?! What do I do?!" Chrono panics.
"Ha ha ha" Yuji chuckles, "I'm just messing with you. You can't actually attack on the first turn. I'll just move Victhead back via his skill (G0/5000). Your turn." Chrono looks through his hand wondering what to do. "Choose a card from your hand that's one Grade higher than your Vanguard and put it on top of your current Vanguard. This is called a Ride."
"Okay…" Chrono takes a card from his hand and puts it on top of his other card, "Ride! Mazergear Dragon! (G1/8000)" On Cray, Chrono's smaller dragon is replaced by a bigger, more mechanized dragon.
"You picked a good starting Vanguard. It has the ability to be called to a Rear Guard circle when a unit rides on top of it." Yuji explains.
"Okay, I call Dracokid to the circle behind the Vanguard (G0/5000)."
"Now you can attack." Yuji tells him.
"How do I do that?" Chrono asks.
"You choose the unit you want to attack with, declare the action, and turn that card sideways." Yuji explains, "But since you have a unit behind your Vanguard, you can do what's called a boost. It's where you rest a unit behind another, turn it sideways, and add its power to the unit in front. So if you have Dracokid boost Mazergear, Mazergear will have 13000 Power!"
"Alight, boosted by Dracokid, Mazergear attacks your Vanguard! (8000-13000)." On Cray, Chrono, as Mazergear, tries to fire a laser out of his chest, but all that happens is a small orb pops out and knocks on Yuji's robot's head. "What?"
"Heh heh, you just didn't picture it clearly. Don't worry, you'll get there." Yuji tells him. "When the Vanguard attacks, you perform what's called a Drive Check. You flip over cards from the top of your deck looking for a card that has a small icon in the top right corner."
"Okay…" Chrono says and flips over a card. The card he revealed has a yellow icon at the top. "I got one."
"That's a Trigger." Yuji explains. "You perform Drive Checks when the Vanguard attacks and check for them as they'll grant special bonuses. All Triggers give 10000 Power to any unit, as well as an additional effect depending on the trigger. That's a Critical Trigger, which means that it can give 10000 Power and 1 Critical to any unit."
"What's Critical?" Chrono asks.
"Critical is how much damage a unit can deal when it hits the Vanguard. If you give the Critical to Mazergear, it will do two damage to my Vanguard."
"Okay then, I give both effects to Mazergear! (13000-23000/Crit 1-2)" Chrono declares.
"After all that, the revealed card goes into your Hand. Now when the Vanguard takes damage, you perform what's called a Damage Check. It's basically the same as a Drive Check. You reveal a card from the top of your Deck for each damage you took. The only difference is that the revealed cards go into your Damage Zone instead of your Hand." Yuji flips two cards from his deck and puts them into his Damage Zone ([] []). "Once you have 6 cards in your Damage Zone, you lose the game. And that's pretty much how the game goes."
"I get it now…" Chrono says, "I can do this."
"Now let's kick it up a notch." Yuji holds a card in his hand and puts it on his Vanguard circle. "Ride! Exxtreme Battler Kenbeam! (G2/10000) Boosted by Victhead, Kenbeam attacks your Vanguard! (1000015000) Now let me teach you how to defend yourself."
"Huh?" Chrono wonders.
"You can guard against an attack by taking cards from your hand with a Shield; it's a number on the left side, and calling them to the Guard Circle, the big green circle between our fields." Yuji explains, "When you do, if the combined value of your Shield total, plus your Vanguard's power is greater than my attack power, the attack can't go through. Though personally, I wouldn't recommend it right now."
"Why not?" Chrono questions.
"Because it's a good idea to take some damage as you'll need it for later." He explains, "You can always declare No Guard if you don't want to Guard."
"Okay, No Guard."
"Drive Check (none). Lucky you, I didn't get a trigger." Yuji says.
"Damage Check (none)." Chrono puts the card into his Damage Zone ([]). "Ride! Smokegear Dragon! (G2/10000)"
"Your Vanguard doesn't have to fight alone." Yuji explains, "You can call other units as Rear Guards to fight with your Vanguard.
"Alright, I call Glimmer Breath Dragon (G2/9000) and Summit Crest Gear Wolf! (G1/7000). Chrono declares taking the cards from his hand and placing them in the column next to the Vanguard.
"Though, in this case, it might be a good idea to attack with the Vanguard first so you don't waste any Triggers." Yuji explains.
"Got it, boosted by Dracokid, Smokegear attacks! (10000-15000)" Chrono declares.
"No Guard!"
"Drive Check (none)." Smokegear takes its claws and slashes at Yuji's mech.
"Damage Check (none) ([] [] [])."
"Boosted by Gear Wolf, Glimmer Breath attacks! (900014000)."
"I Guard!" Yuji puts a card from his hand onto the Guard Circle (Shield: 10000) and a robot appears on the battlefield and blocks Glimmer Breath's attack.
"I end my turn." Chrono says.
"My turn, Stand and Draw." Yuji declares and draws a card. "This is where the fun begins. I Ride! Exxtreme Battler Victor! (G3/13000)" Yuji becomes a large robot with white and red armor plating and bearing a large mechanical blade. "Activating Victor's Accel!"
"Accel?!" Chrono wonders.
"It's what's called an Imaginary Gift." Yuji explains, "It allows me to take one of my Accel gift cards and use it as an extra Rear Guard circle!" Yuji takes a yellow card from his board and places it just above his Rear Guard circles. "While I normally can only attack with three units, the Accel circle lets me attack with me attack with four! I can't boost the Accel circle, but any unit in it has a constant +10000 Power!"
"What?!" Chrono panics.
"I call three units to Rear Guard. (G2/10000-20000) (G2/9000) (G2/10000)"
Board State
(G2/20000) (G2/9000) (G3/13000) (G2/10000)
"My Vanguard attacks yours!" Yuji declares.
"No Guard!"
"Twin Drive!"
"Twin Drive?" Chrono questions.
"It's a special skill of Grade 3 units. They can check two cards instead of one! First check (none), Second Check (Front). I got a Front Trigger!"
"What's that one do?"
"It adds 10000 Power to my entire front row, and units in Accel circles count as being in the front row (20000-30000) (9000-19000) (13000-23000) (10000-20000)."
"You're kidding!" Chrono panics. "Damage Check (none) ([] []).
"I attack with my rear guards next!" Yuji declares.
"No guard on them all. Damage Check (none/none/Heal). Oh! I got a green trigger."
"That's a Heal Trigger. When revealed it heals 1 damage. You take a card from your Damage Zone and put it into the Drop Zone."
"Okay ([] [] [] [])."
"So really because of that, my attacks only did 2 damage instead of 3." Yuji comments. "I end my turn."
Chrono looks at his hand pondering his thoughts. "My turn!" He declares, "Stand and… DRAW!" Chrono looks at the card he drew, and it's the card with his name. He holds the card in the air, high above his head, and chants, "Open up the world! Show me the path to the future I desire!" He then slams the card onto his Vanguard circle, "RIDE!" On Cray, Chrono turns into a metallic dragon with jet boosters for wings, "Chronojet Dragon! (G3/13000)"
"Cool, now I'll explain…" Yuji tries to say, but Chrono cuts him off midsentence.
"Activating Chronojet's Force!" He declares. Yuji is taken aback as Chrono takes a blue card from his board and places it on one of his Rear-Guard circles. "Any unit in this circle has a constant +10000 Power during my turn." Chrono explains.
"He doesn't know how Imaginary Gifts work," Yuji thinks to himself, "yet he's playing it like a pro."
"I activate Chronojet's Skill (X [] [] [])! I call 1 unit from my hand or deck and it gets +10000 Power until end of turn. I call Smokegear Dragon (G2/10000-20000). Next I call Gear Wolf (G1/700017000 Force)!"
Board State
(G2/20000) (G3/13000) (G2/9000)
(G1/17000) (G0/5000) (G1/7000)
"Boosted by Gear Wolf, my Glimmer Breath attacks your Vanguard (900016000)!" Chrono declares with a bit more seriousness than normal.
Yuji thinks a minute before declaring, "No Guard. Damage Check (none) ([] [] [] [])"
"Boosted by Dracokid, Chronojet attacks the Vanguard (13000-18000)!"
Yuji takes a card from his hand, puts into his Drop Zone, then takes another card and puts it in the Guard circle, "Complete Guard! This means your Vanguard can't…"
"Activation Dracokid's Skill!" Chrono declares, cutting off Yuji once again.
"I didn't even get to explain it," He thinks to himself, "did all of this knowledge just click all of a sudden?
"I send Dracokid to the soul, when my Vanguard attacks, I can add 5000 Power to one other unit. I choose Smokegear (20000-25000)! Now Twin Drive (Critcal/Critical)."
"Two Critical Triggers?!" Yuji panics.
"I give all effects to Smokegear (25000-45000/Crit 1-3)!" Chrono shouts.
"That Smokegear is going to have a lot of power." Yuji thinks to himself, "Too much for me to guard…"
"Boosted by Gear Wolf, Smokegear attacks (45000-62000)!" Chrono declares turning his cards sideways.
Yuji puts his lowers his hand while closing his eyes, "No Guard…" Smokegear hits Yuji's robot causing it to explode violently ([] [] [] [] [] []). "You got dealt me six damage, so I lose." Yuji says and he walks over to Chrono. Yuji offers a hand shake, "Congratulations. You did well for your first fight." He tells him and Chrono looks as if he just came back to reality.
"Huh? I won? How?" He asks and Yuji looks confused.
"Really? You blew me out of the water with that last attack." Yuji explains, "Don't you remember? It was like you all of a sudden knew all the game's mechanics."
"Really? I don't remember…" Chrono tells him and Yuji lets his hand down and puts it on his chin.
"Weird… well whatever, I'll explain the rest to you right now." Yuji tells him.
"Thanks.
Several hours later at Sunset…
"And that's pretty much everything to Vanguard." Yuji tells Chrono as they finish up their lecture. Chrono looks at his cards with a gleam in his eyes.
"This game really is fun." He says, "Thanks for teaching me."
"You're welcome." Yuji replies, "But remember, even though you know the basic rules, there are still many ways to improve."
"Yeah. I'm going to get stronger." Chrono declares as he gathers up his cards and heads for the door. "Thanks for everything!" He tells Yuji as he runs out the door waving.
"You're welcome!" Yuji says waving back.
Chrono runs across the bridge with the sunset to his side. "Tokoha was right, Vanguard really is amazing." He thinks to himself, "I'm going to become stronger! I know it!"
As Chrono runs, he passes a tall man with white and blue hair. The sun his hitting him just right to where his hair casts a shadow over his eyes. Chrono doesn't notice the man, but he looks at Chrono and musters a small wicked smile. He then looks back and continues walking.
Preview
Having learned Vanguard, Chrono tries to become better. His childhood friend, Tokoha notices that he's learned the game and praises him for getting into the game. Wanting to see how good he is, she challenges him to a fight.
Next Time: TURN 2 – Tokoha Anjou
