Me: What inspired me to do this? Episode 129, where at the end, all I could think was "Wow, Ren really is amazing". Not because of how he beat the others, but because of his reactions, because of how he handled things, and how he was going at it all. How he was able to see through the entire situation in an instant. That actually surprised me, in contrast to how Ren's been for the season so far. My god that was some top-notch characterization.

Astral: She's ranting. Although there is a good reason. We do not own Cardfight Vanguard.

And So He Smiled

It was quiet. It was too quiet as Ren walked up to his Foo Fighter base. It had been too quiet all day as he walked around town aimlessly, grey clouds gathering over the sky. "I don't like that sky." He mumbled.

As if answering him, lightning flashed through the clouds. Lightning usually didn't scare him. It was Kai's element, and after Kai had joined NAL4 for the purpose of Asia Circuit, he had come to recognize it as a sort of friendly element that would seem scary, but meant well and struck the enemies when needed, striking quickly and fatally. This lightning wasn't anything like Kai's regular lightning. His face became worried. "It really is nasty."

"Aren't you coming in?" He turned to see Suiko standing near him, chuckling. A familiar face. Somebody, at least.

"Suiko-san." Usually Suiko wasn't out here. She didn't look right. But she had been busy with idol work. He smiled. "Long time no see. Are you done working today?"

Suiko smiled back, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "My real work is just about to begin."

The smile disappeared off his face. Something was wrong. Like he expected. "It feels like a lot of weird things are going on." He sighed. Weird things were always happening. Psyqualia, Asia Circuit, Void, and now this. "And I don't like it."

Why not, he could keep up this game with Suiko. "Neither Tetsu nor Asaka came to meet me… That's a first." Tetsu was always being Tetsu, Asaka was always being Asaka, and they always expected Ren to be the Ren they knew now, so they followed him around.

He really was lucky they accepted him.

"I wonder what's happening." Ren asked Suiko, who was still observing him with dangerous eyes. If he could get an answer from her, he could figure something out.

"I can explain." She answered, beginning to walk into the building. "Let's go in and sit…"

Then that's when dark eyed Foo Fighters and Fukuhara students ran out, blocking his path. He figured as much. There was something at work here, and he was going to figure it out. For the people he was about to beat's sake. "Huh?" He watched Suiko walk.

"I'll be waiting." Suiko replied, still walking. So that's how it was. Interesting…

"If I want to talk, I have to beat everyone here, is that right?" He confirmed. The world really was a messed up place, but he could deal with it. His deck flew out from his sleeve, and he smiled. "Then so be it."

The possessed students, by what he didn't know yet, surrounded him. He was starting to get an idea of what was possessing them, but he couldn't confirm his theory yet. So for now, he'd let his fun-loving outside drop. This wasn't the time for it.

He recognized every one of the students coming towards him, all of them having no idea what they were doing, and his blood boiled. His blood boiled for the first time in, what, four years? The last time it had boiled this much was when Kai left him after he had been power-hungry with Psyqualia. His blood didn't boil when he was fighting with Aichi, because he was too obsessed with Psyqualia to have time to. His blood didn't boil when he lost the match and the championship name, because he was free. His blood didn't boil when Kai lost the match to Leon, because he was feeling a more, sad and pity at that moment. His blood was boiling now. He was going to fight. He. Was. Angry.

"Mordred Phantom, attack!" He yelled, the last possessed student falling to the ground from his attack. His name had been Kenny, and what used to be Kenny was now laying on the ground, surrounded by others. Evan, Jeremy, Michael, Shawn, Koichi, John, and Kenny. He remembered every one of them. He never showed it, but he remembered.

But there was no time to reminiscence now. "Have a nice day." Ren said, putting his deck back in his pocket, and starting off towards the building he had spent so long at.

Team Brilliant Stars stepped out to block his path. Bidou Kiriya, Miyoji Hiromi, Minami Harumi, and Mihama Ayumu, all standing there, possessed. He could tell at one glance. He had made fun of them in the past, out of both pure sadism and just for fun. It didn't particularly seem like the time for that anymore.

"We're your next opponents." Bidou said, glaring at him. He would be able to take care of all four of them, but that would waste more and more time. He needed to get through them now and fix this entire mess. If this was going to keep up, he could take a little break.

"You?" He pointed at himself, questioning both himself and Bidou.

"You're as cold as always. Even though all I did was dream about becoming a member of your team, AL4…" His face twisted. "But then it hit me. If you won't let me be on your team… I'll let you be on mine!" He held out his deck, as a sign of challenge. The rest of his teammates held out their decks as well.

Ren sighed. "What a pain…" Having to deal with them when he could be progressing with what was going on, but he didn't have a choice right now.

"Oi oi, what's goin' on here?!" He heard a familiar voice behind him drawl, and turned to see Yahagi Kyou and his two teammates from Team Avengers standing there, wearing his school uniforms. "We went to all the trouble of making uniforms so we could infiltrate Fukuhara and then enter the VF High School Championship, but this hubbub wasn't part of the deal."

They didn't know or realize what was going on. He figured that was for the best anyways, but them being here was dangerous anyways. He needed to get them gone, since Kyou would just be Kyou and get in his way like his usual self. Kyou smiled. "Although you're probably the one who brought it on…"

Ren chuckled. "You're wrong. The person causing all this is inside, but these four won't let me pass." Nothing wrong with being truthful. But he couldn't exactly involve others in his Foo Fighter's situation. "By the way, who are you?" He asked, letting his outer cover slip on, like it always did every day. He needed a little break after beating all the old Foo Fighters.

"You don't remember me?!" Kyou yelled. "Damn it! All right, fine!"

Ren smiled as Kyou stormed towards, figuring he would do the usual. Then stopped, and glared at Bidou instead. He blinked. That was the first time Kyou did something he didn't predict. Bidou glared back. "What do you want?"

"Shut up! This guy is my prey!" Kyou pointed at him with his thumb, not taking his eyes off of Bidou. So even Kyou could tell something was going on. He couldn't help but smile a bit. For the first time he could remember, Kyou was being helpful towards a good cause. Kyou was helping him. Kyou…

"Get goin'! Nobody's gonna beat you but me!" Kyou said to him.

"Right! On my way." He sang, strolling into the building leisurely.

"W-Wait!" Bidou began saying to him.

"Shut up! Your opponent is me, jerk!" Kyou yelled, interrupting him. "I'm gonna show you what being outclassed means!" He began laughing, and Bidou scowled. Ren couldn't help but join in a little on the merriment. This situation was so serious, he didn't like it at all.

"I appreciate this, Yahagi Kyou-kun." He smiled, then walked on into the building, hearing Kyou's surprise and amazement behind him. Three years. It took three years for Kyou to do something which he was surprised at, and amazed about. He kept coming back after all the times he was pushed down. So, he earned Ren's respect in his own way. Kyou really was something.

So he walked into Foo Fighter Headquarters, the building he had so crazily created when he was seduced by Psyqualia and obsessed with power, with finding powerful cardfighters. What a laugh it was, him being hostile in his own base, surrounded by people who were overtaken by power and wanted him out. Was this what it felt like? No, he couldn't hesitate now. Tetsu and Asaka were waiting for him.

Tetsu, who so desperately waited for him to return to normal, and was willing to wait so long and stick by his side even when he barely realized it. Asaka, who had always tried her best just for him, because he had once given her hope. He had tried to make it up to them before, creating the Ren who he had been back when he was young and naïve, the one who didn't know anything, and putting it on as a mask again, which made them smile. But it wasn't enough. Of course it wasn't enough, after what he had done. Blaster Dark Revenger and him would make things up. It was time for him to return the favours to them, to his friends.

Suiko sat inside, and stood up as he entered. "That was fast." She said.

"I've come." Ren said, serious and not at all bothering with the mask of playfulness anymore. "Now will you keep up your end of the bargain and tell me what this is about?"

"Sure I will. If you can beat me…" Suiko held out her deck, smiling ominously.

"You're really making me jump through hoops here." Ren said, resisting the urge to sigh. He would have preferred if he could have settled things quickly, to fix everything. If this was how it was going to go, "but it's making me all the more curious." He took out his own deck.

Suiko chuckled that laugh of hers, and he noticed the dark aura and red markings underneath her eyes. This was like a boss in one of those minigames which he and Tetsu and Kai used to play together. Beat the boss, advance to the next level, where information would be revealed. You'd spend time getting stronger to take on the boss, and then beat it and get even stronger. It was time to beat the boss. "A fight with Suiko-san… this out to be interesting."

A glowing, see-through, red vanguard system appeared in front of them, and Suiko put her deck down on it, all ready to go. "Even more interesting…" Ren mirrored her actions, getting his own deck ready. He couldn't afford to lose.

"Stand up, Vanguard!"

"Stand up, the Vanguard!"

"Frontline Revenger, Claudas." Ren said, his usual first vanguard appearing behind him.

"Micro-hole Dracokid." Suiko said, a strange red unit locked by a seemingly digital black ring around its neck appearing behind her.

"This… is going to be fun…" He said. He was now fighting against the Ultra Rare member who had talked with his Psyqualia self, with the woman who observed all that happened on both Cray and Earth behind everyone's backs, with the woman who came to his school and he had fun with. That woman was now possessed, and he was cardfighting for possibly his life on the line, along with all of the Foo Fighters and his friends. He would have to clean this mess up here, one way or another.

So he smiled.

Not because he thought this was a thrill and would be fun, like he would have been doing when he was little and still hanging out with Tetsu and Kai, he had evolved past that. Not because he was going to fight Suiko and crush her to find out answers, like he would have been doing when he was Psyqualia possessed, he had evolved past that.

He smiled because that's what life was throwing at him, and what he'd overcome. In the past, it was him getting help from Aichi and Kai. This time, he would settle things with his own power. He'd settle things with the power he had earned fair and square, the one which he would use to protect his friends, his way. He wasn't Sendou Aichi, or Kai Toshiki, or anyone particularly noble. He was Ren, and he was going to win.

And so, he smiled.

Me: . . . HOLY COW I FINISHED THAT! I didn't upload this as one of the Vanguard Drabbles because, does this count as one? Also, I feel like this deserves its own page. So some people can look past the surface of Vanguard, and go a bit deeper into what was happening.

. . .

I'M SORRY! Please review...