A/N: I decided to repost the story after Royal9000 reeditted all the chapters before. The chapters now are way more easier and interesting to read than before. I will repost 2 chapters a week for the first three week and will continue update on new chapter after that. Thanks Royal9000 for your help.

Our story begins twenty years in the future. Aichi Sendou defeated Link Joker and Toshiki Kai, and saved the world, and Planet Cray. The Earth entered a peaceful state, and all was well. To honour the world's strongest fighters who resisted the reverse, the strongest of cards were printed widespread. Dragonic Overlord "The End," Blaster Blade, and other such cards became available to all cardfighters.

In this world, the Link Joker Seed did not try to invade Aichi's soul. The power of Link Joker did not work by creating evil in people's hearts, but rather by taking hold of even the smallest bit of sin, and expanding it to fill one's soul. It could not find a chink in the armour to enter Aichi's spirit.

Instead, it became dormant, feigned defeat. Link Joker became known to the public, and became an accepted clan. The taboo of using an evil clan gradually faded, as it did with Shadow Paladins, and soon it was as popular as any other, and it was one that anyone could use without fear of awakening the Reverse. Until now…

Chapter Zero: Яebirth

Byakuro was shrouded in darkness, floating through nothingness. He tried to wave his hand in front of his face, but he couldn't see or feel anything. He began to breath heavily, and felt his heartbeat speed up, the only thing he could feel. He tried to scream after what felt like eternity, but not sound came out. His fear began to mount.

Then, out of the pitch-black darkness, a light began to glow. It was a red light, and instead of illuminating the surroundings, it seemed to leech the nonexistent light out of the surroundings, making everything else even darker, if that was even possible. The red light appeared to come from two rings, partially cracked, circling a black orb in the center of the luminance. Byakuro leaned forward to get a closer look, and thought he could almost see a dragon-esque figure in the darkness, leering back at him…

"FUJIWARA-KUN, WAKE UP!"

Byakuro let out a surprised yelp as the black-and-red rings were replaced with a close-up vision of his math teacher's face, a scolding look on her face. He blinked before his eyes took on a half-lidded quality. "Sorry, Satomi-sensei, did I fall asleep?"

Satomi-sensei, the homeroom and math teacher of Byakuro's class, nodded, still leering at him. "You can't keep falling asleep, Byakuro. I know you're smart, but natural talent will only carry you so far, especially once we reach the second semester. " Her leer took on a sinister quality, and although Byakuro remained emotionless, his self-preservation instincts caused his skin to erupt into goose bumps, and a chill went down his spine. "If not, I can't guarantee you'll have a pleasant rest of the semester." Satomi-sensei was known for being very kind and caring (beautiful too, although Byakuro wasn't concerned with that), but horror stories were told about what happened to those who managed to get on her bad side. Everyone always paid attention in her class when she was teaching for these reasons... All except for one student.

Seeing that her threat had no visible effect on the emotionless boy, Satomi-sensei held up a patronizing finger. "Fujiwara-kun, you really should pay more attention in class. I have been receiving complaints from other teachers concerning your behaviour. You always doze off during all your classes except for P.E., and that's not ok. I know you're smart, but you also need to pay attention to the classes. It's for your own good."

Byakuro yawned. "Ok, I'll pay more attention in class," he lied easily. He had no intention of paying even the slightest bit of attention to any of his classes. When he saw that his (rather unconvincing lie) had no effect, he sighed. "Sensei, please continue teaching. Nothing you say can change what I think, so you shouldn't waste so much time on me, and should focus on the ones that you can help. No matter what you say to me, I will always be bored and sick of doing the same things over and over each day."

The entire class gasped at Byakuro's straightforwardness. No one else would ever dare invoking Satomi-sensei's wrath out of fear for their health, but Byakuro managed to keep a bored monotone the entire time. He even punctuated the sentence with a yawn and a rubbing of his eyes, to prove just how little he cared.

The teacher twitched and raised her head in such a way that the shadows framed it in a truly frightening manner. "Bored with my class, are you? Maybe standing in the hallway will be more interesting, then! I bet you've never done that before!"

That on its own wasn't supposed to be threatening, until one realized that if any student were found in the hallways during classes, they would be punished severely, even if the teacher ordered it. And at Miyaji Academy, the discipline committee members were brutal. The suspense, hoping no one came along, would be punishment enough to kill any normal person. Byakuro, though…

"That's a good idea, sensei. I've never tried that before. Thank you, sensei." Byakuro stood up, grabbed his things, and walked right past his sensei, who looked like she was about to have an aneurism, and closed the door behind him, before sighing in boredom. "Sleeping, eating, going to boring classes, eating, and sleeping," he said to himself. "Is that all there is? The world is so… dull." He sat down and began to count ceiling tiles—it was no more boring than just standing there.

Byakuro was 169 cm (5 feet 5 inches) tall and had normal build. White hair framed a tanned face and red eyes, and in full defiance of the school uniform, he wore a long sleeve white shirt with long black pants.

Half an hour passed with no incident before the bell rang, signaling the end of school. Byakuro lazily put his stuff in his bag and stood, as his best (and only) friend Ken opened the door to the classroom and walked out, brown spiky hair flopping a bit over his blue eyes. Ken patted him on the shoulder. "Hey bud, how was it, being banished to the hallway?" Byakuro made a noncommittal sighing noise. "Anyways, you mind if I walk with you?"

Byakuro exhaled slowly. "Sure, there's no reason why not," he said. The pair left school, the half-lidded gaze never leaving Byakuro's face.

"So Byakuro, why did you argue with the teacher just now?" Ken asked. "Normally, you just let her go off on you and nod before going back to sleep. Today, though, everyone thought you were being arrogant and obnoxious."

"This how I normally behave, Ken, you should know that the best. I know how I act; you should too. You've been my friend for more than ten years, and I still don't know how you can put up with a prideful jerk like me." Byakuro paused, then continued. "To answer your question, I was bored. I wanted to see what would happen."

Actually, that was a lie. Byakuro was actually excited by the dream. For nights on end now, he had been having that same dream of hovering in nothingness, unable to do anything but float there. Today in class was the first time something else happened, and the mystery and ominousness excited him.

He didn't tell Ken, because the thought of having to explain his dreams to Ken was troublesome, and would probably just generate more boredom in the long run. So, he continued talking. "I'm so bored. I want to do something fun and interesting other than doing schoolwork or eating or sleeping or practicing kendo with my grandpa."

"If you want to do something interesting, how about finding a girlfriend or something?" answered Ken. " I know that the girls in our school aren't your type, but it's gotta be better than boredom, right? And I'm sure your air of mystery and detachment would make you quite the prize!"

"None of them are interesting enough for me to notice them," Byakuro countered easily. "It's as if all of them are the same, with their gossip and giggling. Not to mention they try too hard, studying day and night for tests. They ought to enjoy their life more. I'm sure they have things they like to do, but they forsake them for studying. I find that hard to understand and I dislike them for it," he explained.

Ken laughed good-naturedly. "Not everyone can be as naturally smart as you, bud. You purposely won't study for tests to make it more challenging and thrilling. If our classmates knew that, I bet they'd accuse you of cheating to get that consistent number two spot in the grade." Byakuro just shrugged in response, and the two walked in silence for a bit.

Then, Ken spoke up. "I just thought about something that you can do that may intrigue you, it's a hobby of mine. Want to try it?"

"Ken, you could ask me to do literally anything right now and I would say yes, only because something new would be better than going to practice kendo today," said Byakuro, a hint of snarkiness entering his otherwise monotonous voice.

Ken grinned a wide grin. "Ok then, follow me. I'll show you the place."

After a five-minute walk, the two students arrived at a storefront with a large sign on the front. "Card Capital?" Byakuro asked, doubtfully. "Really?"

Ken snickered a bit. "No, no, it's Cat Capital."

That just caused Byakuro to scoff even more. "Ken, you don't even like animal fur, let alone cats."

That just prompted Ken to pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll understand the joke in a minute.

Byakuro then follow Ken's lead and entered the shop, but Byakuro was genuinely shocked to see fifty or so people playing card games.

"A card game, seriously? That is your idea of interesting? You waste my time bringing me here to play a silly card game?" said Byakuro, who seemed to be pissed off. Impressively, his eyes remained lidded the entire time, even with the obvious anger in his voice.

"Hey don't get so angry," Ken said in a placating voice. "I'm serious, Byakuro, this game is fun. I spend my most of my time polishing my skill, and my effort paid off when I placed second in the last Cat Capital shop tournament."

Byakuro's anger subsided as he sighed, although it was more because being angry wasn't really interesting to him, more than because of any calming effect from Ken. "So that's why you ranked twenty-second place last semester," he remarked.

Then he sighed again, and continued in a more acquiescing tone. "But, I'm the one who said that I'll do anything to kill my boredom and I also accepted your offer to come here, so I'll try it out. What should I do first, then? Read a rulebook or something?"

Ken nodded. "That, and you also need to buy a trial deck to get started. See the old guy with green hair and wear glasses over there at the counter? He's the sub manager, and he'll help you pick a trial deck." He clapped his friend on the back. "Welcome to Cardfight Vanguard!"

"So what're you going to do, then?" asked Byakuro.

Ken scanned the players for a moment before pointing. "I'll go watch that match there. A Brawlers vs Eradicators match seems fun to watch. See you later, then," he replied, before leaving to watch the match.

Byakuro watched him for a moment before proceeded towards the cashier where the green-haired man in the apron stood, a cat napping on top of the cash register.

"Good evening," the man said, "I'm the sub-manager here; what would you like to buy? I've never seen you here, so you must be a new customer! We have plenty of different card games for you to enjoy, and the most popular is Cardfight Vanguard." He paused before laughing sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Welcome To Card Capital!" he said with a proud smile. Then the cat woke up and hissed at him, and the sub-manager quickly waved his hands in a flustered manner. "Sorry, sorry! I mean, welcome to Cat Capital!" Pleased, the cat returned to its nap.

The sub-manager leaned in close and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "The main branch is named Card Capital and I was working there before I got stationed to this side branch. The manager, which is Manage Cat over there, strongly insists that the sub branch is named Cat Capital." Byakuro stared incredulously while the man nodded seriously.

Byakuro shook his head, scoffing at the ridiculous joke. He had to admit, though, it was amusing enough, so he would play along. "Thanks, then. Cat Capital it is."

"So what would you like to buy?" inquired the sub manager.

"I like to buy a trial deck for Cardfight Vanguard, and borrow the rulebook for it," replied Byakuro impatiently. If he was going to waste his time on his friend's hobby, he might as well waste as little time as possible.

"Ok choose a trial deck you like here while I go get the rulebook!" The sub-manager said cheerfully, before he placed four packaged boxes on the counter and began rummaging around. "Now where did I place that rulebook…"

Byakuro scanned his options. "Let's see… Seeker of Hope, Brawler of Friendship, Bluish Flames, or Locked Dragon…" He immediately ruled out the first two; hope and friendship were just too cliché for him to take seriously. The other two, though, were more interesting. Personally, he thought the cover arts for both boxes were cool, and he liked both fire and dragons. In the end, though, something just seemed to draw him to the last one. It seemed… Familiar, somehow. "That's my choice, then. I'll take Trial Deck 17: Will of the Locked Dragon."

The sub-manager nodded as he rang up the order. "Alright, here you go."

It was then that the gears of fate began to turn. No one at that time knew, but that choice changed the fate of the world.

Byakuro reached out and touched the deck, and the world went black.

Chapter Zero: End