Alex got off the plane with a yawn… He had flown directly from Sydney to Tokyo International Airport for a three year exchange to Japan. His parents had told him that he was supposed to meet his host in the arrivals hall after he got his bags. Checking through customs was the easy bit, Alex had nothing to declare so got straight through to baggage claim. It was rather cold in the airport compared to the heat of the Australian summer. But he expected that so had put on a brown jacket and a pair of jeans. When he arrived at the in the arrivals hall he was met by a tall man with black hair and a girl around his height with long blue hair. "Hi are you Alex?" The man said looking him in the eye and extending his hand.
"Yes, thank you for meeting me so soon, Mr Nishiyama." Alex said taking his hand and shaking it. "Please, I'm Ryugen, this is my daughter Fujiko," the girl turned to Alex and smiled, "Hi its nice to meet you." she said and they began walking towards the street. "So Alex how was the flight? I am glad to see that you're here safely." Alex looked over at the man and shrugged.
"It was alright, the in-flight entertainment wasn't great so I just listened to music and had a look over my deck…" Alex looked away, the last time he had told an adult he barely knew about his hobby, they called it a waste of money and he could do better things with his time. "Oh, so you are into Trading Card Games then?" Alex was surprised and turned and nodded a little "Yeah I play Vanguard". Ryugen smiled, "Well lots of people play Vanguard around here so I'm sure you'll fit right in, in fact Fujiko and I are quite good players so if you're up for a fight I would be happy to be the first to fight you on your trip Alex." Alex looked over, thought for a second then smiled. "You're on!" he said excitedly as they rounded the corner and walked into the house.
Ryugen showed Alex to his room, it was cozy with a bed, lamp, wardrobe and desk. "I'll be ready downstairs so bring your a game alright." He told Alex and he nodded and he put his stuff down and got his clothes into an appropriate series of drawers and hung up jackets and coats in the wardrobe, next he got out his deck holder, a bright red leather case and held within was the deck that his brother made for him before he left. He opened the case and pulled out the deck to see the face of a screaming baby dinosaur he smiled, The Tachikaze clan suited his love of ancient history like no other and he was a bit of a dinosaur freak so he had always liked watching this clan be used.
He walked downstairs and saw Ryugen had set up a playmat on one side of the coffee table in the living room and was waiting for him. "You all sorted up there?" He asked as Alex came into the living room. "No I'm all good" Alex took out his own playmat and placed it on the table and began shuffling his deck, Ryugen did the same. Both players put their starting vanguard on the vanguard circle and split each other's deck.
Drawing his starting hand, Alex opted for a three card re-draw, he redrew and got some better cards where his opponent had kept his hand.
Both players placed a hand on their vanguard and yelled "Stand Up, Vanguard" and flipped the cards over revealing their starting vanguards "Military Dragon Raptor Soldier" Alex yelled as the fight began, "Blackboard Parrot" Ryugen looked over at the other's unit. "Tachikaze huh… well then this will be fun." he said as he drew a card. "I Ride Silver Wolf! Calling Blackboard Parrot to the rear guard." Ryugen yelled as he slammed the card onto the table and moved the forerunner to the slot behind it. "Your Up, lets see what you got."
Alex drew a card and looked at his hand. "I Ride Military Dragon Raptor Sergeant. I use Soldier's skill letting me look at the top seven for a copy of Raptor Captain or Raptor Colonel and add it to my hand." He put his hand down and took the top seven cards off his deck, there was a copy of Raptor Colonel which was the last card he needed. "I call Sonic Noa. Noa boosts my Vanguard's attack." Alex slid the two cards into the rest position and his opponent said that he was not going to guard so he checked for a drive trigger. He revealed Carry Trilobite a Draw Trigger.
Drawing his card Alex passed the turn to his opponent who drew his card and Alex saw Fujiko had walked into the room and was watching over his shoulder. "I Ride Geograph Giant! Calling Globe Armadillo, Monoculus Tiger and Sharpener Beaver, first with Blackboard Parrot's Skill, I move it into the soul and when my Sharpener Beaver goes to the drop zone at the end of the turn, I can draw a card, now with Sharpener's support Monoculus Tiger attacks your Vanguard, His skill gives +4000 power to Sharpener Beaver."
He said turning the cards to rest, 17000 was going to be too big to waste a guard at this stage of the game Alex took one point of damage, Savage Archer, then Ryugen swung in with his Vanguard Geograph Giant. "I guard with Carry Trilobite!" Alex placed the draw trigger in the Guardian Circle, Ryugen checked the drive trigger, nothing was there so he added it to his hand and passed the turn. Alex drew and yelled "I Ride Military Dragon, Raptor Captain. I use my Raptor Sergeant's skill and Superior Call a Raptor Sergeant from my deck!" Alex fanned out his deck and put a copy of Raptor Sergeant onto a rear-guard circle. "Then I call Winged Dragon Slashptero and Cannon-Fire Dragon Cannon Gear, with his skill I retire Slashptero and use its skill to give my Vanguard an extra 3000 power this turn. Then my Cannon Gear Attacks your Vanguard." The damage trigger was revealed and a critical trigger mark was used to power up Ryugen's Vanguard. "My Vanguard Attacks!" Alex "My Globe Armadillo intercepts with his skill his shield is doubled and I also guard with Compass Lion!" Ryugen threw a card onto the guardian circle and moved his rear guard beside it "Drive Trigger Check" Alex pulled the top card from his deck and revealed it. nothing there this time. He had only taken one damage to his opponents' two and with his hand he could guard most attacks.
Ryugen smiled "This is a good fight I must admit, you have quite the deck there but mine is better, I Ride Honorary Professor Chatnoir, I call Binoculus Tiger moving Monoculus Tiger back and I call Triangle Cobra and Geograph Giant. First Binoculus attacks with a boost from Monoculus, with Binoculus's Skill +4000 power to Triangle Cobra" The damage trigger was bare and Ryugen Attacked with his Vanguard, "I guard with Black Cannon Tiger" He needs two triggers to make this one Alex thought "Drive Trigger Check, the first, a draw trigger, one more card for me and the power to Chatnoir... and the second, A heal trigger I recover one and the power to my Vanguard!" Alex looked for a damage trigger. There it was "Dragon Bird Firepteryx the power goes to my vanguard" Alex smiled and looked over at Ryugen who just attacked with Geograph Giant boosted by Triangle Cobra. The Archbird card hit the damage zone and Ryugen moved Triangle Cobra to the drop zone and passed the turn.
"I hope you can keep up Alex cause this fight isn't looking too good for you, the damage is four to one, are you sure you can even catch up?" Ryugen said mockingly as he looked over at Fujiko, who had taken an interest in the Australian player. "Catch up? Be careful that I don't beat you on this turn old man!" Alex smirked and drew. "Invincible Lizard, It's time for the spearhead, I Ride. The Colonel has arrived!" The smirk turned into a smile, "And with my Captain's skill, Superior Call, Military Captain Raptor Captain then I call Sonic Noa, Boosted by Noa, Cannon Gear Attacks!" The second damage hit his opponent's damage zone and Alex decided to use his ace skill."My vanguard attacks, with his skill I Counter Blast two cards and retire Noa and Cannon Gear and my Colonel gains 19000 power!" "So now his power is at 30,000 huh, well then I guess It must be done." Ryugen revealed a card in his hand, Cable Sheep! He nullified Alex's attack as he dropped one card from his hand. "Drive Trigger Check"
Alex drew the top card, Black Cannon Tiger, "I give all the effects to my Raptor Captain, second check? A Heal Trigger Recovering one damage and the power goes to the Captain. Raptor Captain Charge!"
the blow struck home and the two damage fell onto the damage. Ryugen smiled as he placed the second damage into the damage zone and drew a card. "Alex you are really going to regret giving me that fourth damage this turn." He said as he raised one of his cards above his head. "All squabbles must be straightened out with the harshest of punishments. Break Ride! Armed Instructor Bison!" Ryugen smiled at Alex. "The Break Rides effects, Armed Instructor Bison gains + 10000 power and gains a new skill. Then I call a pair of Silver Wolves. Boosted by Silver Wolf Geograph Giant attacks, then with the break ride skill +4000 power to Silver Wolf" Alex took the top card off his deck and placed it into the damage zone. "Firepteryx's Critical Trigger effects are activated, all effects going to my Raptor Coronel"
"That's fine with me, Boosted by Monoculus Tiger, Binoculus Tiger Attacks, I add an extra 8000 power to Monoculus Tiger with the break ride skill and Binoculus's skill."
"I guard with Black Cannon Tiger!" Alex looked over at the final attack, 28000 power. "WIth a boost from Silver Wolf, My Vanguard Attacks!" As Ryugen switched the cards into the rest position, Alex pulled three cards out of his hand, "I guard with Steelsaurus, Launcher Mammoth and Savage Archer." He needs to pull two triggers here Alex thought. "Well I check the twin drive. The first… Triangle Cobra… A Critical Trigger, All effects to my Vanguard, the second card is… Castanet Donkey… Power to my Vanguard, an extra card for me and the attack goes through!" Alex looked down and took the first card, nothing there, put it into the damage zone and the went to grab the second card, took it and flicked it over quickly… Carry Trilobite… Alex had lost… "Wow that was a good fight, If I hadn't got that second trigger I think you would have beaten me" Ryugen said as he extended his hand. Alex took his hand in a shake. "Yeah I think you probably would have been able to guard judging by your hand size" He said with a laugh.
After dinner the trio sat down at the table and talked for a while about arrangements with school. "You'll be going to Miyaji Academy with Fujiko. They recently started up a Cardfight Club there so you should make friends pretty easy but you will need a new deck if you want to compete." Alex looked over at Ryugen with a confused look on his face. "Why do I need a new deck? What's wrong with my deck as it is?" Ryugen was going to say why then Fujiko interrupted. "Your deck's fine it's just because your cards are printed in English so you can't use them in Japanese Competitions or Championships." Ryugen nodded in agreement, "Using Japanese cards will be different to what you're used to but you should be fine considering you are fluent in Japanese anyway." He walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed a deck box and tossed it to Alex. "Here, this deck should do for now. It's a deck that plays a little different to what you're used to but it'll do." Alex opened the deck box and took the deck out, he was a little surprised to find the top card being a blue haired lady, Hexagonal Magus. Fujiko looked over his shoulder and said. "The Oracle Think Tank gives you the ability to see into the future. The Magus' are adept at manipulating that power in various different ways."
Alex cooked the group dinner, which they all enjoyed and then Alex went back into his room and started to read the abilities of the cards in his new deck. "Fujiko was right, The Magus' do manipulate top of the deck a lot… Oracle Think Tank... This could be fun." He said and drifted off to sleep.