Cardfight Vanguard: Chaos Reborn

Chapter 2

Ranbu Resurgence

The unnamed resistance fighter and his three allies were the last hope for humanity after their world was ravaged by the scourge that is Link Joker, but they were all slain one by one just before they could face the final boss. In just a moment after death the unnamed resistance fighter finds himself floating in the void between heaven, hell, and the rest of the cycle of reincarnation when a voice spoke out to him offering a second chance.

"What do you mean a second chance?" the unnamed fighter asked as part of him already wants to cling to this thread of hope.

"I mean exactly as it sounds human. I can give you a second chance to prevent the disaster that ravaged your world. It shouldn't be too hard for you to understand this concept as your race has written literature to this effect." The voice retorts.

"Literature? Wait… before Link Joker appeared…. I remember being really into reincarnation and second chance themed light novels where the main character would work to prevent a disaster that fell before them." the unnamed fighter mumbled as he became lost in confusion, "You're saying you can do something like that?"

"Exactly like that and I showed you what happened to your steadily decreasing number of comrades so you shouldn't doubt my power." the voice declared as it reveals itself to be the one who created those screens from earlier.

"Yo u think that's funny making me see that?! Do you think you're some kind of god?!" the young fighter screamed as his anger was easy to read despite the mask he's wearing over his face.

"I did it to show you my power… not to entertain myself, and nor am I a god. I'm simply a being with a bit of control over time itself." The voice calmly answered.

Despite that the voice himself did seem to be a little annoyed by being compared to a deity.

"I am simply one who wishes to offer a helping hand…. though not for free." The voice said, "Sigh…. to me it seemed like you had the best chance of preventing this branch of the river of time from coming into being, but perhaps I should look for one of your three friends in this space and see if they are more interested."

In a classic sales pitch maneuver… the unknown voice was attempting to lure in the nameless fighter by walking away and snipping the last bit of hope in his heart in two.

"Wait! The others are here too?" the unnamed fighter asked as his face becomes filled with happiness at the thought of seeing his friends again.

"They are, and before you ask…. allowing commination between you all is impossible for me." the voice said as he read the expression on the fighter's face.

"Oh." the unnamed fighter said as he immediately became depressed again.

"I'll ask you one final time human….. do you want a second chance to change the fate of your race? Or are you content with dooming them to extinction?" the voice asked as his voice boomed throughout this empty space.

"What are your conditions?" the unnamed fighter asked as a more reasonable air surrounded his body.

"I only have 2 conditions." the voice declared, "First… though the emissary of Link Joker might notice….. you can't tell anyone for obvious reasons that you were offered a second chance. Secondly…. unless there is no other way…. you must not be the one to defeat Link Joker's emissary."

"What? Why?! You think I'm just going to let it go?" the unnamed fighter yelled as he becomes angry once more.

"Because he might notice the fact that you get a second life. Also this is to prevent that greater evil I mentioned from being unleashed upon the universe, so thus Aichi Sendou must be the one to defeat him. Only if the emissary of Link Joker defeats Aichi and all of his other friends will you get your chance. As I understand it's already similar enough to how you lead your life anyway." The voice explained.

"Okay…. fine." the nameless fighter mumbles as he reluctantly accepts the explanation that was given to him, "However if….. and I mean if Aichi is defeated again I'm tagging myself in first chance I get."

"Very well, but since I don't want you to come back here a third time…. I have two boons I'm granting to you." the voice said.

Immediately after the voice made that statement two spheres of light the size of a fist appear before this nameless fighter. One light is of a golden color and gives the fighter a sense of familiarity and warmth. The other sphere is black with a red hue like the rings of Link Joker. After being stared at for a few seconds…. both lights fly towards the nameless fighter as if intending to fuse with his body.

"Arghh." the nameless fighter mumbled as he feels a combination of loving warmth and intense pain as his body absorbs those two spheres of light, "What was that?"

"The first boon is a power that shouldn't exist yet in the moment of time before Link Joker's invasion of your world. I'll try to cover it up as much as possible, but do not use it as a crutch otherwise this power will unnecessarily leak into your world." the voice explained.

"And the other boon?" the nameless fighter curiously asks.

"It is the power of redeemed hatred meant to be your ace against Link Joker regardless of whether or not you end up facing their emissary, but right now you're not strong enough to use it…. otherwise you'll destroy yourself if you attempt to force it." the voice explains.

"Oh wait… this just came to me and I doubt it'll happen right away, but what should I do if the emissary of Link Joker comes after me because of what you're about to do? That is….. if you're telling the truth about what you claim you can do." The unnamed fighter declared as he shows he isn't completely sold about this entity's offer.

"Were I in your shoe I'd show the same suspicion." The voice retorts as if slightly amused, "But to answer your question…. on the off chance he comes after you directly avoid him as much as possible. Only fight if escape is truly not an option."

"Alright then… if this really is reality… if this isn't some kind of sick and twisted joke…. If I'm really not hallucinating from the blood loss. Then I'm ready to begin." The nameless fighter declared as he reaffirmed his resolve.

"Very well child of man, but know that unless you are victorious in this endeavor we shall not speak again. With that in mind… I wish you good luck." The voice declared one final time as his voice boomed throughout this space as if it were coming out of a pair of speakers set at max volume.

The empty void the nameless fighter found himself in began to glow brighter and brighter until he was completely blinded by the light, and for a moment he could definitely feel himself lose consciousness or at the very least momentarily lose all feeling in his limbs. After what seems to be an eternity or rather a few seconds the unnamed fighter begins to regain feeling in his limbs and he light forced into his eyes begins to dissipate. When the light completely disappears the fighter sees a white ceiling and a fan that seriously needs to be cleaned.

"Arghhh… my head." the nameless fighter grunts as he wipes a small pile of dust out of his hair, "Last time this happened was….. I swear I have to stop forgetting to clean that damn fan… wait… a dirty fan."

The nameless fighter is completely awakened by his sudden realization as he looks up to confirm the existence of the fan, then he looks to a poster of his favorite video game behind him, and then he lets his eyes soak in the vision of the bed below him.

"This is….. my room…. my room… my room back before it was destroyed." the nameless fighter mumbled as he suddenly bursts out into laughter, "Man that was one hell of a realistic dream….. as if there really is a clan called Link Joker in Vanguard. I'm only someone who's recently learned how to play."

"Rats….. this one was hoping to write on you face while you slept as vengeance for taking this one's last pudding cup." said a voice that could only belong to a young girl.

The nameless fighter turns to the door to him room and he sees a girl 12 years of age with jade white skin, dark brown hair that reaches down to her chin on the left side of her face while the right side reaches a few inches past her shoulder, and big blue eyes. The girl was wearing a white pair of pajamas littered with different animals in various shades of pink, and the nameless fighter knew that when this girl matured that she'd break the hearts of many men and bring the envy of many women.

"Ha ha…. that's right… I still remember the last prank my precious little gem of a sister Bao Harumi pulled in my dream before it reached the messed up stuff." The nameless fighter said as he once again bursts out into laughter, "Let me guess…. you were going to write 'Pudding' in Chinese and 'Eater' in Japanese right?"

"Wha…. how did you know? This one only thought of it just now." Bao said as a look of absolute shock appeared on her face.

The nameless fighter doesn't answer, but rather he pulls his little sister into a tight hug and begins to spin like a human Marry-go-Round.

"Never underestimate your big brother…. and I see you're still a serious chuuni, but still come here and give your brother a hug." The nameless fighter retorts as he happily continues with spinning his sister around.

"This one recommends… that you say that before you actually hug this one. Now put me down or I'll summon my black flames of eternal darkness and burn you." Bao said as she starts to get a little sick in the stomach from the sudden motion.

"Sorry sorry….. it's just it feels like it's been a long time since I've seen you look and speak like this." the nameless fighter said as he complies with his sister's request and quickly forces himself to calm down.

What the nameless fighter said was indeed the truth as in his supposed dream or rather nightmare…. three years after the invasion of Link Joker he and his sister (who grew out of the chuunni state) while running a patrol for the resistance came across the emissary of Link Joker himself… the possessed Takuto Tatsunagi who decided to go for a walk on a whim. The nameless fighter wanted to report this and expedite with leaving the area, but before he could his sister challenged Takuto to a fight. Takuto tortured his precious sister Bao by making her see hope of victory only to swiftly hand her defeat, and before she was turned…. because she refused to harm her brother….. Bao took her life into her own hands like how many fighters before her have done up to that point after being defeated by a Reverse Fighter.

"What do you mean?" Bao asks as she couldn't possibly understand what's going in her brother's mind.

"Oh nothing…. if you'll excuse me your big brother drank a lot of water last night so he really needs to go drain the dragon." the nameless fighter declared as he quickly left his sister alone in his room.

"Drain the dragon?" Bao thought as attempted to contemplate the meaning of her brother's analogy.

And then Bao's cheeks turn a rather cherry red color when she finally understands the meaning of her big brother's statement.

"Baka onii-chan…. This one doesn't want doesn't want to have that image in her head as this one is still a young lady." Bao mumbled as she refused to accept that she was the one responsible for that particular image flashing through her mind's eye.

Meanwhile the nameless fighter quickly ran to the bathroom, however the reason he did so was because he wanted to check himself in the mirror rather than use the toilet.

"Let's see no facial hair, no grey hair, and no scars from the times 6 different Binary Stars nearly turned me into Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid with it's sword." the nameless fighter mumbled as he breathed a massive sigh of relief, "I'm 15 agai…. no that's not right. All that messed up stuff was only a dream so I've always been 15."

The nameless fighter looked in the bathroom mirror only to see himself as a 15 year old youth like he'd just stated. He inherited his mother's black hair and brown eyes, his skin was of a light complexion though his sister dwarfs him in that regard, his looks were overall only somewhat better than the average Joe, but the way his eyes looked were his only redeeming feature. Depending on his mood his eyes would either look like that of a high school delinquent or of a Prince Charming starting into the very core of a maiden's heart.

"I remembered how these eyes of mine would get me into all sorts of trouble. It's a bit of an abuse of her position as a doctor, but I have to thank mom for getting me a 'prescription' for dark lensed glasses. Still in that messed up dream of mine no one cared about your appearance past being able to tell whether or not you've been injured or turned into one of them after so many years of hardship…. I guess I'm the same way now." the nameless fighter thought.

"Hurry up onii-chan." Bao said as she pounded on the bathroom door after ten minutes had passed.

"Sorry sorry I'll be out in a minute." The nameless fighter said as he found himself borrowing his dad's razor.

Dream like he believes or no….. this nameless fighter is a teenager again so he naturally feels a little embarrassed when he realizes that he no longer needs to shave not that he had the time to do so in a post-apocalyptic future. Still he quickly cleans himself up and exits the bathroom despite the incredible temptation of a hot shower and flavored toothpaste. As he comes out of said bathroom the nameless fighter witnesses a person that he in no way would ever forget climb up a set of stairs.

"Dad.." the nameless fighter mumbled as he resisted the overwhelming urge to run over and hug his old man.

Bao and the nameless fighter's dad was a rather successful Chinese businessman who worked in his homeland's branch of a international corporate conglomerate that's primarily based in Japan, but other than that he's about as average looking as a generic background character in any Japanese manga or manhua the Chinese equivalent. Speaking of which, the nameless fighter resisted hugging his dad because he has read enough "Second Chance" stories from both Asian nations to know how unusual it would look to be so happy to see him.

"In that messed up dream….. when Link Joker finally hit our city….. I never got to find out what happened to dad before all the chaos forced me onto an evacuation ship to Japan." The nameless fighter thought.

"Chun Harumi…" the nameless fighter's dad or rather chun's dad said as he focused his gaze upon his son, "You forgot your Vanguard deck on the kitchen table last night."

"Oh thank you." Chun said as he takes the small black box out of his father's hand.

"Bao…. Chun, your mother has something she wants to tell the two of you, so get dressed and come down stairs as soon as possible.

"Yes father." Bao and Chun said in an almost subservient manner.

"Ha…. dad is exactly how I remember him…. strict as always, but I know its because he had to earn everything he had including convincing grandpa to give him his approval to marry mom. He wants us to be like him and earn what we have instead of relying on mom's money like how I was close to doing." Chun thought, "Well even if it was only because of the events in a messed up dream…. I swear on my ancestors that I won't be like that anymore."

Chun returns to his room, closes the door behind him, and pulls out some random clean clothes he'll wear later yet he's more interested in the deck…. his first Vanguard deck to be specific that his father gave back to him a few moments ago.

"That's right….. it's only been a couple months since I learned how to play Vanguard just to get my chuuni sister to stop pestering me about it." Chun mumbled as he checked the date on the digital clock in his room, "And…. if I'm remembering correctly… Master…. If you happen to be a real person instead of someone my mind created in that messed up dream…. it should have only been a few days since you learned how to play as well."

Chun sits in front of the desk in his room and places his deck in front of him before suddenly recalling when he first put this deck together. Unlike his sister Bao who spends her allowance to fuel her chuuni habits like it grew on trees, Chun carefully saved up his money and bought enough packs to build a complete Spike Brother's deck based around Bad End Dragger and Dudley Emperor.

"In that messed up nightmare before Link Joker invaded Earth I only played extremely casually so I was a long ways away from mastering this deck, but the last time I saw it was the morning before Link Joker finally came to my home in China. I should have had it on me like how real fighters do….. if I did I might have been able to help a few more people get on the evac ships." Chun thought as he becomes filled with an intense sorrow, "Still…. even if it was only a dream….. if it wasn't for master teaching me how to be a proper fighter I wouldn't have been around long enough to see that weird ending to it. What his favorite phrase again…. ah yeah… It's break time."

Chun pulled his deck out of his deck box and continued to hold it in his hand as he let the top of his deck where the famous logo "Cardfight Vanguard" would be printed on the back of every card face him with its entire splendor.

"The card on the bottom should still be the Bad End Dragger that was misprinted as an SP card. Let's see if it is still shiny as I remember." Chun mumbled as turned his deck on its back.

Chun was expecting to see the ever familiar orange and yellow demonic skull-like armor or at the bare minimum the Spike Brother's consistent demonized or evil-ized artistic references to rugby and football; however, that is of course not what he saw at all.

"What the fuck is this?" Chun mumbled as the extreme sense of shock causes him to loosen his grip on his deck.

Chun's deck then falls out of his hand and each card scatters all over his desk. Most end up landing face on his desk face down, however amongst the few that do end up landing face-up none of them are the aggressive hand burning Spike Brothers clan….. rather they all look like Japanese Samurai wearing outfits/armor that originate from various periods in Japan's history, and most of the people wearing them look like guys straight up from a shojou manga or straight up otome visual novel.

"Touken…. Ranbu…., but how could this clan possibly be here?! Neither of my parents work for the company that makes the card game…. in that dream….. I don't get this deck until two years after Link Joker's invasion of Earth began, and…. a few of the cards here…. I've never seen them before…. What I found was just supposed to be a prototype deck." Chun thought as his breathing became ragged and his mind went into complete and utter turmoil.

Seeing this clan that should have only existed in a "Dream" within reality forced Chun's mind to recall the order of events that occurred on the day he obtained his one true clan. On a rainy night a little over two years from now Chun was with 7 other resistance fighters (none of whom were the three other fighters Chun was with at the end of his "Dream") were on a recon mission led by the one he calls "Master" to confirm the contents of an abandoned military supply depot set up in a factory that just happened to belong to the company that made the cards for Cardfight Vanguard.

"Chun… anything?" Chun's master asked as he focused on picking the lock to the back door of this factory.

"Negative…. no sign of any Reverse Fighters or Link Joker uni…. Hmmm what's that?" Chun answered as he goes back and forth between the city street with a pair of night vision goggles

Chun and his master were the only ones amongst their group of 8 not wearing a mask, but that was only because neither of them saw a point in wearing a mask as they weren't using guerilla tactics against a conventional army by Earth standards. The rest however wore them in order to give themselves a small amount of confidence in these dark times.

"What is it?" Chun's master asked as he begins to worry that he and his team have already been made.

"False alarm…. It was just a statue." Chun whispered.

Chun's master himself was half a foot taller than him, with a head full of wild red hair like that of a delinquent, he always had a somewhat aggressive expression on his face even when he was in a good mood, and for some strange reason no matter what expression he made his eyes would always look like a circle that was cut in half by a knife.

"Geez.. don't scare me like that." Chun's master whispered as he breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh.. it's unlocked… let's get inside already."

The team of 8 quickly ran inside the factory and as expected none of the lights were working not that they'd be stupid enough to turn it on anyway, but the moonlight that was leaking through the clouds filled with rain was more than enough to allow everyone to see enough where they won't accidentally trip on their own feet or fall down a hole in the floor. As for the more detailed examinations, the team of 8 scouts take out their flashlights and are ready to go to work upon their leader's orders.

"Check it out…. medical supplies… enough to last us a few years." One of the scouts pointed out as he rummaged through an open crate.

"Food too…. even plant seeds. Once we finally kick those alien bastards off our world…. we could move to the countryside and rebuild." Another of the scouts said, of whom happened to have had a country we accent.

"Miyuki… Todd, you two watch the door and let us know on the radio if you see anything glowing red flying towards us. Chie…. Gil, you guys check the warehouses built into the south of the factory. Mochizuki…. you and Sakura will check the rest of the factory floor. When your done help out Chie and Gil and vice versa. Chun and I will check the offices. We have two hours if we want to make it back to base before dawn." Chun's master ordered in a manner that shows he's a proven and trusted leader.

"Hang on… I know I'm new on the scouting teams, but why the offices? We're here for the food, medicine, and weapons aren't we?" Chun asked.

"We could find maps that could lead us to other caches, survivors, and ideally a place that's easier to defend then what we have now. Plus since this is one of the major factories for the guys that made Vanguard cards…. We might even find powerful cards that were never released." Chun's master explained, "Now let's get to it already."

It's only been 45 minutes to an hour since Chun and his master started searching the factory offices, but their search already born fruit as they already stuffed several useful looking maps and documents for the ex-soldiers to translate back at the resistance base. All that's left for them to do is search the office of this factory's manager, and speaking of which Chun's master is already working on picking the lock for the door to the aforementioned location.

"How long is this going to take?" Chun asks as he frantically looks out a nearby window for any sign of party crashers.

"I got this, but this isn't a cheap lock so it's going to take a little longer than the back door." Chun's master retorted with an annoyed look on his face.

"I heard that you were some kind of teenage delinquent, so thi stuff should be easy for you." Chun whispered.

"I know he only says it as a joke now, but you shouldn't believe what Shingo says about me." Chun's master said as he momentarily turned his head away from the door, "I only know how to pick a lock because my old man keeps jamming the lock at home, and locksmiths aren't cheap."

"Whatever you say master." Chun calmly whispered.

"Could you please not call me that? It makes me feel old, and I'm still in the spring time of my youth after all." Chun's master said as he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"You saved me from being bisected by a Binary Star, and you helped give me direction to my Vanguard training. With my homeland's cultural values how could I not call you master?" Chun said with an obvious tone of blatant admiration.

"Why you-" Chun's master was saying before he was interrupted by the sound of clicking pins, "Okay it's unlocked."

Unfortunately there was no window for moonlight to seep through, so in this case master and student had no choice but to rely on the flashlights in their possession to reveal the current state of the room. Other than being covered in years' worth of dust this office was surprisingly well organized. One could argue that such organization is expected of the military, however the only blemish in this space would be a messily put-together sack of papers of various sizes resting on the office desk.

"Anything interesting?" Chun asked as he once again decided to play the role of the lookout while his master checked out the various papers on the desk.

"Just more copies of maps we already picked up and shipping manifests back from when this was an ordinary facto…. oh hello." Chun's master explained as his tone suddenly changes to that of excitement.

"What you find?" Chun asked as he refused to turn his head away from the door.

"Come over here and check it out yourself. It could very well be one of the things I brought up earlier." Chun's master said.

Chun walks up to the person he calls master only to find a metal briefcase resting on another pile of documents. It's of course covered in dust like everything else in the room, but once noticeable thing on the briefcase are the following words written in bold black letters "Prototype Trial Decks".

"Ha ha… you see… what I tell you? Rare cards no one's ever seen before are our greatest weapons against the Reverse Fighters. Go on and check it out Chun, I know you haven't found a deck that clicks with you.. but you never know this could be it." Chun's master said as he busts out into a quiet laughter.

With his curiosity piqued, Chun and his master find three Vanguard decks in excellent comfortably nestled in three little cubbyholes, and there's a label below three of the cubbyholes naturally with something written upon them. From left to right: "Offensive", "Defensive", and "Balanced". Chun has always considered himself to be an aggressive fighter so naturally the first of these mysterious decks he decides to examine is the one labeled "Offensive" while his master decides to look through the one marked "Defensive".

"Master, are you seeing the same thing I am?" Chun asks, "At least this deck isn't support for any of the existing clans, but rather a completely different clan entirely."

"If they all look like guys dressed in samurai armor then we're definitely looking at the same clan, and it's safe to say the last deck is filled with guys from the same clan as well." Chun's master pointed out.

"Have you heard of this clan….. Touken Ranbu before master? The name sounds familiar but I can't seem to place it." Chun asked as he attempts to rack his brain for the answer to his on question.

"It's the name of a popular internet browser card game… nowhere near as popular as Vanguard though. I was considering picking up this game before I met Aic… an old friend of mine." Chun's master answered.

"Ahh… now I remember." Chun said as his face had a clear epiphany, "Before Link Joker's invasion my chuuni sister heard a rumor that the guys who make the cards were cooperating with an MMO company for a cross-promotional event, and Touken Ranbu was that game."

"Looks like the ru-" Chun's master was saying before he was interrupted by the sound of an incoming transmission on his walkie-talkie, "What is it?"

"WE GOT COMPANY! NO LJ UNITS, BUT THERE ARE A WHOLE LOT OF REVERSE FIGHTERS!" Sakura screamed as her clearly ragged breathing and sounds of footsteps indicated that she was running as fast as her legs could take her.

"Damn…. time to go!" Chun's master said as he stuffed the two trial decks back into the brief case, closed it, and passed it back over to his student.

The office building attached to this factory is fairly big, and as a result despite running for several minutes Chun and his teacher still haven't reached the main factory floor.

"Sorry boss." Todd mumbled over the walkie-talkie as he had a saddened and pained tone clear in his almost as if he was enduring some kind of intense torture.

"What's wrong?" Chun's master said as a scared expression appeared on his face.

"Todd and I are surrounded by Reverse Fighters, so you won't be able to come out the way we came in." Miyuki explained, "We'll hold them off with as many cardfights as we can, but you'll all have to get out of here without us."

"No way! Just last as long as you can, and we'll come pull you guys out!" Chun yelled as he refused to leave his teammates trapped in a middle of the Vanguard universe's equivalent of a zombie horde.

"Ha…. appreciate the thought kid, but the rest of you all have family to go back to unlike us. You wouldn't want to…. I'll nullify that with a perfect guard! Anyways you wouldn't want to disappoint your sister." Todd chuckled, "Don't worry… we have no intentions of becoming slaves to those Link Joker bastards, so we'll draw as much attention away from… guard…. you guys as possible and join you soon enough."

"You better make it out Todd, you still owe me 1,000 yen!" Chun's master yelled.

Todd's words may have sounded cool; but Chun, his master, and the other members of the scout team all knew that Todd and Miyuki were sacrificing themselves for the resistance. Todd and Miyuki both knew that they could only fight oh so many matches before they unwillingly joined their enemy and if that happened they had no intention of living long enough to rat out the other resistance fighters. Many other branches of the resistance have fallen to Link Joker because of this very occurrence.

"Damn it!" Chun's master yelled into his walkie-talkie, "We need another exit now! Do the rest of you have anything?"

"Yeah….. ummm we saw signs that pointed to an emergency exit. You'll see the signs as soon as you enter the warehouse, so hurry up and we'll wait by the exit." Gil said over the walkie-talkie.

Chun and his master quickly pick up the pace, however they still end up running into stragglers from whatever sized horde of Reverse Fighters are filling this factory. If they had time they'd fight their way out, but time is something they don't have so their only choice is to quickly sneak around them unless they wanted to be surrounded by a horde of their own. A few more minutes pass where the pair of master and student then find themselves running down a hallway in the factory warehouse with the emergency exit in sight. Then right next to the exit itself are three other members of the scouting team, a conveniently large open space big enough for a MF system, and within the space itself are a few ammo crates of the more explosive persuasion.

"Why are you guys still here?" Chun's master asked.

"Emergency exit is locked tight. Gil's trying to pick the lock now." Chie quickly answered.

"Damn it that's bad… hmmmm… Sakura, where's Mochizuki?" Chun's master asked as he turned his head towards the only other female member of the scouting team here.

"We ran into some of the reverse fighters, and Mochizuki started a fight with them so I could get away." Sakura explained as she clearly felt guilty about leaving her teammate behind.

"Damn it that's really bad. Anything I can do to help Gil?" Chun's master asked.

"No way." Gil answered as he shook his head from side to side, "This is a triple dead-bolt lock….. way beyond your skill, but it'll take me at least 10 minutes to unlock it."

"Hurry it up… they're going to find us by then." Chun's master pointed out.

"Too late." Chun declared as he pointed back down the way they all came.

They could already see several Reverse Fighters walking down the hallway as indicated by the red marks on their face, but for some reason they all stopped at the large open space between them instead of trying to surround the members of the scouting team and force them into a card fight. Chun's master was the only one who had a hunch as to the reason behind their strange behavior while the others were just confused.

"One of you still has their free will right?! Why don't you just come out and face us yourself?!" Chun's master yelled.

"What is he talking about?" Chun asks.

"People like that bastard Kai who helped start all of this and a few really strong willed fighters can retain a great deal of their free will instead of becoming mindless zombies like the other Reverse Fighters, but they're all still slaves to Link Joker's influence in the end." Gil explained as he momentarily turned away from his emergency lock picking duties.

Whether by coincidence or design, upon hearing the words of Chun's master the group of Reverse Fighters part to the side of the hallway in order to obviously indicate that they're letting someone more important through. Within seconds the remaining members of the scouting team see a young woman around 19 years old, with light violet if not white colored hair reaching past her shoulders, blue eyes with the expected red marks below them, with an antique key wrapped around her necklace, wearing an outfit similar to the one worn by the emissary of Link Joker the possessed Takuto Tatsunagi, and with all that this Reverse Fighter was walking towards Chun and his teammates. As for Chun's master…. he had a shocked expression upon his face that his student has never seen before…. to be more specific it's like Chun's master seeing a ghost in person.

"Boss lady… how-" Chun's master was saying as he was nearly put into a state of speechlessness by his aforementioned shock.

"Am I not dead?" the young woman interrupted, "That is what you were going to ask."

Though Chun never met her….. there was only one person that his master ever called "Boss Lady", and the moment those words escaped the latter's lips… the former instantly realized just who it was that was standing before them. Given the reaction of the other surviving members of the scouting team…. it's clear that they instantly recognized the woman as well.

"The Genesis clan expert… Misaki Tokura." Chun mumbled.

To Be Continued

Misaki: I know you're surprised, but I don't blame for truly thinking I was gone given what happened.

Chun's Master: It's up to you Chun… you have to hold her off. ,

Chun: Amazing….. so this is the power of Touken Ranbu's Shinken Hissatsu ability.

Bao: Next time on Cardfight Vanguard: Chaos Reborn "Ranbu Resurgence II"

?: Are you kids interested in going to your mama's alma mater.

A/N: Some of you probably expected for there to be a fight in this chapter…. sorry, but I promise there will definitely be one in the next chapter. Speaking of which…. I'll mention it again there, but if it wasn't obvious here the MC of the story Chun and his sister Bao are 50/50 Chinese and Japanese. The former on their father's side and the latter on their mother's side….. plus the reason they have a Japanese last name is due to the fact that it's common in Asian cultures for a pair of spouses to take their significant other's family name if they dwarf them power and influence whether it be the woman takin the man's family name or vice versa.

The primary reason that Chun Harumi is 50/50 of two Asian cultures mentioned in this "Second Chance" themed story was because I was inspired to write this fic by Chinese and Japanese fantasy novels of the same genre. To be specific the inspiration for this fic came from the novels "Tales of Demons and Gods" along with "Douluo Dalu" on the Chinese end of the spectrum. On the Japanese end it was the two light novel series "Tsuyokute New Saga" and "Mushoku Tensei". The four of which each have a manga and manhua (Chinse equivalent of manga) respectively. I recommend reading them when readers of this fic get a chance in turn.

P.S: The first of the submitted OCs will be making their appearance in CH4 of Chaos Reborn, so if a submitter is curious to see if it is theirs…. be sure to follow the story if you haven't already and find out soon enough.