As the sun was rising in a local town...a car had stopped in front of a certain neighborhood's home, as Lilith opened the door and got out with her bag on her shoulder.
"Now, hopefully if you can stay out of trouble, this schooling situation of yours will only be for about a year. Can you manage not to be a troublemaker for one single year?" Her father asked, as Lilith rolled her eyes and walked up to the door, as her father groaned, and drove off.
"Yeah, yeah. The longer I'm here, the less I have to hear of it..." Lilith said to herself, before knocking on the door, and waiting a bit. "...Huh. They're not answering? Must be out." She commented while walking over to the driveway. "Yeah, no car, I just assumed it'd be in the garage...and I'm talking to myself." She commented, before continuing to look around, before noticing an elderly couple on the other side of the street. "Hey! Do you two know where the owners of this place are? I'm supposed to see them." she started, before the couple seemed to flinch.
"Oh, dear...It's that delinquent they said would be moving into the neighborhood..!" The woman said, Lilith raising a confused eyebrow. "Come on, dear, let's go...We don't want any trouble, miss!" They said to the old man, then to Lilith, as they walked away as fast as their old bones would permit.
"What the hell was that?" Lilith asked, crossing her arms, before noticing a stray kitten, and crouching down towards it, reaching out to pet it...before it immediately ran away. "Oh, COME ON!" she then yelled out. "Is there anything in this neighborhood that at least tolerates me?!" She asked.
"I do." A boy with green hair commented from a yard a few houses down.
"Well, yeah, of course you do Felix-!" Lilith started, before looking shocked. "FELIX?! What are you doing here?!" She asked, rushing over towards him.
"...I moved here? Like three weeks ago? You got all emotional and teary and everything when I said it before?" Felix commented, blinking. "Still, I should be asking you that. I never told you my address, what're you doing here?" he asked.
"Long story. Do you know the people who live over in that house? My parents got sick of me and had me moved over here to go to some private academy in this town." Lilith explained.
"Oh yeah, they went out for groceries or something a few minutes ago, and...yikes? That sounds pretty rough. What'd you do, punch a guy?" Felix asked, as Lilith deadpanned. "...Oh my god, that's exactly what you did, isn't it?" He asked.
"Shut up..." Lilith said, awkwardly looking away.
"Well, guess it's pretty lucky we're together again so soon, huh? How about I show you around the town while you're waiting for your caretakers to get back? I uh..." Felix started, glancing at just about everyone else in the neighborhood avoiding looking at her. "Think your school reputation followed you here when people found out someone was gonna be moving in with those guys, so I don't think anyone else would be willing to give you a tour."
"Oh, come on, I haven't even done anything here..!" Lilith said, annoyed.
"Yeah, but...rumors can fly pretty fast. But enough about that, why don't we go ahead with that tour?" Felix suggested.
"Yeah...fine. It's good to know at least one person here, though." Lilith commented, as the two started to walk down the sidewalk towards the town.
While the two were walking through, as Felix explained certain buildings, Lilith looked over at a group of kids, as well as a number of "monsters" in front of the two, as one of the kids pointed forward.
"Fire Rage Dragon attacks your Vanguard!" The kid called out, before the other kid tapped a card in their hand, as it burst, before taking another card in their hand and tossing it forward.
"Complete Guard!" The other kid said. "Flash Shield, Iseult!"
"What the heck are they doing?" Lilith asked Felix, who seemed dumbfounded.
"They're...playing Vanguard. Have you seriously not heard of it? It's arguably the most popular thing right now." Felix said.
"You think I had time to look into hobbies with my school record?" Lilith asked, deadpanned.
"Right, fair enough. God knows I want to forget about...that..." Felix said, staring up at the sky for a moment. "Anyways, Vanguard is a card game that's pretty much the most popular thing you can do nowadays. The reason you're seeing all those monsters is because of a little thing called the Neo-Fight system. Back then, people had to imagine the cards, but someone decided that was overrated, and now you can actually call out those units to fight for you." he explained.
"Felix, I have no idea what you're talking about." Lilith told him.
"Right...You're probably more of the hands-on type of person. In that case..." Felix said, before grabbing Lilith's arm and walking off somewhere. "Come with me." He said.
"What the hell-? Hey! Since when have you been able to pull people..?!" Lilith asked.
"Since you got accused of cheating in arm wrestling at recess." Felix answered, before hearing another voice.
"Felix? Is that you?" A boy with black hair with white streaks in the front asked, walking over to them. "Um...Am I interrupting something?" He asked.
"Oh, hey there Yato. No, not really." Felix answered while letting go. "Yato, this is my friend from before I moved here, Lilith. Lilith, this is a friend I made from school, Yato." he introduced.
"Oh! You're Lilith?" Yato asked, before immediately taking one of her hands and shaking it, much to her surprise. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard so much about you from Felix." he said.
"Uh...yeah, nice to meet you too. I didn't realize Felix was talking about me..." Lilith admitted, before glancing over at Felix. "Now what exactly has he been saying about me?" She started, before being cut off by Felix.
"ANYWAY! Yato, you've got really good timing, I was just about to introduce Lilith here to Vanguard." Felix said.
"Oh, really? Then can I come too? A fighter's first experience with vanguard is always a special time." Yato said, smiling.
"Hard to say no to that face..." Lilith commented. "Guess he's coming with us, huh Felix?" she asked.
"Yup, we're not too far from the card shop we frequent." Felix said, before they arrived at a rather simple building with an automatic door opening for them. "It may not be anything special, but it's definitely home for us. As for how to get started on a deck...We'd have to find the focus of it- Where did you go?" Felix asked, before seeing Yato point over at the trial decks area, as Lilith was watching a shopkeeper unpack with interest. "You didn't even let me finish!" Felix called out.
"Ooh, what's this one?" Lilith asked, picking up one of them, the clerk looking over.
"Huh? That's not supposed to be in the boxes..." They admitted, looking it over. "Weird, it's still priced like every other deck in the box, and it looks like a Neo Nectar deck...Are you interested, kid?" He asked.
"Hmm...I'm gonna go with yeah." Lilith said.
"Really, Neo Nectar?" Felix asked, walking over with Yato. "I'm a little surprised." he admitted.
"Why? What were you expecting?" Lilith asked, as Felix discreetly put a Brawlers trial deck back on a shelf.
"Oh, nothing." Felix answered, awkwardly whistling, as Yato gave a bit of a nervous laugh. "Still, if that's what you're going with, once you buy it, you'll have a deck of your own. That's step one, all you'd need next is a Neo-fight system, but maybe you should learn the game first before fully committing." He suggested.
"Alright, then how do we play?" Lilith asked, before hearing someone else walk into the door. More accurately a rather punkish looking kid with clear anger issues.
"Uh oh..." Yato commented, as the boy looked around, before staring right at Lilith.
"Who's the chick? Fresh meat for a change?" The boy taunted. "How's about it, little miss? Up for a game?" He asked.
"...Who the hell's this clown?" Lilith asked Felix while pointing at the guy, who seemed very clearly offended.
"Just someone who comes in to start trouble all the time..." Felix answered. "Although you've never fought before, so I'd understand if you didn't want to-" he started.
"In that case, if you wanna come in someone's shop and be a punk, then I'll throw down." Lilith declared, as Felix facepalmed.
"Of course you will...Look, at least let us explain the rules while you do, then." Felix said.
"That's fine with me! She'll need all the help she can get to try and avoid the beating she's gonna get for calling me a CLOWN!" The boy said. "Nobody talks about the great Tuff like that!"
"...Please don't tell me your name is actually "Tuff"." Lilith said, deadpanned, before looking through her deck, walking over to one of the fight tables, as Yato and Felix were standing on each side of her.
"Okay, so you're going to want to put those 8 cards on that other zone there, labelled "G Zone". Then, the other 50 will go on the Deck spot." Felix instructed, as Lilith nodded and placed the cards.
"Next, you'll want to pick a grade 0, 1, 2, and 3 card from your deck, and put them face down next to your deck in the "Ride Deck" area." Yato chimed in. "Then, you'll put a grade 0 card from your main or ride deck face down on that big circle in front of you." He explained.
"Right, in that case..." Lilith said, putting 4 cards down, and picking the top one up and putting it facedown.
"Next, after the decks are shuffled, you'll draw 5 cards, and be able to put cards on the bottom of your deck to draw the same amount one time. Anything with a grade 0 is something I would recommend putting back." Felix added, as Lilith looked at her hand, before sliding two cards from her hand on the bottom of her deck and drawing two cards, as the boy put 4 cards back, as both re-shuffled their decks. "Then, the fight begins by turning your starting Vanguard face up, and saying "Stand up, Vanguard."" he finished.
"Right, in that case..." Lilith said, reaching for the card, and flipping it over. "Stand up, Vanguard! Youth Wanderer, Pixie Dragon!" she said, as a fairy-like green-haired girl with dragon scales was depicted on the card art.
"Stand up, Vanguard!" Tuff also declared, flipping over a card as well. "Stealth Rogue of Body Replacement, Kokuenmaru!" he declared. "The first move's mine...and I'll show you exactly how it's done." He said with a grin.