Hi guys, welcome to chapter 4, so Takeru is going to be the representative, let's see what happens.

Chapter 4: A Day of Preparation

"So basically, I need to keep track of all the attacks they can do right?" Takeru asked.

"Yes, and if you can, try to conserve your hand as well, since Leon will definitely be able to whittle it down when they get rolling." Satoshi advised.

"I see…" the blue haired guy nodded before he looked at one of the girls. "So, Sakuya, thanks again for picking up your old deck, I know you never used it again since you swapped to Bermuda Triangle but-"

"No no it's fine." She replied. "I mean, yes I did enjoy using Aqua Force before, but I enjoy Bermuda Triangle more now, doesn't mean I won't use my previous deck to help out."

"I see." He nodded.

"Alright, now that we have the general composition of Leon's deck analyzed, let's go to his matches." Satoshi said as he began showing a replay of his previous championship match. "He was able to beat the national champion because of his deck combos. Pay attention to what he's doing."

"He's building up his attacks, literally like a wave, it starts of small, but when it gets moving, it gets harder to stop." Claire explained.

"I see, so I need to make sure to get rid of his rear-guards."

"Keep an eye on your counterblasts as well, I know that you get trigger happy when you have Flogals around your Blaster Blade, but resources management is the only way that you can win here."

"Got it, I'll be careful."

"All right, let's get started then!" Sakuya said. "I'll go first."

"I'll go next, Claire's last."

"Thanks guys."

"Mythril-Core's skill! Since my units attack hits and it's the third or more battle, you either discard or I draw two cards!" Sakuya said on one match.

"Here I go, X-Gallop!" Satoshi had called out but Takeru perfect guarded.

"Cath Palug's skill! I give 4000 to Binoculus Tiger!"

"Whew" Takeru smiled as he took a bit of a breather, after they had taken notes, he had gone on a match spree against the others. He was happy that even though he lost some, he won others too as well.

'Glad that I at least got some wins against Claire… definitely won't be the case had she still been using Narukami.' He thought before he saw Bella enter with food in hand.

"Hey guys, you doing ok?" The older girl greeted.

"Yes, we're doing fine Bella-chan." Sakuya replied.

"I'm glad to hear that, still, I'm surprised you all just went and had cardfights for 3 hours straight."

"Well, we would have had more breathers if you remembered to come earlier." Claire quipped.

"Yes, and remind me again who was the person who requested specific food?"

"Touche."

"Hey, Leon is on the news." Satoshi interrupted.

"We're here right now with the world champion Souryu Leon, Leon-san thank you so much for joining us today." The reporter greeted.

"It is of no concern. I am thankful as well for being invited to an interview."

"So yes, Leon-san, I know that it's been 6 years since your fated match with Kai Toshiki, but as we all know, he had never showed, and after 6 years, people are now bringing it up again. Do you have anything to say?"

"I understand that many people think of Kai Toshiki as a coward for not showing up, but the wind around him is fiery, like a fire that burns no matter how many times you place it in water. Only a very important reason would prevent him from showing up."

"Yes, but it's been 6 years, we understand that some of the top Cardfighters, like the Narukami fighter Ishida Naoki have spoken in the defense of Kai Toshiki. But what do you have to say to the people who speak against him?"

"I will be having a match against a member of his school this weekend. While they may still be inexperienced in Vanguard matches, the wind that flows around them speaks of their passion."

"Well, I'm glad that he's not speaking bad about Kai-san." Takeru smiled.

"Of course, he won't, don't you remember what Takuto said? He knows Kai-san personally. Bella, will you be joining us for our next set of matches?"

"Of course Satoshi-kun, I may be a graduate of Kai Rebirth, but I owe everything here, I'll help."

Several hours later…

The four Kai Rebirth students were now walking home, as they had parted ways with Bella.

"You ok Takeru-kun?" Sakuya asked as she saw him hold his hands weirdly earlier.

"I'm fine." He smiled back to her to not worry her as it was just because he had accidentally burned his hand while eating earlier.

"If you say so."

"Still," Claire interrupted. "Your flirting aside," the two couldn't say anything as their faces turned red. "We still have a few days anyway, you'll be fine, we did our best to analyze and even make counter strategies to Souryu Leon's Aqua Force, of course, we won't know until we get there."

"Win or lose." Satoshi said. "As long as you give it your all that will be enough."

He knew that the match against Souryu Leon was important, way too important. It was not just about facing the world champion, it's about showing them what they had learned from Kai.

"Of course." Eventually the four had reached an intersection, and as they split up to head home, Takeru started thinking.

'Imagine it… imagination will become my power…' he repeated the thought to his head.

As he walked though, he noticed a girl walking, she was about 5'6 in height and had white hair. She was wearing a black v neck jacket and black pants. He somewhat instinctively realized who this person was and called out to her.

"Asuna!" he called out, and he panicked a bit when it seemed like it was wrong, but when the girl turned around and he saw her pink eyes and with her bangs cut. He was glad that he was right.

"Oh! Takeru-kun!" She greeted as she ran and hugged him, "I'm glad you still remember me."

"I mean, we're best friends right? And you 're still my first friend." He however, completely missed the small frown that was on the girl's face as she covered it with a smile. "How've you been?"

"I'm doing great." The girl replied. "My parents just recently moved back to town so I'm able to play with my uncle again."

"I bet Naoki-san is pretty happy to have his niece back."

"You have no idea." They both shared a small laugh at that before the female followed up. "So like, I heard that someone from the school will be facing Souryu Leon?"

"Yeah, Rekka-san came to our school yesterday and told us that one of us will be facing him, only for it to turn out that they already picked me. I'm already worried."

"Don't be." She encouraged. "As long as you do your best you'll be fine! How are the others?"

"Oh they're doing good, Satoshi is still using Dimension Police, although Claire is still sticking to Great Nature for now, oh and Sakuya is using Bermuda Triangle now."

"Sakuya?" She asked, although with her tone, it seemed as if she was hiding something.

"Yeah, all four of us are hanging out, I know, you should come hang out with-"

"No."

"Huh? But-"

"NO!" Asuna was a bit surprised herself at how loud she was but she really stuck with it. "No… not, with her." She then shook her head. "A-anyway, nice seeing you Takeru-kun, I'll be watching you on the match, good luck." With that the girl left.

'What was that all about?' he thought. 'Just the mention of Sakuya set her off?'

Still, Asuna was still his best friend, so he opened his phone and contacted the three on their groupchat, specifically, about how he ran into Asuna, and while all of them were each happy to see that she had returned to town, The Royal Paladin player didn't mention anything about how Asuna reacted to Sakuya as he feels that it's something that the two girls will solve alone.

A few days later, the day of the tournament…

"Welcome to the Exhibition Match on Crown City's Monarch Stadium!" Rekka greeted in the arena. The arena itself seemed very similar to the normal arenas, a huge circular area, flanked by bleachers. The roof itself seemed to form the shape of a crown as well, but it's also well protected against the rain as there is transparent glass covering the roof. "I'm Tatsunagi Rekka! The host for today's exhibition match! The exhibition match will begin in an hour! So if you need to go do something, do it now!" With that the girl dropped her mic and temporarily left the main stage.

'Why does Takuto keep dragging me into this?!' The girl thought. 'I already said I retired, but he still has me do this. Oh well, at least I can spend time with that person later. Anyway!' the girl then looked at one of the changing rooms and saw three guys there, they were each wearing a stage outfit. They were her the idol group that she was tutoring.

"Are you three ready?"

"Yes" The three replied.

"Good, I'll set the stage for you, give it all you got!"

Outside though, Takeru and the others were walking into the stadium.

"Man… no matter how many times I go here, it's still big." He commented.

"No kidding." The Dimension police player replied. "Has anyone seen Bella?"

"Bella-chan said she'll be busy, so we might not see her for a few minutes." Sakuya explained.

"I see, well, we still have time anyway want to get something to eat?" Claire asked, and as everyone nodded they did.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm late." Bella greeted, as she had arrived a full ten minutes later. "I was… doing something."

"It's fine." Sakuya waved it off. "Come join us Bella-chan."

"Takeru-kun you ready?"

"Yeah, I gotta admit I'm still worried, but we did the best we can, so long as I give it all I got, it will be fine!"

"We're with you all the way!"

"I'm not." Claire responded to her brother's words before Satoshi did a light smack to her head.

"The event will start in 10 minutes, the match will start in 30 minutes."

"Alright, guess it's showtime." Takeru then stood up as he left the others.

"Wow, glad we got these seats." Sakuya muttered. Unlike the normal seats where they would sit with the others, they were instead in a sort of observation room where the only ones were them, but only that but they were facing the stage directly too.

"Alright everyone! Are you ready!" Rekka began as everyone started to cheer. "I'm Tatsunagi Rekka! Your host for this event today! I'll give you the rundown of the event today, first off we'll have a music number by TryAngel, then some more info about the upcoming Vanguard World Championship and after that the Under20 tournament as well! And finally, the one that most people are waiting for, the match between Souryu Leon and a student of Kai-Rebirth school. Is everyone ready?" At the resounding cheers she then placed her hands near her face as she finally began it. "Then together, Kyun-kyun~"

"RIDE!" Everyone cheered as Rekka smiled and winked, directly at the stand where the Kai-Rebirth students are. And there, as Claire turned and saw the reaction that Bella had, she then popped off by raising her fist to herself.

"I win, Takeru owes me lunch."

"And that's why I warned him not to make a bet against you considering you keep winning." Sakuya groaned.

Takeru himself though, just mentally focused himself, he tried to block out the distractions and did his best to psyche himself up.

"It's just a match, against Leon-san… Souryu Leon… the best player in the world- No… don't, I can do this, it's JUST a Vanguard match." He nodded and as he was finally called by the stage help, he finally walked. He used to just watch this from the stands, but walking in that center field, with the grass around him as he walked towards the center, he saw him, his blonde hair, and white robes. Without a doubt, he was going to face the World Champion, Souryu Leon.

"Introducing, the representative from Kai-Rebirth! Kousaka Takeru!" Rekka shouted. Although when the boy looked at her she just gave him an encouraging smile, that did much to ease the growing nervousness as he continued to head to the center.

As he walked, he took deep breaths, even as he heard people insult Kai, even as people cheered for Leon to destroy him, he just walked.

'I have to give it the best I got. For Satoshi, who stuck with me and helped me think of counter strategies, for Claire who despite acting like she's bored and all, did her best to help me practice. For Sakuya, who used her old deck just to give me an idea of what to expect against it. And for Kai-san, who took us all in…' And at that final thought, he had made it, and he was now face to face with Leon and they were in the proper distance from each other.

"I-it's an honor to face you, Leon-san." He greeted as he had finally activated his FPD, as the hologram field appeared in front of him, like it did for Leon as they then readied their decks.

"The feeling is mutual, young Kousaka." The Aqua Force player greeted. "The wind around you is stirring. Now to see if it can face the power of my armies."

"Are you ready?" At the words of the hostess both players nodded. "Then let us begin."

"Stand up, (My), Vanguard!"

End of Chapter 4

And there goes the chapter, Sakuya won't be using Aqua Force for this story. I only had her use Aqua Force for a bit because the original plan was for Sakuya to use it. She'll be using Bermuda Triangle for the story. Asuna is also a new character, niece to Naoki.

Anyway that's it, Leon vs Takeru in the next chapter see you guys then!