Chapter 8: Today's Cardfighting Day! Pt. 1
Asuma's eyes flew open, and he sat up with a sharp inhale. One thought rang like a bell through his head: today's tournament day! He hastily prepped for the day, grabbed his deck and practically bounded down the steps, nearly running into his mom on the way. "Where are you headed in such a hurry, sweetie?" She asked, hands on her hips and head tilted in curiosity. "Well, I've been playing Vanguard at Card Capital recently, and today's the first chance I have to enter a tournament. Is it ok for me to go?" While his mom hadn't shut down Asuma's interest in Vanguard, he wasn't sure how enthusiastic she'd be for him to be out all day.
Tapping a finger against her chin, Asuma's mom seemed to consider it for a moment before pointing it directly at his chest. "I like seeing you happy again, what with being so down in the dumps after you got hurt. You go and have fun today, but your homework and chores come first from now on, ok?" She poked him playfully and Asuma gave her a grateful smile and an enthusiastic nod. He slipped past her and grabbed a sandwich to eat on the way with a hurried call of thanks.
Mei watched her son practically sprint out of the house and smiled to herself, glad that his passion had been relit. After watching how heartbroken he was from his injury and having him mope around the house going through the motions for almost three months, seeing her son glowing again filled her with warmth. "Maybe I should go see him play, after all it's part of my job description to support him, whether he likes it or not!" She pulled out her phone and searched up Card Capital, wondering just what a card game tournament would be like compared to the roaring stadiums of his football days.
Asuma's windbreaker rippled in the wind, the crisp morning air ruffling his hair and filling his lungs while he pumped his arms and his legs ate up the distance with long strides. His shoes pounded against the sidewalk and his bag bounced on his back, the sun warm against his face. His mind wasn't on how nice the day was, instead his thoughts swirled around in a jumbled mess. The excitement and nerves brought on by playing in his first tournament, the immense doubt and quite possibly fear at the prospect of fighting Kai again. But stuck down deep inside, past the cold knot in his chest, there was a resolute confidence. The kind developed by being in tough spots time and time again, the kind that swells just when you need it most. Asuma might not even have noticed it himself, but this small courage resonated much further than he could have ever suspected.
When the logo and signature sliding doors of Card Capital came into view, Asuma finally slowed to a walk before stepping inside, noticing right away that the amount of people in the shop was more than double the usual turnout. He saw the usuals: Aichi, Morikawa, Izaki, Kamui and the rest, but also many he didn't recognize. He turned to the counter, said hi to Misaki and gave the Sub-manager a pat on the head before looking around, not seeing Kai or Miwa there. "If you're looking for Kai, he's almost always late to events." Asuma turned in response to Misaki's comment. "So, it's that obvious I'm nervous about him, huh?" He asked, and she nodded in agreement before shuffling through the tournament registration papers, looking concerned. "Hey Aichi, you haven't submitted a form yet! Get over here and fill one out before the tournament starts please!" Misaki called over, and the blue-haired boy quickly got up and headed over.
Asuma, meanwhile, gave Misaki a small wave and a smile, before starting to walk towards his other friends. His attention was grabbed, however, by the large gap in the middle of the room, where Shin was cleaning up something. "Hey manager, what are you working on there?" Asuma asked, peeking around the floppy-haired, bespectacled man's shoulder. Shin turned towards him and pushed his glasses up, the shine so concentrated Asuma couldn't even see his eyes! "I'm glad you asked! These are the new, official, Card Capital Standing Fight Tables!" The manager stepped to the side with a flourish, unveiling two small tables raised to about waist height, with Vanguard fields built into the top. "With these bad boys you can stand with your units, so it should feel more like you're right there on the battlefield!" Shin crossed his arms and smirked, pride practically radiating from him. Asuma was starting to look over the tables when a loud smack came from the shop counter. "Just in time, Aichi." Misaki said, right when Asuma turned to look and he saw the blue-haired cardfighter standing with his arm outstretched, his registration form planted firmly on the counter. Aichi turned to his friends and gave them an embarrassed smile, and he only got redder in the face when he noticed the whole shop staring.
Thankfully, just at that moment Shin stepped up to a microphone stand by one wall of the shop, tapping on it and making everyone cover their ears with annoyed looks. "Hello everybody! Welcome to the Card Capital shop tournament! Right up here is the bracket, so as soon as I get done here you can find your matchups and times." He quickly ran down some tournament rules like deck size, being on time and all the usual courteous things. Asuma perked up when Shin stepped to the side, and thanks to being able to see over most of the crowd, the purple-haired boy spotted his listed round one opponent: Morikawa. "Huh, I was hoping for more of a challenge, but I guess it's just the first round."
"Hey! Asuma! Don't think you'll be getting past me so easily, got it? I put some special cards in my deck just for this tourney, so I'll be the one that wins it!" The loud boy shouted across the shop, putting a thumb to his own chest to emphasize his point. Asuma gave a wry smile back to him, lifting his deck out of its box and holding it up to Morikawa. "You're not the only one that did some fine-tuning you know, so you'd best not mess up." Just as the two were walking towards each other with a crackling tension in the air, a certain blonde-haired goofball stepped between them. "Hey now, chill out, both of ya! For one thing, if you want to win this thing you know you've gotta go through Kai, not just each other, heh." Asuma nodded to Miwa, then turned to see the Overlord-wielding man himself leaning against the wall, staring at the tournament bracket as though he could set fire to it with a look. "I really can't get a read on that guy, what's going on inside his head?" Asuma wondered, before realizing he was getting distracted and returning to the task, and the pest, at hand.
"Alright Morikawa, let's get this over with." Asuma gestured toward one of the standing fight tables, idly shuffling his deck until his spiky-haired opponent arrived and they could cut each other's cards before drawing their starting hands. "My cards are fine, do you need a mulligan over there?" Asuma asked, seeing that Katsumi was already agonizing over the cards he'd drawn. "Well, I mean, yeah! I can't ride a grade 3 right away or I'd be set up perfectly!" Morikawa stammered for a moment before shuffling his whole hand back as Asuma rolled his eyes, mumbling "Another day, another hand full of useless grade 3s for him." But surprisingly, once he had redrawn Asuma's opponent looked confident. "Well, since it looks like you're ready how about we Stand Up, Vanguard!" The purple-haired teen called out as Shin and the others looked on, the first round of the Card Capital tournament finally under way!
A Few Turns Later
"Finally, a grade 2! Now this game's really getting started!" Morikawa declared, riding his vanguard and attacking Asuma. "Morikawa you do realize that won't hit, right? Seifreid has 10k power and your vanguard's only 9k. No guard." Asuma raised an eyebrow. After Morikawa checked no trigger, Asuma looked over at the damage: 1 for him, and Morikawa with 4. "Alright, I stand and draw!" Asuma looked over his full hand, and with a nod called down a full field of units ready to attack. A few well-placed soulblasts later, they were shaking hands on the game. "You know, I don't think you're a terrible player Morikawa. But your deck building really could use some work." Asuma just smiled and shook his head, knowing he probably wouldn't get through to his hardheaded opponent. True to form, Morikawa launched into a minutes-long tirade about how Grade 3s are the best and if only just once his deck would work the way he wanted it to, he'd show everyone just how strong he is.
"Looks like the first round is just about wrapped up everybody, just one game left!" Shin announced, and Asuma looked on as Kai stepped up. The whole shop seemed to be more interested in his opponent though, a guy Asuma had never seen before. "Hey Misaki, just who is this guy Kai's playing?" Asuma asked, but she just shook her head. "He won the shop tournament last year, but doesn't play here regularly and pretty much only won because Morikawa really was the strongest cardfighter here at the time." When Asuma gave her a stunned look, she just shrugged and pointed at the fight, where it had been revealed that the mystery man also played Kagero.
What followed was an absolute slaughter, with Kai not even using Dragonic Overlord. He pulled out a new unit called Vortex Dragon instead, using an ability called Megablast to retire all of his opponent's rear guards at once and attack for game. The knot in Asuma's stomach was back, knowing he'd eventually have to face that overwhelming force if he kept winning. But first, there were a few rounds left to play. Asuma easily overcame a Royal Paladin player in the second round and after watching a close game unfold between Aichi and…their history teacher Mr. Mark pretending to be a ninja(?!) he moved on to face Misaki in the quarterfinals.
"So, let's put that perfect memory of yours to the test, shall we?" Asuma said with more confidence than he felt as they shuffled their decks and placed them down to fight. Misaki's gaze back across the table turned icy cold for a second, and he almost flinched before she just smirked and said "I hope you're better at cardfighting than remembering to study." Rolling his eyes, Asuma just readied himself and they flipped their starting vanguards. "Mecha Trainer!" "Lozenge Magus!" Asuma had the first turn, so he looked over the cards in his hand and carefully considered his strategy. The new units he'd added could be helpful in defeating Misaki, but he'd have to be careful and time his final attack almost perfectly! "Alright, I'm riding Wonder Boy, and moving Mecha Trainer back. Your move, Misaki." Even just performing his usual opening with Wonder Boy felt tense, and even in his image of Cray he felt nervous when usually there was just the strength and confidence of his units and vanguard.
After Misaki's short first turn of riding Oracle Guardian Gemini and attacking, Asuma realized that if he wanted to make his plan work, he'd need more power on defense. So a 10 thousand power grade 2 seemed like just the thing. "Alright, I ride Dudley Monty!" The usual surge of energy was there, but besides calling a second Monty to rear guard he didn't make any plays. After two successful attacks, Asuma's turn was over. Across the table, Misaki's mind was racing. 'What's he doing? Usually there's something more to his grade 2 turn thanks to Dudley Mason and just calling two units with no abilities and attacking doesn't seem right! What are you planning, Asuma?' But on the outside she didn't let it show, riding Oracle Guardian Wiseman and calling in two columns of attackers. Asuma let two attacks through and guarded against her vanguard's assault, and with that limited information she still wasn't sure what he was doing.
"Wow those laser eyes really do sting, Misaki! But I'm far from out of this fight. Now come on, great commander of the field! General Seifried!" Asuma called out to his main grade 3, starting to get back into the rhythm of the fight now that he had arrived on Cray. After calling a Dudley Phantom to the left column, Asuma smiled at the card he'd drawn this turn. "Now for one of my new recruits! Get out there, Dudley Marshall!" Asuma called the grade 1 to his back row, where its 6k power could supplement Dudley Monty's. "That's not all, when Marshall is called to the field I can soul charge if I have 3 or more Dudley units!" Taking 2 cards from the top of his deck and putting them in the soul, Asuma smiled and declared his attacks for the turn. Not surprisingly, Misaki put up a strong defense, intercepting and guarding so that even his vanguard's attack wouldn't get through unless he got a trigger! "Come on Seifried, I know I can always count on you." Asuma said, willing himself to victory as he checked his twin drive. The first card was no trigger and he felt his heart fall, but then the second check was a critical! "Yes! Smash through, Seifried!" The rush of extra strength a critical brings sent electricity through the massive demon's body, and when he threw a purple football of energy it blew apart Misaki's defenses.
"Three damage to two now, not bad right?" Asuma grinned over, enjoying himself even through the nerves. Misaki had her brow furrowed, looking over her cards with an intensity Asuma hadn't seen before. He'd noticed how pretty she was before, but with this new fire Misaki looked positively badass. She looked up and smirked, making his heart skip a beat at the fiery smile. "You may have the lead for now, but I'm pulling it back right now! Calling upon the power of the morning star, I ride the goddess of the sun, CEO Amaterasu!" On Cray, even Seifried had to shield his eyes at the overwhelming light emanating from Misaki's newest vanguard. A tall, slender woman with long hair and a flowing kimono floated gently down from the heavens, leaving Seifried/Asuma transfixed for a moment while her other units were called down, and Misaki activated both Amaterasu and Battle Sister Cocoa's skills to look at the top card of her deck, sending both to the bottom. Then, she called down Silent Tom to curtail Asuma's defenses before going on the attack! After Tom hit him hard to move Asuma to 3 damage, Amaterasu's sun became a shining glare. "Here it comes Asuma, Amaterasu's attacking your vanguard!" Misaki declared, and Asuma decided he needed to take a chance. "No guard. Come at me, if you dare!" He gave a confident thumbs-up, and Seifried flexed in defiance of the goddess's sun laser.
His confidence was met with a steely gaze and Misaki's twin drive. "Critical trigger! Looks like I'll be taking the lead, and I won't relinquish it easily." Her second check didn't reveal a trigger though, so after a draw trigger appeared in his damage checks Asuma breathed a small sigh of relief, easily able to guard against Misaki's other attack thanks to the extra power from the trigger. But still, Seifried was staggered, and the damage was nearly enough to finish the fight. "Damn, you almost got me. But I've got a couple more tricks up my sleeve!" Asuma stood his units and drew, for what was almost assuredly his last chance to win. "Here we go. I ride, Unite Attacker!" The brand-new card he'd gotten from a pack recently held the same power as Vortex Dragon: Megablast! But the powerful ability had a high cost: 5 counterblast and 8 soulblast! With only 5 soul to use, Asuma might have been out to dry but he still had some cards to play. "With Unite Attacker's ride skill I soulcharge one card, and he gains 2k power! And then, I call another Dudley Marshall, and use his skill to soulcharge twice more!" With a full field of units ready, Asuma began his assault. First, Dudley Monty swung in and took out Silent Tom, and then he attacked Misaki's other interceptor with his double Marshall column. "Alright Unite attacker, show me what you can do!" His ogre vanguard stood tall, charging in at Amaterasu with a massive shoulder tackle. "Not so fast, I guard!" Misaki placed down the critical trigger she'd gotten last turn to guard against it, and as his vanguard struggled against the green barrier Asuma looked desperately to his twin drive. "First check…no trigger. Second check…Critical trigger!" Asuma almost jumped for joy when he revealed the bright yellow symbol, and Unite Attacker broke through Amaterasu's defenses to deal two damage!
"If you thought that was it you're sorely mistaken, because Unite Attacker and I are just getting started! Megablast!" Asuma practically shouted as he paid the cost, all of his counterblast flipped and entire soul sent to the drop zone. "I check the top 5 cards of my deck and I can call any Spike Brothers units I find to the rear guard, standing!" He quickly found and called out the units he wanted, leaving two full attacks ready and willing to go straight for Amaterasu. "Let's go Dudley Mason, swing in and take her out!" His units charged, but Misaki was ready, just barely able to muster up the guard. "Looks like you're running out of resources, and I've got the chance to take you out. Let's go Seifried, finish this fight! Final Force Pass!" His rearguard Seifried charged up his energy ball, launching it straight toward Misaki's vanguard.
But Misaki never seemed to waver, and she discarded a card before calmly placing down her last unit in the guardian circle. "Battle Sister Chocolat will nullify your attack." The soaring feeling Asuma had gained from his careful planning and execution of the megablast quickly fell away as Seifried's attack was blown apart by the tiny nun's barrage of gunfire. "Well, I guess that's my turn." Asuma said, his hand empty and resources depleted. Misaki wasted no time in standing and attacking with Amaterasu, finishing him off with a blinding blast of sunlight. As the final point of damage went through, Asuma could feel his chance to compete at a higher level slipping through his fingers and it hurt. He quickly pushed his cards back into his deck and nodded to Misaki. "Looks like I couldn't quite get the best of you after all. Good game!" It was a genuine remark, but still he could feel his heart sinking. "I thought you might be holding something back, so I held onto my perfect guard for just such an occasion."
Shaking his head with a rueful smile, Asuma just turned to look at the bracket being updated. The final four of the tournament were all people he knew well: Aichi, Kamui, Misaki, and of course Kai. "Go take Kai down a peg or two for me, will ya?" He asked her, putting out a fist that she gave an uncharacteristically enthusiastic bump to. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do!" She smiled so brightly Asuma would've sworn up and down it was like the light of Amaterasu had come to Earth. But before he could think of something to say, he got mobbed by Miwa, Morikawa, and Kamui all giving him crap for losing. By the time he managed to extricate himself with a series of self-deprecating comments, Shin had called a break for lunch. "We'll finish the tournament after everyone gets a chance to eat, see you all in an hour!"
An hour felt like an eternity, even though Asuma used the time to talk with Aichi, Kamui, and Misaki about their fights in the tournament and how they were feeling about their decks going into the semifinals, as well as finally eating the sandwich he got at home. When Shin finally reconvened everyone, Asuma was left to watch as two incredibly close fights unfolded. Aichi and Kamui came down to the last damage, with the young fiery Nova Grappler player coming out on top. At the same time, Misaki was stringing Kai along with careful defense. Her plays went on so long that she was able to stack her deck with skills enough to bring out double triggers twice in a row, but somehow Kai always had the right cards to guard. In the end, Dragonic Overlord's flames overwhelmed the sun goddess, and the final match was set.
"You alright, Misaki? That looked like a really tough fight." Asuma asked, resting a hand on her shoulder as she walked away from the fight tables. She started to answer, but Kai gave a passing remark as he headed to his showdown with Kamui, "Don't flatter yourself. I just let you run yourself ragged before burning down all your defenses. And thanks for showing me just what you're made of, new guy." Asuma almost threw a punch, but instead just reminded himself that being an ass back to Kai seems to just fuel him. Misaki looked over, concerned, but he just sighed and looked at his deck box. "I hate to say it, but it feels like Kai's right. I wanted to beat him in this tournament, but I couldn't even get that far."
The final match was practically a slaughter, with Kamui not even getting a chance to put Asura Kaiser's signature Finishing Hold ability to use before his units were burned away and Kai had won. Shin announced the winner and congratulated him, but Kai just gave his usual cold look, seemingly right at Asuma who felt like an icicle had been stabbed into his stomach, freezing his ambition and shattering it. "I've got a special surprise for everyone, too!" Shin announced, gathering up the final four of the tournament "This year, the top four players of our tournament get to form the shop team, and go to the regional tournament!" There were some surprised, excited murmurs and chatter while Shin made his announcement, but it felt like salt in an open wound to Asuma, who had just missed out on making the team.
But just as the celebration was dying down, and everyone was starting to pack up, another voice came through the mic. "Nah. I don't need teammates if they're going to be this weak. If you want someone more this shop's level, take that guy instead." Heads turned and Asuma looked up from his internal pity party, right into Kai's smug gaze. Kamui started expressing his exasperation and Asuma took a rage-filled step forward, but Kai just dropped the mic back to Shin and started to walk out. "Hey! Kai!" Asuma shouted, spurred on by what he thought was pure instinct, before the other young man could leave. "You think you can just walk away because you think nobody here's on your level? Give up on a team before they even have a chance to grow?! Not a chance! Get back here and fight me, and if I win you have to stay!" Asuma's throat felt raw, his face hot and heart racing from what was practically a declaration of war. He held his deck out, Seifried standing defiant as the bottom card, looking right at Kai as the Kagero master just smirked. "So, you really think you're strong enough, even after your performance today? Don't make me laugh."
"I'll put Vanguard on the line. If I lose, I'll quit Vanguard. You wanted me to prove this isn't just a hobby, right? So I'm throwing the gauntlet down, Kai. Beat me here and you'll never hear from me again. But I know that won't happen, because after seeing you act like such a dick, my Spike Brothers will never let you win!" Asuma wasn't even sure why he said it. It wasn't like the cards could influence the game, but it felt right. He'd later learn that for the briefest moment there was a glint of light in his eyes, like a tiny purple galaxy, and that gave Kai pause. "Huh, I think you might just have become interesting, kid. Let's fight."
Despite his friends' protests, Asuma barely heard them as he stormed back to one of the tournament tables and waited for Kai to slowly saunter over. They stared daggers at each other, knowing the game about to play out would decide the fate of Card Capital's regional team as well as Asuma's time with Vanguard. Placing down his starting vanguard, Asuma felt like something, somewhere was responding to his rage and desire for vengeance, as well as his burning desire to finally beat Kai. Misaki, Aichi, Kamui, and Miwa looked on, and Cray itself in Asuma's image seemed to shake, as each fighter flipped up their grade 0s. "Stand up, theVanguard!" "Stand up, myVanguard!"
A/N: Kept you waiting, huh? Hope you guys haven't lost your love for Asuma and his journey during the wait. I missed writing this story, and I'm so happy to finally be able to bring it back. I look forward to hearing what you think, and I'll see you next time! (P.S. Sorry Kai's such an asshole, but eventually you'll see where the story goes).