It was very dark on the inside, but they could all still see where they were going. However, when the doors opened, a bright light came toward them which briefly blinded them.

"What's with the light show?" Tony groaned.

"It appears we have an audience." Kai said as he seemed unfazed by the bright lights.

When everyone could see again, they seemed to be surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people who had come to see them compete.

"Oh, my..." Tony gulped.

"Whoa... Amazing... This is..." Kaumi stammered.

"Look, Kaumi, over there!" Aichi told his friend. "Team Dreadnought!"

A blonde boy with identical blue-haired girls were shown in the audience.

"This is...Wow." Tony stammered.

Aichi and his friends were amazed to see other teams they had heard about.

"Yoo-hoo! Aichi!" A girl's voice called out.

"Can it be?" Kaumi asked himself. "Do I hear an angel's voice in my ears?"

"Uh, that's Aichi's sister." Tony replied.

"Ah, yes, Emi!" Kaumi beamed as he had hearts in his eyes.

"What's with him?" Tony whispered to Aichi.

"Oh, Kaumi kinda has a crush on my sister." Aichi replied.

Tony rolled his eyes as yet another person had a crush on someone.

"Emi? Naoki? Shingo too?" Aichi smiled. "Tony, I think your family is here too."

"Whoa." Tony smiled back.

The Clark siblings smiled and waved to their brother. Akito, Estelle, Vincent, and Felicity were of course also there.

"Surprise!" Akito and Estelle giggled to Tony in unison.

"Whoa, now I'm kind of nervous because now I'm feeling pressure." Tony gulped.

"Now, Tony, don't think too negatively, if you feel you'll do bad, you'll ruin it for yourself." Misaki coaxed.

"I'll try not to." Tony said.

"EMI, MY LOVE!" Kamui called out before sobbing. "YOU CAME TO CHEER ON KAMUI THE GREAT AFTER ALL?! I'M SO TOUCHED!"

A little girl soon squealed and cheered for Kamui.

"NAGASI?!" Kamui yelped at the little girl who was blowing him kisses. "T-Team Handsome?!"

"Looks like he might be in an awkward position." Tony said.

"Wow, Kaumi, you're so lucky to have a girlfriend here to cheer you on." Emi smiled to the boy who had a crush on her.

Tony snickered to that slightly.

"That's not lucky, she's not my girlfriend..." Kaumi muttered.

A fanfare soon played as someone was coming to start the competition.

'Here we go.' Tony thought to himself.

"Well, it's been a while, Aichi Sendou." The blonde boy told the blue-haired boy.

"Leon..." Aichi nodded.

"As expected, you've been selected as well." Another blue-haired boy said.

"Naturally." A brown-haired guy added.

"You're looking well," A brown-haired girl said behind Aichi. "Like you're in top shape!"

"Wow, Aichi, you have a lot of friends, and I mean a lot." Tony said to Aichi.

Soon enough, all of the competitors lined up together to begin the Cardfight.

"All such strong fighters..." Aichi said to himself.

"How can I compete with these people?" Tony groaned. "I'm regretting coming here."

His deck soon glowed slightly.

"What's that?" Kaumi asked as he pointed to the lit torches.

"Hello, everyone!" A blonde girl appeared from the flames.

"We welcome you to the Waking Stadium!" A brunette girl added.

"What is this, Tokyo Mew Mew?" Tony deadpanned.

"Tokyo who who?" Misaki asked.

Tony just glanced at her before glancing back in slight deadpan. Three girls soon came together from the flames to welcome the people to the stadium and the crowd went wild.

"You can do it, Tony!" Megan cheered.

"They believe in me... Now I just need to believe in me..." Tony sighed to himself. "But the question is how?"

"We're Ultra Rare, and for the next two days, we'll be helping everyone get fired up!" The girls cheered with the audience, almost like high school cheerleaders.

"Let the Messiah Scramble Grand Prix commence!" Another girl with silver hair and golden eyes gently announced from the flames almost like a hologram.

"Kinda looks like a humanized Silver the Hedgehog." Felicity commented.

"Only that's a girl." Estelle added.

"Alright, we're finally underway!" A man appeared on a screen with an excited smile. "Your regular host MC Miya-"

"And assistant commentator Professor O present and accounted for!" Another man added with a calm smile. "For this Prix, seventeen of the world's strongest cardfighters were chosen to participate, and we'll be getting good looks into their epic battles!"

"Awesome." Akito whispered.

"Seventeen?" One of Aichi's friends wondered. "There's only ten fighters here."

"Where are the others?" Emi wondered.

Everyone else soon wondered about the other Cardfighters.

"Are they late?" Megan asked.

A white bird with red eyes soon flew up into the sky.

"What in the world?!" Marc gasped.

"These are... Messiah Scramble Invitation!" Misaki glared slightly.

"I've saved you all the effort of a first round," A mysterious figure replied. "I, Kouji Ibuki, have qualified to enter this tournament."

Tony soon felt a chill roll down his spine.

"That's him..." Aichi muttered. "That's the guy I saw in my dream."

"Yikes." Tony said.

Kai looked over to Aichi. Aichi's friends all looked concerned since they knew what this had to mean.

"You can't just do as you please!" The platinum blonde-haired girl scolded.

"The image is clear!" Kouji replied. "The Planet Brandt... As well as the Unit's voices."

"So, he has PSY Qualia too?" Tony asked Kai.

"Yes, he does..." Kai sighed sharply.

"Whoa." Tony said.

"He's also quite athletic..." Kai continued. "Let's just say, you shouldn't mess with him."

The boy soon jumped high in the air with his bird and jumped down in front of them all which shocked Tony with how dedicated he was. "There's no rule against this, right?" Kouji muttered. "I see you're still doing stuff like this... Kai."

Kai glared back at Kouji as he walked by them.

"And who do we have here?" Kouji took a long look at Tony. "A foreigner in the Messiah Scramble?"

"I'm Tony Clark." Tony told him.

"Ah, yes," Kouji replied. "The American."

Tony glared in offense. Aichi soon took out his phone as he suddenly got a text. Tony could hear Aichi's phone.

"Emi?" Aichi wondered why he got a text from his sister before looking through it as Kouji examined them all, and she had told him about Kai and Kouji's relationship.

"Ibuki, what's your problem?" Kai demanded to his old friend. "Why are you doing this?"

Kouji merely gave him a long glance. Tony soon looked at Aichi's texts.

"Time's up..." The silver-haired girl muttered before speaking up to the crowd. "I'll approve your entry!"

"Dang it." Akito groaned.

"The pairing cards for the A-Block preliminaries are... Here!" Miya announced once it was time to start the games.

Everyone soon looked up at the A-Block. Tony felt nervous during his first cardfight up close, this was the big time for sure now, but he knew that he needed to focus.

"Go," The silver-haired girl told the cheerleaders. "Give 'em a good show."

"Fighters... Begin!" The flamed hologram girls announced together.

'Here I go.' Tony thought to himself.

"Oh, be careful, Tony." Felicity whispered for the black-haired boy.

"Tony, please be careful." Megan whispered the same.

As the card games began, the three girls began to sing a song to symbolize the importance of the fight and Vanguard tournament for the Messiah to save the history of the game as a whole, not to mention Planet Cray for Tony and Aichi, and where the game got intense. Everyone was in suspense of how this would turn out. Tony didn't show any signs of fear as he challenged against his opponents and felt very lucky that he had Aichi to help him out. Akito looked intently, he wondered if this was what it was like when his father played Yu-Gi-Oh all those times during high school with Patch. He would find out in the near future.

"You okay, Akito?" Lee asked him.

"I'm fine, this just makes me think of my dad's stories about Yu-Gi-Oh." Akito replied.

"Same here." Estelle smiled in agreement.

"Good, Tony's doing very good so far for his first try." Emi commented.

"He sure is." Megan smiled.

"Does he have experience with playing card games like this?" Emi asked the Clark siblings.

"Sort of." Marc said.

"Well, I guess it's working for him, whatever it is." Emi replied.

Tony looked very intense and serious as he played the card game with the others, not holding anything back, and where his PSY Qualia power helped him with choosing the right cards to finish off his opponents.

'This isn't so bad,' Tony thought to himself. 'It's actually easy.'

Aichi was on the edge of his seat, but he was so glad that Tony learned so much during his Vanguard lessons, and was impressed with his skills. Misaki gave a friendly smile to Tony. Tony smiled back and even waved to her. The girl from earlier even began to cheer for him.

"Alright, at A-Block's climax, we have five winners!" A girl announced.

'I can already tell who's one of those winners.' Megan thought to herself.

Misaki, Kaumi, and Kai were the main winners, as well as... Tony.

"Aha, Tony, you're so cool!" The young girl squealed.

"First, she's cheering for Kamui, then she's cheering for Tony." Megan said.

Aichi's friends in the stands were so happy, as were Felicity, and her cousins, and the Clark siblings. Drell soon hid in the shadows of the stands as he watched this himself and he looked proud of Tony. He then felt a chill when he saw Kouji.

"Awesome job, Kai, Kamui, Misaki, Tony!" Aichi beamed to his friends before looking in concern to the lilac-haired girl. "...Misaki?"

"Why was that... So exhausting?" Kaumi panted. "A fight's never taken this much energy out of me before."

"I think it's because this might be more intense than any other tournament you were in." Tony said.

Kai looked concerned for Misaki and Kaumi while he and Tony were just fine.

"Something's wrong." Akito said.

"Something is not right." Felicity added, sounding a bit like Miss Clavel from Paris.

Everyone soon took a break until it would be time for the B-Block match which would involve Aichi against Kouji. Tony could see that Kaumi and Misaki were still exhausted.

"Drell, what's wrong with Kaumi and Misaki?" Vincent asked the warlock as he came to join them, wearing a casual T-Shirt and a hat to blend in with the crowd.

"This was a pretty intense cardfight, they should be fine." Drell told him.

"But then why are Aichi and Tony just fine?" Vincent asked.

"I know everything, so, I'll answer that." Drell replied.

"...Yes...?" Vincent asked.

Drell opened his mouth, but paused. "Uh, well... Because... Because... The PSY Qualia?"

"Must be that." Estelle said.

"Oh, right, of course it is, I mean, why wouldn't I know that?" Drell replied.

Everyone else just gave him deadpan looks.

"Eh, you guys want some ramen?" Drell smiled sheepishly as he held out his food to them. "Careful, it might be as spicy as a Moonscar Island pepper~..."

"No thanks." The group said.

"Suit yourselves..." Drell shrugged before eating the noodles.

Soon enough, Aichi and Kouji came up against each other which made Drell a little nervous, and which caused him to start praying.

"I didn't know you were religious?" Akito said to Drell.

"Neither did I," Drell mumbled. "I'm just praying that Aichi will win."

Akito just rolled his eyes with a small smirk. Aichi and Kouji glared to each other as they were about to begin their own cardfight. Tony's PSY Qualia soon showed him what was going on.

Tony's eyes widened before they flashed a pinkish color.

"Stand up, Vanguard!" Aichi commanded as he played a card down.

"Whoa." Tony smiled.

"Advance Party Seeker, File!" A futuristic knight with a lance soon came out.

"Stand up, the Vanguard." Kouji said as he soon summed his card against Aichi's.

Tony looked at Kouji's vanguard. The Vanguard seemed to be almost like a demon with horns and had dangerous weapons.

"Jeez..." Tony muttered to himself. "Which Clan is he from?"

"Link Joker," Aichi told him. "A clan from the nation of Star Gate."

"Whoa." Tony said.

"What is that creepy looking unit?" Emi whimpered.

"One I've never seen before." One guy told her.

"Ride," Kouji continued as he played another card. "Breaking Delector Gotario!"

"I ride Marron!" Aichi retorted as he played more cards. "File moves! I call Crynic!"

"This is going to be the most intense cardfight." Drell said.

"It'll be okay in the end, right?" Megan anxiously asked Drell.

"Oh, calm down, nothing is going to happen... At least, I don't think so." Drell comforted before he looked worried himself.

"We better pray." Akito said.

Tony seemed to bite his nails as he watched Aichi fight Kouji inside of the PSY Qualia, and where the moon seemed bigger in the battlefield. The Vanguards soon attacked each other as this was more than just a card fight for everyone watching who didn't have the PSY Qualia ability.

Everything was on the line with this one cardfight. Even Drell looked stressed out from the fight, he even pulled on his hair, and some of it fell out and turned gray from the stress. Kouji and Aichi glared as they fought each other and never held each other back.

"Go, Aichi!" Tony smiled.

Aichi fearlessly fought against Kouji no matter how risky it might be, and where Tony watched every second of it. At some points, the others felt like they couldn't watch while Tony was amazed and excited. The fight went on for a while, quite literally, as it was even becoming night time, and the fight was still going.

"My God, it's still going!" Akito said. "When is this going to end?!"

"I don't know!" Drell shook Akito slightly before throwing him down and looked in a panic himself. "Oh, please make it stop! Please, Lord! MAKE IT STOP!"

Soon enough, the fight ended and Aichi looked weak.

"Thank you..." Drell said softly before looking up at Heaven. "And that thing I said about my mother earlier... She was asking for it!"

"We can all now finally sleep." Estelle said.

"Aichi?" Tony looked worried for his new friend. "Are you okay?"

Blaster Blade was soon shown to be destroyed in the PSY Qualia.

"My... Vanguard..." The figure muttered weakly before it looked like he was going to die. "Save our home... Cray..."

"BLASTER BLADE!" Aichi cried out with tears in his eyes before he seemed to fall over the card table while Kouji stood there like it was no big deal.

"No way..." Tony frowned as he started to shiver.

Everyone else looked worried about Aichi's breakdown, and soon enough, the cards were beginning to black out.

"Blaster Blade just vanished!" Kaumi gasped.

"Looks like Tony really is the hero here." Megan said.

Aichi soon fell backwards and Tony rushed over to catch his new friend out of concern.

"AICHI!" Emi squealed for her brother.

"The winner is Kouji Ibuki!" The women announced while Tony caught Aichi in time.

"Is he alright?" Emi gulped.

"Is that the same Ibuki?" Kai muttered.

"Kouji Ibuki has destroyed Aichi Sendou!" Miya announced.

"Blaster Blade... As the Vanguard, you sacrificed yourself to protect the Royal Paladin..." Kouji said quietly.

Everyone soon came to check on Aichi as he seemed to be lying in silence and not even moving. Akito soon checked Aichi's pulse.

"Is he...?" Estelle anxiously asked her twin brother.

"He's still alive," Akito replied. "He doesn't seem to be conscious though."

"Thank goodness." Emi sighed.

"What ever happened in that PSY Qualia must've been extreme." Drell said as he knelt down with the kids to check over Aichi. He soon noticed Tony looking terrified.

"Oh, Tony." Megan frowned to her brother.

Lee and Marc also looked concerned for him. Kai was scolding Kouji, but he seemed to have no remorse for his actions as it was starting to rain, and everyone else left to find shelter.

"Seriously?!" Drell glared up at the sky.

"Drell, is there a hotel or something near here?" Megan asked.

"Yes, come with me, Akito, Lee, why don't you guys grab Aichi?" Drell replied.

"You got it." Akito and Lee said.

Aichi groaned quietly. Akito and Lee then helped Aichi up so they could get out of the rain. Soon, they were in what was like a hotel and settled in for the night to keep dry and warm while Aichi laid in the bed and Tony looked like he was going to be sick from worried paranoia, and where that would make it hard for him to sleep.