Note : Welcome back to BuddyVan chapter 2. I'm sorry for the long wait. In this chapter, there will be a card fighting scene which I hope I won't make it too messy. Once again, I remind all of you, I own neither Vanguard nor Buddyfight.

"You, Buddyfight me!" Hiroshi looks at Aichi, with the most serious face he can muster, that makes the shop girl get his attention for a moment.

"Sure. Let's have one." Aichi replied.

"Wait, are you serious? Even Miwa's deck can't beat him!" Morikawa said.

"We won't know, until we tried." Hiroshi holds his glasses on his face. But suddenly he thought of something.

"Then let's begin. You can sit here." Aichi gestured to the seat in front of him. "Umm, Morikawa-kun, can you leave the chair? We're about to have Buddyfight here."

"Tsk! Just watch, Aichi! That cocky attitude of yours won't last long!" Declared Morikawa.

"Morikawa... Aichi is just trying to be polite..." commented Izaki.

"Shut it, Izaki!"

Miwa goes to Hiroshi's side with apologetic smile and said, "Forgive me for getting you into this mess. If there's something I can help, just say the word."

"Then, can you lend me a deck?"

Miwa stood there, processing what the glasses boy just said. Then the blond become wide-eyed. "Eh?"

"I didn't bring my deck. I usually don't bring it. Can you lend me one?" Hiroshi straightly replied.

This get Miwa off guard, but immediately regain his composure and widely smiled, "You asked the right person! Shop girl! Do you still keep my tool box?"

"Can you believe this guy? He challenged someone to a Buddyfight when he didn't bring his deck?" Morikawa joked then laughed.

"Ssssst! Don't say it! He can hear you!" Izaki tries to silence him.

"I'm finish!"

Both Izaki and Morikawa look at the sound direction, and also Aichi. Hiroshi walks to the middle schoolers', with Miwa right behind him.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Aichi! This guy is now ready to rumble!" said Miwa, holding a deck with him.

"Why do you act like you are the one who will fight?" Hiroshi bluntly asked.

"You're mean!" Miwa replied.

'I'm about to say that.' Morikawa and Aichi thought.

"I just built you a deck and this is what I got? Man! Your rudeness is the same as Aichi! I thought that you are his relative for a moment!" The blond commented.

"That's aside. Can we begin our match now?" The blue haired asked.

Hiroshi takes the deck from Miwa's hand, "Yes."

Aichi nods, "Then please sit here."

"And now you both ignoring me?!"

Hiroshi, completely ignores Miwa, goes to the vacant seat, with the deck that the blond just built in hand. Miwa brushed the ignorance off and goes to Hiroshi's back side of seat. Morikawa and Izaki do the same.

"Why are you on this side? Aren't you both should be at Aichi's side? He's your classmate, isn't he?" asked Miwa.

"Who want to be in his side? Just because he's in the same class as me, that doesn't mean I should cheer for him." Morikawa replied. "Beside, that should be my line! Why are you here?"

"Me? Well, a guy from nowhere challenges Aichi, the strongest fighter around, into a Buddyfight. This sure is going to be interesting! I'm the one who caused it in the first place, though."

"He's the strongest?! He's just luck-"

Aichi cut in, "Can you both be quite? We're about to fight here.", with serious face.

This makes both Miwa and Morikawa silence at once. "There it is. The serious face" Miwa commented.

"Let me reconfirm. If you win the fight, you get your card back. But, if I win, the card stays with me." Aichi explained, hinting the Jackknife Dragon that is at stake.

Hiroshi replies with the same serious face, "Yeah."

"Then let's begin." Aichi place a card in the Flag Area, and one in the Buddy Area. Then he takes 6 cards and more 2 cards which he place in the Gauge Area. Lastly, set the Life Counter at corner of the playmat into 10. Hiroshi does the same.

"Ready?"

"Open the Flag!"

Aichi flip both of his face down cards. "Dragon World! My Buddy is Dragon Knight, Red Baron!"

"Dragon World! My Buddy is Rising Flare Dragon!" Hiroshi declared.

"Wow! Both of them fight for Dragon World." Izaki commented. "This really is going to be interesting!"

"I go first. Charge and Draw." He places a card from his hand to the Gauge, then he take the top card of his deck. After that he places a card on the field. "I call Dragon Knight, Alexander to the center!" Aichi Rests the card, "Then I attack the fighter!" Hiroshi slides down the Life Counter into 7. "Move end."

"Then it's my move. I draw." Hiroshi takes a card from the top of the deck. "Charge and Draw." Then he takes 2 cards from the Gauge Area to the Drop Zone, and he takes the card from the Buddy Area to his left, and take the copy of the card from his hand, in horizontal, to Buddy Area on its place. "I pay 2 gauge and Buddy Call Rising Flare Dragon to the left! I regain one life from the Buddy Gift."

"Buddy Gift?" asked Morikawa.

"What? You don't know? When you call you Buddy Monster, you will get one life. It's called Buddy Gift." Miwa explained.

"Well, Morikawa is seldom to call his Buddy. I think he forgot what Buddy Gift is." Izaki speak up.

This angered the M-haired boy, "What did you say?!"

Ignoring Morikawa, Hiroshi continues, "I activate Rising Flare's ability. When he is called I can choose one opponent's monster that is Size 2 or lower and destroy it! I choose Alexander!" he declared. Aichi then takes the said monster to the Drop Zone.

"I call Thousand Rapier Dragon to the right! Then I equip Dragonblade, Dragofearless!" He places a card over the flag card.

"Equip?" Morikawa mumbled.

"Never mind that! He easily opens Aichi's center!" Miwa commented.

"With Thousand Rapier and Dragofearless, I attack the fighter!" Aichi' Life Points become 6. "Next, Rising Flare!"

The blue haired boy takes out a card from his hand, "I cast! Blue Dragon Shield! The attack is nullified and I increase my gauge."

"Move end."

"My move. Draw. Charge and Draw."

"Say, what's that on the glasses guy's flag?" Morikawa finally is able to ask.

Miwa puts a disbelief face, "You even don't know that? It's an Item Card. With that, the fighter can join the battle. They must leave the center open as the risk."

"Is that so? That's stupid then." Morikawa commented.

"I don't think so. Look at Hiroshi. He did well with it." Then Miwa suddenly thought, 'Which surprise me. He's definitely a experienced fighter. Why he doesn't usually fight?'

"I Buddy Call Dragon Knight, Red Baron to the right! I regain one Life Point. Then I call Dragon Knight, Iwamoto to the right!" Aichi assemble his formation.

Izaki gulped, "As expected of Aichi. He immediately recovers his formation."

"But he left his center open." Again, Morikawa commented.

Miwa replies, "Isn't it obvious?"

Aichi pay 2 gauges and place a card on top of his flag, "Equip! Twin Dragonblades, Dragoanthem!"

"He did it so he can attack with an Item!"

"Red Baron attacks Thousand Rapier!" Hiroshi place the attacked card to the Drop Zone. "Iwamoto attack the fighter!" Hiroshi's life becomes 5. "Then I attack with Dragoanthem!" The glasses boy Life Point keeps decreasing. "Double attack!" Hiroshi's Life Point is now 3. "Move end."

Miwa dropped a sweat, "He survived."

"Why didn't he nullify the attack like Aichi did? Did he get a bad hand?" Izaki mumbled.

"How should I know?" Morikawa said.

Miwa moves to the side and looks at Hiroshi's face. The said boy unexpectedly keeps his cool which makes the blond surprised. 'This guy. Did he let the attack through on purpose?' Then he realized something, 'Is he?'

"My move. Draw. Charge and Draw. I call Systemic Dagger Dragon to the right. Then Successive Cast! Dragonic Charge and Dragonic Dash! I charge 2 more gauge and give Rising Flare Dragon Penetrate!"

"Penetrate?" Izaki mumbled.

Morikawa grinned, "What's wrong, Izaki? You don't know Penetrate?"

"Of course I know! But I don't understand." Izaki replied.

"About what?" Morikawa asked.

"Penetrate is the ability to inflict damage when there's a monster in the center. Hiroshi just give the ability to his monster when Aichi got no monster in his center." Miwa explained, partially ignoring Morikawa.

"Right? So why bother-" Izaki confirmed.

Miwa smirked, "That's because Aichi will move Red Baron to the center, due to its Move ability."

"Really?/What?!" Both Izaki and Morikawa shocked at same time. "What's a Move?" Morikawa for numerous times asked. The other spectators epically fall.

"Do you even know how to Buddyfifht properly?! Is that the reason you always lose?!" Miwa pointed.

"What did you say?!"

"Set, Dragon Seal! I put three cards from the top of the deck into the soul!" Hiroshi place the said card on an open space and place three cards underneath it. This time, Aichi makes surprised face, he doesn't really show it.

"I will not use any ability now." Aichi said.

'So he doesn't move it. It's good decision. He won't waste a monster.' Miwa thought.

"I attack with you Rising Flare Dragon!" Aichi's life becomes 5. "I continue with Dragofearless!" Aichi's life becomes 3. "Then I attack Iwamoto with Systemic Dagger!"

Morikawa and Izaki surprised, "Eh?"

"Cast! Blue Dragon Shield!"

"Wait a minute? Why did he change the target?" Morikawa asked.

"It's usual actually." Miwa answered.

"What do you mean?" This time Izaki asked.

"Aichi's remaining Life Point is 3. Systemic Dagger's critical is 2. Even Aichi didn't nullify the attack, he would survived with 1 life point. That's why Hiroshi attacked his monster instead."

"But, why did Aichi nullify the attack?"

"It's for his Impact, Dragon Cavalry Arts Ultimate Smash."

"I remember! To cast that Impact, you need 2 Dragon Knight monsters and an Item equipped, right?"

"Yes. If Aichi able to use that in his next turn, he will win."

"Really? It's Game End, then." Morikawa boringly replied.

Miwa smiled, "If his turn comes, that is!"

"At this time, I activate Dragon's Seal's ability! When my life is 3 or less, I can reveal the card's soul. If there's Armordragon, I can call it by paying its Call Cost!" Hiroshi declared.

"It's the Set Spell from before!" Izaki pointed and then shocked, "Wait a minute, did he take all of the damage from Aichi's last attacks for this moment?!"

"Looks like it. But, if there's no monster with critical of 3 among those cards, it's really Game End for him. This is definitely moment of truth!" Miwa replies.

"Check!" Four pairs of eyes are looking at the glasses boy. The latter reveals the card one by one, and he smiled. "I send Rising Flare and Dagger to the Drop Zone." He moves the cards to the drop zone, and reveals one card, "In their place, I pay 3 gauge and call Gigant Sword Dragon to the right!"

"You get it?!" Aichi flinched. 'Will I? For real?'

"It's over! I attack the fighter!" Hiroshi rested the newly called card.

Aichi, who just silently views the fighter in front of him, slide his Life Counter to 0, "With that attack, my life point become zero and my flag is destroyed."

Hiroshi snapped back into reality, "That means..."

"I lose." The blue haired boy finished. Then he immediately tidy up his cards, leaving the three spectators with wide mouth.

"He just beat Aichi." Miwa commented. The said boy gets up from his seat and swiftly slides the Jackknife Dragon card to Hiroshi's side, which the latter takes.

"The card's yours. Sorry for taking it without knowing the details."

Hiroshi just looks the card he just gets.

"And, Hiroshi-kun, was it?" Aichi asked.

"That's right. It's Hiroshi Toshiki."

"I didn't introduce myself yet, did I? I am Sendou Aichi. Nice to meet you, Hiroshi-kun."

Miwa goes to the blue haired boy's side and nudged him with his elbow. "Hey, Aichi. You told him your name after you fought him? Shouldn't it be the opposite?"

"I can't help it. Besides, he did the same, right?" Aichi pointed.

"Yeah, sure he did!"

"I'm leaving."

Miwa and Aichi turned to Hiroshi, who takes his bag after tidy up the cards he just used and left it on the table. "Thank you for the deck. It has done well." The glasses boy commented, and then leaves the group straight to the exit.

"Hey! Wait!" Miwa walk after him and Aichi does the same. Hiroshi hasn't gone too far. Aichi spoke,

"Hiroshi-kun! Let's fight again next time!"

On the way home, silence is all over Hiroshi, or it should be. The images of the last fight are still haunting him, although he keeps telling himself to forget it.

'You have done well, Kai.' A voice speaks out.

'Jack.' Hiroshi snapped back into reality.

'You know? When it comes to Buddyfight, you never change.'

The glasses boy halted his step, 'Really?'

The voice called Jack continues, 'When the fight was in progress, you never let your eyes look away from you opponent. Just like when you fought "him" '

Hiroshi, still hearing Jack, starts to walk again. 'It's normal, isn't?'

'Even though you're completely forget about me?'

This make Hiroshi surprised, 'What are you talking about?'

'I can feel it. You get to savor it again. The thrill of Buddyfight. The thrill that makes you forgets reality.'

The glasses boy continues to listen.

'And you want to savor it again. One more time, no, you want it any-.'

'Jack. Don't talk about this. Please.'

Then the voice abruptly stops and says, 'If that's your wish, then I shall follow it.'

On the top of the building, that's located far from the glasses boy lived, stand a young boy. His pinkish red eyes stare at the sun on his sight. The wind is blowing his light blue hair. Beside him is a little creature, that's supposed to be a dragon.

"Finally, right? Partner." Said the creature.

"Yeah." The boy replied him.

'At last, I can meet him again.'

Another note : There you go! How was the card fighting scene? Did turned out to be bad, so-so, or good? Tell me what you think! And, I'm sure everyone knows who's in the ending. He will make an actual appearance at the next chapter! See you next time!