1Chapter 1: Welcome to Lake Saucer
The sky is a dull grey; clouds barricade the sun's light. The spring breeze turns to a colder touch. Small droplets fall from the heavens as a sign of a coming showers. The once crowded streets and pavement become vacant as people run for cover to avoid the coming rain. Save for one.
Standing alone in the centre of the path; looking down at the ground; a lost soul questions their direction. The soul is a tall male in their mid teens. Short, spiked up black hair, with small streaks of blonde in places. Their clothes are clean, but show areas of being worn. Ripped, black jeans with a chain hanging from the belt loop; a long sleeve navy shirt, under an unbuttoned, light grey denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
They breath heavily, as if they had just been running, and stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Looking up from the ground, straight ahead; they start to walk again, this time slowly. Before making any noticeable distance, they were shoved aside by a kid, running with their friend. "Sorry Mister!" an unbroken voice called out from the duo. They stop at an automatic door that opens for them. A glow of light signs out of the shop as they run in. When the door closes, the light retreats back into the store.
Alone again, the soul continues to walk on. They pass the door, which begins to open again. The warmth from the inside glows on their face. Turning to face it, they seem compelled to enter. They enter as the rain starts to fall properly, making it unwise to go back outside without cover. Their pale blue eyes wander around the shop from where they stand; examining their surroundings. They see groups of friends and strangers alike having fun, playing a game.
They look back behind them, seeing the rain chucking it down outside; they step away from the door, causing it to close, keeping the heat inside. With their attention on the door, a large figure comes up behind them. "Welcome to Lake Saucer!" a booming voice unleashed onto the soul, who in turn, loses their footing, and almost falls out of the sudden shock.
They turn round to see a large bloke, wearing an apron with an obnoxious logo plastered onto it, "Lake Saucer". Under the apron is a shorts and t-shirt combo of clothing. Their hair curly, ginger locks, tied up with a ponytail at the back. "I don't remember seeing you here before. New to the store?" they ask him, this time, their voice becomes evenly pitched.
The soul looks at them with wide eyes as they tower over them like a big brother. "Uh, yeah." the soul finds their words. They look the large man down, spotting a name tag on their apron reading "Kenichi: Manager". "I uh..." their voice sounds mature, yet inexperienced. The manager looks down at them, tilting their head. "You okay, son?" they ask with a hint of concern to their tone. Rubbing their forehead, they look at the ground, then back to the manager. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little warm." The manager nods their head knowingly, hands on their waist. "Here, I've got some bottled water behind the desk. Maybe you just need something to drink." The manager leads them to the desk across the room from the door. This gives the soul a closer look at the people in the shop, playing their games.
The manager goes behind the desk. The soul stands on the front end, holding their hands flat on the surface. "Here you are. Get this down ya." The manager hands them the bottle of water from a small fridge behind the desk. "Thank you." They open the bottle and take a sip, at first. Before it can part their lips, they lean their head back and take a large dose from the bottle. The manager can see their look of refreshness on their face. "Feel better?" the manager asks with a smile on their face, and their brow raised. "Yes. Much better, thank you. How much was..." the manager holds their hand, but shakes it. "It's on the house. You looked like you needed it." The soul smiles, and continues to drink from it.
The manager looks them up and down, seeing them loosen up, and get more comfortable in the store. "You have a name?" he asks, wanting to get to know them. Taking a break from the water bottle, they nod in response. "It's Akira." they respond, before going back to their new obsession. Leaning with their back against the desk; holding a near empty bottle now, they continue to look around the shop. "So, what is this place?"
The booming voice returns as Kenichi laughs; once again frightening Akira. "You serious? This is Card Shop Lake Saucer!" they speak about it so proudly, like it's an achievement. Akira just looks back at them, shaking their head. "Wow. Maybe you need more than a bottle of water." Their voice returns to normal again. "This is my humble card shop, where players can buy, sell, trade, and play the glorious game of Vanguard."
Akira's face looked less confused by the explanation. "Oh right? I had a friend that was into the game. He needed help learning the game, so he brought two trial decks and roped me into playing with him." The manager rests their head on the counter, listening to Akira's story. "I used this, dragon, clan thing. Always beat him. He wasn't happy." They nod to confirm they are listening. "And what about you? Do you play?" He asks Akira, once he finishes his story. "Well...I don't play, but I remember the rules from when he taught me. As well..." Akire reaches into a hidden pocket in his shirt, pulling out a deck of cards, with the Vanguard logo on the back of them. "I have these."
Kenichi looks at the cards, without looking at the deck. "You don't play, yet you have a deck?" he looks confused, but finds some joy in the situation. "Would you believe me if I said they came with the shirt?". Kenichi goes to reach for the deck to examine what clan it is. "Hey you!" a voice charges through the shop, grabbing the attention of most every in the store, including Akira and Kenichi.
It came from a guy in a buttoned up school uniform, round glasses, and black bowl cut. Behind him are two tall, delinquent looking boys in the same uniform. "I don't remember seeing you here before." Akira waves their head a little. "Yeah, this is the first..." before he could answer him fully, he's cut off by them rudely rushing over to him. Poking Akira in the chest, he adjusts his glasses. "Any new cardfighters in Lake Saucer must play me in a cardfight at least once before they can truly stay here."
Feeling awkward in the situation, Akira turns to look over at Kenichi, who has their head in their hands. "Sorry kid. I didn't know he'd be here today." Akira looks around the store to see many of the other players in the shop looking away nervously. Akira looks back at the guy. "One game?" he asks. "Just one. I need to know if you're worth my time afterwards." Akira just signs, finishing off their water bottle before dropping it in the small bin by the desk. "Is there a free table?" Kenichi steps in. "Only the one used for tournament games. Though I'm not sure if you'd want everyone in the shop watching." The guy in glasses cracks their knuckles, grinning evilly. "That'll do me just fine. I like crushing my opponents with an audience."
Kenichi leads them to tables nearer to the window, with no chairs. "You'll have to play without chairs, sorry." He says before leaving the four of them to their own devices. As he leaves, he leans into Akira to whisper something. "Please beat him. He ruins the game for the others." before walking back to the desk. Akira looks through his deck, and places a card on the vanguard circle to be the starting vanguard, his opponent does the same. "Before we start, my name is Akira. What's yours?"
Akira asks just as a sign of good sportsmanship. "I am the invincible, Ryujiro!" his lackies behind him cheer on this motion. "Yeah! You show him you're boss! Ain't no one better than Ryujiro!" Akira looks at them. "No one? Not even one person." They shake their heads. "Nope, not one. Except maybe their one guy. Toshki something." "That's enough boys, your support is appreciated, but that was anything but, supporting."
With the board set up, and the two players drawing their starting hand of five cards each, they prepare to play. "Stand Up, Vanguard!" The pair turn their vanguards over, revealing them. The game is currently being shown on the tvs around the shop so other players can watch it. Ryujiro turns their face down card up. "I stand Fullbau!" Akira does the same. "I ride Men in the Shadow". Kenichi, watching the game on the monitor, straightens himself, unaware of the card. Ryujiro is also stunned. "What clan is that?" he asks demandingly. Akira looks at the cards in his hand. "It's from the...Union Verse clan. Is that a problem?" he asks, confused. "I've just never heard of that clan before. No matter. I'll crush it all the same."
He draws from his deck, taking the first turn. "I ride, Foldbau. With the skill of Fullbau, I draw a card. Your move." Akira's turn. He draws a card, and then rides. "I ride, Executioner of Gaps, Crack. Skill of my grade 0, I draw. I attack your hand." Ryujiro chooses not to guard, and Akira fails to draw a trigger in the drive check. He ends his turn having dealt one damage to his opponent.
"Draw. I ride, Blaster Dark. Then I call Blaster Axe, and Foldbau to rearguard. Blaster Dark skill, I discard a card to gain an additional drive check. I attack with Axe." "I guard with Masked Wolf." Akira guards with a unit with a shield of 10000. "With a boost from Foldbau, I attack the vanguard." Akira chooses to keep his hand. "Drive check. No trigger, Critical trigger." Blaster Dark hits Crack for two damage, neither of them were triggers.
"Draw. I ride Highgate the Transformation Selfishness. To the rearguard, I call Masked Wolf, Slit Mouth Pomad, and another Highgate." Akira calls more units to increase his power output. "I attach Blaster Axe with my reaguard Highgate." Their power was equal without a guard, so Akira removed the unit from the board. "I attack your vanguard with Highgate." With no guard, Akira moves onto the drive check, revealing a critical. "I give the power to Pomad, and the critical to my vanguard." He does two damage to his opponent. With the last attack being boosted, the power comes out as 28000. Ryujiro uses the trigger he got last turn, with a draw trigger he had in his hand to guard for 20000, making it 30000.
"That's as much damage as you're going to give me this turn. Draw. I ride, leader of the dark knights, The Dark Dictator!" Ryujiro rides the ace card of his deck. "Imaginary Gift, Force 1. I give it to my vanguard for plus 10k. Next, I use my vanguard's skill. Counter blast 1, I call Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod from my hand, and you have to retire one of your units." Akira takes the rearguard Highgate and places it in the drop zone. "I call two more Blaster Axes from my hand. For every unit I have, my vanguard gains 2k." His vanguard's power has risen from its base power of 13000 to 31000 because of its ability and the gift.
"I attack your vanguard with mine. Boosted by Foldbau, I attack." Akira thinks about guarding, but then remembers reading something about his card. Before making a decision he leans down at the board, and reads his card. "I activate my vanguard's skill. When attacked, if it's the first attack of the turn, it cannot hit." Ryujiro looks gobsmacked that his powered up vanguard was wasted. "Twin drive. First check, no trigger. Second check, draw trigger, power to Axe." He draws from his deck, then attacks with his two rearguards. Both attacks go through, bringing Akira to 4 damage, the last one was a draw trigger, so he gained a draw from it.
"My turn." Akira looks at his hand, seeing a grade 3 in his hand, he thinks about riding it. But its skill only works on the rearguard, as well, it doesn't have a gift marker. "Maybe Highgate is better for now with his skill." He thinks to himself. He goes to draw from his deck. Once his fingers touch the top card of his deck to draw, his heart skips a beat. A smile dawns on his face before he even looks at the card. He brings it up to his face. "Turn salvation into despair. Tune the world into your chaos. I ride Disaster Zero, Unluck!" A clash of thunder awakens outside, announcing the summoning of Akira's vanguard as he looks on at Ryujiro with stoic eyes.
End of chapter 1...
