Chapter Text
A war cry reverberated throughout the stadium as a giant robot thrusted its blade. Lightning burst from the blade, darting towards the dragon before it.
“I guard!” With these words, a smaller dragon materialised, shield forming and protecting both itself and the dragon behind it. The lightning erupted from the shield, bring forth a brilliant explosion of smoke and light.
Slowly, a figure began to emerge from the smoke. Thick orange-gold fur, red claws with thick black nails and light bursting from its palm, an armoured torso and finally, the head of a much larger and powerful dragon. Its ancient green eyes and ivory fur lining its jaws gave off the sense of wisdom and power, white whiskers floating above its snout. Smoke billowed around it, with red streaks of light giving the dragon an almost otherworldly glow.
“THERE IT IS! GENERATION!” The announcer’s voice blared throughout the stadium, excited spectators paying close attention to the match. “The ability that unlocks hidden possibilities!”
“The Kagero clan leader Mamoru Anjou...” a smiling man with dark green hair falling to his shoulders and a simple brown suit held three cards above his palm. He stood before the giant dragon, confident and calm.
“...and former Asia Circuit champion Kamui Katsuragi...” a spiky-haired high schooler held a large grin on his face, blue-uniformed and standing tall with the giant robot behind him.
“...are taking this exhibition match to a whole other level!”
The dragon rushed through the sandy plains, crushing through any protruding rocks that stood in its path. Its jaw burst open as it inched nearer to the robot, rows and rows of ivory teeth, and giving a war cry of its own. The robot did the same as it swung its blade, lightning blazing-
Cars beeped furiously. Their drivers were yelling and throwing insults at the person before them. A boy with red hair and a pink swirl stood unmoving before rows and rows of cars, despite the street sign saying that pedestrians were no longer able to cross the road at that time. A screen played the exhibition match behind him, not that he paid any attention to it.
“Like I even care,” he muttered, staring straight to the other side of the road. A small cat, dark grey fur and a collar with a golden circle meowed at his feet, before moving along to the other side of the road at last. He sighed, finally walking over to the other side of the street. A screen with the words “Vanguard” flashed behind him.
Vanguard.
The card game that has spread to millions of players across the globe, uniting people all over the world. Through Cardfight Vanguard, these powerful competitors have built bonds that remain to this day.
But now, the history of Cardfighting makes way for a brand new chapter.
The students of Harumi Middle school walked through its grounds, chatting with friends, and grabbing their books. The boy with red hair and a pink swirl opened his shoe locker, sneakers in hand when he noticed something inside. He pulled out what seemed to be a deck of cards, the word “Vanguard” emblazoned on its back.
“This isn’t mine.”
“Write me an essay about your future goals before the day is over,” the teacher drawled, knocking on the chalkboard.
A girl with bright green hair thought carefully, pen in hand before perking up and quickly writing onto a sheet of paper.
The boy with the pink-swirl hair daydreamed in his corner of the classroom, looking out the window with bored eyes. He looked uninterested, apathetic. No one paid any mind to him (after all, he had always been this way, hadn't he?), nor the deck of cards at the corner of his desk.
He munched on his lunch, staring at the wall in peaceful silence. No one was really sure if it was allowed to bring food to that area, but with that boy there, no one was going to try anyway.
"Aw, don't do it!" He looked up, only for a flurry of cards to fall onto his body. One card fell into his hair, and as he pulled it out and took a good look at it, he realised that it was emblazoned with the word on the deck he found before. Vanguard.
"Hey, is someone there!" a boy's voice shouted from above, the sentence sounding more like a command than a question.
He sighed, before pulling out of his little corner. Looking upwards, he saw how the three boys' faces widened with fear. One of them quickly smoothed his face and placed an easy smile, though the swirl-haired boy didn't miss how his hands quivered.
"Oh, hey Chrono," his voice had a slight tremble, and Chrono could see how he was starting to sweat. "Sorry about that. Looks like we dropped our cards-"
"N-No, they're-"
One of the boys, spectacled and condescending eyes, glared at the brown-haired boy who just spoke out. "Anyways, those cards mean a lot to us, so if you'll just wait there, we'll grab them soon-"
"There's no need for that." Chrono gathered the cards, pulling them into a neat deck, ignoring how the trio above him had looks of fear on their faces once more. He beckoned the quieted, brown-haired boy to come over, him scampering down as quickly as possible to Chrono's level.
Chrono handed the deck to him, the boy with a confused but relieved look in his eyes. He stared at the duo above, eyes boring into them as if challenging them to question him.
They scurried out of his sight.
As Chrono walked away, a group of students gathered in the corridor began to buzz with hushed whispers.
"He's in grade eight right?"
"That guy's trouble."
"No kidding, huh? I heard some crazy rumours that even the teachers were afraid of him!"
"Well then, I'll stay out of his way."
A boy with pale blond hair walked away from the group, deciding that he's heard enough.
"The teacher asked me to collect them, so you'd better turn them in." The girl with bright green hair held a stack of papers, the essays about future goals. Her eyes skimmed through the first one before her mouth formed a small 'o'.
The only kanji scribbled on it meant 'Independence,' and it belonged to Chrono Shindou.