Chapter Text
“C-can I be a Hero, even if I don’t have a Quirk?” a young boy asked, viridian hair on top of his head, his freckled face showing all the hope he put in his question. He and a blonde, skeletal man stood on a roof, the wind ruffling their hair. The green-haired boy gripped the straps of his backpack tightly, his knuckles turning white.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t be a Hero without a Quirk,” the man answered. The young boy, whose bright, green eyes where full of hope just seconds ago, shattered and were filled with sadness instead.
Diagnosed as Quirkless at the age of four, Izuku Midoriya had a rough life. The green-haired teen being told by everyone around him, with his mother being (kind of) an exception, that he couldn’t be a Hero, even his former childhood friend turned bully, but he never gave up. As long as you want to help people, you can be a Hero, even if you don’t have a Quirk!
That is, until today: the day the number one Hero, All Might, broke his heart.
“You could always try to become a police officer instead. You’ll still help people that way.” With a dismissive wave, the skeleton, who Izuku now knew was All Might, turned around and walked away, taking the only exit of the roof where they were standing on.
With the pain in his heart becoming too much to bear, Izuku dropped to his knees, crying and clutching his heart with both hands. The roof was filled with the silent sobbing of a pained child for an unknown amount of time.
Shakily standing up, the green-haired boy went to the exit of the building. The world fell silent, the loud explosions and the smell of smoke in the background becoming insignificant to him. He kept walking, even when the sky grayed, even when it started to rain, even when his clothes were soaked. No one saw his tears, which were thankfully masked by the water running down his face.
His only direction: home, to his mom.
The poor boy was in need of a lot of katsudon.
“I’m home,” the viridian teen called out. He took off his wet shoes, his entire body soaked to the bone.
Inko Midoriya, a small, chubby woman with the same color hair as her son, popped up from the doorway, her head peeking out. He didn’t look up, but Izuku could smell that dinner was being cooked.
“Izuku, welcome home!” she greeted cheerfully, but her face fell when her emerald eyes saw the emotional state her son was in.
“Do you want some katsudon?” she asked, her face now adorning a softer expression while making an attempt to make her son feel better. Izuku looked up from his feet, his lips lightly quirking upward.
Izuku shrugged. “If I’m not being a bother.”
His mother gasped. “Izuku Midoriya, you’ll never, ever, be a bother to me!” His mom scolded him, but there was a small, gentle smile on her face.
“Get yourself some dry clothes from your room. Oh, and you can drop your wet ones where you’re standing right now. I’ll take care of it.”
Izuku smiled for the first time in a while, but it did not reach his eyes. He thanked his mother and did as he was told, dropping his soaked uniform on the floor and making his way to his bedroom. After a few minutes, and trying to ignore every All Might poster in there, he emerged from his room, wearing baggy pants and a t-shirt with the word ‘pants’ on it. He sat down at the dining table, a bowl of his favourite dish sitting in front of him.
Inko took her seat opposite of her son, also having a bowl of katsudon. Neither said anything, both enjoying their meal, Izuku his mood lifting with each bite he took, the heavy, depressing feeling in his chest lightening ever so slightly. They kept eating their dinner in silence, until Inko took the initiative, asking the question that was on her mind ever since they sat down.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Izuku nodded slowly. He started explaining what happened, leaving his incident with the slime villain and All Might out of it. He respected the Hero enough to still keep his privacy, so he just said that he bumped into a random Hero instead. After he had told her everything, Inko had tears forming in her eyes.
“Oh, my baby!” She made her way around the table and pulled her son in a hug, tears streaming down her face. She always new just how much her child was suffering, being part of the twenty percent that didn’t have a Quirk, the twenty percent that is shunned for not having a super power, for having an extra joint in their toe.
They stayed like that for a while, neither moving from their spot, until his mom let go of him. Izuku could see the dried tears on his moms eyes. Izuku stood up, wished his mother a good night and retreated to his room. He looked at each poster, every pair of All Might eyes boring deep into his soul, judging him. He took each poster down, neatly folded them, put them and any other All Might related merchandise in a box and put it away in his closet. Maybe he could sell it? After his sudden cleanup, the room was completely All Might-less, except for his very first limited edition action figure of him, still standing proudly on one of his shelves.
He dropped himself on his bed, the events of today having him left exhausted. It didn’t take long before he was asleep. A dreamless sleep, which he very much appreciated.
Midoriya groggily woke up, rubbing his eyes. He wiggled around, untangling himself from the mess he made of his bed while asleep, and looked at his phone, eyes squinting.
“6 AM,” he mumbled, blinking sleepily at the dim light his phone gave off. He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and stood up, careful to not accidentally lose balance and trip over his own feet. He put on his school uniform and made his way to the kitchen. His mom was already up, making breakfast.
Inko looked up. “Good morning, Izuku!” she said happily to him. Izuku smiled back, the light in his eyes looking a bit more dim than the radiance they used to have a few months ago.
“You know, Izuku,” the green haired woman started, “I think today will turn out to be a good day!” she said, her voice filled with optimism. Izuku wanted to believe it, but he couldn’t bring it to himself to have the same amount of positivity as his mom. With a mental shrug, he took his seat at the table. While they were eating, the green-haired teen took a moment to look at the calendar that hung from the fridge.
A few months had passed after ‘that fateful day’, as Izuku had chosen to call it. Each day going by the same way as the last did. Go to school, get bothered by students and teachers alike, do other school stuff and go home. After he was done eating, he took his backpack and bid his mother goodbye. During his walk to school, his mind drifted back to Kacchan.
One thing that was different from before was that the explosive teen didn’t bother him as often as he did before and, strangely enough, this weird phenomenon started happening the day after the whole slime incident happened.
Upon further investigation, Midoriya found out that the slime villain had escaped from All Might while he was hanging on for dear life to him and had used Kacchan as a hostage. Thankfully, All Might was close by and took care of it. The revelation convinced Izuku even more that he was just a useless Deku who shouldn’t try to become a Hero.
He went through the school gate, trying hard to ignore anyone bothering or name-calling him. He entered his classroom and with a few quiet steps was already sitting at his desk, waiting for class to begin.
School was the same as any other day, until the bell went off, signaling that school is over for today. The green-haired boy packed his stuff up and went out through the classroom door, but was intercepted by a bully, which he recognized as Fingers, one of Kacchan’s ‘sidekicks’.
“Hey, Deku,” Fingers smiled wickedly. He put his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, squeezing harder than necessary and making him wince, “you planning on going somewhere today?” Izuku chose to not answer, instead lifting his backpack to his back, adjusting the straps while he was at it.
“Don’t just go on and ignore me, you Quirkless freak!” Fingers snapped. Before he could react, Izuku wrenched himself free and bolted past him. “Get him!” He heard Fingers yell. He ran through the hallway, his small stature allowing him to easily weave through the stream of students making their way to the school gate. The Quirkless boy was almost caught by another bully, but with some quick thinking, he spun around and used his backpack to smack his newest pursuer away from him. His suddenly improvised action earning him a “Come back here, you useless freak!” from the downed bully.
He sprinted past the school gate and went to the shopping centre, hoping that the bigger crowd there could help him shake of his pursuers. In his hurry, Izuku didn’t notice the person in front of him. They both collided with a loud thud, dropping to the ground on their butts. The other person dropping a small, box-shaped object, clattering against the pavement.
“Ow!” the other boy exclaimed, more from being surprised than actually being hurt.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Izuku apologized, quickly scrambling over to the other person, a boy around his age with peach colored hair. He was wearing a school uniform Izuku didn’t recognize at the moment.
“Excuse me, are you okay?” the green-haired teen asked him, picking up the box-shaped… thing. Out of curiosity, he examined it. It looks like some kind of container, one where you keep a stack of cards in. Before looking rude for rummaging through other people their stuff, Izuku handed the deck box back to the other boy.
“Thanks man, ‘preciate it!” He took the deck, gratitude visible on his face, before he had a look of panic flashed across face and checked his phone.
“Oh crap, I’m late for my fight!” He quickly stood back up and ran towards a direction in the shopping centre, thanking Izuku one last time. Izuku stood there calmy, until his mind caught up with what the boy just said.
“WAIT, FIGHT?!” he shrieked, the people around him looking annoyed at him, but he paid them no heed. Was this kid going to fight against a villain? He needs to help him! He might get hurt, or worse, he thought. Before the green-haired teen thought anything else, his body moved on its own. It took a little bit of running before he managed to catch up to the peach-haired boy, who was now standing in front of a shop. Izuku hid behind one of the trees that was planted there.
“Castle?” He read out quietly, keeping in mind that he’s supposed to be sneaky here. Before he could do anything else, though, the boy stepped through the automated doors and disappeared inside. Izuku stepped out of his hiding spot and walked cautiously towards the automatic doors. He stood there, hesitant on entering the building.
“Okay, you can do this, Izuku!” He prepped himself, not really knowing what would await him beyond these doors. He took a deep, nervous breath, and entered the building. Upon entering, Izuku saw that the shop was packed with people, happily chatting about their day or playing card games on one of the numerous tables around.
“Welcome!” Came from the counter next to him. Izuku, just barely stopping himself from jumping so high from fright that he would go through the ceiling, turned to the owner of the voice. It was a friendly, slightly heavyset man with a cap sideways on his head, wearing an apron with the shop its name printed on it.
“You must be new here, right?” the man asked him. Izuku nodded, a bit nervous, bet mentally let our a breathing of relieve when the man started introducing himself to the green-haired teen.
“Well, I’m the manager of this shop. Pleased to meet you! What’s your name, kid?” he asked.
“I-Izuku.” The green-haired boy stuttered. “Pardon me for asking, sir, but have you seen a boy around my age with peach-colored hair?” Izuku asked, trying to describe the boy that he bumped into as best as he could. The Managers eyes lit up with recognition at his description.
“You mean Kouya?” The Manager grinned. “Of course I know him! He’s at the fighters arena right now!” The man motioned for Izuku to follow him. He reluctantly did so, taking his backpack off and, with permission from the Manager, putting it behind the counter.
He and the card shop Manager made their way to what could be described as some sort of arena. The arena itself was on a lower elevation than the rest of the shops floor and had railings to stop anyone from accidentally falling and hurting themselves. In the middle stood a table with a screen on it. On the screen were strange circles, one intricate looking blue circle that was surrounded by five less detailed yellow ones displayed while a large green was right in front of it. There were two of these strange patterns, both opposite of each other with, coincidentally, two boys standing on either side. One of them was the peach-haired one. Kouya, Izuku remembered from what the Manager had told him.
“What are they doing?” theThe green-haired teen asked, green eyes still scanning the table. The Manager was once more the source of information Izuku needed in this situation.
“They’re having a Vanguard fight. And it’s gonna start soon!” the Managers excitedly explained to him. Izuku looked around, seeing more people come to the arena, the crowd growing thicker by the second. Green eyes traveled once more to the occupants in the arena. He sees Kouya there, but he doesn’t know who the other boy is. People started whispering to each other.
“They’re having another fight this week? It’s, what, the fifth time now?” one person, a girl, asked.
“Shut it. Their fights are pretty darn entertaining to watch,” the boy next to her said. Izuku looked back at the Manager, opening his mouth for another question, but was quickly stopped by him.
“Kouya has this weird, one-sided rivalry going on between Reiji and Eiji. Those two-,“ he gestured to the two elementary boys standing opposite to the peach-haired teen. One of them was wearing glasses and the other had his hair tied in a topknot, “-keep challenging Kouya to try and become the ‘strongest fighters’ in the shop.”
Kouya spoke up, the last bits of whispers and chatting in the crowd dying down, “another fated battle between us, huh? That, or you’re just in denial that you guys lost last time.” He put his hands on his hips, a smirk on his face once a large portion of the audience started laughing.
“So, which one of you two will fight me today?” he asked, his cyan eyes looking over to the two boys standing on the other side of the table. He put his hands in his pockets and looked quite relaxed, an air of confidence surrounding him.
“That would be me, yo!” The kid with the topknot stepped forward. The crowd their murmuring came back again.
“It’s Eiji again? But the guy lost last time!” one kid said.
“It is strange,” a girl with orange hair and freckles wearing glasses said. “Eiji’s playstyle is best described as a straightforward, aggressive approach to any opponent he faces, throwing most of his defense away for offense. This in turn allows Kouya to take advantage of him when he doesn’t have any cards left to defend himself with,” she explained. Izuku listened, a bit lost amidst the other conversations he was hearing. He didn’t understand anything most of the crowd said, but it sounded to him that the topknot kid, who he now knows is Eiji, did not have a high chance of winning.
“Yeah, that happened last time, yo, but this time,” Eiji spoke up, the glasses kid, who Izuku now knows is Reiji, stood next to him and followed up.
“We’ve prepared the ultimate deck in order to beat you, Kouya!” Both elementary kids were pointing at the peach-haired kid in question. Kouya didn’t look phased at all, a comically deadpan expression on his face.
“Okay, sure. That’s great and all, but can we start?” Kouya paused for a moment to yawn. “I want to buy a few booster packs and tinker with my deck for a bit.” He took out his deck, picked one card from among them and put it on the blue circle. Eiji followed suit.
“And now, we imagine it.”
“Imagine it?” Izuku repeated. He tapped his chin in thought, trying to understand what exactly Kouya meant by that. The Manager noticed and happily explained.
“When you play Vanguard, the spirits of you and your opponents are transported a planet named Cray, a world much like Earth, yet very different. This is the imagination part of the game. The stronger the image, the higher your chance at victory will become!” He grinned, before continuing. “Both spirits don’t have a body anymore, but they do have two powers.”
“Which are..?”
“I wasn’t done explaining, bro.” The manager said. “The first power is called “ride”, in which the spirit takes on the form of a unit on Cray. The second is “call”. That one’s pretty self explanatory, because you call allies to aid you in battle!” He pumped a fist up, showing his excitement in explaining it.
“So all I have to do is to ‘imagine it’?” He closed his eyes, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration.
Everything went silent.
Confused , Izuku opened his eyes, only for shock to fill them. Everything around him turned black, white and different shades of gray. Time had stopped, as if someone had pushed the pause button on a tv-remote. The only people that were moving where the two boys at the cardfight table, both holding five cards in their hands now. They flipped their cards on the blue circle face-up, and called out.
“Stand up, Vanguard!”
The room was filled with a bright, white flash. The green-haired teen tried to cover his eyes with his hands, but he could still see the light through his eyelids. After the light died down did Izuku dare to open his eyes, and he gasped.
He stood on what looked like the roof of an ancient Japanese palace, surrounded by a sea of cherry blossom trees. Pink petals fluttered through the air, making the full moon in the night sky look even more beautiful. Izuku looked down from the roof, seeing some sort of training grounds, the walls surrounding it damaged. Lanterns were lighting up the training grounds, giving everything down there a soft, orange glow.
“Wow.” Was the best word Izuku could use to describe the place. He looked down at the the training grounds, and saw Kouya and Eiji standing there, facing each other. The green-haired teenager sat down on the roof’s edge, his feet dangling off of it.
“No, their spirits,” Izuku said, correcting himself. Before he could do anything else though, both the fighters their bodies were enveloped in a flash of light. The Quirkless boy couldn’t help but gawk at the transformation both boys went through.
Kouya turned into a pink, furred ninja fox with strange markings covering its body. A scroll in both its mouth and on his back were present. He crouched down, ready to take a leap at any moment.
“I ride Stealth Beast, Kuroko!”
Eiji turned into a huge red and white fighting robot, striking a cool pose. Upon closer inspection, Izuku could see Eiji piloting the robot from the cockpit in its chest.
“And I ride Battleraizer!” Izuku couldn’t help but watch in awe, gaping at the warriors standing there, ready for battle.
“Hey kid, are you alright? You spaced out there for a sec.” The Manager looked concerned at him. He waved one of his his hands in front of the Quirkless teen, making him snap back to reality. He shook his head. Did he just imagine all of that? He was quickly distracted by Kouya.
“I’ll take the first move.” He announced and drew a card from his deck. “I ride Tempest Stealth Rogue, Fuuki.” He stacked a card on top of Kuroko and Izuku was pulled back into his imagination again. He looked at Kouya’s side of the field. The pink warbeast exploded in a burst of light particles and was replaced with a man in robes, demon wings adorning his back. Izuku looked stunned at the sudden transformation.
“In order to ride,” the Manager started explaining, “you place a card on the Vanguard, the card on the fancy circle, that is one grade higher.” He pulled a card from somewhere and showed Izuku. On the top left of the card was the number one.
“You keep riding your Vanguard each turn to the next grade, until you reach grade three.” He explained while pocketing away the card. Izuku took the information in.
“So that’s how a ride works.” The viridian teen muttered to himself. He paused for a moment.
“But what’s a Vanguard?” He asked.
“The Vanguard is the one that leads the way.” The Manager said cryptically.
That made Izuku pause, looking down at the floor. He wasn’t someone that leads the way and he definitely can’t inspire others! Everyone around him told that. Izuku lifted his gaze from the ground and focused on the game instead, pushing his negative thoughts to the back of his mind. He can deal with those later, when he is alone.
“With Kuroko’s skill, I draw one card and I end my turn.” And with that, the amount of cards in Kouya’s hand became six. It was Reji’s turn. He drew a card and placed a card on his Vanguard.
The boy jumped out of his cockpit, Battleraizer disappearing behind him. While he was in the air, a bigger, orange robot took the last ones place.
“I ride Raizer Custom! I draw a card thanks to Battleraizer; and since I went second, I get a Quick Shield.” He grabbed a card from outside his deck, the symbol on the card vaguely looked like a flexing robot. “I also call Transraizer to the rear-guard!” Right besides Custom, another robot appeared, this one green in color.
“So calling a card is-“
“Calling a card on the the yellow circle is a rear-guard, an ally, right?” Izuku interrupted, a smile on his face, before he looked horrified.
“I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have interrupted you there, that was really dumb of me!” The Manager stopped him. Telling him that it was fine and that he just got excited. Izuku silently apologized in the back of his head anyway.
“And now, my Vanguard attacks your Vanguard!” The topknot boy turned his card sideways, making the robot jump towards the demon ninja, fist raised. Kouya took a quick look at the cards in his hand.
“I don’t guard.” He declared, making Reiji smirk.
“Alright! Time for my drive check!” Izuku blinked.
“I don’t think he’s allowed to drive, though. So he’d fail the check before he even started…” He didn’t notice that he made some of the people around him chuckle.
“He didn’t mean anything about driving a car,” the girl with glasses spoke up this time, a smile still on her face from the green-haired teen his accidental joke. “When you attack with your Vanguard, you reveal the top card of your deck and keep it. That’s a ‘drive check’. And when there’s a trigger, you get to activate it.”
“Okay…” Midoriya said. “But wait, what’s a trig-“
“Got it, front trigger!” Eiji announced happily, making Izuku look back at the table. Eiji was holding a card with the image of a ball-shaped robot, a gun in one hand and a drill in the other. If you looked closer at the card, you could see a pink box on the top right corner of it.
“Ten thousand power goes to the front row!” The orange robot its fist collided with Fuuki, launching him into the side of the building. A crater was left there as the demon recovered and jumped back into action. Izuku stood there, tapping his chin in thought.
So that’s a trigger, the viridian boy thought. Then that’s what happened when you revealed a trigger. Where there more of them? Did they all give ten thousand power? What about-
“Hey Izuku, you doin’ alright, bro?” The Manager’s genuinely concerned question made Izuku blush from embarrassment. He and his stupid muttering, he mentally berated himself for it.
“I’m fine! Sorry about that,” he apologized sheepishly.
“Don’t worry about it, you’ll probably see the other triggers as the game goes on,” the Manager reassured him.
“Damage check.” Kouya flipped the top card of his deck, revealing a card of a warrior with multiple weapons of his back.
“No trigger.” Kouya placed the card in a zone at the far left on his side of the playing field.
“What’s that for?” Izuku pointed out.
“That’s the damage zone, when there are six cards placed there, you lose the game,” the manager said. “It’s not all that bad, though, because you can use the cards in the damage zone to use the effects of certain cards.” Izuku nodded in understanding.
“And now Transraizer attacks! That’s a whopping eighteen thousand attack!” Eiji turned the card illustrating a green robot this time.
The robot hovered towards the demon ninja, getting ready to strike. The strike connected, but instead of seeing Fuuki being launched away, a dragon pushed the demon-winged individual out of harms way, taking the hit instead.
“I guard against that with Stealth Dragon, Ganbaku!” Kouya placed the card from his hand down on the large green circle. He placed the card afterwards in a zone underneath the deck that was labeled as the ‘drop zone’.
“So you can use the cards in your hand to stop attacks.” Izuku hummed. From the way he saw it, the attack power of the card Kouya guarded with wasn’t put into the calculations of his defense. So there was another part on the card that indicated defense. A shield, perhaps? He squinted his eyes, seeing that there indeed was a shield printed on the left side, underneath the grade icon. On the shield was the number fifteen thousand.
“So eight thousand plus fifteen thousand makes twenty-three thousand shield. That’s way higher than Transraizer its attack power, which is eighteen thousand and from the looks of it, this ‘drop zone’ is where any cards that are used to defend attacks go.”
“Good job with the analysis, kid!” The Manager patted Izuku on the back, making his cheeks flush from the sudden praise given to him.
The topknot kid grumbled. “I end my turn…”
Kouya drew a card, announcing his turn with it, and placed a new card on his Vanguard. The demon was replaced by a man in armour, equipped with multiple bladed weapons.
“I ride Stealth Rogue of a Thousand Blades, Oborozakura,” he took three cards from his hand and placed them on the rear-guard circled. “And I call Oboro Cart, Fuuki and Stealth Dragon, Dan Breach!” Behind the Stealth Rogue materialized a wheel with a face on it, a permanent grin plastered on its face. Right next to the Vanguard appeared a dragon in armor, a sash around its neck and a glaive in hand with Fuuki right behind it.
“With a boost from Oboro Cart, Oborozakura takes aim at your Vanguard!” Kouya turned both cards horizontally, indicating his attack. Oboro Cart gave its energy to the multi-weapon warrior, as it jumped with its spear pointed at the orange robot, intending on stabbing it. Izuku watched in awe as the robot and ninja/samurai clashed, sparks flying from both weapon and metal fists.
“And now, it’s my drive check.” Kouya flipped the top card of his deck, showing a yellow box this time. The peach-haired boy grinned, while a panicked look appeared on his opponent’s face.
“Stealth Dragon, Kurogane. It’s a critical trigger! The power goes to Dan Breach,” he tapped said card with the trigger unit, “and the extra critical goes to my Vanguard.”
Oborozakura saw an opening and slashed Raizer Custom on its chest with incredible speed. Following behind was a dragon with two katanas, jumping over the warrior and slashing wildly against the cockpit and chest area of the orange fighter robot. Multiple scratches and dents were now on the Raizer Vanguard, sparks occasionally flying off of it.
“Thanks to that critical trigger, Kouya managed to deal two damage!” one kid said. “He’s in the lead now!”
Reiji revealed two cards from his deck, both weren’t triggers, and placed them in his damage zone. Now, the damage is one to two for Kouya.
“I activate Oboro Cart his effect.” He flipped the card from his damage zone face-down. “After he boosted an attack, I can return him to my hand by paying one counter blast!” He put the card back in his hand, bolstering his defenses for his opponent’s turn.
“So counter blasts are payed by flipping cards in the damage zone?” The green-haired boy turned to the shop Manager, who nodded. Izuku gave him an ‘okay’ in return.
“Both Dan Breach and Fuuki their effects activate. When a card returns to the owners hand, they both gain six thousand power!” He explained to his opponent. Izuku did the mental calculations.
“So with the trigger, boost and both effects,” he summed up. “The power should be…”
“Dan Breach is attacking your Vanguard with thirty-nine thousand power!”
“T-that’s a lot!” Izuku said as he watched the dragon leap at the downed robot, blade raised above its head, and slashed down.
“No guard!” the topknot kid declared.
The unit’s blade came crashing down, damaging most of the orange Raizer unit’s body. He revealed the top card of his deck for another damage check. This time it was a trigger, a robot with two lightsabers. A red box was there this time.
“Draw trigger! The power goes to Custom Raizer, and I draw one card!” Well, that trigger was quite self-explanatory. At the end of the turn, Reiji has three damage and has seven cards, including the unused Quick Shield, in his hand. Kouya has one damage and has four hand cards, two of them being Oboro Cart and Kurogane.
“Your perfect deck doesn’t seem to give you much of an advantage, does it?” Kouya taunted. He grinned when Reiji growled in frustration.
“Just you wait and see.” Reiji started his turn, turning his cards vertically and drawing a card. “I ride High-Powered Raizer Custom!” The orange robot was replaced by an even bigger, blue version of itself. “And with my Vanguard’s skill, I call Battleraizer from the soul behind it.” He said, as the red robot from before now materialized behind his Vanguard.
Reiji grabbed two cards from his hand. “I move Transraizer to the back, and I call Burstraizer and Iron Killer!” The green Raizer jumped back, where it formerly stood was now an orange and red robot with green cables around its body while a purple one with a morning star attached to its arm appeared right next to Hi-Powered Raizer Custom.
“With a boost from Transraizer, Burstraizer attacks Dan Breach!” Said unit was charging up energy, the cables on its body growing brighter with each passing second. As it released the energy it built up, an emerald beam was shot towards the ninja dragon.
“I don’t guard!”
The beam hit its mark, blowing the dragon warrior up in sparkles and fragments of light. Meanwhile, in the real world, the peach-haired teen moved the card to the drop zone.
“And I attack your Vanguard with mine!” The blue Raizer Vanguard ignited the rockets under its feet and took flight, maneuvering around Oborozakura, looking for an opening it can take advantage of. Reiji flipped a card in the damage zone face down and moved a card from underneath his Vanguard to the drop zone.
“I activate Burstraizer its skill. When my Vanguard attacks, by paying one counter blast and soul blast, he stands back up.” The elementary school kid explained, with him gaining another attack with this play. Kouya didn’t guard again. The topknot kid revealed the top card of his deck, this time showing a green trigger.
“Oh yeah! It’s a heal trigger this time!” It looked like it’s his lucky day today. “I heal one damage and give the power to Burstraizer.” He took the card he used for the counter blast from the damage zone and placed in the drop zone, reducing his damage to two. The blue Raizer saw an opening and with a powerful kick, sent Oborozakura crashing into a nearby building, leaving many cracks on its walls after making impact.
The green-haired boy his gaze went back to the shop owner. “So is that a way to recover damage, sir?” He asked.
“That’s right,” the Manager confirmed with a nod, “but a heal trigger can only activate if the damage you have is more than or equal to your opponent. And please don’t call me sir. It makes me feel old…” He mumbled the last part out. Izuku barely heard him, but still apologized politely. The Manager told him that it was fine, smiling at him. Izuku barely managed to stop himself from flinching. He’s not used to people being so nice to him.
It’s almost… overwhelming.
“No trigger.” Izuku looked back at the game. Kouya took the top card of his deck and moved it to the damage zone, it wasn’t a trigger.
“Next up, I activate my Vanguard its skill. By putting Battleraizer into the soul, I can stand one of my rear-guards.” He stood Transraizer. “And now, Iron killer attacks your Vanguard! He gains another five thousand power with its effect!” Iron Killer swung the spiked weapon attached to it above its head, going faster and faster with each swing, until it let go, the morning star sailing to the multi-bladed ninja.
“Oboro Cart stops your attempt!” Just before the weapon struck, Oboro Cart appeared from the shadows, blocking the dangerous attack from connecting. The ghostly wheel shattered into wooden pieces, before it disappeared entirely from existence. But before the warrior could relax, the Raizers that stood back up were approaching him quickly, intending to harm him. The robots reared their fists back, and punched the Stealth Rogue with all their might. The warrior was bushed far into the ground from the impact, badly wounded. Before he could succumb to his injuries, however, chains coated with energy wrapped around him and pulled him out, giving him the energy to keep fighting.
“Thank you, Stealth Beast, Mijingakure.” The thousand bladed warrior thanked him. The warbeast only bowed. “Anything to help you win, my Vanguard.” Mijingakure said before he too turned into shards of light.
“It’s a draw trigger,” Kouya said. “The power goes to my Vanguard, and I draw one card.”
Midoriya could see Reiji pushing his glasses up. “Looks like you’re the now lagging behind, Kouya!” He said. “Now we’ll beat you and become the strongest cardfighters in this shop!”
Kouya shook his head, amused. He stood his units and drew a card, a competitive glint in his eyes. “Let’s see if you can keep up when I get serious!” He picked one card from his hand and held it in front of him.
“The way of the ninja is the way of the Shura! I Ride!” Oborozakura drew a smoke bomb from one of his small sachels and threw in front of him, covering Kouya’s side of the field in a thick smokescreen. It cleared and instead of the Stealth Rogue standing there, a new unit took his place. A slim dragon with two pairs of wings stood there, a katana floating by both the abyss dragon its sides.
“Shura Stealth Dragon, Kujikiricongo!” Kouya revealed his ace card. Izuku could see the power coming of this unit. He watched in awe.
“Pretty cool right?” The shop owner grinned. “But he’s not done yet.”
“Got it! Imaginary Gift: Protect I!” Kouya took out a card with a green border, revealing that it had a strange symbol on it. Izuku couldn’t describe it. The symbol itself looked incredibly detailed.
He cocked his head. “Imaginary Gift? That’s a…” he paused for a moment, trying to find the right word, “…strange name,” he finally said, causing the Manager to chuckle.
“That’s because it’s not a unit, kid. It’s a special marker that you get when you reach grade three,” he explained. “This one is Protect. You put it in your hand, and then you can use it to defend yourself against attacks.”
Izuku blinked. “Oh, that’s pretty cool.”
“I activate Kujikiricongo’s skill!” He used another damage for a counter blast. “Choose a card from your hand, and discard it.” Grumbling, his opponent chose one. It was the Quick Shield he had gained at the start, and now his hand was reduced to five cards. “I call Chigasumi and Tsunamasa to the rear-guard.” In front of Fuuki jumped a robed demon with a slightly curved sword onto the battlefield. A humanoid feline with a long, red scarf appeared next to the draconic Vanguard.
“With Tsunamasa’s skill. I’ll give my Vanguard an extra three thousand power. Since I chose a grade three unit, I get to soulcharge.” He moved the top card of his deck underneath his Vanguard. “And I also call Stealth Dragon, Dreadmaster!” Right behind Kujikiricongo, descending from the dark, starry sky, came a blue and green dragon, long claws were at the end of its fingertips.
“With Dreadmaster its skill, I soulblast to discard and draw a card.” The peach-haired boy explained to his opponent, moving a card from underneath his Vanguard to the drop zone. “He also has an extra effect. Since my Vanguard is Kujikiricongo, you have to choose one rear-guard and return it back to your hand, and then discard one card from your hand. Fuuki also powers up thanks to this.” He looked smug after seeing Eiji’s incredibly annoyed face at the effect, mumbling something about ‘his stupid ninja tricks’. He chose to return Trainsraizer back to his hand and discarded it as well.
“And finally, I activate Kujikiricongo’s second skill! When one of your rear-guards returns to your hand by one of my card effects, you won’t be able to guard with cards from your hand that have the same grade as the returned unit!”
Izuku’s jaw almost hit the floor, gripping the railing and getting absorbed into the match. “That means he has locked Reiji out of any grade one cards that he can guard with!”
“Dang, Kouya is already locking his opponents defensive options. Now that’s just cold,” a spectator said.
“Yeah bro, but it is his shtick when it comes to Vanguard,” another spectator told him. “It’s either a hit-and-run tactic or slowly depleting his opponents resources while locking them out of certain actions.”
“Okay, here goes. With a boost from Dreadmaster, Kujikiricongo attacks your Vanguard!” The Shura Stealth Dragon made several hand signs, a huge symbol appearing before he shot it out to the blue Raizer. Before the projectile could make contact, a small robot with huge shields on bot hits arms stopped the attack.
“I guard with Wallboy, and Iron Killer intercepts!” The small machine got some support from the killer robot, who jumped beside it to help block the attack. The defense points became thirty four thousand, which is far stronger than Kouya’s twenty three thousand power.
“Here goes, twin drive check!” Without much thinking about it, Izuku managed to grasp what this term means. Your Vanguard gets two drive checks, which also made the chance of getting a trigger way higher. Kouya revealed a heal trigger on his first check.
“The power goes to Tsunamasa, and I recover one point of damage!” He said. Then he revealed the second card…
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” Reiji exclaimed.
“Sorry, but it looks like luck is on my side today.” He showed another Kurogane. “It’s a critical trigger! The critical goes to Tsunamasa, while Chigasumi gets the power boost!” The peach-haired boy turned his next rear-guard horizontally.
“Chigasumi attacks your Vanguard!” He declared. The black, humanoid feline ran at great speeds to the opponent’s Vanguard, its claws at the ready, but before it could do anything, a small circular robot appeared and stopped the ninja warbeast with the small blaster attached to it.
“Cannonball stops that!”
“Then I’ll attack with Tsunamasa, and thanks to Fuuki’s boost, it becomes thirty-two thousand power. Don’t forget about the extra critical!” The topknot kid grumbled and didn’t guard the attack. Both cards revealed weren’t triggers.
“And with Tsunamasa’s skill. At the end of the battle it attacked, paying one soul blast allows me to return it back to my hand.” He moved another card underneath its Vanguard to the drop zone for the effects cost. Now his hand was at five cards with two damage, while his opponent was at four damage with three hand cards.
It took the green-haired boy a moment to process everything. “Whoa, what a turn,” was all he could say. He could see Eiji’s frustration from the sudden turnaround Kouya made. Anyone would be like that if they had lost all the advantages they had gained throughout their fight.
The topknot kid drew a card, thereby starting his turn. “It doesn’t matter, because I’ve got my secret weapon!” He held a card from his hand out. Izuku was at the edge of his seat. “Witness the strongest model in the Raizer series! I ride!”
Multiple orbs of light fused with the Raizer Vanguard, creating a blinding light that illuminated the entire battlefield. Everyone present covered their eyes until the light died down. Standing at Eiji’s side was a massive, red fighter robot. One punch of the machine warrior could level the entire palace.
“Say hi to Perfect Raizer!” Eiji took a marker as well. “And I get an Imaginary Gift: Accel I!” He placed the marker at the top left of his field, right above his damage zone.
“That’s the Accel gift.” the Manager started explaining. “With it, you gain an extra rear-guard circle, and the unit on top of it gains an extra ten thousand power.”
“But the main part of it is is that it allows an extra attack, right?” the green-haired boy asked him. The Manager nodded. “That’s so cool! Then front triggers would be even deadlier!” He looked back at the fight, not wanting to even miss even a second of it. Out of Izuku’s eyesight, the Manager couldn’t help but crack a smile. He looked happier than when he first entered the shop.
“Time to finish this!” He grabbed every card from his hand. “I call Asura Kaiser and Raizer Custom! Maximum Raizer goes to the Accel circle!” To the left of Perfect appeared a robot with multiple arms holding different weapons, behind Burstraizer appeared Raizer Custom and a green robot with cannons on its shoulders stood at the front, taking aim at the draconic Vanguard.
“Wait, he called his entire hand? Is he nuts?!”
“It’s not like he would survive the next turn anyway, so why would he waste cards that he could use for offense instead?”
Izuku looked back and forth at the talking, light discussing and good-natured banter, and he couldn’t help but feel the warmth in this place. Everyone here is so friendly to each other, not caring about Quirks, Quirklessness, or anything even close to that. It’s just people being happy and having a good time. He smiled. Maybe this place could help him be more social and maybe… make a few friends.
“Okay, here goes! Maximum Raizer attacks, and it gains ten thousand power thanks to its skill! So that’s thirty-two thousand power to your Chigasumi!” The green robot charged its cannons up, taking aim at the warbeast. Two bright beams of plasma were fired, hitting and frying the Stealth Beast.
“Next up, Burstraizer attacks your Vanguard with a boost from Custom!” The red Raizer charged its energy up again and blasted it towards Kujikiricongo, but was stopped by Kouya.
“Dreadmaster guards!” The abyss dragon put its wings in front of itself, taking the full brunt of the blast, before shattering into thousands of tiny light fragments.
The Vanguard came charging in, its fist raised. “Then I’ll attack with Perfect Raizer! I’m also activating its skill!” Eiji flipped two damage face-down and stood both Maximum Raizer and Burstraizer. “And with Custom Raizer’s effect. Whenever the rear-guard in front of it stands, it gets to stand back up too.” He turned the orange Raizer vertically as well.
“I don’t guard!” Kujikiricongo stood still, readying itself for the pain the attack will give the Shura Stealth Dragon. Eiji started his twin drive. The first was nothing, and the second…
“Front trigger! Ten thousand power goes to the front row!” Perfect Raizer punched the draconic Vanguard in the gut, knocking the air out of it. Izuku could only watch on, looking more nervous with the second. Kouya did his damage check, it wasn’t a trigger. Now his damage was three.
“Since the attack went through, Perfect Raizer’zsecond effect activates, giving Azura Kaiser five thousand power and allowing me to countercharge!” He flipped one card he used for a counter blast face up, allowing him to use it again to cover the cost of one of his cards.
Eiji turned a card on his field horizontally. “Burstraizer attacks once more with Customs support!” Kouya took the attack. His damage check showed once more no trigger.
“Asura Kaizer!” Kouya didn’t guard again, but this time the damage check was a trigger.
“Critical trigger. The power goes to Kujikiricongo.” He said calmly, no stress visible on his face.
“Maximum, finish this!” The green Raizer took aim once more, sending beams of plasma toward its target. Kouya chuckled.
“Hey, what’s so funny?!”
“Because,” Kouya held out his Protect Marker, “You probably forgot in the heat of the moment about this.” Eiji went silent for a moment.
“OH CRA-!”
“I activate my Protect gift, discarding one card to completely stop your attack!” The same symbol on the Marker appeared in front of Kujikiricongo, turning into a transparent shield that blocked the powerful attack with ease.
Izuku’s green eyes widened in surprise. “A Protect Marker can stop anything?!”
“I end my turn,” Eiji declared with a growl, clearly frustrated.
“Stand and draw.” Kouya’s hand went up to three cards, but he doesn’t have any front row rear-guards.
“I call Dan Breach once more!” The same glaive-wielding dragon was back on the field again, looking more determined than ever. Kouya held up another card.
“I also call Shura Stealth Dragon, Kabukicongo!” Next to Kujikiricongo appeared in a flash of light a dragon in armor, a katana in one hand and in the other ethereal, black chains. Reiji’s eyes widened in panic.
“I activate Kabukicongo’s skill. When he’s placed on a rear-guard circle, he gains three thousand power and when my Vanguard is Kujikiricongo, by paying the cost of two counter blasts,” he flipped two cards in the damage zone face down, “I can your rear-guards in the same column as Kabukicongo back to you hand, and you have to discard the same amount of cards as the amount returned!” Both Custom Raizer and Burstraizer were forced to go back to the topknot kid’s hand. He chose to discard the returned Raizer units.
“And with my Vanguard its skill, you can’t guard with grade one and two units! Oh, and also, Dan Breach and Fuuki power up again,” he added the last part with a smug look on his face, enjoying the younger kid his rising panic at the predicament he got himself in. Izuku could see it, Kouya’s got this in the bag!
“Kujikiricongo finishes this!” A rune appeared on the ground where Perfect Raizer was standing on. With a flick of the abyss dragons finger, the ground exploded. The robot bursts into light, blinding everyone on the battlefield. Izuku tried covering his eyes with his arms, but it was too bright.
The audience waited with baited breath at the damage check. Izuku could hear his own breath from how silent everyone was. Eiji revealed the top card of his deck.
“…No trigger.” Eiji placed the card in his damage zone.
Six damage. Kouya won. Eiji lost.
The audience exploded in noise, making Izuku flinch from the sudden change in volume.
“Great fight you guys!”
“No biggie, Eiji. You’ll get him next time!”
“Those plays were sick!” Everyone applauded the two cardfighters, Kouya waving slightly awkwardly and Reiji looking down in defeat. He looked up when he saw a hand outstretched to him.
Kouya waited for him. “That was a great match, Eiji.”
The topknot kid grinned. “I’ll beat ya next time, yo!” The two boys shook hands, sportsmanship from both sides being shown. Izuku stood there, still marveling at the fight he just witnessed while everyone else went to do their own thing.
The Manager approached him. “So, how was the fight?” he asked him. Izuku turned to him.
“It was really great! I never thought a game like this could be so much fun!” he told him. “And they still treated each other with respect after the match.”
The green-haired boy shuffled his feet, as if contemplating if he should ask something while looking into Kouya’s general direction, but the manager could read him like a book.
With a raised brow, he amusedly asked, “Would you like to play against him?” He got a good enough answer from the embarrassed look the green-haired teen had.
“Well then, go on!” The shop owner shoved him to the peach-haired boy’s direction. Fidgeting, Izuku approached him, making Kouya look at him curiously before recognition flashed across his eyes.
“Hey, you’re that kid I bumped into earlier,” he said. “Can I help you?”
Curse his lack of social skills, Izuku thought to himself. He took a deep breath, readying himself.
“Can I play against you?” he finally asked him.
Kouya just smiled. “Sure! Just grab your deck and we’ll fight.”
Izuku’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “Uh…” Oh, wait, he didn’t have a deck.
Kouya eyed him suspiciously. “Do you know how to play?” Kouya didn’t need an answer, Izuku’s head basically turned into a tomato at the question. Wait, he looked exactly like a tomato.
“Well, I kinda know!” Izuku started rambling. “It’s just that I picked it up from your match and I also don’t really have a deck, so that’s kinda embarrassing, right? But then do I have to-“ The peach-haired boy held his hand up, amusement in his cyan eyes.
“Okay, how about we build your deck and let me teach you the basics first before you challenge me?” Izuku nodded. “Great! Okay so we should first pick your clan…”
Izuku cocked his head. “Clan..?”
Kouya groaned, covering his face with one hand. “Oh boy,” he mumbled before he raised his voice. “Alright, come sit down and make yourself comfortable. It’s starting to look like we’ll be here for a while.”
“Thank you for teaching me! I’m Izuku Midoriya, by the way.” The viridian teen introduced himself.
Kouya looked back at him. “Kouya, Kouya Himitsu.”
“I’m home!” Izuku called out as he stepped through the front door. He took of his shoes before he entered the living room, seeing his mom cooking dinner.
Inko turned around, a bright smile on her face. “Welcome home, Izuku! How was your day?” She took a closer look at her son, and in turn barely managed to hide her relief. The dimness he had in his eyes was replaced with the familiar sight of twinkling light, as if they’re brimming with happiness themselves.
Izuku spoke up, his voice chipper and lively. “It was great! I managed to make a new friend!” he told her with a huge grin on his face. Inko couldn’t help but once more feel relieved at her son’s change in demeanor. He was so down the last few months.
Maybe she could ask her son to bring this new friend over some time.
“That’s great to hear, honey! I’m so happy for you!” Small tears were prickling at her eyes, but she wiped them away with her sleeve before they could fall. “Dinner’s ready, Izuku. your stuff away so we can eat while you tell me all about your day.” They sat down for dinner after Izuku had put his school stuff away. They talked about different topics, from the weather to the debut of a new Hero.
Izuku leaned against the back of the chair, completely stuffed. “Thanks for the food, Mom. It was great!” He stood up, ready to help her clean, but she stopped him.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetie, I’ll clean up. Just take a shower and enjoy the evening,” she said. Without much protest, Izuku did as he was told. Later, he entered his room, hair still slightly damp from the shower. He took his backpack and sat at his desk. With a little rummaging around in it, he found a small box. Smiling at it, he opened the box and looked through his newly built deck one more time before going to bed.
Remembering this mornings conversation with his mom, he chuckled to himself. “Mom was right, today really did turn out to be great.”