Yudai's attitude gradually changed after his first cardfight. Yes, he was still a sarcastic scumbag who liked to repulse the general public but he was learning to interact with more people and he smiled a little more often. Most days after school he would go to Card Capital and learn more about Vanguard and the dynamics of Cardfights.
Yudai was waiting at the bus stop, tapping his foot impatiently. Rei was running late again, but at this point is their friendship, it was barely surprising. He was very anxious to get to Card Capital to see if the order he had placed the previous week had arrived. Three minutes later, he heard footsteps running towards him and, of course, it was Rei.
"A-Am I t-too l-late?" Rei asked, finding it almost too hard to breath, let alone speak.
"Thankfully for you, no, you are not. Seriously, you're so late all the time, you could practically copyright it!" Yudai scolded, hitting his friend on the head.
"Come on, I'm not that bad." Yudai rolled his eyes and turned away from him. Another two minutes later, the bus arrived.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, boys." The bus driver said in his gruff accent.
"That's no trouble, Sir. Could you drop us in the town square, please?" Yudai asked politely.
"Certainly! Hop on!" The bus driver said with a smile. Yudai bowed in respect, and him a Rei got on the bus.
"How come you never that polite with me?" Rei whispered to Yudai.
"'Cause you don't deserve it," Yudai replied sharply. About ten minutes later, the came to the bus stop in the town square. Yudai thanked the bus driver and the two headed off to Card Capital. Once they reached there, they were greeted by Misaki.
"Hello, you two. Yudai, your order came in yesterday." She greeted, handing Yudai a form for him to sign.
"That's good. Thanks, Miss Manager." Misaki lead Yudai to the counter. She went behind the counter and took out a box.
"Here, you go. Sent straight from FIVA." Yudai grateful the box and took out a FiCa with white highlights.
"Sweet. My FiCa arrived!" Yudai exclaimed.
"Looks like your an official cardfighter now! That's awesome, but it will take a while before you reach my level." Rei boasted.
"I hope you didn't forget how badly I defeated you the first time I visited here," Yudai said in a deadpan tone, causing Rei to fake cry.
"First things first, I'm going to need to upload your personal details on your FiCa." Misaki told Yudai. He nodded and handed her his FiCa. She put it on a small platform connected to her computer and spent a few minutes typing, and three seconds after that, the FiCa emitted a beeping noise meaning the upload was complete.
"The strength of a fighter is looked upon by the colour of the FiCa. Your FiCa colour is white meaning you're at Grade 0. As you increase your grade, you will be allowed to enter a larger variety of competitions and tournaments." Misaki explained. Yudai nodded and inspected his FiCa.
"Sounds simple enough. That just leaves the question on how I get my grade to incease."
"I was getting to that. Follow me," instructed Misaki. Misaki led Yudai and Rei to a large computer-like object. "This is an Official Vanguard Quest Board. You put your FiCa on the platform to accept a quest. Quest are requests posted by other fighters that they want carried out in exchange for points and sometimes, other items. Quests vary in difficulty, and the more difficult the quest the more points are earned. Now, my work here is done. I need to work on some balance sheets, so you're on your own. Good luck." Misaki said to them, walking away.
"Thanks, I guess." He then turned back to the Quest Board. "Okay, let's see what we got." Yudai went through a couple quests, before he found one that caught his eye.
Name: Izo Hiiro
Clan: Kagero
District: Dragon Empire
"I just finished my new deck and I need to test it I'll be at the Fighter's Plaza. Be there by 4:30 in the afternoon. If you're late, so help you."
Points offered: 100
"This seems like an ideal quest. Simple, yet rewarding. I'm going for it!" Yudai placed his FiCa in the specified area and a vanguard circle flashed on the screen. "Later, Rei. I'm going to fight this Izo guy!" Yudai said to his friend.
"Wait! I'm coming too"
Not long later, the two arrived at the Fighter's Plaza.
"Man, this place is huge," Yudai said in shock. The place was an entire shopping mall dedicated to Vanguard. Just how much money did the Vanguard Association have?
"Yeah, I can't believe they made this entire place just for cardfigters. It's amazing how the world of Vanguard is evolving." Rei replied. Yudai checked his watch. It was 4:10.
"We still have 20 minutes. I'm gonna get some lunch. Wanna come?" Yudai asked.
"Nah, I need to go get some new Gold Paladins, but can you get me a burger?" Rei asked his friend. Yudai nodded his head.
"As long as you pay me back with money this time, because the last time you owed me money, you gave your fingerless gloves." Rei pointed to Yudai's hands. "Come on. You said they were cool! Admit it, you like them." Rei said smugly.
"Shut up."
After purchasing his meal and Rei's hamburger, Yudai was running towards the plaza, as it was 4:28, two minutes before the agreed meeting time with Izo Hiiro. Yudai was running so fast that he became completely unaware of his surroundings. Suddenly, Yudai collided with a tall figure and he fell over.
"Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention. I deeply apolo....." Yudai said realising the figure he had bumped into was gone. "That's....odd, to say the least," Yudai said dusting himself off and looking around for the person he bumped into until he noticed something on the ground. A brown envelope with his name on it. "Whoever that was must have dropped this..." He looked at the envelope and felt something inside it. "Well, if it has my name on it, it's probably for me." He opened it and took out the contents. His eyes narrowed. "How did these get here?"
Yudai arrived at the plaza at 4:33. "Damn it, I'm late. I hope that Izo guy is still there. He was pretty explicit that he wouldn't tolerate tardiness!" Yudai said to himself. "Are you Yudai Matsuro?" a person behind Yudai asked. Yudai nodded in response.
"Yeah, that's me." He responded. Izo grunted.
"You're late. Lucky for you, though, I decided to stick around for a few minutes. As you should know, the name's Izo Hiiro." Yudai examined him. His hair was brown and he fashioned it in a way that covered his left eye. He wore a grey aviator jacket, a black button up shirt, dark jeans and shin-high boots.
"Yeah, sorry. Something came up. Shall we get started?" Yudai asked. Izo rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Yes. Let's begin." The two headed over to one of the many nearby fight tables.
"Stand Up, Vanguard!"
Both the crimson and vermillion vanguard circles glowed as the battle began.