Does this world have a time machine yet? If it does, I would like to travel to the future and answer the question: How is my future going to be?

But for now, the answer is I don't know. Will it be a hard, challenging and winding road with success awaits for me in the end like a cliche from a movie? Or will it be a mundane, normal yet peaceful life for me?

What is my desired future? The answer is I don't know...

and I wouldn't want to think about it now.

One's mind has been ranting this for a while as he sat in the counter, staring at the ceiling. He is a fairly slim and tall, with unkempt short black hair and bangs that reach just his eyes. He's dressed in a quite neutral fashion as he wore a plain blue t-shirt with dark blue jeans. That person is me, the main character for this story! I'm Jullian Fong, and I'm currently 17 years old. As you can see earlier, I'm working in a part time job, although I'm barely doing any work. This place I work in is called Cards Gatherer, a card game shop. Besides just selling card games, some people gather at the shop to play card games too. Currently, the card game which is the most popular among people is a game called Cardfight!Vanguard. The game is played worldwide and it's well known to most human being in Earth. I myself do play that game too.

I'm watching others players play in the card shop while I'm watching over the counter. It's a peaceful day as usual. And as usual, the sales in the shop aren't increasing too. We even got new products released few days ago...

As my eyes was scanning the whole shop, I stopped at a spot. There's a girl about my age dressed in a purple blouse and had her black hair tied into a ponytail. She was sitting in a table all alone, looking through a pile of cards. Probably that's a trial deck.

I took a deep breath and walked up to her.

"Hello. You seems puzzled about something. Do you need my help?" I mustered my courage and spoke to her in my most friendly and polite way possible.

She turned her gaze upwards towards me. She looked a little grumpy.

"No, I'm fine." came a blunt reply.

"I see. Do you want me to teach you how to play the game?" I asked.

"Why did you assumed that?" She asked back.

"Well, you're looking at the guide book while looking at your cards. I figured you might be a beginner considering that you're using a trial deck. If someone already knew the game, they wouldn't bother looking at the game guide." I made my deduction.

"You're sharp."

"Haha... You're over exaggerating. I'm Jullian Fong, and you are..?"

"Kazuha Lee."

I'm glad I got her name. It's will be weird to know a player without knowing their name. I taught her the basics and the card types and decided to play a game with her to let her understand the game better. They say experience is the best way to learn after all.

"I should tell you the backstory of the game just understanding. We are fighting on the planet Cray in this game. Cray is a planet similar to Earth, but it's the place where these characters from the cards live. In Cray, we players are nothing but astral bodies, so we take the form of the units to fight. Those units are called Vanguard, which is who we are." I explained the 'logic' of the game to her.

"Huh? Am I to believe whatever you said is true?" She's puzzled.

"It's up to you. But I believe imaginating the situation is the key to wining the game. That's how you come up strategies and counters to your opponent."

"I see. Let's start the game then."

"Roger. Stand up, my Vanguard! Officer Cadet, Andrei!" I called out my first vanguard.

"Stand up, my Vanguard! Happiness Collector!" She followed me. I was using Aqua Force and she used Pale Moon. These are called clans and each clan has their own unique play style to win the game.

I was going first to explain the flow of the game better. First it's the Stand and Draw phase. All rested units restand and you draw a card from the top card of your deck. But since it's the beginning of the game, there's no rested units so I'll just draw a card. Next, it's the Ride Phase. You can use a card from a hand which is one grade higher that your current vanguard and place it on top of your vanguard. This powers up your vanguard and gives it access to more powerful skills. I placed Kelpie Rider, Polo on top of Andrei. And this activated Andrei's skill that lets it move to a rear guard circle when a unit rides on top of it. Rear guards that are called to the rear guard circles help your vanguard throughout the game. It will be lonely to just have one unit attacking and defending the whole time right? After this, is the Main phase, where you can place more units on rear guard circles. This is a Call. You can use Activate skills too during the Main phase. I didn't call any units and moved on to the next phase, which is the Attack phase. The first player going can't attack so I then moved on to the End Phase, where the player declares his or her turn is over and at this phase there are certain skills activate too.

Now it's her turn next. She drew a card and ride Miracle Tumbler, Lance. She called Happiness Collector behind her vanguard and straight on moved to her Attack phase like me, but since she's the second player to go, she can attack. Attacking is crucial since you need to deal six damage to your opponent to win a game. When, declaring an attack, you turn the card sideways to declare the attack. Grade 1 and 0s have the ability to boost, which is to add their power to the unit in front of them to create a more powerful attack. That's why she called Happiness Collector behind her vanguard. To have a successful attack, the attacking power must be equal or greater that the defending unit's power. Also, when a vanguard attacks, you reveal the top card of the deck and add it to your hand. This is call a Drive Check. She revealed a Grade 0 card with a yellow bar on the bottom and a symbol on the top right corner of the card. These cards are call trigger units and they have special effects that take place when it's revealed in a Drive Check. The effects varies based on the symbol on the top right corner. In this case she revealed a critical trigger, which increases the critical of a unit and gives it a 5000 power bonus. Criticals are used to determine how many damage will be dealt to the opponent. After that, I have to do a Damage Check. Whenever a vanguard is hit by an attack, you have to do a Damage Check, which is revealing the top card of your deck and place it in the Damage zone, a place to keep track how many damage you have taken. If you have six cards here, you lose! During Damage Check, any trigger units revealed can activate their effects too. My first damage wasn't a trigger unit but my second card is a draw trigger, which increases one of my units power by 5000 and allows me to draw an extra card. All trigger effects give a unit 5000 bonus power which is useful in attacking and defending.

She ended her turn and it's my turn again. I drew another card and ride Kelpie Rider, Denis. And I called another Denis to my upper left rear guard circle before moving to Attack phase. I attacked with my rear guard first. She took one damage which was not a trigger. My vanguard attacked next and I got a stand trigger from the drive check. This can turn a card vertical again and allowing it to attack again since it's not sideways anymore. She did another damage check, revealing a heal trigger. This trigger can remove a card from the damage zone if you have equal or more damage than your opponent. Unfortunately, Kazuha only had one damage whereas I have two when she revealed the trigger, so she couldn't recover a damage. She sulked when she saw that. But the 5000 power bonus increased her vanguard's defence. Still my rear guard is more powerful than her vanguard thanks to my own trigger's effects. She place a card on the guardian circle. That is called a guard. When your unit is attacked, you can use the cards in your hand to prevent the attack from being successful. The card's shield power will be added to the attacked unit's power. This made her vanguard's power stronger than my rear guard and the attack didn't go through. This is how you prevent yourself from taking more damage. I ended my turn.

She continued by riding Star Magician Elen and she called Darkside Princess. That card wasn't in the trial deck which suprised me.

"I got this card from a friend of mine before she moved away. That's what got me to try out the game." she told me after seeing my shocked expression.

She moved on to the Attack phase by attacking my vanguard with Darkside Princess. Even though it only has 9000 power and can't pass through my 10000 power vanguard, it has a skill that adds 5000 power when it attacks, making the total power 14000 power. This is the fun part of the game, using various skills to create a strategy and overcome obstacles or protecting yourself. I moved my rear guard Denis to the guardian circle. This is an ability only Grade 2s have, Intercept. They can move from a front row rear guard circle to the guardian circle to defend the vanguard. Darkside's attack failed and it's sent to the soul due to its skill. Soul is the cards under the vanguard circle. Her vanguard attacked next and dealt me one damage.

I went on and ride One Who Surpasses the Storm, Thavas. I decided to not call any rear guards and attacked. Grade 3s have an ability to do another drive check, or what we call Twin Drive.

"Drive check! First.. It's not a trigger. Second check, I got a critical trigger! I gave all effects to my vanguard!" I did my drive checks and dealt two damage to her. That puts me in a lead by one damage.

"I stand and draw. Ride, Masked Magician, Harri. Since both of us have a grade 3 vanguard, I can pay the cost to Stride right?" She asked. I nodded in response.

Actually, before the Main phase, there is a Stride phase but you only can take actions during this phase when both players have a grade 3 vanguard like Kazuha said. To stride, you choose cards from your hand with their total sum of grades being 3 or higher and discard them, then choose a face down G-unit from the G-zone and place it on top of your vanguard. The vanguard becomes the Heart, where the G-unit obtain the vanguard's power and name. G-units are Grade 4 cards, they have different card backs. They also have a stronger ability as they posses Triple Drive, when you can do three drive checks in one attack!

Back to the game.. Kazuha stride into Ardor Dragon Master, Amanda. Follow on, she activated Harri's stride skill and superior called Darkside Princess and gave it plus 5000 power. This triggered Collector's skill and she drew an extra card. Then, she called Moonlight Melody Tamer, Betty behind Darkside. She begun her attacks with Darkside and again it gets 5000 power. I let the attack hit and she used Betty's skill to call another Harri from the soul, giving her another attack. I blocked it this time and I nullified her vanguard's attack with a card with the Sentinel ability. Her drive check got her a stand and a heal trigger, which powered up the Harri on the rear guard and allowed it to attack again. I didn't stop the attack and she pulled the damage gap by two, with me sitting at five damage while she has three. I'm in a tight spot now. If I take another damage, I lose. At the end of the turn, the G-unit on the vanguard circle returns to the G-zone face up.

I begun my turn and stride into Marine General of the Heavenly Scales, Tidal Bore Dragon. Then I called Magnum Assault and Railgun Assault to the same column and I called Battle Siren, Rhode to the right column. I activated Andrei's skill and it allows Rhode to restand after attacking the vanguard. My attacks begun.

First, I attacked with Magnum with a boost from Railgun Assault. She blocked the attack with a stand trigger.

Second, I activate Magnum's skill and restand it while giving it 2000 power. This gave me another attack to her vanguard which she guarded it again.

Third, my vanguard attacked. She decided to let it through but it was a grave mistake. My drive checks revealed a draw trigger, and I powered up Rhode while drawing on extra card. Since Tidal Bore Dragon's attacks hits, I drew a card with it's skill.

Fourth, Rhode attacked. With Thavas's stride skill, whenever my units attack, if it the fourth attack during this turn, I can retire one of my opponents rear guard. Harri was retired and she let the attack through. She got a draw trigger from that damage check.

And my last attack was from none other than Rhode because of Andrei's skill but it was still blocked. At least I evened the damage this time.

I passed my turn and she stride into Amanda again and called Darkside once more. She called Card Dealer, Jacqueline in front of Betty and moved on by attacking with Darkside. With me having five damage, I can't afford to let any attacks pass. Darkside was sent to the soul after attacking but with Jacqueline's skill, when it attacks and it's boosted by a rear guard she can call another card from the soul to a rear guard circle. She used it to call Darkside again. She does really like to use that card huh..

Her vanguard attacked next and I blocked it, but the attack will still go through if she got two triggers from her drive check and powered up her vanguard. She hesitated for a moment before her drive check. She got a draw trigger from the first check, and decided to power up Darkside. Her second check revealed a normal unit, but her third check..

It was a critical trigger. If she had give the draw trigger's power to her vanguard, she could have won the game! Even herself was shocked to see that trigger and she was undeniably frustrated about it. All effects of the critical trigger went to Darkside. It attacked again for the I-don't-know-how-many-times-I've-see-this-unit-attack time and it was a whooping 24000 power attack. I has to use a 10000 shield guard and an intercept to survive the attack.

"If you can survive all of my attacks, then I can too!" She's fired up now.

"We'll see about that! I stride Tidal Bore Dragon once more! Then I call Denis to the rear guard circle. Here I come.." My tone turned deeper as I started to get serious about this fight. Magnum attacked twice and both were stopped. My vanguard went next and she used up every single card in her hand to block it and I'm in the same situation as her now. I have to pull two triggers to let the attack through.

"First check! Not a trigger. Second check! I got a critical trigger! All effects to my vanguard." I declared.

"How is he so confident he will get another trigger? He just decided where to power up within a split second!" Her thoughts were echoing in her head, amazed.

"Third check... Got a heal trigger. I give all effects to my vanguard and heal one damage." I turned over my last drive check and smirked.

She did a damage check and she got a heal trigger! Wow, it's a miracle heal that saved her from dropping to six damage. But she still need to get another heal trigger in order to survive, which is a little impossible because all four heal triggers were revealed throughout the game. You can only have four heal triggers in the deck so it's impossible to pull a fifth one out of thin air. With that, I won the match.

She pouted a little after seeing the results and decided to leave. I guess I made her angry. I should have went easier maybe?

"Next time, don't even think about going easy on me!" She grunted.

Woah, she read my mind?

"Haha.. I definitely won't go easy against anyone. Where's the fun if you don't give it your all?" I gave a thumbs up.

She left the shop afterwards. Well, at least this was a good time killer.

"Hey! Get back to work!" A voice came from the storeroom.

Oops, the manger is angry at me.