Chapter 012: Tangled in the Web

Makoto was in a tough spot. He was not able to call units to his right column, and he could not stand the ones on his left column. However, two things were in Makoto's favor: the number of cards in his hand and the fact that one of them was Starburst Dragon.

"That was pretty good," Makoto said to his opponent. "But now it's my turn. Spread your wings and take flight, dragon born of starlight!" On Cray, a blazing dragon of light burned away the webs covering the field of battle. "I ride Starburst Dragon!" Gredora and her minions couldn't bear the sight of the shining dragon.

"Here it is," Agrise observed. "Let's see what you got, Makoto!"

"With pleasure!" Makoto answered. "Call! Battle Sister, Torte! Starburst Dragon attacks! Its skill activates, Counter Blast 2 and Soul Blast 1 grade 3 to look at the top five cards. I'll add the normal units to my hand and place the triggers on top. Here's four more cards."

"No guard."

"Twin Drive Check! First check, Draw Trigger! Power to Torte and draw one. Second check, Critical Trigger! Power to Torte, critical to the vanguard."

"Damage check, second check, Draw Trigger! Power to the vanguard and draw."

"Since I have more than ten cards in hand," Makoto continued, "Battle Sister, Torte gets 10000 Power and an extra critical!"

"38,000 Power and 2 crit..." Hanako observed.

"Regina has to guard this one," Asahi added.

"Complete Guard!" Agrise answered, "Paralyze Madonna." The damage was four to four. Makoto had eleven cards in hand. Agrise had two.

"That was close..." Hanako said to Asahi.

"Now it's Agrise's turn," Asahi replied.

"Who's Agrise?" another fighter asked him.

"I said Regina," Asahi answered.

"Stand and draw," Agrise said as she began her turn. "Gredora's skill: Soul Blast, and you must Counter Blast 1!"

"What?!" Makoto was stunned to see he was forced to flip over his last damage card.

"Then I Counter Charge," Agrise continued, "Ride! Evil Governor, Darkface Gredora!"

"Again with that Gredora card???" Hanako asked with confused frustration.

"Imaginary Gift: Protect II acquired. Skill activated once again. On your next turn, you can't call units to the right column. Call! Death Warden Ant Lion over the Darkface card."

"Death Warden... Ant Lion...?" Makoto had no idea how to react to that card.

"Dangerous Horn attacks your vanguard."

"No guard!" Makoto responded. "Damage check, no trigger."

"Gredora attacks!" On Cray, Gredora charged head on towards the large glowing dragon. However, a strange symbol appeared in front of the dragon, stopping the attack.

"Imaginary Gift, Perfect Guard!"

"Twin Drive. First check, Critical Trigger! All the effects go to Ant Lion. Second check..." The crowd was on its feet. They waited to see what Agrise (in their minds, Regina) would check next.

"Makoto..." Hanako was extremely worried.

"Critical Trigger! All the effects go to Ant Lion! Attack! Skill activated: I Soul Blast a grade 3 and discard two cards from my hand to give Ant Lion an extra 10000 Power and a critical!" Makoto looked nervously at his hand. "And further, you can't use a Perfect Guard, Makoto."

Not only could Makoto not use a Perfect Guard, but also, thanks to Phantom Black, he couldn't use normal units either. He only had one answer for that, "Guard!" He called two critical triggers to guard.

"A 30,000 point shield?!" "No way!" "He blocked it!"

Agrise smiled, but barely. "My turn is over, but can you finish it?" She began to show signs of exhaustion.

"Stand and draw," Makoto said as he began his last turn. "I ride once again! Starburst Dragon! Imaginary Gift: Protect I! As well, Starburst Dragon gets an extra 10000 Power when it rides on top of a grade 3. Call! CEO Amaterasu! Oracle Guardian, Gemini!"

"Hey! That's the card that can flip over a damage card!" Hanako said excitedly.

"That's correct, Hanako," Asahi agreed.

"When I have three or more damage," Makoto explained, "Gemini goes into the soul so I can Counter Charge."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Makoto-san," Agrise admitted. She looked very sleepy. Makoto turned Starburst Dragon and Starburst Squire sideways.

"Attack! Skills activate! First, I discard a card from my hand to give Starburst Squire 5000 Power. Then, Starburst Pulse! I add three cards to my hand, so your vanguard doesn't lose any power."

"The total power of that attack is 35,000," Asahi noted, "Agrise only has two cards in her hand. She needs to hope that Makoto doesn't get a Critical Trigger."

"I intercept with Dangerous Horn!" Agrise struggled to say.

With two Protect Markers under it, it has a shield of 25,000, Makoto thought to himself. "Twin Drive Check! The first, Heal Trigger! Power to Amaterasu and I heal one damage. The second... Critical Trigger! All the effects go to the vanguard!" On Cray, the brightness of Starburst Dragon suddenly intensified, burning away Dangerous Horn and nearly blinding Gredora.

"Damage check... Second... check... No... trigger..." Agrise wanted to congratulate Makoto on his win, but before he could do so, she fell on the floor. She had fainted somehow. Makoto, Asahi, Hanako, and several others ran over to check on her. As someone called for an ambulance, Rex Kido appeared in the room.

After slowly approaching Makoto, he said, "Well done, Makoto." He noticed Agrise on the floor for a moment. "She will be okay. I called for an ambulance as soon as I saw what happened. Could you come with me for a moment?"

"Uh oh..." Hanako said quietly.

"Don't worry," Rex replied, "You aren't in any trouble. In fact, Hanako can come with us."

As the three walked down the halls of the Kido Estate, Rex began to speak. "I've got a secret I think you should know."

"What's that?" Makoto asked him.

"This tournament isn't just for the money," Rex admitted, "It's also for research."

"Research?" Hanako asked.

"Yes" was the short answer. "I run a research firm, after all, and Vanguard research has been at the top of my list for a long time. This tournament was designed to look for the brightest young minds in the world."

"Huh?" Makoto and Hanako asked at once. The trio continued walking.

"You see," Rex continued, "The beautiful thing about a Vanguard fight is the fact that imaginations go wild during them. A strong imagination is necessary for being a good Vanguard fighter, as you know."

''Or you could just buy a Bermuda Triangle deck... That seems to be popular with people these days...''

"So, if I could find the strongest imaginations in the world, silly me thought, we could do so much good for the world! Cure disease! Stop climate change! Feed the hungry! The possibilities are truly endless!"

"I think you've been watching too many Vanguard fights," Makoto said bluntly. "Don't solving those problems require years of study at university?"

"Yes," Rex agreed, "But, more than that, solving those problems require imagination. Imagination that gets lost over the years of study at university."

"So it's true what they say," Hanako realized, "You can't just throw money at a problem trying to solve it. We've been trying to solve Makoto's sleeping problem for years!"

"Hana-chan..."

"If that imagination could solve the puzzle that is a Vanguard fight, that imagination can help scientists solve the world's problems! Imagine it!!!"

"I'm honestly having trouble imagining anything..."

"Think of it like this," Rex continued to explain, "A Vanguard fight is like a game of chess. Life is like a game of chess. Therefore, a Vanguard fight is a lot like life. It is a puzzle that needs to be solved."

"I suppose that makes sense," Hanako admitted.

"We're here," Rex told them as they approached a large door. Tetsu Shinjou was waiting for them. "Glad you could join us, Tetsu."

Together, the four of then entered the research facility, a large underground space where all kinds of scientific research was being conducted. Rex pointed out a pair of gloves on a table. "These are our special Fight Gloves," Rex began, "Tetsu and I developed them so we could monitor heart and brain function during a Vanguard fight."

Makoto couldn't help but notice their similarities to a pair of gloves worn by him and Jun. "These look like the shocking gloves that were worn in the Underground Fight Circuit."

"That's because I used them as a foundation," Tetsu admitted. "When I was about your age, I developed the original VF Gloves as a way to test a person's connection to their units. While the gloves failed in their original design, they allowed me to experiment with medical design."

"You designed the shocking gloves?!" Makoto was shocked, but not by the gloves.

"I did," Tetsu also admitted. "I thought I had destroyed the original gloves years ago. But somehow, a card gang managed to obtain them."

"That must be Jun's gang..." Makoto said quietly.

"These gloves aren't designed to shock you," Rex tried to comfort him, "They're designed to measure your vitals during a Vanguard fight. We're looking at several parameters in particular to determine if a fighter has a strong imagination. These are the last pair of trial gloves. We would like for you to test them, Makoto."

"I suppose I could..." Makoto tried to say. "How many other fighters are wearing them?"

"A total of eight fighters were chosen randomly to test the gloves," Rex explained further. "So far, nothing special has appeared. Nothing of note, anyways..."

"So, these gloves test to see if fighters are geniuses?" Hanako asked, "Is that allowed?"

"Of course it is, Hanako," Rex answered. "We had better get going. Tomorrow is a busy day."

"As Makoto and Hanako left the lab, Rex admitted to Tetsu that he was still trying to test for PSY Qualia.

"Not this again," Tetsu began to complain.

"I know, I know, but I can't get over the possibility," Rex admitted. "If it's not that, then it's something else. And whatever it is, we need to identify it and harness it for the greatest good!"

"I get that," Tetsu agreed, "I was the same way at one time. Still am some days."

"The thought of using Vanguard to cure the world of its ailments," Rex imagined, "No one would have thought it ten years ago!"

"Aichi Sendou would have..." Tetsu said quietly.

"Aichi... He retired some years back didn't he?" Rex asked. "What happened to him?"

"Not sure," Tetsu admitted, "One day, he was on top of the world, the next, he was announcing his retirement..."

"He was the first First Vanguard, I believe..." Rex tried to remember. "Then when he retired, the title passed down to Naito Sakaki."

"Yeah, that's what happened."

"Maybe Aichi had a sudden failure of imagination..." Rex began to wonder. "Vanguard has so many mysteries. What's the secret behind Imaginary Gifts? What makes a good Vanguard fighter? Is Planet Cray real?"

"Perhaps we will never know..." Tetsu began to wonder as well. Tomorrow was Day 4 of the Tournament of Champions. The halfway point. After that day, the final eight fighters would be determined. The day after that, the final eight would be fighting to get one step closer fo winning it all.

Makoto and Hanako made their way to their room. Across the hallway, Reiji's door was open. Makoto decided to look to see if Reiji was there. He was not, but Makoto noticed a card on the floor.

"Clowdia?" Makoto picked up the card and looked at it. As soon as he did, though, a voice said to him.

"What are you doing here?"

Makoto turned around to see Reiji. "I was wanting to say hi, but you weren't in here. Then, I noticed this Royal Paladin card and..." Reiji snatched the card out of Makoto's hand.

"This card is mine. Don't touch my cards."

"I didn't know you still had your old Royal Paladin deck!" Makoto was getting excited. "Maybe you can use it when we fight in the finals! I can bring my old Tsukuyomi deck and..."

"Not interested." Reiji was getting visibly angry. He didn't even notice that Makoto knew his secret. "If I'm going to defeat you, Makoto, it will be with my Dark Irregulars deck. Mark my words. You will not escape next time. Now get out."

Makoto did as he was told and walked across the hallway to his own room. Hanako was waiting for him.

"Makoto Onii-chan! Ready for some practice before bedtime?"

"Alright, Hanako, but remember that you can't use Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi's skill until you have three cards with Tsukuyomi in their name in your soul.

"Got it!" Hanako understood. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Stand Up! Vanguard!"