Venture looked up from his side of the field “Blaster Dark's Skill, if Blaster Javelin is in the soul he gains an extra 1000 power”

“That makes him 10000 power, right?” Twilight asked.

“Yep, I would activate his other skill but I can't.” Venture said looking down at his Vanguard.

Sunset looked at his Damage Zone “If only you hadn't got that heal trigger” she said looking at Venture.

Venture looked back to her “I suppose, but that's Vanguard for you” Venture looked at his hands “Unpredictable as ever”. Venture looked to his opponent “Anyway, I call Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod”

“I activate her skill. By resting her ,turning her on her side, I get to put a card from hand to the drop zone and draw a card” Venture looked at his hand “I drop Abyss Freezer from my hand and draw”

Sunset thought about Venture's decision “Abyss Freezer? Interesting choice...” she thought.

Twilight looked Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod “So her effect is like a trade off?”

Venture looked up and nodded “You could say that. But sometimes it doesn't end well” Venture grabbed a card from his hand “I call Skull Witch, Nemain and her skill activates. When I call her, if I have a Shadow Paladin Vanguard I retire a Shadow Paladin unit and do what is called a Counter Blast”

Twilight looked confused “Counter Blaster? What's that?”

“Some effects require it, you flip over a certain amount of damage cards to use a Counter Blast” Venture showed Twilight his card “The amount is indicated on the card, in the effect text” Venture pointed where specifically “It's that purple area on the card with the curved arrow”

Twilight nodded to everything Venture said “Okay that makes sense. So for this card, you only need to flip one damage to activate her skill” she said feeling fairly confident.

“Yes” Venture flipped the Blaster Javelin in his damage zone face down with his right hand “Now because I did all that, I get to draw two cards” Venture took the two cards from the top of his deck and added them to his hand.

Sunset looked at Twilight “Vanguard is mostly about having a hand advantage”

Twilight looked up at Sunset “What do you mean?”

“The cards you have in your hand the better off you are.” Sunset saw Twilight looked a bit confused “I'm sure Venture will explain when he attacks”

Venture looked at Twilight “I will explain in a minute” Venture said.

Twilight looked at Venture and nodded.

Venture smiled “Anyway” He looked at his “I call Knight of Darkness, Rugos. And I call Black Sage Charon Behind Nemain”

“Does Rugos have a skill?” Twilight asked.

Venture shook his head “No. He just has 10000 power” Venture put his hand on Rugos “I attack with Rugos at your Vanguard” Venture turned Rugos to the side.

“That means I will take a damage right?”

Sunset looked away from the field “That's right, but...” Sunset cut herself off.

“But you can protect your self with the cards in your hand” Venture said “On the left side of most cards there should be a black part with either a 5000, 10000 or 0. That is your shield. And you can only guard with cards that are the same Grade or lower than your Vanguard”

Twilight looked a little confused “So I use a card in my hand to guard an attack and the power on the shield is taken away from the attack?” Twilight inquired.

“That's right. So, are you going to guard?” Venture asked.

Twilight thought about a moment and then felt a small sensation “I won't guard” Twilight said.

“Okay then. My attack goes though and you take one damage. So put the top card of your deck in to the damage zone” Venture instructed.

Twilight checked the top card of her deck “Elixir Sommelier. A Heal Trigger, am I correct?”

"Yes" Venture said "You can't heal but you can give an extra 5000 power to anything on your side"

Twilight nodded to show her understanding "I give the power to Sagramore and Draw" She took the top card and put it in to her hand.

“I boost Blaster Dark with the Charon taking him up to 18000 power, I attack” Venture declared.

Twilight looked at her hand “I guard with Dantegal, taking Blaster Dark's to 8000” She placed Dantegal in between their Vanguards.

Venture looked at Twilight “When a Vanguard attacks you have to consider them Drive Checking a trigger” Venture informed “If I get a trigger I will deal a damage, do you want to add to your Guard power?”

Twilight away from venture and at her hand “I-I'm fine with this” Twilight said with a bit of drop in confidence.

“Drive Check” Venture revealed the top card of his deck “Grim Reaper, Critical Trigger” Venture had a little smirk “I give all effects to Blaster Dark”

“So I take two damage?”

“Yes, and also. Units used to guard are put in to the Drop Zone” Venture said.

Twilight put Dentengal in to the Drop Zone and checked the top two cards “Waving Owl and Battlefield Storm, Sagramore” Twilight let out a sigh “No triggers”

Venture looked at Twilight “Hey don't let that get you down, it happens all the time in Vanguard” Venture smiled at Twilight.

Twilight looked at Venture and smiled back “Okay and thanks. Are you going to attack once more?”

Venture nodded “Charon boosts Nemain and attacks for 11000”

Twilight grabbed one of the cards in her hands to guard with, but Twilight felt another sensation “No guard” Twilight let go off her card and let her arm drop.

“Are you sure?” Venture asked.

Twilight nodded. “Damage check” Twilight revealed the top card of her deck “Weapons Dealer, Gwydion” There was a mark in the top right corner “A Trigger, what does this one do?”

“That's a Draw Trigger, you get to draw card on top of +5000” Venture explained.

Twilight put the card in the Damage Zone and drew a card “Is it my turn now?” Twilight asked.

Venture nodded. “At the start of a turn, if a player has any rested units they stand them before drawing a card.”

Twilight looked down at her field “So I stand” Twilight twisted her units right way up “And draw” Twilight looked at the cards in her hand “Now I can ride to Grade 2?”

“Yep, it's Grade 0, 1, 2 and then 3.” Venture explained.

Twilight grabbed a card in her hand “I ride, Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains” Twilight stacked that card on top of Sagramore.

“Okay. I wouldn't choose that but okay” Venture said nodding his head.

Twilight felt another sensation “I activate Crimson Lion Cub, Kyrph's skill” Twilight grabbed both Kyrph and Gareth from the Rearguard Circle “I put both Kyrph and Gareth in to the soul. I now search though my deck for a specific card” Twilight looked though her deck and grabbed the card from the deck “A gold warrior of flames guiding those in despair to hope, I Superior Ride! Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel!” Twilight shuffled her deck and put it back in the Deck Zone.

Sunset and Venture looked at Twilight in shock and surprise.

“Limit Break!” Twilight announced “Since I have four damage Blond Ezel's Limit Break can be activated.” Twilight flipped over two cards in her Damage Zone “For a Counter Blast two, I look at the top card of my deck and if it's a a Gold Paladin I get to call it to Rearguard” Twilight looked at the top card of her deck “I Superior Call, Battlefield Storm, Sagramore” She placed Sagamore to the right of Blond Ezel “And on top of that, I add the power of Sagramore to Blond Ezel. Taking him up to 20000 power”

Venture and Sunset's eyes widened at what they were seeing. “How do you-” Sunset was cut off.

“And I activate it once more, Limit Break!” Twilight flipped the last two damage in her Damage Zone face down and looked at the top card of her deck “I Superior call, Knight of Elegant Skills, Gareth!” Twilight placed Gareth behind Blond Ezel “That's another 8000 power, taking Ezel up to 28000”

“Twilight, how did you know to do that?” Venture asked in a little shock.

Twilight looked up at Venture “Well, it kind of just came to me” Twilight giggled a little.

“You would never guess this is your first match from that combo” Venture laughed.

“That was really cool, Twilight.” Sunset said to her.

Twilight blushed a little and scratched the back of her head with her free hand “Hehe...Anyway” The red went away from Twilight's cheeks “I call a second Garth behind Sagramore and Lop Ear Shooter” Twilight felt the same feeling again and thought to herself “What is this?”

"I also call Waving Owl Behind Lop Ear shooter"

“Well...that's quite the line up” Venture commented.

Sunset looked at Twilight's side and looked Venture “I have to say, that looks hard to guard” Sunset added.

Twilight was also surprised that she did this “With a boost from Gareth, Sagramore attacks for 18000 at your Vanguard”

“Guard with Grim Reaper, 10000 Shield so you power is taken down to 8000” Venture blocked the attack. He put Grim Reaper to the Drop Zone.

Twilight turned Gareth behind Ezel “Gareth boosts Ezel and Ezel attacks. Ezel has another skill where he gains 1000 power for every Gold Paladin on the field”

“41000 power!? Well, I can't guard that” Venture announced. “Well, now that you have a Grade 3 Vanguard you do a Twin Drive where you check the top two cards of your deck for a Trigger” Venture informed Twilight.

“I see” Twilight said “Twin Drive” Twilight revealed the first card “Dantegal, Critical Trigger. I give the Critical to Ezel and the power to Lop Ear Shooter.” Twilight added the card to her hand “Second card” Twilight revealed the second card “Another Dantegal! I give the Critical to Ezel and the power to Lop Ear Shooter.”

“Two Criticals!?” Venture said in a bit of shock.

“So you take 3 damage now” Twilight said.

Venture checked the first card “Black Sage Charon, no trigger” he put Charon in the Damage Zone “Second check, Dark Shield, Mac Lir again no trigger” Venture put the card in the damage zone.

“You could have really used that card” Sunset pointed out.

“Yeah, but what can you do?” Venture said rhetorically “Anyway, third card” Venture revealed the card “Abyss Freezer, Draw Trigger. I give the power to my Vanguard and draw” Venture put Abyss Freezer in the Damage Zone and drew a card.

Twilight looked up at Venture then down back to her field “I boost Lop Ear Shooter with Waving Owl, which with the 10000 extra power, is 25000 power.” Twilight said.

“Since attackers win if the power is the same, I guard with Abyss Healer from my hand.” Venture placed the card in between both their Vanguards “I then do what is known as an intercept, I use Nemain to intercept. Only Grade 2s can guard like this, you can still guard with them in hand though" Venture moved Nemain to where he put Abyss Healer "That's a shield of 15000, your attack doesn't hit"

Sunset was looking over the field “So Twilight evened up the score, for a beginner she sure knows what she is doing” she thought to her self “But how does she know what she is doing?” she asked herself in her head.

Venture put the cards he used to guard in to the Drop Zone “My turn, I stand and draw” Venture stood his units and drew a card.

“How are you going to win?” Sunset asked.

Venture glanced at Sunset “I have ways” Venture said “Venture pulled a card from his hand and closed his eyes once more “Dark dragon of shadows muster your power and come fourth” Venture opened his eyes “I ride! Phantom Blaster Dragon!”

Sunset smiled slightly “Here comes the big one”

"Because Blaster Dark is in the Soul Phantom Blaster Dragon has 1000 more power at all times" Venture showed hat Blaster Dark was in the Soul “I call Dark Mage, Badhabh Caar.” He placed the card where Nemain was “His skill activates, I reveal the top card of my deck and if it's a shadow I call it to Rearguard” Venture revealed the card “Blaster Javelin, I Superior Call him to Rearguard”

Twilight looked at Venture's field “A full field, are you going to attack?”

“Not yet, I activate Phantom Blaster Dragon's skill” Venture flipped over the three face up cards in his Damage Zone “Counter Blast and I retire 3 of my Rearguard Shadow Paladins. I retire Badhabh Caar, Blaster Javelin and Rugos.” he took those cars from the field and put them in to his Drop Zone “Phantom Blaster Dragon gains 10000 power and an extra critical which takes him up to 20000 power Critical 2!”

Twilight looked at Venture “So with a boost from Charon, that would be...28000!”

“That's right” Venture grabbed the final two cards in his hand “I call Witch of Nostrum, Arianrhod and Blaster Dark” he placed Blaster Dark to the left of Phantom Blaster Dragon and Arianrhod behind Blaster Dark “I then move Charon to the front row” He slide Charon to the right of Phantom Blaster Dragon. Venture put his hand on Blaster Dark “Blaster Dark attacks Ezel, with a boost from Arianrhod”

Twilight looked at her hand “No guard” Twilight revealed the top card, it was Gareth “No Trigger” she placed the card in her Damage Zone “One more damage” Twilight said to herself.

“Charon boosts, Phantom Blaster Dragon attacks Ezel” Venture declared.

Twilight put all the cards in her hand on to the area in between their Vanguards “I guard with Weapons Dealer, Gwydion and two Dantegals!”. Twilight thought to herself “So long as he doesn't get two triggers, I should be safe if what I have learned is right.”

Venture put his hand on his deck “Twin Drive, first check” Venture revealed the top card of his deck “Abyss Healer, I don't heal but I give 5000 power to Charon in the front row” Venture put the card in to his hand.

“Don't get that trigger” Twilight thought to her self.

“Second check” Venture revealed the final card “Darkside Trumpeter, Stand Trigger!” Venture had excitement in his voice “Because it's a Stand Trigger, I get to stand one of my units. Blaster Dark stands and I give him the 5000 power”

Twilight let out a gasp “No...” she said quietly to herself looking .

“Charon attacks Ezel, for 13000” Venture declared.

Twilight looked up “Lop Ear Shooter intercepts the attack, taking your power down to 8000” Twilight put Lop Ear shooter in her Drop Zone.

“My avatar Blaster Dark attacks Ezel!” Venture said.

Twilight stood there Silent and put her hand on top of her deck.

“You can still win, Twilight” Sunset said to her.

Twilight looked at her “What do you mean, I have lost”

Sunset walk closer to her “Not if you get a heal trigger, then you are still in the game” Sunset said with smile.

Twilight looked at Sunset “Okay then.” Twilight looked at her deck “Damage check” she revealed the card “Knight of Superior Skills, Beaumains. I lose” Twilight said in a down voice.

Twilight sat at a bench behind her a bit sad.

Sunset went over to her as Venture was putting away his and Twilight's cards. She crouched down next to her “Hey it was your first game and you did really good considering” Sunset said trying to cheer her up.

Twilight looked at Sunset “I did do good and I did have fun, but...” Twilight said stumbling off.

“What is it?” Venture asked who was now in front of Twilight.

Twilight looked at Venture “I lost and...I don't know” Twilight said looking down.

“Twilight...” Venture said “I would've have lost if it weren't for those triggers, and you played awesomely for a beginner”

Twilight looked up “Venture...”

“And also, if you had fun then that's all that matters to me” Venture said. He lifted out his hand “Come on, we can go to my house and teach you how to get better. It's what me and Sunset usually do”

Twilight looked at Venture's hand and blushed a little “Okay.” Twilight grabbed Ventures hand and got up off the bench.

“Come sunset, we got some Vanguard to play.” Venture said to her.

Sunset nodded and got up “Let's get going then, the earlier we get there the more time we have.”

Twilight grabbed her deck that Venture had put back for her and the three of them went to Venture's house.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. Point out if I didn't use an image of the card when a new card is introduced.