Casual encounter at CC2! (Ikari Ketsueki and Jace Antonis)

After Jace requested his cards and the shopkeeper of Card Capital 2 went back to gather his purchases he looked around for a seat. The store was relatively empty, so he at first sat by himself, figuring that eventually someone would want to play a game. He noticed the unique looking Ketsueki walk in, and sit down by himself. Jace eventually received his stack of cards, and quickly arranged his deck in one pile, and slid the singles he acquired into the binder in his bag before getting up. He came here to get his deck and play some Vanguard, if it took him being the initiator, then so be it. He carefully walked over and sat down in front of the young lad and kindly greeted him. "Hi there, my name is Jace. I'm new to the city and Vanguard, and was curious if you wanted to help me try out my new deck. You seem like a Vanguard player with nothing better to do." He smiled and chuckled, before continuing. "and so am I, so why not right?"

The sudden break in silence clearly startled Ikari, prompting him to almost throw his cards. After getting his bearing back, and hearing what the stranger had to say, the dual color eyed boy gave Jace a flustered look. "I only just started, so if you don't mind a complete novice helping you, sure. Even for a novice though I don't think I'm that good at this game." his bluntness about his experience might take Jace by surprise, however that most likely didn't matter. It would be good experience for the novice, and a good test for the other. Ikari's anxiety was already kicking in however, though he tried his best to hide it, forcing a smile and arranging his cards in the proper play order. He at least knew how to do THAT properly.

Jace smiled and waved off the lads comment about his skill. "This would be my third time playing the game at all, so don't worry about being the only novice at the table. We can be both bad at the game together." Jace placed his new starter face down in the play order, and as he shuffled continued. "Plus I have only owned this deck for about a minute now, so perhaps your attunement to yours will help you out better here." This would likely be the most fair matchup Jace has had yet. However, he has opted to keep his current undefeated streak against the Great Nature clan leader and Hikari private, as well as his former status as a professional card gamer elsewhere. No need to put unneeded pressure on the poor kid, he looks uncomfortable in his own skin. Jace wasn't particularly that outgoing when he was his age either. The tournament grind his mentors brought him on brought him out, so in a way, perhaps card fighting will help the boy just as it did Jace. After the gratuitous shuffle, and offer to cut his deck Jace offers. "When you are ready, I would love to begin."

The match started off as every basic match does, with both players riding their respective grades. But Ikari, trying to make friends, started asking about Jace who mentioned America. Between their plays, Ikari began to slowly warm up, even getting into the game as they played, though he had started off in a bad position, losing half of his heals and three of his triggers going to waste. Undeterred he rode up to his Grade three, Divine World Beast, Fenrir... and a spark of glee seemed to cross his face. He was completely invested in the game now, practice or not.

Enduring Jace's first stride thanks to his perfect guard, Ikari stood his rear guard and drew... managing to top deck a grade three for stride. Tossing it for the cost of stride, the Genesis newbie strode into Archangel Doombrace and began a fierce offensive with a full field and power ups, all of his columns hitting over twenty-one thousand, and with a powerful burst from his side, and a lucky heal trigger, Ikari had reversed the situation from three damage to two, to two damage to five at the end of his turn, and confident he had enough shield to protect himself from Jace's second.

And he was right, thanks to yet another perfect guard. He really did get lucky, even if he drew bad luck at the start. Standing and drawing one last time, Ikari decided it was time to try out the new card he got. His eyes flashed, and a smile formed on his face. Even with the reversed advantage, his demeanor showed just how green he was at playing. But he knew his cards well, and discarding yet another lucky grade three draw, he summoned a magnificent best... the wolf of the end: Destruction Deity Beast, Vanargand.

The massive wolf who brought destruction lived up to it's name, as on it's attack, it's skill activated, refilling a column that had already attacked with the combined given skills of Fenrir's heartbeat, and Leyding's to soul skill... the wolf was poised to deliver the final blow. And as the cards to guard with were placed, and the declaration of guard was finished the end began. With Vanargand's skill, before he started his drive check's, Ikari was allowed to check the top four cards of his deck and decide whether they went to the top of his deck, or to the bottom. Three cards were of no use to him, and so he sent them to the bottom. But the fourth card was a critical trigger, which he placed at the top. That one was all he needed to break through Jace's defenses, and even if he felt bad about how the fight had gone, he couldn't contain his excitement as he flipped the critical, breaking through and ending the game.

Raising his hands in the air balled into fists, his lack of tact shown through. "I won!" realizing his outburst he quickly put his hands back down and looked at the table, frowning. The victory did actually make him feel bad as he calmed down from the battle high. He felt like he should of lost early on, and he probably should of. "S-sorry..." he was sincerely apologizing for winning? If it seemed insulting, he genuinely didn't mean it, and it was made clear his interactions with other people were all but negligible.

Jace surprisingly opened a good hand. A perfect guard, one card of each rank, and Honorary Professor Chatnoir, his prefered first grade 3 before riding into his avatar. With no triggers stewing in his hand Jace kept it, confident he would get a good game. His opponent went first and rode into a perfect guard. This slightly concerned Jace, as he noted his opponent put quite a few cards away, he had hoped his hand wasn't too terrible. Jace rode and attacked each turn, unable to be too aggressive as he had key cards in his hand he needed to hold on to, like Crayon Tiger and his Contradictory perfect guard. On his grade two swing, he got a crit and therefore some lucky damage... but he noticed a trend. Every card he was drawing was a critical. His hand was filled with ten thousand critical shields, with no playable card or other grade three to stride with when he played his Honorary professor. To his dismay, he made the value judgment of tossing his perfect guard and his Crayon Tiger for a stride into Cath Palug. He then played one of his crit triggers in a rear circle and his Duckbill ahead of it, planning on stacking as many effects as he could onto the booster and drawing his way out of the mess. His attack with Cath Palug gets perfect guarded... and he draws into more unhelpful trash. What added insult to injury, is when he was unable to guard his opponents vanguard, his avatar card went into his damage zone... twice. His second stride into Wisdom Teller to attempt to recover with some draws fails as he faces... another perfect guard. Jace runs into the perfect storm of a good hand turning bad, and is unable to guard against the relentless assault, greater calls, and stacking the deck for a critical trigger.

Jace can't help but pout, a tad bit disappointed his short lived undefeated streak ended. Though it couldn't be helped, everyone has bad games where no matter how hard they try the deck just doesn't work out. Perhaps his deck could use some tuning, but this one match wasn't really a good display of it's potential. His opponent begins to grandstand, which both amuses Jace but also rubs him slightly the wrong way, it was just a casual match after all. However, Ikari's sudden recoil tugs at his heart, and he dismisses the concern. He must not have many victories. "It's quite alright. Congratulations on your victory. I had looked briefly into Grand Sanctuary before because of my interest in the themes of Angels and Paladins... Fenrir went under my radar. It and your strides are very powerful and it's effects are quite interesting. Building up a big Soul and getting to play from it seems very fun. It seems like quite the deck to pilot." This might be a deck Jace looks more into. It is aggressive, but also sets itself up for unique and intricate combos, and Jace tended to like complicated chains in his prior card game experiences.

The compliment and assurance brought Ikari's attention back to Jace, as he cleaned up his own cards to put them away, placing the deck box next to another inside of his bag. "The deck's a lot of fun, but it was really difficult to actually learn how to play. I... admit to actually reading online how to use some of the skills, and self play testing. I... only started playing recently, and it's been a lot of fun. Today was the first time I actually won a game though... Everyone else stomped me pretty hard, especially the guy who gave me my first deck while teaching me how to play." Ikari leaned back in his chair, rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish gesture. He was still quite insecure around Jace, but he seemed like a nice guy, so he decided instead of running away he'd talk and get to know him better. That's what part of this game was about right? Meeting new people?

"Your deck seemed kind of interesting too though. I'm not familiar with the other clans, but that's... Great Nature isn't it? Hope I didn't butcher the name..."

Jace nodded and fanned through his deck, before flipping over his favorite card, Magic Scientist, Researcher Fox. "Great Nature is a interesting clan. Essentially looking to be really aggressive... it can sometimes win out of no where with..." Jace then flips over Crayon Tiger, and pats it lightly. "This, their key restanding card. They also have a focus on pumping each other, and retiring their units for effects at the end of the turn. Mostly to draw more cards, but sometimes its different." Jace then flips over Honorary Professor Chatnoir. "I prefer to play her first, so that on a turn I feel like Legioning, I can use her Limit Break to make up for the fact that I am off a turn from striding to Legion Tester Fox and Researcher Fox." Jace puts his cards back into his deck and begins shuffling again. "There is no shame on researching decks you want to play, if anything it shows you are discerning. I am also interested in seeing your other deck, you said a stranger gave it to you and taught you how to play? That's odd but rather cool."

"Ah... yeah." Reaching into his bag, Ikari pulled out the other deck case, a dark purple with gold plated borders. Pulling the cards out, he set it face up on the table to show Jace. The card now viewable was Chronojet Dragon. It was a Gear Chronicle deck. "He said something about a mutual friend wanting me to grow stronger and live normally, and gave me this deck. I admit I don't use it much lately except to playtest Fenrir. But well, maybe I do want to get stronger before I use it again... And I want to use it on him first, to show my appreciation for helping me come out of my shell a little bit." an embarrassed look crossed his face as he returned the cards to the deck case. Such an anime like goal, but he was just an impressionable teenager.

"Back to your Great Nature though, even with all of the drawing, between the guarding and having to replace retired units how do you keep your hand stable? And if you draw so much, aren't you afraid of decking out?"

"I'm not afraid of decking out, the goal is to win before then. The deck is rather aggressive and you typically have a stable hand consistently, because the cards replace themselves when played right." Jace flicks through his cards as he looks over some of his grade ones. Not able to help but think about the scenario his opponent presented. A random stranger just giving a whole deck away to some random kid? It isn't every day you come across that level of generosity. However, he did find it odd that he wasn't planning on playing with the gifted deck. "Y'know though, if you don't use the deck he gave you, isn't that kind of a waste? Practicing with it and using it will make you a better pilot of it for when you face him." Maybe he made it too harsh sounding by saying 'waste', but to him it felt like a waste of a good gift.

"I thought about that before, but I also feel that at my current level it'd be disrespectful to use it and I want to wait until I'm overall better. I'm still a rookie after all." Returning the Gear Chronicle deck to his bag, Ikari looked around the dwindling numbers in the card shop. "But you are right. It is a waste. The cards are just collecting dust as it is, and they deserve better than that." Turning his gaze back to Jace, the boy seemed a bit more secure.

"I'll probably start using it more often but... Well people keep talking about avatars whenever I fight or see them fighting. So if I were to say what mine is, it'd have to be Fenrir. I learned how to play this deck on my own, well with research, but I built it myself. While I'm appreciative of the other deck, playing with Fenrir gives me more confidence... it feels... better I guess?" in his mind, saying that aloud sounded stupid. But with this game, nothing ever was quite that simple.

Jace considered for a moment before putting his own deck in his bag. "Well, if that is the case. Perhaps it would be best if you fought him with Fenrir first. I am sure he would be more interested in seeing what you developed instead of seeing what he started you on." Jace knew from experience that was the case for him. He loved when people who learned from him developed into their own kind of players. "Teachers I think would like to see how their students developed after they were done." Jace gets up, and offers a hand to shake. "It was nice to meet you, but I didn't ask for your name."

Ikari seemed to perk up a bit at the prospect before looking at the hand extended before him. Ah! He completely forgot his manners from before. Standing and taking Jace's hand, he shook them, letting go. "Ikari Ketsueki, nice to meet you Jace." he pulled back his hand, closing his bag and lifting it up over his shoulder.

"Well Ketsueki, I look forward to seeing you at the next event. Keep up the good work, and I'm sure you will achieve your goal." Jace wraps his bag up and hangs it off his shoulder. "I ought to get back to my shop. I've left my partner alone for a bit too long. You have a good day." Jace would then start to exit the shop.