Film Vanguard

After Aichi plays Blaster Blade, he and Kai recall their first meeting. Back then, after seeing a young Aichi beaten up, the young Kai cheered him up by giving him Blaster Blade and telling him to imagine himself as a strong warrior like the card. With that in mind, Aichi got absorbed into Vanguard, creating his own deck in the hopes of playing against Kai, who had already moved away by then.

Aichi goes to Card Capital to buy a booster pack in the hopes of getting a grade 3 card. When he arrives, he sees an elementary-grade-school kid, Kamui Katsuragi, convincingly defeating Izaki in a cardfight. Aichi challenges Kamui, but he refuses, noticing that Aichi is not a strong player. Then, after Kamui beats Morikawa in a cardfight, Aichi tries to buy a booster pack. Suddenly, Emi appears, and Kamui immediately falls in love with her. Before Aichi could buy a pack, Emi drags him back home while Kamui looks on, thinking that the two are boyfriend and girlfriend. Later, Aichi buys a booster pack and is pleased to find that it contained a grade 3 card, Solitary Knight, Gancelot. Just then, Kamui shows up and challenges Aichi, demanding to get Emi if he beats him. Although Aichi misunderstands Kamui's intentions, the two begin their Vanguard fight.

Shin introduces the "Standing Fight Table" to enrich the experience of a Vanguard fight, with Morikawa and Kamui being the first to play on it. After Kamui once again beats Morikawa, Aichi and his friends return to their homes but then see Kai walking back to his home. Wanting to learn where Kai lives, Aichi, Kamui, and Miwa try to follow him, but Kai soon notices them tailing him. Aichi apologizes and asks for Kai to battle him again, but he declines. However, Kamui challenges Kai, and he reluctantly accepts.

The Card Capital Shop Tournament begins soon, but Aichi is hesitant to play in it, even after making a new deck. However, when he learns that Kai will be in the tournament, Aichi decides to enter as well. But when he submits his entry application form, another Vanguard player, Osamu Kishida, places his application at nearly the same time as Aichi. Both of them want to enter, but there is only one open spot left in the tournament. To resolve this issue, Shin recommends to have Aichi and Kishida play against each other to see who gets the last entry spot.

Kamui and Kai advance to the second round of the tournament along with Ninja Master M, an eccentric player who dresses and acts like a ninja. He meets Aichi, who deduces that he is actually his teacher Mr. Mark Whiting, but he denies that claim (even though it's true). The tournament progresses to the second round matches with Aichi facing off against Ninja Master M while Kai plays against the previous tournament's champion Kazuki Inaba.

Aichi makes a comeback by calling more units from his deck to boost the power of King of Knights, Alfred, forcing Ninja Master M to use most of his cards to guard against his attacks. As a result, M is left with no cards to defend himself from Aichi's last attack. Aichi wins and therefore advances to the semifinals. Ninja Master M disappears, and Mr. Mark soon arrives (with a bag containing his Ninja Master M attire). After Aichi's match, Kamui and Misaki play in their respective cardfights, and they both advance as well.

The day for the regional tournament is here, and Shin drives the team of Aichi, Kamui, and Kai to the tournament site. On the way there, while Aichi and Kamui make adjustments to Aichi's deck, Shin decides to name the team "Quadrifoglio" (Italian for "four-leaf clover"; "Q4" for short). They arrive and watch a promotional video of the pop idol group Ultra Rare, who are the three girls, Kourin, Rekka, and Suiko, who Aichi met at Card Shop PSY. After a run-in with Team Handsome, it is then announced that Team Q4 will play in the first round against Team Black Magic, three dark-robed men who all have "Kuro" (Japanese for "black") in their names. Because of Misaki's absence, Aichi will have to participate, and in the first match too!

Aichi has difficulty pushing for victory, and his opponent Kurosawa gets a critical trigger on top, bringing him to five damage. Aichi desperately needs to block the next strike, but is unwilling to leave his hand empty. He guards with Wingal and intercepts with his new unit Knight of Truth, Gordon. At first, it seems that Aichi has an insufficient amount of shield, but he reveals that Gordon's skill, the Especial Intercept, allows its shield to rise by 5000 points during an intercept. After successfully defending against Kurosawa's last attack, Aichi proceeds to call Gigantech Charger, another new card whose skill is used to call Flogal to completely fill Aichi's side of the field, bringing Alfred up to maximum power and finishing the match with a critical trigger.

Kyou is back for revenge against Team Q4, specifically Kai. Kyou then explains how things came to be this way - since he lost his match to Kai at the national tournament, he got banished from Asteroid. As a former member of Asteroid, Kyou had trouble finding a new team to join because no one wanted to recruit a discarded Asteroid member to prevent any conflicts. After multiple rejections, Kyou went insane and sweared vengeance against everyone who wronged him. So, he found two other former members of Asteroid and joined with them to form Team Avengers.

After losing to Aichi, Kourin goes to Card Capital, asking for Kai. Since Miwa is the only person who knows where Kai is, he rides with Kourin to the Underground cardfight area. They find Kai, who is beating all the underground fighters to relieve his frustrations. Kourin soon challenges him to a fight, where Miwa and Jun get to sit in the middle of the action. While Kourin uses her Royal Paladin deck, Kai reveals his newly-modified Kagero deck, which focuses on Amber Dragons. As each of them are dealing damage to each other, Kourin confronts Kai about how it's his fault that Aichi has fallen into the power of Psyqualia, saying that Aichi only sought the power because he wanted to become stronger for Kai's approval. Kai agrees, and also claims that he had seen the corrupted effects of Psyqualia before, not knowing how to prevent it from happening. He then tells Kourin that it may have been one simple thing: to exceed that power. Kourin then asks Kai if he can stop Aichi before he falls completely under the influence of Psyqualia, to which Kai says that he can. After losing to Kai, Kourin gives him Aichi's Royal Paladin deck, and hopes that he can succeed where she had failed.

After defeating Jurassic Army, Team Q4 is now up against Team Spyder. Wanting Aichi to continue resting, Misaki and Kamui prepare themselves to win without his presence. Before the next round begins, they are confronted by Team Spyder's members, who try to exploit Misaki's and Kamui's weaknesses. Kamui is tricked into believing that his opponent is a vulnerable "girl" (when in actuality, it's a guy wearing a smock of a girl's face which resembles Emi) who wants Kamui to let "her" win when they face off. Misaki then runs into her future opponent who has analyzed Misaki's past fights and uses that collected data to psyche her out, questioning Misaki if she has mastered Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi.

Kai heads to the Underground area to await his fateful match with Aichi. Back at home, as Aichi reviews his Shadow Paladin deck, he receives a Psyqualia-induced summon from Ren who is waiting for him at Card Shop PSY. Aichi, led by Ren's Psyqualia summon reaches as far as outside Card Capital when Kourin suddenly rides up throws him a helmet & tells him to come with her. Back at the Underground area, Miwa shows up with Misaki and Kamui who both implore Kai to face Aichi in a Vanguard fight and help bring him back to normal. Just as Kai informs them that that is exactly why he is here, Kourin immediately arrives with Aichi. Miwa, Kourin, Misaki and Kamui clear the area to watch the fight from a distance. Kai upsets Aichi when he tells him that he still thinks he is weak, and Aichi vows to prove his strength to Kai as they get ready to begin their fierce battle. Aichi is startled when he realizes Kai is going to fight him with his former Royal Paladin deck. Kai vows to show Aichi the "true power" of the deck that he threw away which rattles Aichi even more. Aichi goes first and uses his units' skills to add Blaster Dark who he refers to as his avatar from his deck to his hand.

Kai has a flashback of 4 years ago when he lost his parents, was taken in by his uncle, forced to move out of town, and transferred to a different school. There, he meets Ren and Tetsu, who challenges Kai to a cardfight. Tetsu ends up losing to Kai, and he and Ren tell Kai of Team Asteroid. They recruit Kai, and they have a lot of fun until one day Ren's Psyqualia awakened. He beat Tetsu repeatedly, claiming that he was now the "strongest fighter" ever. Ren abandoned the idea of him, Tetsu and Kai being Team Asteroid and has begun construction for the new Asteroid Headquarters where only the best fighters would be selected. Kai realizes that Ren has become obsessed with power and refuses to go along with his new plan and quickly challenges him to a cardfight. The match is fierce and as Ren announces his "Final Turn", he taunts Kai. But before he can claim victory, his overuse of Psyqualia causes him to collapse. Kai catches him in time but Ren is still fixated on how much stronger he's become. Kai quits the team and moves back home peeved about how powerless he was to stop Ren.

The second match is between Misaki and Yuri, two female fighters with completely different playstyles. While Misaki makes her decisions based on highest probabilities and most logical outcomes, Yuri relies on her intuition to take high risks for greater rewards. The latter strategy bears some truth as Misaki makes a grave misplay by not going for said high risks which could have won her the match. Showing the reason why she is called the "Empress", Yuri uses her instincts to draw a stand trigger as if she commanded her deck to allow her to do so, thus giving her enough power to defeat Misaki and take the second game.

Ren taunts Aichi throughout their battle, trying to get him to use Psyqualia. Aichi gives into his anger and calls Blaster Dark to the surprise of everyone. However, this causes him to change his personality back into what he was before when he first used Psyqualia. Meanwhile, a mysterious entity temporarily possesses Rekka, informing Kourin and Suiko of an impending doom about to happen on the planet Cray and a war between the many clans which will be decided based on the outcome of Aichi and Ren's battle. The mysterious being also explains the truth of Psyqualia.

The matches between Misaki vs. Asaka and Aichi vs. Ren continue. Asaka rides a new card, Silver Thorn Dragon Tamer, Luquier, and uses its Limit Break to superior call 3 units from her soul. She launches powerful attacks that Misaki cannot guard against and ultimately wins. Asaka walks away victorious while being disappointed in Misaki's performance.

After returning home from Seoul, Team Q4 runs some errands to help Aichi relax after the team's loss. Then, in front of Card Shop PSY, they meet a young blonde-haired and mysterious man named Leon Soryu, who is able to feel the "wind". The Ultra Rare trio returns, and they discover that their supposedly-closed shop is unlocked. The entire group enters, and they are surprised to find that the legendary cardfighter Daigo is there. It was believed that Daigo had gone missing for months, to which Daigo explains in a private conversation with Ultra Rare that he had been randomly teleporting from place to place. Suiko believes it is because of Daigo's deck, which is composed of Royal Paladins, one of the clans that were removed from the world, and therefore considered legendary by everyone except Aichi. Afterwards, Daigo offers up a challenge to anyone willing to cardfight with him. Before Aichi can accept, Leon steps up to be Daigo's opponent.

Team Q4 and New Team Asteroid continue their vacation on the southern island, with all members of Q4 having their own story to tell. Kamui gets depressed when he loses to Tetsu again, and his friends Reiji and Eiji cheer him up. The three then undergo a rigorous training regimine, which gives Kamui inspiration to make a new deck revolving around the Raizer series. But once again, in spite of this new deck, Kamui is defeated by Tetsu.

After getting coaxed into playing beach volleyball with Ren and Asaka, Misaki cardfights with Ren, with both of them borrowing others' decks. Ren reveals the reason as to why he fights with other people's decks is to not only try and find a more suitable clan for him to use, but to also gain a better understanding of his own deck. With that in mind, Misaki constructs a new Witch-themed Oracle Think Tank deck and defeats Ren, who borrows Emi's Bermuda Triangle deck this time.

Team Q4 and friends head to the Hong Kong Stage of the VF Circuit, hoping to advance to meet with Takuto. While in front of the stadium, before the fights start, they have a short run-in with three males, one big, one normal-sized, and one small. Shin vaguely remembers seeing them before, and it is then that two identical girls appear. They tell him off by saying how that group is actually a powerful team before taking their leave.

Q4's Aichi and Kamui face off against Leon and Sharlene of Dreadnought in the finals of the Hong Kong Stage. Remembering Leon's fight with Daigo, Aichi and Kamui do their best to minimize the damage taken from Dreadnought's multi-attacking Aqua Force units. Although Aichi deals damage to Leon, he is unaffected by his attacks. Then, Aichi asks Leon what he means whenever he refers to the "wind". It is then revealed that Leon's "wind" is actually the power of Psyqualia.

In a Psyqualia-induced vision, Leon tells Aichi a tale from long ago about a conflict between the many clans on the planet Cray. This war was eventually resolved by the appearance of the dominating Aqua Force armada. In the human world, the Soryu family had control over the Aqua Force which was used to hold power over the seven seas. However, for unknown reasons, the Aqua Force clan disappeared, and so did the Soryu family's power. The last remaining Soryu members foretold a prophecy of a child who would be "embraced by the wind" and restore the family name and the Aqua Force clan to their former glory; Leon believes that child is himself.

Aichi uses Psyqualia to gain a winning image. Although things seem to go just as he envisioned, his attacks are foiled by Leon's perfect defense and Sharlene's tag guard. On the next turn, Sharlene again uses the Limit Break of Navalgazer Dragon and forces both Kamui and Aichi to use a lot of their cards to defend against its attack. Then, Kamui says that his turn will be the last as he rides another Perfect Raizer, bringing its power up to full potential. However, the usually-mellow Sharlene easily blocks Kamui's attacks and grows angry with his indirect "Final Turn" declaration. On Leon's turn, he follows his "wind" and calls another Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstrom as a rear-guard, now having two Maelstroms as Aichi had seen through Psyqualia. Leon attacks him with his vanguard Maelstrom powered up via its Limit Break, and Kamui tries to tag guard for Aichi. However, Leon's drive check reveals a stand trigger, giving his vanguard Maelstrom enough power to penetrate Q4's defenses and win the match for Dreadnought.

Aichi is feeling desperate by the fact that he and Q4 must win the Japan Stage of the VF Circuit. To better prepare the team, Shin recommends for Aichi, Kamui, and Misaki to battle against other stronger, non-Q4-affiliated cardfighters. Aichi takes a look at his Blond Ezel card and is reminded about Kourin, the person who gave it to him. So, Q4 goes to Card Shop PSY and requests for the Ultra Rare girls to cardfight with them for training purposes. They accept, and thus the battles ensue. The first match-up is between Aichi and Kourin, who now uses an Angel Feather deck. Aichi gains the upper hand when he superior rides Pellinore, but Kourin uses her Angel Feathers' skills to swap cards from her damage zone and then calling them. As the fight continues, Kourin antagonistically puts down Aichi by telling him to give up and how he's reached his limits. He proves her wrong and shows his determination when he rides Blond Ezel and activates its Limit Break to defeat her. Despite her harsh words, Kourin is actually glad that Aichi won.

Kamui and Suiko's cardfight continues. Suiko uses Shamsiel's Limit Break and the Angel Feather stategy of switching cards from her hand with ones from the damage zone, thereby increasing her units' attack strength and acquiring the cards she wants. She also tells Kamui that power alone is not enough to win. Despite her words, Kamui manages to win through the sheer force of Perfect Raizer.

It's time for the last leg of the VF Circuit, the Japan Stage. Taking place in an amusement park, many familiar teams have gathered. The aspect for this stage is that each team member will individually fight others in three separate stadiums. Each victory that a cardfighter gets will earn his/her team 1 point; the team with the most points by the end is the winner of the entire Japan Stage and will go on to face the previous stages' winners at the Final Stage. What's more is that "special reserve" cardfighters like Team Unknown (composed of the masked trio of King Z, Queen Y, and Joker X) will participate and act as obstacles for all of the teams. With the rules fully explained, Aichi and Q4 resolve themselves to win the Japan Stage. And so, the fights begin.

Misaki and Kamui win their respective matches. On the other hand, Aichi is in a close fight in a rematch with Team Jurassic Army's Gunji Ryudo. Against the threatening Limit Break of Ryudo's new ace card, Destruction Dragon, Dark Rex, Aichi successfully defends himself, using a lot of his cards in the process. Despite the odds, Aichi stays determined and utilizes the Limit Break of his Blond Ezel twice, superior calling more units from his deck and gaining power from them, which forces Ryudo to not guard against Ezel's attack. As a result, Aichi is victorious. After saluting him on his win, Ryudo warns Aichi of what's to come in the Japan Stage.

After Nagisa appears in a horse-ridden carriage led by Team Handsome, she greatly exaggerates about being married to Kamui, which causes the audience to misunderstand the situation and embarrasses him in the process. Nonetheless, the two kids begin their cardfight, which is being treated as a wedding ceremony by Team Handsome. Nagisa's Death Army units battle Kamui's Beast Deity units in this Nova Grappler mirror match (with the latter forced to wear a groom's tuxedo). After protecting himself from the Limit Break of Nagisa's new ace, Infinite Corrosion Form, Death Army Cosmo Lord, Kamui crossrides his new key card which he received after Q4's time at Card Shop PSY: Ultra Beast Deity, Illuminal Dragon. With multi-pronged attacks, Kamui defeats Nagisa, who decides to leave him alone (for now, at least).

It's Team Q4 against Team Unknown in the last round of the Japan Stage. Aichi's opponent, King Z, is revealed to be Jun Mutsuki, the King of Underground Fights, although Aichi does not immediately recognize him. Meanwhile, Misaki battles Queen Y and sees through her disguise. Queen Y is actually Yuri Usui from the defunct Team Caesar, and Yuri now uses the deck she originally had before joining Caesar: Oracle Think Tank. As for Kamui, he has not realized who Joker X is. As they battle, Joker X's voice and style of play with Dark Irregulars slowly remind Kamui of a certain someone.

Yuri's Battle Sisters deal major damage to Misaki, giving her the lead 1-5. Misaki strikes back by riding her new ace card, Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu. Yuri tries to guard her attack, putting Misaki in the same situation as the last time they fought each other. Misaki decides to take a chance, which pays off when she drive checks a critical and heal trigger, and evens out the damage 4-4. Thanks to Amaterasu and its Limit Break, Misaki ultimately wins.

Meanwhile, Kamui continues his battle with Joker X, who rides No Life King, Death Anchor. Kamui defends himself against its terrifying skill with a lot of his cards. On the following turn, Kamui crossrides Illuminal Dragon and activates its Limit Break to stand his remaining units, thus forcing X to not guard against his attack. Kamui defeats Joker X without ever learning his true identity. Winning every match they had, Q4 is crowned the victor of the Japan Stage.

As Team Dreadnought stops everyone from moving forward, Leon reveals that his true purpose for entering the VF Circuit was to thwart Takuto's plan of freeing Cray from the enigmatic enemy. Leon also says he was the one who let the Royal Paladin, Shadow Paladin, and Kagero clans be sealed away by the enemy. His reasons for doing so are to set the Aqua Force clan free (which was also captured by the same foe), restore the Soryu family to its former glory, and then rule the world. Leon's Psyqualia is amplified by the dark powers of the enemy and blows everyone away.

Later, after being knocked unconscious, Q4 awakens and speaks with an injured Takuto, who gives more revelations. He discloses the name of the mysterious enemy: Void, an evil power of emptiness that is currently encompassing the majority of Cray and will make its way to Earth if not stopped. Takuto also states that he manipulated everyone's memories to make them forget about the past relating to the 3 sealed clans in order to introduce the new clans, Gold Paladin and Narukami, for Aichi, Kai, and Ren to later use and get stronger for this upcoming battle to free Cray. After Takuto restores everyone's rightful memories, Q4 leaves him to find and confront Leon, who is currently allowing himself to be engulfed by Void's power.

Aichi once again battles Chris, who uses Psyqualia to foresee his victory. Similar to their last match, Chris predicts that he will win when his new ace card Battler of the Twin Brush, Polaris strikes Aichi's Blond Ezel three times in one turn. While Chris' Psyqualia prophecies initially seem to be going the way he said they would, Aichi knows that Psyqualia is not 100% accurate nor is it just a dark power. On the turn Chris declares his victory, Aichi blocks the last two attacks from Polaris, therefore throwing off his winning Psyqualia image. Then, Aichi crossrides his new key card gained from his experience at Card Shop PSY: Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel. With its Ultimate Break, Aichi increases the power of all his rear-guards, thus overwhelming and defeating Chris. Now knowing what Psyqualia really is, Chris learns the error of his ways and is forgiven by his friends Lee and Ali. However, due to the law of the unique dimension they're in, Chris' loss forces Team SIT Genius to be transported back to Earth.

While Jillian and Sharlene take on Ren and Asaka in a tag fight, Kai begins his battle with Leon. As the two fighters clash, Leon reveals his past. As it turns out, the legend of a child who would call forth the "wind" and lead the second coming for both the Soryu family and Aqua Force clan was just a fairy tale made up by the Soryu chief only meant to provide (false) hope to the young Leon, Jillian, and Sharlene. Eventually, the Soryu and Aqua Force would be forgotten and die out. Desperate to find power to save both, Leon met Void, who offered him Psyqualia. He accepted the power, and thus Leon became that prophesied Soryu child, turning that fairy tale into a reality.

Kai and Leon continue their cardfight with each side using their respective vanguards' Limit Break abilities. After he insults Leon by calling him a pawn to Void, Kai crossrides his new trump card: Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion "THE BLOOD". He activates its Ultimate Break to give it extra critical value and power, forcing Leon to use his few remaining cards to defend. Kai manages to deal 2 more points of damage, presumably ensuring his victory, but Leon gets a heal trigger to stay in the game. On the following turn, Leon also crossrides his new ace card: Blue Storm Supreme Dragon, Glory Maelstrom. Its Ultimate Break also makes Kai use the last of his cards to hopefully block its attack. However, Leon drive checks a critical trigger, thus plowing through Kai's guardians and winning the match. After Glory Maelstrom's attack, the dust settles and reveals Leon standing over the fallen Kai.

The fight between Aichi and Leon reaches its climax. After Leon uses the Ultimate Break of Glory Maelstrom to increase its power and prevent Aichi from guarding with grade 1 or higher units, Aichi attempts to guard with two grade 0 units. However, Leon drive checks a heal trigger, which gives Glory Maelstrom enough power to penetrate Aichi's defense. Aichi survives the attack thanks to his own heal trigger. Leon slowly grows weakened after absorbing Void's power as Aichi crossrides Platina Ezel and activates its Ultimate Break to overpower and finally defeat Leon.

Void leaves Leon's body, and Takuto opens the path to the planet Cray, declaring that Aichi's Gold Paladin clan is the rightful leader of Cray. Aichi holds up his deck, and with a reformed Leon's help, the Gold Paladins and Aqua Force units dispel Void's darkness from Cray and free the sealed Royal Paladin, Shadow Paladin, and Kagero clans. Aichi then faints and has a vision of Blaster Blade and the other Royal Paladins appearing before him. Takuto telepathically informs him that he is now able to use Royal Paladins again. While Aichi is glad to hear that, he does not want to part with Gold Paladins after fighting alongside them for so long. The Royal Paladins fade away, as Blaster Blade tells Aichi that they will forever be with him.

Months after the conclusion of the VF Circuit, Aichi enters high school as a freshman at Miyaji Academy. However, he has trouble adjusting to his new school life due to the academy's heavy emphasis on studies. After school, Aichi goes to Card Capital while being tailed by a classmate, Naoki Ishida. There, he sees the many customers playing Vanguard, which Naoki has no knowledge about. He spots Aichi conversing with Team SIT Genius in the back of the shop. Curious by how different Aichi's behavior is in the card shop compared to how he acts at school because of a card game, Naoki becomes intrigued to Vanguard. And so, Aichi teaches Naoki about Vanguard through playing an actual match, with the latter being lent a new Narukami trial deck to use from Shin. As they cardfight, Naoki slowly gets immersed into the game. After Aichi eventually wins, Naoki buys the trial deck and hastily leaves in a frustrated manner, which worries Aichi. But he is later comforted by Kai who tells him that Naoki has in fact taken an interest in Vanguard.

The news of Kourin transferring into Aichi's class becomes a hot topic, especially when the male classmates start talking to Aichi to get closer to her once they learn that the two know each other. Then, Aichi gets an idea on how to promote Vanguard at his school. Because there is no Cardfight Club, Aichi decides to make one himself. The next day, he tries to recruit enough members to officially start the club (needing a minimum of five people, including himself) by handing out leaflets in front of the school. His pleas fall on deaf ears until Kourin agrees to be a member. Her enlistment is followed by several other boys who want to join (only to be with Kourin), but she proposes that anybody who wants to become club members will have to defeat either her and Aichi in cardfights before they can enter. The two easily beat all of the challengers, but then Naoki steps up to play against Kourin with honest feelings of wanting to join the club.

Aichi's Cardfight Club is attracting attention all around the school as male classmates (who are mostly interested in being with Kourin) have him teach them the rules of Vanguard and again attempt to play against Kourin in order to be inducted to the club but to no avail. Additionally, the female students gossip about a rumor that claims Aichi only started the club to get close to Kourin, which makes Misaki worry. Aichi tries to ask Misaki to join the club, but she declines because of her job at Card Capital.

The student council president of the Miyaji Academy High School Division deems Aichi's Cardfight Club to be unnecessary for the school and orders the vice president, Suwabe, to devise on how to abolish it. Elsewhere, the Cardfight Club finds an empty classroom to serve its official headquarters. Then, the school's American football team, the Miyaji Vipers, barges in and takes the club outside to the academy's sub-ground where the Vipers' quarterback/captain, Ikki "the Catapult" Kongou, challenges Aichi to a cardfight, with the former appropriately using a Spike Brothers deck. This is an elaborate plan set up by Suwabe to have Ikki defeat Aichi and thereby crush the Cardfight Club members' spirits into not wanting to continue the club.

After Aichi tells his friends at Card Capital about how his school's student council is causing problems for the Cardfight Club, he repeatedly requests for Misaki to join as the fifth member. However, she still turns him down, having mixed feelings on the matter and being insulted by Kourin for not being serious on becoming a member. Then, to quickly shut down of the Cardfight Club, the student council creates a deadline for all potential clubs with at least five members to report to the council, or else they will not be officially recognized by the school. At the last second, Misaki declares herself as the Cardfight Club's fifth member after resolving her feelings of earnestly wanting to join the club. As an initiation test and to prove herself to Kourin, Misaki cardfights Aichi.

Miyaji Academy's unofficial Cardfight Club is set up to have an intramural match against Hitsue High School's Vanguard Club, in which Kai, Miwa, Morikawa, and Izaki are members. The two teams play in a best-of-5 match, and opponents are randomly selected. Under the conditions that the Miyaji Academy student council president created, if the Cardfight Club loses this match, then it will be dissolved.

Kourin defeats Izaki, which ties the score 1-1. The third game pits Misaki against Hitsue Vanguard Club's ringer and old Q4 teammate, Kamui Katsuragi. Although Kamui gets an early lead, Misaki mounts a comeback with Battle Deity of the Night, Artemis. Kamui then combines the Break Ride of Beast Deity, Ethics Buster and the Limit Break of Ultra Beast Deity, Illuminal Dragon to stand four of his rear-guards to launch multiple attacks in one turn. However, Misaki protects herself, only taking one point of damage from Kamui's five attacks. In what seems to be a hopeless situation, Misaki rides Eternal Goddess, Iwanagahime and uses its Limit Break to retire Kamui's front-row units. Weakening Kamui's defenses, Misaki wins and puts Miyaji Academy up 2-1.

Aichi faces Morikawa in the last fight of this intramural match. Although initially mad with using Kai's Kagero deck and not his own, Morikawa nonetheless puts a great amount of pressure on Aichi. All the while, Kai watches the fight as an opportunity to see if his Kagero deck is strong enough against the current Aichi, who strikes back with the Break Ride of Solitary Liberator, Gancelot to empower itself and his rear-guards. Morikawa defends and makes it to his next turn, in which he rides Dragonic Overlord the End. Pairing its Personablast with the Break Ride effect of Dauntless Drive Dragon, Morikawa attacks Aichi with the End three times in a row. Determined to win for the sake of the Cardfight Club, Aichi withstands the onslaught and then uses Gancelot's Break Ride again on the following turn to land a final blow. Aichi emerges victorious over Morikawa, meaning that the Miyaji Academy Cardfight Club wins the intramural match. Aichi and his friends are then congratulated by Hitsue Vanguard Club, with Kai coming to the conclusion that Aichi has indeed grown stronger, perhaps moreso than himself.

Now that the Cardfight Club has become official, the new faculty advisor Nakamurabashi has the club decide on a captain and vice-captain for the club by order of the student council president. Since Aichi was the person who started the club, he reluctantly accepts the position of captain. As for vice-captain, Shingo is the only person who honestly wants the job while the others are apathetic on the matter. Not wanting to make a hasty decision, Nakamurabashi recommends to hold off until tomorrow on who to elect for vice-captain. After school, Misaki is convinced by her friend Akari to try out for vice-captain. The same happens with Kourin being persuaded by Takuto.

Shingo tells Naoki about a Cardfight Circle formed in the middle school division of Miyaji Academy. Shingo suggests that the two of them should pay a visit to the circle and build a relationship between it and the Cardfight Club. Naoki agrees, but he is unaware of Shingo's scheme; he plans to use this as his chance to impress the underclassmen and take them under his wing, thereby raising his status over Naoki. The two go to the Cardfight Circle's clubroom where they meet Emi and Mai, who are two of the three members of the circle. Naoki and Mai play a friendly match, in which Naoki shockingly loses to Mai's Bermuda Triangle deck. After the game, he asks her for advice in a somewhat intimidating fashion. But this earns him to be reprimanded by Misaki, who later enters with Aichi.

The Cardfight Club receives an invitation to and then registers for the upcoming Vanguard Fight High School Championship, a tournament that will feature high school Vanguard teams from all over Japan. Naoki suggests to check out some of the competition, which leads to the club visiting Fukuhara High, an elite private high school that is associated with Team Asteroid. The club is greeted by Tetsu Shinjou, who leads everyone into the school where they watch a cardfight between Asaka Narumi and Leon Soryu, much to Aichi's surprise. Asaka tries to end the game by using Starlight Melody Tamer, Farah's Personablast and the Pale Moon strategy of superior calling units from the soul during the battle phase for additional attacks. Despite the multi-pronged assault, Leon defends himself and then rides Last Card, Revonn on top of Blue Flight Dragon, Trans-core Dragon. This activates the latter's Break Ride effect, forcing Asaka to discard a card from her hand. He then utilizes the Limit Break of Revonn to gain more power and critical value. Also getting a heal trigger, Leon plows through Asaka's defenses for a comeback victory.

After Naoki makes another offhand comment towards Suiko, the two start their cardfight. Suiko criticizes Naoki for being a good but uninteresting fighter. He tries to prove her wrong when he activates the Limit Break of his new ace card: Armor Break Dragon. At the cost of discarding three cards from his hand, Naoki not only eliminates Suiko's front-row rear-guard units, but he also increases Armor Break Dragon's power and critical value to unbelievable heights. Despite this, Suiko defends against Naoki's attacks with almost all of the cards in her hand. On the following turn, Suiko wins the game with Chief Nurse, Shamsiel by moving cards to and from her damage zone thus increasing most of her units' power.

The Cardfight Club is forced by the Miyaji student council to take the main stage on the day of the academy's upcoming School Festival. The student council hopes to use this chance to embarass the club and tarnish its reputation. Despite the daunting task, the club decides to do a stage play using one of Shingo's prewritten scripts and with costume help from Emi and Mai. The script is loosely based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter but with Vanguard units; Aichi is given the role of the bamboo cutter (Little Sage, Marron), Misaki is the heroine (CEO Amaterasu), Naoki is the villain (Eradicator, Vowing Sword Dragon), and Kourin is the hero (King of Knights, Alfred). Although Kourin is seemingly busy with her job as an idol, Misaki notices that she is in fact preparing for the play. However, on the day of rehearsal, Kourin does not show up, which leads the club (except Misaki) to think that she is not serious about the play and that Aichi should take the role of Alfred.

The Vanguard Fight High School Championship finally begins with the Miyaji Cardfight Club having to attend the Kanto regional qualifiers. In the waiting room, the club sees Fukuhara's and Hitsue's Vanguard teams. In particular, Hitsue's team has a surprisingly strong look of determination to win the entire tournament. The first round pits Miyaji Academy against Hitsue High in a best-of-3 match. In the first game, Kai defeats Shingo, which puts Hitsue up 1-0.

The second game features Miwa vs. Misaki. For the sake of his teammates, the typically-carefree Miwa goes all out with the Limit Break of Hellfire Seal Dragon, Blockade Inferno to retire all of Misaki's grade 2 rear-guards and gain a significant amount of power. Misaki completely defends herself, but she is left with a weakened battle formation. Nonetheless, on her next turn, Misaki rides Goddess of Good Luck, Fortuna and reassembles her forces. She also activates Fortuna's Limit Break to perform three drive checks and manages to get two drive triggers to increase her overall power, ultimately winning the game and tying the score 1-1.

The decisive fight between Aichi and Izaki ensues. Although Izaki is underestimated by the majority of the people watching, he nonetheless is serious about wanting to catch up to Aichi's level of strength. Aichi notices his fighting spirit and the two continue to play to the best of their abilities. Despite the large amount of pressure from Izaki's Ancient Dragon units, Aichi pulls off a comeback victory. Izaki sheds tears of frustration over this loss, but his effort is rewarded with applause from the crowd.

The members of the Miyaji Cardfight Club draw lots to decide who will play against the Fukuhara Vanguard Club in the final round of the Kanto regional qualifier. Naoki is selected to be first, Kourin is second, and Aichi is third. After some pre-fight conversations between Miyaji and Fukuhara, the two teams send their fighters for the first game.

Naoki once again fights against Suiko. Unlike what happened in their previous encounter, Naoki chooses to not preemptively use the Limit Break of Armor Break Dragon in order to maintain the cards in his hand. He survives Suiko's Break Ride combo attack, but he is left in a tough situation and begins to question himself. With some encouragement from Aichi, Naoki trusts his instincts and activates Armor Break Dragon's Limit Break, climactically winning the game and putting Miyaji up 1-0.

Kourin and Asaka fight each other in the second game of the final round with both of them having their own reasons to win. Kourin hopes to win for the sake of her teammates while Asaka fights for Ren. The cardfight is a seesaw battle until Kourin deals 5 damage to Asaka. However, this allows Asaka to use a Limit Break Ride combination move with Miracle Pop, Ava and Nightmare Doll, Chelsea. She superior calls more of her units to the field to launch multiple attacks, which gives her the win over Kourin. Although frustrated by this loss, Kourin is comforted by her teammates that they will win in the end.

Aichi and Ren face off in the third and last game of the Kanto regional qualifier. As the fight unfolds, Kai watches and is concerned about them. Despite Aichi's best efforts to land a final attack with Blaster Blade Liberator, Ren survives and finishes the battle with a final blow from his reborn avatar: Blaster Dark Revenger. With that, Fukuhara High wins the regional tournament and therefore moves on to the VF High School Championship. Aichi apologizes to his teammates, but they are not upset by his loss and instead cheer him up. During the awards ceremony, Kai leaves after coming to the conclusion that both Aichi and Ren have become too strong for him.

After reporting to the student council president about the Cardfight Club's loss at the Kanto regional tournament, Suwabe moves on to his next plan of terminating the club. He gets the Paranormal Power Research Society, a group of delinquent-looking students who are interested in supernatural forces, to challenge the club to a cardfight on the rooftop of the school. However, instead of the Cardfight Club, Leon and Team Dreadnought appear and accept the challenge. Nonetheless, Eru Nakagami, the leader of the Research Society, engages in a Vanguard fight with Leon. Nakagami uses his Dark Irregulars deck and also unleashes his sealed paranormal powers to push for victory. Regardless, Leon defeats Nakagami by putting him in a no-win situation with Last Card, Revonn.