Sayonara Solitaire

Disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Crusade, but I do own this story. Don't take it. If you want to have a cameo appearance of one of my characters in this story, contact me.

Chapter 1: The Wrong Foot

A young man, who just turned seventeen, dunked his hair into the water. He emerged from it, with his black hair damp and down, covering his eyes. He wiped the hair and water from his face and opened his light green eyes.

"Marc, what are you doing?" his friend asked.

"Washing my hair," Marc replied.

"Do you know that's the water my mom's using to cook dinner tonight?" the friend questioned Marc, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it," Marc said, giving a wide grin. "She won't know."

"I'M EATING THAT DINNER!" Marc's friend said, sternly.

"Whatever," Marc replied. "I have to go catch that boat before it leaves! Bye!"

The friend waved good-bye as Marc dashed to the wharf. He jumped onto the boat as it was taking off.

"Who are you?" a man on the boat asked, checking a small list of names.

"Marc Tachibana," Marc replied, waving his head around to remove the water from his hair.

The man got hit by the drops of the water and made a growling noise. He checked Marc's name off the list and moved out of the way, so Marc could move onto the deck.

Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, on the wharf over there, Chrono looked at Rosette, with an uneasy look.

"What?" Rosette snapped, being annoyed with Chrono's worried look.

"What if that guy doesn't come?" Chrono asked. "I mean, then, we're here for nothing."

"He'll be here," Rosette replied.

On the boat, Marc looked over the sea, seeing the Statue of Liberty.

"GARGANTUAN!" Marc screamed.

"No, stupid, it's a statue!" the man, who had previously checked Marc off the list, screamed.

"I knew that," Marc responded, wiping sweat from his head. "Course I did."

"Right," the man said, shaking his head.

The boat got to the wharf, and Marc stood up, yawning.

"Well, it's about time for me to go," he said to the man. "A Japanese man has many priorities."

He took the man's hat, put it on, and tipped it as he got off the boat, to the wharf where Rosette and Chrono were waiting.

"Do you even have a picture of this guy?" Chrono asked.

Rosette shook her head, but replied, "But I do know he's carrying a-"

"Drop the blade!" a police officer shouted, chasing Marc around with a night stick.

"Hey, I need it man!" Marc yelled, jumping into the air and quickly disappearing into smoke.

"-blade," Rosette said, sighing.

"What happened to him?" the police officer asked everyone in the crowd.

"He's right behind you," Marc replied, nudging the officer hard in the head with his elbow and knocking him out. "Oops."

"There you are," Rosette said, walking up to Marc and looking at his sword. "Rosette Christopher of the Magdalene Order and you are?"

"Marc Tachibana, foreign exorcist," Marc said, cracking his neck.

"I don't feel good vibes from this guy," Chrono whispered to Rosette.

"You shouldn't, anyway," Rosette replied. "He's half of what you are."

Chrono froze and stared at Marc.

"What?" Marc asked, cracking his neck once more. "What's wrong with this kid?"

"He's not a kid," Rosette replied. "He's a devil."

"Ah, I see...you brought a little devil to test my abilities," Marc said, taking out his sword before Rosette could deny it. "Well, I'll show you what I got."

Marc spun around the katana and whipped it at Chrono.

He hopped over the blade and ducked as he landed.

Rosette grabbed onto Marc's right hand, which was holding the blade.

"What!?" Marc shouted.

"He's no test!" Rosette yelled. "He's your new partner!"

Marc paused and burst out into laughter.

"What?" Rosette asked.

"That shrimp is my partner!" Marc hollered. "He couldn't even catch-"

Chrono grabbed onto Marc's left hand and began putting force onto it.

"Hey, watch it!" Marc yelled, spinning around and throwing him down.

"Stop!" Rosette screamed. "Even if you are half-oni, half-American human, you're not gonna do that! If you ever do that, I'm going to have to-"

"You're my partner too?" Marc asked, with hopeful eyes.

Rosette quickly answered, "Yes, but-"

"Great!" Marc said. "Now, I think we ought to be get going."

"I know, but-"Rosette was stopped again by Marc's finger on her mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah, more important things are at hand," Marc replied, dragging her. "Now, where is this Magdalene Order place?"

As his voice drifted off as he walked with Rosette, Chrono just stared.

"I suppose he just got off on the wrong foot," he said, shaking his head and rushing forward.