A/N: Hey readers. New chapter time. Hope you all like it.

Aurora flipped through a magazine as she sat in the cafeteria. Most girls her age usually read magazines about fashion, or famous actors and actresses, and whatnot. Aurora though was instead reading a magazine for Vanguard. It had all kinds of up to date information about the game and famous teams throughout the world.

There were all kinds of famous players featured in the magazine. Players that she would probably have to face in this big tournament that she had gotten thrown into. On one of the front pages was a story about William Lewis. Not only was he a British champion, but he had also been the top fighter in the Euro League for the past three years. It was no surprise that he was a favorite to win the upcoming tournament. There was also an article about a famous female cardfighter, Rose Orchards. She had quite a following of her own due to her looks. But her cardfighting skills were no joke, as the title of French champion did not come easily.

Then of course there was the current Japanese champions, Team Genius Prodigy. It was a team of three that had taken the Japanese regional tournament by storm last year. Apparently they each attended a prestigious school that produced exceptional cardfighters, though of course the students excelled in a variety of subjects outside of Vanguard too.

To get to the main tournament, a team needed to win the preliminary tournament that would be held in their country. And to get there, they had to win one of the regional tournaments held in the country first. But if Aurora and her team wanted to proceed to the main tournament, chances were they'd have to face Team Genius Prodigy eventually to do it.

'There's so many tough fighters.' Aurora thought to herself. 'Can I really do this?'

"Aurora? Aurora?!"

"Huh?!" Aurora snapped out of her daze as she lifted her head and saw two of her friends from school staring at her. "S-Sorry. I was lost in thought. What was that?"

"We were talking about what to do over summer break." one of them said. "You have thought about it, right? There's the beach, going to the water park-"

"Actually… I'm going to be busy most of the summer." Aurora told her friends. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't mentioned the Vanguard tournament to any of her school friends. None of them were really interested in Vanguard, though they didn't bully or tease her for playing the game which was nice.

"Really? With what?"

"Well… there's this big Vanguard tournament that's going to be held. I'm entering as a team with two others. It's worldwide so I'll be out of the country for a bit over the summer."

"So you're traveling out of the country. That sounds exciting. Gonna go sightseeing?"

"The main reason I'm going is the tournament. So I'm not going to have much time for being a tourist."

Her friend pouted at her. "Come on, you're not going to do anything FUN?! You'll be in another country for crying out loud!"

"Hang on." her other friend said. "You said you'll be in a team, right?"

Aurora nodded her head. "Yeah."

"Any guys on it?"

"Yes…?" Aurora answered, not sure she liked where this was going. 'The team is me and two other guys."

"Oooooooo." the two girls giggled. "Scoring two guys to go traveling with. Aurora, you lucky girl."

"Wh-What?! No! It's not like that!" Aurora exclaimed with a red blush on her face. "They're just some guys I know from the card shop."

"Mhm. Suuuuurrre."

Aurora let out a sigh. Even though she was a girl, talking about the usual girl-type gossip with her school friends exhausted her sometimes.

After lunch period was over, Aurora went to her afternoon classes. Once school was over, she gathered her things and headed straight for the card shop. The tournament hung at her mind. Things were going to get very busy for her. The regional qualifiers for the preliminary tournament were next weekend. Then the week after that would be the preliminaries themselves. Once that was over, summer break would be right around the corner. And once that came, she and her team would be fighting in the main tournament. Assuming they could win there way there in the first place.

Aurora took out her deck and looked at it as she walked. Star Chaser. It was such a unique deck. Certainly it would give her an advantage in the tournament. But she still needed to up her game if she wanted to assure her victory. After all, this was the only way for her to meet Yukari again.

'And then I'll finally get her to explain what she was talking about.'

After a short walk, Aurora finally arrived at the shop. Walking through the front door, she was greeted by a large commotion. It didn't take long to guess what the source was when she saw a crowd of people gathered around a table where Dan and Anthony were playing.

"Face Magician, Lappin attacks your vanguard!"

"Guard!"

Aurora walked over to her father at the counter. "Those two seem to be going all out it already."

"Yeah. They got here not too long ago. They started fighting each other once they got here." her father answered.

"Well they've beaten just about everyone else in the shop this past week." Aurora noted.

Anthony smirked at his opponent. "You're going down. You don't have any attacks left, and there's no way I'm letting you survive my next turn."

"That's what you think." Dan countered. "I activate Moonlight Melody Tamer, Betty's skill."

Anthony's eyes widened. "Crap! I forgot about that skill!"

Cheers came from the players watching. Aurora could see where this fight was headed so she made her way to the employee room. "I'm gonna go change. Be out soon."

As Aurora went into the room to get some privacy while she changed into her work attire, Anthony let out a groan. "One more game! I almost had you there!"

Dan smirked. "Bring it. I'll beat you as many times as it takes."

"Get ready to eat those words."

"I've got winner!" Aurora shouted from behind the door.

"Then it looks like it's Aurora vs me next." Dan said.

"In your dreams. No way am I losing to you again."

Dan rolled his eyes. "You're fighting style is straightforward and easy to read. You need to try and use some strategy instead of just punching your way through every problem."

"Hey, nothing wrong with a straightforward approach. It's how I roll. That's why the Narukami clan is the perfect fit for me."

Dan sighed and shook his head. "Well you're not wrong there, but it wouldn't hurt for you to think a bit in your fights instead of relying on power and triggers."

"He's right, you know!" Aurora called from the other room.

"Oh yeah?!" Anthony yelled as he turned to the door to the employee room. "You wanna get out here and say that to my face?!" he asked as he walked up towards the door.

Aurora's father showed a worried look. "Uh Anthony, I wouldn't do that. Aurora's-"

It was too late unfortunately as Anthony already opened the door. He realized almost immediately that this was a bad idea when he saw the blonde girl in the middle of changing. Her shirt was off, leaving her upper body covered only by her bra.

An awkward silence filled the shop as everyone froze. Anthony quickly covered his eyes, partially out of common sense, but mostly because the glare Aurora was sending his way seriously scared him. "Umm… I'm sorry, I-"

"CLOSE THE FREAKING DOOR YOU IDIOT!" Aurora shouted, grabbing the first object she could find and throwing it right at Anthony's face, hitting it dead center.

Anthony closed the door and had a hand on his head, which was aching in pain from having a blunt object thrown at it. "Ok, I deserved that."

Aurora's father sighed and shook his head. He could very well scold Anthony for what he did, but he knew it was an honest accident. Plus, anything he could say would pale in comparison to the scolding he was going to get from Aurora once she got out of that room.

A couple minutes passed before Aurora finally came out, now dressed in her work outfit. She was seething at Anthony as she glared daggers at him.

"You… You…" Aurora couldn't even think of the words to describe how royally pissed she was right now. "You moronic idiotic buffoon! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Look, it was an accident okay?! I'm sorry!" Anthony pleaded as he waved his arms in front of him.

"Oh no. You're not sorry. Not yet." Aurora said as she cracked her knuckles.

The tension was suddenly interrupted as Anthony heard his cell phone ring. He pulled it out and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello? Yeah, I'm at the shop." the next thing he heard caused his eyes to widen. "What?! Seriously?! Okay, yeah, I'll be home as soon as I can." Anthony hung up and put the phone in his pocket before looking at Aurora. "Ok look, I know you really want to kill me right now but I've got to get going."

"You're not getting off that easily." Aurora glared.

"Sorry, I'll explain next time. I promise." Anthony said as he quickly grabbed his schoolbag and ran out of the shop before his team leader could strangle him.

Dan rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "So… you up for a game?" The look he got from Aurora gave him all the answer he needed. "I'll take that as a no."

Anthony had to be grateful for his aunt calling him when she did. He just dodged one hell of a bullet from the howitzer that was Aurora. But he was hoping what she called him for wasn't just another false alarm. Finally reaching his home, he opened the door and locked it behind him while taking off his shoes. "I'm home!"

"Oh, Antonio! In the kitchen!" A kind voice called from said room.

Putting his bag down by the front door, Anthony moved to the kitchen and saw two more people who weren't usually here. "Mom, dad!"

Both parents smiled at their son who returned the gesture. Anthony hardly ever really saw his parent's regularly due to their jobs in Europe keeping them there. Born in Spain, he spend the first three years of his life being raised by his parents but their profitable careers starting keeping them away from him. Not wanting their son to feel neglected and lonely due to their demanding jobs, they sent him to live with his aunt in Japan so he could be raised proper. His aunt Maria, who married a hardworking Japanese business man, took him in with open arms and did the best she could to raise Anthony right.

And for the most part, he did come out as a nice boy. If not a bit full of himself but that was a minor quirk if anything.

Seldom was it ever a time where his parents could come home and visit, but it always made his week when they did. Seeing his family gathered around the table made his heart fill with joy, but he noticed one person missing. "Where's Uncle Hideyoshi?"

"Oh, that boss of his put him on a project that made him work late. He should be home later tonight though." Maria said with a mild bit of distaste in her mouth.

"Come, sit with us Antonio." His mother, Helena, said whilst patting the chair next to her. "Tell us what has been happening in your life."

And he did just that. It has been around two years since their last visit and despite such a huge gap between, the family carried the conversation as though it was just another night. It was a very warm feeling in the household, even continuing unabated as they moved into the living room once Hideyoshi arrived.

"-And best of all, my friend Aurora just got a cool new clan in Vanguard that no one has ever seen before." In the back of his mind, he knew there was gonna be hell to pay come tomorrow. "We're entering the tournament to try and make it to the top as the best cardfighters around!"

Both his mom and dad looked at each other with slight confusion and worry in their eyes. "You're still playing that card game Antonio?"

"Huh?"

"Don't get us wrong, we love that you are having fun over here and made good friends through it. But you're already a sophomore in high school, don't you think you should be focusing on finding a career soon?"

Anthony's once smiling face fell a bit at his parent's reactions to the news. "What are you talking about? This game has been with me ever since I first moved over here. There's no way I could just give it up, especially with this tourney coming up!"

"But this game has been a part of your life for the better part of a decade. We just want to see you focus such passion into a more fruitful endeavour."

Both Maria and Hideyoshi could see this was going downhill and would only snowball faster if this conversation continued. There wasn't much that would stick with Anthony if it didn't interest him. But if something caught his attention, he'd dedicate everything he had towards it. Vanguard was one of those things that allowed him to first make friends after moving in with them. So there would be no way he was gonna just drop the game without a fight. "Now, now. Antonio is very psyched for this tournament so I think he should be focused on that with his studies. He is a skilled player and is respected in the shop he frequents. Perhaps it would be better if we talked about it after it's all said and done."

Anthony didn't like that this conversation was going to be put off for later. But that was a long while where he wouldn't have to confront this issue. Hopefully winning the whole thing could change his parent's minds for the better.

He could only hope with how serious they sounded.

Dan had stayed at the shop until it started to get dark. He had to admit that Aurora had everyone a bit on edge with how angry she still was at Anthony. But all things considered, Card Galaxy was a pretty lively shop. There were a lot of good people there.

Which was more than he could say for other places.

As Dan walked home, he could see he was running late. Perhaps he should have left a bit sooner. He contemplated his options, and decided to take a shortcut. It was one he rarely liked to take but he didn't want his parents mad at him for getting home late.

Moving through the city streets, Dan saw another card shop in the distance. He barely gave it a passing glance as he walked by, staying on the other side of the street. He didn't want anything to do with it and hoped he'd be able to simply pass by without any incident. Unfortunately the sound of the door to the shop opening just had to be for a certain group leaving the shop.

"Hey, isn't that him?"

Dan cursed his luck, recognizing the voice all too well.

"Yeah, I think it is. Let's go pay him a visit."

Dan quickly picked up the pace. He ran into an alleyway as he made a sharp turn into a corner. He could hear the footsteps of the group catching up with him. Luckily, he knew a special spot to get away. The alleyway lead into an empty parking lot that was rarely used. Dan hightailed it to the dumpster, ducking behind it for cover. It was just in time too as the footsteps came into the parking lot only a few seconds later.

"Shit, where'd he go?"

"The loser must have noticed us. Lucky punk."

"He must have gone out that way." one of them said, pointing to the only other path leading into the parking lot. "Let's hurry and maybe we'll spot him."

Dan breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the trio leave. He had been able to escape without incident, although it had been quite a close call.

"He hasn't been to the shop in awhile. You think he finally gave up?"

"Maybe. Who cares? I still can't believe how long he believed we'd actually give him his card back."

"I know, right? I still remember how disappointed he'd get sometimes. I think he almost cried once, haha!"

The words stung Dan hard as they left. The only thing he had with those three and the shop they played at was bitter memories. He didn't want anything to do with them anymore. He waited for a few minutes just to make sure it was safe before coming out from hiding and continuing his way home.

'Get over it. You're done with those guys and that shop. You have a new place.' Dan told himself. 'That's right. A new place. With people that won't take advantage of me.'

Aurora was still getting over her anger as she sat in the car with her father. She had gotten plenty of time to cool down before the store closed, but she was still a bit annoyed at Anthony. She'd be giving him an earful the next time they met, that was for sure. But there were more important things she had to think about right now. Like the tournament.

'There's less than two weeks before the qualifiers for the preliminaries.' Aurora thought. 'We'll be going up against the best players in the country. And after that, the best players in the world.' Normally she'd be scared out of her mind for such a big challenge. But she had stepped up her game considerably in preparation for this tournament. Her entire team had. They just had to have faith in their skills and believe they could pull this off.

"Aurora" her father's voice snapped Aurora back into reality. "Do you feel ready for the tournament? It's next weekend after all."

Aurora nodded her head. "Yeah dad. I'll make sure to win, don't worry."

"That's good to hear." he said. "It must have been quite a surprise. Getting that new deck of yours in the mail out of the blue."

"Y-Yeah…" Aurora said. That was the lie she had told her father. The truth would sound way too bizarre for anyone to believe. Even now, she barely believed it herself.

After another few minutes, they finally arrived home. Aurora's father pulled into the driveway and the two got out of the car. "I'll be there in a second. Just gonna go get the mail." he said.

"Got it, dad." Aurora said as she headed in the house.

Aurora's father walked over to the mailbox and pulled out the envelopes inside. He quickly looked through them all before closing the mailbox. As he was about to walk to the house, a voice caught him off guard.

"Ryuji Fujou, I presume?"

The man quickly turned to find Yukari Tatsunagi standing before him. Most people would be quite bewildered to find such an important figure in the world standing in front of them. But instead, he narrowed his eyes at the girl. "What are you doing here?"

"I simply wanted to chat, nothing more." Yukari said. "This is our first time meeting I believe, though you've met my predecessor before once or twice, correct?"

"I don't have time to beat around the bush. Now what are you doing here?"

"Straight to the point I see. Very well." Yukari said. "How's that daughter of yours doing with the Star Chasers?"

"I figured it was you who gave Aurora that deck." he said with a sigh. "What's your endgame, Yukari? Why did you expose her to Star Chaser?"

"Why did you lie to your daughter about her mother being dead?" Yukari countered with a smirk.

Ryuji looked back to the house, making sure Aurora was inside and couldn't see what was going on. "How I raise my daughter is none of your business."

"Did I hit a sore spot? My apologies." Yukari said with a small giggle.

"I don't know why you gave Aurora that deck Yukari, but you better not be planning to get my daughter wrapped up in something dangerous."

Yukari's expression turned serious. "I won't force her to do anything. What she decides to do will be up to her."

"She's still a child. She shouldn't even be put in a position to begin-"

"Ryuji, Cray is facing a crisis." Yukari told him, cutting him off.

"Well shouldn't it's guardian be fixing this issue herself then instead of involving an innocent girl?"

Yukari let out a sigh. "I may be the guardian of Cray and Earth, but I can only do so much. My job is supposed to be as an observer, only interfering when absolutely necessary. If we are to combat this upcoming threat, we will need people that can help defend the two planets. We will need Vanguards."

"But why Aurora?! Why her?!"

"You know the answer to that already, Ryuji." Yukari told him. "You can't keep the truth about Aurora's mother from her forever. Eventually, she will find out." Yukari turned to walk away. "Your daughter is already strong. You should be proud of her."

As Yukari left, Aurora's father let out a frustrated sigh as he walked back to his house. "Of course I know that." he muttered to himself. "She is her daughter after all."

Several days passed by before it was finally time. The qualifiers for the preliminary tournament had finally come. Teams from all over the country would be competing today and tomorrow in regional tournaments across the country. For Aurora and her team however, it was today rather than tomorrow.

"I'm so pumped!" Aurora said excitedly. "This is gonna be awesome!"

"There sure are a lot of teams." Dan noted, seeing a large number of players walking around, some headed towards the building that would serve as the location for the venue.

"You ever compete in a tournament this big before, Dan?" Aurora asked.

"No." he said with a shake of his head. "What about you?"

"Me neither." Aurora answered. "I've never been one for big tournaments like this."

"Heh, well don't worry. With me on our team we'll be sure to handle these weaklings no problem."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself Anthony. You've never been in this big of a tournament either."

Anthony waved off his team leader's concern. "Big deal. We're still gonna win, no problem."

"Well at least you're confident, if nothing else." Aurora said with a sigh. She quickly put her game face back on, hugging an arm around both her teammates. "Alright, let's do this Team Cosmic Trio! Let's win this and become the best in the world!"

Dan and Anthony nodded as they followed Aurora into the building. This was it. They were ready to take on the world.

A/N: Aurora: If we want to get to the main event, we need to win the preliminaries.

Dan: Before that though we need to win here. We may not be up against the Japanese champions yet, but these teams don't look like they'll go down easy.

Anthony: We'll have them shaking in their boots before long.

Dan: Yeah. I sure hope so. And it looks like we're up against... oh boy.

Next Time: Facing Ones Demons