SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 8 out, this is Chapter 9 of this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.

Pairings: Kai/Ami, side!Miwa/Minako, hinted!Ibuki/Makoto

Standard BS Disclaimers: Sailor Moon and Cardfight! Vanguard belong to Takeuchi-sensei and Bushiroad respectively. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except the pairing and the fic idea.

Chapter 9: Diffrider

In Nome's music room...

Nome and Ami were playing a 'Moonlight Sonata' duet on the piano and standing harp.

"Nome-sama?" one of the Tatsunagi maid-servants entered the room. "The rest of your guests will be arriving soon."

"It's that time already?" Nome wondered. "I apologize for cutting the duet short, Kozuki-sama." he looked at the clan head. "Destiny is about to start moving. At last..."

"It's like Shion's place." Chrono gawked at the mansion.

"The Tatsunagi has a huge presence in Asia." Ibuki explained.

"Nome-sama, your guests are here." the maid-servant brought the group in.

"Welcome to my observation room." Nome declared, popping a party cracker.

"You couldn't have stopped him?" Ibuki gave the mildly amused Ami a look.

"I'm sorry, but he insisted." Ami grinned widely.

"Seems that the all-stars have gathered today." Nome noted. "The one who listens to the prayers of the Messiah's Vanguards and his friends. And," he beamed at Chrono. "The Gear Chronicle Singularity." snapping his fingers, he activated the security system of the mansion, turning the room into complete darkness as a projector then appeared in front of them. "Now, please ask your questions." he offered, turning the room's backdrop into space littered with planets. "I'll answer to the best of my ability."

"That is the gist of the situation." Ibuki summarized.

"The souls coming here from the Planet Cray..." Nome mused. "I see. Different World Rider; also known as Diffrider. The dream you saw is happening in reality now, Ibuki Kouji. Crossing time and space from Planet Cray, the Units who travel to this world do indeed exist. About a year ago, there was an event where a passageway, a Stride Gate between the two worlds happened. You were there, so of course you know of this. Thanks to your efforts, the gate was destroyed. However, the time and space disrupted by this event won't return to normal so easily. The two worlds are now closer than they have ever been. If you form a strong enough image of them, Planet Cray's Units can take over a person's body in this world. In other words, they can Diffride. Connections formed by imaging; this happens between Units that you call your Avatars: Units that harmonize with fighters the Unit crosses space and time, summoned by the fighters and if the fighter agrees to it, a Diffride occurs and they become one being. You, for example." he turned to Chrono. "Chronojet Dragon and you." his attention was trained on Aichi. "Aside from Blaster Blade, cannot Diffride with any other Unit."

"What is their goal?" Kai asked. "Why are Cray's Units desperate enough to come here that they'd use our bodies?"

"Who knows?" Nome shrugged. "I am an observer. Even if I see what is happening, I cannot see inside their hearts. You needn't worry about most of time. Some are simply curious or have an adventurous spirit to see a new world."

"You're saying they're here as tourists?" Kamui wondered.

"That might be the case." Nome agreed.

"Like the late Miguel Torres and 'Rindo Gentian Musketeer, Antero'." Ami mused. She sighed when she saw the gaping looks the others were giving her. "After Miguel died and the Diffride came undone, 'Antero' pleaded to me not to be returned to Cray: he had sworn an Eternal Protection Vow to 'Ranunculus of Searing Heart, Ahsha's Vanguard."

"Tokoha?" Chrono echoed.

"Yes." Ami nodded. "He activated 'The Musketeer Code'; I had no choice but to agree."

"However," Nome turned their attention back. "Exceptions exist everywhere."

"Onimaru Kazumi." Ibuki frowned.

"Bullseye." Nome beamed. "The Units that is his Avatar is 'Stealth Dragon, Shiranui', succeeded in Diffriding without Kazumi's consent and has taken his place. Onimaru Kazumi has no say in the matter. What you see is Shiranui itself, who has simply taken Onimaru Kazumi's form. Almost all the Units that live on the Planet Cray are under the divine protection of their creator, the Messiah. This remains the same even when they cross space and time to Diffride. However, Shiranui has cut itself from that protection. And though some means unknown, succeeded in Diffriding. And just the other day, guided by Shiranui, one more evil soul came to this world and Diffrided with a fighter: Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon, Hoshizaki Noa's favorite Unit."

"Chaos Breaker..." Kai hissed, recalling what had happened during Link Joker. Ami rested a comforting hand on his clutched fist, the brunette took in a breath and released the fist.

"There's no way those guys would come here just to visit." Kamui concluded, ignoring the couple's byplay. "What are they planning? Are the guys on Onimaru's team their allies?"

"What's wrong with you?" Chrono demanded after Nome simply shrugged. "You're talking as if this has nothing to do with you. If you know about something as important as this, you should have said so sooner."

"If you had asked, I would have." Nome assured. "I would tell you and Onimaru Kazumi. Anyone at all. I am an observer, you see. I'm not on anyone's side, I'm not anyone's enemy. My role is to do nothing. The power of destiny surrounding the two worlds, the truth of the universe; these concepts are too big for us puny humans to understand. An absolute power, similar to the law of physics, Vanguard has moved to a level where even we can understand it and by imaging, we can transform truth and destiny Sendou Aichi, with your peerless imaging, you can listen to your Units' prayer through your Vanguard. You have the power of guide destiny. And Shindou Chrono, you yourself have no special power. However, the connection you have formed with your Units, have become a singularity. We Tatsunagi are the concert masters. We have given you, who play the music of destiny a starting note. That is our only duty. The previous head of the family, my younger brother was not content with that. His abilities were too strong and he was too kind. Because of this, he caused further disruption to this world. You Vanguard fighters are the only ones who can change destiny. To know what the Diffriders' goals are, you will have to seek them out ourselves. For now, the Units affiliated with the fighters in the second stage have no evil presence. In the U20 from now, you can safely assume that there will be no more like Hoshizaki Noa."

"I see." Ibuki noted.

"However, I cannot believe Shiranui and the others would enter U20 without some purpose in mind." Nome noted. "If you wish to continue, please be careful." with another snap of his fingers, he reverted the room back to normal.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked, having dropped off Aichi and Kamui at Misaki's place after dropping off Chrono and Ibuki by the roadside.

"Nothing." Ami looked out of the car window, Kai having taken a second trip back to the Tatsunagi mansion to pick her up.

"What was so serious that you have to kick all of us out just to ask Tatsunagi Nome about?" Kai was not convinced.

"Toshiki, just..." Ami sighed. "Let it go for now, please. Tatsunagi Nome gave me an ambiguous answer and I need time to dig into Isis' memories to confirm my suspicions."

"Very well." Kai relented, the rest of the drive back to Misaki's place was in relative silence.

"We'll be going now." Kai informed the gathered group as he and Ami prepared to take off.

"Sorry, I'm counting on you." Ibuki apologized.

"You're still feeling guilty about Link Joker." Ami concluded, once they entered the rented car.

Kai simply remained silent as he drove them to the airport.

At the rather deserted airport...

"I've decided." Arata stood up from the chair he was sitting on. "Let's search for Noa. We can't just go back without him. I don't know what happened to him, but we can't leave him."

"You're right." Makoto agreed. "We're destined teammates after all."

"We're going to search for Hoshizaki Noa." Kai approached the shell-shocked teenagers.

"And so you boys know, I won't be sticking around for long." Ami added. "My winter semester starts next week."

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.