Hello and welcome back to 'Our Fight'!

So, anyone else excited for this week's episode? I know I am! And from the looks of it, we'll finally get some background on Rive and Ryuzu. (Sigh.) These 'Author Notes' are not as long as they used to be...

Written: 7/2/16- Sweet Clockwork! I'm cutting the deadline WAY too close again. No seriously. I only finished this chapter about 5 minutes after I watched this week's episode. (Sigh...) I need to manage my time better... At least I finished it! So no late update! (Those scare me...)

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Cardfight Vanguard' in any way what-so-ever.

Started: 6/28/16-Finished: 7/2/16

...

Tokoha squeezed her unconscious brother's hand in concern, hope and fear. Concern for his condition, hope for his recovery and that he would soon wake up, and fear for their present situation in their fight against Ryuzu and Company.

It's been almost a full day since the Dragon Empire Branch was destroyed by Company, and all the Branch Chiefs- Plus Ibuki and Mamoru- that were present in the building were all hospitalized with broken bones and injuries. The only reason why the Neo Nectar user wasn't in a hospital bed was because her elder brother had protected her from falling the falling pieces of the roof and...

Tokoha shivered at the memory. She never felt so scared of something in her entire life, and the fact that it was supposed to be impossible didn't help with that. But after seeing that Unit being summoned into their world, by Luna was just... terrifying. No, that only added to the terror that was presently in her. Earlier that day yesterday, she and Shion were called by Chrono's aunt, Mikuru, who was frantically asking where the Gear Chronicle user was and if they had seen him. And to say that the two cardfighters were sent into a panic was an understatement. They had literally dropped what they were doing- Which was playing Go Fish, for some odd reason instead of Vanguard, while they were waiting for Chrono- and searched every place they could think of that he might be at. But there was no trace of him anywhere.

Tokoha wanted to continue searching for her friend, she really did, but Shion insisted that it would be best not to. While her brother is in the hospital, Mamoru would need all her support to recover. Meanwhile, Shion and his... friends would look all over the city for Chrono. She just hoped that they would find him soon.

Because something told her something terrible would soon occur if they didn't.

"Still no sign of him?"

"No... Sorry Shion..."

"It's alright Taiyou. Still, if you find him please call me right away."

"Ok. Bye."

"Bye." Taiyou pocketed his phone after a click sounded from it, signaling the end of the call, before sighing. It's been a day since Chrono had disappeared and they still where nowhere close to finding him. Not to mention that every time the Gold Paladin user tried to call him, it would either go to voicemail or not connect at all. And as if that wasn't worrying enough, the Dragon Empire Branch was destroyed yesterday. And from what he heard, it was destroyed by the same thing that demolished the United Sanctuary Branch: A Unit.

'Just what is going on?' Thought the cardfighter. Just a week ago everything was normal. He'd go to the United Sanctuary Branch to help around and play with the cardfighters there, other times he would visit Chrono and the others at the Dragon Empire Branch and play Vanguard, or just hang out with his friends in general.

He was so deep in thought that he never noticed the man in front of him. That is, until he bumped into him.

"Ah!" Exclaimed Taiyou in surprise, falling down on the sidewalk. "Ow..."

"Are you alright?" Asked the blue-haired stranger in concern. Taiyou blinked in confusion.

"Um, yes. I'm alright." He answered- Shouldn't it be him asking that question?- as he stood up. "I'm sorry for running into you." The stranger smiled.

"No, it's alright." Their expression then turned one into interest as they caught sight of Taiyou's Vanguard deck. "You also play Vanguard?"

"Yes." Said Taiyou before processing what the man in front of him said. "Wait, also? Do you play Vanguard." The stranger smiled as they pulled out a deck.

"Yup. It's nice to finally meet you Taiyou." Said person took a double take.

"Wha...?" Taiyou stuttered. "H- how do you know my name?"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" They said panicked. "I didn't mean to surprise you. Don't worry, I'm a friend." Taiyou looked at the cardfighter warily. They didn't look to have bad intentions and they were friendly. Also, for some reason, he had the feeling that's he's seen this stranger before.

"... Who... are you?" Taiyou asked cautiously. The stranger gave him a small smile.

"I'm Aichi Sendou." He said, his smile widening at Taiyou's shocked expression. "It's nice to meet you."

"AUGH!" Shouted Emellanna in frustration before slamming her head on the tree trunk in front of her. "We are literally getting nowhere with this!" Next to her En-narda sighed.

"It's only been two days since we started." She said. "We still have a long way to go before we figure this out."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Besides," En-narda gestured to the darkening sky. "It's getting late. We should head back."

"Yeah." Emellanna said as she started for the ruins. Like the Steam Mage had said, it's been two days since they- along with a hand full of other Gear Chronicle Units- started their investigation into the reasons for the capture of the Units of Cray. And to say that they were getting nowhere with the investigation was an understatement. There was literally no trace of any clues to help them solve this problem. Not to mention that the Units that were currently captured had no connection to one another and that they didn't share any specific abilities or rank within their respective Clans.

"Do you think anyone else found anything?" Asked En-narda.

"I'm pretty sure if we didn't find anything, they didn't either." Replied the Steam Scalar before smirking. "I mean, we ARE the best at searching for things, right?" En-narda gave a small smile at that before blinking.

"Did you hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?"

"It's sounds like... arguing?" Emellanna was about to ask what she meant before she saw the source of the noise. Chronojet and Ruin Disposal were standing outside of the Dark Zone's Ruins with Ragnaclock, all of which were arguing with something at their feet. Running over to them, En-narda waved to them.

"Hey guys!" She yelled, catching their attention. "What's going on?" Ruin Disposal growled.

"This shrimp here just won't take 'no' for an answer!" He said, pointing a finger at the... small human standing next to him!?

"Wha?!" Shouted the Steam Scalar as she pointed a finger at the boy in front of her. "Another human?! He better not be with Ryuzu!" The yellow-eyed boy blinked.

"Ryuzu?" The boy asked. "Who is this Ryuzu?"

"No one you need to know brat!" Shouted Ragnaclock. En-narda then jumped up to the elder's head and delivered a punch to him. "OW! What was that for?!"

"You may be an elder, but you shouldn't just yell at people you just meet!... You did just meet, right?" She added as an after thought. The boy nodded.

"Yes, we did." He calmly said. "It's nice to meet a Gear Chronicle Unit that doesn't yell as soon as they see me." He finished, looking at the remaining Units around the two.

"I see..." En-narda said before looking at the boy. "I'm Steam Mage, En-narda. May I ask who you are and why you are here." The stranger smiled.

"My name is Takuto." He replied before turning serious. "And I'm here to find out why Units all over Cray have gone missing."

...

You know, throughout this entire chapter I was only listening and looping the 'Nightcore' version of 'Memories' by 'EarlyRise'. (I'm only adding the artist's name because there are multiple songs with the same name.) And that song felt- no, it think it PERFECTLY fits this story. If it doesn't seem to fit it, then in future chapters it might start to. (Few minutes later.) Forget what I said before, I suddenly switched to the HetaOni soundtrack- Some with lyrics, which also felt fitting. (Another few minutes later.) And now we have Game Theory Live. Which didn't feel fitting... REPEAT!

So that was 'Chapter 14: Paladins' Meeting'! Hope you all enjoyed it! Coming up with chapter titles is still hard! Mostly because I don't want to reuse the same words used in one chapter's title for another one's. Other than that I'm doing just fine with this story.

Review Responses-

Grima- Grima, I completely agree with you. For everyone's sake, let's hope that they do. (Read: Vague and foreboding response is vague and foreboding.- Bursts out laughing at this.)

DaRk ZeRo-92- Thank you! And I'll keeping going until this story is done! (I swear this is the exact same response I gave to Yukomin for their review...)

Amelia dragneel15- Thanks! And lo and behold, they do confront each other this chapter! Seriously, thanks for reminding me about Takuto. His presence is really helping me in putting together and filling in the plot holes in this story.

D C JoKeR H S- Thank you! And so many hugs back to you!

BlueGemini (Guest)- Wha... Seriously!? That's so cool I made someone's dream fic! This review boosted my motivation when writing this week's chapter. Thank you!

Reaction Corner- First off, I'm surprised at how different Shin was back then. And... poor Ryuzu. (Never thought I would say that.) His, probably, only friend was killed when he was just a kid. Also, OH MY WORLDS! We get to see what Chrono's mom looks like! At least now we know where Chrono gets his curl.

On a side note, we finally have long paragraphs that don't include much talking back again! In my opinion, these add a lot more to how the characters grow during all this and helps show how bad/ serious the situation is.

Until The Next Raid!