NOTE: Sorry this took so long, real life is a pain. Also, updating other stories as well.

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 18: Blossomed Time

Tokoha Anjou sat at her desk in her room. In front of her was a piece of paper, drawing utensils laying on her desk. She was attempting to draw something that had been appearing in her dreams recently. On the paper was a decently drawn woman, in a green leafy dress, and in her hands was a large orange scythe.

The emerald haired girl scratched her brain in thought. "I've never seen this person before, but I feel like I know her if that makes any sense," Tokoha thought. Ever since she saw that pillar of light a week ago that person kept appearing in her dreams. The woman's mouth would always be moving, but nothing ever came out as if she was muted.

"Ugh! This doesn't make any sense! I doubt anyone else ever has to deal with weird dreams or visions!" Tokoha exclaimed, irritated. Getting up from her desk, she exited her room to see her Dad watching TV in the kitchen. He watched the news with little interest, his hand moving around a small ring.

The sight made Tokoha's heart clench, remembering the first time she ever saw her Father breakdown being the death of her mother and brother. If any good came out of the traumatic event, the two of them became a lot closer than they were before. Her Dad showed her many different sides that only her mother has ever seen.

Tokoha noticed a large pile of mail sitting by the door, she walked towards it and started going through it. "Hey, Dad. How come you haven't gone through the mail yet?" Tokoha asked.

His head turned to look at her. "Ah, it's nothing but junk mail. No need to give it any attention," He replied and turned back to the news.

Shrugging her shoulders, she grabbed a recyclable bag and started to throw the mail into it. Tokoha knew the importance of recycling paper, something she had to keep reminding her brother when he was still around. Her process stopped when she came face-to-face with a strange looking piece of paper.

"Card Capital Vanguard Shop Tournament?" Tokoha scanned the flier. She had no idea there was a Vanguard tournament going on. Her eyes landed on the date and she frowned, seeing that it had already passed. "Dad! How come you didn't tell me about this!?" Tokoha questioned her father.

He saw the flier in her hand and made an "O" shape with his mouth. "I...uh...forgot to tell you about that. A weird green haired guy handed me that flier on my way to work. I was going to tell you, but you had decided to go to school when it was happening," He explained.

Tokoha cursed her mentality of wanting to be a good student for the first time in her life. She gave another glance at the flier, before snapping her fingers at her idea. "Maybe the shop is still open! Vanguard does seem like a good way to get that dream out of my head," Tokoha decided. She finished putting the old mail into the bag, and grabbed her jacket off the coat rack.

"I'm gonna head out Dad!" She hugged her father, which he returned.

"Be safe."

"I will," She rushed out the front door. Hopping on her bike, Tokoha took off towards the address written on flier.

"I-Is the place closed?" Tokoha questioned. Seeing as there was nobody inside of the shop and the lights were off, it was safe to assume that the shop was closed. "And I came all this way for nothing, great," Tokoha slumped onto her handlebars. "Maybe I could head over to Kumi's place," Tokoha was about to take out her phone just as a green van pulled up in front of the store.

The side door of the van opened up and a girl with brown hair hopped out of it. Her face brightened up at the sight of the Card Shop.

"Ah! It feels great to see the actual Card Capital again," Emi clapped her hands. Following her was a girl equal in height and two large twin drills in her hair. Tokoha silently gasped, recognizing the older girl as Rekka Tatsunagi of Ultra Rare.

"Eh, it still feels a bit too cramped for me," Rekka shrugged.

"You can always find a different shop to go to, Rekka," Misaki replied, getting out of the van.

"Is that Misaki Tokura from Q4!? I didn't know she cut her hair!" Tokoha silently gasped.

"Nah, that would involve dealing with too many unfamiliar people," The idol replied. Rekka didn't like getting swamped by people, unless she was doing her job.

"Haha, it may be small, but Card Capital carries many memories within it," Shin added as he stepped up next to the girls.

"Who is the weird old guy?" Tokoha questioned.

Shin turned around to the open side door of the van. "You got anything to add?" He asked the other person who was still inside the vehicle. To her surprise the last person was someone else she didn't know. He looked to be around her age with red swirly hair. The strangest head of hair she's ever seen in her life.

"It has a homey feel to it, I guess," Chrono answered. His eyes looked over and he noticed Tokoha sitting there on her bike. The others soon followed his gaze and spotted Tokoha sitting there.

"Uh...hi?" Tokoha waved her hand, nervously.

"May I ask what you are doing here?" Misaki asked, immediately.

"O-Oh! I was just wondering if this Card Shop was open. I didn't mean to intrude on your conversation," Tokoha explained.

"Ah, sorry. We're closed right now, maybe tom-" Misaki was cut off by her uncle jumping in front of her.

"Sure! Come on in, I'm the manager of Card Capital! I don't see a problem with you looking around. Chrono, keep her company while we all talk upstairs," Shin said.

"Huh? Me? Wh-"

"Ok, good!" Shin then proceeded to push the girls inside of the store, much to their protests of getting shoved. This left Chrono and Tokoha outside in silence for a moment.

The swirly boy rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Uh, come in, I guess," He walked into the shop. Tokoha chained her bike up outside and followed the boy inside of the store.

"So, your name is Chrono, huh?" Tokoha decided to start up a conversation. Since entering the store and looking around a bit, she got tired of Chrono just sitting there watching her in silence.

"Yeah, didn't catch yours," He answered.

"My name's Tokoha Anjou. Nice to meet you," She gave a kurt bow.

"Yeah sure."

Her eyebrow twitched at the boy's dismissal of her. Seeing that he decided to stare at the wall once more she moved to sit down right next to him.

"So, how long have you worked here?"

"Too young to work."

"Any family that works here?"

"No."

"Are you close to the manager here?"

"Why is that any of your business?"

"Rude little bastard!" Tokoha was doing her absolute best to keep her anger under control. Chrono had to be the rudest boy she's ever met in her life, it's as if he'd rather be doing anything other than talking to her. Too stubborn to give up, she tried one last thing.

"Do you play Vanguard?"

His head twitched to her direction, eliciting a confident smirk from Tokoha. "You didn't answer my question."

"Yeah, though I only recently started playing the game. I've only ever fought Misaki, the one with lilac hair," Chrono explained.

Hopping out of her seat so suddenly, Chrono was startled a bit. The emerald haired girl grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the fight tables. However, Tokoha realized something at that moment.

"I forgot my deck at home!" Tokoha cried out.

"You could just use one of the trial decks that they keep here. I'll go get one," Chrono walked into the backroom, having been shown around beforehand by Misaki. He came back with a few decks in hand.

"Choose which one you want?" Chrono handed them to her. Tokoha picked up each one and scanned them over.

"Alright, I'll take this one," It was a Neo Nectar deck. Tokoha wasn't too sure as to why she chose the clan specifically, but it just resonated with her.

"Neo...Nectar…" Chrono said, slowly. "Ugh…" He gripped his head feeling another headache coming. Something began to flash within his mind, images of a woman in a green dress with a giant orange scythe. Opening his eyes Chrono noticed that he was no longer standing within Card Capital, but in a luscious field of flowers and grass.

"W-Where am I?" Chrono asked. This was utterly similar to what happened during his fight with Misaki. His eyes scanned the open field, seeing the woman from the flashes standing there within the field. She was knelt down by some budding plants, her hands touched each one, allowing them to blossom into flowers. Slowly she stood up and turned to face Chrono.

"Chrono."

"Huh?"

"Guide her, Chrono."

"What are you talking about?" He asked. However, she didn't answer his question. The woman turned around and began walking away from him. Still wanting an answer from her, Chrono gave chase.

"Hey! HEY!" Chrono tried to reach for her, but at the last moment the ground underneath him gave way, sending him falling into the void.

"CHRONO!"

"HUH!?" The swirly boy gasped and clutched his heart. His eyes frantically searched around to figure out where he was, only to realize he was back inside of Card Capital. In front of him was Tokoha with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you ok, Chrono?" She asked, softly.

Blinking a bit, he took a few deep breaths before answering. "Y-Yeah, we can start our fight," He told her.

"If you're sure," She walked back over to the other side of the table and began shuffling her deck. He stood there watching her, taking in everything about Tokoha. The way she shuffled her cards and the way her eyes suddenly grew focused.

"Guide her, Chrono."

Taking out his own deck, Chrono stared at Chronojet Dragon. He could feel the card pulsating as if wanting to tell him something. Shaking his head, he began shuffling his deck to prepare for the fight with Tokoha.

"Yeah, I'll guide her," He said, softly. The two had their starting Vanguards placed on the VC.

"STAND UP, VANGUARD!"

Chapter End

NOTE: Shin's actions will be explained.

I did want to start this chapter with Chrono and his adoptive family picking up Emi and Rekka, but it just didn't flow like I wanted it to. Emi and Chrono will have interactions soon enough. I do hope you guys liked seeing Tokoha and Shion will also get his turn eventually.

Sorry that this chapter was so short, I'm just not feeling very good and wanted to get something out that wasn't an interlude. Next chapter will be longer and include a fight, so look forward to that.

Review and have a nice day.