Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL - Secret of the Numbers

Welp, this is my suckish attempt at a ZeXaL fan fic. I could do better, it's just that I'm recently getting back into writing, so expect at least a progression in quality improving.

Well now, I'm somewhat worried by the lack of responses, but sure, why not. I'll just post a second chapter to a nonexistent audience. Jeez, even Fan Fiction.net had the decency to leave a review. >_>

_______


"We're here!!" Yuma jumped up and down, running around a statue that depicted a mighty sorcerer that was the most legendary Monster of all time; Dark Magician. "Now I can get better at dueling and all that! Yes!!" the boy shouted with excitement before two objects suddenly zipped by the sides of Yuma's head, nearly cutting his ears! "What the!?" he shouted in panic, seeing the two shurikens stab into the ground.

"Whoa..." Todoroki picked up one of the shurikens, staring at the every detail of it. "Wow, Yuma. Had you moved your head an inch to the right or left, you would've gotten quite the cut on your ear!"

"W-wah!?!?" Yuma panicked and began to run in circles. "Okay, never mind, I don't want to be here!!"

"What are you kids doing here?!" an old man's voice rang out and Yuma stopped, looking in the direction of the building. A man of no older than 60 years walked out of the building with a deck in his hand, along with a readied Duel Disk. His attire appeared to be a torn and ragged old Gi, as if he’d lived through hundreds of experiences with it. The duel disk on his arm appeared to be a standard D-Pad colored green. He had a grayish mustache with several beard bristles growing along his jawline, and even his eyebrows are of a gray shade. The man was bald-headed, and had green eyes. The old man observed the children that were standing there, and noticed Yuma especially. "You, the one wearing a D-Pad already!" the man boomed.

"Me?" Yuma asked, pointing at himself.

"Yes. Explain yourself. Tell me what is it that you all seek in coming here" the man said, cocking an eyebrow.

"What do we seek coming here? I want to grow stronger... I need to grow stronger!" Yuma said in response to the man's question.

"That is the wrong answer, child!" the man flung a shuriken at Yuma, and he just barely managed to avoid it.

"How's that the wrong answer!? Isn't that what everyone looks for when they get here!?" Yuma questioned.

"No, child. See, this is why I stopped accepting students into my dojo! Look at all of you! Your only reasons to be here are either to grow in strength, or to just be here to aggravate me!" the man responded. He was about to turn away, but then Yuma immediately ran towards the man.

"No, I'm here for more than just growing stronger, I have reasons for it!" Yuma argued, raising his D-Pad. "You believe that a Duelist can read the heart of another through a Duel, right? Well, we've both got our D-Pads out, so I challenge you to a duel!" the boy insisted.

"Yuma... what happened to you last night...?" Kotori whispered, unable to remember the events of last night, other than how Yuma saved her from a truck that almost ran her over, and yet he escaped just fine the next moment she could think of.

"Yuma..." Tetsuo muttered before looking away from the red-haired boy.

"Go get him, Yuma!" Todoroki cheered.

"...Humph, fine. I haven't had me a Duel in a long time, so if I wipe the floor with you, it's only because I haven't dueled in a long while..." the man said with a grin on his face as he placed his D-Gazer over his right eye, as well as Yuma. Both their D-Pads then released a platform-shaped blade, similar to that of a Duel Disk and their Decks were automatically shuffled. "Duel!" both Duelists declared.

Yuma: 4000
Enemy: 4000

"Before I win, you have to tell me your name, old man" Yuma raised an eyebrow, recently realizing that he never learned the older man's name in the first place.

"It doesn't matter at this point. I'll start!" the man drew his opening hand of five cards, and then swiped a sixth card off the top of his deck.

Turn 1

"First, I'll Set a Monster in face-down Defense Position!" a strange, reverse-sided horizontal card appeared in front of the man. "Next, I'll set two cards face-down and end my turn!" the man pointed at Yuma. "This is only the beginning of the terrors that await you..."

Turn 2
“All you have is a set Monster and two set Spells or Trap cards, that's not gonna scare me!" Yuma swiped the sixth card off the top of his deck and grinned. "Alright, I'll start off by summoning Goblindbergh!" he commanded as three air planes piloted by goblins suddenly hovered overhead with an object contained inside of a large chunk of steel carried between the three.

Goblindbergh: 1400 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

"When this card is summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or Lower Monster in my hand!" Yuma exclaimed happily as he revealed a Monster card in his hand. "So, I'll Special Summon the Level 4 Gagaga Magician!" he instructed as the three airplanes dropped the container of steel and it split apart, revealing Yuma's trusty spellcaster who was swinging his chains around.

Gagaga Magician: 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

"Two Level 4 Monsters?!" Todoroki noted. "Is he going to try to Xyz Summon a Numbers!?"

"..." Tetsuo clenched his fists quietly, feeling a spark of anger towards the word "Numbers" for some odd reason.

"Go Yuma!" Kotori cheered on.

"Yeah! I'll bring it to'em!" Yuma shouted but then suddenly his Goblindbergh grunted. "W-what the?" the three goblins all grunted as a light surrounded their body.

"Sorry, kiddo, but I used my Ninja Art: Conversion Jutsu. When the opponent Special Summons a Monster, I can change the Levels of all Monsters on your side of the field. Hm... what shall I say..." the man then grinned. "I'll change their Levels to 1!" the light then surrounded all of Yuma's Monsters and they all began to shrink.

"W-wha!? Why me!?" Yuma cried out, now having lost his chance to summon his Ace, No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope.

Gagaga Magician: 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 1

Goblindbergh: 1400 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 1

"I'll set one card. When Goblindbergh special summons a Monster through his own effect, he's switched to defense position" Yuma explained as the three airplane-riding goblins hopped out of their air planes and huddled together.

Goblindbergh: 0 DEF / 1400 ATK | Level 1

"Battle! Gagaga Magician, attack the facedown Monster! Gagaga Magic!" Yuma commanded as his spellcaster dashed into action, running towards the set Monster Card while throwing a punch at it.

"How naive of you, Yuma!" the man laughed as the set Monster flipped up. "White Ninja's a Monster with only 800 Defense Points, however, he has a FLIP effect! When he's been flipped up, he destroys one Defense Position Monster on your side of the field!" a white-colored ninja was struck by Gagaga Magician, and the ninja grunted. Then the ninja threw a storm of shurikens in the direction of Goblindbergh!

“Goblindbergh!” Yuma called out as the shurikens all pierced the airplanes and their goblin pilots. They all shattered into multiple pixels all at once afterwards.

“Anything else, kid, or would you like to attack me again?” the man asked with a grin across his face.

“T-turn end!” Yuma declared.

Turn 3

“My turn, draw!” the man swiped a new card off the top of his deck and viewed it. “First, I’ll Normal Summon my Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke!” the man commanded as a silver-armored ninja digitalized onto the field with a grunt, raising his kunai knives at the young boy and Gagaga Magician.

Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke: 1800 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

“Next, I activate a Trap Card known as Ninja Art – Smoke Signal Call! Whenever I summon Monster with “Ninja” in it’s name, I can Special Summon yet another one from my hand. Reveal yourself, Lady Ninja Yae!” the man commanded as the wind swirled around his body, rushing into blinding gusts which eventually calmed, revealing a female ninja with green hair, a red scarf, and a purple bodysuit.

Lady Ninja Yae: 1100 ATK / 200 DEF | Level 3

“Two Monsters in one turn?!” Yuma commented in surprise.

“One of them is still weaker than Gagaga Magician. If Yuma can manage to deal with Grandmaster Sasuke, he’s in the clear this turn” Todoroki commented with a grin before pushing his spectacles up his nose.

“It looks that way, but it might not be as easy as you make it” Tetsuo commented.

“I now use Lady Ninja’s special effect. By ditching a WIND-Attribute Monster in my hand, I can return all Spells and Traps that you own, Yuma!” the man exclaimed as he revealed yet another copy of Lady Ninja Yae and placed it into his discard pile.

“Wah! My Trap card!” Yuma accidentally announced as the female ninja spun around in rapid gyrations and took on the form of a tornado. She then ripped towards the set card on Yuma’s side of the field, and the boy proceeded to take the card back into his hand.

“Now that I have you disarmed, I use my Star Change Instant Magic! During this turn, I can either increase or decrease the Level of a Monster I control by 1. Know what? I feel like increasing my Lady Ninja by 1 Level!” he pointed at her, and the female suddenly grew taller by a few inches with a more mature face on her body.

Lady Ninja Yae: 1100 ATK / 200 DEF | Level 4

“I’ll Overlay the Level 4 Lady Ninja Yae and Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke!” a brown and a green energy emit from the two ninjas as they leaped and spiraled around the field. A large red gate opened up between the two Duelists as the man said “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct an overlay network! Xyz Summon!” the red gate exploded with energy, revealing a tall, tall man covered up entirely by blue armor. The blue armor had a gentle glint against the sunlight as the man then stood tall, appearing to be taller than Gagaga Magician by two or so feet. In the armored man’s hands were two swords. On the sides were sheaths that complimented the swords, as well as chains that wrapped around his body in an X-like shape.

“Meet my Grandmaster Ninja – Bruce!” the man grinned as the armored ninja raised its arms, ready to combat Gagaga Magician.

Grandmaster Ninja – Bruce: 2200 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“Battle! Grandmaster, strike down that Gagaga Magician!” he commanded as the ninja sprung into action, leaping above Gagaga Magician and threw several thousand shuriken in the direction of the mage. The mage immediately leaped towards the shuriken to fend them off, but they all were too much for him, eventually shredding him into tiny pixels while several of them flew past Yuma’s head!

“W-wah!” Yuma immediately ducked as several more passed by his head.

Yuma: 3300 Life Points

“Now my Grandmaster’s special ability activates! By removing an Overlay Unit, he can take one Monster in your graveyard that he destroyed in battle!” the man grinned as he took a card away from beneath the black-framed card on his Duel Disk and placed it into the discard pile. The ninja grunted as one of the bits of energy spiraling around him entered his chain and the chain around the ninja’s waist suddenly sprung to life.

Grandmaster Ninja – Bruce: 2200 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 1

“You can what?!” Yuma asked in panic as the chain suddenly flew out towards his graveyard, wrapping around a virtual image of Gagaga Magician. The spellcaster Yuma summoned was then dragged out and then placed onto his opponent’s side of the field.

Gagaga Magician: 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

“My new Gagaga Magician, attack your old master directly!” the man laughed as Gagaga Magician immediately swung his chains and dashed towards Yuma. “Gagaga Magic!” he commanded.

“G-Gagaga!” Yuma panicked as the spellcaster threw a punch at him, sending a magical force that pushed him back several inches. “G-guh! This is what Gagaga’s attacks are like?” he questioned before looking at the man.

Yuma: 1800 Life Points

“Hehehe, I’ll end my turn” the man said with a smirk across his face.

Turn 4

“Yuma…” Astral said, suddenly materializing beside the young boy.

“What?” Yuma looked at Astral.

“You have this game as good as won” the spirit commented.

“How’d you figure that?!” Yuma questioned in surprise before looking at the cards in his hand.

“You only need to draw a card that will allow you to manipulate an opponent’s Monster, and you’ll have won the duel” Astral commented, crossing his arms.

“Really?” Yuma questioned as he placed his hand at the top of his deck. If he’s right… then I gotta get lucky! I gotta draw that card! Yuma closed his eyes as the wind whistled. “My turn! Draw!” Yuma leaped into the air and swiped the top card of his deck, staring at it for a moment with a grin. “I activate the effect of Fallen Cone from my hand! During this turn, I’ll ditch Growing Pinecone in my hand in order to Special Summon the little guy!!” he said excitedly as a small acorn on legs appeared on the field with a cute little grunt.

Fallen Cone: 200 ATK / 400 DEF | Level 1

“What’re you gonna do with a pathetic little weakling like that?!” the opponent shouted.

“Not to worry, ‘cause whenever my Growing Pinecone is discarded by the effect of Fallen Cone, he’s Special Summoned onto the field!” Yuma’s discard pile glowed with a bright brown energy as a miniature human with a pinecone-shaped body appeared on the field with a smile on its face.

Growing Pinecone: 400 ATK / 200 DEF | Level 1

“Two weaklings. I still don’t get it, kid” the man shrugged.

“I’ll bring it to ya then! I’ll Normal Summon my Needle Swordsman!” Yuma grinned as a miniature female samurai appeared on the field with her sword out, pointed at the man.

Needle Swordsman: 300 ATK / 600 DEF | Level 1

“I’ll Overlay Needle Swordsman, Growing Pinecone, and Fallen Cone! With these three Monsters, I’ll construct the overlay network!” Yuma instructed as two orbs of brown energy and a single orb of green energy gathered into a spiraling red gate that then exploded. “Xyz Summon! Appear now, Baby Tragon!” he commanded as the pink smoke vanished, revealing a cute kitten-like Xyz Monster that had brown and white fur with sharp ears and a single fang which added to it’s cuteness factor. It looked at the ninja grandmaster with its soft pink eyes before letting out a purr.

Baby Tragon: 900 ATK / 900 DEF | Rank 1 | Overlay Units: 3

“Next, I activate Tragon Treasure! During the turn which a Baby Tragon was Xyz Summoned, I can detach an Overlay Unit to draw cards equal to the number of Overlay Units currently on it! After detaching there’s two left!”

“You can draw 2 cards. Go ahead, kid! Summon as many pathetic weaklings as you want!” the man laughed at the boy.

Baby Tragon: 900 ATK / 900 DEF | Rank 1 | Overlay Units: 2

Baby Tragon puffed its cheeks as if it were offended by the taunt. “Heh, I think I’ve got this right where I want it!” Yuma swiped the top three cards from his deck, and then grinned at the three cards he drew. “First, I’ll activate Trag Control! While I control a face-up Baby Tragon, I can detach an Overlay Unit off of it in order to gain control over a Level 4 or Lower Monster on the opponent’s side of the field!”

Baby Tragon: 900 ATK / 900 DEF | Rank 1 | Overlay Units: 1

“Yuma, remember, you can’t control Ninja Grandmaster due to him having a Rank rather than a Leve-“

“I know that, I’m not stupid!” Yuma shouted defiantly as he quickly pointed at Gagaga Magician. “I’m taking back my Gagaga!” he instructed as Baby Tragon’s cute eyes glowed with pink energy and a pink aura surrounded the body of Gagaga Magician. The magician grunted and then leaped back onto Yuma’s side of the field.

“Tch, so you got back your precious Gagaga Magician… you’ve still got a ways to go before you can defeat me!” the man said with a grin across his face.

“I told ya, I got this! I’m winning this turn!” Yuma said with bold confidence as he pointed at Gagaga Magician. “I’ll activate Gagaga Magician’s effect! Once per turn, I can take his Level and change it between Levels 1-8!”

Level-changing? Is this kid going for another Xyz Summon? the man raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll change Gagaga’s Level…” Yuma thought carefully, looking at his hand and then his field. “I’ll change his Level… to 1” he finally decided as Gagaga Magician’s belt revealed it’s current Level – 4 – and it then shifted to only being a single star.

Gagaga Magician: 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 1

“Next, I use Baby Tragon’s effect! Once per turn, by removing an Overlay Unit, a Level 1 Monster on my field can attack directly!” Yuma explained, still grinning as Gagaga Magician grunted and grabbed a hold of Baby Tragon, both monsters preparing their combined attack.

Baby Tragon: 900 ATK / 900 DEF | Rank: 1 | Overlay Units: 0

“Next, I use Unprecedented Wind! Until the next Standby Phase, my Gagaga Magician gains 1000 ATK!” Gagaga Magician grunted as he flew towards the opponent with a fist raised. “Go, Gagaga! Direct Attack!”

Gagaga Magician: 2500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 1

“What the!?” the man’s eyes shot open as Gagaga Magician’s magic force sent him back several meters, and he grunted in disgust.

Opponent: 1500 Life Points

“Trap card open, Cries of the Weak! When a Level 1 Monster attacks an opponent directly, I can add ATK Points to a Monster on my side of the field equal to the amount of Battle Damage you took, plus 300 more ATK Points, until the End Phase of this turn!” Yuma said with the widest grin he ever had on his face. Baby Tragon roared mightily as it grew exponentially with a purple aura around its body, emanating from the trap card’s power.

Baby Tragon: 3700 ATK / 900 DEF | Rank 1 | Overlay Units: 0

“W-wait, you can do what?!” the man’s eyes widened in surprise as the weakling that was once Baby Tragon roared again, staring down angrily at him. "A-A Trap from the hand?!" the man questioned with his eyes widened.

"Yeah, this card can only trigger from the hand if you took a direct attack from a Level 1 Monster, so I gotta thank you got returning it to my hand!" Yuma said with a excited squeal.

"Good one, Yuuumaaa!!" Kotori shouted her cheer while Todoroki did the same. Tetsuo looked as if he were smiling with a soft chuckle.

“I’ll bring it to’em! Go, Baby Tragon! Baby Stream!!!” Yuma pointed at the Xyz Monster that opposed him, and Baby Tragon puffed it’s cheeks, charging an orange-colored energy stream that shot out at Ninja Grandmaster – Bruce. The Ninja grunted in pain as the attack completely pierced through him, shattering him into tiny pixels and the attack landed it’s hit on the opponent!

“AHHH!!” the man shouted as the attack took him off his feet and sent him flyng back a few feet while his Life Points reached 0. A screen appeared, declaring Yuma as the winner with even a fanfare to celebrate his victory!

“Yes!! I did it!!” Yuma jumped up and down with excitement as the virtual world around the two Duelists and their viewers broke down pixel by pixel.

“I lost…” the man said, almost appearing surprised as he slowly got up onto his feet, fists clenched.

“E-er… sorry” Yuma said with a sweat drop at the back of his head as he chuckled nervously.

“Yuuuumaaa! That was a good one!” Kotori said excitedly with a smile on her face.

“So it looks like you’re not entirely useless without Numbers!” Todoroki said jokingly.

“…I’m gonna kill ya!” Yuma shouted before looking at Tetsuo. “Hey, got anything to say to my mad skills!?”

“Yeah… good one” Tetsuo responded, grinning as he pet Yuma. “But you still can’t beat me!”

“Hey, I’ll beat ya when I feel like it!” Yuma retaliated.

“Yuma Tsukumo… you are a lot like your father, like Haru said you were…” the man said with a grin on his face before fixing himself up. “I see, that’s interesting…” he shook his head and then pointed at Yuma.

“You know my father!?” Yuma’s eyes shot open as he heard what the man said.

“Yes, because… I was the one who taught him to Duel! I am… Juuro Yukita!” the man explained with a wide grin on his face. “You’ve inherited your father’s Deck and Dueling Prowess, I’m quite impressed, but you’re still a ways to go before you can become the Duel Champion you claim you want to be!”

“W-what!? You saw me kick your butt with Baby Tragon, how can you just say I’m still not skillfull!?” Yuma whined.

“Did you not consider how I had nothing to set, Yuma?” Juuro pointed out.

“…You mean…” Yuma’s grin suddenly began to fade away.

“Yes. I had a trick or two in my hand, but I decided to see what exactly you were made of. Had I set the cards I would have, you’d have lost that duel” Juuro explained as he revealed two cards in particular. “Magic Cylinder is a Trap that not only negates an attack, but inflicts Effect Damage equal to the attack power of the Monster whose attack was negated. Had you found your way into destroying it, I would have used Ninja Art – Paper Bomb, a Trap that inflicts damage to the opponent equal to the number of Monsters on the field x800, if a Trap Card was destroyed in the first place” Juuro revealed the effects with a grin.

“Y-you’re kidding me… you mean… you held back…?” Yuma asked, appearing almost hopeless. Am I really that bad that he held back… just to see what I’d do…? Yuma’s thoughts raced as he tried to swallow the words he just heard.

“Yuma…” Kotori looked at the boy with a sorry appearance on her face.

“Oh, but don’t worry about it, kid! I’ll have you hone your skills here, at my dojo, also known as The Dueling Lodge!” the man said with an excited grin on his face.

“Really!?” Yuma’s face suddenly changed to that of excitement before he suddenly leaped and shouted “Wahoo! I’m gonna bring it to’em with more skills!”

Kotori sweat dropped. I still can’t understand his love for dueling…

Observation Number 13: Humans are easy to excite, even when they’ve been hurt… Astral crossed his arms, closing his eyes after he made that mental note.

________

Author's Note: Still getting into writing for Yuma moments... *Shudders*

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own ZeXaL, at all. If I did, Shark would be the main character and winning duels left and right like a f**king bad ass.

its awesome! you must have put alot of time and effort into this, but...ninja grandmaster bruce..LOL

tetsuo seems to be getting a weird degree of attention in the story

could it be...well who knows your the writer

LOL...no replies so far -.-

...Y'all are serious, right? I get ZERO responses, other than a double-post? Jeez, thanks, I feel so loved. Anyhoo, third Chapter, fresh and ready!
_______________________

Chapter 3: Hunter of the Night, Kaito Tenjo

Echoing whistling amidst the night. A single man panted and shouted, running as fast as he could in his ragged and torn jeans and muscle shirt. The whistling didn’t stop, no matter how far away he ran. “W-who the hell is there!?” the man shouted before continuing to run. His eyes shot open as he almost ran into a woman, and avoided her, yet she seemed unfazed.

“What the hell…?” the man looked at her, waving a hand in front of her face. Nothing, not even a single response from her, no matter how close his hand was to her face. The man looked around, seeing cars and trucks that didn’t move, and yet their lights still shone brightly. Perhaps they were parked? “The hell kind of set up is this?!” the man looked around, grunting as he quickly made a run for it again.

“Keep running, my prey… this only makes the hunt that much fun…” a voice said as if he enjoyed chasing the man.

“Stop it!” the man shouted, quickly running into a run-down building, panting hard and loud. A shiver slid down his back as he could hear the whistling begin again. They echoed into his ears, triggering the sweat glands on his body. “Dammit!” the man cursed as he looked around, trying to secure his location. “Where are you?!” he demanded to no avail. The whistling continued, and nothing he said would get it to stop. “Where the hell are you, ya idiot!?” he shouted once more as the whistling still continued to echo.

Suddenly, the whistling stopped “I’m right behind you…” a light suddenly shone, and the man leaped forward and turned, seeing a blond-haired young boy who couldn’t have been any older than 16. “Y-you’re the idiot that’s been scaring me!? You brat!” the man shouted.

The boy grinned, “I’m Numbers Hunter, and I’ve come to hunt your soul…” he said in a mature voice with seriousness behind it.

“Now you kids say stuff like this? What a brat… I’m putting you in your place!” the man swung a fist at the boy, but then he grabbed the man’s arm and began twisting it. “W-what the hell!?”

“I’m not just a kid, foolish carrier of the Number…” Numbers Hunter responded coldly.

“G-get the hell away from me!” the man demanded, slipping out of Number Hunter’s grip and he leaped back like an animal in pain. “Tch, you’re definitely not a normal kid… I’m outta here!” the guy turned-tail and ran as fast as he could again.

“Heh… this hunt only seems to get more fun the longer you run…” Number Hunter said.

“Are you sure you want to rile up your prey like that? He might eventually leave the Special Field you know…” a robot rolled out of the shadows, staring up at it’s master.

“Orbit 7, don’t worry about it. He’ll trap himself in his own hell… that’s what all the Numbers do…” Number Hunter said with a grin across his face.

“Master Kaito, let’s just get the Numbers and leave before anything happens!” Orbit 7 beeped.

Kaito shook his head “You’ll see soon enough how close to hell he’s bringing himself… Knowing the Numbers, it’ll guide him to hide in the darkest corner he can find...” The young man began to walk calmly as he started to whistle again, his gentle and addictive tune becoming a sign of future terror to behold for the man he was hunting.

“I don’t know who the hell you are, how the hell you set this up, or even what you want from me, but I demand you leave me the hell alone!” the man bellowed in panic. Quickly, he ran into an alleyway, hoping to escape within the shadows.

“The Numbers you have taints you and expands the darkness within your heart, but I am the light that illuminates and expels the darkness…” Kaito said as the whistling began once again. That spine chilling whistle struck fear into the man again as he quickly ran deeper into the dark alleyway, only to run into a dead-end!

“N-no!” the man said in fear as he suddenly became cold. The whistling grew louder and louder as it approached closer to him. The entity that was whistling was closing in on him, and he had no other methods of escape.

“Escape is futile. No one will know of your disappearance, because no one has seen you just now. This is a special field where time has been shifted to 1:10000. No matter whom you run to, or what you try, no one will notice it. Only those holding Numbers can move freely in this field…” the whistling stopped, and a light shone, revealing a robot that stood several feet apart from the man and Kaito!

“W-who are you!?” the man shouted, his teeth chattering as he felt something odd about Kaito’s person.

“I am Numbers Hunter... and it’s time for me to hunt your soul…” Kaito said as he raised his right arm and pointed a device on his wrist in the direction of his prey.

“W-what are you doing?!” A red beam of light escaped from the device and slithered around the prey’s wrist. The man quickly attempted to pull away, and yet he couldn’t for some strange reason! “The hell?! What’s going on here?! ANSWER ME!” the man demanded.

“With this Duel Anchor, we’re stuck together until the end of our Duel… the winner gets to leave alive, if you want to know” Kaito said with a smirk across his face.

“D-Duel?!” the man questioned.

“Yes! A Numbers Monster only chooses to corrupt a Duelist, so you carrying a Numbers means that you’re a Duelist yourself… The D-Pad on your arm even tells me that you’re a Duelist, so why ignore your pride as one by ignoring my challenge?” Kaito said in a sort of tone used for baiting people. “Also, I have Numbers cards too. If you win, you’d earn the right to take mine from me” he added on.

“Oh really…? Now that sounds interesting…!” a purple glow appeared in his eyes as he grinned with wild excitement. “Interesting. I’ll take your challenge and put ya in your place, brat!” the man raised his D-Pad as he placed his D-Gazer over his eyes.

“Heh… Duel Mode… Photon Change!” Kaito commanded as he raised his D-Pad arm, and his robot partner shot out a crescent-shaped Duel Disk towards Kaito as he shouted a loud battle cry. His clothing immediately shifted into a white color as the crescent-shaped Duel Disk entered his D-Pad and the zones each opened up as a tattoo began to form over his left eye. He opened his eyes, and his left eye suddenly changed to red.

“The hell…?!” the man questioned as the computerized voice announced the completion of the Alternate Reality Vision, as well as their Duel Disk Link being completed.

“It’s time for the hunt to begin…” Kaito said as he raised his Disk. A glint in his eyes showed that he was confident in his victory, along with completion of the hunt he started up. Don't worry, Haruto... I'll get them all... and help you...!

_________________

Author's Note: Anyhoo, I liked this chapter, only 'cause it's got Kaito. =p

Disclaimer: I don't own ZeXaL, but I do own this apparently crappy fan fic.

Johnny Raptor wrote:...Y'all are serious, right? I get ZERO responses, other than a double-post? Jeez, thanks, I feel so loved. Anyhoo, third Chapter, fresh and ready!

It's because zexal s*cks

Fan-fic is good GJ!

ZeXaL does not suck. D:

And thanks. xD

Welp, I got one response, and was too excited to hold this back.

_________________


"DUEL!" both Kaito and his prey shouted.

Kaito: 4000

Opponent: 4000

“I’ll go first!” Kaito drew a new card, and then examined his hand carefully. “Hm… I’ll start off with the Magic Card called Photon Veil” he instructed as a virtual copy of his hand appeared in front of him, appearing to be set cards to his opponent. “I return 3 LIGHT-Attribute Monsters in my hand…” three cards flipped up, revealing themselves to be Shine Angel, Honest, and Light Serpent “to my deck, and then add 3 LIGHT-Attribute Monsters of the same name to my hand” he explained as the three cards vanished, and then three more showed up as virtual images, revealing themselves to be 3 copies of Daybreaker. “I’ll add 3 Daybreaker to my hand!”

“Why would you add 3 of the same card to your hand? That’s just stupid…” the man commented, unaware of what was coming for him now.

“Next, I’ll activate my Photon Lead! I can now Special Summon a Level 4 or Lower LIGHT-Attribute Monster that was added into my hand… and I think I’ll just Special Summon Daybreaker from my hand!” Kaito instructed as he slammed the card onto his Duel Disk, and a red-caped knight in silver armor appeared on the field with a grunt.

Daybreaker: 1700 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“The hell did you do that for?”

“Daybreaker’s effect activates! When he’s Special Summoned, I can Special Summon another copy of Daybreaker from my hand!” Kaito laughed as he slammed a second copy onto his Duel Disk, and then another knight digitized onto the field pixel by pixel before grunting loudly.

Daybreaker: 1700 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“You already know what happens now! This Daybreaker’s effect allows me to Special Summon another one in my hand!” Kaito slammed a third copy onto his Duel Disk, and the third red-caped silver armored knight appeared onto the field with the mightiest grunt.

Daybreaker: 1700 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“Three Monsters on the field already!? What kind of crap is this…!” the man gulped, his eyes wide in surprise.

“I’ll Overlay these three Level 4 Daybreakers! With these three Monsters, I’ll construct the overlay network!” three yellow flashes of energy spiraled into a galactic gate of energy that then exploded with stars and such. “Xyz Summon! Appear now, No. 10: White Knight Illuminator!” he laughed as a fog appeared onto the field, slowly clearing as it revealed a silver-armored knight who rode on a steed that was covered in a silver armor.

No. 10 White Knight Illuminator: 2400 ATK / 2400 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 3

“A-An Xyz Summon in one turn?!” the man’s eyes shot open in surprise.

“Heh… I use No. 10 White Knight Illuminator’s effect! Once per turn, I send a card in my hand to the graveyard…” he raised the only card in his hand and an Overlay Unit that belonged to his Xyz Monster, sending them both into the graveyard “which then lets my draw a new card!” Kaito swiped the top card of his deck, and his graveyard began to glow with a bright light. “And now comes Photon Call… when this Magic Card is sent to the graveyard by a LIGHT-Attribute Monster’s effect, I can draw one more card. However, if that card is not a “Photon” Monster, nor a LIGHT-Attribute Monster, it is sent into the graveyard” Kaito swiped yet another card off the top of his deck and grinned as he revealed it. “Oh, will you look at that… I drew Photon Minotaur!” he said with a wide grin across his face. “I’ll end my turn… Now… let the hunting begin…” Kaito spoke with a tint of excitement behind his voice.

“My turn!” the opponent drew his card, staring hard at the Numbers Monster that stood before him. “Heh… looks like this’ll be fun…” he male grinned wildly as his eyes gleamed with joy. “First, I’ll Normal Summon Marauding Captain!” he commanded as a single soldier with dirty blond hair appeared on the field, unsheathing his blades and poised himself for battle.

Marauding Captain: 1200 ATK / 400 DEF | Level 3

“Next, I activate Marauding Captain’s effect! Whenever he’s Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or Lower Monster in my hand!” the man began to laugh as he revealed the card in his hand. “I’ll Special Summon my second copy of Marauding Captain” the man slammed the second copy of that card onto his Monster Zone. The holograms revealed the first Marauding Captain shouting a prideful battle cry as he pointed his sword forward, and then a twin copy of himself leaped out from the shadows.

Marauding Captain: 1200 ATK / 400 DEF | Level 3

“Next, I’ll set a card and end my turn!”

“Hmph, not an impressive move…” Kaito commented before swiping a new card off the top of his deck.

Turn 3

“I’ll start off with my Number 10: White Knight Illuminator’s effect! Once per turn, I send a card from the hand to my graveyard by removing an Overlay Unit, and then I draw a new card!” Kaito smirked as the Overlay Unit turned red and he ditched both the Overlay Unit and a card in his hand to the graveyard. “Draw!” Kaito drew a new card as his graveyard glowed with light once again. “Now, my Light Serpent’s effect activates! When sent to the graveyard from my hand, it’s Special Summoned onto the field!”

Light Serpent: 1200 ATK / 800 DEF | Level 3

“The heck?” the man raised an eyebrow as a snake crawled out from the light of Kaito’s discard pile, hissing as it poised itself with a hard stare at Marauding Captain.

“And now, I Normal Summon Photon Minotaur!” Kaito commanded with a wide grin across his face as a light burst open onto his field, and a large creature appeared on the field. This creature had the body of an almost enormous human while bearing the shoulders and head of a bull. The entire body was covered in white fur along with several bits of armor, the same that a mighty warrior would wear. In it’s hand was a scythe-like weapon, it’s entire hilt covered in a white veil while the blade was a pristine white with a blackened edge.

Photon Minotaur: 2000 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 3

“W-what the hell is that thing!?” the man asked in horror.

“Photon Minotaur… attack one of the two Marauding Captains!” Kaito ignored the man’s fear with a large smile across his face as he made that command.

“Wait! You’re locked out! Marauding Captain’s effect makes it so you can’t attack another Monster so long as he’s out. However, with two on the field, you can’t attack me at all!” the man said in despair as the creature walked towards one of the two warriors, it’s horns glinting against the sunlight and it’s eyes glowing a fearsome red.

“Then it’s too bad that Photon Minotaur has a Special Effect. When he’s been Normal Summoned, all Monsters are not destroyed by battle, and the effects of every other Monster on the field are negated!” Kaito said with a grin across his face. The minotaur roared and ran towards a Marauding Captain, swinging down it’s scythe upon the warrior and it grunted loudly in pain. The captain backed away, panting as his master’s Life Points began to drop.

Opponent: 3200 Life Points

“Impossible…” the man said with his eyes wide. “No one… no one’s broken through this attack-lock before… so why him…?”

“Go, White Knight Illuminator, attack the other Marauding Captain!” Kaito commanded as the large steed dashed across the field towards one of the two captains. One of the captains shouted mightily, but the white knight’s blade slashed through Marauding Captain without causing harm, but the warrior grunted in pain.

Opponent: 2000 Life Points

“I’ll set one card face-down and release both my White Knight Illuminator and my Photon Minotaur!” Kaito commanded as the White Knight and the Minotaur both shattered into tiny pixels.

“Release?” the man raised an eyebrow. “You already Normal Summoned, why’re you doing it again?”

“This is a Special Summon Kaito explained with a grin as he slammed the card onto his Duel Disk. “Special Summon! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!” Kaito commanded as a crimson cross appeared before him with a navy-blue aura surrounding it.

“…Huh?” the man raised an eyebrow.

Kaito smirked as he placed his left hand over it and swiftly dismissed the cross, sending it towards the virtual sky above them. “Descend now, the mightiest monster to live!” Kaito shouted as the cross suddenly shattered, filling with a mystic light and several pieces of armor suddenly appeared as a dragon seemed to be taking form. “Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon…” the boy said as the dragon fully formed, without wings. Suddenly, the dragon roared and it glowed a bright blue as a pair of energy-composed wings shot out from it’s back.

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 3000 ATK / 2000 DEF | Level 8

“3-3000 ATK?!” the man’s eyes widened as he backed away, his eyes wide with horror.

“It doesn’t matter what you do… the second Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon ever enters the field, response is unlikely from an opponent who uses the Numbers…” Kaito said with a large grin over his face. “I’ll end my turn…”

Turn 4

“My turn!” the man shouted, swiping a new card off the top of his deck before grinning. “I’ll Normal Summon my Soldier of the Stars!”

Solider of the Stars: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 3

“Hmph, three Monsters of the same Level… are you going to Xyz Summon your precious Numbers?” Kaito asked with an eyebrow raised and a grin across his face.

“I’ll Overlay my two Level 3 Marauding Captain and Soldier of the Stars!” the man commanded as a yellow burst of energy swirled around with two bursts of brown energy. “With these three Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network!” the three energies then shot towards one galactic-looking gate which then exploded with stars. “Xyz Summon!” the man commanded as the explosion’s aftereffects began to fade away, revealing a purple machine that had a loaded sniper-rifle on its back. The machine’s face was plated in gold, hiding all facial features but leaving a single eye uncovered. The eye was a blue gem that seemed to emit a red tracking light. “Appear… No. 48 Mechanized Hunter!” the man commanded as the machine beeped to life with the blue gem suddenly glowing brightly.

No. 48 Mechanized Hunter: 1900 ATK / 300 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 3

“And this is where your little reign of terror ends, kid! Battle! Mechanized Hunter attacks your Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!” the man commanded as the machine targeted the large dragon, and the sniper-rifle loaded on it’s back cocked automatically.

“To attack me so recklessly… it seems to me that your Numbers has the ability to not only prevent battle damage, but also the ability to seek-and-destroy anything standing in it’s way if it couldn’t destroy it's target by battle” Kaito noted out loud, now with a large grin on his face.

“That’s right. I'll take your Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon head-on with this!” the man said with a widened grin as the bullets began to fire towards Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon.

“Trap card open, Photonize! I can negate the attack of an opposing Monster and add it’s ATK to another LIGHT-Attribute Monster on the field” Kaito said calmly as his trap card flipped open and a burst of light shot towards the Numbers Monster.

“I’ve got a trap too! Activating, Seven Tools of the Bandit! I pay 1000 Life Points to negate and destroy an opponent’s Trap Card!” the opponent said with a wide smirk on his face as Kaito’s trap glowed with a red static and shattered to tiny pixels.

Opponent: 1000 Life Points

“How pathetic…” Kaito couldn’t help but to chuckle as the machine drew closer to his mighty dragon. “I activate Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon’s Monster Effect! Both Monsters are now Banished!” he commanded as Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon roared and began to vanish alongside the Numbers Monster that the man had summoned.

“W-what?! B-but a Numbers Monster cannot be destroyed in battle except when pit against another Numbers Monster!” the man’s eyes widened.

“Banishing a Monster isn’t destroying them. They simply vanish off the field temporarily, and yet they never enter the graveyard, thus they enter an alternate dimension where they cannot be brought back through simple means…” Kaito explained, crossing his arms. “So, what’ll you do now that your Numbers is gone?”

“…I’ll end my turn…” the man said, sounding upset as a portal of light ripped open between the two. The machine from earlier fell from it, crashing into the ground while Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon flew out majestically and roared loudly.

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 3000 ATK / 2000 DEF | Level 8

No. 48 Mechanized Hunter: 1900 ATK / 300 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 0

“It’s back!” the man said almost excitedly.

“Too bad Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon’s Monster effect activates! When it banishes an opponent’s Xyz Monster, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon absorbs the Overlay Units of that Xyz Monster to power himself up by 500 for each one” Kaito said with the widest smirk on his face as the ground opened up and three orbs of green light shot towards the mighty dragon. The dragon roared as it began to glow brightly with each energy that struck the crystal on it’s chest.

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 4500 ATK / 2000 DEF | Level 8

“4-4500 ATK!? I-Impossible!” the man’s eyes shot open in fear. “H-Have I… lost…?!”

“It’s over for you! Draw!” Kaito drew his new card and then pointed at No. 48 Mechanized Hunter. “Battle! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, finish it off! Photon Stream of Destruction!!” the boy commanded as the dragon’s entire body glowed while a light blue energy charged within it’s mouth.
“I’ve… lost…” the man muttered as the blue stream of energy shot forth towards the Numbers Monster, and completely annihilated it!

Opponent: 0 Life Points.

The man fell to his knees, his eyes wide with shock as Kaito’s form shattered, returning to his normal self.
“You’ve lost this duel, and not only have you lost this game, but you’ve also lost your soul…”

“Wait, what?” the man looked at the boy, but it was too late. An afterimage of the boy’s hand shot out towards him and reached into his chest, causing him to groan and shout with pain. “W-what is... this…?!

“Hunting is complete… I’m obtaining the Number Monster now…” Kaito said as he pulled his hand away, ripping out a blue orb from the man’s chest. Slowly, the man appeared to become pale and also appeared to age on the spot before fainting. “Hmph…” he crushed the orb in his hand, shattering it completely and the Numbers Monster appeared in his hand as a physical card.

“Are we heading back to Dr. Faker, Master Kaito?” Orbital 7 beeped.

“…Yes. I got the Numbers Monster he requested for. There aren’t any other Numbers in the general area…” the boy responded, closing his eyes. Something seemed shaken within him, as if he didn’t particularly enjoy that part of his job.

“Then let’s head back!” the machine immediately began to transform, turning into a motorcycle with a helmet hanging loosely on the left handle.

Kaito hopped onto the motorcycle, putting on the helmet, and then revved his engines as he drove off, disappearing entirely. The area that froze suddenly began to move as normal, almost as if nothing had even happened in the first place. Cars drove, beeped and people walked, going about their daily lives as they chatted their heads off on their phones or to one another. It was almost as if time had never really stopped for the moment.
__________________________

Author's Note: Woot, woot! I personally loved this Duel, especially since my love affair known as Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon appeared this time around.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXaL, nor any of the regular characters. I only own whatever OC Character shows up, etc. I also own whatever pairing I decide to do throughout the process of this fan fic.

Eh, lack of responses aren't so surprising anymore. Bad fic is bad. >_>;

_____________

Shark laid next to his motorcycle, staring at the blue ocean that was ahead of him. It was early day in Heartland, and nothing seemingly exciting was going on. “…” the young adolescent closed his navy-blue eyes, feeling the breeze brush gently past him. “I still can’t forgive those two idiots…” he muttered as he remembered how Rikuo and Kaio were planning on using him for their personal benefits.

“Hey, is that Shark?” a passerby said, whispering to their friend.

“Yeah, it’s that guy who cheated in that tournament” the mysterious friend responded.

“Tch…” Shark clenched his fists, feeling a slight bit of anger, despite how relaxed he was.

“I wonder why he’s even here in this area. Ah well, at least they banned a cheater like him from all tournaments” the first speaker said with a chuckle.

“Is he even allowed in the World Duel Carnival?”

“Doubt it. Even if he was, I bet he’ll cheat his way to the top like he did that time.”

“…” Shark clenched his fists tightly, unable to stop feeling anger at the words being spread around with his name. There’s no way that can be true… It was too convenient that that guy’s deck was there, out in the open, and then I was caught on that video? Nothing adds up there…

“Mommy, look, it’s Shark!” a little boy shouted with glee.

“Now, now, let’s not point fingers” the boy’s mother responded as their footsteps could no longer be heard.

Shark opened his eyes, staring at the sky apathetically. The breeze danced gently, and the blades of grass around him swayed with the wind. The young adolescent reached into his jacket, pulling out a sheet that appeared to be an official invitation to the World Duel Carnival.

“Hey, is that the Shark I see there?!” another voice said, and their footsteps approached closer to the young adolescent quickly.

Not again… Shark sighed and looked in the direction of the voice, seeing it was another adolescent around his age.

“Dude, I’ve been trying to find you since that National Tourney one year back!” the adolescent sighed with relief before grinning widely.

“And now you did. Are you glad? Have you come here to put me down about how I cheated in that tournament?” Shark questioned with a look of disgust in his eyes.

“No, man, I’ve been trying to tell you something!”

“Not interested” Shark answered before returning to his gaze upon the sky.

“Then what if it had to do with you ‘cheating’ al that time ago?” the adolescent’s voice suddenly changed to that of an enticing dealer. Shark turned his head to look at the boy, observing him carefully. The boy was around his height with dark orange hair. He was round-faced with dark green eyes, a small nose, and high cheekbones. He wore a black sweater with black shorts and a pair of orange sneakers. Strapped to his arm was an orange D-Pad. Notably, the boy wore gloves that had a strange tyrannosaurus-like face on the palms.

“…I’m listening…” Shark responded, glaring at the boy. He has information on that event? What kind could he possibly have…?

“Oh, I’m not giving you that information so easily!” the adolescent wagged his finger with a grin on his face. “Oh no, you’ve got to do something to get the information out of me.”

“Listen, just tell me the information. I’m not in the mood to play around now” Shark said warningly as he got up onto his two legs and glared at the boy again.

“So you don’t want to Duel me for the information? I mean, come on, dueling me should be easy for a champ like you!” the boy egged on to Shark.

“…You’re saying that if I win, you’ll tell me what I want to know about that day?” Shark asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yes, and then some. Heck, I’ll even tell you what your opponent did” the boy teased on, only giving slight implications to what Shark still couldn’t understand.

“Fine then. I’ll make you tell me the information” Shark said with a voice of determination as he put on his D-Gazer and it sparked to life along with his D-Pad.

“By the way, the name’s Rick, don’t wear it out, Shark dude!” the adolescent announced as his D-Pad and D-Gazer both lit up, and the world around them began to become pixilated.

“A-R Vision, link completed” a computer voice rang out as a perfect copy of their surroundings formed and their Life Point parameters appeared on floating screens that then closed up.

“Duel!” both Shark and Rick announced.

Shark: 4000

Rick: 4000

Turn 1

“I’ll go first, Shark!” Rick drew a new card from his deck, swiping it off dramatically as he then set the same card he drew. “I’ll Set this Monster in face-down Defense Position and end my turn!” he immediately declared.

Turn 2

“Just a set Monster, huh?” Shark asked, raising an eyebrow before he placed his hand at the top of his deck. “My move. Draw!” Shark swiped a new card off the top of his deck, and looked carefully at the options in his hand. “First, I’ll Normal Summon Killer Frilled Shark!” he commanded as water spurt from the ground, releasing a thin and mutilated sea creature that appeared much like a shark. The creature hissed as it finally settled itself onto their virtual field.

Killer Frilled Shark: 700 ATK / 1500 DEF | Level 3

“700 ATK? Shark, you ain’t gonna beat me with a bad move like that…” Rick commented with a shrug.

“Next, I’ll Special Summon Shark Sucker!” the young adolescent commanded as he slammed the card onto his Duel Disk with a grin on his face. Virtual water splashed onto the ground again as a navy-blue colored fish appeared on the field, growling as if it were saying it’s name in a low tone.

Shark Sucker: 200 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 3

“This Monster can be Special Summoned from my hand when a Fish-type Monster has been Summoned” Shark explained.

“So, you’ve got yourself two Level 3 Monsters, what’s that matter to me?” the boy asked, scratching the back of his head.

“I’ll Overlay the Level 3 Killer Frilled Shark and my Level 3 Shark Sucker!” Shark instructed as the two monsters turned into two orbs of blue energy that spiraled around the two Duelists, rising towards the sky as a red gate shot open. The two energies shot into the gate, “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct an Overlay Network! Xyz Summon!” Shark instructed. The gate exploded with energy, and a virtual tidal wave sprung up as two sharks came up from the ground, bound to one another by a strange orange machine. “Come, Underwater Warship - Aero Shark” Shark commanded as the large twin sharks both growled loudly as two blue orbs of energy spiraled around them.

Underwater Warship – Aero Shark: 1900 ATK / 1000 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 2

“Whoa, Aero Shark on the first turn!” the other adolescent whistled loudly, sounding as if he were impressed.

“I activate Aero Shark’s effect! Once per turn, by removing an Overlay Unit, you’ll take 400 points of damage for each card in my hand!” Shark announced as he held up the cards in his hand, revealing that he was holding 4. “I have four, so now you’ll take 1600 points of damage!” he stated as the twin sharks roared and a single orb of light shot towards the orange machine that tied them both together. Rockets immediately shot out, turning from four into hundreds of tiny missiles!

“AH!” Rick shouted as each rocket landed around him and exploded, leaving multiple craters all around where he stood. He watched as his Life Points decreased thanks to Shark’s effect damage.

Rick: 2400

“Battle! Aero Shark, attack the face-down Monster! Big Eater!” Shark commanded as the twin sharks roared and flew towards the set card. The set card immediately flipped, revealing a green lizard that hissed as both it and the Xyz Monster crashed into one another.

“Heh, too bad, it looks like your ATK power wasn’t enough to take out my Evoldo Vestlo” Rick said with a wide smirk across his face.

Evoldo Vestlo: 1900 DEF / 700 ATK | Level 3

“And now my Evoldo Vestlo’s FLIP Effect activates! Now I can Special Summon any ‘Evoldar’ Monster of my choice within my deck!” Rick shouted as his main deck appeared to be on fire, and the little reptile on his field began to cry out. “I’ll Special Summon, from my deck, Evoldar Cerato!” he commanded as a single entity of flame shot out from his deck, and a strange pattern appeared on Evoldo Vestlo’s tail. Suddenly, a double-helix shaped energy began to spiral forth from Evoldo Vestlo’s tail towards the flame entity. As the energy entered the entity of flames, it slowly gained a physical appearance, transforming into a dinosaur-shaped creature with small wings. It’s tail whipped as it’s dead-looking eyes opened suddenly, glowing green. The tail then shone a gentle light, revealing the same double-helix energy spiraling within it now. The new creature then roared mightily as an orange energy surrounded it’s body like an aura.

Evoldar Cerato: 1900 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 4

“What kind of…?” Shark raised an eyebrow at the new creature that now stood tall on Rick’s side of the field.

“And now, Evoldar Cerato’s effect activates! When he’s been Special Summoned this way, he gains an extra 200 ATK points!”

“What!”

Evoldar Cerato: 2100 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 4

“I’ll set two cards face-down and end my turn” two vertical face-down cards appeared before Shark as he ended his turn.

Turn 3

“My go!” Rick swiped a new card off the top of his deck. “Hey Shark… I decided to be nice just now…” Rick began to chuckle with a large smirk across his face. “Maybe… I should tell you a little bit… and make you work towards getting the full information…” the adolescent teasingly said with that smirk curling further and further.

“Tell me then, Rick” Shark said in a deep and serious tone. He seemingly didn’t want to deal with anything other than what he wanted from his opponent now.

“Fine then… Remember the last round?” Rick said, maintaining his large smirk.

“Yes, and clearly too. Now get to it, spit it out!” Shark demanded.

“Whoa, whoa, not just yet, dude. All I can tell you right now is that it wasn’t supposed to end the way it did…” Rick tauntingly said.

“Wasn’t supposed to end that way?” Shark repeated questioningly. “I don’t understand…” the young adolescent raised an eyebrow.

“That’s all I’ll tell you… now let’s get back to this exciting Duel!” Rick revealed a card in his hand. “Now I’ll Normal Summon my Evoldo Odochelys!” the adolescent commanded as flames sprung up onto the field again, this time an orange-colored lizard took shape onto the field with a large frown on it’s face, almost as if it were upset for some reason. A green light shone within it’s tail, revealing the same double-helix energy that the other creatures had in their tails.

Evoldo Odochelys: 500 ATK / 1200 DEF

“Now I activate Evoldo Odochelys’ effect! When this card is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon another ‘Evoldar’ Monster in my hand. I’ll Special Summon my Evoldar Diplodocus” Rick announced as he revealed a card in his hand which suddenly was lit ablaze. Flames from the card then shot out towards the field, spiraling as it slowly took the form of something sinister. Evoldo Odochelys hissed lightly as the double-helix energy in it’s tail split into two separate strands that spiraled forth towards the flames. The flames then took on the form of a four-legged dinosaur with armored spikes running along it’s back. The dinosaur proceeded to roar as it’s tail whipped, revealing the same double-helix energy that Evoldo Odochelys contained.

Evoldar Diplodocus: 1600 ATK / 800 DEF | Level 4

“And now my Evoldar Diplodocus’ effect activates! When he’s been Special Summoned by the effect of an Evoldo Monster, I can destroy one Spell/Trap card on your side of the field!” Rick shouted in malefic excitement as Evoldar Diplodocus roared loudly. Flames spiraled around the creature’s body as Rick pointed at one of Shark’s set cards.

“What?!” Shark’s eyes widened as his face-down card was suddenly shot by a large stream of flame, causing the card to shatter into tiny pixels. Tch, there goes my Fish Rain Trap… I would have used it when Killer Frilled Shark banished himself…

“And now my Evoldar Cerato attacks your Aero Shark!” Rick commanded as the dinosaur roared to life, charging towards Aero Shark.

“How naïve! I activate the effect of my Killer Frilled Shark from the graveyard! When you declare an attack on a Fish-type Monster, I can banish it from the graveyard to negate the attack and decrease the ATK of your Monster by 500!” Shark took action, revealing the card in his graveyard as it vanished into the abyss, and Evoldar Cerato suddenly stopped its attack. The dinosaur then went back to it’s master’s side, growing weaker.

Evoldar Cerato: 1600 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 4

“Tch… thanks for ruining my fun, Shark” Rick said disgustedly before that grin returned to his face again. “Now I’ll Overlay the Level 4 Evoldar Diplodocus and the Level 4 Evoldar Cerato!” he announced as the two becomes nothing more than balls of flame that danced into the air and crashed into a gate of crimson. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct an Overlay Network! Xyz Summon!” the adolescent commanded as the gate turned into flames which exploded immediately. A single white figure remained within the aftermath of the explosion. As the figure began to move slightly, six rings of flame began to dance around it and it’s entire body exerted a green aura. The figure then began to roar as six wings shot out from it’s back and red eyes began to glow on it’s face. The creature then unfolded its arms and stood up tall, revealing red tribal marks all over it’s body as well as strange symbols that seemed etched upon it’s body. The dragon roared mightily as it then began to take flight, revealing it’s tail which seemed to have two double-helix energies spinning around within it. Two orbs of red light suddenly appeared and circled around the dragon as it roared mightily once again.

“W-what the… what kind of Xyz Monster is this…?!” Shark’s eyes widened in surprise as he witnessed the full form of the dragon.

“This is… Evolkaiser Ragia, a mighty Xyz Monster that is formed from the ultimate evolution…” Rick said with a large grin across his face.

Evolkaiser Ragia: 2400 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“Ultimate Evolution?” Shark questioned.

“Yes, the Ultimate Evolution…” Rick couldn’t help but to chuckle. He seemed to be a changed person now that Evolkaiser Ragia was on the field. "With this on my field, now your fate is sealed!" Rick began to laugh devilishly as Shark could feel the strength overflowing from the Xyz Monster that now stood to confront his.

_____________________

Author's Note: Personally, I didn't want to end Shark's Duel in one chapter. Plus, who said cliff hangers are no good?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal, as much as I'd want to.

Last post is last weekend?! Get to work Johnny!

Oh, and it's good, I like it!

Also, you talk about it on FF.net, but I haven't seen it. :\

I said it was on FF.net? What? xD

Johnny Raptor wrote:Well now, I'm somewhat worried by the lack of responses, but sure, why not. I'll just post a second chapter to a nonexistent audience. Jeez, even Fan Fiction.net had the decency to leave a review. >_>

>_>

Nah, they had the decency to leave a review for any fan fic I dropped. Watch when I derp this fan fic on them, they go "Kattobi- wtf?"

I liked it; you captured the voices well (except for Yuma's), and you managed to keep the deck styles consistent and accurate. One thing though: Ninja Grandmaster - Bruce? Bruce?

Bruce Lee.

I know, but still. Which sounds more threatening: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon or Bruce?

Nothing can be more threatening than Photon Dragon. Why? 'cause even fillers gotta have funny names.

“This is… Evolkaiser Ragia, a mighty Xyz Monster that is formed from the ultimate evolution…” Rick said with a large grin across his face while the white dragon standing in front of him roared and began floating above the ground by several centimeters. Four circles of flame began spinning crazily around the dragon as red tribal marks all over it's body shone and a double-helix energy glowed a bright red within it's tail.

Evolkaiser Ragia: 2400 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“Ultimate Evolution?” Shark questioned.

“Yes, the Ultimate Evolution…” Rick couldn’t help but to chuckle. He seemed to be a changed person now that Evolkaiser Ragia was on the field. “Shark, do you know what evolution is?”

“Yeah, the concept of a species transcending into another level of advancements” Shark answered, unsure of where Rick was going with this.

“Well, that’s what my deck’s all about. Haven’t you noticed how my precious Evoldo’s seem to call on the powers of the Evoldar’s? The Evoldo’s become useless scraps and are otherwise nothing but hollow shells when they’ve evolved into their mightier Evoldar forms. However, despite evolving, the Evoldar always dreamed of being able to fly, even when they were little Evoldos, which is why their wings are there” Rick stopped for a moment, grinning insanely. “Then, two become one and create the Ultimate Evolution, thus finalizing their dreams and becoming a creature that’s at the peak of evolution, a creature unlike any other seen in the world; a dragon. Evolkaiser Ragia is but one of the many Evolkaiser Species.”

“Are you saying there’s more creatures like that in your Extra Deck?” Shark questioned.

“And not just him…” Rick began to chuckle as a green light shone on his cheek. The light then took on an odd shape, twisting into what looked like a “92”.

“Numbers?!” Shark muttered to himself quietly.

“I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn, Shark. Let’s see how you do…” the adolescent grinned as a vertical facedown card appeared in front of him.

Turn 4

In order for me to win, I have to draw out that Numbers… But first, I need to find out about Evolkaiser Ragia’s effect. “My turn, draw!” Shark declared, swiping a new card from the top of his deck. “First I activate my Aero Shark’s effect! By removing an Overlay Unit, Aero Shark deals 400 points of damage to you for every card in my hand” Shark held up his hand of three cards. “So now, you’ll take 1200 points of damage!” he announced as Aero Shark absorbed yet another Overlay Unit, and missiles were launched at Rick once again!

“Tch!” Rick held up his arms to cover himself from the onslaught of explosives.

Rick: 1200 Life Points

“You’re not merciful, are you?” the adolescent responded to the effect damage with a loud chuckle.

“Next, I’ll Normal Summon Big Jaws!” Shark commanded as a virtual splash of water spurt from the ground, and a large shark came out from the ground with red-eyes and a mechanical jaw seemingly supporting it’s mouth.

Big Jaws: 1800 ATK / 300 DEF | Level 3

“Proceed, Shark…” the adolescent said with a toothed smile.

“Big Jaws, attack Evoldo Odochelys! Big Mouth!” Shark commanded as the large shark sprung into action, dashing towards the orange reptile with it’s mouth open for attack! The little lizard hissed before being bitten by Big Jaws, causing the creature to shatter to tiny pixels.

Rick: 1200 Life Points

“What the?! How did you avoid taking damage?” Shark asked, almost as if he were demanding an explanation.

“All I did was activate a Trap Card I like to call Instinct of Evolution” Rick grinned as his Life Point parameters suddenly began to increase out of nowhere.

Rick: 2600

“Instinct of Evolution’s effect makes it so instead of taking damage, I regain Life Points equal to what you would’ve inflicted to me. Next, if you destroyed an “Evoldo” Monster by battle, I can send an “Evoldar” Monster from my deck to the graveyard to Special Summon an “Evoldo” Monster from my deck!” Rick revealed a card in his deck. “I’ll ditch Evoldar Ulcanodon Special summon my Evoldo Gephairos!” Rick announced as flames shot out from his deck, taking on the form of a small, purple colored lizard appeared next to the Evoldar Vestlo, growling in a nonthreatening manner. It’s tail began to glow, revealing yet another double-helix energy spiraling within it.

Evoldo Gephairos: 400 DEF / 200 ATK | Level 1

“Hmph, Aero Shark attacks your Gephairos! Big Eater!” Shark commanded as his Aero Shark sprung into action, growling loudly as it swung towards the tiny lizard. The tiny lizard panicked as the shark picked it up and it shattered into several pixels, leaving behind a double-helix that originated from it’s tail.

“Good job!” Rick began to chuckle loudly as his discard pile lit ablaze.

“Huh?” Shark seemed confused now, unsure of what he had just done.

“My Evoldo Gephairos’ effect allows me the ability to revive a single Evoldar Monster in my graveyard when it’s destroyed by battle” Rick wagged his finger at Shark before chuckling again. “Time and time again, Shark, you fall for my tricks, just like how you fell into that scam at the tournament!” he exclaimed excitedly and yet tauntingly.

“What scam!? Tell me!” Shark shouted at Rick.

“Don’t worry about it, just focus on winning the Duel and I’ll tell you” Rick said, baiting Shark further into his wicked plot.

“Fine then!” Shark barked at the adolescent. Suddenly, flames shot out from the discard pile and entered the field, surrounding the double-helix of energy. Slowly, a figure began to form, revealing a blue-colored dinosaur that looked oddly almost like a miniature brontosaurus. The dinosaur roared as it whipped its tail, revealing the double-helix pattern within it’s tail.

“Meet my Evoldar Ulcanodon…” Rick said with a large grin on his face.

Evoldar Ulcanodon: 1200 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

“I’ll set another card face-down and end my turn” Shark declared, clenching his fists tightly. No matter what, I have to win… I have to know the truth of what happened then!

Turn 5

“Draw!” Rick drew a new card, and then revealed a Spell Card in his hand. “Now I activate my Fossil Dig Spell Card. Through this card, I can search my Deck for a Level 6 or Lower Dinosaur-type Monster and bring it into my hand” he explained as a virtual screen opened up before him, allowing him to browse through his deck as he looked for a viable option. “Hm… I’ll add…” he clicked on the screen, and the card flipped over, revealing itself to Shark. “I’ll add my Sabersaurus from the deck to my hand” Rick placed the card into his hand, grinning wildly as he slammed the card onto his Duel Disk. “I’ll Normal Summon it now!” a pink-skinned triceratops appeared on the field with sword-like horns making it appear extremely fierce.

Sabersaurus: 1900 ATK / 500 DEF | Level 4

“Two Monsters of the same Level!” Shark announced, realizing the conditions on the field.

“Correct! Now, I’ll Overlay the Level Sabersaurus and Evoldar Ulcanodon!” Rick commanded as a red and brown energy sprung forth from both the named Monsters, spiraling around the two as a galactic portal ripped open between Shark and Rick. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network!” Rick instructed as the two energies swirled and then shot themselves into the galactic portal. “Xyz Summon!” the gate exploded powerfully, revealing the shape of what appeared to be a hexagonal stone with a fossil printed on it. The fossil print then glowed brightly as a sapphire orb unveiled itself within the eye of the fossil mark. Loud roars could be heard as the hexagonal stone began to shatter and cluster together on several bits of the fossil marking. As if out of thin air, the fossil marking came to life and leaped away from the hexagonal stone, becoming a living and standing fossil that roared mightily. Several stones flew towards it’s hands, creating hardened claws made of stone, doing the same towards it’s feet. Next, it’s torso area was covered up as a red orb appeared above the creature’s chest area, sinking into the stone while the bone-like body then glowed with a crimson energy. Finally, the remainder of the rocks gathered upon the head, creating a stone-compiled dinosaur head with sapphire orbs as it’s eyes. Two brown energies sprung up from the ground, circling around the creature’s body as if it had it’s own gravitational pull for them. “Come to life… No. 92 Mesozoic Fossildon!” Rick commanded as the creature roared once more and the Numbers tattoo on him began to glow brightly again. A purple aura then formed around his body and the pupils of his eyes. “This is good… this is great… I have to defeat you, now! This is getting too good for me!” Rick laughed loudly, now under the possession of his Numbers Monster.

No. 92 Mesozoic Fossildon: 2450 ATK / 1200 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“It’s finally appeared… your Numbers…” Shark commented before a wide smirk came across his face. “Now I’m just getting fired up…”

“No. 92 Mesozoic Fossildon’s effect! Once per turn, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can take one card in your hand and destroy it!” Rick declared as the Numbers Monster’s eyes began to glow brightly, absorbing an Overlay Unit through them. Suddenly, a thin laser shot through a card in Shark’s hand, punching a virtual hole through the card!

“Tch…” Shark placed the card into his graveyard before grinning. “The card you destroyed was my Spiked Sunfish! Whenever it’s sent to the graveyard, a Monster on your side of the field loses 500 ATK points!” Shark announced before pointing at No. 92. “So, I’ll decrease the ATK of your Numbers Monster!” spikes immediately shot out from Shark’s discard pile, a total of five of them. The spikes all pierced the Numbers Monster’s torso before fading away as immediately as when they were launched.

No. 92 Mesozoic Fossildon: 1950 ATK / 1200 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 1

“Oh well, my Monsters are still stronger than yours! It’s over for them, Shark! First, I’ll move Evoldo Vestlo to attack position!” the green lizard finally stood up, roaring aggressively.

Evoldo Vestlo: 700 ATK / 1900 DEF | Level 3

“Go, No. 92 Mesozoic Fossildon, attack Shark’s Aero Shark! Influence of the Ancients!” the possessed adolescent commanded.

“Trap Card open, Last Entrust! With this Trap Card’s effect, I’ll forcefully en-“

“Now I use my Evolkaiser Ragia’s Monster Effect, Force of Evolution!” Rick announced as the dragon roared mightily whilst it’s two Overlay Units stopped for a moment, shivering as they were slowly floating towards Shark’s Trap.

“Huh?” Shark cocked an eyebrow.

“Evolkaiser Ragia’s Monster Effect… When a Spell/Trap card is activated, or a Monster is Normal/Special Summoned, I can detach the 2 Overlay Units attached to him in order to negate and destroy it!” Rick began to laugh manically as the two Overlay Units then rushed towards Shark’s trap card and a red static appeared around it. Suddenly, the card exploded and No. 92 roared to life, launching a blast of red light from it’s torso!

“Aero Shark!” Shark watched as the No. Xyz Monster annihilated Aero Shark entirely, bringing Shark’s Life Points down slightly.

Shark: 3950 Life Points

“Next, my Evolkaiser Ragia attacks your Big Jaws! Go! Evolution Perfection!!” Rick commanded as the dragon motioned into action, taking flight as a red flame gathered within the back of it’s mouth. “However, I activate a Quick-Play Spell called Shrink! With this card’s effect, I’ll halve down the ATK power of your precious Big Jaws!” a green aura surrounded Big Jaws as it slowly decreased in size and it’s Attack Points.

Big Jaws: 900 ATK / 300 DEF | Level 3

“Trap Card open, Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord!” Shark flipped up his next face-down and a blue aura appeared around Big Jaws. The shark roared and growled as the dragon released the flames in Big Jaws’ direction. The shark braced for impact as the incoming attack finally landed it’s hit, but the shark was rendered unaffected. Shark covered his eyes from the brightness of the flames as his Life Points slowly dropped to their next score.

Shark: 2450

“Huh?” Rick cocked an eyebrow, unsure of what had just happened.

“Aegis of the Ocean Lord’s effect… allows all Level 3 or Lower WATER-Attribute Monsters to survive battle destruction as well as effect destruction until the End Phase of this turn…” Shark explained, panting slightly.

“Well isn’t that just disgusting?” Rick shook his head, still grinning as he pointed at Evoldo Vestlo. “Go, Evoldo Vestlo, attack the Big Jaws!”

“What?” Shark cocked an eyebrow, unsure of what Rick was up to. The green lizard attacked into the Big Jaws, only for the shark to bite down on the lizard. The lizard screeched as it then shattered into tiny pixels.

Rick: 2400 Life Points

“I don’t want you to try anything funny by having a stronger Monster attack my Vestlo to end it. Now, let’s see what you can do, Shark” the adolescent said before declaring “Turn end! Now your Big Jaws returns to it’s original stats!”

Big Jaws: 1800 ATK / 300 DEF | Level 3

Turn 6

This turn is my chance at a reversal. I’ve set up the way towards this reversal, but I need one more card. Just one more, and I can pull this off! Shark closed his eyes, listening to his rushed heartbeat. He was fired up because of the appearance of the Numbers Monster, but he needed to actually win. To win would mean gaining the information he was searching for, ever since the day of the final round he was disqualified from. Winning would answer the question he'd always asked himself at night, the question always kept him up at night. “My turn, draw!” Shark swiped the top card of his deck, not looking at it for a moment. He looked at the card, and then a wide smile came across his face. “First, I’ll activate the card I just drew: Salvage!” he declared as his graveyard shone a light-blue glow.

“What’s that supposed to do?” Rick questioned.

“Through this card, I can take two of my fallen WATER-Attribute Monsters from my graveyard with 1500 or Less ATK, and return them to my hand” Shark explained as two cards ejected themselves from his graveyard. “There’s only two viable choices, so I’ll return Shark Sucker and Spiked Sunfish from the graveyard to my hand!” he swiped the two cards from his discard pile and added them into his hand.

“Aw great, now I’m gonna be seeing you do that Shark Sucker combo again, aren’t I?” Rick said with a loud yawn.

“Exactly!” Shark then slammed a card onto his Duel Disk. “First, I’ll Summon Spiked Sunfish, the card your Numbers Monster destroyed from my hand!” a virtual splash of water occurred as a large sunfish came out from the ground silently, staring at the opponent’s field with its yellow eyes. “Next, I Special Summon Shark Sucker!” another splash of water occurred, revealing the blue fish once again.

Spiked Sunfish: 1500 ATK / 100 DEF | Level 3

Shark Sucker: 200 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 3

“Two Level 3 Monsters again. What can you do, Shark? My Numbers Monster, no matter what you summon, cannot be destroyed in battle except against another Numbers Monster, so whatever you’ve got planned won’t help” Rick said with a large grin across his face.

“I’ll Overlay the Level 3 Spiked Sunfish and Shark Sucker!” Shark commanded as the two turned into blue energies that spiraled around the two contenders, dashing towards the center of a red gate that exploded. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon! Appear now, Black Ray Lancer!!” Shark commanded as the energy faded away, revealing a black knight that seemed to be part fish and part human. The creature grunted as he swung his pinkish-red lance around, pointing it directly at the opponent’s Monsters.

Black Ray Lancer: 2100 ATK / 600 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 2

“Black Ray Lancer’s Monster effect activates! By removing an Overlay Unit, I can negate the effect of a face-up Monster on the opponent’s side of the field!” Shark instructed as Black Ray Lancer grunted and one of the two spiraling Overlay Units merged with its lance. The lancer then took to the sky as its red eyes began to glow and it flapped its ‘wings’. Dark gales shot forth towards No. 92 Mesozoic Fossildon, and the creature started screeching in pain!

“W-what was that!?” Rick’s eyes shot open.

“We say that Numbers cannot be destroyed by a non-Numbers Monster, however… when their effects are taken away, they’re just regular Monsters!” Shark announced his solution to the problem Rick presented. “And now, my Spiked Sunfish’s effect activates! When it’s sent to the graveyard, a Monster on your field loses 500 ATK points! I’ll pick… Evolkaiser Ragia!” Shark pointed at his target as five spikes shot from his discard pile, all of them piercing into the white dragon and vanishing.

Evolkaiser Ragia: 1900 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 0

“Now that the effect of your Numbers Monster is gone, any other Monster can attack it, but that’s not where my turn ends! I activate Xyz Gift, a Spell card that allows me to draw 2 cards when two more of Xyz Monsters are on the field. I count 3, so the conditions are satisfied” Shark swiped two more cards off the top of his deck. “Next, I activate the Spell Card called Double Summon, a Spell that enables a player to Normal Summon a second time during this turn” a green aura surrounded Shark’s body the moment he activated that card.

“Another Normal Summon? Why would you want that?” Rick cocked an eyebrow.

“You’ll see. I activate a Spell Card called Surfacing, allowing me to revive a WATER-Attribute Monster from my graveyard! Be revived, Spiked Sunfish!” Shark commanded as a tidal wave exploded from his discard pile, revealing his Spiked Sunfish in defense position.

Spiked Sunfish: 100 DEF / 1500 ATK | Level 3

“I don’t see the point here…” Rick crossed his arms, appearing confused.

“I’ll release my Spiked Sunfish in order to Advance Summon my Jawsman!” Shark declared as Spiked Sunfish vanished within a rainbow-colored light, only for the light to transform into a large and mutilated man-shark with only jaws on every inch of it’s body!

Jawsman: 2600 ATK / 1600 DEF | Level 6

“2600 ATK?!” the adolescent repeated in fear. He knew what was coming next now.

“Spiked Sunfish’s effect activates once again! I’ll drain your Evokaiser Ragia of another 500 ATK!” Shark pointed at his target once again. This time, it was his game.

Evolkaiser Ragia: 1400 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 0

“And now for my Jawsman’s effect. When there are other WATER-Attribute Monsters on the field, he gains 300 ATK for each of them!” Shark grinned as his Jawsman roared and grew in size. “Big Jaws is a WATER-Attribute Monster… so Jawsman gains 300 extra ATK!”

Jawsman: 2900 ATK / 1600 DEF | Level 6

“It’s over for you! Battle! Big Jaws attacks Evolkaiser Ragia! Big Mouth!!” Shark commanded as Big Jaws growled, rushing towards the dragon before crashing into the ground, sneaking underneath the intended prey. Big Jaws immediately sprung out from the ground, gripping a hard bite on the dragon’s arms. The dragon squealed in sheer pain as it shattered into tiny pixels.

Rick: 2000 Life Points

“Jawsman attacks your No. 92 Mesozoic Fossildon!” Shark commanded as the large mutation roared and leaped at the creature made of stone and bones. The creature threw it’s left hand, which was shaped like a hammerhead shark, at the creature it was battling, effectively shattering the monstrosity it was battling with!

“G-gah!” Rick’s eyes shot open in surprise as his Numbers Monster was defeated, and his Life Points dropped once again.

Rick: 1050 Life Points

“Black Ray Lancer, finish him off! Black… Spear!!!” Shark commanded as his ace took into action, flinging it’s spear directly at Rick who couldn’t do anything but stand there as the virtual spear pierced through his body, and the rest of his Life Points dropped to 0 in a rush. A virtual screen popped up, and fanfares cheered as it wrote “Winner: Shark”. The virtual world that was created around the two began to shattered pixel by pixel, and Shark walked towards Rick with a calm look on his face, picking up the fallen Duelist. “Now, you’ll tell me what I want to know!” the adolescent shouted.

“…Heh… too bad for you… I already told you everything I knew…” Rick said with a giant smirk across his face as his Numbers tattoo vanished from his existence, along with the Numbers card that was on his D-Pad.

“You rat!” Shark barked as he was close to throwing a punch at Rick, but he decided to hold back despite his inner rage. Taking out anger upon someone else was nothing going to answer anything for him, if anything, questions would still be left unanswered. “Tch… you mean you wasted my time with that Duel?!” he asked, glaring at the adolescent.

“No it’s because I was sent here by someone to tell ya one thing…” the adolescent’s smirk just kept on curling upward as if there were a secret he just couldn’t hold back.

“And what would that be?”

“To join the World Duel Carnival here in Heartland, and to meet him in the Semi-Finals” he answered, still laughing to himself a little bit. “He wants you to meet him at the Semi-Finals, Shark, so that means… oh… you have to win and not get caught cheating” he poked at Shark’s mental weakness, but the young adolescent refrained from falling into Rick’s ruse.

“Meet who!?” Shark began to demand again.

“I’ll only tell it to ya this way… you’ll have fun remembering that guy’s face…” Rick said with a smirk on his face before turning away from Shark and beginning to walk. “It’s getting late, Sharky, you should be getting some sleep so you can try getting better…” the adolescent said tauntingly as he was no longer in sight.

Shark clenched his fists tightly, remembering the day he was disqualified from the tournament, and remember the sheer ridicule that came along as that day’s curse. “I’ll make sure I find out the truth… I won’t let this slip away!!” Shark shouted to himself.

A car screeched nearby, it was probably a reckless driver. The car immediately screeched to a halt as the door swung open. Shark looked towards the red and black painted car, watching the female driver exit the vehicle. The female driver seemed to be at least one or two years older than him with long red hair styled in a ponytail. She wore a blue shirt, white pants, a small black, hooded vest, and a gold bracelet on her left wrist. Hanging onto her shirt was a pair of sunglasses. The female looked down at Shark with her light violet eyes, and then paused.

What’s she looking at me for? Shark looked around, trying to identify who exactly the girl was staring at.

The girl’s light violet eyes widened in realization as she finally recognized the boy she was staring at. “Hey, you’re one of Yuma’s friends, aren’t you?!” the girl immediately spoke, starting to run down towards Shark.

“No, I’m not friends with tha-“ Shark paused mid-sentence, remember Yuma’s outcries about them being comrades. “Tch…” the adolescent wiped away that thought the very instant he could.

The girl stopped in front of him, panting lightly. Compared to Shark, the girl was only two or three inches taller than the young adolescent. “Good, I need your help” the girl paused, her eyes looking at the boy’s navy-blue eyes seriously. Do you know where Yuma could be right now?” she asked him.

“I wouldn’t know where that guy goes. What do I look like, a fan of his?” Shark answered in his usual tone, crossing his arms.

“Well, you Dueled him before, didn’t you?” the girl asked.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I know where he’d hide” Shark answered, seemingly losing patience with each second.

The girl sighed, placing her hands on her hips before she came up with her next question. “Would you happen to at least know where a place called… um… Duel Lodge is?” the girl asked, persistent upon finding out where Yuma was.

Shark thought about it for a moment, and then pointed in the northern direction. “It’s not hard to miss it, you just go in the direction of the forest area which is outside of Heartland. Once you get there, if you see a never-ending staircase, you’ll know you’re going in the right direction” he answered her.

“Great, thanks… er… what’s your name?” the girl paused, scratching her cheek with her slender index finger, as she was dumbfounded.

“The name’s Ryoga Kamishiro, but you can otherwise just call me Shark,” the adolescent answered the girl, expecting her to say something.

“You mean you’re that Shark?” the girl asked, appearing surprised.

He stood there, watching the girl’s eyes to keep a watch on her reaction, “I’ll guess you’ve heard nothing good of my name?” Shark said without a care now. He was used to people knowing him for the most horrible details rather than what he used to be, so how could this stranger be any different anyway?

“Nothing good? All I can hear is either some insane stuff about you from Yuma, or whenever I look up your name, I see that you’re a champion-level duelist. Your name is practically thrown everywhere, even when I’m looking for a scoop” the girl said with a smile. “In my opinion, you’re a misunderstood teenager who was framed for cheating” the girl said as if she were attempting to cheer Shark up. The tone in her voice was soothing in a manner, but it didn’t change Shark’s mood, all it did was twist him up.

“You mean that you don’t believe what everyone else thinks of me? You don’t believe I’m a delinquent or a cheater?” Shark questioned, now confused. Sure, Yuma himself believed that there was good inside Shark, but what good was he? Yuma was an idiot, so Shark couldn’t accept words like that from him.

“I don’t believe that you cheated on purpose. No, I believe that you were set up, but the proof doesn’t seem to point to any other answer” the girl responded. “What, did someone call you a cheater or something?” she asked.

“No… I’m just not used to people thinking otherwise of me” Shark answered, turning away from the girl as he started to walk away. “I don’t know where Yuma is, so just go back to your search for the idiot already” he said dismissively.

“Oh, but before you go, let me at least tell you my name!” the girl called out, causing Shark to stop for a moment. “Shark, the reason I’m looking for Yuma is because my name’s Akari Tsukumo. I’m Yuma’s older sister” the girl said before rushing back towards her car. “And that sucker Yuma is dead now” she said with a low mutter before entering her car and driving off recklessly again, leaving Shark where he stood.

“Yuma’s sister, huh? Don't see the relationship between the two...” Shark shook his head before beginning to walk away from where he stood. The wind blew gently across the grassy hill he stood on. All he could hear were the waves crashing and the wind’s gentle dance. “That idiot’s at the Duel Lodge now? Heh, he’s in for it when he finds out what training is like there…” Shark chuckled, smiling as if he remembered something about the Duel Lodge.

“You’re taking the road to becoming better… maybe someday, you will be that champion you keep saying you’ll become…” The adolescent walked calmly towards his motorcycle, placing his helmet on. He must be training for the World Duel Carnival then… it seems that I have two reasons for participating now. Shark revved the engines of his rogue motorcycle and then immediately sped off through the streets, going to his next destination; town square.
_________

Author's Note: Thought I was done writing the fic? xD

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal, otherwise the contents would contain moar Shark.

Huzzah! An update! The duel was good and I'm looking forward to more.

wow that is a long post

Wow, that was good. My only complaint is that Shark needs to be at least 20% cooler.

“Wahhhh” Yuma whined, falling to his knees with two sponges in his hands. “Why do we gotta clean the floor!? This has nothing to do with Dueling!” he whined, staring at the wooden floor of the dojo.

“Yuma, stop complaining or you might get us in trouble” Kotori warned the boy, scrubbing the walls in circular motions.

“B-but Kotori, cleaning floors has nothing to do with Dueling! Why do I gotta clean up this dusty floor anyway? Shouldn’t we be practicing new skills in Dueling?” Yuma complained some more before slipping on an area he’d already scrubbed, falling onto his back. “Ouch…” the boy muttered.

Kotori couldn’t help but to giggle to herself at the sight of Yuma falling.

“That’s not funny!” the boy jumped back onto his feet before slipping on remaining soap and hit the ground against back again.

Kotori tried her best to maintain her laughter as just light giggles. “Yuma, you know it’d be easier if you didn’t just scrub a circle around yourself, right?” the girl asked.

“What’re you talking about?” Yuma cocked an eyebrow, scratching the back of his head.

“See, the way you’re supposed to clean is in a circular motion, not scrubbing a circle around yourself” Kotori explained, walking over to the boy as she got onto her knees and started scrubbing the floor, moving the sponge in a circular motion as she’d told Yuma. “See? It gets the job done easier, finishes a wide range of the workload, and makes it so your arms do get a little stronger” the boy’s best friend said with a smile on her face.

“Why do you have to be so smart, Kotori?” Yuma asked with a glare.

“Jealous? One of us had to at least be sensible enough to know a lot” Kotori giggled before returning to her job post, scrubbing the walls.

“Still don’t get why this has anything to do with Dueling…” Yuma muttered as he did what the girl instructed him to do, scrubbing the floor in circular motions with sponges. From his King’s Key, Astral materialized himself into the world Yuma was busy cleaning on.

“Yuma, what exactly are you doing?” Astral asked, sounding a little dumbfounded at what Yuma was doing.

“I’m busy scrubbing the floors…” Yuma answered with a sigh.

“…Is that going to make you draw better cards when you get in a Duel with someone?” Astral asked.

“I wish” Yuma rolled his eyes as beads of sweat came down his face.

“Yuma’s talking to that Duelist Ghost again, isn’t he…?” Kotori whispered to herself, eavesdropping on Yuma’s conversation with Astral.

___________________________

Tetsuo dusted around carefully with the feather duster he was handed by Juuro, making sure to clean all dust off certain objects before proceeding to the next one. As he was dusting a statue of a legendary dragon, he remembered the very moment Yuma Xyz Summoned No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope against Shark in light of Yuma’s swear to refrain from using the Numbers. “Tch, he can’t duel to save his life and he’s a liar…” the boy muttered to himself.

“Tetsuo! What’s up!” Todoroki appeared out of nowhere from behind the dragon statue.

“Whoa!” Tetsuo jumped back, nearly out of his skin in surprise. “Jeez, warn a guy when you’re hiding!”

“Sorry, man, just had to do it” Todoroki chuckled before walking closer to Tetsuo and patted his back to reassure him. The blue haired boy turned around to look at the statue that his friend was just dusting off. “Ah, the mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Make sure you dust this one good!” Todoroki said excitedly.

“Since when were you my boss?” Tetsuo questioned with a sweat drop.

“Since I finished my end of the chores” Todoroki chimed with a smile.

“…Then you can help me before I give you a wedgie!” Tetsuo barked.

“You’re serious, right?”

“Yes, yes I am” Tetsuo said with a smirk on his face as he began cracking his knuckles.

“Oh… oh come on… I thought we put stuff like that past us after Elementary School!” Todoroki whined as Tetsuo only approached him dangerously. “C-can’t we talk it out?!” Tdoroki backed up, backing into a statue of Rainbow Dragon.

“If you just do it, you won’t keep backing into things and breaking stuff and you’ll help me get this stupid stuff done fast” Tetsuo said as he continued cracking his knuckles to intimidate the boy.

“F-fine! Where should I start?” Todoroki said with a loud sigh.

“Start with the dragon you just bumped into” Tetsuo said before tossing a dusting rag at Todoroki.

“Hey… I wanna ask you something…” Todoroki caught the rag as his eyes were covered by the shadow of his hair.

“What is it?” Tetsuo asked.

The blue haired boy remained quiet, thinking back to the Duel between Yuma and Juuro. The boy couldn’t help but to notice something throughout the Duel that no one else seemingly noticed. “… Do you hate Yuma for his Numbers…?” Todoroki asked, looking at Tetsuo directly in the eyes.

“…” Tetsuo blinked, staring at the blue haired boy. He remained silent, clenching his fists shakily. As much as he wanted to answer that question, he was afraid of how Todoroki would take it. Would it be considered complaining, or would it be considered as something to discuss as friends?

“Tetsuo…” Todoroki sighed.

___________________

“I…”

“Yuma, you did it!” Kotori cheered with a smile across her face, watching the floor sparkle with cleanliness.

“Yeah, I brought it to ‘em and did it!” Yuma said with a loud laugh and a grin on his face.

Astral looked at the floor, as if studying it. What could the man be trying to teach Yuma through doing this…?

“Juuro!” a loud roar came from out of nowhere.

“Huh?” Yuma looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

“Juuro, come out here! I demand it!” the voice shouted with loud anger.

“Who could be that mad at sensei?” Kotori questioned, placing a finger against her cheek in curiosity.

“I ‘unno, I can’t imagine that old guy having enemies at all” Yuma replied, shrugging.

“I don’t like this feeling, Yuma…” Astral said, as he tensed up. He could feel something coming, and it wasn’t just any normal human. “A Numbers…”

“Numbers!?” Yuma replied.

“Numbers? How do you know that?” Kotori asked.

“’cause that guy told me” Yuma responded.

“Oh, you mean that Astral thing you keep making up?”

“He’s not made up!” Yuma responded almost angrily. Suddenly, a dark figure appeared behind Kotori and grabbed her from behind.

“Ah?! Yumaaaaa!” Kotori shouted as the dark figure lifted her and immediately leaped off.

“Kotoriiii!” Yuma shouted as he tried to give chase, but the man was too fast for him to even immediately register.

“Y-Yamato!?” Juuro said in the next room.

“Old man!” Yuma made a run for the next room, moving as fast as his legs could carry him. Behind him, both Todoroki and Tetsuo entered the room, chasing behind Yuma. “Guys!”

“We heard what happened in the Statue Room, so we’re going to help you!” Todoroki explained.

“We got your back, Yuma!” Tetsuo said.

“Thanks, guys! Kotoriii!” Yuma roared as he barged into the next room, looking around as he could see the dark figure in full detail. The figure was a young man in his early 30’s, about three feet taller than Yuma with a muscular build to him. The man was wearing a black ninja uniform that was customized enough to conceal not just the man’s weapon, but it covered most of his body and only revealed his hands and face. The man’s face was young, with hard blue eyes that gave Yuma a death glare.

“Who the hell are you?” the man asked, looking back at Juuro with a disgusted look on his face.

“I’m Yuma Tsukumo, that old man’s student!” Yuma answered loudly.

“Yuma, don’t get in his way! Just call the police!” Kotori said, pinned against a wall by multiple shuriken.

The sight of Kotori nearly infuriated Yuma as he raised his D-Pad, “Sorry, but if you wanna get the old man, you’ve gotta take me down first!”

“Oh? You’re challenging me to a Duel, brat!?” the man said with a laugh.

“Yuma, don’t Duel Yamato… he’s insanely strong…!” Juuro said, coughing as his attacker released him from his grip.

“No. I won’t let him get away with this, not the way things are right now!” Yuma shouted.

“Alright, kid, you asked for it… You’ll be my victim before the old man! I want him to suffer when I defeat his student!” Yamato laughed as a purple aura appeared around him.

“DUEL!” both Yuma and Yamato shouted as the entire world around them became a pixilated version of what they stood on.

Yuma: 4000

Yamato: 4000

Turn 1

“I’ll take the first turn!” Yuma drew a new card.

“Yuma, you’ve challenged a powerful opponent…” Juuro coughed as he weakly stood on his two legs. “In order to beat an opponent as powerful as him… you must… believe in the feelings of your Monsters…” the man said.

“I got it” Yuma revealed the first card in his hand. “First, I summon Gagaga Magician!” he shouted as a bright light shone in the middle of his field, and the magician with chains around him grunted as he leaped out from the light. The magician swung his chains and glared at Yamato.

Gagaga Magician: 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

“I’ll set two cards and end my turn” Yuma immediately set two cards into his Spell/Trap Zone. He could only focus on the opponent standing before him, feeling the heat in his quickly pumping blood.

“Yuma…” Astral seemed dumbfounded.

Turn 2

“Draw!” Yamato smirked as he revealed a card in his hand. “I’ll activate a Spell Card called Dark World Dealings” Yamato said with a chuckle as the pitch dark aura around his body began to glow. “Both players draw 1 card, and then discard one card” he explained as both he and Yuma swiped a new card from the top of their decks. “I’ll discard my Gren, Tactician of Dark World” Yamato calmly said as a black wave of energy shot out from his graveyard. “When this card is card is discarded, the effect of my Gren activates!”

“Huh?!” Yuma questioned after he discarded a card. Suddenly, the soul of the large-headed demon in a green cape flew out from Yamato’s discard pile.

“When Gren is discarded through a card effect, I can destroy a single Spell/Trap Card on your field” Yamato explained as the demon grunted, opening a book of spells as it began to chant. “I’ll destroy… that one!” a black lightning shot out from the book, immediately destroying one of Yuma’s cards!

“Not my Bye Bye Damage!” Yuma sighed, placing the card into his discard pile.

“Effects that require only to be discarded?” Astral questioned, rubbing his spectral chin.

“Next, I activate the Field Magic Gate of Dark World!” Yamato roared as the entire field surrounding both him and Yuma grew fuzzy and the sounds of static could be heard as the virtual world around them began to transform.

“W-what…?” Yuma looked around at his surroundings. It suddenly twisted and grew pitch-dark around him.

“Be careful, Yuma!” the extraterrestrial spirit warned.

“I got it” Yuma answered, now seeing that he stood on a single road that appeared to be cracked and unstable, yet it was a stabilized bridge. In front of him was a large mass of land with blue flames sprouting out from the ground. “This place… it’s familiar…” Yuma muttered, scratching his chin as he tried to think carefully. Something was ringing a bell, but he didn’t know why. Suddenly, a large wall shot up from the ground, causing Yuma to leap back in surprise. “W-whoa!” Yuma watched the wall grow in height before it stopped at perhaps above 80 feet. Yuma looked at the wall and his eyes widened as he finally figured out what was it. “T-this thing…!” Yuma said almost fearfully.

“What is it?” Astral asked, unsure of what made Yuma feel suddenly fearful.

“This thing… it’s… that gate in my dream!” Yuma pointed, noticing the familiar demonic face on it. The chains of the gate appeared to have been broken, as if something was set free. Slowly, the gate began to open, revealing a Kotori that was bound to the entrance of the gate. “KOTORI!” Yuma shouted.

“D-Don’t worry, this is just alternate reality! Just keep fighting, Yuma!” Kotori shouted.

“Quiet, girl” Yamato said as he walked out from the gate’s blue glow with a large smirk across his face. “Welcome, you’re merely a step away from Dark World now…” the man said in a snake-like tone as he then crept towards Kotori, placing a hand on her face. “Now to shut this idiot up…” the man proceeded to give her a hard knock on the forehead, knocking out the bound girl.

“YOU BASTARD!” Yuma shouted in pure fury. “Wait until I win… wait until I get my hands on you!” the boy shouted as blue flames shot out from the opened gate.

“Let’s see if you can do anything about it, brat!” Yamato tempted Yuma with that large smirk on his face.

“Yuma, get your head in the game! Anger only clouds the way to victory!” Juuro commanded.

“Come on, Yuma, calm down. Relax a little, we’ll get Kotori back at the end of this Duel” Tetsuo said to reassure the boy.

“Shut up!” Yuma barked as he stared at his target with eyes that clearly reflected anger. “I’ll beat him… and I’ll make sure I save Kotori, that’s it!” the boy said determinedly.

“You won’t be able to save this girl… She’s all mine and when I kill that bastard, I’m gone” Yamato answered with a malevolent chuckle.

“I’ll save Kotori… I’ll beat you!” Yuma declared.

“Problem is… how can you defeat the ever-living darkness? Darkness is a force that cannot be defied, even if the hope you shine is bright, it will all be swallowed by darkness! These ‘monster emotions’ that your sensei speaks of are all lies! It’s not power, it’s weakness!” Yamato shouted.

“Y-Yamato…” Juuro said, sounding almost saddened by the words and actions of his former student.

“You’re wrong! The monsters’ emotions are a power beyond all greatness! The legendary Duelists believed in the power of them, and look around! The statues of all the legendary monsters used by Duelists with powerful hearts!” Yuma answered Yamato before clenching his fist over his chest. “I’ll prove to you their power… I’ll use it to win!”

“Yuma, how do you plan on doing that?” Astral asked, looking at the determined boy.

“I don’t know… I feel it in me… I feel like I can do it!” Yuma answered the spirit, looking at it with his red eyes full of drive.

“…I see… I’ll observe carefully…” Astral answered quietly.

“And now, through the power of my Gate of Dark World, I’ll banish the Gren, Tactician of Dark World in my cemetery, giving me the ability to discard a card and draw a card to replace it” Yamato explained as the smirk on his face widened while a soul escaped from the blue depths of the gate behind him. The soul groaned and moaned as it shattered to pieces and Yamato proceeded to discard a card and draw a replacement.

“What?” Yuma raised an eyebrow, estranged by that move.

“Yuma, don’t forget that the way he plays seems to involve the use of discarding those Monsters, triggering the effects of those Monsters” Astral warned, floating next to the boy as the spirit that nobody else but the young boy could see.

“I know that” Yuma said, sounding almost annoyed.

“Now the effect of my Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World activates! Whenever he’s discarded by a card effect, I can Special Summon him onto the field!” Yamato said with a loud and creeping laugh as his discard pile began to emit a dark light. “Be revived, mighty lord! Appear now, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World!!” Yamato commanded as the dark light began to twist and bend, taking on the form of a bulky figure. The darkness began to fade away, revealing a bulky, golden colored demon with an axe that matched its size pretty well. The demon breathed a strange miasma before suddenly roaring as it’s eyes began to glow red.

Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World: 2300 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 5

“W-what!? A Level 5 Monster without tributing?! That’s cheating!” Yuma shouted, pointing at the Monster that now stood in front of his.

“Sorry, but Goldd Special Summons himself, this has nothing to do with cheating. The darkness is coming for you, brat!” the man laughed as Goldd roared loudly again.

Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World: 2600 ATK / 1700 DEF | Level 5

“W-why’d he gain 300 ATK!?” Yuma questioned.

“My Field Spell provides a 300 ATK and 300 DEF boost to all Fiend-type Monsters on the field. The darkness empowers the demons of the night, giving them the power to overcome even the mightiest light! Battle! Goldd, attack that Monster!” Yamato commanded as the axe-wielding demon roared and leaped at Yuma’s Gagaga Magician!

“Trap card, open! Gagaga Shield!” Yuma commanded as his trap sprung open, and several chains shot out from the trap card. “This card equips to Gagaga Magician, and the equipped Monster can’t be destroyed in battle!” the young boy announced as the chains then turned into a shield that resembled Gagaga Magician’s armor. The magician grunted as the attack crashed into his shield, pushing him back several feet, but he survived the onslaught of the demon.

Goldd roared and leaped back to where he belonged, leaving Yuma to watch his Life Points decrease rapidly.

Yuma: 2900 Life Points

“T-tch…” Yuma looked at Yamato, who still retained a large smirk on his face. “I’ll defeat you using the feelings of the Monsters in my deck!” the boy declared, pointing at Yamato.

“Monsters have no feelings, they’re merely weapons of the Duelist!” Yamato barked with a loud laugh. “I’ll set three cards face-down and end my turn!”

“You’re wrong! Monsters have feelings… they work together with us in our duels for victory!” Yuma argued as he placed his hand at the top of his deck. "I'll show you... I'll prove it to you through this Duel!!" Yuma swore as he swiped a new card from the top of his Deck.
_____________

Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, Yuma sucks and I dunno how to write for him, we've heard it already. >_>

Disclaimer: I don't own ZeXal, etc.

About time you updated again. Off to read it.

Yay, an update! Dem Dark Worlds! They're evil I tells you!

Oh Moku- Kotori, what will we do with you?

“Monsters have no feelings, they’re merely weapons of the Duelist!” Yamato barked with a loud laugh. “I’ll set three cards face-down and end my turn!”

“You’re wrong! Monsters have feelings… they work together with us in our duels for victory!” Yuma argued as he swiped a new card from the top of his Deck.

Turn 4

“I’ll Summon Rarara Mage!” Yuma said with a wide grin on his face as the digital pixels in front of him formed, taking on the shape of an old man wearing blue robes that a magician would wear. The old man grunted and opened his book of spells, quietly reading through it.

Rarara Mage: 1400 ATK / 200 DEF | Level 4

“What do you think you’re going to do with a pathetic weakling like that on the field, brat!?” Yamato barked.

“He’s not a weakling! When he’s been Summoned successfully, I can lower the ATK of a Monster on the opponent’s side of the field by half just by switching him to defense mode!” Yuma instructed as his mage’s eyes opened widely, beginning to chant from the book of spells. A blue stream of energy shot out and lashed at Goldd, causing the mighty demon to roar in pain as it’s points were slowly beginning to decrease.

“Tch, not if I have anything to say about it, kid! I activate a trap!” Yamato tapped on the screen of his D-Pad, and his trap flipped up. “Go, Dark Illusion!” the man commanded as the spell surrounding Goldd was suddenly surrounded by a red static. “When you target a DARK-Attribute Monster with a card effect… this card will negate and destroy it!” Yamato barked as Rarara Mage shouted and shattered to pieces.

“R-Rarara Mage!” Yuma called out, before a grin came across his face.

“What’re you so happy about, brat? I just destroyed your only way past my demonic lord, and you just look pleased” Yamato said, sounding disgusted.

“Do it, Yuma!” Astral commanded.

“I know, I know!” Yuma responded as he revealed a Spell Card in his hand. “I activate a Spell Card called Gagaga Revive!” Yuma instructed as a black energy began to surround Gagaga Magician.

“What?!”

“While a ‘Gagaga’ Monster is face-up on my side of the field, I can Special Summon a Monster from the graveyard with 1500 ATK or less!” Yuma said with a wide grin across his face as Gagaga Magician grunted, reaching outward as a black circle appeared in front of him.

“What!?” Yamato’s eyes shot wide open as Rarara Mage shot out from the pixilated ground, and the mage grunted as he cracked his bones, scratching his long beard.

Rarara Mage: 1400 ATK / 200 DEF | Level 4

“Tch, that means you can activate its effect again!” Yamato frowned angrily as he came upon that realization.

“Uh-huh! I use Rarara Mage’s effect! I switch him to defense mode to halve the ATK power of a Monster on your field! Go, Rarara Curse!” Yuma commanded as the mage chanted quietly and a blue stream of light shot forth at Goldd, causing the demon to cry out shrill screams as its muscles began to deflate a little bit.

Rarara Mage: 200 DEF / 1400 ATK | Level 4

Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World: 1300 ATK / 1700 DEF | Level 5

“Battle! Gagaga Magician, attack Goldd!” Yuma declared.

“What!? Yuma, why didn’t you Xyz Summon Aspiring King, Hope?!” Astral’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I’ve got my reasons, Astral!” Yuma answered as Gagaga Magician sprung into action, throwing a chained knife at the weakened demon. The demon roared as it swung it’s axe at the knife, but it pierced through the axe and flew directly at the demon!

“Tch, I activate my other Trap card, Keeps of Darkness! Through this card’s effect, whenever you destroy a Fiend-type Monster by battle, I draw 1 new card!” Yamato instructed as Goldd shattered to pieces, and his Life Points dropped by 200.

Yamato: 3800

“Draw!” Yamato drew his new card, clenching his teeth in slight anger.

“Next, I activate a Quick-play Spell! Gagaga Curse! Whenever a “Gagaga” Monster destroys an opponent’s Monster by battle, I inflict damage to you equal to the Original ATK of the destroyed Monster! How’d you like that!?” Yuma said excitedly as Gagaga Magician glared at Yamato, swinging his chains while a red circle appeared before him. Flames shot out, all of them shooting in scattershot patterns at Yamato.

“Guh!” Yamato grunted as his Life Point parameters decreased once again.

Yamato: 1500

“Heh, I dealt critical damage!” Yuma said with a sneer. His attention turned to the unconscious girl, and his expression changed to a frown.

“Tch… it doesn’t matter what you do kid… the darkness is going to swallow you… and destroy you!” Yamato barked in anger. “Quick-Play Spell, activate!!” the man barked as a spell card flipped face-up, “Gateway to Dark World!!!”

“W-What?!” Yuma watched as darkness began to shoot out from the gate that stood behind Yamato, and the man began to laugh.

“With this card, I can Special Summon a Dark World Monster of my choice from the graveyard, however I cannot Summon or Set during the same turn it’s been activated, but it’s irrelevant when it’s my opponent’s turn!” the man said with a wild smirk across his face as the darkness shattered, taking on the form of a bulky, golden armored demon that Gagaga Magician had already defeated before.

Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World: 2300 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 5

“Not that guy again!” Yuma whined.

“Is there a particular reason why he keeps on defending this creature?” Astral muttered, watching Yuma’s opponent carefully.

“Oh come on, that has to be cheating!” Tetsuo complained.

Turn 6

“Draw!” Yamato drew his new card before revealing a card in his hand “I activate Dark World Lightning! Now, I can destroy a set card on the field! Say farewell to your face-down card, brat!” purple lightning suddenly struck down from above, shattering the set card in front of Yuma.

“Ah! My Holy Armor – Mirror Mail!” the boy protested sadly.

“Next, I discard a card in my hand…” the man immediately discarded the last card in his hand. A black light shot out from the gates behind the man as he began to laugh maniacally. “It’s time for you to meet the second Lord of the Dark World! When I discard him by card effect, he’s revived onto the field! Come on out, Silvaa, Warlord of Dark World!” the man began to laugh again as the darkness gathered into one area, molding into the shape of another tall, muscular demon. The darkness faded into color, revealing a silver-armored demon with skin as dark as night. The demon didn’t even speak, but it’s dangerous green eyes shone bright, revealing itself to be a force to be reckoned with. The creature hissed, breathing out a miasma, as it immediately grasped the two sheathed crescent-blade swords by its sides, unsheathing them before taking a fight stance.

Silvaa, Warlord of Dark World: 2300 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 5

“Another one!?” Yuma complained with a loud sigh, feeling the pressure from the two Monsters now on his opponent’s side of the field.

“Don’t forget, thanks to my Field Spell, Sillva gains a 300 ATK boost!” Yamato instructed as the blue radiance from the gate shone upon the newly formed demon lord, and it’s muscles expanded slightly as it roared mightily.

Sillva, Warlord of Dark World: 2600 ATK / 1700 DEF | Level 5

“Don’t expect them to stay on the field anymore… The darkness descends upon those foolish enough to believe it isn’t there. When the curtain of darkness falls, no light will ever hope to escape…” the man began to grin and chortle as those words escaped his lips.

“Huh?” Yuma cocked an eyebrow.

“I’ll Overlay the Level 5 Silvaa with my Level 5 Goldd!” Yamato commanded as the two demons roared loudly and transformed into purple orbs of energy that spiraled around the man’s general area. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network!” Yamato began to laugh as a galactic gate began to open and a red light began to radiate from his tongue. A strange image etched itself onto his tongue, the number 66. “Xyz Summon!” the man commanded as the gate exploded, creating a widespread miasma.

“A Numbers!” Yuma pointed aloud.

“Numbers…” Tetsuo muttered quietly.
Todoroki looked at Tetsuo and patted his back as if to reassure him.

“Numbers?” Juuro questioned, unbeknownst of the power his former student acquired.

“Reveal yourself, No. 66 Purgatory Ruler - Hellspawn Prince!” the man began to laugh as he slammed the black framed card on top of the stacked two cards on his Duel Disk. Suddenly, the miasma faded away to reveal a strange object that looked like a cross with a mechanical snake wrapped around it. At the center of the cross was a red jewel that glowed brightly, and the entire black structure began to shift and change. It’s ‘arms’ expanded and elongated, becoming black, armored arms and claws. The very bottom of its main body suddenly shattered and shifted around, forming a floatation device that was shaped like a pair of wings. The main body on it’s own shifted around, leaving the crimson gem where it originally was as it formed an armored dome over it. The very tip finally shifted around, turning into a black skull of what appeared to be a long-faced demon. The creature roared as the mechanical armor shattered, revealing a dark and hardened flesh that belonged to the newly summoned demon. It continued to roar as skeletal wings emerged from its shoulder blades, fully spreading out as cartilage then connected between each bone, making the wings more webbed. Finally, the wing-like hunk of armor that floated around had transformed into a long scepter fit for an emperor, gently landing in the demon’s hand.

Number 66 Purgatory Ruler - Hellspawn Prince: 2400 ATK / 2400 DEF | Rank 5 | Overlay Units: 2

“W-whoa!” Yuma’s eyes widened in surprise as the Number Monster roared once again, raising its scepter and pointing it at the young boy.
“What kinda Monster’s that?!” Tetsuo said with a slight hint of fear in his voice.

“Could this be a real demon…?” Todoroki rubbed his chin, and then took a look at Yamato’s changed image. Yamato now had a dark purple aura surrounding his entire body, and his eyes glowed with a dark purple glint.

“The darkness is coming for your soul… Yuma…” Yamato began to laugh a little as his new demon roared, gaining power from the field that surrounded them.

Number 66 Purgatory Ruler – Hellspawn Prince: 2700 ATK / 2700 DEF | Rank 5 | Overlay Units: 2

“S-Soul!?” Yuma looked at the man with a shocked expression on his face. He suddenly remembered Kaito, the boy who hunted for his Numbers along with his soul.

“Soul…? You mean Yuma’s soul is on the line here!?” Astral muttered to himself in shock.

“Yes, brat! Now come, fight! Try and defeat the darkness!” Yamato began to laugh as he then pointed at his newly summoned Numbers. “I now activate Purgatory Ruler’s effect! Once per turn, I can draw one card, and then discard a card in my hand!” he boomed with a laugh as the demon in front of him roared mightily, absorbing an Overlay Unit that orbited around it’s body. Immediately, Yamato drew that card, looked at it, and then discarded it.

Number 66 Purgatory Ruler – Hellspawn Prince: 2700 ATK / 2700 DEF | Rank 5 | Overlay Units: 1

“But what’s the point in doing that? You had no other cards in your hand, so you’d just draw and discard the same card…” Yuma noted, scratching his chin. He couldn’t wrap his head around the concept of what Yamato did.

“Yuma, did you forget it already?” Astral asked.

“Now the effect of my Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World activates from the graveyard!”

“Wait, what?!” Yuma looked at Yamato in surprised.

“Grapha’s Monster Effect only activates whenever he’s been discarded by a card effect. When he’s been discarded by a card effect, I can destroy one card on your side of the field! I’ll destroy your Rarara Mage!” Yamato began to laugh as his discard pile emitted a purple lightning that shot towards Yuma’s Rarara Mage.

“Rarara Mage!” Yuma said, sounding almost upset as his monster shattered into tiny pixels.

“What was that about protecting your precious Monsters? You can’t do a single thing, brat! You can’t protect these ‘comrades’ of yours because you think of them as comrades! They’re just tools of destruction, tools to extend our arms out towards the goal we aim for!” Yamato shouted with a wide grin across his face as his Purgatory Ruler roared, taking to the black skies. “Say goodbye to another Monster of yours! Purgatory Ruler attacks Gagaga Magician! Dark Descending!!!” Yamato roared his command while the demon began to dive-bomb towards Gagaga Magician.

“Sorry, but I’ve still got Gagaga Shield!” Yuma declared as Gagaga Magician raised his arm, and green pixels formed around his arm, recreating his exclusive shield. The demon dive-bombing towards the magician roared, crashing into the shield with a loud bang. The magician stood as strong as he could, being pushed back several feet as the shield slowly began to crack. “Hang in there, Gagaga!” Yuma said as the shield shattered, several parts of the shrapnel flying past his body and leaving minor cuts on him. “T-tch…”

Yuma: 1700 Life Points

“Your Life Points are falling, brat… and now my Hellspawn Prince’s second effect activates! By banishing an Overlay Unit when he was unable to destroy a Monster by battle, I can inflict damage to you equal to the Attack Power of the attack target!” Yamato began to laugh as the demon took to the sky once again, pointing an arm towards Yuma.

Number 66 Purgatory Ruler – Hellspawn Prince: 2700 ATK / 2700 DEF | Rank 5 | Overlay Units: 0

“Yuma!” Tetsuo called out.

“Yuma!” Todoroki said in fear.

“Yuma!” Astral shouted.

“What!?” Yuma’s eyes shot open in fear as purple lightning came down from the sky, hitting the ground with loud crackles and rumblings. The electricity began to rumble and then purple lightning came down upon Yuma, jolting the young boy as his Life Points began to drop rapidly!

“YUMA!” the spectators of this Duel shouted.

Yuma: 200 Life Points

The jolt of electricity faded, and the boy dropped to his knees, appearing as if he were tired. The boy panted loudly, shivering. “W-what…?” Yuma noticed his body’s shivers, and his eyes widened in realization of what was going on.

“Y-Yuma… this is like that time…” Astral looked at the boy who simply nodded his head.

The young boy’s eyes showed fear and agony, with a hint of helplessness. It’s… useless now… The boy swallowed hard, staring at his D-Pad.

“Brat, you’ve lost. You can’t channel the Spirits of the Duel Monsters because there’s no such thing! You’ll die with these thoughts!” Yamato laughed before pointing his hand at Yuma. “I end my turn. Now, boy, try to squirm your way to victory!”

Turn 7

“My…” Yuma placed his hand close to his Deck, attempting to grab the top card of his deck before the child shivered.

“Yuma…” Astral muttered, looking at the boy before looking at Yamato, feeling a coldness travel up his body.

“What’s the matter, brat? Are you too scared?” Yamato egged on, grinning widely.

“I-I’m not!” Yuma argued back.

“Brat, you cannot lie to the darkness! Darkness is absolute, it is pure, it is everything the light isn’t! Face it, your hope, your aspirations are all just impure!” Yamato shouted.

“You’re… you’re wrong!” Yuma shouted. The boy turned his head to the unconscious girl that he was fighting for, his childhood friend that he’d always said he’d protect. “You’re wrong! I’ve still got hope in this duel!”

“Yuma…” Tetsuo muttered.

“Come on, Yuma, you got this!” Todoroki cheered.

“Kid don’t give in on yourself now! Do that some other time when your friend there isn’t in danger!” Juuro shouted.

“Tch, shut up, all of you! You’re giving this brat false hope, a hope that doesn’t exist!” Yamato shouted to all the spectators.

“No! There’s still hope…” Yuma looked at Gagaga Magician, who was also looking at the boy. The spellcaster nodded his head, and Yuma did the same. “I won’t be afraid of you… I’m not scared of your darkness! The darker it is, the more light I’ll summon!” the boy swiped the top card of his deck with a high leap. He grinned widely as his eyes laid upon the card. “Magic Card activate, Monster Slot!” Yuma announced as the card in his hand began to glow slightly. “With Monster Slot’s effect, I banish a Monster in my graveyard with a Level equal to the Level of a face-up Monster on my side of the Field!” he announced as a creature rose up with three slots in it’s mouth, the kind you’d see in a casino. Suddenly, one spun and stopped immediately, revealing Gagaga Magician. “So, I’ll banish Rarara Mage!!” Yuma commanded as the second reel immediately paused, revealing Rarara Magician. Then the third slot spun quickly, and Yuma placed his fore fingers on top of the next card on his deck while his thumb slipped under it. “And then… I draw one card… If it’s a Monster with the same Level as Gagaga Magician, I Special Summon it!” Yuma announced as he was coming down to the ground, about to land on his feet.

“So you’ll gamble your life on one pathetic draw!? You know that if you swing and miss, your Gagaga Magician disappears off the field, and then I’ll finish you off once and for all, brat!?” Yamato announced with a giant smirk on his face. The purple aura that emanated from his body began to glow darker, as if his excitement were affecting it.

“Yuma, are you really trying to gamble Kotori’s life on this move?!” Tetsuo asked as his jaw dropped.

“Draw!!” Yuma declared, swiping the top card of his deck, swinging his arm in a full 180 arc, closing his eyes tightly as he hoped for a miracle. The boy slowly brought the card to his face and then opened his eyes, clearly seeing the orange border of the card. “I-Its…” the boy identified the name and art of the card, and then his eyes finally identified the Level. “It’s a Level 4 Monster! Grigrigri Knight!” Yuma shouted in excitement.
“Impossible!” Yamato howled.
“Yuma, you gambled your chances on yet another draw…” Astral duly noted, staring at the boy in amazement.

“Yuma, keep it up!” Todoroki cheered.

“Since it’s a Level 4 Monster, it’s Special Summoned by my Monster Slot’s effect!” Yuma announced as he leaped and slammed the card onto his Duel Disk. The holographic field recognized the card and acknowledged it as pixels sprung to life, taking on the form of a young man wearing a suit of white armor that covered his body from his toes to his neck. There were several gold trimmings on the armor, especially on the helmet that the young knight held to his side. The young knights dashing green eyes sparkled and he devilishly smiled.

Grigrigri Knight: 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

“Since Grigrigri Knight was Special Summoned, I can activate his effect! Now I can draw one new card!” Yuma declared as the young knight unsheathed a heavenly white blade with a golden hilt. The knight pointed the sword towards Yuma’s deck, and the top card shone with a mystic light. “Draw!” the young boy declared, swiping yet another card from the top of his deck.

“Tch, it won’t matter what happens, kid! Your two Monsters aren’t enough to defeat my Hellspawn Prince!” Yamato shouted.

No. 66 Purgatory Ruler – Hellspawn Prince: 2700 ATK / 2700 DEF | Rank 5 | Overlay Units: 0

“It’s not what my two Monsters can do, it’s what they can combine to become!” Yuma announced as he gestured towards his Monsters. “I’ll Overlay the Level 4 Gagaga Magician and Grigrigri Knight!” Gagaga Magician and Grigrigri Knight both grunted as they transformed into a purple and yellow energy respectively. The two then spiraled around the Duelists, and light began to shine from the darkness above the two Duelists.

“What’s this light…?” Yamato began questioning, staring at it in horror as if it were some foreign creature.

“With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network!” Yuma instructed as a galactic gate surged open between the two Duelists, and both energies immediately shot themselves into the gate. That very instant, the gate exploded and Yuma shouted “Xyz Summon!” The smoke slowly cleared away, revealing a strange object that looked like a large mechanical blade. “No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope!” Suddenly, the entire figure began shifting, growing arms, legs, wings, and then a head with a golden crown-like patter on it. The thing’s eyes glowed red as it clenched it’s fists and took to the sky with a thrust, shouting “Hooope!” Yuma grinned, “I’m counting on you, Hope!”

No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope: 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“A Numbers…?” Yamato began to smile widely. “Now you’re no longer a waste of time, brat! Let’s see what you’ve got for me!”

“Battle! Hope attacks your Hellspawn Prince!” Yuma commanded as the golden emperor took to the sky, unsheathing his blades. The emperor then dive-bombed towards the demonic prince with his blade raised.

“You’re kidding, right? Brat, if you can’t do math correctly, you’ll see that my Monster has 200 more Attack Points than your pathetic Numbers!” the man pointed out with a smirk across his face. “Because you messed up, victory’s mine!”

“Not just yet! I’ll activate a Quick-Play Spell called Giant Shadow of Egotism!” Yuma commanded as a shadow formed around Hope, and the shadow began increasing in size as he approached the demonic Numbers that faced him.

“What?”

“This card’s effect increases the ATK power of Hope by 1000!” Yuma instructed as Hope grunted mightily.

No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope: 3500 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“Then, it’ll return the ATK Power of your Monster to it’s original ATK Power!” Yuma said with a sneer as Hellspawn Prince screeched, the powers of the darkness around it leaving it’s body.

No. 66 Purgatory Ruler – Hellspawn Prince: 2400 ATK / 2700 DEF | Rank 5 | Overlay Units: 0

“Y-you’re joking right!? You can’t defeat my prince of darkness just like that!” Yamato panicked as Hope’s blade came down upon the demonic Numbers. The creature screeched in sheer pain as the blade sliced down the creature’s body from the shoulder. Suddenly, it shattered into pixels that left tiny explosions, knocking Yamato into the gate’s blue contents.

Yamato: 400

“Alright! I dealt him some critical damage, and took out that Numbers!” Yuma said excitedly.

“Don’t celebrate just yet, Yuma… his Life Points haven’t reached 0 yet” Astral warned the boy cautiously.

“I know, I know” the boy rolled his eyes. “Turn end! Kotori… I just need to beat him, and I’ll win! I’ll get you back safely!” Yuma announced as he then looked into the swirling blue where Yamato fell in.

Turn 8

“This game… is far from over… the darkness will never relent… because it’s always there!” the man’s voice echoed as the swipe of a card could be heard. Slowly, the man stepped out of the gate intact with a look of disgust on his face. “I Normal Summon Celri, Monk of Dark World” the man said nonchalantly as the pixels took shape, forming a short, demonic monk with a long staff keeping it standing. The demon roared and banged the staff against the ground several times.

Celri, Monk of Dark World: 200 ATK / 400 DEF | Level 1

“Why would you summon a Level 1 Monster…?” Yuma questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Because at this time, my Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World’s effect applies! Servant Come Back!” Yamato began to laugh as darkness suddenly shot out from the man’s discard pile, all of it surrounding the newly-summoned demon. The demonic monk roared as it converted into an orb of purple light that shot back into the man’s hand, returning into it’s card form. Suddenly, the darkness began to mold itself into the form of a large, dragon-like deity formed from what almost looked like screaming and tormented souls. The dragon opened it’s mouth, releasing a mist from it’s mouth as it exhaled deeply, and it’s eyes glowed a furious red. The dragon then roared mightily, silencing the entire background around it.

Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World: 2700 ATK / 1800 DEF | Level 8

“Thanks to Grapha being a Fiend-type Monster, my field spell enhances his dark powers!” Yamato began to laugh as Grapha opened it’s wings and roared once more, dark powers entering it’s body as it began to radiate a dark energy.

Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World: 3000 ATK / 2100 DEF | Level 8

“3-3000 ATK…” Yuma’s eyes widened in horror at the power emanating from the behemoth-like Monster that was summoned before him.

“It’s over for you, kid! Your Life Points are only a mere 200. Whenever two Attack Position Monsters engage in battle, the player controlling a Monster with lower Attack Power is the one who takes damage equal to the difference between them! The difference is 500, so you’ll take 500 points of damage in this case! It doesn’t matter if a Numbers cannot be destroyed in battle by a non-Numbers, you’ll still take damage!” Yamato declared with a wide grin on his face. “Battle! Grapha, attack that brat’s No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope!” the man commanded as the dragon-like demon roared and took flight, charging at Hope!

“YUMAAA!!” Tetsuo, Juuro, and Todoroki shouted in fear of the boy’s loss.

“Hope also has an effect!” Yuma immediately took a card from underneath his Numbers Monster. “By detaching an Overlay Unit, Hope negates a Monster’s attack!” Yuma explained as his Aspiring King, Hope took position, and his wings created a golden barrier that blocked Grapha’s attack! “Moon Barrier!!” the boy commanded as the dragon god backed away from Hope.

No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope: 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 1

“T-tch… It won’t matter…” Yamato said with a disgruntled look on his face. “Turn End!” he swung his arm as he said that.

Turn 9

“He’s right about one thing…” Yuma muttered to himself, looking biting his bottom lip. “There’s only one card… just one card in my deck that can help me…” the boy muttered.

“YUMA!!!” a voice shouted angrily.

“Huh?” Yuma paused for a moment, looking around.

“Yuma, you idiot!” the voice shouted. Suddenly, from behind the audience, Akari walked in with her fist covered by her hand, cracking her knuckles. “Yuma, just what do you think you’re doing…?” she asked the boy threateningly.
The boy turned, seeing his older sister and he immediately froze. “U-uh… I… uh…” the boy stuttered, unable to find a way to lie to her.

“Yuma, I thought I said you weren’t allowed to duel!?” the young woman shouted at him. “What’s the point in making rules if you’re just gonna break them!?” the girl shouted.

“B-but this is a duel to save Kotori!” Yuma pointed at the knocked out middle schooler.

“How do I know you didn’t set this entire thing up so you could get in one duel?” the young woman asked, cracking her knuckles as she approached the boy in question.

“Akari, this is actually legitimate… my ex-student came in here trying to kill me and kidnap that Kotori girl over there, and now Yuma’s dueling for his life out there. My ex-student, Yamato, claims he gained a power of Darkness that would allow him to rip Yuma’s soul apart if he were to win the Duel” Juuro explained.

“Firstly, that sounds like a load of lies. Secondly, how do you know me?” Akari looked at Juuro with an eyebrow raised.

“Of course you don’t remember me, I’m a friend of your grandmother’s. I’m only your godfather, no need to show me respect” Juuro answered sarcastically as he waved a hand.

“O-oh!” Akari’s face turned red as she bowed to him. “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” The girl then looked at Juuro, seeing the serious look on his face. The girl frowned and turned her attention to Yuma, sighing deeply.

“I-I’ll stop dueling after this, okay!?” Yuma said in a begging voice, closing his eyes tightly as his older sister approached closer to him.

The female reached into her pocket, placing a bag in Yuma’s hand. “Here, Grandma made this for you…” the girl sighed before she patted the boy’s head. “Look… I’ll allow you to Duel…” she said before smiling. “I know how happy you get whenever you Duel, and I really shouldn’t be stopping you from chasing what makes you happy… now go out there and kick some behind!” Akari said with a grin on her face.

“…Okay!!” Yuma said with a large smile as he threw his arms around his sister, giving her a tight hug.

“Okay, okay, you can let me go now” the girl said with a sweat drop.

“Thank you so much!” the boy immediately turned back to Yamato with a look of determination on his face.

“Done having your last words with your idiotic friends, boy?” the man said with a disgusted look on his face.

“Nope, these ain’t my last words!” the boy announced as he flipped back, and opened his bag, digging out two rice balls. The boy threw them into the air, leaped and caught them in his mouth, immediately swallowing them. “I’m all charged… and ready to… go!!!” Yuma immediately drew his new card, grinning widely. “Battle! Hope attacks Grapha!” the boy commanded as the Numbers Monster immediately took action, flying towards Grapha.

“Brat, are you stupid?” Yamato asked with a surprised look on his face.

“Yuma, what the hell!?” Akari responded.

“Kid, are you trying to commit suicide?!” Juuro asked, just as surprised as everybody else in the room.

“Yu…ma…?” Kotori said softly, slowly opening her eyes. The yellow orbs slowly regained life, but her eyelids were still heavy. With her D-Gazer on, she weakly looked around, seeing the current field, and then turning her attention to her best friend. “Yuma…” the girl whispered before seeing a faint blue light next to him. "As...tral...?" she muttered, her vision still a slight bit blurry.

“Yuma, what are you thinking?!” Astral asked, surprised by Yuma’s reckless move.

“I’ll activate Hope’s effect! By detaching an Overlay Unit, I negate his attack!” Yuma commanded as Hope grunted, stopping his attack as the last Overlay Unit entered the green gem on it’s chest.

No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope: 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 0

“What kind of stupid combo are you trying to pull, kid?! You know that stopping your own attack is counter-productive if you’re trying to win, right?!” Yamato asked, infuriated by Yuma’s actions.

“Sorry, but the Duel ends here! I’ll activate the Quick-Play Magic called Double-Up Chance!” Yuma commanded as the card with an image of a slot machine on it appeared. “Whenever a Monster’s attack is negated, that Monster’s ATK Power Doubles, and then that Monster can attack one more time!”
“A-attack again?!” the man stuttered in horrid realization. He watched as the Numbers Monster unsheathed both of it’s blades, and began to glow a majestic golden aura.

No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope: 5000 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 0

“5000 ATK…?!” Yamato's eyes shot open in amazement.

“Go Hope! Attack Grapha!” Yuma commanded as his Ace Monster immediately charged at the demonic behemoth, raising it’s sword as Yuma shouted “Hope Sword Slash!!!” The golden sword was brought down upon Grapha, and a burst of yellow energy shot forth at Yamato. The golden energy immediately sent the man flying back as his Life Point parameters shot down to a depressing 0. A screen popped up, revealing Yuma to be the winner as a referee’s horn suddenly sounded off, and the pixilated virtual reality suddenly broke down back into the real world.

“YAY!” Yuma said excitedly as everyone else in the room congratulated Yuma. The boy immediately turned his attention to Kotori, scurrying over to her side as he began to unpin her from the wall she was stuck to by shurikens.

“Yuma…” the girl with a smile on her face.

“Kotori, I told you I’d save you” the boy said with a grin on his face.

“You idiot! You could’ve been hurt! The one time I tell you to call the police, no, you just pick up your Duel Disk recklessly and risk your life!” the girl scolded him as the boy chuckled nervously. The girl’s frown soon curved into a smile, an expression of gratitude to the boy’s action. “Oh well… thank you, Yuma…”

“Pft, it’s no problem, Kotori! I know you would’ve done the same for me” the boy sneered.

“Yuma Tsukumo!” Juuro said authoritatively.

“What?” Yuma looked at the man, a little surprised as the way Juuro spoke to him.

“Yuma… that was a dangerous thing you did, facing my student like that…” the man began with a long sigh before patting the boy’s shoulder. “However, for your bravery and dedication to protecting your best friend… I hereby say that you’ve graduated from the Dueling Lodge.”

“I… I… I what!?” the boy reacted almost excitedly as he leaped into the air, shouting “Kattobing!!!”

Astral looked at the unconscious body of Yamato, placing a hand out in the direction of the fallen man. A card-shaped light shone on the man’s chest, and the card flew out towards Astral, materializing into the very same Numbers Monster that Yamato used. “No. 66 Purgatory Ruler – Hellspawn Prince…” Astral muttered as the world around him immediately shifted. He could see a large galactic swirl in front of him. “Astral World…” the alien entity muttered to no one in particular, but then his memory immediately ended, showing him nothing new. “New Observation… some Numbers cards do not contain a full memory without capturing a second one… This memory from No. 66 is incomplete without the No. 92 card…” the alien spirit muttered to himself, rubbing his chin as he disappeared into Yuma’s King Key.

_______________________________________________

“Yuma, before you go…” Juuro halted the boy and his group of friends.

Yuma turned around to look at the old man “What’s up?” he asked.

“Here, a deck created exclusively here at the Duel Lodge!” Juuro said, placing the deck into Yuma’s hand as a policeman of Heartland walked out with Yamato, who appeared to be confused and unaware of why he was being arrested.

“What? No way, I can’t keep that” Yuma laughed with a sweat drop.

“Don’t worry about it, you deserve it for being such an excellent example of what a Duelist should be! Although I say that… you’re only the #2 student…” Juuro said, chuckling with a sweat drop as he looked away embarrassingly.

“WHAT?! Then who’s #1 so I can kick his butt?!” Yuma asked.

“Oh, you’ll meet him in time. Just go on in life, and use this deck to improve yourself greatly!” Juuro said with a smile across his face.

“Hm… will do!” Yuma chuckled.

“Bye!” Yuma and his friends all waved their farewells to Juuro, who bowed his head with a smile across his face.

If you ever run into my #1 Student… I want it to happen at the World Duel Carnival… the man’s thoughts drifted towards a vague image of a young man with a purple jacket while everyone was no longer in sight. “I wonder… how have you been doing… Shark?”

_________

Author's Note: Yay, another suckish chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Zeal, etc.

“Record information on the day of the finals…” Shark muttered to himself, seated in front of a computer. The teen scrolled and clicked through several pages, muttering as he scrolled through each page. Every single page had only two names written everywhere on them, “Ryoga Kamishiro” and “James Rahotep”. Information on either Duelist was brought up, but Shark was dissatisfied with the information he received on the part of James Rahotep. This place has nothing on this guy… The teenager got up with a grunt, walking away from the computer screen.

“Have a nice day, sir” the librarian whispered with a smile across her face.

“Whatever” Shark responded, walking out of the library with his hands in his pockets. The adolescent sighed, walking several steps to his motorcycle, only to be stopped by a policeman who appeared to have a suspect already in his car.

“Kid, are you the one who drives this vehicle?” the policeman asked, looking around for parents.

“Yeah. So?” Shark crossed his arms.

“This is against the law kid, I’m gonna have to take this vehicle and call your parents” the policeman said, walking over to Shark’s rogue motorcycle, but the adolescent took action by grabbing the officer’s arm.

“You were saying, officer?” the adolescent asked.

“Kid, don’t make me say it again. If you resist, I will arrest you” the man said, sounding a little annoyed now.

“Arrest me? Tch, you wish. I honestly dare you to lay a hand on me” Shark said in a tone as he hopped onto his motorcycle. Before the cop could throw his hand at Shark, the adolescent immediately shifted his motorcycle in reverse, and then sped off.

“Tch, that punk… He’s lucky I’ve got a criminal with me…” the cop muttered, turning his attention to the man in his vehicle. “I’m glad we finally caught ya, Yamato” the cop said with a smirk on his face.

__________________________

It was a new day, which meant that it was time to go to school once again. Kotori awoke from her sleep, going by her daily ritual. She brushed her teeth, took a quick shower, changed into her school uniform, brushed her hair, and then ran downstairs to enjoy a piece of toast. “Alright mom, I’m going to school!” the girl announced.

“Alright, come back safe and have a good day, honey!” Kotori’s mother answered from the kitchen as the girl walked out the door.

The girl walked, only to be joined by a few female friends, the usual ones who always met up with her to walk to the train station.

“So, Kotori, how’s that whole thing with Yuma?” one girl asked teasingly.

“Oh shut up! When’ll you grow up?!” the girl responded immediately with a bright red blush on her cheeks.

“Come on, we already know that you like Yuma, so come on, give us the details!” the other girl provoked.

“T-there’s nothing between us! We’re just childhood friends, that’s it!” the girl argued. The three females arrived at their stop, and proceeded onward to school.

“Catch ya later, Kotori!” the girls both said, dismissing themselves from Kotori’s presence.

Kotori sighed deeply, crossing her arms. “The nerve of them…” the girl raised her eyebrow as she continued walking towards school.

“Oh hi there, little one…” a deep voice spoke.

“Huh?” the girl’s attention immediately turned to a hooded man seated behind a table with a crystal ball on it. The man wore purple robes that covered every inch of his body, except for his hands.

“I said ‘Oh hi there, little one’” the man repeated himself delightfully as he waved his hand at the girl. His fingers were noticeably long and bony with quite the length on his nails themselves.

“Erm… hi…?” Kotori looked around.

“Come closer, please?” the man asked, running his hands along the surface of his cool, clear crystal ball.

“My mom told me I shouldn’t talk to strangers… so… bye…” Kotori began to walk away from the strange man.

“No, no, no! Please, stay. I have something to tell you. Please, do not walk away from what could be a fortunate future coming your way!” the man pleaded.

“…But I really can’t, I mean, mom said not to talk to strangers…” Kotori sighed.

“Am I really a stranger if I already know your name, Kotori Mizuki?” the man said, sounding as if he were practically grinning.

“No, that just makes you extremely weird” the girl responded, turning away from the man.

“Then I suppose you don’t want to know about your future, as well as the well-being of your closest childhood friend, Yuma Tsukumo” the man added emphasis to that name.

“W-what?” Kotori immediately paused, turning her attention back to the man. Ignoring the teachings of her mother, the girl took a few steps towards the man, saying “Go on”.

“Oh, so now you’ll listen?” the man scoffed as he took out a stack of Duel Monsters cards, shuffling them several different times before spreading out the deck into 40 individual cards. “Now, your future…” the man flipped a single card, revealing ‘Double-Up Chance’. “Ah, this card… Your future, as lucky as it is, will be a gamble from there on in. You will already have riches, but in order to attain more riches, you must decide upon either gambling on it all, or keeping what you have… You might feel conscious about going for more than what you have, but don’t let it get in the way” the man explained with a smile as he flipped up yet another card. “Your friend…” the flipped over card was ‘Reaper of the Cards’.

“U-uh… that can’t be any good, can it?” Kotori asked, noticing the art.

“No… this means that your friend, Yuma, is in grave danger that you’re unaware of” the man explained, sounding as if he were horrified. “Girl, has there been any changes in Yuma?”

“Um… nothing else, except for bringing up a weird thing called ‘Astral’” Kotori answered, placing a finger on her jaw line as she tried to notice anything that wasn’t normal by Yuma’s standards of the word.

“Astral, you say? Little girl, that could be the source of the problems itself. That ‘Astral’ is probably no made up being, it’s one that has granted Yuma a path to destruction. Using the ‘Numbers’ cards, one will be driven to insanity some day” the man said, speaking in blatant horror. “You must rescue your friend… these Numbers are evil cards that can only bring more harm upon your friend…” the man’s eyes seemingly glowed.

“But those cards haven’t done anything wrong to Yuma. He’s used the Numbers, and they haven’t done a thing to him…” Kotori answered, raising an eyebrow.

The glow of the man’s eyes turned a bright blue as he stood up from his table, looking straight into the young girl’s eyes.

“W-what’re you… do…ing…” the girl stared into the man’s orange eyes, feeling her eyelids slowly becoming droopy.

“They will lead your friend to a path of destruction… At some point, you will have to rescue your friend from the darkness he’s falling into… I want you to begin a ‘Numbers Club’ at your school. This is to ‘appreciate’ the existence of the Numbers, but what it will really be is an intervention when things get too rough with Yuma and his use of the Numbers” the man whispered gently, Kotori nodding her head sluggishly. “Your friend will eventually lose his soul if he continues this way… you must save him in the nearing future. The time will come when you must rescue him and lead him into the light!” the man whispered passionately.

“Y-yes… I un…derstand…” Kotori whispered monotonously.

“Good… now go on, girl, don’t be late for school” the man patted the girl’s back, gesturing her towards Heartland Middle School. As the girl walked away, the man stood up from his table, grabbing the crystal ball as he began to walk away. “Using these fools, Master Kaito, I’ll get you the Numbers you need… you can count on it! Your servant, Jin, will bring you the Numbers of that child, Yuma!” the man said as he began to cackle loudly.

_____________________________

“Dr. Faker… how is he…?” Kaito asked, looking at the deranged man who was seated on his throne.

“The boy will be fine, Kaito. Haruto merely overworked his powers, so he nearly fell into the death he wanted to inflict so much of to Astral World’s residents” Dr. Faker answered, frowning. “Boy… why did you cancel your Duel with Yuma Tsukumo?”

Kaito froze for a moment, remembering that he was only seconds away from grasping victory, but… “I’m sorry, Dr. Faker” the adolescent bowed his head respectfully.

“All is well. We’ve gotten data on the boy through Orbital 7. Another Numbers Hunter, who’d believe it?” Dr. Faker chuckled to himself before a screen opened up in front of him. The image on the screen was Mr. Heartland, who appeared to be grinning gleefully.

“Master Dr. Faker, I’ve done it! I’ve announced the World Duel Carnival, and we’ve already got about 100 participants! Any one of these participants could be ones that bear a Numbers!” the man said joyously.

“Excellent work, Mr. Heartland. Mr. Heartland, I need you to look through the database, and tell me if a ‘Yuma Tsukumo’ has entered” Dr. Faker said as he watched the man flip through the digital files in the database.

“I know what you’re talking about, Dr. Faker, but it seems that this boy isn’t anywhere in this database” Mr. Heartland reported back with a sigh.

“So the boy has yet to even register for the tournament, it seems. All is well. Farewell, Mr. Heartland” Dr. Faker waved his hand dismissively, and the screen vanished suddenly. “Kaito, I will give you a chance at redemption…” the man said with a widened grin on his face.

“Yes, Dr. Faker, what is it?” the adolescent asked, puzzled.

“Kaito, I want you to steal the key around his neck. Duel for it, if you have to. My suspicions are that that key is somehow tied to Astral World, along with the existence of those abominable residents of that place” Dr. Faker crossed his arms. “And I assume you will not disappoint me this time around, am I right?”

“Yes, Dr. Faker” Kaito bowed his head respectfully before he vanished into a ray of light that enveloped his entire existence. The light suddenly vanished, along with the boy who stood inside it’s radiance.

______________________________________

Shark’s motorcycle screeched as he braked to a halt, stopping in front of a house. The adolescent got up from his motorcycle, carefully placing his helmet on the handlebar as he took a few steps over to it. The house appeared to be a regular house you’d find in Heartland, but to Shark, it had a deeper meaning than ‘just a house’. The house was colored white, with two levels and an obligatory basement. Parked in the driveway was a purple car with the rear lights smashed out. Inside, he could hear a television with a movie playing loudly. The boy clenched his fists, “I’ll prove you wrong, old man…” the adolescent said as memories of days past flashed into his mind.

____________________________

A few years ago, Shark was attending his first competition in Duel Monsters, despite being so young. The boy was only 10 years old, and yet he could compete with the top players of Stonetown. The boy wore a black shirt with a purple zip-up vest that was left unzipped. He wore a pair of jeans with white shoes. The young boy gulped, seemingly nervous.

Behind him, a tall man approached him and grabbed the boy by his shoulder, turning Shark’s attention to that man. “Kid, you better win this tournament. If you don’t, then what the hell did I adopt you for, your uselessness?” the man said threateningly.

“I-I won’t lose…” Shark said nervously, willing to say anything to get the man away from him.

“Good, son, now go out there and win me some more cash!” the man commanded as the boy nodded his head shakily, walking out to the arena.

“And here comes the youngest Dueling prodigy ever, the shark called Ryoga!!!” the MC of the event shouted as the boy walked out, and the electronic scoreboard flashed an image of Shark, and then placed it next to an image of his opponent. “And now, from the other end of the arena… Kaitooooo Tenjoooooo!!” the MC shouted out loud as a blond boy walked out from the other end of the arena with a grin across his face.

“Ryoga, I’ve heard so much about you” Kaito commented as he raised his Duel Disk. He wore a purple jacket with a red collar, along with a pair of purple pants and black sneakers. Suddenly, he placed his D-Gazer over his face. It was a red frame with black hues placed as decorations, while the glass was colored green.

“I’ve heard a lot about you too, Kaito…” Shark responded, placing his D-Gazer over his face as well. The two Duelists raised their Duel Disks, simultaneously shouting “Duel!” as their entire surroundings became pixilated.

“AND SO THE DUEL BEGINS!!!” the MC shouted into his mike.

Shark: 4000
Kaito: 4000

Turn 1

“I’ll take the first turn of this Duel, Ryoga!” Kaito announced. “Draw!” the boy swiped the top card of his deck, grinning at it. “First, I’ll summon Shining Angel!” the boy announced as digital pixels took on the form of a male angel with white wings and bulging muscles. The man opened his wings and began to float in midair, staring down at Shark.

Shining Angel: 1400 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

“I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn! Now, let’s see what you can do, Ryoga!” Kaito gestured his arm at Shark.

Turn 2

“My turn, draw!” the boy declared, analyzing the cards in his hand. “First, I’ll Normal Summon Aerial Strike Unit – Terra Shark!” the boy commanded as the pixels created a virtual splash of water, revealing a shark with tank wheels attached to it’s sides rather than fins. The shark was black with a rocket launcher attached to it’s back.

Aerial Strike Unit – Terra Shark: 1300 ATK / 300 DEF | Level 3

“I activate Terra Shark’s effect! Once per turn, by discarding a Fish-type Monster, I can inflict damage to you equal to the number of cards in your hand times 300!” the boy commanded as he discarded the Fish-type Monster in his hand.

“Tch, by 300 you say?” Kaito repeated.

“Wow! Ryoga’s already going to deal major damage! Kaito is holding four cards in his hand, and he gets dealt 300 per each card… a grand total of 1200 points of damage!” the MC went wild over that bit of news.

Suddenly, the shark growled, releasing the missiles on it’s back. The missiles danced, being long-bodied with shark faces on their very tips. A total of four missiles danced through the air, and then dive-bombed towards Kaito! “Tch!” the boy raised his arms, blocking the explosions from the missiles as his Life Points began to drop.

Kaito: 2800

“I’ll then activate a Spell Card called Underwater Herd!” the boy declared as his deck began to glow. “While I control a Fish-type Monster and my opponent has more cards on the field than I do, I can Special Summon a Fish-type Monster from my deck! Surface, Big Jaws!” the boy commanded as a single card shot out from his deck, and exploded into a surge of tidal waves. From the water came a large blue shark with a blade on it’s head, and mechanical support for it’s jaws.

Big Jaws: 1800 ATK / 300 DEF | Level 3

“Battle! Big Jaws attacks Shining Angel! Big Mes!” Shark commanded as the large-jawed creature swung itself at Shining Angel! The shark’s fangs enclosed on the angel’s arm, and the angel grunted as he shattered into tiny pixels.

“Shining Angel!” Kaito called out as his Life Points dropped.

Kaito: 2400

“Whoa! Kaito’s Life Points dropped to 2400 in just one turn! Just what else can Ryoga do!?” the MC hollered into his mike as the watching crowd cheered in satisfaction.

“Heh, when Shining Angel is destroyed in battle, I can Special Summon a LIGHT Monster from my deck with 1500 or less Attack Power! I’ll Special Summon, from my deck, Lightbearer!” Kaito commanded as an angel made entirely of light appeared onto the field with a harmonic tune escaping it’s throat.

Lightbearer: 1500 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“When this Monster is Special Summoned from my Deck, I can add one LIGHT-Attribute Monster from the deck to my hand…” Kaito said as his deck ejected a card that glowed with a brilliant yellow light. The boy revealed it, “I’ll add Honest to my hand” the boy instructed with a grin.

“Oh?! Lightbearer’s attack power exceeds that of Terra Shark’s attack strength! It seems that Ryoga’s out of options at this point!” the MC screamed into the mike.

“Tch… I’ll set one card facedown, and end my turn!” Shark instructed as a single horizontal card appeared facedown on his side of the battlefield.

Turn 3

“Draw!” Kaito drew his card with a large smirk across his face.

__________________________________________

Several Turns Later…

Turn 6

“What can you do, Ryoga!? You’re good, and yet you can’t keep up with me?!” Kaito asked with a laugh. Suddenly, a large Chinese dragon composed of light roared mightily before settling down, staring down at Shark with intimidating red eyes.

Great Deity of Light - Soulinamine: 2800 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 8 | Overlay Units: 1

Kaito: 2400

“Tch, I won’t lose here… I won’t be brought down like this!” Shark responded, getting up weakly on his two legs as he swiped a new card from the top of his deck.

Shark: 200

Shark’s field was now barren, faced with a large dragon Xyz Monster with more than enough attack power to wipe out the rest of his Life Points. The boy stared into his hand, looking for a way to victory. “I’ve…” Shark clenched his fists, biting his bottom lip, but not before seeing a certain card in his hand. “This card… I could…” his eyes widened in realization what he could do.

“So what’s the matter, Ryoga? Got nothing for me!?” Kaito said with a wide grin on his face.

“I-I’ve got… something for you…” Shark looked at Kaito determinedly with a grin across his young face. “First, I’ll…”

__________________________________________

The adolescent shook his head as he heard a car approaching his direction. He took a look, seeing a red car being driven by a familiar-looking girl. “Her again?” Shark muttered to himself.

“Huh?” the female driver stopped, peeking out her window to see Shark. “Oh, hey, it’s you!” Akari waved at the adolescent.

“Hello” Shark responded dryly.

“What’s the matter? Are you lost?” Akari questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I’m not lost” Shark answered, looking away from the girl, but also trying his best to not look at the house that he seemed to despise.

“Then what’s up? I mean, come on, I practically live with a kid nearing his teenage years, so I would know if something’s the matter by looking at you” the older girl said, watching the adolescent carefully.

“I’m outta here” Shark said turning away, about to board his motorcycle.

“Is this where your father lives, Shark?” the girl asked compassionately.

Shark froze for a second, and then shot a look at Akari. “How do you know that?” the adolescent questioned.

“I’ve done a lot of research on people whose names just so happen to come up in newspapers often. Usually people talk about you like you’re some sort of delinquent” the girl responded to the adolescent. She exited her car, taking a few steps towards Shark, “The media says so much about you cheating your way to the top, and there’s even rumors flying around that you and a few thugs nearly stole a legendary deck from the museum” she said, sounding a little sorry for him.

“So what? I guess you believe all of those words?” Shark spat in the other direction, clenching his fists tightly.

“No, I don’t believe in a bad kid, just a bit of a shaky past” the girl answered, crossing her arms.

“You wouldn’t know anything about my past” Shark scowled.

“But if you tell me, maybe I can help you. You know, you’re just like Yuma… stubborn to the end” the girl sighed. “I don’t even know why I’m bothering helping you.”

“Then don’t bother trying” the boy responded, looking away from Akari with a frown now replacing that scowl. “My father was the one who drove me to become the person I am today, and I am not angry at what I’ve become” the adolescent began with a sigh. “My father was a man who adopted me in order to feed off my dueling talent. He wanted me to keep on winning, and get him money. He always tried to convince me to use a cheating tactic, but I always refused, because I will not tolerate sullying my pride and honor” the adolescent then clenched his fists tightly, scowling as a shadowy image of his father appeared in his mind. “That man should pay for what he’s done, but no, I’ll prove to him that I’m more than just a tool that can be thrown away when it becomes useless. No. I’ll prove to him that I am Ryoga ‘Shark’ Kamishiro, not a tool for his personal use”.

“How do you plan on trying to do that, Shark?” the young woman asked, curious about Shark’s words.

“First, I’ll clear my name. I never was, and never will be, a cheating scumbag” Shark breathed in deeply, trying to calm his nerves. “Next, I’ll win the World Duel Carnival, proving that I don’t need that scumbag in my life” the adolescent then looked at Akari with a look of satisfaction. “And finally, I’ll be able to throw my past away. I’ll prove that I’m not a delinquent, I’ll find a way to prove those rumors wrong, prove that they’re nothing but lies made by the media.”

“Oh, I see…” Akari responded as she smiled. “I’m an article writer, so I’d be happy to interview you when you become champion. I’ll also help you prove that you’re not some shady criminal, you’re just an aspiring young man who suffered nothing but bad irony.”

“However, the only thing that’s getting in the way is the fact that I was set up. The other day, before I met you, I dueled someone who watched the tournament, but he was sent to Duel me as a way to say ‘stop trying to find the answer’. However, I won that Duel and I learned something interesting… According to him, the person I Dueled didn’t want it to end the way it did” Shark explained on.

“Sounds like the rat set you up” Akari rubbed her chin. “But the problem becomes, how do you prove that he set you up? That guy already convinced the entirety of Heartland that you’re a cheater, which went as far as getting you banned from all forms of tournament play” the girl said, crossing her arms.

“That won’t be a problem. I’ll still find my way into the World Duel Carnival,” Shark assured as he boarded his motorcycle. “I have to be somewhere else. Thank you, Akari” the adolescent grinned, and Akari chuckled, smiling as she waved goodbye to the adolescent. The adolescent proceeded to put on his helmet and sped off into the wind.

“Ah! I’m almost late to work!” Akari panicked, looking at the clock in her car as she sighed, resting her forehead against the driving wheel. The female shook her head, and immediately drove off, heading to work.

_______________________________

Author's Note: Say hello to a filler Chapter.... Fine, fine, I was joking. This was more Shark-oriented.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Zeal.

soo long....my eyes are burning with words scarred in them....

nice story tho i had to read it from the beginning

Ahaha, I'm used to writing like that on Fan Fiction.net, so it's been a habit to punch in long chapters. ^^;

I am pretty sure you just violated A LOT of canon there... It is still good. Hurry up and write more.

This is Great

Potus-Mat wrote:I am pretty sure you just violated A LOT of canon there... It is still good. Hurry up and write more.

I had a lot of this written way before the canon could prove me wrong or right.

“T-tch!” a blue-haired man backed away from Jin, his face expressing true horror. “H-how can you read my hand?!” the man questioned in horror as a large, three-dimensional figure on his side of the field began to groan. It’s eyes glowed slightly from beneath the white mask on it’s large purple body that looked like several shapes put together.

“Hehehe, your Numbers is mine! Master Kaito… watch as I take another Numbers in your name!” Jin laughed maniacally as he stared up a large set of stairs. At the very top was Kaito seated upon a throne, his eyes glowing a bright blue. The young boy remained still, silently watching the Duel between Jin and the other Numbers Duelist. “It’s over!” Jin declared, pointing at the man he was dueling. “No. 11 Big-Eye’s effect activates!” he declared as a bright light enveloped the field. Loud and drawn out screams could be heard as Jin laughed loudly. The light slowly began to vanish, leaving behind a Jin with a large grin across his face and an unconscious man laying on the ground. “You lose…” the psychic said as his hood slipped off, revealing an extremely pale face that almost looked like that of a reject clown’s. He was mostly bald, but still had orange hair at the back of his head. He extended his pale arm out towards the man, and his blue nail polish on his long nails suddenly sparked a fearsome light. As soon as his nails sparkled, an invisible extension of the man’s arm shot out to the unconscious man’s body, and he clenched his fist tightly. “Oh, there it is…” he smirked as he pulled his arm back, yanking out what seemed to be a shining blue orb. The extension of his hand reeled back to Jin, propping the blue orb in Jin’s physical hand. “And now… No. 16 Ruler of Color – Shock Ruler now belongs to Master Kaito…” he smirked as he crushed the orb, shattering it to pieces as a single black card stayed on the palm of his hand.

“The next target, my master, will be the boy you Dueled with the other day… I’ll make him realize what true pain and suffering is like! I’ll also swipe his Numbers away from him, and bring it to you as a present!” Jin said excitedly to the still figure on his throne. “I’ll do it… I’ll do it! And I’ve got the perfect plan to lure him here!”

__________________________

“N-Numbers Club…?” Yuma raised an eyebrow, staring hard at Kotori. “What’re you trying to do?” the boy asked.

“It’s a special Club that consists only of people you know, and also appreciates and admires the Numbers Monsters!” Kotori explained excitedly. “I’ve already managed to get Todoroki and Tetsuo to join!”

“Kotori, I don’t understand…” the boy sweat dropped. “Is there a teacher watching over this?”

“Yes! I got Professor Ukyo to be the lead teacher of our club” Kotori answered with a giggle and a smile.

“U-Ukyo?!” Yuma questioned in surprise.

“What’s the matter, Yuma?” Astral asked, floating near the boy.

“Y-Yeesh, Kotori, look at the time!” Yuma panicked, looking at the clock as he began to run. “I’ve gotta go meet with someone! Bye!” the boy ran off from the classroom, leaving his childhood friend alone.

The young girl closed her bag, finished packing up her school supplies as it was the end of the school day. It was time for anyone her age to head home for a nice lunch with their parents. “…Yuma… I’m going to save you…” Kotori whispered, watching the boy run off. “I’ll save you from the control of the Numbers… because I… I can’t lose you…” the girl silently closed her eyes, trying her best to not cry.

________________________

“P-Phew!” Yuma sighed, out of breath. The boy stood on the roof of the school, staring up at the blue sky. “That Kotori… what’s she getting herself into now?”

“You seemed panicked, Yuma. What happened?” Astral asked, the alien spirit staring at the young boy he was bound to by some unfortunate fate.

“Nothing happened…” Yuma answered to Astral, shaking his head. “I just can’t get my mind off something…”

“What would that be?” Astral asked, curious to know what could trouble the boy so much.

“I can’t stop thinking about that Duel against Kaito…”

“…Oh…” Astral replied, looking away.

“Kaito?” a familiar voice questioned.

“Who’s there!?” Yuma sprung onto his feet, looking around, only to see Cathy standing several feet ahead of him. “Oh… uh… hi” the boy sweat dropped, chuckling nervously.

“Yuma, who were you talking to?” Cathy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No one in particular” the boy answered quickly. “Just myself.”

“Is there… a problem…?” Cathy asked nervously, just realizing that she was standing alone, afterschool and on a roof with the boy she had a huge crush on.

“None at all! Just gotta be somewhere now, bye!” Yuma immediately climbed down from the roof, running off to the stairs.

“Yuma…” the girl blushed. “Sometimes…” she paused for a second, thinking carefully about what Kotori had told her. “I’m worried for you…” she said in a low voice, bowing her head.

_______________________

“Alright, Numbers Club, meeting now!” Kotori announced to the group of peers in front of her. The girl started accounting for the members, muttering their names quietly. “Tetsuo… Cathy… Todoroki… and…” the girl paused for a second, staring at the shortest peer of them all. “T-Tononousuke?! Why’re you here?!” the girl immediately questioned, remembering all the pranks that the short boy pulled on Yuma so many weeks ago.

“I’m here ‘cause I know things about the Numbers, things you guys would never know, urah” Tononosuke answered with a wide grin on his face.

“What would you know that we don’t already know?” Kotori questioned.

Tononosuke pushed up his glasses for dramatic effect as a glint appeared in his eyes. “I’ll tell you, urah… When you take a Numbers during a Duel, they don’t become just regular cards on your side of the field. They literally possess you, and amplify the ‘darkness of the heart’…” Tononousuke paused for a moment, thinking about the next sentence that would come from his mouth. “Numbers aren’t cards from this world, as you all know, but they have incredible powers!” the boy said, sounding almost gleeful as he remembered how he was in possession of not just Aspiring King, Hope, but how he was also in possession of Leviath Dragon, if only for a few split moments during his Duel against Yuma.

“Some of that isn’t new, but ‘darkness of the heart’ they amplify?” the girl placed a finger against her cheek. “Do you see now, you guys? This is why we have to save Yuma from the Numbers before they take him” Kotori sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

“I-I agree…!” Cathy said out loud, and everyone looked at the girl. “E-earlier… I found Yuma talking to himself…” the girl paused for a second, thinking her next sentences through. “He was talking about some guy… some guy named Kaito…”

“Kaito?” Kotori raised an eyebrow. “Talking to himself, you said?”

“Y-yes.”

“Then that means he was talking to Astral!” Kotori gasped.

“What’s wrong with Astral?” Tetsuo asked, looking at the little girl.

“Astral is something Yuma couldn’t stop talking about, remember? Ever since that thing came into Yuma’s life, this whole mess with the Numbers started” Kotori explained, crossing her arms with a frown. “Seeing as this ‘Astral’ came up at the same time as the Numbers, we can say Astral is the source of the problem.”

“But Kotori, what’s the problem?” Todoroki asked, now dumbfounded.

“The problem is what Jin told me! If Yuma continues down this path, he’ll… he’ll… he’ll lose his soul!” Kotori answered, biting her bottom lip. Everyone else suddenly went silent, their eyes wide in surprise at Kotori’s answer. Tetsuo backed away in horror, his jaw hanging open.

“L-lose… his soul…?” Cathy repeated, swallowing hard. “Y-you’re joking. Yuma can’t…” Cathy backed away into a wall in horror of those news.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, back that up, urah! Yuma can’t lose his soul by the Numbers, I’ve used them before and I’m still here!” Tononousuke pointed out.

“Thing is, Tononousuke, you stole the Numbers from Yuma mid-duel. I doubt that even counts” Kotori said in a low tone, feeling saddened. “I just… I couldn’t believe it myself…” the girl balled her hands into little fists before looking at the rest of the group. “But Jin said not to despair… he said that we can save Yuma!”

“Yeah, but how?” Todoroki asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe if we brought Yuma to him…” Kotori drifted off for a second.

“Another problem, Kotori, you never told us where this Jin guy is” Tetsuo crossed his arms.

“Then let’s find this Jin guy! It’s the only way we can get the answer to saving Yuma!” Cathy chimed in.

“Yes, let’s do that! Everybody, don’t let Yuma know anything about this. He’d be better off not knowing that we’re worried about him…” Kotori shook her head as she reached out her hand to the group. “We’ll break, and go find Jin. If one of you finds him, contact everyone else via D-Gazer, alright?” the girl instructed.

“Right!” the rest of the group all took off to their own directions, leaving both Tononousuke and Kotori together. The girl looked at the boy, and Tononousuke looked at the girl. “Kotori, I think I’ll need to be alone, for now… this is just tragic…” the boy said, sounding almost sad. The girl nodded her head in understanding as she immediately left off on her own. “…” the boy checked that she was gone, and then smirked as he cheered “Urah!” I don’t care about the dangers to Yuma… I’ll find a way to take those Numbers from him, urah!! They’re still some of the most powerful cards I’ve ever laid eyes on… and I will have them in my possession, urah!! Immediately, the boy packed up his items, and ran out the door, off on his own.

__________________________________

“Hee hee hee…” Jin chuckled as his crystal ball revealed the members of the Numbers Club hunting for Jin. “The pawns have finally moved, and it’s time for the bishop to bring them to his king!” the man cackled to himself as the crystal ball stopped revealing images of Kotori, Cathy, Tetsuo, Todoroki and Tononousuke. He turned away from it and bowed down to the throne above him. “Lord Kaito, I will bring these fools to you at once, and bring in the bait!” Jin said as his eyes glowed a sky-blue instantly.

__________________________

“Hm, urah… where is that Jin…” Tononousuke looked around, walking on roofs and exploring several floors of buildings by sneaking in.

_________

“Yuma…” Cathy muttered to herself as she walked through the market area. She leaped around sneakily, moving through alleys and narrowly escaping sight from gang members in said alleys. “If I were a fortuneteller named Jin… where would I be…?” she muttered as she continued wandering, searching for the man Kotori described as tall and hooded.

________

“Think we’re gonna find this Jin guy?” Todoroki asked Tetsuo, the two walking around through the town’s local business area.

“I don’t know…” Tetsuo crossed his arms, sighing deeply. “I knew I should’ve told Yuma to stop using the Numbers cards when I first saw Hope…” the boy shook his head shamefully. “Now his life’s in danger if he continues to use them, to a point that we gotta bring him in to a stranger in order to save him…” Tetsuo sighed again, his pools of dark brown turning almost watery.

“Tetsuo… you really just care about Yuma, don’t you…?” Todoroki asked, patting the large boy’s back.

“Care about Yuma…? HA! What a joke!” Tetsuo quickly recovered from his moment of weakness with a smirk on his face. “No, I ain’t worried about him, he just needs to stop using those cards if he wants to beat me someday!” the boy answered Todoroki.

“…I see…” Todoroki said studiously, as if he noted something about Tetsuo that the larger boy didn’t catch.

_________

“Where is he…?” Kotori mumbled to herself, looking around through town square. “Where…” she mumbled, losing her attention for a moment as she thought back on Jin’s words. “Yuma… we’ll save you…” the girl whispered before suddenly bumping into something. “U-uh! Sorry!” the girl immediately apologized, bowing her head.

“Watch where you go, girl” a familiar voice said. Kotori immediately looked up, seeing an adolescent in a purple coat.

“S-Shark!” the girl announced his name in surprise. “W-what are you doing here?”

“Just thinking here…” Shark answered as he then looked directly at the girl. “What are you doing around here anyway? Shouldn’t you be with Yuma?” the adolescent asked.

“U-um… Shark, you had a Numbers, right?” the girl asked.

“Don’t waste your time with Numbers. They’re things that both you and I are better off not understanding...” the adolescent answered as he turned away, leaving Kotori’s presence. “I’m hungry. See ya” the adolescent then drove off on his motorcycle, heading to who knows where.

“Better off… not understanding…?” Kotori felt discouraged for a few seconds before something bumped into her from behind. “U-uh! I’m sorry!” the girl apologized again, before suddenly turning around to see who it was. “J-Jin!” the girl said in surprise.

“Gather your friends, girl. Bring Yuma to my mansion. It is about time we extract the Numbers from him. We shall salvage his soul before it’s infected by the malefic Numbers!” Jin instructed, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “You seem so worried about Yuma. Let us relieve that worry by salvaging Yuma’s soul. Can you do this, girl?” the man’s eyes suddenly began to glow blue, and Kotori stared into his eyes.

“Y-yes… Jin…” the girl whispered monotonously as a blue aura developed around her irises. “I-I’ll bring the Numbers Club… and… Yuma… to you…” she said monotonously, her eyes slowly becoming dull.

“Do it, girl. Bring him, and we can start the process of his soul’s salvation!” Jin said with a wide smirk across his face as he slowly let go of the female’s shoulder.

“Y-yes… Jin…” she suddenly snapped out of it and shook her head. “H-huh?” the girl looked around, seemingly confused. “Wasn’t I talking to Jin…?” the girl mumbled, rubbing her chin as Cathy appeared by her side.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t find Jin” the strange girl said almost sadly. “Did you have any luck?” she looked to Kotori hopefully.

“I-I think… I think I know where we can directly find him…” Kotori rubbed her temples. “Don’t ask me how I know… I just do…” the girl said, still rubbing her temples.

“Really?! Should I get everyone together so we can bring Yuma?!” Cathy asked.

“Y-yeah, do that…” Kotori rubbed her temples.

“Okay!” Cathy excitedly leaped off to find the others.

“U-uh…” Kotori’s irises suddenly grew a sky-blue aura around them, and her eyes widened instantly. “Bring… Yuma… to Jin…” the girl whispered the command that Jin left her. She then grinned widely as she crossed her arms, waiting patiently for the rest of the Numbers Club to arrive with Yuma. "Yuma... by bringing you to Jin... I can... I can save you...!"

____________

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

Author's Note: Today is particularly short because I still need to maintain a good ~6000 word difference between where you guys are up to, and what I'm busy writing.

Wow, you are getting better at this...
Off to read it.
Line two invalidates line one.

Thanks. I honestly didn't see an improvement in my writing, but I guess it is compared to the first post. <___<;

Johnny Raptor wrote:Thanks. I honestly didn't see an improvement in my writing, but I guess it is compared to the first post. <___<;

But that was not quite a compliment...
Well, I shall take it.
Hurry up with the next chapter! Now that you quit DN, I expect a chapter a day! And promotional artwork! And a manga!

It wasn't a compliment? Whoops. <__<

“Um, Kotori, you sure you know where we’re going?” Yuma asked, looking at the green-haired girl that walked beside him. It was the dead of night, and they were walking through the woods. Everything around the two was merely silence, and somewhat dark.

“Yeah I know where I’m going, Yuma… when’s the last time I got us lost?” the girl asked, looking at him with a smile across her face. For a split second, she turned her attention to the woods behind them, nodding her head at the rest of the Numbers Club members that followed quietly behind them.

“Um… I guess…” Yuma scratched the back of his head with a nervous chuckle as the pair arrived at open land with a tall mansion standing in the middle of it. It looked like an average mansion painted white with several broken windows.

“In here, Yuma, this is where I saw the Numbers Duelist run off to!” the girl pointed.

“Alright! I’ll bring it to ‘im!!” the boy courageously ran head-first towards the mansion with bold confidence. Suddenly, Astral materialized near the boy, following in pursuit. “Astral, a Numbers Duelist is he-“

“I know. I can feel it…” the extraterrestrial spirit said, closing his eyes as he floated behind the boy. The two barged into the mansion, and Yuma looked around, carefully adjusting to his environment. The entire place seemed run-down, barely livable, and there was not even a single piece of furniture.

“…Is Kotori sure she saw a Numbers guy here?” the boy scratched the back of his head, feeling confused.

“Who dares come here?” a voice suddenly echoed as a door-sized hole in the floor shot open.

“Whoa!” Yuma was caught off guard, looking around fearfully before noticing the opening in the floor.

“Be careful, Yuma… I can feel the presence of the Numbers down there. He’s got more than one” Astral said, looking at the boy.

Yuma looked at Astral with a nod before grinning confidently, “I’ll get ‘em for ya!” he said before entering the opening in the floor, walking into an entirely different area. The boy raised an eyebrow, noting that his general surroundings were made of stale gray stones, including the stairs heading down to the basement of the mansion he entered. Sounds of footsteps were up ahead, and the boy quickly realized he wasn’t alone.

“Stay quiet, Yuma, this could be a trap…” Astral said cautiously.

“Pft, a trap? He’s the one that’s trapped!” Yuma announced as he quickly ran down the hall headfirst. He saw a light up ahead, an exit! “I’ve got’cha now, Numbers!” the boy declared loudly as he ran through the door, entering a large and circular room. The room was dome-shaped, and there were only two things that stuck out. A large structure with a crystal ball sitting atop it, and a long set of stairs that led up to what almost looked like a throne!

“A throne room…?” Astral questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

“Looks like it” Yuma observed his surroundings, and then laughter suddenly echoed from the other side of the room.

“Welcome, Yuma Tsukumo!” Jin’s voice boomed from across the room, a wide grin spread across the man’s face.

“So you’re the Numbers guy, right!?” Yuma pointed at the man.

“Oh, you’re an impatient one, aren’t you, Yuma?” Jin asked, giggling to himself.

“How do you even know my name?” Yuma asked, scratching his cheek in wonder.

“Oh, you’d be surprised, brat…” Jin couldn’t help but to giggle once again.
“What’s so funny!?” Yuma asked.

“Oh… this!” Jin snapped his fingers as the crystal ball shone a gentle light. Yuma’s attention immediately turned to it, and his eyes widened in horror as the image cleared up.

“YUMA!” Kotori screamed, standing atop a pillar of stone, back-to-back with Tetsuo, Todoroki, Cathy, and Tononousuke.

“Yuuumaaa!” Tetsuo shouted, calling out the name of his friend.

“Kotori… Tetsuo…!” Yuma’s eyes were wide with horror. “STOP JOKING AROUND!!!”the boy shouted before turning his attention to Jin. “Let ‘em go! NOW!!” the boy demanded in anger.

“Nope, but these are your bargaining chips. The more you cling to your Numbers, the more your friends will have to pay the price!” Jin explained, twirling around with glee. He immediately stopped twirling, looking at Yuma with a large smirk across his face. “So what is your choice, brat? Will you save your friends, or will you keep your Numbers?” he asked.

“…If I give you my Numbers… I can get my friends back…?” Yuma repeated, his eyes still wide in horror. The boy immediately looked to his friends who all stared at him with fearful looks on their faces. They had no idea what could happen at this point.

“Yuma, if you give up your Numbers here, I’ll have lost any and all memories I’ve reclaimed. However, I understand how important your friends are to you…” the spirit closed his eyes, crossing his arms.

“YUMA!” Kotori called out.

“Huh?” Yuma looked at the girl.

“Yuma… please… do it…” the girl said, her eyes turning watery as tears almost began forming in her eyes. “I-I’m sorry… I led you here for the sake of saving you…” Kotori admitted sadly, biting her bottom lip after she let those words escape her lips. “I just… I can’t bear thinking about a world without you… I had to do it…” tears slowly rolled down her cheek.

“Hahahah! Pain! Suffering! Oh, how fun!” Jin giggled loudly, enjoying himself.

“Kotori… what’s that supposed to mean…?” Yuma asked, looking at the girl in confusion. “You led us all here…?”

“Y-Yes…” Kotori sniffled, wiping a tear away, but more replaced the tear she wiped. “I had to… I really can’t bear, no, I can’t imagine living in a world without my best friend in the entire world…” she shook her head as her voice was breaking.

“Kotori… I’ll… I’ll save you!” Yuma swore.

“Heh, you really think you can save that little girl? You’re nothing but a feeble insect! And look who’s here to watch you crumble!” Jin pointed at the top of the throne. “Sitting there is… Lord Kaito!!” he said in a loud cheer.

Astral’s eyes shot open in surprise. “K-Kaito… is here!?” he looked around, seeing the throne and seeing the boy seated on it with his eyes glowing a bright blue. Suddenly, a wave of fear went through his system, and he slowly floated aback. “Kaito…” the spirit muttered, feeling a shivering sensation from within his body. “W-What is this… feeling in me…?” he whispered, looking away from Kaito and back to Jin.

“Kaito’s teamed up with you? Fine then! I’ll take you down, and then take down Kaito! I’ll make you both pay for what you’ve done to my friends!” Yuma declared.

“Brat, you’ve done this to your own friends the minute you began to use the Numbers! But if you won’t believe it, then fine, I’ll just rip the Numbers out of your soul through a Duel!” Jin announced as he raised his arm, revealing a white D-Pad already equipped to his Duel Disk.

______________

“R-Rip out… his soul…?” Kotori’s eyes widened as she realized what Jin was really after. “Y-You tricked me!” the little girl shouted, but to no avail. It seemed apparent that Yuma and Jin could no longer hear the girl.

“I’ll accept your challenge! If I win, you release my friends!” Yuma demanded.

“Fine. But when I win…” Jin began to giggle loudly. “I’ll rip out that pathetic little soul of yours, and take your Numbers for myself!”

_______

“We’ve just gotta hope… just hope that Yuma wins…!” Tetsuo muttered. Everyone else nodded softly in agreement, paying attention to the orb-shaped screen above their heads.
________

“DUEL!” both Yuma and Jin shouted as they put on their D-Gazers, and their D-Pads activated. A computerized voice announced the initiation of the Alternate Reality Vision, and then two screens popped up in front of each Duelist with their Life Point Scores recorded.

Yuma: 4000
Jin: 4000

Turn 1

“I’ll kindly take the first turn, brat!” Jin swiped the sixth card of the top of his deck, grinning like a madman.

“I’ll beat you, and I’ll make sure my friends leave here alive!” Yuma declared.

“We’ll see about that” Jin said boldly with confidence. “First, I’ll Normal Summon Blue Shaman!” he instructed as the pixels all around them began to take on the shape of a hooded and short mage holding a staff with a sharpened sapphire at the tip. The blue-robed mage grunted as it stretched.

Blue Shaman: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 3

“I’ll set one card face-down, and end my turn. Now, let’s see what a brat can do against a servant of Kaito!” Jin laughed.

Turn 2

“My turn, draw!” Yuma declared as he swiped the sixth card off the top of his deck.

“Hehehe, I can see your hand, brat!” Jin cackled out loud, smirking.

“W-what?!” Yuma was taken aback by Jin’s statement.

“Yes… you have only 2 Monsters, both of them Level 3! How hopeless for you…” Jin chuckled as his eyes glowed a light blue for almost a split second.

“T-tch… This guy’s just messing with me…” Yuma looked at his hand, and his eyes widened in pure horror. H-he was right… No, that’s a lucky guess! There’s no way he can actually see my hand… The boy shook his head immediately, his concentration returning to the duel. “I won’t let you get to my head!” he quickly slammed a card onto his Duel Disk. “I Normal Summon Achacha Archer!!” the pixels quickly took on the form of a short archer with an arrow loaded onto his bow.

Achacha Archer: 1200 ATK / 600 DEF | Level 3

“When Achacha Archer is Summoned, you take 500 points of damage!” the boy said excitedly. Quickly, the archer’s arrow was set ablaze and he shot his arrow straight towards Jin!

“Hee hee hee! I activate my Blue Shaman’s effect! When an opponent would inflict Effect Damage to me, I can reduce the damage to 0, and select one card at random in my opponent’s hand. If that card is a Monster card…” he paused for a moment, giggling as if he were excited about the torture he’d inflict on Yuma. “I can take that card in your hand and Special Summon it onto my side of the field!”

“W-what?! And he can…”

“I can see your hand, Yuma! I’ll select that second card on the left!” Jin began to laugh as a single card in Yuma’s hand glowed, and shot towards Jin. The card materialized into a warrior with golden armor, holding a zigzagged sword.

Zubaba Knight: 1600 ATK / 300 DEF | Level 3

“Z-Zubaba Knight!” Yuma whined.

“Hee hee hee! Now I’ve robbed you of the only other Monster in your hand, leaving you without any proper defenses in your next turn” Jin said with a large grin across his face.

Two Level 3 Monsters on that guy’s side of the Field… Yuma’s eyes widened. “That guy’s aiming for an Xyz Summon!” he declared in realization. “Then it looks I’ll have to beat down your Xyz Materials! Battle!” Yuma declared the beginning of his Battle Phase and gestured toward Blue Shaman. “Achacha Archer, attack that Blue Shaman!” the boy commanded as the archer fired yet another arrow, this time towards Blue Shaman!

“Hee hee! I’ve got you in my trap!” Jin’s eyes glowed a bright blue for a moment as he sprung open his Trap Card. “Dance of Illusions!” he announced as the arrow began to shake in midair.

“W-what!?” Yuma’s eyes shot open.

“Now, this is a Trap that can only be activated when my opponent declares an attack. By randomly selecting one card in your hand, I declare a card type. If I get it right, the attack is switched to another target. I’m wrong, for some odd reason, then the Battle Damage dealt to me is doubled” Jin explained as he pointed at a single card in Yuma’s hand. “I can see… I can see your hand!” Jin said excitedly as his eyes shone a bright blue for a moment. “That card is… a Spell!” he declared, and a virtual screen showed Jin to be correct.

“I-Impossible…!” Yuma’s jaw dropped for a moment.

“And now the target is changed to Zubaba Knight!” Jin began to cackle as the arrow was sliced in half by one of Zubaba Knight’s swords.

“Zubaba… Sword!” Zubaba Knight shouted as it ran towards Achacha Archer, and slashed straight down the middle, shattering the helpless archer into tiny pixels.

Yuma: 3600

“Achacha!” Yuma quickly referred back to his hand. “Alright, I’ll set two cards face-down and end my turn!” Yuma declared the end of his turn.

Turn 3

“What’s the matter, brat? Don’t have anything to answer me with?!” Jin swiped another card off the top of his deck. “Now, I’ll Normal Summon Black Shaman!” he commanded as the digital pixels took on the form of a short mage that wore a black robe. The mage’s face was covered by a black hood with golden trimmings, as was the sleeves and hemming of it’s robe. In this mage’s hand was a staff with a sharpened onyx stone tip.

Black Shaman: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“Next, I’ll Overlay the Level 3 Blue Shaman with the Level 3 Zubaba Knight!” Jin instructed as Zubaba Knight and the Blue Shaman both grunted, transforming into a yellow and purple orb of energy respectively. The two swirled around and shot towards an open galactic gate as Jin said, “With these two Monsters I’ll construct the Overlay Network!” The gate exploded immediately after Jin shouted “Xyz Summon! Come, No. 21 Despaireaper!” The smoke slowly cleared away, revealing a tall scythe with it’s hilt stuck into the ground. The scythe was black-bladed, whilst the hilt itself was made of wood that was painted white. It seemed apparent that the scythe was used a lot. The number 21 immediately glowed on it, and black liquid slowly arose from the ground, lifting the scythe off the ground. Half of the hilt broke off, and turned into a white liquid that mixed in with the black. Quickly, a dark figure rose from the liquid, and the black liquid began to solidify itself in the shape of beaten and tattered black robes. The white liquid exited from the sleeves of the robe, becoming arms and hands made entirely of bone. Soon, the head formed, taking on the shape of a skull with several cracks all over it. Within the empty eye-sockets, a bright red light glowed, as if it were possessed. Quickly, the creature grabbed the scythe that floated in front of it, holding it with both hands as a necklace full of red charms appeared around the thing’s neck.

No. 21 Despaireaper: 2300 ATK / 2200 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 2

“Numbers…” Yuma noted, and saw the number 21 begin to glow on Jin’s left hand.

“Hee hee hee! And you’re wide open too! Battle!” Jin commanded as the reaper heeded the man’s command. “Go, attack directly with your Scythe of Despair!” the reaper instantaneously vanished.

“Where’d it go?” Yuma asked, looking around for the creature.

“You’re looking the wrong way, brat…” Jin whispered with a smirk as the reaper appeared above Yuma’s head, bringing down it’s scythe and unleashing a large wave of purple energy on the boy.

“AHH!” Yuma shouted as he flew back from the impact of the energy, hitting the wall hard.

Yuma: 1700

“O-ouch… that hurts…” the boy complained as he struggled to get up.

__________

Suddenly, the pillar of stone that the Numbers Club members stood on began to crack and rumble. Underneath them, the ground shattered and revealed lava that was slowly coming up towards them. “WHOA!” they all shouted.

“Yuma, win this!” Kotori said hopefully.

“Yeah, or we’re done for!” Tetsuo commented, wiping the sweat off his brows.

____________

“Everyone!” Yuma immediately looked at the screen, struggling on to his hands and knees. “W-What’s going on?! Answer me!” Yuma shot a dirty look at Jin.

“Oh, it’s nothing… it’s just that if your Life Points drop, your friends will meet their destruction. When your Life Points hit 0…” Jin began to giggle at the mere thought of what would happen. “Back to the Duel… my Despairreaper’s effect activates! When he successfully inflicts battle damage to my opponent, I can detach an Overlay Unit in order to randomly discard one card in your hand!” Jin smirked as the reaper’s scythe absorbed one of it’s orbiting Overlay Units.

No. 21 Despaireaper: 2300 ATK / 2200 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 1

Suddenly, the reaper swung it’s scythe again, slashing through one of Yuma’s cards in hand.

“T-tch.. you can’t be serious…” Yuma panted as he took the slashed card and pitched it into his discard pile.

“Hahaha! With only two cards left in hand, I wonder what kind of turnabout you can possibly try. I’ll set a card facedown, turn end! Now... try me! Face me! Can you feel it in your heart?! Can you feel the despair enshrouding around your heart and soul?!" Jin laughed uncontrollably with his smirk.

"E-Everyone..." Yuma muttered, still struggling to get up.

_________

Author's Note: Don't y'all just hate cliff-hangers? Tsk tsk. All's well. I still need to stay about 6000 words ahead anyways!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. At all.

You use the word "brat" WAY too much...

wow this fanfic is the best i hope to see alot more cant wait !!!!

too long could not read it all

I always end up with long chapter. I'unno how, but it happens often.

good job keep it up

Turn 4
Yuma: 1700

Jin: 4000
No. 21 Despaireaper: 2300 ATK / 2200 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 1
Black Shaman: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

Yuma looked at the two cards remaining in his hand as Jin laughed at the boy.

"Let's see what kind of turnabout you can do at this rate..." Jin giggled.

“Hey, Astral” Yuma looked at the ghost who appeared to be staring at the throne that Kaito was seated upon. “Hey, Astral!” the boy waved a hand. The spirit didn't faze for a moment. “Yo, Astral!!” the boy shouted.

Astral immediately snapped out of his fixture, and then looked at Yuma.

“If you're not gonna give me any insight, the door's right behind me” the boy said as he placed his hand on top of his deck.

“Yuma, if you don't draw a Monster, you'll take another hit from Despaireaper, and it'll end the rest of your Life Points. During this turn, you must draw another Monster!” Astral instructed.

“Right!' Yuma swiped the top card of his deck as he shouted the word “DRAW!” He looked at the drawn card carefully, and then grinned at it. “All right, I drew a Monster!” the boy said excitedly as he revealed the card in his hand. “I'll Normal Summon Nenene Caller!” Yuma instructed as the pixels took on the form of a young train conductor with a pair of angel wings on his back. The man was blond-haired with sky blue eyes. Immediately, a piece of rope with a handle appeared next to the man, and he pulled down on it. A horn-like sound blared loudly, and a single card in Yuma's deck shone brightly.

Nenene Caller: 800 ATK / 800 DEF | Level 3

“Nenene Caller's effect activates when he's Normal Summoned! Now I Special Summon a Level 3 LIGHT-Attribute Monster from my deck!” Yuma declared excitedly as a single card shot out from his deck. “I'll Special Summon Rai-Rider!” a light shot out from the single card, revealing a daredevil-looking man on a motorcycle. He came to a screeching halt as his long red hair flowed majestically with the brakes.

Rai-Rider: 1200 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 3

“However, a Monster summoned by this effect has it's effects negated” Yuma explained, not before a wide grin appeared across his face.

“Hm, 2 Level 3 Monsters…” Jin took note before smirking. “So you're going to show me your Numbers?”

“Yeah! I'll Overlay the Level 3 Rai-Rider with Nenene Caller! With these two Monsters, I'll construct the Overlay Network!” Yuma instructed as two orbs of yellow light spiraled around them and then shot themselves into a galactic gate. “Appear, No. 17 Leviath Dragon!!” Yuma commanded as the gate exploded, revealing a strange object wrapped around an orb-like formation. Slowly, the object came to life, taking on the form of a blue leviathan with six large wings and a mighty roar. On one of it's horns, the number 17 glowed a bright yellow as the dragon's eyes glowed a bright red.

No. 17 Leviath Dragon: 2000 ATK / 0 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 2

“I'm glad you did that, because now my Black Shaman's effect activates! When my opponent manages to Summon an Xyz Monster, I can Special Summon another 'Shaman' Monster from my hand!” Jin laughed, bursting with excitement as he revealed a card in his hand. “I'll Special Summon my Red Shaman!” he commanded as a dark-skinned man appeared out of nowhere, playing his large drum. He wore a red robe-like garment with a flame-designed mask covering his eyes. Behind his head was a ridiculously large head of red hair. The shaman grunted as he beat his drums once more before taking his position alongside Black Shaman.

Red Shaman: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“Another 0 ATK Monster…?” Yuma raised an eyebrow, confused.

“Don't mind that right now, Yuma. Quick, defeat his Numbers before it becomes a problem for you” Astral instructed.

“I know already! I activate Leviath Dragon's effect!” Leviath Dragon responded with a loud screech as it swallowed one of it's Overlay Units. “By taking off an Overlay Unit, now Leviath Dragon gains 500 attack points!”

No. 17 Leviath Dragon: 2500 ATK / 0 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 1

“Battle! Go, Leviath Dragon, attack that Despaireaper!” Yuma instructed as the dragon took flight, springing up into the air and then launched a stream of blue energy. “Vice Stream!!”

“Say goodbye to your Numbers! Trap activate, Dance of the Wicked One! When you declare an attack on a Monster on my side of the field while I control 2 or more 'Shaman' Monsters, I can destroy the attacking Monster and inflict damage to you equal to it's attack power!” Jin began to laugh as a black light shot out from the card, tying evenly with Leviath Dragon's Vice Stream. “With this, it's the end!”

“Not just yet!” Yuma shouted.

“What?”

“I activate a trap too! Emperor's Surge!” a trap flipped open, and Leviath Dragon 's last Overlay Unit turned into a golden color.

No. 17 Leviath Dragon: 2500 ATK / 0 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 0

“W-what?” Jin blinked.

“Emperor's Surge lets me take off an Overlay Unit from an Xyz Monster I control, and now all Xyz Monsters on my field can't be destroyed by card effects until the End Phase!” Yuma explained excitedly as the golden Overlay Unit merged with Leviath Dragon's body. A golden aura appeared around both the Xyz Monster and the stream of energy it launched.

“B-but that means…” Jin's eyes widened in realization as the black light shattered as well as the trap that Jin activated, allowing Vice Stream to land it's hit on No. 21 Despaireaper! “Noo!” Jin cried out as Despaireaper exploded, and Jin's Life Point parameters dropped by 200.

Jin: 3800

“Yeah, I got rid of your Numbers!” Yuma exclaimed.

“Impressive…” Astral muttered to himself before looking at Yuma again. “Yuma, you know that now Leviath Dragon cannot declare a direct attack, right?”

“Yeah” Yuma nodded his head slowly.

“…It's not over just yet, punk…” Jin began to chuckle a little bit as his Red Shaman glowed with a purple aura.

“What?” Yuma looked at Jin.

“Now my Red Shaman's effect activates! If my opponent activates a Trap Card, I can Special Summon another Shaman Monster from my hand. The one I'll Special Summon is Orange Shaman!” Jin laughed as the pixels danced around, taking on the form of another shaman that matched the same appearance as Red Shaman, but was instead wearing the color orange.

Orange Shaman: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“I'll end my turn!” Yuma announced.

Turn 5

“Draw!” Jin swiped his next card off the top of his deck before grinning widely. “I'll activate Shaman Call!” he commanded as the three shamans on his side of the field began to chant and beat their drums. “When I control 2 or more 0 ATK Spellcasters on my side of the field, I Special Summon a Shaman from my deck!” he explained a single card in his deck shone black. “So now, I'll Special Summon Rainbow Shaman!” Jin began to laugh as the single card shot out from his deck, and exploded. The sounds of drums and chanting mirrored with the smoke vanishing, revealing a taller shaman with rainbow-colored hair, a large staff equipped to it's back, and wore gray bandages that covered it's entire body.

Rainbow Shaman: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 7

“I'll Overlay the Level 4 Black Shaman, Red Shaman, and Orange Shaman!” Jin commanded as the three transformed into three orbs of purple energy that then spiraled around the field, entering into a galactic gate. “With these three Monsters, I'll construct the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon! Come, No. 16 Ruler of Color - Shock Ruler!” the gate exploded, revealing three cubes that contained tinier cubes within them. Suddenly, the number 16 shone on the right side, and it began to morph into a completely different shape. Arm-like appendages formed from the left and right cubes' extensions, turning into spiked arms with no other real purpose, while in the middle, a white base with the number '16' tattooed on it ejected a little bit. Finally, a mask formed while a spike in the middle of it's 'forehead' formed, along with two sphere at the side of it's top part. The creature's eyes glowed a gentle light.

No. 16 Ruler of Color - Shock Ruler: 2300 ATK / 1600 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 3

“A-Another Numbers?!” Yuma questioned in horror as yet another tattoo formed over Jin's left hand, taking on the shape of the number 16.

“Hee hee hee, and the fun part isn't even over yet! Now I activate a Spell Card called Xyz Plant!” a spell card suddenly appeared on the field, and a few tentacles escaped from the card to grab Rainbow Shaman. “Through this card's effect, I can Special Summon this card as a Monster by copying the same Level, Attack, and Defense of a Monster on my side of the field!” he began to giggle.

“A-A Spell Monster?!” Yuma noted.

“Yuma, look out! He's aiming for a second Xyz Summon!” Astral warned.

“You're kidding me!” Yuma looked to Astral in shock.

“The Monster I'm copying is my Rainbow Shaman! Behold, my Xyz Plant!” Jin began to chuckle hard as another copy of Rainbow Shaman appeared on the field.

Xyz Plant: 0 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 7

“Next, I'll Overlay the Level 7 Rainbow Shaman and Xyz Plant! With these two Monsters, I'll construct the Overlay Network!” an orb of purple and an orb of brown energy entered the galactic gate and exploded as Jin commanded “Xyz Summon! Come, No. 11 Big Eye!” Suddenly, the gate exploded, leaving behind silvery orbs that extended out towards one another through purple energy streams. The orbs rapidly transformed into a large cone held upside-down with a ring around it. Suddenly, the ring shone a golden color with a large and red number 11 glowing on it. Suddenly, a large eye opened, revealing why it was called 'Big Eye' in the first place.

No. 11 Big Eye: 2600 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 7 | Overlay Units: 2

“A-a third Numbers…” Yuma said, shocked by the latest developments.

“Not to mention… it's a Rank 7… What kind of powers does a Rank 7 hold?” Astral said cautiously, maintaining his guard.

“Hee hee! I activate my No. 11 Big Eye's effect! Once per turn, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can take control of one Monster on my opponent's side of the field!” Jin grinned as one of Big Eye's Overlay Units was absorbed into it's eye. “Temptation Glance!!” Jin commanded as a purple light shot out from Big Eye's eye, and a purple aura appeared around No. 17 Leviath Dragon.

“A Rank 7 can take control of Monsters at will?!” Astral's eyes widened in surprise before turning his attention to the throne at the top again.

“Behold, the power that Lord Kaito has given to me!!” Jin laughed as Leviath Dragon immediately switched sides, staring at Yuma hatefully.

“Now I use Shock Ruler's effect! Once per turn, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can declare a card type, and then those cards are negated until your End Phase, brat!” Jin commanded as Shock Ruler's eyes began to glow brightly.

“W-what!? That's unfair!” Yuma responded.
_________________________

“N-Negating effects?!” Kotori's eyes widened in fear.
“He has no other Monsters on his side of the field!” Tetsuo shivered in fear.
“Is Yuma… going to lose…?” Todoroki asked in fear.
“No, Yuma! You said you were gonna save us, urah!” Tononousuke shouted.
“No, it can't be…” Cathy whispered in fear.
____________________________

“I'll declare the card type I saw in your hand a little while ago… Trap Cards!” Jin said with a loud laugh as Shock Ruler's eyes shone upon the set card on Yuma's side of the field. The mechanical angel recognized it and then shot a horn right through it, and static covered the entire card, making it unusable.

No. 16 Ruler of Color - Shock Ruler: 2300 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“T-Tch…” Yuma looked at the field of large Monsters on Jin's side of the field.

“It's over! Just one strike, and you're done for! You should've handed me your Numbers since the beginning! Battle!” Jin declared as he gestured an arm toward Shock Ruler. “Shock Ruler, attack directly!” Jin commanded, laughing as the Numbers Monster motioned into action, releasing a beam of light from the horn on it's head.

“YUMA!” the entire Numbers Club shouted in fear.

“I activate the effect of my Nenene Caller from the graveyard!” Yuma instructed as the spirit of the train conductor-esque Monster appeared on the field, putting out his hand in front of the blast of energy coming towards him.

“Graveyard…activation!?” Jin's eyes shot open in surprise.

No. 16 Ruler of Color - Shock Ruler: 1600 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“Yeah! Nenene Caller can reduce an opponent's Attack Points by 700 by banishing him from the graveyard!” Yuma said excitedly before the flash of light hit him. “YAAAAAA!” he cried out as the blast's impact sent him flying with his back hitting the wall. With a loud smack, the boy hit the floor, shaking.

Yuma: 100

“Yuma!” Astral looked at the boy in shock, floating over to him to check on him.

“Tch, Leviath Dragon, attack directly!” Jin commanded, but for some strange reason the dragon did not move a muscle. “I said attack directly!” the man commanded. Leviath Dragon remained still, cold and unmoving. “Tch, what kind of trickery…?!” Jin angrily looked at the screen on his D-Pad, clicking on Leviath Dragon. “When this card has no Overlay Units… WHAT?!” Jin's eyes widened in complete surprise as his jaw dropped. “You mean… this thing can't attack directly without an Overlay Unit!?”
“Heheh… yeah…” Yuma chuckled and smiled weakly, shaking as he struggled with moving.
“Tch… and during the turn when Big Eye activates his Xyz effect, it cannot attack… Count your lucky stars, boy. Any later with that graveyard activation, and you would've lost this Duel in one blow…” Jin grumbled before revealing the last card in his hand. “I now activate Dance of the Healing Witch” he instructed as a green aura surrounded the three Numbers Monsters on Jin's side of the field. “For every Xyz Monster on my side of the field, I recover 500 Life Points” he said with a smirk as the green auras turned into streams of energy that flowed towards him.

Jin: 5300

“Next, I can draw one more card” Jin proceeded to swipe another card off the top of his deck. “Now I activate the Spell card called Dance of Prevent Reborn!!” Jin instructed as a circle opened up between both Yuma and himself. “Now, both players cannot Special Summon Monsters from the graveyard” he explained as a lock appeared on the circle before it vanished. “With this, you cannot even hope to touch me. Turn End.”

Turn 6

“With this… it's the end…” Astral lowered his head, looking at the fallen Yuma who struggled as hard as he could to get up.

“I'll make a deal with you. Since you were lucky enough to survive, I'll let you and your friends walk away if you simply hand me a Numbers Monster equal to the number of your friends you're willing to release” the man gestured his hand towards himself. “One Number to save a sacrifice sounds like a fair deal to me, brat. You have 5 friends, which means you will need to pay me with 5 Numbers for you all to escape with your dear lives.”

Astral's eyes shot open after hearing that.

“Every…one…” Yuma struggled to even speak, opening one of his eyes.

_________________

“Wah!” the ground under Kotori cracked and she began to fall.

“Kotori!” Tetsuo grabbed the girl's arms, pulling her back up to stable ground.

Cathy sighed with relief before looking at the screen. “Yuma…”

“SAVE US, URAH!!!” Tononousuke shouted.

“Yuma… you mustn't do that! Not after what I did to get you here!!” Kotori shouted.

______________

“Yuma, it's over… Let us surrender the Numbers to him…” Astral whispered to Yuma.

“A-Astral…” Yuma's eyes widened in surprise.

“We can't go on any further… there's no point in it” the extraterrestrial spirit shook his head. “No matter what you summon, no matter if we draw a way to get rid of any of them, there won't be any difference…” he clenched his fists. “We're at a mere 100… what more can we possibly do to win…?” he whispered, remembering the final moment of despair where Kaito had almost seized flawless victory in Yuma's Duel against him. The spirit looked at his hand, watching him vanish and reappear, vanish and reappear, as if he were slowly coming out of existence.

“…Stop… STOP JOKING AROUND!!” Yuma roared, getting up on his feet before looking at Astral with an infuriated look on his face. “Astral, you just don't understand!” the boy shouted.

“…What…?” the spirit looked at the boy with a dumbfounded look.

“Everyone… Everyone I've ever Dueled… they've taught me things, and they're my precious comrades…” Yuma's fists clenched tightly. He remembered his moments Dueling against Todoroki, Tononousuke, Tetsuo, Cathy, Fuya, and even his Duel against Shark. “You know something!? Those guys are all my precious comrades, and… and…” the boy's voice nearly broke. “Astral!! You're also my precious comrade!” he shouted, refraining from breaking a tear.

“As…tral…” Kotori whispered as the rest of the Numbers Club stared up at Yuma silently.

“Yuma…” the spirit looked at the boy, blinking. Suddenly, his body began to shine. That's right… Yuma… I want to win with you and your friends… as your comrade!! he closed his eyes as Yuma's King's Key suddenly flared up.

“W-wha!?” Yuma watched as a beam of light suddenly shot forth from his key, making contact with Astral. “Whoa!” he said, watching as the light completely engulfed Astral. Slowly, the light faded away from Astral, and it made him completely visible again.

“W-whoa… Astral…” Kotori's eyes widened as she stared at the spirit that manifested into physical view.

“Yuma, let's win!” the spirit looked at Yuma.

“Weren't you scared of Kaito a few seconds ago?” the boy questioned.

“I'm… I'm no longer afraid… not while I've got my comrade!” Astral answered with a smile.

“Right!” Yuma leaped as he immediately swiped another card off the top of his deck, declaring “DRAW!!” alongside Astral.

“Yuma, that card… Use it to get back Leviath Dragon!”

“Right! I'll activate a Spell card called Come Back!” Yuma instructed.

“With this, Leviath Dragon returns to my side of the field!” both Yuma and Astral spoke in sync as Leviath Dragon roared, slithering on over back to Yuma and Astral's side of the field.

“Next, I activate Xyz Release!” Yuma instructed as a circle appeared around Leviath Dragon. “By releasing an Xyz Monster that has no Overlay Units on my side of the field, I can Special Summon 2 Level 4 Monsters from my deck. However, those Monsters cannot declare an attack!” Leviath Dragon roared as it broke down into several pixels, and two cards shot from Yuma's deck. “Come on out, Grigrigri Knight and Gagaga Magician!!” Yuma commanded as the pixels took on the form of both a white-haired knight in silver armor with golden trimmings on it alongside a Yuma's trusted magician.

Grigrigri Knight: 1500 ATK / 1400 DEF | Level 4

Gagaga Magician: 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 4

“Hmph, two Level 4 Monsters…” Jin noted with a scowl on his face before grinning.

“Next, Grigrigri Knight's effect! When he's been Special Summoned, I can draw one card!” Yuma swiped another card off the top of his deck. “Next, I'll Overlay the Level 4 Grigrigri Knight and Gagaga Magician!” a yellow and purple burst of light spiraled around the field before entering a galactic gate. “With these two Monsters, I'll construct the Overlay Network!” the gate then proceeded to explode. A figure rose from the smoke, revealing itself to be a sword-like shape before the number 39 shone a bright red on it. “Appear now, No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope!” the boy commanded as the sword-like figure began to shift and transform, standing tall as a mechanical emperor with two swords by his sides. The emperor's eyes glowed red as he thrust while shouting “Hooooope!”.

No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope: 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 2

“Yuma.”

“Hm?” Yuma looked at Astral and all of a sudden, his Extra Deck began to shine brightly. “W-what the!?” Yuma looked at his Extra Deck.

“A new path to victory has opened up!” the spirit announced as Yuma opened his Extra Deck, curiously picking out the one card that shone brightly.

“What is this card…?” Yuma watched as the light faded, away, revealing an Xyz Monster that looked like a blackened Hope with larger blades, an extra pair of arms, and a powerful stare within his red eyes.

“This is the card that leads hope out from the chaos of confusion… Chaos Numbers…” Astral answered.

“Chaos Numbers?” Yuma looked at the field as Hope began to return back to his sealed form.

“By taking Hope's Overlay Units and turning him into one, he can evolve further…!” Astral explained as Hope's sealed form, along with his Overlay Units, entered another galactic gate.

“Chaos Xyz Change!!” both Yuma and Astral commanded a the gate exploded, revealing a black sword-like object with spikes on the sides and a green gem hidden in the middle.

“Chaos Xyz Change?” Jin questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Appear now, CNo. 39 Aspiring King, Hope-Ray!” both Yuma and Astral commanded as the sword-like object began transforming, turning into a bulky mechanical warrior with black and spiky wings, while the face appeared to be brawny with its eyes glowing red. The warrior then groaned loudly as he out stretched out his arms and unsheathed his blades.

CNo. 39 Aspiring King, Hope-Ray: 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 3

“Chaos Numbers, you say? However it won't matter, because even if you were to hurt my Shock Ruler, my Big Eye is still stronger than your pathetic Numbers!” Jin laughed loudly.

“Hope-Ray's effect activates! By detaching an Overlay Unit, he'll gain 500 Attack Points!” both Astral and Yuma announced as the three spiraling orbs of energy spanned around Hope-Ray quickly. The mighty warrior's extra pair of arms unfolded, unsheathing a large broadsword that was attached to it's back. The sword began to glow with a golden light as the three Overlay Units were absorbed into it's blade, and Hope-Ray groaned as his black armor turned immediately to white while Yuma commanded “Overlay Charge!!”

CNo. 39 Aspiring King, Hope-Ray: 4000 ATK / 2000 DEF | Rank 4 | Overlay Units: 0

“Next, I decrease an opponent's Monster's attack power by 1000 through Hope-Ray's effect! I'll lower the attack of Big Eye by 3000!” both Yuma and Astral stood back-to-back, pointing at Big Eye.

“W-What?!” Jin's eyes widened in surprise as he watched Big Eye's attack score drop to 0.

“Finally, I activate a Spell Card called Final Strike! By paying half of my Life Points, an Xyz Monster on my side of the Field can attack twice this turn!” Yuma instructed as he then gestured an arm toward Shock Ruler.

Yuma: 50

“Hope-Ray, attack Shock Ruler!! Hope Sword… Chaos Slash!!!” Yuma commanded as the mighty warrior slashed through the Numbers Monster with all three mighty blades. Shock Ruler exploded with epic proportions as Jin backed away from the light, his Life Points dropping quickly.

Jin: 3600

“I-It can't be… how is this possible…?!” Jin immediately turned his attention to the throne that stood all the way at the top. The eyes of Kaito shone a bright blue, but then Hope-Ray's light revealed that the Kaito he believed was real was actually a mere statue of the real one. “L-Lord Kaito… you're not… real…?” Jin asked in horror.

“Hope-Ray attacks Big Eye! Hope Sword... Chaos Slash!!” the two commanded in unison as Big Eye was then sliced into six pieces by the swings of Hope-Ray's three blades.

“AHHHHH!” Jin shouted he was thrown aback, and his Life Points immediately hit 0.

Jin: 0

A screen popped up with Yuma's face on it, the alternate reality recognizing Yuma as the winner of the duel. Soon, the world around the two Duelists began to shatter pixel by pixel until they finally returned to the real world. Astral pointed his hand toward the fallen man, and three card-shaped flashes of light exited Jin's body. The three lights were then assimilated by Astral, who closed his eyes with a smile on his face. “Thank you, Yuma, for acknowledging me as your friend…” the spirit whispered to himself.

Suddenly, the lava and stone pillar that the Numbers Club stood on shattered into tiny pixels, revealing the entire thing to be nothing more than a cheap illusion made by Jin.

“Guys!” Yuma shouted excitedly, running over to the door as the Number Club members barged through the door, running past Yuma with excited looks on their faces.

“Maan, Astral, you were so cool!” they all surrounded the spot where they thought Astral was.

“You're so cool, Astral!” Todoroki said with a grin on his face.

“Thank you, Astral!” Tetsuo said with a sneer.

“Thank you so much, Astral!” Kotori said with a smile on her face.

“What the?!” Yuma looked at his friends, annoyed by their sudden words. “Pft, it was me that saved you guys! Humph!” he began to walk away, and his friends each chased after him.

“Y-Yuma!” Kotori took the boy's shoulder and stopped him.

“What?” Yuma groaned, turning around and his eyes widened in realization. “Kaito…” the boy muttered.

“We've still got to take care of him…” Astral said, floating over to Yuma's side as the two stepped forward.

“Kaito, were you really dueling alongside that creep? Is he really someone you'd duel with?!” Yuma barked at the seated statue. “… Hey! Answer me!” Yuma shouted after receiving no response.

“Is he stunned by our comeback?” Astral questioned.

“…Is he even real?” Yuma asked with a sweat drop at the back of his head.

“I've got it!” Cathy leaped forward to the stairs, taking high leaps as she finally reached the top. “Cat-tobing, that's what I'll do!” the feline-like girl slashed at the statue multiple times with her sharp nails. She paused for a moment, tilting her head as she poked the side of the statue's head, watching it roll off and tumble down the stairs.

“…It was… a fake…?” Yuma looked at the head in disgust as a blue gem fell out from it.

Kotori picked up the gem, staring at it carefully. “It looks a lot like… some kind of camera lens…” the girl muttered as the gem then split open, revealing a computer-like system within it. “Whoa…” she muttered to herself as she began poking around with one of the buttons.

“Allow me to handle it!” Todoroki chimed in with a smile on his face as Kotori gave him the object. Immediately, he fiddled with the mechanism, and then Jin's D-Pad began to glow.

“Huh?” Yuma looked over to the D-Pad, seeing images of his hand within the contents of the screen. “…You're telling me… he was cheating this entire time?!” the boy stomped his foot in annoyance. “That means he knew that statue wasn't Kaito! That faker!” the boy frowned down upon Jin before stomping his way out of Jin's lair.

“That's pretty weird…” Todoroki scratched the back of his head. “To summarize, it doesn't really explain why his eyes glowed every time he was reading Yuma's hand…” the boy muttered, cocking an eyebrow. “So maybe he wasn't lying about this Kaito person giving him powers…? Nah, that just defies science and logic” the boy shrugged, closing the gem-shaped mechanism and then tossed it. “Wait for me, guys!” he ran towards the leaving group of friends, leaving Jin to groan and mutter.

“Lord Kaito… I'm sorry…” the man coughed as he struggled to crawl toward the stairs. “Lord Kaito… I'm sorry that I lost three of your Numbers…” the man continued crawling weakly, going up the long set of stairs to the throne that sat at the end of the stairs. “I may have lost those Numbers, but I still haven't lost the most powerful Numbers you've given me…” Jin came close to the end of the stairs, smiling as he looked up to the beheaded statue at the end. “M-Master… what have they done?!” his eyes widened in fear as he quickly reached under the throne. His entire body began to radiate a purple aura as the number 3 appeared on his forehead.

“Hee hee hee… I'll take sweet revenge on those children for what they've done to my master…” Jin said with a wide smile on his face. He looked up once again, seeing a figure hidden by shadow. “Who are you!?” the man asked angrily. “Step away from the throne of my beloved Lord!”

“Your 'Lord'?” the figure questioned before taking a step out of the shadows, revealing themselves to be the real Kaito. “Then I suppose you worship a headless statue as your Lord?” the boy chuckled to himself. On his arm was an activated Duel Disk, and hidden under the cuff of his sleeve was his Duel Anchor, ready for use.

“L-Lord Kaito! Y-You're real! Lord Kaito, I revere to you as a god! Please, let me fight by your side!” Jin pleaded with an insane smile across his face. “Please! Allow me to be within your presence, and assist you with hunting the Numbers! I know a boy with Numbers who just left here!”

“Oh? You're willing to help me?” Kaito smirked as his Duel Anchor activated, releasing a red light that tied around Jin's arm. “Then that means… you'll allow me to hunt for your soul” the boy said calmly as his Duel Disk immediately activated.

“H-Heh?” Jin looked at Kaito with his eyes widened in surprise.

“Now, let me hunt for your soul!” Kaito demanded.

A few minutes later…

“A-AHHHHH!!!!” Jin's screams echoed throughout the entire forest, crows flocking away from the sounds of the man's painful scream.

“Numbers hunting… completed” Kaito said with a smirk across his face, holding a new card in his hand. “That kid from before…” his mind flashed back to Yuma, “...you're next…”

_____________

Disclaimer: I suck at this, but apparently I do Kattobing better than Yoshida.

Author's Note: Did I have to do this chapter so weirdly? Yes, yes I did.

Finally...
But I am glad you finally stopped using "brat".

Eh. I'm still writing, but I lately haven't felt the drive to just post my stuff up on here. =/

“Heh!?” Yuma stared at his clock. “W-Why didn’t anyone wake me up!?” the boy immediately leaped onto his feet from his hammock, quickly changing into his regular school attire. “I’m gonna be late!!!” the boy shouted as he quickly ran downstairs, flying past Akari.

“Stop running in the house… eh…” Akari commented, muttering as she took a bite of toast.

“What’s got you all tired?” Yuma came back to the girl, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ve been up all night getting these phone calls from relatives…” Akari yawned loudly as the house phone began to ring loudly. “Ugh, another one…” the young woman hung her head with a loud sigh, taking the phone close to her ear. She raised her head and said happily “Hello, Tsukumo residence, who’s this?”

“What’s everybody calling for…?” Yuma cocked an eyebrow. He then looked at the clock in the living room, and his eyes widened. “NO! I’m late!! I’m late!!!” the boy immediately ran out from the house, grabbing his bag as he made a quick run for it.

_______________

“Not gonna be late, gotta get there early!” Yuma said to himself as he kept on running, heading toward his middle school. He stopped at a stop light, looking both ways. Suddenly, Astral descended out of nowhere, appearing next to the boy.

“Yuma, why are you in a rush…?” Astral asked, appearing confused, crossing his arms.

“I’m late for school, that’s why!” Yuma said, sounding panicked as he made a quick run for it, nearing his school.

“Phew.. phew…” Yuma panted, standing at the front of his school. He looked up at the school, and saw his fellow students standing around with adults. “Oh, that’s right… it’s Parent Day…” the boy quietly said, his hand slowly reaching up toward his neck. “Huh?” the boy looked down, and his eyes widened at the lack of his King’s Key around his neck. “W-Where is it?! I put it on this morning!” the boy panicked, quickly inspecting the ground as he walked away from his school.

“Yuma, you lost the King’s Key!?” the spirit looked at Yuma in bewilderment.

“I-I dunno! It was around my neck one second, and now it’s not!” Yuma panicked, searching the area before making a run for it.

“Won’t you be late for school?” Astral followed alongside the boy, floating carelessly.

“I will, but that Key’s important to me!” Yuma answered as he began searching nearby a park area.

“Yuma, there’s something I was curious about…” Astral inspected the ground as well to assist the boy in his search for the King’s Key.

“What is it?” Yuma dove into a bush, frantically searching for his key. Come on! I can’t lose it… It’s the only thing I’ve got to remember my mom and dad for! the boy leaped out of the bush, entering yet another one.

“What was it about the other children’s parents that seemed to affect you?” Astral tilted his head, looking at the boy as he searched nearby a tree.

Yuma stopped for a moment, remembering the smiling children next to their laughing parents. “It’s… personal…” the boy lightly said as he exited yet another bush, inserting his hands into his pockets as he began to walk away in an attempt to retrace his steps this morning.

“Personal? Observation, Yuma is saddened by happy children and parents due to an as-of-yet unknown reason” Astral muttered as he floated behind the boy.

“…” the boy remained silent as he remembered his father. The tall man with lots of stubble around his mouth and face. The man that stood several feet above the young Yuma, and then he remembered his mother, a beautiful orange-haired woman with a smile that reflected upon her beauty. “Mom… Dad…” the boy whispered quietly, holding back his tears.

___________

“Daddy…” a younger, smaller Yuma looked to his father who laid in the sleeping bag next to him. The boy was about seven or nine years old with a bandage across his nose.

“Hm?” the tan-skinned man looked at Yuma. His hair was black, styled almost accordingly to Yuma’s, but more scruffily done with a smaller red portion compared to Yuma’s.

“What is your goal?” the young boy looked up to his father.

“…” the man laid on his back and then pointed towards the night sky that the father and son laid under. “There. I’m aiming for the ends of this world, my son” he answered with a smile on his face.

“The end… of the world…?” Yuma began to giggle. “That’s stupid, daddy! Hahaha!” the boy couldn’t help but to laugh loudly.

“What’s so funny?” Mr. Tsukumo looked at his son with a confused look on his face.

“It’s ‘cause you’re being stupid, dad” the boy cupped his hands together, making a circle with them. “See? The world’s round, like this, so there’s no end, dad” the boy said with a smile on his face.

The man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, “Well, if you put it that way, then… yeah, I’m being stupid. But, Yuma, that’s not what I was talking about” the father chuckled. He then patted his son’s head before getting up, pointing at the stars in the darkened heavens. “Son, I’m aiming to reach the very ends of the universe we stand on. I want to venture through the stars! I want to see life on another planet! I want to learn the native language of another galaxy!” he answered sternly with a grin on his face.

“W-wow…” the young Yuma commented. “Fine then!” Yuma immediately stood on his feet, grinning as he pointed up to the stars. “I’ll go with you too! Wherever daddy goes, I’ll go too!” the young boy sneered.

“You, go with me?” the father chuckled before picking up his son with a wide grin on his face. “Sure! You’ll be my helper! We’ll learn about the mysteries of this universe together, as a team!”

“What about mommy? Doesn’t she go with you on long trips like that?” Yuma asked in curiosity.

“She’ll come too, of course! The three of us together will never stop until we’ve unraveled all the mysteries of this universe!” the father answered happily.

“Good!” Yuma began laughing before raising up his arm, revealing his D-Pad to his father. “Before we go to bed… can we please Duel one more time? Pleeeeeaaassssseee!?” the boy begged.

“Fine, fine. Just don’t tell your mother that I let you stay up late” Mr. Tsukumo winked at his son who responded with a nod.

Several minutes later…

“Go, Gogogo Golem, attack Marauding Captain!” Mr. Tsukumo commanded with a grin on his face as the golem muttered ‘go go go go’ before smashing it’s fist into a mighty warrior.

“Wah!” Yuma’s Life Points suddenly dropped from the impact.

Yuma: 100

“Now, I’ll Overlay the Level 4 Gagaga Magician and Gogogo Golem!” Mr. Tsukumo instructed as a brown and purple orb of energy danced around the two Duelists. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon!”

“A-Amazing! Wow, daddy, an Xyz Summon!?” Yuma observed excitedly.

“… Just kidding” Mr. Tsukumo chuckled as both Gogogo Golem and Gagaga Magician fell out from the air. “I don’t have an Xyz Monster yet, son” the man scratched the back of his head embarrassingly as he admitted to that.

“…Stupid daddy!” Yuma smiled before giggling.

________________

“Dad…” Yuma sighed as he neared his home. He stopped for a moment, seeing his older sister walk out of the house in a dress. The girl was dressed up in a white dress with red lipstick on, as well as white high-heels and her hair was left long.

“I’ll see ya later, grandma!” Akari said with a smile before getting into her car. The girl then proceeded to drive off, heading to the party she intended to go to.

“…” Yuma sighed, and then watched his grandmother leave off with Kotori’s grandmother.

“Yuma, do you think it’d be at home? You said you remembered putting it on” Astral pointed out.

“Retracing my steps means going all the way back home too” Yuma answered, walking into his house as he began to inspect the floors once again.

“Yuma, it was supposed to be a day where your relatives could visit you at your school and observe classes, am I correct?” Astral looked at the boy.

Yuma froze for a moment before continuing his search through the house for his King’s Key. “Yeah… it was…” the boy answered with a sigh as he stopped his search, seating himself on the porch. The boy stared at the sky, smiling weakly as he reached up to his neck. The key was still not there. “Mom… Dad…” the boy sighed again.

_____________________

“What!? Why do I gotta babysit Yuma again!?” a younger Akari whined. The girl’s had a shorter ponytail at the time, and wore a typical schoolgirl uniform.

Her mother looked at her with a beautiful smile “We need you to take care of him. Your brother is still young, he needs to depend on someone while we’re not here.”

“But he’s still got grandma!” the girl crossed her arms. “Seriously, this is gonna ruin my plans this weekend…” the girl puffed her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Akari, but grandma’s getting old. She can’t take care of someone like Yuma by herself” Ms. Tsukumo answered as she finished hanging the laundry. The woman walked over to the girl, and gently placed her hand on Akari’s cheek. “I promise you a raise in your allowance, and an extended curfew if you do this just once, okay?” the woman winked at Akari.

“Okay!!” Akari responded with a wide smile on her face as the two giggled.

“Heh, mother-daughter bonding…” Haru responded with a soft chuckle to herself.

“That Akari’s gonna grow up to be as beautiful as her mother… Heck, she’s already acting like her mother back when she was a pain in the neck” Ms. Tsukumo’s mother chuckled lightheartedly. This lady was about as tall as Haru, but had orange hair that was fading away. She was about as old as Haru, but stood straight without a cane as of yet.

“Pft, you think Akari’s a pain? You should’ve seen Kazuma when he was a teenager! The hormones in that kid, and his unnerving need for adventure were the things I found to be a pain” Haru responded with a grin. “But his need for adventure, it’s what’s led him to be the leader of all these successful expeditions.”

“Hahaha, I guess I could say the same for my Mirai” the other elderly woman chuckled.

“We’re hoooome!” the young Yuma announced, being carried by Kazuma.

“Heh, nothing like hiking and bonding between men!” Kazuma gruffly said with a smile on his face.

“Welcome home” Mirai said to them both. She gave both of them a kiss on the cheek, “I’m glad you two enjoyed your trip. Especially you, Yuma” the woman said with a smile as she pinched her son’s cheek.

“Ouch! Hahah, stop that!” Yuma giggled as his mother took the boy into her arms. “I’m gonna get you!” the boy playfully threatened.

“But it look like I got you” Mirai corrected him with a smile across her face before looking to her husband, Kazuma.

“Pft, you missed us, didn’t you?” Kazuma teased with a sneer.

“No I didn’t” Mirai replied with a giggle.

“Yeah you did” Kazuma wrapped his arms around his wife. “Admit it. You missed both Yuma and I while we were out hiking.”

“Hmmm” the woman poked her cheek, pretending as if she were thinking deeply on that subject. “Mayybeee” the woman answered teasingly.

“Hahah, that’s more like it” Kazuma kissed his wife’s cheek.

“Ewww, that’s disgusting! Mommy and Daddy are getting all lovey-dovey again!” Yuma marched out of the room.

Both the husband and the wife looked at one another and then chuckled as they followed in suit of the young boy.

_________________

Yuma looked up to Astral, sighing. “I don’t think you’d understand, Astral…” the boy looked away. “I can’t just ask my big sister Akari, nor grandma to just drop what they’re doing and come to school with me…”

“You can. Akari appeared to have nothing else to do when you first woke up, and your grandmother also appeared to be free” Astral answered, crossing his arms.

“…” Yuma got up again, starting to walk. “Come on, Astral, let’s go find the Key…” the boy muttered sadly.

Astral stared at the boy, blinking only a few times. “Observation; Yuma feels that those who love him couldn’t bother to do something simple for him” the spirit then floated behind Yuma, following him carefully.
_______________

Disclaimer: I don't own ZEXAL, etc.

Author's Note: I've gone ahead and derailed this thing, didn't I? I think I even derailed Yuma's personality.

Waiting for Shark...

“W-wah!” a man’s Life Points suddenly slammed down to 0 after being attacked by a stream of blue light.

Player: 0

“And now, for your soul…” Kaito stepped over to the man, pointing his palm towards the fallen Duelist. “Photon Hand” the boy commanded as an astral projection of his hand shot forth, piercing into the man’s body.

“W-what are you doing?! Ah… AHHH!!!” the man shouted in severe pain as Kaito withdrew the projection of his hand, and a blue orb appeared in the palm of his hand.

“I told you, I was hunting for your soul, Numbers Duelist” Kaito answered as he crushed the blue orb, shattering it. The pieces of the orb faded away, leaving behind a single Xyz Monster card in Kaito’s hand. “No. 40 Phoenixian Mage…” the boy muttered.

“You successfully caught the Number!” Orbital 7 cheered.

“Yes, but that wasn’t what I came here for” Kaito responded as he placed the Numbers card into his Extra Deck slot.

“I know, but still! You’re catching Numbers more efficiently than ever!” Orbital 7 noted with beep. Suddenly, the machine froze, as if it realized something.

“Hm?” Kaito looked at the machine, noticing that it was staring in the direction of a single adolescent called Shark.

“That idiot lost his Key again, didn’t he?” Shark muttered, placing it in his pocket as he got up to walk towards school. “Looks like I’ll be playing the nice guy and giving this back to him” the adolescent grumbled.

“Oh-ho… So it seems Ryoga’s still here? I thought he left after they banned him at a National Circuit” Kaito chuckled to himself.

“Lord Kaito! Lord Kaito! It’s him! He’s holding what you’re after!” Orbital 7 beeped, pointing in the direction of Shark. The adolescent stopped for a moment, turning to look in the direction of the pair.

“…You got a problem with me?” Shark asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Heh, so you don’t remember me, is that it?” Kaito asked with a smirk as he began walking in the direction of Shark. “It’s been a while since we last saw one another, right?”

“…” Shark thought carefully as the boy approached closer and closer to him. He observed the boy to be the same age as he was, but nothing about him seemed that at all familiar. “Who’re you supposed to be?” the adolescent asked, glaring at Kaito.

“It’s me, Kaito Tenjo! Remember that tournament the both of us were in? We were both about 9 years old” Kaito mentioned, still approaching closer to the adolescent.

“Wait… you’re that kid who summoned that Rank 8 everyone was impressed with” Shark realized it.

“Yeah, but enough with the memories, Ryoga, you’ve got something that I want” Kaito’s smirk changed to a stoic expression. “Ryoga, hand over the pendant you just picked up” he held out his hand, waiting for Shark to follow his demands.

“Why would you even need this?” Shark took out the King’s Key from his pocket, and it shone against the sunlight of a clear day. “This belongs to an acquaintance, so what you’re looking for is somewhere else” Shark secured the item into his hand.

“When Lord Kaito asks for something, you hand it to him!” Orbital 7 beeped, motioning towards Shark as it’s arm began to shift forms, taking on the form of a large drill. The machine immediately brought the drill down towards Shark, but the adolescent side stepped away from the drill’s tip, and leaped on top of the drill arm.

“All that for this?” Shark asked, looking on at the King’s Key again.

“Don’t you touch me, human!” Orbital 7 beeped as it began to increase in size, and revealed it’s other hand. The machine’s arm stretched out towards Shark in an attempt to grab the Key forcefully, but the adolescent took a flip off the machine’s drill arm, and landed on the ground smoothly. The machine responded by attempting to pierce with it’s drill, but Shark dodge rolled, and began making a run for it.

“Tch, you’re causing too much noise, Orbital 7!” Kaito began to chase after the adolescent. “You, Orbital 7, stay here and manage these bystanders!” the boy commanded, and the machine returned to it’s normal self.

“Got it, Lord Kaito!” Orbital 7 beeped in obedience.

“Tch, so I can assume he’s the Number Hunter that Kotori and Tetsuo babble so much about in class” Shark muttered to himself as he looked around. Only thing I’ve gotta do is find a clear place… the adolescent thought to himself as he narrowly dodged a car that came awfully close to running him over. Immediately, the adolescent stopped, finding himself to be on a beautiful meadow. “I shouldn’t be too far from the school… Just gotta bring this to Yuma” Shark muttered, turning around to check if Kaito was catching up to him. “Hm, did the Hunter stop? No, I wouldn’t think so…” the adolescent clenched his fists before smirking. “If this is gonna be the case, then I’ll just stop him by myself. A so-called Hunter won’t stop until his prey has been caught anyway…” the adolescent muttered to himself as he threw on his D-Pad, activating his Duel Disk. Next, he placed on his D-Gazer, and watched as Kaito stopped several feet away from the adolescent.

“Oh, gave up?” Kaito asked.

“No” Shark answered as he raised his Duel Disk. “Instead of leaving it to that idiot, I’ll just take care of you myself, Numbers Hunter” the adolescent gestured a finger towards Kaito in declaration. “Besides, I bet you’re just itching to settle that score from all that time ago” his smirk widened. He could feel some kind of strange excitement within him, a kind he hasn’t felt since his last time at the National Circuit.

“I have no reason to Duel you. I’m under orders to seize that pendant, now give me the pendant, Ryoga” Kaito put out his hand.

“Heh, you just don’t know when to quit, don’t you?” Shark opened up his Extra Deck, pulling out a single card from it. He then spun it on the very tip of his finger, revealing that the card frame was black. “I thought you were supposed to ‘Hunt’ the Numbers Monsters. You may as well get two things done at once” the adolescent lied, still smirking. Take the bait… come on, you know you want to take it…

“Oh? So you’ve got a Numbers too, huh?” Kaito’s Duel Disk activated and then gestured his arm toward Shark before clenching a fist. “Fine then, I’ll take you on. Not only will I settle our score, but I’ll also obtain that pendant and yet another Numbers” the boy declared as his clothing suddenly began to turn white. “Duel Mode… Photon Change!” he commanded as his entire attire turned white, and a tribal tattoo developed over his left eye. He unleashed a battle cry as a white aura sprouted around the boy, and his left eye’s iris suddenly turned blood red.

“What the?” Shark cocked an eyebrow.

“Now, let me hunt for your soul!” Kaito commanded.

“DUEL!” both Shark and Kaito declared.

Shark: 4000
Kaito: 4000

___________________________

Yuma sighed, stopping for a moment as he looked up at the sky. “Where is it? I can’t find it for some reason…” the boy looked around. “I feel like I dropped it somewhere nearby here, but by now it’s probably…” he paused, looking at Astral.

“Yuma… haven’t we seen that thing around before?” Astral pointed towards a strange robot that began rolling in an oddly specific direction.

“Yeah, it’s the usual trash bot…” the boy answered before looking at the robot. “Wait a second…” the boy’s eyes widened in realization. “T-That’s the same robot that was with Kaito!” he came to realization.

“That means if Kaito’s here, a Numbers Duelist must be nearby…” Astral pointed out. “I’d say follow the robot. He’s probably heading towards the Numbers Duelist right now” the spirit looked at the boy.

“Right! Wait, but shouldn’t we try finding the King’s Key first?” Yuma questioned, looking at Astral.

“We can find the Key after we’ve carefully retrieved the Numbers. For this robot to be separate from Kaito, it must mean that it’s looking for the Numbers right now, and will report to it’s master when it has found it” Astral explained, crossing his arms.

“Ah, I understand!” Yuma responded, nodding his head. “Sorry, mom and dad, I gotta help Astral first” the boy nodded at the sky before following behind Orbital 7 carefully and quietly.

______________________

Turn 1

“Heh, I’ll take the first turn” Shark declared as he swiped his next card off the top of his deck. “Try not losing this time around, Numbers Hunter” the adolescent taunted as he revealed a card in his hand. “First, I activate Shark Lair. With this card’s effect, I discard a Fish-type Monster in my hand to the graveyard” Shark explained as he revealed the card he was going to discard. “I’ll discard Grand Jaws” the adolescent placed the card into his discard pile. “Now, Grand Jaws has a total attack power of 2400. Any Monster you control with 2400 or Less ATK cannot declare an attack while Shark Lair’s face-up on my side of the field!” the adolescent gestured an arm.

“Humph. Preventing me from using powerful Monsters to land an attack on you, huh Ryoga?” Kaito smirked. “I guess you must be scared of how much my Deck has changed then?”

“No. One needs to be in order to defeat someone like you” Shark answered as he revealed a card in his hand. “Now I Normal Summon my Sharktopus!” the boy commanded as virtual water splashed out of nowhere, and a monstrous looking shark with tentacles replacing it’s body appeared on the field. It’s teeth appeared razor sharp, and the chainsaw-like nose revved up as the creature took its place on Shark’s side of the field.

Sharktopus: 1600 ATK / 800 DEF | Level 4

“Next, I’ll set one card facedown and end my turn” Shark declared.

Turn 2

“My turn, draw!” Kaito immediately drew his next card, and then gestured a single Spell Card, revealing it to Shark. “I activate Polymerization. By taking Monsters on my side of the Field or in my hand and send them to the graveyard, I can Fusion Summon something powerful” Kaito smirked as he revealed two Monsters in his hand. “I’ll use the two Photon Lizards in my hand!”

“A Fusion Summon, huh? That’s something I don’t see everyday” Shark commented as a large spiral appeared between both Duelists. Two lizards appeared, both the same structure as well as the same shape. A light seemed to make up the entirety of their body. The two looked at one another and suddenly, the spiral sucked them in.

“Fusion Summon! Come out, Twin Photon Lizard!” Kaito commanded as the spiral released a large behemoth. The creature had two heads, looking almost dragon-like. Just like the materials it took to summon it, a blue sparkling light made up it’s body while the rest was a red and yellow armor that seemed to make a ‘frame’ for the light.

Twin Photon Lizard: 2400 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 6

“Next, I’ll activate Twin Photon Lizard’s effect! By sending it to the graveyard, I can revive the Materials used for it’s Fusion Summon!” Kaito smirked as the behemoth on his side of the field roared painfully, splitting into the two Photon Lizards it took to create it.

Photon Lizard: 900 ATK / 1200 DEF | Level 3

Photon Lizard: 900 ATK / 1200 DEF | Level 3

“A Fusion Summon, and then you split it back into two Monsters?” Shark cocked an eyebrow.

“That’s not my plan. I’ll Overlay the two Level 3 Photon Lizards!” Kaito commanded as the two creatures on his side of the field roared, turning into yellow orbs of energy as a galactic gate opened up behind the boy. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network!” the two energies entered the gate in harmony before it exploded. “Reveal yourself, No. 30 Acid Golem of Destruction!!” Kaito commanded as purple smog enveloped the field.

Shark looked around carefully, unsure of Kaito’s plot. “Numbers, eh?” the adolescent smirked. “Good thing you summoned it early, I’d be upset if you didn’t” Shark commented boldly. The purple smog slowly began to fade away, revealing a cluster of crystals that began to shatter immediately. Soon, a large, brutish hulk of stone appeared before Shark. It was colored in purple with a blue face and a fixed face that revealed a row of straightened teeth. The hulking brute hissed as purple miasma escaped the corners of it’s mouth, and it took battle position.

No. 30 Acid Golem of Destruction: 3000 ATK / 3000 DEF | Rank 3

“Tch, a Rank 3 with 3000 ATK?” Shark noted.

“Heh, now I’ll show you what real pain is, Ryoga! You’ll hand me that pendant, one way or another!” Kaito gestured an arm towards Sharktopus. “Since your Shark Lair will only work on Monsters with 2400 or Less attack, this won’t work on my Acid Golem! Battle!” the boy clenched his fist as he grinned. “No. 30 Acid Golem of Destruction, attack the Sharktopus!” the hulking brute understood it’s master’s command. The thing roared and took a few steps over to Sharktopus, bringing it’s fist down upon the mutation standing before it. The sea creature shattered to pieces, and Shark’s Life Points dropped rapidly.

“Tch!” the adolescent grunted as he felt a minor bit of pain from the impact.

Shark: 2600

“Sharktopus’ effect now activates!” Shark declared as the ground that Acid Golem stood upon began to crack.

“What?”

“Yeah. Sharktopus’ effect only activates when it’s been destroyed by battle. Now I can Equip it to your Monster, and it’s ATK is reduced to 0! Don’t forget the fact that now it can’t switch positions!” Shark explained, smirking as he did so.

“Humph, so now this Numbers can’t defend itself” Kaito noted. “Now, I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn” the boy then shot a look at Shark, a look of bold confidence.

Turn 3

This guy can inflict real pain in a Duel? Hmph. That’s alright… Push me to my limits and get my blood boiling, and you’ll see the counterattack I’ve got for you, Kaito! Shark immediately swiped a new card off the top of his deck, observing it carefully. “First, I’ll Summon Spiked Sunfish!” Shark commanded as a wide fish appeared on the field, looking almost expressionless.

Spike Sunfish: 1500 ATK / 100 DEF | Level 3

“Next, I Special Summon Shark Sucker!” the adolescent revealed a card in his hand as virtual waters splashed, revealing a weakling little fish.

Shark Sucker: 200 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 3

“Humph, two Level 3 Monsters on your side of the field” Kaito crossed his arms.

“I’ll Overlay the Level 3 Spiked Sunfish and Shark Sucker!” Shark gestured his hand toward the sea creatures on his side of the field, and the two instantly turned into blue energies that entered a red gate. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon! Come, Underwater Warship – Aero Shark!” he commanded as the gate exploded, revealing twin sharks that were attached by an odd device that seemed to withhold weapons or something.

Underwater Warship – Aero Shark: 1900 ATK / 1000 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 2

“Heh, so your ace has appeared onto the field. Come on, Ryoga, show me your Numbers!” Kaito egged on.

“You know how I am, I save the best things for last” Shark smirked as he pointed to his creature. “First, I’ll activate Aero Shark’s effect! By detaching an Overlay Unit, you’ll take damage equal to the Number of cards in my hand” the adolescent revealed that he only held one card. His creature came to life, immediately absorbing the Overlay Unit and the base that held the twin sharks opened up. “Fire!” the adolescent commanded as he sent Shark Sucker into his discard pile. Soon, missiles were launched and all exploded near Kaito.

“Heh, how pathetic. Only 400 damage?” the boy grinned, unfazed by the damage caused to him.

Kaito: 3600

“You’re gonna take more damage than that! Battle!” Shark gestured an arm toward the Numbers on Kaito’s side of the field. “Your Monster won’t be destroyed, but you’ll still take damage from this battle! Go, Aero Shark, attack Acid Golem!” the adolescent commanded as Aero Shark sprung to action, swimming through the air toward Acid Golem.

“While that could be true…” Kaito smirked mysteriously.

“What?” Shark paused, astonished by Kaito’s response.

“I’ll activate my Trap Card, Photon Escape!” the boy commanded as Acid Golem roared before vanishing into a flash of light.

“What?!”

“When you attack a LIGHT-Attribute Xyz Monster on my side of the field, I can banish it to negate your attack!” Kaito smirked as the light seemed to blind Aero Shark, causing the creature to retreat.

“Tch, protecting your Number” Shark muttered. “I’ll end my turn.”

“My turn, draw!” Kaito swiped another card off the top of his deck before revealing the card he drew. “I’ll Special Summon Photon Slasher!” he commanded as a burst of light appeared on his side of the field, and a portal to another dimension appeared next to the burst of light. First, a golem-looking creature with armored boots, arms, and an armored head appeared on the field. Light filled into the armor, allowing it to animate the armor. The golem grunted as it wielded the heavy double-sided spear.

Photon Slasher: 2100 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 4

“Next my Photon Escape’s effect allows me to return the Banished Monster when I perform a Summon” Kaito explained, grinning widely as Acid Golem reappeared on the field.

No. 30 Acid Golem of Destruction: 3000 ATK / 3000 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 0

“Finally, the effects of Acid Golem are negated until the End Phase when it’s been Special Summoned onto the field via Photon Escape’s effect, now allowing me to bypass the backlashes of this card’s effect” Kaito grinned as a card shone brightly in his hand. “Pay special attention, Ryoga” the boy whispered as both Photon Slasher and Acid Golem grunted in pain, the two shattering into pixels.

“You’re sacrificing the Numbers and your Slasher?” Shark cocked an eyebrow, unsure of Kaito’s new tactic.

“Now I’ll Special Summon… this!” Kaito slammed his new card onto his Duel Disk. His red eye suddenly glowed, along with the tribal tattoo that surrounded his left eye, and a red cross suddenly appeared ahead of the boy. He smirked as his entire body began to shine brightly. Next, he grabbed it before tossing it into the air. “Incarnation of light, descend now!” he commanded as the object transformed, creating a pair of wings and then an armored head along with a large tail. Sparkling blue light then took up the space, revealing that the creature being summoned was a dragon made from light. The dragon’s eyes suddenly opened, revealing spiraling stars within them. “Appear now, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!” the dragon roared mightily as it’s wings of energy shot out from it’s back, and the ground around it trembled as if it felt fear.

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 3000 ATK / 2500 DEF | Level 8

“Galaxy-Eyes… Photon Dragon…?” Shark questioned, feeling the sheer power that emitted from the dragon’s existence on Kaito’s side of the field. He stared at it, feeling something odd coming from it. “I can assume… this is your ace…?” Shark then smirked once again. “That means this’ll be a rush to take down!”

“Humph, we’ll see about it. Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon has 3000 ATK, therefore it gets around your Shark Lair once again. Battle!” Kaito gestured toward Aero Shark. “Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon attacks Underwater Warship – Aero Shark! Photon Stream of Destruction!!” the dragon obeyed the command, launching a beam of sparkling light towards Aero Shark.

“Not so fast there! I activate my Trap Card!” Shark flipped up his facedown card, revealing a trap. “I activate Poseidon Waves! Through this card’s effect, I can negate your attack and inflict 800 damage to you equal to the Number of WATER-Attribute Monsters on my field!” the adolescent informed Kaito, smirking widely. “Looks like you’ve got yourself an unsuccessful attack!” waves began to emerge from the card.

“And your tactics are futile, Ryoga! I activate the effect of Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!” Kaito declared with a laugh as his dragon roared once more. The roars echoed all around, and Aero Shark groaned. “When Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon goes into battle, I can banish both Galaxy-Eyes and the Monster I selected as an attack target!” Kaito laughed again as both Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Aero Shark vanished into thin air, leaving the tidal waves to do absolutely nothing.

“Tch…” Shark placed his trap into the discard pile. “So that’s the power of that card…” the adolescent quietly returned to his thoughts. There’s only one Monster I’ve got that can destroy that dragon then. Shark looked to his Extra Deck slot.

“During the end of the Battle Phase, Galaxy-Eyes’ effect allows both Monsters to return to the field” Kaito mentioned, smirking widely as both Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Aero Shark returned to their proper sides of the field.

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 3000 ATK / 2500 DEF | Level 8

Underwater Warship – Aero Shark: 1900 ATK / 1000 DEF | Rank3 | Overlay Units: 0

“Heh, now you can’t use Aero Shark’s effect anymore without any Overlay Units” Kaito smirked as the gem on Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon’s chest began to glow. “And then, Galaxy-Eyes’ effect lets me absorb the power of your Monster’s Overlay Units, if it was an Xyz Monster. Since you only had one, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon increases by 500 ATK!” Kaito smirked as a green circle opened up between the Duelists, and Aero Shark’s Overlay Unit was absorbed into Galaxy-Eyes’ gem.

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 3500 ATK / 2500 DEF | Level 8

“Tch, so it steals power from Xyz Monsters to make itself more powerful” Shark muttered. It’s as I thought, only one thing can stop this.

“I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn!” Kaito declared the end of his turn.

Turn 5

“My turn, draw!” Shark drew his new card, and then observed the field. He wiped a bit of sweat from his brow before looking at Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon with a widened smirk on his face.

“I’m sealing your ability to win this Duel! Trap activate, Shadow of Light!” Kaito commanded as his trap flipped open, and a bright light shone from his discard pile. “By Special Summoning one LIGHT-Attribute Monster from my graveyard to your side of the field, I can increase the attack power of Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon by half of that” the boy instructed as he smirked. His discard pile released a giant creature, and dropped it onto Shark’s side of the field, revealing it to be No. 30 Acid Golem of Destruction.

No. 30 Acid Golem of Destruction: 3000 ATK / 3000 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 0

“Now my Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon’s attack power increases to 5000!” Kaito laughed as an aura of light enshrouded his mighty beast, and the dragon roared once again, causing the ground to tremble once again.

“Tch… 5000 ATK…?” Shark’s eyes widened as he looked to the Monsters on his side of the field. But… why would he give me a 3000 ATK Monster…?

“Oh, did I forget that in your Standby Phase, you must detach an Overlay Unit from Acid Golem?!” Kaito began to laugh as the golem turned to look at it’s new owner.

“Then what happens when I can’t?” Shark cocked an eyebrow, watching as a purple ooze slid off the golem’s overhanging arm. “What the?!” Shark dodged the ooze, but some of it dripped onto his arm. “Ugh!” the adolescent grunted, feeling it burn his arm painfully. “T-tch… what the…?” the adolescent panted, looking at the burn wound.

“If you can’t pay the cost, then you take 2000 points of damage…” Kaito whispered, almost as if he were enjoying how this Duel was turning out.

Shark: 600

The adolescent panted, feeling another pain jolt up his arm as a golden light shone from the back of his hand. He groaned as a number 30 was tattooed onto his hand, and he could feel it burn.

“Hahaha, what can you do now, keeper of the Numbers? Acid Golem’s ability prevents you from Special Summoning, then there’s the fact that it cannot attack without Overlay Units attached to it, and then if I so much as attack it, your Acid Golem will take you down another 2000, and end this game for you” Kaito cocked an eyebrow, almost as if he were enjoying how this Duel was turning out.

“I’ll… I’ll…” Shark panted heavily, almost struggling to keep his vision clear and struggled to remain standing. “Tch… I’ll… I’ll win this Duel!” the adolescent declared boldly.
____________________

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

Author's Note: I still fail to make Shark as badass as he is on-screen. Words just can't describe Shark's badassery. =/

__________________________

“Whoa!” Yuma fell as the ground trembled. “J-Jeez, an earthquake!” the boy immediately hid in a bush after realizing what he said out loud.

“It feels like this entire planet is shaking… it’s quaking in fear of something…” Astral noted quietly.

“Lord Kaito has summoned his Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!” Orbital 7 said gleefully as the robot sped off towards the origin of the earthquake.

“Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon?” both Astral and Yuma looked at one another, remembering the mighty creature that tore down No. 39 Aspiring King, Hope in no less than a blink of an eye. The two nodded at one another and then began to chase behind the robot, heading towards the heated duel between Kaito and Shark.

________________________

Shark: 600

Acid Golem of Destruction: 3000 ATK / 3000 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 0

Underwater Warship – Aero Shark: 1900 ATK / 1000 DEF | Rank3 | Overlay Units: 0

Kaito: 3600

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 3000 ATK / 2500 DEF | Level 8

“It’s your move, Ryoga. Make it count” Kaito smirked.

Shark carefully examined his hand, and then examined the situation on his field. I can’t Special Summon this turn… Which means I can’t summon my only way to defeat that Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon… the adolescent clenched his fists. Suddenly, he realized the card he held in his hand. Xyz Gift… That’s right. With this, I can draw 2 new cards. But, if they’re not the card I need to get out of this, I’m done for. The adolescent swallowed hard, and then looked at Kaito. His opponent was smirking, as if he were confident that the Duel was now in his favor.

“This Duel between us… is far from over, Kaito…” Shark chuckled, revealing a card in his hand. “I’ll activate Xyz Gift. With this card’s effect, if there are two or more Xyz Monsters on the Field, I can draw 2 cards” the adolescent instructed as he swiped two new cards off the top of his deck, hoping for a proper way out of his situation. He flipped the first card in his direction, seeing it was nothing more than Surface. Tch, a card that Special Summons a Monster from the graveyard… That won’t do me any good… The adolescent flipped the second card as he did the first, and then his smirk widened greatly.

“Huh?” Kaito observed his opponent’s facial expression, now dumbfounded.

“I drew just what I needed to get myself out of this, Kaito” Shark revealed a Monster card in his hand. “I’ll sacrifice both Aero Shark and your little ‘gift’ to me!” the adolescent declared as both Acid Golem and Aero Shark shattered to pieces.

“Sacrifice?!” Kaito’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I’ll Advance Summon King of the Deep – Poseidon!!” Shark commanded as a tidal wave emerged from behind the adolescent. The water immediately exploded, revealing a half-man and half-fish mutation. It had the tail of a blue-scaled fish, whilst having the body of a strong and muscular man. He was tan-skinned with a large and blue trident in his hand. On the man’s head was a full head of straight hair, along with a crown with several charms lining each tip. The man’s eyes opened, and they glowed a violet-blue color as he took his place onto Shark’s side of the field.

King of the Deep – Poseidon: 3000 ATK / 1800 DEF | Level 8

“Tch, you Advance Summoned… your only real way out of that mess…” Kaito frowned.

“If I’m going down, then I’ll make sure I go down with a blast! I’ll activate Poseidon’s effect! By banishing two Fish-type Monsters in my graveyard, I can draw two new cards” Shark said as both Shark Sucker and Underwater Warship – Aero Shark vanished into a different dimension, and the adolescent swiped two new cards off the top of his deck. “Next, I’ll activate a card I just drew, called Fish and Swaps” the adolescent instructed as he discarded a single card in his hand. “Through this card’s effect, I can return two of my banished Fish-type Monsters to my hand” he explained as he returned Shark Sucker to his hand, and then Aero Shark returned to his Extra Deck.

“Humph, it won’t matter what you do, Ryoga, you can’t expect to face a 5000 ATK Monster all by yourself!” Kaito smirked.

“Oh? I wouldn’t be so confident about winning yet, Kaito!” Shark smirked as he revealed a card in his hand. “I’ll use Surface!” he commanded as his discard pile began to shine with a blue light. “Now I can Special Summon a WATER-Attribute Monster from the graveyard! With this, I’ll revive Grand Jaws!” a large, whale-sized shark emerged from the graveyard, appearing almost as if it were defending itself from battle. The shark was colored black with light blue eyes that glowed viciously. Its mouth was supported by a giant mechanism that even shaped itself like three rows of sharp teeth, perhaps made of titanium. “Grand Jaws is a Monster that cannot be Normal Summoned, and cannot be Special Summoned from the hand or deck… however, I can Special Summon it from the graveyard” the adolescent instructed as he smirked.

Grand Jaws: 2400 ATK / 0 DEF | Level 3

“Then I Special Summon Shark Sucker!” Shark instructed as virtual waters splashed, revealing the same weakling fish from earlier.

Shark Sucker: 200 ATK / 1000 DEF | Level 3

“Ho? 2 Level 3 Monsters? Are we going for Aero Shark again?” Kaito asked, chuckling to himself as his red eye continued to glow brightly.

“That’s not the Monster I had in mind here. I’ve got a better idea for someone like you!” Shark gestured an arm as the two fish-type Monsters converted into orbs of blue light that danced around the field. “With these two Monsters, I’ll construct the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon!” the two energies entered another red gate, and it exploded. “Appear now, Black Ray Lancer!!” a mutated knight appeared on the field. The top half was your average black knight: only this one was holding an elongated purple spear. The bottom half looked like fins that helped the mutant knight to float. Dancing around the Monster in it’s own orbit were two purple energies.

Black Ray Lancer: 2100 ATK / 600 DEF | Rank 3 | Overlay Units: 2

“Black Ray Lancer?” Kaito appeared dumbfounded, but then the boy began to chuckle before bursting into laughter. “I thought you were gonna finally reveal your Number, after all of those moves you pulled off to summon something with only 2100 ATK!” the boy boldly said as he gestured an arm toward Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. “My Galaxy-Eyes has 5000 ATK, what can a puny 2100 even do to that?!”

“We’re about to see. I activate the effect of Grand Jaws!” the adolescent gestured an arm towards Black Ray Lancer who shone with a blue aura surrounding it’s body.

“Huh?”

“Despite all the restrictions to summon it, it’s effect is what makes it worth the wait. When it’s been used as material for an Xyz Summon, Black Ray Lancer gains a new effect!” the adolescent then gestured towards one of the Overlay Units surrounding Black Ray Lancer. “By banishing Grand Jaws as an Overlay Unit, I can decrease an opponent’s Monster by 2400 ATK!”

“By 2400?! You mean…!” Kaito’s eyes widened in realization of what Shark was pulling off.

“Yes, now your Galaxy-Eyes goes from the mighty 5000 ATK down to 2600!” Shark commanded as a dimensional hole ripped open, sucking in Black Ray Lancer’s Overlay Unit before vanishing. Next, Black Ray Lancer’s eyes glowed red and flapped it’s wing-like fins to release a black wind that launched forth at Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon.

“You’re joking me!” Kaito watched as Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon cried out weakly, suddenly losing it’s resilient radiance.

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: 2600 ATK / 2500 DEF | Level 8

“It’s over for your Numbers Killer, Numbers Hunter!” Shark commanded as Black Ray Lancer raised it’s spear. “Now by detaching an Overlay Unit, Black Ray Lancer’s original effect activates, letting me negate an opponent’s Monster effect until the end of the turn!” Black Ray Lancer’s spear absorbed the last Overlay Unit. The mutated knight grunted, spinning it’s spear as it then released a purple wind that made Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon squeal in pain. “King of the Deep – Poseidon attacks Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!” Shark commanded as the half-man raised it’s trident, and a tidal wave sprung out from behind it. The mighty waves came down upon the dragon that struggled to fight the waves, but it couldn’t, and it burst into multiple pixels.

“Galaxy-Eyes!” Kaito called out, and the boy was pushed off his feet by the tidal wave. “You’re… kidding me… You mean he… defeated Galaxy-Eyes…?” he whispered, his eyes wide in horrifying surprise. The boy struggled to get back on his feet as his Life Points dropped slightly.

Kaito: 3200

“Next, Black Ray Lancer attacks you directly!” Shark commanded as a purple spear was launched at the boy, piercing him before it suddenly vanished.

Kaito: 1100

“Heh, I’m done with you next turn, Hunter” Shark smirked as he set one card facedown. “I’ll end my turn!”

Turn 6

“…” Kaito stood there, frozen by the surprising comeback made by Shark.

“It’s your turn already, Hunter!” the adolescent argued.

“You… destroyed Galaxy-Eyes…” the boy whispered as his entire body began to glow a faint light. “That… that’s impossible…” he muttered.

“L-Lord Kaito!” Orbital 7 finally arrived upon the scene, coming closer to Kaito.

“Leave me alone, Orbital 7! Stay… away from me…!” Kaito shivered, clenching his fists tightly.

“L-Lord Kaito…?” Orbital 7 stopped, staying to watch it’s master.

“Kaito!” Yuma ran into the fray as well, stopping before he saw the opponent that stood before Kaito. “Sh-Shark!” the boy called out.

“Humph, took you long, kid. Your Numbers Hunter just tried to steal your key. You’re gonna have to be more careful for next ti-“

“Shut up!... SHUT UP… EVERY LAST… ONE OF YOU…” Kaito demanded, standing straight before glaring at Shark in anger. “I’ll… hunter for your soul…” the boy muttered as his right eye slowly converted into a crimson red, just like his left eye. “Let me… HUNT FOR YOUR SOUL!” the boy shouted as the ground trembled once again, and a tribal tattoo formed over the right side of his face.

“L-Lord Kaito! Don’t go above 90% of Photon Change!” Orbital 7 beeped, now sounding more panicky than he was before.

“What’s going on here? Numbers Hunter, it’s your turn, proceed with it” Shark glared at the boy in front of him. What is this power I can feel coming from his body? It’s like I triggered something within this kid…

“Heh… I’ll hunt for you soul… and then I’ll crush it! Then I’ll take the Numbers that rests in your soul!!” Kaito immediately swiped a new card from the top of his deck, and then revealed the card he drew.

“Numbers? Shark?” Yuma cocked an eyebrow. “Kaito, wait…!” the boy shouted.

“I’ll activate Photon Sublimation! I banish 2 Photon Monsters in my graveyard and draw two new cards!” the boy instructed as his two Photon Lizards entered a dimensional portal. “Next, I’ll play Photon Galaxy Storm!” he commanded as a storm began to brew in the sky above. “In order to activate this card, I must meet certain requirements… First, I must have no other cards on my side of the field” Kaito gestured towards the barren field that lay in front of him.

“Tch, go on…” the adolescent watched Kaito, unsure of the latest developments.

“Also, I must have exactly 3 ‘Photon’ Monsters in my graveyard” Kaito explained as a virtual screen popped up before Shark, revealing the exact contents in Kaito’s graveyard. “Finally, my field must be barren in order to activate this card!” the boy laughed uncontrollably as lightning flashed and thunder crashed into the field between the Duelists. “Now, with Photon Galaxy Storm’s effect, I can banish, from my graveyard, 1 Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, and 2 other dragon-type ‘Photon’ Monsters from my hand, deck or graveyard!” the boy laughed as two cards in his deck and one card in his graveyard all ejected at once, floating towards a dimensional portal.

“What’s he trying to summon now…?” Shark observed.

“He banished… Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon?!” Yuma’s eyes widened when he heard that from Kaito.

“It’s over… Ryoga…” the boy smirked as the sky tore open, and a single being descended from the sky. It bore the same armor as Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon with spikes attached to it’s shoulder blades, as well as three long tails. Suddenly, six energy wings burst from it’s back, and it’s claws and talons formed from a sparkling blue energy that filled in the rest of the armor. Then, three heads formed from the torso area, and armor sprung around the three heads, all looking like the original dragon’s head. “Through the effect of Galaxy Photon Storm, I can Fusion Summon the mightiest of all creatures in this universe! Come forth, Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon!” the boy laughed uncontrollably as his entire body radiated a white light, and wings of light energy sprouted from behind him. Next, his eyes shone a bright red as the three-headed dragon’s eyes all opened, revealing different kinds of galaxies within them.

Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon: 4500 ATK / 3800 DEF | Level 12

“W-Whoa…” Yuma stared at the dragon as lightning crackled.

“No way… 4500 ATK…?” Shark stared at the creature on Kaito’s side of the field in disbelief.

“It’s over for you, Ryoga! Now let me HUNT FOR YOUR SOUL!!!” Kaito gestured an arm towards his new creature. The three-headed dragon roared mightily, taking flight as the six wings of energy merged into two. The left head of the dragon launched a beam of sparkling blue energy toward Black Ray Lancer. “First, I’ll attack Black Ray Lancer! Galaxy Vortex Stream of Destruction!!!” Kaito laughed as the stream of destructive energy enveloped Black Ray Lancer.

Shark prepared himself for damage, but he looked down at his D-Pad, noticing that his Life Point parameters did not move. “What’s the meaning of this, Numbers Hunter?!” Shark barked at Kaito, noticing that his Black Ray Lancer was no longer on the field.

“When Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon attacks, it’ll immediately banish an opponent’s Monster. When that happens, my Ultimate Dragon gains attack power equal to that Monster’s Level x300!”

“But Black Ray Lancer is an Xyz Monster and has Ranks” Shark argued.

“Xyz Monsters are a special case. In their case, my dragon gains attack power equal to their ATK!” Kaito gestured an arm at his dragon.

“It gains what!?” Shark’s eyes widened in horror.

Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon: 6600 ATK / 3800 DEF | Level 12

“Now my Monster earns a Replay, allowing it to attack again!” he laughed as the right head launched yet another beam of energy launched at Shark’s Poseidon, causing it to vanish just like Black Ray Lancer did.

“Tch…” Shark looked up to Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon, and his body shivered at the feel of Kaito’s new Monster. “This guy… what is he…!?”

Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon: 9000 ATK / 3800 DEF | Level 12

“It’s over… I’ll rip out your soul!!!” Kaito laughed as Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon motioned towards Shark.

“SHARK!” Yuma shouted.

“Kaito…” Astral observed, staring at Kaito’s current behavior in surprise.

“L-Lord Kaito! You’re nearing 100%!!!” Orbital 7 was alarmed at the developments.

“Galaxy-Eyes Evolution Dragon, attack directly! Galaxy Vortex Stream of Destruction!!” Kaito gestured an arm toward Shark, and the dragon roared mightily, launching a mighty blast of sparkling blue energy from all three heads. The three beams of energy merged into a massive ray directed towards Shark.

“Tch… I’ll activate a Trap!” Shark grunted as the energy swallowed him whole, effectively silencing the adolescent.

“SHARK!!!” Yuma called out, running towards the adolescent who was swallowed by the burst of blue energy.

“St-Stay…away…!” a voice grunted. The energy faded away, revealing a still-standing Shark who was left panting in tiredness. “You… ignored my trap…” the adolescent weakly chuckled. “Return Fang’s effect… When you declare a direct attack while I have 2 or more banished Fish-type Monsters, and I would take 3000 or more damage… I banish a Fish-type Monster from my deck and then my opponent takes any instance of damage that I take as well!!” Shark swung an arm, gesturing towards Kaito weakly. “You… I won’t fall on my own… If I have to drown… then I’ll drag someone else down with me…!! I banish Big Jaws from my deck!” the adolescent spat weakly as a blue stream of energy shot forth from his trap, and Kaito stared at the trap in horror. Shark chuckled as he slowly fell back. “This… ends…”

“You still had one more trap…!” Kaito gasped in horror as the blue energy completely took in the boy, and he shouted in pain. The energy faded away, leaving a fallen Kaito along with a fallen Shark.

Shark: 0

Kaito: 0

“I-It’s…” Yuma stared in surprise.

“A tie…” Orbital 7 uttered. The virtual world that surrounded the two players slowly faded away, and rain began to fall. “L-Lord Kaito!” the robot immediately rolled to Kaito’s side while Yuma ran to Shark’s side.

“Sh-Shark!” the boy shook the adolescent, trying to get a response out of him. “W-wake up!” the boy demanded, shaking him once again. Before he knew it, he saw his King’s Key in Shark’s hand. “Shark… you mean… you were protecting this for me…?” the boy questioned

“Kaito, we must get you out of here!” Orbital 7 beeped before picking up it’s fallen master. “Just you wait, kid. We’ll come back, and we’ll get that key of yours, as Dr. Faker commands!” the robot beeped.

“W-Wait, Dr. Faker?!” Yuma watched as the robot disappeared into a flash. “Who’s Dr. Faker…?” the boy questioned.

“There’s no time for that, Yuma, call for help” Astral looked at Yuma, unable to shake the feeling that itched Astral ever since he witnessed Kaito’s animosity in that Duel. “Just what is Kaito… and what are those powers of his…?” the spirit whispered as Yuma was busy calling for help on his D-Gazer.

________________________

“Ugh, it’s raining…” Akari puffed her cheeks, frowning. “Hope this doesn’t ruin the party…” the girl sighed as lightning crackled. “Hm… I wonder what Yuma’s up to right now… Eh, he’s probably off Dueling his friends” the girl shrugged, making her left turn as her GPS notified that she was close to her destination.

______________________

“It seems that both Yuma and my granddaughter have become quite close friends…” a green-haired old lady chuckled, sitting across Haru Tsukumo.

“Oh yes, yes, they’re great friends! Kotori sometimes even comes over to our house” Haru responded with a lighthearted chuckle, drinking her tea.

“You should keep an eye on that Yuma, y’know, Kotori doesn’t like worrying about him so much” Kotori’s grandmother chuckled as well.

“By the sounds of that, it’s like Kotori is Yuma’s wife!” both the old ladies laughed together, smiling as they then proceeded to sip their teas.

“Although… one wonders what that boy’s up to…” Haru looked at the window within the restaurant the old ladies sat in.
____________________

Disclaimer: I don't own ZEXAL, etc.
Author's Note: Yes, I screwed the canon. Yoshida can go screw himself.

O, and I thought you stopped. Well, at least Shark kept his soul.