Author's Notes: As promised at the end of my Yugioh 5Ds fic, The Five Driven to Pursue the Future, this is going to be my big Yugioh ZeXal fic. Unlike what I'd promised though, I only have two chapters ready and written at this time instead of five or six, but New Years just seems so appropriate a date to post a new fic that I just have to go ahead and press on. Now then, some things I'd like to say to set the framework for this fic; this story will start off very similarly to the anime, but will branch off in its own direction before long, a direction that will not involve the Barians, the Arclights, or the Tenjos, so no Kaito, no Vector, no Tron, none of that bunch. Second, this story is loosely connected to my 5Ds and GX fics, but reading them is not required to understand anything in this fic. Third, in accordance with the reviews I've gotten, I will be using Exceed Summon and Exceed Monster instead of Xyz Summon and Xyz monster. Finally, I will be pairing off Yuma and Kotori, because I think they are cute and I can't help myself when it comes to cuteness. That said, on with the fic!
Contract
"Mom! Dad!" Yuma Tsukumo cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted again into the wind. "Where are you?" He turned in place and looked all around, but everywhere he looked he saw the same endless expanse of brownish-yellow sand, one dune looking pretty much the same as any other. Yuma sighed, rubbed his head where the hot-red bangs spiked back over black hair, and set out into that endless desert. He covered his mouth and held his arm over his eyes, kept count of his steps, kept his steps even, checked the position of the sun overhead, all to make sure he kept straight instead of drifting off and losing his place. "Anyone!" He shouted into the sky. "Is anyone out here?"
"I am here, Yuma Tsukumo." He heard the voice, fuzzy and indistinct, coming from everywhere at once, the wind picking up as whoever it was spoke. "Will you form the contract though The Emperor's Key?"
"The Emperor's Key?" Yuma looked at the pendent he wore, and discovered that aside from it he had nothing else on. Turning the same shade of red as his eyes all over, he huddled down, arms wrapped around his legs as he kept darting his head this way and that.
"Will you form the contract?" The voice said, unfazed by Yuma's state of dress or actions; really, it was hard to describe the voice in any way, male or female, young or old, nothing about it stood out enough to say one way or the other on anything.
"Hold on a second, I have to find my clothes first!" He had been wearing clothes, Yuma was certain on that; really, he had to have been, how could he have gotten lost in the middle of the desert with nothing on…not that he was lost of course, give him a map and he'd point himself out on it right away! Seriously though, where the heck did his clothes go, the sand was getting in his butt!
"Very well." The voice said, and a heavy cloak fell down on top of Yuma; he spun about as he put it on, patting himself down to make sure none of the sand was sticking around to sneak where it would just itch and itch and itch! "Now then, will you form the contract?"
"What contract?" Yuma rubbed his ears. "Speak up!"
"The contract that only you, as bearer of The Emperor's Key, can form." The voice spoke in such a steady and even tone, Yuma wondered if he was being harassed by some sort of automated caller, or something.
"That's not good enough!" The last time Yuma had signed a user-license without reading it all the way through, his sister Akari had left his ears ringing for hours before personally cancelling the agreement herself. "What is this contract you're talking about?"
"The contract is that you…"
"Huh?" The voice kept bugging him out of nowhere, and now it was just drifting off! "I didn't hear that!"
"Yuma Tsukumo, in order to…" Argh, it was doing that thing again! Yuma leaned forward, hoped he was leaning closer to the voice instead of farther, he leaned more, more…
And he fell right out of the hammock that served as his bed up in the attic, right onto his face. Again. "Every time…" Yuma muttered, then looked up at the clock next to the picture of his parents. "The time!" He'd overslept! Every time he had that stupid pointless frustrating annoying dumb little dream, he overslept! He tumbled about, grabbing up his clothes and putting them on just as quickly before he grabbed his deck. His stomach grumbled as he climbed down the rope ladder, he ran through his house, saw his sister in her office and stuck his tongue out at her for not waking him up, again, before running to the front door, out the front door, and…
"Good morning Yuma." There was his grandma, Haru, sweeping the steps. "Glad to see you've decided to greet the day." Oh, her chuckle sounded good natured and matronly, but Yuma knew better, he saw the grip she had on her broom, he'd been on the receiving end of that thing plenty of times already.
"Sorry Grandma, but I'm in a real hurry!" He feinted to his left, ran to the right, and stopped just before his grandma could jab him in the gut with her broom.
"If you have time to sleep half the day away, you have time to observe the niceties of life." She said with narrowed eyes, a pair of trash-collecting Obots passing by.
Yuma groaned. "Come on, I can't afford to be late today!" The Obots scrounged around for a while before moving on.
"You've been able to afford it before." That chuckle of hers took on an evil tint.
"The last two times were a warning, the third time is when they get serious!" The broom remained in his path. "All right, all right…" Yuma muttered under his breath, and he wrapped his arms around his grandma's shoulders. "You have a good day, you hear?"
"And you too dear, and be sure to eat your breakfast along the way." When Yuma let go of her, one of her riceballs had found its way into his hand; like a magician, she would never ever tell him how she did that.
"Bye Grandma!" Yuma shouted as he ran off into the brightly colored and lit Heartland city, bent down low and arms at his sides to maximize his aerodynamics and thus his speed; he had to after all, he had to pump every once of energy he had into his legs, kicking off the ground and sticking little landings over and over again.
"Yo, Yuma!" And there was Tetsuo, riding along on his motorized skateboard, the engine strong enough even for a kid his size.
"What, you sleep in too?" Yuma chided him as his friend caught up with him, taking a quick bite of his grandma's rice ball.
"You wish; angry customer kept screaming his head off that he was cheated on a ring he'd bought." Tetsuo passed him by. "Better speed up before I leave you in the trash with him!"
"In your dreams Tetsuo!" Yuma bobbed and weaved between Obots, even vaulting over one that had wandered right in his path. "Today's going to be different!"
"Sure it will, just like the last forty times!" Tetsuo laughed as he kept ahead of Yuma. "Seriously, just get a board already!"
"That's your way of doing things, not mine!" And his way was about to shine! They were coming up to some steps leading down, Tetsuo couldn't ride, and if he tried to jump, he'd risk breaking his board, so that meant he had to take the long way around, and what was more, Yuma wasn't going to just run down those steps. "Here I go!" He coiled down at the edge of the top of the steps, grabbed the railing, pulled and leaped! He felt the ground pulling him down, but not fast enough to stop him from clearing the steps, not fast enough to keep him from rolling forward so that when he'd hit the ground…Yes! Unlike the last six times he'd tried this, there was no stopping, there was no injury, he just kept on running, and his riceball was still intact to boot! He just rolled right past an Obot that spun out of his way, went around the corner, and…
"Keep at it Yuma!" He heard Kotori's voice, saw her standing at the gate to Heartland Middle School, and felt himself being pulled to her waving hand.
"You got it!" Yuma felt his body burning and his lungs screaming, but the taste of his imminent victory was sweet enough to distract him from all that. Closer, closer, closer still, almost there…
"Not today Yuma!" Damn it, Tetsuo was going to ruin everything! Yuma glanced back, saw Tetsuo speeding in ever closer, Yuma forced his legs to go just a little fast, he stuck his head out as far as he could, he'd win by a nose if he had to, and…
He and Tetsuo collided right into one another right as they hit the gateway, Tetsuo's board flew off into the distance while he crashed onto Yuma, knocking the wind out of him. "I'm sure they're nice guys and all," Yuma looked up and saw Sachi, one of Kotori's friends, standing over him and Tetsuo, "but I don't think even you can fix these two." That was Sachi for you, always putting him and Tetsuo down, nothing could ever convince her that they were good enough to be friends with Kotori.
"Then it sure is a good thing I'm not trying to fix them, now isn't it?" And that was just like Kotori, bringing him up and putting him down in the exact same motion; really, couldn't she just once say that he and Tetsuo didn't need fixing? "You guys okay there?" She was leaning over them both.
"The worst bruises are on the ego." Tetsuo lifted himself off of Yuma, and Yuma took in a deep exaggerated breath.
"Speak for yourself." Yuma groaned, saw Kotori extend her hand to him.
"Come on Yuma, no sense in being late after all you just went through."
"Right!" Yuma beamed as he took Kotori's hand, felt warmth surge and renew in his exhausted body. Then he looked down at the smashed remains of his grandma's rice ball on the ground; it didn't last long, an obot was already on the scene, scooping the mess up. "Oh man." Yuma took hold his stomach, unable to distract himself any longer.
"Here you go." Kotori took out a rice ball from her lunch box; yeah, it wasn't as big, or as nicely packed, and probably wasn't as tasty either…
"Thanks Kotori, you're a real life saver!" Yuma munched down on it on the spot.
"That would mean a lot more if I didn't hear it all the time."
"You're telling me!" They laughed together, Tetsuo and Kotori.
"Yeah yeah." Yuma swallowed the last of Kotori's rice ball. "Yuk it up while you can guys, you won't be able to much longer." Yuma smiled with his friends, and with that the three of them walked the rest of the way to class.
"Time. Is. Up, Yuma Tsukumo." Mrs. Jordan, the English Teacher, was standing over Yuma as he looked down at his D-Pad, his test only half-finished. "Tell me Yuma, do you enjoy squandering your time?" Yuma withered under his teacher's glare, subconsciously gripped The Emperor's Key. "Or do you find fiddling with your jewelry more important than learning how to understand another language?" Yuma groaned, and he knew that was going to cost him, but he couldn't help it; English was the stupidest anyone had ever made up in the history of people making up things! It was all…blagh, it was dumb and it made no sense on any level, the worst of it being the silent letters; seriously, silent letters! What was the point of putting a letter into a word if you weren't going to say it! "Well! If that's the attitude you're going to take, then I ought to confiscate that jewelry of yours so you can learn to focus on what really matters!"
"Whoa!" Yuma leaned away in his chair, and bumped right into Kotori, who frowned harshly at him, not that he blamed her of course.
"Mrs. Jordan, I'm sure that if you have Yuma do a retake after school, he'll show you that he really does pay attention." Yuma followed Kotori's lead, and gave the best focused, stern, studious expression he could muster.
"Fine." Mrs. Jordan said, looking at Kotori. "If he fails that test as well though, I will confiscate the item in question." She moved back to her podium and went over everyone else's tests.
Yuma sighed in relief. "Thanks Kotori." Yeah, he wasn't out of the water yet, but at least he still had The Emperor's Key.
"You'd do the same if someone tried to take my ribbon." Damn straight he would! He gave that to her years ago; he'd just gotten back from a camping trip with his family, and learned that Kotori was sick in the hospital, and even though she'd hugged him so hard that he had to yell at everyone to stop laughing, he still grinned to himself whenever he thought about it, even if Tetsuo just rolled his eyes at him every time; what did he know anyway?
Of course, once class was over and he had to prep for his retake, nothing was going to get him grinning again; again, English was the dumbest dumb thing that was ever dumb in the history of being dumb! Prepositional phrases, he'd duel whoever came up with the rules for those a hundred thousand times until they'd gotten in their heads how dumb they were being! "Begin!" But for now he'd just bite the bullet and put every last brain cell he had through its paces; no matter how stupidly the questions were written, no matter how annoying the topic, no matter how irritating the rules for how he had to write his answers down were, he wasn't going to let his parents down!
His hands danced across the keys of his D-Pad, his eyes flitted across arcane symbols, his nostrils flared to make sure he got all the oxygen he could hold and use. "Finished!" Yuma leaned back in his chair, spent down to the bone.
"Well, you managed to win against the clock." Mrs. Jordan picked up his D-Pad. "Now to see if you managed to win against the test." He watched her eyes slowly scanning their way across his answers, a twitch every time she'd found a mistake; one, two, three, four…Okay, he was prepared, he was going to come up with something, anything to keep from losing The Emperor's Key! "Well Yuma," Mrs. Jordan put the D-Pad back down in front of him and smiled, "it seems you can focus and apply yourself, so from now on I'm going to be expecting you to do this the first time around from now on, you got that?"
"Got it!" Yuma leaped out of his chair, scooped up his D-Pad, and ran out the classroom door, only to see Kotori just outside, leaning back against the wall.
"About time you got out Yuma; I take it you passed the retake?"
"Yep!" Now that he thought about it though, he didn't know exactly how well he did, but it was good enough for Mrs. Jordan and so it was good enough for him. "But what are you still doing here?"
"Computer club, remember?" She said as she pointed to her D-Pad.
"Right, right." She'd joined it right away, first day of the school year. "I suppose Takashi kept bugging you about that rematch he's been wanting?" Yuma snickered while Kotori puffed her cheeks out.
"Honestly, if I was the one who'd gotten second place in that stupid contest, you wouldn't hear me demanding a rematch." She walked, Yuma followed.
"Let's see, how did he put it?" Yuma scrunched his face up, put his hand up with his finger and thumb extended out, and spoke in a high, nasal whine. "To summarize, it defies all logic and reason that the program that I'd spent months developing could have ever been bested by what you'd managed to cobble together on such short notice."
"He does not talk that way and you know it!" She raised her hand as though to whap the back of his head, but put it back down and chuckled. "In all seriousness though, you should join the Computer club, we could really help you with your studies that way."
"Nah, I just can't get fired up about computers like you do." Sure, he used them all the time, but thinking about how they worked just made his head spin. Then the two of them passed through the front door and into the courtyard, where many of their classmates were squared off with one another, D-Gazers and D-Pads in place. Yuma and Kotori put their D-Gazers on, making sure they were properly fitted over both eyes, and turned them on to make everything even brighter and more colorful than before. "Now this is what fires me up!" Now they could see it, the Augmented Reality of all the duels taking place before them, monsters of all shapes and sizes and descriptions, taking turns to shoot and stab and bite and punch and blast and kick and…Duel Monsters was just the greatest game ever!
"Now let's see…" Kotori tapped on the side of her D-Gazer. "Ah, good, he's still here; Tetsuo said he'd stick around until you'd finished your retake; he's just around the corner over that way." She pointed to the far end of the courtyard.
"That's good." Yuma grinned, thrust his fist out, "after all that, I'm definitely taking down Tetsuo today!" He took off, and Kotori followed behind; they weaved their way around the duels taking place all around them, bobbed around some Obots at the corner and… "No way!" Tetsuo was there, and he was dueling all right, but he was dueling freaking Ryouga "Shark" Kamishiro himself! Shark had a set card and three monsters on the field; one was Submersible Carrier Aero Shark, a pair of sharks harnessed together in a metal frame with a single shining orb orbiting them, another was Mermail Abyssturge, a half-sturgeon half woman in really shiny purplish armor, and the third was Mermail Abyssdine, a half sea angel, half girl. On Tetsuo's side of the field was nothing at all.
"On the third turn," Kotori said, reading off an augmented reality window that appeared right in front of her, "Shark had used Abyssdine and Abysslinde to Exceed summon Aero Shark, and then he detached Abyssdine to inflict 2000 damage to Tetsuo; following that he used Abyssturge to bring back Abyssdine and destroy Tetsuo's face-down card, and once he equipped Abyssturge with Abyss-scale of the Cetus, he was able to attack and destroy Tetsuo's Soul of Silvermountain, equipped with Lucky Iron Axe, and his defense position Geargiano and strike directly." For someone who never dueled herself, Kotori definitely didn't have a problem following them; then again, she did spend a lot of her time with him and Tetsuo, so something had to rub off on her.
"Turn 4, Tetsuo Takeda: 800 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 3200 life points."
"All right Shark, no holding back!" Tetsuo snarled as he drew his card forcefully. "I summon Geargiarmor and then special summon Geargiaccelerator, giving me two level 4 machine monster that I can overlay to Exceed summon Gear Gigant X!" Tetsuo's monsters, a robot with massive arm shields and a race car, turned into orange spheres of light and entered a glowing crimson spiral, and following an explosion of light, a big honkin robot with a giant gear strapped onto its back appeared on Tetsuo's side of the field, two glowing orbs orbiting around it. "Now I detach Geargiaccelerator and add Geargiattacker from my deck to my hand, and then I equip my monster with Gravity Blaster!" A massive cannon floated in the air before Tetsuo's monster. "Now, once per turn I can increase my monster's attack power by 400, permanently!" Energy gathered in the barrel of the cannon. "You see that Shark? I just summoned a monster that's more powerful than anything you've got, and it's just going to keep getting stronger!"
"Cute." Shark smirked at Tetsuo. "Of course, even with all that, you're not going to win."
"We'll see about that!" Tetsuo swept his arm out. "Gear Gigant X, attack and destroy Aero Shark!" Tetsuo's monster lined up the shot, charged the energy banks…
"And after the trouble you went through on your last turn to keep me from activating this card." Shark chuckled. "Trap card activate Poseidon Wave!" The Greek god of the seas appeared as an aura around Shark, and a tidal wave emanated from him. "I negate your attack and inflict 800 points of damage for each Fish, Sea-Serpent, or Aqua monster I control, and that means 2400 damage." The wave came down on Tetsuo like a hammer, knocking him down, washing his monsters and his life points away. "Of course, if you hadn't attacked, Aero Shark would have finished you off next turn with its effect; a duelist of your level never stood a chance against me." Shark walked up to Tetsuo, taking off his D-Gazer, Yuma and Kotori followed suit.
"This isn't the end Shark." Tetsuo pounded his fist on the ground, looked up at Shark. "You're going to swallow those words, count on it!"
"That's going to be hard to do without a deck." Huh? "Now hand it over, or does your pride mean you don't have to keep your word?" Yuma heard snickering from behind Shark, and only then did he notice the toughs standing behind him; one had poofy hair, the other spiky, but they both had the same nasty expressions on their faces, expressions that said that even though they were way smaller than Tetsuo they didn't care.
"Hold on!" Yuma interposed himself between Tetsuo and Shark while Kotori helped Tetsuo up. "What's going on, what do you mean you're taking Tetsuo's deck?"
"That was what we'd agreed on Yuma." Tetsuo said, gripping his shoulder. "If I'd won, he'd be handing his deck over to me."
"Not that there was any chance of that outcome of course." Shark looked past Yuma at Tetsuo. "You should have listened to me and accepted your place."
"Hey!" Yuma yelled in Shark's face, forcing him to look at him. "Whatever's going on here, I'm not letting you take Tetsuo's deck, 'cause a whole bunch of his cards, he got from me!" The same went the other way around, they'd been trading cards for years.
Shark blinked. "That's right, you're Yuma…" he smirked, "the worst duelist in all of Heartland City; didn't you get your ass kicked by a first grader the other day?"
Yuma cocked a smile. "You heard right, and that Ai kid was really something; really close match, I'd bet good money that she grows up to be Grand Duel Champion or something."
"Would you listen to this guy? Who brags about being beaten by a newb?" The poofy haired toady snickered.
"Yeah, sucking as bad as he does, it's given him brain damage!" The pointy haired lackey guffawed.
Shark frowned, breathed out through his nostrils. "In any event, you don't have any claim on the cards you gave him, so when he puts his next deck together, don't give him so many millstones."
"Fine, double or nothing!" Yuma thrust his thumb against his chest. "I'm going to be Duel Champion one day, and if I can't win Tetsuo's deck back, then you get to keep mine."
Shark's frown deepened, creating deep ugly lines on his face. "You think your stupid infantile dream is worth anything to me? You think your weak-ass deck has any value at all? You think you have anything I don't already have in abundance?" Without meaning to, Yuma glanced down at The Emperor's Key, and Shark noticed. "Well, this bauble of yours might do the trick."
"Don't you even!" Yuma pulled his arms back to shove Shark away, but his cronies had grabbed them and pulled back around his back. Shark grabbed hold of The Emperor's Key, Kotori and Tetsuo took a half step forward before one of Shark's goons twisted Yuma's arm. They stopped, they all watched Shark tear The Emperor's Key off its cord.
"So what cheap pawn shop pawned this off on you anyway?" He looked it over in his hand, dropped it to the ground. He put his foot over it.
"Stop that, right now!" Kotori said, eyes drawn wide and expression taut. "You're wrong, that was a gift from his parents, you have no idea what its worth!"
"And neither does he!" He brought his foot down, Yuma felt his stomach lurch and his heart stop as The Emperor's Key broke in half, his breath caught in his throat as Shark ground his foot in, he fell to his knees as Shark's goons released his arms. "Come back tomorrow with the best deck you can cobble together; I want something worthwhile to show for beating you." Yuma's vision blurred as he took in the broken shards of the treasure his parents had entrusted him with. He heard the shuffling of feet, the electronic motors of some Obots, closed his eyes to squeeze out the tears.
"Here you go Yuma." He opened his eyes, saw Kotori and Tetsuo standing over him, each with half of The Emperor's Key, more or less. "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have let him goad like that, I really shouldn't; I just…" Tetsuo clenched his eyes shut, looked away.
Yuma shook his head. "It's not your fault." He picked himself back up, Tetsuo put his half of the key in Yuma's hands. "Things just got…out of hand."
"It was that jerkface Shark who was out of hand." Kotori put her half of the key in his hand; the touch lingered, did nothing for his mood. "Whatever his problem was, you're going to make it ten times worse for him, right Yuma?"
"R-right." He spoke in a small, choked voice as he felt the cold gold fragments in his hand. "I'll, I'll see you guys tomorrow, ok?"
They nodded, he walked away.
"Yuma!" He heard his sister yell out from her office, and what hope he had of being able to slink off into his room died a quiet death. "Could you come here a minute, I've got something to show you." Of course, there was no way he could keep this hidden from her for long, and then Yuma noticed that she sounded happy, cheerful; feeling all of three inches tall he made his way into her office. "What do you think?" He saw a half dozen holographic windows being projected from Akari's monitor, displaying pictures of their parents overlaid on maps of different regions of the world, each picture put on top of the ruin that it had been taken at; if that wasn't enough, there were arrows pointing from one photo to the next, showing the order of their adventures, with notes and annotations and…damn, that last picture in Egypt, that was the one he'd kept in his room, it was the one of them holding… "So what do you think little brother?" Akari swiveled around in her chair. "I'm going to show this to Grandma and her friends at her party next week, and I figured I'd give you a sneak peek." He averted his eyes, caught her getting up out of the corner of his eyes, she walked up to him. "Yuma, what's the matter?" She looked down at him, he felt her eyes settle on his chest. "Where's The Emperor's Key? Talk to me Yuma, I'm right here." Yuma breathed in through tight clenched teeth, remembered what it was like to rip a bandage off.
"Akari, I'm sorry." He took out the fragments of The Emperor's Key from his pocket, held them out to Akari. He looked up, saw her white hot glare with their father's eyes.
"What the hell happened Yuma, how could you break The Emperor's Key after everything Mom and Dad went through to find it, what were you thinking? You weren't, were you, you got into some stupid hair-brained contest with Tetsuo or were showing off in front of Kotori and dropped it in the middle of a crowd where it got stepped on, didn't you?" Her arms were crossed across her chest.
"No, that's not what happened!" Yuma felt the knots in his stomach get knots of their own. "There was this jerk, Shark, he was going to take Tetsuo's deck, and I tried to stop him, and I challenged him to a duel and he took The Emperor's Key, and he broke it." She was still looking down at him, but it wasn't as intense as before.
"If I were Dad, I'd be telling you how proud I was of you for standing up for your friend, and if I were Mom, I'd be wondering what was going on in that other kid's life to make him act out like that, but I'm not either of them, so you know what I'm going to do?" Make use of her karate black-belt on his hide. "When I get my next paycheck in, I'm taking the pieces to a goldsmith and see if he can't put it back together like brand new."
"What?" Yuma felt like he'd just been dunked into a giant bowl of tapioca pudding and was told to swim out of it. "You're not going to punish me?"
"Be honest Yuma, do you think I could do anything to make you feel worse than you already do?" Yuma didn't think anyone had an imagination that good. "So, let me guess, you're still going to be dueling that Shark kid, right?" Yuma nodded. "Do yourself a favor and make sure you use your Exceed monsters, you got that?"
"I don't need those cards to beat him." Yuma said as he did not pout; seriously, what was the point of becoming champion if you just used the most powerful cards around? Anyone could do that!
"Yes, you do; I've heard of this Shark guy, he's won tons of tournaments and was a favorite in the Nationals. When it's just you and your friends, you can handicap yourself all you want, but you hold back here and you're going to regret it for a long time to come."
"What do you care? Aren't you always telling me I'm wasting my life with Duel Monsters?"
Akari sighed, patted Yuma on the head. "It's because Shark needs to learn what happens when he messes with my little brother, and you're old enough to teach him that yourself. Now come on, let's get started on dinner." She walked out of her office, Yuma followed after her.
"Mom! Dad! Where are you!?" Yuma was in the desert again, shouting into the wind again. "Which way did you go?" He looked from horizon to horizon, but found no tracks, no distinction between one dune and the next, each grain of sand just like any other. "Anyone, is anyone out there?"
"I am here, Yuma Tsukumo." It was that voice, the one that always spoke to him in the dream, but…something about it was clearer, there wasn't that annoying fuzz and static and junk that made it hard to listen to; he still couldn't describe the voice beyond it being a voice, but he didn't have to strain to listen as it spoke to him from everywhere at once. "Will you form the contract with me, bearer of The Emperor's Key?"
Yuma sighed. "Even if I had any idea what you were talking about, it's no good; the key's been broken."
"That is immaterial; upon formation of the contract, The Emperor's Key will be repaired."
"Whoa, are you serious?" Yuma could see their faces, his parents, his sister and grandma, Kotori and Tetsuo, and Shark's…he saw the smug look on his face getting wiped clean in no time at all. Yuma steadied himself, cleared his throat. "So what is this contract you've been bugging me about anyway?"
"If you accept the contract, you will face terrible ordeals." Ordeals? Like, adventures and stuff? "Should you pass these ordeals, you will obtain a power that has not been realized in over three thousand years." Power? Like a genie's wish or something like that? "Should you fail, your hopes and dreams will fall into ruin." His hopes and dreams were about becoming Duel Champion, so if he failed, he'd never become champion. "You will have one year to fulfill the contract. These terms are immutable. Do you accept them, Yuma Tsukumo?"
"Let me make sure I've got this right; I accept the contract, you'll fix The Emperor's Key, I pass your tests or ordeals or whatever, and then I become Duel Champion."
"That is one possible outcome, if you so choose. Will you form the contract?"
"All right, a deal's I deal, I form the contract!" The wind screamed around Yuma, kicking up the sand around him into some sort of shell. The fragments of The Emperor's Key flew out of Yuma's coat pocket and joined with the sand; it all spun around him, faster and faster and faster and boom! There was an explosion of light, and when Yuma's eyes cleared up, The Emperor's Key was floating in the air before him.
"I have fulfilled my obligations; you are now bound to the contract Yuma Tsumuko, you cannot run from your obligations." The voice faded, as did the desert; all that remained was Yuma and the Key. He reached out and grabbed it, and found himself back in the attic, back in his hammock, The Emperor's Key repaired and whole.
"Yes!" Yuma covered his mouth, it was five in the morning according to the clock, the earliest he'd ever gotten up before, so his sis and grandma were probably still asleep. Yuma looked at the picture of his parents. "Sorry Mom and Dad, I promise I'll never scare you like that again." Yuma put on The Emperor's Key, went over to his desk, and went over his deck; he'd spent years on it, trying out new things while believing that he didn't need to jam in overpowered cards to get by, that if he just kept at it he'd be able to win in a way that no one but him would ever see coming.
"You should use your Exceed monsters." Akari's voice rang in his head really loud, and it echoed in a weird way too. Yuma looked over at the black boardered Exceed monsters he kept separate from the rest of his deck. He wanted to ignore that voice, wanted to show everyone that he didn't need them to pull through, but…
"That voice from my dream…" Just this once, just this one time with Tetsuo's deck on the line along with his own, but this would be it; after this point, he was going to win things his way, no matter what.
"Seriously, Akari managed to find someone to fix it that quickly?" Kotori said, skipping like she was about to jump out of her skin, almost hopping right into an Obot.
"Yep, that's my sister for you!" Like Yuma was going to tell his friends that a mystery voice in a dream had done the trick; the hard part was getting out of the house without Akari or Grandma spotting the fully restored Key in his pocket, and after that he had to come up with a story that would get past them on how the Key got fixed so quickly.
"And that's Shark." Tetsuo said as they'd arrived at the place they'd said they would, the colorful splendor of the city casting Shark in shadow, Shark's bootlicker's looking like they were going to make good on those titles any moment now. "I hope you like these apples Shark, 'cause Yuma's going to bury you in them."
Shark focused his eyes on The Emperor's Key. "Tch, so you replaced the cheap fake with another copy, big deal." Yuma thought that Shark's eyes had this weird, wary look in them, but it was over so quickly he figured he'd imagined the whole thing.
"Shark, its fixed now, so let's just let it slide, okay?"
"So long as you remember to hand over your deck after the duel." Shark put on his D-Gazer, turning the whites of his eyes the same dark shade of blue as his irises.
"Only if I lose Shark; I win, you give Tetsuo his deck back." Yuma and everyone else put on their D-Gazers. Shark and Yuma strapped their D-Pads to their arms, arming them into their duel settings.
"Duel Link established." All the people and all the Obots who wasn't part of the duel or witness to the duel was erased from sight, and they in turn would be the only ones who would see, hear, and feel the Augmented Reality overlaying itself over everything.
"All right Yuma, now kick his butt into next week!" Kotori shouted, waving her arm all over the place.
Yuma grinned as he drew his card. "You know I will, and I start by summoning Dododo Warrior without sacrifice, reducing its attack power to 1800." Yuma's monster dropped onto the field, a stocky warrior with a horned helmet, massive shield, and a gigantic battleaxe. "Your move, Shark!"
"Turn 2, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."
"My move…are you such an idiot that you think an over leveled weakling like that will be anything more than a speed bump to me?" Shark drew his card, flashed his teeth at Yuma. "I start by summoning Atlantean Heavy Infantry." A hideous fish-man thing appeared, two halves of a massive shield strapped to its arms, and…zero attack?! "A stubborn fool like you would be confused, so let me see if I can't get through that thick skull of yours; Atlantean Heavy Infantry's effect let's me perform an additional normal summon once per turn, so long as I'm summoning a level 4 or lower Sea Serpent monster, and as Atlantean Attack Squad is a level 3 Sea Serpent, it qualifies." Shark's monster let out a geyser of water from its mouth, and riding that wave was another fish-man, only this one had a sword and shield in hand. "Normally it only has 1400 attack points, but when I control another Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua monster, Atlantean Attack Squad gains 800 attack points." Yuma shivered all over as Shark's monster swelled with strength to 2200 attack points; sure, Dododo Warrior was going to be destroyed, but Shark's technique, that was the sort of thing he wanted to pull off, and he would do it too! "Battle!"
And then his monster was destroyed for 400 points of damage, releasing a pressure wave that pushed Yuma back. "Man, you really were a favorite at the Nationals, weren't you?"
"Are you kidding? Are you really impressed by that? This is the skill that won in my neighborhood tournament." Shark's goons snickered. "Now I set one card and end my turn."
"Turn 3, Yuma Tsukumo: 3600 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."
"My turn!" Yuma spun as he drew his card. "Okay, try this on for size; I summon Tasuke Knight!" A tall, broadly built warrior in face-concealing red armor appeared, hands bare with a sword strapped to its back and 1700 attack points. "Now when I destroy your Atlantean Heavy Infantry, your Attack Squad's attack power will go back down to 1400! Tasuke Knight, attack!" Tasuke Knight spread its legs like a sumo wrestler and shuffled forward, thrusting its palms to build up strength for its final strike.
"Naïve! Trap card activate, Escape Lure!" A ball of light appeared in front of Tasuke Knight. "When my opponent declares an attack, I can change the target of that attack to a different monster, but the battle damage from that attack is cut in half." The ball of light floated towards Atlantean Attack Squad, and Tasuke Knight followed. "Thus, you'll only take 250 points of damage from your mistake!" Shark's monster gutted Yuma's. Yuma was forced back another step from the pressure. "Have I gotten through your thick skull yet? Someone as incompetent and delusional as you has no right talking about becoming Duel Champion, you have no clue what it takes!"
"Maybe I don't know what it takes, but I'm not going to find out by sitting down, being quiet, and giving up! Every screw-up, every mistake I make is a lesson I learn from, and that's not something you can ever take from me! I set two cards and end my turn."
"Turn 4, Yuma Tsukumo: 3350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."
"Hmph, looks like I need to take off the kid gloves with you." Ryouga drew his card. "Now you're going to see the skills that I used to win in the regionals! I activate the permanent spell card, Amulet of the Water Deity!" The emblem of the god of the seas appeared in the air over Shark. "This card will remain on the field until your third end phase, and while it is on the field Water monsters I control can't be destroyed by my opponent's card effects! Even you should understand that this means that your face-down cards are meaningless to me!" Shark pointed to Atlantean Heavy Infantry, "I switch Heavy Infantry to defense," Shark's monster brought both halves of its shield together, protecting its entire body, "and with its effect I will summon both Mermail Abyssgunde and Atlantean Marksman!" Abyssgunde was half woman, half clownfish, while Marksman peeked out from behind some rocks that had appeared with it, a strange harpoon-rifle weapon in its arms. "Now, Atlantean Attack Squad, attack directly." Shark's monster readied its grip on its sword…
"Not so fast!" Yuma thrust his arm out. "I activate my trap card, Nitwit Outwit, and discard Flelf from my hand to reduce your monster's attack power by its attack power!" An elf concealing its face with its royal blue cape appeared on top of Attack Squad's head; it stabbed it once in each arm with its thin sword, dropping its attack power by 800 down to 1400. Shark's monster shook off the injury and advanced on Yuma. "And now that its in the grave, I activate my other trap card, Pinpoint Guard, special summoning Flelf back from the grave in defense position, and this turn it can't be destroyed by battle or by card effects!" Flelf back-flipped off of Shark's monster's head and parried its attack, refusing to give any ground to it.
Shark chuckled. "Let me guess, you think I'm vulnerable now? You think you've poked a hole in my defenses?" Shark frowned. "Witness it Yuma, the skill that earned me the right to enter the Nationals! I overlay Mermail Abyssgunde, Atlantean Attack Squad, and Atlantean Marksman!" All three monsters turned into dark blue balls of energy, and together they flew into a spiraling crimson energy field. "With this, I Exceed summon Shark Caesar!" Yuma braced himself for the explosion of light, and what appeared was a twisted creature; it was a purple and gold shark, but its eye-sockets were empty, and extending out from its head was a second smaller head with tiny eyes that glowed with the same light as the three orbiting Exceed materials. "And now, by detaching Attack Squad, I activate its effect to place one Shark Counter on itself." The second head reached out and consumed one of orbs of light, and Shark Caesar's fangs grew longer and sharper. "When Shark Caesar attacks or is attacked, it will gain 1000 attack points for every Shark counter on it; so go ahead, take your turn, sacrifice that cheap monster or overlay it, you won't be able to summon anything that can surpass my monster."
"Turn 5, Yuma Tsukumo: 3350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."
Yuma drew his card, grinned. "Sorry Shark, but I'm not giving up Flelf, not when its about to kick your monster's scaly butt! First up, I'm showing Flelf's little friend, Kurivolt, activating Flelf's effect to increase its level by Kurivolt's." Flelf stood at attention, holding its sword up high as its level increased from 2 to 3. "Next, I summon Kurivolt." A bundle of electricity crackled in front of Yuma's face, and out popped a little black ball with circuit lines and big yellow-purple eyes. "Kurivolt's effect lets detach an Exceed material from an Exceed monster and special summon another Kurivolt from my deck, so I'll go ahead and remove both your remaining materials from your monster to special summon both Kurivolts in my deck in defense position!" Twin bolts of electricity arced out from Kurivolt and into the Exceed materials orbiting Shark Caesar, transforming them into the Kurivolts that bundled themselves up on Yuma's side of the field, eyes shut tight.
"So what?" Shark shrugged. "Even without the rest of its Exceed materials, your Flelf is still going to die next turn."
"I'm not done yet Shark! First, I equip Flelf with Bound Wand, increasing its attack power by 100 times its level!" Flef exposed its other arm, grasped the ruby-capped double-skull-headed wand presented to it, increasing its attack power to 1100. "And finally, I activate Mini-Guts, and sacrifice my attack position Kurivolt to reduce Shark Caesar's attack power to zero!"
"What?!" Shark's eyes twitched as the first Kurivolt shot itself into Shark Caesar's body and drained all the energy from it, causing it to collapse onto the ground.
"Flelf, attack Shark Caesar!" Flef assumed a reverse grip with both weapons and dashed across the field to Shark's monster; Shark Caesar's second head roared, the Shark Counter granting it 1000 attack points, but Flelf was stronger yet, just strong enough to block with the Bound Wand and embed its blade deep into the monster's body, destroying it for 100 points of battle damage. "And then, when the monster targeted by Mini-Guts is destroyed by battle and sent to the grave, you take damage equal to its original attack power!" Explosions rocked Shark's body, forcing him onto his back. "How do you like that Shark? I just beat your Exceed monster with nothing but my own skills! I end my turn, and Flelf's level returns back to 2!" Flelf leaped back to Yuma's side of the field, strength diminished only slightly.
"Turn 6, Yuma Tsukumo: 3350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 2100 life points."
"Impossible…" Shark muttered, hand over his face. "Not possible…" He got to his feet, hunched over. "Not again…" Shark removed his hand from his face and…had something happened to his D-Gazer? There was a weird purple glow in his pupils that wasn't there before. "You!" Shark roared, swept his arm out. "You won't get away with this again!" Yuma couldn't find his voice, he watched Shark draw his card. "I summon Genex Undine." Water bubbled up from the gaps in the pavement, and a strange translucent robotic thing appeared before Shark. "When I summon this monster, I can send a Water monster from my deck to the grave to add Genex Controller from my deck to my hand; furthermore, as the Water monster I've chosen is Atlantean Dragoons, I activate its effect, and add a Sea Serpant, Spined Gillman, from my deck to my hand!" Genex Undine created a huge whirlpool that pulled the Atlantean Dragoons in their golden armor from the deck to the grave, and rushing out from the eye came Controller and Gillman. "Then, I activate Allure of Darkness, drawing two cards and banishing the Dark attribute Genex Controller in my hand!" A pit of darkness appeared in the sky; it blotted out the sun, and even after it absorbed Genex Controller, it remained in the air, casting shadow upon shadow. "Now I summon Spined Gillman, and overlay it with Genex Undine." Lights appeared within the darkness in the sky, a spiral like the milky way, and the blue lights that were once Shark's monsters entered it. "Exceed summon!" An explosion of prismatic light showered everything, and where the darkness once was, there was an alien crystal structure.
"What the?!" Yuma gaped as the thing unfolded, unfurling flowing blue wings that were just…wrong, somehow, the whole thing becoming a vicious six winged dragon with 2000 attack points.
A heartbeat echoed in the air, and a stylized 17 appeared on Shark's right fist. "Number 17, Leviathan Dragon." Shark's grin exposed his teeth. "Once per turn, by detaching an Exceed unit, I increase its attack power by 500; thus, I detach Spined Gillman." One orb got too close to the monsters mouth, and so Leviathan Dragon ate it; Yuma saw himself being eaten by that dragon, checked his heart to make sure it was still beating. "Battle! Leviathan Dragon, kill that absurd weakling Flelf!" Leviathan Dragon's blazing blue breath burned right through Flelf, enveloping Yuma with practically all its original power.
"Aaagh!" Yuma screamed as every nerve in his body burned down to the core, he twitched all over in the wake of Shark's attack. What just happened? No matter how realistic and intense a duel got, it wasn't supposed to actually hurt!
"Good, that's where a pathetic scrub like you belongs, and that's where I'm going to be keeping you from now on Yuma!" Shark cackled, he freaking cackled!
"What's going on, what's happened to you Shark?" He might have been the biggest jerk in the world, but this went way beyond that!
"He is possessed by Number 17." Oh, that made sense, he guessed; it was a weird enough monster that he'd buy that. Then he looked over at where the voice had come from, and almost screamed his head off at the sight of the strange, floating, glowing, blue, naked, spirit…alien…
"What are you?!" The…the thing looked down at him; one eye was golden, the other was washed out in the soft light that covered the whole right half of its body.
"I am Astral," it said as though that was everything there was to say, as though emotion was something it had never heard of before, "and you must recover the Number for me."
"What are you talking…where are you…how do you know…why is…"
"Yuma, get your head back in the game!" Kotori's voice pulled his attention back to her and Tetsuo.
Oh no; he'd lost it. Shark's attack had broken his tiny little mind, and now he was seeing things. "I'll deal with you later." Yuma muttered to the absolutely, positively, definitely, totally not-real figment of his overactive imagination! "When a monster is destroyed and sent to the grave, while Bound Wand is equipped to it, I can special summon that monster back to the field!" Flelf revived in defense position, eyes tracking Number 17 warily.
"Ha, so the scum continues to struggle; why not? My prey should amuse me above all else! I activate Salvage, to add Spined Gillman and Atlantean Attack Squad back to my hand, and end my turn!"
"Turn 7, Yuma Tsukumo: 1850 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 2100 life points."
"My turn!" Yuma drew his card, he had to end this right away, he had to make that monster go away and get everything back to normal!
"At present, there is no method by which you might summon a Number of your own." A Number of his own? What the… "Therefore, set your card, and keep all your monsters in defense for the time being."
Yuma snarled at the spirit. "Shark, I'm going to beat that thing, no matter what!" He had one card in his hand, one option, and he was going to take it! "I activate my spell card, Leveleft Gift, sacrificing Flelf to increase the level of both my other monsters by its levels, or in other words, my two Kurivolts are going to increase to level 3!" Flelf vanished, and the two Kurivolts chirped sadly at its passing. Yuma inhaled sharply through his nostrils, braced himself. "I now overlay both my level 3 Kurivolts!" Yuma's monsters turned into golden balls of light, spinning off to join the crimson spiral. "I Exceed summon String Devil Muzumuzu Rhythm!" The spiral exploded, and from that explosion came a tiny devil with a hat, a rose hanging from an unseen mouth, and a guitar with two necks.
"This will not work." Stupid thing, he was ignoring it, so why didn't it shut up already?!
"I attack with Muzumuzu Rhythm and activate its effect, detaching one Kurivolt to double its attack power!" One orb of light joined with Muzumuzu's guitar, and it strummed up a storm that resonated with itself, harmony upon harmony that increased in strength with each passing moment, raising its attack power from 1500 to 3000. "Take this Shark!" The sound waves hammered Number 17, and before Yuma knew it…it was still there?
"The chosen can't be touched by the common scum of the Earth; similarly, a Number monster can't be destroyed in battle except by another monster, and with Amulet of the Sea Deity still in play, that means you have no way of destroying my glorious monster!" Shark laughed uproariously. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end, worm?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Shark!" Damn it, he wasn't making a lick of sense…he was possessed, wasn't he? Astral was right, and if it was right, that meant it was real.
"Listen to me." Astral spoke, Yuma looked at it, at how it crossed its arms, at how its whole body shimmered. "If we are to overcome this ordeal, you must do as I tell you."
"Ordeal?" The memories rushed through Yuma's mind, and his head became so hot he could barely see his hand in front of his face. "You liar! You never mentioned anything about innocent people getting involved in this!" Okay, Shark was less innocent than most, but that didn't mean he'd wanted the guy possessed by an unkillable monster not of this Earth!
"You are not making any sense; I spoke the truth about the Number, and of my need for it. At what point did I lie?"
"In my dreams you lousy jerk, you kept showing up in my dreams and kept bugging me about your stupid contract!"
"In your dreams?" Astral looked off into the distance. "Is it possible for an intelligent being to enter into another's subconscious? Hmm…" This guy wasn't for real, no one could be like that and be for real.
"Are you done yet scum? Or do you want to run off into your cramped little mind some more?" An aura of darkness spread out from Shark's body, it spilled out on the ground around him.
Duel first, stupid dumb spirit later! "Yeah, I'm done!" Really, he didn't have any cards left, he couldn't help being done.
"Turn 8, Yuma Tsukumo: 1850 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1600 life points."
"Good, because this is only going to get worse for you!" Shark drew his card. "I summon Spined Gillman and Atlantean Attack Squad, and then I detach Genex Undine to increase Number 17's attack power by another 500!" Gillman had 1700 attack, Attack Squad had 2600, and Leviathan had 3000! "Battle!" Leviathan Dragon roared and let loose its breath weapon on Muzumuzu Rhythm, ripping it apart for 1500 damage, and Yuma screamed again, dropped down onto his stomach!
"That could have been avoided had you listened to me." Yuma was about to snap at the stupid spirit, then noticed that most of his body was gone. "My survival appears to have been tied to your duel, so do not err again."
"And now, to crush you with my power! Atlantean Attack Squad, finish Yuma off!"
"Not yet!" Yuma flipped up back to his feet. "When my opponent attacks directly while I have no cards in my hand, I can summon Tasuke Knight from the grave and end the battle phase!" A portal appeared in the ground, Tasuke Knight pulled itself up through that, and assumed a defensive posture to create an impenetrable barrier.
"And next turn, you'll summon another monster in defense, or set a trap to protect what you have…" Shark's eyes were shrouded by the darkness of his aura. "Not again, never again, never! I overlay Spined Gillman and Atlantean Attack Squad!" The sky blackened, the spiral of stars appeared…he couldn't be! "Exceed summon, Number 47, Nightmare Shark!" A spear with spikes all along its length appeared, then unfolded, transformed into a shark with wings and bladed fins, and 2000 attack points. The stylized 47 appeared on Shark's left fist.
"Interesting; for him to carry two of the Numbers…"
"You're finished Scum!" Shark shrieked. "Next turn, it's all over, and then Rio, she'll understand, everyone will understand, everything will go back to normal!" Who the heck was Rio? What was he even talking about anymore? And…was the darkness rising up on him?
"Turn 9, Yuma Tsukumo: 350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1600 life points."
"Look," Yuma said as quietly as he could to the spirit, "if I get those Numbers off of him, do you think he'll be okay?"
"Your opponent should revert to his original state when I regain the Numbers from him, but only if you do exactly as instructed."
"Whatever!" Yuma drew his card, looked down at it. "I activate my spell card, Exceed Treasure, and draw one card for every Exceed monster on the field!" Two cards, he could pull it off with two cards, he'd find a way.
"Good, despite your blunder before, we are still in a position where we can summon our Number."
"Ours?" Yuma tilted his head at the spirit, then felt a warmth coming from his D-Pad. He looked, saw a light emanating from his Extra Deck, and opened it up to reveal a new card inside, a Rank 4 monster. "Number 39, Aspiring Emperor Hope?" He stared down at it, 2500 attack, and its effect… "All right, I summon Gogogo Golem." The Earth rumbled with the arrival of that heavily built humanoid mechanical monster.
"Yes, now that you have two level 4 monsters, summon Hope in defense."
To hell with that! "I overlay my monsters, and Exceed Summon Number 39 Aspiring Emperor Hope, in attack position!" The galaxy spiral appeared for him, and after the explosion came a sword that unfolded into a mighty gold and white warrior! Yuma looked back to Shark, the darkness was up to his knees, and it was still rising. "Emperor Hope, attack Nightmare Shark!" Yuma's monster drew one of its swords, brought its arm back, and threw the blade, spinning right through Nightmare Shark for 500 damage, and this time destroying it! The darkness around Shark spilled out, splashing along the ground.
"What is…what was…?" Shark was reeling, but it was working! All he had to do was to destroy the other one and…
"Why did you not do as you were told?" Yuma looked back at the spirit. "While we might still win, you have cut off one of our potential paths to victory."
"In case you didn't notice, something was happening to Shark and I had to stop it, and you said we can still win so stop complaining!" Yuma turned back to Shark. "I end my turn!" In that moment, Shark's Amulet of the Water Deity cracked and fell apart into dust.
"Turn 10, Yuma Tsukumo: 350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1100 life points."
That said, Yuma braced himself; what if Shark summoned a third Number monster to the field? "My turn." Shark said, using the tone he was using before he'd summoned Nightmare Shark. "Leviathan Dragon, finish off this scum, destroy him and his pathetic hope!"
"Activate Hope's effect, now."
"Of course I will!" Did this thing have to treat him like a complete incompetent? "By detaching an Exceed material, I can negate one attack, so I detach Tasuke Knight and negate your attack!" Hope created a wall from its wings, Leviathan Dragon's breath unable to even scratch it.
"How quaint, the scum clings on a little longer; I set one card and end my turn."
"Turn 11, Yuma Tsukumo: 350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1100 life points."
"Let us hope that your latest deviation does not cost us our chance at victory; the card your opponent set will allow him to win on his next turn."
Yuma seethed, but he bit his tongue; the damn thing kept fading out on him, and if this was part of that whole ordeal talk, and if Shark stayed the way he was… "I draw!"
"Good." The spirit said as it looked at the card in his hand. "But in the future, you will not deviate from my instructions." In that moment, Yuma had realized what the spirit had been talking about; the spell card Golden Form, when he switched a monster from defense to attack, he could use that to double his monster's attack power.
Whatever! This was going to work just as well! "I attack Leviathan Dragon with Hope, and activate its effect to negate my own attack." Hope threw a blade into the wall that it itself had created.
"The scum wants to mire itself in the muck, is that it?"
"Wrong! I now activate my quick spell, Double or Nothing; since my attack was negated, I double my monster's attack power and attack again!" Now Hope wielded both of its swords, and it brought them both down on Leviathan Dragon's neck, decapitating it for 2000 points of damage and ending the duel in his victory.
Shark collapsed onto his back, and the spirit extended its arm; for a moment Yuma swore he saw a pair of glowing cards fly out of Shark's body, but once he saw the numbers on his fists break apart, Yuma ran up to him. "Shark, are you okay? Shark!" He took off his D-Gazer, all the devastation was gone, as were Shark's goons.
"I see." The spirit said, Yuma shook out the voice from his ears.
Shark opened his eyes, got up. "Give this to him." Shark pulled out a deck from his pocket, Tetsuo's deck. Yuma accepted it, Shark turned around, started walking away.
"I…I'm sorry!" Shark stopped, turned his head. "Th-those monsters, I think it was my fault you got possessed by them, so, I'm sorry!" He bowed.
"It's a good thing you took care of them then." Shark turned his head back around, resumed walking away.
"Next time! Next time we duel, no weird monsters or possessions or anything like that!" Shark just kept on walking.
"Uh, Yuma?" Kotori caught his attention. "What exactly do you mean it was your fault?" Yuma couldn't blame her for asking; it was a perfectly sensible question, even if the answer was anything but.
"Yeah, it's not your fault Shark flipped out like that," Tetsuo said as he took back his deck from Yuma, "But if you don't mind, I'd like a look at that Number card of yours."
"Oh, sure thing Tetsuo." Yuma opened up his Extra Deck, only to find that only the Exceed monsters he'd started with were there.
"The Numbers are the pieces of my memories; you will only have access to them when dueling with a Number Bearer." It looked like the spirit was done contemplating whatever it was after it had taken the Number cards from Shark.
"Um, the dueling spirit says the cards are its…" Oh crap, why did he mention the spirit? His friends were going to tell Akari, Akari was going to think dueling was ruining his mind, he'd never be allowed to duel ever again, arghh!
"Dueling spirit?" Tetsuo looked around, his eyes passing right over Astral like he wasn't even there, which from Tetsuo's point of view he wasn't. "All right, you got me my deck back, you can show me that card later when you feel like it." Thank goodness for small favors and all that.
Kotori opened her mouth as though she was going to say something, but then her D-Gazer beeped. "Oh!" She tapped the side. "Hey Mom! Uh huh, uh huh, okay! I'll be home right away!" She tapped the side of her D-Gazer again. "Sorry guys, my mom needs me for something."
"And I might as well get back, Sis is going to get mad if I'm late getting home again."
"Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Yuma waved to his friends as they split off from him, each going there own way. He looked around, saw only the Obots. "All right." Yuma addressed the spirit. "There's just one thing I want to know; how many more of these Numbers do I need to get before you go away?" Number 17, Number 39, and Number 47; there were probably about 47 left to go, a lot but he'd manage somehow.
"There are 96 Number cards that have been scattered and yet to be recovered."
"96!?" Yuma exclaimed as he fell into a heap upon himself.
Author's Notes: As all authors desire, please review and provide me with constructive criticism.