Hello everyone...it's been awhile huh? I really haven't written in quite a bit, so if this is a little rusty, I apologize. However, while I was on a writing Hiatus I feel in love with the newest Yu-Gi-Oh! series. I LOVE ZEXAL RIGHT NOW! I am absolutely hooked on this series - that's where this fanfic came from really.

I have read some of the ZeXal fanfics on here and was a bit disappointed in the fact that there were so few with real stories behind them. Most were oneshots, which I am not a huge fan of because of how short they are. Also, none of them really seem to stick to the story of ZeXal - the backstory anyways - which is sad because that is one of the things that I love most about the show. The mysterious backstory - what exactly is Astral's mission? What do Dr. Faker and Tron want to do with the Numbers? What made Dr. Faker attack the Astral World? - etc. Please note that this is slightly out of the anime's context in the sense that Astral is completely visible to all humans, he is not attached to Yuuma and that he and Kaito have more of a history that what is shown in the anime - but their opinions of each other are very much the same.

I hope everyone enjoys this...I have somewhat of an idea in my head of how to expand this, but if anyone has any ideas for me, feel free to leave them in reviews or pms ^^

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER:

The city of Heartland never truly slept. Even in the dead of night its streets were fully illuminated, buildings stood tall and bright decorated with AR vision advertisements; cars, buses and monorails continued full operation, even as most of the city's inhabitants were fast asleep. There was the occasional sound of an Obot picking up trash, or the long hoot of an owl in the distance, making the city seemingly empty. However, not all the people of Heartland were resting. For some, the day's events had just begun, for Heartland was a city that never truly slept.

Among the buildings, stood the tallest and most illuminated of all – the Heartland tower. It was a winding structure that breached the heavens with the largest pink heart that anyone had ever seen. People thought it was just a decoration, but in reality, the heart held the chambers of the most well-kept and secured secret in all of Heartland. The walls surrounding the heart were a series of one-way mirrors that allowed those inside to peer out over most of the city completely unnoticed. It was there was one young man stood, starring out the window with an expression displaying the utmost seriousness. Behind him, across the dark star spotted carpet was a single bed where a smaller blue haired boy slept soundly. Next to the bed was a tiny nightstand on which rested a small, untouched mug of hot chocolate, slowly cooling off. The young man looked back at the sleeping face of his little brother with a longing expression.

"Haruto…I will definitely save you." He spoke softly so as not to disturb the sleeping boy. Satisfied, he returned his gaze to the window. 'Speaking of which, I'm sure he won't be letting my evening off go to waste.' He thought bitterly, eyes narrowing in disgust. He'd have given anything to be out on the hunt tonight, but when Haruto had collapsed, he had immediately rushed to his side. Thankfully, he'd already collected a few Numbers before being forced to call off the hunt. Unfortunately, the Original didn't have such restrictions. The only way to stop him was to get rid of him completely, which Kaito planned to do as soon as he could. He hadn't told Mr. Heartland or Dr. Faker about his discovery, even though they had asked him to find the Original countless times. His pride refused to hand off the Original's defeat to anyone else. In his mind's eye he could see the slender figure, the glowing blue skin; the mismatched eyes that held intelligence and bravery, but could flicker with fear and worry at any moment. He saw the firm fingers grasp cards, calling attacks with strength and conviction, skilfully evading attacks with heightened magic and trap combos that left even Kaito speechless; defeating player after player with ease. In the eyes of the opponents, Kaito had seen the same look of fear cross their eyes when the Original played his final card as when he took their lives from them with a flick of the wrist. All Kaito had seen of him, he'd liked. He wanted to face the Original. He would be the one to take him down; stealing all his numbers and watch him fade from this world.

'Astral…you're mine.'

./././././././././././.

Unbeknownst to the city of Heartland, there was a wave of energy trapped within the city's bounds. The energy had come from a foreign world that most people would dismiss as a figment of imagination. The energy was being trapped within a commonly played game of Duel Monsters in the form of 99 extremely rare and powerful monster cards known only as Numbers. When a duelist came in physical contact with such a card, they succumbed to the deepest and darkest pieces of their souls until it consumed their very beings. The only way to return them to normal would be to remove the card from their possession immediately.

However easy this may seem, the task was much more difficult to pull off. The Numbers gave the duelist power, and power is not easily relinquished. Numbers cards could only be defeated in a duel by opposing Numbers cards. The duelist's extraordinary new abilities would have to be topped before the Numbers could be taken. And not many duelists held the strength of spirit or of skill to defeat and properly manage the Numbers cards.

This led to the quest for power, the Numbers hunt. Duelists with Numbers would challenge each other, beating their Numbers cards in each duel, and collecting an army of Numbers. Some would collect and sell for profit, others for the power that made them virtually invincible. Out of the many Number hunting duelists, there was only one who hunted them because his life depended on it.

Said Hunter was perched on top of a tall building in the dead of night, hiding in the shadows in between the lights; he stood tall and slender, still as a statue. Although he despised clothing, he wore tight fitting black from head to toe - including gloves and a mask that revealed only a pair of mismatched eyes that glowed silver and gold. It was necessary only to camouflage his ordinarily brightly colored skin with the night. He had a duel disk on his left arm, his deck put in place as he scanned the streets for any sign of Numbers holders. It had been fairly quiet on the streets that evening.

'I wonder...was it you,Kaito,who caused this silence?' He wondered, fighting back a shiver at the thought of the powerful Duelist. If that were indeed the case, the best option for him would be to look in another area of the city – one that had not already been scavenged for Numbers. Finding his memories depended on his ability to hunt down all of the Numbers. He was about to leave when he felt a familiar tinge of darkness nearby.

'Numbers!'He thought almost excitedly. And from what he could tell, the Number holder was not too far away. He had to find this source immediately. Focusing on his instincts, knowing they would lead him to the task at hand, he lept headfirst off the building; a shadow flying in the night. He only had one thought on his mind as he flew.

'I'll win.'

././././././././././.

A man laughed wickedly, walking through the alleyways of the city. He'd just finished a duel, and had once again been victorious thanks to the card he had. He held it in his hand, admiring the black-bordered card complete with a picture and description of the Level 6 monster whose name was written in gold print along the header. Thanks to this Numbers card, he would never lose another duel again! He smirked at the card, before placing it on the top of his deck in his pants pocket. The power, the confidence, everything about this card was incredible – and the fact that there were 99 of them in total was amazing. If he could control all of them…he'd be truly invincible. Unfortunately, all of his victims thus far had not had any Numbers for him to take. He hoped that this evening he'd encounter another Number. He was eager to see the power of those Numbers, to shoot it down hard with his own Number, and lastly to add it to his deck once he was victorious.

The man had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice a figure dressed in black drop down before he reached the next corner of the alley.

"Found you." Came the voice of the figure before him. The man's eyes shot up to meet a pair of mismatched eyes starring intently at him. The man quickly sized the smaller person up – he seemed to be a young man, a teenager perhaps. The man's eyes laid rest on the oddly shaped deep blue duel disk on his left arm. 'A duelist eh?' He thought. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"You were looking for me?"

"That is correct. I want to duel you for your Numbers." The boy replied. The man's eyes brightened and his smirk widened.

"You know of the existence of the Numbers…could it be that you are a Numbers holder yourself?" The man asked, hoping that his guess was right. The boy closed his eyes, drawing a single card from his deck and showing it to the man – proof that he indeed had a Numbers card.

"In this duel, we will each bet all of our Numbers. The winner gets the loser's Numbers." He declared confidently. The man's grin spread from ear to ear, wickedly starring down the boy with eyes that glowed purple – a glowing number appeared on his forehead.

"Fine then! I'll crush you and take your Numbers as my own!" He cried out in excitement. As the man set his duel disk, the Numbers hunter did the same, preparing for a duel that he knew would be challenging, but there was no other option but victory – it would be the end of him if he ever lost. The duel was set, and his body lit up as it always did, allowing the man a glimpse of his true nature. His body eradiated light naturally, but in duels it became more intense – he wasn't sure why exactly – and even his black clothing was not enough to conceal it all. A blue-white light seeped from his skin and surrounded his entire body. The reaction of the man was not unlike other opponents – his eyes widened in obvious surprise upon discovery that his opponent was not what he had appeared to be.

"What…what are you?" He asked in shock. The mismatched eyes looked at the man with a new intensity and focus.

"I am the Original."

././././././././././.

13-year-old Tsukumo Yuuma let out a frustrated cry as he wandered the same dimly lit streets of Heartland for what seemed to be the 50th time this evening. The section of the city he had wandered had been surprisingly empty and quiet. Yuuma had hoped that maybe there would be some late night duelists out tonight – he had heard rumors of plenty of hardcore duels that went on after dark – but so far he'd only been disappointed by the lack of people on the streets. He wouldn't become the Dueling World Champion if he didn't get any practice! Facing different types of opponents was key. Sure, he had his friends at school, but if he wanted to be the real champion, he needed to defeat duelists of all ages. He would definitely do kattobingu with anyone and everyone who challenged him!

As much as Yuuma loved to duel, his sister, who was his guardian in his parent's absence, was against the notion of dueling and had banned him from doing so on any circumstances. If only his older sister were to actually give him permission to duel, then he would have no need to sneak out at night. Though, if Akari knew that he was dueling anyway, she'd be incredibly mad. Yuuma gulped at the thought – his sister was nice…when she was happy. Speaking of his sister, he had to get home before she found out he snuck out! Newly motivated, he quickly rounded another corner, hoping this route would lead him to a more familiar area. The alley was dark and seemed to end in another corner, from what he could see. He was about halfway down the alleyway when an anguished cry came from ahead. Yuuma froze in shock. Was someone in trouble? He ran towards the next corner where he'd heard the scream, rounding it quickly.

"Oi, are you –" Yuuma began, before stopping abruptly at the scene before him.

He established immediately that there were two people there; one was an apparently unconscious middle-aged man wearing a duel disk still in active position and had some Duel Monsters cards in his right hand; indicating that a duel had been recently played – but Yuuma's stunned silence was caused by the second figure. Sizing the person up, Yuuma guessed they were a little bit taller than him; figure hugging black clothing outlining a slender body, including a full face mask covering their entire head, black gloves and what appeared to be black socks. A soft blue glow was outlining the person's body, making it stand out even more against the semi-lit alley walls; their arm was outstretched downward towards the other man, hand open and facing him.

Just when Yuuma had established the scene, a small glowing card flew from the man's chest and into the other's outstretched hand. The figure snatched it out of the air, holding it to their face to see it better. As they did so, the lights around their body began to withdraw, pulling themselves inward until there were none remaining anywhere. Yuuma starred in awe at the entire scene. It was all so surreal…such an amazing product of AR vision, surely. He reached to his left ear to take off his D-Gazer…only to realize he wasn't even wearing it. He gasped in realization – this entire event had been real. His gasp was loud enough to trigger a reaction in the person, who immediately spun around to face him. This only made Yuuma gasp again at the sight of a pair of equally surprised mismatched eyes of silver and gold. They were unlike anything Yuuma had ever seen – they held depth, knowledge, strength, and mystery; all of which captivated Yuuma. How long the two starred at each other, neither really knew, but it was the mysterious figure who broke the contact first by turning away, then running towards the other end of the alley. Yuuma snapped out of the trance as soon as the other turned.

"Hey! Get back here!" He chased the figure, not about to let him or her get away without some explanations. The other ignored him, continuing to run towards the end of the alley. At the mouth of the alley, the figure took a sharp left, which Yuuma immediately followed only to skid to a halt – the figure had disappeared!

"What the…?" Yuuma looked left and right frantically, spinning all the way around him in hopes of spotting the mystery person, but all he saw were the empty streets, the various houses with darkened windows and sleeping families. Yuuma scratched his head in confusion. It was like the person had vanished into thin air. Yuuma had no doubt the other was real – he would never forget those strange eyes - but he couldn't help but wonder what kind of person he'd run into.

"Just who are you?" Yuuma wondered out loud, putting his hands in his pockets and heading off on his way home, completely unaware of the mismatched eyes watching him from one of the local rooftops.

TBC - ?

Well? What do you think? Please drop a review if you have any ideas for what I should do with this or anything ~