Shark opened his eyes and sighed, rolling over trying to close them again. It was no use. He was up now and there was no way he was going to fall back to sleep…at least not with that annoying typing sound in the background. He pushed himself up on his elbows and glared through the darkness of the dirty room with no windows at the spot by the far wall where the electronic blue glow of the computer screen reached tentatively into the inky blackness that surrounded it.

"Do you have to do research right now?" He asked. The boy typing on the computer barely honored Shark with a glance.

"This is important." Was all he said. Shark rubbed his eyes and groaned.

"Well here's an observation for you – humans need sleep." He growled. The boy didn't stop typing.

"I am aware of that." He replied off-handedly. "But we are running out of time."

Shark tried and failed to think of a comeback. Struggling to his knees, he fell back against his wall and pushed himself to his feet with his back. He checked his D-gazer for the time and almost threw it across the room at the other boy's head. It was two in the morning for crying out loud! The rational side of him was what made him walk across the room and push the thick drape aside to see if any of the nearby convenience stores had lit up their neon OPEN signs.

"I'm going to get food." He threw the comment across the room, in case the other boy even cared. He didn't, and showed that plainly by the way he kept typing purposefully. Shark rolled his eyes and headed for the door, trying to coax feeling to return to his lower back; sleeping on the floor in buildings scheduled for demolition wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done.

"Forget that," The other boy was up and across the room in about two seconds flat, grabbing Shark's arm, he half-dragged half-led the renowned duelist out of the room and down five flights of stairs at a speed that Shark was sure shouldn't be humanly possible at this hour. "I just got a location on the second portal."

Shark sighed but didn't resist. After all, this was what he got for following an Astral Being on a hunt through space and time after a Barian killer.

"We need to talk with all of you right now." The human Astral insisted. The other Shark nodded at himself, suppressing the weirdness of looking straight at an alternate version of himself.

"All of us?" The other Shark huffed a sharp laugh.

"Yes. You, Yuma, Kite, myself…" Astral went on before Alt. Shark held up a hand.

"Yeah, I get it." His voice was determined and bitter. "I'm not sure about Kite, but I can take you to Yuma."

The three of them made their way through the dark, rainy day toward the Tsukumo house. As thunder cracked in the sky, Astral shivered with the ominous, foreboding feeling that crept into him and convinced him that this world did not want them in it. As he looked over at Shark, he knew that the two of them were feeling the same thing. Alt. Shark kept his head down and his hands shoved in his pockets – Astral could sense severe regret and worry on him. Almost as if a visit to Yuma was a thing to be feared. A tendril of anxiety squeezed Astral's human heart as he wondered if something had happened to his partner in this world.

They reached the Tsukumo house – which on the outside looked normal enough – and waited behind Alt. Shark as the boy hesitated outside the gate. Shark narrowed his eyes at his alternate self, trying to figure out what was going on in his head. The expression on his face was a familiar one – he was being confronted with something he didn't want to do. Shark wanted to give "himself" time to work up the courage to walk up and knock on the door, but Astral was less patient.

"Is something wrong?" Astral asked in a voice that insisted they move forward immediately. Alt. Shark shook his head.

"No…no." He murmured, steeling himself and walking faster than necessary to the door. "Let's get this over with." He muttered under his breath. Astral and Shark exchanged a look behind Alt. Shark's back, but neither said anything. Alt. Shark stepped up to the door and knocked three times.

"Coming!" A familiar voice called.

Yuma, Astral's lips turned up in a small smile as he heard what sounded like a healthy Yuma bounding through the house to the door. Safe. This Yuma was safe…for now at least. The door was yanked open and the three were confronted with a Yuma who was breathing hard, dressed in black versions of his normal pants and a light blue hoodie pulled over a black shirt. A golden key hung over his shirt. Other than his wardrobe choices, he looked normal, eyes bright with adventure and posture strong with (over)confidence. But when he saw Alt. Shark, his normal grin faded into a tight frown, eyes clouding over with anger.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here after what you've done Shark." He growled.

"So what's this about?" This universe's Yuma asked. He was so young…only in middle school. It was hard for Astral to believe he was the Yuma of the original timeline. When his Yuma was that young…he and Kazuma had made sure he didn't get involved with the Barian stuff.

"There are three alternate universes that run on timelines closely similar." Astral replied. "Yours, theirs," he nodded at Alt. Shark and Alt. Yuma, "And ours." He nodded at Shark. nodded in understanding and Astral laid the pad down on the kitchen table. "There is a period in all of our timelines where events flow in almost identical patterns. If the Barians from our universe could somehow line up all the timelines exactly right, they could merge all three of them."

"What would that accomplish?" asked from his place levitating above them. Shark turned to him.

"If the Barians could merge all three timelines, in the chaos that ensued they could seize control of the new universe entirely." Shark explained. "But there is a high chance that a lot of the timelines would be wiped out."

"And what exactly are we going to do about this?" asked.

"We are going to stop it." Astral replied.