Ninety-Three. Fifty. Thirteen.
These were his three Numbers; the three cards he'd managed to keep from doing harm to Heartland. But there were more; another 97 to be exact and Zak knew he didn't have time to collect all 100 of these corrupting cards. All he needed was to defeat those who were trapped by their dark influences, and then maybe Heartland would be a bit safer. Things had become a lot more dangerous since those dastardly cards had appeared. Now Heartland was plagued by innocent souls, who had become controlled by these so called 'Numbers,' and had begun to cause havoc and disarray.
'I would have been one of those souls too,' Zak thought, 'If I hadn't been able to resist Thirteen's influence.'
Zak looked at the card closely, as he usually did whenever he was alone; which was almost all the time. 'Number 13: Darkshine Dragon' it read. This was his Number, the exact card that had tried to possess him in the first place and the card which had sent him on his quest to subdue the remaining Numbers and protect Heartland. Thankfully, Zak had resisted the Number and kept a hold of himself. All that had started 25 days ago to date. And now it was the eve of the World Duel Carnival. Zak closed his eyes as he stood atop the hospital and took in a deep breath. The roof of the hospital; this was Zak's favourite place. He could see the entire city from here and it gave him space to think and relax. Breathing in deeply usually made Zak feel better while he was up here, but not tonight; he could sense the dark presence of all of the remaining Numbers in the city and it made him shiver.
He pulled his hood up and sat down with his feet over the edge. Tomorrow was the first day of the World Duel Carnival and Zak needed to be ready if he was going to hunt for the Numbers. He began to mentally list everything he had and needed for the next few days; for the fifth time that night.
'Deck, Duel Disk, D-Gazer, Heart Piece, Numbers and Photon Gauntlet,' He said to himself, 'All in check. I guess there's nothing to worry about.'
He thought back to his first duel with the Numbers; that duel with Kite almost four weeks ago. Kite was a dangerous boy, being able to quickly summon his Number and then that dragon. Zak had almost been defeated if it wasn't for his last minute comeback by reluctantly resorting to his own Number. It had been a draw due to Kite's trap card though. The finishing blast had knocked back both Kite and Zak. Zak had stood up first and limped over to Kite. After giving Kite a glare for a few seconds, Zak had removed the thing Kite called the 'Photon Hand.' Zak was also about to remove Kite's Number card too, if it hadn't been for that annoying robot that followed Kite around. In the second before reaching for Kite's extra deck, Kite was on his feet and then on that robot, which had somehow transformed into a motorcycle, and finally he was gone. The only thing he had forgotten was a card which must have been in Kite's hand during the ending blast; Photon Thrasher. Zak now kept it in his deck so that he'd never forget that duel.
'Except for Kite; he's something to worry about,' Zak said, quietly this time.
Zak had seen Kite use the Photon Hand device before; when he'd taken a Number card from one of his victims. But it had also taken part of the same victim's soul. After witnessing it; Zak had thought that Kite shouldn't possess such a dangerous device and so he followed him. The resulting duel had been the first use of Zak's Number and his obtainment of the Photon Hand. No doubt Kite already had a new one. Zak had modified the one he'd taken and attached it to his duel disk. The device had been changed so that it wouldn't take the souls of his victims but would instead break the Number's hold over them so that Zak could simply remove it from the victim's extra deck. He'd already tested it twice and was glad that it worked; each victim was safe and two more Numbers had been retrieved. Zak had called his modification the Photon Gauntlet.
Zak took another deep breath and stood up; he wanted to wander around and familiarize himself with Heartland a little more. It was a big day tomorrow. He turned to face the back of the hospital's roof and began to walk towards the elevator to the ground floor. He pushed the downward arrow button and turned to face Heartland again while he waited for the elevator. He heard the ding earlier than normal and turned around; expecting to see the empty elevator waiting for him. To his surprise he saw chief of security glaring at him.