Hope's Master Chapter One
"Astral! Astral!" A mysterious voice called for Astral as he flew around his newly found home. Astral turned to see the figure of a man whom he recognized.
"F-Father, is that you?" Astral turned to see a man who looked and sounded very much like him. He recognized him from his new memories.
"Astral, I heard you returned from your journey! Have you collected the numbers cards?"
"Of course, father." Astral seemed rather glad to tell his father that he collected them, and went on for hours about how he found a new friend named Yuma Tsukumo. He identified the feeling he felt when telling his father his accomplishments as pride.
"Well then, How about we duel with the numbers you collected for me. I assume now that you're here, you have your old deck." Astral held out his hand and above it he manifested 55 cards, which he easily recognized as his deck.
"Yes, I would love that. Duel! I go first; draw! I summon Gogogo Golem in attack mode! I use the effect of the Kagetokage I have in my hand. He will be special summoned right next to Gogogo Golem. Next, I activate the spell, transcendent Xyz. While I possess two monsters of the same level, I can special summon a monster of the same level from my hand. Now, I will overlay my 3 level 4 monsters. Xyz summon! Arise, Ruler of Astral! I use his effect. By detaching one Xyz material from him, I can special summon an Xyz monster from my opponent's extra deck, but if he has none, I destroy my monster. Now, I summon number 39! Aspiring Emperor Hope from your extra deck! Now using my monster's effect, the monster I detached will become Hope's Xyz material. Turn end." Astral's two Xyz monsters astounded his father, as Astral never revealed this trump card of his before to his father.
"Good job, Astral. Too bad I must take back hope. My turn, draw! I special summon messenger of hope from my hand, while my opponent has more monsters than me, I can summon him from my hand. Now I use messenger of hope's effect. I can special summon one monster of his level from my hand, and his level is ten, even though his attack is zero. Say hello to my second messenger of hope. Now I activate the effect of hope sorcerer in my hand. While I possess a "hope" monster, I can banish him from my hand to take control of one Xyz monster you control. I take back Hope. Now I overlay my two messengers of hope to Xyz summon Number 39: Aspiring Demigod, Hope! I use his effect. When summoned, as long as I possess another "Hope" Xyz monster, I attach all Xyz monsters on the field to it as Xyz materials, and gain those monster's Xyz Materials. Now I use his other effect. By detaching 2 Xyz Materials, I can activate the effect of a card I have in my hand, without any costs or other requirements for the turn it is activated, by banishing it. I use the effect of Rank up Magic, Astral Force! I use its effect to summon Number 39: Ultimate God, Hope! You see, astral, Hope has so many other forms you have yet to discover. I use the effect of my Hope god. By sending all the cards in my hand to the graveyard, I can Summon that Many Xyz materials he has attached to him who are Xyz monsters, and attach the two discarded monsters to the Xyz monsters. Say hello again to Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope and Number 39: Aspiring Demigod, Hope. Now then, I use the effect of my Number 39: Ultimate God, Hope. By detaching any number of Xyz materials, I can summon one Xyz monster from my Extra deck with Attack equal to or less than the number of detached materials Times 500. That's 3000 attack. I summon Number 39: Immortal Hope! He is hope's rank 8 version. Now then, I possess the rank 4, 8, 10, and 12 versions of hope. I banish all my hope monsters."
"What? First you focus on summoning so many of them to throw them away?" Astral was confused, but knew that if his father did this, he must be planning something amazing.
"I summon Negative Number 39, Dark Hope!" The monster was a jet black replica of hope, with "?" attack and defense. "He can only be summoned by banishing all other hope monsters I have in my control, however, he gains attack equal to the combined ranks of those monsters times 200!"
"But t-that's… 6800 attack! Your monster will wipe me out it one attack!"
"I know! And since I possess a negative Number monster, when I win, I not only absorb your numbers, but your soul, too!" He had an evil smile spread across his face and had a look in his eyes that could never match what Astral remembered his father's eyes to look like.
"Father, what happened?" Astral asked, confused.
"One day, I discovered the negative numbers cards! They each came to me with every number you obtained. When you acquired Number 17, I received Number -17. I had Number -39 from the start, while all along all you had were positive Numbers! Hope is my ace monster, and I lent him to you to give me more negative numbers. Astral, I always despised you. Since birth, you showed great power, with the name after the world in which we live. People thought you were the chosen one to save astral world, when indeed I was all along! How many times had hope and his other forms saved you? How many times did MY monster protect you?! I am the one meant to save the world! I was the one meant to be called the chosen one! DARK HOPE, ATTACK HIM DIRECTLY!"
"Kattobingu da, ore!" a familiar voice could be heard by astral. To his right, he could see a red ghost which looked like and sounded like Yuma. "Astral, my emperor's key was going crazy! I grabbed it and now here I am. I guess we should stay in contact with each other until the end." A wide grin spread across Yuma's cheeks. "So, is this dark hope?"
"Yes, and I do not know how to counter its attack." Astral, for once, seemed more confused than Yuma.
"Astral, you're losing your touch. Activate the trap in your hand.
"Right!" Astral turned his attention to his father. "I activate my trap, shining draw! When your Xyz monster would attack me directly and reduce my life points to zero, I can draw a card, and if it is a trap, I can use it without setting it!" Astral and Yuma each reached to his deck and grabbed the top card.
"Shining," They both said together, "DRAW!"
"There it is! The card I made to support my number monster!" Yuma was glad to see that him and astral could still work together to perform a shining draw.
"I activate the trap I drew, future of the hope!" Astral and Yuma both looked at his monster, ready to defeat it. "This lets me special summon an Xyz monster from my graveyard and an Xyz monster in my extra deck with the same rank as my monster! I summon Ruler of Astral from my graveyard and Prince of Astral from my extra deck, now I must Xyz summon a monster using my two monsters as materials. I summon Number 0: Future Hope!"
"I will call off my attack then." Astral's father said. "Turn end."
"My turn, draw! Now, Go future hope! Attack his Dark Hope! I use Future Hope's effect. He takes control of your…" Suddenly All the monsters on the field disappeared.
"Sorry, Astral. I must go. However, I would have won anyways. You see, Number -39 has another effect. When a monster would attack it, I can detach an Xyz material from it to take control of that monster, and end the battle phase. Oh well. Prepare a better combo before we meet again." His father disappeared.
"Yuma," Astral said, "This fight will be harder than we expected"
End Of Chapter One