Me: Hi there! This is my first fanfic so please don't hate it or anything like that. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal in any way. I use the original Japanese names rather than the 4Kids dub names. No offense to people who likes the names.

Astral: You just don't like them because of what they did to Yu-Gi-Oh GX and 5Ds.

Me: That is totally true.

Astral: This takes place after episode 49, but before episode 50, which is right after III's duel with Yuma.

Me: Exactly. So just to clarify to any 4kids watchers, don't read until you are done all episode 1-49 and beyond when they come out, Kite is actually Kaito, Hart is actually Haruto, Dark Mist is actually Black Mist, and a Number card is called a Numbers card.

Astral: And I am still me.

Me: Well of course you are. What other name could name could they give to an alien spirit thingy.

Astral: Thingy….

Me: Yeah, so as I was saying, I'm going to try and post more chapters as soon as possible. Don't steal any of my ideas or you'll hear it from me.

Astral: Thingy….

Me: Oh get over it.

Astral: (muttering) You called me a thingy.

Me: Now, on to the story.

Chapter 1: Issues

(Narrative POV)

Kaito Tenjo stared out the window of the giant heart on top of Heartland Tower. He was sitting on the edge of his little brother, Haruto's bed, thinking more about the numbers. It had been a long day of hunting and he managed to get 4 more numbers, bringing it to a total of 26 numbers in his possession. Correction. 26 numbers in Mr. Heartland's possession. That bastard. Here he was, working his butt of and all that jerk did was sit in his tower, smile, and talk like everything was just dandy while other people did his bidding.

The Numbers Holders were becoming easier to find, but the work to get them was getting harder. The last Numbers that he had got was from a particularly nasty thug, who had a very colourful language on meeting him, and had punched him in the cheek before the duel started. He could still feel it tingling painfully, even though the Heartland Medics put on some sort of special healing lotion and said it would be gone by morning.

He checked the time. "11:34" He said to himself. "I'll rest until 8:00 tomorrow, then fly over the city and look for more Numbers.

He looked down at his little brother Haruto's face as he slept on his side, the blank white covers pulled halfway up his body. Kaito noticed how frail Haruto's body now is. How he used to be so lively and energetic, always smiling and ready to play with Kaito whenever he got back from wherever he was. How they had to run from the police in the pouring rain. How Haruto was forced away from him. How he wasn't strong enough to protect him. How he had found out from Mr. Heartland that Haruto now had a dangerous disease that was very serious and almost fatal. And how it could only be stopped somehow by collecting all 99 of the Numbers.

Then he thought about Astral and Yuma, how apparently the Numbers were Astral's memories. If so, then how would an alien's memories help with Haruto's condition. And what was that strange light that somehow fused Astral and Yuma together? Whenever he asked for more information on the Numbers from Mr. Heartland, all the "information" that he got was that he would get to know when the time is right. Jerk. He hated that jerk, but no one else knew how to help Haruto, so he had to stick with it.

Haruto shifted to his other side. "Brother." He moaned in is sleep softly in his sleep, his expression slightly scared.

"Shhh, it's alright." Kaito said gently to Haruto. "Your brother is right here. He'll always be here to protect you. It'll all be over soon." He stroked Haruto's back as he spoke.

Haruto's expression shifted to one more relaxed and calm. Kaito sighed in relief.

"Change of plans," Kaito said into his communicator as he got up from the bed, "I'm going to start hunting now. Run a check over the city to find more numbers."

"Confirmed!" said Orbital 7 on the other end.

"I'll worry about Astral when the time comes to it." Kaito thought as he started walking toward the elevator panel. He took one last glance at Haruto sleeping as light from the panel activated.

Meanwhile (Somewhere else)

It's dark, but then, it's always dark. At least it had been, ever since he had been tricked and lost to Astral. Now he was sealed in the darkest corner of the Emperor's Key. But soon that would change. Soon he would break free and have his revenge. That soon was now.

He had been patient, so very patient, waiting on and on for any little slip up that Astral might make. Anything that would help with his revenge. Now he had it. Astral had talked about someone with mysterious powers. Someone who was also collecting the numbers, someone who Astral was afraid of.

He chuckled to himself a bit. Astral. Be afraid of a mere human. The thought was hilarious to him.

He had chipped away part of the seals. Enough for him to escape out of. This was good. This was very good. He now had enough of everything to ensure that his revenge against Astral would definitely not fail.

"Just you wait Astral," Black Mist thought to himself, "I'm coming for you. And this time, I'm going to get exactly what I want. Let's commense phase 1 of my plan now."

Me: Wow, I didn't think I'd ever get the first chapter done.

Astral: Why? Is it because you are always slacking off?

Me: I do not slack off that much!

Astral: This took you 2 weeks to finish typing.

Me: I've been busy!

Astral: With watching anime and reading.

Me: So?

Astral: You should really make a commitment to this.

Me: Yeah, okay, I'll try alright? I gotta work on chapter 2 now.

Astral: Review the chapter to let her know what you think.