Not sure how this came to me... I guess because I'm a HUGE Shark fan.

Happy belated/early Shark Week, everyone! Because to me that's all year-long lol

Characters/Ages: Yuya (14), Ryoga (24), mentioned Zuzu (14), Reiji (16), Yuma (23) and Rio (24)

Dedicated to Durbe The Barian (cause Zexal/Arc-V needs more love)

Hidden Comfort

"Yuya."

The tomato head looked up as the calm, yet sharp voice penetrated his mind and sighed as he met Ryoga-san's eyes. It's been a couple of hours since he found out that maybe Zuzu had been taken by the Obelisk Soldiers... it's also been a couple of hours since Akaba Reiji told him that it was all a lie, a bait to get him react like a soulless puppet in the older teen's hands.

"Are you listening to me?" The older man questioned and Yuya forced himself to keep looking at Ryoga-san because he was his mentor (sort-of) when it came to XYZ-summoning and how to deal with loss. He knew that Ryoga-san understood that better than anyone, having watched his twin sister be taken by the very enemy they were now fighting.

"Yes, Ryoga-san." the tomato-head whispered. "I am."

"Good, because Reiji just called us all to gather. We are heading for the Synchro Dimension very soon and I want you to be prepared and focused on our task of finding allies."

"But..." Yuya's words vanished in the depths of Ryoga's glare.

"I understand that you are worried about your friend but if we lose the Synchro Dimension to the Fusion one, we won't have any allies remaining and the Standard Dimension will be next. With the utter destruction of the remaining three dimensions, the only way you'd be able to see your 'friend' is by becoming a slave to Fusion. Somehow I doubt you want that."

"No, but Zuzu..." he stopped talking when Ryoga's hand thumped him on the head slowly.

"I can understand now why Yuma hates tomatoes." Yuya heard the older man mutter. "Don't make me regret taking you under my wing alright... there's so much more at stake than just you and your friend. Understand that before it's too late." with that, he left the room as the tomato-head slowly got up and walked outside, ready to head for the LDS tower.

Ryoga-san was right. Swallowing in self-pity would get nothing done and he wouldn't be a means to their end.

Not if he had a say in it.

I hope that my slight annoyance with our newest female... 'lead' ... didn't ruin this drabble for you.

Thanks for reading! :)