Matarra: This entire fanfic is based of an idea I had after Astral made a certain comment when I was watching Yuma and Astral talk about barian past lives in one Zexal episode, I forgot which one it was. See if you can guess this comment as the fic progresses.

Misael: Alit, for once I am going to indulge in your gambling habit. I'll bet twenty bucks nobody ever guesses it.

Matarra: Hey! Don't bash the readers!

Misael: I'm not, I'm bashing your obsessive/compulsive need to memorize Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal quotes.

Matarra: *rolls eyes* I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal, if I did, I would have Misael get hit over the head with a blunt object. Although I'm about to do that right now. *glares*

Misael: *scoffs and walks away*

"Come ON! Yuma!" Vector laughed as he dragged Yuma along behind him. After the war, Vector had reverted back to a personality similar to his Rei persona permanently. Well, almost permanently. He still had some moments that lasted one minute to an hour where he would act like his old psychopathic self. Everyone had dubbed it his, 'episodes', but they weren't all that bad most of the time. He didn't go on killing sprees during them, usually at least.

"Are you SURE this won't end like all your other shortcuts? Kari will kill me if I'm late to school again." Yuma asked nervously as he was pulled along by Vector.

"That's why we're taking a shortcut, isn't it?" Vector grinned.

"Keep going, if you get chased by a bear, I'll just laugh." Yuma and Vector stopped to look at the black being floating above them. Vector had allowed Dark Mist to stay in his baria lapis, kind of like Astral and the key. Dark Mist had begrudgingly agreed saying, 'not like I have anywhere better to go'. He and Astral still had issues but he didn't try to possess Astral anymore.

"We won't get chased by a bear." Vector rolled his eyes.

Dark Mist started counting off on his fingers. "You have gotten chased by dogs, wasps, cats, gerbils, an old lady with a bat, and a lion to name a few."

Astral came out of the key. "For once, 96 has a point. This is bound to end badly."

"Have a little more faith in the Rei Way!" Vector laughed.

"I do have faith in the Rei Way. Faith that you two will end up a tree or in a hospital by taking it." Dark Mist replied snarkily.

"Oh come on! That's not going to happen!" Vector pouted for a second before smiling again. He went back to dragging Yuma along and Yuma had enough sense to run with him willingly.

Dark Mist looked at Astral. "What do you think will go wrong this time?" he grinned sadistically.

Astral glared back. "Don't think I trust you. I still know that if it suits you, you'll betray us in an instant."

"It's how I am. Deal with it." Dark Mist smirked and they zoomed ahead to catch up to Yuma and Vector. "So... any bets on what will happen to screw them over?"

"I will not go along with your teasing, Dark Mist." Astral huffed.

"Hurry up, Yuma! Try to catch me, slowpoke!" Vector smiled.

"I will! Kattobingu!" Yuma ran faster and overtook Vector.

"Hey!" Vector ran faster and soon he was ahead of Yuma. It quickly turned into a race until Vector slipped on mud and fell into Yuma and down into the river.

"I'm sorry, Yuma-kun! I only had the best intentions and I really mean it!" Vector cried.

Yuma spit out some water. "It's fine. But we're going to be late AND soaking wet."

Vector blinked and looked into the water. "Hey... what's that?" Yuma, Astral, and Dark Mist all looked to where he was pointing. The water was swirling and crackling with lightning.

"Yuma, I have never seen water on earth do that. Is it natural?" Astral asked. Even after recovering all the numbers, Astral was still naïve about humans and earth in general.

"Even I know it's not supposed to do that, Mr. High and Mighty Original Number." Dark Mist snapped.

"Let's get out of here before that thing gets us!" Yuma tried to scramble up. "Uh... guys? I'm stuck."

Vector tried to get out too. "Same with me. And I can't teleport."

"Oh for the love of-" Dark Mist grabbed Yuma and Vector with his tentacles and tried to yank them out. His tentacles slipped and he fell face-first in the river. He came up spluttering and floated back out. Or attempted to, anyway. He was stuck just like Vector and Yuma. "What the hell?! I'm barely tangible! I shouldn't even be stuck at all!"

Astral looked down at them. "Observation number 25: Even Number 96: Dark Mist can be entrapped by water with lightning."

"Shut it and do something!" Dark Mist snapped.

Astral tried to grab Yuma's hand, but has usual, he passed right through the kattobing duelist and he too fell into the river unable to get out. Astral looked around. "It felt as though something dragged me in rather than I fell."

"Now that you mentioned it, I feel as if something's holding me here." Yuma agreed.

"It's that whirlpool! It must have a really strong central force of gravity!" Vector cried. Everyone looked at him. "What? I live with Dumon and he's a walking encyclopedia."

"While you guys sit around talking, might I have the audacity to speak before the great and powerful Astral and mention that THAT THING IS GETTING CLOSER!" Dark Mist snapped.

"I suggest we all try to stick together and not get separated." Astral said.

"Not getting any complaints from me!" Vector leaned over to hug Yuma and Dark Mist tight as Astral disappeared into the key. Yuma grabbed Vector's shirt and Dark Mist's hand.

"What the f*ck?!" Dark Mist yelled.

"Unless you want to be alone and drowning, you better grab onto us." Vector reminded him.

Dark Mist grumbled and wrapped a tentacle around Yuma and Vector.

"Right! So... what now?" Yuma asked.

"We try not to drown. Oh... I'll probably end up ticked enough when we get out of here that I'll have another episode!" Vector cried.

"Oh, you'll have another episode, God forbid." Dark Mist snapped.

The water was up to their chins by now and they felt the riverbed beneath them crumbling into oblivion. "Here we go. Kattobingu!" Yuma shouted before taking a deep breath.

Dark Mist tried to make a smart-ass retort but the water was up to his nose now. The ground beneath him disappeared and he felt two sensations he had felt only one or two times in his life.

Fear and falling.

It would have been almost better if he could've screamed to let out some of the turmoil inside of him. But he couldn't. The last thing he saw was Yuma and Vector falling down beside him and the last remnants of light disappearing as he went farther down.

Then, everything went black and he was met with the calming sensation of sleep.

…...

Dark Mist groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Where... was he? Vector and Yuma were slowly awakening too. Dark Mist gasped as he recalled the crushing feelings of terror he had experienced. He quickly covered it up with a cough.

"Ugh... where the hell are we?!" Vector snapped. 'Well', Dark Mist mused, 'he certainly was right about the psycho episode. It's probably a minor one though. He isn't screaming for blood.'

"No idea. Astral! Hey Astral!" Yuma tapped on the key. Astral appeared and looked visibly relieved to see them.

"Yuma! Vector! Dark Mist. I am glad you are alright." Astral cried.

"Don't think I didn't notice the lack of enthusiasm on my name." Dark Mist yelled, just to annoy Astral.

Astral ignored him. "This does not look like Heartland." Dark Mist and the others finally got around to looking around where they were. They were on a riverbank but, as Astral had pointed out, it certainly wasn't a riverbank in Heartland. There was forest all around and birds were chirping.

"Whatever. Let's get WAY the hell out of here." Vector stiffly stood up. He stood still with a look of concentration on his face for a full minute. "WHAT THE F*CK?!" he screamed.

"What's wrong, Vector?" Yuma asked.

Vector snarled, "I can't open an overlay network OR teleport!" He stretched out his hand and levitated a rock, "But my other powers work fine! And my baria lapis isn't even damaged!" He dangled the small red pendant he wore around his neck with two fingers.

"What?!" Yuma and Dark Mist yelled.

Astral disappeared into the key then returned a minute later. "The airship isn't working either."

"Well, just. F*cking. Great." Dark Mist threw a stone using his tentacles into the forest.

"OW!" The four froze when they heard they yell.

"Is... someone else here?" Vector asked. His episode seemed to be over now.

"My observations of this situation suggest that." Astral said.

"Screw your observations!" Dark Mist snapped.

"HEY! IS SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE?!" Yuma yelled. The others covered their ears and cringed.

The bushes rustled and three men walked out, all wearing capes and clothes that looked like they were from the early dark ages, or around 600 A.D. One man was clutching his head. And they all had swords drawn.

"Ah! We come in peace! Er... take us to the leader! Uh-" Yuma rambled.

"Let me handle this before you get us stabbed." Vector whispered. "We mean you no harm! What are your names?"

The man holding his head yelled, "If you aren't hostile, why did you assault me?!"

Vector looked apologetic. "That was our friend. He was frustrated because we got lost so he threw a stone into the woods. We had no idea anyone was out there, or even within a ten mile radius!"

"If I knew they were there, I would've thrown it harder." Dark Mist muttered. Astral gave him a dirty look.

"That lobster haired kid threw a stone that hard?" The man with black hair asked, dubiously.

"I didn't! Dark Mist did!" Yuma cried before covering his mouth.

"Dark... Mist?" the black-haired man asked.

The guy with the goatee's eyes lit up. "Is he a ghost or spirit of some kind?"

Yuma and Vector looked at each other. "Well, kinda. Why?" Vector said.

The man with the goatee waved to question away. "No reason, no reason. If you want someone to travel with, we'd be more than happy to take you along. Where are you headed?"

"We want to go to Heartland City if you know where that is." Yuma said.

The man with the goatee frowned. "Sorry, I've never heard of that place."

Yuma and Vector drooped. "Oh," Yuma sighed, "Then nowhere."

The man with the goatee smiled. "Don't get down on yourselves, you can travel with us, maybe we'll run into someone who will know of this Heartland City. I'm Malachi. That's my older brother Dmitri," he gestured to the man Dark Mist had hit with a rock, "And my oldest brother Gareth." The black haired man.

"I'm Yuma! That's Vector. And you can't see Astral or Dark Mist but they're here." Yuma explained.

Malachi looked pleasantly surprised. "You have two spirits with you?"

"Yep! Astral resides inside the emperor's key and hangs around with me and Dark Mist resides inside Vector's baria lapis and hangs around with him." At this point, Dark Mist put a tentacle over Yuma's mouth.

"Why don't you just tell him every damn detail of our lives?" Dark Mist snapped.

"Let go of him!" Astral started to get defensive.

"Of course, O' wise and powerful Astral. I will worship you on my knees and burn incense to repent and come back in your good graces." Dark Mist was really laying on the sarcasm but he did let Yuma go.

"What was that?" Gareth asked.

"Just listening to a discussion between Dark Mist and Astral." Vector said quickly.

"We're burning daylight, let's get going. The horses have grazed long enough." Malachi looked at the sky. The rest of the party followed him to a clearing. "We don't have any more horses so Yuma can ride with me and Vector can ride with Gareth."

"Cool! I've never rode a horse before! Have you, Vector?" Yuma exclaimed.

"Duh, Yuma-kun." Vector replied. Gareth got up on his horse and Vector swung his leg up and took a seat behind him. Malachi had to help Yuma to get up on the horse. As they rode along, Malachi asked Yuma about Astral. He seemed very interested in the Zexal bond and how Yuma had gone from hating Astral to being his best friend. They eventually stopped to set up camp, which Yuma was surprisingly good at.

As they sat around the campfire, Dmitri asked Yuma, "So what's Astral like?"

"He's smart, kinda naïve, and a great strategist!" Yuma said.

"I see..." Dmitri seemed deep in thought. "So, any possible dangers to traveling with you?"

"Dmitri!" Malachi exclaimed, "I'm sorry about him, you don't need to answer that!"

"It's fine, really!" Vector smiled. "Bad things tend to happen around us for one,"

"Us too, so no worries there!" Malachi replied, obviously making an effort to smooth over Dmitri's rudeness.

"Except we go looking for it." Dmitri muttered.

Malachi flashed a murderous look at his brother while Vector continued, "The main problem is that I sometimes have little episodes where I go completely psycho and sadistic for a short period of time, but they're not usually life threatening to the people around me. But if you see me ripping small animals apart, you know I'm having an episode and should probably steer clear of me for a while."

"Okay then. We all better get some sleep." Malachi went over to a saddle bag and pulled out some blankets. "Good thing we brought extra blankets." Yuma and Vector each took one gratefully. Astral turned to Dmitri and noticed him looking at Yuma piteously.

Astral frowned. "96?"

Dark Mist looked over at Astral."Yeah, glowing blue jerkhole?"

Astral tried to keep his irritation at a minimum. "Do you have a strange feeling about Dmitri and Malachi?"

"I have a strange feeling about Malachi. He's like Yuma, too trusting. Dmitri at least is being smart for a human." Dark Mist scoffed.

Astral shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Don't you get an odd vibe from him?"

"Vibe?" Dark Mist laughed, "Have you been hanging out with hippies? I'd say you were on crack if you could eat!" He vanished into Vector's baria lapis. He would never admit it to anyone, least of all Astral, but he did have a feeling about Dmitri and Malachi. And he would never, ever say it out loud, he wouldn't even admit it to himself.

But he, for some stupid reason, was scared of Malachi.