Sleep wasn't much of an option that night; Zak chose to wander around the streets of Heartland and keep an eye on things. There was too much on his mind to allow him to get any rest. He had to worry about Kite. He had to worry about the other Number holders. He had to worry about himself not being defeated. The city streets were dark everywhere except for the central square; where many assistants were making last minute preparations for the WDC the next day. Zak wasn't even noticed where he stood in the shadows. There were a few other duelling fanatics around as well; all wanting a head start in the WDC when the time came. Zak only recognized one of them; the Asian Duelist Champion: IV.

From what Zak knew; IV was a highly respected and well-mannered Duelist. He duelled with trust and skill; and Zak admired that. IV wore a long white coat and pants, sporting a formal golden pattern. IV was no doubt going for the top of the WDC over the next few days. Zak wondered if he'd face off against IV; considering he too was entered in the WDC. Standing next to IV was a younger red haired boy. He wore a bright red jacket and was smiling brightly. Zak didn't recognize him, but he assumed that the boy knew IV personally.

Zak found a chair and pulled it into the shadows with him. He sat down and made a check to see if everything was secure. After he was satisfied that his belongings were safe, he pulled his hood deep over his face and tried to rest. Sleep didn't come, but he didn't mind; he just needed to restore some energy and rest his eyes for a while. He sat there for hours as people rushed back and forth, barely taking any notice of the boy dressed in black with a chaos duel disk gauntlet on his left arm. There were many weird sights in Heartland, but Zak wasn't one of them; and so he was left alone.

He was brought out of his slumber by a loud bang. He rose with a start and looked around quickly, before realizing that the bang signalled the official beginning of the WDC. Looking around proved to be pointless anyway; the whole area was completely crowded and it was unbelievable noisy. Zak gradually moved to his feet and began to slide through the crowd to find a better view of the area. As he moved toward the centre, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned toward it and saw that it was a soccer ball flying through the air. Zak's eyes followed the ball until he saw it hit a young teenager in the face. The boy fell over and another, presumably the one who kicked it, as he was dressed in soccer gear, ran over to him. The first boy, who was accompanied by a green haired girl, began to whine at the second boy. The second one challenged him to a duel, and the first boy, called Yuma as Zak heard the girl call him, immediately accepted.

Zak knew there was no time to stand around watching duels and decided that he should begin Number hunting right away. He had already felt the dark presence of the Numbers grow stronger. It was time to act, but he couldn't single out any Number holders. He felt a bit of a presence from Yuma, but Zak shrugged it off; Yuma seemed too light hearted to be possessed by a Number. Besides, there were other Number holders elsewhere; and so Zak began to move through the crowd towards an exit.

After a few moments of thought, Zak decided that he should head towards the suburbs and alleyways; as the Number holders were most likely to be causing trouble around there. While he walked, he intentionally kept his eyes darting around for the slightest signs of trouble. There were about twice as many people walking about today than any other day; no doubt due to the WDC.

'And so many of them; Number holders,' Zak said under his breath.

He wondered how many of the Number holders in Heartland were actually Number hunters; like himself. Kite was one and the probably more: all trying to gain the Numbers for their own ends. Zak shivered at the thought of Kite and he dreaded their next showdown. The power and speed of the so called Photon deck that Kite played was uncanny. The only thing that had stopped its ace was Zak's own ace. But still; Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon was terrifying and Zak wasn't sure if he'd be lucky enough to reach a draw with Kite like last time. One false move and it was all over; and he'd be left without his Numbers or without his soul. Then Zak stopped; something had broken his chain of thought. He mentally kicked himself for not paying attention to his surroundings. He quickly looked up, left and right. Nothing.

Then it dawned on him. He turned around to face a girl his age staring at him a few paces away. Zak didn't recognize her, but she had long blonde hair, an innocent face and electric blue eyes. She wore a black tank top and loose blue jeans. She also had a golden D-Pad on her left arm and both of her hands had been wrapped in a white tape, except for the fingers. Zak considered her quite attractive, but this was not the time to think about that. Zak realised that the girl knew that he had stopped because of her and was waiting for him to make a move. He felt the dark aura about her and silently raised his duel disk toward her. She nodded in equal silence and activated her D-Pad in response. She was mostly likely a Numbered Duelist and Zak gave a silent sigh when he realised he'd have to use the Photon Gauntlet on her.

[Zak: 4000] [Angel: 4000]

'Angel? Interesting name,' Zak thought.

'You'll let me go first, won't you sweetie?' Angel called out, 'I draw! I discard Hecatrice from my hand to the graveyard to add the Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen spell card to my hand. I now activate it and use its effect to special summon Athena! Rise my goddess; and bring me hope!'

[Athena – 2600 ATK – 800 DEF – LIGHT Attribute – Fairy-Type – Level 7]

Zak watched in silence as the goddess descended from the sky. It was obvious that Angel played a fairy deck; probably based around bringing out strong and dangerous fairy type monsters. There was also the Number to worry about and Zak wondered when it would descend.

'I now activate the Field spell: The Sanctuary in the Sky. With this; I'll take no damage when a fairy type monster is destroyed by battle. Now I summon Gellenduo; and due to Athena's effect: you take 600 points of damage. I now set one card and end my turn; how was that sweetie?'

[Zak: 3400]