Yuma slammed another steel door shut behind him but had a feeling that it still wasn't going to do anything. He had already heard that thing rip through several walls looking for him—how did it know where he was?

He could barely breathe. He had been running for so long now, and although he was in great shape he couldn't keep this up for much longer. He paused for only a moment, pressing his hand against the wall to catch his breath. His lungs felt like they were on fire!

Then he heard the crash of something ripping through walls and he was running again, taking corners at random. He couldn't stop—not for a moment, not even for a breath. He was going to die running, wasn't he?

He tripped. With a cry that echoed off of the dark walls, he collapsed, arms wheeling for something to grab. His hand snagged a doorknob and with another cry he fell through into the room beyond.

He couldn't move, he realized with horror. He literally could not force any strength into his arms to push himself up. His heart felt like it was going to explode and his throat was raw from his harsh breaths. He could hear the shuffling and the sobbing screaming sounds of the horrible creature making its way towards him.

He was going to die.

"Gurrrglleleee."

Yuma's head pounded, and he felt like he had cotton between his ears instead of a brain. Had he...imagined that sound? Was that his stomach?

"Gurrrgleee!"

Something prodded at his face...something cool and kinda...weird? Like he was being touched by a jar of peanut butter. He blinked the dark spots out of his eyes, trying to squint at it.

It looked like...a pile of orange goop. It was almost three times the size of his head and for a moment, he almost screamed, flinging himself to his hands and knees with a burst of will. Was it going to encase him and suffocate him before eating him?

But the thing didn't seem threatening at all. It drew itself, twisting a bit as though it were cocking a head at him.

"Gurrgleeecooo."

"W-what?" Yuma gasped.

It slithered forward and...hugged him? A pair of tentacles wrapped around him and it started to squeak and coo again, as though it were happy.

"H-hey, stop that," Yuma said.

Wait was that...the smell of his grandma's Duel Lunch? Why did he smell that? Was it coming from this thing?

It nuzzled him with another appendage, and Yuma found himself giggling.

"Hey," he said. "I don't—really have time for this, you know."

But that was weird. He felt...really super happy all of a sudden. It was the kind of rush he got when he was having a really good duel.

"You're not too bad, are you?" he said, petting it briefly. It felt like petting peanut butter. "You just want some affection?"

The thing gurgled happily and Yuma felt another wave of happiness wash over him.

And then he heard the thing behind him and the happiness drained out of him in a rush.

He whipped around to see the long armed creature lurching towards him, drool slavering from its mouth. His airway choked off—he couldn't even breathe enough to scream. The orange blob seemed to shrink and crawl up on his shoulder, squeaking.

The creature lunged for Yuma. Yuma did scream this time, trying to fling himself out of the way. From his place on the floor, though, there was no getting away. Those arms latched onto his shoulders and yanked him into the air. The mouth opened wide, almost big enough to completely swallow his head in one gulp.

The orange blob flung itself forward over the thing's face.

Its cry was swallowed up by the thing stretched over its face. Yuma was dropped to the ground and he gasped for breath.

For a minute, he could only stare at what was happening—were they fighting?

And then the orange blob squealed, as though with delight, and Yuma realized that it was just as happy to see that thing as it had been to see him.

He decided to take his good luck and run with it. He scrambled to his feet and slipped around the thing in the doorway, bolting down the hallway again.

The orange blob plopped off of the monster's face and slithered after him, gurgling happily. Yuma almost choked on his air again, but when he glanced over his shoulder...the monster was just sitting there, staring off into the distance. Yuma breathed out with relief and ran faster. Whatever that blob had done—made it feel happy or something—was giving him time to escape.

The blob leaped to land on his shoulder, cooing as it nuzzled against him. Yuma felt that euphoria come over him again and he tried to shove it down.

"Not now, okay?" he told it. "I'm currently trying not to die."

It made a bubbly sort of sound and he rolled his eyes. Well, at least he had found a friend...or something.

And then a howl echoed down the hallway and he made the mistake of looking over his shoulder.

It was after him again.

He ducked his head and bore down the hallway. He fled around the corner and—

SMACK!

Yuma's arms wheeled helplessly as he crashed backwards—but a hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back to his feet, drawing him against a very solid, very tall figure. He cried out, trying to push away, get the thing off of him—

"Hey—hey! It's okay. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The voice was beautiful in its humanness and Yuma's eyes snapped up. Dark blue eyes met his from under dark bangs.

"W-who...?" he said. He heard the scrabble of feet and then decided it didn't matter right now. "Go, go, go, it's still after me—"

"What is?" said another voice, and Yuma glanced over to see a shorter boy with long brown hair and a red jacket, and a small Indian woman clinging to him from behind.

The creature howled and all faces paled.

"Right let's go," said the brown haired boy.

The dark haired boy grabbed Yuma by the arm and half dragged him down the hall. Yuma couldn't even say how grateful he was for someone to do that because he didn't know if he could propel himself further anymore.

"It won't stop, I don't know how it keeps finding me," he said, feeling frustrated tears rolling down his face. "It keeps breaking through every door!"

"What—what is it?" the Indian woman asked.

"I don't know—it's tall and has long arms and a creepy face—"

The Indian woman's face paled. She started talking, but Yuma didn't understand more than a handful of the English words.

"She's asking if you looked at its face," the tall boy said.

"I—yeah, that's how I know it's creepy—"

She started speaking really fast again but all Yuma caught was death.

"She says it won't stop chasing whoever saw its face," said the brown haired boy.

Yuma felt his stomach drop out. His mouth went dry.

"It—what?"

"How do we stop it?" the brown haired boy—Judai, she had called him?—asked.

Yuma didn't understand the words, but the woman's face was all he needed to know the answer—we don't.

Yuma tried to pull out of the tall boy's grip.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"If—if that's true then I should draw it away from you guys," he said, gasping through a tight throat. "If it sees you then it will chase you too—"

The tall boy was not having that. He just flipped Yuma's small body into his arms and lifted him off the ground before continuing to run.

"W—hey!"

"Not a chance are we leaving you," the boy said. "Judai, ideas?"

"Kirtida, think you can burn it?"

The woman replied nervously, uncertainly.

"Right, don't want to look at it. How much have they told you about it? Can I maybe fight it?"

Yuma let out a dry sob. He couldn't help it, he was so scared. He remembered that torn up body in the hallway and the flashlight and—oh, god, he was going to die.

"Nothing can stop it, huh?" Judai snarled. "Let's see how it handles Yubel."

He came to a stop and ripped open a door.

"You guys, in, now," he said. "I'm going to fight it."

The woman screamed what sounded like a "please no" and grabbed his arm.

"It's just fast and strong, right? No other special powers?"

She blinked and started to shake her head.

"Then I can fight it. You guys, in here, now."

Judai whipped around and squared his feet to face the hallway. Yuma tried to struggle out of the tall boy's grip but he didn't let go as he barreled into the room, dragging Kirtida along too.

He slammed the door behind them—the room was small and still lit. Looked like some kind of control room, but there was nothing else in it. Thank god.

Yuma struggled out of Yusei's grip.

"We can't leave him out there! I saw—I saw someone that got all ripped up and—he's gonna—"

"Sh, sh, sh," the tall boy said. "It's okay. Breathe. You've been running from that for a while?"

"Y-yeah..."

Yuma could barely breathe. The tall boy kept a hand on his shoulder.

"You're going to be okay," he said, his voice soothing. "What's your name?"

Yuma coughed.

"Y-Yuma," he said. "Tsukumo Yuma."

"Yuma," the boy said, nodding. "I'm Fudo Yusei. Out there is Yuki Judai, and this is Kirtida."

The Indian woman just kept her eyes on the door, hands shaking in her lap. She had collapsed to the floor when they came in and didn't show signs of getting up any time soon.

"Where are you from?" Yusei asked, his voice low and soothing.

Yuma could barely think. He could hear something outside—a crash, a snarl, a howl and a stream of incoherent babbling. There was a gurgle at his ear and he felt that peanut butter consistently brush his face again, sending a wave of calm through him. He swallowed.

"H-Heartland," he said. "Heartland City."

Yusei frowned.

"Is that...in Japan?"

"Well...yeah? I mean I'm speaking Japanese..."

Yusei's lips pressed together.

"Yuma-kun, what year is it?"

Yuma furrowed his brow at him.

"I'm not that messed up in the brain."

"Just please, answer me."

"It's 2083..."

Yusei nodded.

"You're another one," he murmured. "How many of us are there?"

"Huh?"

There was a loud, resounding crash outside and Yuma yelped. Yusei's eyes hardened. He half rose. Kirtida's hand snaked out to grab him. She spoke in rapid English, which Yusei responded to. Whatever passed between them, Yusei seemed to opt to stay in the room. Yuma was starting to shake again, and Yusei pulled him close, like his sister would when he had nightmares.

"We'll protect you, okay?" he said. "You'll be okay."

Yuma could only sob softly and pray that he was right.

"Are you seeing this, Rickten?"

Rickten rose from his corner and wandered over, peering over Luelle's shoulder.

"Awww," he said, sounding disappointed. "He didn't get ripped up? Too bad."

"No, I meant this," Luelle said, pointing to a different screen.

Rickten glanced over it.

"What's 049 doing?" he asked. "Playing with ashes?"

"It's reviving 035," Luelle said, sounding fascinated. "How interesting. I thought it was a virus made to kill the Shadow People. But here it is, seemingly getting quite chummy with the mask..."

She tapped her fingers to her chin.

"It could be...hm. How interesting. I didn't think to see that coming back any time soon..."

She smiled.

"Let's see how the kings deal with that, shall we...?"