Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

Chapter 10: A Sleepless Night

The cloak of night had fallen upon the city of Heartland, bringing the first day of the Millennium Tournament to a close. Yet while of the people of the city were starting to turn in for the night, many of those involved in the tournament were still wide awake. Alit was pacing in front of the door to Mizael's room. The boxer duelist had something he wanted to ask Mizael, but was a bit afraid to bother the dragon tamer, especially when the evening was growing late. Just as Alit was about to try knocking on Mizael's door for the fifth time, Gilag walked up the stairs and found him.

"Hey Alit, what're you doing?" Gilag asked.

"I'm trying to work up the nerve to ask Mizael for a favor." Alit answered.

"I think right now you'd be trying to get some sleep or checking over your deck." Gilag replied. "After all, you've got a pretty big duel tomorrow. And it's against one of the Death Queens too."

"I know, and that's why I want to ask Mizael for this favor." Alit told him. "The problem is I'm not sure disturbing Mizael right now would be a real good idea. He's probably in a bad mood after getting taken down in the prelims."

"Then ask him tomorrow morning." Gilag suggested. "He's bound to be in a better mood after getting a good night's sleep."

"Yeah, but this isn't the kind of thing that can wait until morning." Alit told him. "This thing I want Mizael's help with might just give me the edge I need over Anitak."

At that moment, the door to Mizael's room opened and the blonde stuck his head out. "What the devil are you idiots doing talking outside my room at this hour?"

"Uh, hey Mizael." Alit nervously responded. "I was wondering if you could do me a small favor."

"What sort of favor?" Mizael asked.

"Well you see…" Alit began. "I was wondering if you could show me how to summon one of those Shining Numbers like the one you used against Cleo."

"That's it?" Mizael asked.

"Yeah. You know I'm up against Anitak tomorrow." Alit reminded him. "So I'm going to need every advantage I can get. Will you help me?"

Mizael looked at Alit thoughtfully for a moment. "…Very well. I can tell you how I called forth the power to create a Shining Number, but it may not be of any help to you."

"I'll give it a shot anyway." Alit told him.

"Alright then. Let's go down to the kitchen to talk." Mizael decided.

Kaito was leaning against the wall of one of the corridors in Heartland Tower by the doors to a lab. The lab was the one used by Kaito's father, Dr. Faker. The former mad scientist had called Kaito over because he was almost done with a certain set of items that his son had asked him to make. After a little over ten minutes of waiting, the electric steel doors to the lab opened and the old redheaded scientist walked out. In his hands he carried a thin black metal case.

"Are they done?" Kaito asked.

"These are the cards you asked for." Dr. Faker answered as his thumb pressed a button on the side of the case.

The mechanical lid of the case opened to reveal a pair of cards inside. Kaito took the cards out of the case to examine them.

"Both of these cards are prototypes, of course. But they should work as we have designed." Dr. Faker continued.

"This tournament will be the perfect test for both of these cards." Kaito replied. "At the very least, the one card should be able to overcome Alnia's Number. Thank you, father."

"Kaito, are you certain you truly need these cards?" the concerned scientist asked.

"It's merely a precaution." Kaito replied. "At the very least, they'll help me against the Death Queens. Still, I hope I'll never have to use these cards for the purpose we designed them for."

"So do I." Dr. Faker agreed. "Of course at this stage, we're not even sure these cards will work."

"We'll find out soon enough." Kaito replied. "Yuma should make the perfect test subject."

Alnia made her way to the hotel room that Shane was staying in. The white-haired Death Queen was actually looking forward to this little visit. It was the perfect chance to relieve the tension she was still feeling after seeing Mizael's Shining Number. Alnia didn't know why, but she felt like that Number was a great threat to her and the other Death Queens. She was just glad that Yuma, Astral and the other former Barian Emperors still in the tournament didn't also have Shining Numbers of their own.

Upon reaching the door, Alnia knocked. After a moment, Shane opened the door wearing nothing but a white towel. Her dark hair was quite wet, indicating that she had only just gotten out of the shower.

"Oh hi there." Shane greeted. "I was wondering if you were going to stop by."

"Hope you don't mind me coming by so late." Alnia replied as Shane let her in.

"Not at all." Shane assured her. "Make yourself at home."

Alnia made her way over to the long grey couch in the room while Shane made her way to the little kitchen. As she sat down, the white-haired girl noticed Shane's deck sitting on the coffee table. With a flash of red light, a Diablo Force card appeared in Alnia's hand. Alnia quickly slipped the card into Shane's deck and sat back on the couch. One of her reasons for coming over was now taken care of. With business done, it was now time for pleasure.

"Sorry I can't offer much in the way of refreshments." Shane spoke as she came back over with a can of an energy drink in each hand. "I hope you like…"

Before Shane could finish her sentence, Alnia pulled off her towel to reveal her nude form. A blush came to the dark-haired girl's face as Alnia took her in.

"You did ask me over here to try and get me into the sack, right?" Alnia asked.

"Well… I was thinking we'd get to know each other first and see where things went." Shane replied. "But yeah, I was kind of hoping this might lead to something like that."

"Well, lucky for you I happen to swing both ways." Alnia informed her. "And I've had kind of a tense afternoon, so I'm going to give you want you want."

"You're saying you…" Shane began.

Before she could finish, Alnia quickly removed her black vest and red shirt, revealing her bare breasts. Shane's jaw dropped and her hands let go of the two cans she was holding, causing them to fall to the floor.

"I'm all yours." Alnia told her. "Go ahead, do me."

After a moment, Shane smirked and went over to plant a firm kiss on Alnia's lips. The kiss quickly deepened and soon their tongues were clashing for dominance. When they broke for air after a few moments, Shane began sucking on Alnia's neck, causing a moan to escape the white-haired girl's lips. Shane slowly moved down until she reached her right breast. The dark-haired girl began to suck on Alnia's breast and toy with the nipple using her tongue, while at the same time her hand began to massage the white-haired girl's left breast.

Alnia was lost in pleasure as she felt all the tension from that afternoon melt away. Eventually, Shane ceased toying with Alnia's beasts and left a trail of flaming kisses down her naked abs. After a few moments, Shane quickly undid Alnia's belt and pulled her jean shorts and panties and tossed them away. With the obstructing garments out of the way, Shane moved in and began to probe Alnia's moist womanhood with her tongue. Alnia let out a deep moan and held Shane's head in place so she could buck her hips to help herself along.

After a blissful eternity, Alnia climaxed into Shane's mouth. She let out a contented sigh and slumped onto the couch. All the tension from that afternoon was completely gone.

Shane moved back up and planted a small kiss on Alnia's cheek. "So… how was I?"

"Good." Alnia answered. "Now… how 'bout I return the favor? Get behind the couch."

Smiling, Shane got to her feet and moved behind the couch as Alnia requested. Alnia got off the couch and got right behind her. She gently pushed the dark-haired girl forward so she was leaning against the back of the couch with her arms. Alnia pushed three fingers into Shane's opening, causing her to moan and her eyes to shoot right open. At the same time, Alnia's left hand began to massage Shane's left breast. As Alnia pushed her fingers in and out of Shane, a pair of red angelic wings appeared on her back. Alnia's body began to crackle with crimson electricity as she transformed into her Barian form. That same energy flowed into Shane, sending her to even greater heights of pleasure.

"Oh god! It's so… so hot!" Shane moaned, completely unaware of what Alnia was becoming.

By the time Alnia finished her transformation, Shane came to a hard climax. Her eyes practically rolled to the back of her head as she fell forward and passed out over the back of the couch.

"She was really pretty good." Alnia remarked as the clothes she wore in her Barian form appeared with a red flash. "I may end up keeping her around as a concubine after Lord Zorc's revival."

With that, a vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared behind Alnia. Once the Death Queen walked through the portal it closed behind her, leaving Shane completely alone in the room.

Thomas walked through the city streets with his hands buried in his pockets. He was taking a long walk to try and clear his head, though he wasn't having very much luck. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get Samantha out of his head. He had been stuck on her ever since that night she had come over to his apartment. Now by some bizarre twist of fate, Thomas was going to have to face her as an enemy.

As Thomas turned a corner on the sidewalk, he nearly bumped into Samantha who seemed to be walking in the opposite direction. The two of them practically froze upon seeing one another.

"Uh… hi." Thomas spoke.

"What the hell do you want?" Samantha demanded to know.

"I… I want to know what the deal with you is!" Thomas told her. "Ryoga and the others said you're an enemy. Is that true?"

"So you want to know if I'm really your enemy?" Samantha asked back. "Maybe this will answer your question."

With that, a pair of black angelic wings appeared on Samantha's back. Soon after, the redhead became enveloped in a pillar of red energy that faded to reveal her in her true Barian form. Her body was now colored a rosy pink, and the left side of her mask-like face was covered in gold. Her fingers ended with sharp white nails, and embedded in each of her shoulders was a spherical red gemstone. On her rear end was a long thin tail that ended in a point like the tail of a demon, and growing atop her head was a pair of small gold horns. On her chest was a piece of golden armor with white trim that had a spherical red gem in the center of a symbol that looked similar to the Barian Emblem. Hanging around her waist was a short golden skirt with a slit in the right side, kept in place by a white belt with a golden buckle adorned with a red gem.

"So it really is true… you're really a Barian." Thomas observed.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Mitaka replied. "Actually no, I'm not."

"So what was that other night about then?" Thomas asked.

"If you must know, I was going to turn you into a pawn to use for destroying Kotori Mizuki." Mitaka answered. "Getting her out of the picture was the easiest way to get into Yuma Tsukumo's pants and steal the Numeron Code."

"Well if you were going to use me as a pawn, then why didn't you?" Thomas asked.

"…In the end, I guess I decided you weren't strong enough for the job." Mitaka answered after a moment. "You're actually a pretty pathetic duelist."

"You really think so, huh? Well I'll show you how powerful I really am tomorrow!" Thomas declared.

"Go ahead and try." Mitaka dared. "I'm looking forward to seeing you make an idiot out of yourself."

With that, a portal in the form of a galaxy appeared behind Mitaka and she walked through it. Thomas stayed to watch the portal close. When it was gone, Thomas decided to head back to his apartment and get some sleep. He was going to have a rough day ahead of him.

Yuma was lying in his hammock looking up at the ceiling. He was finding it impossible to get to sleep knowing whom his first opponent was going to be in the tournament. As Yuma gazed up at the ceiling, Astral emerged from the Emperor's Key.

"Are you okay Yuma?" Astral asked.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just nervous about my duel with Kaito tomorrow." Yuma answered. "We've never been able to beat him before."

"Indeed. Kaito is one of the most formable duelists I know." Astral agreed. "Still, both of us have grown stronger since those times we dueled him."

"Sure, but Kaito's gotten stronger too." Yuma pointed out. "If we can't beat him, then we can't get to Alnia."

"Then this next duel is a test for us." Astral realized. "If we cannot surpass Kaito in tomorrow's duel, then there is no way we can surpass Alnia."

"Then I guess we better beat Kaito then." Yuma replied.

"Indeed." Astral agreed. "But we will not be able to defeat him if you are not rested. I may not require sleep, but you do."

"Yeah, you're right." Yuma agreed. "Goodnight, Astral."

"Goodnight, Yuma." Astral replied.

With that, Astral went back into the Emperor's Key. Yuma closed his eyes and tried to put his duel with Kaito out of his mind. Before he knew it, Yuma had drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note: I actually had a pretty long debate with myself about whether or not to include the scene with Alnia and Shane. In the end though, I decided to go ahead and do it since it seemed like I had pretty much committed myself in one of the earlier chapters. Anyway, it's probably going to be a few days before I'll get the next chapter up. It's not just because of the stuff I have to do for my online class, but because I want to make sure I do the next duel right. It's a big duel, so I want to take my time and make sure it lives up to everyone's expectations including my own.

Please review and let me know what you think.