We are back! ... sadly, we never reached my goal of 55 reviews *pout* ... it doesn't matter. This is likely the last episode and it might be a bit on the sad/mushy side, just a small warning :)

The Final Draw

As Astral and Misael were busily dealing with Black Mist and as Alit and Gilag dealt with Kotori, Chaos Zexal stood facing Vector and Don Thousand in a pretty intense duel. The remaining people around them stood there, watching the duel that would decide the fate of all the worlds and their own futures.

"You are fighting in vain..." Don Thousand purred as he draw his card, making one of Chaos Zexal's cards change it's properties. "... this universe is already in my grasp!" he laughed. The fused form of Alcor and Nasch just looked at him with a dark glare before they draw during their next turn, summoning Big Jaws before using Double Summon to summon Gagaga Magician too.

"We overlay Gagaga Magician and Gogogo Golem!" they spoke. "XYZ summon! Come now, Numbers 39: The Emperor of Hope!" as the light warrior appeared, they continued to chant. "We overlay our Big Jaws and two other Water monsters! XYZ summon, Bite through your opponents, Numbers 32: The Great Water Dragon, Shark Drake!"

The two Numbers stood side-by-side as Don Thousand just smirked.

"How futile..."

Meanwhile, Astral and Misael were locked in a Battle Royale-style duel with Black Mist. The unlikely duo was actually doing decently, having gotten rid of the others Numbers already due to their combined skills. The dark version of Astral hissed as he stared at his hand, hoping to find another strategy to win this duel as Astral spoke up.

"Give it up, Black Mist! You cannot win against us!"

The dark Numbers glared as he looked at CNumbers 107 as well as some strange Numbers that he had barely heard anything about that Astral was using. He didn't want to show the other satisfaction, but he was right. He didn't have much to go with once his own Numbers was destroyed so he just played a monster in defence position and ended his turn without doing anything else.

"This is too easy..." Misael muttered, suspicious, as he shot Astral a look. The blue being just shrugged as the blonde made his turn.

"I can't believe you guys are back to your senses."

Alit looked up from the spot he was looking at to Kotori, who was walking between him and Gilag. The buffier Barian had come to his senses before he could have hurt the girl, ending up with hitting the wall beside her head which was what had caused the terrible scream that now could never be erased from the seemingly younger Barian's mind. "Yes." he spoke. "I wonder how we did that..."

"Do you think that Alcor and Nasch defeated Vector so his hold on us vanished with his loss?"

The other two looked at him in surprise.

"What?"

"Nothing." Alit said after a moment of silence. "I'm just not used to you sounding so... rational."

Gilag's fits of protest were lost in Kotori's giggles as they continued to walk back to the room in which they left the other Barians.

"Nasch-sama, Alcor..." Durbe looked worried.

He had a right to be. The situation didn't look great for the still fused duo, both of the Numbers they had summoned were destroyed and Don Thousand just gloated as he towered over them with his Irrational Numbers. Which only made the Alcor part of Chaos Zexal wonder if Negative Numbers existed as well... but he snapped back to attention when they saw Vector's broken form squirm on the floor next to them. After Don Thousand appeared, he didn't need the redhead anymore and ended up hurting him (but not killing him) before throwing him at the other's feet. That had enraged the Alcor part of Chaos Zexal, thus ending up in the duel which they were currently losing.

"Any other famous last words?" the self-proclaimed god continued to laugh.

"Yes." Chaos Zexal stated. "You are going down!"

"Don't make me laugh..." Don Thousand's words were cut off as the doors opened, Alit, Gilag, Kotori, Astral, Misael and Black Mist all appearing, somewhat rough-looking but otherwise well and alive. "What is the meaning of this!?"

"You can do it!" Kotori cheered on Chaos Zexal instead of answering the chaotic god. "We are all fighting with you!"

Her cries of encouragement were soon joined with similiar ones by everyone (including Durbe, Merag and Black Mist) as Misael hurried over to Vector's fallen form, shaking him to see if he was awake. "Come on, idiot, wake up."

"W-why are yo-you...?" the redhead tried to say as his vision swam grey and blonde. But it was enough to tell him that it was Misael. So why didn't he finish him off now?

"Saving your butt, of course." the dragon tamer rolled his eyes as he helped Vector up. "You can protest as long as you want, you are still one of us. And you always will be."

"M-Misael..." the wounded Barian looked shocked as he was taken to Merag, the only one with some healing skills present. She began to heal him after shushing him before he could say anything. "Just shut up and let me heal you!"

Don Thousand watched all of this in remote disbelief. How could they treat his minion like that after everything that happened?

"That's the power of bonds." Chaos Zexal felt the need to answer his unspoken question as he turned to stare at him. "The very thing that will defeat you now!" as it was his turn, he moved to draw his last card, thus determinating who won this duel.

"Shining Chaos Draw!"

Several months after Don Thousand's defeat and him being resealed by Yuma, times were peaceful. So calm and almost serene that, when Rio suggested for them to do a concert for the pure sake of fun, everyone had agreed.

In the Kamishiro mansion, Kotori was smiling to herself as she watched Alit and Gilag argue about who would be the second guitarist (the first one was Shark and that went without saying anything, Rio had taken the electric piano to herself) and as she wondered about how to play the bass, which they left to her, Yuma and Durbe. It wasn't that hard to find the time to practice with it being the weekend and all the Barians now living under the same roof along with Astral and Black Mist. Much like Vector down the line, the dark counterpart to Astral had seen the error of his way after a good beating and, so far, was doing decently (albeit all the sarcastic remarks and pranks with Vector). As for the mad prince himself (who, to no one's surprise, demanded to have the drums), he was doing decently with the help of Yuma and, oddly enough, the twins. The greenette had found out that Vector and Shark actually used to be friends before he went nuts so she guessed that they just went back to that, leaving past events behind themselves. She smiled to herself. Yuma's influence on everyone - friend and enemies-alike - caused them to change, for the better. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Kotori!" said girl looked as Rio showed up by the front door, as everyone else was outside already. "The Tenjo's and Arclight's arrived! I hope you know how to use that bass!" she winked, causing the younger girl to flush in light annoyance.

"I bet I can do better than you, Rio-san!"

"I really want to see that!" the bluenette teased as she ran off to take her spot, Kotori right behind her with her instrument in her arms. She didn't even get to close the front door, thus allowing a small breeze to stir up a picture that was lying on the coffee table.

The picture of all of them right after Yuma and Shark had won. And they were smiling.

Well... this is it guys. The last chapter of "Resonance of Souls". I hope you enjoyed the ride and that this ending isn't too cheesy but if it is, you can leave that in the reviews too. See you in my next Zexal fic, whatever it ends up being!

Hint: it will most likely have to do with Iris and Rio, so stay tuned if you like those two! (and no, it wont be romance between the two before someone asks).

Thank you for reading! :)