A/N I am back and with a new chapter. Yyyyaaaa! Yes it was another long waiting period and it really shouldn't have take so long, but hey, it's out. So enjoy.
"Stupid Yuma, running off with Astral and not telling me where they're going." sulked Kotori. Sitting at her desk, she pulled up news articles on the internet.
"And we were so close to finding out who has been attacking people." she said with a sigh. Her D-gazer began vibrating.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Good you picked up. I have a favor to ask." Yuma said from the other end of the line.
"Where have you been?! You just left me in the street!" she screamed. Yuma, who seemed to be in the middle of a duel, put his hands up in defeat.
"I know, I should have said something, but I need you to get someone for me." he said quickly.
"Um, who?"
"I need you to find Nelson's mom and bring her to the set."
"Who's Nelson?" Kotori asked.
"I mean the Sparrow. Just get his mom and run here as fast as possible." he said in a rushed manner as though he was running out of time.
"I'll try." she said confused about the situation.
"Thanks a bunch." Yuma said as he was cut off.
"Wonder what his deal was." she said grabbing her coat and running out the door.
/Yuma, why did you call Kotori?/ questioned Astral when he finished.
"Well, if his mom sees what he's been going through and what its caused, things might turn out better for him." he said.
/Okay, that solves one problem, but now we need to figure out how to get rid of his Esper Star Sparrow./
"I know, but I can't think of anything!" he said frantically looking through his cards.
/The best option for this situation is to use Hope./ she said looking over his shoulder.
"I would, but I only have one level 4 monster in my hand. I guess I have to be lucky with this next draw." he said.
"My turn, I draw." he looked at his card. 'Good, just what I need.'
"I play Gagaga magician. Next I play Kagi No Kagi. I can summon this card with I have a level 4 monster on my field. Now that I have 2 level 4 monsters on my field I can Xyz summon. Come forth, No.39: Hope!" Yuma called out as his ace monster appeared on the field.
/I would advise you to try and destroy at least one ot his monsters while you have the chance./ Astral commented looking down at Yuma.
"Alright, No.39: attack Beast Warrior Puma!" he shouted. Hope grabbed his sword from his belt and went after Puma.
"Not so fast, I activate the trap Wings of Unity. I can use this card when I have Star Sparrow on my field and it stops all attacking monsters. Not only that, but it also allows me to summon Phoenix Beast Gairuda." Sparrow said as a bird like beast appeared on his field.
"Gairuda, so glad you could make it." Star Sparrow said welcoming his ally.
"Hey what took you so long? Me and Sparrow thought you were skipping out on us." Puma said.
"Sorry but the princess of Argon was kidnapped and I had to help."
"Don't tell me you just left her."
"Don't worry, I had her in no less than 2 hours." Gairuda assured.
"And because of Gairuda's special ability, I can draw one card from my deck." Sparrow concluded.
"Hey, isn't it a little weird that his cards are acting like how they would on T.V.?" Yuma said pointing at the opposing monsters.
/It's actually kind of nice./ Astral said with a smile. /This world, to them, is nothing more than an episode. Hence, they talk as though they are ready to start a new mission./
"Yeah, that is pretty cool, but wait! What am I supposed to do now?!" he said frantically.
/I suggest going on the defense. Play the card to your right./ Astral pointed out while leaning on his shoulder.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Yuma said placing his card down. "Because I sure as hell don't."
"My turn! Since I have Star Sparrow, Puma, and Giruda on my field I can summon another ally. Come out, Iron Hammer the Giant!" Sparrow called. A giant robot appeared on the field scratching his head with a confused look on his face.
"Duh, how's it going guys?" he greeted his friends.
"Iron Hammer, so glad you could make it." Star Sparrow welcomed.
"Now I use Galaxy Queen's special ability again, by using one overlay unit, I can make my monsters indestructible."
"Come, my followers, let my power flow through your body." she said waving her scepter over the other monsters.
"I now activate Gairuda's special ability which makes him gain 300 attack points. Gairuda, attack Hope!" Sparrow commanded pointing at Yuma's monster.
"Not so fast! I use one overlay unit to negate the attack!" Yuma said as Hope's overlay unit went into his chest. He created a barrier around himself and was shielded from the attack.
"You may have stopped my first attack but now I attack you with Star Sparrow."
"Go ahead I'll just use another overlay unit to negate your attack again."
"But now you have no more overlay units to use its ability. I use Iron Hammer's ability to allow one of my monsters to attack you directly. Go Puma, Dark Slash!" Iron Hammer picked up Puma and threw him past Hope right at Yuma. He slashed his sword at Yuma and ran back to his place on the field. Yuma and Astral flew backwards from the attack as his life point went down to 800.
"Crap, what am I supposed to do now?" he said looking at Astral.
/Activate your trap./ she said pointing at his side of the field.
"Are you sure about this?" he said getting off the ground.
/Yes, this will give us the advantage we need./
"Okay! I play my trap card! What is it exactly?"
/The card is Heartfelt Appeal. We can use this card when we have taken damage from a direct attack./ she explain to the young duelist.
"Alright, but what does it do?" he questioned.
/It allows us to take control of his monster with the highest defense points./ she said. Iron Hammer portended to Yumas field.
"Iron Hammer, what are you doing protecting the enemy!" Star Sparrow shouted across the field.
"Duh, I don't really know. I just have the strangest urge to protect this weakling." Iron Hammer answered back. Yuma glared at the robot.
"When you say "weakling" you're talking about me, aren't you." he grumbled under his breath.
"Tch, you might have taken one of my monsters but at least you can't do much with him." Sparrow sneered. "I place one card face down and end my turn."
"Okay, I draw." Yuma said pulling a card. 'I have to carry this out long enough so Kotori can bring Nelson's mom.' he thought as he looked over his hand.
/It would appear that we have company./ Astral said pulling Yuma out of his thoughts.
"Yuma, I brought the producer like you wanted." Kotori said as Mrs. Andrews appeared behind her.
"What do you want!" she growled at Yuma focusing her anger mostly towards him. He ignored her temper and pointed at his opponent.
"I brought you here you show you what your son has been going through." he answered calmly. She follow his finger to find her son dressed as though he was still in role.
"Nelson Andrews! Do you know how late it is? Come here right now!" she demanded. Sparrow glared at her.
"Stop calling me that infernal name!" he screamed.
"How dare you talk to your mother like that! Now come here right now or I will ground you for a month!" she yelled back stomping her foot. He stopped glaring and started laughing.
"Hahahaha! You fool, my mother is right here." he said gesturing to the Galaxy Queen behind him.
"Nelson." his mother said in shock of his words. "Please stop this. I'm sorry for pushing you so hard." she pleaded.
/How sad, but her words will not reach him unless we take his number card./ Astral said looking at the scene. Yuma nodded in agreement.
"I know. Now, tell me why we took Iron Hammer even though he'll get it back next turn." he said turning back to the duel.
/It's all in preparation to beat him./ he replied.
"Well, if you have some great idea, feel free to tell me." Yuma huffed, irritated by the lack of details.
/Just trust me, okay? I know exactly what is going to happen./
"But how do you know?!"
/I saw the end of the episode./ she replied. Yuma looked at her in disbelief.
"Are you saying that you based our entire strategy off a T.V. show!?" he yelled. Astral didn't respond, irritating him even more.
"Fine. I guess I'll have to do this on my own. I play Artifact Control, so as long as you have 3 or more monsters on your field you can't attack me." Yuma said with confidence.
/That's it, Yuma, now everything is set for our victory!/ Astral said with enthusiasm.
"What are you talking about?! I'm losing and all his card are under the control of the Galaxy Queen who is under Theriouse Maximus' Curse. So please tell me, HOW THE HELL WE ARE WINNING?!" he screamed.
/Stop screaming. Everything is going according to plan. Esper Star Sparrow gathers all his allies and they turn Iron Hammer into the Interdimensional Jet. Now play those two cards and everything will be in place./ she said point to the cards that were needed.
"Fine, I play two cards face down and end my turn." Yuma said placing his cards.
"Good, first off, Iron Hammer returns to my field, since the effect of your trap wears off. Now, even though you thought you stopped me with Artifact Control, you can think again. I play the spell Change to Iron Jet. This card can be used when Sparrow and his allies are on the field. Now here comes The Dimensional Iron Jet!" Sparrow shouted. All of his monsters, excluding Galaxy Queen, were sucked into a black hole. Moments later, a massive ship being driven by Star Sparrow, made its way onto the field. Yuma looked at the ship in horror and awe.
"How are we supposed to beat that thing?" he yelled at Astral.
/Calm down and just play your trap./ she said in a calming way. Yuma tried to regain his composure and looked at Sparrow.
"Okay, I play Fiery Fever which raises 39's attack points to 5000."
"Too bad that won't save you anymore and since all my monsters have become one, Artifact Control loses its power." Sparrow taunted. Yuma looked at Astral, waiting for her next demand.
"What now?"
/Activate your second trap./ she said pointing at the card.
"Alright, I activate Reverse Cyclone which means,"
/Which means you can destroy any face up trap card he has on the field./
"Alright! I target Theriouse Maximus' Curse. Now your queen isn't all powerful anymore, Sparrow." he said triumphantly.
/Now nothing can protect Galaxy Queen from our attack./ Astral commented, feeling the same happiness Yuma was.
"Even if you destroyed my curse, it still won't save you." Sparrow said angrily. "Iron Jet: attack him with the force of your combined power!"
"Oh god, now we're dead." Yuma moaned.
/No we're not, use your final trap!/ she said quickly.
"Oh, right, I activate the trap Vector Change. Now your monster is forced into defense mode and your defense monster is put into attack mode." Yuma declared. Iron Jet stopped in its tracks just as it was about to strike Hope. Galaxy Queen also changed, her dark purple dress turning white with the change of battle mode.
"You think you can beat me, Yuma? Well, I won't allow it. I play one card face down and end my turn." Sparrow said.
"Perfect, I'm definitely going to win," Yuma said looking at Astral, "Right?" she didn't change her expression.
/There is a chance we could lose if the card he placed is some sort of counter card./ she answered, not giving the reassurance Yuma was looking for.
"Even if that's a possibility, we still have to try. For Nelson's sake." he said, his voice becoming soft.
/I know and we are both willing to take the risk for him./ she said smiling. He looked up at her in surprise, he had never seen her act like this before.
"KATTOBINGU!" he shouted, jumping in the air. "I attack Galaxy Queen using No.39! Go, Rising Sun Slash!" he announced. The warrior pulled out his sword and started flying towards the queen.
"Not so, fast I activate the card Star Sparrow Forever!" Sparrow yelled.
"Oh no, a counter!" Yuma shouted in surprise.
"This card allows me to bring Esper Star Sparrow form the graveyard onto my field with 0 attack points." Sparrow said. A portal opened on the field and Star Sparrow jumped out placing himself between Hope and the Galaxy Queen. Hope continued his attack, slashing Star Sparrow in half. Shock waves shook the ground and Sparrow flew backwards from the force. A box appeared above Yuma, with the word "winner" below his picture and the holograms dissipated. Astral looked towards the fallen hero and stretched out her hand. The number card flew away from Nelson and appeared in front of her.
/Now, what memories do you contain?/ she said to herself looking down at the card. Slowly in went into her palm revealing its contents to its master. Astral let out a surprised gasp upon seeing her new memories.
Yuma walked over to the fallen hero with a look of sincerity on his face.
"Nelson, are you okay?" he asked in a low tone. Nelson flinched before slow lifting his head.
"Y-Yuma, what are you doing here?" he asked. Yuma sighed, happy his friend wasn't hurt from the duel. Astral walked up beside Yuma, back in her body, quietly observing the situation.
"Astral?" Nelson said quietly. His eyes widened as he remembered what had happened.
"Oh god! What have I done?" he said clutching his head.
"Calm down, you're no longer being controlled by the number." Astral said in a calming tone.
"But everything I did, I even hurt you." he said looking at her.
"I'm fine."
"But,"
"Everything's fine, Nelson." Yuma said putting a hand on his shoulder. "I think it's also a good time to talk to your mom." he motioned to the door where she was standing. Slowly getting to his feet.
"Mother," Nelson started, but was unable to finish, because she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him.
"Oh, Nelson, I so sorry for pushing you so hard!" she whispered. "Will you forgive me?"
"Of course, mom." he said hugging her back. Yuma watched silently with tears in his eyes. It reminded him so much of his mother before she had gone missing but he quickly forgot such sad memories.
"Come on, we should go home." Yuma said looking at Astral before walking towards the exit. She nodded and, following his example, left.
Days later, Astral sat in front of the T.V. intently watching the show in progress. Seated next to her was Yuma watching with the same amount of enthusiasm.
"Galaxy Queen, you're evil reign is over!" Sparrow shouted.
"You may have broken through my mind control, but that won't be enough to stop me!" she said with an evil cackle. Pointing her scepter at him, waves of purple energy crashed into him, but running with all his strength he managed to knock it out of her hand.
"Why you-," the queen started only for Sparrow to wrap his arms around her waist.
"You're not evil, remember who you really are!" he said holding on to her. Suddenly the jewel on her scepter broke and her gown turned from purple to white.
"You broke the curse, son." she said looking down and hugging him back. The end credits started rolling on the screen and Yuma grabbed the remote.
"What a happy ending!" he said. "It ended almost like our duel, don't you think?" he asked. Astral nodded. Slowly she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them.
"Both endings were similar," she paused, "Both son and mother were reunited." she finished quietly. Yuma nodded his head in agreement.
"Oh, is it okay if I ask you what the number told you?" he asked. Astral thought the question over before responding.
"Sure."
"Cool, let me hear it." he said with excitement. Taking a deep breath she turned her head so she was looking at him.
"The memory I received was my birth." she answered. Yuma looked at her, looking amazed, yet slightly disgusted.
"Wow, that's, um, pretty weird." he stammered. She gave him a confused look.
"I don't understand what you mean." she said. "Would you elaborate?"
"What? No!" he said quickly hoping she would drop the subject. Luckily for him, she didn't press on any farther.
"Well, if the episode's done, I'm going to bed." he said getting up.
"Wait, before you do that, let me show you something." she said grabbing his arm. Shrugging, he sat back on the floor and waited for her to do whatever it was. Closing her eyes, Astral sat cross-legged, as though she were meditating. Yuma stared at her waiting for something to happen. Slowly she reopened her eyes and stared back at him.
"Are you going to show me something?" he asked in irritation. Instead of responding she continued looking at him with a blank expression.
"What, did you learn to sleep with your eyes open? Come on, answer me!" he said waving his hand in front of her face.
/Oh, come now, must you be so impatient?/ Astral said from behind him. Yuma turned around, surprised to find her standing behind him in her spiritual form.
"Wow! How'd you do that?" he asked.
/Well you you see, while I was in the hospital I realized that every time you duel I won't be conciseness So I figured that I would need to learn how to be with you in this form yet still be awake./ she explained.
"Oh, I get it, so while you're dueling with me, you can still be on the side lines where no one will suspect a thing."
/That's right./ she said. She soon flicked out and appeared back in her body.
"Now people won't get suspicious." she said with a wink.
"Well, that's good to know. So can I go to sleep now?" he asked.
"Of course."
"Cool." he responded. Turning off the light, he climbed into his hammock and slowly fell asleep. Astral stayed in front of the T.V. and waited for him to sleep before turning it back on.
'Much like a T.V. show, life must move on. New things are learned and old things are remember. And it is my job to remember the old.' she thought as a movie started playing.
A/N And that concludes the duel with The Sparrow. Wow a 2 chapter duel, I didn't think it would take that long. Okay on to other things, first off the ending was weird but it's necessary for the plot, of my story. Number 2, I hate to say this but it might be awhile tell the next update and the reason is the next few chapters are a little hard to write and it's just taking me awhile to get them out. And finally number 3, I would like to informally announce that I am writing a new Zexal story and the only reason I'm advertising this here is, well, because I feel like it. So please check it out. It's called Legends on the Walls and it's a Vector x Zexall II fic., so yeah weird. Alright, until we meet again Yami Gir signing off!