China: This chapter is not one of my best works, but it is still a chapter nonetheless. I promise you that next chapter will be a zillion times better as it will be episode 19!

Yumi: Now a quick reply to reviews:

Pokemaster94: The only reason the language intensified throughout the story is symbolic. Basically when you analyse a poem or story, you always have to talk about the structure and its effect. The language is only intensifying throughout the story is because it symbolises the change Yumi is going through. It shows how she went from being an innocent girl to a more mature teenager; basically her condition forced her to mature too quickly. Thanks for the suggestions.

Astrid: China would like to thank all the new people for reviewing, following and adding it to their favourites list! Now this story has 290 reviews! Hopefully after this update, YTS should have over 300 reviews which will definitely make this the most reviewed story in this section! Now please read and review and PM China if you guys have suggestions for future chapters. Enjoy!

Because of Cole Johnson, Shark spent a few days in hospital recovering from his injuries. He had fractured two ribs and bruised the rest of them; thankfully he had suffered no brain damage from his time spent underwater. It was at that moment in time that I realised how much I hated Cole and wanted to make him suffer.

And worse of all because of that bastard, I can't duel! Basically when I dove into the ocean to save Tori, Yuma and Shark, my Duel Disk and Duel Gazer got water damaged. My deck is safe because Deck Cases these days are so airtight that water doesn't get into them. Anyway, I can no longer be called a duelist in Heartland City as a duelist needs to be ready to duel anytime, and anywhere. And worst of all, Kari can't know how I damaged my Duel Disk and Gazer or else she'll never let me leave the house!

But I would do all of that again if it meant that all of my friends were safe, it is strange visiting Shark in hospital though. For once, I'm the one visiting him instead of him visiting me. I waited outside of Shark's door for a few seconds to gather my courage before taking a deep breath, and walking into the room. The first thing I noticed was that Shark was asleep; I could hear him breathing softly which made me smile. He looked so sweet and innocent that I couldn't help but rub his cheek with the back of my hand, it felt so smooth.

Shark looks like a little kid, I've never seen him so at peace before. I thought as I sat down on the chair that was beside his bed.

I was determined that my happy, smiling face would be the first thing that Shark saw when he woke up. I also had a lot to tell him, it seems like Kite has been quite busy. Basically a ton of people are turning up in hospitals looking like they had aged several years, it was clear that they had had their souls stolen.

It would only be a matter of time before Kite came back and I wouldn't be prepared. Why are Duel Disks and Duel Gazers so expensive?! It is so unfair! What did I do to deserve this? Well, there is no use crying about spilt milk, what's done is done. Now I just have to wait for Shark to wake up and see how he's doing.

I'm not going to lie; waiting for Shark to wake up was incredibly boring. In the end, I pulled out my MP3 Player and started to listen to some music.

"But I got a plan, why don't you be the guitarist and strum my melody? Why don't you be the duelist and draw me from your deck? Cuz I rather descend, and still be there near the end. Only it's too hard to answer, can't I try and help you?" I sang aloud as I closed my eyes while swaying along to the music.

Since Shark was asleep, it wasn't embarrassing for me to sing aloud in public. Even though I love singing, I'm too shy to sing in public and I fear that I will never overcome this fear. Kaa-chan was the reason I wasn't scared to show everybody what my voice could do, but now that she's gone I'm too scared. What if people think I'm a crap singer? What if I freeze up on stage and everybody laughs at me. What if-

"Waaaaaah," I cried as I fell to the floor and landed on my chest.

I had to wipe a tear away from my eye because I had landed on quite a sensitive area. That was when I heard it, laughter. That could only mean one thing...

I looked up at Shark's bed and guess who was awake (?)

"Shark-kun, how long have you been awake for?" I demanded as I lifted myself back onto the chair.

Shark smiled, "Since you started singing."

My face turned a very deep shade of pink as I covered it with both of my hands.

Oh shimatta, shimatta, shimatta! I am so embarrassed!

"Oh nooooooo, I'm so embarrassed! Why didn't you tell me?" I whined as Shark snickered.

"I've been stuck in this place for days; I need some form of entertainment." He admitted as I pouted.

"Then organise your deck or catch up on your schoolwork! You shouldn't be using my horrible singing as entertainment!" I wailed as Shark covered his ears.

"How do your friends put up with you? And you are not a horrible singer, I mean you're not the best singer I've ever heard, but you're not the worst." He said as I stopped my fake crying.

I think that was Shark talk for, 'I liked it but I don't want to admit it or else you would get a big head'.

"Thanks...I think. So how are you holding up? The hospital said they are going to release you tomorrow morning, that's good news isn't it?" I changed the topic in an attempt to shift attention away from the subject of me.

I didn't expect Shark to cheer and do a mini dance. "Finally, I hate this dumb place. I'm not even allowed to go to the toilet without a nurse stalking me, the sooner I leave, the better."

I can't blame him for being so happy, hospitals are not very fun places and I speak from experience. I'm just glad that the hospital didn't find any evidence of me losing a lot of blood or else I would be in his place!

I bit my bottom lip in deep thought before a powerful cough tore through my throat and I ended up coughing blood over Shark's bed sheets.

"Yumi, are you alright?" He asked as I fell forward and nearly face planted onto the floor.

Why do I feel so weak? Surely Yuma can't be dueling or else he would have phoned me? Unless! I am such a baka sometimes; Yuma can't phone me because I have no Duel Gazer. And what's worse is that without a Duel Gazer, I can't see who he is dueling or how the duel is progressing.

"No," I cried in response to Shark's question. "My head hurts so much and-" I couldn't even finish my sentence because I vomited all over the floor, on the plus side, at least I managed to avoid Shark.

Shark threw his bed sheets off and tried to help me sit up. "I'm going to have to call a nur-"

I feebly hit him in an attempt to stop him, "You and me both...know that can't happen. I'll be fine...just need a Duel Gazer to...phone Yuma."

Suddenly Astrid appeared out of thin air and looked in horror as she witnessed the scene. "Yumi-chan...you need to hang on! Even though Astral and Yuma are losing and staring into the face of defeat, don't give up hope. Believe in them." She pleaded.

I rolled my head to the side so that I could look at her in the eyes, "How? I can't even...see them."

Astrid held out her hand towards me, "Then I'll let you see what I can see." A bright pink light emitted from her hand and the next thing I knew, I had lost all of my vision in my left eye. I almost panicked because I thought that Astrid has blinded me, but that wasn't the case because when my vision had returned, I could see a duel taking place.

Jin: 3500
Yuma: 1300

It appeared that Yuma was dueling a creepy looking guy called Jin and he was losing badly. I wasn't very concerned until I saw that Jin controlled two Number monsters! One was Number 11: Big Eye (7/2600/2000) and the second was Number 39: Utopia (4/2500/2000)!

Yuma on the other hand controlled no cards and he looked scared, this wasn't good!

"Yuma, you can't give up!" I screamed at him as he looked at me.

"Yumi, I'm in a major pickle! He has Utopia and his trap card is preventing me from summoning any monsters! And worse of all, it's his move." Yuma sighed as Jin drew his sixth card.

"You'll fall into the world of Hades with your friends! Big Eye, attack him directly!" Jin pointed at Yuma with those words.

If Yuma takes this attack, he's finished!

"Yuma, use your trap card!" Astral exclaimed as Yuma nodded.

"I activate Nitwit Outwit! By discarding Dododo Warrior from my hand, I can reduce the amount of damage I would take this turn by the attack of the discarded monster." He explained as the brown warrior appeared in front of Yuma and held his round, brown shield up before Big Eye slammed into it.

Yuma and Astral held their arms in front of their faces and managed to not lose their footing.

Jin: 3500
Yuma: 1000

I gave a mini whoop at Yuma's quick thinking before coughing again.

He may have survived Big Eye's attack, but Utopia can still attack!

"You may have survived Big Eye's attack, but Utopia will attack you directly and win me this duel for Kite-sama!" Jin cackled as Yuma activated his second face-down card.

"I activate Xyz Weight so that Utopia loses 800 attack points for every Overlay Unit he has. He has two so his new attack is 900!" Yuma shouted as two chains appeared from the card and wrapped around Utopia (4/900/2000).

Even though he was bound and covered in a purple aura, he still managed to draw his swords and slash Yuma with it. This time, Astral and Yuma went flying in the air before landing on their stomachs.

Jin: 3500
Yuma: 100

"Yuma, you can still win this!" I yelled as my nose started to bleed heavily and my coughing had increased.

Astrid nodded her head in my direction, "Good job Yumi. You still have hope like I do, I know that they can both win this duel but they don't know. Astral is still scared of Kite..."

My eyes widened with realisation, if Astral doesn't believe in himself then he won't be able to win this duel. He and Yuma need to trust in each other's bond, they will win.

"So you managed to survive both monsters attack, but no matter! I activate the continuous spell card: Twilight Dance. This means neither of us can special summon from their graveyards! Now why don't you just give up, kid? I have two powerful monsters while you control none, you and your honourable friends lives are over! I end my turn."

Yuma was slowly staggering to his feet, he looked really bad and Astral was slowly fading.

"This is...the end." Astral closed his eyes as Astrid gasped.

"No...Onii-san can't say such a ridiculous statement! He can't say that! I won't let him!" Astrid sunk to her knees with a cry.

"There is only one thing for you to do, surrender. If you do, your friends will live. It's quite a good duel, in exchange for your Numbers, your friends will live." He smirked as my fists tightened.

Grrrrrrr, that jerk can't just say that! If Yuma gives up then me, Astrid and Astral are done for! Yuma can't!

"Yumaaaaaaaa," I wailed as Astral rose to his feet and stared at a figure that was shrouded with shadows.

It looked like...Kite?! But that makes no sense because Kite wouldn't just sit idly by while a Numbers duel was taking place...would he?

"Just as I thought...we can't win against him. The chance of us winning is zero; you should just surrender the duel to save your friends." Tears beaded up in the corners of my eyes at his remark.

Astral...you can't mean that...

Yuma's fists were clenching and unclenching on the ground before he rose to his feet. "Stop joking around! All of my friends I've met through dueling, everybody I dueled against is my precious comrades! I can't just abandon them all! If I surrender this duel, I'll never forgive myself because that will mean that Yumi dies and it'll be all my fault! Don't you see, Astral? You and Astrid are my precious comrades! I can't just turn my back on you two; I promised that I would help you!"

Astral looked shocked, "Yuma..."

I nearly smiled at Yuma's words; he really has come a long way with Astral. I couldn't describe how proud I felt at that very moment, but Jin being the evil person he is, ruined the moment.

"Hey brat, just surrender your Number cards and your soul to Kite-sama." Jin started to clean his ear with his pinkie finger which nearly made me gag in disgust.

Yuma grit his teeth together before staring at Kite, "Oi Kite! Is this guy really your servant? Answer me! Is that really Kite over there?" He demanded as Cathy started to run towards it.

"Let's see whose really standing there!" She jumped to the top of the throne before scratching away at it.

The next thing I know, a black head was falling down the stairs before a green gem plopped out of it.

It was a...!

"Fake! I knew that wasn't Kite! I've dueled him before and he doesn't seem like the type of person to take delight in people's suffering! He isn't as petty as you!" Yuma snarled as Jin's face started to waver.

"I've been afraid of...that thing?" Astral looked surprised to see that he had been terrified of such a badly made doll during the entire duel.

But who could blame him? I would have been annoyed as well, Jin is such a snake!

"Jin is such a rotten snake! When I get my hands on him, he'll wish he never-" Astrid stopped mid-rant as my bracelet and Yuma's key started to glow.

"What's happening!" I shouted as something shot into Astral which caused all these blue rings to emit from him.

Once all the glowing stopped, Astral blinked before smiling and turning to Yuma. "Win this Yuma!"

"Astral...Let's go! I draw! I activate the spell card, Comeback! This lets me take back control of Utopia! Come back Utopia!" A golden ray of light shot into Big Eye's, eye which broke the purple aura that surrounded Utopia, his eyes flashed red as he returned back to Yuma's field.

"Everything for a new path to victory has been set!" He pointed her hand at me which caused Yuma's Extra Deck to glow like crazy.

"This is?" Yuma asked as he pulled out a blank card from his Extra Deck which was the source of the glow.

"The power of hope, the emissary who turns confusion into light, Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray (4/2500/2500)!" Astral explained as I started to clap my hands together in delight.

Utopia is going to evolve just like Andromeda did! Yuma is going to win this duel because he never once lost faith!

"Go Yuma!" I cheered along with Astrid as Utopia returned into its sealed form.

"This new evolution will turn Utopia and his Overlay Units into one! Let's go Yuma!" Astral yelled as Yuma held out his new card.

"Chaos Xyz Change, come forth Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray (4/2500/2000)!" Utopia's sealed form flew back into a black portal before it flew back out into its new sealed form.

It basically looked the same as his last form, except he was now entirely black with gold accents and his '39' was all red and distorted.

Jin took a step back in surprise, "Chaos Number you say?! But Big Eye is still stronger!"

I highly doubt that.

My assumptions were correct because it turned out that if Utopia Ray detached an Overlay Unit, its attack points increased by 500 and an opponent's monster lost 1000 attack points. Yuma detached all three Overlay Units to raise Utopia's attack to 4000 and Big Eye's new attack was 0!

"Now Utopia Ray, attack Big Eye with Rising Sun Chaos Slash!" Yuma commanded as Utopia took two of its swords off of his back and used them to slash Big Eye which caused it to explode.

Jin flew backwards from the force of the attack and landed on his back.

Jin: 0
Yuma: 100
WIN: Yuma!

The pain that filled my entire body was slowly ebbing away and I could no longer see Yuma, but I didn't mind because I knew that everything was alright.

Astrid squealed in delight as she started to fly around the entire room, cheering, "They did it! They did it! Yuma and Astral did it!"

I managed to gather enough strength to get off of the chair while Shark tried his best to avoid my pool of vomit as he was barefoot.

"Get out of here Yumi! Before any of the nurses show up! Unless you want to be held prisoner in this hospital," Shark exclaimed as I saluted him.

"Fair point Shark-kun, I'll catch you around school! See ya!" I quickly bolted out from his room and just in time too, I passed a nurse on my way out of the corridor and the next thing I heard was a loud, high pitched scream.

I'm sure Shark will be able to come up with a feasible excuse, but who cares about that right now? I need to find Yuma and congratulate him on a duel well done!

China: Now next chapter, Yumi will be thinking about her mum quite a lot and how it moulded her into the girl she is today. DO NOT MISS IT! And Yumi now has a Duel Gazer Tattoo because Astrid gave it to her.