Zak was at ends with himself as he walked through the rain aimlessly. While his true ace cards and his true friends were back with him in his execution deck, he felt no better about himself. The thoughts of the pain and suffering he'd caused since he'd returned from the cold Heartland were constantly preying on his mind. Zak had no idea what to do now as so many different thoughts and idea flooded his mind.

Number Zero.

Number Thirteen.

Execution Deck.

Angel.

Where was he to begin? Zak simply sighed at his own inability to choose. He had no idea where Kite's Duel Ghost or Number Zero were or even what they were truly planning, so that was a dead end. He could simply go and hunt down a Numbered Duelist and demand some answers, but that just didn't feel right after his last duel. Number Thirteen, its Chaos Evolution and Number 50 were all now residing in Zak's deck; but summoning any of them was an ordeal in itself with the cards he now used. Even his own Synchro monster, Crimson Blader, could not be summoned without the opponent having a Tuner monster.

And the execution deck itself was no longer as invincible as Zak had once thought. Angel had just defeated it, not to mention it had next to no capabilities of Synchro or Xyz Summoning. All it could do was beat down opponents with large Attack points and Skill Drain, which was a card Zak had only used once so far in a duel that lasted two turns. The deck was a combination of the cards had previously owned in his original Number Hunting deck and the cards he'd scrounged from the alternate timestream. After Number Zero's defeat, over half the cards would disappear and Zak would be left without a full deck. This, of course, was not something he was looking forward to.

And finally there was Angel, the girl that had stood by Zak's side the entire time of his hunting. The girl that had helped him time and again and one of the only true friends Zak had ever had. And now Zak had alienated her with his desire for vengeance. After another saddened sigh drowned out by the rain, Zak finally resolved to head to the place where he always felt at home; the rooftop of Heartland Hospital. The walk to such a place was a short one indeed, and so Zak decided to pick up the trudging pace he held at the moment.

Upon reaching the street of the Hospital, Zak looked to the sky near the roof of the Hospital he called home. Under the downpour of the rain, Zak swore he could hear voices from the roof. Normally Zak would have assumed that there was an emergency and the voices would be from the medics and paramedics on scene. But these voices were different and sounded in a familiar tone. The tone and flow was a competitive one; was there a duel taking place of the roof of Heartland Hospital? Zak frowned, he was interested now. Normally he would be the one duelling at such a location; even if those duels had been life or death situations for the most part. Who could possibly be duelling now, and in the rain?

Zak looked around for hope of an answer, but only spotted a figure atop another tall office building overlooking the Hospital roof. The figure, even though he was miniscule from Zak's vantage, was all too recognizable as he stood overlooking the duel taking place. Kite and his robot, Orbital 7, were up to something and Zak was all too eager to find out what it was. It had been a while since Zak and Kite had clashed, and Zak felt a strange sense of rivalry toward the Photon duellist. Finally deciding on a plan, Zak rushed toward the base of the building that Kite stood atop. The doors flung open as a drenched Zak rushed toward the elevator; surprising civilians as he did. The elevator ride wasn't quite as fast as the one that existed in the Hospital; but it was good enough to give Zak time to think about what he was actually doing.

Zak remembered his clashes with Kite, and there was no doubt a high chance of a duel taking place between them once Zak reached the roof. This gave Zak second thoughts about his actions; was he ready to duel such a powerful opponent if the event arose? He'd just lost to his closest friend and was now in a bit of a wreck. Surely this would lower his chances against Kite in a duel. But before Zak could think about trying to escape his plausible fate; the elevator doors had dinged open for the rooftop of the office building. The sound and movement had caused Kite to shift his focus from the duel on top of the Hospital roof to the newcomer. Kite raised his duel disk as he recognized Zak exiting from the elevator, but Zak raised his arms as a sign of peace; he knew that he was not ready to duel just yet.

Kite frowned and lowered his arm, maintaining Zak's gaze. Zak could tell that Kite was remembering their previous clash and was trying to determine what to do about Zak's presence now of all times.

'Hey… Kite,' Zak tried to begin.

'Why are you here?' Kite snapped quickly, breaking through the small talk.

Zak nodded and lowered his head, 'I was wondering the same thing of you. I mean you no harm.'

'Fine. There's a duel which I have taken an interest in atop the Heartland Hospital. You now know what I'm up to, so leave.'

Zak found himself a tad annoyed but Kite's attitude. While he himself wasn't exactly the social type, Zak saw Kite's manner of speaking as simply rude. As such, Zak made no effort to leave. Though he was in a bit of a weakened mental state; Zak was not about to let Kite of all people push him around.

'Who's duelling?' Zak asked strongly, walking to where Kite stood. This action noticeably annoyed Kite even Orbital 7 to an extent.

Kite didn't even answer and simply waited for Zak to recognize the two duellists. Zak put on his D-Gazer and squinted at the rooftop of the Hospital which was across the street from them. To his shock, Zak recognized both Shark and Yuma as the two duellists. Yuma's field was not one that Zak considered a strong defence: only two low level 'Gogogo' monsters in defence position and a Continuous Spell to try to protect from Effect damage. Shark's field was a different story though; with three Xyz monsters all up and the Attack points to match. Shark rested on a reasonable 3000 Life Points while Yuma stood with 1100. Zak was questioning how Yuma had managed to become Duel Champion at all.

'Is there a reason behind this duel?' Zak asked calmly, hoping Kite would at least respond.

'Long story,' Was all Zak received.

Zak took that as a message to just watch and stay silent; so Zak did just that. Shark had just directed all of his monsters to wage a full on assault which would have been the end of Yuma; but by some miracle: Yuma was still standing with one monster, Gagaga Gardna, and 100 Life Points. Shark had then ended his turn. Zak was interested in Yuma as he had been for quite some time; the latter possessed Numbers and was the Duel Champion. Zak had duelled Yuma's Duel Ghost in the alternate timestream which had ended in a draw, much to Zak's annoyance. No matter how well Yuma duelled, Zak had never seen him as a powerful duellist. Then again, he'd never seen Yuma duel first hand and now was his chance to do just that.

Zak and Kite watched in silence as Yuma summoned Ganbara Knight. Zak had no idea what Yuma was going to do against the 3000 Life Points and three Xyz monsters that Shark had against him, but surely the Duel Champion could do something at least. Yuma overlayed his two monsters into Heroic Champion – Excalibur; which Zak smiled at. This was the Duel Champion that Zak had hoped for. Upon equipping his new Xyz monster with an equip card called The Strongest Shield and then using the monster's effect, Yuma had raised its Attack to 8000 no less. A single slash from the great warrior was all that was needed for Yuma to end the duel against all odds in his favour. Zak was impressed, but had seen enough. He turned back toward the elevator as the duel ended. Kite stayed put and watched Yuma try to hug Shark as the rain cleared up. Zak looked to the sky as a rainbow formed and muttered 'typical' under his breath as he walked.