Zak soon realised that Shark was an ex-professional Duelist who attended the same school as Zak did. Shark was in the year below him and was a feared duelist. Zak himself had never faced him until now. The two duelists seemed evenly matched, despite the victory would've had if the duel hadn't been called off but that didn't matter, as Shark had shown control over his Number and Zak was pleased that other people could do it. It was midday now and Zak walked through the garden with no specific destination in mind. He just walked until he was sure he was alone. When he was certain that he wouldn't be disturbed he found a quiet spot near a tall tree and sat. He reached into his extra deck and retrieved Number Thirteen.

It was time for another search for a Number and its respective holder. Zak placed the dark card between his hands, closed his eyes and began to focus. It was easier to use the resonance now that he'd done it a few times. The image that it produced was more vivid than the last few times he'd done it. It had been a snapshot of the local pool near Heartland Theme Park. The pool itself was closed today because of the World Duel Carnival and, for some reason; there had been no sign of anyone in the snapshot.

Zak frowned and decided to use the resonance again, just to be sure. He focused hard on the Number between his hands and, once again, it showed him the same area of the pool. There was still no one there, at least in the image. The situation seemed strange to Zak. Why would Number Thirteen show him an empty area? Did it want him to go there anyway? Zak concluded that since he was a Number Hunter and Thirteen had shown him a place where there should be a Number, he had no choice but to check it out. The pool was a short distance beyond Heartland Theme Park, just in the middle of a suburb close by. Zak knew a shortcut to it from where he was now and resolved to hurry.

After returning Thirteen to his extra deck and making sure everything was in check; Zak stood up and rushed off. He had a bad feeling in his gut about this location; something just didn't seem right. Maybe Kite was there? If so, Zak knew he'd have no choice but to face him. And this time, he'd control his own Number and win. As he ran through the streets and alleys, Zak thought back to his duel with Kite and Angel. He'd let Angel down, and then let himself down by not controlling his own rage and darkness. If he'd used Breaker the Magical Warrior's effect before overlaying it, he would have beaten Kite and wouldn't be in this mess. But that was in the past and so it was done. All Zak could do now was live, learn and hope.

He'd reached the pool now and saw the locked gate. He needed another way in and reasoned that if someone had gotten in another way, then so could he. Zak walked around the perimeter and looked through the mesh fence. No matter how hard he looked, he could not see anyone. But the feeling of dread was getting worse; there was someone, or something, here and it was dangerous. Zak wondered if whoever, or whatever, it was had more than one Number: maybe it was a Number Hunter. The dark presence that accompanied the Numbers was strong here. Zak saw his way in: a sag in the mesh fence a few metres away. He could crawl under it easily. Zak walked over to it and lifted up the sage to make a hole big enough for him to crawl through. The sense of dread was urging him to back away now.

Zak had to ignore it and swallow his fear; he was on a mission to hunt the Numbers, save Heartland from them and rescue Angel's soul. He managed to slide through the whole with a little difficulty. He looked around for the exact place that the vision had shown him. It was just ahead of him; a platform right in the middle of the pool with a few smaller platforms leading to it. Zak leapt from platform to platform to reach the one in the middle. When he reached the middle of the platform he looked around, hoping to spot anyone or anything that might give him some idea of what to do next. But there was nothing, except to dark presence and the sense of dread.

Zak considered using the resonance again, but concluded that it would show him the same place. He had to find and defeat whoever was here first. He looked around harder this time and attempted to scrutinize every last bit of his surroundings for any small clue to what was going on. But still nothing that could help, just a seemingly empty pool and surrounding buildings. Zak sighed and looked at the ground in despair. Then he saw something. Something had been written on the ground right where he stood. It was too small to see from where he was standing; so Zak knelt down to inspect it closely.

To his surprise, it was a small scrawling of the symbols that made the number '13.' It was written in the same font that appeared on every Number. Zak stood up in shock as he realised what was happening: this was a trap. A trap set specifically for him. There was someone here who had been watching him for a while now, learning his every move and waiting for a chance to strike. But who was it? Another Number Hunter or a Numbered Duelist? That was the most likely case. Zak looked around cautiously, the sense of dread climaxing within him. Then a wave of cold came over him and he turned around slowly to face his fear.

Where there had been nothing for the entire time Zak had been here, was a cloaked figure. The figure wore a complete black outfit of sorts. He had a black hoodie, boots, jeans and gloves such as Zak did. However, the figure also possessed a long flowing black cloak that was caught in the wind behind him. It was wrapped around his neck in such a way that it covered the lower half of his face. The figure also possessed a degree of armour the same as Zak did. Silver scales and plates were present on the figure's shoulders, knees, gloves, boots and cloak. The figure also had a gauntlet-Duel Disk similar to Zak's. However, it did not have a few of the metal plates present on Zak's own one. It was as if they had been ripped off somehow. The figure's Duel Disk looked quite worn.

There was one last thing Zak noticed about the figure. His face was completely covered in shadow thrown by his hood, but his eyes glowed light silver. Overall, the mysterious figure seemed like a grim reaper of duelling. Zak watched him steadily and waited for the figure to make a move. But the figure was patient and mirrored Zak's gaze equally. Both knew what was going to happen, but Zak didn't know the outcome. He had never seen this person before, yet he seemed familiar somehow. After five long minutes of complete silence, the figure engaged his Duel Disk. Zak swallowed his fear one last time and did the same. This duelist was going to be tough, maybe even tougher than Kite. Zak turned on the D-Gazer behind his mask, but the figure didn't seem to have one. Maybe his glowing eyes were D-Gazers in themselves, Zak thought.

The scenery seemed to darken in the figure's presence as Zak found by his D-Gazer. The sky turned to night and the water stilled completely. The dark presence flowed like a waterfall from Zak's new opponent. If he had a Number, then it was darker than Number Thirteen and Zak didn't know what to expect. Zak could only hope that the mysterious figure wasn't as good a duelist as he looked. The Augmented Reality vision finished covering the darkened area and the duel began. Zak' heart was racing, but the figure stood completely still.

[Zak: 4000] [?: 4000]