Chapter 4: Shun appears

About a week had passed since Alice and Astral's duel against flip with astral and Alice accruing two more numbers since then and Astral still remained silent about Alice's sleeping habits, that had continued over the week despite having one good night after the duel with Mr Kay, she had returned to crying at night and Astral still didn't have a way to bring it up, true Astral didn't have much experience with humans before meeting Alice (to his knowledge at least) but he did know that this was not something he could just bring up, he compared the situation to a face down card, not sure how to deal with the situation and whether he should deal with it or leave it face down till later, while Alice's mind was more on the number cards 'at the rate we've been going with collecting the number cards we should have them before the end of the year, but there is no way to constantly grantee running into someone with a number card, in fact as time goes on the rate of people with number cards will go down so is their anyway to track numbers'. With their thoughts occupying them the two continued walking without even taking in their surroundings, but that changed when the two noticed a bright light appeared in the sky and struck the ground "what is that" Alice said "I do not know but it appears to be coming from over there" Astral said as Alice looked to the location being the first place they duelled shark, before Alice could go Astral spoke up "wait" he said "why" "we do not know what is happening, you should go to class now that should allow the situation to play out and we can investigate later" Astral reasoned "okay then" Alice said.

(Meanwhile)

In the centre of the park a boy with raven hair in a purple jacket found himself waking up as he checked his person he noticed something or rather someone missing "Skyress, Skyress where are you" Shun asked "I'm here" Skyress replied, as shun looked to where the voice of his partner came from he found a card

Storm Skyress

Rank 4

2+ level 4 monsters

ATK 2100 DEF 2800

Effect: this card effects change based on the number of XYZ material it had when summoned

1 or more: You can remove on XYZ material from this card this card gain 300ATK and DEF (this effect can only be activated during your turn)

2 or more: this card cannot be targeted spells

3 or more: this card cannot be targeted traps

4 or more: this card cannot be targeted by monster effects

5: this card cannot be destroyed by battle

"What happened to you Skyress" Shun said as picked up her card "as my form has changed I assume we have entered a new world" at this Shun couldn't help but worry about the others 'if I got sent here, what happened to the others he thought' playing the events that he had just experienced

(Flashback)

Alice their friend was masquerade, the same one who sent Dan to the doom dimension and had been working towards the end of the world and then Hal-G appeared which resulted in Alice running from them, the Brawlers tried to stop her from leaving Dan and Shun being closest tried to stop her as she was engulfed in a bright light, before said light expanded and engulfed Shun then Dan

(End flashback)

'that's all I remember, did Hal G transport me and Dan here to get us out of the way while he took Alice' but with that Shun thought of something else "Dan, are you here" he called out, but got no response "I'm sorry Shun but I do not sense him nearby" Skyress said appearing in a sprit from "no way Skyress your" Shun started "yes it appears I can manifest myself in this from, but it does appear to have limits to it" she stated and continued "for instance I can't move far away from the card my physical form has become and you seem to be the only one that can see me" with this Shun figured he better find out what Skyress's new from was

The pair made their way to mall plaza where he saw two people pull out cards and activating a hand mounted mechanical device, without him even noticing a green tattoo appeared over his eye as the duel began, during which the two studied their moves and techniques trying to pick up the game "so instead of ability and gate cards, they have spell and trap cards" Shun said "do not forget about the effects each creature has and their summoning recruitments" Skyress said before a dark aura surrounded one of them "wait what's happening" Shun said

As they watched a number appeared on the guy's hand "I summon Number 70: Malevolent Sin, and now I'll use its special ability to banish your monster" with that done he then attacked his opponent directly and won "you didn't stand a chance" he said before leaving

"What was with that guy" shun asked as he checked on the lousing duellist to see if he was okay "it was that card, the number" Skyress said "number" Shun repeated and the guy he was checking on told him what he knew "oh number, their a type of XYZ monster not many people know about them, but there is something that most people agree on, they change whoever is using them and not in a good way, that guy just now he used to be a good friend of mine but ever since he got that card he changed" he said before passing out

A little while later after he had regained consciousness he told Shun more about the Number his friend had and its effects on him "I think I know how to duel, but those Numbers are of concern" shun said "yes they are" Skyress agreed as the two went back to where they had appeared earlier that day "so can you think of a way to get us back home" Shun asked "no I do not know why we are here in the first place" Skyress said "are you Concerned about Dan" she asked "yeah we both got caught up by that light so I'm unsure of what happened I can't help but be worried" he said before he heard foot prints

After school Alice and Astral headed towards the light that appeared "we may, even now be heading into danger so get ready" Astral said and with that Alice shifted into her duel gear, her hair shifting from its normal orange to a shade of blonde, as the two arrived they scanned the environment for anyone or anything that could be a result from what they saw that morning

As Shun was in his place hiding, trying to observe who was their when Skyress spoke "Shun remember that number card" with this Shun was a little confused as they spent a good part of the afternoon talking about them "what about it" he asked "I sense the person approaching has one, no wait they have at least four of them" she stated "four number cards, what could that do to a person" he said taking a look at the figure, when he caught sight of them "no way, masquerade" he said started

Alice and Astral were looking around when a voice called "no way, masquerade" they heard 'what does he mean masquerade' Astral thought recognising the name from something Alice said "wait that sounds like Shun" Alice said looking over to the direction where the voice came from

When Shun approached he saw Alice "Shun it is you" Alice said as she approached him "wait" he said and Alice stopped "I need to know if I can trust you" Shun said to her "so let's go you and me" he finished "alright" she said "Lets duel"

Turn 1: Shun-4000LP

"Alright first I summon RA's Disciple, who lets me special summon two more RA's Disciple's from my hand or deck" RA's Disciple Level 4 ATK 1100 DEF 600 "now I overlay my 3 RA's Disciple in order to XYZ summon Storm Skyress" Storm Skyress rank 4 ATK 2100 "with that I place two cards face down your up"

Turn 2: Alice-4000LP

'Shun has Skyress as a card, does that mean that I have Hydranoid in my deck' Alice thought before being interrupted by Astral "Alice do you know this person" he asked "yeah he's a friend of mine" she said hesitantly 'at least he was, before I' Astral noticed that Alice was starting to panic a bit, so he directed the conversation to the game "Alice it's your turn" with that Alice drew "alright I summon Gagaga magician" Gagaga magician Level 4 ATK 1500 "next I place two cards face down and end my turn"

Turn 3: Shun-4000LP

"Alright I draw, now I activate Skyress special abilities and Skyress gains 300 ATK points, now Skyress attack Gagaga magician" Shun said declaring his attack , "I activate the trap card half unbrake, now Gagaga magician can't be destroyed and I only take half the damage" Alice responded

Skyress 2400 Attacks Gagaga magician 1500 ATK, Alice losses 450LP

Turn 4: Alice-3550LP

'Alright then Gagaga magician is still on my field, all I need is one level 4 monster then I can summon utopia' Alice thought before drawing "Gagaga girl, you can use that to match Gagaga magician level to XYZ summon" Astral said "you know if I talk to you I look like an insane person" Alice said before making her move "alright I summon Gagaga girl in Attack mode" Gagaga girl Level 3 ATK 1000 " now by using her special ability she becomes the same level as Gagaga Magician, now I overlay Gagaga girl and Gagaga Magician"

'Alright here comes Hydranoid, Alice if you are really yourself then you could never use Hydranoid without feeling guilty, it's a low trick but the only way I can know your Alice and not masquerade for sure'

"I XYZ summon Number 39: Utopia" Utopia 39 Rank 4 ATK 2500

'Wait Alice has a number card'

"Now since I used Gagaga girl and Gagaga Magician to XYZ summon, Gagaga girls special ability reduces Skyress ATK to 0, now utopia ATK Skyress"

'Skyress won't be able to survive this'

"Now I use one overlay unit, to stop utopia's Attack"

'What's she doing?'

"Now I activate double or nothing, if a monster I control has its attack negated it can attack again but this time with double the attack"

Utopia ATK 5000 destroys Skyress ATK 0, Shun loses 5000LP

Shun 4000-0LP

Alice Win

'I don't know if Alice is herself or can even be trusted, but I should keep my eye on her' Shun thought before Alice's outfit shifted back to her school uniform, Shun then remembered something that had be bothering him "have you seen Dan, I've looked around but haven't seen him since I got here after the arena battle" Shun said "wait Shun the battle in the arena, how long has it been since then" Alice asked him "well it was this morning or yesterday, the time zone is a little off" Shun replied "Shun I got here a week ago" Alice told him, with this Shun took a minute to take in the information "if that's the case, does that mean that Dan might turn up later he was right next to me" Shun said "he is right Alice if your friend Shun arrived here as you did but much later despite leaving mere moments apart then this Dan he refers to may also arrive at a later time" Astral said 'oh right Shun can't see Astral' Alice thought "yes I think your right" Alice responded to Shun

Later the Shun and Alice were walking "so we're stuck here" Shun said "yes it seems like it" Alice said as the kept walking "where are we going" Shun asked "well I was thinking of going back to the dorm for dinner then turning in for the night" Alice said "what dorm" Shun asked "well without anyway back I figured I should enrol in a school for now and the one I chose has dorms for some of their students" Alice explained "Shun, Alice is right you may be here for a while it's important to have an education" Skyress said to Shun 'might as well' he thought

When they got back Alice showed Shun to her dorm then left , unknown to the knowledge that since Alice was just in the down the hall Astral was still in the room "Skyress I want your opinion on Alice" Shun said "while the rest of the battle brawlers were quick to forgive Alice you cannot forget that she is masquerade and may have been well aware of it and even if she didn't know the fact that she has a number card in her possession is suspicious, you should not trust her" she answered him then Shun said "I had no intension to trust her" he said before Alice walked in with two plates "there's a communal kitchen so I thought I would whip up something" she said putting down the plates, the two of them ate in relative silence while Astral observed Shun 'observation number 4, just because you trust people does not mean they trust you, sub observation 4 A, I trust Alice', When they finished Alice retired for the night