I've decided to continue only because of the dissatisfaction of not seeing this story through. Also, sorry for all the inconsistent past tense present tense throughout this story. I'll try to fix that in the later chapters. Let me know what you think.

Shark is surrounded by his former companions. It truly saddened them to see them so corrupted. If only he could reach out to them. But he knew better than that. He knew the only way to get to Michael was to duel the Barian Emperors.

Shark activated his Duel Disk and his Life Point counter appeared. The Barians did the same. However, they took their turns at the same time. "We activate Rank Up Magic the Seventh One! This allows us to rank up any of our Over-Hundred Numbers!"

Suddenly, their monsters appeared, and they were turned into Overlay Units. After the Overlay Network appeared, the Chaos forms of all the Over-Hundred Numbers appeared. However, Shark didn't seem phased at all.

Astral sees this and says, "Shark, why do you look so calm? You're going against five Over-Hundred Numbers."

Shark smiled and replied, "If it's anything I know about dueling, it's that you'll always come out on top if you believe in your deck."

Astral also smiled and nodded in agreement. Shark then gave off a serious expression. "Alright, Astral, shall we?"

Shark held out his hand to Astral and Astral said, "Let's."

Astral and Shark built the Overlay Network and used the power of Zexal. Shark once again appeared in his blue and black armor. Shark and Astral's voices both became one.

"Now, my move! Shining Draw!"

Shark drew his card and a blue light appeared on top of it. "I activate the Spell Card, Rank Up Magic United Force! If there's more than one Number on the field, then that means I can use them as Overlay Units and summon a Chaos Number from my Extra Deck! Not only that, but if I go against more than one duelist, I can attack each of them once. But if I don't beat you this turn, I lose the Duel."

All of the Over-Hundred Numbers gathered together to create the Overlay Network. "Now, I summon, Number Chaos 73: Abyss Supra Splash!"

Abyss Supra Splash appeared on the field, in glowing blue and yellow armor wielding a spear made of chaos energy appeared.

"Next, I equip Aqua Jet to Abyss, so he now gains 1000 Attack Points!"

Abyss's Attack Point counter rose to 4000.

"Now, Abyss, bring them to their senses! Attack them all directly!"

Abyss launched five different beams of chaos energy on each of the Barians, causing them to fall backwards, knocked out. Their energies then disappeared toward the castle Michael ad pointed out.

Shark and Astral separated. Astral staggered and Shark said, "Astral! Are you alright?"

Astral looked at his hand and saw it was faded. "It seems I only had enough power for that Zexal Morph. I'm afraid until I regain it, you will have to fight without Zexal."

Shark replied, "I see. In that case, let's make our way towards the castle and rescue Yuma."

Astral smiled and started following Shark towards the spiraling castle. Meanwhile, Michael in his Astral form looked out the window.

"So, it seems the Barians were defeated swiftly and easily. That's no surprise considering Zexal was involved. But I wonder what they'll do now without it. Let's find out, shall we?"

After a few minutes, Shark and Astral reached the tower, and the door was open. Astral commented, "He's welcoming us in."

Shark chuckled. "We'll show him what happens when you get cocky."

Shark climbed the tower for what seemed like an eternity, but he finally reached a door. When he went through it, he saw Michael staring at him with his Duel Disk activated.

"Hello, Nash. It's time I defeat you once and for all so you can become part of my collection."