Time to answer some reviews!
Raven Tsurara- Glad that I make your day
VongolaHermit- Sorry if you got confused about Shadow Yuma. I always saw that when a shadow gets rejected, it seeks to kill and replace the original. I don't know if that just my observation or an actual thing. When writing Shadow Yuma I tend to write him as someone who is slowly losing sanity.
Matt- You say tomato and I say tomato
Dr. Weird- Thanks for the encouragement. And when I saw your name I thought it looked familiar. When I check your stuff I recognized your stories I read way back when. Talk about a small world.
Star Dragon 0- Thanks for catching the Izanagi misspelling. I don't know how I missed that. It has been fix.
The battle was not going well. All the Persons had taken a lot of damage so their attacks weren't as strong as before. Plus Hope Ray V kept bringing Yuma into the line of fire forcing them to cancel their attacks or having to redirect them. Yuma had taken a few hits as well. To sum it up, they were losing.
Yu rubbed his shoulder as Izanagi took another hit. He could tell that Yuma was about to lose consciousness if they didn't rescue him soon. He was about to switch out to a heavier hitter Persona when he heard a groan behind him. That's right, he forgot about Yuma's ghost friend Astral.
He ran over to check on him. He was fading in and out which Yu took as a bad sign. He reached down to help him up but much to his surprise, his hand when right through Astral's shoulder.
"Don't bother…I'm not a corporeal being…" Astral groaned and he tried to get up, "Just help Yuma."
"Were trying but that thing is just too strong." There was no way to put is lightly, Yu knew that. Right now they were losing and they needed to figure out something to turn the battle around. Then Yu got an idea, "Astral, you seem to know something about that thing. What can you tell me?"
Astral gave him a quizzical look. His answer then confused him, "Only a Number can destroy another Number. Your summons won't make a scratch."
"You mentioned those before, what are they?"
"Cards with unbelievable strong power sealed in them."
"I don't suppose you have one."
Astrals eyes widen as something came to him, "Of course…..we may not have Hope…but we have the others." He rose and assumed his floating position as he raised is left arm and light collected around him created some sort of blue slender device on his arm which Yu spotted a slot in it that was holding cards, the same Duel Monster cards that Yuma had. Astral then drew the top card.
"Please work," he whispered to himself. He then slammed the card onto the device.
At first, nothing. Then, a flash of blinding light. Even Hope Ray V had to shield its eyes.
What on earth are you plotting Astral!?
The barely conscious Yuma looked over to his friend as and the light forming and smiled.
"Do it Astral."
Astral nodded as if he had heard, "Rise Number 17, Revise Dragon!"
The light faded as the long serpentine dragon bearing the number 17 on its horn snarled and bared it teeth at Hope Ray V.
"Okay….that's pretty cool," Yosuke commented.
"But is it a Persona?" Yukiko wondered aloud.
"I don't think so, the reading it's not the same," Rise said, "In fact, it's closer to Yuma's shadow."
"But it doesn't smell like a shadow!" Teddie yelled.
"Forget what it is I don't want that thing to eat us!" Kanji cried out.
"Fear not," Astral said trying to calm everyone, "I'll make sure he won't."
Don't make promises you can't keep! Hope Ray V declared as he brought down its sword towards Revise Dragon only for it to curl out of the way wrapping around Hope Ray V's sword arm then biting down the arm holding Yuma, hard.
With a loud cry of pain, Hope Rave V's hold on Yuma was released dropping Yuma towards the ground but Take-Mizazuchi was there to catch him and brought him to the safety of the others.
Yukiko and Chie helped Yuma up and steadied the poor boy. "Are you going to be alright?" Yukiko asked worryingly.
Yuma seemed to ignore her and coughed air back into his lungs, "Where's Astral?"
"I'm right here Yuma, are you alright?"
"I recommended that you turn your attention back to the matter at hand." Naoto cautioned, "Your dragon is losing."
She was right, the only wound that Revise Dragon had made was the bite mark from before and now its body was covered in sword wounds. With one more stroke of a sword, Hope Ray V cut Revise in half destroying it.
Is that the best you've got?!
Astral gritted his teeth and gripped his shoulders as pain racked through his body as he tried not to scream. If having a Number destroyed here was like losing life points in a duel, he had to be careful about who to summon next. If he took to many hits, he may vanish.
Yu switched out Izanagi to summon Valkyrie. "We'll buy you some time, summon another one of those quick!"
"Yu, are you sure we can rely on him?" Yosuke brought up a good point.
"Do you have a better idea? You saw that dragon he summoned was the only thing to cause damage so far."
Everyone looked at each other with faces of uncertainly. But they really didn't have time to question this further, Hope Ray V was reading his next attack.
Astral immediately looked through the deck trying to figure out which Number to summon next. He didn't want to risk summoning 8 or 92, those might be too powerful to control in this situation. He was about to reach for 11 but then Yuma spoke.
"It's all my fault."
Everyone within ear shot turn to Yuma shocked, Astral especially.
"It's all my fault…I'm just hurting everyone around me."
"That's not true."
Yuma glanced up at his partner, "Astral…"
Astral gave a soft smile, "Didn't you teach me that making mistakes is part of being human?"
Yuma frowned again, "But what I did was not a simple mistake! I hurt you! We were supposed to be a team and I hid stuff from you! And he…." Yuma couldn't even look at that shadow as tears began to form, "He's right, I just act happy as a face. I thought I was over everything that happened in Saragasso but in reality it was just eating me up inside. I….I…."
Whatever he planned to say next was interrupted by Yu placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"It sounds like your carrying a little too much right now. You're not alone Yuma."
Yuma looked at him, then at the rest of the team. Despite being beaten down a lot, they were all giving him supportive smiles.
Yosuke's smile evolved into a grin, "Sounds like you just need to get a lot off of your chest. Don't worry, we all carry some sort of emotional baggage with us that we don't want others finding out."
Rise gave Yuma a pat on the head, "You might not believe this but…we all went through the same thing here. We all faced a part of ourselves that we didn't want to admit that was there."
Yuma's eyes widened, "You….all went through this?"
Kanji shrugged, "We might not want to admit the details," This got snickers from the rest of the group, "But you're not alone in this thing kid."
Teddie waved his arms to get attention, "They're right, you don't have to bottle things up. We're used to crazy things around here."
"We do want a full story later," Yukiko smiled, "But for now, we can help you accept this."
Yuma faced his shadow in shock, "I have to accept him?!"
"It's hard but you can do it," Chie smiled, "We have faith in you."
"We do?" This earned Yosuke a punch in the face from Chie and Yukiko.
Yuma got a small laugh from that. With some renewed strength, he got to his feet and stood next to Astral. "Sorry for making you worried Astral."
Astral smiled, "It's good to have you back Yuma"
What…..I don't believe this….
Hope Ray V's form has begun to fizzle, a sign that it was weakening.
Yuma doesn't need any of you! He's better off alone!
"You're wrong!"
Hope Ray V stood shocked at Yuma's outcry.
"You're wrong, I was never alone. Even what I thought I was…there was someone out there for me. And even here…away from my friends, I'm surrounded by others who accept me for who I am and don't care about my past. But I do know this now, you are part of me. The part of me that came from my denials. But I won't reject you anymore! I'll accept you and become stronger than ever before!"
Why you…..I won't go back to you! Hope Ray V raised its blade ready to make one more desperate strike.
Astral simply held out a card to Yuma and with a nod, he took hold of it and they both held it out declaring,
"We summon Number 6! Ooparts Atlandis!"
The investigation team stood in awe as they saw the volcanic titian form clearly standing several stories taller than Hop Ray V. Then it raised its massive fist ready to attack.
"Go Atlandis! Divine Punishment!"
With the command, Atlandis gathered power in its fist and punched Hope Ray V which he parried with a sword and tried to throw Atlandis off balance. Despite its large size, the titan kept its footing the volcano shooting off fresh magma. Hope Ray V could do nothing as he got coated in the melted earth screaming pain.
WHY YOU MONGRE-
Whatever he meant to say was cut off as he saw Atlandis' fist which was clearly larger than him coming in from above smashing into him sending him straight to the floor. Atlandis pulled its fist back once more and delivered one final punch.
The battle was over.
Yuma's perky grin returned to his face, "We did it!"
Yu didn't want to be the party pooper but he had to have Yuma do the important part, "Not quite actually." He then pointed to the clearing smoke where Shadow Yuma had returned kneeling on the ground.
Yuma gulped but after a small nudge from Yu and a reassuring nod from Astral, he took a step forward to the shadow.
Once he was right in front of him, the shadow gave him a death glare. Yuma ignored it and instead, extended his hand to his shadow.
What's that for?
"It's just a hand, no tricks or traps."
Shadow Yuma scoffed, You think after all that, I will just go back?
"We all deserve a second chance. Even myself."
After a few tense moments, and several more glares, the shadow then accepted the offered hand. Thank you.
In a comforting light, the shadow changed again. This time it took the form of a white and gold knight with metal wings and the number 39 appearing again on the shoulder. It then faded as the Persona card floated down to Yuma who outstretched his hands to catch it. But to everyone's surprise, when it reached Yuma, it turned into a Duel Monsters card.
Yuma smiled and took the card, "Welcome back Hope." And with that, his legs gave out from under him.
With a flash the entire team was there to catch him. Kanji heaved him onto his back, "Poor kid's wiped out."
"We need to get him back to the outside world," Chie stated, "And come up with a reasonable story for his disappearance to tell the police."
"That's all fine and dandy guys but…" Yosuke pointed at Astral, "What are we going to do about him?"
"That can be a priority for later," said Naoto, "Right now we need to get Yuma to a doctor."
"He's standing right there guys," Yukiko pointed out, "Plus, he did help us out so I think we can give him the benefit of the doubt."
"And he doesn't smell like a shadow so I don't think he means any harm." Teddie chimed in his two cents.
Yu was the only one to approach Astral, "Can we see you on the other side?"
Astral shook his head, "I'm only visible to Yuma and a few of his friends from his home town."
"I cannot not understand how nothing fazes him," Chie muttered.
"We'll worry about that later than Astral. Well let Yuma rest then we can ask him about what happened. I promise we won't press into details that you don't feel comfortable." Yu reassured him.
"Thank you Narukami."
"Let's hurry on back then," Naoto checked her watch, "We've been here for over an hour, and our absence must have been noticed by now."
"Yeah, we don't want Yu's uncle to be suspicious of us." Yosuke agreed.
The group started to make their way out of the castle while Astral hung back a bit to observe them. You risked your lives to save someone you barely knew for a few days. A trait that Yuma shares….thank you for saving him. Astral was about to follow them until he heard a dark chuckle behind him. He spun around, his heart rate spiked. But there was nothing behind him.
"Astral, are you coming? Is something wrong?" Yu asked.
"No…..I thought I heard something."
"You must be exhausted as well. Let's get the two of you back."
Astral scanned the area behind him one more time. He was certain the laugh he heard sounded like a Shadow. Reluctantly he turned back to follow the group back to the real world.
Unseen by anyone as they left, in the reflection of the smooth stone, a dark wisp with glowing eyes watched the group's departure.
Seems like I can't form just yet. Just keep coming back other half…..we'll face each other soon.
With that, the wisp vanished.
*dramatic chord plays!*
Shadow Yuma is over, I kept rewriting the acceptance scene until it felt right. Also kept tweaking the fight scenes. Next chapter might be a little delayed but I'm going to keep trying to do a chapter a week since I do have material up to chapter 9 written. Keep sending in those reviews, it makes me happy every time I see one in my inbox.
Zexal 144…..WHY ASTRAL!? NOW'S NOT A GOOD TIME TO COMMITE GENOCIDE!