So this chapter is just a little late but don't worry, I hope you enjoy. Now answering time-

VongolaHermit- I have plans for Astral's shadow and as for the Zexal form, the current plan for that is still a ways off so you might have to wait a while.

BahamutX987- I actually debated combining the last two chapters together but I decided to leave them separate but I can see why they could work together. 96 will appear soon so sit tight. Yeah those translations were debatable when Zexal started so thanks for pointing that out.

Guest- Yeah I don't want Zexal to end either. If you want to get familiar with Persona 4, I recommend watching the anime since that's the continuity that I'm following. The games have a lot of content that I don't think I'll be able to fit into this fic.

The group wasted no time getting Yuma back to the normal world. They handed him off to the waiting police officers with the excuse that they found him unconscious inside one of the storage units in the back of the store. Thankfully they bought this excuse and took Yuma for a quick trip to the hospital for examination. Now that he had been found, they were free to head home. They investigation team started to make the trek home, now it appearing longer than it really was due to how tired they were and the fact it was close to 2 o clock in the morning.

"I'm beat…" Kanji moaned, "Who knew the shadow of a 13 year old would be so powerful."

"But I think Yuma is not a normal 13 year old," Chie chimed in, "He's got a ghost following him."

"Speaking of which," Yosuke looked around, "Where is he?"

"I think I saw him following the paramedics that were taking Yuma," said Teddie.

"He was that shimmer you kept seeing?" Yukiko asked surprisingly.

"Yeah…but this time he was kind of see through. He wasn't as clear as he was in the TV world."

"I guess something in the TV world makes him visible." Yu concluded.

"It's obvious Yuma is caught up in something not connect with the TV world at all." Naoto started to deduce, "It must involve Astral and those Number cards."

"I wish we could ask Yuma for more information but right now he just needs rest," Rise sighed.

"I think he'll be a great addition to the team."

Everyone stared at Yu in shock. Did he just seriously propose having a 13 year old join their team?

"Um Yu…..you do realize that Yuma is just 13 right?" Yosuke questioned Yu's sanity, "Isn't he a little young to be dealing with a murder case?"

"I think he can handle it." Yu was rather confident in his decision.

"I think it's better if we just ask him." Chie proposed, "We don't want to put too much on his plate."

"Yeah," Yosuke yawned, "I just want to go to bed."

With quick goodbyes, everyone returned home hoping to get some sleep.

Yuma groaned as he cracked his eyes open. The first thing he noticed was they large amount of white around him. It then hit him, he was in the hospital! He sat up quickly, then quickly regretted it and flopped back into the pillow.

"So you're awake."

Yuma expression brightened, "Astral! What happened?"

"After the defeat of your…'shadow'….you collapsed from exhaustion. The others brought you back where the doctors checked you in for the night. I'm certain that the police will be questioning you so I advise you keep what happened inside the television a secret for now."

"Yeah," Yuma rubbed his forehead, "I don't think they'll believe it anyway."

Astral nodded, "Are you feeling better?"

"Physically yes…emotionally…that's a whole 'nother story."

Astral raise a nonexistent eyebrow, "Is what he said still bothering you?"

"A little…" Yuma bit his lip, "It's just hard to understand that was part of me."

"I suggest you speak to Narukami and the others about this when they visit. I'm…probably not the best person to help you with that."

"That's not true," Yuma sat more, more carefully this time, "You're always a big help."

Astral shook his head, "I'm afraid not this time. I still don't understand human emotions fully."

They sat in silence for several moments until Yuma spoke again, "Astral….do you…still hate me? For what happened about Vector?"

Astral blinked in surprise. It was several more moments before he answered, "I'm still rather upset that you hid many things about Shingestu's nature from me and lied about where you got the Barian's card…" Yuma flinched

"However…" Yuma looked up hopefully.

"I understand that you just wanted to protect me and that you were panicked that the Barians were going to take me away. I knew that you never wanted to hurt me in fact…I think I owe an apology to you."

"But…why?" Yuma couldn't think of anything that Astral needed to apologize for.

Astral broke eye contact and continued, "For using you and your body….after falling into darkness."

Then it hit Yuma, he was apologizing for Dark Zexal.

"That wasn't your fault…that was Vectors fault."

"No it wasn't…..I gave in to Vectors words…and did exactly what he wanted. He wanted to break our bond…and I nearly allowed that to happen. And for that….I am sorry."

"Astral…..I still don't think you need to apologize….but if it makes you feel better, I forgive you."

Astral smiled, "Thank you Yuma. And I think you have some visitors." He motioned towards the door as a commotion was being heard getting louder and louder.

"Come on Yosuke!"

"I still don't understand why you put all of those flowers on my tab!"

"Will you keep it down? This is a hospital."

"Teddie stop hitting on the nurses!"

"But I'm stud hunting!"

"Will you stop bringing that up!"

Astral chuckled, "Seems like you've made friends with a lively group."

A knock on the door signaled the group's arrival.

"Come in you guys!" Yuma called out to his new friends.

After school, the group planned on visiting Yuma in the hospital hopefully before he was released and before the policed questioned so that their cover stories matched up. They made a quick detour to Junes to get some flowers, which were put on Yosuke's tab again, and headed off to the hospital. Much to their relief, Yuma was awake when they arrived.

"Glad to see you're better" Yu smiled.

"We brought flowers!" Yukiko offered the bouquet to the hospital provided vase.

Yosuke glanced around, "So where's your ghost friend?"

Yuma pointed to the wall, "His name is Astral and he's right there."

"Where?"

"There."

"Here?"

"No, there!"

"Here?"

"Your arm is going right through him."

"Yosuke stop making a fool of yourself." Chie bonked him on the head.

"Shame we can't see him on this side," Rise sighed, "We had so many questions for him."

"Yuma, why are you staring off into the middle distance?" Naoto asked.

It took a second for Yuma to respond, "Oh sorry…Astral was asking about those glasses you guys were wearing yesterday."

"The glasses?" Yu asked.

"Maybe….if they can help us see things in the TV world…"Naoto reached into her pocket and pulled out her glasses, "Maybe they can help us here." She slipped them on, "Hello Astral."

"They work?" Kanji quickly put his on, "No way they do!"

The rest of the group quickly put theirs on letting out oohs and awws upon seeing Astral and yelp from Yosuke when he realized he was standing halfway into him.

Yuma was grateful for this development, "Looks like I won't have to be your interpreter."

Astral shrugged, "It does make it rather convenient for us."

"This is cool you guys!" Yosuke could barely contain his excitement.

Astral ignored the hyperactive boy, "I believe we have some questions for you, as you do for us."

"That's right," Yu said taking a seat, "Where do you want to start?"

"Um Narukami," Chie interjected, "Shouldn't we ask questions first?"

Yu shook his head, "Catching the culprit comes first so we better fill them in. So where do want us to start?" He asked again.

"Preferably the beginning. Yuma might not be able to follow otherwise." This got an interjection from Yuma.

"This might take awhile…"Rise said as she took a seat on a stool.

It took about a good 20 minutes to explain the events from the past April until now. Everything from the first to murder victims to the copycat killer and their current observations. Then Yu moved on to explain Shadows and Personas. This topic Astral was very interested in.

"So Personals are a manifestation of your inner self that you managed to weaponize," Astral was reviewing the information, "Do you know how you got this power in the first place?"

"Well….we just got ours after facing our shadows," said Yukiko, "But Narukami got his first."

"So how did receive yours?"

"I…I don't remember actually," Yu rubbed his head, "I just had it from the beginning."

"And you never questioned this?" Astral brought up a good point.

"Who cares really," Kanji said, "All we care about right now is finding the culprit."

"So Yuma," Naoto changed the subject, "Do you recall what happened before you woke up in the TV world?"

"Ummm…..I ran to get Nanako some flour," Yuma started his story, "I than ran into someone. He asked for my name….but from there I can't remember."

"Great," Yosuke complained, "Just like the others."

"Actually the man stood at about six feet and appeared to be somewhere in is late 30. He weighed about 200 pounds and was wearing a type of uniform."

Everyone stared at Astral in shock. He just gave a very accurate description of the culprit!

Naoto turned the questioning to Astral, "What did he do to Yuma?"

"He placed a cloth over his mouth and it did something to him for him to fall asleep. He then dragged Yuma into a back room where a TV was set up. He then threw Yuma through the screen and I felt a force pull me in as well."

"That's extremely precise!" Chie was shocked.

"I never forget anything I observed."

"That's a handy skill," Chie then grind, "That might help us find who did it!"

"So I just have to give that description to the police then," Yuma planned to himself.

"But now we have questions for you two," Naoto just had to ruin the mood, "Just what are those 'Numbers' you summoned and….just what are you Astral?"

Astral and Yuma exchanged glances for a few moments as if they were talking to each other, little to the knowledge of the investigation team, they were…mentally.

Should we tell them everything Astral?

It might be wise to do so. From what they describe what a Shadow and a Persona is, what happened last night really didn't match up. The only way to figure out what happened is to be truthful with them. Though if there is something you don't feel comfortable telling them, I can.

No, I'll tell them. It's my responsibility…as a friend.

Yuma took a deep breath and began, "Astral is from another world, far different from that TV world."

"Another world? What kind?" Teddie was quickly shushed by the group.

Yuma continued, "He's from a world called Astral World…and right now it's at war with another world call Barian."

Astral picked up the story from there, "As for the reason I'm here, I am unsure. From the moment I met Yuma, I had no memories of who I was."

"Anmeisa? Have you recovered any memories?" Yukiko asked.

"A few but they were sealed away in the Number Cards."

"Hey…those were the things you summoned last night." Kanji pointed out.

"That's right," Yuma held up a few to show the group, "For each one we found, Astral got a little bit of his memory back. But there are a hundred of them."

"How many do you have now?" Yu asked.

"54," Astral answered, "But there are other forces after them too."

"I assume this would be this Barian World you spoke off," commented Naoto.

Astral nodded, "Before our arrival in this town, we had come under attack by them several times. Their main goal was to eliminate us."

"Okay that's messed up," said Yosuke, "Why would they want to kill you? Do you really matter that much to them?"

"Well," Yuma twilled his thumbs, "We sort of have this power that is extremely threatening to them."

"We could destroy them if we truly wished." Astral added.

Everyone's eyeballs nearly popped out of their heads. Yu decided that they needed to move past that topic, "So last night, why do you think a Number appeared instead of a Shadow?"

"I think…" Yuma fiddled with Hope's card, "It's because a Number takes form based on the first person to discover it…Hope was the first Number we had….and he represents the bond between us."

"But if that's the case….why did he turn into a Shadow?" Rise asked that piercing question.

Yuma's gripped on the card tightened while Astral's gaze turned to the floor.

Kanji braved things with the next question, "It involved those Barians didn't it."

"We were tricked by one…his deceit nearly destroyed us." Astral spoke rather solemnly.

It was several moments of silence before Yuma continued, "Hope Ray V….was given to me by who I thought was my friend Shingetsu….but in reality he was the Barain Vector in disguise. It was part of his trap to have us turn against each other." It was becoming obvious Yuma was about to cry.

"Hey…" Yu wrapped an arm around him, "That's in the past now and by the looks of things, the two of you came out in the end."

"Yeah…"Yuma rubbed his eyes, "Sorry…it's just a bad memory."

"We'll you're here now," Rise said, "Sorry that you got caught up in our mess but we'll help you out with what we can."

"And to mark your membership to the group…" Teddie declared, "TADA!" With a flourish he gave Yuma a pair of glasses gold in color and squarish like the ones the boys had.

"Glasses?" Yuma put them on rather awkwardly.

"These will help you to see in the TV world," Teddie explained, "So don't lose them."

"Thanks guys," Yuma tucked the glasses safely in his deck box.

Another knock was heard on the door, "Excuse me…can we come in?" It was Dojima.

"Come in uncle," Yu answered.

Dojima opened the door allowing him and Adachi to step in, "Seems like you guys are already here. Thanks for finding him yesterday."

"We were just as worried as you were," Yu reassured his uncle.

"Heh….if his grandmother found out what happened I wouldn't hear the end of it. She can be one scary woman I can tell you that."

"That's oba-chan for you," Yuma muttered, "Though I think Akari-neechan is worse sometimes."

"Sorry for this but we need to shoo you guys out," the ever timid Adachi said, "We need to ask Yuma a few questions about what happened yesterday. Official police business you know."

A collective groan was the response.

"Don't give us that," Dojima groaned himself, "Yu, Yuma should be released today so I'll bring him home. Can you let Nanako know that when you get there yourself?"

"Sure thing Uncle," Yu said as the group prepared to head out, "I'll see you home Yuma."

"Sure thing," Yuma smile, "Oh…and thanks for listening Narukami."

"Just call me Yu."

"Okay then Yu, thanks."

"Anytime."

CRASH

Though art I…And I am though

Though hast established a new bond…

It brings thee closer to the truth…

Though shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Sword Arcana…

Saying their goodbyes, the group headed out.

So not too much happening just some charter development. I decided to call Yu's bond with Yuma the Sword Arcana named after the suit in the Minor Arcana rather than making one up. Meanings include freedom, quick change, military, power, violence and suffering. I thought it might suit Yuma the best. For those of you who are waiting for more Zexal characters not to worry, Barians will appear next chapter!

Zexal episode 145- Um….I really need translations soon. So much exposition…..last episode next week….*sob*