You guys are amazing! I'm getting more responses and views than I thought. It makes my day every time I see a message telling me that I have a new review or someone has fav the story. It just motivates me to make sure this story is the best that I can. Speaking of reviews….
VongolaHermit- Yeah I decided the glasses would give the Investigation Team the ability to see Astral. While it would make some good comedy if they can't see him it would make scenes like in the last chapter very difficult to write if they couldn't see him so that's why I decided on the glasses. And I actually plan to make up an Arcana for when Yu eventually makes a bond with Astral, yes people that's going to happen.
Guest- Good that you're watching Persona now, you're going to enjoy it. I actually started writing this fic the moment I was done watching the anime and did some research on the game.
Raven Tsurara- Calm down my dear, Barians at the end of the chapter but be a good girl and read from the beginning to end and no skipping.
KeybladeSamurai- I actually do have plan to have Yuma's other Personas be the other Numbers but I didn't think about the previous protagonists aces. Thanks for the idea…it's cooking in my head now. PS….I want to see more of your Digimon Xros Wars X Persona fic.
Guest- If you are referring to romantic pairings, I have none planned. I tend to stick to cannon pairings (skyshipping is semi cannon now) and I view relationships like the one Astral and Yuma have to be more that of brothers (which turned out to be true based on the last episode) than a romantic one. I also don't support yaoi parings so if you were looking forward to those, sorry but they won't be anywhere in the story.
"Welcome, to the Velvet Room." The same phrase Igor said each time Yu woke up in the Velvet Room. He was beginning to wonder if Igor was actually a robot with prerecorded messages.
Margarete looked up from the Compendium in her lap and smile, "You have a made a new bond, the bond of the Sword Arcana." She opened the book revealing the illustration for the Sword with a picture of Yuma next to it. "Though this bond is rather unique, and may bring you into another journey you weren't expecting."
"Nonetheless, keep your bonds strong. They will be needed for what's coming in the future." Igor's grin never faded.
Yu decided he needed to speak, "What is coming? And what did Yuma bring with him?"
Margarete just kept a simple smile, "What don't you ask him?"
Yu just blinked in confusion until Margaret motioned to his left. Much to his surprise, Yuma was sitting right next to him just waking up.
"Hmm…" Yuma rubbed his eyes, "Huh? Not this room again!"
"Yuma?"
"Yu?"
"Ah a moment I've never seen before, a meeting between two Wild Cards." Igor had an odd sense of glee in his voice.
"Just what exactly is this place!? This is just as creepy as that door….who are you people?!" Yuma was beginning to panic...slightly.
"I believed we have already introduced ourselves last time you visited this room," Margarete's tone never changed, "As for why you're here, you bear a very similar Wild Card power to Yu. But rather being expressed as Persona's…they exist in what you call Numbers."
That's explains that, Yu thought to himself, "Just stay calm Yuma, they've actually helped me out a few times."
"I'm pleased to see that you hold us in high regard Yu however there is an important manner we must discuss with Yuma." Igor said.
Yuma blinked, "What would that be?"
"Normally when a guest enters the Velvet Room they sign a contract stating that they will take responsibility for their actions. You would have signed this had you already not signed one already with another force. And the terms are quite dire, gaining great power at the lost of something most precious and important to you."
Yuma's eyes widened, "How do you know about that?"
Igor chuckled, "Nothing of the other worldly ever escapes my sight."
Alarm bells were going off in Yu's head, "Yuma, what exactly did you sign?"
Yuma paused then answered, "Right before I met Astral, I had a vision of a door. It spoke to me but back then I wasn't really paying attention and I opened it with my key," he clutched the pendant around his neck, "That's when I first met Astral. Then a few weeks later, I had that same vision but this time I heard what it said…..I'm…scared…about what could be taken from me."
"Sadly this is a question we cannot provide an answer for you," Igor said with a bit of regret in his voice, "But with you currently bonded by that contract we cannot provide you the services that we provide Yu."
Yu blinked in surprise, "Then why is he here?"
Margarete answered this question, "While Yuma can visit the Velvet Room, we cannot offer him guidance or assistance, you are in a position to do so in our stead."
"You can be his mentor in guiding him through his abilities and discover the other applications of his unique power. And maybe you can offer guidance's when Yuma's original journey catches up with him." Igor flipped a tarot card that been resting on the table revealing it to be the Wheel of Fortune. "But until then, it is goodbye. We look forward to both your returns to the Velvet Room."
Then everything faded away.
Yuma woke with a start and to his surprise; he saw that Yu was awake too.
"Please don't tell me they visit every night."
"Thankfully no," Yu sighed, "Though I was surprised when I saw you in there, I haven't even told the others about the Velvet Room."
"Can we just keep with that way? I haven't even told my friends back home about that contract I agreed to."
"Deal."
With that, they went back to sleep.
School was a drag as usual, Kashiwagi was not making matters any easier. Sometimes Yosuke wish she would just pull up her top a bit more. Her cleavage was making the already hard material harder to learn! By this point he was staring at the clock watching the second hand go round and round waiting for the school bell to ring. Yu had told them that morning Yuma and Astral expressed some interest of going back into the TV world to do some training since Yuma really didn't have Persona's to work with so they wanted to work out any problems before they got into a pinch. Though Yosuke was impressed at Yuma's courage for wanting to go back not even two days after he was rescued, he was quite the tough kid. And from what they gathered at the hospital, he had been through a lot. Yosuke's thoughts immediately turned back to the clock.
Come on come on…3…2...1…
And with that, the school bell rang.
Finally! Yosuke gave a stretch before grabbing his bag. "Come on you guys! Let's head to Junes!"
"Well aren't you the impatient one," Chie said rather sarcastically.
"Though are you sure we should head back there? Yuma is still supposed to be recovering." Yukiko's motherly instincts were kicking in again.
"He was pretty certain this morning," said Yu as he checked his phone messages, "In fact, I would say he was rather excited about it."
"What makes you so sure?" Yukiko asked.
"He ran out the door this morning with toast in his mouth shouting his catchphrase."
"Ooohh…."
"Still, if he wants to go in there we really shouldn't stop him," Yosuke commented, "Plus, he technically don't have a Persona but that Number-thingy instead. I get that he wants to make sure he's useful. I would hate to be in that position when your powers don't work because you don't know how to use them."
"Not to mention Yuma said he has some enemies back home. I sure hope they didn't follow him here," Chie groaned, "Catching this culprit is hard enough."
Yu felt his heart sank a little. He had a feeling Igor knew that Yuma's foes were going to show up at one point. Would they be ready or able to fight them if they did show up? And just what kind of abilities did they have. Yuma, or was it actually Astral, was still reluctant to tell him that information.
"Enough waiting," Yosuke snapped Yu out of his line of thought, "Let's go round up the others and head straight there. Yuma knows how to get to Junes from his school right?"
"I'm sure, or if he forgot I'm pretty sure Astral will correct him."
"Handy when you've got a ghost stalker."
Yukiko started laughing as if Chie had just made the funniest joke in the world.
After getting lost twice and Astral having to correct him both times, Yuma eventually made it to the large department store to find everyone else waiting on him with glasses already on. He could of sworn seeing money being passed from Kanji to Yosuke as if they had a bet going on.
"You're late. Did you get lost?" Naoto asked.
"Yeah…." Yuma rubbed his head sheepishly, "Astral had to help me out."
"I assisted you twice in fact."
"They don't need to know that!"
Yukiko started laughing uncontrollably, "Man if you didn't know Astral was there, Yuma makes for a great on man comedy show!"
"Yukiko, it's really not that funny," Even after being friends for many years, Chie still couldn't believe at how easily Yukiko found things amusing.
"So you ready to head in?" Yu asked.
"I am."
"You know, you really don't have to go right away. No one's forcing you." Rise was worried for his well being.
Yuma just shook his head, "No point in running away from it right?"
"Teddie's waiting for us on the other side so no need to keep him waiting, let's go!" Yosuke lead the group off to the electronics department.
Now armed with the glasses, Yuma could see the place where he ended up the other day much better. He even let out a small whistle impressed at the architecture of the castle, minus the half destroyed throne room where the battle took place.
"That was most of our reactions to this place too," Yosuke said.
"Though have you been to a place like this before Yuma?" Naoto asked.
"No….why?"
"Well," Yu started to explain, "When everyone else who was kidnapped and tossed in here, a new area formed based on their emotions and memories."
"When you put it that way, it sort of makes sense. My dad is an adventure and I went with him a few times on his expeditions." Yuma glanced over the castle a bit, "But we never seen this type of castle before. But it does kind of look like the set for the Esper Robin show back home. What about you Astral?"
"This place does feel familiar….perhaps a memory I have yet to recover."
"Sounds like it was based off of both of you," Chie said, "But then again….why didn't we see and shadow based off of Astral?"
"Maybe because he's not human?" Kanji suggested.
"Teddie's not human and even he ended up facing a Shadow version of himself," Rise pointed out, "And Narukami-sempi never faced a Shadow of himself either so it's not a guarantee that what happens when you enter the TV."
"Though it is a curious thought," Naoto rubbed her chin, "Maybe the Shadow we faced the other night had some of Astral emotions in it."
"Guys guys!" Yuma was trying to call their attention, "There wasn't one the other night, so what?"
"They do have a good point Yuma, and it concerns me as well that this world might be calling on my emotions as well." Astral said.
"Don't think like that Astral. You're not that type of guy. Come on…let's get some training done!" And with that, Yuma ran right though the front door.
Astral face palmed, "He doesn't think things through sometimes."
"He's still just a kid," Yu reminded him, "Yuma! Why don't you summon your Persona first?"
Yuma froze mid step, "Um…..how do I do that?"
Yukiko tapped her chin, "I think we just think about it and the card appears like this…" She held out the fan she brought with her as the Persona card floated down and with a snap of her wrist there was the sound of shattering glass as Konohana Sakuya appeared behind her.
"Wow…" Yuma was impressed.
"You give it a try," Rise said.
"Okay…." Yuma pulled out Hope from his deck, "Um…..should I put the card on my duel disk or…." He gasped in surprise as the card began to glow. He let go as the card floated upwards and with a few spins, the card changed from a Duel Monsters card to a Persona card. Everyone stared at the change in wonder, Astral especially. He had a hard time comprehending the change, did the Numbers have this kind of power?
Yuma stared at the new card before grinning. He slashed at the card as if was drawing a card during a duel and with the sound of shattering glass, Kibou-Oh Hope appeared above him. "Wow…" Yuma flexed his hand, "That was quite a rush…"
"We've got company though…."Yosuke pointed further down the corridor where the familiar sludge piles that were the beginning of shadows were forming.
"We'll back you up kid," Kanji patted Yuma on the back.
"Yeah…so don't worry about sneak attacks or anything," Chie started to bounce on the balls of her feet clearly ready to go.
Yuma gulped and nodded, "Okay…"
One of the sludge piles lifted up from the floor and took on the shape of a large mouth. Before Yuma could think of anything, Hope had zoomed forward drawing its sword and slashed it in half.
"I….didn't even say anything…" Yuma was shocked.
"You don't need to give commands to your Persona," Naoto explained, "They react to how you think and feel. They are a part of you after all."
Interesting, Astral thought to himself, "But what about those other creatures that just appeared?"
"Those are shadows, not like the ones based on us. They just showed up one day and made a mess of this place!" Teddie complained.
"So in other words they're a weaker form of the shadow we faced the other day."
"That's one way of putting Astral," Naoto said as she watched Hope continue to slash through the shadows as quickly as they came.
"Man Yuma your Persona's strong!" Yosuke grinned.
"How about this!?" Yuma raised his hand and to everyone surprise…another Persona Card floated down.
"Why does he have more than one?!" Yosuke exclaimed.
"That is not normal?" Astral asked.
"I don't think so…the only one here who has multiple Personas is Narukami-sempai." Rise told him. Astral mused over this information. He'll have to inquire more information out of Narukami later.
Everyone watch as Yuma slashed at the new card and behind him what appeared to be a cone with a window with a large eye in it with a golden ring with the number 11 on it.
"Number 11, Big Eye," Yuma smirked.
Yu watched the scene in shock, somehow Yuma had two Persona's summoned at once. He couldn't manage that himself having to switch Persona's leaving him in a moment of vulnerability. Could this be an advantage Yuma had since these were originally Numbers?
Big Eye shot lasers at some of the shadows reducing them to the piles of goo they were originally leaving then weak enough for just a tap from Hope's sword to kill them.
"Impressive combo…seems like Yuma's second Persona has the ability to reduce the Shadow to a weaker state making it easier to kill them with Hope."
"Yuma you're amazing!" Yukiko cheered.
"Thanks but…..is getting exhausted part of the routine?" Yuma had started to pant.
Alarm bells went off inside Astral's head, "Call them off! The strain is too much for your body!"
"O-okay….Hope….Big Eye…come back….." Yuma said in between breaths.
Big Eye faded immediately while Hope slashed through the last enemy in front of him before looking at Yuma and pausing for a moment before returning to the group fading back into the Persona card.
Yuma held out his hand and caught the card as it returned to its Duel Monster form, "Man I'm wiped….."
"That's strange….we usually don't get this exhausted." Yu pondered.
"Maybe because Yuma-kun's Persona is originally one of those Numbers…I bet switching it between the two forms takes a lot out of him." Rise theorized.
"And he had more than one summoned at once," Chie added.
"I would have to agree on that," Astral nodded.
"Then let that be our cue to head home," Kanji said.
"Alright…I want to eat…" Yuma started walking but suddenly froze mid step. His eyes started to glaze over and began to fall to the ground. Yu quickly ran forward to catch him before he hit the ground. "YUMA! Yuma wake up!"
"Did he pass out?" Chie asked.
"No…..there's something wrong here….Astral do you know…" Naoto turned up to Astral hoping to get some answers but froze when she saw his state.
Astral's body had curled in pain. He was clutching his chest and his breather was heavily labored. His irises had shrunken and were unfocused. To be honest, the sight was rather scary.
Yukiko shifted her gaze between the two, "What do we do?"
Yosuke checked for a pulse on Yuma, "I think his pulse slowed down….we need to get him back to the hospital."
But as suddenly the pair's condition had turned for the worse, they suddenly recovered.
"Huh…." Yuma glanced around at the worried group, "What happened?"
"You gave us a heart attack!" Kanji yelled.
"Astral was in pain too," Naoto told him.
"WHAT!?" Yuma sat straight up, "Are you okay Astral?!"
Astral took a few deep breaths before answering, "I'm alright….I just had….a vision…or a memory."
"What was it?" Teddie's curiosity was peeked.
"I was fighting someone…he looked like a demon….but I have no idea if it was a memory or a vision of the future."
"But why did Yuma collapse? Did he have the same vision?" Chie asked.
"No…" Yuma rubbed his head, "I just felt something…like something breaking free."
"Regardless….do you need to go to the hospital?" Yosuke asked.
"No I'm fine…." Yuma gave a yawn, "I just want to go home."
"Come on….." Yu helped him up, "Let's go."
As they left, the wisp that had watched them the other day observed their departure yet again from the safety of the shadows, but now the wisp had taken on a more humanoid shape. It glanced down at its newly formed hand.
Still not enough….please return soon other half…..
There was a heavy silence in the air as a lone gray figure looked up to an empty throne then to two crystals currently holding his companions. An non-existent mouth sighed, they were down to two members of the group now, a losing battle. Saragasso was a failure and now Yuma Tsukumo and Astral were now stronger than ever. The arrival of his yellow clad mask wearing ally interrupted his thoughts.
"Durbe, it seems that Yuma Tsukumo and Astral are no longer in Heartland City."
Durbe turned around, "Explain Mizael, they surely have not disappeared."
Mizael's eyes narrowed, "I have searched the entire city. I even found his dwelling, there are no traces of them."
Durbe frowned, "What about his companions, Kaito and Ryoga, have you located them?"
"I have, they seemed calm and showed no concern for Yuma's and Astral's current location."
Durbe rubbed his chin, there was no way that two of their enemies simply vanished and it would be foolish to confront Ryoga or Katio to get information out of them.
"Are you really that stupid Miza-chan?" A condescending voice echoed from above.
Both Durbe and Mizael turned around in shock, they both knew who that voice belonged too, "VECTOR! We thought you were dead!"
The winged Barian who was now sitting in the empty throne just laughed, "You think little Yuma is missing just because you can't find him in one town? You should have expanded your search because I found him!" He added a sing-song tone to the last part.
Durbe prevented Mizael from launching himself at Vector, "Explain yourself, where have you found Yuma?"
Vector's laughter became more hysterical, "I found him in this backwater town that's covered in some unnatural fog. And it seems that he has already got himself stuck in another battle. Shame that it hasn't already killed him yet, that would be convenient for us don't you think?"
Mizael raised an eyebrow, "Are you suggesting that we just let this new force deal with them for us?"
Vector scoffed, "No way, I saw we interfere and make it an impossible battle for him."
"No."
"Ehhh?" Vector leaned forward, "You don't like this idea Durbe?"
"You're last plan ended in failure, if you want to do this, you're on your own."
"Fine fine…..but you may want to do something Durbe…look," With the wave of a hand, Vector summoned a map of Earth with 23 locations marked.
Durbe's eyes narrowed, "What is this?"
"There are seven legendary Numbers sealed away in seven of those locations and I'm sure little Yuma will be going after them soon."
"Legendary Numbers…"Mizael crossed his arms, "This may turn the tide in our favor."
"Do you know which seven these Numbers are located at?" Durbe asked.
"Not a clue!" Vector mocked, "We'll just have to search them all!"
Durbe expression didn't change, "Very well Vector, just don't cross our paths."
"I wouldn't dream of it. Oh by the way….Nasch and Merga may still be alive." Before Durbe could inquire more, Vector had vanished through the portal.
So Zexal has ended and I was happy with the final episode. It wasn't sad, it wasn't bittersweet, it was happy. And we see that their adventures aren't over. Now I need something to fill that void…maybe Arc-V will.