Stardust Finex: Hello everybody! I have a new chapter, just for you! ;) Things are gonna get a little more serious now, I can't say anymore. Read on and you'll see what I mean!


Chapter 9

If there was anything Droite did not like, it was Gauche sleeping on the job. The Butterfly Duelist watched her red-headed partner doze off on the ground while she was guarding thier bosses, Mr. Heartland and Dr. Faker's, office. Gauche seemed to be relaxed as he snored loudly while snoozing.

"Droite… Are those kids high again…." Gauche muttered in his sleep. The man shifted from the right side to the left and continued to snore loudly.

Droite sighed and mentally slapped herself, "I'm surrounded by morons," she thought. She then noticed Gauche was starting to drool. "Ugh," she said, not satisfied by her partner's 'work.'

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gauche suddenly felt his sleep shatter as he jumped at the sound of the noise. "Huh? Wha? Droite, what was that sound?" he said in a sleepy tone.

"I'm not sure, we better go see what it is," replied Droite monotonously, "and wake up, you're NOT in bed. We've got work to do."

Gauche stretched and yawned, "Ah, you always spoil everything."

The two adults scurried down the hallway. They descended into the elevator to ground level. Quickly, they ran to the front door. The knocking was still going on.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Alright, we're coming! Quit banging on the stupid door!" snapped an irritated Droite. She grabbed the door handle and angrily swung it open. "What do you-"

BAM!

Droite tumbled backwards as she had received a nasty punch in the face for a greeting. Gauche quickly moved to Droite's side and caught her before she fell onto the ground. He worriedly examined Droite's wound. A small bruise was starting to form around her left eye. The woman felt herself going unconscious, and she slowly lowered her head into Gauche's chest.

Gauche, on the other hand, felt his anger boil. He carefully set Droite by a column, then he matched angrily towards the front door. He swung the door open, and to his surprise, who he had found was….

"Yuma?" shouted a surprised Gauche. He pointed his finger angrily towards the boy, while noticing he had a sack slung over his shoulder. "What the hell was that for? You like to hit women for fun now? Droite didn't deserve to be hit by a punk like you!"

Kurai shrugged sarcastically. "Tsk, Tsk, Gauche, you never learn, do you? Droite is simply a lowly worm, compared to you. You, on the other hand, are an even bigger worm than I had expected." The boy's back faced Gauche as he turned around. He carefully reached into his front jacket pockets as he slowly placed a syringe inside it.

Gauche took a step forward towards Kurai. "And just what do you think you're doing? If you even think of leaving, don't count on it!"

"Why don't we settle this with a duel?" proposed Kurai. He carefully set down his burlap sack behind him, making sure his 'cargo' wasn't damaged. He faced Gauche with an expression unfamiliar to the red-headed man.

"Let's duel, Gauche. I'm ready when you are," said Kurai, readying his D-Pad.

Gauche growled in response. He readied his D-Pad as well. "You'll pay for hurting Droite in the first place, Yuma."

"DUEL!" shouted both males.

"DUEL GAZER, SET!"

Gauche's eye changed as a red D-Gazer tattoo formed around his left eye, changing his purple eye color to a murky yellow color.

To Gauche's surprise, a yellow D-Gazer tattoo formed around his opponent's eye, which changed his pure red eye to a emerald green color.

"Since when did Yuma get a D-Gazer tattoo? That doesn't seem right!" thought Gauche. "But, I can't be worrying about that! I'm doing this for Droite!"

Kurai then said, "Let me show you what I'm made of!"

"D-PAD, SET!"

"AUGMENTED REALITY VISION LINK ESTABLISHED," said a computer-generated voice.

Now, Kurai and Gauche stared at each other as they readied their decks for the duel. Gauche scowled at the boy in front of him. "Droite, I… I will beat Yuma for you!"

Kurai, on the other hand, smirked. "Does this man honestly think he can beat me? Well, I'll have to prove him wrong, thanks to this Number card! Let's see what this baby can do!"

Both Duelists were now ready for the duel to begin.

"DUEL!" shouted Kurai and Gauche.


"AUUUGGGGHHH!"

Gauche landed on the ground with a THUD after Kurai's monster had directly attacked him. He groaned in defeat as the augmented reality disintegrated, which made his D-Gazer tattoo disintegrate as well.

"Ha ha ha! You call yourself a Duelist? Your Heroic Champion Excalibur could barely even touch my Number!" mocked Kurai. He reached into his deck and pulled out a black Duel Monsters card. "Once per turn, my monster can discard one of it's own Overlay units and steal half of ALL of your monsters' attack points!"

Kurai slowly approached Gauche as he carefully reached into his back pocket, only to reveal a tiny needle in his hand behind his back.

The beefy man growled as he struggled to stand up due to how rough 'Yuma' was to him during their duel. "You may have hurt Droite, but that doesn't mean that I can't-"

"You'll what? Hurt me? Oh, I'm so scared! What are you gonna do? Squirt me with a water gun?" jeered Kurai.

Gauche immediately lost his temper. That boy had teased him enough! It was about time he learned that hitting Droite wasn't fine! "Shut the hell up, Yuma! I thought you were better than this, but look at yourself! You're just a delinquent, a freak!" he snapped, placing a lot of emphasis on 'freak.'

Suddenly, Kurai became very enraged. His mind started racing.


Images of kids teasing and taunting Kurai flashed in his mind. They all pointed at him as they all shouted to him:

"Freak!"

"What a stain!"


Back in the real world, Gauche noticed something about 'Yuma' was different about him. The boy in front of him had his back facing him. He could see that 'Yuma' was clenching his fists angrily and he could hear growling. Gauche slowly took a step forward as he held his arm out.

"Y-Yuma?" he said nervously.

Kurai turned around and he appeared very enraged. His eyes were even more dilated with anger than before. Some of his teeth became partially sharp, which made Gauche slightly frightened.

"No one calls me a freak! No one! You idiot, you'll be sorry you ever called me a freak!" snapped a furious Kurai.

The boy ran right into Gauche and knocked him onto the ground. Gauche trie to fight back, but 'Yuma' was stronger than him, which was unusual to him.

"Yuma! Stop this!" said Gauche, as he was attempting to pry 'Yuma' off of his body.

Kurai forcibly held down Gauche's head with one hand as he used his other hand to reach into his pocket. He pulled out a syringe, and it was very sharp like any typical needle.

Gauche looked at the needle above him. "What are you doing? You little-" Suddenly, Gauche felt 'Yuma' jab the syringe into his neck. Slowly, the man started to lose consciousness, and he couldn't even keep his eyes open. Finally, he blacked out.

Kurai stood above his target as he tossed his syringe to the side. He smirked at the unconscious Gauche. "Heh, three targets in one day, this just keeps getting better and better," he said, as he started tying up Gauche.

Meanwhile, in Heartland Tower…..

Kaito watched Haruto sleep in his bed. The little blue-haired boy slept peacefully, which made Kaito a little sad. The World Duel Carnival was a failure, because not many Number Cards were retrieved. The Tron family were never seen again after the events of the WDC. There were so many questions Kaito wanted to ask V….

"KAITO-SAMA!" shouted a metallic voice, shattering Kaito's thoughts.

Kaito turned around from Haruto's bed impatiently and he stated at the source of the voice. "Can you be a little quieter, Orbital 7? Haruto's trying to sleep!"

Orbital 7 started flailing his robotic appendages. "I'm sorry, Kaito-sama! You have to see this security footage! It's really important!

"Roll the clip," ordered Kaito, impatiently tapping his feet.

"Yes, Kaito-sama, I'll get to it right away!" responded the obedient robot. Orbital 7 wheeled over to a nearby computer. Plugs extended from his chassis as they plugged themselves into the machine. Orbital sat himself in front of the computer and began to hack into Heartland Tower's security footage. A few minutes later, the break-in was successful.

"And now… Where are the security videos… A-ha! I found it, Kaito-sama!" cheered Orbital 7.

Kaito stood behind his robot with his arms crossed. A small smile spread on his face. "Thank you, Orbital 7, nice work."

Orbital turned around from his seat in surprise. "You mean it, Kaito-sama?"

Kaito nodded. "I do," responded the blonde.

The robot immediately went back to work. "Thank you, Kaito-sama! You will not be disappointed!" His robotic fingers opened as tiny cords came out and started typing rapidly on the keyboard. "Kaito-sama, I found the security video! Rolling the footage now!" declared Orbital 7.

A projected emerged from Orbital's chassis. Cables extended itself out of the chassis as well as it snaked into the computer. Suddenly, a video booted up from Orbital 7's chassis and started to roll.

Kaito watched the security tape intensely as Droite and Gauche were seen in the tape heading toward the door. Suddenly, Droite was hit in the face and fell uncovious.

"Droite!" shouted a concerned Kaito.

Then, Gauche looked like he was arguing with someone. At first, Kaito couldn't figure out who Gauche was talking to. Oribital quickly fast-forwarded the tape to the point when the assasilant held up an all-faniliar card.

"A Number card?" said Kaito.

The tape then cut to when the mysterious figure jabbed a syringe into Gauche's neck. As the man fell unconscious, the assasilant's face could be seen. He zoomed in on the tape, and Kaito was very surprised.

"Yuma?" Kaito shouted, "w-w-what's he doing here?" He turned to Orbital, "Can you track his location in Heartland Tower," he said in a worried tone, drifting his eyes to a sleeping Haruto.

"Of course, Master," responded Orbital. His optics blinked for a few seconds, and a huge map projected from the optics. The map had the entire floor plan of Heartland Tower. Kaito was concerned about a moving blinking red dot on the screen. He then said, "Orbital, zoom in on that red dot."

The robot did what he was told. He extended his arms and tapped the dot on the screen. A live feed of 'Yuma' wandering through one of Heartland Tower's many floors had caught Kaito's attention. An unconscious Droite and Gauche were tied up together and trailing behind him, along with a oddly-shaped burlap sack slung over the boy's shoulders.

Kaito turned away from the screen. He gazed upon Haruto, who was still sound asleep. "I've seen enough, Orbital 7," he said in a solemn tone.

"Yes, Kaito-sama!" chirped Orbital.

The security map shut down as Orbital 7's plugs detached from the computer and went back inside his chassis. He then wheeled towards his human master. "Is everything alright, Kaito-sama?"

Kaito looked at Orbital 7 solemnly. "No, it's not safe for Haruto to be here anymore if Yuma's going to attack Mr. Heartland or Dr. Faker. He could find Haruto and try to drug him! I won't allow it! Orbital 7, pack your bags, we're leaving," he boldly declared, still gazing at Haruto.

Orbital 7 wasn't sure at first, but none the less, he would still obey his master. "Yes, Kaito-sama! Right away, but where are we going?"

Kaito walked over to the window south of Orbital 7. He gestured for the robot to come to him, and Orbital did so. The boy gazed outside of Heartland City's barrier at a mountain in the back. "Kappa Forest, Orbital, our cabin is still there. Until Yuma is done harassing everyone here, we'll stay over there."


Later that same evening, as the sun began to set, Kaito sadly looked back at Heartland Tower as he carefully held Haruto tightly in his arms, never letting go.


Stardust Finex: And that wraps up chapter 9! Next time, Kurai encounters Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland! What will happen? Will Yuma stop Kurai? What exactly is Black Mist planning to do with a tainted Hope?*All will be revealed next time in: The Shadow of Yuma.


*See Chapter 5.