Chapter 24

Oh yeah! The story is almost complete! Why don't we see how life is for everyone after the whole Kurai incident?


"This is just in! The boy who we thought was Yuma Tsukumo has been identified as Kurai Tsukumo. Our sources say that Yuma invaded Heartland Tower with his friend, Anna Kozuki. After Kozuki had departed to return kidnapped friends, Tsukumo stopped Kurai Tsukumo, along with Kotori Mizuki, from possibly taking over Heartland City. A Number card that was also stolen by Kurai was given to Yuma by the museum director as a thank you. Heartland Police have found Kurai's body on Heartland Tower and they have decided to bury it at Heartland Cemetery, which will be isolated on a hill away from the rest of the graves. I'm Colton Givey, and this is Heartland City News! Back to you, Sarita Madrid!"

Astral looked away from the magic box on the attic floor to look at Yuma. The boy has been through so much trouble, and now, it was all over. Astral hovered to the hammock and began to watch Yuma in his sleep. Yuma appeared to be more content than ever, just to be back in his home, surrounded by his family and friends again, and no more worrying about Kurai.

Yuma, it feels good to be back home with you. I feel ashamed for hiding from you after Kurai had attacked you in the alley. But, I'm not going to let that ruin the time I have left with you. You have a long future ahead of you...


"DARN IT, I'M LATE AGAIN!"

Yuma ran down the stairs in a hurry while adjusting his tie. As usual, the boy had woken up late for school. Even after saving the world, he was still late for school. After finishing adjusting his tie, he put his shoes on while running by Akari.

"Bye sis, I'm off to school!" he called.

Akari looked up from her various tablets and gave a smile at her brother. "Have a good day at school, little brother!"

Yuma gave a thumbs-up. "Yeah!"

The boy ran outside and into the front yard. The sun shone brightly in Heartland City as the morning began to commence. It was never this peaceful before in Heartland. For some reason, it made Yuma smile even more.

Haru was out sweeping the front yard along with Obomi. The small lady contently swept the yard as she watched her grandson emerge from the front door. A smile spread onto her face as she watched a gleeful Yuma jump onto the pavement.

"Bye, Grandma!" waved Yuma.

"Yuma, Duel Lunch!" chirped Obomi. She tossed a package of rice balls at the eager Yuma. "You suck!"

"There's the Litterbot I miss," joked Yuma.

"Dear, don't forget to eat your Duel Lunch!" chirped Haru. "You're going to need it for your duels, hero!"

"Aw, Grandma, you're flattering me too much!" blushed Yuma.


A few blocks away, Kotori, Tetsuo, Cathy, and Tokunosuke walked to school together while waiting for Yuma. The kids were all involved in the whole Kurai incident, but they were moving along. So far, Kurai really wasn't bothering them mentally anymore since he had died. Since Kurai and Yuma had similar appearances, there were times when them, teachers, and classmates would stare at Yuma. After a few days, everyone eased down to accept the fact that Yuma's imposter was dead for good.

"I can't believe that there was a boy impersonating Yuma and causing trouble all over school!" chirped Cathy.

"Tell me about it," sighed Kotori, placing a hand on her face. "One minute, Kurai pretends to be Yuma. The next minute, he thinks he's king of Heartland! Out of all girls in the world, Kurai chose ME to be his queen! How insane is that guy?"

Tokunosuke spoke up, "Oy, Kotori-chan, didn't Kurai give you a ring to marry him, ura?"

Kotori looked at her left hand sadly. On her ring finger, the diamond ring Kurai forced onto her hand still sat on her finger. Luckily, her mother had scheduled an appointment to remove the ring after school today. She was happy to finally get the jewel off, because the ring was starting to put pressure into her hand.

"Yeah, Kurai did force me to marry him, but that wedding certificate wasn't even real! So, in other words, I'm still a free woman!" answered Kotori.

Up by the stop sign, Takashi walked down the street handcuffed to a girl. When the Class Rep spotted his friends, he happily ran towards them, but the girl pulled in the handcuffs to signal him to slow down.

"Can't you be patient?" snapped Takashi.

"If you didn't have a salty cracker addiction, then maybe I would!" retaliated the girl.

"Oy, Takashi-kun!" shouted Kotori.

The group approached Takashi to find him handcuffed to an all-familiar girl. Her poofy, pink-orange hair stood out from everyone else's, which made her more recognizable.

"Anna? Why are you handcuffed to Takashi-kun?" asked Kotori.

"Is he your boyfriend?" said Tetsuo.

"NO, Takashi is NOT my boyfriend! His parents hired me to help him get over his salty cracker addiction, ever since he turned into a parrot," grunted Anna.

"I know that, woman! To summarize, you are being too bossy! Give me a cracker, pleeasse!" cried Takashi.

Yawning, Tetsuo opened his backpack and pulled out a paper bag. He opened the sack and the contents inside surprised his friends. Inside the brown bag was green grass. Tetsuo snatched a bunch of grass and chewed it like a horse.

"Why are YOU eating grass?" cried Cathy, pointing at Tetsuo's unusual snack.

Tetsuo shrugged. "I guess being a mountain goat made me crave grass. I was sharing Pocky with Tetsuko, then I ran into the front yard and started eating the grass."

Suddenly, Kotori felt something move in her hair. She cringed, then felt around for anything on her head. Something moved around quickly on her hair. "Oh god… There's something moving in my hair!" Kotori shrieked, swatting at her head. "Go away, shoo!"

"OW! WATCH IT, URA!"

Tokunosuke fell off of Kotori's head and landed onto the ground. The short boy rubbed his head, "Is that the way to thank someone who is cleaning your head, ura?" he cried.

"You mean….. You were eating…. BUGS OUT OF MY HAIR?" shrieked the greenette. "That's just so gross!"

"I can't help it! After I became a monkey, I can't stop eating bananas and out of people's hair!" said Tokunosuke.

Kotori sighed. "Whatever, but could you stop doing that around me? I'm sorry, but it's grossing me out!"

Suddenly, a thought popped into the green-haired girl's head. Hold on, wasn't there someone else that became an animal? There was Tokunosuke, Takashi, and Tetsuo… Shark!

"Where's Shark? Has anyone seen him since, you know?" asked Kotori abruptly.

Cathy's eyes lit up in surprise. She set down her bag and pulled out a newspaper. "Didn't you hear, cat? Shark is in the hospital for food poisoning!"

All of the kids looked at the headline of the paper: RYOGA KAMISHIRO IN HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMING RAW MEAT.

The kids looked closely at the picture to see Shark vomiting in a plastic box.

"Ew, who eats raw meat?" gagged Anna. A thought of Shark eating raw meat at a restaurant popped into her mind. He ate the food like a savage beast with his bare hands. "Now I remember! Ryoga became smelly purple panther! Heh, no wonder he got sick from food poisoning."

A moving spot in the sky caught Kotori's attention. She gazed to the atmosphere to find a familiar blond-green-haired boy soaring with Orbital-7 and Haruto. The boy looked straight at Kotori, then turned away, proceeding to his flight.

"Kaito.." whispered Kotori.

"OY!" shouted a loud voice.

All of the kids ceased action after they heard a familiar voice. Soon enough, a spiky-haired boy jumped into view in front of his friends. A smile spread across his face as he looked at his friends. He placed his arms behind his head.

"Anybody miss me? Don't tell me you had all the fun with dueling!" he teased.

"YUMA!" cried everyone, huddling around the boy.

Yuma couldn't help but accept the attention and concern he was receiving from his friends. Sure, he saved the world, but that didn't stop the flattery and press coming to him. "Everyone, thank you for sticking by me. I don't know where I'd be if you didn't help me during the whole Kurai incident! I don't know what to say…"

"No, Yuma, thank you for saving US!" replied all of his friends.

"I don't understand," said Yuma.

Takashi was the first to make a gesture to speak. With Anna's approval, he walked towards Yuma and set his handcuffed-free hand onto Yuma's shoulder.

"Yuma-kun, you freed me, Tetsuo, Tokunosuke, and Shark from a curse! I wasn't really happy being a parrot. All I could eat we're fruit and salty crackers-"

Takashi stopped mid sentence when he noticed that Anna glared at him. Looking at Anna nervously, he continued, "I-I-I mean, to summarize, you saved us all! You're a hero, Yuma!"

Yuma was astounded by Takashi's speech. He had spoken for everyone, and well, he did a marvelous job representing the whole group. Everyone smiled at Yuma as a sign of appreciation and friendship. Yuma was very grateful to have all of these teens in front of him as his friends. If he had to pick, Yuma would risk his own life to save his friends, no matter how dangerous the situation was.

"Last one to class has to do my cleaning duty after school! See ya later, slowpokes!" teased Yuma.

Yuma dashed off towards school like an excited little kid going to the candy store. He couldn't ask for anything better. He had everything he wanted: His friends, family, and Astral. To be honest, Astral was the best thing that ever happened to him; because he gained a new friend after a Number was retrieved.

Behind Yuma, he could hear Kotori and the others catching up behind him (except Takashi, who was still handcuffed to Anna), cheerfully racing along with him.

"Yuuumma! Wait up!"

"You're going too fast!"

"Wait up, ura!"

"Nya, you're a lot faster than I thought!"

Yuma smiled as the sun shone brightly over him. He felt relieved because peace had returned to Heartland City, and he wasn't going to let anything ruin his day. His sunny attitude always kept him from feeling down. Closing his eyes, Yuma took a deep breath. Like the Duelust he was, freeing people from Numbers and eliminating hate from people's hearts, Yuma shouted loudly into the sky, "KATTOBINGU DA, ORE!"


Astral observed all of the Number Cards he and Yuma had collected throughout their journey inside of the Lord's Key. Most of the Numbers' dark power had dispersed after he had retrieved them from their possessors' bodies. Now, they were harmless Numbers. Astral looked at the two new Number Cards resting in his hands: Number 2: BioDragon, and Number 96: Dark Mist. BioDragon's card was soon released into the subspace to be with the other Numbers. However, Astral refused to let Number 96 near any other Numbers.

"Dark Mist, you make me sick," scowled Astral. He stared at the image of a bull-like monster. All he could see from the creature was hatred. "No matter how hard I try to forget you, there is already too much damage done to me and mu human companions. You strangled Yuma, and forced Hope to change into a Dark Number!" he spat, gripping Number 96's card even harder. "This time, I am locking you away so you cannot harm anyone ever again.

Miles away from the ship, Astral reached his destination. A lone box sat on the ground in the sandy floor. It appeared a little rusty, but everything else was in good condition. Astral pulled a key out of his body and opened the box. Once it opened, he placed Dark Mist inside a special container and sealed him inside the glass. Then the box became sealed heavily.

This glass is unbreakable, since it is made from Gold Dust, which is also unable to be destroyed. Dark Mist, it is you who wanted this fate. You can either accept it, or be destroyed for good. I don't have time for you anymore. Goodbye, Number 96.

Astral looked back at the box. He turned away from the box and let go of the past with the psychotic 96.

"I have more important things to worry about, like Yuma. He and I have Numbers to collect. I still have more memories to retrieve. I'll never look back at you, Dark Mist, because I have no regrets. Time does not wait for me any longer. I will choose to go my own way."

In the blink of an eye, Astral disappeared from the deserted subspace, leaving a isolated Dark Mist imprisoned inside a seal for eternity.


Dang, who knew "The Shadow of Yuma" would come to an end like this? I am happy and sad because I felt like this is possibly the best story I had ever written. But, the story is NOT over yet! The epilogue will be posted shortly!

Author-made cards:

*ZW: Dragon Lance

Level 4

Beast/Effect

ATK: 2100 DEF: 0

-You can equip this card to C39 Utopia Ray when this card is on the field. Utopia Ray's ATK increases by 2100. You can only control one ZW: Dragon Lance.

* Number 02: BioDragon

Level 5

Dragon/Effect

ATK: 1000; DEF: 2000

3 Level 5 Monsters

You can discard one Overlay Unit to steal every Attack Point from ALL of your opponent's monsters. This effect can ONLY be used when your opponent has monsters with 2000 or more attack points.