"That was certainly an... unexpected card," Bronk said as he cheaply scratched the back of his head. The duel had ended a couple of minutes ago, and the group was now eating lunch on the roof.

"I know! Kari gave it to me yesterday, but Astral told me not to use use it since it didn't look right, but everything fine now so I was right!" Yuma said with is usual grin.

"Moron! What if something happened? You could've caused so much trouble!" Tori exclaimed, hitting him on the head for a second time that day.

"I can see where Astral's coming from though... That card looked kinda creepy..." Cathy muttered absently, to which Flip nodded a bit too.

"Aww, come on guys!" Yuma whined. "I mean, how can we find out what's so strange about it if we don't try it out?" Yuma had a point there, everyone agreed.

"Well, what about we try doing some research on it later? I mean, there must be something we can find out that way," Caswell suggested.

"Are you sure we'll be able to get information that way?" Tori spoke up, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt trying, right?"

After exchanging some looks, they all nodded; "Yeah!"

However, that didn't make them less mad at Yuma for not warning for the rest of the day.

Break

Not long after the end of the duel, Yubel had returned to the small place within the Spirit World she considered her own. She came back to think and make her conclusions, because she had a lot to do with what she'd seen.

She started comparing her new partner, Yuma, with Jaden. They seemed to have a lot of similarities. Both had a big group of friends, like Jaden, which made her wonder whether he had enemies, and if he had them, how dangerous they were and with how many. Both looked like they weren't the brightest. They also seemed to rely on instincts when dueling, but Yuma's weren't so sharp. That's where that creature, Astral, kicks in. He seemed to do the actual thinking of the duo. When Yuma isn't relying on it, though, his friends were there to help or scold him. That was the impression she got, at least. Then there was that strange spirit named Astral. "What is it?" was the question overtaking her mind when she thought of it.

Astral must be some kind of spirit, she was sure of that, since she noticed that only the ones that were able to see it were Yuma and herself. Yet she had never met or even sensed a spirit like it ever before, despite her long time on both Earth and in the Spirit World. It was so...

Strange...

Yes,

It was strange.

The fact that she was met with something she didn't know yet, after existing for so long, certainly made her curious. She needed to know more. Maybe she could take another look around and hope to encounter the spirit again. Despite her intuition telling her that it would be a bad idea if it found out she was studying it at night, another part thought it was not quite the time yet to face it directly. Aso all she had to do is be patient.

Break

After waiting, it surely became night sooner than expected, something that both excited her and made her nervous.

Entering the human realm, she was met with a dark room. Waiting for her eyes to adjust, she didn't notice the light of the spirit, which once again gave her mixed feelings.

'Maybe he was somewhere else?' she thought.

She did see Yuma, asleep in a hammock. He was sleeping soundly, and Yubel knew her presence wouldn't wake him.

"My turn... Draw!" he mumbled. She chuckled in her fist. 'Just like Jaden,' she thought. Taking a further look, she noticed a very messy room, artifacts and other seemingly valuable objects.

Her gaze stopped on a certain jar lying in the room, eyes widening. A memory flashed for her eyes, ever so brief, yet very bitter.

Flashback

It really was a beautiful day. Then again, in this area every day was so beautiful. The air was a bit moist, though, which made sense, they were in the middle of Brazil after all. It was a small town, close to the dense forest known all around the world.

"Guys! you should really see this!" the duelist's voice called out, summoning his spirits. As they one for one appeared, Yubel last, he pulled out an old book from his knapsack, Pharaoh complaining when he did.

"Since when are you interested in books?" Yubel asked, amused by the fact he was frankly flipping the tender pages, looking for something.

"Since they have this really cool thing about ancient dueling! Duel Monsters has roots all over the world, despite the fact it's known to originate in Egypt."

"That's the first sentence in that book, isn't it?"

Jaden laughed cheaply, scratching the back of his head.

"Typical Jaden," Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin spoke up.

What the book said was true, though. After all, Yubel herself didn't originate from Egypt either.

"Anyway, for now we're going to look for this!" the brown haired exclaimed, pointing at a picture of some sort of jar. "It's said that the Inca's used those jars to summon powerful creatures from another realm!"

"I see, you want to try those out once you find them, don't you?"

"Yup! Imagine how cool it would be to try that out!"

Despite the fact that those events seemed innocent, they were the start of the end. Sometimes Yubel wished he'd never found that book. That trip lead to a deserted place, something not really surprising, but what they didn't know was the fact that Jaden had picked something up that would have horrible consequences.

Yubel averted her gaze, turning around completely. She left the room, setting her mind back to the problem at hand. Looking around the house, she saw a red haired female.

'His mother maybe?' she wondered, but dismissed the thought when she saw the girl's age, realizing she had to be Yuma's sister, as he'd mentioned earlier the day. Other than that she saw an elderly lady in yet another room. The rest of the house was deserted.

Yet no signs of the blue spirit.

Upon returning to Yuma's room, she studied the boy once again. She noticed a strange pendant around his neck, and an unfamiliar aura coming from it. Curiosity taking over, she reached out and touched it.

With a flash, she was in a completely different place. It looked like some sort of cosmos above her, and a blue desert under her. She noticed her body had become solid too.

'Is this some part of the spirit world? Another realm of it maybe?' she pondered. It made her wonder whether she would be able to come here from her home in her spirit world.

Studying her sudden new surroundings, her eyes fell on a giant golden structure in the sky.

'Weird... Then again, this entire place is strange...' she thought.

Carefully, she headed towards the machine-like object and touched it. It didn't feel like it came from earth, or any other place she's been.

"You. What are you?" a voice spoke up from behind her. It was certainly the creature's.

Yubel turned around to face him, arms crossed over her chest. "I am a duel spirit, Yubel, as you should've figured out by now, actually," she answered, a bit of a sarcastic comment at the end.

"What brought you here?" the alien spirit pushed, seemingly ignoring the female's sarcastic comment.

"Yuma's pendant brought me here. Mind answering a question of my own now? Like, what are you?"

Once again ignoring anything that didn't answer his question. "How do I know I can trust you? What do you desire?"

"Listen, guy, calm down. First of all, have I ever got the chance to prove you can trust me? I've been here for what? a day?" she said, not bothering to be polite. That guy was seriously starting to get on her nerves. Astral's eyes narrowed a bit at her answer, but he seemed to be satisfied with her answer.

"Secondly, isn't that a little bit personal? Asking one's personal desires is not the best thing to do. It might anger some people," she explained, stressing anger in the sentence.

"What do you mean?" he asked, honest confusion in his voice.

'Wait... Is this guy really that naive?' she muttered to herself

Naive.

She realised that he had been like that, not particularly ordering, but just naive.

"Just, can you answer my question for a moment?"

"My name is Astral, I'm an Astral being and my home is in Astral World, wherever that may be. I am supposed to save it. That's all I know."

Realization hit her. "You have amnesia, don't you?" she asked. It must be the answer.

"Unfortunately. You should go, Yuma's waking up."

This time it was Yubel who sighed. She focused, trying to return to her part of the spirit realm. Much to her surprise, it worked. 'I should remember that,' she noted to herself.

Break

Yubel's departure had left a frown on Astral's face. Her words and behaviour left his mind constantly returning to her. It was so... Real. It was raw, and he wouldn't be surprised if the female had gone through a lot in life already. It was so contrary to his own personality, young and as she'd said; naive, it was so much different to Yuma and any of his friends, as well.

"Observation: Duel Monsters is more than just a game, even without the number's influence. Each monster had a mind and opinion of its own, and those creature's existence can go back centuries." he said to himself.

Astral returned to the numbers, hoping that this new piece of information would trigger more memories. However, the attempt was futile.

His thoughts returned to Yubel. If he were to be honest, she was the first creature he actually showed interest for. Why he was so interested, he didn't really know. This interest was different from his interest in the Earthly matters, another thing he didn't quite understand.

What was sure, was the fact that that one small conversation had left him dazed and things were going to change, one way or another.

Break

Speaking the truth, Yubel's visit with Astral had brought her more questions than answers. She was now certain of his name, that he wanted to save a place called Astral World, but where and what that place was, was a mystery. All sealed in the boy's head by his own amnesia. What she knew that Astral World was not on Earth, nor in the Duel Spirit World, at least not the realm she lived in. It wasn't the realm she'd ended up bringing Duel Academy to, that was even more different. Did that make Astral an alien, even to her?

These mysteries. So many mysteries. They drew Yubel towards the spirit. She was curious, to say the least, and determined the find out.

"I will do what you asked me, Jaden. I promise. I'm not sure, but I think I might've found something even better than just a partner. I may have found adventure and danger. Friends to make." she said, talking to no one or nothing in particular.

"That is what you actually wanted us to do, right?"

Flashback

This was the last place any person wanted to be. After all, you might have to expect the worst here.

A hospital.

After a certain journey, Jaden had caught an unknown, ancient virus. It had been in his system for years, slowly invading his body before taking it over. At the start nothing seemed wrong, it took years before the first, minor, effect started showing. And by the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

The time he was ill, he still spent traveling, even if it made the situation worse.

"I don't wanna go before finishing what I started!" he'd said, his usual smile on his lips and enthusiast behaviour.

The actually had to force him in a hospital. Now, he was attached to multiple machines.

He was growing weak quickly. It broke everyone's hearts. Well, those who knew at least. Those people were the nurses, of course, and the spirits. He refused to let his friends know what was going on, hoping they wouldn't try looking for him either.

"Guys, could you come here?" the man called out as he usually did, but his voice fell away.
"You know why I called you all, right?" he asked when all spirits had gathered around him.

The day everyone'd feared, it seemed to be there.

"Please don't do this, Jaden," Yubel pleaded. "We can still fight, we'll get over this!" Disbelief was audible in her voice. Winged Kuriboh weakly poked his head against Jaden's, trying to encourage him.

"It's time. I shouldn't resist something like that. You guys, however, are still needed here. I want you all to look for a new, maybe even better, partner! Someone that's in need for help, someone that's still in need for a help like you guys!" he exclaimed, as far as he could. Sticking up his thumb, he smiled with a wink.

"Please, we, I beg you!" Yubel cried out, tears streaming over her face. The other spirits were looking away, grief overtaking their expression.

Everyone felt the same, though, a spirit-crushing gash, tearing their souls apart.

"Jaden? JADEN!" Yubel yelled, reaching out towards him, but her hand just phased through.

All they could do is watch as Jaden smiled and closed his glazy eyes, one of the machine's frantically beeped.

AN: Dear Ra, it's done. After delaying for so long, I suddenly got inspiration and finished this in a day or three.

Chapter 2 was my shortest chapter if I'm not mistaken, and thus the most difficult to re-write. Added a lot of stuff too! I'm satified with the results, though.