(Yinlong) I knew that something was wrong in the Shadow Realm, but not exactly what. As I flew around practically invisible in the misty Shadows, I soon recognized Barian power. I went to the source of it, finding myself at Tachyon's cave. A Barian was standing in front of him, holding up a blank card. I watched as Tachyon was absorbed into the card, the Barian struggling to control it. The intruder succeeded in controlling Number 107. The yellow-cloaked stranger took his leave, and I sped away as well. I must inform Star and Utopia of this, as it's abnormal that a meta-entity would enter the Realm.
(Star) I woke up to see Yinlong coiled up in my room, looking anxious.
"What's wrong, Yinlong?" I inquired to the indigo dragoness.
A Barian emperor has disturbed the Realm. She explained, The interloper took a powerful monster named Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon.
I didn't like the sound of that. Since when does anyone, Barian or otherwise, stroll into the Shadows and steal a spirit? Whatever it was, it didn't sound good. So I got ready and headed for the forests outside town.
I teleported to the forests to see Girag and Alito training there. I doubt that any of it would help in a duel, other than not collapsing in a Shadow Game. I watched them exercising on a cliff as I stood atop a tall tree, when I noticed something off with the weather; they noticed, too. Thick, dark gray clouds swirled around a location, sending down a single column of lightning, followed by a crimson explosion.
"Someone's come from Barian World," Girag concluded as he watched the explosion. Alito got nervous and added, "Not good."
Secretly, I followed them to get a better view of who came, with Yinlong not far behind. I got as close as I could standing on a tree. I noticed that the two didn't like the grand entrance; for the record, neither did I. Girag was wondering who it was, and Alito had a guess he hoped was wrong.
The interloper, Yinlong hissed as she flicked her tongue and lashed her whip-thin tail. The dust cleared and the force field disappeared, revealing a boy with long blonde hair.
"I'm right," Alito figured with bad anticipation, "This could get ugly." The newcomer turned around, showing his scarred face and cobalt-blue eyes.
Is that him? I asked Yinlong, and she responded with a nod and a tail lash.
"Welcome, Mizar," Girag greeted the blonde Barian. The newcomer, Mizar, gave Alito and Girag one black cube-like device to each of them.
"A Baria Sphere Cube," Girag echoed at the name of it. "So you say that with this thing, we can make a sphere field and have our duels inside it?"
Alito smirked, "Best of all, we can use all our Barian power."
While the two of them were talking, Mizar noticed me standing on the tree and thought, I had best not concern myself with a human girl. I hissed at him slightly as I felt something weird in my eyes. I shot a thought toward him, Oh really? Well, anyone who dares steal a spirit from my domain shall endure my wrath. He merely smirked and pretended that I wasn't there.
Meanwhile, Alito and Girag figured they'd be unstoppable with their power. Mizar turned his back while commenting, "Well, I think that remains to be seen," before he left. I knew what he was planning, and it didn't look good. I turned my back as well, teleporting back to Heartland City.
By the time I found Yuma, he, Ray, and Tori were walking home from school. Yuma seemed a little upset about something, and I saw that it was a nightmare from last night. I walked up to them, and Tori saw me coming.
"Hey Star," she greeted halfheartedly, "Yuma's been a little down today." I nodded in understanding and walked over to Yuma.
"Hey Yuma," I asked him, "Mind if I stay over at your place this evening?"
He turned to me and replied, "Sure."
Yuma and I walked up to his house, and he knocked on the front door. The one who answered was who appeared to be Yuma's older sister, Kari.
"Who's this?" she asked, gesturing toward me.
"My name is Star," I replied with a soft smile. Kari smiled brightly and introduced, "I'm Kari, nice to meet you. Come in, you're just in time for dinner."
As I followed Yuma and Kari into the kitchen, I saw Yuma's grandmother, Haru. There was also Lillybot, a female litterbot that lives with Yuma's family. The food was delicious, but Yuma didn't seem to be enjoying it.
"As usual, your cooking's great," Kari declared, "Right Yuma?" Yuma just nodded before setting down his bowl and standing up.
"Yuma, it's your favorite," Haru informed worriedly.
"I'm just not very hungry," Yuma moaned as he trudged away. It really shocked Kari and Haru as they exclaimed, "WHAT?!"
"Don't tell me," I told the two of them, "Yuma's usually always hungry. I may not have been with his crew for long, but I do know that much."
I had the spare room of the house, which happened to be right under Yuma's. Being just under him, I could hear everything he was worried about.
It seems like there are more and more Barian World duelists popping up every day. And that's bad news for me, 'cause every time I duel them, their game has me scrambling. Whenever they summon a Chaos Xyz monster with Barian's Force, they steal my monster's Overlay Units and then weaken their attack points; I'm totally at a disadvantage. It's like before I even get a chance to think about their move, they're on to the next one; I'm always one step behind. And that is not good for my game. Which means I gotta find a way to outduel them, or Astral's days are numbered!
The next day, Haru had me, Yuma, and Tori go and see someone named Master Roku. Haru had me go with them, as she said he was friendly. Yuma had to carry an enormous bag of food for him when we got there. I wondered why he had to do that, and they explained to me that it was usual for him.
We were all walking up a three-mile stone staircase, with me and Tori ahead of Yuma. Tori chided him to catch up, but he couldn't do that with the giant bag. We were only halfway up, but Yuma had to keep being reminded of why he was doing this. Once we were finally at the top, all three of us were pretty beat. This Master Roku lived on a temple at the top of the staircase.
"Anybody home?!" Tori called at the entrance, "Hello; Master Roku?" The one who opened the doors was someone else from what I could tell.
"Kaze," Yuma said happily when he recognized him.
"Long time no see, Yuma," he greeted.
We all sat down and Yuma asked where Master Roku was at the moment. "Sorry," Kaze apologized, "Master Roku isn't here. He's vacationing in the tropics."
Yuma pouted, "How do you like that? I climb up five gagillion stairs to bring him food, and Master Roku's off sunbathing."
Kaze smiled slightly and suggested, "Why don't you take it easy and rest for a bit, Yuma. You can stay as long as you like. And that way, you'll be good for your walk home." I mentally agreed with the suggestion, all while getting a sense of Kaze's mindset. He seemed like a nice person, but was betrayed during his past, like I was.
In the evening, I went over to where the legendary monsters' statues were. No one else could see it, but all the spirits of the shown monsters weren't far from their statues. In different sections of it were monsters that I was easily able to recognize. I walked over to Flame Wingman, Neos, and all of their pals to introduce myself. They didn't seem surprised that I was descended from Sartorius.
You surely have Satorius' powers, Neos mused, and Necrofear's timidity.
I smiled and added, "And then some," helping all of us to laugh a little. I heard Yuma coming in, and Flame Wingman wondered, I wonder why he's been looking so down lately. I nodded as I watched and listened to Yuma's thoughts.
These monsters were used by legendary duelists; wish I had that kind of skill. I'm not even sure I have what it takes to protect Astral!
Yuma turned to Red-Eyes Black Dragon's statue and flinched at its ferocity, gripping his key. Tori was thinking, I wish I knew what was troubling Yuma. I calmly walked up to the duel spirit, having it come down to my eye level.
"You shouldn't be afraid of Red-Eyes, Yuma," I informed him as I rubbed the black dragon under the chin. "He may have a temper, but he's a goodhearted and loyal dragon." No reaction; he probably wasn't paying attention.
"Yuma?" Kaze asked as he approached Yuma, "I know that look, want to talk?"
"I just..." Yuma began, but couldn't explain what he wanted to show.
"Well," Kaze told him, "when anything is bothering me, I remind myself... I never have to face it alone." Yuma looked up at him and tried to begin explaining again, but just couldn't. Then, Kaze gave two cards, saying that it was by Roku's orders if Yuma looked troubled or upset. "He's incredible," Kaze mused, "The master always seems to know just when his students need him most."
The next day, Yuma and Tori went off to the river not far from the sanctuary. I stuck around with all of the duel spirits; I enjoyed their company, and vice versa. As I saw the two of them head off, I went back to the room where the spirits were. I was wandering around the room, making small-talk with the spirits, when I heard someone ask, "Who are you talking to?"
In a panic, I swiftly spun around, almost clawing Kaze with my nails. Thankfully I missed, and he politely apologized, "My apologies, Star. But who are you talking to?"
I sighed, "I don't want to tell you yet. It's not your fault, I have trouble trusting others."
He said softly, "I'm sure you can trust me; after all, I've been there." I gave him a questioning look before complying and explaining myself.
"I'm basically the last of the Phantoms known to date; no help being descended from Sartorius. As a Phantom, I can see duel spirits, the future, and people's minds. But when I revealed that to someone, I was betrayed, causing my parents to be turned insane. For half of my life, I've had to endure pain that left many scars. And since then, I haven't been able to trust anyone, other than one person." Out of the blue, I felt something; it felt like Yuma and Astral were in trouble. "Something's wrong," I told Kaze, "I have to get to Yuma and Tori."
Kaze nodded and led me to the door as he said, "Good luck, and thank you." I nodded back at him and raced down the path that Yuma and Tori took.
I reached the river a lot sooner than I thought I would. I could also feel Mizar somewhere a ways down on the long way back. I ran over in that direction; if Mizar is over there, then Tori and Yuma aren't far away. Soon, the two of them were in my line of sight, and Mizar was standing on a tree limb behind them, aiming his hand. He was preparing to throw a ball of energy at Tori!
I wasn't not been fast enough to get in front of Mizar as he launched the shot; it got Tori. However, as I skidded to a halt, I instinctively launched a beam of Shadow energy, destroying the energy ball as I heard, Shadow Stream. The following explosion and Tori getting thrown back caught Yuma's attention as he spun around.
"Oh, I wouldn't be concerned with her," Mizar smirked, "You are better off worrying about yourself, Yuma."
Yuma turned toward Mizar and sneered, "Who are you?! Why'd you blast my friend?!"
"To get your attention, and it worked," Mizar said matter-of-factly before he activated his Barian sphere field.
As the sphere cube's black shell shattered, streams of red cards encircled the two of them. I walked the rest of the way there so I could catch my breath. I used my powers to silently enter the sphere field, hiding my eyes under my bangs.
"Who are you?" Yuma shouted and asked again.
"My name is Mizar," he introduced, "remember me well, for I am the last duelist you will ever face."
"I'm not scared of you Barian bozos!" Yuma jeered, "So bring it on!" If I don't beat him, I'd be letting Astral down and maybe for the last time. Losing is not an option.
Mizar chuckled and mused, "I know that beneath your tough exterior hides a terrified boy."
I took my chance, using Mizar's words against him as I stumbled upon a certain, hidden memory: And I know that behind your Galaxy-Eyes lies a boy who bears the grief of losing his parents before his eyes. One who was forced to carry the exact same burden as I do now. The memory I saw was beneath the surface, so Mizar likely didn't know what I was talking about; or, for that matter, believed me.
Mizar only rolled his eyes at me, but things became different when I revealed my eyes. Mizar looked surprised, but quickly recovered his composure. He thought, As far as I know, not even a Barian could have such depth in their eyes. With them having that deep, jade-like appearance, I can't help but wonder exactly what, or who she is. But she simply cannot be the Phantom that Dumon met, or is she.
Turning back to Yuma, Mizar informed, "You don't know what you're up against. Let me be clear; you will lose."
"Everybody says that before I beat 'em! Let me show ya!"
With that, the two of them readied their gear. The rage that came from Mizar's intrusion quickly disappeared when I began to materialize my tattoo. Both of them set their d-pads, and all of us put up our duel gazers, ready for the duel.