Ice Queen Cometh

by Nox Barian

Rio Kamishiro never expected her life would become so chaotic in such a short period of time. First her brother, Shark is set on fire and put in the hospital by a psychopath. Then, she is dragged into the War of the Number Cards alongside her friends. but when familiar faces from the past arrive on Earth, she will begin to question whether she is even human at all. (REMAKE)

1. Dawn of the Numbers

A/N:

WELCOME, Ladies, Gentlemen, and ZEXAL Fans!

It's been a very long time since the old Ice Queen Cometh saw any updates, and since that was my very first fanfiction, and I still love writing very much, it broke my heart to watch my first fanfiction just sitting there collecting dust.

However, there comes a time when a writer realizes that starting over is better than continuing forward, and I realized that.

I am an older and wiser person, and I have become a better writer.

I want to take what I've learned as a writer and use it to breathe new life into my old story and maybe produce something even better.

For those who have read the Old Version, don't expect the story to go into the Exact Same Direction. You might say this reboot is an AU of an AU. I have tons of new ideas, new directions this story can go, and new exciting duels to entertain you all with.

This is going to be a Roller Coaster of a Story, so I hope you all Enjoy the Ride!

I present to you all, the first chapter of the new and (hopefully improved) Ice Queen Cometh, and feel free to check out the PREQUEL! Yes, I said it. There is a PREQUEL to this story co-written with Myself and DonJusticia, FIRST CHAOS.

DonJusticia is a really good friend of mine and a talented writer in his own right, so if any of you are interested, head over to AO3 and check out the rewrite of his own story, "Signs of Renewal" it's a Yu-Gi-Oh ARC V story and it's really good. Speaking of which, this story is going to be posted on AO3 as well.

With that being said, let's get started!

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 1: Dawn of the Numbers

"Whoever can unlock this door will gain a great new power, but know that with such a reward, there comes a terrible risk. Do you have the courage to remove your locks and unlock your power?"

She had heard those words almost a hundred times before, just as she had seen the sight before her for the past several years, a giant metal doorway with the yellow eyed, sharp toothed face of a demon staring back at her. In all other directions, there was nothing but empty, silent blackness. The only way was forward, through the gaping maw of the demon door, but the door remained locked to her, and only continued to repeat its chilling riddle.

"What kind of great risk?" she asked the door. "What kind of power would I be unlocking?"

As usual, the door dodged her question and repeated its own. "Do you have the courage?"

Before she could reply, the ground underneath her feat gave way, and she tumbled away from the door into the empty abyss below, her rapid descent seeming to slow until she was floating in the vast nothingness of space.

She opened her eyes, and both the door and the void were gone.

Rio Kamishiro slowly came to her senses. She was back in her bedroom wearing her pajamas, her long sapphire hair a complete mess, her bangs drooped over her rose colored eyes. She hated that dream. It was always the same door, always the same riddle, always the same outcome of her falling into the void with no answers on what that stupid door meant. Was it too much to ask her subconscious for a little bit of clarity or variety to her dreams?

Even stranger, her brother mentioned having the same dream several times before. Perhaps it was a twin thing. Rio never believed in the idea of twins having a psychic link, but she knew she held a strong bond with her twin brother, Ryouga.

Speaking of Ryouga, where was he?

Rio checked the time, Two in the morning, and that scared her. Ryouga Kamishiro, or "Shark" as he preferred to call himself, should have been home by now. He had been gone for almost three hours. How long would it take to have a private duel with somebody?

She should have insisted he not leave home at this hour. She should have known something was wrong about that phone call from Thomas Arclight, better known as IV, his opponent from the Duel Monsters National Championship, claiming he was "So disappointed they didn't get to properly duel in the finals" and he "wanted to make things right about that little misunderstanding". That entire message smelled like foul play. She could feel it, but her brother refused to walk away from IV's challenge. She understood her brother had a rough couple of days and needed her to support him on this, but he shouldn't have put himself in danger to soothe his wounded pride.

Although she had to admit, if she was in her brother's shoes, and her reputation as a professional duelist was permanently tarnished, she would have ended up an emotional wreck as well. To make it all the way to the finals of the National Championship, only to be disqualified for cheating would break anyone's heart. Of course, she refused to believe Ryouga would ever cheat. Ryouga was many things, callous, aloof, bad tempered, but he was never dishonest, especially when it came to dueling.

And now out of nowhere, his opponent wanted to make things right for no reason other than charity?

It was nice of him, and that was the problem. It was too nice, too good to be true, but what could she do about it? Go out at this hour and look for him? He didn't tell her where they would meet for their private duel. He said they would meet at a warehouse, but that could be anywhere in the city. Call the police? They would probably tell her she was overreacting. Then again, perhaps she was overreacting, and she should just go back to sleep and when she woke up in the morning, her brother would be home safe and sound.

"Yeah, as if I could even think about getting any sleep now." she muttered to herself as her pacing around her bedroom became more frantic, all the while every ten seconds she would glance at her phone on her bedside, waiting for her brother to call her and tell her he was fine.

When her phone finally did ring, she dove for it like a bear catching a salmon in a river. Half excited and half paranoid, she awaited her brother's voice on the other end of the line, but the caller wasn't her brother. It was a doctor from Heartland General Hospital.

Five seconds after she picked up the phone, she dropped her phone in shock. Five seconds after that, she was on her knees in tears.

---

Four Months had passed since the heart-breaking phone call.

They ruled it a terrible accident. Of course they would. There's no way in their minds that the golden child of duel monsters, mister celebrity pretty boy, Thomas Arclight, would commit arson and set her brother on fire.

It was only a hunch at best, a paranoid conspiracy theory at worst, but she knew in her heart the warehouse explosion was no accident.

It wasn't like attempting to make a case of it and press charges would do any good. There was no evidence, and IV had good lawyers and good publicity. It was her hunch against his legal protection, so all she could do was wait for her brother to wake up and recover.

As if waiting was easy. The longer he stayed in that hospital, bandages wrapped around his face, the more it ate at her heart, the more it created a creeping doubt in her mind that the damage was permanent, that he would never wake up at all.

Still, she had to soldier on. She had to be strong for her brother. She had to get stronger.

With the Legendary Shark out of commission in the Dueling Leagues, she needed to fill her brother's spot. Every minute she wasn't at school was spent practicing, training so she could enter the National League in the next season. It was her only chance. IV was the National Champion. If she could just climb through the ranks and reach him, she could duel him and find out if he really was the monster she perceived him to be.

There was only one problem with attempting to practice during Free Period and After School at Heartland Academy. She inherited her brother's natural talent for dueling, and she quickly realized she was in a different league than most of the other students. It got to the point where her skills, her choice of cards, and her ruthless methods of quickly finishing her opponents earned her the title of "Ice Queen".

She didn't mind the nickname. It suited her. Perhaps she would use it as a stage name when she made her debut as a Pro Duelist. She didn't mind the glares and gossip from the students she defeated either. It wasn't her fault they were bad sports, most of them boys who initially wanted to woo her with their so-called skills, only to resent her after she beat them since their egos couldn't handle getting thrashed about by a girl. However, it did mean that as time passed, fewer and fewer people were willing to duel her.

Despite this, she managed to secure at least a few true friends during her new semester at school. She had no idea where she would be if she had to deal with the pain of Ryouga's condition on her own. While her mood certainly wasn't the best, she put on a smiling mask as she waited in the school courtyard for them to arrive, and she soon spotted two of them, a delicate looking girl with green hair tied in a side bun, and an energetic boy with short spiky black hair and a single red streak that spiked upward in the middle, Kotori Mizuki and Yuma Tsukumo.

Just watching Yuma chatter on and on about dueling was enough to turn Rio's fake smile into a real one. Yuma had an infectious level of energy, passion and optimism Rio wished she had. It amazed her how much he loved dueling despite not exactly being a good duelist, trying his hardest no matter how much he failed and getting back up every time he fell down. It was part of his "Kattobingu Spirit" as he called it, a never give up attitude.

It made Rio develop a level of respect for the hyperactive boy as time passed, and she found herself wanting to nurture that passion for dueling by using him as a sparring partner. They would get stronger together, and one day enter the Professional Leagues together. She knew if Yuma could combine that level of passion with a proper aptitude for strategy, he would be a force to be reckoned with one day.

Although now, he was still just an amateur, and she still had yet to get through to Yuma that a big heart could only get him so far if he didn't use his head.

Kotori was Rio's rock in this dark time of her life. The heart of her little friend group, she always saw through the fake smiles Rio put up and took time out of her day to talk with Rio about her brother, or even just normal conversations in general. Feeling normal after her entire life was turned upside down from that fire, it was a feeling she chased, a cure for her stress, and it was the little things here and there given by her friends that provided such a cure.

Watching Rio and Yuma duel eventually gave Kotori the urge to learn the game herself. She grew tired of simply watching from the sidelines and wanted to participate in the fun herself. Rio was more than happy to teach her, but of course she knew the real reason why Kotori wanted to learn how to duel. Even now as she watched the pair approaching her, walking side by side, she could see that ever so subtle look of longing in Kotori's brown eyes, wishing she and the boy she was with were holding hands.

For now, she would have to settle for listening to Yuma ramble on and on about his passion for dueling.

"YES! School's finally out and now I can put down my books and pick up my cards! Only question now is who I should duel first!"

"Don't you mean, who should you lose to first?" Kotori teased. "You don't exactly have the best record. I think you're up to nineteen or twenty straight losses in a row right now, unless I lost count. Maybe it's finally time to admit you need dueling lessons just like me."

"Those were all flukes!"

"A loss is a loss, Yuma, and besides, Rio promised me another lesson, so that's what we're doing first."

Kotori then spotted the Ice Queen waving at her and she waved back.

"Rio! There you are!"

"Hey Kotori, did you finally decide on what your first real deck should be?"

"I sure did, Rio. You can have the practice deck back. I won't need it anymore."

Kotori took a deck of duel monster cards and handed it to Rio. It was a rather basic deck of fairy monsters that Rio scavenged together from her collection to give to Kotori. Not ideal for actually winning games, it was more so Kotori could understand how to play.

Rio then looked at the Xyz Monster among the practice deck, a Fairy Cheer Girl, and smiled.

"Hey Kotori, does your new deck have any fairy monsters in it?"

"Well…." the green haired girl rubbed the back of her head. "There's a lot of different monster types in the deck I chose, but there are a few fairies in there. Why do you ask?"

She then saw her friend holding out the Fairy Cheer Girl card in her hand for her to take.

"Rio, no. I can't accept that. That's one of your cards. I know I borrowed it to learn how to play, but now I have my own deck that I bought with my own money."

"Well my deck doesn't have any fairies, so if I keep this card, then it will just be sitting in a drawer collecting dust." replied Rio. "Besides, think of it as a graduation gift from your dueling teacher. Keep it as a symbol of all you learned. You can take the training wheels off and call yourself a real duelist now."

Kotori blushed, and after some deliberations, she finally accepted the card and whispered "Thanks" under her breath, but then a giddy and hyperactive Yuma stepped in between the two girls.

"Hey, Rio, do you have any super awesome Xyz Monsters to give to me!" he beamed, causing Rio to jump back in surprise. "Come on, Rio, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease! I don't have any Xyz Monsters in my deck! I wouldn't lose all the time if I had one of my own."

Rio grew annoyed. "No, the reason you keep losing all the time is because you play your cards without thinking ahead. Half the time, you don't even read your cards before you use them."

"I just get really excited, that's all." Yuma argued, but Rio was having none of his excuses.

"I want to help you, Yuma, just like I'm helping Kotori, but I can't teach anybody who doesn't want to learn. If you just admit to me that you're not as good as you think you are and tell me you need help, then maybe after you've proven to me that you've learned something, I'll give you an Xyz Monster."

Rio was praying she could get through to Yuma. She hated to see her friend lose all the time, but she also knew Yuma had nobody to blame but himself. Unfortunately, Yuma was not backing down.

"I'll have you know, experience is the best teacher, and I've gained a lot of experience with every duel I've fought in, win or lose. I'll show you that I'm worthy of an Xyz Monster. Let's go right now! If I win, you give me an Xyz Monster."

"No, Yuma." Rio immediately shot him down. "Kotori needs to test her deck. Wait your turn."

"Um, actually Rio" Kotori replied rather sheepishly. "I think watching a duel will help get me fired up and in the mood, so I'm okay with letting Yuma go first."

Rio shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, then Yuma. Hopefully after this duel, you'll finally understand you have a lot to learn."

"Or maybe after this duel, you'll learn not to underestimate me!" replied Yuma, more fired up than ever. "Get set to get decked, Ice Queen! KATTOBINGU DAZE ORE!"

Duel Gazer Set

Augmented Reality Vision Online

Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 LP

Rio Kamishiro: 4000 LP

DUEL!

"The first move is mine, Rio! I draw!" Yuma looked at his hand and grinned. "YES! I have a chance to get a strong monster on the field right away! I summon Gogogo Golem and then activate Blustering Winds to increase its attack points by one thousand."

Yuma started the duel with one of his signature monsters, a stocky looking golem with a round metal face, thick blue metallic arms, a torso made of green bricks, and a single red eye inside its helmet-like dome. Immediately after its summon, a column of wind began to swirl around it, and the golem flexed its arms as its attack points increased.

Gogogo Golem: Level 4/EARTH/Rock/1800 ATK/1500 DEF

Gogogo Golem ATK: 1800 + 1000 = 2800 ATK

"Let's see you try to get past that." said a very cocky Yuma. "I end my turn."

Rio placed her hands over her face. Just staring at the cocky grin of her friend was giving her a headache.

She could train others to improve their dueling skills, but what she couldn't do was train somebody to think before they acted, and there was nobody in the entire school, maybe in all of Heartland City, who had a bigger problem of acting without thinking than Yuma Tsukumo.

"Okay, Kotori. Pop Quiz. What did Yuma do wrong?" She asked the green haired girl. "Actually, I'm just going to be blunt and ask a different question. Did Yuma do anything right?"

"HEY! What's that supposed to mean?!" an offended Yuma shouted at the two women.

Kotori looked at the field and then at her notes before raising her hand.

"Kotori, you're the only one here, and this isn't an actual class. You don't need to raise your hand." Rio corrected her, and Kotori blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry! Um…. well, doesn't Gogogo Golem have an effect that only works if it's in defense mode?"

"So what?" Yuma questioned. "It's better for me to control the field with a strong monster."

"Except you don't have control of the field." Rio argued. "It's the first turn of the duel, so even if you power up your Golem, you can't do anything with those extra attack points since you can't attack on the first turn of the duel, and even worse, you have no spell or trap cards in your back row protecting your Golem from anything I'm planning to do."

"Well…. Okay fine!" Yuma finally caved. "Maybe my first move could have been better, but getting a strong monster on the field is worth the risk. That's how I duel. High Risk, High Reward, and never backing down from a challenge. KATTOBINGU!"

Rio sighed. While she admired Yuma's bravery and eagerness, his reckless behavior always got him into trouble, especially during duels. "You know, since you did just admit you made a mistake, and since I'm feeling generous, I could just let you start your turn over."

"NO WAY! To me that's no different than forfeiting, and giving up is something I just can't do, even when I've made a wrong decision, even when the situation looks hopeless, so bring it on, Rio! Don't you dare go easy on me just because I made a mistake."

Rio looked at her hand, and then back at Yuma, and she shot the teenage boy a questioning look.

"You REALLY want me to go all out right now?"

"I insist!"

She sighed again. This was going to be rather painful for Yuma.

"Alright, if you insist. My turn. I draw! I summon my Blizzard Falcon, and then I'll also power it up just like you did with your Golem. I activate the spell card, Blizzard Jet. This card doubles my Falcon's attack points until the end of the turn."

Rio's first monster appeared on the field, a large blue bird with its wings and talons encased in ice. A vicious snow storm whipped up around the bird, and it screeched as the storm granted it greater strength.

Blizzard Falcon: Level 4/WATER/Winged-Beast/1500 ATK/1500 DEF

Blizzard Falcon ATK: 1500 x 2 = 3000 ATK

"THREE THOUSAND?!" Yuma shouted before jumping back at the sight of Rio actually overpowering his monster with little effort. "Now it can take out my Golem with one attack!"

"Actually, that's not why I powered my Falcon up. Besides, even if I wanted to attack, I can't. A monster that's under the effect of Blizzard Jet cannot attack during the turn I activate Blizzard Jet."

"But I thought you just said there's little point to powering up a monster if you can't attack with it." Yuma inquired. "Actually that sounds like a bigger waste than what I did, since your Falcon's attack points are just going to go back to normal at the end of the turn."

"There is a point if you have a way to get around the drawback of not attacking." Rio replied. "Blizzard Falcon's effect activates. Since its attack points increased by fifteen hundred, my falcon can inflict fifteen hundred damage to your life points."

The falcon screeched and flapped its wings, directing the snowstorm right into Yuma's face, who recoiled from the blizzard as his life points dropped.

Yuma: 4000 - 1500 = 2500

"Next, I activate the effect of Aurora Pegasus in my hand. I can change my Blizzard Falcon into a Level Five monster and then Special Summon Aurora Pegasus from my hand."

A second monster appeared next to the falcon, a snow white horse with blue wings and ice crystals on its hooves and mane. Each flap of the steed's wings created a wave of rainbow light.

Aurora Pegasus: Level 5/WATER/Winged-Beast/1900 ATK/1600 DEF

"Alright, Kotori. Pop quiz again. Why did I just change my Blizzard Falcon's level?"

Kotori beamed with excitement. She knew the answer immediately. "You're planning on Xyz Summoning, aren't you? And you can only Xyz Summon if you have two or more monsters with the same level."

"Give this girl a gold star! I overlay Aurora Pegasus and Blizzard Falcon! With these 2 Level 5 Monsters, I build the overlay network!"

"XYZ SUMMON! ARISE, ICE PRINCESS ZEREORT!"

Both falcon and steed transformed into blue orbs of light, and vanished into a spiraling red vortex in the center of the field. In a flash of brilliant light, Rio's new monster appeared, a dark blue woman encased head to toe in armor made of solid white ice, which cascaded down her body and took the shape of a ballroom dress. Four massive fins emerged out of the back of the crystal dress like the wings of a swan, and a golden ice pick rested in the monster's hands.

Ice Princess Zereort: Rank 5/WATER/Winged-Beast/Xyz/2500 ATK/2100 DEF

At this point, the duel began to draw a small crowd, and soon Kotori was no longer alone in the audience. Several students gathered to marvel at the Xyz Monster, many of them having seen it before due to being on the receiving end of its attack.

"It's Rio's Frozen First Turn Kill. First the falcon, and then the Ice Princess."

"Yuma's done for."

"He doesn't stand a chance."

"Talk about overkill."

"Did Shark teach her that before his accident, or did she come up with that move on her own?"

"What did Tsukumo do to piss off the Ice Queen?"

"Ice Princess Zereort's effect activates! By detaching one overlay unit, I can reduce your Golem's attack points to zero. SUB-ZERO SUBTRACTION!"

With one wave of Zereort's ice pick, a swarm of blue crystals crept up the Golem's body until it was completely frozen solid.

"Wait! It can do WHAT?" Yuma exclaimed. "So if it attacks, I'll lose twenty-five hundred life points." As his brain did the math, he went into full panic mode. "but…. But…. but…. That's all I have!"

"Sorry, Yuma, but you literally asked for it. Ice Princess Zereort, attack his golem! SUB-ZERO STORM!

Another wave of its golden wand and the frozen golem shattered into pieces, and the shockwave of the mighty blizzard knocked Yuma off his feet and onto his back.

Yuma: 2500 - 2500 = 0 (LOSE)

Winner: RIO!

The crowd dispersed and the students went their separate ways, most of them dissatisfied that the duel was over so quickly. Kotori, on the other hand, stood as frozen as the golem was, absolutely awestruck at her mentor's brutally effective strategy.

"You…. you beat Yuma in one turn!"

"He told me to go all out on him, so if you think I went overboard, then that's on him."

"Actually, maybe go a little bit harder next time." Kotori suggested with a teasing giggle as she watched Yuma struggle to get back on his feet. "It seems like he's never going to learn his lesson unless he learns it the hard way."

"Oh man… that's another loss!" Yuma groaned. He then touched his neck area and immediately panicked. "MY KEY! WHERE DID IT GO?!" His hands scattered all over the ground until he felt something metal on the back of his neck, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank God! I thought I lost it."

Yuma turned the rope of the necklace around, and Rio's eyes locked onto an arrow shaped golden pendant with four grooves on its sides and a small ring at the top to hold the rope.

"For somebody so obsessed with dueling, I thought your deck would be your most prized possession instead of that necklace." she joked.

"It's not a necklace! It's a key, the Emperor's Key!" Yuma sounded genuinely offended at the thought of somebody having a casual attitude towards his key. "It's more than just a good luck charm. My parents said it would unlock my full potential one day, and so they gave it to me the day before….. Before…."

Rio's heart immediately filled with regret and sympathy. The subject of Yuma's parents was always difficult, and it was more than enough to extinguish Yuma's flames of cheerful energy. A pair of archeologists, Kazuma and Mira Tsukumo, frequently left on expeditions to study ancient ruins. One day, they left and never came back. The Emperor's Key and his father's deck were all Yuma had to remember then by.

"Yuma are you alright?" Rio asked. It took a few seconds for Yuma to answer, but his lowered head soon instantly popped up with his wide cocky grin back on his face.

"Alright? I'm better than alright!" he beamed, baffling the Ice Queen in the process. It was like the entire subject of his missing parents was never brought up at all, and now his one track mind was back on the subject of dueling. "You gotta show me how to pull off that trick! If I could pull off a move like that, I'd be invincible!"

"Well for starters, you need an Xyz Monster with an effect similar to mine." replied Rio. "And while I don't want to disrespect your Dad's cards, I'm just going to say it. Your deck needs stronger cards, and since you lost that duel, then you're not getting that free Xyz Monster from me."

"Yeah, I know. Problem is, my big sister doesn't let me have an allowance anymore since she knows I'll just spend it all on new cards, and Xyz Monsters are expensive, so I don't know if I'll be able to get one any time soon." Yuma sighed. "Still isn't going to stop me from trying. If I had my own Xyz Monster, I'll be able to finally beat you one day. Maybe I'll even be able to wipe that smirk off Tetsuo's face. He still teases me for losing ten times in a row."

"Twenty times in a row." Kotori corrected him. "And this duel makes twenty-one."

"Hey, where is Tetsuo, by the way?" Rio asked. They were still missing the fourth member of their little group, Tetsuo Takeda, a good duelist in his own right and one of the few students who could actually keep up with Rio. The Ice Queen was starting to get worried as Tetsuo made it a point to meet up with them right here right on time.

"Hang on, I think I see him!" Yuma pointed off in the distance and sure enough, they saw an overweight teenage boy with shaggy black hair and a red backwards baseball cap in the middle of a duel. That could only be Tetsuo, but what concerned them was his opponent.

Tetsuo wasn't dueling another student. His opponent looked like something out of a slasher movie, it was a tall man with his body hidden in a purple cloak and his face concealed by an ugly white skull mask.

Kotori trembled at the sight of the frightening duelist. "Who let somebody like that on school grounds?! Tetsuo must be in trouble!"

"No, check it out! Tetsuo's beating that guy!" Yuma pointed out the lifepoint score. Despite the duelist's frightening appearance, he only had fifteen hundred lifepoints left and only controlled a single face-down defense position monster, while Tetsuo's life points were almost at full health.

"Tetsuo! You okay!" Yuma called out. The heavyset duelist turned around and waved at his friends before locking eyes with Rio and blushing profusely.

"Hey, Yuma, Kotori, and…. Um… Rio…..Hi….Rio…." He coughed and regained his composure, while Rio rolled her eyes. "You're just in time to watch me mop the floor with this boogeyman. Don't let the grim reaper costume fool you. This guy is all talk and no walk."

"I would not be so arrogant. Do you dare attack my mystery monster, foolish boy? Will you cower in fear of my hidden trap, or charge into battle and face your DOOM?" The mystery duelist spoke in a creepy, rasping voice like a ghost, but Rio noticed something sounded off. The way the man spoke, his threats sounded rehearsed, artificial, and his choice of words; she had heard them before.

"The only one who's going to meet his doom is you!" Tetsuo fired back.

"I overlay my three copies of Tin Goldfish! With these 3 Level 4 Monsters, I build the overlay network!"

Tin Goldfish: Level 4/WATER/Machine/800 ATK/2000 DEF

"XYZ SUMMON, TIN ARCHDUKE!"

Tetsuo's three monsters, a trio of red robotic fish, disappeared into the overlay network. This time, the portal appeared high in the sky, and dropping from it like a missile was an enormous, but comical looking robot dressed to resemble a seventeenth century british noble, complete with a red royal doublet, blonde mustache, google eyes, and a long silver cavalry sword.

Tin Archduke: Rank 4/EARTH/Machine/Xyz/2200 ATK/1200 DEF

"Tin Archduke's effect activates! By detaching one overlay unit, I can switch your face-down monster into attack mode! COMMAND SWITCH!"

The robot absorbed one of its orbiting overlay units into its sword and pointed at the mystery monster. The card turned upright and revealed the identity of the monster, a bipedal beast covered in a brown insect like carapace with foot long claws and a maw of razor sharp teeth.

Man-Eater Bug: Level 2/EARTH/Insect/450 ATK/600 DEF

"You fool!" growled the masked duelist. "When Man-Eater Bug is flip summoned, it automatically destroys one monster on the field, so your precious Xyz Monster you spent all that effort to summon is no more. This duel is over! Your deck is mine!"

"Yeah that would be the case." Tetsuo replied with a triumphant grin. "But flip effect monsters can't activate their effects when they're switched to attack mode by the effect of Tin Archduke, so I'm afraid my monster isn't going anywhere, but you were right about one thing. This duel is over!"

"Wait…. What….. NO! This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Tin Archduke, attack his Man-Eater Bug now! TIN BLADE BEATDOWN!"

The robot charged and cut the giant bug in half, shattering it into particles of light and creating a shockwave that knocked the cloaked duelist off his feet and onto the ground.

"I KNEW IT! LOOK!" Rio pointed an accusing finger at the fallen duelist, and the tall scary man wasn't tall and scary anymore, or even that much of a man. The mask had fallen off when the duelist fell over, and now that his legs were in the air, the four friends could see he was wearing stilts. The man groaned in pain, and now even his voice was different, nasally and high-pitched instead of the raspy growl from before.

The three friends noticed several extra copies of Man-Eater Bug and other flip effect monsters falling out of the sleeves of the cloak.

Skull Face Duelist: 1500 - 1750 = 0 (LOSE)

Winner: Tetsuo Takeda

The Ice Queen approached the collapsed cloak and pulled it off the floor, revealing the true identity of the mystery duelist. It wasn't a tall scary man at all, but a short scrawny boy with bug-eyed green glasses, short brown hair, and a tiny blue bowler hat on his head. He wore the same red first-year boys uniform as Yuma and Tetsuo and was punching the ground with his fist in a tantrum.

"Here's the big scary mystery duelist." Rio hissed. "Tokunosuke Hiyori, and look at that. What a surprise. The big sleeves of the cloak let you hide a bunch of extra cards so you could cheat."

"I should have known it was you the moment you convinced me to wager my deck." yelled an angry Tetsuo. "And you weren't even playing fair. No wonder you pretended to be somebody else. I never would have accepted your challenge had I known it was you."

"This guy went to all this trouble to cheat and pretend to be a big scary duelist, and yet he still lost?" said a confused Kotori.

"How did you know it was me?" the tiny boy screamed. "My disguise was perfect."

"You gave yourself away the moment you used a deck full of flip effect monsters." Rio explained. "For somebody who always talks about hidden sides, you didn't hide yourself very well."

"Flip effect monsters are perfect for me." the shorter duelist explained. "They reflect how the world works. Every little aspect of life has a hidden side. You can either exploit that hidden side or fall victim to it. You can either be the scammer or the sucker."

"That sounds like a really sad way to live." Yuma commented. He sensed tension in the air and didn't like it. While he didn't approve of cheating, he was hoping they could resolve this peacefully.

"Come on, Toku. You can't be happy dueling this way. You're not going to make any friends if you scam people like that. If you just played fair and dueled just for fun, then you wouldn't need to do this. You'd have tons of friends."

The flip effect duelists glared at Yuma from using a shorter version of his name, but then the anger disappeared and a rather innocent smile sprouted on his face."

"You know what, Yuma. You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been cheating during that duel. Here, let me make it up to you and show my thanks for making me see the error of my ways."

He held out his hand, and Yuma's eyes beamed with want when he saw the black outline of the duel monster card.

"Is that an Xyz Monster?!" Yuma was practically drooling as he spelled out the monster's name.

"Baby Tiragon?"

"Yes it is, and it's all yours. Now what do you say we let bygones be bygones, or even better, why don't you test that card out in a duel against me. What do you say?"

"YUMA DON'T TOUCH THAT CARD!"

Kotori's voice snapped Yuma out of his card lust. "Huh? Why not?" he whined, but Kotori's attention was focused squarely on Tokunosuke.

"I know what you're doing. You're giving him that Baby Tiragon so you can challenge him to a rematch later and then goad him into using it. You have an Ultra C card in your deck, which will turn the entire duel in your favor, but only if your opponent summons Baby Tiragon."

"WHAT?!" Yuma looked down at the card, and then at Tokunosuke, whose glare directed at Rio confirmed his lie. "How can you be sure?!"

"Remember Taichi from last semester?" she continued. "You pulled the same trick on him. You really think he wouldn't tell people about what you did, Hiyori?"

"Way to ruin my fun, Mizuki."

"You little weasel!" shouted Tetsuo. "You were going to trick Yuma into wagering his best cards just like you tried to take mine. Do you even have an ounce of shame?"

"So what?" Tokunosuke asked with shrugged shoulders. "If the people I give this card to are too stupid to realize what I'm really up to, then it's their fault for being so naive. Smart people understand that nobody gives things to people without a hidden cost."

"Smart people also realize that scamming people and cheating always comes back to bite them." Rio argued.

"That's rather rich coming from you, Ice Queen. Didn't your brother get disqualified from the Nationals when he got caught cheating?"

The air seemed to grow colder after Tokunosuke hurled that final insult, and the other high school students instantly grew nervous as Rio's glare hardened and her fists clenched tight.

"Insult my brother again and see what happens. I dare you."

"Alright, everybody calm down. Can't we just break it up, please?" Yuma begged. "Honestly, Toku. If you keep doing this, then everybody in the school is going to hate you. If you had just asked me to duel normally, I would have said yes, and then regardless of the outcome, we could have been friends, so why do you do stuff like this?"

"I used to have friends." Tokunosuke grumbled bitterly. "Until I found out they were only friends with me because they knew I could get them rare cards. It's fine though, because that taught me a valuable lesson. There are only two types of people in this world, the scammers and the victims. If you're honest with somebody and act like an open book, you're only setting yourself up for betrayal."

"But that was just those few kids, Toku." Yuma replied.. "You just got involved with the wrong crowd and attracted some fake friends. I guarantee you if you stop trying to scam people and instead just make friends the normal way like you used to, you'll enjoy dueling again."

He extended his hand. "Come on. I'll give you another chance. We can forget this ever happened and duel each other the fair way."

Toku stared at Yuma's hand, his glasses containing cynical and spiteful judgment.

"What's the hidden catch?" the short boy asked.

"That's just it. There is no catch, and there doesn't have to be." Yuma replied with a warm smile.

"I just want to put this behind us."

But Yuma's kind words had the opposite effect on Tokunosuke. "You must think I'm stupid, don't you? Why would you offer to be friends with me after I just tried to scam you? What's your hidden agenda? Are you trying to get me to lower my guard so you can get back at me for what I did with a trick of your own? Are you trying to humiliate me?"

"NO! I would never do that! I just don't like making enemies. Some people might say I'm too forgiving, but that's just who I am. My dad said dueling is meant to bring out the best in people, so that's how I want to duel. Fair and square with both people enjoying the game.

As Yuma continued to extend the olive branch, more and more resentment filled Tokunosuke's eyes, and soon, they locked onto the key dangling from Yuma's neck.

Without warning, Tokunosuke lost his temper. He snatched Yuma's key and tugged on the rope until it broke.

"THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN SOMEBODY." The flip effect duelist shouted and before anybody could stop him, the enraged boy threw the key on the ground and stomped on it.

When Yuma heard it break in half, his heart broke with it.

"NO….. my key…."

"You little CREEP! Why would you do that?!" Rio shouted. Kotori reached down to comfort Yuma as he picked up the broken pieces of his key, while Tetsuo moved to deal with Tokunouske.

"Come here! You're dead meat!" Tetsuo took a swing at Tokunosuke, but the shorter, skinnier boy was far quicker. He easily ducked under the incoming fist, and then raced over to the railing behind him. Leaping over it, he jumped down to the floor below him and raced away from the school grounds.

"That's what you get for being so naive, Yuma. Maybe now you'll see I was right." He yelled back one final taunt as he raced off into the distance.

"The nerve of that guy." growled Tetsuo. "He better not show his face again, or he'll regret it. You can hold him down, and I'll rearrange his face, right Yuma?"

"My key…"

Yuma was inconsolable. He barely acknowledged his friends as he clutched the broken halves of his father's keepsake, the falling tears in his eyes soaking the metal. Kotori helped him back to his feet while Rio patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay, Yuma. Let's just pretend this never happened. Why don't we have another duel. That will cheer you up, won't it?"

But not even the prospect of a duel was enough to restore Yuma's mood.

"No thanks." he whispered. "I just want to go home."

And Yuma remained silent for the rest of the day as he walked home with a dark cloud hanging over his head.

---

"Whoever can unlock this door will gain a great new power, but know that with such a reward, there comes a terrible risk. Do you have the courage to remove your locks and unlock your power?"

Yuma had fallen asleep the minute he got home, skipping dinner, much to the concern of his grandmother and older sister, and he awoke to find himself in an empty void with an all too familiar face staring back at him.

He had seen this door many times in his dreams, and every time it spoke the same ominous riddle.

"I thought I had the courage," he said to the door. "But now I'm not so sure. I thought my Kattobingu spirit would be enough to help me overcome any challenge, but I got a wake up call today. I have a lot to learn, and I need more time to grow before I am ready to unlock anything."

"Time? What time do you think you have?" The door replied, catching Yuma off guard. He had never heard the door speak anything other than its riddle. "If you believe your spirit can be broken as easily as a piece of metal, then perhaps you are right. You are not ready after all. Look down at your hand and tell me what you see."

A faint golden glow appeared in the palm of Yuma's right hand. He looked down and saw his key resting in his palm and he watched in surprise as the two halves connected back together on their own.

"A key is always functional if its owner is still willing to use it." The door continued. "The time to decide is now, Yuma Tsukumo. The threats you will face will not allow you to wait. Should you walk away, you will not get another chance, but should you unlock this door, there will be no turning back. What is your choice? Do you have the courage to remove your locks and unlock this power?"

The pain of doubt entered his heart. Yesterday was one of the worst days of his life. It gave him a rude awakening. He thought back to Tokunosuke's sneering grin as he stepped on the key and broke it, but then more faces entered his mind.

Tetsuo, Kotori, Rio,

Mom and Dad.

They would come back one day. He always told himself that when he looked at their family photo on his bedside. Even if they weren't with him, he could feel them through the key. He could almost hear his Dad's voice pushing him forward, encouraging him every step of the way.

"My Dad wouldn't walk away." he whispered to himself. He stared at the door once more, and he felt the fire within him light back up, a small spark, but it was reigniting fast. The door was right. He couldn't let a simple act of stepping on his key shatter his confidence.

"And he wouldn't want me to walk away either. I've made my choice. I'm going to open that door!"

Like an olympic sprinter reacting to the starting gun of a race, he lept into action, key in hand and raced towards the door.

"KATTOBINGU DAZE ORE!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and slammed the key into the lock of the door. The face of the door split vertically down the middle and the door opened. The last thing Yuma saw before he was blinded by a radiant white light was the golden eye of a glowing man floating towards him.

Yuma's awakening was abrupt and painful. He fell out of bed and hit the floor with a loud thud.

Rubbing his throbbing chin, he regained his senses and darted around his room until something golden caught his attention. At first, his heart sank again, knowing that his key was only fixed in his dream, and the harsh reality of it still being broken was right in front of him, but when he took a closer look, he was in for a shock.

"It…. it's fixed? OH MY GOD, IT'S FIXED!" Yuma leaped into the air, touching the intact key and then pinching himself to see if he was dreaming. "How is this even possible? Keys don't just fix themselves! This is unbelievable! This is… OH CRAP, I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL! NOT AGAIN!"

Having no more time to think about the key, a panicked Yuma raced down the stairs, completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn't alone in his room.

Silent and with unblinking golden eyes, a glowing white presence followed Yuma down the stairs.

Classes were a blur for Yuma. He barely paid attention in class under normal circumstances, but now every thought in his brain was on last night's dream and the mystery of his key. When the school day finally ended, he was still in a daze, confused and yet grateful. The repairing of his key had to be a sign of some kind, a sign not to give up on his way of life, to keep pushing and dueling no matter what.

And maybe it was a sign that his parents were still out there, encouraging him to do just that.

"Hey, Yuma. I just wanted to check and see if you're alright. I'm really sorry about your key."

Yuma heard Rio's voice behind him, but he was still distracted and focused on the key.

Rio, who couldn't see Yuma's face, assumed he was staring at the broken halves of the necklace.

"Hey, I did some research, and there's a jewelry store in downtown Heartland. The guy who owns the place specializes in repairing damaged and broken jewelry. Maybe we could go there this weekend and he can fix your key."

Finally, Yuma turned around, and what was in Rio's hand made the Ice Queen's Jaw drop.

"But….. but he broke your key clean in half?!" She whispered in disbelief.

"How on earth did you fix it already?"

"I have no idea, Rio. I just went to sleep, had a weird dream about a creepy door, and then poof! When I woke up, my key was right where I put it every night, completely fixed."

At the mention of the door, the Ice Queen froze.

"What did you just say? A door?" Both duelists grew increasingly nervous as they stared at each other, connecting the dots in their heads. Yuma had never seen Rio look so frightened before.

"Was it large black door with chains all over it, right? Did it have a creepy face with yellow eyes?" Rio asked. "Did it speak to you?"

"No way…." Yuma exclaimed. "That is the same door. When did you have a dream like that?"

"I've been having the same dream for years. My brother had the same dream too."

"How does that make any sense? Two people having the same dream is a coincidence, but all three of us, over and over again for God knows how long?! This is beyond weird."

"YUMA! RIO!" the two duelists turned to see a frantic Kotori screaming their names and racing towards them. The look on her face screamed emergency.

"He's lost his mind! He's lost his mind! We have to do something!"

"What are you talking about, Kotori? Who has lost his mind?" asked Rio.

"Tokunosuke!" she answered, and she explained what she saw through heavy labored breaths.

"He challenged Tetsuo to a rematch and then he went completely crazy. He's got this glowing mark on his hand, some strange new Xyz Monster, and he's beating Tetsuo! He's winning!"

She didn't have to say anything else. Yuma already lept into action and raced back to the spot where Tetsuo dueled Tokunosuke the day before with Rio and Kotori following close behind. He arrived just in time to see the final turn of the duel. A malicious looking dragon, a monster Yuma had never seen before, attacked and destroyed Tetsuo's tin archduke with a scarlet fireball and sent Yuma's friend falling to the ground in a heap.

"And now it's time to claim my prize."

Tokunosuke's voice was different, far more malicious than simply mischievous, and as he walked towards the downed Tetsuo, Yuma saw the glowing mark, it was a Red Tattoo of a Number 24. It seemed to leak out an aura of dark power, cloaking Tokunosuke's body.

Then the flip effect duelist did the impossible. Short and tiny Tokunosuke lifted the large and heavy Tetsuo, who was three times his size, off the ground with one hand. With his other hand, he took Tetsuo's deck out of his duel disk and then threw the heavy teenager across the yard where he landed just in front of Yuma.

Tetsuo cried out in pain as he hit the ground, and he looked up to see the concerned faces of his friends.

"Sorry guys. I don't know what happened. I thought I could take him, but then he summoned that creepy dragon."

"What kind of trick is that little cheater up to this time?" snapped Rio.

"Oh, I'm not up to anything, Ice Queen." Tokunosuke replied with a grin that sent shivers down the spines of the four friends. "I'm just here to get back at the four of you for humiliating me yesterday, and that card you saw is the key. Nobody will ever humiliate me again!"

The marking on his hand seemed to pulse with more dark power with every word the flip effect duelist spoke, and behind his glasses, his eyes matched the red color of the mark.

"If you want to duel, then you've got one." Rio replied.

"Not so fast!" Tokunosuke replied, and then he pointed at the holder of the Emperor's Key.

"Yuma's my next victim. It's time to make you pay."

"Me? What did I do?" Yuma replied incredulously. "You're the one who stepped on my key."

"You tried to trick me with that fake offer of being my friend, but I saw through your lies. I saw the hidden agenda in your hand of friendship. It was all a lie. There is only one truth in this world. Power is the key to getting what you want."

"You're crazy." said Kotori. "Yuma was just trying to help you, and you spat in his face."

But the flip effect duelist was ignoring them. He then pulled out a single card from his deck and stared at it like a drug addict would stare at his next fix.

"And with this card, I'll be invincible. I don't even need Tetsuo's deck. I'll probably burn it."

"DON'T YOU DARE!" shouted Yuma. "Fine, if you want to duel me, you've got a duel, and I'll wager my own deck to win back Tetsuo's."

"Yuma, you can't!" Kotori cried. "You can't risk your Dad's cards against that dragon."

But Rio put a hand on Kotori's shoulder. "Let him go, Kotori. I think Yuma needs to do this. Maybe with the right set of stakes, he'll finally grow into the duelist he needs to be."

"Winning your Dad's cards will be easy." Tokunosuke said. "And I'll make you watch as I have a nice little bonfire with all the cards I'm about to earn."

"The only thing you're going to earn is a butt kicking! LET'S DUEL! KATTOBINGU DAZE ORE!"

Duel Gazer Set

Augmented Reality Vision Online

Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 LP

Tokunosuke "Flip" Hiyori: 4000

DUEL!

"The first move is mine, Yuma! I set a monster face-down in defense mode and then I set one card face-down. Turn end!"

"That little creep is at it again with the face-down monsters." Growled Tetsuo. "Why don't you play your monsters face-up for once and fight like a man!"

"And ruin the big surprise? Where's the fun in that?" Tokunosuke replied with a mischievous sneer. "I'm only curious if Yuma's brave enough to attack and see what my monster's capable of."

"Oh, I'm definitely brave enough." said Yuma. "My turn! Draw! I will start by summoning this monster, my Zubaba Knight, in attack mode!"

Yuma's first monster appeared on the field in a flash of white light, a golden armored knight with a red cape. The knight unsheathed two jagged swords shaped like lightning bolts and gave a loud bellowing cry of "ZUBABA!"

Zubaba Knight: Level 3/EARTH/Warrior/1600 ATK/900 DEF

"Now attack! Cut his face-down monster to pieces with Zubaba Slash!"

"YUMA, NO!" shouted Tetsuo. "Don't you remember who you're dueling? This guy uses flip effect monsters. If you attack, you'll trigger his monster's effect!"

"Don't worry! I know that face-down monster probably has a flip effect, and that's why I summoned my Zubaba Knight. If it attacks a monster in defense mode, that monster is automatically destroyed before the battle even starts."

"Yuma, that effect only happens if the opponent's monster is already face-up!" scolded Rio. "How many times do I have to tell you? Read your cards before you play them!"

Yuma looked down at his duel disk to check if Rio was right, and sure enough she was telling the truth. A panicked Yuma cried out for Zubaba Knight to stop, but it was too late. The attack had already been declared. The golden knight swung his sword and sliced the card in half, revealing the identity of the monster, and Yuma went pale when he saw an all too familiar giant brown insect.

"Flip Effect, activate!" Flip announced. "Since you were stupid enough to attack my face-down monster, your knight is about to fall prey to the Man-Eater Bug! When this card is flipped face-up, it automatically destroys one monster on the field!"

"MY KNIGHT!" cried Yuma, but there was nothing he could do. Like a cat playing with a mouse, the humanoid insect pounced and sunk its teeth into the knight's neck, shattering both monsters into dust.

Man-Eater Bug: Level 2/EARTH/Insect/450 ATK/600 DEF

"Next, I activate my trap card, Cover Counter! Since you destroyed a Flip Effect Monster by battle, this card lets me summon a new monster with the same type from my deck in face-down Defense Mode."

Another mysterious hidden card appeared on Tokunosuke's field, and Yuma cursed under his breath. It wasn't even the first turn of the duel, and he already embarrassed himself and made a mistake. Screwing up during a regular duel wasn't a big deal. If he lost, he could just try again next time, but this was serious. This was a duel with stakes. One false move, and he would lose both Tetsuo's deck and his own.

He'd be letting his best friend down, and he couldn't live with himself if he did that.

"I end my turn." said Yuma begrudgingly. His field was empty. All he could do now was pray that his opponent didn't have a strong enough monster to wipe out his life points.

"Then it's my turn again!" sneered Tokunosuke. "I draw, and I will set another monster from my hand face-down, and then for my next move I will flip summon the monster I summoned last turn with Cover Counter. Meet my Flip Cricket!"

The face-down monster revealed its identity in a flash of white light. It was a giant white cricket with long legs that resembled human bones, glowing red eyes, and a red skull marking on its abdomen.

Flip Cricket: Level 6/EARTH/Insect/0 ATK/2000 DEF

"When I flip summon my flip cricket, it lets me special summon another Flip Cricket from my Deck."

As a second white cricket appeared to join the second, Tetsuo immediately grew fearful of his friend.

"Oh No, not this again!" he groaned. "Yuma was already in a bad spot, and I was hoping he would make some progress before this happened, but if Tokunosuke is about to do what I think he's going to do, then there's no way Yuma can win."

"What do you mean?" asked Kotori. "Those crickets have zero attack points. He can't win with those."

Rio, on the other hand, immediately understood what Tetsuo was worried about.

"They may not have any attack points, Kotori, but look at their levels. You remember what you can do when you have two or more monsters on the field with the same level, right?"

Now Kotori realized just how much trouble Yuma was in. "He's going to Xyz Summon!" she realized. "And if that monster needs level six monsters for its summoning condition, then it has to be really strong, right?"

"It's not just strong, it's unbeatable." A pessimistic Tetsuo replied. "He's going to summon that strange dragon monster that he used to beat me. I don't know where that little creep got that card, but no matter what I did, I couldn't beat that thing. If he summons it, then Yuma's dead meat."

Sure enough, with a wicked sneer on his face, and the ominous glow of the Number on his hand, Tokunosuke confirmed Tetsuo's fears.

"I overlay my two Flip Crickets! With these 2 Level 6 Monsters, I build the Overlay Network!"

The two crickets transformed into balls of glowing light, and began orbiting around a golden vortex appearing in the center of the field. The two orbs descended into the portal and the network exploded with energy as the new Xyz Monster made its presence known.

"XYZ SUMMON! ARISE, NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR, DRAGULAS THE VAMPIRIC DRAGON!"

Out of the golden vortex emerged an object unlike anything the spectators had seen in the game of Duel Monsters. Instead of a dragon like Tokunosuke described, the monster resembled a vampire's coffin with a black lid, white spikes decorating the corners, and a golden ribbon on the top.

"Wait, how is that freaky looking box supposed to be a dragon?" asked Rio.

"Just watch." replied Tetsuo grimly, and as if on cue, the coffin began to change shape. Like a puzzle box solving itself, the coffin opened and began to take on an appearance far more appropriate to the monster's name. A set of scarlet wings sprouted out of the back of the coffin, then a long black reptilian tail, a serpentine neck extending out of the front, and finally, the monster's true form emerged for all to see. Now in place of the box, there stood a frightening black and white dragon with sinister red eyes, dagger like fangs sticking out of its mouth, and a mane of golden hair on its head.

The dragon let out a terrifying roar as the final touch of its true form made its appearance, a red Number 24 tattooed on the left side of its chest, pulsing as if it was the creature's heart.

Number 24 - Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon: Rank 6/DARK/Wyrm/Xyz/2400 ATK/2800 DEF

"Ooooooookaaaaaay. Now I understand how that monster gave you so much trouble." Rio corrected herself as she grew pale from looking at the dragon.

"Where did Tokunosuke get a card like that?" asked a visibly trembling Kotori. "It's so scary looking."

"I have no idea," replied Tetsuo. "All I know is I couldn't beat it, and now that it's back on the field, I don't see how Yuma can win. I guess I better say goodbye to my deck while I can."

"Yes, say goodbye to both your deck and Yuma's." Tokunosuke taunted. "And Yuma, say goodbye to more than half your life points! Vampiric Dragon, attack Yuma directly with SANGUINE STORM!"

The dragon's eyes and wings flashed with red energy, and the dragon unleashed a blast of blood red flames from its mouth, striking Yuma in the chest and sending him crashing to the ground.

Yuma: 4000 - 2400 = 1600

Yuma lay flat on his back, eyes staring up at the terrifying dragon. He wanted to summon his fiery spirit, yell "Kattobingu" and fight back, but he had to face the facts. He had no idea how he was going to defeat that dragon. Even worse, he let his opponent play him like a fool. Had he not charged into battle so brazenly, this never would have happened.

"I should have listened to Tetsuo. He was trying to warn me about that dragon, but I didn't listen. I don't have anything in my hand that can defeat that dragon, but how could I call myself Tetsuo's friend if I give up? I can't give up, but I don't know what to do! What can I even do against a monster like that?"

"Rise Up," said a voice.

It wasn't his friends telling him to get up. The voice was an echoing monotone completely alien to anything he'd heard before. Yuma looked upward and gasped. He didn't believe in ghosts, but unless he was hallucinating from the dragon's attack knocking him senseless, then that was exactly what the figure floating next to him was. The spirit's transparent body was blue as the ocean and bathed in an aura of white light. Green stripes and blue gems decorated his body, and silver earrings dangled down from his pointed elf like ears.

"Who are you?"

The figure didn't answer immediately. He didn't even appear to acknowledge Yuma at first. He just stared stoically off into space for almost ten seconds before finally replying.

"Astral, if I recall."

"If you recall? What's that supposed to mean? Where did you even come from?"

"I am uncertain. I cannot seem to recall much of anything. All I know is that my name is Astral, and I was sent here to fulfill a great purpose, but it seems something went wrong, and now I am stuck here with no memory of who I am or what my purpose was. This is most troubling."

"Well how important could it be if you just up and forgot about it?" Yuma asked. At this point, he was growing more annoyed than scared of the transparent alien creature. If it came in peace, but it wasn't going to help him, then hopefully it would go away so he could focus on the duel.

"Uh… Yuma, who are you talking to?"

Kotori's voice snapped Yuma back into reality, and he turned to face his friends.

"What do you mean, who am I talking to? Can't you see the floating blue flashlight man right in front of me? He's right there!" Yuma made aggressive pointing noises in Astral's direction, but all three of his friends remained confused as ever.

Yuma knew exactly how this looked, and he was desperately hoping his friends would acknowledge the strange figure's presence. If he was the only one who could see him, then maybe he really was hallucinating.

"Oh great, he's losing so badly, he's gone and lost his mind." said Tetsuo.

"I've heard of cracking under pressure, but Yuma's a tough guy. I never thought the fear of losing a duel would ever drive him crazy." Kotori agreed.

"I AM NOT CRAZY!" Yuma shouted at the top of his lungs. "He's right there, right where I'm pointing!" Now he was frantically jumping up and down like a kangaroo on a sugar rush, pointing at Astral over and over again.

"No! Wait!"

For a moment, Yuma thought somebody was actually on his side. Somebody other than him could see Astral, as Rio's rose eyes were focused right on the space where Astral was supposed to be.

"What if Yuma's telling the truth?" she asked.

"What are you talking about, Rio?" replied Kotori. "Don't tell me you actually believe him?"

"You mean none of you got that weird feeling when Yuma hit the ground?" Rio inquired.

"Come on, Rio." Tetsuo replied, wondering if two of his friends were losing their minds. "Glowing blue ghosts don't just magically appear in front of people in the middle of duels. It's not logical."

"Golden keys don't magically fix themselves either." Rio argued. "And strange Xyz Monsters don't change people's personalities or give them glowing tattoos on their hands. I'm not seeing what Yuma sees, but I felt something, something bad. Something really weird is going on here. All I'm saying is at this point, anything is possible."

Kotori hated to admit it, but Rio had a point. If there really was a ghost floating next to Yuma, then what did it want? Kotori hoped whatever was going on, Yuma would just come out of this in one piece.

Yuma sighed. Of course Rio didn't see him, but at least she seemed to believe him. That was better than nothing.

"While it's pretty funny to watch you lose touch with reality." Tokunosuke sneered, reminding everybody he was still there. "It's still my turn. Now that my Battle Phase is over, I will activate my Dragon's effect. By detaching one overlay unit, I can flip one monster on the field face-down. Since the only monster on the field is my dragon, then the target of the effect shall be Number Twenty-Four himself! I end my turn. Now, tell me, Yuma. Are you going to stand around making up stories about ghosts, or are you going to continue the duel?"

Astral, who had stayed stiff as a statue ever since he made his presence known, listened to the speech of Yuma's opponent and finally showed a flicker of emotion in his golden eyes, curiosity.

"Duel? Pardon me, but did that human say the two of you are in the middle of a duel?"

"Of course we are! What does it look like we're doing, playing twenty questions?" replied Yuma, growing even more annoyed than ever. Once again, Astral seemed to be talking to himself rather than acknowledging Yuma.

"That word is very familiar. Yes, I understand it now. I may not remember my purpose or where I came from, but I know what I am capable of. I am a duelist."

Yuma could sense the passion underneath Astral's monotone, but he didn't believe a word the spirit said.

"Yeah sure, buddy, and I'm an Olympic Figure Skater." he muttered.

"My name is not buddy. It is Astral, and I most certainly can duel. Observe! It is my turn! I draw!"

"No! It's my turn, and I'm drawing!" Yuma argued. "You can't just float in here out of nowhere and hijack my duel, and it's not like I need your help in the first place. I have everything under control!"

But Astral went right back to ignoring Yuma. His eyes were focused on the cards in Yuma's hand as if this really was his duel, his deck, and his turn.

"I will set one monster in face-down Defense Mode, and then I shall….."

"KEEP QUIET because I'm the one who's dueling, you got it?" Yuma interrupted the spirit. "As I was saying, I'm going to SUMMON this monster in Attack Mode, my Gogogo Golem!"

Gogogo Golem: Level 4/EARTH/Rock/1800 ATK/1500 DEF

As the blue egg shaped robot appeared on the field, Rio took one look at it and groaned in frustration.

"He did it again…. YUMA! YOU DID IT AGAIN!" she repeated herself, her voice louder and angrier. "How many times do I have to tell you? Gogogo Golem's effect only works if it's in Defense Mode! Why do you keep summoning that thing in attack mode?"

"Yeah, get it together, Yuma!" Kotori agreed with the ice queen. "Both Tetsuo's deck and yours are on the line here, or did you forget about that too?"

"I know what I'm doing!" Yuma argued. "If I see a chance to take out that big spooky dragon, then I'm going to take it! I activate the spell card, Barricade Breaker! This card gives Gogogo Golem the ability to damage your life points even though your monster is in defense mode, but that's not even the best part. The best part is since your Dragon has higher defense points than my Golem's attack points, Barricade Breaker will double my Golem's attack points during the attack!"

Gogogo Golem: 1800 x 2 = 3600 ATK

"ALRIGHT! WAY TO GO, YUMA!" Kotori cheered as a pair of spiked brass knuckles appeared on the golem's hands. "Looks like you just had a bad day, Tetsuo. That dragon's going to go down in one hit!"

But Tetsuo's worried grimace remained unchanged. "No, it's too easy. Look at the little weasel. He's still grinning like he won the lottery."

Rio noticed it too, and she suddenly realized why Yuma's opponent flipped his Xyz Monster face-down.

Astral shared Rio's concerns and realized he needed to stop Yuma at once.

"WAIT, DO NOT ATTACK!" Astral warned the boy, but he was too late.

"Gogogo Golem, attack Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon! GOGOGO GUST!"

The golem's hands began to glow blue and it charged forward, causing the dragon to reveal itself again, its wings folded like the cloak of a vampire shielding itself from the sun. There was a loud BANG as the golem punched the dragon in the stomach, followed by a massive explosion.

"YES!" Yuma jumped for joy and punched the air. "I am so awesome! Did you guys see that?! Call me a knight in shining armor because I just slayed a dragon!"

"Turn around." muttered Astral, and the elation filling Yuma's spirit vanished the moment he did. The smoke was clearing, and Yuma could see with horror in his eyes that the dragon was still on the field without so much as a scratch on it.

Tokunosuke: 4000 - 800 = 3200

"HEY, WHAT GIVES?! How is your dragon still alive? My golem should have destroyed it."

Yuma's question was like the punchline of an untold joke, and it prompted Tokunosuke to burst out laughing.

"HA! You're even dumber than I thought. Did you really think it would be that easy to destroy my Vampiric Dragon? You have a lot to learn before you step into the battlefield with a Number Monster. Everything has a hidden side, and the hidden twist of this battle not only applies to my dragon, but all Number Monsters. You see, A number monster can only be destroyed in battle by ANOTHER Number Monster."

Yuma's heart sank. "For…. for real? But…. but…. I don't have any Number Monsters."

"Then you're out of luck." Tokunosuke replied with a cruel taunt. "Not that you had much luck to begin with. Now let me show you another hidden side of my Number. If Dragulas is flipped face-up, I can automatically send your Gogogo Golem straight to the Graveyard!"

"OH NO!"

"OH YES! Go, my dragon! CRIMSON CURSE!"

The dragon's eyes flashed again, and the golem seized up and stopped moving. The hypnotic gaze of the skeletal creature stripped the golem of color as it appeared to suck the life out of it just by staring at it, and then without warning, the Golem crumbled into dust.

"Observation Number One." muttered the strange floating duelist. "Humans seem to have below average dueling skills. This particular human's dueling skills are incredibly lacking, but there is potential for growth if he is willing to learn."

"I know I made another mistake. You don't need to rub it in!" Yuma protested, panic and frustration coating his voice. "How was I supposed to know that his dragon couldn't be destroyed? Now I'm wide open for a direct attack. If that dragon hits me again, then I'm a dead duck!"

"You are not completely defenseless." Astral argued. "Pay close attention to your hand. Place the two trap cards that are in your hand face-down."

Yuma saw he did indeed have a few trap cards, but he was too proud to admit he forgot about them. He glared at the glowing man. "And why should I trust you? You seem to enjoy mocking me. What if you just want to watch me fail?"

"Clearly when you listen to your own advice, it turns out to be wrong, so perhaps you should listen to somebody else." Astral replied with a straight face. "Do you want to win the duel or not?"

"FINE, FINE! I place two cards face-down and end my turn."

Tokunosuke immediately jumped at the chance to go in for the kill.

"Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon, attack Yuma directly AGAIN! SANGUINE STORM!"

"Activate the trap on the left! Do it now!" Astral commanded.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm on it! I activate the trap card, Pinpoint Guard! This special summons Gogogo Golem from my Graveyard in Defense Mode!"

The golem burrowed out of the earth and stepped in between Yuma and the incoming flames. Stretching out its arms, the bloody flames bounced off the golem's body as if it struck a brick wall.

"That was too close!" Tetsuo breathed a massive sigh of relief as he saw the Golem return.

"And now that the Golem is in defense mode, you can actually use it properly, right Yuma?" Rio added with a barbed edge to her remark, and Yuma picked up on it immediately.

"Right. Since Gogogo Golem is back in Defense Position, it can't be destroyed by your dragon's attack, and not only that, Pinpoint Guard protects it from being destroyed by card effects this turn."

Tokunosuke scowled.

"Fine! You survived this turn, but I'm not done with you yet! I flip summon my other face-down monster, Des Koala! This monster inflicts four hundred points of damage for every card in your hand, and I count two of them!"

As the flip duelist's new monster revealed itself to be a giant red koala with a cream underbelly, a small spark of lightning suddenly zapped Yuma's hands. Yuma jumped from the shock and his life points dropped once again.

Des Koala: Level 3/DARK/Beast/1100 ATK/1800 DEF

Yuma: 1600 - 800 = 800

"Do you trust me now?" Astral inquired. "Had you not removed those two cards from your hand, you would have had four cards in your hand instead of two, and thus you would have taken sixteen hundred damage instead of eight hundred. Thus, you would have lost the duel immediately."

Yuma hated to admit it, but Astral was right.

"Perhaps now you will do as I…. oh dear…." Astral's train of thought was cut off as he noticed something alarming. His body was flickering and growing dimmer. Yuma noticed it too, and despite not having a positive first impression of the strange spirit, he grew concerned.

"Hey, what's happening to you? Are you okay?"

"I feel strange…." Astral whispered. "When your life points decreased, I suddenly felt so tired, so weak, as if my very life force was fading away."

He then looked back at Dragulas. The dragon was staring right at him, as if it knew him.

"The Numbers….." a flicker of clarity crossed Astral's mind. "I understand now. They are the key to restoring my memory, pieces of my very life force."

"What? Okay, you lost me." said Yuma, scratching his head. "Where are you going with this?"

"If we win this duel…." Astral continued. "Then I shall be able to acquire that Number card, and perhaps I can restore at least part of my lost memories, but I'm afraid that if you run out of life points, then…. Well….. I will run out of life force, and I think you know what that means."

For a brief moment, Yuma feared for the spirit's safety, despite having only just met him, but he quickly buried it underneath his ego. "Oh great, that's just what I needed. It's bad enough that both Tetsuo's deck and mine are on the line, but now somebody's life is in my hands!"

He looked at the remaining cards in his hand and realized his hands were visibly shaking. Astral noticed this and tried to calm him down.

"Gogogo Golem will be able to provide us with some form of protection, but unfortunately that will not matter. Once your opponent flip summons his Number Monster again, Gogogo Golem will return to the Graveyard. While you could use your other trap card to save your Golem, I would recommend saving it for when we summon a stronger monster."

"A stronger monster?" Yuma questioned the spirit. "But I don't have anything left in my deck with enough attack points to take that dragon down, and even if I did, he said Number Monsters can only be destroyed in battle by other Number Monsters, and I don't have one. I don't even have any Xyz Monsters of my own!"

"You are wrong, Yuma. You do have an Xyz Monster in your Deck! Look!"

Yuma glanced down and saw a faint white light emanating from the deck box strapped to his waste. He looked inside, and saw a single card inside, its black color filling Yuma with excitement.

"Is that an Xyz Monster?!" for a brief second, he thought he was hallucinating, but the card was real. "It is an Xyz Monster, but I can't make out which one."

"It is not just an Xyz Monster." Astral replied. "It is Number Thirty-Nine: King of Wishes, Hope."

"It has more attack points than Dragulas! If I summon it, I can win!"

"You must draw another Level Four Monster in order for this move to be possible." Astral reminded him. "Otherwise, you will be unable to summon that monster."

"Right, I just have to cross my fingers and trust my deck not to let me down. My turn! DRAW!"

Yuma closed his eyes as he drew his card, silently muttering "Kattobingu" under his breath as a prayer. He slowly opened his eyes and peeked at the card.

"YES! A level four monster! It's time for me to turn this duel around! Get set to get decked, Toku! I summon the one and only Gagaga Magician!"

Yuma eagerly placed the monster he drew onto his duel disk, and a white haired wizard with a pointed hat appeared next to the defending golem. Its attire was a set of elegant dark blue robes with maroon shoulder plates and boots. Chains were wrapped loosely around its body with a gold coin on his waist linking them all together.

Gagaga Magician: Level 4/DARK/Spellcaster/1500 ATK/1000 DEF

"And now I'm going to overlay Gagaga Magician and Gogogo Golem! With these 2 Level 4 Monsters, I'm going to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon!"

"RISE UP! NUMBER THIRTY-NINE! THE KING OF WISHES, HOPE!"

Both magician and golem vanished into the golden vortex, and just like the vampiric dragon, the object rising out of the overlay network was a strange sealed object instead of the actual monster. The seal resembled a pair of metal wings folded inward on themselves, concealing a large green jewel in the center.

The mechanical wings opened, and the jewel within flashed with brilliant light as the monster began to transform. A stark contrast to the sinister dragon, this Number took the form of a knight in shining armor with metallic angel wings on its back. Its armor was a clean and pure white with golden plates fastened to its legs, shoulders and chest. Three curved prongs erected out of its helmet like the crown of a king, and a red 39 shone bright on its left shoulder.

The knight unsheathed its weapons, two curved swords with golden hilts, and with its transformation complete, let out a mighty battle cry of "HOPE!"

Number 39 - King of Wishes, Hope: Rank 4/LIGHT/Warrior/Xyz/2500 ATK/2000 DEF

While the three spectators marveled at the glorious sight of the new monster, Yuma didn't waste a single second to turn the duel back in his favor.

"Go Number Thirty-Nine! Take aim and attack Des Koala! RISING SUN SLASH!"

The golden warrior threw his right sword like a boomerang which struck the Koala in the head and shattered it instantly. The resulting shockwave continued forward and threw Tokunosuke off his feet as his life points took a massive hit.

Tokunosuke: 3200 - 1400 = 1800

"AND THAT is my hidden side, Tokunosuke! Just when it looks like I'm going to lose, I surprise you and make a dramatic comeback! KATTOBINGU DAZE ORE!"

"Katto-what?" asked Astral inquisitively.

"Kattobingu. It's kind of a code I follow for both dueling and how I live my life. Fight until the bitter end, always try your hardest, and show some passion for everything you do."

"That is a commendable attitude." replied Astral as he pondered the word. "Observation Number Two. Determination and Passion can sometimes be used to compensate for a lack of skill."

Astral's observation immediately sent Yuma into a frenzy.

"HEY! COME ON! I TOTALLY HAVE SKILL!"

"If you manage to actually win this duel, then I shall admit you possess the potential to develop skill."

The spectators were baffled from the sight of Yuma's dramatic comeback, and even more so at the sight of a second Number Monster. Rio in particular couldn't take her eyes off the golden warrior. She was amazed at its appearance, but she was also growing suspicious.

"See what I mean about something weird going on?" Rio confirmed her suspicions as she pointed at Yuma's new monster. "First Toku gets a Number, and now Yuma has one, and we know he didn't have that card yesterday."

"Who cares where it came from." Tetsuo chimed in. "If Yuma can use that card to win the duel and get my deck back, then I don't think it matters where he got it from.

"I just hope it doesn't make him go crazy like Tokunosuke." a worried Kotori spoke up. "What if every Number card is like that?"

"I think he looks okay." Rio replied. "I don't see any weird Number tattoos on Yuma's hands, so maybe it's not affecting him the same way the other Number does."

"You really think it's over just because you summoned a Number Monster?" Tokunosuke snarled as he got back on his feet. "Do you really think you should be celebrating because you damaged me? The moment I start my turn, I'm going to Flip Summon Dragulas and take Hope away from you!"

"Oh no…. He's right!" Yuma started panicking again. "Oh man, it was fun while it lasted, but now my brand new Xyz Monster is a goner and so is the rest of my deck."

"Remain calm!" said Astral. "You still have one trap card left. Be ready."

Yuma glanced at the face-down card behind Hope and took a deep breath. Annoying as he was, Astral's advice saved him, so what did he have to lose by listening to him again.

"Okay, I'm ready." he replied quietly, and then he stared his opponent down. "You hear that, Toku? I'm ready for your dragon, so flip him up already and bring it on!"

"If you're so eager to lose your fancy new Number Monster, then I'm happy to grant your wish!" Tokunosuke replied.

"My turn! I draw, and I flip summon Dragulas! Now I can activate its effect. When Dragulas is flip summoned, I can send any card I want to the Graveyard, and my choice is pretty obvious!"

"Activate your trap card!" Astral frantically ordered. "Do it now!"

"SAY GOODBYE TO HOPE! CRIMSON CURSE!"

"Not so fast!" Yuma countered. "I activate my trap card, Memory Loss! This negates your monster's effect and then switches it into defense mode!"

Dragulas came into view again, but before it could unleash its paralyzing glare, it began clutching its head in pain with its claws, as if it physically hurt to even try to use its powers. Folding its wings across its body and howling in pain, it assumed a defensive posture.

"Observation Number Three. It seems irony is quite abundant in the human world. Memory Loss is a serious problem I am suffering right now, and yet you used a trap card called memory loss to save yourself from certain defeat."

Yuma wanted to celebrate again from saving his monster, but one look at his opponent's face told him he shouldn't be cheering just yet. His opponent wasn't done with his turn.

"If you think you're safe from my dragon, you're wrong! I activate the spell card, Reverse Booster! This card switches my dragon from defense to attack mode and then it gives dragulas an extra six hundred attack points, making it stronger than Hope!"

Dragulas: 2400 + 600 = 3000 ATK

"BATTLE! Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon, attack King of Wishes, Hope! SANGUINE STORM!"

The dragon unfolded its wings and flexed its arms before unleashing its bloody flames again. As the fireball thundered towards Hope, Yuma could feel the urge to panic creeping into his mind again.

"Oh no! I don't have any more trap cards! What should I do?"

"Activate Hope's effect. It can stop the attack." Astral instructed.

"Wait, it can do that?" Yuma checked the card and realized Astral was right. He was saved again.

"Oh, cool! It can! I activate Hope's effect. If you declare an attack, I can detach one of its overlay units to negate your attack! GO! MOON BARRIER!"

The metallic wings of the knight detached from its body and extended its segments in front of Hope to form an enormous golden barrier, stopping the dragon fire dead in its tracks.

"I'm getting sick and tired of how lucky you're getting, Yuma." Tokunosuke growled.

"Or maybe I'm just the better duelist. You'll have to wait until your next turn to try again."

"Actually, I'm perfectly okay with waiting." Tokunosuke replied. "In fact, I'm so confident that I'm going to win this duel, I'll just go ahead and show you what this next monster in my hand is. It's a monster known as Self Destruct Ant. When this face-down monster is flipped face-up, it automatically hits you with one thousand points of damage."

"I will set my self-destruct ant face-down and end my turn."

Self Destruct Ant: Level 3/EARTH/Insect/1500 ATK/1000 DEF

"Oh, this is bad." Tetsuo said. "Talk about a lose, lose situation. Dragulas is too strong for Hope to attack, so the only other target is the Ant. If Yuma attacks it, he'll take damage and lose the duel, but if he doesn't attack, then Tokunosuke will just flip it face-up on his next turn, and he'll lose all his life points anyway."

"So Yuma's done for?" Kotori replied. She didn't want to believe it, but the writing was on the wall.

"He has to win this turn, or he's done for." Rio corrected her. "It comes down to whatever he draws next."

"Double or Nothing." Astral looked at the card in Yuma's hand, and then his eyes drifted over Yuma's only other resource. "Emergency Provisions. Set double or nothing and then use Emergency Provisions to increase your life points. We shall have enough life points to survive Self Destruct Ant's effect, and then Hope's final overlay unit will stop Dragulas Attack. Our defenses will be bolstered enough to survive."

"Yeah, we could do that….." Yuma muttered, but a good long look at his new spell card told him otherwise. Astral was telling him to bide his time and wait for a better opportunity, but his instincts were telling him to go for it.

He chose his instincts. "No, I have a better idea. I'm going to attack!"

"But Yuma, you cannot! That is far too great of a risk!"

"Listen Astral, or whoever you are. We have to win this turn, and if there's a chance to win, we have to take it. You asked me to trust you during the last turn, and I did. Now I'm asking you to do the same. Do you trust me?"

"I... very well. I trust you. Commence with your plan."

"Alright! I'm going to go straight into my Battle Phase! Number 39, King of Wishes, Hope will attack your Vampire Dragon again! RISING SUN SLASH!"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Tetsuo screamed. "You're about to crash into a stronger monster, and if you do, you'll lose the duel!"

"No, Tetsuo. Look!" Rio spoke up. "I think he knows exactly what he's doing."

"And now, I activate Hope's effect! I can use one overlay unit to negate one attack, so this time I will stop my own attack with MOON BARRIER!"

Hope charged forward with his sword, only to absorb his last overlay unit and stop his own attack. The move baffled everybody, and none more so than Yuma's opponent, who started laughing.

"HA! You're even dumber than I thought! Why would you waste your monster's last overlay unit to stop your own attack? Or were you correcting the mistake you made by attacking a stronger monster?"

"I'm not wasting anything, Toku!" Yuma replied, his smiled wide with triumph. "I'm winning!"

"I activate DOUBLE OR NOTHING! Since my monster's attack was negated, this spell card doubles Hope's attack points and lets him attack again!"

Hope ATK: 2500 X 2 = 5000 ATK

"WHAT?! Five Thousand attack points?! It can't be!"

"YES IT CAN! GO HOPE, DESTROY DRAGULAS THE VAMPIRIC DRAGON WITH RISING SUN SLASH!"

Spreading his wings wide, Hope took to the air, his swords having doubled in size, and with a single swing, he brought them down hard on the dragon. Tokunosuke could only stare in shock as his precious dragon shattered and the attack flung him off his feet, knocking him unconscious.

Tokunosuke: 1800 - 1800 = 0 (LOSE)

Winner: YUMA!

At first, nobody was even sure what just happened. They couldn't believe what they just saw.

"Did I just….. Win?" Yuma whispered with amazement.

Several seconds of silence passed before Rio finally broke the silence, her stunned face relaxing and a small smile creeping up her lips.

"I knew it."

Three simple words sent Tetsuo and Kotori into a joyful frenzy as they rushed Yuma, the three of them jumping for joy and hugging each other while Rio simply hung back and watched the celebration. While the four humans were focused on Yuma's victory, Astral was still focused on the Number Monster. Extending his hand, he claimed his prize as the card floated away from its user and into Astral's hand, the Number mark vanishing from Tokunosuke's hand in the process.

As he held the Number, Astral felt the fog in his mind clear away, but only by a small amount. So much was still unclear. This was only one battle in what was certainly going to be a massive war.

"Yes, it is as I suspected. This Number card contains a piece of my fragmented memories, but it is just a small piece. I am no closer to understanding who I am or why I am here. If I want these answers, I must collect all one hundred number cards, and it seems I need the help of this human, this Yuma, to do it. I can only hope he listens to me."

"Did you see how awesome I was?" Yuma's eyes beamed with pride. "My very first Xyz Monster and I used it to win the duel! I'm going to be unstoppable with this card! Hey Rio, maybe I'll finally beat you the next time we duel if I use Hope against you."

"Need I remind you that it's the duelist using the card who matters, not the card itself." Rio corrected him with a knowing look. "You're still the same duelist who lost twenty times in a row, so don't let your first win in a long time go to your head. If you go back to making bone-headed moves, you'll end up right back where you started, Number or no Number."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Yuma snapped. "I don't make mistakes every time I duel."

"Sure, just ninety-nine percent of the time. A broken clock is right twice a day." Rio teased.

"Oh, that's just cold!"

"Of course it is. I am the ice queen after all."

"Uh, guys?" Kotori broke up the banter and the two friends turned around to see a much different looking Tokunosuke. Gone was the wicked sneer and the mischievous look in his eyes. Now he looked completely crestfallen.

"You beat me fair and square, Yuma." he said, while holding out Tetsuo's deck. "Here. We had a deal."

Yuma took back the deck and eagerly gave it to Tetsuo. Rio continued to glare at the flip effect duelist while he looked away in shame.

"I don't get it." he muttered. "I thought with that card, I wouldn't need to resort to tricks anymore, that people would finally take me seriously as a duelist, but I still lost. Maybe I'm just not a good duelist, after all."

"Are you kidding?" Yuma replied. "You had me for a while. Even without your Number Monster, your deck is pretty strong. In fact, I'm starting to think the whole reason you used that disguise to duel Tetsuo is because you didn't believe in yourself as a duelist, but look at you now. You may have lost, but you did your best, and if you practice, you'll do better next time. That's got to feel good, right?"

Tokunosuke took off his glasses and hid his face from Yuma as he wiped away some growing moisture. When he summoned Number 24, when he had it, he felt like he could do anything, like he could accomplish the impossible, like he could finally get back at everybody who ever made fun of him. He expected once he lost, Yuma would twist the knife, but he was once again extending the offer of peace and friendship. Maybe he really was being genuine the first time.

"I guess it did feel good." he replied as he walked away. "I'm…. really sorry for what I did, Yuma. Next time we see each other, I don't want to wager any cards. Let's duel just for fun."

"I'll take you up on that offer!" Yuma called out to him as the flip effect duelist walked into the sunset, heading for home.

After over an hour of more celebrating, where Tetsuo thanked Yuma for getting his deck back by treating everybody to some ice cream, they went their separate ways and departed for home.

---

Despite being happy for Yuma, Rio's mind was restless and uneasy from everything she witnessed from that duel. She just couldn't take her mind off the strange presence she sensed next to Yuma, and that presence lingered even after the duel was over. She felt like somebody was watching her. It sounded ridiculous, but what if Yuma's invisible friend was real, and if he was, then did he have something to do with these strange Number cards?

As she arrived at the front door of her house, she was hit by a strong gust of wind. She held up her arms to shield herself from the brief gale, only for a small object carried by the wind to nestle perfectly in her right hand.

She immediately felt a pulse of energy shoot through her body when she touched it, and she soon heard a woman's voice echo inside her head.

"Oh, this is interesting. I never expected to encounter someone with Barian Power on this planet."

The voice frightened Rio. She tried to drop the card, but her hand wouldn't obey her.

"Shh, Shhh, Shhh. There is no need to be frightened. I mean you no harm. I only wish to know your desire. Please tell me what you want."

"I want….. I want….." falling into a trance, her subconscious shuffled through her memories. Like any teenage girl, she wanted many things, but none were as important as her brother. She could have given the strange voice a multitude of answers, but every time she thought of one, her mind shifted back to her comatose brother in the hospital

It wasn't fair. Why did it have to be him, and why was the person responsible walking free?

"Justice!"

And the white light surrounding the blank card faded away at the sound of Rio's voice, revealing its identity to its new master.

Number 21: Frozen Lady Justice.

---

Author Made Cards:

Aurora Pegasus: Level 5/WATER/Winged-Beast/1900 ATK/1600 DEF

Effect: If you control exactly 1 WATER Winged-Beast Monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. If this card is Special Summoned by its own effect, you can target 1 WATER Winged-Beast Monster you control and declare a Level from 3-6; the levels of both this card and the targeted monster become equal to the declared Level. You cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck during the turn you activate this effect, except WATER Xyz Monsters.

Flip Cricket: Level 6/DARK/Insect/0 ATK/2000 DEF

Effect: If this card is flipped face-up, you can Special Summon 1 "Flip Cricket" from your Deck or GY in face-up or face-down Defense Position. If a monster you control is Flip Summoned, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand) in face-up or face-down Defense Position. You can only use each effect of "Flip Cricket" once per turn.

Barricade Breaker: Equip Spell Card

Effect: If the equipped monster attacks a Defense Position Monster, inflict piercing damage to the opponent. At the start of the damage step, if the equipped monster attacks an opponent's monster with higher defense points than your monster's ATK points, the ATK of your monster becomes double its original ATK during damage calculation only.

Reverse Booster: Quick Play Spell Card

Effect: Target 1 Defense Position Monster you control; change that monster to face-up attack position, and if you do, the targeted monster gains 600 ATK.

Cover Counter: Normal Trap Card

Effect: If a Defense Position Monster you control is destroyed by battle or by card effect, you can Special Summon 1 Monster from your Deck with the same type as the destroyed monster, but a different name, in face-down Defense Position. You can only activate 1 "Cover Counter" per turn.

---

A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAND SCENE!

For those of you who remember the original story, the first duel was a tag duel with Volcasaurus and Freezerdon being the Numbers in question that Rio and Yuma needed to fight against together.

While I have every intention of including that Tag Duel later in the story, I came to the decision that there's a reason why there's never been a tag duel as the first duel of a Yu-Gi-Oh series.

The purpose of a tag duel is to flesh out the relationship between two characters and test their ability to work as a team. It's difficult to highlight that in the first episode or chapter when you've only just met these characters.

Those of you who have read the original may also remember that Tokunosuke aka Flip Turner, did not appear in the original. I trimmed a lot of fat and cut a lot of characters in the original, and what I want to do this time around is try to find room for as many of them as I can.

However, I can safely say Flippy Boy will not be appearing again, nor will he be joining Yuma's friend group. Since he is basically the ZEXAL equivalent of Weevil Underwood, I decided he would make for a good episode one antagonist, especially since there is a Number Monster with a flip summoning mechanic.

So what did you think of the chapter? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Whatever your opinions are, I would love to hear them, so feel free to leave a review or a comment and let me know.

Also, here's a question for my beloved audience. In canon, only Yuma has dreams of the door, but here, it is confirmed both Shark and Rio have had dreams of the door. Why do you think that is?

Until Next Time! This is NOX, SIGNING OUT!