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)

8. Photon Stream of Destruction

Welcome Back Everybody!

I sincerely appreciate the feedback from the previous chapter! It makes me all the more motivated to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.

Get ready! Important characters make their appearance for the first time in this chapter, and major events are starting to unfold!

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 8: Photon Stream of Destruction

Mr. Heartland smiled as he marched through the hallways of his headquarters. Heartland Tower, it was the shining spire symbolizing his sensational status, his own personal castle where he could gaze upon his beloved city. Even in the darkest of nights, the city would transform into a neon light show with multicolored spotlights coating the night air with bright colors, a perfect reminder and a source of motivation to keep marching towards a bright and colorful future, his future.

The general public loved the utopia he and the good doctor built and ran together, and tourists would flock daily just to look upon its brilliance, but even in a city which radiated purity, one could not truly purge the festering pit of darkness underneath. The brighter the light, the darker the shadows cast by its brilliance, and within those shadows, tragedy struck every day just like any other city.

Mr. Heartland paid such tragedies no mind. He didn't get where he was today in the world of politics by acting like an idealistic fool who thought they could rid the world of suffering. Those with an aptitude for politics knew an important truth the rest of the world was unwilling to admit.

Tragedy was an opportunity, and there was no greater opportunity than the events unfolding in his very own city at this very moment.

The War of the Numbers was about to begin. Mr. Heartland often found it funny how fate seemed to bend and twist in such surprising ways. To think he would be alive to witness such unfathomable power arrive on this planet, in his own city on top of that. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, the opportunity to be at the epicenter of events that would shape the future of the planet, no, multiple planets for eons to come. After all, whoever commands all one hundred Numbers holds the future itself in the palm of their hands.

Lucky for him, he had just the man to collect them for him. Tools of this kind of power required more than just a common errand boy, after all.

They required a hunter.

"Kaito! Oh, Kaito!" The mayor called out in a sing-song voice, opening the door to locate the hunter in question. Of course he'd be here of all places, in his little brother's room. It was the only place he ever visited when he wasn't out collecting Numbers.

The teenage boy didn't appear to notice him, so the mayor stood at the door frame, observing the touching scene unfolding before him like a fly on the wall. The circular room was shrouded in darkness, with the multicolored stars on the ceiling along with the neon spotlights of the cityscape outside serving as the only source of light. In front of him, next to a child size bed, was the hunter in question, a tall teenage boy dressed in a black trench coat with a matching black undershirt and pants. His blonde hair was slicked upwards with green bangs covering his forehead. In his hand was a steaming mug of hot chocolate, and he was offering it to the second occupant of the room, a much younger boy with pale blue hair styled in a bowl cut. The boy appeared not to notice the hot chocolate, and seemed to stare off into space, his golden eyes blank and devoid of emotion.

"Come on, Haruto." the hunter coaxed. "It's your favorite, hot chocolate."

The younger boy, Haruto, finally seemed to realize he wasn't alone in the room, but his blank expression remained unchanged. "But why can't I remember liking hot chocolate, Kaito? It's like…. Everything nice about my life feels like a strange dream. I don't think I ever liked much of anything."

"Hey, come on. We both know that's not true." Kaito soothed, although he was clearly distressed from his brother's quiet, robotic questions. "You're just really sick, that's all."

"Nobody will explain it to me." Haruto droned. "That's all they say, that I'm sick. Why? Was I born like this, or did something happen to me? Why can't I remember, Kaito?"

"I don't know, little brother, but I'm going to fix it. I promise!"

"That you shall, Kaito!" Mr. Heartland finally decided to make his presence known. "Oh, it warms my heart to see such brotherly love, but I'm afraid spending quality time with your little brother will have to wait. Haruto needs to get back to work, and so do you, Kaito."

"Haruto needs to rest!" Kaito growled. "If you force him to use his powers every day, the strain will be way too much for him to handle."

"Life seldom offers anything free of risk." Heartland replied dismissively. "Besides, you know how important Haruto is for Doctor Faker's project, one which you need to pull your weight for, by the way. Unless you collect all the Numbers, then I'm afraid your brother will never get any better."

"You don't have the right to decide what's best for my brother!" Kaito snapped.

"I'm insisting he takes the night off! He needs to rest!"

"Kaito, it's alright."

Kaito turned back to face his brother, surprised by his response. Haruto got up from the bed and took Mr. Heartland's hand. "This mission is way too important, and I'm the only one with the power to do it. I know the risks. I know it could make my illness even worse, but this is about saving the world, right? If anything, that means I can turn what happened to me into something positive."

"That's the spirit!" Mr. Heartland exclaimed with a false sense of jovial pride. "Come along, Haruto. Doctor Faker will be thrilled to hear of your enthusiasm."

He took Haruto by the hand and began walking towards the door, but not before turning his head and giving Kaito a knowing grin. "And I'm sure Kaito will be equally enthusiastic to head out tonight and collect some more Numbers, right?"

Kaito grunted and turned his head away from the mayor.

"Now don't tell me you're having second thoughts, Kaito." the mayor inquired. "I've explained it before. There is no way to extract a Number from its host without some unpleasant side effects afterwards, but as the old saying goes, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right? Besides, those people had it coming. Numbers contain unspeakable levels of dark power inside them, and as such, they choose the most malicious people they can find as their hosts. You're not just helping your brother, Kaito. You're doing this city a service."

"Yeah, Yeah, I heard it before." snapped Kaito. "Just make sure Haruto stays safe."

"Your brother's safety is always of the utmost importance to me." replied the mayor in an oily voice. "Now then, goodbye for now, Kaito. Happy Hunting!"

With that, the mayor left, leaving Kaito with an irritated disposition, and an itch he needed to scratch.

It was time to take his frustrations out on those responsible for his brother's suffering.

It was time to hunt.

"ORBITAL!" He shouted, and in a dark corner of the room, two blinking red lights flickered on. A white, metallic humanoid robot rolled on its wheels to greet its master. Reaching only Kaito's waist in height, the robot stretched its neck like the tripod of a camera, allowing it to look Kaito right in the eye.

"Orbital 7, reporting for duty!" The robot replied with enthusiasm. Its beady eyes blinked with red artificial light, and the two yellow plates on its head spinning around, serving as a pair of mouse-like ears.

"What were you doing over there?" Kaito asked. "Were you sleeping on the job again? I thought I told you to watch Haruto."

"Uh… NO!" The robot panicked. "I was just…. Recharging my batteries! Master Haruto looked fine to me, and since you wanted some private time with him, I thought I could…. You know…. Rest my optics…."

"Well get yourself ready to go before I decide to replace you with a more advanced model." Kaito threatened as he opened the door to the balcony, staring off into the city skyline with a sense of predatory hunger creeping into his eyes.

"We're going Number Hunting!"

---

Elsewhere, Yuma lounged on a park bench, gazing up at the stars, reminiscing on his last duel with a sense of excited accomplishment. It couldn't have gone better. Not only did he and Rio acquire two Numbers at once, but the Ice Queen finally ended her feud with Astral. With their bickering a thing of the past, Yuma couldn't help but imagine how easy it was going to be to collect the rest of the Numbers.

In fact, he assumed Rio was doing that right now, and would meet up with him here so they could celebrate. Kotori planned a girl's day out with Rio and Cathy, and the three girls left Yuma and Tetsuo to go shopping. Tetsuo had plans of his own with his family, and so Yuma decided after last night's exhausting duel, he would spend the afternoon lounging around and watching TV. However, the moment he started channel surfing, he saw on the news that a madman was running rampant in the mall, smashing windows with a baseball bat and stealing everything he could get his hands on like a pack-rat. When he saw the purple 56 on his shoulder as the footage recorded the criminal's actions, he called Rio immediately, and she told him she'd take care of it.

So here he was, assuming Rio's impending duel would be an easy win, while Astral floated next to him without uttering a single complaint all night.

"You know, I can't help but be a little surprised, Astral." Yuma commented, catching the spirit's attention. "I thought you'd at least insist we head to the mall to catch that guy."

"I am merely honoring the terms of our new agreement." Astral replied, stoic and logical as ever.

"Rio is much closer than you are, so it is more practical to allow her to duel this Number holder. Although I must inquire why you decided to spend the day staring at a glowing box."

"We've spent every day since we've met when I'm not at school either dueling or looking for Numbers. Even champions need to take a day off once in a while."

"Yes, perhaps a champion does require rest, but do you?"

Astral's ego bruising question caused Yuma to fall off the park bench.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Yuma, while I am certainly impressed by how much stronger you've grown, you cannot allow the pride of your accomplishments to cloud your judgment. There is a distinct difference between confidence and arrogance and I am worried you are leaning towards the latter."

"Why can't I ever take pride in my accomplishments without somebody criticizing me?" Yuma asked defensively. "There's nothing wrong with occasionally patting myself on the back."

His eyes drifted off in the distance and he perked up once he saw a familiar face approaching him. "And speaking of accomplishments, there's our partner now, come to celebrate another easy win!"

Astral took note of Rio's face as she approached. The Ice Queen most certainly did not look like she was in the mood to celebrate anything, and the spirit was soon proven correct.

"Yuma, we need to talk. Now!" Rio spoke, her voice blunt and serious, which caught Yuma off guard.

"Woah, what's up with you, Rio?" Yuma asked. "And where's Kotori and Cathy? Weren't they with you?"

"They went home." Rio answered. "I insisted they go home. What I'm about to tell you needs to be between us. I don't want them to freak out."

"Freak out?" Yuma repeated, growing even more confused before a horrifying potential explanation entered his mind. "Wait, don't tell me you lost! Does this mean that crazy guy has all your Numbers?!"

"No, Yuma. I didn't even get the chance to duel. Somebody beat me to it." Rio answered.

"WHAT?!" Yuma exclaimed. "What do you mean somebody beat you to it?"

"I mean there's another guy out there collecting Numbers, and this guy seems to leave his opponents in a really bad way." She pulled up her phone and showed Yuma a picture she took of the criminal, and what he saw made his blood run cold. The young man he saw on the news had black unkempt hair and healthy tanned skin, but the decrepit man on the phone looked to be at least eighty years old. Were it not for a distinct birthmark on the man's nose, Yuma would have thought Rio was showing him a different person. His tanned skin was now deathly pale, his hair white as snow, and his eyes devoid of life.

"What….. Happened to him?" Yuma asked in a shaken whisper, while Astral floated next to him, silently inspecting the picture with sharpened focus, but finding no answers to Yuma's question.

"Is he…. Dead?"

"No, he's still alive, catatonic, but alive." Rio replied. "It gets even weirder. The three of us were on the other side of the mall, just minding our own business. Then I got your phone call about that Number holder at the mall, but before any of us could do anything, there was this weird flash of light, and then just like that, everybody around me stopped moving. Kotori, Cathy, everybody, they were frozen like statues. It was like time stopped for everybody except me."

"I have never heard of a Number possessing that kind of power." Astral admitted.

Yuma was now completely baffled, but he shared Astral's sentiments. Granted, he had seen Number monsters grant incredible power to their holders. Shuta's ability to predict the future and Aika's ability to hypnotize others came to mind, but stopping time? That was the last thing he expected to hear about.

"That's just it, Astral. I don't think a Number caused that." Rio corrected the spirit. "When I realized I was the only one who could move, I pushed past the crowd to reach where this other guy was dueling that Number holder. I didn't get a good look at the monster he used to win the duel, but I didn't see a Number mark on it. Its body was glowing so bright, I could barely tell what it looked like at all. Then, when the light faded away, I saw the guy fly away through an opening in the glass roof, and that guy was on the ground looking like that. By then, whatever froze all those people seemed to stop."

"He…. flew away?" Yuma raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yes, on some kind of jet pack or something." Rio replied, slightly annoyed that Yuma was growing skeptical. "I didn't recognize him, but I barely managed to get a good look at him before he left. He's a young man, slightly older than us, blonde hair, green bangs, black coat."

"Right…." Yuma made a mental note to remember the mystery man's appearance. "At least we know what he looks like. So how do we find this guy?"

"YUMA!" Rio shouted, making him jump. "You're missing the point! If you duel this guy, and you lose, then Astral won't be the only one who suffers for it. You could end up just like that guy!"

Both human and spirit froze in place, taking in the horrific implications. While Yuma understood the stakes of every Number duel, knowing that losing even once would cost Astral his life, his own life had never been on the line before.

"Well…. I mean….." It took a while for Yuma to find his voice and his courage. "If this new guy has Numbers, then we'll have to duel him eventually, right? Besides, it doesn't matter which one of us duels him. We'll win just the same! We defeated Scorch and Chills no problem, and their Numbers were stronger than anything we faced before. Who cares if this guy can shrivel up his opponents? He's a duelist all the same, and if we win, we can take his Numbers and possibly even turn that guy back to normal."

"Yuma…." Astral spoke up. "Remember what I said about overconfidence."

"That's not overconfidence, that's a fact!" Yuma defended himself. "We're going to win because we have to win! It's just like the other duels involving Numbers. We can't afford to lose. This changes nothing."

"This changes everything!" Rio insisted. "And I do NOT want you dueling that guy by yourself."

"WHAT?!" shouted Yuma incredulously. "What do you mean? Rio, what's gotten into you? I get you don't want me to end up like that guy at the mall, but you don't need to be so overprotective. I thought you'd have a little more faith in me."

"Yuma, I do have faith in you." Rio reassured her friend. "But…."

"So why don't you trust me? Why are you still treating me like I'm an amateur?" Yuma interrupted, growing even more offended. "Sure, if this guy showed up right around the same time I met Astral, then you'd be absolutely right. Back then, I dueled like an idiot, but look at me now! Look at how much stronger I've gotten! I think before I act. I actually listen to Astral when he gives me pointers, and just look at how many Numbers I've acquired. I've got half a dozen secret weapons to use against this guy."

"There's always a bigger fish, Yuma." Rio warned.

"Fish? I thought our opponent was a human." a confused Astral spoke up.

"It means even though you think you're the strongest duelist around, there's always the chance that somebody stronger than you could show up." Rio explained.

"I see…." Astral pondered. "In that case, Yuma. I am inclined to agree with Rio."

"WHAT?! Come on, Astral! Not you too!"

"I am not ignoring your growth, Yuma." the spirit continued. "However, we cannot leave anything to chance. We do not know what this Number Hunter is capable of. We know nothing about his deck or his mysterious abilities. Walking in blindly and dueling him head on is far too great of a risk."

"We have no choice." Yuma argued. "If we sit around and ignore him, he'll find us eventually."

"I know." Rio agreed. "That's why we need to stick together at all times."

"Rio, come on. Aren't you just being a little bit overprotective?"

"Yuma, I'm dead serious right now!" The Ice Queen insisted, pointing an angry finger at her friend.

"I need you to promise me you will not duel this guy unless I'm with you. We duel him together, or not at all. If you bump into him, and you're alone, you RUN!"

"Yuma, I think it is safe to assume this Number Hunter will be our strongest opponent yet." Astral chimed in, agreeing with the Ice Queen once again. "Our chances of success will be far greater if we have an ally supporting us. The teamwork the two of you demonstrated against the Pack is our greatest hope of survival."

Astral using the word survival, instead of a word like victory or success, finally broke through Yuma's stubbornness. Doubting himself for the first time all night, he turned away from Astral to face Rio again, and that's when he saw it, the fear in the Ice Queen's eyes. Yuma understood. Rio already suffered once from her brother getting hurt in a duel with a maniac, and now it could happen all over magnitude of what could happen if he failed finally sank in.

Guilt crept into Yuma's voice as he replied. "Rio…. I just…."

"I know." Rio placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I get it. You're proud of yourself. You want to show everybody you're on your way to being a true duelist, and you are. You're making a lot of progress, but you're just not ready to face somebody like him, so please, for my sake, unless I'm there to help you, stay away from the hunter."

With a reluctant sigh, Yuma finally backed down.

"Alright, I won't duel him by myself." Yuma mumbled under his breath.

"Swear it, Yuma!" Rio commanded, making Yuma jump. "I need a promise. I need to hear it from you loud and clear. Promise me as your friend that we'll take him down together."

As difficult as it was for him to swallow his pride like Rio wanted, Yuma took a deep breath and answered. "Alright, I promise."

"Good, and don't worry. Tomorrow, you have the perfect means to train for the day we duel the hunter."

"Tomorrow…." Yuma momentarily blanked before remembering what Rio was talking about.

"Oh yeah, the Sol City Duel Arena!" he exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "I forgot the Grand Opening of that place was tomorrow. Sure, it's in the next town over, but who cares? That's a great place for us to meet new people who love the game as much as we do. If we're lucky, we might even find somebody else who has a Number over there, and then we can use any new Numbers we find against the hunter."

"Sorry, Yuma, but you're going to have to go without me." Rio answered. "I'm visiting my brother in the hospital tomorrow, and I'm going to take advantage of my time there to see if I can get another look at that guy from the mall. He should be there. Maybe I can ask the doctors there if they've figured out what exactly happened to him."

"Oh….." Yuma grew disappointed. "Wait, Tetsuo's visiting his grandparents, Cathy's volunteering at that animal shelter, so….. Huh, looks like it's just me and Kotori tomorrow. That kinda sucks. I was hoping we could all go together."

Unable to resist, Rio's lips curled into a teasing smirk. "Now, Yuma, I think you and Kotori spending the whole day alone, just the two of you, would be really nice for the both of you. Maybe, something special will finally happen, who knows?"

"Special? What are you talking about?" Yuma asked, but Rio just laughed and walked away.

"Goodnight, Yuma!"

"What do you mean, something special will happen?" Yuma called out. "Answer me!"

It took a few more seconds for the gears in Yuma's head to slowly turn and his oblivious brain to figure out and when he did….

"Yuma, your face is changing color again." Astral pointed out.

"RIO!" Yuma screamed, and the shrieking hysterical laughter of the Ice Queen filled the night sky.

---

The next day, Yuma traveled to Sol City by bullet train with Kotori in tow. It was a two hour train ride, but it was absolutely worth it. The arena was just as entertaining as it was advertised. The size of a football stadium, it hosted an unofficial tournament in honor of its opening, and while Kotori was content to watch and cheer Yuma on, Yuma couldn't resist the chance to enter.

Unfortunately, he did not last very long. While he won his first three duels, running into a surprise Magic Cylinder resulted in his elimination in the quarterfinals. Even so, Yuma was too fired up to let the loss get him down. Making it to the quarterfinals allowed him to win a nice consolation prize in the form of a Sol City Arena T-Shirt and a few card packs. The two teenagers decided to stay at Sol City for dinner, finding a Sushi restaurant Kotori wanted to try, and by the time they took the return train back to Heartland City, it was already dark.

"Man, what a day!" Yuma cheered as Kotori couldn't help but laugh at Yuma's never ending enthusiasm. "I only wish the others were there to see how great I played!"

"You mean how you crashed and burned in the quarterfinals?" Kotori teased.

"Oh, come on! Everybody's walked into a game ending trap before!" Yuma argued, but Kotori only laughed even harder.

"You more than most!" she replied, before switching her tone from teasing to reassuring.

"Don't worry, Yuma! I saw everything, and even though you didn't win the grand prize, you did great."

Kotori looked down for a brief second, and what she saw made her blush. They were so caught up in their conversation, they didn't realize they were holding hands. She let go on instinct as her face reddened even further, causing Yuma to blush himself when he realized it himself.

"Uh… Kotori…. Well…." Yuma fumbled with his words. "I uh….. I had fun today, you know….. It was different, just us… but, you know…. A good kind of different….."

Kotori's heartbeat quickened as she realized what Yuma unknowingly implied.

"Do you…." she began. "Do you want to do something like this again, sometime? You know…. Just us?"

Before Yuma could answer, a loud crack of thunder ruined everything.

"Oh, give me a break!" Yuma shouted at the sky as mother nature unleashed a torrential downpour. "And it's a ten minute walk from the train station to my house! We'll be soaked!"

"Come on!" Kotori urged as the two ran for cover. "Let's at least find some place to keep dry until this blows over. Worst case scenario, you can call your sister to come and drive us home."

The two teenagers wasted no time as they raced through the streets, the storm growing worse by the second. As Yuma reached the street corner and turned left, Astral emerged from the key and began floating alongside him.

"Yuma, I sense danger." said the spirit, his voice ominous and on edge.

"Don't worry, Astral. We're not going to get struck by lightning. There's a restaurant with an awning just up ahead."

"That is not what I was referring to…." Astral replied. "I sense….."

Just then, a flash of light blinded the two momentarily, and when Yuma's eyes recovered, he no longer felt the rain pelting his head. At first he thought the rain stopped, but when his eyes further adjusted themselves, he couldn't believe what he saw. It was still raining, but the individual rain drops were suspended in mid-air, unmoving. Yuma reached out to touch one of the raindrops, poking it and feeling its moisture on his fingertips.

"No way…." he whispered. "What the heck is going on? Hey, Kotori, do you see this?"

As Yuma turned around, the situation only grew more bizarre. There she was, frozen in place like a statue, her body still in a running position and her arms shielding her head from the rain.

"She's frozen…." Yuma gasped. "Everything's frozen!"

He then remembered what Rio described the night before. Terror and dread immediately entered his mind.

"But… that can only mean…."

His train of thought was broken by the sound of an eerie whistling tune. Yuma slowly turned around to face the sound of the whistle, while Astral narrowed his eyes in anticipation.

"He's here…."

Sure enough, two figures emerged from the fog, a small robot, and behind him, the whistling figure. Yuma immediately took note of his features, blonde hair with green bangs on his forehead, and a black trenchcoat with an open red collar.

"It's him!" He gasped.

"Oh, so you've heard of me?" the Number Hunter inquired, having heard the fearful sounds of his prey.

"What's going on?" Yuma shouted, finally summoning the will to suppress the growing sense of fear in his heart. "Why do you keep freezing everybody?"

"I didn't freeze the area." the hunter explained. "Time is merely moving ten thousand times slower than its normal speed."

"Thanks to my special dueling field." the robot chimed in. "Now Master Kaito can duel you without anybody watching or interfering."

"Correct." the hunter continued. "After all, this special time distortion field is designed so only people with Numbers can move. That's how I figure out who has them and who doesn't, and look at that. You seem to be moving just fine, so that can only mean one thing. You're my next victim!"

Astral's eyes grew wide with horror. "Yuma, we must keep our promise to Rio. We must leave at once!"

Fight or flight immediately kicked in, but Yuma's body remained frozen. Why? Why couldn't he move his legs? What was he waiting for? Astral was right. He should run. He did promise Rio he would run, but…..

Was there any point in running? This hunter had the power to slow down time. Where could Yuma even go? The hunter already found them. Could they even escape with this field active? If they could, what happens after that? Could they make it to the hospital where Rio was in time and warn her?

Yuma finally mustered the will to move, but he had yet to take so much as a single step when the hunter extended his wrist and fired a glowing chain out of his hand, which wrapped around Yuma's arm and locked his body in place.

"OUCH!" Yuma cried as the chain jerked his body backwards before vanishing. Yuma tried to move again, but the resistance from his arm told him he was still locked in place.

"What gives? What did you do?"

"I find it rather pathetic for any duelist to run away like a coward." the hunter sneered. "And I can't afford to have my prey waste my time, so thanks to this little invention called a duel anchor, you're not going anywhere. The only way to break the chain is to duel."

Yuma cursed under his breath. Of course, this guy wanted to make sure his targets couldn't run away even if they wanted to. If only he moved faster, he could have avoided the duel anchor and made a proper attempt to flee. Now, the choice had been made for him. Now, he had no choice but to break his promise to Rio.

"FINE!" Yuma snapped. "If you want to duel me so badly, then bring it on! I'm not scared of you!"

"Oh really?" retorted the hunter. "Then why did you try to run just now?"

"Not that there was any chance for escape in the first place!" taunted the robot. "When Master Kaito goes hunting, there's only one end result, your Numbers in his hands."

"You have the right attitude, Yuma." Astral complimented. "If we are to defeat this Number Hunter, we must not give into fear. We must fight to the bitter end."

"Huh? I thought you just said we should run away."

"That is when I thought you could run away." the spirit admitted. "Just be ready for anything. As your life is in just as much danger as mine is, I will do everything in my power to see the both of us survive the night, but I must repeat myself. You must not give into fear."

"Don't worry Astral." Yuma nodded fiercely before turning back to face the hunter.

"Alright, Kaito, if that's your name, just so you know, I'm not easy prey like that other guy you dueled. Let's duel!"

"That's what they all say." the hunter replied. "Still, I'm eager to find out if you're easy prey or a proper challenge, but first, let me slip into something more comfortable!"

"PHOTON TRANSFORMATION! DUEL MODE, ACTIVATE!"

In a blinding flash of white light, Kaito's coat changed from black to white. His left eye changed from blue to red, and a cerulean tattoo painted itself around the eye. Yuma activated his duel disk in response. The hunt had officially begun.

Duel Gazer Set

Augmented Reality Vision Online

Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 LP

Kaito Tenjo: 4000 LP

DUEL!

"The prey can make the first move." Kaito gestured with a wave of his hands, disinterested in going first, which relieved Yuma, but put Astral even more on edge. This hunter wouldn't allow his opponent to gain such an advantage, unless he was planning on playing aggressively and wanted to attack the moment he summoned a monster. Nothing about this young man's behavior seemed to indicate arrogance. More likely his confidence came from several duels worth of experience in dealing with the Numbers. He knew what they were capable of, and he likely possessed multiple strategies for playing around the strengths and weaknesses of Numbers, even if he had never seen what a specific Number, like Hope, could do.

"Yuma, do not summon any Numbers this turn." Astral instructed.

"Huh?" Yuma glanced at his partner, confused. "Why?"

"That is precisely what our opponent wants us to do." Astral explained. "Knowledge is power, and this hunter has extensive knowledge of the Numbers. We cannot charge blindly into battle. We must decipher the secrets of his deck while giving as little information about ours away. Only when we discover how our opponent is so successful in acquiring Numbers can we afford to go on the offensive."

Yuma nodded. "Alright, hunter. If you want me to make the first move, I'll give you a mystery monster to play with. I set a monster face-down in Defense Mode and two cards face-down. Your move! Come and get me!"

"Wow, that's it?" The robot commented from behind its master. "Looks like we got ourselves an easy target!"

"Quiet!" The hunter snapped as he drew his card and studied his opening hand. "A proper hunter never underestimates his prey, although I will admit I was expecting you to summon your Number right away instead of one simple face-down monster. Maybe I just have to put things into perspective and show you just what kind of duel you're in for. I summon Galaxy Worm! When this card is summoned while I control no other monsters, I can Special Summon a second Galaxy Worm from my deck."

In a flash of golden light, the hunter's first monster appeared, taking the form of a mechanical worm with dark blue armor on its back, a white under belly, and two slanted yellow eyes on its face. Immediately after the worm manifested itself, a second one appeared at its side.

Galaxy Worm: Level 3/LIGHT/Insect/1200 ATK/600 DEF

"Next, I'll overlay my two Galaxy Worms! With these 2 Level 3 Monsters, I build the overlay network!"

"XYZ SUMMON! APPEAR, NUMBER TWENTY, GIGA BRILLIANT!"

The worms slithered into the golden portal and summoned forth the Number's sealed form, two cylinders of earth connected together by a pink jewel. The cylinders split apart and the jewel engulfed the field in light as the Number reconfigured itself into its true form, a colossal metallic ant with a silver face, purple abdomen, and jewel-like rose colored eyes. Unlike a normal ant, the front half of the insect's body slanted upward like that of a mantis, with two of its six legs repurposed into blade-like arms. A yellow 20 marked the right blade, glowing as bright as the rest of the ant's body.

Number 20 - Giga Brilliant: Rank 3/LIGHT/Insect/Xyz/1800 ATK/1800 DEF

"He brought a Number out on his first turn!" Yuma exclaimed.

"If that's enough to surprise you, then you're not going to last very long in this duel because I'm far from done." the hunter taunted. "I activate the spell card, Photon Lead! This allows me to special summon one level four or lower light attribute monster from my hand, like my Photon Phantom! However, he's not the only one of its kind joining the hunt because if I control an xyz monster, I can special summon two more Photon Phantoms from my hand or deck."

Appearing in a dazzling spiral of blue and white energy, the swirling lights summoned three strange creatures wearing dark blue cloaks. Underneath the ghostly shrouds, the vague humanoid shapes were nothing more than floating beacons of light, their only solid physical features being a pair of red claws poking out of the sleeves of their cloaks.

Photon Phantom: Level 4/LIGHT/Zombie/0 ATK/2000 DEF

"Now I'll overlay my three phantoms and bring out another of my Numbers! With these 3 Level 4 Monsters, I build the overlay network again!

"XYZ SUMMON! APPEAR, NUMBER TEN, ILLUMIKNIGHT!"

The three phantoms wrapped their cloaks around their bodies and vanished. The Number's sealed form, a jagged crystal structure resembling a snowflake with a green jewel in the center, floated out of the overlay network and onto the field. The curved blades of the structure separated, and in a flash of green light, the Number assumed its true form, a medieval knight mounted on a mechanical silver steed. While the knight's armor was a majestic white with a green jewel embedded in its chest, its helmet was skeletal and fiendish. Unsheathing a silver longsword from the hilt on its waist, the knight gave a bellowing battlecry, while its horse whinnied aggressively and an orange 10 appeared on its left shoulder pauldron.

Number 10 - Illumiknight: Rank 4/LIGHT/Warrior/Xyz/2400 ATK/2400 DEF

"Seriously?!" Yuma shouted. "Two Numbers?! This guy needs to pace himself. It's going to be a long duel."

"I fear…." Astral commented ominously. "Not at this rate…"

"Now I'll show you what these Numbers can do! First I activate my knight's effect. By discarding a card and using one of its overlay units, I can draw an extra card. Next, I'll activate the effect of Giga Brilliant. By using one of its overlay units, all monsters I control gain three hundred attack points."

Giga Brilliant: 1800 + 300 = 2100 ATK

Illumiknight: 2400 + 300 = 2700 ATK

"Finally, I'll activate the continuous spell, Photon Fangs! As long as this card is on the field, light attribute monsters inflict piercing damage, so now I can damage your life points even if your monster is in defense mode. Go, my knight! Attack his face-down monster now! SHIMMERING SWORD!"

Rearing up on its hind legs, the metallic steed whinnied and the knight charged into battle, slashing the face-down card with his sword, revealing the golem underneath, its armored body completely unharmed by the blade. Unfortunately for Yuma, the slashing motion of the blade sent a beam of light in his direction, and the teenage boy winced as the beam struck him in the chest.

Yuma: 4000 - 1200 = 2800

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

"You might be able to damage my life points, but my Gogogo Golem isn't Gogogo Going anywhere! Once per turn, if it's in defense mode, it can't be destroyed by battle."

"Great effect! I can get him again now, especially when I make the pain you took from that attack even worse. Photon Fangs has another effect. After my monster battles, I can target another light monster I control and power it up even further, so my Giga Brilliant gains five hundred more attack points, and then you take five hundred points of damage."

A set of teeth made of pure blue light manifested in front of the spell card, and then shot forward towards Yuma like a hungry piranha before biting him on the arm, disappearing when the damage was done.

"OUCH!"

Giga Brilliant: 2100 + 500 = 2600 ATK

Yuma: 2800 - 500 = 2300

"Now for my second attack. Giga Brilliant, attack that golem! BRILLIANT MANDIBLE!"

Its jaws vibrating like chainsaw blades, the ant crawled forward towards the golem, preparing to chew the rock monster to bits.

"I activate my trap card, Ganbarassistance! This special summons a warrior type monster with one thousand or less attack points from my deck in defense mode, and I choose this monster, Ganbara Lancer!"

In a flash of light, a new monster appeared in front of the golem, causing the ant to recoil in surprise and stop its attack. The new monster took the form of a humanoid warrior encased from head to toe in dark blue scaled armor. Its silver helmet with orange streaks resembled that of a football player, while its weapons of choice were two massive yellow lances, which it jabbed at the air in front of the Number monster as a warning shot, driving it back away from its comrade.

Ganbara Lancer: Level 5/LIGHT/Warrior/1000 ATK/2000 DEF

"But this trap doesn't just give me a new monster. Ganbara Lancer's defense points double during this turn, and if you want to attack anymore this turn, then you can only attack him."

Ganbara Lancer: 2000 X 2 = 4000 DEF

"Alright, fine." Kaito scoffed. "If you want to hide behind that monster, then be my guest, but I have better ways to flush my prey out of hiding, which you'll discover on my next turn. I set a card face-down. Now, make your move."

"Alright, I will! I draw!"

"Now we can summon a Number monster." Astral encouraged. "One that can destroy at least one of his Numbers while further reinforcing our defenses on the field. Ganbara Lancer will not be able to protect us by itself."

"Right!" Yuma nodded. "And we have just the Number monster to help out with that. I draw, and I summon another Ganbara Monster, my Ganbara Knight!"

Yuma's new monster appeared high in the sky and fell to the ground, cracking the earth as it landed on its feet. Similar to the lancer, it was another heavily armored warrior wearing a football player's helmet with orange lightning bolt streaks. Its armor was maroon in color with yellow stripes on the chest, and twin green shields were strapped to its wrists to mount a solid defense.

Ganbara Knight: Level 4/LIGHT/Warrior/0 ATK/1800 DEF

"Next, I'll overlay my Ganbara Knight and my Gogogo Golem! With these 2 Level 4 Monsters, I build the overlay network! XYZ SUMMON! RISE UP, NUMBER THIRTY-NINE, KING OF WISHES, HOPE!"

Kaito's eyes seemed to grow wide with hunger as he watched his opponent's monsters disappear into the overlay network and summoned forth the Numbers sealed form. He meticulously watched Hope's transformation into its true form, seemingly acknowledging the Numbers power.

"At last!" he whispered excitedly.

Astral grew nervous once again. He knew with the prize the hunter wanted standing in front of him, he would only become more relentless as the duel progressed.

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

"And now, the spell card, Blustering Winds! This card gives Hope an extra one thousand attack points until the standby phase of my next turn, meaning now it's strong enough to take out one of your Numbers."

Hope: 2500 + 1000 = 3500 ATK

"Illumiknight should be our target." Astral instructed. "We cannot allow him to draw extra cards."

"Got it! Alright, Hope! You heard him. Attack Illumiknight! Rising Sun Slash!"

A tornado of wind swirled around the golden warrior, propelling him into the air with his mechanical wings fully extended. The Number descended from the sky like a meteor, charging at the knight and preparing to match its blade with his own.

Kaito scoffed at the Number's approach. "Tch, interesting. I wasn't expecting to use this trap card this early, but it looks like you can duel after all. I activate the trap, Lumenize! This card stops your attack dead in its tracks, and then my knight gains attack power equal to that of your Number, giving it twenty-five hundred extra attack points."

Illumiknight: 2700 + 2500 = 5200 ATK

"That's over five thousand!" Yuma cried out in shock. "Man, this guy isn't messing around."

"Do not panic." Astral soothed. "That attack boost will go away at the end of the hunter's next turn. Hope can negate two attacks. If he attacks on his next turn, we will be ready."

"Yeah, good point. Alright, Number Hunter. Those extra attack points don't scare me. I end my turn."

Kaito smirked. "Fine, I draw, and I activate Illumiknight's effect again. I use an overlay unit and discard a card to draw an extra card."

As Kaito drew his card, his eyes lit up with excitement, his smirk widening. "I have a confession to make. My knight is not what you should be scared of, but why waste time explaining myself when I can show you? Watch! I tribute Giga Brilliant and Illumiknight! Goodbye and good riddance to the two of you, and now…. Hello!"

"Hello?" Astral repeated in confusion. "To what?"

"Is this guy serious?!" Yuma was dumbfounded by his opponent's move. "He's throwing away two Number monsters in the trash, just like that, and one of them has over five-thousand attack points. What is this guy thinking?"

His answer came in the form of a bizarre object materializing onto the field, a strange triple-pronged red crest with a green jewel in the center. The crest began to spin like the blades of a helicopter, attracting light from the surrounding area which began to spin with it, creating a beautiful galaxy of luminous energy.

"SAY HELLO TO GALAXY EYES PHOTON DRAGON!"

Having gathered enough light to form the foundation of the creature's body, the blue particles dispersed from the red crest and organized themselves into a splendid shape. Two blue muscular arms emerged from the horizontal segments of the crest. The bottom point extended outwards to form an elongated blue tail with a red arrow at the tip. The area surrounding the green jewel expanded to form the creature's muscular torso, while two majestic wings sprouted out from the top corners, and finally the creature's head emerged, the monstrous maw of a mighty dragon. The light dispersed, changing the dragon's body from brilliant blue to a dark shade of gray, save for the red armor pieces on its tail and skull, while the blue glow remained inside its wings. Making eye-contact with Hope, the dragon gave an angry, ear-splitting roar, sharing its master's desire to hunt any Number in its sight.

Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon: Level 8/LIGHT/Dragon/3000 ATK/2500 DEF

"Okaaaaaaaaaay, I'm officially lost." Yuma confess. "That's one scary looking dragon, I'll admit, but I have no idea why he'd give up his Number monsters for it."

Astral didn't answer. Instead, he studied the creature, gazing into its glowing eyes, which seemed to contain an entire nebula of orbiting light inside them. "I know this creature…" he whispered.

"Battle! Galaxy-Eyes, attack Number 39! PHOTON STREAM OF DESTRUCTION!"

The dragon opened its fanged mouth as it began to absorb more light, while Yuma could only stare at the beast, more confused than ever.

"First he gives up his Numbers, then he summons a monster weaker than Hope, and now he's attacking even though his monster's weaker? What the heck is going on?"

"Yuma, I strongly suggest you negate that attack with Hope's effect." Astral advised.
"Why? Hope has more attack points, and even if he could make his dragon stronger, Galaxy-Eyes isn't a Number Monster. It can't destroy Hope in battle anyway."

"Oh? You think I'm planning to destroy your Number the old fashioned way?" Kaito asked, taking sadistic pleasure in his opponent's naive assumptions. "You fool! You underestimate my dragon's power! Watch! I activate my dragon's effect! When it engages in battle with a monster, both monsters are banished."

The dragon expelled the blue light it absorbed, which surrounded both itself and Hope, shattering them both instantaneously.

"HOPE, NO!" cried Yuma, but Kaito was far from done.

"Oh, don't be too sad about losing your precious Number. You'll get it back very soon. After all, once the battle phase ends, both monsters return to the field."

And sure enough, true to his word, both monsters reappeared almost as soon as they vanished, as if the battle never happened.

Yuma immediately breathed a massive sigh of relief.

"Phew, that was a close call. With Hope back, we can still win."

"Are you sure about that?" replied Kaito. "You might want to check on your Number. I think it's missing something."

Yuma studied Hope's appearance and it only took a second to realize what the hunter was talking about. While the Number itself seemed perfectly fine, the two overlay units that should have been orbiting Hope's body were nowhere to be found.

"What?! What happened to Hope's overlay units?"

"Your Xyz monster left the field, so while it did come back, its overlay units did not." Kaito explained. "My dragon is always hungry, and those overlay units will provide a nice appetizer before it devours your Number later as the main course. For every overlay unit your monster lost, my dragon gains five hundred attack points. Not only that, but you have to deal with my Photon Fangs again. Since a light monster battled this turn, you lose five hundred life points, and my dragon gains five hundred more attack points."

Hope's overlay units appeared out of the ground, only for the green jewel in the dragon's chest to glow and pull them towards its mouth. As the dragon swallowed the two overlay units, another set of teeth emerged from Kaito's spell card to bite Yuma on the arm again.

Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon: 3000 + 1000 + 500 = 4500 ATK

Hope: 3500 - 1000 = 2500 ATK

Yuma: 2300 - 500 = 1800

"Forty-five hundred attack points…." Yuma winced from the bite. "That's enough to take out all of our life points if he attacks Hope again."

"Correct, and once that happens…." the robot behind the hunter chimed in. "Your Number and your soul will belong to Master Kaito."

"Well good luck with that because I'm not losing to…. Wait…" Yuma paused, catching what the robot just said, and a horrifying realization came to him. "My soul?"

Furious, Kaito's head shot back to glare at the robot. "Orbital, you pile of junk! I'm just about to win this duel, and you have the nerve to bring that up?"

The robot immediately panicked. "AH! Sorry master. Won't happen again."

"No, wait a minute!" Yuma spoke up. "That guy at the mall, the one who looked like he aged seventy years in a second. You're telling me he looks like that because you took his soul? Explain yourself!"

Kaito grimaced, but sighed. There was no point in keeping it a secret now. "Alright, fine, I'll tell you, but you're not going to like it. In case you don't already know, Numbers attach themselves to the souls of their hosts, and I don't have the time, or the inclination to figure out how to separate the Number from its host's soul, so my method of taking Numbers works around that little problem. When I remove a Number from its host's body, the host's soul is taken as well. While those people are technically still alive, they'll never be the same again without their souls, but for the record, I don't care."

"You….." Yuma's fists were shaking, equal parts horrified and enraged. Although Kaito confirmed the Number Holder from the mall wasn't going to die, he was essentially doomed to spend the rest of his life in a catatonic state, a fate arguably worse than death. Even worse, Kaito was in possession of multiple Numbers, meaning this wasn't the first time he had taken somebody's soul. Just how many other people were out there with their souls ripped out of their bodies? With dozens of other Numbers still unaccounted for, the hunter would only claim more victims as time went on.

"What is wrong with you?!" Yuma shouted, causing Kaito to flinch. "What could you possibly want with the Numbers that's worth hurting all those people?!"

"That's none of your business." snapped Kaito dismissively.

"You're wasting your time trying to argue ethics with me. I only care about results, and if I have to condemn a hundred souls to acquire a hundred Numbers, then so be it. If you want to keep yours, then I suggest you win the duel, assuming you still think you have a chance. Now before I end my turn, I'll deal with that Number once and for all. I activate the spell card, Galaxy Storm! Since your Xyz monster no longer has any overlay units, this spell card lets me destroy it."

Astral narrowed his eyes. "That's what he was planning. Thankfully, we have the means to stop him this time. Yuma, you know what to do."

"Damn right, I do! I counter with the trap card, Xyz Reflect! Your Galaxy Storm is negated, and now you lose eight hundred life points."

Kaito: 4000 - 800 = 3200

Kaito gritted his teeth as his life points went down. "Fine. Protect your Number monster all you want. It won't make an ounce of difference. Without your Number's overlay units, it can't use any of its effects, so go! If you want to survive, make your next turn count."

"Oh, I will! I'm not losing to the likes of you!" Yuma shouted defiantly. "And when I'm done with you, you're going to turn those people back to normal, one way or the other."

Yuma motioned his hand towards his deck to draw his card, but suddenly stopped. He looked down and realized his hand was trembling.

"No…" he whispered. "Come on! Move! I can't let him get the better of me."

And yet…. The image of the hunter's victim appeared in his mind. One false move, and Yuma could end up just like him. His thoughts drifted to his sister and grandmother. They had already lost two family members when his parents disappeared. This would completely break them. He couldn't do that to them, to his friends. He couldn't let them down.

So why couldn't he move his hand?

"Yuma, you cannot give up." Astral affirmed. "No matter what card you draw, good or bad, we must keep fighting. Otherwise, this is guaranteed to be the end for the both of us."

"But how do we keep fighting against that thing?" Yuma argued, the pit of fear in his heart continuing to grow. "It's not even a Number, and yet it seems tailor made to beat them no matter which Number I summon. Even if I play defense, he's got an answer to that too. He'll just inflict piercing damage with Photon Fangs again."

"Then don't play defense." Astral advised. "The hunter has backed us into a corner. If we want to get out, then we must turn the hunter into the hunted."

Astral's words lit a fire underneath Yuma. Empowered by his partner's encouragement, he finally drew his card. Now he had a plan. Now they could win.

"Alright, let's do this! KATTOBINGU DA ZE ORE!"

"I tribute Ganbara Lancer in order to summon a second one, and doing that causes my Lancer's effect to activate. When I summon it, the lancer I used as tribute comes back to the field, giving me two Ganbara Lancers."

Yuma's lancer vanished, and a second one took its place. Two seconds later, the first one rose back out of the ground, positioning itself side by side with its twin.

Ganbara Lancer: Level 5/LIGHT/Warrior/1000 ATK/2000 DEF

"Now I overlay my Lancers together! With these 2 Level 5 Monsters, I build the overlay network!"

"XYZ SUMMON! APPEAR, NUMBER SIXTY-ONE! VOLCASAURUS!"

The two lancers vanished, and an orb of molten rock rose out of the overlay network, breaking open and transformed into the fiery dinosaur Yuma fought against just two nights ago. Sensing another Number, the glowing dragon growled ferociously at the new arrival, and the dinosaur met its opponent with a terrifying roar of its own, its body glowing red to match the dragon's blue aura.

Number 61 - Volcasaurus: Rank 5/FIRE/Dinosaur/Xyz/2500 ATK/1000 DEF

"Next, I activate Xyz Treasure! Now that there are two Xyz Monsters on the field, I can draw two cards."

Astral gave Yuma a proud nod of approval. "You determined the optimal Number to summon without me even having to tell you. Well done." He then floated closer to Yuma to study the new cards he acquired. "Mirror Mail and Mystic Wok. Good. These will come in handy should the hunter survive."

Kaito's eyes widened in surprise, while the robot behind him jumped up and down in a frantic state of excitement. "Master, are you seeing what I'm seeing? It's another Number!"

"Interesting, so you have two Number Monsters?"

"Actually, I have six!" Yuma replied, which truly threw Kaito for a loop. The last thing he expected was to acquire so many Number Monsters in one night.

"So does that mean you're a Number Hunter as well?" he inquired. "I sure hope so because you just made my job easier. I should thank you for collecting all those Numbers for me so I can take them all at once."

"You're not taking anything!" Yuma snapped. "But you are going to be taken down! Volcasaurus can destroy any monster I want, and then you take damage equal to its attack points. Looks like you made a huge mistake powering up your dragon so much, since that's more than enough damage to give me the win! Looks like your Number hunting days are over!"

"Your Number won't even get the chance to activate its effect." Kaito countered defiantly. "I activate the trap card, Overlay Plunder! Now your monster's effects are negated and it loses all of its overlay units. After that, they become food for my dragon. It gains five hundred more attack points for each overlay unit your monster lost."

Volcasaurus moved to swallow one of its overlay units, only for both glowing orbs to suddenly fall victim to the gravitational pull of Kaito's trap. The green jewel in the dragon's chest absorbed the two overlay units, and the dragon flexed its muscular arms, roaring triumphantly from the increase in power as the blue glow in its wings changed to a blinding white.

Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon: 4500 + 1000 = 5500 ATK

"Oh come on! It's even stronger now!" Yuma snapped, growing exasperated from yet another failed attempt to win. It seemed no matter what he did, somehow the hunter was one step ahead.

"Now do you see how hopeless you truly are?" Kaito boasted. "No Number can defeat Galaxy-Eyes!"

"Just stay calm." Astral soothed.

"But there's no way we can destroy his dragon now!"

"We don't have to." Astral explained. "If we cannot go through his dragon, we go around it instead."

Yuma's eyes drifted to a particular card in his hand, and his eyes grew wide. Realizing what his partner meant, he eagerly played the card, reassured that it wasn't over yet.

"I activate the spell card, Cross Attack! While this card won't let me defeat your dragon, your life points are still going to take a major hit. Since I control two monsters with the same attack points, one of them can attack you directly this turn. Hope, attack him directly! RISING SUN SLASH!"

The hunter narrowed his eyes, annoyed at his opponent's continued stubborn resistance. Raising his arms to shield himself, he braced for impact as Hope's sword came down hard on his body, knocking him back as he grunted in pain from the brutal swing.

Kaito: 3200 - 2500 = 700

"Almost." Astral noted, satisfied with the progress. "Just one more hit and the game will be ours."

"But we can't attack anymore this turn." Yuma pointed out. "And we still made zero progress in defeating that dragon. That thing is going to wipe us out in one shot next turn if we don't stop it."

"The cards you acquired from Xyz Treasure will be our salvation. One in particular will allow us to finally defeat his dragon."

He pointed to Mirror Mail. Yuma stared at the card, his brow furrowing. Sensing his partner's apprehension, the spirit continued his explanation. "Neither Volcasaurus nor Hope have overlay units for his dragon to steal, so the hunter will not activate its effect when it attacks. This will give us the perfect opportunity to activate Mirror Mail when he does. Mirror Mail will cause Hope's attack points to become the same as whatever monster it battles. Normally that would result in both monsters being destroyed…"

"But since Galaxy-Eyes is not a Number Monster…." Yuma's eyes lit up. "And only a Number can destroy a Number by battle, then Hope will win, and with his dragon off the field, we can finish him off next turn." The teenage boy immediately grew excited, resisting the urge to jump in the air and break his poker face. "I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

Kaito drew his next card, and after studying it, surprised the two with an offer.

"I'll admit, you have some form of skill, and I've also noticed something interesting. Normally when somebody is possessed by a Number, the Number appears in the form of a marking on its host's body, but even with two Numbers on the field, I still have yet to see any markings. If my theory is correct, and you possess some kind of resistance to the dark influence of these cards, then perhaps there is hope for you to come out of this alive. Forfeit the duel, hand them over, and I won't have to take your soul. I get what I want, and you get to walk away unharmed. Everybody wins."

"Not happening!" Yuma snapped, which visibly annoyed Kaito.

"Suit yourself, but that was your last chance. I summon Photon Cerberus!"

In a blinding flash, a new monster appeared next to the dragon, taking the form of a large mechanical dog with three armored heads and a body made of pure white light.

Photon Cerberus: Level 3/LIGHT/Beast/1300 ATK/600 DEF

"And when this dog is let off its leash, its effect activates. You can't activate any trap cards during the turn I summon Photon Cerberus."

Kaito's explanation immediately sent a wave of panic through the two duelists.

"NO!" cried Yuma. "Now our plan isn't going to work."

"Activate the other face-down card at once!" Astral frantically commanded.

"I activate the quick play spell, Mystic Wok! I send Volcasaurus to the Graveyard to gain life points equal to its attack points."

Yuma: 1800 + 2500 = 4300

"It seems the Number Hunter was one step ahead of us all along, but this will have to do. Now we have enough life points to survive his dragon's attack."

"Yeah, at least we're safe now." Yuma agreed, but Kaito heard him.

"Is that what you think? Well prepare to be disappointed. Now I'll take advantage of one of the cards I discarded when I used Number Ten's effect, my Photon Phoenix. Since I summoned a Photon Monster, my phoenix resurrects itself from my Graveyard."

A purple portal with arcane runes appeared at the side of the cerberus, and a large long-necked bird emerged, stretching its red armored wings and screeching loudly, its body glowing with the same blue light as Kaito's other monsters.

Photon Phoenix: Level 3/LIGHT/Winged-Beast/1200 ATK/1400 DEF

"Next, the effect of my phoenix activates. I can change the levels of both itself and my cerberus from three to four, and that means I can overlay my cerberus and phoenix together! With these 2 Level 4 Monsters, I build the overlay network!"

"XYZ SUMMON! NUMBER SIXTY, DUGARESS THE TIMELESS!"

Transforming into orbs of light, both phoenix and cerberus vanished into the overlay network, summoning a gigantic hourglass with black sand swirling inside it. The glass shattered, and the sands swirled around the field, giving the Number monster its proper humanoid shape. With its transformation complete, the Number now resembled a sinister looking old man with dark gray skin, piercing red eyes, coiffed white hair, and a long beard. He was dressed like medieval royalty, wearing a dark blue doublet with yellow vertical stripes and carrying a golden cane in his left hand. A golden mechanical bird flew down from the sky and landed on his shoulder, while two majestic gray wings sprouted from his back, dropping low like a feathered cape with a blue 60 shining on the left wingtip.

Number 60 - Dugaress the Timeless: Rank 4/FIRE/Fiend/Xyz/1200 ATK/1200 DEF

"A third Number monster?!" Yuma exclaimed.

"Yes, and as the old saying goes, three strikes and you're out! Dugaress will give my dragon the power it needs to erase you from existence. I detach both of my monster's overlay units to double my dragon's attack points."

Dugaress commanded the bird on its shoulder to take flight, and the automaton absorbed both overlay units into its body before flying over the dragon. The gears in the bird's golden body twisted and turned, before parting ways and revealing a mirror in its stomach, which bathed the dragon in golden light, empowering it even further.

Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon: 5500 x 2 = 11,000 ATK

"E-E-E-Eleven thousand?" stuttered Yuma, taking a step back.

"Yes, and that means even though you increased your life points, you won't survive my dragon's attack, so your last ditch effort to stay in the duel was all for nothing." Kaito taunted.

"Then…. That means….." a horrified Yuma, completely at a loss for words, looked to Astral, praying there was something, anything they could do, but the spirit had no answers, no advise. His only reply was a crushed acceptance of their fates.

"Yes… this is it…. Goodbye, Yuma…."

"Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, attack Number 39 and end this duel!"

"PHOTON STREAM OF…."

"Master Kite! Incoming Message! Emergency back home!"

Kaito suddenly stopped as an alarm from the robot behind him began ringing in his ears. Orbital's optical lenses projected an image in front of the hunter, an image of a little boy lying on the ground. Yuma saw the image and momentarily forgot about his impending doom to watch in both horror and confusion as the poor boy appeared to be having a seizure.

"HARUTO, NO!"

It took a mere second of hesitation for the hunter to make his mind up. With a snap of his fingers, his dragon vanished and his duel disk deactivated, while his trenchcoat returned from white to black.

"It looks like today is your lucky day. We'll finish this duel some other time. Come, Orbital. If we hurry, we can make it back in time. Let's go!"

"YES, SIR!" Orbital leaped into the air, his mechanical body compressing and rearranging itself so he could land securely on Kaito's back. Harnessing itself in place, Orbital sprouted a pair of glider wings, and the hunter took off into the sky like a rocket.

DUEL DISCONNECTED - NO RESULT!

Water began to coat Yuma's face, and it took the young duelist a few seconds to register it came from the sky and not from his eyes. Time was moving again, and yet it still seemed to stand painfully still from the shock of what he narrowly avoided. He kept his soul, but the facts were there. The hunter outplayed him.

He lost.

"YUMA!"

Kotori raced over to him, but his friend's voice barely registered in his head as the boy fell to his knees, finally breaking down.

"Yuma, what's wrong? Did I miss something?"

"She was right…." Yuma whimpered, confusing the girl.

"What do you mean, Yuma? What happened?"

"Rio was right about everything… I'm not ready…. Everything she and Astral taught me, it wasn't good enough. Even my Kattobingu spirit wasn't good enough….."

"I'm not good enough….."

---

Kaito pushed Orbital's jet propulsion to its limits as he raced through the sky in a panic. Orbital didn't even need its master's orders to fly at its top speed, as it shared its master's concern for the youngest Tenjo. Haruto had gone months without an attack like this, so for him to have a seizure now sent dozens of horrifying hypotheses through the elder Tenjo's brain. Was Haruto's condition getting worse? Was a new symptom manifesting? There was so little he and the team of scientists at Heartland Tower knew that he couldn't take any chances. Even though the mayor spared no expense at making sure his tower was outfitted with the most advanced medical equipment in the world, there was always a chance Haruto wouldn't make it.

He cursed Heartland for encouraging Haruto to use his power tonight.

He cursed himself for allowing that snake to take his brother away.

If that was the case, then Numbers be damned. The last thing Haruto needed to see before his short, unlucky life came to an end was his brother's face. The last thing he needed to feel was his brother holding his hand.

"Come on, Haruto…. Hang in there…."

Heartland Tower was finally in sight. Slowing down, he positioned himself to land gracefully on the balcony of the top floor. Orbital jumped off Kaito's back the moment he touched the ground and transformed back into its robot form. The two burst through the top floor door and raced towards the nearest elevator, taking it down all the way to the medical lab.

"Hang in there…." Kaito repeated, his heart quickening with each wasted second in the elevator. Finally the doors opened, and Kaito practically kicked the door to the medical lab open once he reached it.

There he was.

"Haruto…."

The nightmare was over, the crisis averted. The panicking anxiety in Kaito's mind instantly evaporated the moment he saw his brother, sleeping like a baby in the lone stasis chamber of the medical lab. The beeping of the heart monitor next to the table further proved Haruto's safety. It was stable, and yet Kaito couldn't bring himself to be relieved. It could happen again, and the next time it happened, the tower staff might not get Haruto into the stasis chamber in time. Any day now and that chamber would become a glass coffin if they weren't careful.

Still, every close call was a merciful victory, which only steeled Kaito's resolve to continue the hunt. He approached the medical table, placing a hand on the glass cylinder.

"Don't wake him up, Kaito." a voice from the shadows alerted both human and robot. They were not alone. From the shadows, a familiar face emerged, a middle aged man in a white lab coat with an orange collar. He shared Kaito's spikey blond hair, although his was receding into a widow's peak.

"Doctor Faker…. What are you doing here?" Kaito growled, muttering the man's alias with venomous contempt. "I thought you were too concerned about what's going on in other worlds to care about what's happening in this one."

His words served no purpose other than to provoke and incite conflict, but Kaito didn't care. Those were the only kinds of words he wanted to say to the doctor at this point.

Kaito's words did their job all too well. The veins on the doctor's forehead pulsed with the same levels of anger as the Number Hunter.

"I'LL be the one asking questions!" the doctor thundered. "What on earth are you doing here?! I've never seen you come back from a hunt empty handed, Kaito. Care to explain?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize the near death experience of my brother, your youngest son, was less important than a few Numbers." Kaito snapped. "It's not like collecting one or two will do any good, remember? There's no chance for a cure unless I have all one hundred."

"Everything was under control." the doctor growled. "I took Haruto to his stasis chamber and administered his medication just like I always do. I can't believe after all I've done, you still don't trust me to watch Haruto while you're gone."

"He wouldn't have had a seizure in the first place if you and Heartland had just let him rest instead of pushing him to harness his powers!" Kaito argued. "That's exactly the reason why I don't trust you, Faker."

"Stop calling me that! I'm your father, and I know what's best for my sons!"

"I'm not acknowledging you as my father ever again!" Kaito spat. "Not after you proved you're not the man I thought you were."

The doctor's stone face finally broke, and he broke eye contact with his son, shame creeping into his eyes.

"You know what I'm talking about." Kaito continued. "I know exactly what you did to prove you don't care about your family, or your friends, so I say you live up to your nickname all too well. I may have blood on my hands too, but at least I don't stab the people I'm supposed to care about in the back."

"What I did was for Haruto!" The doctor shouted, "Just like the souls you take on your hunts are for Haruto! We both chose to do what we needed to do when we realized there was no other way. You can call me a monster, a liar, a faker all you want, but don't you dare suggest I don't care about my family, and don't you dare bring that up again! Go ahead and hate my guts, but you need my help if you want your brother to survive. Did you forget who provided you with the photon equipment and your Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon? Without me, you would be powerless to help your brother. You…."

"And now that I have the power to help my brother." Kaito interrupted. "Stay out of my way, old man!"

"Incoming Message!"

The automated voice of Orbital distracted the quarreling father and son, projecting another image out of its optical lens for the two to see. The image in question made Doctor Faker gasp in surprise, while Kaito merely growled in disgust, his temper too far past its limits to view the new distraction with anything other than disdain.

Kaito had only seen the face of the caller once before, and just like the first time they spoke, the strange figure kept his body concealed in a golden hooded cloak, his green eyes the only visible part of his face.

"Hayate Tenjo and Kaito Tenjo." the figure spoke, his judgemental and pompous voice seeming to vibrate and pulse with a distinct echoing frequency through the message.

"Oh… this is…. Unexpected…." The doctor, Hayate, replied nervously. "I never anticipated an inspection so soon. Everything is going according to plan. You have nothing to worry about. My son has over a dozen Numbers in his possession, and it won't be long before he acquires all one hundred."

"Nothing to worry about?" the voice parroted back, a veiled threat hidden underneath. "Then tell me, why did your son abandon the hunt?"

"My brother was dying, you insensitive…."

"Kaito!" Hayate silenced his son before addressing the caller. "The entire reason I made this agreement with your kind was for my youngest son's safety. I can assure you, my eldest son did not violate the terms of our agreement by calling off a hunt out of fear of his brother's safety. Kaito has yet to lose a duel thanks to the deck I designed for him. He will simply locate the Number holder a second time and challenge him again, so we can just pretend his very minor mistake never happened."

"I don't think your son understands just what he did by abandoning that duel." the caller scolded, causing Hayate to recoil as his echoing voice grew more threatening. "Tell me, Doctor. Have you installed the optical upgrades for that contraption of yours?"

"Contraption?!" Orbital yelled incredulously, prompting a scolding "Quiet!" from Kaito.

"I'm afraid Doctor Faker was unable to complete the upgrades before I began my latest hunt. They will be finished soon, but I fail to see how that's relevant to the hunt itself."

While Kaito remained oblivious to what the caller was hinting at, the doctor figured it out almost immediately. Eyes growing wide with a horrible realization, he covered his eyes with his hands, groaning. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Kaito raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Second term of the agreement." the caller explained. "Upon discovery of the original Number, his existence and location is to be reported to me at once. That was the entire point of your machine's upgrades, so he could locate the original Number, as he cannot be detected by human eyes. My people on the other hand….." The cloaked figure's eyes flashed red for a brief second. "We do not need technology to locate the original Number, the scourge upon my people known as Astral, and who should I just so happen to see when I decided to watch your son's latest duel upon arriving here? None other than Astral himself, floating next to your son's opponent."

"WHAT?!" Kaito shouted, dumbfounded at the unfathomable coincidence. He had the duel won. All he had to do was finish declaring his attack, and not only would he have acquired six Numbers in a single hunt, but the greatest threat to this world and others would have been eliminated as well. If he just remained patient enough to finish the job before returning to Haruto…. No! He would not harbor any regrets for being a protective older brother.

"Just send me back out there." he answered dismissively. "The original Number's host was no match for me. I was in total control of the duel from the first turn all the way to the end. If I duel him again, then I will win and take care of your enemy. Problem solved!"

"Absolutely not!" the voice of the collar echoed throughout the room like a crack of thunder. "You don't understand. The stakes are far higher than the life of one measly human like your brother. Not one, but two worlds are at risk as long as Astral is alive. Since the two of you have proven unreliable in this endeavor, I am forced to step in and allow my people to handle this personally."

"Oh… you…. You don't need to do that!" Hayate stuttered. "We have this under control! This was a serious mistake on my son's part, yes, but he had no way of detecting the original Number, as Orbital's upgrades were not finished. It won't happen again. Once I install the upgrades, we can locate and destroy Astral easily."

"On the contrary, I do!" the caller insisted. "This mission is not going as smoothly as you promised, Doctor. I wasn't even supposed to be here, but the agent who made contact with you in the first place has gone missing, and you claim you don't know where he is. I'm going to wring his neck when I find him, but that's besides the point. You two aren't collecting the Numbers fast enough, Mr. Heartland's little tournament isn't ready to begin, and the two of you can't even be in the same room without fighting amongst yourselves. To think my people have been reduced to this, forced to rely on humans to do our work, especially one with an inferior Galaxy-Eyes Dragon."

"Why don't I show you what my inferior dragon can do?" Kaito challenged, earning him a stern glare from his father.

"Kaito, that's enough!" Hayate snapped. "Do you want them to cut us off from the only means of treating Haruto's symptoms?"

"You should listen to your father, boy!" the caller taunted. "Effective immediately you are prohibited from engaging with the original Number and his host. You shall divert your attention towards hunting other duelists who possess Numbers. In the meantime, Doctor, we shall be sending an agent here to deal with him, and I want no interference or inconveniences from either of you. Don't even think of going behind our backs. We will find out. The eyes of the Barian World are always watching."

Kaito growled under his breath. Realizing that trying to argue with the caller was completely pointless, he turned to leave the medical lab.

"As you wish…. Mizar…." he gave one final reply before exiting through the doorway, leaving only his father to talk to his benefactor. Hayate immediately attempted to placate the agent of Barian World and ease the tension Kaito left behind.

"I apologize on my son's behalf. The loss of his mother and the fear of losing his brother have taken a heavy toll on his mind. He's become rather abrasive in recent years, and I'm afraid I share blame for that."

"I understand. My people are no strangers to loss." Mizar gave a surprisingly sympathetic answer. "Just see that your son assists in fulfilling your end of the bargain. We'll be in touch, Doctor."

The call ended, the projection disappearing back into Orbital's mechanical eye socket, and the robot flared to life once again.

"I'd better check on Master Kaito. He's had a rough night."

"One more thing before you go," the robot barely managed to turn its wheels before Hayate stopped him. "Show me the recording of Kaito's duel. I wish to see the face of the Original Number's host."

"Yes sir! Accessing memory files….."

The robot's eye conjured another projection, presenting the opponent's face for the Doctor to see.

His heart stopped the moment he saw his face. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The hair, the eyes, the smile that radiated energy and positivity.

It was like he was staring at the spitting image of his former best friend.

"No…. it can't be…." he gasped quietly. "That's….. Kazuma's boy…."

"I'm sorry, who?" the robot questioned. "Do you know this guy?"

"It's nothing!" the doctor snapped immediately. "I have no further need of you. Carry on, Orbital."

"Yes sir!"

With that, the robot finally left, leaving Hayate all alone in the dimly lit laboratory, Haruto still asleep in his stasis chamber. It took every ounce of resilience in his soul not to break down then and there.

"Oh, Kazuma….." the doctor whispered. "I'm so sorry….."

---

Author Made Cards

Photon Phantom: Level 4/LIGHT/Zombie/0 ATK/2000 DEF

Effect: Cannot attack on the turn it is summoned. If this card is Special Summoned while you control a LIGHT Xyz Monster or a "Galaxy-Eyes" Monster, you can Special Summon up to 2 "Photon Phantom" from your hand or Deck. You cannot Special Summon Monsters for the rest of the turn, except LIGHT Xyz Monsters or "Galaxy-Eyes" Monsters.

Photon Phoenix: Level 3/LIGHT/Winged-Beast/1200 ATK/1400 DEF

Effect: If you Normal Summon a "Photon" or "Galaxy" Monster while this card is in your Graveyard, you can Special Summon this card, but if you do, banish it when it leaves the field. Twice per turn, you can target 1 "Photon" or "Galaxy" Monster you control; increase that monster's level by 1 and change its ATK to 2000. Also, that monster cannot attack the turn you use this effect.

Photon Fangs: Continuous Spell Card

Effect: LIGHT Monsters you control inflict piercing damage to your opponent. At the end of the damage step, if a LIGHT Monster you control battled an opponent's monster, you can target 1 LIGHT Monster you control; that monster gains 500 ATK, and if it does, inflict 500 damage to the opponent.

Overlay Plunder: Normal Trap Card

Effect: If your opponent Xyz Summons a monster, negate that monster's effects and detach all Xyz Materials from that monster, and if you do, you can target 1 face-up monster you control; that monster gains 500 ATK for each Xyz Material detached from that Xyz Monster.

Ganbarassistance: Normal Trap Card

Effect: Special Summon 1 Warrior Monster with 1000 or less ATK from your Deck in face-up Defense Position, and if you do, double that monster's DEF, but negate its effects, until the End Phase. During the turn you use this effect, face-up monsters you control cannot be targeted for attacks, except the monster Special Summoned by this card's effect.

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND DONE!

Yes, I wasn't kidding when I said a lot of important characters would make their first appearance in this chapter, and I wasn't just talking about human characters. Just like in the old version of IQC, the Barians are making their move early, although as people who have read the old version can clearly see, this time they are appearing under vastly different circumstances.

How will things play out this time around? All in good time, dear readers. All in good time.

Mizar serving as the unofficial liaison between the Barian World and the Tenjo family due to Vector going AWOL always seemed like a natural fit to me, given the Galaxy-Eyes connection between Mizar and Kaito. What do the rest of you think about that?

And yes, I am giving the character of Doctor Faker the name, Hayate Tenjo, as I have always been convinced that Faker is not his real name, even though the canon ZEXAL show never gave him a name other than that.

So, what did you all think of the chapter? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Whatever your opinion may be, feel free to leave a review and let me know!

Until Next Time! THIS IS NOX, SIGNING OUT!