Soul Rider: Man oh man. This Numbershot took longer than I thought it would.

Astral: How long was it since you started?

Soul Rider: Three months.

Raymona: {completely surprised} THREE MONTHS?

Soul Rider: And I didn't expect it to be this long of a story, but at least the folks liked it.

Raymona: Everything should be wrapped up here, right?

Soul Rider: Yes. Then, we can get more work on your story. So, let's do this!

Numbershot 99: The Final Number Is…

Chapter 10

Yuma opened his eyes halfway slowly to a dimmed room. He noticed a yellow light coming from his left, yet he didn't really care. His head felt a little heavy and his body didn't feel like moving. Moving his head to the right, he saw through a huge window that separated the room from the outside. The night sky was filled with stars and the full moon had a sky blue sheen that you can't immediately notice. Down below the sky, he can see the lights of Heartland shining. The teen smiled at the sight.

"Yuma…" a young voice groaned on his left. Looking in the direction of the voice and through his loose, red bangs, Yuma saw a sleeping Kotori laying her head on his bedside as she was sitting in a chair by the bed. The yellow light came from a lit lamp on a white nightstand close to the bed. Next to Kotori, who was also asleep and laying her head on the bedside too, was Akari. Also sleeping in another part of the room were Tetsuo, III, IV, V, Shark, and Ariel. While Tetsuo was snoozing in a chair like Kotori and Akari, III, IV, and V were asleep together on a couch and the WATER Duelist couple were together on another couch with Ariel leaning against her boyfriend.

What's going on? Yuma thought. What are they doing here? Giving it all a little thought, he figured out where he was. It was the Heartland Hospital, and he was the patient. His arms and head were exposed from the blanket. His eyes went fully open when he saw the yellow feather pattern on his arms. Slowly getting in a sitting position, the teenager closer examined the marks. They weren't just on his arms and hands, but also up and down his whole body, which he guessed from seeing the pattern on his middle by pulling up his shirt a bit go down to his legs and up his neck. Looking back at Kotori and Akari, he moved his red bangs out of his face and gave Kotori a gentle shake on the shoulder.

"Kotori… Kotori," he said softly. After a little harder shake, the green-haired girl opened her eyes and raised her head to see Yuma in a sitting position, looking at her with his temporary mismatched eyes, though he didn't notice ad she didn't care. Tears started forming in her hazel eyes. Sitting up, she stared at him for a minute.

"Yuma… you're awake," she said. Yuma's face went a little confused.

"How long was I out?"

"Since yesterday. The doctors said you weren't hurt in any physical way. They didn't know what to say of the marks, though." They both looked down at his arms. "They look like Kaito's, but more wild like III's were." The teen in the bed looked a little more confused. "Look at your face." Kotori grabbed something out of her purse that was on the ground. It was a round hand-held mirror. Opening it, Kotori put the mirror part in front of Yuma's left eye. The red and black-head blinked twice quickly before freaking out and grabbing the mirror from Kotori, who let him hold it. He held it a little farther from himself, incredulous to his emerald green eye with the yellow feather pattern around it.

"Wh-what happened to my eye?" he exclaimed with shock. "Did I become one of Dr. Faker's experiments while I was out?" His girlfriend giggled.

"No. Those were on you when we came to rescue you. At that time, they were glowing. And… the number '99' was on you. Are… you a-?" Kotori was interrupted by Akari's groaning as she was waking up. When she saw her little brother sitting up, the red-head sat up with a smile.

"Yuma…" she said to him. Yuma smiled back at his sister.

"Nii-Chan…" the brother answered. He was then wrapped in a hug from his sister, surprising him. A tear from her fell onto his right shoulder, getting the sleeve of the white shirt he had on at the time a little wet.

"Oh, Yuma, you've finally woken up. I was worried it would be like last time." At first, Yuma didn't know what she was talking about, but then the birthmark-like '99' began to faintly glow and a few memories went through his mind.

*Flashback*

A four year-old Yuma and his father, Kazuma, were having a Duel in the frontyard. Akari, Oba-Chan, and Ka-Chan were watching from the porch. The whole Tsukumo family was smiling. Kazuma had Ganbara Knight in Defense Mode and Gagaga Magician on his side with a facedown. Yuma's side only has Growing Pinecone and two facedown cards. It was Yuma's turn.

"Boku no turn! Draw-!" the little child began, but staggered after drawing his card and his body froze. His heartbeat was loud to him. The light in his red eyes disappeared. He didn't know why, but his body felt cold and hot at the same time. Then, everything in front of him started to get blurry until he couldn't see the shape of his father anymore. He fell to his knees limply as well as his arms that dropped to his sides.

"Yuma! Yuma..." he could hear his dad call to him, but it was becoming fainter to him. The rest of his body collapsed forward as the mixed colors faded into black.

Finally regaining consciousness, Yuma opened his eyes. The ground felt like glass. It even looked like glass. It was a deep blue underneath the glass-like ground. Shocked by this, the toddler immediately sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was in some type of blue town. The toddler poked a building that was right next to him and it jiggled like gelatin. Looking at the sky, he saw billions of stars in the cerulean scene above.

"What is this place? Am I dreaming?" Yuma asked himself. The toddler got to his feet and moved a few strands of his red bangs back. Then, he noticed light coming from his left and went in that direction slowly so he doesn't slip on the slick bottom. Once fully in the light, Yuma was in what might be the town square with a golden fountain that sprayed rainbow water. "What kind of dream is this?" he questioned himself again.

*Flashback 2* (In Yuma's perspective)

Opening his eyes, he saw Ka-Chan and Tou-Chan standing in front of his hospital bed with worried faces at first, but then they smiled with relief. Oba-Chan and Akari were on his left. The elderly woman was glad about something, but he couldn't tell what was wrong with his sister. She looked happy, but she had tears in her eyes for some reason.

*End of Flashbacks*

It all came back to him. The memories he lost as a small child returned. He remembered the Duel with his dad, the time he really first met Astral, and waking up at the hospital three weeks later. Starting to smile softly, the teen returned his sister's hug.

"It didn't happen again. There's no need to be like this like you were back then," he assured her. Akari looked at him with surprise in her eyes.

"Wait. You remember?" she asked. Her little brother nodded in response. Without him noticing, the marks began disappearing and his left eye turned back into the same red as before. None of the two girls cared about that. They both smiled with him. At that moment, everyone else woke up. When they saw the three who were awake before them, they smiled and rushed over.

"Yuma!" they said in unison. They all huddled around the bed.

"Yuma, are you okay? Tron didn't harm you that badly, did he?" III asked with worry.

"I'm fine, III. Thanks for your concern," the red-eyed teenager answered. III let out a sigh of relief. "Where IS Tron, anyway?"

"Well, after he failed to absorb your power, he fled, leaving us behind. We told the police all that happened and are now searching for him." Yuma's expression went a little agitated.

"Tron…" he lowly growled. The door then opened and a doctor came in. Everyone looked that way.

"I see that all of you are awake," he said. "Visiting hours have been over for two hours. So, it's best that you take your leave and let Tsukumo here rest. He should be able to go home in the morning that that he's regained consciousness." The huddled bunch nodded quietly and one by one headed out the door, but III slowly followed the rest. He turned his head to look at Yuma.

"You better start explaining tomorrow…" III paused his whisper. "… Nanbaazu Kyuujuukyuu." Yuma was a little surprised that III called him that. He was about to ask if he knew, but the pink-haired boy already left and the door closed.

"Yuma," someone from above him lightly called. Looking up, Yuma saw a well Astral with a smile. The human smiled back at the spirit.

"Hey, Astral. You doing okay?"

"I am doing fine now that you're safe. Tomorrow better have a lot of time for you to explain to everyone what the Number was for." Yuma giggled lightly.

"Yea. Kotori was about to ask me about that. Bet everyone's wondering." Astral giggled this time. Then, an abrupt jolt of energy ran through them, making them jerk their heads up.

'Yuma-Sama, Astral, Kyuujuukyuu has appeared in the Emperor's Key,' Hope's voice echoed in their minds. 'He wants a word with you two.'

'But how can I get into the Emperor's Key like Astral can?' Yuma telepathically questioned. 'I'm not made of glowing particles.'

'Maybe your body can't enter, but your soul can.' Yuma looked at the nightstand and noticed the Emperor's Key laying on it. It was glowing softly. The teenager took hold of it and looked at the device. 'Focus on the key and try to feel the Numbers within,' Hope told him.

"I'll meet you in the Emperor's Key, Yuma," Astral told his partner as he became hundreds of white particles and disappeared into the green gem on the device. Holding the Emperor's Key to his chest, Yuma laid down on the bed, trying to focus on the Numbers. After about 6 seconds, the boy slowly slipped back into unconsciousness, his eyes closing and his muscles relaxing more.

*within the Emperor's Key*

Opening his eyes, Yuma saw that he was no longer in that hospital bed. It was the mechanism in the Emperor's Key. Looking at his 'body', he saw that he was wearing his normal clothes, including the green '99' on his purple shirt and he had a thin red aura. This was probably because he was right now a soul with no vessel. He was floating above the sandy ground by a good twenty feet.

"Glad you can make it, First," a voice that sounded like Yuma's called, though it was just slightly deeper. Yuma turned around and Kyuujuukyuu, Hope, and Astral were standing three feet away.

"Now that Yuma's here, can you tell us what you had to say?" Astral asked the human Number.

"Of course. As you all know and remember, First is the Astral World Gatekeeper and you and he were chosen by fate to save the Mortal and Astral Worlds." Both Astral and Yuma nodded. "However, this task of course can't be done alone. The true door to the Valian World is wide open thanks to Dr. Faker, letting the negative light into the Mortal World. The powers of the Astral World can be enhanced by this negativity, but not in a good way and the Astral World powers alone can't stop the Valian World. The only way to close the Valian Door is to free the Gods' Gem Beast Warriors of the Valian World and Mortal World Gatekeepers."

"I'm not the only one?" Yuma questioned.

"Of course you're not. The Astral World Gatekeeper, which is you, is put in charge of opening and protecting the door of positive light. The Valian World Gatekeeper makes sure that the door of negative light stays closed. The Mortal World Gatekeeper is in charge of evening the current positivity and negativity that is already in the Mortal World. Unfortunately, the Valian World and Mortal Gatekeepers are oblivious to their positions and the three worlds will be thrown into chaos without them. The only way to make them realize is to free the other Gods' Gem Beast Warriors."

"What exactly IS a God's Gem Beast Warrior?" Astral asked.

"A God's Gem Beast Warrior is the hidden conscience and power in the soul of a Gatekeeper that relates to a God and has two forms: the Beast Form and the Warrior Form. I am one of the three.

"So, right now one of them have been freed, which is you," Hope pointed out.

"Yes. But the other two haven't been set out of their 'cages', yet. So, it won't be easy identifying the other two Gatekeepers. We must find them and get those beasts free so that the universe can be saved from disaster." Yuma gained a determined and brave expression.

"If my destiny is to help save the universe, I'll do whatever it takes to do that," he said. "Astral and I will find the other Gatekeepers."

"And both of us will free the hidden entities," Astral added. He held out his hand in the middle of the four. Yuma put his hand on top of Astral's, then Hope, and lastly Kyuujuukyuu. The final Number smiled.

"…Arigatou," he simply said.

*unknown place, unknown time*

The platform was burning. Dark smoke was rising into the air. Everyone in the stadium watched in horror as they stared at the digital screens that showed the disaster. On the platform were two people. One was laying on the platform while the other was on his right, holding up his opponent's upper body. Both of them were boys. To the people watching {you guys}, their bodies were shadowed almost to the point you can't see the details.

"How could I do this to you?" the victor asked his numb opponent. They were both wearing Duel Disks and the person that was still moving won.

"It *cough* wasn't your fault," the opponent struggled to answer with a weak smile. "I could tell by the expression on your face when you activated it." He grabbed two cards off of his Duel Disk and handed them to the other boy. The boy took them and looked at them, but was shocked at one of the cards.

"Nani? I can't take this one! It's your ace!"

"That's why I want you to hold onto it. It'll remind you of our bonds." He raised his burnt right hand and touched the winner's shoulder. "Can you *cough* promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Promise me you'll win the finals and become *cough* World Duel Champion."

"But that's YOUR dream! I can't steal your dream!"

"No. *cough* I'm asking you as a friend to win. I'm giving my dream to you for you to accomplish." His grip on his friend began to loosen. "Sayounara (Goodbye)… Ryoga." His hand then limply fell to his side, palm up. The loser has passed away.

"No! You can't do this! Not to me! Not to US! Please, open your eyes!" Ryoga pleaded to his friend as he shook his body. But nothing happened. Tears started falling down his face as the guilt and despair washed over him like a tsunami. At the top of his lungs, he screamed to the sky with pain, "YUMA-KUN!"

Soul Rider: *snuff* I must admit, I made that spoiler part for my next Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL work a little sad.

Astral: Is this supposed to be a one-shot sneak peek of if Shark activated the Trap Card Tron gave him in the actual anime?

Soul Rider: Maybe, maybe not. I'm not revealing any more than that.

Raymona: I hope it takes place in the "What If…" Universe. That spoiler was pretty sad. And you had Yuma die! You're so cruel!

Soul Rider: There's no reason to say that, Ray-Ray. It's part of a bigger plot than you think. Well, people, that wraps up this Numbershot, and if you have any guesses of what's going to happen in my next bit of work, leave it on a review or private message me. See ya in 99.3! ;D