Hello I usually reply back to my reviewers but I'm a little sick today T0T I actually took a night time pill so I will probably hit the bed soon. Sorry but I will reply to those who reviewed next time!

But thank you so much for those who did! And for those who didn't.. please I hope you do review if you enjot this story so far! XD

I'm still happy that this story received over 70+ hits in one day but reading the reviews would morivate me more to write longer!

I usually tend to write longer when reviews make me happy hehheh :)

Cough cough, I should really sleep now :(

"Ahahahah, fancy meeting you two here. Yuma and Astral."

Yuma and Astral couldn't keep their mouth closed when Black Mist, who was also in his solid form just like Astral, confronted them. It was bad enough that Yuma and Astral were in a whole different world but meeting up Black Mist at this time wasn't good either.

"Black Mist? What are you doing here?" Yuma pointed at the dark form that looked exactly like Astral. Astral was also a bit surprised that his counterpart was also tangible as well.

"I can see that you two are having a little difficult time with that Number," Black Mist smiled as he licked his lips, "It's a matter of time until the Leviathan Dragon will pulverize that weak defense monster of yours."

In a perfect timing, Yuma and Astral heard their Gogogo Golem smashing into pieces from the inside of their house while Leviathan Dragon marched outside. The dragon screeched once more before locking its eyes directly at Yuma. Yuma's eyes dilated in fear as he clumsily reached down to his duel deck to look for a Number card. To his disappointment, it seems that all the 50 Number cards that Yuma and Astral collected over the time just vanished into thin air!

"Yuma, you have to summon a Number in order to defeat Number 17," Astral told his partner.

"You think I don't know that, Astral?" Yuma gritted his teeth, "It's like all of our Numbers are gone! Even Kibou Hope is not here anymore!"

"Kibou Hope is gone?" Astral couldn't believe what he just heard from Yuma. "That's impossible…"

"Oy,oy~ I think you guys have to pay attention to that thing over there," the dark spirit laughed to himself and pointed at the large dragon that slowly approached to Yuma.

'I don't know where this power came from,' Astral thought to himself and looked at his own hand that dimly reflected the light, 'But, I can manage to reflect Number's attack. I could create just enough time so Yuma can escape.'

The blue spirit floated in front of Yuma and prepared himself to release another protective barrier. Black Mist narrowed his eyes a little and observed what Astral tried to do. It didn't take the dark spirit to guess what Astral planned to do.

"Yuma, I can hold Number 17 off while you can get to a safe place," Astral calmly stated without looking at the teenager.

"Okay, you need to drop the act of me abandoning you," Yuma fought back. "Stop acting like a selfless idiot Astral. I can take care of myself too. If I don't have Numbers then I'll just summon a monster with stronger defense!"

"Save your Astral Barrier," the blue spirit heard Black Mist yelling to him proudly, "Reveal yourself! My very own Number 96: Black Mist!"

Next to the darker version of Astral, a giant lack monster with red fires in the center and blue fires around its body appeared. Number 96 had its mouth wide open while showing off its teeth at the dragon in front of him.

"Don't you love how it appears in the field?" Black Mist snickered to himself and pointed at the Leviathan Dragon, "Use shadow gain to absorb that pathetic Number's power!"

"Why.. why is he helping us?" Yuma muttered to himself as the monster version of Black Mist started to suck out the energy from the dragon. Astral was just as confused as his friend. When Number 96 finished taking half of the power, it waited for the master to command again.

"Now, show that Number who's stronger," Black Mist's sinister smile spread around his face, "Black mirage whip!"

The monster obeyed immediately as it extended various parts the body that formed into various lengths of whips and started to attack Number 17 immediately. The dragon tried to escape but few seconds later, it vanished while emitting bright lights. Yuma had his eyes closed when the whole battle between Number 96 and Number 17 happened only few feet away from where he stood. When everything seemed to quit down, Yuma gently opened his eyes again to see half of his house destroyed.

"My house…" Yuma fell to his knee and felt few stream of tears falling down on his cheek. He couldn't believe the situation that he was in at this moment. Few hours ago, Yuma was talking to Kotori about their big hang out day tomorrow with Cathy and Tetsuo. But now, everything seemed to have changed and Yuma didn't even know if his sister and grandmother were safe of now.

"Number 96, why are you assisting us?" Astral floated in front of Black Mist.

"This is the second time that I had to help you and Yuma, Astral," Black Mist made his hand gesture,"I just want to give you an example of how powerful you can be. That is, if you accept the darkness that's lurking inside your heart first."

"….." Astral had his mouth closed and carefully thought about what Black Mist said to him.

"Don't listen to him Astral," Yuma stood up when he finally accepted that his house was gone from the battle between duel monsters. "Come on, I want to see if my families and friends are alright."

"….Yuma," Astral analyzed his partner's face expression and began to worry. Even difficult times, Yuma would try to stay optimistic and it was extremely rare for Astral to see his friend looking so down with glum appearance.

"Hmm, I don't think you guys are aware of what happened in this word," Black Mist returned his own Number back to the card. He then absorbed the card back to his hand before speaking out again. "Nobody in his world will recognize you, Yuma-kun. It's as if you never existed in the first place."

"Just keep talking, Black Mist," Yuma grabbed Astral's arm and pulled him along, "As if Astral and I would listen to your nonsense."

The blue spirit on the other hand had something different going on inside his head. It seemed that Black Mist knew more information about what was happening to the world that Yuma lives in. Even though Astral hated to admit it, but asking few questions to his darker form might be useful especially in this situation.

"Yuma, I believe it would be wise to ask Number 96 about-"

"Astral, there is no way I'm going to let you interact with that guy," Yuma quickly interrupted his friend, "It's not the first time that he tried to take over you, remember?"

"He seems to know what he's talking about," Astral made a clear statement.

"I know so many things that could either help or hinder this situation," said Black Mist.

"I bet you can't do anything that is helpful," Yuma stuck his tongue out in an attempt to anger Black Mist but it seemed to fail.

"Hmph, I can tell you something interesting," Black Mist turned his attention the blue spirit, "Astral Barrier. That's what you did few moments ago in order to save Yuma here."

"Astral barrier?" Astral whispered the word and this also caught Yuma's interest.

"You might be wondering when you learned how to use that power? Well, who knows~" Black Mist laughed again, "But ever since Numeron Code found itself a new owner, there were few changes that could either benefit or hurt other others."

"You mean my body becoming tangible and obtaining this power has something to do with Numeron Code?" asked Astral and Yuma just wanted to pull his friend away from Black Mist before the conversation got too deep. Even though the information that Number 96 gave out could be useful, Yuma preferred to spend his time away from the dark creep.

"You're catching on fast, Astral," Black Mist grinned.

"Yeah yeah that's great but Astral and I have something important to do. Come on, Astral!" Yuma pulled the blue arm once more which caused Astral to forcefully float next to Yuma.

"Hmm why don't I help you ?" the dark spirit came next to Astral, "Just like what you said, I do possess a lot of knowledge that could be useful. Remember Astral, if you are the light then I am the dark and everyone knows light and dark must co-exist together."

"Astral does not need you, Black Mist," Yuma frowned and glared at the dark spirit. The boy stopped when Astral stopped following him. "Astral?"

"Number 96, I request your assistance," said Astral and his caused Yuma to drop open his mouth, "What is it that you want in return?"

"I don't expect anything from you or Yuma. Just let me hang around with you guys until this whole commotion subsides a little. I'm not asking too much now, right?" Black Mist glared at Astral and waited for the blue spirit to speak again. "Besides, I can see that you're still tired from using the Astral Barrier. I know a safe place where Numbers will have hard time finding us. Don't you want Astral to have some time to recover as well, Yuma?" Black Mist looked down at the human who continued to have a huge frown on his face.

Before Yuma even had the chance to speak his mind, Number 83: Galaxy Queen and couple of Goblindbergh appeared in front of three duelists.

"Lucky, we ran into some weak monsters," Black Mist quickly summoned his monster form out to the field. The dark spirit then quickly grabbed both Yuma and Astral and pulled them to the opposite direction. "I'm pretty sure you guys don't want to stick around for another battle," Black Mist laughed.

'It's only a matter of time until I can make Astral join me,' Black Mist thought to himself and quickly glanced back at Astral.

Please review and once I feel better, I promise it will be a lot longer next time!