"Why me a of all people?" the scarlet haired journalist mumbled to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose as she typed away on her computer. There she sat, and had been sitting for the last three days -without sleep-, trying to find information about something that happened so long ago that even if she discovered something, it wouldn't even make a difference. And if they wanted information on a subject as trivial -to a journalist at least- as that, they should hire a scientist or something. After all, she had actually interesting articles to write. Annoyed, she dialed her superior.

"Listen chief, I really can't find anything. I've searched everything, but it's all empty," she said, masked her annoyance and anger with a load of -fake- guilt.

"There's something with it, I just know it! What else could explain what happened back then?" the man answered, sounding slightly worked up.

"I don't know, but it certainly couldn't be just this one card. Besides, it happened so long ago and the reporters then just let it slip, so why can't we?" the young adult complained.

"Just do your job Tsukumo, or you won't have one anymore!" he hung up.

"I'm so sick of this," Kari sighed as she looked at the card they'd been discussing before.

"Hey sis! Still busy with that assignment?" a certain boy spoke up as he entered the room. When the girl turned around to look at his little brother, she saw he'd just returned from school as his bag was still hanging from his shoulders. He looked at her curiously, hoping she'd spill what it was about since she had said it was important but had not been willing to tell him what it was about.

The older sister shook her head, eyes closed. "I'm done with it. You keep it for all I care." she tossed the card at Yuma, who clumsily caught it. Right now she was too tired to care about the fact she'd given her brother a so called destructive card from the game she wouldn't even want him too play, but right know she just. did. not. care.

"What is it?" Yuma asked before even taken a good look at it, typical Yuma.

"Just freaking look at it," Kari said annoyed.

When he finally did, a bright smile appeared on his face. "Thanks sis!" he exclaimed and ran to his room. As he did, she could still hear him yelling in excitement, much to her exhaustion.

Break

Sadness.

Sadness was like blood to any other person, it filled her entire being, pumping through her. However, unlike blood, she didn't need it to survive. Instead, it had been destroying her mind, her spirit.

It hadn't always been like that, but she couldn't help surpressing the ever lasting sadness that had overcome her when her partner, her closest friend and only family, passed away. It happened centuries ago. And yet she was still unable to furfill the man's dying wish, as he had asked her not to let it get to her and go look for a new partner. It got to her, badly. What also didn't help her, though, was the fact that she got separated from everyone else she knew not long after that heart chattering event.

There was no one to pull her out of the bottomless well of sadness she'd been sinking in for so long. That's how she referred to it, at least. She thought she'd become untouchable by now as she had abandoned the thought of finding a partner, as well as abandoned the outside world. She didn't care anymore who saw her, none of them would be like him anyway.

Hope.

It felt like a pang through her chest, as if she was shot. She immediately entered a state of shock, in which she remained for a while. She seemed frozen as the alienated feeling spread through her entire being, chasing away the well nested sadness. It was like she was, slowly, being pulled out of the pit she let herself sink in.

How?

How had they been able to reach her?

And more importantly;

Who?

She had to know.

And she would know, the first chance she got.

For the first time in a very long time, she felt motived.

Truly motivated.

'Thank you, I'll climb the rest myself.'

Break

"Woaaaah, awesooome! Sis never gave me a card before!" Yuma exclaimed in awe as he took another look at said card, dropping himself on the floor of his room in the process. When he heard Astral materialize behind him the boy turned around -a big grin on his face- and showed him the card.

"Look Astral! Isn't it awesome? Kari gave it to me earlier!" he said.

Astral studied the card with a focused expression. When he reached out to 'touch' it, he felt a strange, unfamiliar aura surrounding it. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but it didn't feel all that unpleasant either. What was even stranger was that it triggered a feeling within the alien being, one he could not quite place. Debating what to do with it, he deemed it not to be trusted. The moment Astral turned to Yuma with a serious expression, and when he did, the boy's smile faded, replace with a thoughtful expression.

"I don't think it's a good idea to use it, Yuma. It gives me a strange feeling and I don't trust it."

Yuma looked at the card, "Is it a number?"

"No, I'm certain it's not. Whatever it is, it's not a number. Besides, I didn't recover any memory, so it isn't something from Astral World."

"Then I guess we could test it out and see what happens," Yuma said, a smile reappearing.

"Yuma, I really don't think that's a good idea," Astral objected, but his partner seemed to ignore him and slipped the card into his deck.

Break

The next day the two had tons of arguments as Yuma headed to school, constantly debating whether to use the card they'd gotten yesterday, or not. The debate remained unfinished because of Yuma ignoring his partner once again. He was going to play that card and there was no convincing him otherwise, unfortunately for Astral.

Yuma slept through his classes, like he did every day. And to wake him up, Tori hit him on the head, like she did every day. Despite that, he was fully awake during dueling period. He was in an intense duel with Bronk, him standing at 500 Life Points while his friend stood at 1600. On the field were Yuma's Gagaga Magician, Zubaba Knight and Ganbara Knight and Bronk's Wind-Up Knight.

"Alright, my move! I draw!" Yuma exclaimed, taking his turn. His eyes widened slightly at the card he drew, as did Astral's, who had been watching the duel without any particular interest.

"Yuma! Don't-"

"Hey guys! Let me show you my newest card!" he said with a wide smile, getting everyone's attention. "I sacrifice Zubaba Knight and Ganbara Knight to tribute summon Yubel!"

As the fiend appeared on the field, time seemed to freeze once again. All the colors and sounds made her feel dizzy, too much information flowing into her mind. Once she felt she'd adapted, she took a good look at her surroundings.

'Had I really been away for so long?' she wondered. 'So much has changed.'

She then took a better look at the situation. Her opponent was a chubby boy wearing a cap -backwards- with some light kaki colored hair sticking out of the opening in the front. To her, it looked pretty funny, and it made her surpress a chuckle.

After the boy recovered from his slight surprise to see such a menacing-looking monster in Yuma's deck, he grinned widely.

"Yuma! It isn't smart to play a monster with zero attack points in attack mode!" he said confidently, putting his hands on his hips.

"Wait, I did?! What!?" a voice -Yuma, she assumed- exclaimed. 'Oh great... my duelist is an idiot...' she thought.

"I, uh, I place a card face-down and end my turn! Your move, Bronk!" the voice was male, but young. It sounded even more high pitched due to the panic present in it.

Then Yubel's effect activated, sending Gagaga Magician to the graveyard. It gave a small nod at the fiend before disappearing.

"What just happened to my monster?!" Yuma seemed even more panicked, until another, softer and deeper voice spoke up.

"Yubel's effect requires to send a monster to the graveyard at the end of each of your turns," it explained. The voice was also male and felt almost soothing to her, even if she noticed it lacked emotion.

"Anyway, it's my turn!" Bronk said as he drew a card. "This duel's over! Knight, attack Yubel!"

Amusement glinted in Yubel's eyes as the toy knight approached her. It sliced her arm when an explosion took place making smoke cover the field.

"I win!" Bronk said happily, however, his smile disappeared when he saw that Yubel was still on the field, and his life points had dropped to zero. "What?!" he then exclaimed.

Yuma shrugged, having no idea what happened either.

"The card's effect activated. It can't be destroyed by battle and all battle damage is inflicted to the opponent." the only unknown voice explained in a same tone as before.

Yuma repeated what the voice had said, and Yubel wondered why.

'It must be some sort of spirit, inaudible for most people,' she realized soon.

"Thanks, Astral!" Yuma added afterwards. The last voice's owner was Astral, she figured.

The fiend's hologram faded, but her spirit remained on the earth, invisible to others now. She turned around to look at the two she'd heard earlier. One was a kid with with spiked dark blue hair and two pink bangs, who were spiked as well. The other was a light blue humanoid creature, floating next to the kid. It had small stones adorning its body and a pair of yellow eyes. A to her unknown glow surrounded the being, signifying it wasn't a duel spirit and certainly not human either.

Was that being that had reached out to her unknowingly? Right now she could only wonder.

Even though she hadn't realized it yet, that being, Astral, was her hope.

AN: So, the first chapter is rewritten, and I'm satisfied with the results. I hope you all are as well. I'll start chapter 2 tomorrow, and given that I needed 2 or 3 days for one chapter (short attention spam, sorry), I hope I'll have it up by Friday night my time.

Small edit: I noticed that my seperation markings hadn't come through, so I replaced it with a bolt 'break'. It's less gracefull compared to the signs, but gives a better structure than just leaving them out.

Later, everyone!