A,N: well this is the next chapter. I hope it lives up to your expectations. Funny enough only missing one chapter now and then I have reached the chapters I already have made some time ago. I have been eager to share them with you. Lol. And just a quick thank you to you for still being interested in my story even though I am slow at updating, I also appreciate all your comment. It encourage me to make more. So thank you once again. With further ado, have fun reading.

Yuma's p.o.v.

Mayday: 3000 Lp's.

Yuma: 3100 Lp's.

Brooke: 3000 Lp's.

Anna: 2000 Lp's.

Yuma was staring down this giant sky palace. He was in great trouble. Because of Anna he didn't have any monsters on his field, and with that his trap 'Half unbreak' was useless. It really were a dire situation for them.

"There is a way to save yourself" Astral then suddenly commented and looked at him "Think Yuma, Think".

Yuma was staring in disbelief at Astral. What did he mean by that? Yuma didn't have the time to think however, because Mayday made his monster attack. The sky palace's cannons were fired at him. In that moment, Yuma finally figured it out. He could still use his trap. He activated "Half unbreak". It could protect one monster from destruction, and he only took half the damage. Since Yuma didn't have any monsters on his field, Yuma instead targeted Gangaridai. To everyone's surprise. Therefore he only took half the damage that Gangaridai ditched out. Yuma still had 1400 life points remaining when Mayday's attack ended.

"Man, that was close, but I was able to survive the attack" Yuma replied and rubbed the sweat of his forehead. That had been a close one there.

"Anna, you sure got lucky to have joined up with such quick thinking partner" Mayday then commented and made Anna look over at Yuma "Not many duelists would have been smart enough to come up with such an impressive maneuver. Most players would only have used half unbreak on their own monsters".

"But since he had none, Yuma realized he should target our Gangaridai instead" Brooke added in with a smile. Mayday nodded eagerly.

"Hmm yeah the kid played it like a true pro" he then said.

Yuma smiled proudly at that. He was happy to get such a compliment from two pro's. Mayday then ended his turn with a face down. It was Yuma's turn now. He drew and didn't waste much time. He summoned "Dododo warrior". (lv 6, 2300 att, 900 def) He could summon this monster without tribute by lowering its att with 500 points. Then he activated the spell "Xyz reception". He could use this card when his opponent had an xyz monster. Now he could summon a monster who had the same lv as his warrior. The only drawback was that the monster he summoned lost all its att and def points, as well as its special effects. Yuma decided to summon "Chachaka Archer". Yuma quickly used the two monsters to xyz summon his "Gauntlet Launcher" who was a rank 6 monster with 2400 att and 2800 def points. A monster who didn't impress Anna very much.

"Wait that move doesn't do me any good. Next time we battle together, let me build your deck" Anna sneered angrily back. Yuma looked angrily back at her.

"Oh so you think you are better than me eh?" he sneered back at her.

"I know that I am better than you!" Anna yelled back at him, which startled Yuma a little.

This girl was almost as fierce as Zaira. Almost. But he still stood up for himself. He was gonna show her. Yuma continued his move by playing the spell "Xyz Treasure". Since there were two xyz monsters on the field, he was allowed to draw 2 cards. He then activated his launcher's effect. By using one Ou, his launcher could destroy one monster. Yuma of course targeted Gangaridai. Sadly, Brooke came in between by activating the trap "Xyz coat", which protected their monster from being destroyed in battle or monster effects this turn. Yuma sneered angrily. He attacked with his launcher and tried a direct attack on Brooke. Sadly, Mayday came in between by activating the trap "Xyz move". It stops the battle and sends his monster over to Brooke. She was in control of it now.

"Ahh no matter what, they keep protecting each other" Yuma cursed out when his move got blocked once again.

"The walker's extraordinary unity will make it difficult to defeat" Astral told him.

"I know" Yuma replied, "I place a face down and end my...".

"No you don't! I will take over and get this duel back on track" Anna then suddenly shouted and interrupted Yuma.

He was staring in disbelief at her. Anna had activated the trap "Upgrade". By destroying an xyz monster, who of course happens to be Yuma's launcher, Anna could revive an xyz monster from her graveyard. Like her Gustav max with 3000 att points. Upgrade also gave it 600 more att points and it also couldn't get destroyed by card effects.

"Not bad hu?! Thanks to me it's got even more att points than Gangaridai" Anna said in a confident tone "Don't feel like you have to shower me with compliments, because there will be plenty of time for that after our duel is done",

"That is awesome" Yuma sneered angrily "But you ditched my monster without asking me again". Anna just smiled like that was a minor problem.

"You would never have beaten Gangaridai with that weak launcher, and you know it" she replied firmly.

She was confident that she was right here. Yuma sneered angrily back at her and both of them began arguing like crazy over which strategy was the best. Brooke and Mayday was of course watching the display in front of them. As was the crowd on the tribute. Yuma even questioned why they were partners in the first place, which didn't help of their current situation. In the end Yuma let Anna win the argument. Just to make her stay quiet. He ended his turn with a face down.

Ray's p.o.v.

Ray was smirking. He was smirking inside. Everything was going according to plan. He had half way thought Zaira, in some weird unexpected way, would ruin everything. Just like she ruined his former plan with the three girls in the factory. She was his only weak spot. A weak spot he couldn't get rid of himself, even if he wanted to. He just cared about her and that was a lot considered Ray didn't care about so much. He couldn't explain it really. His sister had just always been there as long as he could remember, but then she disappeared... Ray sneered a little inside and shook his head. It didn't matter anyway. She was here now. She was here beside him, even though her Boyfriend was watching him carefully. Shark really didn't like him, but then again, he didn't like many people so that was an understandable. Ray didn't care much himself. He didn't care what the others thought to be honest. Soon his plan would have reached the peak and he didn't have to pretend anymore. He didn't have to pretend to Her any longer. Energy ran though his body now, as he felt how Brooke walker was drawing the card now. His barian card. He had been careful this time and made Brooke unaware of their meeting before. She was herself, but... as soon as she were in possession of the famous barian card, that changed, and the well-known symbol appeared on her forehead. She was now his instrument of destruction so to speak. He could see Yuma's and Astral's horrified expression when they realized Brooke was under a barian's control. Ray chuckled inside. He couldn't wait to see what happened next. Besides that she ranked up her sky palace into a chaos xyz monster called Sky palace Babylon of course. He was looking forward to the destruction it created.

Sadly, as it have happened before, Zaira unexpectedly ruined his plans. Ray knew it was not her intention of course, but it still forced him to improvise.

"I can feel barian energy" his sister uttered which took Ray of guard. Had she really developed so quickly? The others of course turned quickly towards her.

"Where?" Shark said in a firm tone "Then I will knock that Barian into the next week". Ray smiled a fake smile and nodded in agreement. Zaira closed her eyes.

"They are close by" she mumbled "Just give me a second to...".

But Ray was not gonna give her a second. If she managed to point out exactly where the energy controlling Brooke was coming from, he was in big trouble. He could kiss all his thoughtful plans goodbye. Ray summoned an invisible energy burst towards Zaira. All to make her senses go haywire. As usual it didn't go as planned. Ray guessed it was because Zaira's powers were so unstable that even a tiny piece of energy could throw her off. Either that or he had used too much power. Whatever the reason, Ray had rushed forward, catching her, as Zaira literally became dizzy. He was also lucky that she had fallen towards him and not Shark, so it didn't look too suspicious.

"Zaira!" Shark shouted in distress and were quickly by their side, taking Zaira out of his arms.

Ray complied instantly. He had already numbed her for the rest of the day. Just to be sure. Zaira looked weakly up at all of them. Her eyes moving around looking at all of them. She was too tired to even move.

"Zaira what happened?!" Shark uttered firmly "Did someone do this to you? I will kill them...". Zaira, surprisingly shook her head.

"I just think I overused my abilities" she whispered, "I am not used to detecting barian power...". Ray mused slowly. He did like that explanation.

"Zaira chan? Maybe you should rest?" he then suggested "You look sick". That was an understatement. She was as white as a ghost. Ray shuttered.

"But I wanna see the duel... Yuma fights against barian world now" she whispered and forced herself out of Shark's arms. Shark rolled his eyes and grabbed her arm, making her lean on him for support.

"Of course Miss stubborn" he then snort "It is not like I can make you rest anyway. You are way too stubborn to listen to anyone in this matter".

Ray actually chuckled a little at that. For once her boyfriend was right. Zaira was too stubborn for her own good. Instead he took her other arm and helped Shark with getting Zaira over to the railing, so she could watch the duel. Shark didn't say anything in that matter, but he was still sending daggers with his eyes. Ray just ignored it and concentrated on the duel. This was going to be interesting. Interesting indeed.

Yuma's p.o.v.

Yuma and Astral was staring intensely at Brooke as she activated the rank up magic card. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Brooke was under the Barians control? How did that happen?

"Oh no, she is under the barian's control!" Astral uttered worriedly. "Yuma winning this duel is now a critical importance to our mission".

"I know" Yuma sneered. He still couldn't believe Brooke was brainwashed. She was acting normal just a minute ago. Even Mayday questioned what was going on here.

"Brooke where did you get that spell card from? And why do you suddenly have that strange symbol on your forehead?" he asked her. '

"All will become clear once we win" Brooke just stated and activated her spell.

With it she ranked up her sky palace into a chaos monster. Into 'Cxyz sky palace Babylon to be exact. It was a rank 11 monster with 3800 att points and 4000 def points. Yuma was stunned over how impressive Brooke's new monster was. It was even stronger than Anna's Gustav max.

"I have never seen Brooke summon that monster before" Mayday uttered bewildered.

"She boosted up her monster?" Anna uttered in disbelief as well. Brooke of course activated her new monster's eff. By using one Ou, Babylon can attack twice in one turn. That really did limit Yuma and Astral's options.

"This attack will be costly" Astral commented "Anna is down to 2000 life points. I predict that Brooke would first destroy Gustav max and then attack Anna directly to finish her off". Yuma nodded slowly. He didn't like this at all.

"This is the end" Brooke proclaimed in a harsh tone and made her monster attack Anna.

Just as Astral predicted. Luckily Yuma was prepared. He activated the trap "Reverse Glasses" who made all face up monster get halved in their att points this turn. Babylon att went down to 1900, while Anna's monster att went down to 1800. She only lost 100 life point in this attack. Or so did Yuma believe. Sadly, Brooke's Babylon had another effect. Whenever it destroyed a monster, the owner is hit with half of the destroyed monster's att points. Gustav Max had 1800 att points, so Anna lost 900 extra life points. Yuma looked rather horrified as Anna got send flying to the ice pieced floor. He really didn't like seeing his friends hurt.

"You put up a good fight, but I done taking it easy on you" Brooke hissed out in an angry tone "Babylon power up, and this time it will attack you directly". Anna looked in disbelief at her and closed her eyes for the soon to be impact. It never came.

"I don't think so!" Yuma shouted. He activated a monster effect from his hand.

The card called "Gentlemander". It had 1200 att point. When an opponent attacks, Yuma could summon this monster from his hand, and force Babylon to attack this monster instead. Yuma's monster got instead destroyed and he lost 700 life points.

"Your full hearted heroics have managed to save your partner for the time being, but it will cost you dearly, thanks to Babylon's effect" Brooke sneered.

Yuma just snot. He knew that already, but he didn't care. Since his monster was destroyed he lost 600 more life points, leaving him only with 100 life points left.

"Yuma?! Why did you save me?" Anna then questioned as Yuma got up on his feet's after getting blasted by Babylon. He send her an encouraging smile.

"We are teammates, and teammates look out for each other" he then said. Anna was just staring at him in disbelief.

"I supposed that is enough damage for one turn" Brooke then said and tossed down a facedown and ended her turn.

By doing so, Yuma's trap from before had worn out and Babylon was back at its full strength. Yuma bit his lip a little. That was not good. It was Anna's turn now. She drew and summoned "Ruffian Railcar" in att mode. It is a lv 4 monster and has 1800 att points and 1000 def points. She of course made her monster attack Mayday, since he had no monsters on the field. However, surprisingly for both Yuma and Astral, Brooke activated the trap "Xyz move". It made Mayday take control of Sky palace Babylon, and thereby ended the battle.

"Hmm interesting" Yuma could hear Astral say "Brooke protects her partner even by being under the barian's control. Their bond must be truly powerful".

Yuma looked confused at the ghost. What did he mean by that? however, Yuma didn't dwell on this for very long, since Anna continued her move. She activated her monster's effect and gave Brooke 500 points of damage. It was not much, but it was still something.

"You never give up. However, you are so completely focused on yourself. You forgotten that you are part of a team" Brooke lectured and looked at Anna with an evil smirk "Look beside you. You have a partner remember, and unfortunately for you, you are about to lose him. Yuma gave up most of his life points to save you, and now he is defenseless. But his troubles will soon end. With the next turn unfolds, Mayday and I will use our combined strength to eliminate Yuma and then our fury will turn against you, and you will be annihilated".

"Brooke what are you talking about? This duel is just for fun" Mayday protested.

Yuma could hear how Brooke yelled at Mayday to stay out of this. The barian control she was under, was extremely strong. Mayday was of course very shocked. However, Anna sneered and ended her turn with a face down.

It was Mayday's turn. Yuma could hear how Brooke was shouting to her partner to use their monster to attack him. Mayday did hesitate at first, but in the end, he did comply. He used one Ou on Babylon to make it able to attack twice.

"Okay this is not good" Yuma uttered rather horrified.

He had no cards on the field, had no cards in his hand, and were down to 100 life points. Was this the end for him and Astral? Would the barian world really win this? Apparently not, because Anna activated her face down card.

"I activate the spell card 'Devoted love'" she shouted and surprised everyone around her. Especially Brooke since she had given Anna that card. Anna continued "I give up all my life points at the end of this turn. In exchange, it not only stops all attacks this turn, but Yuma gets to draw a card". Yuma was staring at Anna now.

"You are giving up all your life points to save me?" he uttered rather stunned. Anna had not even once helped him in this duel but giving up her life points to save him really was a big sacrifice to make.

"Yes Yuma" Anna said slowly and looked down at the ground. Then she looked determined at him. "I am sure you can out duel those Walkers!". Yuma was once again staring at Anna. He couldn't believe she was having so much faith in him.

"Let us win this" Astral encouraged beside him now, and Yuma nodded. He drew a card that Anna's spell required him to do. The barian card from Ray entered his hand now. Yuma smiled happily. It would surely help him a lot later.

"If anybody can out duel the Walkers, it will be you Yuma" Anna said with a big smile. Both Mayday and Brooke were staring at the scene in front of them.

"Then take your turn Yuma and prove your partner right" Mayday then encouraged and ended his turn.

As he did Anna's card appeared before her from the graveyard and fired a beam at her. It made all her life points go zero. She fell defeated down to the floor. Yuma couldn't help himself and ended up shouting her name.

"I know you will prove that I made the right choice" she just said and looked at Yuma. Yuma nodded in agreement. He was gonna win this.

"Excuse me, but is the card you just drew a barian card?" Astral then suddenly questioned. "Why do you have one of those in your deck Yuma?!".

The lobster haired boy turned surprised around. He had forgotten that Astral didn't know about Ray and the barian crime unit. He also remembered Ray's warning. He couldn't tell Astral the truth, since that would put him in danger. Correcting, it would put him and Zaira in danger. He needed to come up with some sort of excuse.

"Well... it is because I... I found it after I beat Girag. He must have dropped it right after I defeated him" Yuma quickly lied and smiled innocently at Astral.

"But why would you ever use such a card in a duel?!" Astral demanded firmly.

"I will explain why later. After we win the duel" Yuma replied and drew.

He had drawn "Gagaga magician", which he of course summoned right away. He then overlaid it along with Anna's monster on the field. They were both lv 4 and soon "Utopia" appeared on to the field in att mode. Yuma looked up at the monster. Utopia is our best monster, but even it is not powerful enough to take out Babylon without some help. Should I risk it? He squeezed the barian card a little. He didn't know if he should play it or not. It was the only card he had in his hand. Of course Astral noticed right away what he was about to do.

"Yuma! You must not use that card!" Astral uttered worriedly.

Yuma looked at him, He knew why Astral was so worried. After all the barians had been nothing but trouble for so long. Since the duel with Dr. Faker, they had been relentlessly attacking them by brainwashing people. Yuma understood Astral's concern. But on the other side there was Ray. His friend! He was also a barian and he was a good guy! And secondly, if he didn't use it, it would be lights out for them.

"I am sorry, but if I lose this duel we could lose everything" Yuma then said.

Astral p.o.v.

Astral was looking rather horrified at his friend. Yuma was after all about to use a barian card. Those cards were evil! Just like the barians were. His father had drilled that into him since he was a kid. It was one of the memories that had returned from the numbers. Although he still didn't know why. Regardless to say, in this case his father had been right. There hadn't been any doubt there, with all those attacks and duels accruing. Astral's thoughts went to Zaira for some reason. He remembered the card she had shown him. The rank up magic card called "Full moon ascension". It was a rank up magic card, but surely not a barian card, like the one Yuma was holding now. He couldn't even believe Yuma was even thinking of using it.

"Yuma using a barian card is too dangerous" he warned.

Sadly Yuma didn't listen. He activated "Rank up magic limited barian's force" and ranked up Utopia into a chaos monster. "C. Nb 39. Utopia ray v" to be exact. It was a rank 5 monster with 2600 att and 2000 def points. Astral was staring down this new monster.

"Yuma has done it" he mused slowly.

The duel progressed pretty quickly from there. Yuma used a chaos Ou from utopia ray V which enabled him to destroy one monster on the field and give damage to the owner equal to the destroyed monsters attack points. Mayday got hit with 3800 life points, which reduced his score to 0 since he only had 3000. Then Yuma attacked Brooke directly. She only had 2500 life points left so she didn't survive at all either. Yuma had won the duel and freed Brooke from Barian's control. She could of course not remember anything about being under the barians control. Just like the other victims had been. Anna of course were congratulating Yuma. They had after all won because of him.

Time skip.

Soon Astral was watching as all the events from the funfair was over. Brooke had finally told Anna the truth. That she only was taking a break from the pro circle to do more things that she loved. Like teaching. Anna was of course regretting her actions since she had yelled at Brooke, been bossy to Yuma and stolen Anna's school uniform. Ray had sheepishly apologies as well since he had apparently given them fake info about Brooke retiring. Everything was fine. Or many things were. Astral's thoughts went over to Zaira. His protector had not been well when they returned to their friends at the tribute. Zaira had of course stubbornly refused to admit that she was sick. Even though the evidences were right in front of them. Astral had never seen his protector and friend so weak before. As another fact, Zaira didn't refuse Shark's invitation in bringing her home, so Astral knew that Zaira knew she wasn't well either. She just didn't want to lose face. Astral sighed a little. He was actually a little worried here. He should maybe have suggested to heal her in the key, but his thoughts had in that moment been all around the Barian card Yuma had used. They still were in some way. Then Shark had given Zaira a ride and it had been to late to suggest anything at all. Astral just hoped she was okay. The astral prince sighed and let his gaze fall upon his best friend and partner Yuma. It still bothered him that Yuma hadn't heeded his warning about the barian card. They had of course won, but still. It made him a little uncomfortable. It didn't help when he noticed Yuma and Ray having a weird eye contact with each other when they meet at the tribute, Astral figured it was just his imagination. He trusted Yuma with all his heart. Just as he did Zaira. But for some reason it still bothered him. Just as the barian card had. Astral turned his attention to the sky. The sun was about to go down and that painted the sky in a beautiful orange color. Astral would properly have gazed at it if wasn't for the many thoughts he had in his mind right now. I feel something is about to happen. Some kind of omen. I am unsure on what, but... Astral looked down at Yuma once again. Brooke had pushed Anna over to Yuma, since she was still believing Anna was Dating Yuma. That move however made Anna fall into Yuma's arms, and they were both about to fall down the stairs. Astral didn't think so much of it. His thoughts were once again at the duel. That barian card saved us today. Its power enabled Yuma to evolve utopia into Utopia ray V. It is possible that this card is a valuable asset. Especially as Yuma and I faces off the forces of barian world. And yet... I can't escape the feeling that playing the barian card was a mistake,

Normal p.o.v.

Time skip. In the middle of the night.

It was night time at the Tsukumo family. Everyone was home and asleep. It was after all late in the evening. Yuma was sleeping peacefully in his hammock and even Zaira was lying in her bed in Yuma's room. She had been extremely tired after the events at the funfair, so a peaceful sleep would do wonders for her. Everything was peaceful or, so everyone believed. A weird sound could be heard in Yuma's room, as a little colorful portal appeared. A silhouette jumped quickly out of it and the portal disappeared just as quickly. After all no one should wake up. This was an unrecognized visit after all. Ray Shadow listened carefully to the sounds in the house before he approached his attended target. He wasn't really concerned that anyone would wake up. After all, Yuma was a tight sleeper and Zaira was surely worn out for the events that had happened. The only one he was a bit worried about was Astral, but at the same time he also could feel the Astral being as soon as he left the key, and he hadn't at the moment. Therefore the carrot haired boy walked almost silently over to the bed. To his sister Zaira. A confident smirk appeared on his face now, as he squatted down to Zaira's level. He could hear her breathing air as she was sleeping. Ray's smirk changed into a weird caring smile actually, as he let some of his fingers run through some of the locks in Zaira's hair. He just couldn't help himself. It had been so long... so long since he had been with her. Been with her and act as himself. Being Ray Shadows was after all an image. A persona he had taken on him to further his plans. Zaira knew nothing of this of course. That was the problem. He couldn't be like her big brother for the time being. He couldn't expect Zaira to act like his little sister either. Ray knew time had driven them apart. He knew Zaira had changed and if he was honest to himself, he knew he had as well. He knew their relationship had changed. He knew, but it didn't make things easier for him. He still wanted it back. He wanted Her back! That was the reason why he once in a while snuck inside Zaira's room. When he knew she wouldn't wake up. Or Yuma, Astral or anyone in the household for that matter. He just needed to see her. He just needed to be with her and be himself. For just a little while.

"Soon Zaira. Soon I will come to get you" he then whispered in a very low voice "Just as I promised".

He send her a confirming smile, even though he knew she wouldn't reply it. He also let his hand leave her hair. Ray sighed a little before he got up. He was staring up in the ceiling for a bit, before turning his gaze to his sister once again.

"I know you will resist sis. If you wouldn't, it would be very off for sure. You are after all too stubborn for your own good" Ray said and chuckled a little. Then he continued "But I will enlighten you. I Will make you remember Me, and then we will be together forever and ever. I will never lose you again. That I swear. On the chaos god's honor".

He almost shouted out the last part, but he contained himself. Yuma might be a heavy sleeper, but the rest of the family clearly wasn't. Ray turned silent. He was once again listening. Just to be sure no one was awake. Soon he turned his gaze to Zaira once again. No one had heard him.

"I only need the end game" he then said slowly.

The smirk was once again back on his lips "That fool to Yuma Tsukumo is truly an idiot. It is almost sad that I can't play more with him. But oh well. In return you will return to us little sister. That I can't wait for. I look forward to see your reaction as I reveal everything". Ray chuckled darkly again and let his hand point into the air. Another portal appeared beside him.

"Wait for me Zaira. Soon you will be back where you belong. At my side".

Then he went through the portal, leaving every secret he was keeping with him. They were hiding like the shadows in the dark night. Ray couldn't wait for the light of truth to reveal them. That and everything was going according to his plan.

'

A,N: Well that was that chapter. Man never thought this funfair event would be so long. But then again it is very different than usual, so hope you like it regardless. As for the next chapter... well as Ray said this is the end game, so do I need to say more? Although there is some events there you properly haven't though would happen. Lol. Hope you would like to give me some feedback on what you think. Would always like to improve myself after all.