A,N: Sorry for the wait. Here is the next chapter. Hope you will like it. Would love some feedback, so please comment on what you think 😉

Normal P.o.v.

Inside Barian palace hell was loose. Dumon, the current barian leader was quickly running through the latest reports from Earth. It was the mission with Girag and the numbers. Dumon was looking through the pictures on the crystals from Girag's duels with Yuma Tsukumo and his friends. Or actually he was only scanning quick through them. He had a lot more important things to do, than looking at those clearly useless pictures in those crystals. He didn't really care who Girag and his human puppets were dueling. Only the end result matters, and that was the most terrible winning record he had ever seen. 0 percent.

"When I sent Girag to the human's world. I made his mission clear" Dumon snort out rather annoyed and clenched his hands "He was to defeat Yuma Tsukumo and get his numbers, but clearly he is not strong enough for the task".

With quick swift movements Dumon made the crystals move away from him at once.

"Alito! Alito where are you?!" the grey barian then shouted. In front of him, on a floating crystal, was a red barian now materializing. The male sighed deeply.

"Yes Dumon, what is it?" he said in an annoyed tone. He was clearly not happy to be summoned here, when he was busy with something else. Dumon snort at that.

"Alito, you must travel to the human's world immediately" he then ordered in a firm voice "We need you to retrieve the numbers located there".

"But why do I have to be the one?" Alito now complained rather annoyed "Send someone else on this mission. I have no desire to assume human form with all their limits. Plus my dueling skills will be completely squandered on their world".

"I have chosen you Alito!" Dumon replied in a firm voice and his eyes glowed red.

It showed just how serious he was, and that this was not up to debate. There was a reason Dumon were their leader after all. Alito sneered annoyed inside. Angering Dumon even further was not a good move, unless you could handle the consequences. There was only one Barian who were even willing to try.

"I will go then Dumon. Since you are so insistent" Alito said and sighed.

"Remember, our world is depending on you" Their leader replied.

"I promise, I won't fail" Alito replied and opened up a portal to Earth. Seconds later he had left. Dumon sighed at that.

"For all our sakes, I hope you are right" he then said out loud. A flashing sound could be heard and light appeared behind the gray barian now. Dumon turned slowly towards it, and noticed Mizar had arrived in here.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the yellow barian questioned "Yuma Tsukumo must be defeated. Our world desperately needs those numbers. Why send Alito? He only cares about himself, and he is far to impulsive".

"Mizar, I know what I am doing. We need an expert duelist for this mission, and Alito is certainly one of our best". Mizar snort at that.

"And one of our youngest" Mizar reminded him "Why aren't you sending me?".

"I need you for a different mission Mizar" Dumon replied slowly "Neither Girag or Alito will be cut out for this kind of mission, but you are. You are the only one I can trust with this". Mizar's eyes narrowed a little.

"And that is?" he questioned.

Dumon turned to him with sad eyes. An image appeared in one of the crystals near Mizar now. The yellow barian sighed.

"A simple tracking mission it seems" he then mused out "You are persistent. I give you that. Even the great deity Don thousand wouldn't go through such lengths".

"Please Mizar, you are the only one I can ask this of" Dumon pledged "I would go myself, but that is sadly not possible. My responsibilities lies with Barian world and..". A hand touched his shoulder in caring matter.

"Don't worry I get it Dumon. I understand. I will go, since it you my friend" The yellow barian replied "If there is even a trace left to follow. I just hope Alito doesn't mess up. He has never had a mission outside our world before".

"Every bird needs or want to leave the nest at some point" Dumon replied rather philosophically "I am giving Alito his time now. You'll see. His competitive nature will be a great advantage. Do not fear, Yuma Tsukumo numbers will soon be ours".

Zaira's P.o.v.

"You can't be serious Grandma!" I shouted in annoyance and tsked a little. "Why do I have to go to this slumber party? I don't wanna. It is not my thing!".

I was currently at the Tsukumo residence, and were having a heated discussion over the dinner table. Tori were holding a slumber party for girls to celebrate her birthday this weekend. She had handed the invite out to all the girls she knew and were currently befriended with, which included me. I had taken the invite, but in my mind I had no intention of going. It really wasn't my thing, and I had discarded it in the trashcan in the kitchen, when I came home. As luck so happens, at least in Grandma's case, Lily bot dropped it, when she was taking out the trash can, and that lead to that discussion we were having now. About me attending this stupid party.

"Because it will be good for you to get out and socialize with people" Grandma said in a casually tone, and ignored my shouting outburst.

She drank her tea. I were pretty pissed right now, and funny enough neither Yuma or Kairi meddled in our discussion at all. I think Yuma didn't know what was going on anyway. Either that or they just were afraid to stand in between Grandma Haru.

"But I do socialize. I haven't spent my time in this house lately" I sneered back "Why do I have to go?". Haru hummed at that.

"Yes that is true, but those times you were mostly spending time with your boyfriend Reginald. I think it is time for you to socialize with girls as well, who is at your own age line" Haru countered and sent me a warm smile "You can't spend your time with only Yuma and Reginald".

I hissed angrily. Well there was a reason I didn't want to spend time with girls. They were all about clothes and good look for god's sake. However when I was about to complain, Grandma Haru send me a cold look, her eyes saying 'Where is my obedient grandchild?' and that gave me goosebumps. I ended up agreeing in the end, but did have hidden agenda with me just never show at Tori's house, when I left the house the next evening. That until..

"Oh and Zaira, Kairi is gonna drive you over to Tori's house. You are not getting out of this" Grandma then said and broke my perfect calculated plan. I literally fell head down on the table. I growled angrily at that.

"Ahr you are so ruining my life!" I yelled and left the table in fury.

Time skip. At the evening of the slumber party.

"Oh I am so happy you could come Zaira" Ms. Meadow said as she greeted Kairi and I at the doorstep to their house.

I just sent her a cold glare and had crossed arms over my chest. I couldn't believe this was happening! I could hear Kairi and Tori's mom talk casually with each other, before Kairi drove off, leaving me to this cruel fate, which I found hardly fair. However I was guided inside the house, and were greeted by Tori and the rest of the girls, who were only Rio and Haku. I sent them an annoyed look, which they just all ignored. That made me even more pissed. Were there no one who took my wolfy glares seriously anymore?! I snort inside. Might as well get this over with, so I could go home again.

Time skip.

I was gladly surprised. This slumber party was not half bad. I had thought it would be some sort of girl party with makeup and clothes and stuff. Wasn't that the stuff Tori were talking about with her two friends Jen and Summer? However apparently to Tori, they had another appointment, and sadly couldn't come. The same could be said about Cathy and Anna Kaboom, but I think the reason for that, was that Tori was their main rival when it came to Yuma, and you couldn't have a slumber party with your love rival after all. I had rolled my eyes at that. I had of course been hostile at first. We got dinner, which was surprisingly good, and then we all got in PJ's and rolled out our sleeping bag. Back then, I had still been hostile. That until Haku, as energetic as she was, started a pillow fight, and had the courage to hit me with a pillow. Right in my face! That meant war, and in the end we had a lot of fun with feathers all over the place. After that I kinda just had a good time. We played some board games, later I had a duel with Haku to make her relax, so we were dueling for fun too. That along with snacks and other sugary stuff, made the evening epic. At some point Tori had actually suggested we should see a movie, but Rio had tossed that idea aside, and suggested 'Truth and dare' to my annoyance. Like I cared about what etc. my relationship with Reginald was. However Rio added in a little game to that. We all had 3 dare and 3 truth questions. As in we should all make at least one Truth or dare question to each one here. She had also added one soda bottle who we should spin. The one the bottle hit, would get a question from the one spinning the bottle. When that girl then had completed the dare or truth question, it was that girl's turn to spin and so on. This was totally random. The one who didn't have any Truth or dares left were the winner. I had hummed at that. Such a game even kept Haku down, considered how hyper she was. So after a couple of spins, which were for some reason only hitting me and Haku all the time, making me go on weird dares by Haku, (It was not fair!) the bottle hit Rio on my turn.

"Uh, You got Rio!" Haku uttered "Ask her! Ask her!". I rolled my eyes. I needed to think of something.

"Rio, Truth, Do you have any feeling for Thomas Arclight?!" I then asked "As In the natural duel circuit champion Quattro". I just loved the shocked reaction there, and Haku's 'Uh!" over my question.

"Wait what?!" Rio uttered and turned a little red. "What is that kind of question? Where do you even know that name from?". I chuckled evilly at that.

"Well Shark dueled him for you in the WDC" I replied "Quattro mentioned you two were dating. So any remaining feeling for him?". Rio hissed angrily at that question.

"Of course not! He left me to burn in that fire I..!" She then began and sighed "I actually don't know if I have. You know the guy is not even in Heartland. How do you know if you have remaining feelings for a guy you haven't seen in ages, and injured you in a fire?!".

At that I shrugged. I didn't know the answer to the question, and so did the others. However it was Rio's turn to spin. I glared coldly at the bottle when it hit me again. Did it have something against me or why did it hit me so many times?! I looked over at Rio with cold demeanor.

"Fine dare me, I don't care" I said and rolled my eyes. Rio actually chuckled.

"Nope, gonna truth you. Zaira tell me truthfully how you and my brother meet for the first time" She then said. Haku was clapping happily in her hands.

"Oh yeah, a good one. I wanna know that too" she then said.

"Me too" Tori added "You never told us how you actually first meet".

At that I sighed deeply. Rules were rules so I began slowly telling them about our first meeting. How we had been in this gang and well everything. To say the others were stunned were an understatement. They were all first staring. Really staring. Then Haku was actually chuckling happily.

"Wow, that is epic. It is like a prince charming saved you" She then said "Shark literally saved you from that terrible path you were walking. Just like Kaze did me".

"I knew Reginald had a hard time after I went to coma, but never thought he was resorting to this" Rio replied slowly "Not that I complain that he saved you. You saved each other. No wonder he loves you so much". Tori nodded with a big smile.

"But remember what we tell each other here, stays here" She then pointed out "So no one is gonna tell others, what we are discussing here".

We continued to the game. I hit Tori with a truth question about how she felt her relationship with Yuma was going. I must admit I got a little surprised when she admitted that it was not going so well, and that she was worried Yuma actually did like her, since he was so clueless about love. At that part none of us had anything to say. Considered I was the only one in a relationship, who was a former Ex-gang member, we couldn't really help her there. Tori hit Haku with a dare. Haku hit Rio with a dare as well, and soon the bottle ended at me by Rio's hand. I sent her a cold look.

"Oh yeah try dare me" I challenged in a confident tone.

I didn't think she could actually give me a difficult dare considered all I had been through. Seconds later I found out I was so very wrong, when Rio gave me a particular difficult dare to work with.

"I dare you for this week to try and help Tori in getting a relationship with Yuma".

Alito's p.o.v.

Time skip. Monday morning.

Alito found Girag in one of Heartland's academy gym rooms, where they were keeping the gym equipment's and other storage equipments. The big barian was watching television in his human form. Something about popular teen singer idol named Scarlet starling. Girag was also rather crazy about her, something Alito didn't understand at all, but he figured he might as well let his presence be known.

"Hey Girag, I didn't know you were such a music fan" He then said and startled Girag a lot. He turned surprised around and looked at him.

"Who are you?!" He yelled angrily. Alito smirked at him.

"What? You don't recognize me?" He questioned, but then noticed himself inside one of the mirrors in here.

Alito looked stunned at himself. He was in human form of course, but had forgotten how he actually looked. He was dressed in a first year uniform, had dark tan skin, as well as brown curly, spiked hair and grey eyes.

"Oh yeah it has been a century since I used this form. No wonder you don't remember me" Alito then uttered.

Girag sneered and went on to attack him with a punch. Alito snort. Girag had always been hasty to attack. He quickly countered the move which in the end made them both get hit by each other's fists.

"No human could match my moves like that" Girag then uttered "Alito, it is you!".

"It has been a long time.. Girag" the boy proclaimed and smirked.

The two barians had a talk about the current mission, and that Alito found that Girag had been slacking, and he was now trying to get the mission from Dumon back on track. Girag snort, claiming he wouldn't be more successful that he had been, which Alito countered with that he would, since he was not getting distracted like Girag. He would only focus on dueling and nothing more. Sadly a little while later Alito found that a little more difficult than he thought. First of all, he couldn't duel himself to get the numbers, and secondly he bumped into Tori and got hit by cupid's arrow. This was first love at first sight, and Alito was gonna win her heart. He was just gonna use his classic counter strategy.

Attempt number 1.

The next morning as Tori and her two friends Jen and Summer were walking down the stairs to the school, Alito was handing her a giant bouquet of roses.

"You are the one I bumped into yesterday" Tori then said in a confused tone.

"I wanted to apologies. Please forgive me" Alito replied, thinking: Step one, start by turning on the heat... Tori smiled back.

"Oh that is okay. It was my fault" she then replied.

Alito smirked inside. Then counter your first expression by playing it cool. Sadly Alito never managed to say something cool, because Bronk jumped down from the stairs on his skateboard, almost hitting him. Yuma and Zaira soon followed, slamming him down, while Astral took a quick gaze at him, as Yuma and Zaira went towards the school, with Ray tagging along behind them. Tori was of course shouting angrily after them.

Attempt number 2.

Alito's next attempt was at their swimming class. He was a first year student, so he were in their class. He was currently standing at diving board, who was some meters in the air, and were looking down at Tori now.

"Hey there, how's it going?!" He shouted and jumped around getting her attention. Step two. Use the unexpected to catch her off guard.

"Quit goofing around! You could get hurt" Tori shouted worriedly back.

Alito chuckled inside as he pretended the board was slippery, and thereby fell into the pool. Now that I got her attention, I will give her a scare. She will be completely defenseless as I unleash one of my most disarming lines. Inside his head now was an image on how the rest of the play should work out. Tori sitting at the edge of the pool looking worriedly at him, as well as saying he should be more careful.

"It was actually your fault. I was so dazzled by your gorgeous eyes, that I completely flew off my balance" Alito then said in the image.

He could see Tori was stunned by his reply, blushing like hell. Sadly that never did happen, because Yuma, while dragging Ray along with him, had decided to do a high dive as well, slamming into Alito making all three boys unconscious, and half drowning in the pool.

Attempt number 3.

As lunch had happened and Tori was underway to her next class, Alito tried making another move, stopping Tori at the bridge connecting two of the buildings.

"Excuse me Tori" He said and could see the girl turn towards him. He was holding up a feather "I believe you dropped this". Tori looked puzzled at him.

"Um that doesn't belong to me" she responded slowly. Alito smirked inside. Step three, win her heart with the perfect compliment.

"That is strange. I was sure it had fallen from one of your wings since you are such an angel".

Alito had been having his eyes closed as he was thinking this image through his mind. He was ready with his compliment now. Sadly when he opened his eyes, he found Yuma standing in front of him, using the feather go get himself to sneeze, which he did seconds later, making the feather fly out of Alito's hand destroying him attempt once again. Then Yuma ran off with Ray, as Tori yelled at him for not covering his mouth.

To say that Alito was frustrated was an understatement. He was soon at the courtyard, punching one of the trees there, in outer frustration.

"Damn it! Why didn't it work?! Why did that kid had to interfere?!" He then yelled up in an angry matter and punched the tree once again.

"Um are you okay?" a voice could now be heard behind him, and Alito turned around, noticing a girl with orange hair stare worriedly at him.

"Yeah I am okay" He just replied rather quickly and turned his back to her.

"You don't look okay" The girl replied slowly "You are punching My favorite tree, at one of my favorite spots. The tree didn't deserve that".

"I said I am okay!" Alito sneered and attacked her with a fist.

Surprisingly he found the punch countered. As in countered like he usually do in fights. This girl literally dodged it, snort rather annoyed and sent him a straight punch in the face.

"Hmpf well whatever!" The girl replied and cleaned the dirt from her hands "Don't you dare mess with me and any of my favorite spots, or you will get it next time".

Then she left. Alito looked bewildered after her from the ground, he was now sitting at. Who in the world is that?!

Zaira's p.o.v.

I sighed relived as the school day was over. It had been a long day, and my body craved exercises after sitting on the bench all the time. Therefore I decided to go the long way home, where I was free from both Yuma and the gang. I guess I just needed some time to myself. As I was walking through the city, with no target whatsoever, I did notice something strange. Actually I had notice it straight away, but I didn't think it was me who was the target, considering the many students there were at school. Now however when I was rather alone, I knew it must be the case, which annoyed me to no end. The footsteps who walked when mine did. The guy who supposedly hit out of sight every time I turned around to look, which as an ex-thief was easy to see really. I growled annoyed inside. Guess I had a stalker. After some couple of minutes doing this, him following me, I kinda lead him into a dark alley. There was no way I was just gonna stop or shout up while being on the streets with all the people.

"Okay I know you are there" I said in a cold tone, and cracked my knuckles "Show yourself or you are gonna get it".

Chuckling sounds could be heard, and a boy with brown hair and dark tan skin, walked out from a pretty noticeable barrel. I rolled my eyes. If he should stalk me, at least do it properly.

"Oh guess you could see me" the boy proclaimed and grinned "That is what I expected from my rival". My eyes widened in a puzzled matter. Rival?!

"Mistress this is the boy who were punching the tree you so like" I could hear Cy say "I also recall him being near Tori all day..". I hummed. So he was that kid I just beat. This was just lovely. The boy growled and were holding up his fists.

"Okay how did you do it?!" The boy shouted angrily "How did you dodge my punch eh? Well no matter, because you will not be able to do it again".

He charged at me with a straight punch, which I easily caught with my left, and then charged at him with my right, hitting him at his nose. The boy growled angrily, as a little blood were shown there. He looked rather pissed at me.

"I don't understand. No one has been able to counter my moves before" He then sneered. "You are differently my rival now". I shrugged a little.

"Well okay let me be the first" I proclaimed and wondered how I could be considered a rival by just beating him. "You must have realized you can't beat me".

"Well not in a fist fight it seems, but there are other things I am good at" He replied angrily and were suddenly holding up his duel disk "Duel me! Right here and now". I rolled my eyes. Was that why this boy had been stalking me all this time? To duel?!

"And why in the world should I do that? You have been stalking me all this time. I.." I stopped up, when I remembered something Cy had said. something about him hanging around Tori all day. The dare from Rio ran though my head now.

"Fine I will duel you, but only if we raise the stakes" I then said "If I win you will tell me what your deal with Tori is. One of my scouts says you have been hanging around her lately, and I wanna know why".

The boy turned completely red. That kinda revealed, like I figured he had, that he had a crush on Tori.

"Okay fine!" the boy shouted "There is no way I'll lose anyway".

"Um so what do you want from me in return?" I questioned. The boy snort.

"Nothing beside beating you" He proclaimed and surprised me rather deeply.

He was only here to kick my butt, because I kicked his in a fist fight?! How simple and single minded could he be? I shrugged. Fine if he didn't want anything, besides the joy in beating me, then that was his problem. We both activated our Gazers, and the duel began.

And it ended pretty quick too. But he was at least not half bad. This boy used battlin' boxer deck, who resembled well boxing monsters. No wonder he had been mad I knocked him down in a fist fight, but whatever. His ace was his Xyz monster "Battlin' boxer lead yoke" who had 2200 att points and 2000 def points. He had started his move with his that monster, which made me try to take it down. I had soon summoned "Wolfman the criminal" to the field (rank 4 with 2000 att) and used his special eff. By using one Ou, he gained 500 att points. So of course I attacked. The boy had countered my move. By using one Ou his monster couldn't get beaten in battle. Even though his monster survived he would still take damage, but that apparently worked to his lead yoke's advantage. I quickly found out, it afterwards raised its att with 800 points, every time he lost an Ou. I had hummed and placed my trap "White fur coat" facedown, which I later used to protect my Wolfman on the field. I lost 400 life points and one card from my deck, but afterwards, everything worked out to my advantage. I had quickly realized his Lead Yoke's weakness. It couldn't get destroyed in battle, but outside battle it could, so I just destroyed his monster with a spell, which made the boy look rather shocked at me. He had clearly not seen that coming, and surely all his face down's were there to protect his monster in battle, so I had destroyed all his thought out plans. I summoned "Silver fang" and attacked him directly with both monsters, reducing his life points to 0. As I said a quick duel. The boy soon fell to the ground, and looked stunned up at me.

"You beat me" He then uttered and got quickly up "Ahr how could you counter all my moves again?". I shrugged a little.

"You were just predicable I guess" I replied slowly "Now you have to..".

"Yeah, yeah I know. I have to tell you about Tori" He sneered. He was staring straight at me "A deal is a deal. The reason I hang around Tori, was because I tried to win her heart, but this other kid came completely in between us, ruining everything".

I looked stunned at him. Not because of what he told me, but it was how he told me. He was honest! I could see and feel that. He was fair and kept his word, unlike so many other characters I had meet though my life. He didn't run away from any deals or did anything shady. He had just fought me in a duel with stakes as risk, without stating any himself after all. I must admit he earned my respect right away.

"Well guess that was why you were furious back then" I mused out "So do you know who was sabotaging you?". The boy shook his head.

"I don't know his name, but he had lobster hair. That I remember" the kid responded. My eyes widened a little. I knew only one male with that kind of hair. Wait that was Yuma. Interesting. And this guy is crushing on Tori. Hmm...

"I think I like you kid, so I wanna help you out" I then said "What about this plan? You are challenging him to a duel over Tori, and when you win, Tori will know for sure that you are the only guy for her".

The boy went thoughtful for a moment. I on the other hand were holding my breath. I felt a little guilty using this guy, but that might spice things up between Tori and Yuma. I mean he must get just a little jealous that another guy is trying to take away Tori. Why else was he trying to sabotage this kid's attempts in getting Tori? Yuma just couldn't be that clueless could he? Maybe this duel could make Yuma admit his feelings for Tori.

"Well I think you are on to something" The boy then said and smiled "Yeah I will challenge this kid and beat him. Thank you so much..".

Suddenly he was staring at me with an intense glare, which I found really weird. Then he was holding out his knuckle. It was like he wanted to make a weird guy handshake with me.

"The names Alito, and who are you?" he questioned.

At that I sweat dropped a little. Seriously! He has been following me since school, but actually don't have a clue who I am?! This kid is weird.

"My name is Zaira" I said and hit his knuckle with my own "Remember it well".

"Oh I will. From now on, we are rivals" he stated and then suddenly looked puzzled "Wait Zaira.. hmm I am sure I have heard that name before. Oh well. I am off to beat that kid. But just know that when all this business is over, we are so gonna duel again, bye!". Then he ran off to somewhere. I waved a little halfhearted after him.

"He is weird" I then stated out in the blue "Weird, dense but honest".

"I agree mistress. I agree" Cy responded inside my head.

Yuma's p.o.v.

The next morning, Yuma was entering his classroom, to find a note on his table. Curiously he looked at, finding a message left on it.

"Meet me on the roof after school to duel for Tori" Yuma read out loud. He was very confused about this. A duel for Tori?

"Hey who is that from?" a voice suddenly said, and Yuma jumped in surprise. Beside him was Ray, and he was also looking curiously at the note.

"Ahr, where did you come from?!" Yuma uttered rather stunned. Ray just chuckled.

"Good morning. I am glad to see you too" Ray just responded.

However as the notes stated, Yuma went to the roof after school to find out what this challenge were supposed to be. He found a brown-haired male there waiting for him.

"Hi" the boy greeted. Yuma snort a little annoyed and was holding up his note.

"Look I got a note that says you are challenging me to a duel over Tori, but I am sure it is a joke" he then said. The boy snort coldly back at that.

"My note is serious, and I demand an answer from you right now!" he yelled back "Do you accept your challenge or not?! If you refuse Tori will realize that I am the only one, who is truly worthy of her". Yuma looked puzzled at him.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, but I never turn down the chance to duel" Yuma then proclaimed and activated his gazer and duel disk. The boy did the same thing, and soon a heated duel began.

Alito's p.o.v.

Alito was very thrilled that the annoying boy who had been sabotaging him last day finally accepted his challenge. Now he was gonna win and show Tori that he was the only guy for her. Just like Zaira planned.

"I'll start us off" he proclaimed and drew.

He looked at his hand now. Whatever card I pick, should make me take charge of this duel right from the start. I could use Lead Yoke again. I'll just have to make sure I am not doing the same mistake, when I dueled Zaira. This kid is so toast! He started off his move by summoning "Battlin boxer headgear", who was a lv 4 monster. Then he activated the spell "Ring announcer". This spell allowed him to special summon another battlin boxer from his hand. Like etc. "Battlin boxer glassjaw". He overlaid both of them to summon his "Battlin boxer lead yoke". (Still rank 4, 2200 att)

"I'll handled tougher xyz monsters than that" his opponent proclaimed. Alito noticed the key around his neck glow, and beside the kid a spirit materialized itself.

"You should be extra cautious" the ghost now said "There is something different about this opponent".

Alito's eyes widened as the ghost began talking to the kid. He couldn't believe what he was seeing here. I can't believe it. That ghost must be Astral. He is the one who came from Astral world, and that can only mean one thing. That kid is Yuma Tsukumo! Alito could see how Yuma was glaring at him now. In some way telling him to end his turn already. Alito placed two cards face down and ended his turn. The barian smirked inside. This duel is gonna be more interesting than I excepted. It was Yuma's turn and he drew. He summoned "Gagaga magician" to the field in att mode. Then he used the spell "Blustering winds" who raised his magician's att with 1000 points until his standby phase. He of course attacked Alito's monster, but the barian were ready for him. He used Lead Yoke's special eff. By using one Ou, he couldn't get destroyed in battle.

"But that won't protect you from damage" Yuma replied and still made his Gagaga magician attack. Alito lost 300 life points. Not that he cared so much about that though, because now he could activate Lead Yoke's other eff.

"You call that an attack?!" he shouted back "I forgot to mention lead Yoke's other eff. Whenever it loses Ou's, Lead Yoke gains 800 att points". Alito smirked inside. He just loved the expression on both Astral and Yuma's face now.

"As I feared. This monster is not to be taken likely Yuma" Astral then said worriedly.

"Grr guess I have to end my turn" Yuma then sneered and did just that.

Zaira's p.o.v.

Inside the shadows, at the opening of the door leading down from here, was I standing, watching as the duel progressed. I just had to see how it was gonna go, and if Yuma in any way was gonna get jealous or anything. It had after all been my idea, and I need to see how it was gonna play out. Up until now, everything had, more or less, happened like it did in our duel. He had summoned "Lead Yoke" and countered Yuma's move. I wonder what Yuma was gonna do. He was as much a hothead as Alito, so I figured he was gonna try overpowering Alito. Astral on the other hand was more calculating. Kinda like me. It was interesting to see what was gonna happen. Although they first needed to survive this round.

"Oh this is getting good" a voice then suddenly said and I jerked in surprise by it.

It had been a while, actually to a time when I was still at the orphanage, since anyone had ever managed to sneak up on me like that, and I turned quickly around to see who it was. Ray. Ray Shadow was standing beside me, staring confused at me and the duel. It was like he couldn't understand why I was hiding out here.

"Hey Zaira chan what are you doing?" he said and smiled happily, Then I slammed a fist in his head. Just like I usually did to Yuma.

"You dare scare me like that" I said in a cold tone, while Ray groaned in pain and was rubbing his head. He looked puzzled up at me.

"Nice to see you too Zaira chan. But seriously why are we hiding out here?" he questioned. I sent him a cold glare now. Sometimes Ray really was a mystery.

"I wanted to see the duel" I replied and looked at the two boys again "Rio dared me to help Tori in her relationship with Yuma and..".

I covered my mouth with my hand and cursed myself inside. Ray shouldn't know that. Why was it so easy to talk to him? Since that day on the beach I nearly blurs out everything to him, like he was my best friend or something. I just couldn't figure out why.

"Don't tell me this is your plan Zaira chan?" Ray then said and looked at me "That you made Yuma and this guy over there duel over Tori, so Yuma can admit his feelings for Tori. That is pretty smart. Never knew you could be this cunning..".

He never finished that sentence because I slammed him once again with a fist. How dare he state I couldn't make smart effective plans here. Ray groaned in pain again.

The duel continued. Alito played his continuous spell card "Mano a Mano". With this in play, all battle damage would increase with 1000 points, but the spell would get destroyed if both players controlled two or more monsters. I hummed a little at that when the virtual boxer ring appeared around Yuma's magician and Alito's boxer. This was like seeing an actually real boxer fight. Alito attacked with his monster who now had 3000 att and destroyed Gagaga magician, dealing Yuma 500 points of damage, and because of his other spell Yuma also lost 1000 extra life points.

"You had enough, or should we go another round?" Alito asked Yuma.

"You know it. You may rock now, but I will be the last man standing" Yuma replied and smiled. Alito did get a little surprised by that it seems.

"You got spirit, even if you are gonna lose" he then proclaimed with a smile. I on the other hand facepalmed a little. Those two had surely forgotten why they were dueling in the first place here. I turned towards Ray now.

"Hey Ray, mind do me a favor?" I then asked. Ray's eyes lit up like Christmas.

"Sure. Everything for my Idol" he uttered happily "Just name it and I'll do it".

"Then bring Tori here. She needs to be here at the end of the duel, but don't tell her this was my plan, got that?!" I said.

"Aye, aye" Ray saluted like a cop to his officer. 

Then he rushed down the stairs as fast as he could. I rolled my eyes at that. Ray would do anything to please me and Yuma wouldn't he? I shook my head and focused once again on the duel.

It was currently Yuma's turn, and he had started off his move by summoning "Dododo warrior". It was a level 6 monster, but Yuma could normal summon it, by lowering his att with 500. Then he used the spell "Monster reborn" to bring back his Gagaga magician. He activated it's eff, changing its lv from 4 to 6, and thereby overlaid his two lv 6 monsters to build the overlay network and xyz summon "Gauntlet launcher" to the field in att mode. It was a rank 6 monster with 2400 att points. Yuma of course used its eff right away. By using an Ou, he could target one monster on the field and destroy it. Yuma of course choose Lead Yoke.

"No way, I could never block that" Alito then uttered, but were soon smirking "Unless of course I play this".

To my surprise he activated a trap called "Xyz block". With it he could remove an Ou from Lead Yoke to negate Yuma's monster eff. I hummed at that inside. Alito had clearly learned from our battle, which made him protect his monster a lot better this time. That kid was just full of surprises, and I actually wondered if I could win against him again, if we ever fought. That and now that Alito's monster had lost an Ou it gained 800 att points. It had 3800 att now.

"That monster has muscles on its muscles" Yuma uttered in a scared tone.

"This will require you to rethink your strategy" Astral then also added. Yuma nodded slightly and put 2 cards facedown and ended his turn. Alito smirked and now drew.

"You can finish them off now Lead Yoke" He then told his monster and made it attack Yuma's.

However Yuma was ready for him. He activated the trap called "Battle rush". It prevented Yuma's monster from being destroyed, and Alito would now take the damage, Yuma would have taken instead.

"I expected that" Alito then said and smirked. "With my incredible counter strategy, I can practically block any move you try".

He activated a trap of his own called "Fancy footwork". Since a trap got activated during battle phase, Alito could activate this one, negating it's eff and destroy it. Alito could now continue on with this battle. I could hear Astral be observant as ever, telling Yuma that if this attacks hits, he would only be down to 100 life points, because of Alito's continuous spell card.

"Not if I use 'Xyz strike" Yuma told the ghost and activated that trap.

"You cannot Yuma. It is too risky" Astral replied worriedly, but Yuma didn't care and activated the trap anyway.

I bit my lip a little. Astral was right. This was a risky move, but if it worked, Yuma could counter Alito's trap. He should now draw a card from his deck, and if it was a monster card, then the two monster battling will swap their att points, and Lead Yoke's att got reduced to 0. However if he didn't, and drew a spell or a trap, the damage in this battle would be doubled and he would surely lose. However Yuma risked it anyway. He drew and was soon holding up a monster card. Ganbara knight were shown in his hand now. I sighed relieved inside, as the two monster switched att, and Alito's got reduced to 0, which made Yuma win the duel in the end.

I could see how Alito got blown backwards, his cards falling out of his hands, as he were knocked to the ground. I decided to let myself be known, and walked out in the open. Yuma instantly noticed me.

"Oh hey Zai, did you watch the duel?" he questioned and were smiling like hell "I was so totally amazing!".

He was dancing around like hell. He was celebrating that he won an awesome duel. I ignored him and walked over to Alito. A certain spell who was lying on the ground caught my interest. It was called "Flaming knockout".

"What do you have there, Zaira?" I could hear Astral say as the ghost were soon present by my side. I lifted the spell up from the ground without saying a word. I couldn't believe how lucky Yuma just had been.

"But that is.. he was prepared to use 'flaming knockout" Astral uttered stunned as I nodded "If Yuma had not used his trap to destroy Lead Yoke, his opponent could have activated that spell, dealing Yuma damage equal to his monster's att points".

"Yep, and if that had happened, Yuma would have lost" I said slowly.

I dropped the card again, turning around to look at that little idiot to Yuma, who were still dancing happily over his victory. We both decided, Astral and I, how the battle could have ended, if he didn't use that trap. He didn't really need to know. I did wonder however, if Yuma's high five the sky philosophy always would help him, when he was backed into a corner.

"Best win of all times!" Yuma then shouted happily. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Yuma!" we could suddenly hear a voice yell and Tori and Ray rushed out the door. Tori looked extremely worried, as she and Ray approached him.

"Tori, what is wrong?" Yuma questioned. I decided in that moment to just back away and let Yuma and Tori have their moment.

"Sorry Yuma, I didn't mean to tell Tori about the note" Ray began, and wait was he winking with his one eye at me? "But I am afraid that keeping secrets is not exactly 'the Ray way'". Tori looked at Yuma with big eyes now.

"I can't believe it Yuma. Are you really dueling over me?!" she then uttered.

We all were looking at Yuma now to give away his answer. In my eyes he looked extremely flustered. Come on Yuma. Tell her! Sadly that was not the case. Yuma didn't tell Tori how he felt, because in that moment, Alito had just got up on his feet's.

"Yuma Tsukumo, I can't believe you defeated me" Alito sneered out.

"Not by much though" Yuma said quickly. He was rather worried now. Alito was glaring coldly at him, so Yuma tried defending himself "Look it is no big deal. If we dueled again, it could turn out differently".

Alito didn't say anything as he marched over to Yuma. He was still glaring at him.

"No enough!" Tori shouted and came in between "I don't want you dueling over me anymore!".

However surprisingly Alito just pushed her aside. He was now staring face to face with Yuma. Then the boy was smiling like hell.

"That was amazing!" he then uttered "I thought this duel would be easy, but what a mistake. I haven't been so thrilled since I dueled Zaira here".

Yuma and Astral's eyes wandered to me for an explanation, and with my eyes I told them, I would explain later. Alito was still grinning like hell.

"Oh by the way, my name is Alito" Alito then told us "And remember that name, because we are gonna duel a lot Yuma".

I rolled my eyes. Once again Alito didn't care about who is opponents was. At least not until he actually had lost or won to them. That kid was really weird. Yuma looked puzzled at him as well.

"What is wrong?" Alito shouted "You don't wanna duel more?".

"Oh of course I do!" Yuma shouted happily and both boys hit their knuckles against each other.

They apparently had become friends. Tori on the other hand didn't find it funny, because they were suddenly not fighting over her any longer. I just shrugged. That wasn't my problem any longer. I had tried helping her, and that sadly didn't work. So with good conscious I was about to leave home for today. Sadly that didn't quite go so well, because Yuma was suddenly standing beside me.

"Ahr that is no fair sis, you dueled him, but not me. I want a duel right now" he complained, which only made me slam his head.

"Stop calling me sis. I told you a million times now, it is Zai" I shouted.

"Oh wait you are his sister!" Alito then said and rushed over to me "No wonder I couldn't beat him. You are so gonna teach me those fighting moves in a duel".

"Yeah I want a duel too" Yuma shouted eagerly "So gonna beat you this time".

"Well I don't! Now leave from my sight" I sneered and tried leaving.

Sadly Yuma and Alito didn't want that and began following me, while irritate me on how much they wanted to duel me right here and now.

"Ahr leave me alone!" I shouted angrily as they were driving me crazy "One Yuma is enough!".

Then I ran as fast as I could while trying to shake those pesky boys of me.

A,N: Well that was that chapter lol. Zaira got a new pesky rival in Alito, and believe me, he is lol! I just hoped I kept him in character through the story. However the next chapter is the friendship game. I just had to have that episode in the story. It is funny and Zaira is gonna participate with her partner.. Well not gonna reveal that now, but surely gonna be epic lol. After that a certain extra chapter is gonna be made, because I feel like Zaira doesn't get enough duels. Lol. However that is surely gonna be epic too.