A,N: Well hello dear readers. Here is the next chapter. Just so you know, Zaira is not much in this chapter. Sorry! But this chapter part is important, so sadly can't skip it. But she has a major role in the next one for sure! However hope you still like it. Please comment and tell me what you think.

Yuma's p.o.v.

Ray: 1400 Lp's.

Yuma: 3400 Lp's.

Girag: 4000 Lp's.

Yuma couldn't believe what he was seeing here. Astral had been with him in one minute, and in the next he had collapsed to the ground. Or more like floating since they were inside the sphere, but that was minor details. His ghostly friend was flashing in and out all the time as well. This didn't look good at all.

"Astral! Astral please speak to me!" Yuma uttered in a scared tone.

"I.. I am here" Astral said in a low voice and send him a weak reassuring smile. "Yuma.. I cannot keep dueling by your side. I am very sorry. I must retrieve to the safety of the key at once. The sphere fields effects are too great for me to withstand any more, but know this my friend, I have great fate in that you can win. If you.. Just feel the flow".

That was Astral's last words before he returned to the safety of the key. Yuma were rather shocked by that. However he wasn't gonna let his partner down. That was a promise.

"He-he, Just like Astral, I will say your chances of winning, have disappeared" Girag mocked from his side of the field.

Yuma send him a cold glare at that, but he didn't say anything. Girag didn't seem to care either way. Instead he squeezed his key a little tighter, before he took the necklace off all together.

"What are you doing?" Ray questioned in a puzzled tone. Yuma didn't answer him. Instead he looked down on the spectators down below him.

"Tori, Zaira catch!" He then shouted and tossed the key through the barrier of the sphere field. It went easily through, and soon Zaira were holding the key in her hands. Yuma smiled gratefully back "Take care of the key and Astral for me. Keep it safe until we win this".

He could see Zaira nod, as she soon entered the key and left it in Tori's protective hands. Knowing Zaira, Yuma figured she had gone in there to see if she could help Astral in his recovery. He would need all the help he could get. Yuma turned towards Ray now. The orange haired duelist looked really confused and slightly scared, and who could really blame him? Ray couldn't see Astral and the duel with Girag was not going so well at the moment either. It would be pretty normal for him to be scared. Therefore Yuma send him a reassuring smile.

"Ray, don't worry. I'll protect you. We will get through this duel together" He then said. Girag chuckled darkly in the background now.

"Ha! Impossible! There is no way you can fight and keep an eye on Ray" He replied and chuckled again "I look forward to see you try and fail. Aha-ha-ha!".

"Yuma doesn't have to worry about me Girag" Ray then said and drew "I can take care of myself with this". He started of his move by summoning "Shinning Sly" to the field in att mode. It was a lv 3 monster with 1200 att points.

"With this card, when there is an Xyz monster on the field, I can't get attacked" Ray explained "Now Yuma can take his mind of me, and focus on you". He ended his turn with a face down.

"Yuma, go ahead. It is your move" Ray pointed out and smiled.

"Oh yeah" Yuma replied with a grin and drew.

He started off his move by summoning "Gogogo Golem" in attack mode. He looked around on the field to figure out his strategy. Giant hand may be able to put a stop to my monsters special effect, but who needs those when my monster is stronger! It is time to do some damage by using Utopia and Golem as an one-two punch. Yuma nodded to himself. That did sound like a good plan. He therefore made Utopia attack, and destroy his giant hand. Yuma could see how Utopia grabbed around the hilt to his sword. He was about to attack when he suddenly stopped. Yuma looked puzzled at it.

"Utopia? What's going on?" he questioned. Girag chuckled darkly again.

"He-he, nothing good Yuma. Nothing good" the barian replied.

Then out of the blue Utopia exploded into millions of pieces.

Girag's p.o.v.

Girag couldn't stop smirking inside as Utopia began exploding and soon disappeared from Yuma's field. It was of course something Girag had planned, but seeing those two's surprised face when it happened, were priceless to say the least. This was of course only one of the surprises Girag had in store for them. Especially Ray! No one attacked his best friend and student like that! No one!

"Utopia no!" Yuma then shouted and looked confused around "What happened?".

"Was that my fault?" Ray questioned just as confused. Girag chuckled at that.

"For once, no" he then said and got both boys attention "When my Giant hand negated Utopia's special abilities, it also booby trapped Utopia, so if it ever attacked my giant hand, it would be destroyed". Yuma looked fearful at him now.

"Oh man. Not good" he then uttered. Girag chuckled evilly again.

"This is just the beginning. There is so much more to come. You see, I have you right in the palm of my hand" he told them and were clenching his fists a couple of times.

"Seriously!" Yuma uttered. He still sounded so scared. It was fitting for him. Or that was at least what Girag thought. He smirked inside.

"Oh I would not lie about this. You are gonna take damage equal to Utopia's att points. Use your effect giant hand!" he then said. Sadly he got interrupted.

"Not on my watch. I activate Shinning Sly's special eff" Ray shouted firmly and surprised them all. Even his own partner. "By tributing Gogogo golem, Yuma takes no damage. Can you get me, or should I hammer the point home".

As Ray just explained, he made his monster tribute Yuma's monster, and used it to create a shield that would protect Yuma from damage. Girag snort at that. Did they really think they could outsmart him? They had it coming.

"Looks like your life points are safe and sound now Yuma" Ray said in a happy tone. It really seemed like this twerp were happy he had done something good for his partner. Girag chuckled inside. Oh how he would prove him wrong.

"Not so fast" he told the boys and chuckled once again "By using one Ou, giant hand stop your Shinning Sly's effect".

Both Yuma and Ray looked in horror as Girag giant hand destroyed the shield Ray had created and hit Shinning Sly. It's effect was negated, and that means the damage on Yuma could continue.

"And now back to Yuma, before Ray bought you a little time, you were about to take a serious pounding from my monster" Girag then said and Yuma got hit with 2500 effect damage, which send him flying into the sphere.

He got jolted big time and only had 900 life points left. Girag were pretty pleased with himself. Just a little more and he would have beaten both Ray and Yuma. He would get the numbers for Barian world and at the same time getting revenge for Alito. In Girag's eyes this went pretty well. Especially since Ray was a terrible duelist.

"Each move you make is worse than the last one. I pity you Yuma. Have to make up for your partners latest blunter won't be easy" the big barian then said.

Ray didn't seem to feel very well right now, and he shouldn't. Not with those terrible moves he had been making for him and his partner. Yuma had floated back down to the duel field, but he did look really beat up.

"Yuma, I am so sorry. Please forgive me" Ray apologized.

"No sweat. I handle this" Yuma told his partner, in a confident tone.

"You will?" Ray questioned in a puzzled tone. Girag was curious as well. Hmm then let me see how you are gonna handle this Yuma. This is gonna be interesting.

"Yeah. I just need to figure out how" Yuma replied and that eased Girag up a little.

He had nothing that could chance this outcome surely. Seconds later Yuma activated his spell "Swords of burning light". With this spell on the field, Girag couldn't attack. At least as long as he had no monsters on his field. As soon as Yuma summoned one, the spell got destroyed. Then he ended his turn.

Girag snort at that and drew. It was his turn now. However if Yuma thought this tiny spell would stop him, then he had another thing coming.

"I activate the spell 'Rank up magic barian force'" he said and surprised the two boys a great deal. They had surely not seen this coming. "This card ranks up my Xyz monster into a chaos xyz monster. So I overlay my rank 4 giant hand, and with this monster I rebuild the overlay network. Go! Chaos xyz evolution! Come forth C106 Giant Red hand".

Girag could feel how the door of his chaos powers opened up, and engulfed his monster with its power. Soon it disappeared into the overlay network to undergo the chaos evolution. Then the most powerful monster he had in his arsenal, appeared onto the field. Chaos number 106. Giant Red Hand. And it looked like.. well a giant red hand actually, who was a rank 5 monster had 2600 att and 2000 def points. This monster was even taller and bigger than Girag himself, so from Yuma and Ray's point of view, it must be rather dangerous and terrifying. Or so Girag hoped.

"With the power of this chaotic world, it fists will smash the land" Girag introduced and hopefully scared them even more "It fingers will tear the sky". Just as he had hoped Ray and Yuma didn't look happy. They looked completely terrified.

"That thing looks like it is ready to bring some pain our way" Yuma then uttered.

"Oh how right you are" Girag commented and had an evil gleam in his eyes "Because I am gonna activate Giant red hand's eff".

He used one Chaos Ou, and by doing so, all other face up card on the field lost their effect. In other words, Yuma's swords of burning light were no longer activated.

"My swords of burning light!" Yuma uttered horrified now.

"Yep, and without your swords of burning light to stop it, my Giant red hand can attack you directly Yuma" Girag pointed out with glee.

Yuma didn't look so good now. If this attack hit, it was over for him. And it would be, since Yuma had no face downs or anything to stop him. Girag could taste the victory now. Or so he thought.

"Not so fast, I activate my trap called 'shinning stunt'" Ray then shouted and activated that named trap card "By taking half your monsters att points as damage, this trap stops your monsters attack and ends the battle. Which means Yuma is safe".

Girag looks stunned as that little punk to Ray, jumped in between Yuma and shielded him from the attack. His life points however got hit, leaving him only with 100 life points. The impact of the attack also send Ray into the sphere field, and he got jolted as well. Girag could see the worry in Yuma's face as his friend got blasted.

"Ray no!" Yuma uttered and rushed to his friend aid. He caught Ray just as the sphere field released him. the orange haired boy looked tiredly up at him.

"I just wanted to do.. something right for a change" Ray then replied and smiled weakly up at Yuma. Yuma didn't seem so happy about this though.

"I just wished you hadn't gotten yourself hurt" he replied and let go of his friend.

"But getting hurt is the only way Ray can do anything right" Girag replied and laughed like crazy.

He placed two facedown's and then activated the field spell "Erosion hand forest". He could see how the two boys looked bewildered around as the whole field got changed with vines, who just grew and grew, until they were completely surrounded.

"And it will really grow on you" Girag explained in a firm tone "Because every time it is my turn, we all take 1000 points of damage". Yuma and Ray didn't look so good. Both of them had under 1000 life points, while Girag here still had 4000.

"But that means.." Yuma began but Girag quickly interrupted them.

"That on my next turn, I automatically win" He said and chuckled like a maniac.

Normal P.o.v.

Tori and Bronk were watching the duel as spectators with fearful eyes. It didn't look good for both of their friends. Even Tori could see that, and she wasn't an expert duelist at all. Both of them just had to believe in Yuma and Ray here.

"Man I hope Yuma and Ray know what they are doing in there" Bronk commented.

"I got my fingers and toes crossed for them" Tori uttered in a scared tone.

In the meantime inside the key, Zaira was trying her hardest to heal Astral. The Astral being were groaning and flinching in pain, while she ran every inch of her power down his body. The number field were around him as an extra healing process. Right now Astral just needed all the help he could get. Zaira were in pain herself, because of the link with Astral, but she still tried her hardest to help regardless. Cy were also helping, in any way he could, even though, that mostly was numbing his mistress pain, so she could focus more on healing Astral. The quicker he got better, the quicker his mistress did after all. It didn't help much that the Astral prince were awake doing this process, and could sense Yuma's distress in the duel.

"Yuma. He is trying his hardest.. to win" Astral said and groaned "And I can't..".

"Who cares about that Astral" Zaira sneered rather annoyed "Just focus on getting better. You just have to believe in him to win". Astral nodded and let out a tiny whimp as Zaira's power ran over a painful area in his arm.

"I know that. I do believe in him. I just.." The Astral prince groaned again as pain struck him somewhere in his body. Zaira looked worriedly at him, as she tried to heal that specific area with her powers. Sweat were dripping down her forehead.

"I am sorry Astral" Zaira then apologized "I should have healed you sooner. Shark said I shouldn't stress myself so much, but if I had healed you earlier, then maybe..".

"No, Shark was right. You have a life besides me" Astral whispered in a low voice and a hand managed to touch her cheek "Although my father did bound you to me, because of lack of faith. However, one day I will find a way to free you, and cut the thread who binds you. Then you won't feel this pain..".

"Astral.." Zaira just replied. She didn't really know what else to say.

Ray's p.o.v.

Ray was glaring down Girag. His field card had just limited their options in this duel. Or in this case Ray's fun of it all. After all this was something he set up. Although it was unknowingly to anyone as of yet. He had been the one attacking Alito, knowing full well what the giant brute would do, when he found out his student had been attacked. It had been so easy and simple to manipulate him into doing this. Into being mad at him, so Ray could duel together with Yuma. It was even an added plus that Zaira and Astral both were currently inside the key. He had been waiting for that to happen too. He could after all not reveal his true colors to Astral yet. However, then Girag had activated this field spell card, and Ray no longer could hide his hidden talent. He had speed up the process of his plans apparently.

"This is it. We only have one turn left" Yuma then proclaimed and sneered.

"Yuma, listen to me. No matter how baldly it looks like I get hurt, do not bail me out this time" Ray then quickly said, and showed a compassionate expression. "You have been a great friend and now I plan to return the favor".

"But Ray.." Yuma said in a sad tone.

Ray smirked inside. Yuma really believed him eh? That would be his weakness later, but right now Ray was using this to his advantage. He wanted to see how far Yuma would go for his supposedly friend Ray.

"Get ready to hand over those numbers Yuma" Girag then shouted. His gaze were glaring at Ray now "And Ray. You never should have messed with Alito. Remember that when I bring you down next turn". Ray snort inside at that.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" he then replied in a firm voice and drew.

A particular spell rested in his hand now. Perfect! But first thing first. Ray summoned his "Shinning Rabbit" onto the field in att mode. Then he activated the spell "Shinning bridge". By targeting a monster who had under 1000 att points, like his shinning rabbit, it could now bypass Girag's monster and attack Girag directly.

"If this attack succeed, my rabbit can destroy one trap or spell card on the field. Like your erosion hand forest" Ray then explained.

Both Yuma and Girag was staring at him now. Properly because this was not any dueling mistakes, but a real move.

"That's amazing" Yuma then uttered stunned "I didn't know you had it in you Ray".

"I am full of surprises" Ray replied and looked at his rabbit "Now hop to it rabbit".

"Your monster should walk before it leaps" Girag then proclaimed and activated the trap "Hand vice".

Since Girag controls a hand monster, he can negate this attack and inflict damage equal to his rabbits att points. That was 600 points of damage. Sadly Ray only had 100 life points left.

"Oh no" Ray uttered.

"That is putting it likely" Girag replied and chuckled evilly. A blast got fired towards Ray and hit him hard. Or so it seemed, because just in that moment Yuma had activated a trap, and protected him. Just as Ray had hoped he would.

"Wait what happened?" Girag uttered stunned as he found Ray unharmed and with his rabbit still unto the field.

"I played the trap card 'desperate guard'" Yuma then told him "This trap card makes me pay half my life points, so Ray won't take any damage". Yuma let out a scream as a jolt hit him, and his life points hit 450. Ray pretended to look shocked.

"The more you try to help each other, the more you hurt each other. You two are a joke" Girag said and laughed like a crazy.

"Yuma how could you? Don't you remember I asked you not to bail me out anymore" Ray yelled and pretended to seem offended by this. In reality he wasn't, because he had already known, Yuma would stick his neck out for him.

"Yeah Ray, I know, but that is just not how I roll" Yuma replied in a weak voice, but then interrupted Ray, when he tried to argue. "I am not that kind of guy who can sit back and watch, while his friends get hurt, and he does nothing at all!".

That last part was shouted out with so much vigor that even Girag was taken back by it. That and Ray had a pretty good hunch on that this reminded him of Alito. After all Girag couldn't sit back and watch, after he found Alito after being attacked in the hideout.

"I.. I understand" Ray replied slowly. Man that kid has vigor.

However it was Yuma's turn now, and he drew.

"Go right ahead, I have a trap here waiting for you" Girag said and activated the trap "Damaging hand".

Since Yuma just had drawn, while controlling no monsters, Girag could inflict 300 points of damage for each card in their hand.

"I got three cards, that means I am in big trouble" Yuma uttered sacredly.

"That is right, because you take 900 points of damage" Girag pointed out "And that is more than enough to wipe out the rest of your life points".

Yuma looked completely horrified by that. If this move succeed, Yuma would be out of this duel for good. Luckily Ray had other plans.

"Think again. Because I am activating the trap 'shinning reborn'" Ray then said "I tribute two of my monsters on my field to send Yuma's entire hand to the graveyard".

Both Ray's monsters, Shinning Rabbit and Shinning Sly left the field now. Soon followed Yuma's entire hand. Just like Ray had planned it.

"You.. you know what you have done?" Girag uttered stunned at that. Ray nodded.

"Blocked your move, that's what. If your opponent has no cards, damaging hand has no effect" Ray pointed out and smirked. Girag growled angrily at that.

"How dare you.." He sneered back at Ray.

"Um Ray?" Yuma now said in a bewildered voice. Clearly shown that he was taken aback by Ray's suddenly out of blue dueling skills. At least to him. However Ray didn't waste any time in explaining anything just now.

"And there is more, my shinning reborn card also allows me to summon an xyz monster back from Yuma's graveyard. So say hello to number 39 utopia" Ray then said.

Both Girag and Yuma was staring surprised at the field, when suddenly Utopia rose from the graveyard onto the field. That clearly changed things here.

"When did this twerp know how to duel?!" Girag questioned in an annoyed tone.

"Now why worry about that. You have bigger problems" Ray replied and send him a little smirk "Like my Shinning reborn's last eff. I can give a card to Yuma. So here catch!".

Ray tossed Yuma a card, and the boy of course caught it. Now he was staring at it in disbelief. Ray could understand why, because the card he had given Yuma, was the spell card "Rank up magic Limited Barian's force". Ray must admit he didn't think they would actually have to use it to be honest, but Girag's attempted field spell had to speed of the process of his many thought out plans. He actually wanted to play a little more. Both with Zaira and Yuma, but guess the time for fun was over. Ray shrugged a little inside. No matter. I archived what I came here for. The endgame is approaching.. Just had hoped I could play a little more with her. Oh well. His gaze fell on Yuma once again. He was still staring at the barian card. Ray snort inside. I cannot believe I had to go to this extreme and even share some of my power with this kid. But then again their power of Zexal is not something you should take likely. I learned that in our last face up. So let's just see what this kid does. He really doesn't have many options left, unless Yuma wants us to lose. But then again he can be unpredictable..

Yuma's p.o.v.

Yuma was staring. Really staring at this barian card in his hand. Millions of questions were running though his head. Like etc. how in the world Ray could even have a barian card in the first place, and if he could trust him. He turned towards his friend.

"A barian card? How did you get this?" he asked Ray.

"I will explain everything later, but first let's win" Ray now promised. Yuma was still staring at him in disbelief.

"By using a barian card? I don't know" he instead said.

"Yuma I need you to trust me on this" Ray replied in a firm tone. He didn't notice the manipulative undertone in this. "Can you do that for me? For a friend?".

Yuma turned his attention to the barian card once again. He didn't know what to do here. I wanna trust Ray, but should I? He has a barian card! These things has been nothing but trouble. But still.. I gotta win for Astral. For Astral and Zaira. And that means there is only one thing for me to do.

"I am feeling the flow! So that is why I will activate 'Rank up magic limited barian's force!" Yuma then shouted eagerly and were holding up the barian card. He didn't notice the relieved sigh coming from Ray.

"Time to overlay Number 39 Utopia!" they then both shouted in unison.

"I rebuild the overlay network with Utopia" Yuma then shouted and Ray added in along with Yuma saying "Go Chaos Xyz evolution!". Utopia disappeared into the overlay network and added in the power of chaos from Ray's own barian door/card.

"Come on out, Chaos number 39 Utopia ray V!" the boys now shouted in unison as this new from of Utopia appeared onto the field.

(here is the summoning video if interested)

https://youtu.be/UraOjoqwFt4

It was a rank 5 monster, and still a warrior type, but its color had changed, and were now black and red. It had 2600 att and 2000 def points. It looked very impressive to say the least.

"Wow Utopia just got a major upgrade" Yuma commented in awe. He couldn't believe what he was seeing here. Ray nodded eagerly.

"That's right. This is your new monster Yuma" He then said.

"Wow Utopia has gotten a really big and strong now" Bronk commented at the sideline. Tori looked worriedly at him.

"That is a good thing right?" she then questioned.

"What? How could they summon a chaos number?" Girag uttered rather shocked "There is more to these two that meets the eye".

"Now Yuma!" Ray said in a firm tone and Yuma nodded.

They had to finish this. He quickly activated Utopia ray V effect. By using one Chaos Ou, he could destroy one monster on the field and inflict its att as damage to Girag. Yuma of course destroyed Giant red hand, dealing 2600 points of damage to Girag. Since his only monster now was gone, Yuma attacked him directly with Utopia Ray V. He won the duel soon after.

The sphere field changed back to normal as the duel was done, and Yuma could see Girag flash in and out. Just like Astral did when he was about to lose a battle. The big barian looked weakly up at them.

"You!.. Ray! How do you have a barian card?" He questioned in a weak voice. "Just who are you?". Ray chuckled at that.

"Oh don't worry. You will find out. Well Eventually" he then said and smiled a little.

Then a portal appeared beside Girag and he was send to what Yuma presumed was barian world. However, Yuma was very confused right now. He had no idea what was going on here at all. Why did Ray have a barian card? It was clearly shown that Girag didn't have a clue who he was, so Ray couldn't be on their side could he?

"We beat him.." Yuma then managed to say.

He was not sure how to start this conversation with Ray just yet. After everything that happened, he didn't know what was up or down anymore. That and Ray was clearly a better duelist. Yuma knew now he had been hiding his skills, but he didn't know why. He wanted answers to so many questions, that he didn't know how to start.

"That's right. Thanks to you" Ray then said and send him a smile "You stood by my side and trusted me all the way, and I realize that may not have been an easy thing to do. You are a true friend". Yuma looked bewildered at him.

"Wait just hang on there Ray, you still gotta tell me what's up with this barian card. You got some explaining to do!" he then uttered.

"I am with the barian cosmic crime unit" Ray then said. Yuma's eyes widened.

"Hang on. Did you say the B word?" he then questioned.

"Yes I did. Does that shock you?" Ray replied in a firm tone.

"No I am cool" Yuma replied. Everything Ray had said until now just had to sink in first. Then he freaked out completely. "Wah! Wait so you mean.. No way! You are a barian?!".

Ray chuckled lightly. He winked with his one eye and placed a finger on his lip. The gesture for silence. Then the sphere around them dissolved into nothing and Yuma and Ray landed on the ground besides their friends.

"Yuma!" Tori uttered happily and send him a big smile "Hey you guys won!".

"Yeah, alright!" Bronk added in a cheerful tone. Ray smiled sheepishly.

"Well it is all thanks to Yuma" he replied and made Yuma look very confused at him. "I kept making mistakes, but he pulled us both though. Ha-ha. No matter how ugly things got, he never gave up on me".

Yuma ended up nodding along. Ray had promised him answers when they were alone.

"Yuma here!" Tori then said and handed him his key again.

Yuma smiled gratefully back to her, as he placed the key around his neck again. However he couldn't stop wondering if trusting Ray and using this barian card had been a mistake. He wondered what Astral and Zaira would think about this.

Zaira's p.o.v.

I was at full work healing Astral inside the key, as I suddenly felt this weird feeling. Some sort of weird Barian energy if you may. I had no idea where it came from, but it disappeared pretty quickly again, so I couldn't trace it very well. However I had a feeling it had something to do with the duel Yuma and Ray were having. I was fearfully aware that this could mean that Yuma and Ray had lost to Girag, but then Astral had send me a weak smile, claiming that Yuma had won this duel. I were thrilled. Of course I were! Yuma had actually succeed in beaten Girag. Even together with Ray. That could be called a big achievement if I ever saw it.

"Zaira, is something the matter?" Astral questioned. He looked worried.

"Nope. It is nothing. Let's get back to heal you up for good. Since Yuma won the duel we are both in no danger after all" I replied quickly.

Astral nodded weakly and closed his eyes. He relaxed into the sphere field, which made my job so much easier. A quick though once again returned back to that barian energy I had felt, but then I dismissed it. It was not there anymore after all, and if it showed again, I would be ready for it. Or so I hoped.

Yuma's p.o.v.

Time skip. At Yuma's house in the middle of the night.

"So You have known about Astral this whole time?" Yuma questioned.

Right now he was outside on the top of the roof along with Ray. They had both decided to talk outside, where hopefully no one would disturb them. That and Heartland city had a beautiful view during night time. Yuma had suggested this place and Ray had agreed, as long as Yuma was not wearing the key. He had told Yuma it would be dangerous if Zaira would have to pop up from the key all of the sudden, and Yuma found that reasonable and placed the key at the window still, before he had climbed up on the roof. Ray had followed and they had both begun talking.

"I been able to see him since I first arrived in your world and began my mission" Ray explained and send him a little smile. Yuma looked puzzled at him.

"What mission?" he then asked.

"To find Barian criminals, who is hiding among you" Ray replied.

"So on barian world there is good guys and bad guys?" Yuma questioned.

"Correct Yuma. Barian world isn't an evil place, but some step out of line" Ray replied with a little smile "And that is the truth. Now that you know, let's work together". Yuma looked at him with Christmas lights in his eyes now.

"You are serious?! Awesome!" Yuma uttered happily "When Astral and Zaira finds out there is a barian good guy working to nap the evil ones, they will flip..".

"They can not find out. This has to be our secret" Ray interrupted and send Yuma a firm glare. Yuma looked puzzled at him.

"But um how come?" He then questioned.

"I have to stay undercover. If Astral or Zaira were to know of my existence, they would be in an even greater danger than they are now. The fewer people that know about me the better. I don't want anyone else to learn the truth. Can I trust you as a friend to keep my secret?". Yuma nodded eagerly.

"Of course. Totally!" he then said and smiled. Then frowned a little "But Zaira would really only laugh at danger you know. I would actually be worried for the danger, who is stupid enough to face her. Maybe we should just tell her..?".

"I could see that. She is fierce, there is no question about it" Ray replied with a smile and chuckled a little "But emotionally, she might not be perfect. Especially not this job". Yuma looked very puzzled at him now.

"What do you mean by emotionally?" he then asked. Ray sighed deeply.

"You must promise me not to tell anyone this. This is top secret information" he then said in a low voice. Yuma quickly nodded, so Ray continued "You see I have been hunting a very special criminal, who might have something to do with the disappearance of Zaira's brother. One of the reasons I am here in fact".

"Really?! Zaira's brother?" Yuma uttered stunned. Ray nodded eagerly.

"And you know how emotionally Zaira gets when you mention anything regarding him right? She will not think rationally and might put herself in danger" he continued "So it would be best if you don't tell neither Astral or Zaira about my true objective here. Do you understand?". Yuma nodded eagerly again.

"You don't have to worry Ray. Your secret stays with me" he promised.

"Okay. Then starting today you are my new sidekick. I always thought you had the makings of a great underling" Ray replied and send him a big smile.

"That sounds awesome to me. I won't let you down Ray!" Yuma said in a cheerful tone.

Then he jumped happily up in the air. Sadly he had forgotten he was on the roof and Ray had to rescue him, or he would have fallen down from there.

A,N: Well that was the end of that chapter. Who knew Ray was police officer. *cough*. So Yuma has to help him take down barian criminals. *Cough*. I really need to get that cough fixed. Oh well. In the next chapter, Zaira and Astral is having some difficulties in the key. A certain dark number appears, along with some crazy test in there. Who is clearly not what you would expect surely. However hope that sounds interesting at least.