The Prince and The Pauper

Chapter 1

Yuma, Cathy, Kotori, and the others walked home from school, cheerful and happy. They had a good laugh after the duel at school. Once again, Yuma lost, but he was very light about it. He didn't care. It was a game, not a tournament.

Suddenly, their good mood was shattered by a ghost figure floating past them. The Astral Being guard looked down at them, scoffed, and kept on patrolling. He seemed to mumble something insulting under his breath.

Once he was gone, the friends all let out a sigh of relief.

"Man, I hate them," Yuma commented when he knew that the guard was well out of earshot. "They walk around like they own the place."

"Yeah," Kotori agreed. "We should find a way to get rid of them."

"In other words, fight them in a way, like a rebellion," Takashi added.

"But how?" Cathy sighed. "They're much stronger than us. Remember that one guy who tried to fight one of them? He ended up dying."

Yuma nodded. He agreed that they had to get rid of them, but fightinig was certainly not the answer.

Then, a group of Astral Beings came through. They seemed to be guarding something or someone.

The kids moved out of the way, mostly because they had to, but also because they didn't want to be near those wretched ghosts.

Yuma suddenly got a glimpse of the one in the middle. He was blue with greenish markings all over his body. He had adornments on his body and a headdress with a white cape trimmed with gold. He had one gold eye and one white eye. He looked feminine, but it was obvious that he was a male.

He was looking around for something or someone. He looked frustrated.

"Brother..." he mumbled.

Astral sighed. What has he gotten into? Honestly, you can never leave him alone for one minute.

Ever since the disaster in their home world, Black Mist had gotten increasingly unstable, which has allowed his inner Dark Energy to grow and grow. Their mother was killed by THEM, the ones who attacked them in the first place, which traumatized young Black Mist. Astral, who had to keep strong, kept his emotions in check ever since. He had to keep his guard up with his brother, though. If left alone, he could, and would, allow his evil to escape. Not that it was his fault. He couldn't control it.

Astral saw a boy in the crowd with black spiked hair with red horn-like things on his hair. He had red eyes, like a ruby. He had kind of tanned skin, and he was looking right at him with those bright eyes. He didn't seem scared or angry at all, but rather full of awe. He wondered why. For safety, he placed one hand on his electric sword.

Screaming was heard one end of town. Astral looked ahead and saw that his brother was lying amid a pool of human blood. He sighed inwardly and gestured to the guards to stay where they were.

Reluctantly, they stayed behind as the prince drew his sword and approached his sleeping brother. He placed his hand on his shoulder, shaking him.

Black Mist groaned and cracked open his eyes. Astral looked into his eyes.

"Brother, we need to go back to the castle."

"Castle...?" Black Mist's words slurred; his brain must have been damaged temporarily. It always happened.

"Yes, the castle." Astral beckoned for two, strong guards to come.

The guards floated over to their prince and awaited orders. Astral gestured that they pick up his brother and take him to the castle.