7/3/11 edit: Changed Yusei's age from the 30s to late 20s

AUTHOR NOTES: Hello, Zero here with a new fic. I was inspired by this when I saw the ending to 5D's. As always, please do not be surprised if you find some grammar errors on this fic and I apologize in advance for it. Please note this takes place after the final episode of 5D's and take note that if you have not watched up till the very end this may contain some spoilers. Read at your own discretion.

Finally, if you have the time, please review and leave a comment so I can get some feedback to see how I'm doing. Thank you.

And finally, please enjoy.

Chapter 1

Field Trip

In a lecture hall of a university, a girl was looking intently at her professor's lesson with her olive eyes, listening and summarizing points to type down into her computer for use later. She brushed some of her long green hair back to hook around her ear so it would not obstruct her view. The lecture was on Momentum (Ener-D) and various other factors which relate to it. The class proceeded for around an hour before the professor fell silent.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today," The man said, turning around. He placed both hands on the podium in front of him.

The girl looked at the clock in the room, seeing that there were still fifteen minutes left until class would end. Some instructors would stop early, but this particular instructor wasn't known for it.

"To better understand Momentum, I've taken advantage of the three-day break you guys have the week after the next and have asked the school for permission for a field trip. I know it's a bit weird to be on field trips in college, but I really feel it'll help you guys out with understanding Momentum better."

The girl leaned back in her chair, curious. Where would they go to study about Momentum?

The man brought up a large hologram of an aerial view picture of a very familiar city to the girl. There was a large highway with a golden ring-like object in the middle. On top of it was a large rock that looks like a diamond.

"Neo Domino City!" the girl said aloud unconsciously. She quickly covered her mouth afterward.

"Oh? You seem pretty familiar with the city, Ruka (Luna)." The teacher chuckled.

A bit red from embarrassment due to the outburst, she nodded. "Yes, I used to live there when I was little."

"I see! Well, looks like you get a quick chance to go back!" He smiled. "With that said, this weekend we'll be going to Neo Domino City for a research assignment. We'll leave Saturday morning and won't be back till Wednesday night. If any of you have jobs other responsibilities keeping you from going, write me an email and I'll exempt you from the assignment. Keep in mind you still have to make it up as a separate paper, so don't think that this is optional in any way."

The bell's ringing triggered the students to start packing their belongings. The teacher said some more reminders, but Ruka wasn't listening as she left the room, her head in the clouds.

She felt a tap on her back and turned around to see one of her friends. "Are you going to go on the trip?"

Ruka thought for a moment before replying. "Well, I don't have a reason not to. It'd also be a good opportunity to catch up on some old ties." Assuming there's anyone left there that she knew, she thought to herself.

"But still, field trip in college?" The girl grinned. "I feel like a kid again! Can't wait!"

Ruka nodded with a bright smile. "I'm excited too."

The day of the trip arrived as a KaibaCorp plane was waiting at a local airport to the school. Since there were way too many students in the lecture hall, KaibaCorp had sent one of their private planes to take the students.

"We get our own plane? So cool!" one of the students exclaimed.

Ruka was fairly eager as well, but more for the destination than the ride there. She walked passed an officer who scanned her student ID to see if she was from the class before allowing her to continue onto the plane. She found some of her friends as they all sat together while the plane was in the process of taking off. Eventually the engine began to turn and they flew off.

One of Ruka's friends looked through the assignment packet. "Looks like we're mainly going to be at a research lab on Sunday, and the rest of the days are some time to write up our paper and check out the city." She looked over at Ruka. "You've lived here right? You gotta show us around!"

Ruka gave a nervous laugh. "It's been about ten years since I've been here. It's probably changed since then."

They continued talking about things until the plane arrived at their destination. The students all exited the plane as they headed toward the hotel they were staying in.

"I wonder how the school got all the money to pay for this for just a single class…" Ruka wondered aloud.

"That's a good question." Ruka quickly turned toward the voice to see her teacher. "The head of the research facility actually offered to pay for all expenses, saying the education to students was more than enough of a reason."

Ruka pondered what kind of person it could be to have done something so nice before her friends ushered her off to their room.

A day had passed and it was Sunday morning. The plan was to look around the facility, have lunch, and then look some more before heading back to the hotel. Due to the size of the class, they were randomly split into four different groups, causing Ruka to be separated from her friends. She was here for studying though, so it might have been for the best. Ruka's group was first, and they were waiting around in the lobby for their guide. She could see her teacher talking to someone behind the corner of a hallway before walking back.

"Everyone, listen up! You're going to be escorted throughout various areas of this research facility to learn about Momentum. I hope you'll all learn a lot from this experience." He nodded to the person behind the corner before walked to the side.

Ruka gasped as the man walked forward. He was at around his twenties with blue eyes and had black and blonde hair spiked in a unique style. He wore a gray shirt and brown dress pants with a long white lab coat covering it all. The most notable feature about him was the yellow marker below his left eye.

With a smile, he greeted them by raising his right hand. "Good morning everyone. I am the head scientist of this Momentum research facility, Yusei Fudo."

A bunch of students were both taken aback and easily excited seeing Yusei live in person. It wasn't easy to forget his feat of protecting Neo Domino City from the Arc Cradle ten years ago.

"Dr. Fudo will be your guide. If you would, Dr. Fudo." The teacher bowed to Yusei.

Yusei shook his head. "Please, just Yusei." He turned toward the students. "That goes for all of you as well. Yusei's fine."

They started the tour, but it would always go off-track every now and then with questions about dueling instead of about Momentum itself due to whom their guide was. Ruka wasn't taking any of the facility in either as she continuously stared at the middle-aged researcher, thinking about what she would say to him after this sudden reunion. It wasn't long before the lunch break arrived. Many of the students lost a majority of their interest with Yusei and found tables with their friends to chat with. Ruka didn't have any of those friends with her at the moment, so she sat alone at a table with her tray of food. Just as she was about to grab her fork, another tray was set on the opposite side of the small table.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

She looked up to see Yusei looking down at her. She paused for a moment before shaking her head. "N-no! Please go ahead!"

Yusei sat down in the chair as he started to eat his meal. He paused soon when he noticed Ruka intense gaze at him. "Is there something wrong?"

He doesn't know who I am, Ruka realized. It wasn't unreasonable though. Unlike most of the rest of the former Team 5D's, Ruka hadn't appeared on television through Riding Duel fame, nor had they really communicated with each other during the eight years since they separated. She sighed after relaxing a bit, thinking how silly it was to get tense about talking to Yusei. She smiled, "It's me, Ruka!"

Yusei's surprise was easy to see as his eyes widen and his mouth dropped a bit. Noticing his bewilderment, Ruka giggled as she took a hold of two points of her hair to recreate her hairstyle from back when she was still young.

It finally clicked for Yusei as he smiled back. "Ruka! It's been so long. You've changed so much."

She nodded. "It really has been a while!" She giggled again. "But you look just the same."

"How's everything going? How's Rua?"

"It's been great with our parents. Rua's out a lot now because of the Riding Duel tournaments."

"I've seen. He's doing great."

They started to talk about everything that had happened over the past eight years, but an hour just wasn't enough.

"Looks like it's time for more of the tour." Yusei looked up at the clock before pulling himself out of his seat.

"Um…" Ruka fidgeted. "We're free for the next two days. Are you too busy to meet up tomorrow?"

Yusei nodded with a smile. "Of course not. We'll have a small reunion back at my place."