Chapter 12 – Searching

Ruka's POV

After our promise, we organized ourselves. We, actually it was Jack with our help, made a list of our information, evidences, clues, theories and possible scenarios. Also, he made a list of what we could do or try to do to find out more about Yuusei and everything related to him, step by step. Jack organized everything and distributed parts of our plan.

Aki stayed back in Neo Domino to work with the doctors at the hospital. She told us they made some tests that might help and she had also spent all of her free time in the library, researching in medical books for his condition.

Both Crow and Jack traveled around for more information. It was just an idea to visit places like the Nazca Lines and some others in order to find the man who challenged Yuusei in his last duel. Maybe he had something more to tell us. Something Martha missed out when Yuusei fainted.

But to be honest, I didn't think he would prove to be much help. But we were not able to leave behind information that might be useful. We needed any possible help and even if he had nothing to tell or if the land of Nazca proved to be just a travel destination and nothing more, then we were ready to take that risk. Maybe there was still a chance –even a small one, that he might have something to inform us and Nazca always held something interesting to find out.

At the top of Jack's list as the most helpful places to look at was Yuusei's house and lab. That's why Carly, Rua and I stayed behind too.

We went to the old garage where the team 5D's was created, but we found absolutely nothing there. We checked his notes, his phone, his work files, as much as we could find, at least in his room, but with zero progress.

"Come on!" Carly shouted. "This is stupid. If he had something important, then he wouldn't keep it in his house, but in his lab."

"You are right," I admitted, looking at her and Rua.

I was surprised when Carly said she would stay behind too to help my brother and me. I thought she would go with Jack; after all, she was always with him wherever he went. She said she might be a better help for us since she was a reporter and she would be a better help here. But my brother told me that she wanted to follow Jack and he told her to stay here and to use her abilities as an expert on papers and files. Also he could travel faster with his D-wheel alone. So, she was stuck with us.

I smiled hastily as I remembered how influential Jack was to her. Rua commented the same day that if he told her to jump out of the window, she would gladly do it. I sighed and put some books back on the small bookcase. We had spent all day in the garage and found nothing.

I just hoped we would find out something more helpful in our next target: Yuusei's lab. How stupid of us to not visit that place from the beginning? We were talking about his experiment, but none of us had the thought to go there and search. Something must be there, a clue or maybe evidence that could help us find out about his experiment. What was the subject? What he was investigating? Why he do it? What happened? Or any other information we could gather.

"Okay. Tomorrow, we'll go there," Rua said as he threw himself onto the couch.

But the next day we found out that it wasn't that easy. His lab wasn't a place that everyone could visit or take a tour. We needed special permission to go inside, not to mention entering the doors with codes and forbidden passages. How were we going to look for evidence?

I had a strange feeling about it. I couldn't tell for sure if it was a good or a bad one. Like if something important or not lay there, waiting for us to find it and whatever it was, I was sure it would be helpful. I wished and hoped, at least. But our entry into his lab was still a pain and a huge problem. Carly proved her value when she thought of one way to enter. She called the two who could provide a solution. But even with their help, things were still complicated.

"After we find out about his experiment, the police made a small search in Yuusei's lab. But it's small and they found nothing, but I believe you can do a better job," Mikage said and Ushio agreed with her.

But not even they could help us get permission to search his lab.

"You'll need permission from the police, along with a government approval. Since you are not a member of the police or a scientist yourselves," Ushio explained.

"But that could take weeks!" Carly exclaimed.

"We know and that's why…" Mikage paused and exchanged a meaningful glance with her husband.

"Look, guys," Ushio took control of the conversation, "we're not proud about what are we going to do, but we believe this is the only way, and you can't tell anyone."

"Otherwise we will be in trouble," Mikage added.

"What are you going to do?" Carly asked immediately in wonder.

"Especially you, Carly. You must never speak of it again!"

She shrugged. "Okay."

Ushio took a deep breath. "In two days, it will be Sunday and the lab will be closed. That means that all the scientists will be in their homes. We can give you our pass to go inside and check his lab without anyone seeing you."

"We can only give you one day, do you understand? Do everything you can to gather as much information as you can because you won't have another chance to go in there again."

"This is illegal!" Carly announced, astonished. "And you're members of the police too. How could you expect me to-?"

"Do you want to help Yuusei or not?" Mikage cut her off with a strict look on her face.

Carly opened her mouth, but she closed it again and waved her head. "Alright, I promise I'll never speak of it again."

"This is wrong, but we have no other choice. We will go," I said.

And that's exactly what we did. On Sunday, we prepared ourselves to enter Yuusei's lab. Mikage and Ushio did a great job; they gave us one of their security passes and a temporarily code to open the last door. When we entered the room, I felt something strange like a warning and I took a deep breath.

"Let's hurry," I suggested and we spread into the lab, searching everything and everywhere to find something. Anything that may help us a little.

"Over here!" Rua shouted suddenly after a couple of hours. Carly and I ran towards him.

"What did you find?" I asked immediately, feeling my heart beating faster.

He pointed to Yuusei's desk. "Look! I checked all the drawers, they are full of papers and notes from various projects, but…" He trailed his hand lower. "This one is locked. What you think is in there?" he asked meaningfully.

"Something he tried to hide," Carly guessed. "But how are we going to opened it? We have to unlock it because we won't have a second chance to come back."

I sighed and lifted my head to look around the room. "We must find the key then."

My brother chuckled. "Screw the keys. We don't have the whole day ahead of us. I know a better way."

He took a clip from Yuusei's office. He unfolded it and put the tip into the lock and waved it gently back and forth. I rolled my eyes.

"You think you can unlock it that way?" Carly wondered, but he ignored her.

"Bingo," he shouted five minutes later when the locker unlocked with a small click.

Carly cheered. "Well done, Rua. Where did you learn to do that?"

"Crow," he replied with a smirk and his answer revealed everything.

I waved my head in disapproval, but I had to admit; Crow's tricks proved to be more than useful today. But that was the only exception.

"Open it," I said in a hurry and my brother did what I told him.

"Look at that," Carly exclaimed, pointed to the inside and took out some papers in her hands to check them. "He kept in there a whole file with…files?"

"Some of them are really old. They must be the original ones," Rua commented, looking at some papers more closely.

"Look at this one; it's an old file of Duel Academia with some students, Yuuki Judai, Tenjouin Asuka and more transferred into an Alternative Detention…" Carly continued with her gaze still on the papers as she read quickly, searching for more. "Oh and look at that. Before they left, the whole Academia disappeared for a few days, along with everyone who was inside the building."

"My goodness," I whispered.

Rua tilled his head. "What the hell happened back there?"

Carly shrugged and kept reading. "No idea. They all managed to come back except one for student, Johan Andersen, and that's why the others went back to find him."

"Wow, they went back to save their friend. That's true friendship," Rua smiled, looking at some of the files too. "And check this out; it says there was a dorm that used to be called the Abandoned Dorm and no one was permitted to enter because some of the students who stayed in this dorm vanished."

Carly pointed to another one. "And this one too. It's about the Shadow Realm or the World of Darkness, and according to the author of the article, it's a place in which someone can be trapped and…" She paused as she read the rest silently, but she looked scared.

"Well?" Rua said after some minutes of waiting for her to continue.

Carly cleared her throat. "This is so cruel. According to the article, it presents this place as a place of punishment or a prison of the soul."

I shivered a little before turning my attention to some other papers.

"Why is Yuusei keeping a file like this?" Carly wondered and Rua shrugged.

I didn't reply. I was speechless, mostly because of the strange feeling was growing and the entire laboratory seemed to shrink and it started pressing me. Something was wrong.

"What a scoop!" Carly exclaimed a minute after.

Both Rua and I glared at her.

"Okay, okay," she said in a hurry, lifting her hands in surrender. "I'm not going to write anything, I promised to Jack days ago. But you know…old habits."

"Yes, I know," I muttered indifferently and turned my attention back to the files.

"You are doing everything he asks you?" Rua asked, but it wasn't really a question, it was more of a fact.

Carly nodded blushing lightly, "When he has a point, yes."

"After seeing your reaction, I can say that he always has a point, right?" Rua teased her. He smiled and winked with meaning.

Carly's blush became darker, but she didn't say anything.

"Did you find anything interesting?" I asked my brother with my eyes still on some papers.

"Oh!" he turned his attention to some files and immediately gasped. "Look at that!" he shouted and both Carly and I hurried to see what he wanted to showed us.

"What's this?" I asked immediately.

"It's an old article," Carly muttered while her reporter's eyes scanned the papers. "This must be one of the first stories about the Shadow Games or Death Games that were ever written."

"What do you mean, Carly?" I asked her with the feeling that I was not going to like it.

"This article is as old as the Duel Monsters game is, when Maximilion Pegasus created it again years ago," she explained politely.

"Again? What you mean again?" Rua asked in wonder.

"You see Duel Monsters wasn't just a simple game and it's much older than you think. I don't know enough to explain, but years ago I found some old articles. I read that this game has been played since ancient times in ancient Egypt by pharaohs, and was it was a game of power and authority as they used magic and real monsters in tablets."

I felt my blood running cold hearing her words.

"Is that true?" Rua asked suspiciously.

Carly shrugged. "I don't know. But when Maximilion Pegasus recreated this game with cards, some really interesting things have happened."

"Such as…?" I asked, but I already knew her answer as I remembered some of my Duel Monsters history lessons from Duel Academia.

"Such as the Millennium's Items."

Rua was really excited. "Wow! I remember now! Do you, Ruka?" I nodded and he continued. "There were rumors that said that Pegasus himself was in possession of such an item as well as the King of Games, Yuugi Mutou. Cool!"

"Rua!" I exclaimed strictly, causing him to flinch. "Those items were dangerous. Someone who possesses such an item could do terrible things. Like read other people's minds or imprison their souls and summon real monsters in duels which were called…"

"Shadow Games," Carly cut me off.

"Okay, you're right. But it's still cool," he defended himself.

"This is an article of a Shadow Game," Carly explained, pointing at the file, "between…Oh, look at that," she pointed at a line with one finger, "The King of Games and the creator of the game."

"Yuugi Mutou and Maximilion Pegasus!" exclaimed Rua, "I would give anything to watch their duel. I mean…" he said uneasy, scratching the back of his head as I gave him an angry look. "It…It would have been…interesting, right?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but Carly interrupted me.

"This is more interesting than you think," her voice was serious, more than usual and we immediately turned to her.

Surprise was all over her face and she seemed a little pale as she showed us another folder. I titled my head to get a better angle so I could see the papers. I felt my heart beating like crazy and my breath was stuck at the back of my throat as I saw the photo and the name of the file. I blinked my eyes once, twice, thrice…but nothing changed. I stared at the same name and I bit my lips. How is this possible?

"Ruka…" My brother was speechless too and I felt his hand on my shoulder. "This is…" he started, but I didn't pay attention to him anymore.

My vision become blurry and my mind stopped.

"Ruka!"

I heard his voice from far away, as I wasn't near him anymore. Something was pulling me away and I couldn't resist even though I wanted to. I heard Carly's voice fade and become distant. New visions passed before my eyes and my mind already ran away, shouting my name several times.

"Ruka! Ruka!"

"Ruka!"

I blinked my eyes, trying to focus on one voice that was louder than the others.

"Regulus!" I gasped, watching the big armed lion in front of me. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You must hurry, Ruka," Relulus said immediately. "Time flies. You cannot waste another minute anymore. The countdown has already begun."

"What's wrong, Regulus?" I asked, trying to run closer to him, but I couldn't cover the distance that separated us. "Please tell me more. I don't understand."

"I can't stay for long. Just hurry," it was his only reply.

I was desperate. "Please don't go again!" I begged.

"You and your friends will need any possible help. You are the only ones who can stop this madness."

"What madness? What is happening?"

"You must find a way to stop the Momentum's power before it's too late."

"The world is in danger again because of Momentum? Does that mean that another Zero Reverse will…?" My voice stuck. I couldn't spill the words out.

Regulus nodded. "You must find a way to help your friend. Otherwise not only your world, but every world will be in the same danger."

I gasped, breathing heavily from running. It was useless, but I couldn't stop myself from trying to reach to him. "Oh no, what will happened if we fail?"

"Then the world will need a Shield to stop the leakage of energy. The balance is too fragile. The Momentum is extremely powerful and will become even more dangerous. Ruka, you and your friends are the only ones who can stop it. If you can't find the way, then none of us will."

"NO!" I yelled, falling to my knees, covering my ears with my hands and closing my eyes. The burden of responsibility was too big to bear.

"There is still a chance, but you must hurry," Regulus voice became distant and I opened my eyes only to see him moving away from me.

"Don't leave me!" I begged again as tears started to run down my cheeks. "I don't know what to do."

"You must hurry!" His voice became a whisper. "Otherwise the Balance of the Elements will be destroyed forever."

"Please!"

"Ruka!" I heard a familiar voice from far away coming closer.

"Don't leave me!" I begged one more time, feeling myself fall deep into my thoughts like a huge swirl was pulling me into it.

"Ruka!" Rua's voice hit me and I covered my ears immediately to protect them as he was shaking my body.

"Thank God she's okay," Carly sighed in relief.

My brother was in a cold sweat just like I was. "Ruka, you scared the hell out of me."

"I…I'm sorry, I'm okay now," I was, but I wasn't sure about the rest of the world.

Rua looked relieved for a moment before he bent over me again. "Another vision?" he asked me with agony all over his face.

I nodded. "Regulus—he came to me; he said we must hurry. The whole world is in danger and we are the only ones…" I paused, biting my lips.

Carly covered her mouth with one hand and Rua gasped as both of them realized what I was about to say.

"He said…We must hurry; otherwise the Balance of the Elements will be destroyed forever."

Tears were running down my cheeks and I didn't try to wipe them away.

"What's the meaning of this?" my twin asked, surprised.

I shook my head. "I don't know. But we must find out. We have to!"


His friends found some strange clues, but they have no idea what all those information mean. What do you think guys?

Alright now I have a question for you, so that means that all of you are going to help with my story. You guys want to put some romance in the story too? You can write the couples you want too but I'm not promise that I will use them. Also you can suggest any character you want; even if I didn't mention him/her in my story so far… because more of them are going to show up!

My thanks to: Gotta be Annoying, Chrome Nagi Dokuro, Karlina101 and YugiohObsessed for their reviews. And my special thanks to Pure Red Crane and EndlessNight025!

If you liked it, review! If you don't, review anyway… ^_^