Chapter 12: The Search is On

Finally, the gang arrived in Egypt. The flight was pretty boring. Except for when Joey and Tristan were arguing over who would eat the last peanut. But they were all glad to be back on solid ground again.

"Okay, where do we go from here?" asked Joey.

"I don't know," answered Yugi.

"I thought Ishizu said that Marik and Odion would be here," said Tristan.

"She did."

"Well, where are they?"

"Be patient, Tristan," said Téa.

"I would if I could, but it's just not in my blood."

"Whatever," Téa rolled her eyes.

For five minutes they waited for someone to come. There was still no sign of Marik or Odion.

"I'm tired of this," said Joey.

"Just wait awhile, Joey," said Yugi. "They'll come."

"Are we sure we can even trust Marik now?" asked Tristan. "You know, after the Battle City Tournament, I'm just not so sure about him."

"Tristan, he's good now. We sent the evil Marik to the Shadow Realm. He isn't coming back."

"We hope he's not coming back."

"I hope they come soon," Téa chimed in.

"We all want that, but so far that isn't exactly what's going to happen," said Joey.

"Guys, just be quiet!" cried Téa. "Quit complaining!"

"It's hot!" Joey complained just to spite her.

"Why do I bother?" Téa asked herself, exasperated.

"Yet another question life has bestowed upon us that can never be answered," said someone's voice behind them.

They all turned around and found that Marik and Odion were standing behind them.

" Whoa," said Joey. "When did you guys get here?"

"Not too long ago," answered Marik.

"Why didn't you say anything!"

"You were busy having a conversation," answered Odion.

"That was definitely not a conversation. It was...talking."

"Joey, just stop while you're ahead," said Téa.

"Marik, would you have any idea of where to start looking?" asked Yugi, getting back to the matter at hand.

Marik shook his head, "I'm sorry. My family wasn't even given any hints as to where it may be. Yami's father didn't want to take any chances."

"Where do you think it could be?" asked Téa.

"It could be anywhere," answered Marik. "It may be all the way across the sands of Egypt for all we know."

"But it is here, right?" asked Joey.

"Yes. We do know that."

"Good."

"Could it be possible that he hid it in a place that he liked to go?" suggested Yugi.

"It's always a possibility."

"Where would any of those places be?" asked Tristan.

"Well, there was a room in the palace, but that's in ruins now," said Marik. "Apparently it wasn't in there."

"Where else did he like to go?" asked Téa.

"He did take walks. Not really in any specific place, but he would go walk. Sometimes he would take Yami with him."

"Do you remember some places he used to take you?" Yugi asked Yami.

"Not very clearly," he answered.

"He doesn't remember where his father took him very well," Yugi told them.

"Great," said Tristan. "Now what are we going to do?"

"We could try to split up," suggested Joey.

"Very wise thinking, but we would have to go in groups," said Odion. "You don't know what could be out there."

"We could do that couldn't we?" asked Joey.

"It would be a little more challenging for one group," noted Marik. "Remember, the Millennium Puzzle is the only thing that will react when the book is near."

"Okay, maybe we shouldn't then," said Joey.

"I didn't say you couldn't," said Marik. "It would just be more challenging. It's a good idea. We would be able to cover more ground that way.

"C'mon, we're wasting daylight!" cried Tristan. "Let's start searching!"

"He's right," agreed Yugi.

"Okay, two of you follow me," instructed Marik, "the other two follow Odion."

The group of friends thought it over and decided that Yugi and Joey should go with Marik. Téa and Tristan would go with Odion. Then the two groups went in their separate directions.

"Where are we going?" Joey asked Marik.

"Towards the pyramids," he answered.

They walked on for a while and eventually made it to the pyramids. Joey and Yugi looked up at them. They were amazed at the size of them. Of course, they knew pyramids were very large, but they'd never seen them up close in person before. It was quite an amazing sight. Finally, the three of them split up among the pyramids and began searching.

"Odion, where are you taking us?" asked Téa.

"To the canals," he answered.

"Why are we going there?" asked Tristan.

"The Book could be anywhere. There may or may not be any limits."

"So we're going to have to look through water?" asked Tristan.

"Around the canals and in them."

"Are we going to have to dig through the sand?"

"Tristan, shut up!" cried Téa.

"I was just asking a simple question!"

"Yeah, and you're annoying!"

Odion sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Back in Domino City, Noah was sneaking out to Kaiba Corp to see what his sister was up to. Also, he wanted to check and see if Mokuba was okay. Due to being connected with Mokuba's life force, Noah could sense that Mokuba was upset. He wanted to know why, but for the moment wanted to make sure he wasn't horribly injured. Noah pressed up against the cold hard cement of an adjacent building. He watched as some employees walked inside.

'That's strange,' he thought. 'No one is supposed to be here today.'

Noah decided that his best bet was to come in from the back entrance. He quickly ran across the street and made his way behind the humongous building. He opened the door and looked inside. There was no one around. Perfect. He walked inside and started heading up the stairs to the top floor. When he was at the top of the stairs he could hear his sister's screams through the metal door!

"PUT THE PAST BEHIND YOU!" he heard her yell. "THAT'S WHY IT'S THE PAST! IT'S MEANT TO BE FORGOTTEN..."

He listened to her as she ranted some more, then he heard the sound of something shatter! Footsteps were approaching quickly from down the hall. They stopped in front of the doorway, and Noah listened as the person who made them was crying.

"Mokuba?" asked Noah.

The person on the other side gasped.

"Mokuba?" asked Noah again.

"Noah?" he answered.

"Mokuba, you're all right!" cried Noah happily.

Mokuba looked around, opened up the door and stepped out to the top of the stairwell. Noah looked at Mokuba. His face was red and slightly puffy from where Natalie struck him with her whip. He had tear streaks running down his cheeks with even more tears in his eyes. His long black hair was a bit messier than it normally was, and he also had a tiny shard of glass cutting into is left hand. Noah recognized it. It was a piece of the Blue Eyes White Dragon statue that had stood so proudly in the corner of Kaiba's office.

"What has she done to you?" asked Noah.

Mokuba shook his head. The only thing he could think about was how she got him wondering about his relationship with his brother. That by far is the worst thing she had done to him.

"Mokuba, talk to me."

"I can't," he sobbed. "I need to talk to Seto."

"You can't though."

"I wanna tell him I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

Mokuba didn't answer. He only grabbed ahold of Noah and clung to him very tightly and cried. Noah hugged him comfortingly. He didn't know what to do for Mokuba. He thought about just taking him back to the game shop, but thought better of it. Natalie would find him and destroy the place. She'd probably harm Yugi's grandfather! Noah promised he wouldn't go out on a rescue mission while the others were gone. That's when he remembered. He had to tell them what was happening! He had to get Mokuba to tell him.

"Mokuba, do you know why the employees are here?" asked Noah, changing the subject and getting information.

"I was ordered to call everyone."

"Everyone who worked for your brother or everyone who works at Kaiba Corp?"

"All the employees that work here."

"Why?"

"I don't know. She doesn't tell me. She just hurts me."

"MOKUBA!" Natalie cried.

"I have to go."

"Wait, I can go with you."

"What?"

"We're connected. I can stay inside your head."

"You can't come."

"Why not?"

"You just can't!"

Then, Mokuba opened the door and ran back down the hall. Noah was a bit confused. He'd thought for sure that Mokuba would like his company. Maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe there was another reason Mokuba didn't want him to come. Still, he'd keep an eye on his sister and his step-brother. To him Mokuba was his responsibility now. Since Seto couldn't take care of him, he would. Noah decided to stay at Kaiba Corp for a while. He sat down on the floor. Soon he would check some more things out. He wanted to know what was going on and he was going to find out.

Back in Egypt, they weren't having much luck. The Millennium Puzzle wasn't reacting in any kind of way. The Book apparently wasn't at the pyramids, but they needed to keep going. Marik, Joey, and Yugi agreed to search a little more before moving on to another area.

"Hey, do you think he hid it inside one of these?" asked Joey.

Marik shook his head, "No. Archaeologists have been through these tombs. They would have found it."

"Maybe it was hidden in a secret compartment," suggested Joey.

"You have good thinking, but I don't know how he would have gotten inside one of the pyramids, Joey."

"You have a point."

"Hey Yugi, any luck?" Marik cried over to him.

"No," Yugi answered back. He ran over to Joey and Marik.

"Should we move on yet?" asked Joey.

"Let's look a little farther out," suggested Marik. "It could be buried in the sands."

"Whoa, that's a lot of sand," Joey gulped.

"We're not looking through all of it," said Yugi.

"Yugi, let me take over," said Yami.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Yugi nodded and they switched bodies. Instantly, Marik knelt down before him.

"Please don't," said Yami.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I felt that it was the proper thing to do."

"Let's go," said Yami.

Odion, Téa, and Tristan weren't doing any better. Their work was a little more challenging. They almost felt it wasn't fair that Yugi had the Millennium Puzzle to help them.

"This is going to take forever," complained Tristan.

"C'mon, lighten up," said Téa.

"What if we don't find it soon enough? What if we find it five years from now?"

"Tristan, can you try to think positive!"

"That is positive! I could have said that we'd be out here for the rest of our lives! That would be negative!"

"Whatever."

"Besides, all this digging is making me thirsty, and the heat is unbearable!"

"Just keep looking. We can't give up! Remember, we're doing this to help Mokuba!"

"You two need to do a lot less fighting," said Odion from the canals.

"How can you stand it out here in this blaring heat?" asked Tristan.

"I'm used to it," Odion answered.

"I think I might pass out!"

"Tristan, will you please stop complaining and do a lot more digging?" asked Téa. "I need some help over here."

"What does it matter? I'm about to die of a heat stroke!"

"Well at least if you did I wouldn't have to listen to you complain anymore!"

"Nice to see my friend cares about me!"

Odion listened to them and rolled his eyes. There was no stopping them.

Soon it was dusk, and everyone was at Marik and Odion's home. They were all exhausted from the search.

"We should get to bed soon," said Marik. "That way, we can get up early to start searching again."

"How early?" asked Tristan. "I feel like I could sleep all day tomorrow."

"Don't worry about how early it is. Just try and get a good night's sleep."

"Okay," said Yugi. "Thank you."

After a few minutes, they were all getting into bed for some well-deserved rest. The hunt was going to take a while. Hopefully by the time they found it, Natalie wouldn't have caused too much trouble. Also, they hoped Mokuba would be all right. Soon they fell asleep. They would have a little more in store for them the next day.