Chapter 2 - First Mission

"You ready Haruo..?" Okita asked as they were about to exit their room. The teen nodded slowly, and hesitantly as well. "Y-yeah...I guess."

"Don't be nervous, all we're gonna do is to infiltrate the Fortune Cup. Inside we may see some awesome dueling..!" Liquid encouraged.

"Um...isn't infiltrating a bad thing?" his face had 'innocent' written all over it.

"Depends on the reason." Liquid replied mildly.

"Oh. So...infiltrating the tournament is good?" Haruo asked again.

"Good for the movement." Okita responded simply, leaving him silent because he was afraid if he pried further it may upset them. Okita did say that they came here recently too, so they may not know the group's intentions...or Sayer's motives for that matter. "Who's Akiza against in the Fortune Cup anyway?"

They both shrugged. "Dunno, though I did hear he's a powerful duelist." Liquid mumbled. "Okay, enough chit-chat, we can't let Sayer down can we?" Okita beamed. The two both nodded in reply, and then they all exited the room and left the building, passing the gate and entered new Domino City.

"Since we're not allowed to enter the tournament, we have to find a way back." Liquid murmured. Haruo looked around, the streets were clean, all of them covered with the same pink-ish colored tiles. A few benches were around too, along with trashcans and lamp posts. The usual city decor, except you could barely see anyone roaming around. They must be watching the Fortune Cup...or staying at home watching the Fortune Cup from the TV. "Hey Haruo, can you check the entrance gate?" Okita asked. "Okay." he replied. He ran towards a short street where the tiles changed into gray concrete, and Haruo could easily spot the guard at the front of the gate. Sighing, he decided to turn back so he won't be seen; it would be better if they didn't know that they were lingering around here...

When Haruo came back to the same place, he saw Okita and Liquid nearby a staircase that stretched somewhere the teen obviously had no idea where. "We can enter from here Haruo! Come on!" Liquid yelled, but not loud enough for most people to hear. Haruo nodded and followed the pair as they went up.

Suddenly, he found himself in front of a ton of large crates. Light yellow-brown in color, and heavy enough for one person to push with slight difficulty. It took awhile to solve this weird puzzle, but with the three of them working together, they easily got in and saw that they ended up not far from the gate. But they were inside, that's what counted. Silently, they went past the automatic dark green doors and crept inside. Okita spotted another door that may be empty, and went in. He soon went out again and gestured the other two to follow. Haruo and Liquid nodded and tiptoed towards their friend, safely inside the deserted room.

Meanwhile...

"Yusei Fudo emerges as the victor of this epic battle! He is our champion!" the MC exclaims as the crowd burst into roars and cheers.

Back at the room where the three were, from there they could hear the loud screams and cheers from the audience. "Huh? Has the duel finished already?" Liquid mumbled aloud. "More importantly, where's Okita? He's been taking forever..!" at that moment, the said person entered the room, panting a little but with a slight serious expression on his face.

"I apologize for my lateness, but I have bad news. Akiza Izinski just lost."

"What?" they both said in unison. "Don't we need her for this plan to work? Now what?" Liquid was yelling from shock. Haruo was a little stunned; he thought that Akiza was a good duelist judging that Sayer looked like he put a lot of trust in her. Who could she have lost to..?

"I guess we just have to go home and forget about it. Even coming here was probably a waste of time now..." Okita answered, disappointed. Out of the blue his expression changed. "But why don't we take a peek around before we go on our merry little way?" he suggested.

"Won't that be dangerous? I mean...what if Sayer gets mad at us for disobeying orders?" Haruo asked.

"Come on Haruo, he didn't say anything about a little exploring now didn't he?" Liquid nudged him a little. "Fine...we'll do it." he smiled. The three of them went out of the waiting room and walked through the short hall when they heard a voice nearby them. "Nice job Akiza. Now let's go home." it was Sayer, Haruo was sure of it.

"But I...I..." Akiza stammered back, a little confused.

"Let's go. You need rest now Akiza." Sayer insisted. Soon, the pair can be seen not far from the trio. As soon as the man saw them, he faced them and wore his usual face. "Everyone, the plan is on hold. We're going home." he simply said. It was a little surprising for Haruo. That's it-?

"Ehehehe! Akiza Izinski, stop right there..!" the voice suddenly came out. The teen then spotted a short guy with silver hair and green eyes come from the elevator at the far end of the hall. He had a sinister expression on his face and the red lines on his eyes made it kind of scarier. His outfit consisted of a white turtleneck undershirt and pants, along with a black belt and a red jacket with a swallowtail back. "Director Goodwin would like to see you my dear." he sneered.

"Hmph." Sayer glared at him. "As if I would ever want to give him the time of day."

"Ehehehehe! Feisty aren't we..? Well then, I'll just have to take you by force!" out of the blue; the two security guard behind him stepped forward and were closing in on Sayer and Akiza. "Grr...I don't have time for this nonsense." he muttered. The man then faced again Okita, Liquid and Haruo. "Take care of these guys. I have to take Akiza back so she can rest." with that, the pair left, leaving them having to confront the two guards. Okita and Liquid took one while Haruo took the other, then the duel began. "Duel!" the security guard and Haruo shouted in unison after putting their duel disk on.

"I'll start, draw!" Haruo picked a card from the deck and placed it with the other five. He spotted Threatening Roar again, and set the card on the field. He then noticed a new card in the batch. "Alright, let's see what this can do." he thought. "I summon Genex Turbine!" (LV 4 Atk 1400/Def 1300) he placed a face-up monster card on the field, and another large machine emerged from the field. As soon as it came out, a small flash came from it, and Haruo saw that its attack increased by 400 points. (Atk 1800)

"Cool...u-um, I end my turn!"

End Turn 1 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000

Haruo noticed that his opponent wasn't saying much at all, and if he did, it wasn't with much...enthusiasm. "Draw." after that, he set a monster and slid two trap cards in his duel disk. "End of turn."

End Turn 2 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000

"I have to be a little more careful around this guy..." the teen thought. "Draw!"

"Activate Simultaneous Loss!" the guard suddenly shouted while the trap card flipped open, causing the next card in his deck to go directly to the graveyard. Haruo didn't know what card it was, but he felt like it was a good one sadly. He checked the card he just got, it was Genex Controller again. (LV 4 Atk 1400/Def 1200) He smiled at the card, and then placed it on his disk. "I Summon Genex Controller!" the sleepy-ish monster appeared on the field, and Genex Turbine sprang into action, stretching out a black cord from itself, it attached to the other monster, making its attack go up by 400 as well. (Atk 1800)

"Attack Genex Turbine to the set monster!" he commanded. The large machine-thing suddenly released a large beam of light, and the beam passed through the card easily, blasting it to bits. (Masked Dragon LV 3 Atk 1400/Def 1100 - Destroyed)

"Activate effect, I Special Summon Baby Dragon in defence position." (LV 3 Atk 1200/Def 800) out of the blue, another card came up on the field. The monster emerged from it, and took the form of a small, orange dragon. Haruo smirked, and told his other monster to attack it. Of course, it shattered its defences with no effort, and the guard was left with no monsters on the field again.

End Turn 3 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000

Again, the man drew a card and set another monster, his face still neutral, but Haruo noticed a flash of worry in his eyes. "If this keeps up, then I'll be able to win this in the next few turns..!" he thought.

End Turn 4 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000

The teen took out another card again and placed it in his hand. Smiling to himself, he summoned Psychic Snail on the field along with his two other monsters. (LV 4 Atk 1900/Def 1200)

"Genex Controller, attack the set card!" it did so, and showed a weird, white angel before it broke into pieces. (Mokey Mokey LV 1 Atk 300/Def 100 - Destroyed) "Then Psychic Snail and Genex Turbine, direct attack!" the two monsters started to gather up energy and unleashed a large beam that mixed together and created a large explosion on the opponent. He seemed fine, but the decrease was great. "I end my turn!" Haruo beamed. He took out a big chunk of those points, and in the next turn, he could win.

End Turn 5 Guard = 4300 Haruo = 8000

This time, when he drew, a shocked and angered look on his face appeared. After that, he placed another set monster on the field and exhaled sharply. "I end my turn."

End turn 6 Guard = 4300 Haruo = 8000

"Summon Genex Neutron..!" (LV 4 Atk 1800/Def 1200) the same mechanical monster from before came up on the field, and oddly, sneered at his opponent, though only Haruo noticed that. Suddenly, one of Genex Turbine's cords stretched and plugged itself on the newly summoned monster, once more, increasing its attack by 400. (Atk 2200) Haruo grinned in excitement and shouted the command for Genex Controller to attack the only monster on the opponent's side of the field. (Bubonic Vermin LV 3 Atk 900/Def 600 - Destroyed) He expected a response from the guard, but he kept quiet, and soon, the guard's Life Points dropped to zero.

End of Duel

"Grr...I was unlucky today." he muttered under his breath and stepped back nearby the weird guy. Liquid also won the duel against the other guy, and Okita was just back-up, so he didn't do much. "Well, well, well...looks like they've managed to escape." the silver-haired man smirked at the loss. "I suppose we have no choice but to fall back." he said mildly. After that, the three people entered the elevator again, and soon only Okita, Liquid and Haruo were left in the hall. "That was close..." Haruo mumbled.

"Looks like this is all we're gettin' done today...our plan was a failure. Let's head back." Liquid sighed. "Indeed it was...we likely won't be getting any more orders today." Okita added. "We wouldn't want to waste our energy on any unnecessary efforts now would we..?"

"Uh huh..." Haruo tried to follow the conversation. Okita smiled at him and walked away, out of the empty area. Liquid was behind him, but he turned back for a brief moment. "Hurry up Haruo, let's beat it." he said. Then he too was out of sight. Haruo exhaled, he better go along with them if he didn't want to get lost in here. He was about to take one step when he heard more steps behind him. Turning, he saw a weird lady with green hair and strange-looking glasses behind him.

"Hey..! You're the duelist from the Arcadia Movement right? I'm Carly Carmine, journalist!" she exclaimed with a big grin on her face.

"Eh..? Journalist?" Haruo repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, now can I ask you a favour? Tell me everything you know about the Arcadia Movement!" she beamed, but then she frowned a little. "Although...it looks like you're gonna be a pretty tough nut to crack."

"Tough nut? What does that mean?"

"Haha! Look at you! That innocent look in your eyes...I haven't seen that in awhile!" she grinned. All of a sudden, they both heard a piercing scream out of nowhere, and Carly looked shocked by it, while Haruo was still very confused about the entire situation. "Huh? Oh my gosh! Has the championship match started already?" she exclaimed, worried in a...sort of shocked way. "I've gotta get to the stadium, pronto!" Carly then ran to the elevator, and Haruo decided to follow to find out about the sound too.

"What..? What's going on?" when the door opened, he saw Carly with a stunned face, and even more surprising, a large, flaming dragon-like creature was high above them. "W-who just summoned that huge dragon? This is gonna be HUGE! I gotta get an interview!" she exclaimed excitedly. Haruo heard cheering all of a sudden, and saw the crowd down below. Taking a look behind the rail, he saw a large track for the Duel Runner, and two people standing there...

"Ohhh the drama! What a shocker! No one could have predicted this..!" the MC was practically shrieking over the loud noises coming from the audience. "We have a new king! Yuseiii Fudooooo!"

"Yusei...Fudo?" Haruo repeated. All of a sudden, his head began to pound, hard. Like out of the blue someone hit him hard from behind with a strong weapon, except that didn't even happen. Haruo then saw something that made him stumble and gape in surprise.

Everything was blurry, but he could make out the few buildings in the background. Along with a bridge not far from there...the place was dirty, and he could see two kids playing nearby. The whole place had a peaceful atmosphere...but two people stood in front of him, and they were colored vibrantly. Yet oddly enough, he couldn't make out their faces or clothes at all. Like they were being blocked by his own mind.

"Looks like it was a breeze for both of you huh..?" he heard a voice say.

"Yeah...I guess it was. I mean, we're good friends after all..." another voice followed.

"That voice..." Haruo blinked. For a split second, he saw what the person looked like. Black, spiky hair with yellow highlights, a dark brown vest and blue eyes...it was foggy, but Haruo felt he knew him from somewhere before. His mind told him that he was important to him. But how..? "Ugh...who is he?" Haruo stuttered as his head ached further, causing him to fall on his knees. "Who..? Who is he..? Why...why can't I remember?" he screamed; his hands covering his ears and his eyes closed shut, trying to think as hard as he could. But no matter what, he couldn't find him again; the picture disappeared from his mind.

"H-hey! Are you alright?" when Haruo heard it, he opened his eyes and looked up, finding Carly staring at him with a worried face. "You just suddenly started shrieking...you okay?"

"I'm...I'm fine." walk unsteadily, Haruo managed to get himself to stand, pushing Carly's hand away from him. "Sorry, but I won't be able to answer your questions...another time...I promise." after that, he staggered to the elevator and pressed the button; the door sliding open a few moments later. "Are you sure you can get back like that?" Carly asked again.

"Yeah...thanks for worrying." Haruo replied, his voice weak from the sudden memory that came to him. Still dizzy, he entered the lift, and then the doors closed.

"There you are Haruo!" blinking a few times, the teen saw Okita and Liquid running towards him. Smiling, he walked slowly to them, his body feeling heavy and tired all of a sudden. "We were worried that something happened to you! Where have you been?" Liquid questioned. "I was-" out of the blue, Haruo eyes closed and he collapsed into Okita and Liquid, catching him on time for all of them not to fall on the ground. "Haruo?" they both shouted in worry. Noticing that their friend was now unconscious, they brought him back to the room and laid him on Okita's bed. Haruo looked pale, and Liquid was already panicking that the situation was worse than it seemed. Okita decided to check if he had a fever; after a few seconds, he sighed in relief. "Well...he's not sick. I think he's just exhausted." he concluded. The other also exhaled. "Phew..! For a second there, I thought Haruo was in big trouble..!"

"It's a little strange though...Haruo doesn't look that frail...I wonder what got him so tired?" Okita mumbled while gazing at Haruo's slightly troubled face.

A/N : If it's a little confusing and vague, sorry. I was sorta rushing this...I hope it isn't too bad, and Haruo (and I) won another easy battle again! Maybe Haruo is lucky after all...

Please Review~! Yay~ nearly three thousand words!