Chapter 32 - One Less Hawkins

The gang arrived at their destination just after nightfall, but as the car and following motorbike approached Professor Hawkins' property, they were met with destruction. The large building that used to be there was now a pile of rubble. Everyone's eyes widened in shock at the scene before them.

Rose took her helmet off, staring at the carnage in disbelief, "What happened here?" she asked, getting off of the bike to join the others who had just gotten out of the car.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Joey asked, turning to Yugi. The boy did not appear to have heard him though, Yugi was standing there with a look of absolute terror. Rose guessed from his reaction that this indeed was the right place, and that something horrific must have happened.

Yugi ran over the carnage, desperately looking for any sign of life. "Professor Hawkins?" He called out, looking around "Rebecca? Is anyone here?" he spun around in circles, not being able to believe the sight. Rose walked up to him and placed a careful hand on his shoulder, but before she could say anything, they heard a voice call out from behind them.

"Yugi!" It sounded like Rebecca, and they all turned around to see her running over.

"Rebecca!" Yugi said in relief, "What happened here?"

Rebecca looked at him sadly. "They took my grandpa!" she wailed, running into Yugi's arms. "It's not fair! He didn't hurt anyone!" She sobbed.

"We'll find your grandpa," Yugi said reassuringly, "I promise." Rebecca calmed down thanks to Yugi's comfort, and she lead them all into the caravan. It was a bit cozy for the amount of people they had, but there was till enough room for everyone.

"I still don't get it," Tea said as they sat inside, "Who would kidnap the professor?" she asked.

"I bet this is all to do with his research," Rose said sadly, looking out the window to the rubble that used to be Arthurs laboratory. It had been his very research that had helped Rose in figuring out who she was and what the Millennium Heart was. It broke her heart to see that all his work was now destroyed.

"What do you mean?" Tristan asked, snapping Rose out of her thoughts.

"Well whoever kidnapped him blew up his laboratory," Rose explained, pointing outside into the darkness, "so whatever he was studying must be something that they don't want anyone to discover." She then turned to Rebecca, "what was your grandfather researching Rebecca?"

"Atlantis," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Exactly," Rose continued, "and he believed that the history of Atlantis was linked to all the monster sightings which has to have something to do with Dartz. It all makes sense." Rose felt proud of herself for being the first to think of this, and she was 99% sure that she was right. Why else would Arthur's laboratory be destroyed amidst all of this? She looked over to Yami's who's spirit was sitting beside Yugi. He gave her a proud smile and reassuring nod, showing that he agreed with her theory. She just grinned at him.

"You've got a good point there," Joey said, stretching his arms behind his head as he sat next to Rose. "Does that heart make you super smart or something?" he asked jokingly.

Rose laughed, "No unfortunately not," she said, then decided to add, "I'm just a genius naturally," she grinned.

Rebecca decided to cut in then, a challenging smile on her face, "sorry kiddo, but I'm the genius in the room," she said smugly. Rose was about to send back a witty retort, when Yugi grabbed the girl's attention.

"Hey Rebecca," he said, "what happened to that stone that I gave to your grandpa?"

"I have it right here," she said, lifting it up from around her neck, "He told me to look after it." She handed the stone back to Yugi, who closed his hand around it, silently wishing it would just lead them to Dartz and where they were keeping Arthur.

Tristan commented on how they were probably after that stone also when they kidnapped the professor, and Duke nodded in agreement. Tea then decided to speak up, asking what they were to do next. They eventually decided that seems professor Hawkins wouldn't have what they wanted, that they would probably return, and the best thing to do would be to sit and wait.

...

The gang managed to pull together some food as everybody claimed they were starving, and after not helping prepare at all Joey and Tristan ate until they almost exploded. Tea scolded them for not pulling their weight, and they simply waved it off, too full of food and lazy to care.

"You guys could eat an entire city," Rose said with a laugh, putting her plate in the sink.

"Well, sir Joey here is a self proclaimed food freak," Tristan said as he let his belt out. "He could eat the city on his own."

"True that," Joey said, stretching his arms over his head. Rose shook her head, and then realised that there were a number of people who had disappeared in the last few minutes. The only ones still in the caravan were Tristan, Joey, Duke and Tea. She stood up and went to go outside. "Hey, where are you going?" Joey asked, sitting up straight.

"I just need some fresh air, that's all," Rose sent him a smile before walking outside. Her statement was half true, and as she stood just outside the caravan looking up at the dark sky, she enjoyed the cool night air.

What had started as something small and insignificant, had seemed to turn into something bigger than any of them had imagined. Only a couple of days ago, Rose's biggest problem was figuring out her past and how she got here, but now they were worrying about events that happened even before the pyramids of Egypt were even built, and that was hard to comprehend, even for her. Rose sighed and walked over to a fallen tree, sitting down on the remaining log.

"There more we find out about this whole thing, the more dangerous it seems to get," she muttered to herself, kicking the stones on the ground with her feet.

"I know what you mean," Rose turned in surprise to see Joey standing behind her. She hadn't noticed him follow her outside. He had his hands in his pockets as he looked up at the stars. "Mind if I join ya?" he asked.

Rose shook her head, "not at all," she moved over on the log so Joey could sit down, and he did so with a sigh.

"Where do ya think we're gonna end up next?" he asked.

Rose shook her head, "I don't know Joey. But hopefully we'll get some idea of where to find this Dartz guy soon."

Joey nodded. "I don't understand though, why on earth would Mai be on their side?" Rose noticed him clench his fist by his side.

Rose smiled sympathetically, placing a hand on his shoulder. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" she asked.

He nodded, "yeah. After everything we've been through I just don't understand why she..." he trailed off, not quite wanting to finish his sentence. Rose had heard it with her own ears, Mai said she wanted to destroy Joey, to take him apart bit by bit and rid his soul from the earth. She believed that anybody who wanted to do such things mustn't have been right in the head. And that was true for Marik, who had done the same thing to Mai. Only thing was, he wasn't in his right mind, he was being controlled by darkness. There didn't seem to be a logical explanation for her motives. If she wanted revenge for what happened at Battle City, she wouldn't be after Joey, she should be thanking him. Rose had seen what he did during her duel with Marik, when the millennium puzzle showed her those snippets of past duels. The more she thought about it, the more angry she became with Mai. The woman had no reason to be targeting her friends like that, and she wasn't going to just stand by and watch someone attempt to destroy those she cared about.

"I remember back when I met her at Duelist Kingdom," Joey explained. "I had hated her guts at first, and I was sure she felt the same. But the more I got to know her, the more I realised how she needed some good friends. It took some time, but eventually she warmed up to us, after Yugi saved her from being kicked off the island. Then she saved my keister when Bandit Keith stole my Glory of the King's hand card. Without that I couldn't compete in the finals and get that prize money for my sister's operation."

Rose nodded, "I heard about that," she said. "Thanks to Yugi giving you that prize money, your sister could see again."

Joey nodded, "yeah, I couldn't ask for better friends," he said with a smile. "I just wish I knew what had gotten into Mai..."

Although Rose wasn't very fond of Mai, she had to keep in mind that there must have been a higher power at work here. "Don't worry Joey, we'll get the old Mai back, I promise."

Joey smiled at her, "I sure hope so," he said. "Anyway, I'm gonna head inside, it's getting chilly out here," he said, standing up and rubbing his hands together. "You comin' in?" he asked as he headed to the door.

Rose idly looked back up to the starts, "I will in a minute," she said. Joey nodded and headed back inside as Rose's thoughts wandered around aimlessly. They had to find Dartz and stop his plan, and if they didn't do that soon, it could be too late to stop that beast from destroying the earth like it almost did years ago. Rose then heard a clatter from behind her. She turned around, and squinted her eyes as she looked into the rubble of what used to be Arthur's laboratory. Amidst the rubble, were two small figures digging about. Curious, Rose stood up and walked over to them, before pulling out her phone to shine a light in their direction.

The two boys made noises of complaint, "Aye, watch where your pointin' that thing!" Weevil said, shielding his eyes.

"Yeah, turn it off, I can't see a thing!" Rex complained.

Rose sighed and put her phone away, "What on earth are you two doing out here?" she asked.

"We were just uh..." Rex began, trying to think of an answer that didn't involve rare cards.

"Looking for interesting artefacts," Weevil finished with an innocent grin.

"Yeah," Rex agreed, "One person's trash is another's treasure," he said with a nervous laugh.

Rose crossed her arms, "Although this was Arthur's treasure," she pointed out. "I don't think Rebecca would be very happy if she found out you two were trying to salvage stuff from his laboratory.

They both looked at each other, "We'll ask if we find something we like," Weevil said, though the way he said it made it sound like a question.

Rose shook her head, not wanting to bother with these two right now, "Whatever," she said, turning to head back to the caravan. That's when another sound caught her attention. She turned and noticed the last of the two missing people sitting further over at the edge of the rubble.

"Don't be silly Yugi, none of this is your fault at all," Rebecca said reassuringly. Rose was curious, but decided to just go back inside, eaves dropping was incredibly rude. Though she was worried about how Yugi was handling all of this. It seemed that most of the weight from all of this was on his shoulders, and as it had sounded, he must have felt that he was putting everyone in danger during this whole mission. Rose just hoped that he didn't decide to do anything rash and go out on his own to try and fix this.

Little did she know that's exactly what he was about to do.

Uhoh, Yugi's gonna run away to duel Raphael soon! D:

we all know what happens next :'( Its gonna be hard writing the next chapter or two just right, so bare with me because I do want to do the story justice. But anyway, i hope you're enjoying this so far!

Let me know what you think :)

PharaohsThrone :)