Face The Music: A Yugioh 5Ds AU Fanfiction
By: Storychan
Plot: Team Satisfaction was the most rocking band in Neo Domino City, at the peak of fame….before they mysteriously disbanded and were never heard from again. Now, one reporter is determined to find out what broke up one of the best musical acts she's ever seen. BAND AU
Chapter 1
The interviewer couldn't believe it – she'd been sent to talk to the Jack Atlas, the biggest rock star in Neo Domino City, backstage before the final concert of his sold-out world tour. She was nervous, partially because she was meeting a celebrity (she had every one of his albums at home) and partially because Jack, the "King of Rock", was infamously temperamental. One tabloid (obviously of a far lower caliber than the magazine that she worked for) had reported it that he'd fired his roadie, Mikage, just for failing to bring one metric ton of ramen to his dressing room (an outrageous demand he'd typed up in his tour rider). The article had said that he'd screamed at her before hurling a speaker across the stage, terrifying the poor girl for weeks afterward. The interviewer knew she'd have to be careful how she spoke to this musician. Oh well, she decided, what rock star hasn't been rumored to engage in bad behavior once in a while? Didn't Keith Moon blow up a toilet?
At least he wasn't on drugs (to her knowledge). One rock star she'd had the misfortune of interviewing had splattered the wall behind her with blood from his heroin syringe. Sometimes, famous people were actually pretty disgusting. This assignment, comparatively, might not be so bad. With that thought in mind, she timidly approached her target: "Mr. Atlas?"
The man glared up at her from the plush couch where he sat, tuning his guitar. He had a can of Blue Eyes coffee by his elbow, and he was wearing the same white coat he'd donned for the promotional photographs her magazine had published in their previous issue. "What do you want?" he snapped. "Can't you see I'm trying to prepare for my show?"
"Ah…yes sir….I'm with Domino Music Monthly. I'm here for an interview. I set it up with your manager, didn't he tell you?" the interviewer squeaked.
"Godwin," Jack hissed. "Worst goddam manager in this business, he never tells me anything." He sighed. "How long is this going to take?"
"Uh, not long, sir," the interviewer promised. "I just need to ask you a few questions for the segment we're doing on you and your meteoric rise to fame these past few years."
"Hmph. Very well," Jack decided, setting down the guitar. "I guess it's not unusual that everyone would want to talk to me, the King."
"R-right," the interviewer replied. "Ok, first question: what inspired your latest hit single, 'Wheel of Fortune'?"
"The luck I've been having the past few years, I guess," Jack shrugged. "You know, the fortune I've been able to have, to do shows like this for thousands of screaming fans every night, to have a platinum album like I do. Not everyone has what it takes to get as famous and be as successful as I have."
"Well, it's true you are an amazing success story," the interviewer nodded. "Ever since you started your solo career two years ago."
"Excuse me?" growled Jack, narrowing his violet eyes.
"Uh…well…." the interviewer looked down at her notes frantically. "I was referring to how well your music career has gone since you quit Team Satisfaction."
"What did you just say?"
"Team Satisfaction," the interviewer explained. "I mean, that was the band you started out with, right? According to my research, you weren't actually the front man, were you? You were just the guitarist! The lead singer was actually a man named Yusei Fudo, and -"
"WHO TOLD YOU COULD SAY HIS BLOODY NAME IN FRONT OF ME?" Jack roared, interrupting by shooting out of his seat angrily. "I TOLD GODWIN THAT IF ANY FUCKING REPORTERS TALKED TO ME ABOUT YUSEI GODDAMED FUDO, I'D THROW THEM OUT!"
"W-we had heard unconfirmed rumors that the reason Team Satisfaction broke up after their debut album," the interviewer continued, straining her glasses as she tried desperately to keep her cool – her editor was far scarier than the raging man in front of her – "was that you and Mr. Fudo had a falling out, some sort of creative differences. Would you like to comment on that?" she asked, shoving a tape recorder into his face.
He knocked it out of her hand, and she drew back in shock as he continued to rage, "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT FUCKING FUDO, YOU HEAR ME? AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN, JUST THE GUITARIST? NOBODY WAS BUYING OUR ALBUMS FOR FUDO'S STUPID EMO FUCKING LYRICS ANYWAY, IT WAS MY KICKASS GUITAR RIFFS THAT GOT US FANS!"
The interviewer stammered, trying to salvage the interview that was falling apart all around her. "M-Mr. Atlas, sir, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to – "
"ALL THE REPORTERS WANT TO ASK ABOUT IS FUDO, FUDO, FUDO!" Jack cried, clearly not done. "I'M THE ONE WHO BLOODY STAYED FAMOUS, AFTER HE FADED INTO TOTAL OBSCURITY, AND YOU LOT STILL WANT TO ASK ME ABOUT TEAM SATISFACTION, WHY I QUIT, WHY WE'RE NOT TOGETHER ANYMORE – DID YOU EVER THINK IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS SICK OF HEARING ABOUT THAT CRAB-HEADED GIT?! EVEN NOW, AFTER I'VE CUT ALL TIES WITH HIM, HE'S STILL STEALING MY DAMNED SPOTLIGHT! WHY?"
"S-Sir, please, I…."
"No," Jack seethed, his voice dropping to a whisper, which was somehow even more terrifying. "I'm not going to talk to you anymore, Miss….Whatever Your Bloody Name Is."
"Carly," the interviewer introduced. "My name's Carly."
"Well, Miss Carly," Jack spat, "I'm sorry, I don't have any more time to waste on you. I'm about to play a set for several hundred people who paid a great deal of money just to see me, and I'm not going to wear out my voice continuing to scream at you before I can even sing a note. Goodbye. I'm sure you can show yourself out."
And with that, he took the stage with a whirl of his coat, and she heard the feverish scream on the other side of the curtain as the first few notes of "Wheel of Fortune" started to play. She felt like crying as she called her editor to try and explain what had gone wrong.
"It's ok," her editor assured with a sigh. "I should've warned you, Jack's known to flip out on anyone who mentions his old band."
"Why?" Carly protested. "I mean, it's one of the biggest mysteries in recent music history! Nobody knows why Team Satisfaction broke up. Not a single former member has ever given an interview about it."
"I know," the editor sighed heavily.
"Well, it just makes no sense!" Carly argued. "I mean, they were at the absolute peak of their fame – 'Satisfy Me' had just gone platinum, they were making headlines all over the country, everyone loved them, they seemed like they were going to do great things, and then – poof! Suddenly they announce an 'indefinite hiatus', and then disappear entirely for two years, and then suddenly Jack comes back saying he's a solo artist now? Like, what the hell? What happened to the other members? Where did they go?"
"Who knows?" asked the editor, and Carly knew he was shrugging in his office. "Maybe fame was just too much pressure on them, they wanted to get out of the limelight and spend time with their family. Maybe they checked into rehab. Maybe we'll find them in a few years writing songs for someone else. Maybe years from now someone will find out they're homeless, like that one dude from KISS."
"That was a hoax," Carly recalled.
"Does it matter?" the editor queried. "Look, why, are you so interested in the fate of a one-hit-wonder group, anyway? It's not like it's that uncommon of a tale in this industry anyway."
"I….have my reasons, ok?" Carly evaded. She didn't want to tell her editor how much she'd loved Team Satisfaction, how she'd worn shirts with the band members' faces on them at their concerts and held up a sign that read 'I 3 Jack', how she'd stood in line for three hours to be the first to buy their album, how she'd blasted "Satisfy Me" nonstop as she'd sped down the freeway the summer before graduation. Their music had been the part of the best summer of her life, and she was still pretty sentimental about it.
"Look," the editor said finally, his voice staticky on the other end of the line, "if you really want to know, why don't you track down that Fudo guy? Get his side of the story on what happened between him and Jack and the other band members – what were there names?"
"Crow Hogan, the drummer," Carly remembered immediately, "and Kiryu Kyosuke, the bassist."
"Yeah. Them. Find them," the editor suggested. "Since Jack obviously ain't planning on talking to the press anytime soon."
"Other magazines have tried," Carly frowned. "None of them have been able to find these guys and get an interview."
"That's why it'd be a major scoop if you got the exclusive from them," the editor grinned. "If this is your pet project, do it. Figure out what went wrong, and why Jack hates his old band buddies so bad now."
"Ok," Carly agreed, a determined expression crossing her face. "I'll do it. I don't know how, but….somehow, I'll make Jack face the music!"