Me: I'm going to leave all the explaining of where I've been to the end. I'm sure my lovely readers (especially the one with butcher's knives) will be happy to read the chapter ASAP. You all should know by now what I own and do not own, so without further ado, here is the long-awaited chapter 35!
Chapter 35
Right now I'm sitting at a fancy table in an even fancier restaurant with Jack, Crow, and Yusei. Mina and Trudge are on the other side of the table. Both are silent and looking at us in a way I think they want something.
"So?" I place my fork down as I ask this. Not that I had intended to eat. "What do you mean?" Mina replies.
Yusei looks up. "Nothing in this world is purely free. What do you want from us?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth," I mutter. No one hears me say this.
"I agree with Yusei," Jack says.
The two officers exchange glances and Trudge shrugs. "Okay, the truth is, we have a favor to ask of you."
"If there's another Ghost running around, I am not going to help catch him," I state, internally shuddering as I recall the event.
"It's nothing like that," Mina says abruptly. "A few nights ago a young man was found unconscious on the beach. He unfortunately has amnesia and we can't exactly take care of him."
"We were hoping you four could take care of him, if only for a little while." Trudge sees our faces. They were pretty much saying no. "Please?"
Jack slams his fist onto the table. "Our garage isn't a hotel. Four people is enough already."
Crow swallows his food. "Yeah, it's not like we could anyways."
Now Trudge punches the table. "So you plan to refuse even after we treated you to this place?"
"Pretty much. Crow's the only one who has been eating," Yusei says. "We're done here."
Yusei leaves the table and I follow him. Jack follows as well and Crow stuffs a large amount of food in his mouth before leaving.
A few minutes later and we're in the parking garage… and there is a young man tampering with Jack's Duel Runner.
"What are you doing to my Runner?" Jack demands. The young man turns around just as Jack lands a punch to his face. The guy goes flying. "Be glad I'm only doing that."
And with that said, Jack gets on his Duel Runner angrily and rides off.
"Are you okay?" I offer a hand to the guy Jack punched and help him up.
"Yeah." The guy rubs his face. "Your friend hits hard."
Before anything else is said, Mina and Trudge walk over. "What's going on here?" Mina asks.
Crow points at the young man. "That guy right there was messing with Jack's Runner."
"Bruno!" Mina shouts angrily. "You should know better than to mess with stuff that isn't yours!"
The young man-apparently Bruno-starts apologizing immediately. Of course, I only hear up to what I think is what his third sentence, as my head suddenly feels like it's going to explode.
"Ugh." I grunt, and then kneel down, clutching my head.
"Sky! Are you alright?" Yusei asks, running over.
"My… head…" I groan, before fainting.
XXX
I wake up with a start and my head barely misses colliding with Yusei's arm. "Are you okay Sky?" Yusei asks.
"I'm pretty sure," I reply. Quickly I decide to keep what I saw a secret. What I had seen really terrified me. "It was just a freak headache."
"You sure?"
I roll my eyes. "Definitely."
At this I realize that we're in the apartment and that I'm lying on the couch. Seeing my confusion, Yusei quickly says, "Mina and Trudge offered to drive you to the hospital, but I told them just to drive you home. Your Runner is here too."
"Okay." Now I notice that guy Bruno is here, typing something into the computer. "What's he doing here?"
"Turns out he's good with Duel Runners," Yusei replies.
Suddenly Bruno exclaims happily, "I've got it!"
"Seriously?" Crow pokes his head in the room. "Took you long enough. Why don't we test it out now?"
"We should wait until tomorrow. It's already past midnight," Yusei says.
I was unconscious for nearly seven hours? I think in shock.
While thinking, I must have zoned out because the next thing I know is that I'm alone in the room. I need to get that out of my head…
Deciding that, even though I'd been out for over seven hours, I still needed sleep, I headed to my room and fell on the bed.
I never did get back to sleep that night.
Weeks Later, around 4 a.m.…
My door swinging open quickly and crashing into the wall wakes me up. After the door opens, a voice-belonging to the intruder-shouts, "He's not in here!"
Rubbing my eyes I sit up and glare at the intruder, and then realize it's a Sector Security officer. "What the heck are you doing here?" I demand groggily.
I don't get an answer from the officer, but another voice shouts, "I've got him!"
The officer who barged into my room apologizes and then leaves. I follow him outside, where I see them arresting Jack. The others are all outside as well, and I hear Yusei ask, "What's going on? What did he do?"
Of course, the officers just ride away, Jack's Duel Runner in tow.
"This is bad," I say. "Come on, we need to go see what's going on."
A few hours later…
"This is video footage caught a few nights ago on a highway," Mina says, pushing a button. On the TV next to her, it shows what appears to be Jack's Duel Runner ramming another one repeatedly until the other Runner rides off the screen. Then there is a close-up on a Red Dragon Archfiend as it is roaring.
"That's Jack's Duel Runner!" Crow exclaims.
"And Red Dragon Archfiend," Yusei says. "But that doesn't make sense."
"Well, it's clear that he's participating in a Turbo Duel and that he's trying to make his opponent crash," Trudge says. "And unfortunately for Jack, we have three other instances in the past week that are like this."
There's no way Jack would do something like this, I think. …Right?
As I instantly regret that thought, Crow looks down and sighs. "Well, the timing works."
"Crow!" I shout.
This is lost as Trudge leans forward. "What do you mean the timing works?" he demands. "What do you four know about this?"
I was mostly clueless, but the other three start a chorus of "Um…"
Bruno takes the lead. "Well, a little more than a week ago…"
Yusei picks up. "We were testing out some new engines and training for the WRGP." He pauses. "We were focusing on Tag Duels and team tactics, trying to learn how to play off one another and build on each other's moves."
Crow's explanation was next. "He had a card that I'd told him a hundred times to play, but he didn't. I shouted at him, he shouted back, and bam! He gets angry with us and decides to leave."
Now I understand a bit. "Is this why Jack's been in a bad mood lately?"
"Yeah," Yusei replies.
Crow walks over to the edge of the observation deck. The deck looks into a room where Jack is in.
"What's going on with you?" Crow shouts down. "We have a fight and you take it out on innocent randoms?!"
Jack simply replies, with a touch of anger and frustration in his voice, "It wasn't me. I'm innocent."
"Well you don't seem that innocent! That was your Duel Runner slamming into those people and that was Red Dragon Archfiend tearing through the sky. How could that have possibly been someone else?"
"All I know is that I didn't do what I didn't do."
Crow smirks. "Right," he says sarcastically. "I think I know what's going on. Since you're a pathetic has-been jerk who can't do anything by himself, you're trying to ruin out team's name! You're trying to drag us all the way to Loser Town."
"Crow you need to-" Yusei starts, but is cut off.
"You! Why don't you get down here Crow, and say everything you just said to me to my face!" Jack shouts.
"I would," Crow says, smiling, "but you're in a cell and-"
Yusei lays his hand on Crow's shoulder and attempts to tell him to stop. Crow shrugs him off and continues by saying, "I don't hang out in cells, that's where selfish ex-champs with attitude problems whose best days are way behind them hang out."
Now I'm angry at Crow, faintly remembering my time in the Facility. "Crow, SHUT THE *h-word* UP!" I shout, and then clamp my hand over my mouth.
Yusei is now trying to pull Crow away from the deck and I can hear Jack shout something at Crow as two officers are taking him away.
"So long, Jack!" Crow calls with amusement. "Hope you're happy not having any friends!"
That night…
I'm still out racing around the city, still trying to calm down from what happened in Sector Security HQ.
I'm not sure what I believe anymore. I don't believe Jack would do something like this, but all that evidence…
And Crow. Why on earth did he have to say those things?! That was not only ridiculously uncalled for; he was also being a hypocrite! He's probably spent more time in a cell in one sitting than Jack has in his life!
I'm jerked out of my thoughts by Yusei's face appearing on the com screen. "Sky, you need to be on the lookout for Jack. He escaped his cell."
"Wha-that idiot! He'll be in much more trouble now!"
Yusei glances off to the side. "I know. Just… keep looking. We'll meet up at the Bridge in two hours."
"Got it." I end the call.
An hour and a half later, I spot him. Actually, I see two Jacks, as much sense as that makes. One of the Jacks has an empty field and the other has a Red Dragon Archfiend on it that is gearing to attack. The Jack with the empty field seems to be slightly in pain.
I ride up alongside of them. "What is going on here?" I demand.
The Jack with the empty field looks at me. "I can handle this myself Sky! Get out of here."
The other Jack smirks. "Oh really? Then you can stop Red Dragon Archfiend's attack?" he asks. When the losing Jack doesn't answer, the winning one laughs. "I thought not. Red Dragon Archfiend, end this duel! Absolute Powerforce!"
Just before the burning claw hits the losing Jack, his eyes widen. "Sky, get out of here! The damage in this duel is real!"
"What?!" I shout in disbelief. But I don't get an answer, as the attack hits, effectively creating a barrier of fire between me and who I believe to be the real Jack. When the smoke subsides, only the Jack who ordered the attack is on the track.
I quickly see the hole in the barrier and stop. "Jack!" I shout, running over and looking down. All that's there, much to my horror, is the ocean. "…Jack?" I ask again.
"You don't have the right to call me that," the other Jack-the imposter-says from behind me.
I whip around, furious. "You…! I know you're an imposter! And now…" I pause, not believing what I saw and willing tears not to come. I mean, I could only assume what had just happened and the facts pointed towards… well…
"I challenge you to a Turbo Duel, whoever you really are."
The imposter grinned. "I'll take you on any day."
To be continued…
Me: …And that is where I shall stop. Yeah, the one scene I took almost everything directly from the show, but…
*All other occupants of the room are speechless, some with their mouths wide open*
Me: Oh! Don't worry! As much as I want to, I'm not killing off Jack. I'm just having Sky have the same reaction Yusei and Crow did when they found Trust Guardian in the actual show.
Sky: You have an insane imagination.
Me: *Grinning* I know! …Anyways, the reasons I haven't updated in around four months: I had to finish seventh grade, my band teacher said she was going to a different school, I went to summer camp, I visited my family in New York who sadly either didn't have the Internet or didn't have Microsoft Word, one of my grandmas is sick, one of my uncles nearly lost an eye, one of my other relatives had a stroke, I've now started eighth grade, I became obsessed with the Professor Layton video game series, I've become extremely obsessed with crime solving shows (mainly Criminal Minds, Psych, and The Mentalist), and last but not least, my parents limited my time on the computer and I wanted to read other people's fanfics during most of that time. Wait… I also had a killer case of writer's block.
Yusei: That's a lot of excuses…
Sky: Ditto.
Me: They aren't excuses! They're legit reasons to why I couldn't update!
Jack: Yeah right.
Me: *Jumps, then shakes my head* Can you please go away? I said sorry-*pauses*-one hundred eighty-seven times!
Crow: Why on earth would you keep track of that?
Me: I'm not answering that. Okay, before I get extremely carried away, I ask for reviews, as always.
Crow: Don't forget I'll flame it for you!