As the sun set, Crow and I got on our runners, and headed to the area with the most sightings of this fake Jack. We had only been doing our make-shift patrol for about an hour when bright lights flew down a parallel highway, a dozen sirens filling the air.

Glancing over to Crow, I called out, "What are the chances that they found the pseudo-Jack?"

He nodded, "We'd better get over there."

Rushing through the convoluted maze of the duel highways, we finally caught up just as a couple of officers spun out of control due to the crazy driver. Crow drove up next to the copy of Jack, "You think it's funny to ruin a person's reputation?"

The man laughed in a voice that almost was Jack's, but was definitely wrong, "I AM Jack Atlas, it was the other one that was a pale copy."

I pulled up next to him as well, "You can say that all you want, but you are the version of him that he used to be. Who he is now is far superior in every way."

"He can't be the superior one now! Not after he disappeared!"

Crow glared, "What did you do to our brother?"

"You'll never see him again!"

As he yelled that, he rammed into Crow, sending him spinning out of control. I was forced to swerve to make sure I didn't get hit as well.

Fake-Jack laughed in a creepily high voice, "Only the weak fall so easily."

I chased after the fake Jack with the young cop that Jack had helped out a few months again.

The cop glanced over, "Fudo-sama, what happened to Jack?"

"All we know is that this one is an imposter, and Jack was his opponent last night."

Once again, Fake Jack let out a cackling laugh, "The Jack you care about is weak and foolish."

I rolled my eyes, and sighed, "Why are men idiots?"

Suddenly smoke filled my vision and I saw a dark shape getting close to me. Swerving, I raced past the fake Jack, while I felt a surge of anger come through the Signer mark. An anger that was as familiar to me as my own heartbeat, "Jack's alive."

The cop caught up with me, "How do you know?"

I lifted up my arm, "We can feel each other's emotions through this, and he is PISSED."

Fake Jack shot between us, nearly knocking us over as the cop called for backup. Before the fake could do anything, I heard a deep voice yell, "Yusei! Are you alright?"

Jack's current Wheel of Fortune landed in between us and the fake one, and my brother's purple eyes gazed at me in concern, "Yeah, I'm fine. Kick this idiot's butt before I make sure he doesn't hurt anyone."

Tossing Trust Guardian over to him, I reached through the mark to make sure that Crow was alright, "Crow is sore, but it feels like he's coming."

Jack nodded as he put the card back into his deck, "Did you…"

"She figured it out first. Now hurry up, she's at the garage right now, but I don't know how long she'll be there."

As they started the duel, an infinity symbol appeared around them, and my blood froze, It really is the same people. But how did they copy his card?

Fake Jack drew a card and loudly shouted to the heavens, "I summon Interceptor Demon in attack mode!"

Interceptor Demon-1400

Almost audibly rolling his eyes, Jack spoke very clearly, "Since my opponent has a monster and I don't, I can special summon Vice Dragon from my hand."

Vice Dragon-1000

"Next, I normal summon the Tuner monster Trust Guardian!"

Trust Guardian-0

Relief filled me as Jack continued to speak, "I tune the two of them together to create my soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

Red Dragon Archfiend-3000

As Jack was about to attack, I got distracted by a familiar beat-up old car following us on the highway. The cop friend whipped his head towards her, "Ma'am, you can't be here! This lane is just for runners!"

"That's my freaking boyfriend! I have a right to be here!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see an attack land on the Fake Jack, but the dude wasn't bothered, "Interceptor Demon deals 500 points of damage if it is the target of an attack."

Life Points Jack=3500

"I don't care, because your monster is still destroyed!"

Life Points Enemy=2400

From Jack I could feel a mixture of anger and content as he placed a card facedown to end his turn, and I watched his opponent start his turn.

"Since you have the only monsters on the field right now, I will also special summon Vice Dragon.

Vice Dragon-1000

Jack muttered to me, "Here we go."

No sooner had the words left his mouth when Fake Jack kept talking, "Next I summon Flare Resonator to my side."

Flare Resonator-300

"I tune the two of them together to create Red Dragon Archfiend!"

Calling it 'red' was false advertising, because anyone who wasn't colorblind could clearly see…

Purple Dragon Archfiend-3000

...that it was purple.

The cop gasped, "I just thought it was a problem with the cameras, not that it was actually purple!"

Resisting the urge to sass him, I kept my eyes on the duel.

"When Flare Resonator is used to synchro summon, the monster it created gains 300 extra attack points."

Purple Dragon Archfiend-3300

There was a difference in the attack points, which of course meant that he HAD to attack the original.

Life Points Jack=3200

"Due to Trust Guardian's ability, if I drop Archfiend's points by 400, I can keep him on the field."

Red Dragon Archfiend-2600

The other Jack laughed, "You are pathetic, lowering your monster's points to keep him around?"

As Jack's turn started, he apparently decided to forgo words, instead choosing to simply point at the opposing Purple Archfiend.

Red Dragon Archfiend did its best to attack, but it was clearly weakened by the effect of Trust Guardian.

Of course the other Jack had to argue, "That's senseless, your monster has less points!"

"Not if I use Assault Spirits. This lets me discard a monster with fewer than 1000 points and give those points to my dragon for this turn. I discard Twin Shield Marauder, which gives my dragon an extra 700 attack points!"

Red Dragon Archfiend-3300

The purple monstrosity shattered, and Jack spoke again, "Once again, I lower Red Dragon Archfiend's points to keep him on the field."

Red Dragon Archfiend-2900

"I place one facedown, and end my turn. This means that my dragon loses those extra attack points."

Red Dragon Archfiend-2200

Hey, Stardust can now beat it. Sweet.

Fake Jack decided to go big or go home, literally, "Since you are the only one who has any monsters, I can summon Big Piece Golem without a sacrifice."

Big Piece Golem-2100

But he wasn't done by any means, "I used the speed spell Angel Baton, which makes me draw two cards, but discard one from my hand. Then I activate the continuous trap Boosted Resurrection! I can special summon a level 4 or below monster and equip it to this card."

Small Piece Golem-1100

"Due to the effect of my trap, it gains attack points and increases by 1 level."

Small Piece Golem-1200

"And since I have two Golems on the field, I can special summon Medium Piece Golem to the field!"

Medium Piece Golem-1600

Jack started muttering to himself, but was disrupted by Fake Jack, "Since you have a trap on the field, I special summon Trap Eater, which destroys Assault Spirits upon its summon!"

Trap Eater-1900

Well, crap. There's a tuner.

"I tune my now-level 4 Small Piece Golem with my Trap Eater to bring out my soul Red Dragon Archfiend!"

And it was blue. Not a dark blue that could be considered very masculine, but a bright happy blue that belonged in a kids' show.

Blue Dragon Archfiend-3000

Despite the danger of the situation, I started to giggle.

He wasn't done yet, "Since I successfully completed a Synchro Summon, I can special summon Synchro Magnetor from my hand."

Synchro Magnetor-1000

"I tune my Magnetor with my Big Piece Golem to create my ultimate monster, Red Dragon Archfiend! I also use my trap Rebirth Ring! If I release my Medium Piece Golem, I can bring back a monster from my graveyard with double the level. Come back Red Dragon Archfiend!"

All I could think was, What are these ones going to be? Orange? Or how about neon green?

Purple Dragon Archfiend-3000

Yellow Dragon Archfiend-3000

The purple one was back, along with a lovely mustard yellow.

How manly.

Fake Jack started to cackle, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Now they're all going to destroy you!"

The purple one attacked first, and Jack's life points dropped along with Archfiend's points.

Life Points Jack=2400

Red Dragon Archfiend-1800

Next, the yellow one charged in, and both sets of points dropped even further.

Life Points Jack=1200

Red Dragon Archfiend-1400

Blue Archfiend turned around, puffing as it got ready to attack, and my heart completely abandoned me. For a good couple of seconds, all we could see was fire and smoke.

Carly yelled out, "JACK!"

When the smoke cleared, Jack and Archfiend were still on the field, moving forward. In front of him floated Ray of Hope.

He smirked at the imposter, "When Ray of Hope is activated, all battle damage is halved. I am also given the ability to summon a level 1 monster from my hand once the battle phase is over. I select Dark Bug."

Life Points Jack=400

Red Dragon Archfiend-1000

Dark Bug-100

Jack looked up at HIS Archfiend, and quietly spoke to him, "Thank you for putting up with all of this. I promise that we will win and clear our names."

Fake Jack glared at him, "You are still the weaker version."

Real Jack returned the glare, "No, you are. You will never know what it is to feel love from someone or to love someone in return. And I only need one card to prove that."

A familiar feeling flooded my body, and I watched with a smile as my mark vanished. Jack's back lit up with the full mark of the Crimson Dragon as the top card of his deck started to glow.

"Show him true power Majestic Dragon!"

The adorable little pink dragon popped onto the field, once again totally destroying the tough guy appearance that Jack had spent years creating. As Jack continued on his rant, the dragon grew like a balloon and sucked up his other two monsters.

Jack's runner leaned back as he jumped, "Come on out, Majestic Red Dragon!"

Majestic Red Dragon-4000

The Majestic version of his dragon looked pretty intimidating, and then I heard his special effect, "One per turn, he can gain the attack points of one of your monsters."

This thing had 4000 attack points already, and then it soaked up the 3000 points of Red Dragon Archfiend, helping it grow to the same size as the three dragons combined.

Majestic Red Dragon-7000

That is one monster you don't want to mess with.

Jack's Majestic Dragon let out a single powerful blast, the heat from it so intense that it not only destroyed the targeted Archfiend, but also melted the other two as well.

A gasp came from Crow, and my eyes drifted over to the imposter, who's skin had also melted from the blast. Metal plating was poking through, revealing the robot underneath, as we had all expected.

Meanwhile, the attack continued, vaporizing the remaining Archfiends, the robot, AND the runner, leaving the fake deck to scatter in the wind before it too succumbed to the fury of the attack.

Everyone slowly pulled to a stop, and Jack was immediately ambushed by Carly, who started taking even more pictures. Jack smiled at her before looking over her head, "Hello Tazama. Sorry about all of this chaos."

"It's alright Jack. And now I can personally vouch that you were not the one behind the attacks."

His smile was filled with exhaustion, and then he looked at Carly, "Thanks. Carly? Could you stop taking pictures? It's making it hard for me to see."

She put her camera down, and Crow pulled up on Jack's other side, "Are you okay?"

"Exhausted, but I'll be fine as soon as I get home and eat some ramen."

I smirked as their initial conversation escalated into an argument over who was the most hard-headed, "Both of you are, now can we go home?"

They looked at me, then each other, "Looks like Yusei has the patience of a hunting tiger."

"And the appetite. Now move."


As we pulled into the garage, everyone gathered around Jack to check on him. He glanced up at me as I started up the stairs, and I gave him a wink.

Going up to the living quarters, I entered his room, pulled a small box of things from under his bed, and then descended back downstairs.

When he saw me re-emerge, he took the package from my hands, "Carly, remember when I said that I got a package of things that belonged to my parents?"

She nodded, "Yeah, it was the only belongings of theirs that anyone could find."

He pulled out a small bag and handed the box back to me, "I found something in there that would be of more use to you than me. So…"

I did my best to hide my smile as he got down on one knee and pulled a diamond ring out of the bag, "Would you be willing to marry me after the tournament?"

The squeal that came out of her mouth pierced my ears, "Yes!"


I sat at the computer typing when the garage door opened, "Do you ever do anything that's not related to machines or dueling?"

"Not when people keep interrupting."

Kiryu laughed as he walked over, "I don't want to interrupt, but I was hoping that you would help me out with something."

Stretching my fingers, I leaned back, "What's up? You don't normally ask me for favors."

"An old friend of mine from the Satellite sent me a letter. He lives in a strange place in a nearby desert. His latest letter was rushed, and mentioned that a gang had taken it over, making it into a copy of Satellite."

The concern in his eyes was all the information I needed, "Sure. Dad's going on a business trip tomorrow, and won't be back for a few days. I can slip off while that happens."

He nodded, "Thanks for helping out."

"What are friends for?"

As he walked out, he turned back to me, "If we survive this trip, I owe you a date."

Once he closed the door, I smirked, "About time you ask me out."

Carly walked down from the kitchen, "Who is that?"

"My boyfriend, or you would know him as the Dark Signer that almost killed me."

A smile crossed her face, "Must be something about you two."

I laughed, "Fair point. But at least your relationship has progressed faster than mine. I've known Kiryu since I was about ten."

"True. Are you sure that you aren't upset about sharing your brother?"

Waving my hand dismissively, I rolled my eyes, "Take him. I have another one. And the one that remains is the nicer one."

As we laughed, Jack walked down, "What are you two up to?"

"Laughing at you."

He almost smiled, "Well, it looks like the two of you will not mind being sisters-in-law."

I smirked at him, "Are you kidding me? You need both of us to save your sorry hide."


Dad ran around the kitchen, double checking every cupboard, "And if I don't get back in time…"

I rubbed my temples, "Dad, I know how to go grocery shopping."

He checked his bags, "Right, but if something else happens, call me and I'll come right back."

Jack's face said all I needed to know, but I lied, "Sure, don't worry about us."

Dad grabbed his bags, and headed out to the waiting limousine. The three of us followed him, and the chauffeur took his things and started loading them up, "When I'm not here, Kiryu can't be here, got it?"

I nodded, "I know all of this already. Why are we going over it again?"

"Sorry, I just can't rest easy knowing what kind of things happened to you. You boys will make sure to protect your sister, right?"

Crow nodded, "Of course we will, she's our baby sister."

Jack gave a sharp nod, "Nothing will happen to her on our watch."

"If it counts for anything, I always have a plan to get out of danger."

Dad smiled at the three of us, "I'll be back in a week."

He climbed into the car, and we waved at it until it disappeared from sight. Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair, "It's like he expects us to do something stupid when he's gone."

Both of them looked at me, and Crow sighed, "You ran into a factory that nearly exploded."

"I didn't know that it was going to explode."

They both sighed, and Jack muttered, "This is exactly why people trust us more than you."

"Fair point, I am the one going on an errand for a couple days while Dad is out of town."

With a smirk, I swept back inside and finished packing my things in the base of my runner.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Jack walked over, "Oh, hey Kiryu. She's almost ready."

"Give me a minute, then we can go."

He chuckled, "No worries. And I promise you guys that we're just going to help a friend and then be back."


A/N: Thanks to Nozomi Higuarshi and Pipe Dream for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!