Author's Note: Writing this chapter went a little slow. Not because of the personal issues going on in my life, but because I have a sore neck. It's either stress or I just slept on it wrong. Either way, it probably wasn't a good idea to spend a good chunk of the day writing on a laptop. Anyway, the title of this chapter is a line from the song, Pieces of Eight, by Styx. Seemed pretty appropriate at the time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and the character of Raven is the creation of sammycrusinix.
Chapter 5: "Prisoner In a King's Disguise"
Jaeger quickly escorted Yusei and the others out of the stadium past the mob of people from the audience to a large black limo that had been parked outside. When Yusei asked what would be done with their D-Wheels, the small clown assured them that they would be well taken care of. The group was driven through the city to the main government building. Once there, Jaeger escorted the group up to Goodwin's office. Rex was already there, standing behind his desk.
"Ah, Yusei. Glad to see that you and your friends made it here safely." Rex greeted. "Forgive me for not introducing myself before. I am Rex Goodwin, Director of Neo Domino Security."
"Why are we here?" Yusei asked with a suspicious eye.
"I merely wished to congratulate you for your victory over Jack." Rex assured him. "This city has needed a new champion for a long time. Please, all of you, have a seat."
Yusei and Aki took a seat on the big couch in front of Rex's desck next to Leo and Luna. Bruno and Kiryu took the remaining two chairs by the couch while the rest of the group remained standing.
"Now then, there is another reason why I brought all of you here." Rex admitted as he sat at his desk. "And that is to thank all of you for your efforts in eliminating the Infinity Triad."
"You know about that?" a surprised Yusei asked.
"I made it my business to know everything about what went on with the triad, because I never once trusted them." Rex explained. "You've done this city a great service by getting rid of them."
"Just how much do you know about the triad?" Bruno asked.
"Perhaps I know as much as you." Rex replied. "But in any case, it doesn't matter. The triad is no more. Now Satellite is free of their reign."
"So what're you gonna do with us now?" Crow asked.
"Why nothing. All of your criminal records have been completely expunged." Rex revealed. "As far as the public is concerned, you are all simply law abiding citizens."
"Well there's no way you're sending us back to Satellite!" Sect declared. "Not until we take down the Skeleton Knight!"
"The Skeleton Knight? And just who is that?" Rex asked with a raised eyebrow.
"He's someone who kidnapped a bunch of our friends back in Satellite." Yusei explained.
"And you think he's now in this city?" Rex deduced.
"We know he is! The bonehead told us to come here when he took our friends!" Crow told him.
"Then I'll make looking into this matter my top priority." Rex assured them as he stood up from his desk. "In any case, none of you have to worry about being sent back to Satellite. You may all stay in the city as long as you like."
"Then I guess we better find a place for all of us to stay." Aki realized.
"That won't be necessary." Rex revealed. "You can all stay at the Fudo mansion. It does rightfully belong to Yusei, after all."
"Wait, what?" a surprised Yusei asked as he stood up.
"It originally belonged to your father." Rex explained. "He left it in my care in the event of his death."
"You knew my father?" Yusei asked him.
"My late older brother and I worked closely with him on the original Momentum project." Rex revealed. "Dr. Fudo was a good man. I can see a lot of him in you, Yusei. Anyway, I'll have Jaeger take you all to the mansion. In the meantime, I'll get to work tracking down this Skeleton Knight you spoke of."
With that, Jaeger reentered the room and escorted Yusei and the others out. At that moment, Yusei was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Yet he was sure of one thing. He didn't trust Rex for a second.
Jack awoke to find that he was sitting on a golden throne inside a fairly small square room with golden walls. Scattered around the room were piles of gold coins and trophies. There was only a single small barred window on the right wall of the room. Jack then noticed that he was wearing a golden jumpsuit with a prisoner number on the left breast. He also had on a large gold crown and a golden scepter in his hand.
"All hail the king!" a voice laughed. Jack looked to see his evil twin leaning against one of the piles with his arms crossed. "The king of fools, that is."
"What is all this?" Jack furiously demanded to know as he stood up from the throne.
"You ignored my last two attempts at showing you the truth. But I think you'll be more receptive now that you been trounced by your old friend, Yusei." Dark Jack explained as he walked towards him. "Perhaps it'll now all finally sink in. You never freed yourself by playing Goodwin's game. You simply traded your cage down in the Pit for a gilded cage in the city. And all the opponents you've dueled as 'king' were all a bunch of pathetic weaklings. Don't you see? You've been nothing but Goodwin's puppet this whole time!"
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Jack scoffed.
"You've said it yourself many times. It's been awhile since you had an opponent that even remotely challenged you." Dark Jack pointed out. "That's because Goodwin's been setting you up against opponents that were either simply too weak and inexperienced or were paid to lose on purpose, all so that you could remain Neo Domino's champion. You believed your own hype and now you've paid for it."
"Even if I have been dueling weaklings, I still earned my title as king!" Jack insisted.
"Are you sure about that?" Dark Jack chuckled. "Do you know how it was that Yusei was able to beat you? How it was he was able to summon that strange dragon of his? It was because he somehow found a way to get stronger while you just sat on your ass in your fake throne and became a big fish in a small pond. Face it Jack, you've been set up from the beginning."
Try as he might, Jack couldn't deny what his doppelganger was telling him. All his opponents were weak, using cheap decks and basic tactics. None of them seemed to pose any real challenge except for Yusei. And then there was what Yusei had said about their duel down in the Pit. About how his D-Wheel supposedly malfunctioned and prevented him from playing the Trap that might have won him the duel. Jack could only think of one reason why that might've happened. It was because Rex had wanted him to win.
"Oh, but don't worry Jack. I can help you." Dark Jack continued. "I can give you the power that will allow you to become a true king."
'What're you talking about?" Jack scoffed. "You're nothing but some figment of my imagination."
"Are you sure about that?" Dark Jack asked. "If I am, then I'm a pretty persistent one. I can give you the power you seek. All you have to do is join with me."
"Get lost!" Jack ordered as he threw his scepter at him.
"Okay." Dark Jack chuckled as he turned to leave. "I'll give you some time to think it over. But in the end, I have the feeling that you'll have no choice to but turn to me."
Jack awoke to find that he was in a hospital bed. He turned his head to his left to see Mikage sitting in a chair at his bedside.
"Oh! You're finally awake, Mr. Atlas." Mikage happily observed.
"Where am I?" Jack asked weakly.
"You're in the city hospital. You had a little accident when that young man you dueled beat you." Mikage explained. "Fortunately your injuries aren't that severe. The doctors say that you should be able to go home tomorrow afternoon."
"Go home to where? I'm no longer champion you know." Jack pointed out.
"Director Goodwin assured me that you're still welcome to stay at the mansion." Mikage assured him. "And I'm sure we can arrange a rematch once you're back to perfect health."
Normally the chance for a rematch would've appealed to Jack, but at that time he was in no mood. "Where is Yusei, anyway?"
"Oh. Well the director said that he placed him in an old mansion once owned by the inventor of the Momentum Reactor." Mikage revealed.
"His dad's old place, eh?" Jack chuckled. "Goodwin does have an odd sense of humor."
"Sir?" Mikage asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Never mind. Just go." Jack ordered. "I'd like to be alone right now."
"Of course." Mikage agreed before getting up and walking out of the room.
Night had finally descended upon Neo Domino. Which meant it was time for Carly to act. She had been forced to change her plans a bit after Jack's accident at the end of the duel. During the commotion when the mob of stadium goers went after Yusei and what Carly considered to be his biker gang, she had gone out to her car in order to follow the ambulance that had taken Jack away. She had followed the ambulance all the way to the city hospital. And once there, she began to come up with a whole new plan.
As soon as night fell, Carly snuck her way into the nurses' locker room and found a uniform that would fit her. She couldn't believe that the nurses in that hospital still wore simple pink dresses with those funny hats with the red crosses on them, but she was fine with it as long as it got her in to see Jack. The next step was finding Jack's room. The hospital was being staffed by the nightshift, which meant there weren't many people around. With some slight difficulty, Carly was able to hack into the hospital database and find Jack's floor and room number.
Quietly, Carly made her way up to Jack's room and peeked inside. Jack was awake and sitting up, looking out the window of his room at the moon.
After taking a big gulp, Carly slowly opened the door and went in. "Um, Mr. Atlas?"
Jack turned from the window and looked at her. "A nurse was already in here. Did she forget something?"
"Well, actually, I'm not a nurse." Carly admitted. "I'm…"
"I get it. Another diehard fan that'd do anything to see me." Jack interrupted before she could finish. "Well I'm afraid there's not much to see. It turns out I wasn't that great of a champion after all."
"That's not true." Carly denied. "You're one of the best duelists I've ever seen. That Yusei guy just got a lucky break."
"Face it, I'm a fraud!" Jack insisted. "All the opponents I've faced before Yusei were hack duelists set up to lose."
"Are… are you saying all those duels you had were fixed?" Carly asked with disbelief.
"Seems that way." Jack chuckled darkly. "I guess in a way I was never really champion."
"But… it wasn't your ideas to fix those duels, was it?" Carly asked.
"Of course not!" Jack replied. "I was played by the one who set up all those duels. Above everything else, I'm a duelist."
"Then there's no problem." Carly told him optimistically, causing Jack to raise an eyebrow. "So what if you were just handed a bunch of weak opponents? You still dueled all of them fair and square, and gave it your best in every duel. So in my book, you were a champion."
"…What's your name, girl?" Jack asked with a small half-smile.
"Uh, Carly." She answered.
"Well Carly, how'd you like to help me get out of here?" Jack offered.
"Are you sure that's okay?" Carly asked.
"They're letting me out tomorrow afternoon, but I'd prefer not to stick around." Jack answered.
"Well, okay then." Carly agreed. "I guess you could stay at my place."
"That would be fine." Jack agreed.
With that, Carly helped to gather up Jack's things while Jack went into the small bathroom to get changed. The hard part came when it was time to smuggle Jack out of the hospital. Fortunately Carly found a nearby gurney and had Jack get on it. She then put a white sheet over him and hauled him out as if he was a corpse. Once they were safely out of the building, Carly got Jack to her car and they were off. Many times on the trip to her apartment, Carly pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
Author's Note: So at last the love story component of this tale has finally begun. Sorry it took so long to set up.
Please review and let me know what you think.