Author's Note: This chapter ended up being delayed because the pain in my neck got so bad that I ended up with a migraine. But the good news is that I'm over it now. And while some of the other issues in my life right now seem to be up in the air, working on this story has been helping me coop with it a bit. So thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story so far.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and the character of Raven is the creation of sammycrusinix.
Chapter 6: A Path of His Own
Mikage went to the hospital early in the morning to pay a visit to Jack. But when she entered the room, she was greatly distressed to find that Jack wasn't even there. Mikage immediately flagged down the nearest nurse and asked her where Jack was. The nurse had no idea what had happened to Jack, and when she checked the records she found nothing to indicate that Jack had checked himself out. The doctor was quickly informed of the situation and assured Mikage that Jack probably wasn't in any serious danger.
Yet Mikage couldn't help but to assume the worst. For all she new, Jack had snuck out challenge Yusei to a secret rematch, only to get hurt along the way. Or even worse, Jack might've been kidnapped. Though Mikage had to admit that such a possibility was a bit unlikely. The hospital room showed no signs of struggle, and even in his weakened state Jack could probably have fought off an attacker. Even so, Mikage couldn't help but think the worst. She got out her cell phone and quickly dialed for Rex. As the phone rang, Mikage nervously tapped her right foot and ground her teeth. The person on the other end was taking far too long to pick up.
"Director's office. Jaeger speaking." The clown's voice answered in his usual elegant manner.
"I need to speak to Director Goodwin." Mikage told him.
"He's in a meeting right now, Ms. Mikage." Jaeger informed her. "Surely whatever it is can wait."
"Damn it! It's an emergency!" Mikage practically shouted.
"My, my. Such a short fuse we have today." Jaeger remarked. "Wait just a moment. I'll see if the director is available."
Mikage was put on hold. She resumed tapping her foot and grinding her teeth. At one point Mikage checked her watch. She had been on hold for three whole minutes. Mikage began to imagine that Jaeger was simply sitting at his desk sipping tea, chuckling about her in his own creepy way. She never liked the little clown very much. Especially since he always seemed to treat her like dirt.
"What is it, Mikage?" Rex's voice finally answered.
"Oh, Director Goodwin. I'm afraid that Mr. Atlas has disappeared from the hospital." Mikage reported. "The staff doesn't have any record of him leaving."
"I see. Well I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later." Rex replied somewhat indifferently. "In the meantime, I suppose I can send a few patrolman out to look for him."
"But sir, Mr. Atlas could be in serious trouble." Mikage pointed out.
"He's probably gone somewhere away from the public eye where he can sulk about his defeat alone." Rex assumed. "If you're really so worried Mikage, than you can conduct a search of your own. Now if you'll excuse me, I have urgent business to attend to."
With that, Rex hung up. Mikage sighed heavily and put her phone back in her pocket. She couldn't believe that Goodwin wasn't giving the matter top priority. Though given that Jack was no longer the city's champion, Mikage had to admit that she wasn't entirely surprised. Why go to such extreme lengths to track down someone who was already yesterday's news? Yusei had quickly become the next big thing.
Mikage turned to the window and began to recall the first time she met Jack. At the time she was rather offended by the assignment she had been given, which was to escort Jack around the city and assist him with whatever he needed. In short, it was practically babysitting. But Mikage's opinion started to change when she first saw the young man from Satellite. Right off the bat she found him quite handsome. And during their whirlwind tour of the city, Mikage had grown quite fond of Jack.
Then, after Jack had become Neo Domino's king of dueling, Mikage had been assigned as his manager and personal assistant. She had been with Jack through all of his duels and all the other stuff that came with his title. And during that time, though at times she had denied it, Mikage found that she had fallen in love with Jack. Mikage took a breath and stormed out of the hospital room. If Goodwin wasn't going to lift a finger to find Jack, than she would do everything in her power to find him on her own.
Jack awoke to find that he was in an unfamiliar room. It had peeling grey wallpaper and fairly cheap-looking old furniture. For a moment Jack thought that he might be back in Satellite until he remembered his little escape from the hospital with Carly. He was in her bedroom in the rather low-rent apartment that she called home. Jack got out of bed and went over to the window. It faced directly in front of another building, one with a dull brown brick wall.
Jack couldn't help but find his current surroundings suitable to his current situation. A rundown apartment in one of the most dismal parts of the city was the perfect place for a deposed false king like him. Yet he felt that he couldn't stay. He wanted to get out of the city and run away from it all. He wanted to leave his old life behind, run as far away from it as possible. Jack thought that he might be able to find a small out of the way town where he could start fresh.
With his plan decided, Jack peeked his head out the door. Carly was still sound asleep on the couch. As quietly as he could, Jack gathered what little belongings he had and got dressed. He then slowly crept out of the room through the living room and was soon out the door. Jack closed the door as quietly and firmly as possible. He had thought about leaving Carly a note of some sort, thanking her for her help, but at the end decided against it. Jack was never good at sappy goodbyes. But he did regret leaving Carly behind. For some reason he had quickly grown quite fond of her.
Carly awoke on the couch that morning with a slightly stiff back. She wasn't quite used to sleeping on the couch, and it wasn't the most comfortable piece of furniture to begin with. After a minute or so, Carly went to her apartment's small kitchen and prepared a small breakfast and put it on a tray to take to Jack. But when she got to the bedroom, Carly found that Jack was gone. Out of panic, she dropped the tray to the ground.
"What's wrong, Carly?" Hikari asked as she appeared with the other Fortune Fairy sisters.
"Jack's gone!" Carly explained with a finger pointing at the empty bed.
"Well it was bound to happen sooner or later." Ann cut in with a smirk. "As if anyone would want to stay in a dump like this. Especially with Carly as a roommate."
"You take that back!" Hikari protested.
"Or what, you little twerp?" Ann dared.
"Ann, Hikari, that's quite enough!" Chee scolded.
"You girls have to help me find him!" Carly frantically begged.
"Why the heck should we waste our time doing something like that?" Hu scoffed. "For all we know, the guy's probably skipped town by now."
"We should all try our best to help Carly find Mr. Atlas." Chee told them. "After all, if she can't interview him, she'll probably lose her job. Then it'll only be a matter of time before we're out on the street."
"Well we certainly can't have that." Swee declared. "It's bad enough that we have to live in the rat hole. I certainly don't want to live in a cardboard box in some filthy ally."
"Swee does have a point." Ann agreed with a heavy sigh. "Okay, let's try and track down this guy."
With that, the six fairies formed a circle before Carly and closed their eyes. Each of them began to glow with an aura that corresponded with their element. Carly had learned years ago that the Fortune Fairies could sometimes combine their powers to find missing items and people. They had used this power a couple of time when Carly had misplaced her glasses. After a moment, a ball of light formed in the middle of the circle and showed an image of Jack. He looked to be in a line at a ticket booth. Carly recognized the location as the Neo Domino monorail station. Jack was trying to skip town.
As fast as she could, Carly got down to her car with the Fortune Fairies. Thankfully, the vehicle started on the first attempt. Carly raced her car down to the station, praying that she would catch Jack before he left. After what seemed like an eternity, Carly finally made it to the station. She ran up to the ticket booth to find Jack arguing with the woman inside.
"Wait!" Carly cried out as she approached, getting Jack's attention. She stopped before Jack to catch her breath.
"What the duce are you doing here?" Jack asked.
"I came… to stop you… from leaving." Carly explained.
"You shouldn't have bothered." Jack told her. "The best thing for me is to get out of this city."
"So you're just going to run away, huh? That's a little cowardly, don't you think?" Carly pointed out. "Besides, where the heck would you go?"
Jack was about to argue, but his expression quickly softened. "I suppose you have a point. Running away would be the easy way out."
"Look, you can stay with me until you figure things out." Carly told him. "And I'll help you in any way I can."
"Alright then." Jack finally agreed. "But just one thing, what the bloody hell are those things?"
Carly looked at where Jack was pointing. The only things there were the Fortune Fairies.
"You can see them?" a shocked Carly asked.
"Of course I can. Why wouldn't I be able to see them?" Jack replied as if the answer was obvious.
"Wow. We've never met anyone besides Carly who could see us." Fortune Fairy En remarked.
"Look, as far as I know, you and I are the only ones that can see these six." Carly explained. "I don't know how or why that is. But I'd appreciate it if we kept them our little secret, okay?"
"Fine." Jack agreed. "They don't seem to be too annoying."
"What the heck did you just call us?" an insulted Hu protested.
"That was mean!" a teary-eyed Hikari told him.
"Hey, I'm sure Jack didn't mean anything by that." Carly assured the six fairies. "For now, why don't you girls make yourselves scarce for awhile so Jack and I have some alone time?"
"That sounds like a good idea Carly." Chee gladly agreed. And with that, the six of them vanished.
"Where did they go?" Jack asked.
"That's one of the things about them that I've never been able to figure out." Carly admitted. "Hey, you know there's a carnival in town today. We could go there and hang out for awhile."
"Fine with me." Jack agreed.
"One thing before we go though. We should probably get you a disguise." Carly suggested. "You'd probably stick out too much if you went wearing your normal outfit."
A bit later, the two went to a nearby clothing store. There, Carly got Jack a disguise consisting of a blue buttoned up shirt with a dark-blue jacket and slacks with a matching hat and a pair of sunglasses. With the disguise complete, Carly drove Jack to a small carnival that was being held on the boardwalk of the city. They went to the various attractions and tried playing some of the small games. Carly was more enthusiastic about the whole thing than Jack was. But then Jack did have a lot of his mind.
After awhile, they ended up at the top of a small tower overlooking the ocean. Jack looked out across the ocean at Satellite. The island was clearly visible from where they were standing. Carly had hoped that the carnival would be the right setting to have her interview with Jack. But she had been having trouble getting it started. Yet interview or not, there were still a few questions that Carly felt she needed answered.
"So…" Carly began. "It seemed like you knew that Yusei guy and that biker gang of his."
"…Yusei and I grew up together." Jack revealed after a moment.
"Really? That's news to me. I don't remember anything about him from the biographies on you." Carly recalled.
"I'll let you in on a little secret. Those biographies on me are all bull." Jack told her. "I'm actually an orphan from Satellite."
"How'd you end up here then?" a surprised Carly asked.
"It's a long story." Jack replied. "It started when I got in a little trouble and ended up down in the Pit. I ended up making a deal with Goodwin that I thought would bring me freedom and glory. But all I did was end up becoming Goodwin's puppet."
"Yusei said something about settling a score." Carly recalled. "Did you and he duel down in the Pit?"
"He was the last opponent I defeated before getting out." Jack confirmed.
"And you didn't have a problem with that? I mean you said that you guys grew up together." Carly pointed out.
"Back then I didn't care who I trampled over to get what I wanted most." Jack revealed. "I thought that Yusei and all the other people I knew were only holding me back. But maybe I was wrong."
"…You know the way I see it, Yusei defeated the old fake Jack Atlas." Carly remarked. "Which means that the real Jack can finally come back as a true king."
"I guess that is a nice way to look at it." Jack agreed with a half smile. "But I do know one thing for sure. I'm not going to let myself be used by Goodwin or anyone else. From now on, I'm following my own path!"
"That's the spirit!" Carly said optimistically.
"Let's get out of here." Jack decided. "I'm getting a little tired of this place."
Night had fallen, and Rex stood looking out over the city from his office. The Skeleton Knight appeared on the other side of his desk out of a dark mist.
"How are things going, brother?" the undead knight asked.
"Everything is proceeding smoothly." Rex reported. "The only slight problem that has occurred is Jack suddenly disappearing. But his usefulness has come to an end."
"What about Yusei and his friends?" the Skeleton Knight asked.
"It's been a big adjustment for them, but they seem to be doing fine, for the most part." Rex answered. "They asked me to try and track you down of course."
"Yes, I'm sure you're doing everything in your power to find me for them." The Skeleton Knight laughed.
"Tell me something though, brother. What do you plan to do with the friends of Yusei's that you captured?" Rex asked as he turned to face the knight.
"I haven't decided yet." The knight admitted. "Right now my focus has been more on Yusei's friend, Kiryu. I think we could make very good use of him."
"Fine, but try not to let things go out of hand." Rex warned. "I don't want anything that would jeopardize our ultimate goal. Remember what we're fighting for."
"Don't worry, Rex. I have everything under control." The Skeleton Knight assured him.
Author's Note: In retrospect, I guess I could've combined this chapter with the last one. But to me it seemed to work out better this way. Anyway, the next chapter will focus a little more on Kiryu. But there will be a bit more Jack and Carly action in the next chapter too.
Please review and let me know what you think.