Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and the character of Raven is the creation of sammycrusinix.
Chapter 10: Worst Day Ever
Jack entered the garage of the Goodwin mansion to find that his white D-Wheel had been fully repaired since the duel with Yusei. He also found a male mechanic that seemed to be doing a routine check on the machine. Assuming that Rex wasn't going to let him leave willingly, Jack saw only one course of action. He walked over, tapped the mechanic on the shoulder, and gave him a powerful right cross to the jaw. The hapless mechanic was out cold. Jack opened the garage door and got onto his vehicle. He then took off out of the garage as fast as the machine would go and was on the street in mere moments.
Though Jack didn't have an exact plan about what he was going to do, he knew about one thing that he had to do first. He had to set the record straight with Yusei and make it clear that he had nothing to do with what happened between them down in the Pit. Fortunately Jack knew that Yusei was staying at the Fudo mansion. And his D-Wheel had been equipped with an auto navigation system long ago, so finding the place would be no trouble. Rex had put the system in when Jack had first come to the city in order to make sure that his prized champion wouldn't get lost. With his destination on the screen, Jack headed out towards the mansion.
Yusei and Crow were talking out in front of the garage just as the others returned from their various trips. Everyone pulled up in front of the garage and dismounted their vehicles.
"Any luck finding Jack?" Yusei asked Aki and Bruno.
"Nope. Bruno had found out which hospital Jack had been taken to but he wasn't there." Aki answered.
"Apparently, Jack had snuck out of the hospital the night he was brought in." Bruno explained. "His injuries weren't that severe, so there shouldn't be any danger to his health. But there's been no trace of Jack since that night."
"So much for that." Crow remarked.
Suddenly as if on cue, Jack's white D-Wheel burst in through the front gate and went up the driveway. The blond deposed king stopped a few feet away from them and dismounted. Yusei immediately approached his old rival as he walked up. The tension in the air was high.
"Nice to see you're well." Yusei greeted. "I was starting to get a little worried."
"I only came here to tell you the truth about what happened down in the Pit." Jack told him. "It was Goodwin who rigged your D-Wheel to malfunction. I had nothing to do with it."
"Why would Goodwin rig our duel?" Yusei asked.
"Because he wanted me to be his pet champion and didn't have faith that I could beat you on my own." Jack explained. "Now if you don't believe me…"
"Relax Jack, I believe you." Yusei assured him. "Goodwin rigging that match makes a lot more sense than you cheating."
"Then in that case, I'm off." Jack decided as he turned to leave.
"Wait Jack, we need your help right now." Yusei told him.
Jack stopped and turned back around. "And just why should I help you and your little friends?"
"Well for one thing, we're all connected whether you like it or not." Yusei explained as he pulled off his glove to show Jack the dragonhead mark on his arm.
Jack took off his own glove to reveal the wing-shaped birthmark he had. "You mean because of these marks?"
"Yeah, and the two of you aren't the only ones who have them." Crow cut in as he walked up with Raven, Aki and the twins.
The redheaded duelist then revealed the tail mark that was on his arms. Aki and the twins revealed their respective marks to Jack as well.
"I'd show you mine, but it's on my back and kind of big." Raven admitted.
"So what are these marks of ours supposed to be, anyway?" Jack asked as he put his glove back on.
"Long story short, we've all been chosen by a being called the Crimson Dragon to protect the world from great evil." Raven explained.
"Do you really expect me to buy that?" Jack scoffed.
"It doesn't matter if you believe us or not. Right now we really do need your help." Yusei told him. "A powerful enemy called the Skeleton Knight has captured a bunch of our friends and we need all the help we can get rescuing them."
"…I'll think it over." Jack replied as he continued back to his D-Wheel. "Right now, I have one or two things to take care of. I'll be in touch." With that, he simply drove off.
"What'd I tell ya? You can't depend on that guy for anything." Crow declared.
"Give him time Crow." Yusei told him.
"If you ask me, we'd probably be better off without your friend." Greiger cut in. "If I'm right, he could be a bigger threat to us that the Skeleton Knight."
"What do you mean?" Yusei asked.
"I sensed something very dark from Jack when he was here." Greiger explained. "I'm sure Kiryu sensed the same thing."
"I did." Kiryu confirmed. "I don't know what it was, but it made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. The mark on my arm felt funny too. It was almost like the Earthbound Immortal I'm linked to was… frightened."
"I got the same feeling from Jack too." Raven admitted. "I don't know how to say this Yusei, but I think Jack has a connection to an Earthbound Immortal."
"How's that possible?" Luna wondered. "Isn't Jack supposed to be a Signer like most of us?"
"He is, yet he's linked to an Earthbound Immortal too." Raven replied. "I can't explain it."
"What's worse is that he's linked to the worst Earthbound Immortal of them all." Greiger revealed.
"So you've heard of that one too." Raven observed.
"Demak told me about it once when I asked him of the Immortals were always evil." Greiger explained.
"What are you guys talking about?" Yusei asked.
"When I told you guys that the Earthbound Immortals were once benevolent entities, I wasn't being entirely truthful." Raven revealed. "There was one that was evil from the beginning. I didn't mention it because I never thought we would face it."
"It's known as the Crimson Devil, and it was the first Earthbound Immortal ever to exist." Greiger continued. "It was born ten-thousand years ago from the hatred and vengeance on the blood-soaked battlefield of an ancient war. And its only purpose was to spread destruction."
"It took the full power of the Crimson Dragon and it six servants to seal the Crimson Devil away." Raven revealed. "In fact that battle almost cost the Crimson Dragon its life."
"So what does that mean for Jack?" an alarmed Yusei asked.
"Realistically, one of two things will happen." Raven answered. "He'll either be consumed by the evil of the Crimson Devil and turn against us, or the power will destroy him."
Night had fallen upon the city, and Carly took that time to act. She had spent much of the day trying to dig up info on Jack's prison record and found nothing. Not that she was surprised of course. Carly had to assume that Goodwin would sweep a record like that under the rug. With her deadline quickly approaching, Carly had no choice but to try one other place, Rex's office.
Under the cover of night, Carly snuck into the main security building disguised as a cleaning lady. It took her longer than she would've liked to get to Rex's office, which was all the way up on the top floor. By the time she was finally inside, Carly took off her disguise and went straight to Rex's desk. Carly checked her watch. She was seven minutes away from her deadline. Her only hope was that her boss would give her an extension. Though considering how earth-shattering the info she was looking for was, Carly felt sure that she would be given more time.
With no time to lose, Carly began to look through desk drawers. Right away she came upon a couple of file folders. They contained nothing about Jack, but there were some interesting documents concerning the abandoned Momentum Reactor in Satellite and some apparent plans to reactivate it.
"It seems we have a little mouse who's sticking her nose where it doesn't belong." A voice suddenly remarked, startling Carly.
The intrepid reporter looked up and was frightened to see the Skeleton Knight standing before her only a few feet away. "Who… what are you?"
"You may call me the Skeleton Knight." The undead duelist replied. "And I'm afraid I have no choice but to eliminate you. For you've seen far too much."
"I didn't see anything! Honest!" Carly denied.
"I'm afraid your credibility isn't very good, my dear." The Skeleton Knight pointed out. "But I am willing to give you a sporting chance."
With a wave of the knight's hand, a duel disk appeared on Carly's left arm. Carly quickly realized what the Skeleton Knight was implying.
"So… we're going to duel." Carly observed. "And if I win… you'll let me go… right?"
"Of course." The knight assured her as he activated his own duel disk. "But if I win, well… it is a long way down from this office."
Carly took a big gulp before taking out her deck. Her Fortune Fairy deck wasn't exactly designed for dueling, but it was all she had. Once she placed her deck in the disk, the life points of both her and her opponent were set to 4000.
"Ladies first." Skeleton Knight offered.
Carly took another big gulp as she drew her first card. She took a good look at her hand and felt that she had a slight chance. "I summon Fortune Fairy Swee in Attack Mode!"
The water elemental of the Fortune Fairy sisters appeared on the battlefield. "Do I really have to take part in this uncivilized event?"
"I don't like this any more than you do Swee, but we don't have much choice." Carly told her.
"Well, well. This might be more amusing than I thought." Skeleton Knight chuckled.
"Next I play a Spell card, Unacceptable Result!" Carly announced, unfazed by the knight's comment. "With this card, I can Special Summon another Fortune Fairy from my hand! Appear now, Fortune Fairy Ann!"
The dark member of the Fortune Faries appeared on the field by Swee. "Finally, we're doing something I like."
"Now I play another Spell card, Luck Lone!" Carly continued. "With this card, I target Fortune Fairy Swee and summoned a Fortune Fairy a level lower! Come out, Fortune Fairy Hu!"
The green-haired wind elemental of the fairies appeared on the field. "Do I really have to be a part of this too?"
"Finally, I activate the Continuous Spell, Miracle Stone!" Carly announced. "With this card, each my fairies gain 1000 ATK for every Fortune Fairy on the field! Mean Swee, Ann, and Hu all gain 3000 ATK!"
A large blue crystal appeared on the field behind the three fairies and bombarded them with a brilliant blue light. All at once, the fairies expanded to several times their normal size.
"That ends my turn!" Carly confidently announced.
"Try and beat that, skull boy." Ann dared.
"Never before have I seen a combo that was so impressive, yet at the same time so… pathetic." Skeleton Knight remarked as he drew a card. "I summoned Skull Spider-Swift Jumper in attack Mode!"
Appearing on the other side of the battlefield was a fairly large blue-grey spider with long nimble yellow legs. A white skull-shaped mark adorned its abdomen.
"When Swift Jumper is summoned to the field, I can Special Summon another Skull Spider from my hand in Defense Mode." The knight revealed. "I now summon the Tuner monster, Skull Spider-Resonance Weaver!"
Appearing next to Swift Jumper was a large black furry tarantula with large red eyes and legs with orange stripes. Adorning its abdomen was a white skull mark like Swift Jumper's.
"Because I have another Skull Spider on the field, I can raise Resonance Weaver's level from two to three." Skeleton Knight announced. "I now tune the level three Resonance Weaver into the level three Swift Jumper for a level six Synchro Summon!"
Resonance Weaver flashed and changed into three rings of purple light. The rings encircled the second spider and converted it into three balls of crackling black energy.
"The threads of blood shall be woven together to create the web of war! Take witness to the ascension of its merciless ruler!" Skeleton Knight chanted. "Synchro Summon! The queen of war vengeance, Skull Spider Queen-Red Empress!"
The lights flashed and erupted into a column of black energy. The energy soon faded to reveal a young-looking woman with six arms, chalk-white skin, and blood-red eyes. Her long dark-red hair was styled into a braided ponytail that was slung over her left shoulder and ended in a sharp silver blade. Her fingernails were all long and bright red, and on each of her arms she wore fingerless red leather gloves that went past her elbows. She had on knee-high high-heeled red leather boots and a short armored skirt. On her torso was a red leather corset with a silver breastplate styled like a pair of fanged skulls. Atop the queen's head was a silver tiara with a red gemstone in the center, and around her neck was a red choker.
"That's one mean-looking monster." Carly admitted. "But she only has 2500 ATK."
"True. But when Red Empress is summoned to the field, she changes the battle positions of all other monsters." Skeleton Knight revealed. "And all three of your little fairies have zero DEF."
Red Empress suddenly launched thick silk ropes from her wrists and snared Swee, Ann, and Hu. The fairies cried out as the spider queen pulled them all to the ground.
"Red Empress is able to attack all monsters my opponent controls." Skeleton Knight revealed. "And each time she destroys a monster in Defense Mode, she deals battle damage equal to her ATK and the DEF of the monsters she destroys."
"But… that means…" a terrified Carly realized.
"This duel is mine." Skeleton Knight confirmed. "Red Empress, destroy this intruder! Venom Daggers!"
The red spider queen threw six silver daggers at the Fortune Fairies, causing them to shatter to bits of light and vanished. The blades continued on and struck Carly, dropping her life points to zero and hurling her through the large window behind her.
As Carly fell to earth, the Skeleton Knight stuck his head out the window. "A pity. But it was her own fault."
With that, the knight vanished in a black mist. As Carly continued to plummet, she kept expecting her life to flash before her eyes. Instead, all she was seeing was Jack. Suddenly her cell phone rang, and in her shock Carly answered it.
"Carly, I've had it with you!" her editor screamed on the other end of the line. "It's past the deadline, and you've given me squat on Atlas! Consider yourself fired!"
The line went dead after that. Carly simply let go of her phone, letting it drop to the ground first and shatter to pieces. In that moment she couldn't help but think about how unfair her life was. She had lost Jack, she had just lost her job, and in a few seconds she was about to lose her life. It was all so unfair, and it made her very angry.
"DAMN IT!" Carly cursed at the top of her lungs.
Suddenly a purple mark resembling a hummingbird blazed to life on her right forearm. At the very last second before she was about to hit the ground, Carly was enveloped by a ball of orange light that took off into the air like a shooting star. The sudden takeoff knocked off Carly's glasses, leaving them in front of the door of the building.
Author's Note: At the time this chapter was very easy for me to write. But recently it was brought to my attention that I had made a small error in the duel. Originally Red Empress' effect was to inflict damage equal to half the ATK of the monsters she destroyed in battle, but Carly's Fortune Fairies would've lost ATK each time one of them was destroyed due to Miracle Stone. So I had to go back and change the effect of Red Empress to a piercing effect. Fortunately it was an easy edit to make.
Now then, this story is listed as being in the Romance/Humor genres. The humor aspect is going to kick in very soon. Things are going to get pretty twisted.
Please review and let me know what you think.