014 :: judgment.
Featuring: Jack
Rating: K+
Genre(s): General
Spoilers: none
"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Red Daemon's Dragon, attack him directly! Absolute Power FORCEEE!"
The crowd cheered as Jack Atlas delivered the final blow to his opponent, crushing his opponent to the ground. After the duel, Jack casually slid off from his bike and walked over to tower above him, but didn't say anything.
"Well?" his opponent scowled from his defeated position. "Hurry up and insult me already, if you're going to do it!"
"Is that all you can assume about me?" Jack asked.
The stadium went curiously silent at this exchange of words. After some time from laying on the ground, the loser finally got up and stormed off from the track without even a handshake.
All at once, a million microphones were pushed in front of his face. "Jack Atlas! That was yet another amazing victory, possibly one of the best in modern history! Do you have any words on how you consistently accomplish such a feat?"
Normally Jack ignored the paparazzi because he believed that they were truly just a waste of time – not to mention they would not hesitate to spin his words in order to create some bullshit story to their liking.
Because these people aren't Carly.
But after the rather salty conjecture by his opponent, he was ready to give everyone who would listen a piece of his mind. He reached out and grabbed a microphone out of someone's hands. "Listen up, everyone!"
As if he had just pressed a button, everyone stopped talking at once. They all wanted to hear what Jack had to say.
"You all saw what happened back there just now, did you?" Jack said, eyeing the audience from left to right. "He thought I was going to insult him. And why does he think that?"
He pointed his finger to the air, his signature gesture. "When you're at the top of the hierarchy, you instill fear into everyone under you. That fear takes on many shapes and forms – it may be admiration from those who strive to climb higher, or jealousy from those who are too weak to climb for themselves."
He lowered his arm. "Whatever path you choose to take in life, everywhere, people will judge you on your decisions. And if you are too much of a coward to stand up to them, then that's your own damn loss."
Some people in the audience were starting to nod their heads.
"And lastly!" Jack continued. "As the Duel King, I know that I will always be scrutinized and judged for being too ruthless. However! No matter what you do, there are still going to be people who will try to bring you down. As they say, the better you are, the more people will hate you for it." A smirk creeped to the corner of his mouth as he saw some more duelists from the stands glaring at him – some were even fuming.
"And that's why I have a perfect win record." Without another word, he returned the microphone and walked away. The paparazzi were at a complete loss for words.
The crowd erupted into screams and cheered louder than ever, shaking the whole stadium.
I will stop at nothing until I am King again.
Jack, you eloquent bastard. xP
Many thanks to Melan Anime and the guest reviewer Mana for the reviews. :)
