"I'm at the red carpet for the world premiere of Atlas Rising: The Rise of Jack Atlas." a reporter spoke into his mike.

"This flick has box office dud written all over it." A different reporter said.

He and a large crowd surrounded the red carpet leading into the dining hall hosting the movie premiere. Everyone dressed to the nines, cameras flashing. Hollywood red carpet style.

"Nobody cares about Jack Atlas anymore. He's yesterday's news. I mean seriously, he lost the championship. He's done."

"I heard that movie was going straight to DVD…"

"If they'd waited, they could've made it the Rise and Fall of Jack Atlas…"

Carly popped into the fray. "Excuse me…coming in…" she said as she forced herself into the front of the crowd. She even had a new camera ready to go. "Hey Tommy, look over here! Hey!"

"Ergh!" A woman exclaimed when Carly accidentally bumped into her. "Watch the elbow!"

"Angela, didn't see you." Carly wrinkled her nose like she'd recently smelled something her shoe had stepped in. Her dress strap fell off her shoulder as she spoke.

"Carly, what's with the getup?" Angela quickly got to the point.

She smirked and pointed at Carly's gray dress as if illustrating all its flaws. "Didn't you wear that same hideous house dress to our high school prom? Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up. Prom must bring bad memories, since you went alone and no one would dance with you!"

Both women were momentarily distracted by the sudden appearance of the next guest. Reporters, cameramen, and all kinds of journalists alike were clamoring for the woman's attention.

"It's Misty Treadwell!"

Misty was dark-haired, like Carly, with almond-shaped eyes a pale blue-green color. Her red-and-white dress draped itself perfectly on the woman's graceful figure. She also had a small teardrop like gem that fell right in the center of her forehead. The way she carried herself, with confidence and strength, was almost like she were floating.

"You were voted the world's number-one super model. Do you have anything to say to your fans?"

"Oh wow." Carly gushed, clasping her hands together they best she could over her camera.

Angela drooled behind Carly. Misty turned her head and smiled directly at Carly.

Who looked around in all directions. Misty had to be smiling at someone else, someone she knew, or a cameraman. Did she just smile at me?

Eventually, everyone who was supposed to be there had made their way inside. Numerous tables provided the great number of guests with plenty to sustain themselves for the evening.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your host: Rex Goodwin!"

A spotlight fell on the director. He walked calmly down a flight of extravagant stairs and stood at the top of the next flight. Applause rang out everywhere.

"Thank you for coming everyone. What makes a champion a champion? What drives the driven? Was he born great or did he have greatness thrust upon him?" Goodwin monologued dramatically. "All of these questions and more will be answered in Atlas Rising: The Rise of Jack Atlas! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to share with you the untold story behind the legend."

Both Yusei, from a separate nearby room, and Jack, from the hospital, watched a piece of the beginning of the ridiculous movie. All of the guests at the party were watching as well.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, I have some matters to tend to, but I'll be back. Please enjoy yourselves and enjoy Atlas Rising," Goodwin said, and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Angela yelled up at him in her annoying voice. "Director Goodwin, one question! Regarding the narration of the film, it's saying that Jack was born in the tops, but that's not true."

There were murmurs and gasps throughout the room.

"According to my sources, the former champion Jack Atlas was born in the Satellite Sector, just like the new champion, Wenslow."

"Is this true, Director?" Another reporter pestered.

"Did Wenslow and Jack know each other prior to the tournament?"

"Isn't it true, Director, that Satellite residents aren't allowed to duel?"

"Is there some kind of cover up going on here?"

Goodwin's voice was icy and threatening the next time he addressed the crowd. "I'm afraid I don't have time to discuss wild speculation and ridiculous rumors. Now please enjoy the screening…"

"You can't avoid this issue, Director!" Angela called after him.

Goodwin ignored her and continued leaving.

"The people have a right to know the truth!"

Carly stared open mouthed at the Director's retreating back. If Jack's the story, then why is everybody standing around here? I'm gonna find out from Jack himself!

The hopeful reporter ran back down the red carpet as fast as she could, holding up her dress.

"And where do you think you're going?" Misty asked, her voice as dreamy and floaty as her demeanor.

She had been waiting behind the red curtain, out of sight. Carly would have run right past her if she hadn't spoken up.

"Y-y-you're Misty!"

"Your face intrigues me." Misty continued cryptically, as if Carly hadn't spoken. "I wanted to get a closer look at you. Do you mind?"

"I got my dad's looks. That's what my Mom tells me, uh," Carly babbled until Misty was right in front of her face.

"Carly, right? I heard you like fortune-telling."

"Yeah, that's right, I uh, I use cards for my fortune telling."

"Well, I use faces," Misty said, looking deeply at Carly's. "Your face is haunting."

"Uh, it's what?" Carly felt a chill crackle up her spine.

Misty ignored Carly's discomfort and pulled off her glasses. "Your eyes, they're showing me the path you will take. It is a path that will disappear into darkness, Carly."

"Oh yeah? Huh, that's nice."

Misty replaced Carly's glasses and smiled. "But when you choose to take this path, you will know yourself better than you ever have before!"

"Huh? Excuse me." Carly bowed and started running off. "This has been fun but I gotta run home and feed my plant and water my cat!"

She looked back as she fled. I think fame has made her two tacos short of a fiesta!

/

"Enjoying the film?" Trudge asked sweetly. He had intruded on Yusei's boredom session.

He ignored the policeman's bait. "When can I see Goodwin?"

"Be patient; the Director is a busy man," Trudge replied condescendingly. "If you're bored, we can always pass the time with a duel. Whattaya say?"

"That would be an interesting development." Lazar cut in, smiling as usual. "But I seriously doubt he's interested in dueling you."

"Why you-"

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Lazar interrupted again. "The Director is ready to see you now." The clown man returned his attention to Trudge. "Mr. Goodwin would like to thank you for escorting Yusei here. Now he'd like you to go to the hospital and fetch Jack."

"Whatever he needs, sir." Trudge replied and frowned angrily at both Yusei and Lazar in their passing.

/

"I'm standing outside of Domino Hospital where Jack Atlas has been recovering ever since yesterday's disappointing loss in the Fortune Cup finale." Yet another reporter said for her cameraman. "And as of now, nobody has been allowed to see AUGH!"

For the second time, Carly had run into someone. Although on closer inspection, she was now dressed in a nurse's costume. "Sorry about that!" She apologized and kept running.

"I'll show you sorry…" The reporter threatened.

"We're still live!" her cameraman reminded her.

"Right um, as of now nobody has been allowed inside to see or talk to Jack."

Carly heaved a sigh of disbelief once she had made it inside. "I can't believe this nurse's costume is working."

Only seconds later, Trudge pulled up in front of the hospital, muttering. "'Go and fetch Jack.' Talk to me like I'm some dog." He grudgingly dismounted his runner and unwittingly followed Carly inside.

A spider, strategically planted in the hospital, located its next victim and pounced.

/

Mina hummed peacefully to herself. She watched carefully so that she wouldn't cut herself skinning her apple. Jack sat in bed nearby.

"I'd like to be alone right now, Mina."

Jack's babysitter put the apple and knife down. She bowed and quietly left the hospital room. "Call my cell if you need…anything," she said when she reached the door.

The second Mina left, Jack reached for his duel disk with his unbroken arm.

"Jack's in room three-oh-four." Carly speculated to herself. She turned the corner and immediately spotted... "Mr. Atlas!"

Jack ignored her and walked past Carly. She struggled to find the right words. "Say um, I was wondering if uh…"

"Trudge," Jack frowned. He'd been hoping for a pretty clean get away. That was clearly not going to be happening. "You're looking a little rough, officer."

The policeman laughed and kept walking forward. A purple spider glowed wickedly on his arm.

"What's going on? Why do you have that mark on your arm?" Jack demanded. He recognized the mark from the vision during the Fortune Cup.

"That's the same glowing mark that hooded duelist had on his arm when he was dueling Yusei!" Carly blurted.

"So, are you the fifth signer?" Jack asked stupidly.

"My master is a Dark Signer," Trudge corrected. "And he sent me here to extinguish the light of your mark so that we may envelope the world in a cloak of darkness, and you will be the first to fall."

"I seriously doubt that!" Jack quipped.

"Hang on!" Carly stepped in front of Jack. "You can't duel him, Jack! Yusei dueled someone like him. It was some guy dressed in a bathrobe and he had the same weird purple mark glowing on his arm… and… I'm Carly, by the way…"

"What? Did you say Yusei?" Jack's intelligence was clearly not at its peak. "When did all this happen?"

"Last night, and uh, Yusei won…"

"Carly, was it?"

"Yeah, that's me!"

"Tell me something, Carly: do you know how to duel?"

"Well, sort of."

"In that case, lend me your hands will you?" Jack shoved his duel disk at Carly and spun her around so that she was standing beside him. His only good arm happened to be his left. "I just need you to hold the cards for me and draw, right?"

"Huh? But I uh…"

"I have no idea what this purple glow is all about, but if Yusei was able to take someone like him down, then I'll have no problem! Come on, put the duel disk on my arm."

"Right, okay." Carly spoke nervously. As instructed, she slid Jack's duel disk into place.

A big purple ring of glowing fire encircled all three of them. Wind blew everywhere, knocking papers and nurses, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, every which way. Jack's arm began to glow; it was bright enough to shine straight through his bandages.

"Hey, Jack, look! Your arm is glowing too!"

"I can see that."

"Yusei's arm was glowing last night as well, and then this same circle appeared. What's it all mean?"

Trudge chose that moment to speak up. "Let's cut the chatter, shall we?"

Jack/Carly: 4000

Trudge: 4000

"I'm summoning Warm Worm in defense mode." Trudge began the duel.

(Warm Worm: ATK: 600 Def: 1400)

The creature was exactly as described: a rather large worm with a white belly, reddish brown back and a red fiery head-piece.

"This is real front-line journalism right here!" Carly cried. "Getting to duel alongside the dauntless and dashing Jack Atlas! It's my turn!"

"Actually, it's my turn," Jack reminded her.

"Oh, right sorry."

"To start things off, I'm summoning Vice Dragon from my hand."

"Right!"

(Vice Dragon: Atk: 2000 Def: 2400)

"Whoever you really are, you've got some gall coming here. Did you think you could kick me while I was down? Well, I'm not down," Jack declared.

His monster's attack dropped from 2000 to 1000 as a side effect for playing its special ability.

"There's no way some daddy long legs is gonna trip me up. I release Vice Dragon to summon out Strong Wind Dragon in attack mode!"

(Strong Wind Dragon: ATK: 2400 DEF: 1000)

The new dragon was turquoise, and much larger than the previous. It had muscles, creamy colored wings and a yellow midriff.

"Next, I'm activating Strong Wing Dragon's special ability! Now it gains half the attack points of the dragon monster I released in order to summon it."

"So," Carly did the math on her fingers. "Uh, right, okay, since Strong Wind Dragon had twenty-four hundred attack points…"

"It gains a thousand more," Jack finished for her.

"Whoa!"

"Strong Wind Dragon, attack Warm Worm!" Jack's beast shot a blast of fire, destroying the worm. Windows shattered and the floor gave way. "Why'd the floor explode?"

"I don't know but the same stuff was happening when Yusei was battling that underground duelist from last night! It was like duel things were really happening or something!"

"So he's making this duel real."

Jack/Carly: 4000

Trudge: 2000

"By the way, Warm Worm was in defense mode. How come he lost life points?"

Jack launched into an explanation. "Strong Wind Dragon's power enables it to fight through a monster's defenses and attack directly. As long as its attack points are greater than the opponent's defense points, the difference is dealt as damage."

"This is great! I'm dueling with the deck of a once-great duelist!"

"'Once-great'? I only lost yesterday, ya know. And you're not the one dueling!"

"Hey, has-been!" Trudge returned their attention back to the duel. "When Warm Worm is destroyed in battle, you have to send three cards from your deck to your graveyard."

"Oh, I'm supposed to do that, right?" Carly started sending cards to the grave. "The top three, that's how it works right?"

"I place one card facedown and end my turn," Jack concluded as Carly set the card down for him.

"It's my move," Trudge began. "And from my hand I summon Shield Worm in defense mode! When this monster is successfully summoned, you and your little assistant must send one card from your deck to the graveyard."

(Shield Worm: Atk: 800 Def: 2000)

The new worm monster was more repulsive than the first. Its skin was brown, orange, and turquoise. It had six eyes and six arms and two spindly tails.

"And now I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Then it's my move!" Carly quipped dramatically and realized her mistake. "I mean..."

"Let me see my cards," Jack had to tell Carly again. She did as he said. "That spell card could be quite useful right now, but I would have to release Strong Wind Dragon in order to activate it," Jack thought out loud.

Carly lowered the cards. "I know what you should do! Strong Wind Dragon take out his Shield Worm with a direct attack!"

"Dimwit!"

"What?! Did I mess up?"

Trudge laughed cockily as the dragon's fire breath turned his monster to ashes. "You walked right into that one. Shield Worm is able to deflect any attack. Therefore, it also negates Strong Wind Dragon's special ability, and with that I reveal my trap card Regret Reborn!

"This card enables me to resummon a monster that you destroyed in battle. As long as I summon it to the field in defense mode, and, of course, since Shield Worm has once again been successfully summoned to my field, you have no choice but to send another card in your deck to your graveyard."

"This is all my fault, isn't it? Jack, I am so, so sorry," Carly apologized, hanging her head.

Not as sorry as Trudge is going to be…

"Trudge, you're not gonna win this duel, and to make sure of it, I'm summoning Twin Shield Defender to the field in defense mode!"

"It's my turn then." Trudge smirked. "And from my hand I'm playing the spell card Worm Bank! As long as there's a worm monster on my field, I can use the power of this spell to summon out two worm tokens!"

The tokens were dark brown, red, and gray worms. Neither of them had any attack points.

"Next, I release the two worm tokens in order to advance summon Dark Tuner Chaos Rogue!"

(Chaos Rogue: Atk: 0000 Def: 0000)

The dark tuner resembled a warped jester that only saw the dark side of funny.

"Did he say Dark Tuner?" Jack questioned, confused.

"Okay, this might be bad," Carly broke it to him. "This happened last night."

"What're you talking about?"

"Well, um-"

Trudge continued, oblivious to any discomfort or confusion the others were displaying. "Now I dark tune my level eight Chaos Rogue with my level four Shield Worm."

"What's this dark tuning business all about, Carly?"

"That rogue duelist did the same thing last night! Something about monsters using negative energy and shadows and all sorts of really eerie sounding stuff."

"When shadows are devoured by even darker shadows, the curtain pulls back and reveals…a world without light! Now rise: Dark Diviner!"

(Dark Diviner: ATK: 2000 DEF: 1000)

Diviner had the appearance of an evil sorcerer. He had a red hooded cape, wooden mask, dark black cloak, and bejeweled wooden staff.

"What? So that thing's level is negative four?"

"That's right," Trudge replied. "The monsters of the Netherworld don't come together and build on one another the way your pathetic monsters do. They devour one another and feed off of each other's negative energy like a snake eating its own tail."

"That's kinda what the underground duelist said to Yusei last night after performing the same kind of synchro summon!"

"Interesting." Jack mused.

"Chaos Rogue's special ability activates from the graveyard. Because I used this card to perform a dark synchro summon, I'm afraid you have to send five more cards from your deck to your graveyard."

"Keep doing that and we're not gonna have any cards left!" Carly turned and started discarding cards again.

"And now Dark Diviner, slay his Strong Wind Dragon!"

"Wait what? But Strong Wind Dragon has more attack points than your Dark thingamawhat!"

"That's not what matters to him," Jack pointed out.

"That's right, because when Dark Diviner attacks, your monster's attack points become the same. And for every one hundred attack points your dragon loses, you have to send one card to your graveyard!"

"I really don't like you," Jack said.

"Um, that means fourteen cards right? What does that leave us with?!" Carly felt a little panicky then.

"Just enough."

"What?! Are you feeling okay?"

"We of the Netherworld came here to rob you of your power. To extinguish the light of your world by burying you in the shadows! Dark Diviner, attack!"

"Bring it, officer!" Jack challenged.

The two monsters clashed and an enormous whirlwind kicked up. Carly shielded Jack with her own body.

"What're you doing?!"

"I'm protecting you!" Carly shouted. She stumbled and Jack reached out and caught her before she caught fall.

"Hey, attack all you want, but Strong Wind Dragon can't be destroyed by a monster with the same number of attack points."

"Dark Diviner can't be destroyed in battle, so we've got a stalemate!" Trudge countered annoyingly.

"I'm so, so sorry, Jack." Carly apologized again. "This is all my fault…"

"Don't be ridiculous." Jack tried to be comforting but he half-failed in the end. "You were just trying to help. Uh, what was your name, again?"

"My name's Carly."

"What say you, Carly, that we finish this together?"

"Huh? Oh, well okay," Carly answered, cheering up a bit.

"It's my…"

"And, and, and, and my…"

"Turn!" Both Carly and Jack finished.

"From our hand, Carly and I are activating the Mind Trust spell card." Jack explained.

"With this spell we can release a powerful monster to pull a weaker monster from our graveyard and add it to our hand. So we release Strong Wind Dragon, and then from our graveyard, we add Dark Resonator to our hand! And now we summon it! Next, Dark Resonator gives Twin Shield Defender a tune up! We Synchro Summon Exploder Dragon Wing!"

(Exploder Dragonwing: ATK: 2400 DEF: 1600)

This dragon was gray, orange, and had a reddish-brown chest. It also had claws, large teeth, and a particularly large round growth from the back of the dragon's head that seemed to support its wings.

"When this monster battles against a monster with fewer attack points," Jack continued, "that monster is instantly destroyed without calculating any damage. Then you get slammed with damage equal to your vanquished monster's attack points. It's over, chum."

"Wow! So back when you were thinking of activating Mind Trust you knew his goal was to send your cards to the graveyard, so you waited! You still got it, Jack."

"Of course, I still got it!" Jack insisted. "I only lost the championship yesterday. And now, Exploder Dragonwing, attack Dark Diviner!"

In one fireball attack, Dark Diviner and Trudge's life points went down the drain. Unfortunately, a giant explosion as a result from the attack rocked the building. Every reporter standing outside could see it.

The purple fire wall disappeared. In its wake was a ton of damage, two successful duelists, and one very tired policeman that fell on his face.

Jack & Carly: 4000

Trudge: 0000

Trudge's mark vanished too. The spider that had bitten him fell away and turned into dust. "Where am I?" the officer asked and fell unconscious.

"That's exactly how the other guy was!" Carly speculated. "It was like they were being controlled by someone else."

Dizzy after the intense fight, Jack had a small fainting spell. Carly held him up. "Jack!"

"Would you mind…helping me get out of this hospital?" Jack managed to get out before completely going under.

/

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Coming through!" Carly yelled as she wheeled Jack through a large crowd of nurses. She had thought to use several layers of sheets to hide Jack's unmistakable face. "Out of the way please!"

"There were smaller booms coming from the hospital and then there was a sudden explosion," the reporter woman from before was telling her cameraman as Carly wheeled Jack discreetly out of the hospital.

Shockingly, nobody deemed this as odd in the slightest and let her continue on her merry way.

This is crazy…What'm I supposed to do with him now?!

/

"Yusei." Goodwin said instead of hello as he climbed out of his limo.

He met Lazar and the dark-haired Signer at the edge of what was supposed to be a bridge connecting Satellite and the city if it weren't unfinished.

"It's time you learned the truth."

"About what?"

Goodwin pointed theatrically at the Satellite across the ocean. "About where you come from, and where you're going…"