rebuildingbonds's Journal

Character: Jack Atlas
Series/Fandom: Yuugiou 5D's
Original or Alternate: Alternate

Age: 18
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Sexuality: Probably heterosexual

Appearance: With his spiked blond hair, bold violet eyes, and tall, strong stature, Jack is the sort of person whose very genetics make him stand out. The way he dresses does nothing more than emphasize this fact, as well. He wears his hair straight, slightly spiked upward at the top, and mostly short, with two longer strands tied in the front, and it stands out very well against pronounced plum-colored eyes. He doesn't dress in overly bright colors, but manages to look sharp nonetheless in his highly detailed King outfit. The light gray trenchcoat with purple lining flares out and reaches his ankles, waving dramatically behind him at all times, and has a large, flimsy collar. His pants are a much darker shade of gray, and the knee-length boots that finish them are the same shade of off-white as his coat. To complete the look, he has an earring on each side, each in the shape of a silver, stylized "A", and a thick, well-secured belt around his waist with a buckle (also with an "A" on it) to match.

Personality: Jack is definitely one of the more aggressive characters in the series. He is perhaps a bit overly proud, and he doesn't try much to hide his ambition, or the lengths he'll go to in order to achieve it. He is entirely willing to do things he knows will hurt those who are close to him, as he did to Yuusei with Stardust Dragon, but he won't get off entirely without at least some lingering guilt plaguing him in the back of his mind. He has a strong, obvious self-confidence inside him, but also a quick temper -- Jack won't hesitate to argue with anyone without holding back. He holds himself elegantly and is not too rough around the edges, but certainly can be considered callous and apathetic at times, largely due to his insane amount of pride shining through at both the best and worst moments.

In truth, though, the friendship that tied him originally to Yuusei and his other "former" friends in Satellite still exists, and he finds he's still much more attached to Yuusei in particular than he wants to admit. It's also apparent that he's not an outright malicious person when left to his own devices, as proven by the way he behaves towards Carly and sometimes Yuusei. With Carly, he seems fond of her in a "stop being such a ditz and shape up already" sort of way, and gets along with her surprisingly well, occasionally humoring her with her fangirl ideas, and keeping the line between them strict and clear at the same time. As for Yuusei, Jack seems to allow his pride and avarice to get in the way of his real feelings for her as a friend more often than not, causing great turbulence in their relationship. Even after being dethroned by Yuusei, though, he doesn't seem to hold a grudge, further suggesting he is not a particularly malevolent person and holds no real ill will against her.

Abilities/Strengths: Excellent at riding duels and possessing insane charismatic skills, as well as being physically stronger than Yuusei is. Other than that, Jack has no special powers or anything, just a normal human with a knack for forcing his way to the top and maintaining his position once he's gotten it. His huge amount of pride allows most insults to slide off of him without consequence -- unless, of course, they happen to be from someone who matters to him.

Weaknesses: Yuusei is the key to many of Jack's weaknesses, emotionally. Physically, he's decently strong (as far as normal, superpowerless people go) and can hold his own in a riding duel, which is much more physically demanding than standing duels, but could probably be taken down by someone possessing superhuman powers, as resilient as he is. If you're anyone but Yuusei, it's difficult to get him to falter... unless you're talking about Yuusei, of course. She, however, would be able to deconstruct his confidence if she ever put her mind to it. The same likely also goes for Jack -- they hold the keys to each other's emotional undoing, but neither takes any steps toward doing so, despite the rather more negative terms they stand on.

Notable Possessions: His D-Wheel (which will not be brought with him) and deck, and Red Daemon's Dragon, one of the five dragons that is the key to awakening the Crimson Dragon, along with the Dragon's Birthmarks (of which Jack has one on his arm).

History: Jack, like Yuusei, lived his early life on the Satellite, much like a slum of the city of Neo Domino. It was where criminals were shipped off to live away from the city, as well as other residents who lived in poverty, having been there so long that they could no longer remember why they were there in the first place. It was a very rough place to live in; people would often pick fights and divide amongst themselves into groups, and things could get very violent very fast. He grew up alongside Yuusei and two other boys named Crow and Kiryuu, and they stuck together for quite a while even while the rest of the group would come and go as changes came and went. Kiryuu was the unspoken leader of the group, but trouble arose when he made the decision to break away from the group.

This caused a sort of schism to form within the group, and the members began to take sides. On one side was Jack, who believed Kiryuu's leaving was justified, and on the other was Yuusei, who felt his leaving was inexcusable. Despite their differences, they managed to come together and take hold of the group as the leaders for a while, although it was Jack who eventually stood out as the real leader. But he felt as though he didn't belong at the bottom of the food chain, largely due to the mysterious symbol on his arm that had been there since his birth. He, too, split away from the group, and leadership was left to a suspicious Yuusei.

Jack was eventually contacted personally by Jaegar, who was acting as a pawn of Rex Godwin, the head of Neo Domino's public maintenance. He was told that he was a "king" that belonged at the top in Neo Domino, and that he would open that road for him... but first, he needed a D-Wheel, Red Daemon's Dragon, and Stardust Dragon. Already possessing one of the three key objects for his ticket to Neo Domino, Jack decided, despite his better judgment, that he would get the rest from Yuusei, who owned the other two necessary things. He kidnapped one of the younger members of the group, Rally, and tied him to a boat and sent him off in a violently churning ocean. He poses his situation to Yuusei once she arrives at the scene -- either go with him to the top or save Rally and remain at Satellite. She, knowing he would go off with Stardust and her D-Wheel if she went to rescue Rally, still did jump into the water and save him from drowning, despite the burning desire to get Jack to think twice about his decision. As a result, Jack drove the D-Wheel to the underground pipeline that connected Neo Domino and Satellite, one that normally dumps a flow of garbage into Satellite, but had been stopped for two hours to allow Jack time to make it through.

He quickly ascended to the top of the riding duel ranks, earning the title of "King" that Jaegar had promised him. He became an idol and celebrity in Neo Domino, living in the area called Tops, and remaining at the very top with ease, living the life he had always thought he deserved from the very beginning. And all except a small part of him was content with himself.

After two years had passed, Jack learns "from the moon" that Yuusei is coming back to the city to challenge him, and he meets her on an abandoned highway corner. There is an unspoken challenge between the two, and they both know what is coming. Jack attempts to give Stardust back to Yuusei, but she throws it back to him, not wanting to use it unless she wins it for herself. They meet for a clandestine riding duel under the stars at the city's duel stadium. Jack seems to take an early lead, able to get both Stardust and Red Daemon's out quickly, but Yuusei seizes control of Stardust. When the two dragons clash, both Jack's and Yuusei's birthmarks react violently, and a strange dragon that soon comes to be known as the Crimson Dragon is summoned for a time, cutting off the power to the rest of the city temporarily.

The match seems to end without result, and Yuusei is sentenced to be marked with a criminal marker and given time in prison, while Jack gets off scot-free. Soon after the riding duel and the crash that followed, ending the match without an official winner, Jack meets Rex in his office, and they review a security recording of the duel's ending, trying to learn more about the Crimson Dragon's appearance and its connection to the two dragons used in the duel, as well as to the marks on Jack and Yuusei's arms and to the two of them themselves. He notices something in the video, and asks to zoom in on it... and finds that due to a trap card Yuusei played at the last moment, she would have been the victor, had the duel not been interrupted.

Jack is mortified. He reacts in a disbelieving panic, and while Rex tries to comfort him, he doesn't accept the support. He immediately asks of Yuusei's fate, and learns that she had been sent to a detention center. He immediately decides that he is going to go meet her and is already halfway out the door when Rex asks him if he wants to reconsider his position as King, as well as learn about the "people of the stars", the Signers, and his role in everything. Hesitantly, Jack agrees to go with Rex to find out more from him.

Rex takes him to a large mansion and leads him down to a highly secure lower level, requiring an iris scan from Godwin for clearance. The hall at the bottom is lit by torches, and the walls are adorned with carvings similar to the Dragon's Birthmark on Jack's arm. He tells Jack that the public security maintenance bureau of Neo Domino City is run by a group called Yliaster, meaning "the first mass of everything". He says that politics, economics, militaries, and everything else that controls society are run by the people who swear loyalty to the name of Yliaster. Rex himself tells Jack that he is the 360th generation of star guardians.

Yliaster's origin lies in the Andes Highlands of South America at least 3000 years ago, in an ancient Incan sanctuary. The natives called "people of the stars" built a civilization called the sanctuary of the sky. They worshipped the "dragon star" as a god that ruled over everything, and all knowledge that it possessed was handed down to the ruler known as the king of the dragon star. He would travel to the top of the sanctuary when a red star appeared in the sky, and would open his arms wide to accept incoming messages from the star. The people were led by these messages, interpreted through the king, to build civilizations and societies. Eventually, however, peace was threatened by a great, malevolent force, and the king of the dragon star prayed to the dragon star for salvation.

The star responded, sending down an incarnation of god, the Crimson Dragon, to seal away the incarnation of the evil left on earth in the form of the Nazca lines. Their will, sealed in the earth, spread all over the world through rainwater that seeped into the lines, and this has resulted in the current world they live in, overabundant with poverty, war, illness, and economic crisis. The only remaining utopia now is Neo Domino City, which continues to prosper while all others fall to the evils that have taken root in the rest of society.

Rex tells Jack that the evil god sealed beneath the Nazca lines will be resurrected soon from the evil sustenance within the hearts of humans. In preparation to combat the evil god, the Yliaster group has been seeking out the summoners who can call the Crimson Dragon to protect humanity, those who possess the dragon's marks on their arms, called Signers. Jack is, in fact, one of these celestially chosen summoners.

After Jack returns to his room and Yuusei continues her ordeal in prison, he begins to contemplate his situation. He takes out a bit of anger on his secretary, Mikage, saying that his undefeated record has been tarnished, and that his defeat by Yuusei no longer makes him a king. He knows that his outburst at her makes him look like a bitter fool, but he can't bring himself to give up what he worked so hard for so easily. His scheduled duel the next day against a man named Mukuro can no longer bring him satisfaction, he finds, even when he turns out to be the winner as usual.

Rex soon arranges a tournament, including Jack and Yuusei as participants, the Fortune Cup. However, Yuusei doesn't go willingly -- her friends are kidnapped, and the only way Jaegar tells her he can guarantee their safety is if he participates. Jack isn't so sure about the tournament, either, but Rex simply says he wishes to quench the king's thirst for intense duels.

Later, Jack interrupts a duel between Yuusei and Himuro, driving up suddenly and returning Stardust Dragon to Yuusei. He declares that Stardust only has meaning when Yuusei uses it, and that he wishes to settle what happened on that night that the Crimson Dragon appeared once and for all. Finally, he says that seeing the Crimson Dragon is just the beginning and drives away.

The Fortune Cup begins, and Yuusei advances quickly through the ranks. Jack learns that there is more to the story than what Rex had told him, according to other participants in the tournament; Bommer claims that Rex is up to no good and that he exploited and killed his village and siblings for the sake of the Crimson Dragon, and attempts to kill Godwin before Yuusei is able to stop him. By the time the final match rolls around -- Yuusei versus Jack -- Jack has already figured out that Rex had ulterior motives for bringing Jack to Neo Domino City. To lure the existing Signers to the stadium, he first brought Jack to the city, figuring that Yuusei would follow soon after. He requests that Godwin at the very least release the hostages he took to get Yuusei to participate, as he's certain she won't run away anymore, and he would like to duel her without the shackles of obligation to get in the way. Godwin, surprisingly, agrees to do so "if it is the King's will".

The final duel commences, and once again, the two competitors are able to get their ace dragons onto the field and into a clash once again. The collision between them causes all four birthmarks to react, dragging all of them into an alternate dimension. The riding duel continues while they pass a vision of the past, involving five Signers among the people of the stars, and then another of a Nazca spider mark searing through the ruins of Satellite. Jack doesn't seem to care about Satellite's future, much to Yuusei's chagrin, and insists they continue the duel, even if it means the destination of the riding duel is hell itself.

By the time the end of the duel arrives, and the result turns out in Yuusei's favor, both are exhausted, but Jack seems to be in much worse condition than she is, having crashed and collapsed on the ground, bleeding from his head. He is barely able to believe he was defeated, and although Yuusei tells him it was because he gave in to his pride, Jack doubts that his defeat was because of his choice to become King. However, they're unable to finish the conversation, as Jack passes out and is taken away on a stretcher.

Jack regains consciousness in the hospital, still extremely conflicted. One night, he shooes Mikage out of his room and leaves by himself soon after, grabbing his duel disk despite his arm, which is in a sling. He runs into a very fangirlish, clumsy reporter named Carly, who he initially is all set to ignore, but he is interrupted from his walking out by a security guard, Ushio, with a spider mark glowing on his arm. Jack recognizes it as the Nazca spider line from the vision earlier, and Carly remembers seeing it before in a duel involving Yuusei, on the arm of her opponent. Ushio demands a duel, and Jack asks Carly to be his arm for him in the duel, because he cannot draw using his injured right arm. She agrees, and a boundary of blue flames encircles them, preventing escape for either of them. Carly remembers the situation as the same one Yuusei had been in. They duel, and Carly starts off doing as Jack tells her, but eventually makes a mistake, jumping to a conclusion and making a move before Jack tells her to. After Carly protects him from an attack impact and sincerely apologizes for her mistake, however, Jack finds it in himself to overlook it and asks her name, apparently admiring her tenacious resolve.

The duel ends with Jack and Carly as the winners, and the spider birthmark disappears from Ushio's arm. Jack asks Carly to take him from the hospital, and then blacks out again, leaving Carly with no choice but to do as he's told her to. She takes him to her apartment, where he contemplates his situation for a while... and then leaves without telling her. Carly eventually catches up to him trying to get into the monorail station with his arm still in a sling, and tries to tell him to be careful... but he, being the overly stuck-up guy he is, simply begins to walk away from her, telling her to stop trying to tell him what to do. She begins to try to make a commotion about him, and he grabs her and tells her that he'll play her game for a while.

After "re-fashioning" him so that he isn't recognized by the public (much to Jack's dismay), Carly thinks she'll try to get him to unwind a bit so she can get her news story by taking him to an amusement park. He, however, is completely unfazed by all the thrill rides she takes him on, and walks off after he considers her officially repaid for taking him out of the hospital. He takes some time alone, and then overhears Carly being spoken to about her job as a reporter to a rival reporter named Angela, tipping him off. She chases after him after figuring out he was trying to go to the tower that the monorail runs to from the very start, and he spills his guts to her: he realizes now that even though he gave up everything to become King, he was still hiding from his true identity, and that was holding him back. Carly agrees, saying that the old Jack Atlas died in the duel with Yuusei, and that it's time for the real Jack Atlas to live. She gives him his old trenchcoat back, and he decides he'll continue down his own road without being led astray.

It is soon after this decision of his that Jack is pulled into Econtra.

Housing: TBD

This is a role-playing journal for econtra_rpg by aphotic.
Jack Atlas © Takahashi Kazuki/Studio Gallop/TV Tokyo.
All content is fictional and for entertainment purposes only, not for profit.