Introduction: Back when I first started writing fan fiction, one of the projects I wanted to do was a series of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX stories that took place after the anime. I started that project with two crossover stories between GX and Strawberry Panic called Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Strawberry Crisis and GX: Dark Queen of Miator. I had intended to do much more, but things kind of ended up changing somewhere along the line. One thing that happened was that I had started doing other stories, like my Pokemon AU. And without me realizing it, my little GX project ended up pretty much dying.

I mentioned this little project to a friend of mine the other day. And after thinking about it for a bit, I decided to put a few of my other projects on hold to breath new life into this series. So I took the concept of one of my abandoned GX stories, and after changing things around a bit came up with this little tale. One thing I should mention is that this story takes place after Strawberry Crisis and Dark Queen of Miator. It's not necessary to read those stories to know what's going on in this one. Just know that they're part of the same continuity.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

Chapter 1: Duel Academy America

It was a sunny afternoon as Jaden Yuki lounged under a tree in the middle of a meadow. His orange and brown-stripped cat, Pharaoh was sound asleep on his stomach. Jaden had nothing to do but lounge around as he waited for what he was told would be a helicopter. Only five days ago after winning a small Duel Monsters tournament in a nearby town, Jaden had been invited to come to the American counterpart to the Kaiba Corp Duel Academy he had attended in the past, known simply as Duel Academy America. The institute was located near San Francisco, California. And Jaden had been invited to come to the academy as a guest.

While the wandering pro duelist had been given no explanation as to why he had been invited, Jaden was told that he would have the opportunity to face off against two of the academy's graduates. That alone was enough to get Jaden to say yes to the invitation. The man who had given him the invitation told Jaden to go to a certain spot and wait for a helicopter to come pick him up. It was at that spot where Jaden had been waiting for about three hours. And while it was a nice day out, Jaden was starting to grow a little bored.

Just when it seemed like Jaden was about to doze off, his Duel Monster companion Yubel appeared to stand over him. "How much longer do those people from that academy expect us to wait?"

"Don't know." Jaden calmly replied. "I'm still trying to figure out why I was invited. I mean I understand wanting to show the students a pro duelist in action, but I would've thought they'd have picked someone a little more famous like Aster or Chazz."

"Maybe you're just finally getting the recognition you deserve." Yubel theorized. "I mean there was that article done about you winning the Astraea Star Cup a few months ago."

"That could be." Jaden replied. "Whatever the reason is, I'd just like to get there before it gets dark."

"Well this is certainly a surprise." A familiar voice spoke.

Jaden quickly sat up under the tree, causing Pharaoh to wake up and hop off his stomach. Walking towards him with a green back slung over his back was a young man only a few years older than Jaden. He had slightly long dark-brown hair and wore the white and blue uniform worn by some of the elite students from his old academy. Jaden recognized this person in an instant as his old friend, Atticus Rhodes.

"Hi Atticus." Jaden greeted as he quickly got up and walked over. "I sure didn't expect to run into you out here."

"Well I was in the area when I was invited to come to Duel Academy America." Atticus explained. "This was the place I was told where a helicopter would come to pick me up. What brings you out here?"

"I was invited as a guest of the academy too." Jaden answered.

"Oh, so Alexis invited you too, huh?" Atticus assumed.

"Alexis?" Jaden repeated with a raised eyebrow. "I was invited to come by the academy's principle. What's Alexis have to do with this?"

"You mean you don't know?" Atticus asked with a look of surprise. "My little sister's been working as an assistant teacher at that academy for the last five months."

"This is the first I've heard of it." Jaden revealed. "But then it's been just about a years since the last time I spoke to Alexis."

"Really? I'm surprised the two of you aren't engaged already." Atticus replied.

Atticus' response almost caused Jaden to trip over. "E-engaged?"

"He has got to be kidding!" Yubel spoke as her left eye twitched a bit.

"Yeah, I mean the way I've seen you two act together I would've thought you and my sister would've already made wedding plans by now." Atticus responded. "You didn't do something to upset Alexis, did you?"

"No, I just… I guess I just haven't had the chance to talk to her in awhile." Jaden told him.

"Well, whatever." Atticus replied, letting the matter drop. "If Principle Mackenzie invited you to come, I'm sure it's because he wants to show his students one of the best pro duelists out there."

"You know him?" Jaden asked.

"He's sort of an old friend of the family." Atticus explained. "In fact I'm pretty good friends with his daughter."

Before the conversation could proceed further, a white helicopter suddenly appeared in the sky above. The sound of its approach nearly scared Pharaoh into the tree. Jaden and Atticus could see the Duel Academy America logo on the side in blue letters. The chopper touched down a few feet away and opened its side door.

"Looks like our ride's here." Atticus observed.

"Yeah, let's go." Jaden replied.

Within moments after Jaden gathered his things and grabbed Pharaoh, the two of them got into the helicopter. After the pilot apologized for the delay they were off. After several minutes Jaden and Atticus could see San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge from the window of the chopper, signaling that they were getting close. The sight of the city from above was quite spectacular. A few minutes later the white helicopter finally landed on the waiting helipad at Duel Academy America.

Waiting for Jaden and Atticus as they exited the vehicle was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She was tall and very well endowed, and had tan skin and long wavy light-blue hair that grew down to her waist. The woman also had ruby red lips and a striking pair of golden eyes that were almost like those of a cat. She had on a silver blazer with the Duel Academy America logo sewed in gold lettering on the right arm, along with a very low-cut red shirt that served to show off her abundant cleavage. The rest of her outfit consisted of a very short black skirt and a pair of red shoes with spiked heels.

"Jaden Yuki and Atticus Rhodes. It's nice to finally meet you two." The woman greeted. "I'm Electra Darkling, the assistant principle of Duel Academy America. I hope that both of you will enjoy your time here."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Electra." Jaden replied.

"Oh please, there's no need to be so formal." The bluenette told him. "Call me Electra."

Right away, Jaden seemed to sense something off about Electra. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about the woman's bewitching golden eyes that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up on end. To Jaden, it almost seemed like Electra hated him for some reason, even though she had a very pleasant smile on her face.

"I was instructed to take you to Principle Mackenzie's office, but I thought perhaps you both might like to tour the grounds first." Electra suggested.

"That sounds pretty good." Atticus agreed.

"Then if you'll both follow me." Electra requested as she walked off. Jaden and Atticus hanged back for a moment.

"Hey Atticus, do you notice anything odd about Electra?" Jaden asked.

"Well she's stacked, that much I can tell." Atticus replied. "Why do you ask?"

"…Never mind." Jaden replied after a moment. "Let's just get going."

Jaden and Atticus quickly caught up to Electra and their tour of the academy grounds began. Overall, the academy didn't seem all that different from the one Jaden and Atticus had graduated from. The uniforms were a bit different. They were primarily silver in color and resembled military uniforms. The male students wore long coats with long pants while the girls' uniforms had skirts that were cut just above the knee. Both kind of uniforms also included hats, which Jaden found a little odd. He was glad that the uniforms of his academy didn't require any sort of headwear, and Jaden was quite sure he would've kept losing his.

Besides the uniforms, there were only two other distinct differences between the two academies. Duel Academy America was not quite nearly as isolated as the one Jaden had gone to. Being located near a major city was much different from being located on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. The other major difference was that there didn't seem to be any major division between the students based on skill like there was on Duel Academy Island. After touring almost the entire academy, Electra finally brought Jaden and Atticus to the door of the principle's office on the second floor.

"If the two of you will wait out here for a moment, I'll tell Principle Mackenzie that you've arrived." Electra told Jaden and Atticus before entering the office.

With that, the two visiting duelists were left to wait out in the hallway. As they waited, Jaden glanced out the window and saw something that he didn't expect. Down by a tree outside were students, a young man and woman. The male student had short black hair with a white streak down the middle, while the girl had long dark-green hair. But the most surprising thing about these two students was that they were both naked, with bits of their uniforms scattered around them. What was also very obvious to Jaden was that they were both having sex.

The young woman was bent over and grasping the tree while her lover plowed into her from behind. Her long hair was dangling down around her face, completely obscuring it from view. At one point the young man pulled her left leg back and began jamming into her harder.

"What… what the hell?" a wide-eyed Jaden asked as his face turned a bit red.

"What is it?" Atticus asked before looking out the window himself. "Whoa! That's something I didn't expect to see on the tour. I'm all for young love, but you'd think they'd be a little more discrete."

Before Jaden could respond, Electra reemerged from the Principle's office. "Principle Mackenzie will see you now. Please come in."

Jaden and Atticus quickly turned away from the scandalous display out the window and headed into the office, trying to put the event out of their minds. Standing behind the desk inside the office was a dark-haired man with bushy eyebrows and a strip of beard on his chin. It didn't take Jaden long to figure out that this man was Principle Mackenzie.

"Ah Atticus, Jaden Yukie. Welcome." Principle Mackenzie greeted. "I'm pleased that you could both pay us a visit."

"It's nice seeing you again, Mr. Mackenzie." Atticus greeted back. "I trust my sister is doing well."

"She's performing quite well as an assistant teacher here." Principle Mackenzie assured him. "And she gets along quite well with the students. They really look up to her."

"Great to hear that Alexis is doing so well here." Jaden remarked.

"Oh yes, it should've occurred to me that you would know Ms. Alexis as well." Principle Mackenzie realized. "You and she graduated from Academy Island at the same time, didn't you?"

"That's right." Jaden confirmed. "It's actually been a little while since I've seen her."

"Well you'll have your chance soon." Principle Mackenzie assured him. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

The door opened, and walking in were two people dressed in Duel Academy America uniforms. One of them was a young man with blonde hair, and the other was a young woman with short blonde hair and a small beauty mark located near the corner of her left eye.

"You sent for us dad?" the young woman asked Principle Mackenzie.

"Ah, perfect timing you two." Principle Mackenzie told them. "Jaden Yuki, I'd like to introduce you to two of this academy's top graduates, my daughter Reggie and my adopted son David Rabb."

"Nice to meet you guys." Jaden greeted.

"Hey Mac, it's nice seeing you again." Atticus greeted to Reggie. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Nice seeing you again too, Rhodie." Reggie replied.

"So you're this Jaden Yuki that's I've heard so much about." David spoke, getting Jaden's attention. "No offence, but you don't look much like much of a hotshot duelist. And if I'm not mistaken, that's the uniform of the Slifer Red dorm that you're wearing. If I'm remembering right, Slifer Red is the lowest rank at Academy Island."

"Yeah, well I did have the chance to move to Ra Yellow, but I declined." Jaden explained. "Red's sort of my color."

"Sounds like a pretty flimsy excuse if you ask me." David argued with a cocky smirk.

"Now David, you should know better than to judge the students at that academy based on their rank alone." Electra cut in. "Besides, if you ask me red truly is the perfect color for Jaden. Though perhaps black would suit him just as well."

Jaden became a little uneasy upon hearing Electra's remark. While she was smiling at him, there was something about her eyes that seemed to indicate a great hatred towards him. Though just what the reason for that hatred was, Jaden had no idea. Suddenly there was another knock at the office door.

"Come in." Principle Mackenzie responded.

The door opened, and walking in was a tall young woman with dark-blonde hair and honey-colored eyes. She had on a silver blazer with the academy's logo on the right arm, along with a black shirt with a short blue skirt and fingerless silver gloves. Jaden recognized her right away as his old friend Alexis.

"There you are. I've been looking all over for you." Alexis spoke as she walked into the room.

Jaden was about to speak when David cut him off. "Sorry Lexi, but I was called to the office to meet our two guests."

"Guests?" Alexis repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Hi sis." Atticus greeted, getting her attention.

"Oh, Atticus!" Alexis responded. "Was today the day you were coming? I totally forgot."

"Don't sweat it." Atticus replied.

"Uh, hi Lex." Jaden greeted. "It's been awhile, huh?"

"Jaden?" a surprised Alexis responded. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"I invited Jaden Yuki to spend a couple of weeks here." Principle Mackenzie reminded her. "Surly you knew."

"I told you about Jaden's visit only this morning Alexis, remember?" Electra added.

"Oh… you did?" a somewhat embarrassed Alexis asked. "Gosh, I have been so busy lately I guess I've forgotten a few things. How are you Jaden?"

"I'm fine." Jaden answered.

"So Alexis, I assume that you haven't had a chance to sit down for lunch yet." David cut in. "How 'bout I take you to our usual place for a quick bite?"

"Sounds good." Alexis agreed. "That is if you don't need David for anything, Principle Mackenzie replied."

"Not at all." Principle Mackenzie replied. "But I am holding a little dinner for our guests tonight at my mansion on the grounds. You're more than welcome to attend."

"I'll be there." Alexis told him before turning back to David. "Well, shall we?"

"Uh, mind if I tag along with you guys?" Jaden asked.

"Oh… if it's okay Jaden, I'd prefer if it was just me and David." Alexis replied. "Besides, you probably wouldn't like the place David and I are going to anyway. It's kind of fancy."

"Oh… well, that's fine I guess." A disappointed Jaden responded. "I was kind of hoping that we could catch up a little."

"It's nothing personal Jaden." David assured him. "It's just three's a crowd and all that. You and Lexi will have plenty of time to catch up later tonight."

"Yeah, okay. Well have fun you two." Jaden told them. And with that, David and Alexis left the office together.

"Hey Mac, how 'bout you and I use this time to catch up?" Atticus suggested.

"Sure." Reggie replied somewhat indifferently. With that, she led Atticus out of the office.

"If you'll excuse me, Mr. Yuki, it's about time that I made my usual rounds." Principle Mackenzie told Jaden. "Dinner at the mansion will be at 7:00. In the meantime you're more than welcome to roam the grounds."

Principle Mackenzie left the room after that, leaving Jaden alone with Electra. Electra looked at Jaden with the same pleasant smile that she had been wearing since they met. Yet her eyes continued to show some kind of hidden malice towards him.

"It's a shame that you and our Ms. Rhodes weren't able to catch up." Electra remarked.

"Alexis and David really seemed friendly with one another." Jaden observed.

"Well they have known one another since they were children." Electra pointed out. "And David has been coming to visit our Alexis quite often since she started her position here."

"He has?" a somewhat surprised Jaden asked.

"Oh yes. In fact they've grown quite close over these past few months." Electra revealed. "They do make quite the fetching couple. Why I wouldn't be surprised if we started hearing wedding bells between those two before long."

Jaden suddenly felt as though he had been stabbed in the heart by those words. He had to wonder is David and Alexis had really gotten that close. And he was actually a bit surprised that the idea of Alexis and David together bothered him so much.

"Well, I have my rounds to make as well." Electra continued. "The guest house here on the grounds has already been prepared for you and Atticus. I do hope you enjoy your stay here, Jaden."

With that, Electra left Jaden alone on the office. Jaden remained standing in the middle of the room for several moments before finally leaving to go back outside. He needed to go for a long walk to try and clear his head. As he walked, Yubel appeared to hover alongside him.

"Don't try to tell me this thing with that Alexis girl isn't bothering you, because I know it is." A somewhat irritated Yubel told him.

"I can't believe that Alexis might actually be interested in that Rabb guy." Jaden responded. "But then I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she might be seeing someone. It's not like I've really tried all that much to stay in touch with her."

"Well it's not like she's done a good job with staying in touch with you either." Yubel pointed out. "If you ask me, you deserve much better. Especially after the way she brushed you off like that."

"I've just never been able to picture Alexis being interested in a guy." Jaden admitted. "Seems like she and I have always been all about dueling. I never thought that something like this would happen."

"Look, why are you even making a big deal about this?" Yubel asked. "I mean it's not like you're actually in love with Alexis, is it?"

Yubel's question made Jaden stop in his tracks. He had to wonder if that was really the reason why Alexis' possible relationship with David was bothering him so much. Jaden had always considered Alexis to be a close friend, but suddenly had to wonder if she hadn't become something more.

Yubel gave a heavy sigh. "I can tell this is going to be a long couple of weeks."

"Hey!" a voice suddenly called from behind.

Jaden turned around and saw a male academy student with black hair that had a white streak down the middle. He had a duel disk mounted on his left arm. Jaden suddenly recognized him as the young man he and Atticus had witnessed having sex by that tree earlier. Though this time he was fully clothed.

"Oh, uh… can I help you?" Jaden asked.

"You're Jaden Yuki the pro duelist, right?" the young man asked. "I'm Trent Spicer, and I've come to challenge you to a duel."

Jaden relaxed a bit after hearing Trent's explanation for confronting him. He had to admit that a good duel would help him take his mind off of Alexis for a bit.

"Okay then." Jaden replied as a smile came to his face. "Game on!"

Both Jaden and Trent took their positions and activated their duel disks. Jaden looked at his opening hand. It contained three Elemental Heroes and two Neo-Spacians, but no cards he could use to perform a fusion. He had to admit that it wasn't his best opening hand, but it had potential.

"I'll go first!" Jaden declared as he drew his first card. "I summoned Elemental Hero Wildheart in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the battlefield in a kneeling position was a muscular warrior with dark skin and red tribal markings on his body. He had a long black ponytail and wielded a large sword that was presently slung on his back.

"Next I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

Trent drew his first card. "I activate a Field Spell, Domain of Rituals!"

Suddenly the surroundings changed to a mountainous grey wasteland with a sky thick with dark-blue clouds above. In the distance behind Trent, Jaden could see a pyramid-like structure made out of some kind of strange black stone. Carved into the top of the structure was an odd almost star-shaped symbol with a demonic eye in the center.

"I've never heard of this Field Spell before." Jaden spoke as he looked around.

"You'll become all too familiar with it soon enough." Trent assured him with a confident expression. "I now summon Sonic Bird to the field!"

Flying down from above to land on Trent's side of the battlefield was a large eagle-like bird with a white head and a body of brown feathers. It had a pair of goggles over its eyes and what looked like a grey jetpack on its back.

"When Sonic Bird is summoned to the field, I can add a Ritual Spell card to my hand." Trent continued. "And now I activate that Ritual Spell, Revival of Dokurorider! I sacrifice Sonic Bird from the field and Zombie Dragon from my hand to summon Dokurorider!"

Appearing on the field next to Sonic Bird was a dragon with mindless yellow eyes and decaying purple flesh. Soon after the dragon appeared, both it and Sonic Bird were struck from the sky by a massive bolt of yellow lightning. The lightning blast quickly ended, and appearing in the place of the two creatures was a humanoid monster riding a motorcycle with a spike front wheel and a front end styled like a demonic skull. The rider had on a blue and purple riding suit with brown boots and gloves and a brown skull-like helmet with two horns on the sides and a red arrow-shaped mark on top.

"Dokurorider! Mow down Elemental Hero Wildheart!" Trent commanded. "Skull Wheel Strike!"

Dokurorider revved up his motorcycle and went full speed towards Wildheart. Jaden's wilderness hero was crushed into the ground by the attack.

"I activate my Trap, Hero Signal!" Jaden announced. "Since one of my monsters was destroyed, I can summon and Elemental Hero from my deck. So I summon Elemental Hero Stratos!"

Materializing onto Jaden's side of the field was a warrior in blue armor with a pair of mechanical wings on his back that had propellers. The tinted visor of the hero's white helmet hid his face.

"When Startos is summoned to the field, I can add an Elemental Hero to my hand!" Jaden announced. "So I add Elemental Hero Neos!"

"Add all the heroes you want. It won't help you win this duel." Trent confidently declared. "I end my turn."

Jaden drew his next card. "I summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a large mole-like creature with brown fur. Over its shoulders were pieces of grey armor that looked as if they formed two halves of a drill bit.

"I attack Dokurorider with Grand Mole!" Jaden announced. "And when Grand Mole attacks a monster, both it and the target return to our hands!"

The pieces of Grand Mole's shoulder armor rotated up and formed a complete drill bit that covered its head. The mole dived down and drilled a large hole into the ground. Seconds later a massive hole appeared beneath Dokurorider, causing him to fall into the ground. Soon after, both holes vanished.

"Nice try. But I'm afraid you won't be getting rid of Dokurorider so easily." Trent told him. "I activate the effect of Domain of Rituals! When a Ritual Monster is returned to my hand, I can discard one card to get its Ritual Spell back from the Graveyard!"

"Which means you can summon Dokurorider all over again." Jaden quickly realized.

"Exactly." Trent confirmed. "One of the biggest weaknesses that a Ritual Monster has is being returned to the hand. But Domain of Rituals makes up for that weakness."

"Yeah? Well I still have one monster left on the field!" Jaden reminded him. "Stratos, attack Trent directly! Hero Typhoon!"

The propellers in Stratos' wings began to spin at high speed and shot forth a pair of twisters that knocked Trent to the ground. Trent's life points fell to 2200.

"That ends my turn!" Jaden announced.

Trent got back to his feet and chuckled as he drew his next card. "You're as good as they say. But I'm afraid that this time you've met your match! I activate Revival of Dokurorider and use from my hand as tribute… Sacrifice Maiden Ronda!"

Suddenly appearing on the battlefield was a young woman with long dark-green hair and chocolate-colored eyes. She had on a long white almost Roman-style dress, and her face made her look as though she was in some sort of trance. Her hair couldn't help but remind Jaden of the young woman he saw Trent with through the window.

"Sacrifice Maiden Ronda is only a one-star monster, but she can be used as the entire tribute for a Ritual Summon!" Trent explained. "And now she will be used to bring back Dokurorider!"

A massive bolt of yellow lighting shot down from the sky and hit Ronda. Seconds later Dokurorider reappeared in Ronda's place. The undead biker briefly glowed with a white aura upon returning to the field and his eyes flashed red. Jaden quickly sense something wrong about Dokurorider's return.

"I equip Dokurorider with Horn of the Unicorn, raising his ATK from 1900 to 2600!" Trent announced. A golden horn suddenly appeared on the front of Dokurorider's motorcycle. "And now, Dokurorider attacks Stratos! Skull Wheel Strike!"

Dokurorider revved up his cycle and ran Stratos into the ground. Jaden's life points dropped down to 3200.

Suddenly Trent began to laugh madly. "And now Dokurorider, attack Jaden Yuki directly! Skull Wheel Strike!"

"What?" a surprised Jaden exclaimed.

Dokurorider's eyes flashed red again as he revved up his motorcycle again. The undead biker rammed full speed into Jaden and knocked him back a few feet. His life points had fallen to a mere 600. But what troubled Jaden more was that the attack felt real.

Yubel reappeared next to Jaden. "Okay, something is very wrong with this duel."

"You think?" Jaden quietly responded as he got back to his feet. Meanwhile, Trent continued to laugh maniacally. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that Ritual Monsters summoned using Sacrifice Maidens gain incredible forbidden powers." A clearly insane Trent explained. "Since I used Ronda as the sacrifice for Dokurorider, he gained the power to attack twice during the same turn."

"That Sacrifice Maiden card he used to summon Dokurorider was definitely not normal." Yubel told Jaden.

"Your days are now numbered, Supreme King!" Trent declared. "With your defeat I shall become a hero in the glorious new age to come! My story will be spoken of for centuries to come!"

"Dream on!" Jaden told him as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Fake Hero! With this card, I summon Elemental Hero Neos!"

Materializing on the battlefield was a green-eyed warrior in a white alien body suit. Parts of his suit were dark-blue and his hands were black. A red line ran over parts of the warrior's body, and in the center of his chest was a dark-blue gemstone. Three red triangles surrounded the stone on his chest with the points facing away. There were white spikes on his elbows that curved upward, and another large white spike that curved backward grew from the top of the warrior's head.

"Next I summon Grand Mole back to the field!" Jaden announced. The alien mole reappeared next to Neos. "Now contact fuse Neos with Grand Mole to summon Elemental Hero Grand Neos!"

Neos and Grand Mole leapt into the sky and quickly faded from view. A moment later, Neos landed back on the ground in a different form. His torso, lower legs, and left hand were covered in olive green armor, and he wore and olive green helmet to match. A large drill covered Neos' right hand, and parts of Neos' white body suite had turned brown.

"I activate the effect of Grand Neos, Nebula Hole!" Jaden announced. "With this effect, I return Dokurorider back to your hand!"

Neos pointed his drill forward and a large black bubble appeared around Dokurorider. In moments the sphere vanished, taking the undead biker with it.

Trent's eyes went wide with horror. "No! This is impossible! I was to be hailed as a hero!"

"I don't think so!" Jaden told him. "Neos, attack Trent directly! Nebula Shot!"

Neos thrust his drill forward and sent a blast of black energy at Trent. Trent was knocked backward and his life points dropped to zero. With the duel at its end, Neos vanished and the surroundings returned to normal. Jaden ran to Trent's side and found that Trent was knocked out. He attempted to wake the mad duelist by shaking his shoulder, but to no avail.

"He's out cold." Jaden observed.

"Probably the backlash from losing that duel." Yubel assumed. "One thing I'm pretty sure of though is that this guy was probably just a pawn."

"You mean he was brainwashed." Jaden deduced.

Yubel nodded. "What worries me is that this guy knew that you were the Supreme King. Which probably means that he was targeting you."

"He probably won't be the last one to come after me then." Jaden assumed.

"We seem to be up against a powerful enemy." Yubel replied. "Which means your love life isn't the only problem we have right now."

Principle Mackenzie and Electra had been watching Jaden's duel with Trent from behind a nearby tree. Both of them were quite amused by the display.

"It seems that Jaden Yuki is worthy of his reputation." Principle Mackenzie observed. "Though you could've chosen somewhat a bit stronger to face him."

"Young Mr. Trent served his purpose." Electra told him. "This was just a test to see how strong he was, after all. The important thing is that we've knocked Jaden Yuki off balance. He's so distracted by his thoughts of our dear Alexis Rhodes that he can't fully see straight. It's only a matter of time before that girl becomes his undoing."

"Attacking him by striking at his heart. Truly an ingenious plan." Principle Mackenzie praised.

"Soon the Supreme King will at last pay for what he's done." Electra declared. "And when he does, our glorious new age shall begin."

Author's Note: In case anyone hasn't figured it out by now, Ritual Monsters are going to be a major theme in this story. I came up with the original story idea one day when I was thinking about how Ritual Monsters have suffered a major decline over the course of the card game. So I really wanted to do a story where they were the major focus. Originally this story was going to take place in another dimension and include a couple of OCs I came up with. But after I had finished the original outline I decided that the story was too much like the third season of the anime, so I dropped it.

Please review and let me know what you think.