Chapter 2-

It had been 3 years since that night Jaden had with Atticus, and the only noticeable changes would be his height and his hair, which had become less of a mess, and was very spiked out in the back (4th season style). Now that he was 15, Jaden would now be attending his father's dueling school, Duel Academy, and for the first time in his life, he would be in a school with teachers and other students.

Not many people who knew Jaden knew that his father and mother didn't send him to school, and instead he was home-schooled by his mother, who was very good at writing and literature. His father would then teach him math and calculus, but most of the time he was allowed to explore different aspects of learning on his own.

His father believed that you shouldn't push a child to learn what every other child learned, other than the basic needs like math and writing. He believed for things like history and science, you let the kid explore that themselves and see what they were interested in.

Jaden may not be a 'history know it all' or a science nerd, but he was an expert in computers, his knowledge of the 20th century quite impressive and his dueling skills could have been ranked in the top 5 if you tested him.

Along with Japanese, he spoke two other languages quite well, English and German and was beginning to learn French, just because it sounded so beautiful if spoken well. Key word was well.

What was the point in being mediocre in everything if you could be an expert in a select few fields? When a Kaiba chose a field they loved, they became the expert, no ands, ifs, or buts.

Jaden had not been able to keep in touch with Atticus, since things had just been busy for him at home, and he never asked for his phone number. But he was hoping to see him at Duel Academy when he got there.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Jaden was making his way to the Kaiba dome, and he was just on time, especially since the thing was only a couple of blocks away from the Kaiba tower, where he spent a lot of time.

Jaden was dressed in a very dark blue jacket with black outlining, but underneath he had a crimson red shirt, with the picture of red eyes black dragon on the back. He had a red eyes amulet around his neck, much like his father's blue eyes amulet, which he kept in view out of his shirt. He also wore dark blue jeans with black and red skateboard shoes.

As he walked on the street, his newly made duel disk on his arm, he got a couple of stares from people, as most people hadn't seen the new duel disk. Most people were still on the academy issued X-100, but Jaden had the newly made XD-360, which was red and black. The most notable difference about the duel disk would be that when activate, it looked like a dragon's wing, and the center of the duel disk where you kept the deck was made to look like a dragon's head.

As he made his way to the Kaiba dome, he saw a couple of other people, probably new students dueling and trading. Jaden may not have spent a lot of time being able to socialize with people, but he was a natural at it, so why practice.

"So I see you are enjoying yourself" someone said behind him, which made Jaden turn around.

Behind him stood Yugi Moto, with all of his super awesome black yellow and red hair which defied gravity, his black punk style look, and purple eyes, which seemed to pierce you overtime you looked too deep into them.

"Well you know how I get" Jaden mused "a duel just gives me the biggest rush in the world."

"So we all know" Yugi said, before Jaden gave him a subtle, but very large hug.

"I've missed you a lot, what has it been, 7 years since I last saw you?" Jaden said.

Yugi patted his back; he didn't have any children of his own, and was still getting settled in with Tea, so Jaden acted as his surrogate child until he got to having one of his own.

"It would seem so" Yugi said, and then Jaden separated from him.

"So why you here, and why aren't people crowding around you. I mean you still are the king of games?"

Yugi shrugged "well when you don't expect anyone, you don't look for them do you" he then reached into his pocket and pulled a package out of his pocket "and I got this for you" and he handed it to Jaden.

Jaden took the package; it was small, about 6 square inches big, just large enough for a computer disk or a pack of cards. He opened it, and inside was a Winged Kuriboh.

"Everyone needs a cute monster" Yugi said and patted Jaden on the head "well I got to go, and good luck on your duel." And as fast as he appeared, Yugi Moto was gone.

'Damn dad was right, he's here, and then suddenly, bam, he's gone. I should learn how to do that, but I guess that comes with the title of king of games' Jaden mused.

Jaden then continued to make his way to the testing room, since he would have to take the written part now, which was the reason why he was early.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Jaden was incredibly bored when he was taking his exam. Hell if it wasn't for his god forsaken pride, he would not have taken this exam in the first place. But Jaden didn't work like that. He would get accepted into this school on his own merit, even though he was the one to write the written exam this year, and was very proud with its capabilities. Already half the people who were taking it left, without handing it in, counting as a drop out. So here he was, waiting for the minimum time to go off so he could leave and got on line to get his practical over with.

It was quite simply how the grading worked. If you did well on your written exam you had a chance of being put into Ra yellow, but if you just passed, you had a chance of being put into Slifer red.

Then when it came to the practical, and you did well on the written portion, but failed the practical, you were put into Slifer red. If you just passed the practical, you were put into Ra-yellow. For those who just passed the written portion, they could only get into Slifer red, and if that is if they at least passed the practical exam.

But then came the topic of Obelisk blue, and how his father put it, where you get either the top of the top duelist, or the people who just had the connections to get in. Jaden had always asked his father why he let people just buy their way there, and the matter was simply. 'They got cash, so let them buy their way in. There missing a valuable lesson their never going to be able to buy'

It had taken Jaden a little while to comprehend what his father meant by that, but after looking into his father's past, he understood. Seto Kaiba grew up with nothing, and every achievement he ever had was done by his own sweet and blood, whether it be tricking Gozaburo Kaiba into a chess game, or taking over Kaiba corp, or helping Yugi save the world, it was he who had done it, not his parents or anyone else.

And that's where Jaden aimed to be, a hard earned obelisk blue and to get there by his own merit, not by his father and his last name, just what he could do and that's it.

"Aright you may leave if you're done" the proctor said, and as soon he said that Jaden was up, and so was another boy two rows in front of Jaden.

The two of them handed in their tests, and left the room, much to the ogling of a couple of the other applicants, who couldn't believe that someone could finish the test so fast.

Once Jaden got outside, he had started to 'examine' the other person with a faint interest. He had short black hair, which was combed all the way to the back, giving it a spiky look. His skin seemed to be much tanner then everyone else's, and his face was much more squared. He wore a white school uniform to a local public school.

"So you thought the test wasn't that bad either" the boy said and extended his hand to Jaden "Bastion Misawa"

Jaden took his hand, he was defiantly part British or Australian, "Jaden, and yeah the test wasn't too bad."

"Yeah, I practiced on a couple of older ones, but this one was… off. I guess it was slightly harder this year or something" Bastion commented.

Jaden shrugged, but inside he was jumping in joy hearing that his test was a success.

"So I've never seen you at school before" Bastion said "you go to private school or are you from out of town?"

"I'm home schooled" Jaden said "my mom and dad teach me, but now I think it's time if I try going to school with other people"

Bastion nodded "yeah, I guess I'm slightly homeschooled myself. My parents are both collage professors so they teach me a lot." Bastion then chuckled himself "in fact I skipped a couple of grades"

"So I take it your pretty smart" Jaden commented, and Bastion shrugged.

"Well I would be lying if I didn't think so, so yeah"

The two of them continued to walk in silence, until they reached the entrance to the stadium. As they approached the door, there was a small ticket machine with the sign 'take one and wait your turn.'

Bastion took his and got the number 25, and seemed pretty happy about it. Jaden was blessed with 165.

"Great" Jaden muttered "first done with the test, last one to duel"

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Kyrie Wheeler, who is 16, the older cousin of Jaden Kaiba, and starting her second year at her uncle Seto's school, watched in amusement as her younger cousin began to pace around the watching area, waiting for his duel.

Kyrie took on much of her mother Mai's looks, wavy golden blonde hair, violet eyes and a body that made it very easy for her to seduce boys, and in some cases girls, into doing what she wanted. She wouldn't call herself manipulative in that sense, but she knew how to get people to do things she wanted, all with a simple look.

Kyrie was known as the current queen of obelisk, while this new girl Alexis something or whatever was called the ice princess. She honestly couldn't understand how fast these stupid titles flew around, but hey, at least she was the queen.

But even a simple title like that could help a lot in obelisk blue, where you played a much different game then the duel monsters card game that they all came to play.

In obelisk blue, you played the obelisk game, the game of money, corruption, deceit and bribery. Everything that was found in modern politics.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Each passing duel came a new sense of adrenaline gone to waste, as Jaden watched duel after duel after duel, and after each one, his adrenaline would spike up, and then drop.

It was not a pleasant experience.

He had watched Bastion's duel, and he could say he was impressed at the end, although he did sacrifice his own monster to win, and did lose some life points.

He had watched this one blue haired kids duel, and could easily see the kids hand from where he was sitting. The kid had his proctor in a couple of corners, but he was so hesitant to make that final blow.

Although he did win in the end, the duel could have ended ten to twenty turns ago, and maybe the kid would be in Ra yellow. No, the blue haired kid would be a Slifer, it was obvious, and would stay there until he realized that he had potential.

"Number 165, please go to duel area 5."

Jaden jumped up "finally!", and rushed to the field, by jumping over the stands and onto the duel platform, to get this duel going. After all, his adrenaline just sky rocketed.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X

To say anything short of it, Dr. Crowler was not a happy man right now. To say that one of the proctors had to go to the bathroom, and all the others were currently dueling, left him with this so called 165.

The best this kid would be, at best, would be a Ra yellow, and he didn't have time to deal with yellows now. He had Kyrie Wheeler, the niece of Seto Kaiba and daughter of the world class dueler Joey Wheeler, Zane Truesdale, the current Kaiser of Obelisk blue and number one student at duel academy, Chazz Princeton, the top male student at dueling prep school and youngest brother of the Princeton boys, Alexis Rhodes, heir to the Rhodes family, with the disappearance of her brother and death of her parents, and the top student overall in dueling prep school. Yes, he certainly had his hands full at the moment.

But now he had to duel some new recruit, and he was far from happy. What could this boy possible award him in the end; after all, he looked to help students whose success would help him in the end. He could care less about all the other slackers.

As he watched duelist number 165 take his stance across from him, he got this strange feeling around him.

It certainly wasn't the clothes; he just looked like some common teenager.

It wasn't the expression on his face, all excited and determined. God he just hated that in slackers.

No, it was a certain aura he projected almost screaming uncontrollable power, unquestionable authority, and charisma only found in Atticus Rhodes.

Crowler just scoffed at what he was thinking, no this boy was just some boy, nothing special.

"Hey there, are you the school's mascot? Where's the proctor" Jaden said to Crowler, which got quite a few people to snigger in the crowd.

Crowler growled slightly "I am your proctor foolish boy. I am Dr. Crowler head of…" but was interrupted by the same foolish boy.

"Oh so you're the clown that everyone talks about" Jaden said smiling "they never mentioned you had a cool duel disk"

Again laughter was met at his words, and Crowler made a mental note in his mind, this boy would pay.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

In the stands, one black haired boy watched as Dr. Crowler got humiliated. This boy was Chazz Princeton, in all of his self-righteous arrogance. Although his friends kept on making sly comments about the boy and Crowler, he prided himself on knowing who to friend and who not to make friends with. After all, he had these two baboons as friends, making it much easier for him to establish his authority.

And while looking at the boy, number 165, he could tell, this was not someone you wanted to cross.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Alexis Rhodes stared at the dueling platforms in complete indifference, a cold expression so visible on her face, in nearly made everyone freeze just by looking at it.

Much like Kyrie Wheeler, Alexis was the embodiment of female beauty, soft long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a very curvy body. However most of these beautiful features came with the distinct features of an ice princess, her blond hair acting like veil over her icy blue ices, and her current posture instructed that she should be left alone.

The early death of her parents at 13, the disappearance of her eldest brother at age 14, had turned the once slightly cold snow angel into the current blizzard that was there.

She just couldn't bring herself to care about any of the duels right now, her once love, her calling in life, just became a dull card game now. The only reason she even thought of applying was to see if she could find her brother, and, deep down, she knew her brother, if he was gone permanently, would never forgive her if she didn't go. And she also knew she wouldn't forgive herself if she didn't.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Jaden was excited, Dr. Crowler was his proctor, and this was going to be sweet. Sure he knew the guy to be an ass at times, by the things his father would mutter under his breath about him, but he knew that he had skills.

"Aright then teach" Jaden beamed "my name is Jaden, so let's not waste time shall we and get this duel on the go"

Crowler grinned slightly, at least the boy was prepared to lose and knew not to waste his time "Alright boy, you shall start since you are the challenger."

Each one of them drew cards from the respective decks.

"Aright I'll start this off with a little buddy of mine. Say hello to Luster Dragon(1900, 1700- wind- dragon- 4) in atk mode, and then set two cards to end my turn."

A teal blue dragon appeared in front of Jaden, its wings looking like samurai swords.

Crowler nodded "I must say I'm slightly impressed, I expected you to try to attack on your turn, but sadly, I was mistaken"

"Well don't you read the rule book, the first person can't…"

"I know that I was just… never mind" Crowler grumbled, obviously this boy was smart, but blunt. "Okay" Crowler said "I summon Ancient Gear Soldier (1300, 1300- earth- machine- 4, If this cardattacks, your opponent cannotactivateanySpellor Trap Cardsuntil the end of theDamage Step) in atk mode and set one card face down to end my turn."

A soldier made of gears appeared holding what appeared to be some kind of gear rifle.

"okay, so I draw, and summon Lord of Dragons (1200, 1100- dark- spell caster- 4, Face-upDragon-Typemonsterscannot betargetedbySpell Cards, Trap Cards, or monstereffectsthat target.)" Jaden said as a man, wearing dragon oriented clothing appeared next to Luster Dragon, "Now Luster Dragon attack Ancient Gear Soldier"

"I activate the Trap Gear Defense (trap- as long there is one ancient gear monster in face up position on your side of the field, negate your opponents attack and end his battle phase. You may draw two cards)" Crowler said, drawing two cards.

"Ah well" Jaden said "I guess I have to end my turn."

Crowler drew another card. "First I play Change of Heart (spell- take control of one target monster for one turn) and take your Lord of Dragons. Then I sacrifice it along with my ancient gear soldier, to bring out my rarest card, Ancient Gear Golem (3000, 3000- machine- earth- 8, This card cannot beSpecial Summoned. If this card attacks a Defense Positionmonster, inflictPiercingBattle Damageto your opponent. If this cardattacks, your opponent cannotactivateany SpellorTrap Cardsuntil the end of theDamage Step.)

A giant golem made purely out of stone and gears appeared, and like most of the other gear golem monsters, it had what appeared to be a back problem, although that might be due to the fact that its fists were one of the biggest parts of its body.

"Oh cool monster teach" Jaden said, which got an irritated look from Crowler. His monster wasn't cool, it was vicious. "But I'm sorry to see it go bye, bye, because I activate my face down, Kaiser Comeback (trap- if your opponent summons a monster with equal to or more stars then 6, you may look through your deck and put one dragon monster from your deck to your hand. Your opponent must skip his battle phase for this turn.)

"Alright so you got lucky" Crowler scoffed, as Jaden took a card from his deck and put it into his hand.

"Nah, I'm just good" Jaden said.

"Well you got one more turn boy" Crowler sneered "before I destroy you"

Jaden nodded, this teacher wasn't all that nice, and he noticed that most of the people in the stands were watching him. He could even see his Cousin Kyrie watching with some interest, but of course she didn't look worried or anxious. She knew that Jaden would win. After all if he didn't, then it was like saying that Crowler could beat everyone except Zane Truesdale.

"Sorry teacher, but it ends now, because I activate Dragon Fusion (spell- SendFusion Material dragon monstersthat are listed on a dragonFusion MonsterCard from yourhandor your side of thefieldto theGraveyard, and Special Summonthat Fusion Monster from yourExtra Deck. That same monster is allowed two attacks for the turn that it is summoned)" Jaden said "and I fuse three Red Eyes Black Dragons to form a personal favorite of mine, Red Eyes Ultimate Dragon (4200, 3600- dark- dragon- 9, this card is unaffected by an opponent's spell, trap and monster effects.)

Dead silence was met at the sight of the three head beast of a dragon; no one dared spoke when that same dragon destroyed that ancient gear golem, and then end Crowler's life points. People began to whisper about who this kid was, and there question was quickly answered.

"Winner of match 165, Jaden Kaiba"