A/N: So.. I'm back. With yet another go at this fanfiction thing. And with yet another go at the YuGiOh GX AU / OOC thing. Anyways, this time I think I'll actually end up getting the story to a finish rather than deleting it halfway through, as this time I have clear drafts for each chapter already done and know exactly what I want to do with some of the major plot points of the story. With that said, enjoy some YuGiOh GX AU and the good old sweet love that we never got to witness on screen, Alexis X Jaden!

!IMPORTANT!: The occasional " :*: " markings in the story mean that either the Point of View is changing from a person to another, or the scene is changing / jumping somewhere else.

YuGiOh GX: Wanderer's Chronicles: Across the board.

Chapter I - Boys will be boys

"I often wondered about this day, you know? Whether, once the great game has been played out, the players would have the opportunity to shake hands across the board."

It was morning in Miami, USA. The city was waking up into another typical Monday. With the ocean's waves gently crashing onto South Beach, and with the last of the still drunken partygoers making their way back to their homes Miami was ready for yet another week. One of the first up to walk the streets was a young, sixteen year old boy. His build was fairly athletic and his style fresh. He wore a pair of red nikes, tightly fit beige city shorts, a white v-neck t shirt and a red varsity jacket with a white letter "S" on it, as he walked down towards Venice beach, where he knew he'd easily get a taxi from. The boy's hair was dark brown and messy, and on both of his ears he was rocking diamond studs. The boys brown eyes were fixated on the seemlingly endless flow of traffic passing past him as he patiently waited for a vacant taxi. After some waiting, he ended up getting his cab and as he jumped to the back of the yellow car he spoke to the cabbie.

"Where ya headed?"

"Airport, please."

"Sure thing, off to anywhere nice ?"

"To Duel Academy, I'm going home."

:*:

The brown haired boy jumped out of the cab after paying for the fare, and entered the departure terminal of Miami International Airport. At the check in desks for Kaiba Air - Duel Academy's very own airline, chartering from major cities across the USA such as Miami, Domino City, New York, etc. to the Duel Academy island, where the best duelists from USA were to go to Highschool and become the best at what they loved to do. Dueling. - He was greeted by a short boy with light blue hair, a pair of glasses and a matching varsity jacket. Although, the short boy was wearing a black undershirt instead of white, and was also dressed up in a pair of black jeans.

"Jeez Syrus, didn't you get the memo that it's summer here in Florida? Or are you perhaps about to travel to the north pole?" The brown haired boy greeted the shorter one.

"Sarcastic as always Jay, how was your summer?" Syrus answered as the boys did their signature bro handshake.

"Busy, met a lot of interesting people." - "And also got a letter from Chancellor Sheppard stating that our whole school is in danger. Yet again." - Jaden continued in his head.

"Cool, cool. How about Alexis, seen her during the summer at all?" Syrus teased, making Jaden blush like he was a tomato.

"No. Why would I have?" Jaden tried to sidetrack the conversation.

"Well, because I think half the school saw you carrying Alexis in your arms out of the rubble after you saved her from -" Syrus was interrupted as a third boy shouted from the security check line.

"Yo, Jay! You better hurry up with that luggage, don't wanna miss our plane do we now?" The boy who spoke was 5' 8, had teal hair, similarily messy to Jaden's, green eyes, and he wore a blue and white varsity jacket, similar to the one Jaden and Syrus had. Only that his was in different color, and had the letter "O" on it.

"Will be there in a second Jesse!" Jayden shouted back smiling at his friend.

"I'm counting.." Jesse replied with a challenging smirk on his face.

"I'll race you there." Jaden whispered to Syrus.

:*:

"Welcome back to Duel Academy second year students! Your ride to the dorms is waiting for you at the port, take your time to leave your luggage at your room and then enjoy today and the following day relaxing, and getting back used to the campus, school starts on Wednesday at 8:00AM. Again, from your pilot's part, welcome home!" The announcement could be heard shortly after the plane had landed to Domino City's airport. From there, the students would all be, one grade at a time - regardless of dorm or which plane they came into Domino with - transferred to the Duel Academy island on a speed ferry.

The cruise went fast since for 90% of the time spent on traveling from Domino City to DA, Jaden and his friends were looking for Bastion, Chumley and Chazz, who they hadn't seen at all during the summer holidays.

Once they made it to Duel Academy's port and Jaden stepped out of the ferry with Bastion right behind him they both did the exact same thing. They took a deep, deep breath in, and slowly let the air run back out through their mouth, smelling, and tasting the Island's fresh and slightly humid air.

"It's good to be home." Jaden exclaimed as they were all loaded to their minibusses, taking the second years to their dorms.

Sorry for the short and slightly actionless first chapter, but I just wanted to get things started off with a little "introductionary chapter" where a little bit is revealed but a lot let unanswered, such as "What did Jaden save Alexis from last year?" And "What was reduced to rubble / ruins?" and probably the clearest one out of them all, "What was Chancellor Shephards letter all about?" Find out, when YuGiOh GX!: Wanderer's Chronicles: Across the Board returns.

Read and review!

Chapter II coming out, this week. (30.05.2016-5.6.2016)