*last time*

The duel field soon faded away, just as Crowler's unconscious body fell from the wall onto the ground. Everyone was silent, a look of shock was present on everyone's face. Jaden soon left the arena, just as some of the nurses went down into the arena to check on Crowler. He decided to go get dinner before heading to the hotel room he rented for the night. After giving one of the attendants his number and which duel field his exam was in he left to find some food.

*Now*

Jaden decided to stop at a local diner to get his dinner. After entering the diner and getting placed at his table which was at the back of the diner, his waiter left so he could have time to read over the menu, after a minute he decided to get large Pepsi Max (not sponsored, but it is my favorite drink so I just decided to put it in there), a bacon double cheeseburger with a side of fries. After a minute or two after he sat down, two people had walked behind him, one of them swinging an arm around his shoulder.

"Well if it ain't Jaden, how've you been," a Brooklyn accented voice said, causing Jaden's lip to turn up slightly.

"As good as I can get Joseph," he said to the person now known as Joseph, his head was then pulled back into a headlock which was followed by a friendly noogie.

"How many times do I have'ta tell ya ta call me Joey," Joey said, before releasing from the minor headlock and sitting in front of him followed by Yugi Mutou.

"Hey there Yugi, how was your day?," Jaden asked, getting a smile from the tri-haired man.

"It's been good, a lot of duelists trying to beat me for the title of king, Kaiba being the one who set up the entire thing up again," he said in a bored tone, Seto Kaiba would set up a tournament every few months to try and have another duel with Yugi so he could try and take his title; the key word being try. It was getting sad how jealous Kaiba was over a title, even though it is the title for 'King Of Games'. As the CEO of Kaiba Corp and owner of Duel Academy, he was big enough already. Soon the waiter came back to ask what they were having. They each got a burger, fries and a medium soda. Once the waiter left the three friends began to talk about the past, which brought up the memory of how they had first met.

*FlashBack*

It was just after school, probably around 3-4PM when 7-year-old Jaden had left his school and began his journey home. It had been a year and a half since he had gotten Yubel, and everything has been getting better for him in one way or the other. He had been getting better at the duel monsters game and was the 2nd best in his school, something that caused a lot of rivalry with the other students both older and younger which lead to isolation and bullying from the students. Today there was a mini-tournament going on after school, one of the teachers decided to set it up and the prize was a few packs of cards. He had won the tournament with little difficulty, and quickly put the packets of cards into his back before rushing home not wanting to get caught by the bullies. Unfortunately, he was unaware of some people watching him as he left the school.

It was a group of 4 people, one was wearing a leather jacket which was open to reveal a white shirt underneath, he was wearing a pair of jeans, black sneakers, and had a scar over his left eye he also has low spiky black hair.

The second guy was just wearing a red short sleeved shirt which showed everyone his tattoos, which were of a Python slithering up his left arm, and a dragon doing the same on his right arm. He was wearing dark blue jeans and had no visible scars on his face.

The third guy was bald and had a piercing in each ear as well as two piercings on his bottom lip. He was wearing a blue shirt with a black jacket over his shoulder, he also was wearing a pair of black jeans with a chain loop on each side.

The fourth guy was tall, taller than the other three with him. He just had on a jacket which was open to reveal a tight muscle shirt which showed his muscles. He has semi-long black hair though it was both spike but slick at the same time. He had on a pair of blue jeans with holes in them and a pair of dark sunglasses on.

"Hey, boss is that him?" the bald man asked the supposed leader. The man with the glasses just took one glance at the boy and nodded. The other two guys gained a sinister looking smirk on their face.

"Well I think it's time we get payback for what Mr. Yuki did to your father," the man with the scar on his eye said before they all began to tail the young boy before spitting up so they could trap him.

After an hour or so, Jaden noticed that he was being tailed. He began to run but he mistakenly went into an alleyway, this would've been good since he usually went this way to dodge his bullies but he accidentally took a right instead of a left which would have put him into a large crowd of people, the perfect area to hide, but sadly the right side of the alley led to a dead end.

'What, nonononono' he repeatedly said in his head, and when he turned around he saw four people, the same four that were tailing him. The man with tattoos on his arm smirked sadistically and gave out a dark laugh.

"Well looks like you're outta places to run and hide brat," the four of them began to walk forward slowly, causing the young Jaden to take a couple steps backward until his back hit the cement wall. He began shaking fearfully.

'Yu-Yub-'"gahhh," he said just as one of the guys punched him in the gut, causing him to curl up into himself. He was then kicked at the side of his stomach, the guy was about to go in for another strike when he suddenly screamed and collapsed to the ground shocking the other three.

"Kai!" the bald man yelled and rushed forward to check on his friend, he then glared harshly at Jaden and pulled out his wooden sword.

"You damn brat," he yelled at him, and just as the wooden sword was about to hit him, something struck the guy in the side of his head causing him to fall unconscious. The other two thugs turned around and saw two people, one had dirty blond hair while the other had tri-colored hair.

"Yug, go check on da kid, I'll deal with these two bozos," the dirty blonde haired man said to the tri-colored haired man, who nodded before rushing towards Jaden.

"You think we'd let yo-" pow, he was then punched by the man with dirty blonde hair, the tri-colored haired man quickly reached Jaden who was currently curled up into a ball. Just as he was about to reach out to him, he saw a hand grab him, but it wasn't any ordinary hand, its skin was purple and had claws at the ends of its fingers. He slowly looked up and saw the faded looking being who was growling at him. The man was shocked at first before quickly calming down the suspected duel spirit.

"You must be the boy's friend, I promise you that I will not harm him. I just want to make sure he is uninjured and if he is I will take him to the local clinic and have his injuries treated there." the man said, before offering a gentle smile to the shocked duel spirit who noticed that he can see her, but she quickly shook it off and her face gained the look of fierce protection.

'How do I know that I can trust you,' she said, floating in front of Jaden, making her wings go into a wall formation to block the man's view of him. The man's smile seemed to grow.

"I promise you that I will not harm him, and if I do, I promise you that I will send my soul straight to the shadow realm." the man said solemnly.

"Now will you allow me to check and see if the kid is alright," he said, she nodded but only floated to Jaden's side and bent down and whispered something into his ear, whatever it was caused him to lift his head up to look at the man who was in front of him and gasped in shock.

"Y-Yugi M-Muto," he stutters out, I mean what kid wouldn't if they saw the King Of Games kneeling in front of them. The man is now known as Yugi Mutou just smiled.

"Yep, now can you tell me what happened," Yugi asked, Jaden nodded and explained that he had just left school an hour ago after winning the mini-duel monsters tournament, and then that about a half an hour later he felt people following him and when he noticed one of them they began chasing him. He knew that if he took the left turn he would've been able to disappear into the crowd before they found him.

"... They then blocked my way out, and once my back was against the wall one of the guys rushed forward and punched me in my gut before kicking me at my side," he finished his explanation just as a loud thud was heard near the entrance of the alley. Turning their heads they noticed that the other two guys were now on the ground and the dirty blonde haired man was huffing and puffing air in and out of his lungs, he had a bit of blood coming out of his mouth. He then rubs his sleeve over his bloodied lip before walking towards the two of them.

"Hey Yug, hows da kid doin'," he asked before spitting some blood from his mouth in the other direction.

"He's alright Joey, they didn't get to hurt him too much. Just a kick and a punch though I would prefer if we took him to the nearby clinic just in case," Yugi replied before turning his head back to face Jaden.

"Do you think you can walk... I forgot to ask your name," he said embarrassed, getting a hearty laugh from Joey.

"Y-Yeah I think I can, and my name is Jaden, by the way, Jaden Yuki Mr. Mutou," he said getting a light laugh from Yugi.

"Please call me Yugi, all my friends do, now come on let's get you to the clinic as I'd like them to check out your injury," Yugi said before standing up and holding his hand out for Jaden to take.

*FlashBack Over*

Their food then arrived and was quickly eaten, funny stories passed back and forth between the three friends, before suddenly soda squirted out of Joey's nose, causing him to enter a coughing fit though luckily none of the soda landed on their food. Yugi wasn't any better but was able to swallow his soda before laughing.

"So, you're telling me dat you faced a crossdressing proctor for your entrance exams," Joey asked, once he got his coughing fit down, he then got a nod from Jaden. Joey then leaned back into his seat.

"Damn, dat school must be filled wit interesting characters don't ya think Yug?" he stated before taking another bite from his burger. Yugi nodded in agreement.

"If its Kaiba's school then we all know that he hired the most interesting of characters as teachers of the school," Jaden replied before he to took another bit from his burger, Yugi and Joey could only hum in agreement. 20-30 minutes later they left the diner, and just as they parted ways Joey and Yugi handed him a card. Joey hands him a trap card named Trap Hole Of Spikes* saying that it would work well in his deck, Yugi hands him an effect monster named Winged Kuriboh looking up at Yugi he sees a small smile on his face.

"He says that he wants to go with you, and knowing you, you're going to need more than one friend while at the Academy," he said before giving Jaden a pat on the shoulder while Joey gave him another headlock styled hug. They wished each other a good night before heading back home, Or in Jaden's case the rented apartment room for the night unaware of the surprise visitors he will get in the morning.

*Timeskip: 08:35*

Jaden had gotten up at 6 that morning and began his morning training which consisted of a light jog around the area, meditation for an hour, and right now a set of duel puzzles created by Yubel so that he can create better strategies with cards in his deck and in his hand. Jaden was currently sitting cross-legged on the ground while Yubel was sitting on the bed with Winged Kuriboh in her arms. This form of training had been going on for the past 7 years (just after they first met Yugi and Joey).

Jaden had just finished his final puzzle and began to pack away the cards when suddenly there was a knock at the door. He was about to go answer it when Yubel put her faded arm in front of him.

'Continue packing, I'll check and see who it is' she said. He nodded and went back to packing the cards away. Just as he was about to close his suitcase Yubel floated back to him, but she had a dark look in her eyes.

'It's them, Jay,' she snarled, getting a dark glare from him. The dark glare wasn't directed at her, she knew that it was directed at the visitors that stood outside the apartment door. Jaden then puts up an emotionless face, and went to the door but kept the chain attached to the door to block the entrance.

"What do the two of you want?" he said emotionlessly, only showing half of his face. Even with only one of his eyes, he is able to see both of his parents.

Mrs. Yuki was the gentlest women you would have ever had the pleasure to meet. She was both tall and skinny, with porcelain white skin and waist-length warm chestnut brown hair and eyes as blue as the sky on a summer's day. She had on a gentle smile, as usual, she works at child services taking care of the more severe cases of child neglect/abuse/assault. Most of her time is spent in her office working on the cases or heading towards the local orphanages to check on the previous children that she had worked for. She currently wore a dark blue suit without a tie and dark blue pants.

Mr. Yuki was a towering man at a height of 6 foot 4 inches and was way more buff than any other lawyer, but his intelligence and skill got many people to overlook his stature. He had short dark brown almost black hair, along with a sharp looking face and hazelnut colored eyes. He has worked over 80 different cases in his short career and has been successful in all of them. He was currently wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt underneath it, along with a red tie and a pair of black pants. In his hand is a briefcase which held his most recent case. Mrs. Yuki gave Jaden one of her warm smiles before speaking.

"Jaden sweetheart, can you please open the door so we can come in, we need to talk with you," his mother said in a kind and gentle tone, but only got a blank stare in return. After a few moments, her smile began to falter and was about to repeat what she said when Jaden slammed the door close and locked it. Mrs. Yuki frowned at her son's attitude before turning to her husband and sighed before moving away from the door. Mr. Yuki just grunted in response before pulling out the key to the room which he had gotten from downstairs, and unlocked the first lock on the door. After opening it slightly he kept it open and took out a long thin piece of wire from his briefcase and put it through the door and used the hooked end to grab the chain and slide it out of the door. Once he did that he then opened the door fully, the both of them noticed Jaden zipping up his suitcase.

"Pretty sure I could have the both of you arrested for breaking and entering," Jaden says not looking at his parents. Mr. Yuki just grunted.

"Wouldn't work, we'd just tell them that you have a streak of running away, which you do for the most part," he said getting a snort from Jaden.

'Yeah if you include the number of kidnapping attempts as running away,' he said to himself. Yubel nodded at what he had just though. Mrs. Yuki took notice of the suitcase and gym bag already packed on the bed and smiled.

"I see that your all packed. Here, let me help you take your bags back to the car," she said and reached out to take the suitcase when her hand was harshly slapped away, she flinched at the harsh slap along with the glare that accompanied it.

"And why would I be going into a car with the both of you," Jaden said, not acknowledging them as his parents. Mrs. Yuki just stared at her son for a second before giving him a smile.

"Well to take you home, of course, you will be attending our old private school. We have your uniform all set for tomorrow," she said in a cheerful tone, as in her head she was imagining her son continuing their legacy. What she didn't expect was the harsh snarl directed at the two of them.

"And who the hell decided that I wanted to go to your old Private school, oh that's right you two. Just like everything else in my life, my friends, my reading material, what I should do after school. Newsflash assholes, I DON'T WANT TO BE A FREAKING LAWYER, I never even had the idea of becoming one, but it seems that you really think I would follow through with it like some of the other things you tried to make me do over the years. Well no more, I have already taken the exam to go to Duel Academy, and am going to become a pro-duelist and there's nothing you can do about it." he exclaimed harshly, causing both of his parents to freeze. Mr. Yuki was the first to get out of his frozen state and glared at his son.

"You will not yell at us young man, and you will give up this ridiculous dream of becoming a pro-duelist. You will be going to the private school and will continue our legacy that is final!" he said, just as his wife got out of her frozen shock and spoke up.

"Listen to us Jaden, we're just trying to help you-" that's all she got out before she was harshly slapped in the face by Jaden, his anger was coming out now.

"Help me, HELP ME, I stopped needing your help since I was six. You were never there, Not on Christmas, not even on my OWN BIRTHDAY, it's always 'Sorry son but I have a really hard case to work on, maybe afterward','Not now sweetheart,'. That's the only damn time that I've had a conversation out of you unless we're invited to one of your lawyer parties!" his anger was growing by the second, the shadows in the room began to grow and contort into frightening things. This was unnoticed by both parents. Mrs. Yuki then got up from the ground holding her hand on her stinging cheek.

"But we always try to make it up to you," she replied and got a snort from him.

"Yea, by giving me money to spend on anything YOU ALLOW ME TO BUY. THE ONLY TIME I COULD BUY MYSELF SOMETHING I WANTED WAS WHEN YOU WERE TOO BUSY WITH SOMETHING." he exclaimed and got a snort from Mr. Yuki.

"Yeah on those stupid cards of yours," he said and Jaden literally growled at him.

"THEY'RE NOT STUPID, they're my friends, my REAL FRIENDS, and MY REAL FAMILY. While you go off and apologize to the bullies for what THEY did to ME instead of protecting me like YOU SHOULD. In your jobs you're supposed to protect the innocent yet you allow the guilty parties in MY LIFE go scot-free, you're the most disappointing parents I have ever seen." this got the one thing he wanted from his parents, silence.

"Got nothing to say anymore...Good, now if you'll excuse me I have a boat to catch," he said swinging the gym bag across his shoulders after setting the suitcase on the ground and lifted up the handles. Just as he was leaving the room, a hand tightly grabs his shoulder in an effort to stop him. It was all for naught since as soon as the hand gripped his shoulder, it suddenly twisted the other way and gave off a sickening crack causing the person to howl in pain.

'Thanks Yubel,' he said mentally to his girlfriend and then began sprinted out the door, slamming it behind him. Luckily he was only a flight of stairs away from reception so he returned his key and gave a quick glare to the receptionist who he knew told his parents where his room was, and then quickly rushed out the door and grabbed a taxi. After quickly putting his bags into the trunk and closing it he entered the car and told the driver to take him to the Domino ferry port. The driver nodded before driving off, just in time too, since not even five minutes later Mr. And Mrs. Yuki stepped out of the building, just missing him. Mrs. Yuki frowned while her husband clutched his now broken wrist, after noticing the frown on her face as he spoke up.

"Don't worry honey, he'll be back once he realizes that he won't be going to that waste of a school," he said before walking towards their car, his wife right behind him.

" You think you can drive me to the hospital, I need to get my wrist checked out before my meeting with my clients," he asked and got a positive from her. They both drove away from the hotel and towards the hospital, not knowing how wrong they were about their sons' return.

As soon as Jaden saw the taxi enter the highway, he gave out a sigh of relief before looking at the driver in front of him.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me how long of a drive it will be to Domino Ferry Ports," he asked, the taxi driver just looked at him in the rearview mirror before answering.

"About an hour and a half to get there, you heading to the Duel Academy?," the taxi driver replied and saw Jaden nod.

"I used to go there myself, Lots of great memories there. You look a bit tired kid, why don't you take a nap until we get there," the taxi driver said before focusing his attention back onto the road. Jaden nodded before laying his body across the back set, his head going through Yubel's legs. She smiles down at him.

'Don't worry Jay, I will wake you up when we get to the port,' she said. He mentally thanked her before turning his head to the side and closing his eyes. Yubel using a bit of her power made her hand semi-solid, though it was still invisible to everyone else except those who could see spirits, and began to gently caress Jaden's hair, happy to hear the gentle sigh that came from his lips along with the way his body relaxed. She smiled down at her sleeping boyfriend and continued to card her hand through his hair.

*Time Skip: 1 hour and 20 minutes later*

Jaden soon felt himself being shaken awake, slowly blinking his eyes open, he sat back up and released a yawn and then gently rubbed his right eye. He then turned his head to look out the window and saw the entrance of the ferry reception come into sight. Three boats were in the docks, one was white and blue and looked very clean, the next one was white and yellow, and the last one was white and red. The taxi soon made it to the entrance of the ferry terminal. Jaden stepped out and opened up the trunk and took out his bags before closing it and heading back to the front of the taxi.

"Thanks for the lift, how much do I owe you," he asked the driver ready to grab his wallet when the driver waved him off.

"Free of charge, you let me have a peaceful drive so early in the morning. Enjoy your time at the academy, before you know it the years will fly by," the taxi driver said before driving away. He stood there for a few moments before heading inside the terminal and walked towards the receptionist.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me where I have to go to get onto the ships heading to Duel Academy," he asked. The female receptionist nodded with a smile before checking her computer. After a few moments, she looked back up at him with a smile.

"You need to be at either gate 1,2, or 3 as those are where the ships are at, though I would recommend going in at gate two since you have to check in at the entrance of gate 2. the boats won't be leaving for another 2-3 hours from now. I would recommend that you visit our card shop and buy some card packs there," she said, Jaden thanked her before heading towards the card shop. After about 5-10 minutes he found the card shop, and luckily he stepped out of the way when a small blue haired boy rushed out of the door and towards terminal two to check in. Jaden just shrugged his shoulders and entered the card shop buying 30 packets: 10 of them held fiend cards, another 10 held dark attributed monsters, 5 of them held spell cards, and the last 5 held trap cards. After paying at the desk using his duel disk (duel disks hold your DP (Duel points) which are used to buy cards and sometimes food, the only time cash is won is during tournaments if they offer a cash prize). After paying for the selected card packs he headed to the coffee shop a few feet away from the card shop, which he learned is called 'Ferry Cards'. At the coffee shop, he bought himself a bottle of water, a muffin, and a cinnamon swirl.

Once he had finished with his food and packed the card packs he just purchased into his gym bag, he then headed straight for terminal two. Once he stepped through the door he noticed two people sitting at a table with a laptop in front of them. One of the people at the table noticed him and waved him over.

"Are you one of the new students at Duel Academy?" the person asked, Jaden nodded in response.

"What's your name and examination number," she asked.

"My name is Jaden Yuki and my examination number is 271," he replied, the attendant nodded before typing in his name and examination number. She then suddenly frowned, and tried a few more times but nothing changed her look.

"Excuse me, I need to make a quick call to the chancellor of the academy since for some reason I am unable to get your information," she replied, the frown still on her face. Jaden nodded in understanding, the attendant then stood up and walked away so that Jaden couldn't hear the conversation, she then pulled out her mobile phone and called the chancellor. She spoke with him for a few minutes before walking back towards Jaden, confusion written all over her face.

"I'm sorry Mr. Yuki but why are you here? Earlier your parents called the chancellor stating that you decided to not go to the Academy," she explained what the chancellor told her. He was livid, his parents wouldn't stop bumping their heads into his life until they had their way. Shaking his head he put on a neutral face and asked the attendant if he could speak with the chancellor for a moment, she allowed him to and handed him her phone.

"Excuse me, chancellor..." Jaden started off, but then stopped as he had forgotten the name of the chancellor, there was a light-hearted laugh from the other end.

"The name's Sheppard, and I guess that you're Jaden Yuki," Sheppard said in his usual jovial tone. Jaden replied with an affirmative.

"Yes, sir. I have a question for you, why have I been removed from the school? On the sign-up paper to take the examination I clearly stated that I should be contacted if or when news referring to my attendance at the Academy is changed. I haven't received a call from anybody so I am just learning about it now," he explained to the chancellor who hummed once Jaden finished his explanation. Though unbeknownst to him the chancellor had gained a hard gleam in his eyes.

"I see, thank you for explaining this to me Mr. Yuki, though I regret to inform you that due to your records being deleted you will be unable to be placed correctly at our school," Sheppard explained, Jaden didn't like the sound of that.

"Does that mean I am unable to attend the Academy this year?" he asked, though his voice almost seemed to hold a pleading tone, hoping the chancellor would let him go since he didn't think he would be able to hold himself back from attacking his parents, let alone stop Yubel. When the line went silent, Jaden thought that the chancellor had ended the call. Just when he was about to check, the chancellor's voice came back.

"Sorry about that Mr. Yuki, I have both good news and bad news. The good news is that you WILL be able to attend the academy this year, but the bad news is that you will have to retake the written examination before classes start. Once you do, you will be considered a full student at the academy but you will be placed in Slifer Red. This is due to the fact that even if you get a high enough grade in the written exam, we will have to put a fail in your dueling examinations," the chancellor explained, Jaden agreed to that immediately seeing as it could be the only way to get to the academy this year.

"Thank you Chancellor, and please the next time my parents try to inform you of my education at the school or for anything else, please let me know so I can give you the facts," he said gaining a slight smirk. The chancellor agreed and apologized to him about the mistake before asking him to hand the phone back to the attendant. He did so immediately, the attendant thanking him, before speaking with the chancellor again. After a few minutes the call ended, the attendant put her phone away before turning back to Jaden.

"The chancellor has told me to give you the Slifer red uniform," she said and handed him the uniform, after getting his size she wished him luck at the re-examination and at the Academy. Jaden nodded and thanked her before heading towards the Slifer Red boat. Once onboard he asked one of the crew members about his room, and luckily he got one all to himself. He headed to the room to place down his bags. In the room were a single bed, a desk and chair, and a bathroom with a shower. Seeing how he was unable to do so before he left the hotel, he decided to take a nice long shower before going through his cards and working through his deck.

*Two Hours After The Ship Left The Port*

It was three in the afternoon when Jaden left his room, in order to get something to eat. His deck had been modified during his time in his room, some of the cards he removed with the promise of constructing another deck for them and to use them from time to time.

He headed down two flights of stairs to make it to the 4th floor, which had the canteen. Once there he had gotten himself some rice, roasted chicken legs with some herbs, a mini bread roll, and some butter and for a drink, he just grabbed 2 bottles of water. After paying for his food Jaden searched and found himself an empty table for two. He spent his time eating in silence while holding a mental conversation with Yubel.

Before he knew it, it was 16:30 so he made his way back to his room. Once there he changed into his pajamas and got into bed, Yubel floated down onto his chest using it as a giant pillow, and W. Kuriboh fell asleep right next to Jaden's head, the three of them soon went to sleep without a care in the world.

To Be Continued...

I hope that this re-write for chapter 2, I know that there isn't much change to the original except for how Jaden met Yugi and Joey. I also want to apologize for the long wait for this re-write, I was away in France visiting some relatives and while I was over there I was unable to gain access to the internet. is there anything you want me to add to the other chapters, let me know so that I can see if they will work with the chapter and helps me move the story forward in a more intriguing Ne