Second chapters up and ready, enjoy.
A few people have asked me about Jaden, and I'll say that he will play a roll in the story, but not for some time. Also, my invitation for any cards or deck designs still stands. I'm interested in seeing what others can come up with besides myself.
I don't own Naruto or Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Chapter 2- The Existence of Chakra and Shadows
The first month at Duel Academy passed by relatively quickly. True to Alexis' prediction, word of his victory over Chazz spread like wildfire, courtesy of Jasmine and Mindy. Most of the student body already referred to him as the new 'King of the Academy,' if not for his dueling prowess, then for his unbiased views of his fellow students. He had already won over the majority of the Slifer's at the entrance exams, and those that were still skeptical of him quickly accepted him when he spoke up against Crowler in the defense of Syrus Truesdale, a Slifer in his year. He saw a lot of himself in the young duelist and ever since the incident in Crowler's class; he had taken him under his wing. The Ra's were a similar case; the more senior students respected the dueling streak he had acquired shortly after his duel with Chazz. The younger ones respected both his skill as a duelist and the fact that he was a fair and just person.
His relationship with the blue dorm on the other hand was, in a word, horrible. Other than Alexis, Mindy, Jasmine and the members of his new fan club, the Obelisk Blue's avoided him like the plague. Treatment he was all too glad to return, if they couldn't get over themselves than he didn't want anything to do with them. The situation was only made worse by the fact that he had been challenged by no less than ten Obelisk's during the month; all of whom he had soundly defeated.
The students weren't the only ones he had made strong impressions on either. Almost instantly, he had risen to become the top student in all of his classes, rivaling the top student and duelist on the island, Zane Truesdale. He may have been Chancellor Sheppard's favorite student before he set foot on the island, but the minute he walked into their classes, he became every teacher's favorite student, with an obvious exception in the form of Dr. Vellian Crowler. During his first class, the good doctor had tried to backtrack and persuade Naruto to join the Obelisk dorm by praising him and trying to boast him up by insulting and degrading a few of the lower ranking students, namely the Slifer's. Needless to say, that plan backfired on him spectacularly.
He had also started a heated, but friendly rivalry with the genius of Ra Yellow, Bastion Misawa. The young genius had sought him out, wishing to study a deck hand crafted by Pegasus. He had politely refused, but offered instead to duel him so he could learn about his deck from firsthand experience. After their first duel, you could always find the two either in a heated discussion about different strategies or dueling against one another.
Currently Naruto was watching a duel between Syrus and Bastion with Alexis at his side. The four friends made a strange mix to most outsiders; a 'Slifer Slacker,' the Ra genius, the 'Queen of Obelisk Blue,' and the first student in history to refuse joining a dorm. "Water Dragon, attack Syrus directly," cried Bastion as his mighty beast reared back and launched a literal torrent of water at the Slifer duelist.
Syrus fell to one knee as his life points dropped to zero, a dejected look on his face, "Damn it, I lost again."
"Cheer up Syrus," said Naruto as he walked up to the blue haired teen, "You performed admirably in that duel. You nearly had Bastion cornered a couple of times, something not many people can claim to have done."
"Yeah, I guess," he mumbled as he stood to his full height, just barely reaching Naruto's shoulder.
"Naruto is right Syrus; you almost beat me a fair amount of times. All you need is more practical experience and to have more faith in yourself and you will be an outstanding duelist one day." The two blondes nodded in agreement Bastion's statement, which made Syrus stand just that much straighter.
Glancing up towards the sun to check the time, Naruto began walking towards the Academy, "Come on guys, we have class with Professor Banner in ten minutes." The three quickly checked the time and their eyes widened as they rushed to catch up with the powerful blonde duelist.
"I don't know how you do it Naruto," said Bastion as they entered the main building on the island, "How is it that you possess such an ancient skill as reading the suns position in the sky? On top of that you always seem to know everything going on around you and your physical prowess in gym class is insane! If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trained as some kind of warrior or something." Alexis and Syrus chuckled slightly at Bastion's comment. None of them noticed the slight stiffening in Naruto's posture, or the tiniest pause as he took his next step. Forcing himself to relax, the blonde shinobi put a small smirk on his face.
"Just a few things I picked up in the past," he said, hoping to forestall any other questions until they reached Banner's class.
His hopes were for not as Alexis spoke up, "That's another thing you do; you always tell us it's something you picked up in the past whenever we ask you about stuff like this. We're friends Naruto; you know you can tell us anything."
"I know Alexis," sighing, Naruto turned to look at his three companions, "It's not that I don't want to tell you guys about myself, but my past wasn't exactly a happy or easy one. I will tell you about it one day, but I'm just not ready to relive some of the pain again." That gave his friends pause. They knew that Naruto acted strange sometimes and had unusual skills that no one in this day and age possessed, but they had assumed that he learned them because he wanted to learn them. But if they were interpreting his words correctly, he may have been forced to learn them for survival. They just hoped they were wrong.
As the quartet were taking their seats for Banner's alchemy class, in his office, Crowler was trying to find a way to get revenge against Naruto for defeating him and embarrassing him in front of the entire freshman class. "How dare that slacker Naruto make a mockery out of me, especially in front of my class like that? Adopted son of Pegasus or not, I will not allow that brat to spend one more day at MY school!" Getting out from behind his desk, the headmaster of the blue dorm began to pace around his overly decorated office. "Now, the only question is how to go about expelling him? As much I hate to admit it, the brat is one of the top students and duelists on the island. So I can't do anything to him from an academic stand point, but what about if he broke one of the schools largest rules? Yes, that's it, now I just have to set it up for him to get caught in the act."
The doctor stopped in front of his large window overlooking the Obelisk dorm in the distance. A flash of light caught his eye as the sun's rays reflected off of the windows of the Obelisk girl's dorm further off on the island. Crowler's eyes lit up with joy as an idea formed in his mind, "That's it! If Naruto were to get caught sneaking into the girls dorm, the fat oaf wouldn't have any other choice but to expel the brat! It's perfect, and I know just how to lure him there." Giggling to himself, he set back behind his desk and began to write a letter. Sealing the note in an envelope, Crowler pulled out a tube of red lipstick and kissed the back of the envelope. "Soon Naruto Namikaze will be expelled and I'll have one less slacker to deal with."
Time Skip- Three hours later
"Man Naruto, how the hell can you have so much energy and stamina?" asked a sweating Syrus as he sat down on one of the benches in the locker room. Bastion did the same as the two tried to regain their breathing. Naruto, who didn't appear to have broken a single sweat during the intense gym class, just chuckled as he opened a locker and pulled his usual clothes out to change into.
"I've always had great stamina and compared to the things I used to do as a workout, this is nothing," he said as he quickly changed into his usual attire. "By the way, thanks for letting me share your locker Bastion. It still pisses me off that Crowler refused to allow me one since I'm not in one of the dorms."
"No problem Naruto, it's the least I can do after everything you've taught us this past month. That reminds me…" While the two boys started another discussion about different strategies and deck styles, Syrus opened his own locker to change. What he found was a white envelope with a kiss mark on it on top of his shoes. Instantly blushing, the Slifer discreetly opened the letter and skimmed through it. 'This is a love letter to Naruto from Alexis! Wait, she knows Naruto shares a locker with Bastion so why would she leave it in mine? I better check this out and make sure it's not a setup of some kind to get Naruto in trouble.' His mind made up, the blunette slipped the letter into his jean pocket and left the locker room for his dorm to work on his homework and wait for night to fall.
Obelisk Blue Girls Dorm- Shortly Before Midnight
Alexis, Mindy and Jasmine were soaking in the hot tub their dorm had, relaxing from their day of classes. Mindy and Jasmine were, as usual, talking about Naruto and the different ways they could try and get him to fall in love with them. Alexis merely tuned the two of them out as she thought back to what Naruto had said earlier. 'What could have happened to him that was so painful? Whatever it is, it doesn't seem like he's fully recovered from it. I just hope that when he finally tells me, there's something I can do to help him.'
She was brought out of her thoughts by a commotion outside followed shortly by a scream, a male scream. The three Obelisks' instantly reached for their robes, their faces red with righteous fury that some boy was trying to sneak into their dorm. When they got outside, they saw a downed Syrus Truesdale with swirls in his eyes. "Syrus? What the hell are you doing here? You know no boys are allowed in the girl's dorm after curfew," said Alexis as Mindy and Jasmine grabbed the small teen and tied him up using some spare towels.
Shaking his head to get rid of his lingering dizziness, the Slifer Red began his explanation. "I know that Alexis, the reason I'm here is because I found a note in my locker. It was a love note addressed to Naruto from you."
"I never wrote a love note to Naruto," said Alexis, fighting down the small blush that crept across her features as her mind wondered to a scene involving her and Naruto straight out of some romance novel.
"That's what I thought," sighed the bound duelist, "That's why I decided to come myself; to make sure it wasn't some kind of setup to get Naruto in trouble, but it looks it was a setup. The second I walked past the gate, some guy dressed in a black suit took a picture of me. That's why you girls found me on the ground."
Alexis looked like she believed the story, but Mindy wasn't going to buy it so easily. "I don't believe him, I say we turn him in for trespassing." Jasmine nodded her agreement with Mindy, but before the two could go get Ms. Fontaine to turn Syrus in, said boy pulled the letter out of his pocket with some difficulty.
"If you don't believe me, then here, this is the note I'm talking about." Taking the piece of paper from him, the three girls read over the letter before Mindy and Jasmine apologized for not believing him. "So can you let me go now? Naruto and Bastion agreed to help me with my dueling again in the morning."
"Syrus," began Alexis, "I understand your reasons for being here and I'm glad you'd be willing to put yourself at risk to help Naruto, but that doesn't change the fact that you still broke one of the schools biggest rules." The blunette lowered his head in defeat, knowing he was most likely going to be expelled before the end of the night. "But," Syrus, Mindy and Jasmine's heads snapped towards Alexis and saw her smirking, "I think we can overlook that since you just gave me the perfect reason to cash in a rain check Naruto owes me." The other two girls present eyes' widened as they figured out what Alexis had in mind and immediately ran back into their dorm to make themselves look as good as possible for Naruto. Syrus looked confused but decided he could figure it out later as he seemed to be in the clear for the most part.
Naruto's Home
Standing on top of his recently built home at Duel Academy, Naruto gazed up towards the stars, once again thinking of his previous life. It was a habit he had developed upon his arrival in this new world. At least once every week, he would stay up into the wee hours of the night and allow his mind to remember those whose spirits now resided in his deck. 'Everyone, please forgive me,' he thought as a single tear rolled down his face as his last moments in his time played over in his minds eyes.
'Naruto,' said his mother as she appeared next to him, 'You must learn to move on from the past. I know you cared deeply for everyone, but you must except that they are no longer with us and look towards the future.'
"I know," said the blonde, "But it's difficult, I don't think I can handle all of this on my own."
'Then tell someone, you may have just met them a short time ago, but your friends care for you Naruto. You should tell them the truth about yourself son, they will not abandon you and they can help you through this. Especially Alexis, I doubt she's even fully aware of it yet, but her feelings for you go far beyond those of a friend.'
"WHAT!? Mom Alexis and I are just friends! Quit making things up to try and mess with my head!" Kushina was about to retort, but a vibration in Naruto's pocket stopped her before she had a chance. Pulling out his PDA, Naruto skimmed through the new email before closing it with a heavy sigh. "I'm going to have a talk with Syrus after this, but I guess I better go get his ass out of trouble first."
'What? What's happened with Syurs?'
"Wouldn't you like to know?" teased Naruto as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving his mother's spirit fuming at being left out of the loop. A few moments later, Naruto appeared just outside of the Obelisk Blue Girls Dorm. Silently making his way around back, he spotted Syrus tied up with Mindy and Jasmine on either side of him and Alexis standing in front of them, a duel disk on her arm. "Ok, before you cash in that rain check Alexis, can I get the full story about what's going on?" Syrus then explained about the love note and how he thought it might be a trap so he came in Naruto's stead, with the girls jumping in after he got to his arrival at the dorm. "While I appreciate the gesture of loyalty Sy, next time something like this happens, let me know and we'll come up with a plan that hopefully doesn't end with someone being held captive by their friends." Turning to his soon to be opponent, Naruto slotted his deck and deployed his black and orange duel disk, "You ready Alexis?"
"I'm always ready to duel," she said as she deployed her own disk. "Duel!"
Naruto: 4000/Alexis: 4000
"Ladies first," said Naruto with a wave of his hand.
"That's very gentlemanly of you Naruto," said Alexis as she drew her card. Placing it face down in her spell/trap card zone, she chose another card and summoned it to the field. "I play one card facedown and then I'll summon Etoile Cyber in attack mode." A beautiful woman with long auburn red hair that reached her waist and wearing a red, skin tight suit appeared on the field. She had a silver skirt around her waist that was open in the front along with silver ribbons loosely wrapped around her arms.
'Etoile Cyber: Atk 1200/Def 1600, Level 4, Earth Attribute, Warrior/Effect- If this card attacks your opponent directly, it gains 500 attack during the Damage Step only.'
"I end," said Alexis as Naruto drew his card silently. Placing the new cards in his hand, Naruto grabbed another and placed it in his middle monster card zone.
"You've seen my Genin monster in action, so I think it's time I introduced you to the next level. I summon Chuunin- Hinata Hyuuga in attack mode," dressed the same way she was during the war, the lavender eyed girl appeared on the field in a flash of light. She instantly slipped into the feared Jyuuken stance as her Byakugan activated.
'Chuunin- Hinata Hyuuga: Atk 1700/Def 1700, Level 4, Light Attribute, Warrior/Effect- This monster gains 400 attack points whenever there is a monster with 'Naruto' in its name face-up on the field. If 'Chuunin- Shino Aburame' is on the field you can special summon this card from your hand. When this monster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, you can special summon one 'Naruto- Sage of Myouboku' from your deck or hand to the field in attack mode.'
"I'll play one card face down and now Hinata, attack her Etoile Cyber!" All too happy to comply with her crushes order, Hinata charged the red clad monster and prepared a palm strike to destroy it.
"I don't think so," said Alexis as her facedown revealed itself, "I activate my trap card, Doble Passe! With this, your monsters attack is turned into a direct one." Etoile Cyber jumped over Hinata and the Hyuuga Heiress struck Alexis with a palm to the stomach. The Obelisk groaned as her life points dropped, but she smirked as Etoile Cyber landed in front of a surprised Naruto and kicked him in the face.
Naruto: 2300/Alexis: 2300
"Ok, mind explaining why I was just hit with a spin kick?" said Naruto as he massaged his jaw. 'Her monsters attack caused me physical pain, I guess that theory I developed with Pegasus was right. I'll have to step in and train her to properly use her power before she accidently injures someone.'
"Simple, Doble Passe not only turns your monsters attack into a direct one, it allows my monster to attack you directly as well…"
"And since Etoile Cyber attacked me directly, her attack went up by 500," finished Naruto as he ended his turn.
"You catch on quick Naruto," smiling as she drew her card, Alexis looked at it and her smile got that much wider. "Now I summon my Blade Skater in attack mode, but she won't be around for long because I activate Polymerization to fuse her with my Etoile Cyber." A portal opened behind the two monsters and sucked them into it as a new monster stepped out, "Say hello to my Cyber Blader." The new monster looked similar to Etoile Cyber in many ways, except her hair was longer and had become a dark shade of blue and her suit was purple with red around certain areas that looked like flames. She also had skates on her feet and two long, red protrusions coming out of her shoulders with a red visor over her eyes.
'Cyber Blader: Atk 2100/Def 800, Level 7, Earth Attribute, Warrior/Fusion/Effect- "Etoile Cyber" + "Blade Skater." A fusion summon of this card can only be conducted with the above fusion material monsters. While your opponent controls only 1 monster, this card cannot be destroyed by battle. While your opponent controls only 3 monsters, negate the effects or your opponent's spell, trap, and monster effects.'
"You know what come's next right Naruto?" when he didn't answer, Alexis smirked, "My Cyber Blader attacks!" The new monster jumped into the air and brought one of its skates down, slicing the Chuunin in half.
Naruto: 1900/Alexis: 2300
The instant Hinata vanished from the field; the wind around the two duelists picked up and formed a small tornado around them. Their three person audience watched with wide eyes as the vortex engulfed their two friends. "What's happening!?" shouted Jasmine over the wind. Neither Mindy or Syrus answered, they were too busy holding onto one another to prevent getting blown away by the wind.
Inside the tornado, Alexis was looking around frantically, wondering how this happened. "I should thank you Alexis," called Naruto over the wind, "By destroying Hinata, you allowed me to activate her special ability."
"What ability is that?" she shouted back as the tornado surrounding them decreased in size and formed a vortex on Naruto's side of the field.
"The ability that allows me to summon one of my favorite and most powerful monsters," a human shaped shadow appeared inside the small twister as Naruto placed a card in his monster zone. "Come forth, Naruto- Sage of Myouboku!" the shadow within the tornado raised its arm and swiped it to the side, dispelling the tornado around it. What greeted everyone was a monster that was almost an exact copy of Naruto himself. The monster had the same hair style and wore the same haori as the blonde duelist, but it wore an orange and black jumpsuit under that along with toeless black sandals. It also had the same headband as the blonde; except it wore it's proudly on his forehead. The biggest difference though, was its eyes; instead of the deep sapphire pools Naruto was known for, his monsters eyes were a striking yellow with a bar shaped pupil. It also had some kind of orange pigmentation around its eyes that gave it an intimidating stare.
'Naruto- Sage of Myouboku: Atk 3000/Def 2600, Level 8, Wind Attribute, Warrior/Effect- This monster cannot be special summoned except by using the effect of 'Chuunin- Hinata Hyuuga.' This monster gains 200 attack points for every Warrior type monster face-up on the field. Should this card attack a defense position monster, inflict the difference between this cards attack and the targeted monsters defense as damage to your opponent.'
"That's not all though, since you destroyed a Warrior type monster, I can activate my trap card, Avenging the Fallen."
'Avenging the Fallen: Normal Trap- When a Warrior type monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, you may special summon a level 5 or lower Warrior monster from your hand.'
"Allow me to introduce you to my second Chuunin monster, Chuunin- Rock Lee." The eccentric, spandex wearing shinobi appeared with a strange battle cry. His flak jacket was left open and a 'youthful' fire was burning in his eyes. "Thanks to my Sage's effect, he gains 200 attack points for every Warrior on the field, and I count three."
Naruto- Sage of Myouboku: 3600
'Chuunin- Rock Lee: Atk 2200/Def 1400, Level 5, Earth Attribute, Warrior/Effect- Whenever a Warrior type monster is summoned to your side of the field, this monster gains a 'Gate Token,' maximum 8. This monster gains 100 attack points for each 'Gate Token' placed on it. However, the person who controls that card losses 100 life points every time a 'Gate Token' is placed on this card. Once per turn, you can removed two 'Gate Tokens' from this card to prevent taking battle damage.'
"Damn it," muttered Alexis as she looked at her hand but didn't see anything that could help her out of this situation. She knew she had lost but if she was going to lose, it wouldn't be because she surrendered, "I end my turn."
"My go," the male blonde didn't even look at the card he drew as he pointed towards the defenseless Cyber Blader. "Rock Lee, attack her Cyber Blader with Front Lotus!" The spandex wearing monster disappeared in a burst of speed, only to reappear underneath Alexis' only monster and deliver a strong upward thrust kick that sent the monster skyward. As soon as the female warrior reached the peak of her flight, Lee appeared underneath her and locked his arms around her before spinning into a dive. The impact easily destroyed Cyber Blader with Lee appearing back on Naruto's field with not even a scratch on him.
Naurto: 1900/Alexis: 2200
"Now my Sage, end this duel!" Naruto's replica nodded once before forming a swirling ball of chakra above its head. The attack grew in size till it was the size of an average human. Jumping into the air, the Sage brought his attack forward and slammed it into Alexis, ending the duel.
Naruto: 1900/Alexis: 0
Despite her loss, the Obelisk Queen smiled as Naruto walked up to her and offered her a smile of his own. "That was a good duel Alexis; we'll have to do that again sometime; though hopefully under better circumstances." Alexis giggled slightly at her friend's remark and turned to tell Mindy and Jasmine to untie Syrus. A hand on her shoulder stopped her and she felt a pair of lips near her ear, "Come by my place tomorrow, there is something I need to talk to you about." She shuddered slightly when she felt Naruto's hot breath making her skin tingle in excitement.
Nodding slightly, she looked over towards their audience and motioned for Syrus to be let go, her voice having failed her for the time being. Mindy and Jasmine quickly untied Syrus and immediately set upon Naruto, both of them trying and failing to flirt and seduce him. Alexis felt a tightening in her gut as she grabbed her two friends by the ear and pulled them off of her fellow blonde.
"OW, Alexis let go!" they screamed as they were dragged away.
"Not until you girls learn to stop shamelessly flirting with every cute boy you see," snapped Alexis as she started pulling her friends back towards their dorm. "Goodnight Naruto, Syrus, I'll see you later," she shouted over her shoulder as she disappeared inside her dorm.
Chuckling to himself, Naruto turned and motioned for Syrus to follow, "Come on Sy, we better get going before security shows up. Besides, I think we could both use a goodnights rest after this little adventure." The Slifer student nodded in agreement and followed Naruto away from the girl's dorm before setting off towards his own dorm.
The Next Day
It was a little after noon in Naruto's home, and the blonde duelist was giving Syrus tips as he reworked his deck. Bastion, who had joined them for the day, would occasionally toss out a comment of his own, but for the most part he was engrossed in working on a deck he was certain would be the perfect counter to Naruto's deck. "Hey Naruto," asked Syrus, turning away from his deck for a minute, "How come you never try and rework your deck to improve it? I know it's not like you really need to, but aren't you worried that using the exact same cards would get a little predictable and let someone counter you that much easier?" Bastion stopped working on his new deck as well when he heard Syrus' question. It was something he had been wondering as well ever since he became friends with the mysterious blonde.
Naruto, sitting in a meditative pose across from the two, didn't as much as twitch, as he answered. "While it's true that changing ones deck around can prevent others from discovering your strategies and developing counters to it, it is not necessary. If you can truly become one with your cards and let your spirit guide them, no one will be able to defeat you." The two friends shot each other a confused look, but shrugged it off and went back to working on their decks. In his mind, Naruto chuckled to himself as he knew that his cryptic answer only confused the two even more. It would take time, but he knew that eventually, they would come to understand the meaning of his words.
Thanks to the small amount of natural energy he had gathered, he easily felt the approach of Alexis' chakra through the forest. Now that he actually took the time to properly sense the depth of her power, he was surprised that she had chakra levels comparable to a seasoned chuunin. But her chakra was different than normal, it felt darker and unbalanced. 'The only way chakra should be this dark and unstable is if there is not enough Yang present to counterbalance the Yin attributes. I guess that's why Pegasus referred to it as the power of the Shadows. In this time, those with larger amounts of chakra don't seem to have enough physical and life energy to properly balance and control the darker part of their power.'
Deciding to check his two companions' power levels while he was at it, Naruto was once again pleasantly surprised to find that they too had largely above average chakra levels for modern humans. While not quite on the scale of Alexis, the two still possessed power similar to a trained genin or rookie chuunin. 'If their chakra levels get any higher, I'll have to start training them to wield their power correctly as well, for now though, I'll focus on Alexis. With her reserves already so large, it's only a matter of time before an innocent ends up hurt because she couldn't control her power.'
Just as he finished his thought, a knock was heard on the front door followed by a female voice in the hallway. "Naruto, it's me, Alexis."
"In the living room, Alexis," called Naruto as he ended his meditation and got up to meet his new guest. The dirty blonde haired girl appeared in the archway and smiled when she saw her favorite blonde duelist was waiting for her. After a few quick greetings between his three visitors, Naruto gently nudged Alexis towards the steps. "Hey guys," he said, catching Bastion and Syrus' attention, "There is something I need to talk to Alexis about. We'll be back in a little bit alright?"
"No problem Naruto, we're just going to finish up our decks and have a few duels to test them out," said Bastion as he went back to work on his newest deck. Syrus nodded in agreement with the Ra genius, not even looking up from his cards. Naruto nodded with a small smile as he turned and lead Alexis up the stairs.
He may be the only resident, but when he built the house, he had added in a few extra rooms in case of emergencies. Walking past the four spare bedrooms, Naruto led his fellow blonde to the door at the end of the hallway and slid it open for her to step in. Alexis could safely say that the room that greeted her was not exactly what she was expecting. Like the houses exterior, the room was set in the traditional Japanese style; the door was positioned on one of the room's corners, giving her a good view of the room as a whole. The room was slightly larger than the Obelisk dorm rooms, but it had much more open space then them. A low sitting, queen sized bed was placed in the far corner of the room with a forest green comforter on it. The bed was positioned under the only window in the room allowing the sunlight to cast a welcoming glow around the room. On the wall across from the foot of the bed, were two more sliding doors, spaced about six feet apart. One she assumed was the closet while the other was probably a bathroom. Stepping further into the room, she noticed several shelves on her right holding numerous kinds of weapons. "Whoa," was the only thing she could say as she looked around the room, feeling as though she had just traveled into the past.
Chuckling slightly, Naruto slid the door closed and stepped around his slightly dazed guest. "So I take it you like my room?" Alexis nodded mutely as she continued to take in her surroundings. To many people the room looked like it should belong in some low class motel given its scarcity of furniture, but to Alexis, it just felt right, like changing even the tiniest thing would ruin it. Leaving his shoes by the door, Naruto walked over towards his bed and sat down to wait for Alexis to get over her dazed state. He didn't have to wait long as the Obelisk queen soon shook herself out of her stupor and moved to join Naruto, leaving her heeled boats at the door.
"So what was it you needed to talk to me about?" she asked as she pulled her legs underneath her and leaned back against the wall. Naruto crossed his legs and clasped his hands in front of his face, his elbows resting on his knees.
"Tell me Alexis, can you see duel monster spirits?" the blonde girl's eyes widened at the question. Not knowing what else to say to the sudden question, she silently nodded her head as the spectral image of Etoile Cyber appeared behind her. "Hello Etoile, it's good to see you again," he said as he looked at the spirit he had recently dueled against.
'Hello Naruto,' she said in a pleasant voice, 'I'm surprised you can see me, but given the power you wield, it shouldn't be that big of a surprise.' Alexis looked back and forth between her friend and spirit companion, a look of shock mixing with confusion on her face.
"Etoile, what are you talking about? What power does Naruto have?" asked Alexis, settling her gaze on the smiling spirit. Before her spirit had a chance to answer a new voice beat her to the punch.
'The same power you have my dear,' said Kushina as she appeared next to her son, 'The power to see, summon and control duel monster spirits, though he has much better control over his power than you do at this point.'
"Alexis, allow me to introduce my spirit companion, Kushina Uzumaki," said spirit smiled kindly at the girl who was crushing on her son; plans already forming on how she could get the two together and then embarrass them.
Alexis was about to ask another question, only to be interrupted again, this time by her own spirit. 'Yes, I can sense that Naruto's power is different from Alexis' somehow. I just can't figure out how.' Etoile frowned in concentration as she continued to try and figure out what the difference between her mistress' power and Naruto's was.
By this point, Alexis was tired of being left out of the loop and ignored and made her displeasure known. "Ok, that's it! Will someone please tell me what the hell you are talking about?"
Seeing his mother about to say something that would probably set Alexis off even more than she already was, Naruto quickly cut in. "The power they are talking about, is the one my mother mentioned, the power to see, summon and control duel monster spirits. You would probably know it better as the power of the Shadow Games." The look of confusion that had begun to appear was instantly replaced by understanding. Any duelist, no matter how skilled, knew about the Shadow Games and the power wielded by those who fought in them. "Now to most people that kind of power is considered to be a sign that someone is evil, but that is only because they do not fully understand the power itself. Actually, most of the people who wield the power don't fully understand it either. It is knowledge that has long been lost to this world, until recently."
"What do you mean?" asked both duelist and spirit at the same time. Naruto chuckled at the display, but answered nonetheless.
"What I mean, is that I understand fully what the power is, and I also know how one can learn to control such powers." Alexis felt her jaw unhinge slightly as she stared at the boy she had been harboring growing feelings for. Before her brother had gone missing, he had told her a little bit about the Shadow Games and the power used during them. According to everything he had told her, the only way someone could have even the slightest bit of control over such powers was if they were in possession of one of the Millennium Items! "The power involved in the Shadow Games, the power considered by most to be evil, is actually present in every living thing on earth. It is known as chakra, an energy formed by the mixing of one's spiritual and physical energies. Most people today possess minimal amounts of both energies and by extension, small reserves of chakra. But those who possess above average levels of chakra, such as you, tend to have more spiritual energy than physical energy. Since spiritual energy forms the darker half of chakra, the Yin half, the power produced is dark and chaotic in nature. I believe this misunderstanding of the chakra is what led people to fear this power as dark and resent those who wield it."
"If that's true, than what about the Shadow Games where people have supposedly lost their souls? If it's not really some kind of dark magic doing it, then why is it people are left comatose after losing one?"
"The reason for that is actually rather simple. You see, no human can live without their chakra; using too much at one time can result in a condition called chakra exhaustion. When someone reaches the point of chakra exhaustion, depending on the severity of the condition, they will pass out for a few hours, fall into a coma, or even die. From everything I've heard, when someone fights in a Shadow Game, they call upon their chakra, whether consciously or not to give their monsters the power to cause real damage to their opponents. You actually did that during our duel last night." Alexis looked horrified at the news that she had given her monsters the ability to truly hurt her friend. Etoile had a similar reaction, knowing that she was most likely the one who had injured him in the first place. Seeing his fellow blonde getting worked up over things, he immediately tried to dispel her worries. "Don't worry Alexis, you didn't do it on purpose, and it takes a lot more than what you can cause at your current level of power to hurt me."
His words helped calm her down, but she made a mental note to look in to the meaning behind that statement. What exactly had her friend gone through to make him so immune to pain? Pushing her concerns to the side for the moment, she asked the one question she had wanted to ask since their conversation began. "So how do I learn to control my power? You said that my chakra had more Yin than Yang, so it's a safe bet that I need more Yang to help control my power, right?"
Naruto smiled at Alexis' insight and nodded the affirmative, "Yes, in order to gain better control over ones chakra, you must have enough of both Yin and Yang chakra to balance one another out. While the most powerful and versatile chakras possess a perfect blend of Yin and Yang, it is almost impossible to reach such a state. Everyone's chakra is different, and everyone's chakra has a stronger alignment to either Yin or Yang. The key to mastering control of your chakra is to find the unique balance of Yin and Yang that provides you the best amount of control, and then train using methods specifically designed to help you learn better control."
"Alright," said Alexis as she glanced at the two females spirits who were talking in hushed tones on the other side of the room. Turning back to her fellow blonde, she flashed him a smirk, "So when do we start?"
Both of his eyebrows rose in mild surprise, "That's it? I just tell you that you have the potential to control a power long since lost to this world and all you say is 'when do we start?' There is no way you shouldn't be surprised by this information unless…" he trailed off as Alexis' shoulders sagged and her face reflected the sadness she was no doubt feeling. "This isn't the first time you've heard about powers like this, is it?"
"No," her voice was just barely above a whisper and even Naruto's chakra enhanced hearing struggled to hear her. "My older brother Atticus told me a little about it before…before…" her voice failed her as the tears she had been holding back leaked out of the corner of her eyes. Not one to ignore a crying female, Naruto moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to help comfort the grieving girl. What he didn't expect, was for her to latch onto his chest and bury her head into his shoulder.
Wrapping the crying girl in the best comforting hug he could, the blonde shinobi looked towards the two female spirits and saw them watching with concern and sadness in their eyes. He motioned for the two to take their leave, but not before conveying his desire to speak with Etoile at a later time. The spirits nodded their acknowledgement before fading out of existence, leaving Naruto to try and comfort his female friend.
He wasn't sure how much time passed as the two of them stayed in that position, Alexis drawing comfort from his presence. All he knew was that he would help Alexis find her brother, even if it was the last thing he ever did. The sound of Alexis' steady breathing brought him back to the present. Looking down at the girl in his arms, he found that she had fallen asleep and was snuggling further into his chest. Smiling softy, he carefully extracted himself from the sleeping girls grasp and laid her down comfortably on his bed. Acting on instinct he knelt down on the side of his bed and planted a soft kiss on Alexis' forehead.
Grabbing his shoes by the door, Naruto silently left his room and made his way back down stairs. It was only when he reached the top of the stairs that he realized exactly what he did. 'WHAT THE HELL!? Why did I kiss her forehead like that? Oh man, if mom ever finds out about that she'll never let me live it down.' Shaking his head of those thoughts, he quickly descended the stairs and walked into the living room. Bastion and Syrus were sprawled out on the floor both fast asleep. Looking outside to check the time, he was shocked to see that night had fallen on the island. 'Damn, I guess more time passed than I anticipated. Oh well, I'll just have to wake everyone up early so they can get back to their dorms and get ready for class tomorrow.'
Creating two shadow clones to take care of Bastion and Syrus, the original Naruto left his home and made his way deeper into the surrounding forest. "Etoile, if you can hear me, I need to talk to you," his call was answered as the red clad ballerina appeared before him. As soon she appeared, Naruto got strait to the point, "I understand its personal and not necessarily any of my business, but if I'm going to help Alexis find her brother, I need to know everything I possibly can about what happened to him."
'I understand,' said Etoile, 'And I appreciate you trying to help find Atticus, his disappearance really hit Alexis hard.' Naruto nodded in agreement with that as he leaned back against a tree. Judging by how much Alexis cried before she fell asleep, it was obvious that the wounds of her brother's disappearance were still raw. 'Unfortunately, I don't know much about how or why he disappeared, all I or any of Alexis' spirits know is how much she's told us and what we have overheard in the past.'
"It doesn't matter; any amount of information will help in my search." Etoile nodded and began her explanation.
'Atticus possessed power similar to Alexis, though his was a little darker than hers. Knowing what I do now from your explanation, it seems that Atticus possessed incredibly powerful Yin chakra, though he never lost control of it except when he was incredibly angry.' Naruto's eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. He had dealt with people who possessed that kind of power before, and that experience didn't end very well. 'Three years ago, he came to Duel Academy and after a few months, Alexis found out that he had been transferred into a dorm for people with special powers and dueling abilities. Everything was going fine until a year ago, when it was discovered that many of the students in the dorm had vanished, including Atticus. No one knows exactly what happened, but rumors Alexis has heard were that the students there were competing in Shadow Games.'
"So in other words, a misunderstood power was used as a scapegoat to help cover up the unexplained disappearances of numerous students," said Naruto with a frown as he went over the new information he had been given. While to most people it wouldn't seem like much, to a war hardened shinobi, it was a wealth of information. He now knew that Atticus was a very powerful individual, not only when it came to dueling, but also in terms of chakra. It also revealed that there was more to Duel Academy than he originally thought. It wasn't just a school for students to learn how to become pro duelist, but also some kind of experimental environment with many secrets to hide. There wasn't any other explanation Naruto could think of that would explain the Academy having a fully functioning dorm specifically set aside for students with special abilities. Making a mental note to speak to Chancellor Sheppard about some of his concerns, Naruto bid Etoile a good night and began making his way back to his house, his mind a buzz with theories, plans and questions about what was truly going on at Duel Academy.
Well, that's that for this chapter, till next time everyone.
BSW