Anonymous Reply: I meant that Jaylin won't be seeing Jesse for a long time. She won't until the third book. I'm sorry, if it came out wrong.
Here's the next chapter. This will focus a bit more on Professor Banner, since we haven't gotten to him for a while. Enjoy and review please!
Jaylin zoomed through the forest of the island in such a lightning speed, or would seem like that to the human eye. She was in the dark shadows of the forest, making it easier for her to instantly be upon a tree branch, hidden. She was wearing black jean shorts, a dark purple midriff, a pair of black boots and black leather gloves. She closed her eyes to concentrate on her surroundings, dark matter giving her the power to sense her surroundings.
In an instant, she leaped from the branch and attacked some kind of figure from the midst. From the naked eye, nobody would be able to know what Jaylin was attacking. The attack was quick and felt like a Dragon Ball Z fight where the fight was so quick, nobody could see it through the naked eye. Trees snapped, logs thrown and rocks cracked open, while being thrown. In five seconds, Jaylin was found, both arms crossed and holding onto her attacker's fists, which belonged to Professor Banner.
The duo panted, their clothes slightly ripped or dirty. Professor Banner wore comfortable black pants, a plaid short-sleeved shirt, brown boots and leather gloves. He also wore his hair in a tight pony tail, most of it tucked under his shirt. He smiled proudly before Jaylin let go, grabbing onto her knees as her teacher applauded.
"You're getting stronger," Professor Banner said.
"I've been... practicing," Jaylin panted, wiping the sweat from the back of her neck.
"I can tell."
Jaylin removed her gloves, seeing that the beds inside her nails were no longer showing scabs of blood. Professor Banner had encouraged Jaylin to use gloves to protect her hands at all times. He was glad to lend her some of his own, since Carl mentioned about finding scabs of dry blood beneath Jaylin's nails. They slowly began to heal, but left some scars behind, though not ones that were noticeable, unless Jaylin pulled her skin back or looked through a magnifying glass.
Professor Banner smiled as him and Jaylin walked back, Jaylin drinking a bottle of water to cool herself off. At the same time, she also seemed to be deep in thought.
"Is there something on your mind?" Professor Banner asked.
"Nothing much. I'm just trying to figure out who the spy is," Jaylin replied.
"Hm?"
"I found out a few days ago, on Foundation Day, that Nightshroud has been spying on me. He knew my father was here. So... who is the spy and why haven't I sense his presence?" Jaylin wondered, rubbing her chin.
"That is a good question. Whom do you think would know about when your father came and went?"
"My guess would be a teacher or school official. Only specific faculty would've known, but there's also the chance this spy could've looked through the Duel Academy files of the student body."
"True, true, true."
"It's rather that or we've got ourselves a traitor. If that is the case, that would mean one of my teachers would've worked for Nightshroud, since day 1."
"Now, that would be troublesome, but it would narrow down the suspects, I suppose."
"When you put it that way, yes," Jaylin agreed, then a thought came to her, a half smirk appearing upon her lips. "Say, Professor Banner, how did you become a teacher of Duel Academy?"
Professor Banner chuckled, replying, "I will be honest, I had started teaching at this school about a few years ago. Just like most teachers, I was called to be a teacher, due to my profession, specifically at Industrial Illusions."
"Get out! You worked for Pegasus?"
"Yes... as one of his assistance in Archaeology, so to speak."
"Wow! It's too bad you don't work there anymore."
"That was unfortunate," Professor Banner said, his smile slowly deceasing. Jaylin noticed this. "I had to quit."
"Really? Do you regret quitting that job?"
"Not at all! Though, I do miss my old job. Sometimes we must move on to new lives. This world changes and we change along with it. Not everything goes the way we want it and we must make due with what we've got."
"That's a good way of looking at it."
"We must look at our lives that way, otherwise we'll never truly live life. Nothing ever goes the way we want; some of us grow poor, some of us loose our job and some of us grow weaker with health issues."
"Yeah. When Dad first was given his powers, he had no idea of how to control them. He had to spend almost two years isolated from everyone around him. He couldn't even control a shadow game until he met me."
"I saw the Newspapers. Unforgiving anger can cause great darkness to grow in your heart."
Jaylin sighed deeply, "I have that toward my parents and my heart still hasn't grown that dark yet. Daddy says it's because I've grown with that for many years that it's become part of my nature."
"He's somewhat on the right track. Each dark user has their own personality, each different from the other. How we act in our darkest state differs from person to person. For me, my heart grew in great darkness out of envy. Yours might not reach its great darkness the same as your father."
"Huh... then, what would it be, then?"
"It could be the same as your Ka, Jezerel."
"Which is?"
"Lust. Desire. Of course, I could be wrong. We shall see."
"Yeah," Jaylin said, then a thought occurred to her. "Did you study Jezerel's history, when you were working for Pegasus?"
"Not just hers. I was part of his excavation team searching for artifacts that could tell us about the lost history of Pharaoh Atem. What we found was startling, to say the least. At the very least, we weren't cursed," Professor Banner started, including a half joke, which made Jaylin snort. "We did more than look into Pharaoh Atem's reign, but also his past before then. I'm sure you know he was very close friends with King Yubel and Queen Jezerel, despite their kingdoms living in a time of feud."
"Was your team the one that uncovered the history of the Supreme King and Dark Queen?"
"Indeed. After discovering about the Supreme King and Dark Queen, my team and me became invested. It was strange though."
"Why is that?"
"The Supreme King and his queen, though do show evidence of their existence, have no tomb sites. It was almost like their bodies disappeared... or cremated, but there's no evidence of possible fire and cremation wasn't part of their burial."
"How strange."
Professor Banner chuckled, "you know, it is no coincidence that you and your father share a very close relationship. Many times, you will find that bonds of friendship can last throughout reincarnations. The bond of Atem, Yubel and Jezerel was incredibly strong. Even Mr. Pegasus agreed. Though, you have not met Yubel's reincarnation in person, even his name and picture already gives you the same familiar bond you had with Yugi."
"What do you mean?"
"Jesse Anderson. He's the reincarnation of the Supreme King."
Jaylin stopped, shouting, "GET OUT!" with her jaw dropped to the ground.
"As you know, Mr. Pegasus was the one that gave him the Crystal Beast deck. There's a reason he did. It isn't your normal deck. Each card has a spirit of the Crystal Beasts that the Supreme King had ultimate control over during his reign. With your name already being presented from your Tournament last December, I would not be surprised if he is feeling that familiar bond as well."
"Whoa, that's just... that's just freaky. Oh my gosh, I have to meet him in person!"
"Jay, you look like you just survived a tornado and an earthquake all at the same time," Carl smirked, who saw Jaylin and Professor Banner walking from the forest behind the Slifer Red Dorm.
"Ha ha," Jaylin replied as the girls laughed together.
"Hey, Ronda's training, you want to come watch us, maybe mess with Zane a bit?"
"Thanks, but I have to help Professor Banner clean up the classroom after training."
"Since when do you volunteer helping clean up a classroom?"
"Since catching me sleeping in class for the seventh time this semester. Also, it's not volunteering, it's Professor Banner's version of American school's detention."
Carl rolled her eyes, saying, "you gotta stop that, you know. Though, good luck with the cleaning."
"Thanks!" Jaylin grinned before hitting the showers to clean herself up before joining with Professor Banner.
Jaylin changed into her uniform, after showering, before getting started on helping her teacher clean up his classroom. Professor Banner put away all the students' work and important supplies, while Jaylin was sweeping and cleaning the desks. She didn't like doing this one bit. It was one thing to do household chores, but this was a big classroom with steps that led to the desks and the desks themselves were filled with trash, dirt, stains and possibly gum. Gum wasn't allowed in class, but some kids were very sneaky about breaking that rule.
Despite having to clean the classroom as her punishment, Jaylin liked Professor Banner. It wasn't just his laid back nature, but he was also someone to have good conversations with. He also knew much about dark powers and the history behind it. Jaylin had always wanted to know a bit about her Ka and what her life was like. Jaylin didn't know much about Jezerel, except she was a Queen, Atem's close friend and was in the same boat as she was; with better parents of course. There was always something interesting to discuss with Professor Banner.
A thought popped into Jaylin's head suddenly. She asked, "am I going to have Dr. Crowler next year or some year?"
"Maybe. He usually is an Obelisk Blue teacher," Professor Banner replied, adjusting his glasses. "Perhaps, if you are able to raise your grades to honors, you might be able to get him as a teacher."
"Na. I'm actually trying to avoid having him as a teacher. Not that he's a bad person, but it's kinda awkward to have your ex boyfriend's dad as a teacher."
Professor Banner chuckled, replying, "I suppose that would be awkward."
"Not to mention I don't really see him as a teacher as much as... how do you say it...? The stingy, cross-dressing guy you know only likes you, because your dad is famous and you're a lady, otherwise he'd probably find you the most annoying person on the face of the earth."
"Dr. Crowler has been one to get annoyed at slackers. I would be lying, if I said he'd like you without the famous king of games for a father or the fact everyone loves you in this school."
Jaylin burst into laughter. Then said, "though, as I said, I like him and I know he likes me as a person. Though, his personality always works like that. I suppose it's easier to get to know someone, when you both have given each other a great impression."
"That is very true," Professor Banner agreed with is pleasant smile as Pharaoh rubbed its fur against his leg. He chuckled, then picked up the cat, holding it in his arms.
"You know, you'd make a perfect villain in a Hollywood blockbuster movie. You're a professor, dark hair, big smiles, and owns a cat. All you really need is some sort of formula that turns you into some kind of mutant creature or monster."
The duo laughed until tears came out. Then, Professor Banner replied, "I think you watch way too many cartoons."
"But it's so true! Every villain is rather an evil professor, a mad scientist, a cat owner, a communist or some of the mix."
"So, an evil professor can be an evil scientist that owns a cat?"
"You never know. There should be an evil villain that's the mix of every cliché you can think of: mad scientist, professor, cat owner, alien, robot, mutant, communist, rich company owner and demon."
"The demon villain is more like our cliché villain, you know Jaylin."
"N-Not comple- okay, true, but it'd still be the most awesome villain on the planet."
Professor Banner continually chuckled, rolling his eyes at Jaylin's joke. At the same time, he also seemed to be thinking hard about something, his eyes growing serious. He looked at Jaylin for a mere second with sadness on his face before turning away. Something seemed to be lingering inside Professor Banner that he was keeping from Jaylin.
