A good day to all. Cypher 32 here, and though it's been a while, I'd like to say, IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK. Sorry for the delay you guys. I know, it's been over a month, and I'm really sorry for the delay but life just caught up to me. The good news though; I'm finally free, and ready to upload the next set of chapters in this series. I also have plans to get started on several other stories from various series, but lets focus on this one for now.

Last time on Beyond the Academy

Jaden meets up with Atticus, who is just as shocked to see him after all this time. We learn a little about Alexis's feelings. The clock is starting to wind down...

So what are you waiting for; GET YOUR GAME ON!

Chapter 5: Parental Love

Part 1

It was around 8 PM at the Domino City mall, and it was crowded with people from all over the city. The mall was one of the biggest in the world, and had everything a resident of a big city needed, from fast food joints to furniture stores to even "adult only" shops. Of course, half of the mall was crawling with duel monster shops and the like, symbolizing the city's love of the game. At the food court, sitting at a certain table were a pair of brunettes and a girl who the least that could be said about her was that she was 'hot'.

"I still can't believe it's you!" said a still stunned Atticus. He started poking Jaden's cheek, and pinching his own to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

"Yeah, I still can't believe I'm back either. I'm not sure whether to call it the hand of fate or destiny at play, or just a pure happy coincidence. Man, I really can't believe that I got the chance, though. I'm so excited!" exclaimed Jaden, as he was feeding Pharaoh. The cat purred in response, before continuing to chew. "Anyways, what happened with all our friends! I'm dying to know, man! Come on, tell me!" he continued with sparking eyes.

"He certainly acts like Atty,"Mac thought to herself. "Maybe that's why those two get along so well."

Atticus took a moment to think, then said, "Well, from what I know, Syrus is taking the pro league by storm, and with Zane as his manager, the two have become an unstoppable duo. Hasselberry moved to Australia, and began working closely with our old friend Jim in digging up dinosaur bones and ancient artifacts. Chazz also became a prominent figure in the pro duelist world, but you probably already know that. Bastion is, well, in the same dimension he's in, though I haven't heard much from him. Aster's taking a break from the pro circuit, and he and Sartorius are working on a new charity organization, to help under-privileged kids all over the world to learn and master the art of dueling. As for Blair, well she's actually a freshman at Duel Academy college, and she's already pretty well-known for her skills on campus, though not as much as Lex or Mac over here. I'm afraid I don't have much info. about Axel or Jesse."

"That's alright," replied Jaden, "I was with them until just a couple of hours ago."

"Wait, you met them!" said a surprised Atticus.

"Well yeah, we work together for Kaiba Corp..."Jaden began, but remembered that his job as a dragoon was a secret, "...as field agents, you know, testing new cards, travelling, blah, blah, blah." he laughed nervously, trying to divert the two from the truth. "But still, Sy became a pro duelist, and Hasselberry's working with dinos! Cool!" he said excitedly, before sighing, "Now I wanna see them even more," while sulking.

"Yeah, that's great Jaden. But wait, you work for Kaiba Corp. As in the freakin Kaiba Corp! How'd that happen? I thought you were traveling solo!" shouted Atticus, while Mac was trying to stop him from causing a commotion.

"Well, I was. But then, Axel and Jesse found me by 'pure coincidence', and invited me to join. Oh, but don't worry. Even though I'm an employee, I still travel wherever I want to, and I get to duel whoever and whenever I want, with a few restrictions," explained Jaden, while trying to calm his growing excitement.

Mac came up to Atticus, and whispered, "Well, he's got an income. That's one hurdle clear, at least."

"You bet, Mac," he replied, "but that's not the problem here."

"Come to think of it," Jaden began, as the two separated, "You never told me about what Alexis is up to these days. How's she been doing lately?"

"Oh, yeah. Lexy," stammered Atticus while coughing. "Well we all have fun over at Duel College America. Lex, Mac and I all go to the same school, but lex has been feeling a little dow... I mean great! She's having f-fun just as w-we are now," he finished, struggling to keep the truth from Jaden. "By the way, I haven't introduced you to this lovely late yet. This little lady over here is Reggie Mackenzie, the daughter of the chairman of Duel College America, my childhood friend, and hopefully the new Misses Rhodes."

"Keep dreaming, Atty," she sighed, before turning and extending her hand. "A pleasure to meet you Jaden Yuki. I've heard so much about your skills from Atty and from Alexis. I look forward to being friends, as well as rival duelists."

"Yeah, a pleasure," Jaden responded weakly, while shaking her hand. She then noticed that Jaden wore a painful expression on his face.

"So I hurt her again..." she heard Jaden say under his breath.

Atticus, noticing Jaden as well, tried to change the mood. "Well, on a side note Jay, what's your schedule while you're here?" he asked.

"Well," Jaden said, "I've got to go visit my parents, since I'm sure they're worried sick. Then I was thinking of hitting the road and travelling a bit. There are still plenty of things I wanna see."

At that moment, an idea lit up in Atticus's head. "Well Jaden, why don't you spend some time at my place. You can un-wind, we can duel for old times sake and maybe our old friends could stop by, so you can see the again," he said.

"I don't know," Jaden replied, "I wouldn't want to impose..."

"Nonsense Jay, it'll be no trouble at all," he smiled as he cut in. "Plus, Alexis would be thrilled to see you again after all this time." Atticus attempted to persuade Jaden further. "And maybe I could finally get those two together,"he thought with a mischievous smile on his face.

"You know what Atticus, I think I'll take you up on your offer!" smiled Jaden "But first, I gotta go see my parents, let them know that I'm okay, and that I actually graduated from high school. You know, just the 'routine' parental check."

"No problemo, Jay. In fact, why don't we visit your parents too. I've always wanted to meet my in-la... I mean, such wonderful people, and know what type of people they're like," Atticus said, trying to mask his intentions.

Jaden, being clueless as usual, said, "Well, okay. Lets head over there now. Next stop, my house!"

Part 2

On their way to the exit, Mac caught up to Atticus, and whispered in his ear, "Atticus, Jaden might not notice, but I've caught on to you. You're actually trying to meet his parents, so you can 'sell' Alexis to them."

"Oh, whatever do you mean, my dear lover?" asked Atticus, trying to play dumb.

"You know what I mean. You plan to convince them that Alexis is 'the one' for Jaden, so they stop worrying about his love life, and then they give you their blessing, which basically means that they've given you their approval, and you can get yourself another card to tease Alexis with, or maybe even a bargaining chip to convince your own parents with, " she said.

Atticus simply looked at Mac with a smile. "You're thinking way too far ahead about this, Mac. All I want to do is give my friend's parents a greeting. Besides, Alexis would have to meet them herself, so they could give her their blessing, right?" he pointed out.

Mac continued to stare at him suspiciously for a while, before sighing. "Alright Atty. If that's it, then I won't poke in any further. But know this; if you embarrass her in front of her crush's parents, she'll never ever forgive you," she warned, and with that went on to talk with Jaden about dueling.

"Whew!" Atticus let out a sigh of relief. "She almost caught on to me. Man, is she a psychic or something?" he thought, before heading over to join the other two in their conversation.

As they went outside, Jaden asked, "Oh yeah, how are we gonna get there?"

"No prob, Jay. We've already got a ride," said Atticus, as a limo pulled up next to them.

"Whoa!" Jaden couldn't hide his amazement. He'd never been inside a limo before, and after inspecting it, he said to Atticus, "Man, this is so cool! I've never been inside one before!"

"What?! You mean you were working for Kaiba Corp. this whole freakin time, and you didn't get to ride a limo? Man, that's sad. I mean, how is that even possible?" Atticus asked.

"Well, lets just say Kaiba's as selfish as a lot of people make him out to be," said Jaden with a bitter laugh.

"I hear ya, Jay!" laughed Atticus "But seriously dude, you've changed quite a bit on the outside. You're just as tall as me now, not to mention that you're almost as good as me in the looks department, and believe me I rarely, if ever, complement a guy about his looks. You also seem to be a man on a mission; you have that sense of adventure emitting from you. Man, I bet you have stories to tell."

"That I do, Atticus," he replied.

The ride continued for a while, with Jaden sharing stories about his adventures, and after confirming that Mac was 'cool' about the supernatural (she knew about Nightshroud), Jaden proceeded to tell stories, from the times before he joined Kaiba Corp., before starting to talk about his adventure in Venice.

"So there I was, surrounded by three dragons: Jesse's Rainbow Dragon, Zane's Cyber End Dragon and this new dragon called Stardust Dragon. Stardust attacked, but I was saved by this guy from the future called Yusei!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, the future?!" exclaimed Atticus.

"Yup! He had a sweet ride, and could sense spirits like me. Then, we traveled back in time to stop this bad guy named Paradox, who was trying to kill Pegasus, and prevent duel monsters from ever existing. It was so exciting, and I even got to duel alongside THE YUGI MUTO! It was awesome!" Jaden shouted excitedly.

"Sounds like you had the best of times," said Mac.

"Yeah, I guess I did," replied Jaden.

The limo then stopped. "Mr. Atticus, we've reached our destination," the driver explained over the intercom.

"Alright, thanks," replied Atticus, before turning to Jaden. "Well then, shall we?"

"Yeah, sure. Lets do it!" said Jaden.

Part 3

Jaden walked up to a suburban, two-story residence in the middle of a quiet neighborhood. He rang the doorbell, and after several seconds, he heard a response. "Yes, who is it?" asked a female voice. "I swear, if it's that neighborhood swindler again, I'll ..." she began as she opened the door, but noticed that a tall boy resembling her son was standing at the doorway.

"Hi mom," smiled Jaden.

The woman's expression turned from confusion to shock to utter happiness in a matter of seconds. "Jaden, is that really you!" she screamed at top of her lungs, furiously hugging Jaden in the process. "I haven't seen or heard from you since your graduation! Do you know how worried your father and I were about you?"

Jaden then returned the hug, and said, "Sorry mom, I know I caused you to worry, and if it makes you feel any better, I truly did want to come visit, but I just didn't get the chance. Still, I'm here now."

"Yes, you are," his mom replied, "I'm so glad. So what brings you back after all this while?"

Jaden then took out a document from his bag, and said, "Actually, I wanted to give you my graduation certificate, so you wouldn't worry that much about me anymore, and I want to grab a quick change of clothes."

"That's nice dear, but must you leave so soon? Didn't you just get back?" his mom asked with a concerned look.

"Don't worry, mom. I'm just going to stay over at a friend's house close by for a while, and see some of my old duel academy pals" he said trying to comfort her "Then, I promise, I'll come back to stay for a couple of weeks for Christmas and New Years."

"Well, okay honey. By the way, when do I get to meet some of these friends of yours?" she asked.

"Actually, the friend I'm staying with is right outside. He thought that he should by and say Hi before we go to his place," he explained.

"Oh! What a thoughtful young man. Well, what are waiting for? Let him in!" she said excitedly.

"Sure, but where's dad?" he asked.

"Your father went to the store to buy some stuff. He'll be back soon," his mom explained "More importantly, go tell your friends that they are welcome inside." Jaden then went back to the limo, and told Atticus and Mac that the two were welcome inside. Jaden's mom was was then surprised by the good-looking duo that stepped into her home.

"Mom, this guy is one of my old pals from duel academy, Atticus Rhodes and his girlfriend, Reggie Mackenzie," Jaden introduced the two of them.

"It's a real pleasure, Mrs. Yuki," said Atticus, bowing.

"Good, evening, ma'am," said Mac.

"Oh my, Jaden! How'd you become friends with such beautiful people!" his mom exclaimed in admiration. "Well, come on in. I'll make tea, and we can chat for a bit," and with that, she lead them into the living room. Jaden's dad came back after 20 minutes, and he was just as ecstatic to see Jaden as his mom was, as he was hugging Jaden and crying at the same time. His dad also met the others, and for two hours, they conversed about various topics like dueling, life at the academy, and Jaden's adventures.

"Wow, my son, a Kaiba Corp. employee. To think I'd see the day when my son would get a decent job. I thought my clueless, duel-loving, oddball of a son would never get a decent job," he said through sobs.

"Come on dear, don't embarrass our son in front of his friends," his mom said as she tried to calm her husband down. "By the way, Jaden" she remembered "you haven't told us about your love life."

Jaden nearly spit out his tea. "Mom, now you're embarrassing me!" he complained, while flustered.

"But I really want to know if there are any ladies in your life. I don't want you to die alone, you know..." his mom began preaching, before Jaden cut her off.

"Man, it sure is getting late," Jaden said clearly flustered "I-I better go get my change of clothes," he said, as he left the room, and started climbing the stairs up to his own room.

On the other hand, Atticus thought "Finally, an opening!"as he smiled mischievously. "Actually, Mrs. Yuki," Atticus began "I wanted to actually talk to you both about this very topic..." but Jaden had already made his way upwards, and couldn't hear the conversation.

"Take care, son," Jaden's dad said as he hugged him.

"Of course. Don't worry, I'll be back in time for christmas," he said.

"Please be safe, son," his mother added, the turned to face Atticus. "And Atticus, I hope you can take care of THAT matter with my son," she said cheerfully.

"Of course, moth...I mean Mrs. Yuki, leave everything to little old me," replied Atticus.

"Wait, what matter?" Jaden asked.

"Don't worry, Jay, everything's gonna be fine. Just focus on the trip," said Atticus, while smiling.

"Okay" Jaden sighed, as they got into the limo. Jaden waved at his parents, before driving out of sight. After approximately 30 minutes, the limo pulled into the driveway of a luxurious mansion, the biggest in the area. As they stepped inside, Jaden marveled at the place. He had never been inside a house this big or this fancy.

"Well Jaden, have a seat on the couch. TV remote's over there. I'll see if your room's ready, and I'll get back yo you," Atticus said, then he and Mac went upstairs.

On the way upstairs, Mac stopped Atticus, and asked, "Atty, are you sure you did the right thing?" Atticus looked confused, and Mac continued "I mean, you pretty have Jaden's parents sold, but what if the two don't end up together. I don't want to see Alexis end up hurt..." she stopped, as Atticus sealed her lips with a kiss.

"Don't worry, baby," he said after they seperated "I'm the master of love, remember. Plus those two will get together, with minimum interference, you'll see," smiled Atticus.

Mac sighed , then smiled "Alright, but don't get too cocky. You don't wanna get beaten up again for meddling," she teased, then quickly kissed him, and said "I'm going to bed early. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya," he responded, then she went to her room. "Now to have the prime suspects meet." It was time for the fated to meet again.

So, the parents approved. Jaden's now at the Rhodes residence. All that's left is the fated meeting.

I hope this was a good chapter. It's been so long, so I hope I haven't gotten rusty. Thanks for your support. Also, I'm kind of looking for someone to help me proofread future chapters, so if you're interested in doing so, please inform me. I could use all the help I could get.

Now for the preview:

Next time on Yugioh GX: Beyond the academy

Alexis and Jaden meet again, though not in the way one might expect. We hear about Jaden's adventures in the amazon, and who were those cloaked members from chapter 4. All that and more in Chapter 6: A duel to remeber

So for now, I guess I'll turn in. Looking forward to your reviews and support!

With that, I end my turn.