A good day to all. Cypher 32 here. So this is it, huh! The meeting, after all this time. What happens during that meeting, well... you can see for yourself in the chapter. This was probably one of the funniest, and quirkiest chapters I have ever written. I will only say one thing; jealousy is a fickle thing...

Keep that in mind as the story progresses. Thanks for your reviews, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Enough talk; lets move on:

Last time on Beyond the Academy

Jaden visits his parents after a long while, and a secret plan by Atticus is being set in motion. Jaden arrives at Alexis's house, only to find...

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

Chapter 6: A Duel to Remember

Part 1

Atticus opened the door to Alexis's room, after knocking several times, only to find it empty. After searching throughout the household, he asked one of the maids about where she could have gone.

"Oh, Ms. Alexis," she answered "Yes, she actually ran down to the nearby supermarket to buy some ice cream. We're fresh out. She left about 15 minutes before you arrived, Master Atticus."

"Man, at this timing," he began complaining, before shaking his head and saying, "Nope, gotta think positive. Hey, wait a minute. Maybe I can make this work to my advantage. The look on her face, when she sees her boyfriend-to-be on the couch, will be priceless! Lets not spoil the surprise, and see what happens!" A mischievous smile was on his face, as he waited diligently on the staircase, for the opportune moment to strike.

Meanwhile, Jaden started looking through his deck, making sure certain pieces fit, while others that didn't were removed.

"Something on your mind, Jaden?" asked Yubel, as she appeared alongside professor Banner, who had just floated out of Pharaoh's mouth as the cat was yawning.

"Nah, I guess I'm just tired. Once my room's ready, it's lights out for me," he yawned, before asking "Why? What'd you think I was worried about?"

"Oh, I don't know! You're in the house of your bride-to-be, the future . Don't you feel nervous, even if a little?" asked Banner, while teasing Jaden.

"Not nervous, more like excited, and at the same time, worried. I wanna see her just as much as I want to see the others. The problem is that she might hate me for all the harmful things I did to her, including ditching her and the others on graduation day, not to mention that I didn't notice all her attempted phone calls, which she might interpret as me ignoring her, even though it's not my fault that Kaiba wants all his employees to have state-of-the-art high tech phones, and throwing away your old ones. What's worse is that all my contacts were in that phone," he explained while letting out a huge sigh, confused and conflicted over his own feelings. "Which reminds me," he began, "While we're here, why don't you guys answer a question for me; why do you want Alexis and I to be together? I thought that you hated it when others tried to get close to me, especially girls. Isn't that right, Yubel?" he asked, staring at her.

"Listen Jaden," she began, "I learned after you and I fused our souls into one, that we will always be together, and that friends can be a valuable treasure. I also learned that love is necessary in a human's life. Jaden, like I said before, you have my love, always and forever, but I can't provide you with the comfort, kindness and pleasures a human woman can give." She then further clarified her point "Basically, if you have a lover, you can have someone to protect and to treasure, to live together and support each other through thick and thin, to raise a family. Don't you need to have descendants?"

"You're using a lot of big words, Yubel. My head's starting to spin," said Jaden, as Yubel sighed and disappeared.

Banner then asked, "So what's on the agenda for tomorrow?"

"Well, we'll see after discussing it with Atticus," replied Jaden.

"I see. Well, see you tomorrow," he said as he disappeared into Pharaoh's mouth.

Just then, Jaden heard the front door open. "Wonder who could it be? "he thought. "Maybe, it's Alexis's parents. Well, if so, then I better do my hair a little. Don't want to lose that first impression." As he looked up to greet the person, he saw...

Part 2

On her way back from the store, Alexis began thinking about the conversation she had with her two best friends, Jasmine and Mindy, over the phone the other day, regarding the Duel Academy reunion that was planned next week. She had actually been looking forward to a reunion of old friends, so much that the excitement was killing her.

"So a reunion, huh. Maybe I'll get to see my old friends, and maybe, just maybe, Jaden will be there," she thought hopefully. She had occasionally kept in touch with all her other friends, but had not heard from Jaden since graduation day. She had tried texting him many times, but she had never gotten a response, which always left her sad, frustrated and worried. She had seen his face on the news during the Venice incident, but that was it. "Well, no use thinking too deeply about it. Time to go to my room, eat some ice cream, and head straight to bed," she thought optimistically. After arriving at the front door, she noticed that the lights were on. "Maybe Atticus got back from his little 'date', and judging from the last date, he'll probably be sulking since Mac probably beat him up for 'flirting' with another girl. What am I going to do with this useless brother of mine," she thought, while sighing.

As she opened the door, and stepped in, she shouted "Hey Atty, you there? I got some ice cream. We could all..." she stopped as she entered the living room and noticed a certain guy on the couch. The guy looked at her in surprise, and she also had a look of shock on her face, leading her to drop the bag with the ice cream on the floor. She recognized the hairstyle and brown color immediately. She recognized the eyes, and even the face. Before her very eyes was the man she was just thinking about, Jaden Yuki.

Jaden suddenly gave a goofy smile and said, "Hey lex, long time mo see! Didn't know you were out!" Alexis simply stared at him for a couple of minutes, while occasionally rubbing her eyes, thinking that maybe she was dreaming, or that she was seeing things.

"Um, Alexis, you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost," said Jaden nervously.

"J-J-Jaden," she stammered "Is that really you?"

"I guess. I mean, who else would I be?" he smiled.

Tears formed in her eyes, and then she shouted "Jaden! It's really you," as she ran up to him, and wrapped him in a long embrace. "Jaden, I missed you so much," she said, trying to hold back her tears.

"Me too, lex," he replied, as he returned the hug.

The two hugged each other for several minutes, before letting go. "What are you doing here? Where have you been? Why haven't you called? Do you know how worried we were?" Alexis began to bombard him with questions.

"Lex, calm down. Atticus invited me here, after we met at the mall. He said I could stay over, and that's what I'm here for," he said.

Alexis then frowned. "Even now, you keep secrets from me... I mean us! You keep secrets from us, your friends! When you left on graduation day without even so much as a peep from you, we were all bummed out. When you appeared during that incident in Venice, I was really worried that you'd been hurt or worse." She then turned around, anger clearly showing on her face, and continued, "You never tell us anything when it matters the most."

Jaden then panicked. "I knew it, she's pissed. What can I do to make things right?" he thought. Jaden then began pleading "Come on, Alexis. I'm sorry I left without warning. I just had stuff to do, places to see and..." That didn't work as Alexis just kept getting angrier. "Oh boy," he sighed, then thought,"Well, that didn't work. How do I get myself out of this one?"

"Hug her," came Yubel's voice inside his head.

"Huh?" he asked confused.

"You heard me, Jaden. Hug her," said Yubel in his thoughts.

"Will it work?" he asked, with the response being, "Trust me, it'll work."

So, Jaden slowly wrapped his arms around Alexis, and said in a soft voice, "Alexis, I'm sorry I left you without warning, and I'm sorry I let you and the others worry about me. I promise it'll never happen again, so please cheer up. I'll do anything for that to happen."

"Anything?" she asked. After getting a nod from Jaden, she left his embrace, and declared, "Then Jaden, let's duel!"

"Huh? Duel?" asked a confused Jaden.

"Yup! I'm still angry for what you did, so I gotta work some of it off. If you win, I'll forgive you. If you lose, well... I'll think of something," she explained "Plus I wanna see how much you've improved after all this time. But lets do it on the table. I don't want to wake up the others."

"Sounds like a plan, lex. I'm game!" smiled Jaden.

"Still the same old Jaden," she sighed "but that's a good thing," she finished in a very tiny voice only she could hear. The two proceeded to the nearby table, where Alexis set up two play mats for the both of them. The two then shuffled their decks and proceeded to duel. "For old times sake Jay, I'm going to use my old cyber ritual deck from our academy days," she declared.

"Alright. Let's duel!" he replied.

Alexis - 4000; Jaden - 4000

Alright Jaden, I'll start. I draw!" she declared. "I summon Cyber Tutu in attack mode (ATK - 1000), and play a face down. Your move."

"My turn, I draw," he declared. After looking at his hand, he smiled apologetically at Alexis and said, "Sorry Alexis, but I'm gonna end it in one turn."

"Oh? Getting cocky, are we? Just try it, Jay!" she replied, daring him to try.

"Okay. I play Mystical Space Typhoon, and destroy your face-down!" he declared. Alexis's face-down, Mirror Force, was destroyed. "Next, I play the spell card, A Hero Lives, and since you control a monster, I can pay half my life points to special summon a level four or lower 'HERO' monster from my deck."

Jaden: (4000 - 2000)

"I summon Elemental HERO Avian in Attack mode (ATK - 1000)" he finished.

"We're tied Jaden! Are you sure you summoned the right HERO?" she asked in disbelief.

"Oh, I'm sure," he replied, then declared "I play polymerization, and fuse my Avian with the Burstinatrix in my hand, to summon Elemental HERO Flame Wingman! (ATK - 2100)"

"OK, I take that back. You've obviously got a plan," she said.

"Indeed I do. I play the equip spell Megamorph, which doubles the attack of my monster, since I've got less life points then you, and I equip it to Flame Wingman (ATK: 2100 - 4200)," he declared.

"This is bad!" Alexis said, while panicking.

"Flame Wingman, attack cyber tutu!" Jaden shouted.

(Alexis: 4000 - 800).

"Now my monster's effect activates, dealing you damage equal to your monster's attack points. Game over, lex!"

(Alexis: 800 - 0).

"Alright lex, that's game!" he smiled, as he said one of his classic catchphrases.

"Strong as always, Jaden," she sighed, "though it might be a different story if I used my new deck."

"I'm sure it would," he smiled as he helped her get to her feet. "By the way lex, what's in the bag?" he asked.

"The bag?" she asked, before remembering "Ah! I forgot the ice cream!" She rushed over to the bag, picked it up and said in a rush "Jaden, come to my room in a bit. I've just got to arrange some things" as she raced upstairs.

"Man, Alexis got more mature after these couple of years, and at the same time, a little childish too," he thought. "Well, better go ask Atticus if my room's ready," he said as he moved towards the stairs.

Part 3

In the shadows of the staircase, Atticus had watched the events unfolding in the living room, and to say the least, his plan was more or less a success. "Man, Jaden truly is the pacifier lex needed. He calmed her down within seconds," he smiled. "Alright, operation bro-in-law is a go!" He then moved out, so he could go tell Jaden that his room was ready.

"Hey Atticus," Jaden said as made his way up the stairs.

"Well Jay, your room's ready. Use it whenever you're ready. It's on the second floor, third on the right," explained Atticus.

"Alright, thanks man. By the way, Alexis came back and..." Jaden began.

"Don't worry, man. I saw her as she was running upstairs. She was actually in a very good mood. You do something to her?" Atticus teased.

"Nothing much. We talked, dueled, and now I'm going to her room to have a small chat," replied Jaden.

"Well, that's okay for now I guess," Atticus sighed.

"Why, what's up?" Jaden asked, confused.

"Oh, nothing. You should probably head up to her room for that chat now. Come on, off you go," he began urging Jaden up the stairs "She doesn't like late people." The two of them then arrived right outside Alexis's room, on the second floor.

"Wait, Atticus," he said as Atticus was getting ready to scat. "Didn't you say that my room was the third on the right? Then doesn't that make my room right next to Alexis's room?" he asked.

"Wow, would you look at the time? I'm gonna go see Reg, then I'm hitting the sac. See ya tomorrow!" he said as he hurried to Mac's room on the third floor.

"Oh well. Maybe it's just a coincidence," he thought. Then, he knocked on Alexis's door.

"Come in, Jaden," she said from inside. Jaden opened the door and stepped inside. It was the first time he'd actually been inside a girl's room, so he was a bit nervous, but what he saw was pretty normal. The room itself was pretty big and spacious. A huge wardrobe with a big mirror on top, was on the right side of the room. On the left was a huge desk with a laptop and a desktop on it, as well as a lot of books, all organized. Next to it was a bookshelf, with more books, as well as several duel monster plushies and dolls. In the middle of the room was a queen-sized bed, with a huge flat-screen TV hanging near the window. The carpet was a bright magenta color, with white stripes. Alexis was sitting at the desk, having changed into a more casual outfit, consisting of a light blue sweater, and a matching black skirt, with knee stockings on both her legs. Jaden blushed a little when he saw her in that outfit.

"You okay, Jaden?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Never better," he stammered.

"Well okay. Take a seat on the bed, please," she said.

Jaden walked to the bed, and sat down as instructed. "It's been a while since we talked like this, lex," he said.

"Yeah, it has," she replied. She then smiled and made a request. "Anyways Jaden, tell me a couple of tales from your adventures."

"You sure, Alexis?" he asked "It's pretty late. I wouldn't want to..."

"It's alright, Jay," she cut in "We've got enough time for a couple of stories. Please?" she asked in a cute voice.

"Alright, why not? I'm game!" So Jaden began telling some of the events and stories from his travels to Alexis, as the night continued on.

Meanwhile, Atticus had reached the third floor, and was standing right outside of Mac's room. "Hey Reg, you awake?" he whispered outside of her room.

"What is it?" came a tired reply.

"Can I come in and talk to you for a sec?" he asked.

"Alright, but quickly. I'm really tired," she replied.

Atticus opened the door and stepped inside to the sight of his girlfriend wearing a short, one-piece pajama, that really exposed her legs. "Man, seducing your boyfriend with that. You've sure got style, Reg," he smirked.

"Alright Atty, what did you want to talk about?" she asked.

"Well, I had my little sis and Jaden meet up again, and the results were out of this world... for the most part! They are so into each other! Now, if only I could find a way for the both of them to admit it... OW!" he began to shout in pain, as Mac pulled his cheek.

"Didn't I tell you not to interfere. You're going to make things worse..." she began lecturing him, but he stopped her with his hand.

"I know, Mac," he said "But like you said, I don't want the two of them to end up hurt like that. That's why I need to 'help' them without actually helping them. You know what I'm saying Mac?" he asked.

"Not a word," she replied "Now it's pretty late, so go get some sleep."

"Yes, ma'am!" he said with a big grin, as he jumped onto her bed.

"What are you..." she began.

"Please Mac, lets sleep together tonight. I mean in the same bed, nothing sexual or anything. Hehe," he cut in and said.

"For god's sake," she sighed. "Alright, but no sudden movements and no touching anywhere I don't want you too. Capeesh!"

"Aww!" he began pouting "We've been dating for a long while, yet we've never taken that next step."

"I'm sorry Atty. I'm not ready yet, but I promise you that we'll take that step real soon. So please be patient," she said in a cute voice.

"Ah! I can't turn down a request from you, my sweet," he teased, as he hugged Mac tightly. "Well, nighty night," he said.

"Night," she replied.

Part 4

"So, anyways, Yugi summoned his Slifer the Sky Dragon, and I was so fired up, so I attacked with my Neos and then it all went blank!" Jaden exclaimed as he described his fateful duel with Yugi, "though judging by what happened, I guess I lost, though I'm not sure. Anyways, it was awesome!"

"How can you be happy when you were creamed?" sighed Alexis. "Still, you got to duel the king. It's not everyday that you get to duel Yugi Muto, the king of games! You're lucky, Jay."

"Ah, stop embarrassing me lex," he smiled, before the two started laughing. "Alright lex, it's getting really late. I'll tell one more story, then I'll leave you to catch some Z's," he said while yawning.

"Alright Jay, sounds like a plan," she replied.

"Okay, this was a bit before I started working with Jesse and Axel, when I was still traveling solo. I was in Brazil. Nice place, by the way, very colorful," he began. "I was tracking down a source of darkness across the Amazon. Now that place was a total nightmare! Mosquitoes biting you everywhere, wild animals chasing you, piranha infested rivers, you name it! I was lucky to get out alive!" he complained, cringing at the painful memories. "Anyways, I was chasing it down, when it went and possessed a young girl. She was a little younger then you are now, lex. I'd say about 16 or 17 years old. So I did the usual; challenge the darkness to a duel, kick his sorry butt, save the day, the usual," he said.

"So what happened with the girl?" asked Alexis.

"Well, after she woke up, she thanked me, and asked me to come and visit her village," he said.

"Wait," she cut in, "You can speak Portuguese?"

"Another language? Hell no!" he clarified. "But when you've got some handy duel spirits with you, well lets just say that one of them helped translate. Back to the story, I followed her to the village, and it was kind of neat. I mean, it was pretty old-fashioned; did you know that they still live in wooden huts over there?! What was strange, though, was that 95% of the villagers were women."

Alexis scowled after hearing that, but Jaden wasn't paying attention to her. "Of course, there were a few men here and there" he continued. "Based on what I heard when I was there, they all arrived in almost the same manner that I did; they were exploring the jungle, saved the damsel in distress, and wound up being stuck in that village, seeing as the village was apparently cut off from the outside. Well, it was alright in my case, seeing as I could get out whenever I wanted to using my own methods. Anyways, it was okay in the beginning. They fed me great food and I got to teach the kids how to duel. A couple of days later, however, it was a different story. The same girl came up to me that morning, and asked me to be her fiancee."

Alexis twitched at that last word, and a small rage began building inside of her. "Fiancee, huh!" she said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, that," said Jaden, still being unaware of what was going on around him. "Of course, I thought it was like that incident with the tennis club captain back in our first year, and that she wanted to be good friends. So I said yes..."

"WHAT?! Why'd you agree?!" she shouted, cutting him off.

"Wait Alexis, let me finish," he said, still unaware of what was going on (Inside of his head, Yubel sighed. "Jaden, you really are a dense oaf. You're going to get your ass kicked," she thought.). "I said that we could be great friends, but she told me that we'd be more then that. She said that as her fiancee, I was actually going to be her lover, and that I was going to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her. She started blushing after that. At first, I thought she was joking, but after seeing her blush, I started to panic. Which reminds me, lex..."

He finally looked up, to see a very enraged Alexis standing in front of him. "Wait Alexis, what's wrong?" he asked.

"So, you went and got yourself another fiancee, huh!" she said in a very irritated tone.

"Wait Alexis, please let me finish. I told her that she was a cute and kind girl, but I couldn't marry her. She told me that it wasn't a choice, and tried to shoot some sort of dart at me. I escaped the hut, but there was an alarm, and all of a sudden, the whole village was on my tail. Luckily for me, my duel spirits got me away from the area at the last second," he sighed as he remembered those painful days.

Alexis calmed down a little after she heard the last bit, and her anger died down. "By the way, lex. I've been thinking of this since that incident. Back during our first year, when that guy said fiancee, he actually meant..." he asked.

Alexis sighed. "Finally got it through your thick skull. Yes, he meant that whoever won that duel would become engaged to me, or my lover. Well, not that I would have accepted anyways," she explained.

Jaden took a moment to process what he had just heard, and a couple of seconds later, he began to panic. "I'm so sorry, Alexis. I didn't know what the word fiancee meant when I accepted the duel. I just got so pumped to duel him, because they said that his dueling skills rivaled that of Zane at the time, and well... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Jaden apologized and bowed his head several times.

"Honestly, what am I going to do with you" she sighed. "Look, it's been a long time since then, and didn't I already tell you that we were friends, and that it didn't matter. I was a bit angry that nobody took my own feelings and opinions into account, but I could never hate you, Jay. You know that," she smiled.

"Thanks lex," he smiled. "Well (yawn), better get to my room for some shut-eye. See you tomorrow, I guess," he said while doing his favorite pose.

"Yeah, good night Jay," she replied. As soon as Jaden left the room, she began thinking. "Man, Jaden still has that innocent, naive personality of his, and it's really hard to deal with sometimes, but at the same time, I'm glad. I'm glad that he still has that same smile that I fell in love with. I guess I'll have sweet dreams tonight." With that, Alexis changed into her pajamas, and went to bed.

At that time, Jaden entered his room, and jumped onto the queen-sized bed. "Man, this is the life," he said as he got comfy "I wish I could have a bed like this in the trailer. Maybe I'll ask Kaiba to do it."

Yubel and Winged Kuriboh then appeared. "You're asking for the impossible, Jaden. You know Kaiba; he never does anything that doesn't involve crushing Yugi Muto or to further his own interests," said Yubel.

"You're probably right. Still, it's worth a go," he said optimistically.

"Someone's happy," she teased "Does seeing your fiancee after all this time make you feel that happy."

"Kurri Kurri!" agreed Kuriboh.

"Come on, not this again," he sighed. "Whatever, I'm going to bed. See you guys in the morning," he said, before remembering. "Oh, right. Yubel, try and find Pharaoh, please. I haven't seen him since we got here. I hope he hasn't humiliated us.

"Of course, Jaden," she said as she disappeared.

"Kurri," said Kuriboh.

"Yeah, right back at ya, pal," he said, and with that Jaden dozed off.

"Hey, old fart. When can we make a move."

"Once the time is right. Don't worry, you'll get the chance to prove yourself against his lordship."

"Alright, I'll wait. Just you wait, my king, I'll prove to you that I am the only one who can be by your side, even if it means killing everyone who gets in my way."

IT HAPPENED! Jaden and Alexis have met and dueled. Told you that it would be a bit unexpected. I know, the duel was a little short, but come on! Jaden is just too OP, and you know it. So, now how will the two of them proceed now that they're in literally a wall apart. Look forward to finding out. Plus, keep an eye on those last three lines. A few chapters later, those lines will all be explained, but until then...

I'm going to let you know, that I will split all the chapters into story arcs. Currently, you're still in the 'Reunion Arc', and each arc will be 10 chapters long, except for the last two arcs of the story. I guess, in light of that, I'll reveal the remaining chapter titles of this arc:

Chapter 7: The Next Generation
Chapter 8: Showdown at the Arcade
Chapter 9: Dense as a Brick
Chapter 10: A Fiery Encounter

Now for the preview:

Next time on Yugioh GX: Beyond the academy

Jaden has a few words with his old pal Syrus, and what was supposed to be a planning session for the day ahead, turned into a battle of the sexes, as Jaden and Mac duel it out. The decks of the next generation are finally revealed... All this and more in Chapter 7: The Next Generation

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

With that, I end my turn.