Welcome back and thanks for waiting for the second chapter. I meant to mention this in my last post, but for this story to work the way I want it to, I'm going to have to ignore certain events of Dark Side of Dimensions. I'll explain why in a later chapter, as I don't want to spoil anything. Anyway enjoy.

Chapter 2 – The Awakening

Fontaine bolted awake when she heard some urgent knocking on her bedroom door. She quickly got out of bed to answer it. When she opened the door, she saw Alexis, who looked as if she'd just sprinted here without stopping.

"Ms Rhodes, what's wrong?" asked Fontaine concerned.

"I need your help," stated Alexis huffing for breath.

"Why? What happened?" asked Fontaine who's interest had peaked.

"It's Jaden, he's hurt," answered Alexis much to Fontaine's surprise.

"Jaden Yuki's back?" asked Fontaine.

"Yes. Please he needs help," stated Alexis worryingly.

As the school nurse, Fontaine was more than willing to help. She closed her door and told Alexis to lead the way. They quickly headed to the shore and located the spot where Alexis had found Jaden. Thankfully, the spirit of Professor Banner and Pharaoh were still there making them easier to spot. Fontaine couldn't believe it. It really was Jaden Yuki. Like all the other teachers, she hadn't heard anything about Jaden since he'd graduated, and it was quite unexpected to see him passed out and injured on the shore surrounding the academy.

"Let's get him to the infirmary," stated Fontaine, knowing the longer Jaden was left here, the worse off he would be.

"Right," said Alexis lifting Jaden off the ground as Fontaine helped.

They got him to the academy's infirmary as quickly as possible, with Pharaoh and Professor Banners spirit following. They set Jaden down on one of the beds, after which Fontaine looked him over to try and figure out what had happened. Alexis just stood there, trying to comprehend how this had happened. Jaden was probably the toughest duellist she had ever met, meaning that had this happened due to a duel, the person Jaden had faced, must have been leagues above anyone he had faced before. After a few minutes, Fontaine finished looking over Jaden.

"Well, he's still alive and he doesn't appear to be in critical condition," stated Fontaine.

"Do you know what could have caused this?" asked Alexis concerned.

"No. All we can do is hope Jaden wakes up, so he can tell us what happened. I'm sorry, there's nothing else I can do," answered Fontaine sadly.

"That's ok, I'm just glad he's alive," stated Alexis. Then it hit her. If Banner was there with Jaden, then he would know what happened. Alexis turned to the floating spirit to get some answers.

"Professor Banner, what happened to Jaden?" asked Alexis quickly.

The spirit replied by stating "Well you see Alexis, Jaden and I were approached by this mysterious duo who," but before Banner could finish, Pharaoh jumped up and put the spirit back in his mouth silencing the professor indefinitely.

"Pharaoh," yelled Alexis a little annoyed. She attempted to grab the cat, but before she could, he ran off.

"Well, now we definitely won't know until he wakes up," stated Fontaine disappointed. "At any rate, we'd better get back to the dorm, because we can't leave them unsupervised."

Alexis knew it was neglecting her responsibilities as a teacher, but she couldn't leave.

"I'm not leaving Jaden, not yet," said a saddened Alex. "Look I'll take the blame, I'm sure chancellor Sheppard will understand."

Fontaine understood. She could see Alexis was really worried about Jaden, so it would be best to let her stay with him for now. Fontaine also knew that Alexis was probably right with the Chancellor being ok with this, because considering it involved Jaden, it was probably important.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," stated Fontaine, who left Alexis alone with the still sleeping Jaden.

Alexis sat down on a chair next to Jaden's bed and continued to wonder how this happened. All these years she'd wanted to see him again, but not like this. She was hoping he would just turn up one day and challenge her to a duel, to see how much they had grown. Alas, she now knew that something dangerous was probably on the way and only Jaden knew what. She also decided she would have to wait awhile before telling Jaden how she feels, because now there were more important things to worry about. Alexis eventually fell asleep in her chair, hoping Jaden would be awake the next morning. Sadly, her hopes fell flat.

Alexis was awoken the next morning by Fontaine, who returned to have another look at Jaden. Sadly, he was still unconscious, with his condition unchanged. Alexis wanted to stay there all day, but she had classes to teach and she needed to let Chancellor Sheppard know what happened. After returning to the dormitories and getting ready for the day, she went to Chancellor Sheppard's office. Thankfully both Chancellor Sheppard and Vice Chancellor Crowler were there. Needless to say, they were as shocked as Fontaine had been by Jaden's sudden arrival.

"So, your saying you found him unconscious on the beach last night and he still hasn't woken up?" asked Sheppard.

"Yes, and we don't know what's happened, were just hoping he can tell us if he wakes up," stated Alexis.

"What's that slacker doing back here anyway. He just disappeared after graduation and no ones heard from him since. He didn't even thank me for helping him with all the written work," stated Crowler annoyed

"Don't forget Crowler, that 'slacker' defeated you twice," said Shepaprd.

Dr Crowler didn't respond to this, so Alexis kept explaining the situation.

"I also have to confess that I neglected my responsibilities, because I decided to watch over Jaden for the night instead of returning with Miss Fontaine to the dorms," confessed Alexis guiltily, hoping she wouldn't be punished to greatly.

"So you left Miss Fontaine to watch over the entire girls dorm by herself. Miss Rhodes, both of you are supposed to supervise the female students, as the numbers are now too great for a single teacher," scolded Crowler.

"That's enough," interjected Sheppard. "Dr Crowler will you leave us for now, I'll deal with Miss Rhodes and her actions."

"Very well," answered Crowler feeling a little ashamed, as he had probably been a little harsh. He left the room and the conversation continued.

"Alexis, I'm not going to punish you for this," stated Sheppard.

"You're not?" asked Alexis a little confused.

"No. I know you and Jaden were close friends during your academy days and seeing him like this after all these years must have come as a real shock," stated Sheppard understandingly.

"Thank-you Chancellor," said Alexis gratefully.

"Although this worries me a little. Jaden saved the entire world from being consumed by Nightshroud, so if this is duel related, whoever could have done this must be an even greater threat," stated Sheppard seriously.

"I was thinking the same thing, but we won't know until he wakes up," said Alexis sadly.

"Agreed," stated Sheppard a little lost at what they could do. He then continued by saying. "Look, if you want to take a few days off, I can get someone to substitute."

"No that won't be necessary. Jaden's the one who gave me the courage to following my teaching ambitions. I feel stopping right now would be dishonourable to him," said Alexis sounding really sure of herself.

"I can respect that. Well I guess that's all, I'll let you get on with your day," said Sheppard.

Alexis nodded and began leaving the room. Once she reached the door however, she stopped and turned back.

"If possible, could you do me a favour?" asked Alexis.

"Of course. What is it?" asked Sheppard.

"Could you make a few calls. There are a few people I think would really like to see Jaden, especially when they hear what's happened," stated Alexis.

"Sure, I'll get on it right away," answered Sheppard.

"Thankyou. I'm sure I don't need to tell you who to call," said Alexis grinning, knowing she didn't need to state the names of the people she was talking about.

"That's very true. I'll ask them to come as soon as they can," said Sheppard.

With that, Alexis left and went about her day. For the next few days Alexis did her best to take her mind of Jaden and teach her classes to the best of her ability. She did however spend every spare second, she had in the infirmary with Jaden, wanting to be there when he woke up. Sadly, she had no luck, as Jaden continued to lie there unconscious. At the end of the third day, she had some not so unexpected visitors.

"Alexis," called two voices she recognised instantly.

Alexis turned to the entrance of the infirmary and saw Syrus and Hassleberry, Jaden's two closest friends from his days as a student.

"Hey guys, its great to see you again," said Alexis standing up and greeting them.

After a quick hello between the three, Syrus and Hassleberry turned their attention to Jaden lying in the nearby bed.

"The Sarge, he's really back," exclaimed Hassleberry happy to see Jaden again, but saddened to see him in this state.

"After all these years, he's back," said Syrus with pretty much the same as emotion Hassleberry.

After getting over their initial shock, both of them turned to Alexis to ask some already anticipated questions.

"Is it true he just turned up and no one knows what happened?" asked Syrus.

"That's right. I've waited for three days and he still hasn't woken up," answered Alexis sadly.

"Sam Hill, whoever did this to the Sarge must be really tough," said Hassleberry unable to believe what happened.

"Either way, I appreciate you guys coming. I know it was probably difficult, now that you both work as pro duellists," said Alexis appreciatively.

"Don't worry Alexis, we're just as worried about Jaden as you are and we've both agreed to stay for as long as we're needed," stated Syrus.

"Thank you," said Alexis.

For the remainder of the week, Syrus and Hassleberry kept to their word of remaining at Duel academy. The trio discovered that Chancellor Sheppard had also contacted Jesse, as he turned up the very next day. Like Syrus and Hassleberry, Jesse also wanted to know what had happened and agreed to stay and help in any way he could. The four of them spent a great deal of time beside Jaden's bed, hoping he would soon awake. To pass the time Jesse, Syrus and Hassleberry held exhibition duels against each other and the students, as Chancellor Sheppard felt this to be a good opportunity for the students to learn new strategies and see what it means to be a pro duellist.

At the end of the week, the four of them sat in the Infirmary on a rainy Sunday night, when suddenly they heard a small grunt coming from Jaden's bed. He was finally waking up. The four of them quickly rushed over, as Jaden began to open his eyes.

"Lexi, Syrus, Hassleberry, Jesse? Where am I?" asked Jaden groggily.

"Duel Academy. You've been out for nearly a week," answered Alexis so happy to see that Jaden was finally awake.

As Jaden started sitting up and taking in his surrounding, Alexis asked the question that all of them had been wanting to know for days.

"Jaden what happened?" asked Alexis worryingly.

Jaden didn't answer her. He instead replied in a worried tone of "I've gotta find Yugi."

Thanks for reading, I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, so please tell me what you think. All feedback and suggestions for improvement are appreciated.