Ruler of the Gentle Darkness (Chapter Two)
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.
The following two weeks since the trip to the other dimension everything had gone back to normal, well mostly gone back to normal. Axel and Jim had said their goodbyes and went back to their academies, Atticus went back to his typical lifestyle of playing his ukulele and picking up girls and Aster went back to the Pro Leagues. Zane, after being revived, decided to forgo using the Cyberdark deck and gifted the deck to his brother Syrus to combine with his Roid deck and declared Syrus the new Cyber Duelist and told him he would build an entirely new deck from scratch. Chazz, Hassleberry and Syrus tried moving on with their lives, but it was easier said than done. Although Chazz and Syrus had moved onto Obelisk Blue they still resided at the Slifer Dorm with everyone else.
The ones who were still not coping too well with what happened were Jesse and Alexis. Jesse had decided to transfer to Duel Academy instead of returning to North Academy because he wanted to be there when his friend came back. Jesse still held onto the hope that Jaden was still alive out there and would one day return.
Alexis was also still holding onto the hope that he would return, but it was also hard for her to go on with the day because she knew Jaden was no longer with them. She realized this fact a long time ago, right after Jaden and Syrus defeated the Paradox brothers, she was in love with him. She couldn't help it, he was so kind, so caring, so funny, and a little dense in the cute way. He was a great duelist and he was very handsome. She wished she could see him one more time and if she did she'd kiss him right then and there no matter who else was there.
As Alexis was walking along that one late Saturday night she was looking up at the sky while standing near the cliff. She looked up and saw a shooting star "Jaden… I wish you'd come back to us… and back to me" she whispered a single tear falling from her eye. She then heard something before looking up and then realized that shooting star she saw was getting bigger.
Now would be a good time to duck and so she did with a small yelp as a flaming star shot over her and impacted about thirty feet behind her. Alexis ran into the woods to see what the heck just happened, but when she burst into the clearing she gasped.
Because standing in the crater was not a star, well not of the meteorite kind. It was a person; he stood tall at about 6'1 with long brown hair with a caramel spot on top. He wore red shoes, dark black pants, and a sleeveless black V-neck shirt with a long red jacket hanging from his shoulders. He wore a double wrapped chain bracelet on his right wrist, a chain belt hanging diagonally on his hip with a regular red belt around his pants along with a unique looking necklace around his neck. He turned to look at Alexis and opened his eyes revealing them to be chocolate brown colored.
He smiled at her "Hey Alexis" Jaden Yuki said softly his voice a little deeper than she remembered.
"Jaden" she said quietly before a smile worked its way to her face and then she threw herself at him and… yeah, she kissed him. As for the newly returned Jaden all he could do was widen his eyes to near impossible proportions and his face turned bright red.
'Well I didn't expect this kind of welcome back' Jaden thought now getting his thoughts back. When Alexis eventually pulled back they were staring deep into each other's eyes; brown met hazel. "Hey" he finally said.
"Hey yourself" she said back. "Welcome back Jaden" she said hugging him tightly again afraid he'd disappear.
Jaden finally put his arms back around her "It's great to be back" he said.
SCENE CHANGE
Back in the Slifer dorm the entire gang, minus the ones who left or graduated, were in the main room. Jesse and Chazz were having a mock duel with Syrus and Hassleberry cheering from the sidelines. Blair was also sitting on the sidelines watching the duel with Pharaoh in her lap.
Then Alexis walked in "Hey guys" she greeted.
"Hey Alexis" Syrus greeted. "You're just in time; Jesse is about to mop the floor with Chazz."
"Shut it pipsqueak" Chazz snapped comically at him.
Alexis chuckled a bit "Well as amusing as that sounds I've got a surprise for you all" she said. All of them stopped and stared at Alexis confused before Alexis turned around "Alright, come on in." Then a familiar face appeared from around the door followed by the rest of him. Jaden Yuki stepped into the doorway staring at them all.
"Hey guys" he said.
For a moment it was nothing, but silence until suddenly he was bum rushed by a Syrus, Hassleberry, Blair and even Chazz. There was so much talking and crying, Syrus and Hassleberry, looking quite comical by the way, Jaden could barely understand what was being said.
After a moment Jaden and Jesse faced each other before Jesse walked forward and enveloped Jaden in a tight hug. Jaden smiled and hugged him back; nothing needed to be said. This one hug expressed all the words they needed to say.
SCENE CHANGE
All of them were now sitting in Chazz's room since it was the most spacious one; all of them were sitting on his large bed with all of them surrounding Jaden. "It's great to have you back and all Jay, but how did you even get back" Syrus asked.
Jaden sighed a bit rubbing his head "That's a complex story; let's just say I had a few things to settle where I couldn't be disturbed and once I settled them I came back."
"Yeah, but please explain why jumping through a black hole with Yubel solved that problem" Chazz said sarcastically.
Jaden rubbed the back of his head "It was mostly spur of the moment with that; I just had to get you guys back and deal with Yubel."
"So everything's okay now" Syrus asked.
Jaden nodded "Yeah, everything's good now" he said with a smile. However only Jesse and Alexis could tell that he didn't truly mean what he was saying. Alexis decided to let it go and store it in her mind for later, but Jesse wasn't going to let it go just like that.
For the next hour Jaden spent time catching up with everyone before everyone departed to go to bed. Jaden was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed again, but before he could get to his door he felt a hand on his shoulder "Jaden" the voice of Jesse said.
Jaden turned and saw a serious look on Jesse's face "What is it Jesse?"
"Something's still wrong isn't it Jaden" Jesse said straightforward. Jaden was silent "You're my best friend Jaden; I know you, if something's still wrong you can tell me and us; we're your friends."
"Friends that keep getting in trouble because of me" Jaden said quietly.
Jesse heard him though "Jaden" he said surprised.
"The whole time I've been at this Academy every year one after another there's been some maniac that keeps coming after me" Jaden said gravely. "And each time they've always endangered my friends, but this time was the last straw. So I…"
"Jaden" Jesse said softly.
Jaden faced his friend "It'd be better if I go alone from now on."
Jesse could see how much pain Jaden was in from having to say this and in a way he was right; Jesse had heard all the stories that Jaden had encountered when he was at the Academy. But this wasn't the way to deal with it "Jaden, you know that no matter what happens, no matter who's after you… your friends will always have your back."
"And put their lives on the line for my sake" Jaden said his voice raised slightly. "No one's gonna die… not for me."
"And how do you think we'd feel if something happened to you and we weren't there to prevent it" Jesse said also raising his voice. Jaden went quiet and Jesse lowered his voice down a bit "Jaden, whether you like it not, you're stuck with all of us… for life" he smiled.
Jaden let a smile come to his face "Thanks Jesse" he said hugging his friend once more. "Give me some time Jesse; I'll tell you guys everything soon."
"No problem Jaden" Jesse said and he smiled once more. Jaden felt less stressed after talking about it. Yet as Jaden lied in his bed the worries came to him once again.
"Jaden" the voice of Yubel said to him softly. "You know what you must do."
"… I know Yubel" Jaden responded out loud just as softly before rolling over to his side. 'The rogue agent of darkness will show his face soon, but after that… the Supreme King will do battle with the Transcendent Emperor.'
Yubel looked down on Jaden; he looked so depressed, so sad and so… vulnerable. Like a mother would her child Yubel held Jaden softly "This is the burden the Supreme King carries. To protect all life you must fight the Light of Destruction."
'I know' Jaden replied quietly before he fell into a deep slumber.
The next day Jaden was going right back to his classes and the entire student body was reacting well to Jaden's return. Although Alexis noticed, with a bit of dread, that Jaden was getting more female attention at the moment. She really didn't like how Blair kept undressing him with her eyes when she thought no one was looking.
However despite that everyone noticed that Jaden was distracted; he kept a melancholic look on his face the whole time and stared off into space distracted. He would sometimes twitch his eyes to the window with a narrowed look before turning back to the front just as fast.
After class ended and everyone exited class; Alexis and Jesse were walking with Jaden. "You okay Jaden" Alexis asked concerned. "You looked really distracted in there."
"I'm fine" Jaden said with a convincing smile. Alexis frowned knowing he was lying and by the look on Jesse's face she knew he thought the same. Sharing a look they nodded and both of them grabbed Jaden by the arms and dragged him off "Uh, guys" Jaden said confused and nervous as they ignored him and dragged him off. Next thing Jaden knew he was dragged into a part of the surrounding forest "Guys, why'd you drag me out here?"
"Jaden" Alexis began. "Due to our friendship and my respect for you I've left you alone and not pushed you to tell me what's wrong. But I'm really concerned for you; you say that you're alright, but you look like you're on guard all the time."
"She's right Jaden" Jesse said seriously. "You look like you're ready to be attacked any minute now. We're really worried about you."
Now Jaden felt even worse. He wanted to stop his friends from getting hurt because of him, but here he was doing exactly what he didn't want to do. Jaden looked away ashamed before speaking "Guys… I –" Jaden was interrupted when all of a sudden cards began to swirl around them.
"What the…" Jesse gasped as the wind began to pick up. The cards swirling around them suddenly converged together and formed a person. This person was dressed in black spiky near skintight armor with red lines and spikes along the shoulders. He had a narrow face, black sunglasses and spiky, slick black hair.
Unlike his companions Jaden wasn't afraid; his eyes were narrowed in anger. "So you finally show yourself" he said.
The man chuckled darkly "We've waited a long time for you to come back… my king." Jesse and Alexis were wide eyed as they looked at Jaden only to gasp when his brown eyes turned golden. "That look in your eyes… I haven't seen it for many millennia."
"Well it's about time you're reminded of my power Trueman" Jaden said his voice sounding altered. "After all you're a traitor to the Darkness… you must be brought down."
The man called Trueman chuckled again "If that's the way it has to be Supreme King… then I'd love to see you try it." Lifting his left arm an artificial dark duel disk formed. Jaden strapped on his own duel disk and activated it.
"Jesse, Alexis" he said to his friends without looking at him. "Stand back."
'Jaden' they both thought before deciding it was best to do what he said.
"Duel" both Jaden and Trueman called. "If you don't mind I'll start" Jaden said drawing a card. Looking at his hand he made his move. "First I summon Elemental HERO Clayman in defense mode." His faithful earthen golem appeared on the field crouched down and arms crossed (800/2000). "After that I place one card face down, you're move."
"Why thank you" Trueman smirked. He drew a card and smirked "I activate the spell card Future Fusion. With this I can take monsters and fuse them together and in two turns that monster will appear on the field. So with that I'm going to take Des Volstgalph, Rare Metal Dragon, Spear Dragon, Spirit Ryu and Infernal Dragon and fuse them together to summon Five-Headed Dragon."
"Five-Headed Dragon, oh no" Jesse gasped knowing the strength of that card.
"But why wait for him to appear" Trueman continued with a nasty smirk. "I activate the spell card Turn Jump. With this spell card three turns have now passed so Future Fusion now activates and brings my monster to the field." And like that the massive Five-Headed Dragon appeared on the field (5000/5000). Trueman smirked at Jaden "But why leave him out here alone; I activate the spell card Dragon's Mirror. With this card I can remove from play the five dragons I just sent to the graveyard in order to summon a second Five-Headed Dragon." And like the first one a second Five-Headed Dragon appeared on the field (5000/5000).
"Impossible" Alexis gasped. "He summoned two Five-Headed Dragon's in one turn. Jaden" she looked at Jaden worriedly, but Jaden remained supremely calm, which shocked her slightly.
"I expected more of a challenge Supreme King, but this was utterly disappointing" Trueman said arrogantly.
"You think it's over" Jaden asked calmly. He smirked at Trueman "Fool, you didn't even notice I activated a trap card." Trueman widened his eyes when he saw Jaden's card. "That's right it's my Summoning Clock trap card."
"Summoning Clock? When did Jaden have that card" Jesse wondered out loud.
"My Summoning Clock works as such" Jaden explained. "For every turn that has passed all I have to do is sacrifice this card and a monster." On his field Clayman and the trap card vanished "And in return I can summon a new monster for each turn that has passed."
Trueman glared "And thanks to my Turn Jump three turns have passed."
"Exactly" Jaden smirked. "So I summon Elemental HERO Necroshade (1600/1800), Necro Gardna (600/1300), and Elemental HERO Bladedge (2600/1800). All in defense mode."
Trueman was not happy "It matters not; you will still lose those monsters. Five-Headed Dragons destroy his Bladedge and Necroshade." The two Five-Headed Dragons attacked and although Jaden's monsters were strong, they weren't strong enough to withstand the attacks of the two monsters and were destroyed. Thankfully Jaden suffered no life point loss.
"Whoo that was a nice save" Jesse breathed out.
"You're only delaying the inevitable. I place one card face down and end my turn" Trueman said.
"Then it's my move" Jaden said drawing a card. "First I play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards." Drawing his two cards Jaden smirked almost maliciously. "I activate the spell card Dark Desolation." The spell card showed a picture of a complete and bleak dark ground with a single beast riding around atop the field.
"What does that do" Trueman sneered at him.
"First I must sacrifice half of my life points" Jaden said.
Trueman: 4000
Jaden: 2000
"And then by doing so I can summon one Level 10 DARK-attribute monster from my deck to the field ignoring all of its summoning conditions" Jaden said. "And the card I'm going to summon is a special card I won when I rescued everyone from the other dimension."
Jesse and Alexis were confused; what card was he talking about.
"Now I summon you to the field; Rainbow Dark Dragon" Jaden shouted. A massive dark light appeared and in a burst of wind there was Rainbow Dark Dragon with a mighty roar (4000/0).
Jesse remembered that card 'The Rainbow Dark Dragon' he thought amazed. The card looked just like his own Rainbow Dragon. 'So Jaden kept that card.'
Trueman scowled "That dragon might be powerful, but it won't stop me alone."
"That's true, which is why I'm not done yet" Jaden said. "I'm activating Necroshade's special ability. An ability that allows me to summon an Elemental HERO to the field without a sacrifice. So come on out Elemental HERO Neos." Out came Jaden's signature Neos card (2500/2000). "But if you think that's it then you're crazy; I activate Polymerization and fuse Neos and Rainbow Dark Dragon in order to summon the one and only Rainbow Neos." A colossal monster standing even taller than the Five-Headed Dragon's appeared on the field with a mighty roar (4500/3000).
Jesse, Alexis and Trueman were absolutely astounded at the sheer size of the monster and the power it radiated. "It's still too weak" Trueman managed to say, but still sounded unsure.
"That may be true, but it doesn't matter" Jaden said. "Because I don't trust that facedown card of yours I activate Mystical Space Typhoon. With this that facedown card of yours is destroyed." The trap card 'Skill Drain' was revealed and destroyed.
Trueman growled "You may have destroyed my trap card, but it doesn't matter. Your monster is still 500 points weaker than both of my dragons."
"Do you ever stop talking" Jaden glared at him silencing Trueman. "Do you really think I'm not aware of that? I know Rainbow Neos is weaker than your monsters, but that doesn't matter. Not when I activate one of Rainbow Neos' special abilities."
"What" Trueman gasped.
"That's right; I remove Necro Gardna from the field and to my graveyard and in return all monsters on your side of the field are shuffled back into your deck" Jaden said.
"They're what" Trueman gasped as Necro Gardna vanished in a rainbow light as did both Five-Headed Dragons. "Impossible."
"Very possible" Jaden smirked. "And now your field is completely empty. Rainbow Neos let's end this rogue agent of darkness and put him back in his place. Attack him directly with Rainbow Radiance." Rainbow Neos launched a beam of rainbow colored energy directly at Trueman and it hit making him roar as the pure energy from Neos tore through him.
Jaden: 2000
Trueman: 0
Rainbow Neos vanished as the duel ended and when the smoke cleared all that was left of Trueman was a single card. Walking over Jaden picked up the card and his eyes glowed briefly once more, as did the card, before going back to their normal brown.
Turning around to see his shocked friends Jaden rubbed the back of his head "I've got some explaining to do don't I?" Two severe looks and nods was the answer he got.
SCENE CHANGE
Jaden sat in his room with Jesse and Alexis now "Alright… I don't know how to begin."
"Why don't you start from the beginning" Jesse suggested. "Like who was that guy?"
Jaden nodded "That guy we saw was an agent of the darkness. He doesn't have a name, but he calls himself Trueman because he claims to always tell the truth."
"And why was he after you" Alexis asked. "And why did he call you the Supreme King?"
Jaden's eyes darkened slightly before going back to normal. "For this I'm going to have to start from the very beginning. Long ago, before life even existed the universe was bound by two entities; The Light of Destruction and The Gentle Darkness. For many eons the light reigned with chaos and evil and destroyed anything it wanted to until the light had vanished. Seeing its chance the Darkness took over the universe and created all life in this universe. For many eons darkness continued to create life and watch over the universe, but the light returned and threatened to destroy all life. However the darkness foresaw this and bestowed all of its power onto one single being. That being would be known as the Supreme King."
Jesse and Alexis were wide eyed as they stared at Jaden "A-And you're that being" Jesse stammered slightly.
Jaden nodded slightly "Yes; a long time ago, maybe eight or nine thousand years ago, the Supreme King was born in a kingdom in the form of a young prince. However that prince was just a temporary vessel for the Gentle Darkness as the power would pass through time until it found its true vessel in which the darkness would remain in that person and that person's line for all of eternity. In order to make sure the vessel would be protected someone had to volunteer to become a guardian and follow through time to protect the vessel until it had mastered the powers of the darkness. That guardian… was Yubel" he said pulling the card from his deck box to show to them.
That made them both gasp again as they stared at the card that had caused them all so much pain in the past few months. "B-But why did she do what she did if she was supposed to protect you" Alexis asked looking so confused.
Now Jaden looked very regretful "In my childhood Yubel was my favorite card and whenever I dueled and I got a chance to summon her every one of my opponents would collapse and go into comas." Jesse and Alexis widened their eyes in horror "Yubel wanted to protect me from everything that would've caused me harm, even emotional harm. Because of her I didn't really have any friends until I came here and met all of you. Anyway, when I was a child I won a contest from Kaiba-Corp to create new card designs and send them into space to be influenced by cosmic waves; I won and I sent Yubel away hoping to help her. Only a little while ago did I realize what a mistake I had made."
Alexis still looked a little confused, but mostly saddened at seeing Jaden look so sad. Jesse was the one to figure it out "Is that why she went crazy… because you sent her away."
"That's partially the reason" Jaden admitted. "Another reason is because while she was in space she was corrupted by the Light of Destruction. That's another reason I dragged us both into the black hole. I had to purge Yubel of the Light to turn her back to normal. While I was in there I also learned to control the powers of the Gentle Darkness and the Supreme King."
"Is that why that guy was after you" Alexis asked.
"Yes" Jaden nodded. "Trueman is actually a darkness agent that once served the past Supreme King, the one before me. He was an agent, and a spy, but he betrayed the Supreme King with another agent of darkness and fled using the darkness to destroy and kill. As the current Supreme King it is my job to stop them. I defeated Trueman and all that's left is his master."
"Do you know who it is" Alexis asked.
Jaden nodded "You know him too Alexis."
"I do" she said confused.
"Yes, he once possessed Atticus and we dueled in the volcano" Jaden said.
Alexis gasped while Jesse looked confused "Nightshroud" was all Alexis could say.
Jaden nodded slightly "Nightshroud will appear eventually especially now that his henchman has been dealt with. Besides it's not him I'm worried about."
"Then what are you worried about" Jesse asked seeing as Alexis looked lost in her own little world.
"Like the Supreme King is the vessel for the Gentle Darkness, the Light of Destruction has its own vessel" Jaden told him. "The Transcendent Emperor."
"Transcendent Emperor" Jesse repeated quietly.
"A day will come sometime in the future when the Supreme King and the Transcendent Emperor will duel to decide the fate of life in this universe" Jaden said. "Should the Supreme King lose then the Light will be free to roam around unchallenged and destroy everything it touches. The Transcendent Emperor will rule the universe and all life will perish."
Jesse and Alexis, who had finally gotten over her shock, felt shivers of fear run up their spines. "A-And the alternative" Jesse swallowed nervously.
"Should the Supreme King be victorious the Light of Destruction shall be banished to deepest, darkest corner of the universe" Jaden responded. Jesse and Alexis looked relieved "But it will not last forever." Their relieved looks vanished as Jaden looked at them seriously "Darkness cannot exist without light; they are balanced, like Yin and Yang. They exist while having a piece of each other inside of them so as such it is impossible for either to be destroyed, just locked away until they can escape. The Supreme King exists to preserve life and balance and since I am the true Heir of the Gentle Darkness it is my responsibility, as well as the responsibility of my future descendants to guard the universe and protect it from the Light of Destruction. We will forever be locked in combat with the Light… to protect all life."
After Jaden's explanation the Slifer boy stepped out to let his two friend's time to comprehend everything he just said. Now Jaden stood outside facing the ocean as a cool breeze blew through the area. His jacket, hanging by his shoulders, blew through the air as the wind caressed his body.
This was it; Jaden had told them everything now. Now he could only wait quietly with trepidation on what their reaction would be. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear someone approaching him until he felt a soft hand on his shoulder.
Turning in surprise he saw "Alexis" he said softly.
Alexis stood quietly next to him as they both stared at the calm ocean "It must be a heavy burden" she said softly.
Jaden kept staring out before speaking "Yeah, but someone has to do it."
"But why you" Alexis said reaching out and gently turning his face towards her. She stared deep into his eyes "You had dreams; becoming a Pro-Duelist, entering the Master League… becoming the Next King of Games."
Jaden felt at peace feeling Alexis' soft hand on his cheek. Reaching up he took her hand in his own to keep it there "I guess this was just the hand I was dealt."
Despite the sadness in Jaden's eyes Alexis could also see the massive strength in them as well. "What are you going to do" she asked him.
"I guess after this year… I'll travel the world and wait until the time comes" Jaden responded. "Even after the duel and if I win… I don't think I can ever truly relax."
Alexis was silent for a moment before speaking "I'll go with you."
Jaden turned to her wide eyed "What?"
"My life has changed so much ever since you came into it Jaden" Alexis told him. "Your passion for dueling, your charismatic ways and how you help people. You're an amazing person Jaden and you've helped me in so many ways."
"Alexis" he said softly.
"You saved Atticus from Nightshroud, you saved me and everyone from the Grave Keeper's and you saved me from the Society of Light" Alexis continued. "Sure we had our problems with the whole Yubel incident, but we worked that out and you saved everyone again. You are honestly… the most amazing person I've ever known."
Jaden continued to stare at Alexis. The emotions he felt was something he had never felt before. Then Jaden remembered the kiss they shared when he had returned and blushed slightly. They never had a chance to talk about that; reaching up Jaden gently cupped her cheek. "Alexis… how long" he asked softly.
Alexis knew what he meant right away and with a smile she leaned up towards his face. "Ever since your tag-duel with Syrus" she whispered before kissing him. Jaden closed his eyes and put his arms around Alexis' waist. Her arms went up around his neck as they held each other and continued their kiss.
It was at this one particular moment that Jaden found something he loved even more than dueling; her name was Alexis Rhodes.
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