Well, hello everyone. I'm sure I've got no loyal readers left after my 3 year absence, but I'll have to wait and see how it goes. "Graduation is approaching (or, depending on when I finish this chapter, past) so I have the summer months before my start at college to make a serious dent in my stories." Yea, that sentence in quotes was written when I first started writing this chapter – June 2008. I'm a college junior now. Anyone who goes on my profile could see that all of my stories took a big hit (save any that began within the past year). But I currently am getting back into GX again after a three year hiatus, so hopefully some updates will be heading your way. I recently read through the first six posted chapters, and I gotta say, my writing has improved (I hope). I'd love to know what my readers (if any) think after going through this update.
Beyond that, I have nothing to say...enjoy this extremely overdue chapter.
For a disclaimer, read the previous chapters. Nothing has changed.
Happy reading!

Chapter 7

Aster stepped out of his car at Kaiba Corp and was immediately flanked by two of Seto Kaiba's security guards.
"Err, is this all necessary?" he asked, as he headed up the stairs to the front entrance of the building.
The guard on his left opened the door for him, "Mr. Kaiba made it clear that nothing was to happen to you pending your arrival today."
Aster raised an eyebrow and then sighed, "…Not that extra people would be much good if someone decided to blow my car up, but thanks, I guess."
Roland came off a side elevator just as Aster approached the receptionist's desk. She glanced up from her computer, giving him a clearly forced smile. "Can I help you?" she asked.
Aster blinked. He could somehow tell she wasn't going to be cooperative. "I need to see Mr. Kaiba."
"Do you have an appointment?"
"Well, no, not exactly, but –"
"You need to schedule an appointment. Both Seto and Mokuba Kaiba are full today. The earliest I can set you in is probably next week."
"Next week?" Aster exclaimed. It was Monday.
"Yes, depending, of course. Which Kaiba do you need to see?"
"Seto Kaiba…."
The receptionist flipped through a calendar on her desk, "Well, if you're lucky, you might get a spot next Friday."
"Well, I need to see him now." Aster's temper was beginning to rise. It wasn't his fault his prior meeting with Kaiba had been interrupted by someone bombing his mansion. He was starting to wonder if Seto Kaiba's usual icy personality was now a requirement for his receptionists.

Roland then took the opportunity to resolve the matter. Approaching the desk, he took the calendar from the lady's hands and placed it on the desk. "Mr. Phoenix, Mr. Kaiba will see you now."
The receptionist gaped at Roland, "But, sir, Mr. Kaiba is meeting with very important people from –"
"He'll reschedule. If you'll follow me, Mr. Phoenix," Roland led Aster to the elevator he had earlier come off of. Sliding a card through a recognizer, the lift doors opened.
"Mr. Kaiba is currently meeting with Maxamillion Pegasus to discuss an upcoming event at the Kaiba Dome," said Roland, as the elevator began to climb.

"Why did he call me back here if he was in a meeting with Pegasus?" Aster asked, leaning against the elevator wall, "I could have rescheduled with him over the phone."

Roland gave a small chuckle, "Not that I pay any attention to how Mr. Kaiba runs his business dealing, mind you, you could say that in every meeting with Mr. Pegasus, he often arranges ways to leave them early."

Aster smirked, wondering if Sartorius ever used such ways to avoid getting him into various sponsorship dealings. "Only with Pegasus, huh?"

"I've observed it with him – not that I pay attention to all of Mr. Kaiba's business transactions…" he cleared his throat, "I will let you into Mr. Kaiba's office while I let him know you're here. Before I forget, you'll need this to go anywhere in the building without myself or Mr. Kaiba with you." Roland handed Aster a 'visitor' badge. The elevator doors rolled open as the pro duelist finished clipping the badge to his suit. Stepping off of the lift, the guard on the floor checked for the badge before allowing them to travel down the hall.
The guard watched Aster walk down the hall before stepping onto it himself. Stopping on the second floor, he proceeded out a back door to a waiting car in the back of the employee lot. Opening the passenger side door, he greeted his companion in the driver's seat, taking off the dark glasses and loosening his tie.
"How'd it go, Jack?" asked the man in the driver's seat, "Were you spotted?"
"Please, the only disguise to fool Kaiba's lower level of security is a suit and sunglasses. Nobody noticed. I was just lucky that his head of security didn't get a good look at me."
"What'd you figure out?" asked the other man, half listening as he pulled out of the lot, "What's going on up there?"
"Phoenix is meeting with Kaiba for something. I don't know why though. He was there when we took out his house – and you missed the turn."

"Damn. Now what?"

"Circle the block and wait over there," said Jack, pointing to a spot off the road, "We'll see him leave the building from there…."

Sartorius drummed his fingers against the desk, looking over the most recent request for Aster to appear in a television advertisement. Unable to focus properly since his most recent premonitions, he turned in his chair and looked out the window. The top of the Kaiba Corp skyscraper was visible I have never seen Aster so secretive. He didn't tell me why he was meeting with Seto Kaiba, of all people, the first time – and today is no different. When he comes back, I'll have to tell him. He looked to the bottom desk drawer, where he knew Serena kept an extra deck of tarot cards. His arm reached down, but then he took a deep breath and stopped. No. I don't want to know…not now…at least not until Aster returns. His hand itched towards the hidden deck as Sartorius felt an uneasy jolt. Scrambling out of the chair, he crossed his arms at the window, as far from the drawer as possible. "The Light is gone," he assured himself, "It is not coming back, and whatever piece of it that's left inside me needs to realize that."

When the uneasiness left, he picked up the request and reread the contents. "Perhaps I should just send Aster back to Duel Academy until this string of attacks is over…"

Zane pulled off his duel disk as he entered his apartment, having won another duel in the Kaiba Dome. Placing his deck on the table beside the disk, the pro duelist turned on the television to the Pro Dueling channel and proceeded to leaf through his cards. He had finished reading over Cyberdark Dragon when something on the screen caught his eye.

"This hour we'll be looking at the most memorable dueling moments in Duel Monsters history. Since the opening of the Kaiba Dome, dueling records have been made; they've been broken, and beaten all over again. Some careers began in this stadium, and some lost their steam. For the next hour, we're going to showcase the more memorable moments seen here at this monumental stadium. And we'll start off in the past and work our way to the present.

"We'll start off ten years ago, when Kyle Jables was crowned the Champion of the Leagues. Dueling fans will remember that he wouldn't go on to defend his title until only months ago, when he faced Dr. Collector for a very controversial match – but we'll come to that duel later. It was after being crowned the champion that he took on his stage name "The D"…"

The host went into a brief biography of The D as Zane went back to his cards. If an overpaid anchorman was going to retell the life of a dead champion, he wasn't interested in watching it. But it was one of the clips a moment or so later that kept his eyes glued to the screen. It was Aster Phoenix in a duel. Aster was younger, and had yet to start wearing his signature silver suit. Upon first glance, Zane figured the young prodigy was around 13 years old in the clip.

"One of our next memorable moments comes several years later. This is from the Circuit Champions Tournament a few years ago. Most remember the winning prize for the top duelist was to have the chance to fight The D for the championship title. Of course, this was the tournament where The D had to leave the Tournament for a short amount of time due to an illness, so that promise never happened. But it's the duel itself that is memorable here. We remember Thorn Turama, the favorite to win this event, trumped at the last minute by the up-and-coming prodigy Aster Phoenix, who was only thirteen at the time. Had The D not left the spotlight at that time, and had Turama won that match, there would have been a very nice Championship Title duel. Instead, young Aster Phoenix was awarded the championship trophy and a rather nice check to compensate for the duel that couldn't happen. We'll see more of Phoenix later, but it was this duel where Turama spiraled down into a terrible losing streak. Never getting over the loss to someone likely more than half his age, the entertainment news remembers when he nearly assaulted Phoenix's manager for not allowing an instant rematch. He was escorted from the Dome and didn't return for a duel until well after a year later. The fans believed him to be on the rise again, but after losing small matches outside the Kaiba Dome, inside once he suffered a humiliating loss to Katie Bish, he left the Pro Circuit. Anyone following the recent news knows of the tragedy the Bish family is currently dealing with….

Zane returned to his cards. He was positive he would be mentioned sooner or later, but at the moment, he wasn't interested in what happened in the past. He vaguely heard that Turama was sent to prison over a controversial rape case, but he paid it no mind. It wasn't until he returned to the tv and his cards from getting something to eat, as well as his case of extra cards, that the clip playing on the screen caused him to freeze up.

"One of the most talked about moments here at the Kaiba Dome was the match last year between Aster Phoenix and Zane Truesdale. These two fan favorites went into the Kaiba Dome undefeated champions, but of course, only one could remain that way. After toying with Truesdale's Cyber Dragons as if they were toys on a string, Phoenix delivered him a show stopping defeat. Here are the final moments of that most memorable duel…"

Zane clenched his fists, watching the duel he had tried hard to forget. As the crowd of Phoenix fans roared as Zane's life points hit zero, his last conversation with Shroud made its way back to the front of his mind.

"You're scared Zane…scared to lose to him again. I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again…you let me help you get rid of Aster Phoenix, and after you are established as the King of the Circuit, I promise to fade away from your life forever."

Zane shook his head. "I don't need him. I haven't lost a single game since kicking that creep to the curb, and I don't regret doing it. I can defeat Phoenix anytime I want," he said to himself.

While in his thoughts, the next dueling highlight had focused on him, adding that his new wardrobe had influenced his extraordinary comeback in dueling. Zane shook his head. His new clothes represented the move from his old Academy ideals, ideals that didn't get him anywhere, to his new outlook that it was all about winning. As much as he hated to admit it, he did owe Shroud that much for getting him to get a new outlook on his career.

"Finally, we bring you to the biggest night in Kaiba Dome history. After the long disappearance of The D, there was a clear question of what was to happen to his title. After all, Kyle Jables has held the title of Pro League Champion, or King of the Leagues for ten years. As authorities finally listed The D as deceased, based on statistics, Aster Phoenix would in the end inherit the title. However Maxamillion Pegasus and Seto Kaiba in the end decided on a duel for the title, as long time Pro Maxwell Simmons would also try to vie for the title. Simmons had currently run an undefeated streak and the corporate owners felt that a duel would repel any bias in determining the League champion.

"In the intense match, that night served as a first for a professional duelist to compete while recovering from a serious injury. We recall that night that for the first time, the safety device was placed on its maximum setting for Aster Phoenix who had suffered a leg injury prior to dueling. His manager refused to allow him to duel without the feature. But that didn't stop the young star from a come-from-behind obliteration of Simmons' best monsters to win it all…"

Zane turned off the television, slumping back against the couch. Did he underestimate Aster's abilities when they first met? He shook his head as he took his cards in his hand. I could duel circles around him now, with this deck. But Shroud's words cut deep. Why hadn't he challenged Phoenix during the tournament at Duel Academy? It wasn't about revenge, he told himself, just winning. With his new grand title, I'll be bound to face off against Phoenix soon enough. I don't need Shroud to dictate my moves anymore. He closed a fist around his deck; in the meantime, as much as I despise the kid, I can't underestimate him again. I plan on winning, and there's not a Destiny Hero in his deck that will stop me.

Ms. Fontaine turned to the door to see Jim and Hassleberry be supported into the infirmary. "What happened!"

"Jim and Hassleberry were dueling," said Atticus, setting Jim down on a bed, "It was a really heated game, Jim won, but afterwards, they both just collapsed!"

"This isn't the first time," the nurse sighed, "This is getting a bit out of hand. I've already treated several Ra Yellows for exhaustion, and this looks like another case. There has to be some connection with all these duels – but in each case, there are so many variables!"

"What do you mean?" Chazz asked as Jaden and Syrus set Hassleberry down.

"Every time a student has been in here for exhaustion, it was because of a duel," said Ms. Fontaine, but there's just no way to connect them. Each case was a different match, different amounts of life points lost and just different people!"

"My, my, there are a lot of students in here today," said Crowler, as he passed by the hall with Bonaparte.

"It's not what you think, Dr. Crowler," said Alexis, "Jim and Hassleberry were in a duel, and once it ended, they both collapsed."

"This is getting out of hand," said Ms. Fontaine, "We need to stop these survival duels before I need to call Domino for help. If this keeps up, the entire school will be needing treatment."

"There's no guarantee that the duels are causing this," said Bonaparte, "unless there's some concrete evidence pointing otherwise."

"What about these bio-bands?" said Jesse, "In my last duel against one of the Obelisk students, I felt something drain my energy. Once the duel ended, I noticed the blue light on the band glow orange before the spirit was pulled outta me."

"Professor Viper is the one who started the band thing," said Jaden, "Someone should complain to him about it."

"Believe me, we tried," said Crowler, "He said we were being paranoid and this would disappear within days."

Ms. Fontaine sighed as the two vice-chancellors walked off, "In any case, please try limited your dueling to once a day, or two days if you can manage it. Try not to bite off more than you can chew, and get plenty of rest between duels. I don't want to treat you again."

"What about Jim and Hassleberry?" Jaden asked.

"They'll be fine. I'm sure they'll be on their feet again tomorrow."

They thanked her and filed out of the infirmary. "What do we do now, guys?" said Jesse.

"Well we can't avoid the duels for long. Professor Viper is monitoring them, remember?" said Chazz, "If we just stop dueling, he'll know something is up."

"I want to know why he needs the energy," said Atticus, "It's not something you can just collect and use. How do you even store duel energy?"

"I don't know," said Syrus, "But I told you guys that Viper was bad news. No one believed me, and now we're all on rotating schedules with the hospital!"

Jaden grinned, "Hey – at least there's good food there, right?"

Eyebrows were raised and Alexis, Chazz, and Atticus all face-palmed.

"What!"

This chapter has been long overdue, and I hope it didn't disappoint! If you find any serious errors against previous chapters, please let me know. I've gone through the previously uploaded chapters many times, but small things sometimes slip through! As always, feel free to leave questions and comments with a review or a PM.

See you next time! (Which I promise will not take three years!)