Chapter 2

Aster tried to ask his manager one more time if he really had to do it. Going to Duel Academy, having a duel with some random kid and losing? It was the most ridiculous thing someone had told him. And worst, those directions were coming from his manager, the one who was supposed to represent his interests and help him handle his career.

"Aster, have I ever failed you?" Sartorius asked, not raising his gaze. He kept shuffling his cards. The teen could notice a certain tiredness in his manager's statement, as if "How many times are we going to have this conversation?". Yet with no concrete answer of course he would keep trying.

"Besides…I think you'll end up being surprised."

"About what? The kid's abilities?" Aster joked. But his manager, with the white cloak over his head refused to answer, signaling the duelist that the conversation was over.

Duel Academy was a pretty place. Even someone as prideful as Aster Phoenix could admit that. Maybe not a lot of studying, but he imagined students had quite a bit of fun. Especially considering that it was an island filled with teens living on their own with little adult supervision. His arrival was discrete, avoiding coming in the same boat as all of the new students. That at least, was something he and his manager had agreed on. Better still, he had arrived the day after students departed from the Kaiba Dome. He checked his wrist watch: seven-thirty in the morning. Quickly, he made his way to the Academy's card store. He saw a lady with brown hair handling the door, Aster assumed it was the store lady.

"Good morning, I'm looking to buy some cards." he explained.

"Oh, we have some leftovers from yesterday…but we'll receive new packages at 9.00 a.m." The brunette woman replied.

"Doesn't matter, just need them for something quick. Just enough to make a full deck." he insisted.

"If I may…I don't think you'll get very far with those but…" the lady said as she placed one hand on her round cheek, thoughtful.

"It's alright, really." Aster insisted.

Looking at his cards he could see they weren't that bad. He could even think of some combos, many were even quite consistent with each other. However, if he wanted to lose he would have to play them badly.

Jade was thankful that classes would begin the day after her arrival. At least, she had one day to slowly get familiar with her surroundings. Her first hour was an introductory speech by Dr. Vellian Crowler, acting as interim head-master. He stood next to a short man named Jean-Louis Bonaparte, who gave a much longer speech, even though he was introduced as an assistant. It was what Jade expected from a welcoming speech of any educational institution, with vague and grandiose statements such as: "we pride ourselves in our graduates", "we will help you reach your fullest potential in return of your hard work and discipline", "a big thank you to Mr. Seto Kaiba, who sadly could not be present this evening, but wishes you all new students a warm welcome."

Alexis whispered that it was the same speech as last year, word for word. She added that Kaiba had not been present at last year's opening ceremony either. Bastion, who was sitting next to Alexis, nodded in agreement. Neither Syrus, Jaden or Chazz had bothered to show up. Once the last professor, Satyr, director of the Ra Dorm gave his short speech the students were allowed to go. While Alexis and Jade walked out the door, Bastion walked the opposite direction, explaining he had to go to the library. As they made their way to the Red dorm, the raven haired girl asked the blonde if she had any idea about Jaden's mysterious challenger.

"It could be anyone," she shrugged. "Jaden has made quite a name from himself...and the note doesn't really give away anything."

"A new student?" Jade wondered out loud.

"Perhaps. A bit confident I must say..."

As they approached their destination, both girls noticed Syrus who exclaimed to join him. He was kneeling next to the lunch lady of Slifer Dorm and Chazz. They were in front of the rundown dorm looking over a cliff. The girls had reached just in time, Syrus told them, as Jaden's opponent had just shown up. Jade peeked from above the hill, curious. But once she caught a glimpse of Jaden's challenger her heart skipped a beat. That was-

"So...you are A.P?" Jaden asked.

The silver haired boy approached Jaden with a polite handshake.

"I am! I have a lot to learn, I will begin my first year!" He explained. He walked towards his position and turned on his duel disk.

"I'll start!" Aster told the Slifer student. He placed Ojama Yellow (ATK 0/DEF 1000) in defense position and adjusted the sleeve cuff of his white suit, signaling he had ended his turn. The creature kneeled in front of the teen. Both players had 4000 life points. Chazz made an angry comment about the newcomer playing Ojama Yellow, which was ignored by the rest.

"Maybe you should add a trap card next time+" Jaden suggested as he summoned Elemental Hero Sparkman (ATK 1600/DEF 1400). The monster wearing a blue suit materialized on the field. He moved on to the battle phase, destroying his opponent's monster.

"Sparkman?" Aster thought. Did Sartorius know that his opponent was using a Hero deck, just like himself? Now he genuinely wondered if his manager was considering replacing him, even though he had an excellent record. What is more: was Jaden wearing a red jacket? From his understanding of Duel Academy that was the lowest rank. Where did Sartorius even hear of this guy?

"You are right." Aster agreed, slightly shaking his head. "My bad!"

"This is a complete waste of my time." He thought. In his turn he activated the spell card Final Destiny, discarding five of the 6 again.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Jaden exclaimed. .

"Like you said, I have a lot to learn." Aster replied.

"Well…yeah. Of course! If you follow my advice, I'm sure you'll reach very far AP!"

Aster had to make an inhumane effort to not laugh out loud. First, he completely butchered his name, pronouncing what was supposed to be an acronym as if it was a full word. But more importantly, so far Jaden had not shown anything impressive. He was enthusiastic, sure, and Aster could tell he loved the game; but that was not enough to become a professional. Up the cliff he noticed a small group of spectators, including the lady who had sold him his deck. Jade wondered if she had been mistaken. If it was him…What was up with this deck?

Two seven year old kids were sitting in the park face to face on a bench, their cards also placed on the wood surface.

"My dad is making a deck for me. But don't tell anyone!" he whispered, placing one finger to his lips. When he did that, the girl noticed that the silver haired boy in front of her had a bruised elbow as a result of falling off his bike. Jade turned to her parents who were sitting in front of them. Between her mom and dad was a slim man with glasses. The girl wondered what they could be talking about. Probably boring adult stuff like money or politics. Occasionally one of the three adults would glance at the kids, but they remained in deep conversation.

"So how is it going to be?" she asked curiously as she placed one monster card in attack mode.

"I'm not sure yet, but I know it's going to be amazing!" He said with a wide grin, revealing his front tooth which looked slightly shorter than the rest as it had just begun growing.

"You know, I have a feeling I've seen him before" Syrus mumbled, bringing Jade back to the present. Jade thought the same, but for a very different reason.

"What do you think of this? I activate the field spell Sanctuary in the Sky" Aster declared.

The dark haired girl almost screamed. She felt an unjustified feeling of anger. Was this a cruel joke? She watched as clouds substituted the dirt ground where both duelists were standing and a large marble building rose behind the duelist wearing a white suit.

"Next, I summon the Warrior of Zera. But he won't stay for long" Aster admitted. He tribute- summoned the monster to bring Archlord Zerato to the field (ATK 2800/DEF 2300). Emerging from the clouds, Zerato rose to the blue sky and stood in front of Aster.

"And it has a neat effect". He discarded from his hand, Mystical Shine Ball, and because Sanctuary in the Sky was on the field, Sparkman was destroyed. This allowed Aster to attack Jaden directly. Zerato threw a gush of sharp feathers directly at the Slifer red.

While Aster remained with 4000 life points, his opponent only had 1200.

"Not bad!" Jaden exclaimed excitedly. "You learn very quickly! If you have me as your teacher you'll reach the Pros in no time!"

Aster had to control himself to not make a disgusted face. He was becoming tired of playing pretend. Jaden summoned Elemental Hero Clayman (ATK 800/DEF 2000) in defense position. The Clay monster, which Aster was very familiar with, was placed on the field in a kneeling position. Then, he activated Metamorphosis to tribute Clayman and summon Elemental Hero Clay Guardian (ATK 0/DEF 2800). Because Clay Guardian was special-summoned, Jaden was able to activate its effect: 200 damage for each monster.

"I think that's….400 damage, right?" Jaden asked as he counted his fingers with his left hand. "No sorry! It's 600, my bad!" he laughed, annoyingly.

"I think?!" Aster was ready to turn off his duel disk. So far he had gathered from Jaden: that he was a Slifer red student, in his second year, who used a Hero deck and was bad at math. The more the duel progressed the more he asked himself what the hell he was doing there? His match against Zane was a couple of weeks away, it would have been much more productive to prepare for it.

Aster was left with 3400 life points, while Jaden had 1200. He placed a card in his Spell and Trap zone, ending his turn. As he was about to begin his turn, his cell phone began ringing from his pocket.

"What is that?" Jaden asked.

"Oh, it's mine! Sorry!" Aster apologized as he placed the phone on his ear. He could hear Jaden complaining about using a cellphone in the middle of the duel and "how rude it was" and "that he should be patient, as Aster was in his first year".

"Hello." Aster spoke to the phone. He recognized his manager's voice on the other end. He was asked if he had shown up at Duel Academy.

"Yes, I'm doing that right now. Any words of advice?"
"I see the end is near."

"Got it!" Aster replied, ending the call.

Once the call was over he turned to Jaden.

"Did you ever stop and think about why I asked you to duel?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Well…You said you heard about me in your letter?" Jaden answered, confused.

"I came here to test if you were the best". The silver haired duelist corrected him.

"Test? Like an exam? And…Did I pass?"

"This isn't about grades, it's about destiny. What do you think of it?"

"Umm…" Jaden said. "It's a bit early to get philosophical, don't you think?" The slifer jokes.

"I don't think so!" Aster answered coldly, activating his face down card, Beckoning Light. He discarded the card he had just drawn and added Mystical Shine Ball from his Graveyard to his hand. Once again, activating Zerato's effect he discarded the recently gotten card and destroyed Clay Guardian. When he declared a direct attack with Zerato, Jaden revealed his face down card, The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh, and special summoned Winged Kuriboh (ATK 300/DEF 200) from his deck in defense position. With its wings the brown fur monster protected Jaden's life points. With this, Jaden's life points were spared and Aster ended his turn.

"It's always important to have a friend!" Jaden explained with a grin. He glanced to his side, apparently talking to something that was on his right, but Aster could not see it. Clearly this Jaden guy also lost his marbles.

"You see, everything is planned from the day we are born." Aster explained. Jaden didn't answer.

"Legends are born to be legends, for example." the silver haired duelist continued.

"Are you saying that I'm a legend?" Jaden asked, perplexed. "Umm…sure, though I prefer the term hero!" He laughed annoyingly, once again. For a second Aster wondered if pushing him to the sea water that was on his right side was a valid way to turn Jaden's life points to zero. He thought back to his manager's words.

"When Jaden defeats you I can prove if he is the one." Sartorius explained.

"The one for what?" Aster insisted. "And if I'm forced to lose…of course he is going to win!"

"Trust me, was I ever mistaken?" he asked. The fortune teller raised his gaze, his piercing violet eyes staring right at Aster's soul. Once he got back, he would demand an answer, whatever means necessary. At least Sartorius had predicted that this would be over soon.

Back to Jaden's turn, he summoned Elemental Hero Bubbleman (ATK 800/DEF 1200) in attack position. The monster appeared in the field, pointing its bubble gun to its opponent. Because he had no other cards on his side of the field, using the monster's effect he drew to cards. First, he set a card and then activated the Spell card Warrior Returning Alive. This allowed the Slifer to return Sparkman from his Graveyard to his hand. With Polymerization, he fused Bubbleman, Sparkman and Avian, summoning Elemental Hero Tempest (ATK 2800/DEF 2800) in attack position.

Moving on to the battle phase, Tempest launched an attack on Zerato. By sending his set card to the graveyard, Jaden activated Tempest's effect and was not destroyed, even though it had the same attack points as the fairy monster. But Jaden's turn wasn't over.

"I think each forges their own path, AP!" Jaden declared. Activating "De-fusion", Tempest was returned to the deck and instead, its fusion materials, Elemental Hero Avian (ATK 1000/DEF 1000), Bubbleman (ATK 800/1200) and Sparkman (ATK 1600/DEF 1400) were summoned to the field. All three heroes launched a direct attack on Aster, finally ending the duel.

"And that's game!" Jaden said.

He approached Aster who was kneeling on the ground.

"Hey, are you ok? Hope I wasn't too rough on ya!"

"Nah." He brushed off some dirt from his white pants. "It 's fine."

"You were pretty good, for a freshman, I mean! I'm sure if you practice, you are going to get far."

"Wow, thank you!" Aster answered, pretending to be excited. But Jaden didn't seem to catch his sarcasm. He spent a couple of minutes listening to his advice, however, in his mind, he was repeating each item of his to-do list back at Domino. Finally, he would be out of this place. Sure, it looked nice, but nothing could convince him to stay for a minute longer.

"Well, that was quite an interesting duel. He was quite good-looking too, don't you think girls?". Jade was speechless. When Aster rose to the surface, he flashed a polite smile directed to no one in particular. If it wasn't him then she could simply apologize for the misunderstanding, but if it was…Jade turned to Alexis, who looked back at her.

The girl gave a quick explanation, a very weak one that is, and walked quickly despite her shaking knees behind the duelist. It was an impulsive action, her judgment was clouded and her legs moved on their own. She met the boy as he was about to climb, what she imagined, his personal yacht. She called his name, a bit quieter than she imagined.

Aster turned, without much thought, his camera ready-smile. He had hoped he would have remained anonymous, Jaden at least did not seem to recognize him, nor the group of spectators, which he imagined were Jaden's friends.

When he turned, he was greeted by a girl wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform. She had dark hair with bangs, adorned with a blue headband. But what caught his attention was her green eyes. He was certain he had seen her before. And she knew that. She wasn't staring at him starstruck but rather, with expectation.

"Aster. Is that you?" she asked again, more sure of herself this time.

In a flash, the memories hit him like a train at full speed. Skipping stones at the river bank in Domino City, a weekend in Kaibaland, a birthday party in Spring, a green car trailing behind a taxi…

"Jade Trembly." he said as a statement. While he spoke calmly, he was surprised to see her.

"It's...it's been a while," she nodded politely. Aster could not read her expression at that moment.

"Jade…" He repeated, softer this time. "How have you been?" He finally asked.

"Good. I imagine…you must be…quite well?" she asked. She sounded formal, but there was something else in her tone which Aster couldn't name.

"Well, of course. I came to participate in the World Series for the first time!". He sounded more cocky than he intended. Jade's expression did not change when receiving that information, making him go quiet. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he saw she was going to speak. Only for her to say nothing at all.

"So...are you going to study here?" She asked with a cautious tone, after finally raising her voice.

The silver haired boy chuckled.

"Nah! I already have two PHDs, you know?" Now he definitely sounded like a jerk.

"Oh...I didn't...good for you then!" A smile crossed her lips. Aster knew it was not a sincere one, just a polite one. Meanwhile, her thoughts were overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety: was she approaching him an inconvenience?

He remembered in the past they spent countless hours together. Dueling, dining, at the park, talking, even in complete silence…Yet right now, he felt as if they knew each other, but at the same time did not. Jade knew of him, and he knew of her, but in reality, they were strangers. Considering this, he would imagine a relaxed and happier reunion. Not that he had planned a reunion with her either. But all that was going on were stiff arms and polite nods.

"I'm…happy to see you." The boy confessed as he said goodbye. For a split second, Aster saw Jade's expression soften. Their farewell was polite, but not particularly warm. There were no promises of catching up or meeting in the future. When the girl was certain that the duelist was out of sight, she turned around and let out a loud sigh, puffing her cheeks.

"Don't you watch TV, Jaden?" Chazz demanded, slightly kicking the Slifer student in the head. Jade's head was still thinking about every word which had been spoken a few minutes ago between both of them.

"He looked like a normal kid, what would I know?" Jaden defended himself.

Syrus turned to Jade once he saw her approaching.

"So, did you get an autograph?" He asked curiously. Everyone had figured out it was The Aster Phoenix, professional duelist, who had just stepped foot in Duel Academy.

"Um, no?" She answered harsher than she intended, but Syrus paid no mind and dropped the subject.

As the City of Domino was becoming clearer in the Horizon, Aster received a call from his legal guardian, Mr. D.

"So, how was Duel Academy, huh? As pretty as it is in pictures?" He asked mockingly. Aster knew he found the agreement of going to Duel Academy a bit ridiculous, especially when he had finished his formal education. Yet D would never say it outloud: the man wouldn't interfere with the decisions the young duelist took regarding his professional career.

"They only take pictures of the nice spots...but anyways I run into someone, actually"

"Oh a fan? A challenger?" D asked curious.

"It 's Jade. Remember her? We hang out together a lot as kids..."

"Doesn't ring a bell, sorry" his tutor sounded disinterested in the topic, but Aster pressed on.

"Her dad is a card designer, he was friends with my dad...Trembley!" He explained.

"Trembley….Trembley…Ah yes! That guy. A while ago I faced a duelist who had his cards...wasn't very good. You know Miles Trembley loves his water monsters." Aster could imagine D rolling his eyes, but continued anyway. He could tell, although unsure why, D had not a very nice opinion on the Trembleys, even if in the past it wasn't as such. Or maybe it was, but he was too young to notice.

"It felt good to see she is doing okay. I hadn't thought about her in years, you know?"

D replied that with his career it was difficult to form relationships, something which Aster had already heard before. The topic was changed and the talk on the phone lasted until the teen reached Domino City's port.

A chauffeur and his assistant, Esmeralda, were waiting for him. Finally, he could focus his attention on what was most important: the opening match of the season against a newcomer named Zane Truesdale. Despite his busy schedule he thought back to his few hours at Duel Academy. Even if it was Jade who approached him in the first place, he had a feeling she wasn't very pleased about it.

At night, when both girls were alone Alexis finally asked the question:

"How do you feel?" The girls were lying in their respective beds looking at the ceiling.

"I wasn't thinking." Jade explained as a matter of fact, although she knew that was not the answer the other girl expected. "It was a mistake." she concluded.

"You don't need to justify yourself." the blonde assured her. Jade gave it a thought and added, which came out more like a confession:

"He said he was happy to see me."

"That's good, isn't it? Are you too?"

Jade sat on the bed and turned to her roommate:

"You know it's very easy to say things you don't mean…Especially a celebrity like him." The green eyed girl corrected.

"Maybe…" Alexis grew quiet for a couple of seconds and said: "He has no reason to lie to you, really. He has no need to build a relationship with you, he is not going to study here, as you said. " It was a bit harsh, but Jade understood what the older girl meant. Alexis couldn't know what Aster Phoenix thought, but she summarized it the best as she could:

"I don't think he was annoyed that he ran into you." Alexis took note that Jade didn't answer either of her questions.


Sorry not a particular happy reunion lol

Jade should probably take a sip of wine after this. Or tequila.

I was going to publish it yesterday, but before going to sleep I began to thing again about this chapter and re-wrote some parts.

Been kinda busy, sorry for the delay!