Chapter 12: Sib about Love
Days past since Ash pulled the upset on Chazz and earned a promotion to Ra Yellow. Blair came out of her dorm and looked around the opening in front of Slifer Red's dorm. Jaden came out of the dining hall to find her. "Morning, Blair," he greeted. "What's up?" Blair turned to see Jaden, her face of concern.
"Hey, Jaden," she quietly muttered. "Is Ash gonna come back at some point? I saw him pretty happy about going to Ra Yellow." Jaden laughed, not concerned for a second.
"He'll be back! Syrus comes here, and he's Obelisk Blue." Blair wanted to believe Jaden. That's when a few figures came to the dorm.
"Hey!" shouted Jesse. He, Pikachu and Ash returned to the dorm. Aside from the Ra Yellow jacket, Ash now wore a yellow baseball cap with a lightning bolt as a tail, much like Pikachu.
"Ash! Jesse!" The group reached the brunette, exchanging fives.
"Sorry I haven't been coming around," Ash apologized.
"Nah, it's all good. Probably getting a feel for what's in Ra Yellow's dorm."
"Yeah." Blair smiled to seeing Ash again.
"Welcome back, Ash," she spoke.
"How are you doing, Blair?"
"Good. Kinda missed you around here." Ash scoffed to her reply.
"Well, you won't be missing me from now on until I leave." The news propelled Blair to hug the trainer.
"That's great," Jaden allowed. "No one's touched your room since your promotion." The information made Ash chuckle.
"I was kinda expecting someone to." Ash entered his old room with Jaden and Jesse which Pikachu jumped on the bed. That's when Jaden and Blair gazed upon Ash's new cap.
"By the way," Blair spoke up. "Did Dorothy make that hat for you?" Ash removed the lid to show the two Reds.
"Pretty cool, right? She liked Pikachu and how I'm pretty much the only one on the island wearing a cap that she made this cap with the Pikachu tail and ears." Ash reached to lift two "ears" from the sides. Blair awed the design.
"That is pretty cool," Jaden liked. "Anyway, we'll let you settle back in the dorm." Jaden closed the door and let Ash and Pikachu reclaim comfort. As Jaden walked back down the stairs which he confronted Blair and Jesse.
"That's why you wanted to see him at the dorm?" he questioned. Blair nodded to the question but the topic wasn't clear.
"What are you two talking about, and could I get in on it?" Jesse got to Jaden and leaned in, whispering to relay information. "Okay… Yeah…" Done, Jesse twisted back away from his friend. "I don't see the big deal."
"It is a big deal for me!" roared Blair. Jaden stepped back from the burst.
"Hey, I mean… If it is, you can do something about it! No need to be scared."
"I know, Jaden… I thought you'd be the one I loved after you knew I was a girl!" Jaden remembered that moment when Blair, temporarily leaving, called him "her prince." Now, that prince role had fallen to someone else. Still, he feigned to answer her issue. After some time to settle down, a knock from Ash's door.
"I think I know who," he guessed as he got out of bed. When he opened the door, Alexis stood in front with a serious look on her face.
"Hey, Ash," she greeted. Seeing her face, Ash wondered about her emotion.
"Is something wrong, Alexis?" Pikachu also wanted to know.
"I want to talk about it but could you join me close by?" The request seemed out of nowhere.
"I guess so." Alexis led back down the stairs before Chazz saw the two once again. His obsession to Alexis apparently never settled despite the loss to Ash.
"Again, and again, and again..." he growled before getting out of the house. Reaching the last step, he met up with Hiita who sensed something about this meeting.
"Hold it, Princeton," she called out. Chazz turned to Ash's Duel Spirit, not appreciating the interruption.
"Stand aside, Hiita! My girl's dignity's on the line!" Chazz's Ojamas came out to settle him once more.
"Boss, you're still after him since your loss?" questioned Ojama Yellow.
"That loss is the least of my concern! I don't care if he's the last man on Earth besides me, he's still not laying a hand on her!" Someone else became frustrated with Chazz's constant complaining.
"Give it a rest!" ordered Jaden. Everyone turned to the Slifer star, Chazz getting more irritated with his arrival.
"Not you too!" Jaden came up to Chazz with an idea.
"If you're that concerned about Alexis, why don't we go see what she wants with Ash before we draw conclusions." Chazz suddenly grew suspicious to Jaden's idea.
"Oh, you know something I don't?" Jaden shrugged his shoulders to the question but Hiita looked as if she held a secret.
"It may not be what you think," she warned. "But if you want to know, be our guest." No choice, Chazz nodded before rushing to find the two. Jaden followed the rival, hoping to calm him down when they find Ash and Alexis. After a while, Alexis stopped in an area surrounded by trees. Ash stopped as well. He chose to bring up a topic from within Duel Academy.
"I bet you're aware of the rumors going around the campus about the two of us," he opened up. "I feel like I should know."
"Yeah, I've heard the same rumors," she mentioned. Jaden and Chazz finally arrived but Jaden kept the rival back from interfering. "And I'll come clean about it but first… I bet you don't know Atticus if I talked about him before." It wasn't a name Ash seemed familiar with.
"First time I've heard of that name." Chazz grew a little suspicious about Alexis' brother brought up.
"Why the heck is she bringing him up?" whispered Chazz. Knowing she didn't ask Pikachu, Ash assumed he knew the name.
"You know what she's talking about?" Pikachu nodded but refused to say who this Atticus was.
"You see, Atticus is my older brother and he introduced me to Duel Monsters," she started. "I began following in his footsteps and soon found out he enrolled in this school. I met some great friends in Jaden, Syrus… Jasmine and Mindy… and some not-so great friends like Chazz and Bastion, that motormouth..." Chazz growled at being considered as "not-so" while Jaden chuckled at his chagrin.
"I'm a great friend!" argued the Ojama owner. "You just won't say it!" Ash listened to Alexis with interest to the mentioning of Atticus.
"Well, when I saw you, Pikachu and Chimchar watching Duel Monsters for the first time, I wanted to be the one who'd introduce you to how the game's played before you mouthed off about Crowler." Ash remembered what he called Crowler after he beat another student.
"The old hag because of his purple lips," he recalled. "I bet even Chazz wanted to say that meeting Crowler for the first time." Chazz seemed less enthused about the name-calling.
"That was the nicest insult to him," he studied. "Too bad you couldn't humiliate Crowler in the same fashion as Jaden."
"Don't be like that," Jaden scoffed. "He's not a member of the Duel Academy for nothing." Alexis had more as Pikachu dashed to her arms.
"I came off wanting to know more about Pokémon than I did about you to Duel Monsters," she continued. "Still, I felt the need to make sure that you were safe and… failed after my dorm-mates made you a kissing post." Soon enough, Ash started to make sense of Alexis' stance and why they saw each other day after day.
"You must have looked up to Atticus so much that you wanted to be a big sister to someone," he guessed. Alexis scoffed to the guess.
"I don't know if I became a big sister or you wanted to be a little brother. So yes, I do love you but but as a member of a family I want to have in the future." Ash smiled, nodding to her claim.
"Guess when you're an only child like me, you never worry about siblings but still, it's rather refreshing to feel like a brother to someone." Jaden, Chazz and the Ojamas stood aghast to the confession.
"Can't say I was expecting that kind of explanation," Jaden muttered. Winged Kuriboh, now appearing behind Jaden, looked surprised to the reasoning.
"B-Big..." stuttered Chazz. "B-Big s-sister? This whole time… like a… b-big sister? A-A… sibling bond?" The Ojamas shrugged their shoulders to the news.
"We told you it wasn't worth the struggle," they proclaimed in unison. Chazz nearly fell forward from the detail.
"I must be the biggest idiot on the island..."
"Hey, your words, not mine," Jaden pointed.
"You have no saying. I hate to do this but..."
"Of course you hate to do it, apologizing isn't in your nature." Chazz groaned to the briefing.
"That, and I hate it when I'm wrong." Chazz stood up and made his way to the clearing where Alexis saw him.
"So you heard us?" she accused. Chazz bowed his head, still shamed to confess.
"I couldn't help it if I wanted to make sure of your safety. I had a dream that you and… Ash got married and flew off on Kaiba's Blue-Eyes. It is because of you two seeing each other each day that I felt the need to keep you safe from him. This isn't me… at all..."
"Yeah, I would apply that you're not the apologetic type." Chazz fluffed a nod.
"When I heard about your relationship just now… I was wrong." He now turned to Ash, ready to finish his remorse. "Ash, I was… wrong about you. I should have gotten that wake-up call when you used Magician of Black Chaos on me, along with Mage Power." Ash stepped up to Chazz, ready to say his piece.
"It's alright," he allowed. "Not a big deal." Chazz looked at Ash having his hand out for a shake. Chazz awed Ash's calm behavior to everything he did to break him and Alexis apart. "Besides, I wanted to apologize for that hook that floored you anyway. I doubt you'd accepted it due to your beliefs."
"Just like that?" The gesture made Chazz laugh a little. "You're more mature than I expected." He finally accepted the handshake. Holding Pikachu, Alexis sighed in relief, knowing any animosity between the two had dissipated. Back at the dorm, Blair came out of her room and reached the stairs to Ash's reclaimed spot.
"Jesse's right!" she caved with grit on her face. "Jaden's no longer the prince I want! It's Ash, and no one else!" She opened the door and looked around for Ash's Pokémon. The only place she could look was in his bag. She found different items like colored spray bottles, white bells, a stone with a lightning bolt in it… but no Pokémon, not his deck. "Of course he'd keep his pets near him. I gotta start asking around..." She bolted out the door, down the stairs and began to pursue the trainer. Getting far, she wasn't aware of someone lurking in the wood.
"You!" a voice echoed. Blair stopped at the sound, startled to the voice.
"Tell me I didn't hear that." She glanced around to find the source.
"Oh, but you did! The Shadow Realm will be a nice place for your soul once it's removed from that little body!" One turn had Blair seeing a giant hand reaching out to her. She screamed from the top of her lungs which could be heard from beyond the shores. Jaden heard her, as did the others.
"Blair?!" he recognized. The scream was of terror.
"Sounds like she's in trouble!" believed Ash.
"If so, let's go!" ordered Chazz. Pikachu led the charge before they found Blair in a bubble with a grown spiky white-haired man in a purple robe with the hood having a golden eye decal.
"Seriously, another one?!" gawked Jaden.
"Oh, don't mind me," brushed the hooded figure. "I'm merely taking her as my sacrifice! I am Ghast, and I'm in charge of collecting souls to bring to the Shadow Realm. Of course, the younger, the riper." Ash didn't want him to take Blair.
"You want Blair..." he spoke as he stood forward. "How about you duel me. If you win, you can have her and me. I will protect my friends regardless of location." Ghast never seemed bothered.
"You're a fool."
"And you're a coward." Ghast gritted the name given. "Attacking a little girl… Pretty low for a grown man." Ghast heard enough and brought out a Duel Disk, the arm sliding down to the standard position.
"No one insults my namesake and lives to tell about it. Boy, this will be the last duel of your life."
"It'll be someone's alright. I win, you leave everyone alone forever. You win, I'll give my soul to you." Ash slipped on his Duel Disk. When they inserted their decks to the slots, not only did their counters light up to reveal their 4000 Life Point score, a circle of black fire surrounded Ash and Ghast with Pikachu watching from Jaden's head. Chazz feared the scene.
"It's a Shadow Duel!" he realized. "Ash doesn't know the ramifications of having one of those!" With Blair on the line, Ash prepared for a duel which meant more than a win or a loss.
"Let's duel!" he and Ghast shouted.
TO BE CONTINUED...