A couple of things before I get going.

To Guest reviewer, I'm not trying to set up everything so Chazz is the ultimate underdog, it's just how this story is going so far. Alexis is mean and cruel to Chazz because of the Society incident, he beat her, brainwashed her, and it was Jaden who saved her, not Chazz. Even if he saved the rest of the school, he still got them all in the first place, hence the grudge.

As for why he didn't go to the Well right away, simple. Panic, pure, unadulterated panic, it makes you second guess yourself, it's unreasonable. And after the emotional trial he went through, he needed the sleep. But thank you for the insight.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

"Man, I wish I could say I didn't remember how much heartbreak hurt, but, it's just as bad as the last time. Maybe worse" Chazz barely muttered to himself as he walked the long beaten path back to the dorms. Classes had been hell, and he either wanted to sleep, or go for a jam session, but seeing as everyone was still trying to find the 'swingin' duelist' he'd been out of the well for a few days. Growing visibly more irritated as the days passed by, he kept putting it off.

"It's just too damn risky to go to the well right now…." "Uh, boss? I don't mean to be, well, an idiot about this, but you've been…..not so agreeable lately". Chazz glared at the Yellow spirit above him. "I know, I've been a real jerk, but I can't go to the well for a bit, just until things cool down a bit.

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar face catching up to him on the way back. A certain Slifer Slacker was calling his name, trying to get his attention.

"Chazz! Hey, wait up man! I want to talk!" Jaden shouted after him, trying to catch up as he raced down the path. Chazz audibly growled as Jaden managed to catch up.

"Is there any reason you want to talk to me? I'm not really the friendly type, you of all people should know this by now." "Come on man, I just...well, you seem so down in the dumps recently, yeah, you've always been a bit moody, but this is a whole new level for you man". "Yeah, I noticed, people are leaving me alone for a change. How great is that?" he mumbled as he tried to walk past Jaden. However the Slifer wasn't having it.

"Come on Chazz, talk to me. What's going on? You seem, well, angry with the world". A temple began forming in his temple. "Well, maybe if everyone stopped holding a grudge, I'd be a lot fucking happier, alright?" "Holding a grudge? What's that supposed to mean?" "It means nothing! Leave me alone already!" And he began walking away, hoping that end of this 'chat'.

"Alright, you, me, duel, now sourpuss" The sound of a duel disk activating was the only thing Chazz heard as he turned to face Jaden, a serious expression on his face as he stared down his rival.

"Grrr…..Fine, bring it Scrub, but when I win, you leave me alone, and you tell everyone else in this stupid circle to do the same!" "Deal, but if I win, you tell us what's been going on, and why you're so miserable recently" "Whatever! Duel!"

Chazz. 4000 LP

Jaden. 4000 LP

"I think I'll start things off! I draw!" Jaden looks at the cards in his hand, thinking for a moment. "Alright, first, I'm gonna set a monster, than, I'll activate the spell card E-Emergency call, this lets me search my deck for a hero monster, and I choose, Elemental Hero Ocean!" Revealing the monster he added, he places it in his hand. "Next, I'll throw down two face downs, and call it a turn"

"Alright, my turn, Slacker. I draw!" looking into his opening hand, he was surprised to see the options he had. Armed Dragon LV 3 with a level up, or go with V Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult with Frontline base? "I'll summon Armed Dragon LV three! Next, I activate a spell card, Level Up, watch as Armed Dragon LV 3, goes to 5!" as the small orange dragon grew to the bigger one. "Armed Dragon LV 5, attack Jaden's facedown monster! Inferno Roar!" The Dragon began spinning it's arm and smashed into a facedown Elemental Hero Woodsman, sending it to the grave.

"I'll set one card face down, and end my turn, during which, Armed Dragon LV 5 evolves into Armed Dragon LV 7!" as his monster changed into a higher form, Chazz begin to think. 'Okay, got one of the pieces, just need a few more'

"I guess it's my turn now. Draw!" Jaden smirked as he looked at his hand, "I activate the Warrior returning alive, this brings back my Woodsman!" as the card popped out of the graveyard, Jaden slotted another card into his duel disk. "Now, I activate polymerization, to fuse my two Heroes, Ocean, and Woodsman, in order to create Elemental Hero Terra Firma!"

Elemental HERO Terra Firma. Attack: 2500 Defense: 2000

As the white skinned hero stood before Chazz's dragon, a thought crossed his mind. 'Okay, Jaden wouldn't have summoned this thing, unless he was gonna use it to beat my dragon, so he's gotta have some kind of method to take down my monster'

"Now, here's everybody's favorite Golden boy, Elemental Hero Sparkman!" as the gold clad hero emerged, the plan donned on. "I tribute Sparkman to activate Terra Firma's effect! Terra Firma Magma!"

Elemental Hero Terra Firma. Attack 2500+1600=4100

As Sparkman disappeared, Terra Firma's strength went up, more than enough to take down Chazz's monster.

"Now, Terra Firma, attack Chazz's Armed Dragon LV 7! Earth Impact!" As he said the command, the attack was launched, destroying Chazz's dragon.

Chazz LP. 4000-1300=2700

Chazz was knocked back as his dragon disappeared, he stood back up, growling, he reached over his duel disk and drew.

"My turn! I draw!" looking at the card he drew, 'Pot of greed, there's something' viewing his options to try and get Terra Firma off the field, he gets an idea.

"Alright, first, I'm gonna play Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two more cards" pulling two cards from the top of his deck, he looks at them. Ojamagic, and Ojamassimillation.

"Next I'm gonna summon V-Tiger Jet, then, here's the spell card Frontline Base, which let's me special summon a Union monster, like W-Wing Catapult from my hand" as the two monsters appeared in front of him.

"Now, I merge V-Tiger Jet, and W-Wing Catapult, to make VW-Tiger Catapult, Now, I'll activate its effect to discard a card, and change the battle position of one of your monsters! I discard Ojamagic to change the battle position of Terra Firma to defense. Now, Ojamagic kicks in, getting the three Ojama brothers to my hand" As he says this, he searches his deck and pull out Ojama Yellow, Green, and Black. "Finally, I'll play this little number, Ojamassimilation! Which let's me reveal a light machine fusion monster, and I then banish Ojama monsters up to the number of fusion materials I need to summon, from my hand, or deck" He then puts the three Ojama brothers in his jacket pocket, before summoning X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank" as they appear, a grin appears on his face.

"Now, I banish X,Y, and Z, to make XYZ Dragon Cannon!" As another Fusion monster appears before them, a thought runs through his head 'I'm finally gonna beat this slacker! Nothing is gonna stop this combo'.

"Now! I banish VW, and XYZ, to make VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!" A bigger mechanical menace emerges and stares down Jaden's Hero. Jaden's face starts to show a smile as he looks at the new threat presented to him.

"Not bad Chazz, I knew you still had it in you, but that's only one big monster, not enough to stop me" "Oh, this isn't the big monster I'm gonna use to flatten you Jaden!" Jaden takes a moment to process what Chazz said. "Wait, what?" "I now banish VWXYZ from my field, and Armed Dragon LV 7 from my graveyard, in order to make Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon! Now, go! And destroy his Terra Firma!" The mechanical monstrosity flies over and smashes into the Hero, seeing it vaporise left Chazz grinning like a fool.

"Well Jaden, looks like I win, as long as I control this monster, you've got no chance!" And he began laughing, "There's no way I can lose" "You wanna bet Chazz? I activate the quick-play spell, the flute of summoning Kuriboh!" "What?! No!" "Yes, and you know what this means, here comes Winged-Kuriboh!" as the facedown disappeared from Jaden's field, the furball himself popped up to say hello "Kuri, Kuri!" "Now, I activate my other face-down card. Here's Transcendent Wings! Winged Kuriboh goes all the way up to level 10! And, his effect activates, destroying every monster on the field, and dealing you damage equal to their attack points, but you already know that, don't you Chazz?" "No, it can't….you can't, it was perfect!" Chazz shouts, but it was too late.

Chazz LP. 2700-3500=0

Jaden wins

Chazz falls to the ground, tears beginning to form in his eyes, as he beats his fist into the dirt. Jaden walks over, and crouches down beside him, hesitantly placing his hand on Chazz's shoulder, only to have it brushed off. Hot tears now streaming down Chazz's face as he kept punching the ground, pouring his rage into each impact.

"Chazz? I know you lost, but, it was just a duel man" "No!….no it wasn't…..this wasn't just….some duel…. Everyone would have been free of me…..you….Alexis...everyone! And you just….had to win...you...you...Fucking Slifer Slacker!" Jaden, taken aback by Chazz's outburst of emotion, takes a second to realize what Chazz is saying.

"Free of you? I thought you wanted us to leave you alone?" "No! Why would you want to be around me?! Huh?! I screw up in everything I do! Try to confess to a girl I like? Lose the….fucking duel, essentially open the gates of hell, and almost have duel monsters erased!" "But, the spirit keys weren't even needed to open the spirit gates, remember?" "Or trying to get enough power and skill to beat you? I end up….just….fucked over, I'm missing months in memory, and I convert the entire…..fucking school into a cult. Heh….How fucked up is that?!" Pounding his fist into the ground, harder, harder each time, trying to make the earth feel exactly how he feels.

"Chazz...I...I had no idea you felt this way, but, it's not your fault. It was Sartorius' fault" "Yeah, and if I hadn't gone anywhere near that creep, or….listened to these three morons!" pulling out the three Ojama brothers and throwing them at Jaden. "...I wouldn't have been under his control

In the first place"

Chazz just vented, and let every pent up moment in him go, in front of Jaden, but he just sat there and listened, trying to understand what his rival was going through. In the end, Chazz's eyes were red from the tears, his voice hoarse and dry. Chazz had drained himself, and was in no position to argue when Jaden helped him up so they could go to the dorms.

"Don't you fucking tell anyone what happened here…..got it?" Chazz managed to cough out as he tried to dry his eyes. Hoping he didn't look how he did.

"Well….fine, but you need help" "No! I don't! I….I can let this out in other ways…" "Oh yeah? Like what Chazz?" "None of your fucking business" he muttered, hoping his eyes would clear up before they got to their dorm.

They did not.

As Jaden helped Chazz walk to his room, he was intercepted by Hassleberry and Syrus, both wondering where they went after classes ended.

"Hey Sarge, where'd you two go after class? It been a few hours, y'all should have been back ages ago" "Yeah, Hassleberry's got a point Jay, where have you two been?" Jaden looked at Chazz, who was in no condition to talk, let alone tell them off.

"Just, out for a stroll, and a friendly duel, that's all" "So, how come your squad member looks like he took a royal beating at the Officer's club after not paying for the drinks?" "Oh, uh...He's just really tired, he needs some rest" And promplty placed Chazz in his room, and closed the door.

'Fuck…..why did I open up to that idiot? This is going to suck, a lot, he can't keep a secret. They probably already know, just…..great' "Well, it could be worse, Alexis could have been there to see you" "Oh good, she'll think even less of me, fantastic, remind me to go find her later" "Chazz, I know these past few days have been rough, especially with how things with her are going, but you should not have tried to just isolate yourself from them" "They would have been significantly better off without me, trust me" "In this matter, I will not argue with you, but you should see something you bring to their lives" "Toils, agony, and frustration?" "No, you fool. Listen, tomorrow you go to the well, and you unwind, as usual, and I have news, Atticus has been around the well looking for the musician, he found your sax, but does not know who it belongs to, however he'd set up lookouts at the well, seeing if anyone goes to play. Maybe he can help you through this" "Yeah, or, he'll tell Alexis, and things will just go badly, like usual" "Rest for now, we will figure out what to do in the morning"

As the rest of the gang sat in the Slifer cafeteria, Jaden went over to Alexis, slightly nervous, but hopeful.

"Hey Alexis! How's it going?" She looked up to see Jaden lightly fidgeting with his hands, curious, she responded with, "I'm okay, and, is there something you want to ask Jaden?" her heart fluttering just a little bit, hoping that it would finally happen.

"Well, you know how Chazz has been a bit, down lately?" "Oh, yeah, I know. He hasn't even looked at me in a few days" "Yeah, me either, or, anybody really, he's just, kept to himself, and pushed everybody away. More so than usual" Alexis, looking more and more disappointed by the second, went straight to the point, "Where are you going with this Jaden?" "I just want a few of us to go up and talk to him, see what's going on, we had a duel a while ago, and he almost won. But, he had a total breakdown after he lost, just, bottling every little worry up inside of him"

She just sighed, knowing Jaden was worried about their...classmate was nice and all, and she was starting to get a little concerned about him herself. "Alright, when do you want to do this?" He scratched the back of his neck, "Well, how about tomorrow? We're all free, so it should be okay." She simply nodded. "Alright, tomorrow morning?" he nodded this time, "sounds good to me".

The next day, Jaden and Alexis wander up to Chazz's room, to check on him, seeing a note, they read it, scribbled messily on it was simply "be back sometime".

Alexis was about to tell Jaden how stupid it was when they heard it.

The saxophone in the distance.

Apparently Chazz could wait while they checked out the musician.