I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or anything created by Kazuki Takahashi. This work of fiction is just for fun.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Mental talk with Duel Spirits"
"Announcements/ messages"
. . . - flashbacks/ what if's?
Author's Note: Yo! Sorry for the wait, got caught up with work and didn't have much free time. So here it is, the fiancé duel!
Glad you all liked the last chapter and I kinda expected the reactions about Serenity to be what they were. I wanted Kaiba to be with a normal person and Serenity was the perfect choice. She's the complete opposite of him and it's kind of why I like this ship. Also, Erina is a natural brunette, she just dyes her hair blue because she likes it. No weird reincarnations of Kisara or anything else of the sort.
Now let's get readin'! See ya at the bottom.
Winter break breezed through and Duel Academy had reopened its doors for classes. The students were currently having gym class and were playing tennis. Jaden and Erina were playing against Jasmine and Mindy.
Jasmine hit the ball and sent it to Erina, who elegantly passed it back. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but what exactly does this have to do with dueling again?" She asked.
Mindy smiled as she ran to intercept the ball, "Everything! Taking turns, thinking on your feet and the harder you play…" She hit the ball and it flew high up. "The better you do!"
Jaden ran after it with a smirk. "Well in that case." He then jumped abnormally high up in the air, which surprised the girls, and hit the ball. But, he added too much spin to it and it flew outside the court, heading straight at Alexis' head. "Alexis, watch out!" He shouted in worry.
Alexis looked to her side and saw the ball, but it was too late to dodge it. Right before it hit her head, someone jumped between her and the ball, hitting it and sending it in another direction. Jaden heard a girlish scream, but was far more concerned for Alexis as he and the others ran towards her to see if she was alright.
"Thank you." Alexis said in half-surprise to her savior.
"Alexis!" Jasmine and Mindy were the first to reach her. "You almost got creamed, are you alright?" The redhead asked.
The boy stood up and was now fully visible. He was a handsome young boy with brown hair who was sporting the Duel Academy tennis uniform. "Yeah, want me to carry you to the nurse?" He flashed them a small grin, which caused Jasmine and Mindy's eyes to turn to hearts, while Erina just rolled her eyes. The guy gave off a major douchebag vibe to her.
Alexis just smiled politely at him. "No, I'm good, thank you." She declined.
Unknowingly to her, the boy was staring at her with a blush on his face, clearly entranced. 'That's Alexis Rhodes, the most beautiful girl in the school… What a hottie!'
Jaden noticed this, causing a surge of jealousy to wash over him.
"Uhm, do you want me to carry you to the nurse?" Alexis asked after noticing him staring at her.
The boy snapped out of his trance and laughed nervously. "Oh no, it's just that… I have seen you a few times at Obelisk Blue, but I have never had the chance to talk to you." The boy didn't notice he had reached out and held her hand before realizing it, and letting go of it. "Or touch you for that matter."
"Okay…?" Alexis awkwardly responded. The question marks floating around her head were almost visible.
"Anyway!" The boy then began to back away while swinging his racquet awkwardly. "Back to my match, what was the score again? Love or something? Oh, I remember, it's the match ball!"
Everyone just stared at him in confusion as he walked away… well, everyone except one person. If it wasn't visible before, the irritation on Jaden's face was clear as day now. 'What the hell was that about?'
"Oh?" Yubel appeared next to him with a massive grin on her face. "Are you jealous perhaps?" Her grin grew when she saw Jaden blush slightly from embarrassment.
Erina tried her hardest to suppress the amusing laughter that built up inside her. Jaden saw her and was about to tell her to buzz off when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "Please for the love of Darkness, don't tell me it's who I think it is."
"JADEN YUKI!!" Sadly, he was right. It was Crowler and he was seething, sporting yet another black eye… at least it was the other one this time.
Later, at the Nurse's Office, Crowler was getting his black eye treated, while Jaden was trying to apologize. He bowed his head. "I'm really, really, really sorry. How was that for an apology?"
"Nope!" Crowler turned his head away from Jaden. "That was far from good enough." Suddenly Miss Fontaine grabbed his head and turned it to her a bit too hard, causing a loud crack to come from his neck. "Why don't you do it a little harder? I think some of my vertebrae are still intact." He said snarkily.
"Oh, stop being a baby, Doctor." Miss Fontaine said as she placed a bag of ice over his eye. "If I'm allowed to say so, I saw the whole thing, and technically Jaden didn't do anything wrong. He wasn't the one who hit you with the ball."
"Well you are not!" Crowler retorted, pointing at the Slifer. "Since he started it, he is responsible! I saw it with my own two eyes!" Miss Fontaine sweatdropped as the doctor corrected himself. "Well one eye to be exact…"
Jaden pretended to clear his throat. "Cyclops..." He muttered.
Unfortunately, Crowler heard him. "Care to repeat that, you Slifer Slime?" Miss Fontaine glared at the doctor. She never liked the insulting names the Obelisk students made up for the lower dorms and she especially didn't like when teachers used those insults.
"Hey, if you wish to punish me, you can force me to not play tennis." Jaden offered. It didn't really matter to him if he played or not. He only likes tennis because of its competitive side, making it yet another sport where he and Erina competed against each other.
Crowler walked over to him. "So you don't like tennis, huh?" He smirked. "Then I can't think of a more perfect punishment for your crime. You will play under strict tutelage from our tennis captain, he will whip you into shape in no time!"
"Oh come on, I said I'm sorry."
Jaden pulled back as Crowler shoved his face a bit too close to his. "Oh yes, you will be, Slacker."
In the ladies locker room, Erina and Alexis were changing out of their gym uniforms, with the latter, after much pestering, finally telling everything that happened during Christmas.
"You absolute idiot!" Erina yelled as she kicked Alexis' shin. "You had the perfect opportunity to confess your feelings and kiss him! And you did nothing?!"
Alexis yelped and rubbed her leg. "What did you want me to do?" She said in a harsh whisper. "I tried to do it! But I'm too afraid to find out how he'll respond."
"Well, how the hell do you expect to find out if you don't finally tell him, huh?!" The bluenette retorted.
Alexis was about to shoot back when a question popped up in her head. "Wait… Why do you care so much if I confess my feelings to him?"
Erina bit the inside of her cheek. She was trying to figure out how to word this without giving it away. Because as easy as it was to just say Jaden likes you back, that defeats the purpose of what she's trying to do. "Because-"
"Alexis!" She got interrupted by Jasmine and Mindy entering the locker room.
"You're not off the hook." The bluenette whispered with narrowed eyes before she went to put the rest of her clothes on.
"We found out about that super hot tennis guy for you, Lex!" Mindy said with a giddy smile as she and Jasmine reached her.
"What?" Alexis' eyes widened in shock. "I never asked you to do anything like that."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Jasmine waved her off. "Anyway, his name is Harrington Rosewood, as in the Rosewood Sporting Goods store chain!"
Erina frowned as she put her jacket on. 'Do they really think that dick is a good match for her? Or anyone for that matter?' Her dad had told her all about his unsavory encounter with the Rosewoods and they were the most pretentious assholes he had ever met. And that confirmed her previous observation that the guy was a douchebag.
Mindy nodded. "Yeah, he's also a third year Obelisk Blue!"
Alexis sighed. "Oh yeah? Well, great for him."
The two girls gawked at her as though she was crazy. "Great?" Mindy repeated. "Alexis, he's both a total hottie and rich, you know? That's not just great, that's perfect boyfriend material and he's totally your type!"
"Oh how wrong you are on that one…" Erina giggled to herself.
Alexis sighed. "I told you already, I'm not looking for a boyfriend at the moment…" But just then, Jaden with his goofy smile appeared in her head. The blond shook her head to try and dismiss the thought and blush that appeared. The two girls looked at her a bit confused, while Erina gave her a knowing grin, one which the blond tried to fight against with a glare.
As they exited the locker room, they saw Syrus run past them. "Oh man, where is that tennis team?" He realized he just passed the girls and backed up. "Hey girls, do you know where the tennis team meets?"
Erina pointed. "Out on the courts, Sy, but what's the matter?"
Syrus was running on the spot. "It's the most unfair thing ever! Crowler is punishing Jaden for hitting him with the ball by having the tennis captain boss him around!"
"Wait, why is it unfair?" Jasmine asked.
"Because it's the captain who hit him and not Jaden!" Syrus said as he ran towards the courts.
"Who's the captain?" They all wondered.
"Service!"
Jaden was running around the court, now sporting a white tennis uniform rather than the usual gym uniform, and sweating his ass off as the captain, who was none other than Harrington Rosewood, kept serving him. They had been going nonstop for the last hour or so.
After he returned it, Jaden fell on all fours gasping for air. "I… thought… we were playing tennis… not running speed drills." Jaden was naturally a very athletic and fit teen given the absurd amount of sports he played to occupy his free time. But Harrington was a completely different monstrosity. The guy hadn't even broken a sweat and looked like he could do this all day.
He saw some girls go over to Harrington to give him more tennis balls and prepare another serve. Jaden growled as he stood up. "Man, this guy never lets up." He tried to return the ball, but missed and fell on his back.
Jaden groaned. 'What did I do to deserve this and why is this guy punishing me? He's the one who decked Crowler, not me!'
"Do you really need an answer to this question?" Yubel appeared next to him. "It's the crossdressing clown we're talking about, of course he'd blame you for everything no matter if you're the one responsible or not." Jaden nodded his head, he knew she was right, but he still didn't like it. Harrington came up to the net.
"Come on, Jaden, no pain, no gain!" Harrington said with a smug grin. "You gotta hustle to build that muscle! You need to sweat to be a threat! If you don't pick up the pace you'll never win the race!" Jaden groaned even louder as he ran a hand through his face. This guy was worse than the Paradox Brothers with his sport clichés.
Jaden sat up. "Okay, I get it! Just stop with the damn sport clichés!"
Harrington looked at him with a smirk. "Jaden, there's no 'I' in team. That's the first rule of tennis."
Jaden raised an eyebrow. "Even in singles?"
Harrington looked at him awkwardly before he swung his racquet. "Moving on. I think it's time we work on your forehand and backhand, so 1000 strokes should make tennis more your racquet. Get it? Do you get it?" Harrington laughed as he went back to his spot, while Jaden looked at him as if he was completely insane. Scratch that, he was definitely insane.
'If this guy doesn't shut up soon, I'll shove this racquet down his gullet and hope he chokes on it.' Jaden got up and prepared for the hell he was in.
Syrus, Jasmine, Mindy and Erina were watching from the sidelines.
"Oh, I get it…" Syrus said. "This guy is completely insane! The clichés, the crazy training... Hasn't he heard of taking it easy?"
Jasmine nodded. "I have to agree with you. This guy is a bit obsessive."
Mindy just smiled with starry eyes. "He can obsess over me any time!"
The others gave her a deadpanned look and Erina smacked her over the head. "Cool your jets, Mindy…"
Jaden ran around, sending balls back until he swung off balance and fell on the ground, the ball landing in front of someone's feet. Jaden groaned. "Can someone please save me from this nutcase!"
Mindy spotted Alexis come in. "Hey, Alexis, you finally caught up!"
As soon as he heard her name, Harrington turned around and flashed her a smile. He got even happier when he saw her coming over to him. "Hey there! Sorry I'm sweating like this, Alexis. I've just been kicking this guy's…" He got quiet when Alexis just ignored him and continued towards Jaden.
As she was walking to him, Alexis felt her face get a bit hot when she got a better look at Jaden, sweaty with his shirt sticking to him like a second skin. 'I knew it, he does workout!' She thought triumphantly that she had been right. After tumbling on top of him during Christmas, Alexis had a sneaking suspicion that Jaden was actually fit, which surprised her given the guy liked to sleep through most of the day on a regular basis. 'He looks kinda hot when he's sweaty… I wonder if he looks just as good without that shirt? WAIT, WHAT?! What am I thinking?!' She quickly shook her head, trying to get the image of Jaden without a shirt out of her head and to get rid of the blush that graced her cheeks.
"Hey, Jay." She smiled at him. "I ran into Professor Banner on my way here and get this, he said someone had spotted Chazz."
Jaden got up from the ground. "So he really left?" Alexis nodded. "Where is he now?"
As they talked, Harrington was not pleased, it looked like he had a flaming aura round him. "A lousy bench warmer like Jaden is talking to a beautiful girl like Alexis?" He grumbled, full of jealousy. "Not a chance, time to run some interference."
"HEY, TIME OUT!!" Jaden and Alexis jumped a bit and turned around to see Harrington storming over.
"You can't just talk to a first round pick like Alexis!" Harrington said. "You can't even return a buck whip with a little topspin, so you better stay away from my Obelisk pixie!"
"Obelisk pixie?" Erina repeated, greatly confused.
"I wonder what that would look like." Syrus said as he imagined small Obelisk the Tormentors with butterfly wings collecting pollen from flowers. He quickly shook his head in disgust from what he imagined. "On second thought, I'd rather not." Erina laughed a bit and patted him on the head.
Harington gave Jaden a hateful glare. "Listen carefully, Yuki, I'm only warning you once, step away from the beautiful girl. Alexis is way out of your league, so don't make me go athletic on you!"
Erina could have sworn she could see question marks float around Jaden and Alexis' heads.
"Chill out, man, we're just talking here." Jaden said before turning to Alexis. "You were saying, Lex?"
"Lex!?" Jaden jumped back in shock as Harrington got right in his face. "What is that, some kind of pet name?! Where did it come from!? What's it short for!?"
Jaden closed his eyes and sighed heavily, Harrington was really getting on his nerves now. "Alexis." He said simply.
Harrington got even angrier. "Okay, that's it! This little huddle is over!"
Jaden glared at him. "Great… Now leave!"
Harrington returned the glare. "No way, bro, when a huddle's over you play, not run away."
Jaden raised an eyebrow. "So what? You want to play tennis?"
"No way." Harrington shook his head before he smirked confidently. "I want a duel! And the winner will become Alexis' fiancé!"
"What?!" Jaden just stared at him in shock, while Alexis lost her temper.
"I'm not going to be someone's fiancée just because he won a duel!" She snapped.
"I just love weddings!" Mindy squealed.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure about arranged ones…" Jasmine added.
Jaden snapped out of his stunned state and gave Harrington a glare, trying his best to resist the urge to knock his lights out. "You have to be out of your mind to think I'd agree to this duel!"
"So you're chickening out?" Harrington smirked. "Of course you are, you're just a Slifer who could never beat me in a million years. Come on, Alexis." He then reached to grab Alexis' hand, but Jaden grabbed his wrist and squeezed it so hard it caused his bones to pop.
"Keep your paws off her." Jaden snarled. "You didn't let me finish… I'd love to duel you and put you in your place, but I'm not agreeing to put such a big decision like marriage on the line. Alexis is a living, breathing human being that's capable of love and emotion, not some damn prize to be won at a fair and shown off!" Jaden kept applying more pressure on Harrington's wrist, causing the boy's face to twist in pain. "I refuse to drop down to your level and duel for her like she's a cheap toy!" With that Jaden finally let go of Harrington's hand, the tennis boy rubbing it profusely to try and ease the pain. "We're doing this my way with no stakes. Just you and me, seeing who's the better duelist, so get your damn Duel Disk! I'm gonna knock you down a few pegs."
Alexis blushed a deep crimson at Jaden's defense of her, while the other girls swooned at how cute he was, even Erina was amazed as she stared wide-eyed at him.
Harrington scurried off to get his Duel Disk. He was seething with anger. 'I'll teach this nobody what happens when you mess with me!'
Alexis gave Jaden a warm smile. "Good luck." She gave him a wink which caused Jaden to grin back at her before he went to fetch his Duel Disk.
"Here we go…" Jasmine sighed as Jaden and Harrington readied their Disks.
"Yeah." Syrus nodded. "And if this guy duels like he plays tennis, it'll be rough for Jaden."
"I somehow doubt that, Sy." Erina said. She doubted that this guy was good at anything else besides tennis and being an ass.
"Aren't you excited, Alexis?" Mindy squealed to the blond. "Two cute boys are dueling for your hand in marriage!"
Erina rolled her eyes. "I'd say it's more like one cute boy protecting her from an obsessed brat."
Alexis sighed and crossed her arms. "No one is getting married here, Mindy."
Jasmine shrugged. "Fine, so you're getting engaged, why split hairs, Lex?"
"I'm not getting engaged either, Jaz!" She snapped, glaring at them. "The only reason I haven't left is because I want to see if the rumors are true! That Harrington is almost as good as Zane! And Jaden said it himself, there are no such stakes as marriage in this duel!" Although, as much as she tried to ignore it, a part of her was very happy that Jaden was protecting her. The things he said in her defense caused a delightful feeling to spread through her body.
"Time to lose!" Harrington shouted as he and Jaden drew their opening hands.
Jaden: 4000
Harrington: 4000
"Service!" Harrington drew his card. "First, I'm going to volley a spell card at you… Service Ace!"
"Starting off with a spell card?" Jaden asked in surprise.
"That's right, Jaden, and just like a power serve, this card will make you sweat." Harrington inserted the card into his Disk. "Now, I pick one card from my hand and you have to guess if it's a spell, trap or monster card, and if you're right, then you're fine, but if you're wrong, you take a whooping 1500 points of damage!" Harrington held out a card with its back turned to Jaden. "Now, what'll it be?"
Jaden thought about what it could be, because if he was wrong he'd take almost half of his life points away. He took the probability of it being a burn deck and what ratios it usually used and ran with it. "It's a monster card!"
"Are you sure?" Harrington chuckled. "I know you Slifers are not the brightest, so I'll give you another chance."
Jaden smirked, this was the worst mind game he's ever seen. It certainly didn't help that he saw the tennis captain's eye twitch the moment he voiced his answer. "I'm sure, now show me the monster card."
Harrington frowned and showed the card. It was Mega Thunderball. "Looks like you saved yourself for now." He sighed. "The card I used for my spell is removed from the game." Harrington put the card in his pocket. "I play one card facedown and end my turn."
"My turn!" Jaden drew his card and looked at it. 'So, a burn deck?' He plucked a card from his hand and placed it atop his Disk. "I summon Elemental HERO Ocean in attack position!" The mermaid hero appeared on the field, brandishing his bident. (ATK: 1500/ DEF: 1200) "Alright, Ocean, go for it! Big Wave Crash!" Water spiraled around the hero as he charged forward towards Harrington, ready to impale him with the bident, but the tennis captain responded by revealing his facedown.
"I activate my trap, Receive Ace!" Harrington shouted. "With this I stop your attack and you take 1500 points of damage!" The card intercepted and absorbed the strike, then a tennis ball flew out of the card and hit Jaden in the chest.
Jaden: 2500
"Now I have to send the top three cards from my deck to my graveyard, but it was worth it."
"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that one." Jaden smirked as he slipped a card into his Disk. "I activate Mask Change! With this I transform Ocean to a Masked HERO of the same attribute as him!" A blue mask with a red visor appeared in Ocean's hands, he slipped it over his head as he got enveloped in a blue light.
"Wait, but Acid won't do anything here!" Syrus voiced his concern.
Erina smiled and shook her head. "Acid isn't the only water Masked HERO, Sy."
"He's not?"
"Come and join the fight, Masked HERO Vapor!" Jaden introduced as the light died down, revealing a male hero, clad in blue and grey armor, blue bracers adorned with red stones. The hero looked like Ocean, wearing a full suit of armor, wielding a curved glaive. (ATK: 2400/ DEF: 2000)
"Masked HERO Vapor?" Alexis asked in surprise. "Wonder what he does?"
"Too bad you wasted your trap." Jaden grinned. "Cuz now you're wide open! Vapor, attack with Steamline Blast!" The Masked HERO threw his glaive, landing right in front of Harrington and causing hot steam to surge out from under his feet.
Harrington: 1600
"I throw down a facedown and call it a turn." Jaden inserted a card in his Disk and it appeared in front of him.
"That won't stop me." Harrington drew his card with a smirk. "And neither will you! Once I beat you, Alexis will be all mine!"
Jaden grit his teeth in anger. "I already told you! We're not dueling with stakes like that!" He yelled.
The tennis captain snorted. "Did you really think I'd agree to something like that? What I want I get, and a loser like you won't tell me what to do!"
Jaden growled and felt himself slip for a moment before instantly getting ahold of himself. As much as he wanted to make this a Shadow Game just so Vapor could smack the crap out of him, it wasn't worth it.
"That was a real dick move…" Jasmine mumbled and glanced at Alexis to see her reaction. The blond looked like she was just about to go and strangle the guy.
"Can't say I'm surprised." Erina commented. "A snobby rich kid through and through…" Although as much as she hated the guy, she was sorry for him due to the fact that Jaden looked absolutely pissed. Jaden might be kind and always try to resolve conflicts as peacefully as possible, but she knew he had no problem with a more 'hands on' approach at times. And this looked like one of those times.
"Continue your damn turn!" Jaden urged. "It's not like you'll win this duel anyway."
Harrinton plucked a card from his hand and inserted it in his Disk. "I'll play the spell card, Smash Ace! Now, I look at the top card of my deck and if it's a monster card, you take 1000 points of damage!" The tennis captain drew his card and smirked when he saw it. "Would you look at that, I drew my Mystical Shine Ball! Brace yourself!"
A tennis ball flew out of the card and went straight towards Jaden, who smirked as a cloud of mist appeared in front of him, slowing the ball down before it hit him.
Jaden: 2000
"What the hell?! Why'd you only take half of the damage?!" Harrington demanded.
Jaden smirked as the mist dissipated. "That's one of Vapor's effects, the first time I'd take damage during the turn, it gets halved."
Harrington was getting angry. Jaden was making a joke out of him. "I play Service Ace once again!" He held up another card. "Now choose, Slifer Slime!"
Jaden grinned in amusement over the fact he was making the tennis captain angry. "Monster card."
"Are you sure?" Harrington questioned.
"Positively."
He grit his teeth, revealing a second Mega Thunderball.
Erina noticed something funny and got a look of mock wonder. "You know… for a guy who claims to love Alexis, he sure likes to play with a lot of balls." Hearing this caused everyone to burst into laughter, while Harrington's face turned beat red.
"You'll pay for a joke like that!" The tennis captain growled out. "I set a card and end my turn! I swear I'll be winning this, Yuki!"
"Sure you will…" Jaden snorted, recovering from his fit of laughter. "I draw!" He added the card to his hand. "You know, I've never had a game where I won by just playing two cards." Jaden mused aloud.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Harrington bellowed.
"It's simple…" Jaden shrugged. "I win this turn with just Vapor."
"What!?"
"Go get 'em, Vapor! Steamline Blast!" Jaden commanded and the hero charged forward.
"I activate my trap card, Mirror Force!" Harrington said in a panicked voice. He gasped when Vapor swung his glaive and broke the barrier that formed. "How?!"
"Vapor can't be destroyed by card effects." Jaden revealed with a grin. "You lose... sorry."
Harrington backed away in shock. "No way! She was my soulmate! My life partner! I was supposed to win this and make her see it too!"
Jaden sighed. "You're unbelievable… You can't force someone to like you, or do anything for you in fact. All you do is make them resent you." He then got a small smirk. "But I guess a bratty rich kid that throws tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants can't know that."
Vapor stopped in front of the tennis captain and hit him across the face with the flat side of his glaive, knocking the boy to the ground and ending the duel.
Harrington: 0
'Really?' Erina sighed. Harrington fell a bit too hard when Vapor hit him. The normal holograms couldn't do that, but she knew what could make them do that and she also knew he felt no shame for doing it. "I guess it can't be helped…" She saw that Jaden was coming over to them, so she met him halfway, giving him a high-five for the satisfying duel.
"Good job, Jaden." Alexis said as she approached the two. "I guess Harrington being as good as Zane was just a false rumor."
"Yeah…" Jaden rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Listen, Lex, I-"
The blond held up a hand. "No need to say it." She smiled at him. "You said no stakes here and Harrington is a moron."
Jaden exhaled the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Thanks…" He was glad she wasn't mad about the whole ordeal. Erina smiled as well, glad that there weren't any misunderstandings. Of course she knew that the both of them had feelings for each other, but this wasn't exactly the best way to confess said feelings.
The bluenette's eyes widened suddenly. "Jaden, duck!" She warned as she pushed Alexis to the side and did the same for herself.
Jaden didn't question her for a moment and ducked, just in time to dodge a fist that went over his head.
Everyone stared in shock. Harrington just tried to punch Jaden in the back of the head.
"What the hell is your problem?!" Jaden said as he backed up, dodging another punch.
The tennis captain just kept trying to hit him. "I won't accept this! I won't let you have Alexis!" He said through teary eyes.
"Are you sick in the head or something?" Jaden scolded as he dodged another punch. "I told you we're not dueling for that!"
Harrington ignored him and continued to babble incoherently while throwing punches at Jaden. The HERO duelist realized that words won't work, so he decided to take the other approach.
"Fine! If you won't listen to reason, maybe this will knock some sense into you!" Jaden shouted as he sidestepped Harrington's punch and delivered a right hook across the tennis captain's cheek, knocking him to the ground instantly.
"Fuck! My beautiful face!" Tears streamed down Harrington's face as he clutched his face in pain.
Jaden knelt down, grabbed and pulled him by the hair, forcing the tennis captain to look up at him. "Get it through your thick head that you can't have everything you want just because you said so." Jaden said in a eerily calm voice. "Because if you pull a stunt like that again or even so much as look at Alexis again, you can bet all the money daddy gives you that you won't be able to play tennis for the rest of your sorry life." With that Jaden let go of the tennis captain's hair and walked back to the side of the tennis field where his friends were standing and still staring in shock.
"I'm so sorry you had to witness that." Jaden apologized deeply to them. "I tried to get him to listen to me, but he left me with no other choice."
"It's fine." Erina assured.
"Y-Yeah." Alexis and the others nodded, still a bit shocked that that happened.
"Thanks, guys." Jaden smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go take a shower because I feel disgusting." Jaden went back towards the boys' locker room with Syrus accompanying him, while the girls went their own way, but not before Mindy and Jasmine gave the tennis captain, who was still lying on the ground sobbing, a look of disgust.
It was late in the evening. At the Obelisk Girls' Dorm, Alexis was sitting on her bed and hugging her Kuriboh plush, reflecting on today's events. 'I'm so happy that Jaden won the duel… I know that he said that there were no stakes in it, but who knows what Harrington would have tried if he had won.' She shook her head in disgust, not sparing the thought another second.
Instead, she focused on the most shocking thing from today. Jaden punching Harrington. 'I still can't believe Jaden actually hit him! He's always so kind and easygoing, I never expected something like that from him.' It was also a nice surprise in a way, knowing that if words didn't work Jaden could always defend himself and those around him.
Alexis was startled a bit when she heard a knock on her door. She got up and went to see who it was, and to no surprise, it was Erina. "Hey, got a minute?" The bluenette asked.
"Sure, come in." Alexis ushered her in and closed the door.
"So…" Erina sat down on the bed. "About our talk earlier."
"This again?" The blond sighed as she sat down next to her.
"Yes… again…Why are you so afraid of telling him?" Erina cut to the chase, but Alexis just sat silent, not sure how exactly to answer her. "I can agree that it's scary, but if your main worry is that your friendship won't be the same if you tell him… Well, it won't be the same no matter the outcome, you know that, right?"
"Yeah." Alexis finally spoke. "When you say it out loud it sounds stupid."
"It does." Erina agreed.
"Why do you want us to get together so badly?" Alexis asked. It's something she wonders a lot about. Normally, it should be the other way around, Erina being protective and gauging if she was good enough for her best friend.
This time Erina was ready for this question. "It's because you're good for each other."
Alexis' eyes widened in surprise. "W-What?"
Erina smiled. "Well, I have noticed that both of you have changed a bit since we met you. You for instance you have become a lot more… chirpy. I guess Jaden's helped you process things about your brother, right?"
Alexis blushed slightly. "Yeah, he has helped a lot. And... how has Jaden changed?" She asked shyly.
"He smiles more."
"He smiles more?" Alexis repeated the vague answer, not sure if she heard right. Did Jaden not smile before they met? No, that can't be it. He was just as energetic and cheerful during the entrance exam as he is now.
"You look so confused right now!" Erina giggled. "Yes, he's been smiling more… Of course, there's no way that you would have noticed due to the fact you've been too preoccupied with trying to undress him with your eyes all the time." She said casually.
"W-What?!" Alexis' face turned beet red from embarrassment. She just got caught red-handed.
Erina grinned. "I'll have to give you a napkin next time so you don't drool all over the place when you stare at him!" She began giggling like an idiot, which only intensified when Alexis stood up, grabbed a pillow and threw it at her, hitting her right in the face and knocking her back.
"I don't drool…" She grumbled as she looked away, hiding her blush.
The bluenette giggled through the pillow. "At least you admit that you're ogling him like a hungry predator." She teased, causing Alexis' cheeks to redden even more.
"You're the worst…"
"Aww, come on…" Erina removed the pillow and stood up to give her a hug from behind. "You know I'm just messing with you, right?" Alexis kept the silent act. "I'm sorry if I took it too far." She apologized and squeezed her.
Alexis relented, she can't bear being mean to people and especially to her friends. "Alright, apology accepted." She turned and hugged her back. "Just ease up on the teasing, okay?"
Erina grinned and pulled back from the hug. "Sure thing… only if you promise to tell Jaden how you feel." She saw Alexis sigh and held up a finger to silence her. "Answer this question first. How would you feel if someone beat you to it?" Alexis blinked in confusion. "Here's the thing, a lot of girls approached Jaden in junior high and he always turned them down, but you never know if that'll be the case with the next girl. So… how would you feel if your chance with Jaden slipped right through your fingers because you were too afraid to take the leap?"
That seemed to get Alexis thinking, which caused Erina to smile in victory. "I'll let you think on that, Lex." She gave her a peck on the cheek and headed for the door. "Night." And with that she left Alexis' room.
The bluenette smiled as she walked the empty corridors of the dorm. "Do you think I got to her?" She whispered and heard her Duel Spirit growl. "Yeah, I think so too. She's just afraid of the unknown, but she'll get used to it. It's inevitable with Jaden involved."
The golden dragon gently bumped her head with his nose and let out a low rumbling sound. "Oh, right... So, what's this about ante duels going on around the island?"
And there we go, hope you liked this one, because I think it turned out nicely. Anyway, here's my version on the masked water boy:
Masked HERO Vapor/ Water/ LV: 6/ ATK: 2400/ DEF: 2000/ Warrior/ Fusion/ Effect:
Must be Special Summoned with "Mask Change" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card cannot be destroyed by card effects.
* The first time you would take battle or effect damage during either player's turn, you take half of that damage instead.
* During either player's turn, when a card or effect is activated that would inflict damage to you, while this card is in your GY: banish this card, and if you do, that effect damage becomes 0.
Obviously the second effect wasn't used, but it will in the future.(and yes I know it's one of Destiny HERO Decider's effects)
Alright imma see y'all next time! Stay safe!