It was gym period, and Miss Fontaine had the students playing tennis, and Jaden and Syrus were being put through the wringer by Jasmine and Mindy.
Jaden: Could someone tell me what in the world tennis has to do with dueling?
Mindy: Everything. Taking turns, thinking on your feet, and the harder you play, the better you do.
She swung her racket, sending the ball spiraling towards Jaden.
Jaden: Well in that case.
He struck the ball, but it went in the wrong direction and went careening towards Alexis.
Jaden: Alexis, heads up!
Another student ran up and struck the ball with his racket, deflecting it, but sending it straight into Dr. Crowler's face. Alexis thanked the student who saved her while Jasmine and Mindy ran up to her.
Jasmine: Are you alright Alexis? That ball almost creamed you.
?: Yeah, would you like me to carry you to the nurse?
Alexis: I'm good, but thanks for offering.
Her saviour who he was talking to and started blushing madly.
Michael: You alright Alexis?
Alexis: I'm fine, thanks to our friend here.
Michael: Thanks for saving Alexis back there.
?: No problem. Name's Harrington. Well, I gotta get back to my match, I think the score was love – something.
Michael: Alexis, I think he likes you
Crowler: Jaden!
Michael & Alexis: This can't end well.
Timeskip
Jaden: I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry. How was that?
Crowler: It's a start.
Ms Fontaine: You know Dr. Crowler, I saw the incident, and technically Jaden wasn't even the one who hit you with that ball, if you don't mind me saying.
Crowler: I am aware of that fact. However, Jaden did set the incident into motion, which is why I'll work out a suitable punishment for both him and Harrington.
Jaden: If you're gonna punish me, how about I just promise to quit tennis? I don't even like it.
Crowler: Don't like tennis, eh? Well then, that gives me an idea for a suitable punishment. You'll be practicing with the school's tennis captain for the rest of the afternoon.
Jaden: No fair, what about the guy who actually hit you?
Crowler: As luck would have it, he is the captain of the tennis team. Hopefully, he can help you perfect your game so something like this doesn't happen again.
10 minutes later
Syrus, Michael, Lily, Jasmine, and Mindy walked into the arena to see Jaden running back and forth to return Harrington's serves.
Jaden: I thought we were going to be playing tennis, not running speed drills.
Harrington served another ball and Jaden ran back to try and hit it, but tripped and landed on his back.
Harrington: Come on Jaden, you know what they say, no pain no gain. You gotta hustle to build that muscle. You need to sweat to become a threat.
Jaden: Okay I get it, you can stop with the sports clichés now.
Harrington: Hey, there's no "I" in team Jaden. That's the first rule in tennis.
Jaden: Even when you're playing singles?
Harrington: Moving on. I think it's time we got to work on your forehand and backhand. I think 1000 strokes will help you make tennis more your racket. Get it?
Syrus: I get, this guy's a nut. These clichés, the crazy practicing.
Michael: No kidding. It's like tennis is the only thing he ever thinks about.
Alexis walked into the arena and picked up one of the stray tennis balls.
Michael: Hey Alexis.
Harrington heard him call out Alexis' name and ran up to greet her. She paid him no mind and walked right past him and up to Jaden and began talking to him.
Harrington: A bench warming loafer like Jaden talking to a girl like Alexis? No way, time to run some interference. Time out! You can't talk to a first round pick like Alexis, I mean you can't even return a buggy whip with some top spin, so stay away from my little Obelisk pixie.
Michael started to get very mad at Harrington.
Michael: This jerk acts like Alexis is his property.
He was doing a pretty bad job at hiding his feelings because Lily grabbed a hold of his arm.
Lily: He's not worth it.
Harrington: I'm warning you Jaden, just step away from the beautiful girl, you're way out of your league. Do not make me go athletic on you.
Jaden: Woah bro, cool off, Alexis and I are just talking. What were you saying Lex?
Harrington: Lex? What is that, some kind of pet name? Where'd it come from? What's it mean? What's it short for?
Jaden: Um, Alexis.
Harrington: Sure, you'd like me to believe that wouldn't you? Well, I don't. I don't believe anything you say, which is why this little huddle is over.
Jaden: Great, so then beat it.
Harrington: No way bro, know your sports. When a huddle is over, you make your play, you don't run away.
Jaden: I get it, you want a tennis match, right?
Harrington: No way, I want a duel. Winner becomes Alexis' fiancé.
Michael became enraged that Harrington was treating Alexis like some trophy and it took Jasmine, Mindy, Lily, and Syrus to hold him back from beating Harrington senseless.
Jaden: Wait, what does fiancé mean?
Syrus: It means you're engaged to someone. In other words, you're going to marry them.
Jaden: What? You can't decide something like that with a duel. And besides, you can't force Alexis to marry you if you win a duel. She's a person, not an object.
Alexis blushed slightly hearing what Jaden said.
Harrington: What, scared you'll lose?
Jaden: While I don't agree with the stakes, I never back down from a challenge.
They grabbed their decks and duel disks and prepared to duel.
Harrington: You ready?
Jaden: And willing.
Both: Let's duel!
Harrington: 4000 LP
Jaden: 4000 LP
Harrington: Service! First, I'm gonna volley a spell at you. I play Service Ace. Here's how it works, I choose a card from my hand, and you guess whether it's a spell, trap, or monster. Guess right, and you're fine, but if you guess wrong you get slammed for 1500 points of direct damage.
Michael: 1500 points of damage from a single spell? And with just a 1/3 chance of a correct guess?
Jaden began to concentrate deeply before making a guess.
Jaden: I guess spell card.
Harrington: Wrong. It's a monster card.
He put the card in his back pocket and a blast shot from his spell, striking the ground at Jaden's feet.
Jaden: 2500 LP
Harrington: I'll place one card face-down and call it a turn. You're up.
Jaden: My move. And I summon Elemental Hero Avian in attack mode.
Level 3/Wind/Warrior
ATK & DEF 1000
Jaden: Now attack directly with Quill Cascade!
Harrington: Not so fast, I play the Receive Ace trap card, so by sending the top 3 cards of my deck to the graveyard, your attack is cancelled, and you take 1500 points of damage.
Jaden: 1000 LP
Jaden: I place one card face-down and end my turn.
Lily: Not looking good.
Harrington: I draw. And I play the Smash Ace spell card. With it, I reveal the top card of my deck, and if it's a monster card,
Jaden: Let me guess, I get nailed right?
Harrington: Yep, with a thousand points of damage.
He flipped over the top card of his deck and revealed it to be Mystical Shine Ball, a monster card.
Jaden: Lady luck, she hates me.
Harrington: Well, she loves me, of course most girls do. Now get ready to get slammed.
Jaden: Don't think so. I play the trap Feather Wind. Since my fine feathered friend Avian is out, your spell is blown right out of bounds.
Harrington: Well, you know what they say: You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you gotta take hits to give 'em.
Jaden: Great, he's back on his cliché kick. Well, here's mine: He who laughs last laughs loudest.
He and Harrington began to compete to see who could laugh the longest.
Michael: You have got to be kidding me.
Lily: This is officially the craziest duel I've ever seen in my entire life.
Harrington: I'm still laughing Jaden. Just because I'm talking doesn't mean I'm not, hear me? You're going to lose this contest, just like you're losing this duel.
Jaden: You know what Harrington, you can win this lousy laugh fest, but this duel's a different story. Sure, you may have home court advantage, but it doesn't matter, because I'm always at home in a duel. I play the spell card Polymerization to fuse Clayman and Burstinatrix to summon Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster!
Level 6/Earth/Warrior
ATK 2000/DEF 2500
Syrus: Way to go on the offensive Jaden!
Jaden: Now Avian and Rampart Blaster, attack Harrington directly!
Avian fired a condensed ball of electricity while Rampart Blaster launched a barrage of missiles from her cannon arm.
Harrington: 1000 LP
Jaden: All tied up. Any clichés to say know?
Harrington: I suppose. But in this case, I'll let my cards do the talking for me. I play the spell card Deuce. I can only play it when we both have 1000 life points, and since we do, the first person to inflict damage twice in a row wins, and we don't lose even if our life points hit 0. By the way, we can each only attack with one monster during our battle phase.
Jaden: So wait, it's just a head to head match now?
Harrington: Right. And now I summon The Big Server. And the reason his serve is so big is because it strikes you directly.
Level 3/Earth/Warrior
ATK 300/DEF 800
Harrington: Now attack with Spike Serve!
His monster tossed a metal tennis ball covered with spikes into the air before volleying it towards Jaden.
Jaden: 700 LP
Harrington: Advantage Harrington. Oh and by the way, I forgot to mention Big Server's other special ability. When he inflicts damage, I get to add Service Ace from my deck to my hand, but you also get to draw a card. But let's be real, it won't save you, not from this.
Jaden drew a card and looked at it.
Jaden: This just might be the card that wins me the duel.
Harrington: Now I play Service Ace, so you guess whether this card is a spell, trap, or monster, and for your sake, you'd better hope you guess it right.
Jaden: Especially since that'll be two hits in a row.
Syrus: He only has a 1 in 3 chance.
Alexis: It all comes down to this: The game, the set, the match.
Michael: Come on Jaden, you can do it.
Jaden: I guess that it's a monster card!
Harrington: You got it.
Michael: Alright, he's still in it.
Harrington: I play the Giant Racket equip card on Big Server. With it, he can't be destroyed in battle once each turn, and I also take no damage from that battle.
Jaden: But your Deuce spell card makes it so I can only attack with one monster each turn.
Harrington: Exactly, which means you can't beat him.
Jaden: It's my move, and I draw. Sweet. The ball's in my court now Harrington, because I play the spell card De-Fusion, which will split Rampart Blaster back into her fusion materials.
Harrington: Is there any point to that move? Because of my spell card, only one monster can attack.
Jaden: But that doesn't matter if the one monster can attack multiple times. I play the Feather Shot spell card, and with it, Avian can attack once for every Elemental Hero on my field.
Harrington: But wait, with three monsters on the field,
Syrus: Avian can attack three times!
Jaden: Now Avian, attack with Quill Cascade times 3!
His monster unleashed three volleys of feathers, two striking the Big Server and one striking Harrington, who fell to his knees upon his defeat.
Jaden: And that's game Harrington.
Harrington: But she was my soul mate, my first draft pick, my marquis girlfriend!
Michael: Well played Jaden.
Jaden: Thanks Michael. Oh and Alexis, I want you to know I don't expect you to marry me over a duel, especially since you didn't agree to anything.
Alexis: I'm glad, although I wouldn't mind if we got to know each other a little better.
Jaden: Sure, I'd like that.
Alexis: Well, why don't we walk and talk for a while?
Jaden: Sure.
Syrus: Um, can someone tell me what just happened?
Jasmine: Boys, so clueless in the ways of love.
Lily: Not including Michael of course.
Michael: Well, looks like they don't need our help.
Lily: So do you think they'll be fine without our help?
Michael: I have faith in them. For now I say we just sit back and let their relationship develop on its own.
Lily: Well, strong, smart, and sensitive. I feel like the luckiest girl in Duel Academy.
Michael: And I feel like the luckiest man in the world.