Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh GX, and am not seeking any profit on this work. All rights belong to the owners of Yugioh GX.

Chapter 2: Heart in the Game

Alexis had dueled in the past couple of years, but nothing official. She had never intended to duel in a professional match, and had refused plenty of exhibitions that would have been lucrative. Truth be told, she preferred to teach the art of dueling rather than duel these days. Her days at the Academy had been fun, but it seemed like every other duel she competed in was filled with pressure. In this job, she got to teach and work with people who loved the game like her, and her students never had to worry about saving the world. She had made her peace with it, and she always guessed that her friends had done the same. She was lost in her thoughts for a few minutes, wondering exactly who she would be dueling?

Alexis always dueled in the faculty tournament, and had won the even last year easily. She had mentored a couple of students who had gone to some league and done well. "Sy, I have not dueled at a professional level in my life. My first duty is to this school and my students, but I need to test myself again to see what it is like. You are a friend and someone whom understands what happened those years ago. I would be willing to do this. Why exactly did you ask me?"

Syrus knew that this was a bit of a shot in the dark. The ADL was caught in a bind of trying to keep the diehards but build the brand. What wasn't helping him out is the fact that he was unable to leverage the relationships he had made at school. Jaden was off the grid, Chazz was focused on doing things his way and didn't want to get help, Jesse had been doing his own thing for years now, Hassleberry was doing archeological digs in Australia at the moment, and Bastion still seemed to be in the spirit dimension. He had left the bright lights behind because he knew he would never get to make his name outside of his brother. If Syrus failed at this job, he was not sure what was going to happen. He paced around his office and said "The reason I asked you was because you teach at a school that has produced some of the better duelists of the league. You're someone who I know is a good duelist and can try and sell on television. I am planning this event to be on network television as a time buy."

The amount of desperation in his voice was palpable. This was an attempt to increase the league's profile at all costs and was scheduled for the middle of December in New York City, planned to avoid competition from the other dueling events and sports as much as possible. Syrus had contacted professional duelists and had been stonewalled by agents and managers who struggled to make the schedule work in addition to the company who almost controlled the Pro League.

Kaiba Corporation was the major sponsor of the Pro League, and had tentacles throughout the dueling world. Kabia Land was were the major duels happened, and getting onto that stage was something that every duelist dreamed of at all the academies. The company leveraged those dreams by sponsoring the best of the best, and did not like to have their stable of duelists go outside the events that they sponsored. Syrus refused to play that game because he saw a weakness in the format. Each Pro League event was a single duel, and nobody was certain as to how the rankings were computed. The Pro League treated the formula like a closely guarded secret.

The ADL on the other hand went for a different approach. The concept of a team of duelists was designed so that members of the public got to see multiple duels per event, hopefully making sure that the audience got more value. The duelists and the teams were ranked by results, and stats were tabulated so that fans always knew who was doing well and who was doing poorly. A double round robin format meant that no team could dodge another, and that in the various cities the fans never got to miss out on seeing good duelists because the promoters and the league wanted to put duels in places that were away from their location.

Alexis knew that she could help Syrus out, and it would be interesting to showcase her skills to her students as well as promote the school. She said "I'd like to meet you at your office on Saturday afternoon at 2 so we can talk this over."

Syrus nodded and said "Yes, see you then. Nice talking with you, and we can catch up more later." He hung up the phone and grinned to himself as he made a note in his planner and instructed his secretary to make a note.

Author's note: Thank you for reading, and it was great to hear that people find this interesting. Next chapter will talk more about the structure of the ADL, as well as revealing who Alexis will duel. I always appreciate getting readers and feedback.