Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

CHAPTER 15 – THE COSTUME DUEL

Damn it. Atticus saw the whole thing. Now he refuses to leave me alone once again, patting me on the back and telling me that dating Alexis would be good for her.

"We're not dating, Atticus," I growled at him. "She beat me at some stupid card game that wasn't Duel Monsters and dragged me all over the carnival."

"But you kissed her, didn't you?"

"On the CHEEK."

"Well, I think it counts."

"If you saw me holding hands with her you'd be making wedding arrangements!"

The two of us continued to argue until we reached the duel ring, where Syrus was setting up microphones and Chazz was trying keep his balance. As if the XYZ-Dragon Cannon costume I heard he wore last year wasn't massive enough for him, this year he was the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon, a getup that really tempted me to push him over just to see if he was capable of getting back up. Syrus was dressed up as a Drillroid, complete with a drill-shaped hat and wheel-shaped gloves. I guess he forgot he would be handling a microphone today. Or would he?

"Is she here? Did anybody see her??" Syrus was asking eagerly when Jaden and the rest of his gang went to check how he and Chazz were coming along. Jaden apparently never bothered with costumes – I heard that last year his was a total disaster. Tyranno was dressed like Black Tyranno, unsurprisingly, and Bastion

"Sorry Sy," Jaden apologized, "we haven't seen the Dark Magician Girl anywhere today." I stood there silently, my mind working madly to find a way to manipulate this situation into something to my advantage. ……………Ding.

"Hello Syrus," I greeted, joining the group in their discussion. "I was just wondering… why didn't you sign up for the Costume Duel?"

"Oh, I have to do the play-by-play," Syrus answered. "Besides, I'm not very good…"

"Hmm," I pondered, looking over the list. "That is odd though. I mean, with the Dark Magician Girl being your opponent and all…"

"WHAT?" he shouted, leaping to his feet. I flipped the sign-up sheet over and pointed at where Mana had signed, and under the costume column, she of course had written "Dark Magician Girl".

"Mana?" he asked quizzically. I laughed, responding with, "It's her real name. Don't you pay attention in Egyptian History class?" If Syrus's eyes were capable of turning into little throbbing hearts, they likely would have at that point in time. He stared lovestruck at the sign-up sheet, letting out a long sigh that sounded like "Mana……"

"Snap out of it," I interrupted. "Besides, you have to do play-by-play." I made sure to use a mocking voice for added annoyance, but then followed up with a sly grin.

"Unless…"

"Unless what?" Syrus questioned. "You can get me into the duel? You can find me a replacement for the play-by-play??" I smiled and looked around, spotting the pile of scrap metal that was Chazz.

"Princeton!" I shouted, getting his attention. He stomped over in his giant metal costume shoes, and I could have sworn I felt the ground tremble with each of his footsteps.

"What do you want now, Silver Slifer?" he sneered. I rolled my eyes, wondering when he would ever get tired of that stupid nickname.

"You're covering for Syrus for play-by-play," I told him. "Sy's dueling. Fine with you?"

"What?!" he spat. "Then who's gonna do the commentary?" I grinned with anticipation before answering, "Alexis will."

"Lexi as my broadcast partner??" Chazz chimed, about as lovestruck as Syrus. I would kick him in the balls to snap him out of it, if his entire body wasn't decked out in steel like a Megazord. I took his dream-like state to be an agreement.

"Looks like you're in," I told Syrus, who was now ecstatic. I crumpled up the sign-up sheet and tossed it over my shoulder before heading off to the stands where Crowler and Atticus awaited.

"So how's my soon-to-be brother-in-law doing?" Atticus laughed, getting a dark glare out of me. Crowler appeared rightfully puzzled.

"Mr. Rhodes?" he inquired in perplexity as I took my place in the stands beside the two. I turned toward Atticus and gave him a sharp, "I told you, Alexis and I are NOT DATING."

"You and Alexis are DATING?" Crowler yelped. My fists clenched in frustration.

"We are NOT dating!" I fumed, getting Atticus and Crowler to back off. More and more people began to fill the seats as time went on, and I noticed that it was nearly 5 already. I heard a voice call my name from behind me, so I turned around to see Mana there, an excited smile on her face.

"Is it almost time for the duel?" she asked eagerly. Atticus turned around as well, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

"It's you!" he gasped. "The rumors ARE true!"

Mana smiled sweetly, and I hopped off the stands to lead her to the duel ring, where the crowd immediately responded to her appearance with deafening cheers. Unfortunately once we were inside the ring, I noticed Syrus had gone missing.

"Hey, Alistair!" Jaden shouted, running up to me. "Whoa, you really DID get the Dark Magician Girl! Long time no duel!" Mana giggled and waved, while I was scanning the area.

"Where the hell is Syrus?" I asked impatiently, crossing my arms. "Don't tell me he's too shy to duel Mana." After a moment, I finally spotted him, peeking out from near the bleachers in timidity. I covered my eyes with my hand in aggravation and led Mana over to him. He blushed deeply and waved at his crush.

"Mana, meet your opponent," I sighed. "Or at least he should be."

I turned and looked back at the crowd, which was gradually getting impatient and began chanting for a duel. I saw Mana kneel down next to Syrus and encourage him.

"C'mon Sy, it'll be fun!" she insisted. "Please? For me?"

Brilliant. No way Syrus would say no to THAT.

"Well… okay… for you, Dark Magician Girl," he finally said with a weak smile.

"You can call me Mana," she answered sweetly, standing back up. I decided to break the sentimental moment by reminding them that the natives were getting restless.

"Ready to go?" I asked them both. They each nodded, and I sent them off to Sheppard to get their duel disks. As for me, I went back to the stands with Atticus, nearly falling off laughing when I saw Alexis come out in her Harpie Lady costume, still trying to fix her hair from the syrup attack. Then Chazz made the announcement that sealed it.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Duel Academy, let's give a warm welcome to my heavenly goddess of an assistant, Miss Alexis Rhodes!" Alexis immediately froze in place as the crowd cheered, and she immediately gave Chazz a glare that could turn Jaden's Flame Wingman to stone. I laughed and waved back innocently, leaning over to Atticus and whispering, "You know, somehow I always knew that Chazz was suicidal."

Atticus and I laughed heartily as Alexis marched over to the broadcast table, ready to claw Chazz to death.