Tennis Courts, Duel Academy

September 26, 2027

9:26 AM

"Come on," Jaden grumbled. "Would someone tell me what in the world tennis has to do with dueling?"

"Everything!" Syrus exclaimed from across the court. "Weren't you listening to Dr. Fontaine? Taking turns, thinking on your feet, and the harder you play—" Syrus paused to whack the ball back in Jaden's direction "—the better you do!"

"Well, in that case…" Jaden took a dramatic leap into the air and walloped the ball as hard as he could— without paying any attention to the direction he was hitting it in.

"Alexis, HEADS UP!"

The blonde turned in surprise, but there was no way she would be able to stop the ball from hitting her— until another figure threw themselves in between Alexis and the wayward tennis ball, expertly hitting it away from the female student— and directly toward Dr. Crowler.

"AAAGGH!" the Anubis headmaster clutched his right eye, screaming in pain.

No one on the court was paying any attention to him, however. All eyes were fixed on the tall, athletic figure who'd dropped to one knee in front of Alexis, having been unable to keep his balance after his impromptu save.

"Thank you," Alexis said, still reeling from the shock.

"Alexis!" Syrus called, rushing to her side. "The ball almost creamed you! Are you okay?" Jaden followed behind more slowly, for once feeling rather ashamed of his recklessness.

Alexis's savior got to his feet. "The pipsqueak has a point. Do you need me to carry you to the nurse?" The blonde resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"That's okay, thanks." The boy just continued looking at her. "Um, do you need me to carry you to the nurse?"

"Uh… haha, no, I'm good, it's just… I just realized who you were. You're Alexis Rhodes, right? I know you from Anubis Blue— I've seen you around. Not that I've ever had the pleasure of talking to you," he said, grabbing her hand. Alexis narrowed her eyes. The boy realized what he was doing and quickly let go.

"L—let alone to t—touch you, heh heh." He blushed fiercely. "Anyway…haha haha… back to my match. What was the score? Love something, I think…"

Ugh, what an awful pun, Alexis thought.

Later, back in the girl's locker room, Alexis put away her clean towel and tried to ignore the inane chatter going on around her.

"Did you hear what happened?"

"Who was that hot tennis guy?"

"His name is Harrington Rosewood, and he's a total catch."

"As in Rosewood Sporting Goods? Don't they have stores everywhere?"

"Yeah, and he's the heir! Plus, he's a third-year Anubis Blue! Did you hear that, Alexis?"

"That's great," Alexis replied, with very little enthusiasm.

"Great?! An older guy who's rich and a hottie? That's not great, Alexis, that's boyfriend material."

"Yeah, if money and looks are your only criteria. I think I prefer my men with a little more substance, thank you." She gave a strained smile and headed for the door. "Bye, girls." She could feel their shocked stares on her as she left.

Alexis sighed heavily as she finally escaped into the hall. Honestly, the things other girls her age went on about— her thoughts were disrupted by the sudden appearance of Syrus rushing past her, wringing his hands anxiously.

"Aw man, aw man, aw man— where's the lousy tennis team?" He spotted Alexis and backtracked, stopping in front of her while managing to keep jogging in place. "Alexis, do you know where the tennis team meets?"

"Out on the courts, Syrus. What on earth is wrong?"

"What's wrong? Everything's wrong!"

"Um, care to be more specific?"

"It's the most unfair thing ever! Dr. Crowler's letting the tennis captain boss Yu—Jaden around as punishment for hitting him with that ball!"

"Well, I admit it doesn't sound like fun for Jaden, but 'the most unfair thing ever'…?"

"Don't you know? The captain's the one who really hit Crowler!" Syrus took off again, apparently unwilling to wait any longer. Alexis stared after him, her eyebrows knit together. So, this Harrington Rosewood was being allowed to punish Yuki on Dr. Crowler's behalf.

Truthfully, Alexis didn't agree with Syrus about that being "the most unfair thing ever". After all, Yuki was the one who'd recklessly hit the ball in the wrong direction; Harrington had merely done what he had to so that Alexis wouldn't be hurt. That it had hit Crowler had been a complete accident. However, she knew oh too well about boys like Harrington— heirs to vast fortunes who'd never had to work for anything in their lives, thought they were entitled to everything, and treated others like trash— she'd met plenty of them being the daughter of Seto Kaiba.

Dr. Crowler's punishment really wasn't all that unfair in theory— Yuki had almost hurt someone playing tennis; learning to play better would prevent that scenario in the future— but in practice, it was probably miserable for her friend. Setting her shoulders, Alexis marched off in the direction of the tennis courts.

As she stepped outside, she heard Syrus muttering to himself, "…this guy's a nut. The clichés, this crazy practicing— he's totally obsessive!" She glanced over toward the net and saw Yuki, frantically running back and forth in order to hit the balls Harrington was serving at him. One of them landed right at Alexis's feet, and she leaned over to pick it up.

"…and done," Jaden fell to the ground thanks to the awkward angle he'd had to use to make the last shot, "…with the first ten anyway."

With the action on hold for the moment, Syrus soon noticed his cousin's arrival. "Alexis?"

Harrington whirled around at the sound of her name. "Oh, Alexis!" He rushed over to greet her. "Hey there! Sorry I'm sweating so much; I've just been kicking this guy's—"

Alexis harumphed and marched right past him. She walked around the net and offered her hand to Yuki. "Are you alright, Jaden?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay." He groaned as she helped him to his feet. "What brings you here?"

"Syrus told me you were being forced to run tennis drills as punishment for hitting Dr. Crowler. To be honest, I really think you need the practice, but…" she glanced over her shoulder at Harrington, who was staring at the both of them with his mouth hanging open. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "I know how guys like him can be. I might be able to talk Dr. Crowler into giving you a lighter sentence if you want."

"Huh?" Thankfully, usually clueless Jaden had the sense to match her low volume. "How could you do that?"

Alexis's lips twitched as she fought hard not to think about Dr. Crowler in his wet suit. "Let's just say… we've gotten to know each other a bit, and I think he'll listen to me. What do you say?

"Well…"

"Hey! Time out!" Jaden's answer was cut short by Harrington, who stalked over to the two of them, almost visibly fuming. "You can't talk to a first-round pick like Alexis! I mean, you can't even return a Buckie whip with some topspin, so stay away from my little Anubis pixie!"

"Excuse me?!" Alexis cried, incensed. How dare this… this person call her a "first-round pick" and "his little pixie"?! The nerve!

Harrington ignored her. "Listen, Jaden, I'm warning you— just step away from the beautiful girl! You're way out of your league! Do not make me go athletic on you!"

Alexis opened her mouth to retort— this peon had no right to go around interfering in her life— but Yuki, looking vaguely baffled, beat her to it.

"Whoa, bro, cool off. Lex and I are just talkin' here."

"LEX?!" Harrington shoved his way in between them, leaning way into Jaden's personal space. "What is that, some sort of pet name? Where'd it come from? What's it mean? What's it short for?!"

"Um, Alexis?"

"Sure, you'd like me to believe that, wouldn't you? Well, I don't. I don't believe anything you say—" This guy's a complete moron, Alexis thought, "Which is why this little huddle is over."

Jaden was apparently out of patience. "Great, so then beat it!" he snapped.

"No way, bro. Know your sports— when a huddle is over you make your play, you don't run away."

Alexis was beginning to understand Syrus's "nut" comment now.

"I get it. You want a tennis match, right?"

"No, I want a duel. Winner becomes Alexis's fiancé!"

"WHAT?!"

"Well, I don't know about the stakes, but I never back down from—"

"That is it!" Alexis exclaimed, furious. She grabbed Harrington by his shirt and yanked him around to face her, pulling him down so they were at eye level. "Alright, Harrington, here's how it's gonna go. We're going to duel, and when I win, you're going to apologize for your sexist, chauvinist comments and then never come near me or my friends again. If by some bizarre chance, you win, then you can duel Yuki and I'll have the consolatory pleasure of watching him kick your ass instead. Got it!?"

"Y—yes ma'am!" Harrington squeaked.

"Good. Come on, Jaden." She grabbed her childhood friend's hand and dragged him back around the net to the other side of the court.

In any other situation, Yuki might have protested about having his challenge accepted for him by somebody else, but if there was one thing he'd learned growing up, it was to never mess with Alexis when she got angry. So, he obediently sat on the sidelines with Syrus and watched as Alexis wiped the court with Harrington.

"So, she's using the Cyber Angel archetype now, huh?"

"Yeah," Syrus nodded. "Zane recommended them to her. She duels pretty well with them, but I don't think they're exactly what she's looking for, either."

Both of the Kaiba siblings had struggled to build decks that they really identified with— Atticus because, as he put it, "there were so many pretty cards"; and Alexis because, no matter how many decks she tried, none of them ever felt quite right. Each of them had changed or at least modified their decks approximately once a year ever since they'd started dueling. It was, understandably, a frustrating problem.

It made sense that Zane would have recommended a "Cyber" deck, with how close he was with his own cards, but Syrus was right— just like all of Alexis's previous decks, this one didn't seem to quite fit her either.

"Hey Jay, are you worried that Harrington might realize Alexis called you 'Yuki' earlier? Because she wasn't exactly subtle about it."

"Nah," Yuki shrugged it off. "I'm still using Yuki as my family name, so he probably just thinks she was referring to me by that. People get called by their family names all the time."

"I guess you're right," Syrus said, fidgeting. Yuki sighed internally. Syrus was worrying too much again.

A little while later it was over. Harrington fell to his knees in disbelief as his life points dropped to zero, Alexis smirking smugly above him.

"This… can't be."

"Oh, but it can. And now you'd better promise to never come near me, Jaden, or even Syrus ever again." Harrington got to his feet and looked at her desperately.

"B—but… you were my soulmate! My first draft pick! My marquis girlfriend!" Alexis braced herself to have to punch the idiot, but then he burst into tears and took off running, his boohoos echoing around the court.

"Wow, you had to work for that one, Lex!" Syrus exclaimed, jogging over to congratulate her with Yuki on his heels.

"Yeah, but you know what they say," the taller Osiris said slyly, "No pain, no gain!"

"Enough with the clichés, please," Alexis deadpanned, "I've had enough to last a lifetime." Yuki laughed.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." His expression sobered. "Hey, aren't you going to make him apologize for those things he said about you?"

"Nah." Alexis waved it off. "Forcing him to apologize would only serve to make me feel vindicated, not actually change anything. He'd still go around acting like girls are objects he can possess."

"Probably." Yuki folded his arms behind his head, looking pensive. "It was a great duel, don't get me wrong, but it's still too bad I didn't get to duel him. I could've become your fiancé!"

Syrus gaped at him. "You mean you would've gone through with it?!"

Yuki shrugged. "Sure, why not? Uh… what's fiancé mean, anyhow?"

"HUH?!"

Alexis gave him a searching look, before leaning back on her heels and crossing her arms over her chest. "It means 'friend'." She gave him a teasing smile, "at least for now, big guy."

Syrus glanced back and forth between his cousin and best friend, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Are they actually…? Talk about clichés! Childhood friends who've known each other all their lives, then suddenly realize they feel more for each other than just friendship… it's one for the storybooks!

All in all, things turned out quite well for everyone. Yuki didn't have to train under Harrington anymore, Syrus didn't have to worry about Jaden training with Harrington anymore, and Alexis got the pleasure of teaching a stuck-up jerk a lesson. Even said stuck-up-jerk benefited from the experience when he asked out one of Alexis's floormates (who enthusiastically said yes) and then very carefully avoided talking to or about her like an object.

It also turned out that the rigorous practice with Harrington had somewhat improved Jaden's tennis game, meaning neither Dr. Fontaine, Dr. Crowler, or any of his classmates had to worry about errant tennis balls anymore.

Unfortunately, tennis season didn't last forever at Duel Academy, as Dr. Crowler rediscovered a week later when he went walking by the gym, muttering to himself about one Jaden Yuki, and got hit in the face with a baseball instead.

Notes:

•Needless to say, the way Alexis was treated in this episode was horrendous. In a perfect world, Harrington would be reprimanded, or worse, for the way he treated her.

•I really think that Jaden isn't as stupid as he acts— what he did in the original episode was actually a brilliant way to diffuse the situation, to let Alexis know where he stood on the issue of being fiancés, and that she had nothing to fear from him, giving her control in what happen next

•Of course, the Alexis x Jaden ship is called "Fiancéshipping", so I had to work the comment in there somehow. In this scenario, Yuki lets Alexis know, in a round-a-bout way, that he didn't almost accept the challenge to try and "win" her and tries to make it clear that the thought never entered his mind. In other words, he said, "Of course I would have gone through with the duel if I could've, but the stakes meant literally nothing to me."