Courting Alexis

It was gym period, and Miss Fontaine had the students playing tennis.

"Could someone tell me what in the world tennis has to do with dueling?" Jaden asked as he and Syrus got put through the wringer by Jasmine and Mindy.

"Everything. Taking turns, thinking on your feet, and the harder you play, the better you do," Mindy said as she swung her racket, sending the ball spiraling towards Jaden.

"Well in that case." He said as he struck the ball. Except it went in the wrong direction and went careening towards Alexis.

"Alexis, heads up!" he shouted. 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.

"Are you alright Alexis? That ball almost creamed you." Jasmine said.

"Yeah, would you like me to carry you to the nurse?" The guy from earlier asked as he turned to face them.

"I'm good, but thanks for offering." Alexis said. The guy realized who he was talking to and started blushing madly.

"You alright Alexis?" Michael asked as he came over.

"I'm fine, thanks to our friend here." She said.

"Thanks for saving Alexis back there." Michael said as he extended his hand to the other student.

"No problem. Name's Harrington. Well, I gotta get back to my match, I think the score was love – something." He said as he walked away.

"Alexis, I think he likes you," Michael said.

"Jaden!" Crowler shouted.

"This can't end well." Michael and Alexis said in unison.

Timeskip

"I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry. How was that?" Jaden asked.

"It's a start," Crowler said before turning to let Ms. Fontaine get a look at his eye.

"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." The nurse said.

"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." Crowler said.

"If you're gonna punish me, how about I just promise to quit tennis? I don't even like it." Jaden said.

"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," Crowler said.

"No fair, what about the guy who actually hit you?" Jaden asked.

"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." Crowler said.

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.

"I thought we were going to be playing tennis, not running speed drills." Jaden said as he panted for breath. Harrington served another ball and Jaden ran back to try and hit it, but tripped and landed on his back.

"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." Harrington said.

"Okay I get it, you can stop with the sports clichés now." Jaden said.

"Hey, there's no 'I' in team Jaden. That's the first rule in tennis." Harrington responded.

"Even when you're playing singles?" Jaden asked.

"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?" Harrington asked.

"I get, this guy's a nut. These clichés, the crazy practicing." Syrus said.

"No kidding. It's like tennis is the only thing he ever thinks about." Michael added. Alexis walked into the arena and picked up one of the stray tennis balls.

"Hey Alexis." Michael said. 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.

"A bench warming loafer like Jaden talking to a girl like Alexis? No way, time to run some interference." Harrington said before storming over to them.

"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." Harrington said.

Michael started to get very mad at Harrington.

'*This jerk acts like Alexis is his property.'* He thought to himself. He must've been doing a pretty bad job at hiding his feelings because Lily grabbed a hold of his arm.

"He's not worth it." was all she said.

"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." Harrington warned.

"Woah bro, cool off, Alexis and I are just talking. What were you saying Lex?" Jaden asked.

"Lex? What is that, some kind of pet name? Where'd it come from? What's it mean? What's it short for?" Harrington fired as he placed himself between Jaden and Alexis.

"Um, Alexis." Jaden answered.

"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," Harrington responded.

"Great, so then beat it." Jaden said.

"No way bro, know your sports. When a huddle is over, you make your play, you don't run away," Harrington said.

"I get it, you want a tennis match, right?" Jaden asked.

"No way, I want a duel. Winner becomes Alexis' fiancé," Harrington said. 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.

"Wait, what does fiancé mean?" Jaden asked. Michael regained his composure and answered, "It means you're engaged to someone. In other words, you're going to marry them."

"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." Jaden said. Alexis blushed slightly hearing what Jaden said.

"What, scared you'll lose?" Harrington taunted.

"While I don't agree with the stakes, I never back down from a challenge," Jaden responded. They grabbed their decks and duel disks and prepared to duel.

"You ready?" Harrington asked.

"Yep, and willing." Jaden responded.

Both: "Let's duel!"

Harrington: 4000 LP

Jaden: 4000 LP

"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." Harrington explained.

"1500 points of damage from a single spell? And with just a 1/3 chance of a correct guess?" Michael exclaimed. Jaden began to concentrate deeply before making a guess.

"I guess spell card." He said.

"Wrong. It's a monster card," Harrington said as he revealed the card, a Mega Thunderball. 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

"I'll place one card face-down and call it a turn. You're up." Harrington said.

"My move. And I summon Elemental Hero Avian in attack mode. Now attack directly with Quill Cascade!" Jaden shouted.

"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." Harrington explained.

Jaden: 1000 LP

"I place one card face-down and end my turn," Jaden said.

"Not looking good," Lily said.

"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." Harrington began to say.

"Let me guess, I get nailed right?" Jaden asked.

"Yep, with a thousand points of damage." Harrington confirmed. He flipped over the top card of his deck and revealed it to be Mystical Shine Ball, a monster card.

"Lady luck, she hates me." Jaden said.

"Well, she loves me, of course most girls do. Now get ready to get slammed." Harrington said.

"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." Jaden explained.

"Well, you know what they say: You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you gotta take hits to give 'em." Harrington said before laughing.

"Great, he's back on his cliché kick. Well, here's mine: He who laughs last laughs loudest." Jaden said before busting out in laughter.

He and Harrington began to compete to see who could laugh the longest.

"You have got to be kidding me." Michael said. "This is officially the craziest duel I've ever seen in my entire life." Lily added.

"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." Harrington boasted.

"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." Jaden said as he started his turn.

"I play the spell card Polymerization to fuse Clayman and Burstinatrix to summon Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster!" he shouted.

"Way to go on the offensive Jaden!" Syrus shouted.

"Now Avian and Rampart Blaster, attack Harrington directly!" Jaden ordered. Avian fired a condensed ball of electricity while Rampart Blaster launched a barrage of missiles from her cannon arm.

Harrington: 1000 LP

"All tied up. Any clichés to say know?" Jaden asked.

"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," Harrington explained.

"So wait, it's just a head to head match now?" Jaden asked.

"Right. And now I summon The Big Server. And the reason his serve is so big is because it strikes you directly." Harrington explained as his monster appeared.

Level 3/Earth/Warrior

ATK 300/DEF 800

"Now attack with Spike Serve." Harrington ordered. His monster tossed a metal tennis ball covered with spikes into the air before volleying it towards Jaden.

Jaden: 700 LP

"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." Harrington as he added his card to his hand. Jaden drew a card and looked at it.

*'This just might be the card that wins me the duel.'* he thought to himself with a smile.

"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." Harrington said.

*'Especially since that'll be two hits in a row.'* Jaden thought to himself.

*He only has a 1 in 3 chance,* Syrus thought to himself.

*'It all comes down to this: The game, the set, the match.'* Alexis thought.

*Come on Jaden, you can do it,* Michael thought.

"I guess that it's a monster card!" Jaden shouted.

"You got it," Harrington said as he revealed his Mega Thunderball.

"Alright, he's still in it," Michael said.

"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." Harrington explained.

"But your Deuce spell card makes it so I can only attack with one monster each turn." Jaden said.

"Exactly, which means you can't beat him." Harrington said.

"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," Jaden explained.

"Is there any point to that move? Because of my spell card, only one monster can attack." Harrington said.

"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." Jaden said.

"But wait, with three monsters on the field," Harrington began to say.

"Avian can attack three times!" Syrus shouted.

"Now Avian, attack with Quill Cascade times 3!" Jaden shouted. His monster unleashed three volleys of feathers, two striking the Big Server and one striking Harrington, who fell to his knees upon his defeat.

"And that's game Harrington," Jaden said.

"But she was my soul mate, my first draft pick, my marquis girlfriend!" Harrington shouted before running away.

"Well played Jaden." Michael said as they all walked up to him.

"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." Jaden said.

"I'm glad, although I wouldn't mind if we got to know each other a little better." Alexis said before she walked up to him.

"Sure, I'd like that." Jaden responded.

"Well, why don't we walk and talk for a while?" Alexis asked.

"Sure." Jaden said before they both walked away.

"Um, can someone tell me what just happened?" Syrus asked.

"Boys, so clueless in the ways of love." Jasmine said.

"Not including Michael of course." Lily said.

"Well, looks like they don't need our help," Michael said before he walked off with Lily.

"So do you think they'll be fine without our help?" Lily asked.

"I have faith in them. For now I say we just sit back and let their relationship develop on its own." Michael responded.

"Well, strong, smart, and sensitive. I feel like the luckiest girl in Duel Academy," Lily said.

"And I feel like the luckiest man in the world," Michael responded before he kissed her lightly on the cheek