A Duel in Love

It was a beautiful day on Academy Island. The sun was shining in the sky, there were no clouds and this would probably continue for the remainder of the day. Inside, class was progressing nicely. In one room, Vellian Crowler was in front of a class of students from all three dorms. He watched as Alexis Rhodes went on to explain the different card types in the game.

Ryan was sitting in Chazz's row, overlooking Alexis while having his head buried in a book.

In their respective rows, Kaoru, Arisa and Davis also heard Alexis explain the different card types.

"Duel Monsters cards are divided into three types. Monsters, Spells and Traps. Monsters are divided in Normal, Effect, Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Exceed, Pendulum and Link Monsters. Spells are divided in Normal, Continuous, Ritual, Quick-Play, Equip and Field Spells. Traps are divided in Normal, Continuous and Counter Traps." Alexis addressed the rest of the class.

"I'd expect nothing less from one of my Obelisk Blues." Crowler said happily.

*'Playing favorites much.'* Ryan thought, rolling his eyes after looking up from his book.

"Now who is able to tell me what a Field Spell is?" Crowler asked. He looked around for someone before eventually locking eyes with Syrus. "You! Syrus Truesdale."

Syrus was startled and jumped up from his seat.

"Explain to the class what a Field Spell is."

"Uh." Syrus started stammering and shaking. "A Field Spell is a spell."

He gave a vague answer.

"Even Pre-Duelers know the answer to this, Slifer Slacker!" One of Chazz's underlings called out causing most of the Blue dorm to laugh at Syrus while Chazz smirked in amusement.

"Shut up!" Kaoru shouted at the other Blues.

"Sorry." They apologized after her outburst.

"I think not. Sit down." Crowler said curtly. "Now could someone else give me the answer. Preferably someone not from the Red dorm."

"I blew it. I made the Slifers look bad." Syrus said, downcast.

"You know." Jaden spoke up to the Blue Headmaster. "You shouldn't be making fun of the Slifers. I mean, I'm a Slifer and I managed to beat you. So really you're making fun of yourself."

"He's definitely right about that." Arisa said to Davis who sat with Kaoru in Ra Yellow. "This right here is proof of why I hardly hang around the Obelisk Blues."

"Yep and if you ask me half of the blue dorm needs a serious wake-up call." Davis said.

Crowler angrily bit down on his handkerchief.

*'That's it. I'm not going to tolerate this slacker at my school any longer.'* Crowler thought, fuming. *'There has to be a way to expel him.'*

Their next teacher was Prof. Banner, the headmaster of the Slifer Red Dorm.

Ryan was spending time with the Shiba Siblings.

"I'd like to get your opinion on how things are done here."

"Well, we've been seeing a lot of bullying lately from the other Obelisks."

"Is that right?"

"We're afraid so." They nodded.

"Let me worry about that."

"All right. Some of you know me, my name's Prof. Lyman Banner." He greeted the students. "I specialize in some of the lesser known tactics in the world of dueling; some that might be unnatural to even the experienced duelist."

Jaden was dozing off during the lesson but Syrus broke him out of it.

"By the way." The spiky blue-haired kid said. "Thanks Jay."

"For what?" Jaden asked, sheepishly.

"Sticking up for me." Syrus explained.

This caused Banner's lecture to stop.

Jaden sighed as Banner glanced up at them.

"I may have to do it a second time." He murmured.

"Syrus?" Banner said.

"Uh yes?" Syrus said, standing up.

"Do me a favor and pick Pharaoh up, would you?"

"Uh, Pharaoh?" Syrus questioned.

"Unless you would like to mirror as a scratching post?" Banner said, smiling.

Jaden watched as Pharaoh rubbed against Syrus' leg, causing everyone to laugh again.

A embarrassed Syrus handed Pharaoh back to Prof. Banner.

...

Crowler was busy in his office. He was writing a letter.

"That Slifer Slacker has some nerve humiliating me in front of my class." He said angrily.

He finished writing the letter before folding it and placing it into a envelope.

"He won't get the chance to repeat that mistake." He muttered out loud.

He picked up a mirror before placing some red lipstick on his lips—creepy—before kissing the back of the letter and chuckling to himself.

"The big kiss-off." He said before he ran out of the classroom.

He immediately headed toward the boy's locker room, as Jaden's next class was gym. Placing the letter in what he assumed was Jaden's locker, on top of his boots, Crowler dashed out of there quickly.

Ryan happened to be heading to Chancellor Sheppard's office.

*'What was that building I saw on the north side of the island scrolling through the map on my PDA.'* He thought.

He was standing in front of the Chancellor's office when he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and Ryan stepped into the office.

"Chancellor, I have something to ask you." He informed the Chancellor.

"And that is?" Chancellor Sheppard questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Ryan set his PDA down on the table with the image of the strange building.

"What is this place?" It showed the image of a run down building on the northern part of the island.

*'You found out about the Abandoned Dorm, huh?'* Sheppard remained silent.

"That dorm was shut down last year because several students went missing from that place." He explained to Ryan.

"Was the cause ever discovered?" He retorted.

"No." Sheppard shook his head, disappointed.

"Where exactly are you going with this?" He asked, curiously.

"To be completely honest, I would like approval to get to the bottom of this." Ryan stated simply.

"Very well. I'll allow it."

Later that afternoon.

"**Meet me at the Obelisk Blue Arena**. **I challenge you to a duel.**" It was a voice Jaden never heard before.

Jaden and Syrus headed to the arena after receiving the message.

"I see you got my email." They saw Davis standing in the middle of the arena.

"Who are you?" Syrus asked.

"Davis Shiba of the Shiba Clan. Crowler arranged a duel between us back at the Blue Boys and I accepted with the goal of finding out what you're capable of." He then pointed around the arena. The rest of the school was watching from the seats.

"You're on." Jaden stated.

"I was wondering if you beating Crowler was a fluke or fact. Now we're about to find out." Chazz said.

Jaden and Davis then walk onto the arena for their duel.

"As the challenger, I'll begin the duel."

"Duel!"

Davis: 4000

Jaden: 4000

Davis drew his first card.

"I'll kick things off with Green Gadget in attack mode."

Green Gadget: 1400/600

"And now for it's effect." He placed Red Gadget into his hand.

"Then I follow up with one face down card."

"Good start. But I'm gonna go even bigger. I play the spell card Polymerization and I'll fuse Avian and Burstinatrix from my hand to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" Jaden said as everyone watched the two heroes fuse together to form the hero from Jaden's first duel.

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman 2100/1200

"I told you I'd start big." Jaden grins.

"That was a mistake." Davis shook his head.

"Why's that?" Jaden asks not liking the sound of that.

"I had this set. Go Bottomless Trap Hole. Now your Flame Wingman is banished."

"I was expecting you to come here." Alexis walked over to them.

"You really should have come up with another strategy." Davis told Jaden. "Since you played Flame Wingman during your entrance exam, I was prepared for you to bring it out."

"Since Wingman was a Special Summon though that means I can still summon a monster from my hand." Jaden said as he looked at his hand.

*'None of the monsters in my hand are strong enough to deal with Green Gadget though.'* Jaden thought.

"I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!" Jaden said as a large man made of clay appeared.

Elemental Hero Clayman 800/2000

"My turn." Davis drew a card.

"I sacrifice Green Gadget to summon Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera."

Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera: 2300/1300

"And since Green Gadget was used to tribute summon Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera gains 300 attack points." Davis explained.

"Attack Elemental Hero Clayman." Clayman was destroyed.

"I'll end my turn with a face down."

"I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman in defense mode!" Jaden said as a hero dressed in yellow and blue with a curved blue helmet appears.

Sparkman 1600/1400

"That's all you can do at the moment." Davis said.

"I play a face down and I end my turn." Jaden said.

"Before my turn begins I activate Mystical Space Typhoon." Jaden's face down was destroyed.

"That was Jaden's last hope." Syrus cried out.

"My go." Davis said, drawing a card.

"I summon Yellow Gadget in attack mode."

Yellow Gadget: 1200/1200

Davis looked for Green Gadget and placed it in his hand.

"Go on the attack." Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera destroyed Sparkman and then Yellow Gadget attacked Jaden directly.

Jaden: 2800

"Let's see you get your way out of this, Slacker." Chazz sneered.

"Don't go calling him a Slacker in my presence, Chazz." Davis warned his fellow Obelisk.

"He does have a point though. No monster you bring out has a chance against Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera."

*'He's right.'* Jaden thought to himself. *'I have to make my last turn count.'*

"Draw." Jaden drew a card. "I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in defense mode."

Elemental Hero Bubbleman: 800/1200

"And now I draw extra cards." Jaden drew two additional cards from his deck.

"One of them is Fusion Recovery. Now I return Avian and Polymerization to my hand." He placed the cards back into his hand.

"Last I place one card face down to end my turn."

"My go." Davis drew for turn. "I use Monster Reborn to special summon your Sparkman to my side of the field."

Elemental Hero Sparkman: 1600/1400

"But why stop there. I normal summon Silver Gadget in attack mode."

Silver Gadget: 1500/1000

"Which in turn brings out Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo."

Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo: 0/2000

Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo: 2000/2000

Jaden had been backed into a corner. As soon as Bubbleman was destroyed, he would lose the duel.

*'There's got to be something Jaden can do.'* Alexis thought, concerned.

"Sparkman, attack Bubbleman with Static Shock Wave." A large thunderbolt shot out of his hand and hit Bubbleman, destroying it.

"Dread Dynamo, Sparkman take out the last of his life points."

"Jaden!" Syrus cried out.

"I use my set card Mirror Force." All of Davis' monsters were destroyed.

"That activates the effect of Silver Gadget. Now I replace it with Gold Gadget."

Gold Gadget: 1700/800

Gold Gadget attacked Jaden directly.

Jaden: 1100

"I'll end there."

"Here goes nothing." Jaden drew.

It was the one card that would decide how the duel ended.

"I use Soul Release to banish Sparkman and then activate Parallel World Fusion to bring out Shining Flare Wingman." Sparkman and Flame Wingman were returned to the main and fusion deck.

Shining Flare Wingman: 2500/2100

*'Shining Flare Wingman. It's effect will deal 1700 damage after destroying Gold Gadget in battle in addition to the 1100 I would take.'* Davis thought.

Shining Flare Wingman punched a hole in Gold Gadget, causing it to explode and then it shined brightly.

Davis: 1200

"That will end my turn."

"My go." It was Ancient Gear Hydra. This wasn't going to help him.

"I end." Davis said.

The last of his life points were wiped out next turn.

*Some time after the duel...*

Syrus was running late.

"Lousy girl's gym." He muttered to himself. "Why did they have to make the signs so small?"

He ran inside the gym and opened his locker, noticing that Jaden's shoes were there.

"I see Jaden's still using my locker." Syrus said before frowning when he spotted an envelope falling to his feet.

"What's this?" He bent down and picked up the letter before noticing the lipstick smudge and his eyes widened. "This isn't Jaden's. Someone wrote me a letter."

As if expecting someone to see him with the letter, which wasn't likely, as everyone was in class, Syrus ducked between two sets of lockers and opened the letter, murmuring, "I wonder what it says?"

The letter read:

*From the moment I first set eyes on you, I've been in love with you. Meet me tonight in the back of the Obelisk Girl's Dormitory so I can give you a big kiss.*

*Endearingly,*

*Alexis Rhodes*

Syrus looked like he was about to pass out after he read that.

"This is better than what my mom writes me." He exclaimed, slipping into a daydream about him and Alexis together.

Syrus made his way toward the Obelisk Girl's Dormitory, still looking happy at the thought of meeting Alexis. Little did he know, Crowler was hiding in the bushes near the back of the dorm, wearing a tight, black body suit that made him look creepier than normal.

*'This is perfect. Thanks to that faux love letter I wrote.'* Crowler thought, going over the plan in his mind. **I'll just wait here for Jaden to come around while he searches for Alexis. And when the time's right, I'll snap a picture of him, creating evidence that will get him expelled.**

Meanwhile in the girl's dorm, Alexis and Seika were relaxing in the hot springs with their friends Jasmine and Mindy. Mindy was a girl with black hair and Jasmine was a brunette. Without a doubt, they were the hottest girls on campus.

"Can you believe what Jaden said to Dr. Crowler in class." Jasmine retorted. "Completely disrespectful. Don't you think so, Alexis?"

"I think it was kinda cool." Alexis replied.

"Him, cool?" Jasmine asked, shocked.

"He could be if he had the talent to back that talk up." Mindy said.

"He just might. I won't know for sure unless I duel him myself." Alexis replied.

"Alexis!" Syrus called out.

"That's not Jaden! It's that Field Spell nitwit!" Crowler shouted. Unfortunately, his shouting attracted some unwanted attention.

"What's a boy doing here?" A girl cried out, alerting the other girls.

"I'm not a boy, I'm a man." Crowler shouted. Realizing what he did, he quickly covered his mouth and dived into the lake to avoid getting caught.

Poor Syrus was not so lucky.

"What are you doing here Syrus?" Alexis asked the boy.

"I got a love letter from you."

"From Alexis?"

"That's right." Syrus had a large grin on his face.

"Let me see the letter." Alexis demanded.

Syrus reached into his side pocket and pulled the envelope out. A red-haired girl snatched it and gave it to Alexis.

"Hate to break it to you Syrus. But my name is misspelled. This is a fake letter."

"So you're telling me I received a fake love letter. You're not in love with me?" Syrus asked with a whisper.

"Hold on...this is addressed to Jaden Yuki." The red-haired girl pointed out, showing him the name on the letter.

"I'm sorry, Syrus." Alexis apologized. She felt sorry for him. Then she came up with a idea.

"I'm going to challenge Jaden to a duel." A smirk formed on Alexis's face.

"Let's just hope you don't follow through on expelling him." Arisa said to Alexis with her arms folded across her chest. "The last thing we need to worry about is losing a good duelist."

She had chosen to spend time with Alexis and her friends.

*Blue Boys dorm...*

Davis was in his room inspecting his deck when his PDA buzzed.

The Caller ID was from his sister Kaoru.

"Hello."

"We have a situation over at the girl's dorm. I was told by Arisa that Syrus was caught trespassing."

"And why tell me this?" Davis asked.

"You can help stop it."

*At the red dorm...*

Jaden was looking over his deck when his PDA started to ring.

"Why's this going off?" Jaden checked to see what it was.

***"Your roommate Syrus is with us. If you want to see him come to the girl's dorm now."*** A distorted voice said.

"What, Sy?" Jaden asked after receiving the message. "What have you done to Syrus?"

The message then cut off.

Jaden grabbed his deck and duel disk then ran away from the dorm.

A few minutes later...

Jaden arrived at the girl's dorm where Alexis, her roommates and Syrus were waiting.

"Hi Jaden." Syrus said, glumly.

"What's going on here?" Jaden asked as he climbed out of the boat that he used to row over to the dorm.

"Long story short, I'm a loser." Syrus replied.

"Your friend trespassed on our campus." Jasmine said.

"I already told you." Syrus interjected. "That wasn't what happened."

"And now you're trespassing as well." Mindy added, ignoring Syrus' comment.

"So the only way for you two to leave is by defeating me in a duel Jaden." Alexis told him.

The four girls and two boys, Syrus with his hands untied were in two separate boats on the lake facing each other. Jaden and Alexis stood at the front with their dueling disks on their arms.

"I hope you know what you're doing Jaden."

Not far away, Crowler was wading in the water wearing a black wet suit. "A Slifer against a Obelisk. Put him in his place Alexis."

"Ready?"

"You bet."

"Duel." They both said in unison.

**Jaden**: 4000

**Alexis**: 4000

"I'll start…. With Etoile Cyber." A ballerina like dancer dressed in a red and bluish suit spun on herself before standing straight (1200/1600). "And I'll also play one card face-down."

"Time to throw down. First I'll summon the Elemental Hero Sparkman." A gold armored man with a blue visor appeared on Jaden's field in a flash of electricity (1600/1400). "Then I'll have him attack your Etoile Cyber with Static Shockwave." The hero thrust his hand forward and threw a stream of electricity at the female monster.

"Hold it right there. I activate the trap card Doble Passe." The electricity flowed around her monster and struck Alexis' disk.

Alexis: 4000-2400

"This turns your monster's attack into a direct attack on me. Then the monster you were about to attack gets to do the same to you." The ballerina started to glide towards Jaden. "And when Etolie Cyber attacks directly, she gains 500 attack points."

**Jaden**: 4000 - 2300

"Impressed?" Alexis asked, smirking.

"Impressed? I think I'm in love." Jaden chuckled as he stood up.

"Oh that's sweet...too bad I have to crush you." Alexis snickered as she drew her card. She looked down at the card and smiled.

"Now then, where were we? I play Polymerization to fuse Etoile Cyber and the Blade Skater in my hand, to summon Cyber Blader." A purple and gray woman with skate blades on her arms and feet appeared on the Obelisk's field and disappeared with her other monster in a whirlwind. When it dissipated, in their place stood a woman dressed in gray and orange, with a visor and skates (2100). "Now attack Sparkman with Whirlwind Rage." Her new monster spun on herself and slashed the hero with her skate.

Jaden: 2300 - 1800

"Well it'll be my pleasure to prove you wrong. My turn. I activate the field spell Fusion Gate. With this, I can summon fusion monsters without polymerization. So I'm going to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman." Jaden's red and green hero landed in front of him (2100). "Since they both have the same attack points, I'll play the spell card Kishido Spirit. Now my wingman can battle with any monster that has the same points as him and still survive. And with his effect, after he destroys your blader, you lose life-points equal to her attack points. Now go Flame Wingman and attack Cyber Blader." Jaden's hero gathered fire in his dragon hand as he dashed towards his enemy. He slammed it into her and though she cried out, she stayed unharmed. "What? How did she survive?"

"Simple. When my opponent has only one monster, Cyber Blader can't be destroyed in battle."

"But that means…"

"I don't lose any life-points."

"Can't say I expected that."

"Here's something different for you to expect. I equip my Cyber Blader with the spell Fusion Weapon." The skating monster's right hand transformed into an orange trident. (2100-3600 ATK, 800-2300 DEF)

"Guys, you might want to brace yourselves for this one."

"Attack the Flame Wingman with Trident Shock." Her monster shot a blast of electricity similar to that of Sparkman that hit Jaden's monster head on.

Jaden: 1800 - 300

Northern side of the island...

"It shouldn't be this hard to find a unoccupied dorm." Ryan grumbled.

He was annoyed with the lack of progress when suddenly a metal gate came into view.

"Ah ha there you are." He exclaimed and then pushed the gate open to head inside in the hopes of finding something to explain the disappearances. Hopefully he got it done and returned before curfew.

Back with the duel...

"Oh...looks like your Life Points are running a little low, Jaden." Alexis commented, "I do hope neither one of you have unpacked your bags yet."

"Yeah, because if you lose, you're all getting expelled!" One of her friends added in a sing-song voice.

Jaden frowned, "That's not gonna happen...I promise."

*'He really shouldn't make any promises he can't deliver.* Alexis thought frowning.

*'I probably shouldn't make any promises I can't deliver.'* Jaden thought as he looked at his duel disk. '*The only card I have out is Fusion Gate, and I have two cards in my hand. The end of this duel depends on what I draw right here, right now!*

He drew his card and his eyes sparkled, "Perfect...,"

Alexis blinked, seeing the look in his eyes, "Hm?"

"First off, I summon the Elemental Hero Clayman (800/2000) to the field!" He placed the card on the field and the bulky rock Hero appeared in front of the Slifer boat. Jaden's smile grew, "Also, I play the spell card Monster Reborn to bring back my Elemental Hero Sparkman!" A torrent of charged wind blew across the lake as the blue and gold Hero appeared next to Clayman.

Alexis frowned, "What difference will *they* make? My Cyber Blader has way more attack points than either of them!" she reminded, "Not one of them will last against my monster!"

"Heheh...maybe they won't, but I'll use the effect of Fusion Gate to call forth someone who *can*. Arise, Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (2400/1500)!" Jaden commanded. His Sparkman and Clayman stood back to back and began to spin around until a thunderbolt shot down from the sky and struck them both. With an almight battle-cry, a huge monster appeared in their places.

It looked like a modified Clayman, only it had yellow pieces of armor on the upper half of it's body, purple armor on it's lower half, and a giant sparkling orb in the middle of it's chest.

"Hate to break it to you." Alexis glanced at the new monster, then at Jaden, "But my monster still has way more attack points by 3600."

Jaden sighed loudly, "I know, I know...but you see, my Thunder Giant has a special ability. He can automatically destroy any monster on the field with an original attack strength less than it's own..."

"Original attack points..?" Alexis murmured.

The brunette nodded, "Meaning a monster with attack points that didn't have any enhancement whatsoever."

"But...," Alexis began to understand, "Before I played Fusion Weapon, her attack points were 2100!"

Jaden grinned, "That's right. So that means that your Cyber Blader is automatically destroyed!"

Thunder Giant roared and flew to the Cyber Blader, then placed it's hand over her head. A bright light erupted from his palm and Alexis' monster was destroyed in seconds.

"Also, the coolest thing about this is...," Jaden looked straight at her, "I still have his attack phase to use. So now I'll attack your Life Points directly with him! Go Thunder Giant, attack her with Voltic Thunder!"

Once again, Thunder Giant's hand glowed and a torrent of electricity flew outward and rammed directly into Alexis. She fell to her knees as her Life Points were diminished.

Jaden: 200

Alexis: 0

"A deal's a deal. I won so me and the others are free to go."

Alexis nodded, "Yeah, I know. We'll keep quiet about what went on here, Jaden..."

Her red haired friend scowled and put her hands on her hips, "If you ask me, we should report them to the Chancellor!"

"That wasn't the deal. He won, so they're free to go." Arisa reminded her.

"It was a close duel." Jaden admitted.

Alexis smiled as she watched them go, *Even if I did win. I don't think I could've turned them in. This place is a lot more interesting with those four around...*

Not too far away, Crowler was treading water angrily. He had seen the entire duel and couldn't believe that his plan didn't work at all like he had planned. "Lucky brat...he got out of this trap, but I'll find a way to expel him!" He muttered before looking around the dark lake, "As soon as I find a way back home..."