So it's been awhile hasn't it? I'm now in college and am a busy dude. I've actually had like half of this typed for awhile now and just hadn't gotten around to finishing it. So I'ma keep this short and let the chapter commence.

Italics: Thoughts

It was around noon when Harry woke up. Remembering the events of the previous night caused Harry to frown a bit. There was too much that they didn't know about the Abandoned Dorm for him to feel comfortable. He also had to have a conversation with his father about what everything that had happened since he had arrived here.

Getting out of bed and quickly getting dressed, Harry left his room and made his way towards the private room that his father had in the main building where the chancellor stayed. To be honest he had a lot on his mind. There were the events of the night before, helping Alexis find her brother, whatever the hell was going on with him and Alexis, whatever was going on with his powers and his growing popularity.

Harry sighed as he exited the Obelisk boys' dorm and started walking towards the primary school building. Maybe this was why his father seemed mean and stand-offish to most people. He didn't really know everything that his father did as head of the company, but he assumed that the man had a whole lot of stress from being in charge.

'Maybe I could convince Uncle Mokuba to run the company for me when dad retires' Harry thought to himself. His uncle had a lot more patience than he did, mostly because Harry had inherited a lot of his father's personality traits. Snapping out of his thoughts when he realized that he had gotten to the door of his father's room, Harry raised his hand and knocked.

Hearing an, "Enter", Harry opened the door to find his father reading something on his laptop with narrowed eyes. Seto finished whatever he was reading and sighed as he stood up, "I know that I said we would have a talk this morning, however that needs to wait. You are being requested by the Disciplinary Action Squad."

Harry just stared at his father for a moment, his mind trying to register what he had been told."The Disciplinary Action Squad? Why do they need me? And why didn't they come get me themselves?" He asked as he turned around and walked to the door.

Seto opened the door and held it for his son, not answering until they had left the room, "It most likely has to do with what happened last night. That dorm is technically supposed to be off-limits. As for the second question, they know I'm here and probably thought that putting you under "campus arrest" and taking you from your room would make me upset with them."

Harry sighed to himself as he heard his father's answer. He had a feeling that this whole thing was just going to lead to trouble, and/or a situation that he didn't really feel like dealing with right now.

Harry was mentally kicking himself as he stood in front of four large screens, 'I hate it when I'm right!'. He stood with Jaden, Syrus, and Alexis with his father standing behind them, looking up at 4 large screens that were on the wall in front of them. One of the screens had a black haired woman wearing a beret that he assumed was the head of the Disciplinary Action Squad. The other three screens had Principal Sheppard, Crowler, and some guy wearing sunglasses.

Harry's eyes widened in shock as he was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the beret woman bring up suspension. He heard the Slifers let out their own exclamations of shock, and saw Alexis' eyes widen, but he didn't really acknowledge them. However, his shock quickly turned to anger; he had gone into that dorm to help his friend and this was the thanks he gets.

Turning his attention back to the screen, Harry noticed the black haired woman speaking, "That's what I suggest. You trespassed into the Abandoned Dorm, an anonymous letter from a faculty member and while the video might have cut out, audio from the surveillance tapes confirm it. You must be punished so that an example is set for all the students."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed the smile that Crowler had on his face. He could bet just who exactly had sent the "anonymous letter". But he didn't think Crowler would want to get rid of him or Alexis, so it was the surveillance tapes that must have done them in.

It seemed though that Crowler had an idea however, "But what kind of example are we setting? That we are a bunch of hard-hearted tyrants? I suggest we do something more sporting."

This statement peeked Harry's interest, he had thought that Crowler would jump at the opportunity to get Jaden out of the school. He figured that Syrus would probably just be seen as a bonus for the feminine-looking man. "What exactly do you mean by sporting?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Crowler seemed to grimace when he looked towards Harry, confirming Harry's suspicions that Crowler didn't want him gone, before answering, "Well Harry off the top of my head. How about a duel? Jaden partners up with Syrus, and you partner up with Alexis, and if you win you're cleared. If you lose, you're expelled."

Harry's eyes widened at the man's answer, 'So that is his plan. Jaden has to team with Syrus, who is a weak duelist, and they could lose and Jaden is gone. Me and Alexis are the top two students in our class, so it's almost guaranteed that we will win. Not bad Crowler, not bad at all.' He couldn't help but admire the man's plan. It seemed like he was giving Jaden and Syrus a chance to save themselves, but in reality he was attempting to make sure they lost.

"Enough" Seto spoke, startling everyone in the room except Harry. It seemed that they had forgotten that he was in there. He walked in front of the group of teenagers and looked up at the screens before continuing, "Nobody is going to be suspended or expelled. These children were in the Abandoned Dorm because I gave permission to my son to explore it. I also told him explicitly that he was not to go alone. These three simply accompanied him."

Harry smirked as he heard his father talk to the teachers. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that Jaden was about to speak and elbowed the boy in the ribs. When Jaden looked towards him, he gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Jaden seemed to have gotten the message and closed his mouth.

On the screens, the teachers, except for Crowler seemed to have accepting looks on their faces. Crowler on the other hand, looked like he was seething, however there was nothing that he could do. If he tried to dispute the claims, he would be calling the most powerful man in the world a liar. The fact that the same man could fire him on the spot also played a role in his decision to remain silent.

Kaiba looked back towards his son and smirked, "However I like the idea of the tag duels, so they will still take place. There will be no risk of expulsion however."

The smile came back to Crowler's face as he seemed to think he could turn this in his favor once more, "May I take care of the opponents then Mr. Kaiba?". If he couldn't get Jaden expelled, then he could at least embarrass the boy in front of all his peers.

Kaiba turned to look at the lipstick-wearing man, "You can set-up the opponents for the two Slifers. However," He turned around and smirked at his son, "I will be choosing the opponents that my son has to duel."

Principal Sheppard then spoke, "Then it seems that we are in agreement. The tag duels will take place three days from now."

Harry was deep in thought as he laid sprawled across a couch in his father's private room, waiting for his father to return from talking with Shepard. He had told Alexis that he would talk to her after he talked with his father. They were going to have to make sure that their decks would work together well.

The black haired teen was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the door open and saw his father enter the room. "So, I'm not sure if I should thank you for what you did or curse you."

Seto smirked at his son as he sat behind at the desk the room had, "I wouldn't thank me until you've dueled. I'm not going to give you some jobbers for opponents."

Harry sighed as he heard his father's answer. Yeah he should have expected something like this, he may get almost everything he wanted from his father, however that didn't mean his father didn't like to mess with his son like he was now. He shook his head before continuing, "Enough about that, I have some questions that I need to ask you."

Seto let out a deep sigh of relief as his son left the room with a confused look on his face. Harry had asked him about feelings that the boy had for that girl that he had rescued the night before, Alexis. Kaiba was caught completely off-guard by the boy's questions. He didn't have much, if any, experience the opposite sex outside of business interactions and dealing with Yugi's friends. Neither of which gave him much useful advice that he could impart onto his son.

Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, Kaiba opened up his laptop once more and found himself looking at the readings that the psychic scanner on Harry's duel disk had let off the night before. More specifically, he looked at them from the time that his son had been trapped in an actual Shadow Duel.

Harry was the first duelist ever with these psychic powers, at least that had been discovered, so every experience that happened with them was like traveling into the unknown. Neither Yugi nor Marik had much insight into how to train the abilities, however the three of them combined had managed to teach Harry to control them.

Thinking back to the Shadow Duel that had taken place the night before, Kaiba narrowed his eyes. As far as he knew, there had been nothing on the island that should have triggered the duel, yet somehow it had happened. He needed to get Marik and Yugi here to investigate, he wasn't willing to risk anything happening to his son.

A smirk crossed his face as a thought appeared to the head of Kaiba Corp. He couldn't wait to tell the boy's "aunts" about the boy's problems. He was sure that they would have tons of advice for the boy. Putting that amusing thought aside for the moment, Kaiba pulled up another page as he tried to decide who exactly he would have dueling his son.

A chill went down Harry's spine and he just knew in the back of his head that his father was responsible for the feeling. He didn't know how, and he didn't know why, but he knew that his father was plotting something that was going to cause him more grief in the future. He shook it off as he continued towards his dorm room, he had to grab his deck and then go talk to Alexis.

Harry was walking down the road towards the girls dorm when he heard his name called. Turning the black haired teen saw Chaz running towards him. Raising his eyebrow as his friend approached, he wondered what Chaz wanted. "What is it Chaz?" He asked as his friend caught him to him.

"Did you hear what happened?" Chaz asked with a smirk on his face.

"That depends on what exactly you're talking about." Harry asked. There were only two things that he could think the boy was talking about. Either the whole school knew about what had happened at the Abandoned Dorm, or somehow the whole school had found out about the tag duels that were scheduled.

"Jaden and that other Slifer have to duel in a tag duel against some opponents of 's choosing. They're going to get demolished." Chaz said, the smirk on his face growing. Harry sighed, it seemed that the school had somehow found out about the tag duels. He bet that Crowler had told everyone in an effort to embarrass the Slifers when the time came.

"I have a tag duel of my own Chaz." Harry told his friend as he continued walking back to his dorm. He needed to grab his deck and duel disk. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chaz catch up to walk beside him.

"Really? Why do you have a duel? Who is your partner?" Chaz asked with a raised eyebrow.

"In the order that you asked. Yes really. I have to duel for the same reason that the Slifers do, because I broke a rule and this is my punishment. And my partner is Alexis." Harry answered as he continued walking. He stopped after a couple of steps when he noticed that his friend was no longer walking beside him. He turned around and saw Chaz gaping at him. Raising his eyebrow he asked, "What?"

Chaz shook his head before he caught up to his friend and asked in a strange tone, "Why is Alexis your partner?"

Harry didn't know why Chaz had the weird tone but ignored it and answered, "She's my partner because she was with the Slifers and I when we broke a rule. She didn't break it herself but there wasn't really anything that could be done. My father decided that we would be a team."

Chaz nodded as the two continued walking, "Do you know who your opponent is going to be?"

This caused Harry to sigh annoyed, "No. My father is choosing mine and Alexis' opponents. Knowing him it's going to be rather troublesome."

Chaz gave a laugh as he knew that the head of Kaiba Corp enjoyed messing with his son and the opponents he would chose would make for an entertaining duel. Arriving at the Obelisk Blue dorm, Harry and Chaz separated with Chaz having to work on some homework and Harry having to grab his things.

Harry went to his room and grabbed his duel disk and deck before leaving and heading towards the girls dorm. He hummed to himself as he did so, trying to figure out who his father would chose to be his opponents. Knowing his father, they would either be stronger than average in order to force Harry to reveal more of his deck or they would be of average strength, but be as annoying as possible just to mess with the teen. 'Honestly, it's a coin flip as to which option he'll choose. But, knowing my luck he'll get the most annoying duelists possible and they'll still be rather strong.' Harry thought to himself as he walked down the path.

He sighed to himself and decided to just focus on what he could control at the moment and that was making sure that both he and Alexis were as prepared as they could be for whatever his father threw at them. He was shaken from his thoughts when he realized that he had arrived at the front gates of the building and looked up at the dorm. He had to admit that it was a rather impressive sight. Taking out his PDA, he sent Alexis a message telling her that he was outside.

As he waited for the blonde girl, Harry sat down and let his powers spread out a bit to see if he could replicate the event from last night when he had been able to sense the Obelisk Blue girl. As he closed his eyes, Harry noticed that while he wasn't able to sense everyone he could pick out some particular individuals. He sensed Chazz in the direction of the Obelisk boys dorm and could faintly make out Jaden and Syrus in the direction of the Slifer dorm. He opened up his eyes when he noticed Alexis's presence getting closer to him.

Looking towards the door he saw Alexis making her way towards him with her duel disk on her arm. As she made her way out of the gates Harry pushed himself to his feet and greeted her, "Yo."

Alexis smiled and said, "Hey," after greeting the Kaiba Corp heir, she gained a slightly serious expression, "Now where should we do this?" She asked as she held up her duel disk.

Harry gained a contemplative expression as he answered, "Well we could either go into the forest or we could go into the duel arena. It's your choice."

Alexis thought for a moment, "Let's go into the forest, there's less chance of people watching us there, and it also lowers the chance that your fangirls find us."

Harry shuddered at the mention of his fan club before answering, "Let's hurry there then, I don't want those demons finding me."

Alexis laughed at her friend's reaction and the two quickly made their way into the forest, with Alexis leading and Harry looking around to make sure that there were no fangirls following them. The two stopped when they came across a clearing that had two stumps that were facing each other and were close enough for them to talk.

As he sat on one of the stumps and faced the blonde, Harry said, "Ok, so let's get down to business. We've both seen each other duel, but it wouldn't hurt to go over our strategies. I use a combination of effects and lower leveled monsters to synchro summon and then use the synchro monster's effects and sheer power to overwhelm opponents."

Alexis nodded as that went along with what she had witnessed, however she did have a question, "What exactly is a 'synchro summon'? You're the only person that I know of that uses them and while I've seen them, I'm still not exactly sure how they work."

Harry tilted his head to the side as he often forgot that only him and Pegasus really knew how the synchros work. Him, because he was the only person in the world that used them at the moment, and Pegasus because he made the cards. He shook his head and answered, "Ok so to synchro summon I use a tuner monster and a non-tuner monster and send them to the graveyard to summon a synchro monster. The combined level of the tuner and non-tuner have to be exactly equal to the level of the synchro monster. Some synchros have specific monsters that have to be used, but that is the basis."

Alexis gained a contemplative look as he digested the information. It seemed rather simple based on what she had seen; though based on the last part, she had a feeling that it could get rather complicated. She shook herself out of her thoughts and responded, "Ok then, that makes sense. My strategy is to deal large amounts of damage while still protecting my monsters and focusing on either ritual summoning some of my monsters, or fusion summoning Cyber Blader."

Harry nodded, he hadn't seen her use ritual summoning but he hadn't really been able to see much of her deck when she dueled Jaden, he smirked, "Well we shouldn't have too much trouble working together since we have similar styles."

Alexis smirked back before a thought hit her and her smirk turned to a frown, "Do you know anything about who your father is having us duel?"

Harry's smirk changed instantly and an annoyed look came across his face, "No and if I know him it will be a way for him to make me reveal more of the cards in my deck and annoy me at the same time."

"So that means that we are most likely going to be in for a challenge?" Alexis asked as she tried to think of who the head of Kaiba Corp would choose. If it was meant to be a challenge, that counted out nearly all the students at Duel Academy, with the exception being Zane. With students discounted, that only left either the teachers or someone who didn't have anything to do with the school.

Harry nodded, "Most definitely, and knowing my father it's going to be people that he has either beaten in the past, or someone that he could run over anytime he wants too."

Alexis sighed, that didn't narrow down the list of potential opponents at all. Seto Kaiba was once the number one duelist in the world and was currently only second to the King of Games, Yugi Muto. "That doesn't really help. It would probably be easier for us to list people he hasn't beaten yet."

Harry laughed before answering, "In that case we can definitely count out Yugi. Pegasus, Bakura, Marik, and maybe Joey would also be out. I could see father wanting me to beat Joey though"

Alexis scowled at the teen before answering sarcastically, "Well it's a good thing that we can count out the King of Games, the creator of the game, and the duelists that are the third, fourth, and fifth best duelists in the world. That narrows our possible opponents down soooo much."

Harry reached out and put his hand on her knee, "Relax Alexis, it won't be anybody that my father doesn't think we can beat. All we have to do is work together and we can beat anybody."

The blonde stopped scowling and blushed as she looked down at the black haired teen's hand. Forcing the blush away she looked into the emerald eyes of the teen and was taken aback by the confidence she saw in them. Nodding her head, she replied, "Ok then, I'll relax. That doesn't mean we shouldn't make sure our decks work well together."

Harry smiled when he saw her calm down, "I don't see us having much of an issue but you are right. We don't want to be caught off-guard during our duel. Let's get to work then."

The next couple of hours passed by quickly as the two fifteen year olds went over combinations and strategies for their duel. Harry's prediction was indeed correct, as the two's decks flowed together nearly seamlessly and caused their teamwork to be impressive for two people that had never teamed together. "Well I think that's all we can do for now." Harry told the girl as he looked over at her.

Alexis smiled at the Kaiba Corp heir and responded, "I guess you're right. Our decks work well like you said and we have strategies planned out. There's really nothing else we can do without knowing our opponents."

Harry nodded his head and stood up, "Yup, now enough of this. I need a bit of a break from duel talk." After he stretched a bit, he offered his hand to the blonde to help her up.

Taking the hand and allowing the emerald eyed teen to pull her up Alexis laughed and said, "Why don't we walk down by the shore then?"

"As long as we get out of this forest, I don't care where we go." Harry answered as he let go of the blonde's hand and the two started walking in the direction of the shore. Harry suddenly got a thought as the two walked, "Have I ever told you about the pranks I pulled when I was younger?"

"You actually dyed his hair pink?!" Alexis asked shocked as the two walked along the cliffs that overlooked the water.

Harry laughed as he walked, "Yeah, he was really mad about it too. Kept saying something about sending me to the Shadow Realm as he chased me. I don't get why he was so mad though, it was temporary and washed out."

Alexis just shook her head at her crush's behavior, "Only you would dye Marik Ishtar's hair pink and wonder why he was mad about it."

Harry nodded his head, "Yup and another time I-", he was cut off when the two heard a voice talking over the sound of the waves. "Want to go check that out?" Harry asked Alexis as he looked in the direction of the voice. The voice sounded recognizable but he couldn't figure out who it was.

"Sure, it could be interesting." Alexis answered as the two walked towards the voice.

The Obelisk Blue teens found the source when they came across the large Slifer Red, whose name was Chumley, looking off the edge of the cliff and saying, "This is just practice for your upcoming tag team match so go easy."

Harry looked over at Alexis, "I guess we found Jaden and Syrus."

"Then you're guess would be right." Alexis answered as the two walked towards the black haired Slifer.

When they were close enough, they were able to hear the teen say to himself, "Of course, I'm not sure if Jaden knows how to go easy."

"That's probably a good thing." Alexis said, startling the teen as the pair walked over to him. Harry smirked at the reaction, 'Oh I'm totally going to try and prank him at some point'. Though he had to agree with the large teen, he doubted Jaden was able to go less than 100%. The only thing that the brown haired Slifer seemed to think about was dueling, 'Honestly he kind of reminds me of Joey.' Harry smirked at that thought, if Jaden was Joey that made him his father.

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Alexis say, "It means I know Dr. Crowler and he's not going to be matching them up with any pushovers. Both Syrus and Jaden are going to need to be at their very best."

"She's right, knowing Crowler he is going to want to embarrass them in front of everyone." Harry said, agreeing with the blonde, before continuing, "And while I'm sure Jaden can handle himself just fine, it's Syrus that's the issue."

Both Alexis and the big Slifer nodded their heads in agreement before turning their attention to the shore as Jaden said, "Alright Syrus, get your game on buddy and let's have some fun!"

Harry looked at the short blue-haired teen and noticed that while Jaden had a big grin on his face and was ready to go, Syrus had a frown and didn't seem like he wanted to duel at all. In fact, he was just barely able to make out what the Slifer said, "Sure fun, I guess we might as well squeeze some in before we get embarrassed in front of everyone."

Harry frowned at the boy's answer. Sure, the blue haired teen wasn't the best duelist but that was just pathetic. 'There's a difference between being nervous and being sure that you're going to lose' Harry thought to himself as he looked down at the two Slifers. Alexis noticed the frown on his face and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, causing Harry to shake his head at her. The blonde looked at him quizzically before turning her attention back to the duelists.

He returned his attention to the duel as Jaden started, "Alright here I come Syrus, I summon Elemental Hero Avian (Lvl-3/Atk-1000/Def-1000) in attack mode and I'll throw down a face down. Your go." As Jaden's went about his turn, a large green man with wings appeared on the field. Harry nodded to himself as he watched, it was pretty much how all of Jaden's duel started from what he had seen.

Syrus sighed as he started, "Alright, let's see." The black haired teen raised an eyebrow when he saw Syrus brighten up and smile, 'Oh? Let's see if he can actually do anything now.'

Jaden seemed to have noticed the smile too, "Oh what's that smile about? You got something?"

And just like that, Harry noticed the blue haired teen shrink into himself again and frowned, "Really? The boy is a mouse."

Alexis frowned at her friend's comment but couldn't disagree with what he said. Instead, she settled with saying, "Let's just see what happens."

"Yeah I think so. Patroid (Lvl-4/Atk-1200/Def-1200) attack mode." Syrus said, a grin coming across his face as a humanoid car wearing a police hat appeared on the battlefield. 'So Syrus uses a machine based 's a lot of potential there if he uses his cards right' Harry thought to himself as he observed the duel. Personally, Harry wasn't very confident in the blue haired Slifer's ability to harness that potential.

"Go, Siren Smasher!" Syrus commanded with a smile as his monster charged forward with the siren wailing causing Harry to grimace at the annoying noise.

"Not so fast! I got a trap, Negate Attack." Jaden responded as Patroid's attack was cancelled, and the robot was forced back.

Harry sighed as he watched the duel, "Do people just forget when Jaden uses facedowns?" Seriously, it seemed like people ignored the other cards in the brown haired teen's deck and just focused on the fusion monsters. And while those fusions were useful and powerful, there was more to the boy's deck then just those.

Syrus became somewhat dejected when his monster's attack was stopped, "Aw man, I should have known that your facedown was a trap."

"Duh, Sy walked right into that one." The larger Slifer stated as the three teens not dueling looked down. Harry couldn't help but nod at the boy's words. It was blatantly obvious that it was a trap from the moment Jaden had played it.

Whatever the boy was going to say next was cut off when Professor Banner's cat showed up and rubbed itself against his legs. "This isn't a good sign. There's no way they'll stand a chance in the tag match if Syrus plays like this." Alexis pointed out.

"You're right but I don't know if he can do any better," Harry told the other two as he folded his arms across his chest before continuing "He doesn't seem to have any competitive fire whatsoever."

The trio's attention was again returned to the duelists as they saw Syrus kneeling and drawing something in the dirt, "Aw boy don't you think that dirt is just the coolest Jaden?"

Harry's jaw dropped when he heard what the boy said, "He can't be serious right now, can he? Is that really all it takes to make him shrivel up? It's only the first turn for god's sake."

Alexis couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the way Harry talked about the blue haired teen, "Why are you so harsh towards him?"

The black haired Obelisk looked towards the girl and tilted his head, considering her question, before answering, "He was talented enough to get into this school, albeit barely from what I read. That means that he at least has some skill, yet he throws away the duel after the first turn because something didn't go his way. The boy's lack of confidence is horrid. To be honest, it's almost pathetic."

Alexis frowned a bit at the way Harry dismissed Syrus but couldn't say anything in response as Jaden spoke up, "Sy don't crack up yet, you just made one mistake that's all." The heir to Kaiba Corp could appreciate Jaden trying to help his friend, however he considered it to be a wasted effort. Syrus just didn't seem to have to drive that the best duelists had.

"Yeah coming to this school." Syrus responded dejectedly as he stood up, causing Harry's eyebrow to raise. Did Syrus not want to be a duelist? This academy was the most prestigious in the world and just the fact that the boy had been accepted made him a better duelist than a lot of teens his age.

"No you just forgot to use Patroid's special power is all. He let's you check out one of your opponent's face down cards once per turn. You could have seen my trap." Jaden explained to his blue haired friend. Harry nodded his head at Jaden's explanation, somewhat surprised that the brown haired Slifer knew that.

"Yeah I know I'm no good. I don't belong here." Syrus stated. Harry's face twisted to a scowl at those words. The blue haired Slifer was just causing the Kaiba Corp heir's opinion of him to lower each time he opened his mouth.

"Wow slow down there, I didn't mean anything like that." Jaden told his friend quickly. Harry could respect the brown haired teen's attempts to keep his friends spirits up, though personally Harry doubted that anything could be done to help Syrus.

"I know you didn't Jaden, I know you were just trying to help, it's just that," Syrus stuttered out as he stared at the ground.

"No look, you're right I shouldn't butt in. We're opponents right now and from here on out we gotta act like it." Jaden said as his grin came back.

"If Jaden starts to take this seriously, Syrus is going to get run over." Harry told Alexis and Chumley as they looked down on the two teens dueling.

"You don't think that Syrus has any chance?" Chumley asked while Alexis was wondering what the black haired Obelisk's answer. She personally didn't think Syrus had a chance, but she wanted to see what Harry would say.

The Kaiba Corp heir gave a harsh laugh before answering, "As he is now Syrus couldn't beat anyone at this school, let alone someone as talented as Jaden. He folds too quickly for him to be taken seriously as a threat to anyone."

Both Alexis and Chumley were somewhat taken aback by the brutal response but were both cut off from responding by Jaden starting his turn, "All right, game on!"

All three of the observing teens turned their attention back to the duel as Jaden drew, "I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (Lvl-4/Atk-1600/Def-1400) in attack mode!" The blue suited hero appeared on the battlefield with sparks surrounding him.

"Now Sparkman attack Patroid!" Jaden directed his monster, causing the hero to form a lance of lightning that he then threw at the machine (1200-1600=-400 (Syrus LP: 4000-400=3600)). "And now Avian attack Sy! Wingstorm Strike!" Jaden commanded his other monster, causing the winger hero to fly into the air and punch the blue haired Slifer, causing Syrus to fall on his back (Syrus LP: 3600-1000=2600). "Last I'll throw down a face down and that's it." Jaden finished his turn.

"Can I crack up now? I just got nailed on both of our turns, I can't win!" Syrus said with what looked like a smile on his face.

"Of course you can win Syrus, you just have to believe in yourself." Alexis told the boy as she looked down at the battle. 'He is incapable of believing in himself, that's the problem.' Harry thought to himself, he personally didn't think Syrus had any chance at beating Jaden.

"She's so right! Don't give up, I mean that's the first thing that they teach you in freshman dueling class. I should know I had to take it twice!" Chumley shouted down at his friend causing Harry to give a little laugh.

Harry himself just scoffed at the boy, he didn't have any advice for the blue haired teen because there was nothing they could do about his lack of confidence. If the boy was determined to be a failure, Harry would let him be a failure and not think twice about it. Alexis frowned as she saw the expression on her fellow Obelisk. She didn't think that Harry was a person that would be mean like this to someone and she knew that they would have to talk about it at some point.

Everyone watched as Syrus talked to himself and a determined expression appeared on his face. The teen stood up as Alexis and Chumley called down encouragement, Harry staying silent and watching with a slight sneer on his face. "At least Syrus is playing in the duel instead of in the dirt, now the question is how he'll play." Alexis said as they looked down at the two Slifers. 'If the first couple of turns is any indication, he'll do something smart, get foiled and fold again.' Harry thought to himself.

"All right," Syrus said as he drew and started his turn looking at his hand, "I'm throwing down the Spell Card, Pot of Greed." As he activated the card, the green pot appeared allowing Syrus to draw two more cards.

Everyone watched as Syrus' expression turned to one of shock as he looked at the cards that he drew. "What could he have drawn that would cause that look?" Harry asked as he tilted his head slightly, not expecting a response as none of them knew what Syrus could have in his deck. They all watched as Syrus seemed to be stuck in his thoughts as he stared at the card. They were all taken aback when the boy started to shake.

"Hey, you alright there Sy?" Jaden called to his friend.

This caused Syrus to snap out of whatever thoughts he was in as he went about the rest of his turn, "I play Polymerization and fuse Gyroid and Steamroid that I have in my hand to summon the Steam Gyroid (Lvl-6/Atk-2200/Def-1600)!" The two monsters appeared before being sucked into a portal and a large humanoid train with jets appeared in their place. "Now attack, Train Twister!" Syrus declared as his monster hit Avian in a jet of wind (1000-2200=-1200 (Jaden LP: 4000-1200=2800)).

Jaden fell to his knees as Syrus celebrated his move, "Alright gotcha! Had enough practice?" Harry shook his head at the boy. The peaks and valleys in this boy's confidence were insane. One move causes him to get a bit cocky, while one bad move would ruin him. There were some serious problems here that needed to be worked out.

Jaden laughed as he stood up, causing Syrus to be taken aback and Harry to smirk. He rather liked the brown haired teen's spirit when it came to dueling, the boy just seemed to have fun no matter what. "What are you talking about, 'have I had enough'? Sy you know the old saying, no pain no gain. With what I have planned, you stand to gain a lot." Jaden fired back at his friend.

"Alright Syrus you may be one of my best friends but for now we're rivals," Jaden said as he drew to start his turn, "And now I got the cards to treat you like one so brace yourself. Now I activate Polymerization. Elemental Hero Sparkman and Elemental Hero Clayman unite!" Jaden commanded as his monsters disappeared into the fusion portal.

"This duel is over now." Harry told Alexis and Chumley confidently with a small smirk on his face.

The two looked at him with raised eyebrows and it was Alexis who asked, "What do you mean by that?" Harry just shook his head and pointed down at the duel, the smirk not leaving his face. Alexis gave a small huff as she turned her attention to the duelists.

"Here he comes, the Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (Lvl-6/Atk-2400/Def-1500)!" Jaden said as a storm appeared over the battlefield causing the cat that Chumley was holding to jump out of his arms.

"That cat has got the right idea." Alexis said, not taking her eyes off the battle.

"Aw please, it's just another monster Alexis." Chumley stated a bit disbelievingly.

Harry chuckled causing the two to look at him, "That's not just another monster Chumley. Thunder Giant can destroy any monster whose attack is lower than his own." (Steam Gyroid Atk:2200)

Chumley seemed shocked, "Really? Guess practice may be getting out early for Syrus then." As the three talked, the bulky Elemental Hero lowered out of the clouds and appeared in his white and gold armor.

"Okay Thunder Giant, take out Steam Gyroid!" Jaden commanded, causing the hero to raise his finger in the air and cause lightning to rain down on the train monster, destroying it.

"Aww man that leaves me defenseless." Syrus said sadly, pointing out the obvious. 'And Jaden can still summon one more monster this turn' Harry thought to himself as he waited for the duel to end.

"Yeah it does, but I'm not done yet. Burstinatrix I summon you in attack mode!" Jaden said as he summoned the Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (Lvl-3/Atk-1200/Def-800). The female hero clad in red appeared on the field and flew around Thunder Giant for a moment before stopping.

"Now comes the double attack. Thunder Giant, Voltic Thunder!" Jaden said as the Giant formed a ball of lightning in his hands that he threw at Syrus (Syrus LP: 2600-2400=200). Syrus gave a cry as he was shocked.

"Now Burstinatrix, Flare Storm!" Jaden commanded, causing the female hero to shoot a blast of fire at the blue haired Slifer (Syrus LP: 200-1200=0). Syrus gave another cry as the blast knocked him backwards, causing him to land flat on his back.

"And that would be game! That was a good duel there Syrus!" Jaden said with a smile on his face as he looked at his fallen friend.

Syrus sat up as he responded, "I don't know about that. I didn't put up too much of a fight Jaden." Harry shook his head at the boy's statement, he had actually done better than the black haired teen had thought he would do.

"What are you talking about? Sure I was able to pull it out at the end but you made some sweet moves, you ought to be proud." Jaden responded as he walked over to the sitting Slifer.

"Although I got to admit that I'm curious about something. What was that one card that you drew but didn't play? You looked so excited" Jaden asked as he crouched down and took the card from Syrus. Harry was wondering the same thing, the blue haired boy acted like he had drawn some great card, yet nothing came of it.

"Power Bond?! Why didn't you use it? You would have doubled Steam Gyroid's attack points! You would have had one tough monster. You know what, on second thought for my sake I'm glad you didn't use it." Jaden said as he looked at the card. Now Harry was surprised, he didn't think that the unconfident Slifer had a card like that in his deck. Though it doesn't make sense that he didn't use it when he had the opportunity.

"You don't understand, my bro says I'm not good enough to use it and I probably will never be. And it's clear that you'll never be able to win the tag team duel if I'm your partner." Syrus answered as he took the card back and ran off leaving Jaden to call after him.

Alexis and Harry watched as the boy ran away, leading Chumley to chase after him. Harry shook his head, he was disappointed in the showing of the blue haired Slifer. "Let's go talk to him" Alexis said as she pointed down at Jaden who was staring at the water. Harry nodded his head and the two walked down to the shore.

"It seems that practice doesn't always make perfect huh Jaden? At least not when it's with Syrus it seems." Alexis said to the the brown haired Slifer as the two Obelisks approached.

Harry responded instead, "Of course it doesn't, we're talking about practice." The other two looked at him and he just shrugged, "We're talking about practice, not an actual duel. Real duels are the best place for a person to learn. I get that it's important, but we're talking about practice, we're not talking about duels."

Jaden shook his head, "I don't get it, he's such a cool guy. I just wish that he could see what I see, that the only thing that is holding him back is himself. I mean he had this primo card all set to play but he doesn't use it. And why? Because some brother of his said not too."

Alexis gasped at that but it was Harry who answered, "Ignoring the fact that you seem to have a messed up definition of cool, some people just don't have the fortitude necessary to succeed in this game Jaden. Syrus is one of those people."

"Hey, Syrus could totally succeed if he just got out of his own way!" Jaden fired back, defending his friend.

Harry just shook his head before turning to the blonde teen, "What is it Alexis? What do you know that we don't?"

Alexis nodded at the two, "Yeah that brother of his goes to this school and you've both probably heard of him too."

This caused both Harry and Jaden to raise their eyebrows. "What are you talking about?" Jaden asked the girl while Harry tried to figure out who she was talking about. It would probably have been easier if he had actually taken the time to figure out what Syrus' last name was, but he honestly hadn't cared about the blue haired Slifer enough to look him up. 'Yeah I'm totally drawing a blank on this one' Harry thought to himself as he tried to think of all the big players at the school.

"Hello? Third year Obelisk blue and number one duelist at this academy. He's the big man on campus, Zane! And he really is as good as his reputation." Alexis told the two, causing Harry to face palm. How could he forget about Zane? The teen was considered a lock to go pro once he graduated and was talked about as a prodigy that could become one of the top duelist in the world not long after he finished the academy.

"Yeah? Well I'll tell you Alexis it doesn't sound like he's very good to his little brother." Jaden responded as he turned back to look at the water. "Man I wonder what happened between them." Jaden said.

"Whatever it was, it's not our place to pry into into Jaden." Harry told the boy. Whatever happened between the two brothers was something that they would have to sort out themselves. Though considering Syrus' attitude, there was a good chance that it would never happen.

"Oh I'm not going to pry. I'm going to duel this guy and find out what's up." Jaden told the two causing Alexis to gasp and Harry to smirk. Jaden definitely had the proper spirit for a duelist, something Harry could respect.

"Jaden you're not listening! Nobody messes with Zane." Alexis said to the Slifer with a serious look on her face.

"They do when their tag team partner is not dueling up to snuff cause of him. Besides I want to see how I stack up!" Jaden told her, grinning in anticipation. Harry nodded his head approvingly at the boy's statement. A duelist always needed to push themselves and battle the best, it was the only way a person could get better. It's why he tried to duel his family as often as possible.

Alexis just shook her head as she responded to the brown haired teen, "You go get him Jaden."

"Alright, look out Zane! I'm coming for you" Jaden declared as he fist pumped before running off.

The two Obelisk students watched him leave before Harry turned to Alexis, "You don't think he has a chance against Zane do you?"

The blonde haired teen gave a small smile, "No, there's a reason that Zane is number one. Jaden may have talent but Zane is on a whole nother level."

"He may not win, but Jaden is showing the fire that he needs if he wants to be the next King of Games. You always need to push yourself in order to be the best." Harry said as the two started to walk back towards the school.

Alexis nodded her head before frowning slightly as she remembered that she wanted to talk to Harry about Syrus, "Harry I was wondering what you have against Syrus? You don't seem to like him and it doesn't seem like you to act like someone is below you."

Harry closed his eyes as he walked and tried to figure out the best way to answer, "I guess my problem with him is his lack of confidence. The boy was talented enough to make it into this school, albeit barely, that makes him better than most teens his age. Yet he cripples himself by folding as soon as something doesn't go his way. If he doesn't want to duel with any fire then he should just get out and stop taking up a spot that someone else could use. I grew up surrounded by the top duelists in the world and they all brim with confidence, they go into every duel thinking they can win. They're all alphas who will fight their hardest to come out on top. They know that they can overcome any obstacle that is placed in front of them. I see the same thing in Jaden and you. Alphas that are confident that they can take on anyone and get past anything. Those are the people that succeed and rise to the top, not people who crumble at adversary. They are destined to be followers."

Harry stopped walking when he realized that his blonde friend wasn't beside him anymore and turned to see her standing at him with her mouth slightly open and raised his eyebrow. She hurried to catch up to him before responding, "Not everybody can be like that though. And what about people like Mindy, Jasmine and Chazz? You get along fine with them."

Harry shook his head, "You're right not everybody can be alphas, but those that want to be great duelists should all aspire to become alphas. I also don't dislike all those that are followers, however if you don't duel with any confidence, I'll probably not be fond of you.I don't know Mindy and Jasmine well enough to judge them and I haven't seen either of them duel yet. As for Chazz, while he pushes confidence into the realm of arrogance, he still will fight and claw his way past anything that stands in his way. That's why he has an issue with Jaden, he sees him as an obstacle that he has to get past."

Alexis reluctantly nodded as she guessed that she could see his point even if she didn't like it. "I don't really agree with your point of view but I can see where you're coming from."

Harry just nodded his head and the two walked in silence for a moment before Alexis realized something, "Wait did you say that I'm one of those so-called alphas?"

Harry blushed slightly as he answered, "Yeah, of course you're one. Between not giving up on your brother and your ability and confidence as you duel, you cover all the bases."

Alexis smiled as the two arrived back at the girls' dorm and said, "Well then this was an enlightening discussion, now I'm going to relax for a bit." As she finished speaking, she gave the black haired teen a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying inside the gates.

Harry watched her walk towards the doors with a slightly stunned expression on his face before snapping out of it as he heard Vanadis giggling at him. Narrowing his eyes he turned to look at the fairy, "Yeah laugh it up tiny." This didn't stop the fairy from giggling, in fact it just caused her to laugh more at him. Giving a huff the teen walked back towards his dorm trying to ignore his monster. As he walked a smile appeared on his face as he thought about the blonde that kissed him, 'You may have won this round Alexis, but I don't like losing.'

So Harry didn't duel this chapter, sorry about that folks. This chapter did show off more of Harry's opinion on people and did set up some stuff for later. It also gave some development between Harry and Alexis. If you get the part where Harry is talking about practice let me know. Review if you enjoyed it!