Misha: After nearly a year, I finally managed to update this. And just in time for my birthday on Monday (July 25th)!

Still, sorry for the wait, guys. It's really not much of an excuse, but I did finally get a job earlier this year that's been keeping me pretty, so, you know…

Anyway, I'll just shut up now and let you read the chapter, if you're still even interested. Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or any of its characters (however, the OCs are mine). All other rights belong to Kazuki Takahashi & co.

Chapter 23: Birthday Wishes

"Which one? Which one~?" I quietly sang to myself as I flipped through the pages of my music book, having a pretty hard time deciding which piece I should go with. After all, this was an opportunity that didn't come around very often, and I really wanted to make it count…

"What are you doing up there?"

I managed to unglue my eyes from the pages of musical notations in front of me and looked down from my spot atop the Slifer Red Dorm's roof, soon spotting Zane, who was currently staring up at me.

"Oh, hi!" I waved to him, my face lighting up. "If you want to know the answer to that, why don't you come up here and find out?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

I shrugged. "Unless you would prefer carrying on our conversation like this~"

"Fine..." the third-year sighed in defeat and, within a few minutes, he was right up there on that roof with me. "There. Happy now?"

"Very," I replied with another smile before leaning forward and giving him an affectionate kiss on the lips, which he readily reciprocated.

Afterwards, I decided to take a break from what I had been doing, opting instead to rest my head against Zane's shoulder and just enjoy the scenery for a while.

"It's pretty nice up here, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess it is," he agreed, his focus now directed towards the same place as mine as he lazily twisted a lock of my long hair around his finger. "But the nice view isn't the only reason why you're up here, is it?"

"Mmm... Yeah," I admitted, looking down at the many pages of sheet music resting on my lap. "I mainly came up here to clear my head and try to figure out just what song I want Jaden to play with me next Sunday."

"Sunday, huh?" Zane mused. "So I take it that it must have something to do with your birthday, then?"

"Heh... Right again," I affirmed with short laugh, although I admit that I was rather impressed with his guessing skills and the fact that he even knew when my birthday was, for that matter. "See, you'd probably never guess it from the way he acts or anything, since he makes it pretty obvious that his interests lie elsewhere, but my big brother is actually a really amazing pianist. I absolutely love hearing him play, but since I know he doesn't care for it all that much, I usually don't bother asking him very often… But at least I won't have to worry about him saying no this time around!"

"And why is that?"

I smiled. "Because a long time ago, Jaden and I promised to always try our best to make each other's birthday wishes come true, and this year—like just about every year—what I want more than anything is for him to play just one little duet with me. All I have to do now is decide on the perfect song..."

"Perfect, huh?" Zane echoed. "I guess this must really mean a lot to you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does," I agreed with another small smile, which Zane returned.

"Well, in that case, good luck with that, then."

"Heh... Thanks!"

Well, it took some time, but I eventually settled on what I thought would be the best song for Jaden and me to play. In the end, it was actually Zane that helped me decide. When I was going over my top choices with him, he mentioned how I apparently seemed to become much happier every time I came back to this one specific song, so, obviously, I decided to go with that one.

Anyway, when the 22nd of May finally rolled around, Jaden and I decided to kick off our birthday the same way we did every year, even though we had to wake up at the ungodly hour of four in the morning in order to do so…

"The weather's been pretty awesome lately, hasn't it?" Jaden commented as he and I stared up at the stars, which were gradually getting harder and harder to see due to the darkness that was night slowly beginning to fade away.

"It really has," I agreed, kicking my legs back and forth lazily as they dangled over the seaside cliff we were currently relaxing on. "I guess that's one of the good things about being on a semi-tropical island. Personally, though, I'm just glad that it doesn't seem like it's going to rain on us like it did last year..."

"Aw, but you have to admit, even that wasn't so bad," he insisted.

I let out a quiet scoff, thinking that that comment was something of an understatement. "Not that bad? We got completely drenched, remember?"

"It's kinda hard to forget," Jaden confessed, chuckling a little at the memory, "especially after that long lecture Mom gave us about not climbing up on the roof in the middle of a thunder storm...for the sixth time."

"Heh, yeah... And on top of that, we didn't even get to really see the sun coming up that day since the rain clouds were way too dark..."

"Well, at least we won't have that problem this year."

Following my brother's outstretched index finger, I shifted my gaze to the east, where nothing but the vast sky and open sea could be seen.

The firmament was growing lighter by the second, pearly pink clouds coming into view that contrasted nicely with the wild blue yonder, and then, suddenly, the golden rim of the sun began to ascend above the horizon, releasing rays of yellow, orange, pink, and red that seemed to all sparkle in the air. It was like an explosion of color—a very slow, very lovely explosion.

The impossibly vast array of hues was absolutely beautiful, leaving streaks as they came in contact with the sky, and the way they all reflected off the ocean like a broken mirror just made it all the more breathtaking.

In all honesty, I think that had to be one of the most wonderful sunrises I had ever seen...

I turned my head to look back over at Jaden and smiled. "Happy birthday, big brother."

"Thanks. Right back at ya, sis," he said with a grin of his own before pulling out something from his jacket pocket. "Oh, and here—These came in from Mom and Dad yesterday." He fanned out two white envelopes.

Getting a look at the postmarks in the top corners, I saw that one was apparently sent from Hong Kong, China, while the other one came all the way from New York, New York in the United States, which clearly meant that both our parents were out of the country on business... again. But it's not like that mattered too much this time around, I suppose, since Jaden and I weren't home right now, either, meaning that we wouldn't have been able to celebrate our birthday with them anyway...

Taking the letter scribed in my mother's neat handwriting, I opened it up and read its contents while Jaden did the same with the one that came from our father. After we were done, we switched and each read the other one. They both pretty much said the same thing, basically: The both of them wished Jaden and me a happy sixteenth birthday, reminded us not to get into too much trouble, and expressed how much they loved us and that they were looking forward to spending time with us when we come home for summer break.

I really hoped that that last part was true. I mean, even though I was pretty much used to my parents not being around all that often, that didn't mean that it was something I was all that okay with... The only reason I was really even able to put up with it at all was because I had Jaden with me. He was defiantly my rock, and I just know that I would be hopelessly lost without him. That was just one of the many reasons why he was the best big brother ever, for whom I would do absolutely anything. Speaking of which...

"By the way, Jaden, did you already decide one of the things that you want us to do today?"

"Heh, sure did!" he confirmed. "How about you?"

I nodded excitedly. "Mmhmm! I can't wait for us to play together again. It's been forever since the last time, after all!"

"It's only been a year, or so..."

"I know, but it sure feels like forever!"

Jaden rolled his eyes a little at that, but gave a good natured smirk, nonetheless.

"Anyway, do you think we should head back to the Slifer Dorm now?" I asked, already starting to get up from my spot, but I was stopped halfway through when Jaden suddenly grabbed me by the hand.

"Not yet!" he got out in a rather rushed tone, but then, as if realizing how suspicious that sounded, soon added in a much calmer voice, "I mean, there's no need to go back so soon, is there? After all, it's such a nice morning, and it's not like we have to hurry and get ready for class today, or anything."

Although I was the least bit curious as to why Jaden apparently wanted to keep us from going back to the Red Dorm at that moment, I decided that it was better not to question it, since it would be crazy for me to pass up some extra alone time with my dear big brother, so instead I just sat back down, smiled, and said, "Okay!"

I enjoyed spending the rest of the morning alone with Jaden so much that I didn't even mind that he was apparently using it as some sort of way to distract me. From what, I wasn't all that sure, but it's not like I was complaining, though.

"Wow, I can't believe that it's already past noon," I mused as we were finally making our way back to the Slifer Dorm. Time sure flies when you're having fun, I guess, even if said fun mainly just consisted of casual cloud watching, idle chitchat, and peacefully napping on patch of soft grass... "I don't think you and I have spent that much time alone together since before coming to Duel Academy…"

"Yeah, you're right," Jaden agreed, and then immediately chose to embarrass me by adding, "Especially since you seem to be spending a lot of your free time with Zane these days. Just what do you two even do alone over by that lighthouse, anyway? Nothing indecent, I hope! Though that hickey you've been trying to hide the past few days does make me wonder..."

"B-Big brother!" I whined, slapping him on the arm while I used the other hand to hastily conceal the aforementioned bruise on the side of my neck with a few locks of hair, my face completely flushed now.

He just laughed, easily fending off the weak assault I attempted to wage upon him. "Relax! I was just kidding!"

"Sure you were..." I mumbled under my breath as I finally let up, knowing a little too well that Jaden wasn't always as naïve as everyone else seemed to think...

"Anyway," he spoke up again after briefly checking something on his cell phone (which I noticed that he seemed to be looking at a lot today, for some reason...), "why don't we head over to the Slifer cafeteria now to get something to eat? I don't know about you, but I could really go for some food."

"Aww, but I really wanted us to play that song I picked out already..." I half-pouted.

"There'll be loads of time for that later, I promise!"

"...Oh, alright, then," I sighed, relenting in almost record time.

"Great!" he cheered victoriously and then proceeded to haul me off to the desired destination. "Well, here we are!"

"Uh-huh..." I affirmed, even though I did think loudly announcing the obvious was pretty unnecessary when the darn dining hall was literally right in front of us, plain as day. "So, are we going to go in, or what?"

Without even waiting for a reply, I slid the door open all the way, and as soon as I did, I was instantly met with several loud popping sounds and bursts of colorful paper shreds flying all around.

Since I certainly wasn't expecting anything like that to happen, I wound up leaping backwards with a startled shriek and surely would have fallen over if Jaden hadn't been right behind me to stop my descent.

"I guess maybe those 'extreme party poppers' really were a bit much after all..." Syrus muttered thoughtfully.

"Ya think?" Chazz grumbled, brushing off the few pieces of confetti that had gotten stuck in his oh-so cool hair.

After my initial surprise wore off and I regained most of my composure, I realized that besides those two, Zane, Alexis, Bastion, and Chumley were in the room as well. At that point, I also noticed that the dining hall's rafters had been decorated with several colorful steamers and paper chains, complete with a banner that read 'Happy Birthday!' on it.

And that's when everything finally clicked for me. "Oh, look, big brother... Your friends threw you a surprise party!"

Everyone in the room nearly collapsed to the floor after hearing that comment, for some reason, including Jaden.

"Actually, Crystal, the truth is, we threw this party for you," he admitted.

"Huh? You...did?" I uttered in disbelief, honestly surprised to learn that, though I guess that would explain why Jaden had been trying to keep me preoccupied all morning, now that I think about it... But still... for him and the others to bother going through all this trouble, for me, of all people, was just so...so...

"Crystal, are you...crying?"

Confused by Alexis's sudden inquiry, I brought my fingertips to the corner of my eye and soon discovered that a tear really had formed there. I was super quick to wipe it away, however.

"N-No! Of course not," I fibbed, a tint of pink now dusting my cheeks. "I just got a bit of confetti stuck in my eye, or something..."

The look on everyone's faces seemed to say that they didn't quite buy that lame excuse, but they decided to humor me anyway by at least pretending like they did.

"Um, at any rate," I started, after I was sure I wasn't going to do anything else to embarrass myself, "it was really nice of you all to go out of your way to do all of this. I really don't know what to say other than, well... thank you." I then quickly gave them all a courteous, near-ninety-degree bow in an effort to express my gratitude.

"There's really no need to be so formal, Crystal," Jaden insisted, managing to coax me back into a normal standing position. "I mean, we're all friends here, after all."

Friends, huh? Although I still sometimes had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of actually having any, it was moments like these that made it just a little bit easier to believe.

I smiled. "Yeah... I guess you're right."

"'Course I am," was his cheerful reply. "Now, let's go have fun with everyone, okay?"

Before I even had a chance to respond to that, Jaden was already dragging me off towards the others and whatever festivities that awaited.

Even though I didn't have too much experience with birthday parties, since Jaden and I never really had all that many growing up, I still like to think that this one was pretty nice. I mean, it had all the typical stuff you'd expect from such an event: yummy cake, an off-key rendition of that embarrassing birthday song (as was customary), and even presents.

I was a little surprised by that last part, though, since I thought the party was more than enough, but I was still happy with what I received.

I ended up getting a few new cards for my deck from Syrus, Chumley, and Bastion (when in doubt, Duel Monsters cards really did seem like the safest thing to get a fellow Duelist, I noticed), while I got a new book from Alexis (cheers to being well-read!), and Chazz was nice enough to give me a pair of pretty silk hair ribbons (because he thought that they would "look good on me," he said, which I actually found rather sweet). Jaden bought me a box of brand new guitar picks (since the last good one I owned sort of snapped in half during this one particularly intense jam session, which was also why these new ones were made of metal), and from Zane, I received this really fancy-looking black and red hand fan, which I particularly loved just because it meant that he remembered one of the first conversations we ever had with each other, when I randomly mentioned that I happened to be fond collecting fans (okay, maybe more than just 'fond'; I had a few dozen decorating the walls in my room back home alone, and a lot more stored in other places around the house, after all...).

As for Jaden, besides the new headphones I bought for him, he got nothing but Duel Monsters cards as gifts, and just seemed to over the moon about that.

All in all, I had to admit that I had a great time hanging out with everyone, and it was only about to get even better, because with everyone here, that meant that they could enjoy Jaden's other gift to me almost as much as I was going to.

Yes, after making a quick visit to my room to get my instruments, and then taking a few minutes to set everything up, the time for my long-awaited duet with my brother had finally arrived.

"You mean the slacker can actually play piano?" Chazz snorted incredulously as Jaden somewhat begrudgingly sat in front of my portable keyboard. "Now, this I gotta see!"

"And just wait until you do~" I sang. "Jaden's wonderful, after all!"

"Why is it that you have no problem bragging about me, and yet get all embarrassed and act like you're gonna die whenever I so much as try to sing any of your parses?" Jaden wondered, an amused smirk on his lips.

'Why is it that you only seem to like to make smart observations at my expense?' was what I was almost tempted to fire back, but I held my tongue.

"I'm pretty sure that's what you'd call a 'double standard'," Syrus commented on Jaden's earlier remark.

"I-It is not!" I denied.

"Oh really? How do you figure?" Alexis questioned, the mirth clear in her tone.

"Because... Because I said so!" I oh-so cleverly retorted and then just dropped the whole subject altogether after that as I practically shoved a small stack of papers in my brother's face. "Anyway, here you go, Jaden."

He took a few moments to look over the sheet music I had given him.

"'Dearly Beloved'... So, this is the song you wanna play, huh?"

I nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh! The Concert Paraphrase version, to be exact."

He shrugged. "Well, at any rate, it's a nice choice, and at least it's not impossibly hard like the one you picked last time."

I rolled my eyes a little at the last part of his comment, since I knew he was exaggerating, but I smiled at the fact that he seemed to be happy with the song selection this year.

When I was quickly done triple-checking to make sure that my violin was tuned the way I liked it, I turned my attention back to Jaden. "Okay, big brother, are you ready?"

"...As I'll ever be," he replied, giving his knuckles a good crack and adopting a more appropriate position in front of the ebony-and-ivory-colored keys before him. Even though it had kind of been a while since Jaden had played anything, I was confident that he would to just fine. After all, the composition I had picked out was one that we both knew well, but on the off-chance that he had forgotten some parts, he had the sheet music for reference, so it was all good either way since his sight reading skills had always been pretty great as well. "How about you?"

"Oh, you know I am," I replied with a playful wink, my violin already propped up against my chin while I held the bow just centimeters away from the strings in anticipation.

"Alright then..." Jaden said with one last sigh before he put his game face on, so to speak, and finally began to play.*

And, God, was it amazing. Even though my little Yamaha keyboard wasn't able to produce as powerful a sound as the baby grand piano we had back home, I honestly thought that Jaden's playing was just as perfect and on-point as ever, and I only enjoyed it that much more when it was finally my turn to join in and make it a real duet.

For someone who claimed to have a low affinity for the piano, Jaden sure was good at putting genuine emotion into every note he played, which I was grateful for since it encouraged me to produce a sound that was as equally heartfelt. The result was a powerful yet beautiful melody that had me in utter bliss throughout the entire performance.

But, alas, time really does seem to pass by far too quickly when you're doing something enjoyable, because before I knew it, the song was almost over. Rather than lament over that fact, though, I made the most out of the time that remained, holding my very last note for as long as I could while I watched Jaden's fingers rapidly flutter across the keys, the notes running together like crystalline droplets before he brought his hands crashing down on the piano keys one last time as the song finally reached its end.

Jaden and I both let out a sigh after that, though for different reasons, I'm sure.

As much as I wanted to squeal like the schoolgirl I technically was and start raving about how great I thought that whole thing was right then, I figured that that would probably be too embarrassing for both Jaden and me, so instead I just gave a warm smile and thanked him for playing with me.

"Sure. It was nothing," he insisted, grinning back at me.

"'Nothing'? Guys, what you did just now sounded amazing!" Syrus suddenly blurted out, which surprised me at first since I had sort of forgotten that he and the others were even in the room for a minute there (oops)... But still, hearing that comment made me very happy, and then even more so when everyone else couldn't help but agree with it.

By that point, I was beaming with pride. "Wow, did you hear that, Jaden? They thought you were amazing!"

"Don't you mean 'we'?" he corrected.

"Hmm... I thought that kind of went without saying, but okay... We thought you were amazing, big brother!"

"Huh? No, that's not what I mea-Oh, forget it..." Jaden sighed, deciding to just let me have that one.

"Anyway, Crystal," he went on, "since we finally finished fulfilling your birthday wish, I guess that means we can move on to mine now, right?"

"Of course! Just name it and we'll do it," I agreed without hesitation. "So, what did you have in mind, anyway?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you already know the answer to that…" he replied, a knowing smirk now gracing his features.

Such an expression was nearly enough to send my heart into overdrive, but I held it together long enough to realize what he had in mind, at which point I just let out a quiet sigh and said, "Yeah, okay—You're on..."

Out of all the things Jaden could have chosen for us to do for the rest of the afternoon, he, of course, decided that we should have a duel. A 'no-holds-barred duel where we both give it our all,' to be more specific, which I guess I did kind of owe him, considering I did sort of throw the last duel we had when I let myself lose…

I mean, ever since I pretty much had a handle on my powers, I didn't have to worry about always causing damage to everything around me whenever I dueled, which meant I could actually make good on Jaden's wish this time around. Hopefully...

Anyway, we were now both outside the Slifer dorm, standing a good distance away from each other, just about ready to start.

The others had followed as out as well, watching us from the sidelines.

"So, you remember what I said, right, sis?" Jaden asked.

I nodded before reciting, "'It doesn't matter who wins or loses, as long as we both give it everything we have.'"

"Exactly!" he exclaimed with that wonderful smile of his as he activated his duel disk. "Now then, get your game on, Crystal!"

"Right!" I complied, activating my duel disk as well.

We both drew our opening hands in synchronicity and cried out, "Duel!"

"I'll make the first move. I draw!" I declared as I added a sixth card to my hand.

When I looked down at my cards, I saw that I was starting out with Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, Call of the Haunted, Polymerization, Masked Dragon, Ancient Rules, and Dark Magician Girl.

Well, I defiantly wasn't going to be able to start big with a hand like this, but I still saw loads of potential in it.

"Okay—here it goes. I summon Masked Dragon in Defense Mode."

In front of me, the red-and-white-scaled masquerading dragon appeared with a loud roar (ATK 1400/DEF 1100).

"And with one face-down, I end my turn," I finished, taking another card and placing it in my Spell/Trap Card Zone.

"Great, my move!" said Jaden, drawing his sixth card. "I think I'll start off by summoning Elemental Hero Bubbleman in Attack Mode!"

A warrior in a white cape, blue armor, and a water gun on its wrists materialized (ATK 800/ DEF 1200).

"Since I summoned Bubbleman while having no other cards on the field, his effect lets me draw two more cards." Jaden grinned as he did just that. "Next, I activate Polymerization and use it to fuse Bubbleman with the Burstinatrix in my hand to create Elemental Hero Steam Healer!"

Elemental Hero Burstinarix briefly appeared next to Bubbleman before the both of them jumped into the fusion vortex to create a new monster. It was a warrior clad in purple and red mechanical suit with these odd tubes coming out of the back (ATK 1800/DEF 1000).

"And to give him even more fire-power, I'll play H-Heated Heart, which will raise Steam Healer's Attack by 500 and give him the ability to inflict piercing damage until the end of the turn."

Steam Healer was suddenly surrounded in a blazing aura as his Attack Points rose to 2300. Well, damn…

"Now go, Steam Healer! Take out Crystal's Masked Dragon!" commanded Jaden, his Hero soon destroying my monster with a forceful punch.

I cringed slightly as my Life Points went down by 1200. "I activate Masked Dragon's Special Ability," I announced. "When's he's destroyed in battle, I can Special Summon another Dragon to the field, as long as its Attack is 1500 or below, and I think I'll go with my Darkblaze Dragon."

In an instant, my four-winged black and orange dragon came to take Masked Dragon's place on the field (ATK 1200/DEF 1000).

"Nice one," Jaden laughed. "But Steam Healer has an effect of his own, you know. Since he destroyed your Masked Dragon in battle, I now gain Life Points equal to its Attack Points."

Right then, Steam Healer dowsed Jaden in a cloud of steam that soon brought his Life Points up to 5400.

"Finally, I'll throw down a face-down and hand things back over to you," my brother finished as a reversed card appeared at his feet and his Steam Healer's Attack dropped back down to 1800.

"I guess it's a good thing that you were able to buff up your Life Points a little," I commented as I drew my next card. "After all, since you told me not to hold back, you're going to need all the help you can get! I sacrifice Darkblaze Dragon to Summon Dark Magician Girl in Attack Mode."

As Darkblaze vanished in a golden light, the bubbly apprentice of the Dark Magician soon appeared on my field (ATK 2000/ DEF 1700).

"Oh, wow! It's Dark Magician Girl!" I heard Syrus nearly swoon from the sidelines where he and the others were watching.

Obviously hearing him, too, Dark turned his way, giving him a smile and a flirtatious wink, which caused the little Slifer's cheeks to turn almost as red as his jacket.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Focus, please."

"What do you mean? I'm always focused!" she insisted, and then turned her attention back to the field. "Ah, so we're dueling your brother today, huh? What's the occasion?"

I opened my mouth to answer the Duel Spirit, but she quickly broke out into giggles and said, "Oh, I'm just kidding! Of course I know what today is! Happy birthday, Crystal, Jaden."

"Thanks," we both replied.

"Anyway," I said then, going on with my turn, "next I activate my face-down card, Call of the Haunted, and use it to bring back my recently departed Darkblaze Dragon."

As if rising back up from the depths of Hell, Darkblaze Dragon returned to the field in a fiery inferno that exploded from the ground.

"And because he was just Special Summoned from the Graveyard, his effect now activates, which will double his original Attack and Defense," I said with a smirk as my dragon let out a fearsome roar while his Attack and Defense climbed to 2400 and 2000, respectively.

"Go, Darkblaze Dragon! Make that Steam Healer disappear, please!"

Well, even though he certainly was no Spellcaster, Darkblaze still did a pretty good job of making the enemy vanish by sending out a plum of red-hot fire from his mouth that completely incinerated the Elemental Hero in no time, taking 600 of Jaden's Life Points along with it.

"At this moment, my dragon's second effect activates," I stated with a snap of my fingers. "Because he sent your monster to the Graveyard by battle, you now take damage equal to your Steam Healer's Attack Points, big brother!"

Aiming right at Jaden this time around, Darkblaze Dragon let out another flamethrower-like blast that inflicted 1800 points worth of effect damage to Jaden.

"You're up, Dark Magician Girl," I called out to the blonde Spellcaster. "Attack Jaden directly!"

"Sure thing!" Dark smiled, raising her now glowing staff as she prepared to unleash a Dark Burning Attack.

But just as she was about to attack, Jaden cut in then, exclaiming, "Not so fast there, Crys! I activate my face-down, A Hero Emerges! With this, my opponent chooses one card in my hand, and if it's a monster, I can Special Summon it." After his Trap had been sprung, he held up the three cards in his hand, intending for me to pick one.

"Alright," I said with a short nod. "I'll go with the card in the middle, I guess."

Jaden skimmed his fingers over his cards and stopped at the one I had picked out, grinning. "Nice choice there, Crys! I summon Wroughtweiler in Defense Mode!"

As Jaden played the card, which was obviously a monster, a metal dog-like monster with a blue visor over its head appeared on the field, crouching down in a defensive position as it let out a howl (ATK 800/ DEF 1200).

"Fine—I suppose we'll just have to take out that mechanical hound of yours instead," I said as I pointed at Wroughtweiler. "You know what to do, Dark Magician Girl!"

"Of course!" she giggled right before she let loose a glowing pink orb of energy from her staff that made quick work of Jaden's monster.

Jaden didn't seem too sad to see the metal dog go, though, and I already knew why. "Since Wroughtweiler was sent to the Graveyard, its Special Ability now activates! I can add one Elemental Hero and Polymerization card in my Graveyard to my hand." Jaden smiled as he went digging through his Grave, in search for the appropriate cards. "I'll add Polymerization and Elemental Hero Bubbleman to my hand."

"Humph. The slacker sure got lucky with that Wroughtweiler card," Chazz huffed, his arms crossed.

"Indeed," Bastion agreed. "Not only was it able to save Jaden from taking major damage from a direct attack, its destruction allowed him to reinforce his hand."

"I see that you're just as amazing as ever, big brother," I said with a light laugh. "Anyway, that's it for me."

"Which means that it's my turn. I draw!" Jaden said, drawing his next card with ardor. "Since heroes always know how to make a good comeback, I'll bring Elemental Hero Bubbleman back out on the field!"

Jaden's Water-Attribute Hero appeared in front of him in Attack Mode for the second time this duel.

"And since Bubbleman's the only card on my field, I get to draw two more cards."

Judging from the look on his face after picking up those new additions, I could tell that Jaden was going to have plenty in store for me this round.

"Alright, Crystal, I play Polymerization once again to fuse the Elemental Hero Sparkman and Calyman in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!"

The two monsters disappeared into Polymerization's maelstrom, combined, and emerged as a great, armored electric giant (ATK 2400/ DEF 1500).

"Now it's time for Thunder Giant's special ability to kick in!" Jaden cheered. "When he's summoned, he can take out a monster whose original Attack Points are less than his, and I think I'll go with your Darkblaze Dragon!"

Jaden's Hero raised a hand in the air to draw forth his power, which soon sent down a lightning bolt that struck and vaporized my poor little dragon.

I let out a small gasp, sad to see the fate that had befallen my monster.

"But that's not all, because now I'll equip Bubbleman with Bubble Blaster, which raises his Attack by 800," my twin went on as he activated his Spell Card, which soon materialized this bazooka-like weapon with soapy water for ammo that Bubbleman soon took a hold of, causing his Attack Points to rise to 1600.

"Let's go, Thunder Giant," Jaden called out to his monster. "Attack Dark Magician Girl with Voltic Thunder!"

At once, the lightning-wielding Hero emitted a blast of crackling electricity from his hands, hurling it straight at the blonde Spellcaster on my field.

"Ahhh!" Dark Magician Girl cried out dramatically as she was hit by the blast and then destroyed, which took out 400 of my Life Points along with her.

"Aw, man! How could you do that to Dark Magician Girl, Jay?!" Syrus wailed to his best friend, actually taking Dark's departure from the field harder than I was…

Apparently recovering from that hit she took rather quickly, Dark Magician Girl suddenly appeared beside me in spirit-form to gaze upon the lamenting Slifer. "Aw… Poor thing…" she cooed."But it's so sweet to see how much he cares!"

I merely sighed at that comment, not really sure if I even wanted to attempt to respond to such a statement.

"Anyway…" Jaden went on, choosing to ignore his blue-haired friend for the time being as he focused on the duel, "since you're all out of monsters, Crys, that means that Bubbleman can attack you directly!"

The caped Hero fired a barrage of bubbles from his blaster then, which smashed into me, lowering my score to 800, just like that.

"Crystal's already down to less than 1000 Life Points," Alexis commented, noting the current scores.

"That may be, but it's still too soon to count her out just yet," Zane reminded.

Even though he ended his Battle Phase after Bubbleman's attack, Jaden still wasn't done quite yet. "Next, I play Mirage of Nightmare!" He slipped the Continuous Spell into his duel disk, flowed by one more card. "Then I'll throw this facedown and call it a turn."

"It's my move, then," I stated. "Draw."

After I picked up a card from my deck, Jaden suddenly smiled. "Time for Mirage of Nightmare's effect. During your Standby Phase, I'm allowed to draw until I have four cards in my hand."

I just shrugged a little as my brother went ahead and drew four new cards from his deck. "That's fine, but don't forget that you'll have to randomly discard four of the cards in your hand during your next Standby Phase," I reminded him of his Spell's secondary effect before going on with my turn. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Graceful Charity."

Thanks to my Spell's effect, I was able to add Monster Reborn, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and Pot of Greed to my hand, and then decided to ditch the Polymerization and Magician's Valkyria that I had already been holding. Afterwards, I activated Pot of Greed and gained two more cards in the form of Dragon Heart and Mystical Space Typhoon.

I grinned down at the six cards now in my hand, thinking that they were going to make this turn very interesting.

"I play Monster Reborn and use its effect to revive my Darkblaze Dragon," I went on, the aforementioned monster soon reemerged on my field in all his glory, his original Attack and Defense doubling once again since he had been revived from the Graveyard.

"Next, I activate the Spell, Ancient Rules, to Special Summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my hand in Attack Mode."

Just then, my pitch-black dragon appeared next to Darkblaze Dragon with a loud cry (ATK 2400/ DEF 2000).

"I know my Red-Eyes is already super adorable and all, but, as you know, he can get even cuter!" I gushed as I held up another card in my hand. "I now sacrifice him in order to call forth the Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon from my hand!"

A firestorm soon erupted around Red-Eyes, consuming him in flames as he was replaced with his more powerful incarnation. Darkness Dragon quickly dispelled the fire with his six razor-sharp wings, scattering orange embers everywhere, their light making his black and red body look even more beautiful (ATK 2400/ DEF 2000).

"Crystal sure does seem to be fond of that monster…" Chumley muttered, obviously noticing the dreamy expression on my face as I stared up at my dragon.

"If only I could get her to look at me like that!" Chazz vented.

"Fat chance…" Alexis deadpanned, instantly shooting down Princeton's pipedream.

"And thanks to his effect, for every Dragon-type monster in my Graveyard, Darkness Dragon grows 300 Attack Points stronger," I went on. "Since there are currently two, he gains 600 points."

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon roared loudly as he was soon enveloped in a dark purple light, taking in the essences of my fallen dragons and raising his Attack to 3000.

Jaden whistled. "Wow… 3000 points from the get-go?"

"That's right, and he's about to get even stronger," I added as I held up another Spell from my hand. "I activate Dragon Heart. In this turn, at the cost of not being able to Normal Summon or Set, I choose three Dragon-Type monsters from my deck and send them to the Graveyard. Then Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's Attack increases by 1000 until the End Phase."

After I sent Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Red-Eyes Wyvern, and Red-Eyes Black Chick to my Graveyard, Darkness Dragon became 1000 points stronger due to Dragon Heart's effect.

"Then, due to the three Dragons I just added to my Graveyard, Red-Eyes' Attack Points increase by another 900."

With another reverberating growl, my Dragon's Attack rose again, climbing all the way up to 4900.

"Alright, Darkness Dragon, let's take out that Thunder Giant, please!" I exclaimed, pointing at Jaden's electric Hero.

Without delay, Darkness Dragon unleashed his Inferno Dark Fire upon Thunder Giant, blowing him to bits and making Jaden's Life Point meter drop to 500.

"Since I know that Bubble Blaster's effect can be used to save Bubbleman from destruction and prevent you from taking any battle damage if I try to attack your monster head-on, I'll just get rid of it before then by activating this: Mystical Space Typhoon!" As I played the last card from my hand, a small cyclone emerged from the Quick-Play Spell, heading straight for the Equip Spell attached to Bubbleman.

"In that case, I activate my face-down card, Emergency Provisions," Jaden announced, his reverse card springing up. "By sending Bubble Blaster and Mirage of Nightmare to the Graveyard, I regain 2000 Life Points!"

So, before Mystical Space Typhoon could take out Bubble Blaster, it, along with Mirage of Nightmare, vanished from the field as a white aura surrounded Jaden, bringing his Life Points up to 2500.

With Bubble Blaster gone, Bubbleman's Attack returned to its normal 800.

"That was a nice save Jaden made," Alexis voiced with a smile. "He restored some of his Life Points, and now that Mirage of Nightmare is gone, he won't have to discard any cards during his next turn."

"Yes. And that move of his also assured that there will even be a next turn for him," Misawa added.

"Even so, Crystal still has her Darkblaze Dragon to attack with, which means…" Zane began.

"…The slacker's about to take some major damage," Chazz finished.

"Well, I don't know if I would put it as bluntly as Chazz did...but he's not wrong," I admitted with a slight smirk after Jaden and I were done overhearing what the others had to say. "At any rate, I'll now have Darkblaze Dragon attack Bubbleman, if you don't mind."

With a low roar, Darkblaze let loose a burst of hellfire that soon slammed into Jaden's remaining Hero, destroying him and costing Jaden 1600 more Life Points.

"Darkblaze Dragon's effect activates," I continued. "You now get hit with damage equal the Attack Points of your destroyed monster in the Graveyard."

The dragon threw his head back and fired off another blast of flames in Jaden's direction, leaving him barely hanging on with a mere 100 Life Points when all was said and done.

"Wow, Crystal sure likes playing rough," Chumley breathed. "She hit Jaden with 4900 points of damage in a single turn!"

"What else do you expect from the Queen of Overkill?" Syrus threw in, using that somewhat annoying title a number of people at the academy had apparently taken to calling me. I think it had some to do with my slight tendency of apparently sometimes going a little overboard when it came to inflicting Life Point damage... Eh, at least it beat being called a witch, though!

"With that, I end my turn, which means Dragon Heart's effect expires," I finally wrapped things up, Darkness Dragon's Attack falling to 3900 during the End Phase. While I could have used the effect of the Red-Eyes Wyvern in my Graveyard to bring out my Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, I decided to forego activating it at that moment since I wanted my Darkness Dragon to stay as strong as possible right now.

Jaden wiped off some sweat from his forehead with his jacket's sleeve, looking like he was having the time of his life, despite just taking all that damage. "This is really fun! I don't think we've ever had a more exciting duel, sis!"

My heart fluttered after hearing him say that, absolutely elated that I was actually able to make him so happy, something I used to think would be impossible to accomplish with my dueling. What an awesome birthday this was turning out to be!

"I'm... I'm really glad that you're enjoying yourself, big brother," I said with a deep blush, being careful not to let my inner excitement erupting all over the place, because no one really needed to see that. "Anyway, it's your turn now. Better make it count."

"Oh, I will!" Jaden exclaimed as he plucked out the top card of his deck. His eyes seemed to twinkle a bit when he glanced down at his new card, which obviously meant he had drawn something good. Of course. "I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart in Attack Mode."

Jaden's loincloth-wearing Hero materialized on the field, his tattoo-covered muscles taut as he clenched the hunting sword in his hands (ATK 1500/ DEF 1600).

"Next, from my hand, I activate the Spell Card, Wild Half," he added, inserting the aforementioned card into his duel disk. "This card activates if I have Wildheart on my field. It cuts your Darkness Dragon's original Attack and Defense in half, Special Summoning a Half Token on your field with the exact same stats and effects as your weakened dragon."

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's Attack lowered to 2700 immediately before he split into two, an identical dragon that was the Half Token suddenly appearing right beside him (ATK 1200-2700/ DEF 1000).

"Aw... Now there're two of them to love!" I gushed. "And even with only half of Darkness Dragon's original strength, their Attack is 2700, thanks to all the Dragons I have in my Graveyard, which will still make them pretty hard to beat."

Jaden just smirked, clearly up for taking on that challenge. "We'll see about that, because from my hand, I now activate Polymerization. I'll use it to fuse the Wildheart on my field with the Bladedge in my hand to Fusion Summon Elemental Hero Wildedge!"

The gilded Hero Bladedge briefly joined Wildman on the field before the two were sucked up by the fusion vortex in order to combine their powers. In their place came a muscular warrior in a visored helmet, armed with a gigantic serrated sword and gold armored plates (ATK 2600/ DEF 2300).

"Thanks to his effect, Wildedge can attack each and every monster on the opponent's field once during each Battle Phase."

"But, with only an Attack of 2600, it still can't surpass those Darkness Dragons..." Alexis vocalized what everyone else was thinking, I'm sure.

Still, Jaden obviously summoned that monster for a reason... I mused to myself before noticing that he still had that confident grin on his face, and the card he had drawn at the beginning of the turn, which he had yet to play, and that's when it hit me...

"You have Skyscraper in your hand right now, don't you?"

"Wow! How'd you know?" Jaden asked in genuine wonder.

"Well, that was actually just a guess, but that response of yours pretty much confirms it now," I confessed with a giggle.

"Whoops... My bad!" he laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "But since the cat's already out of the bag, I guess might as well play it already!"

With that, he opened up the Field Spell compartment on his duel disk and placed the last card in his hand inside. Within seconds, several tall buildings erupted from the ground, completely surrounding us and our monsters, and before I knew it, we were smack-dab in the heart of a thriving metropolis that any comic book hero would feel right at home in.

"While Skyscraper's on the field, if an Elemental Hero battles with less Attack than its opponent, this card ups its Attack by 1000 points!" Jaden proclaimed. "...But I guess that you already knew that, huh?"

"Of course, but I never get tired of you explaining things," I said with a wink, my good mood surprisingly still intact despite knowing full-well that I was about to lose. "Now go ahead and hit me with your best shot, Jaden. I can take it, no problem!"

"You got it, Crystal!" Jaden obliged as he switched over to his Battle Phase. "Go, Wildedge! Slay those Dragons with Scimitar Slash!"

Due to Skyscraper's effect, the Attack of Jaden's monster shot up to 3600 as he held out his gauntleted arm outfitted with a row of sharp-looking blades. After Wildedge took aim, two of the curved blades shot forward and soon made contact with the Half Token and Darkness Dragon, cleaving them both in half before they burst into thousands of pixels.

Swinging his mighty scimitar, the savage Hero then ran forward to lash out at Darkblaze Dragon, and although the he didn't receive the Attack boost from Skyscraper this time around, he was still able to slice right through my monster with ease and destroy him.

The combined force from those three attacks was more than enough to wipe out the remainder of my 800 Life Points, resulting in my complete and utter defeat.

"Looks like that's that..." Zane mused over the outcome of the duel.

"Yeah, but it was a great match," Alexis admitted. "Both of them really looked like they were giving it their all out there."

"That's for sure," Syrus agreed while the other boys nodded their approval.

As Jaden's monster and Field Spell vanished at the duel's end, I slid down to my knees and stared up at the now orange-colored sky. "Aw... I lost..." I muttered before a small smile etched across my face. "But, still... That was..."

"Yeah... That duel was amazing!" my brother finished for me, as if reading my mind. When I shifted my gaze, I saw that he was now standing right in front of me with a hand stretched out towards me.

I took it and he helped me to my feet, after which I immediately threw my arms around him in a tight embrace. "Thanks for today, Jaden. I really had a lot of fun."

He chuckled lightly as he hugged me back. "Same here, Crystal. Same here."

I sighed happily at that, deciding that this definitely was the best birthday ever.

*Note: When writing this, I had Joshua Chiu's version of Concert Paraphrase on 'Dearly Beloved' in mind, which was done as a violin and piano duet. Look up his video on YouTube, if you're interested.

Misha: I still feel pretty stupid taking so long just to write what basically amounts to a one-shot, but I still wanted to include it, so there you have it.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a review if you have the time. Later!

Random Fun-fact: According to the manga, Jaden's birthday is actually on August 31st (but for the purposes of this story, I made it May 22nd, just so I could make him and Crystal Geminis. :p)