The day had arrived, after a week of being suspended from duel academy and hanging out with his spirits, the time had finally come for him and Alexis to have their tag duel. He needed to do good, to make sure that Alexis isn't expelled from the school.
Clay walked to the shop, having agreed to meet Alexis there for a pre match discussion, try to come up with a couple of strategies they could use and just get their nerves under wraps. In Clay's mind, it was just going to be Clay trying to give Alexis a pep talk.
'Surely the female will be able to hold her own, it is her future at stake.' Anotherverse spoke from within Clay's mind.
'That's the reason she's going to be panicking, if she messes up then her future at duel academy is done. I doubt I can carry the both of us through the duel.' Clay walked into the shop, moving over to the tables they met at before to discuss improvements to Alexis' deck.
Clay waited a couple of minutes before Alexis arrived, rubbing her arms in worry. She walked over to Clay and sat down across from him, waiting for him to speak up and claim something ridiculous that everything would be alright.
"I'll be honest with you; I don't think we can win." Clay spoke bluntly making Alexis go wide eyed and look at the boy with rage. The amount of apathy that he spoke those words with, the way he was checking his nails instead of being serious was astonishing.
"If you think we can't win then why did you bother joining me in this duel!" If he was here to make a mockery out of the duel then she was better off going back and packing her bags right now.
"Because I want you to prove me wrong." Clay looked her straight in the eyes, making her gulp a small bit. "I said you couldn't fight for yourself, well now's your chance to prove me wrong on both accounts; by winning the duel and fighting for yourself."
Alexis sat still in shock, wondering how Clay could say something like that. Then it occurred to her, he had her focusing on proving him wrong, not worrying about the chance of her losing. He could've gone about doing that in a different way, but it achieved the same effect.
"Thanks," she quietly spoke. She didn't know if Clay heard her as he simply stood up and patted himself down. Looking at the clock, Alexis realized that it was nearly time for the duel to begin. "We should head to the auditorium before the duel begins."
The two left together, silent the entire way to the dueling stage where Chancellor Sheppard and Dr. Crowler were waiting for them.
"Good, you're here. The duel is about to start." Chancellor Sheppard spoke as he eyed the two of them. "Remember, this is going to be a tag duel, you need to work together in order to win." With his words of wisdom spoken, Sheppard walked away from the two and to his seat in the stands.
Crowler looked at the two of them, his emotions going wild at what he was doing. He cared about his students, and Alexis was one of his best students. The chance that she could be expelled was already something that he didn't want to think about, but with the opponents he found for them, it was a very real possibility.
"Alexis, in order to make sure that you prove you deserve your place here, I had to call in professionals." The sound of people running towards the stage was heard. "Meet the professional tag-team duelists, THE PARADOX BROTHERS!"
Two people leapt into the air, flipping over the group that was standing on the dueling platform. Both were bald, a tattoo on their forehead. One was wearing an orange jumpsuit, while the other was wearing a green jumpsuit.
The crowd roared at their entrance, and the bothers gave bows of their heads to the crowd before turning to look at their opponents.
"These are the ones that are kicking up a fuss?" The brother wearing the orange jumpsuit spoke, Para.
"I have to say, they don't look like much." The second brother wearing the green jumpsuit finished the rhyme, Dox. (A/N: I might go insane from trying to think of the rhymes for these two.)
"But if they wish to keep their schooling," Para spoke up moving to one side of the arena with his brother.
"Then perhaps we should get dueling!" Dox ended as they turned around with their duel disks in the ready positions. Crowler looked to his two students and motioned for them to move to their positions as well.
"All we need to do is win this. Easy." Alexis whispered to herself, not knowing that Clay could hear her. He smiled to himself, if only it was going to be easy.
The two reached their positions, turned around and prepared their duel disks. They looked at each other and nodded their heads. They were ready.
"I'll announce how this duel will go!" Crowler spoke into the mic as he stood in the middle of the arena. "As this is a tag duel, both teams share life points 8000 of them. The teams are not able to look at the cards in their partners hand or discuss strategy, but they are able to make use of the monsters on the field. One cannot attack directly if there is a monster on one of the team members fields, so not targeting anyone. With that finished, let this duel begin!"
Crowler moved off the platform, staying by the edge so he could pay close attention to the duel and what his students were saying.
"We will let you take the first move," Para spoke, smirking at the two teens in front of him.
"Better hope you won't lose." (A/N: kill me now) Dox continued.
"Hey, it's your loss!" Clay announced. Clay and Alexis had spoke when they were editing her deck that Clay should take the first move in the duel, so he did just that. "I draw!" Clay looked over his hand, trying to think of a good move to use. "I'll set this monster in face down defense position and end my turn."
A card appeared on Clay's side of the field, followed by a dark thorny creature that was obscured by shadows. It had glowing red eyes, fierce and ready to defend.
"A quick turn, let's hope it doesn't mean anything for this duel. For your sake. I draw!" Para drew his card, also giving a glance at his hand and trying to think of the best play. "I'll summon my Giant Germ in defense position, then I'll set this card face down and end my turn." A large purple orb appeared on the field, tiny feelers moving around as if with a mind of their own.
Giant Germ: Atk 1000 Def 100
"My move," Alexis drew her card, adding it to her hand before pulling out another card. "I'll summon my Cyber Gymnast in defense mode. Then I'll set one card face down and end my turn." In front of Alexis, a tanned, buff woman wearing a mask and with long blonde hair appeared and knelt in front of her, crossing her arms in defense.
Cyber Gymnast: Atk 800 Def 1800
"Finally, it's my turn!" Dox started his turn. "I'll play the spell card Reload allowing me to add the cards in my hand back into the deck, shuffle it and draw the same number of cards that I sent." Dox sent his 5 cards back and drew new ones. He looked over them and smiled to himself. "I'll summon my Giant Rat in attack mode."
A large grey rat appeared on the field, holding a human skull in its right hand. It looked at Clay and Alexis before chattering its buck teeth at them.
Giant Rat: Atk 1400 Def 1450
"Giant Rat, attack that face down monster!" Dox declared his attack and the rat squealed at the monster and charged. Clay's face down monster turned to face the rat, but before they could do battle something interrupted them.
"I activate the trap card Negate Attack, stopping your attack and ending the battle phase." Alexis played her face down card stopped the attack, Dox's rat moving back to its position in front of him.
"Perhaps this duel will be interesting after all." Para started as he watched his brother monster chatter its teeth in frustration.
"It's only interesting till the fall." Dox finished as he looked at his hand and selected a card to play. "I'll play a face down and end my turn." The card appeared in front of him as he set it.
"And it's back to me. I draw!" Clay drew his card and smiled. "I'll summon my Soitsu to my field in attack mode. Come on out buddy!" A portal appeared above Clay's head and from it, a paper plane appeared, and on that plane a green man. He flexed his muscles to the crowd earning him some chuckles.
Soitsu: Atk 0 Def 0
"The bozos giving you trouble boss? Need me to give them a good thrashing?" Soitsu spoke, though only Clay could hear him.
"That's the plan. I'll flip my Scapeghost into attack mode!" Clay flipped his card, revealing 4 ghostly lambs with glowing white eyes. They floated around a bit, leaving a trail behind them. "When Scapeghost is summoned I'm allowed to special summon as many tokens as possible to my field." The lambs moved away from one another, each taking up a spot on Clays field with Soitsu in the middle.
Scapeghost: Atk 0 Def 0
Black Sheep Token: Atk 0 Def 0
"Now I'll play the spell card Double Summon, giving me an extra normal summon this turn. I tribute my Scapeghost and one of my tokens to summon Koitsu in attack mode!" Two of the sheep floated to Clay, nuzzling up to him before moving to his graveyard. Another portal appeared over Clay's head, another plane coming through, this time with a blue man doing a handstand.
Koitsu: Atk 200 Def 100
"Oh yeah, it's go time!" Koitsu bounced around on his plane, righting himself so he was standing before throwing a few punches.
"I can equip my Koitsu onto Soitsu, allowing me to raise my Soitsu's attack to 3000 and if he attacks a defense position monster then he inflicts piercing battle damage!" Koitsu flew his plane around, docking it with Soitsu's plane before he leaped onto Soitsu's plane and sat down.
Soitsu: Atk 3000 Def 0
"Soitsu, attack that rat! Green uppercut!" Soitsu's plane rocketed forward at the rat. Before it could even react, Soitsu was underneath it's chin and leaped up, punching the rat in the chin. It exploded in a shower of golden particles before Soitsu returned to his plane.
Clay & Alexis: 8000
Para & Dox: 6400
"You've activated my Giant Rat's effect!" Dox declared after his monster was destroyed. "When it is destroyed, I am allowed to summon an Earth monster from my deck with 1500 or less Atk to the field in attack mode. I choose my Labyrinth walls!"
Walls of yellowed stone appeared in front of Dox, a gateway into the maze that was the labyrinth facing Clay and Alexis.
Labyrinth Walls: Atk 0 Def 3000
"This duel is just beginning!" Para declared as he began his turn, drawing his card.
"And I don't think you'll be winning!" Dox finished.