6 Corruption

Clay walked over to the down girls, a smile plastered on his face over his victory. Seeing he had knocked both the girls out he was concerned that he would indeed get expelled for his rough dueling. Walking away, Clay headed towards the lake where Jaden and Alexis were having their duel, hoping that they would forgive him eventually.

"I should at least bring them to Alexis shouldn't I? Damn it, why is being a good person so hard?" Stopping dead in his tracks, Clay returned to the girls and proceeded to wrap his arm around their waists. With the girls now stowed under Clay's arms he continued his walk to the lake.

Throughout the trek the girls never stirred, scaring Clay to believe that he indeed went too far. Arriving at his destination, he laid the girls back against the tree and checked their breathing. Confirming that the girls were indeed okay, Clay walked to the lake just in time to see the end of Jaden and Alexis' duel. They weren't getting expelled for now at least.

"Hey! Clay did ya see me?" Jaden waved to Clay on the shore of the Lake. His signature smile was ever present on his face and Syrus could be seen with tears of joy. "We ain't getting expelled today, it looks like!"

The two duelists and Syrus rowed back to lake edge, hopping out of their boats. Alexis looked to Clay, thinking she would see a frown on his face, but instead she saw a guilty smile. Clay pointed in the direction of the two girls and Alexis followed the direction.

"What did you do to them? Why are they knocked out?" Alexis rushed over to her friends and checked their condition. After confirming that they were in no immediate danger she ran her way back to Clay demanding answers.

"Calm down will you. The duel just got a little out of hand and they couldn't handle the last attack. I carried them back here so you could bring them to the dorm." Clay explained what happened, but Alexis still didn't look convinced. What kind of duel knocked people out cold, even if they were intense.

"You better not be lying. I'll ask them what happened when they wake up, but if they say something bad, you won't just have to worry about being expelled." Alexis finally relented, walking to carry her friends back to the dorm.

"Phew, glad that's over. We should probably head back to our dorm, and Syrus, you have some explaining to do." Clay walked to the docks and hopped into a boat, followed by Syrus and Jaden.

They three paddled back to where they came from and returned to the Slifer dorm. Along the way Syrus explained why he was there, something about a fake love letter he found in his locker, and how sorry he was for getting the two boys in trouble.

"We have the dorm switch exam in a few days, so we should probably study for that soon." Walking up the stairs to their rooms, Clay tried to inform the two about the upcoming test. "If you guys study hard you'll eventually make it to Ra and then Obelisk."

"Lousy chance of that happening, I'll be stuck as a Slifer forever." Syrus had once again returned to his gloomy nature. "You and Jaden are destined to make it into Obelisk, I just know it. Someone like me will never make it."

"Cheer up Sy, you gotta work on you positive attitude. Who knows, maybe you'll make it before me." Jaden Patted Syrus' back as he encouraged his friend. "Well, thank you for everything Clay, see you in the morning!"

"You bet!" Clay smiled and walked into his room, ready to call it a night after that long duel.

***

"Damn it, why did we have to sleep in now of all days Jaden?!" Clay ran as fast as he could with Jaden following close behind. "If we don't hurry then we'll be late for the written part of the exam!"

"Don't have to tell me twice, I'm booking as fast as I can go." Jaden and Clay had both slept in, Clay because he had been constructing decks to use in all kinds of situations, including tag team duels, and Jaden because he just didn't wake up on time.

Now the two of them were racing as fast as they could to the academy to not miss out on too much time on the exam.

In the distance, the two of them could see a blue truck slowly moving up the path to duel academy. Pushing this truck was Ms. Dorothy from the card shop, Clay had helped her before and she gave him some cards for helping out. Not that that was the reason, but it was nice.

"Jaden, head to that side of the truck. We got an old lady to help out." Clay pointed to the back left of the truck. Jaden didn't hesitate and jumped behind the truck and started pushing. "Hey Ms. Dorothy, need a hand?"

Ms. Dorothy looked behind her and saw Clay pushing as hard as he could. There was a big smile on his face as he saw the look of surprise on her face.

"Thank you Clay, I'd appreciate as much help as I could get."

"Don't forget about me!" Ms. Dorothy couldn't see Jaden helping, but she could definitely feel his help. "I'm Jaden by the way, Jaden Yuki."

"Thank you too Jaden. If we can just make it up this hill then I can handle the rest on my own." Ms. Dorothy began pushing once again and adjusted the direction whenever needed.

After 10 minutes of intense pushing the truck finally made it up the hill and the three could rest. Clay and Jaden couldn't rest long though as they still had to make it to their exam.

"Thank you boys for the help." Ms. Dorothy gave the two boys one last smile as they wiped the sweat off their brow.

"No prob, sorry we couldn't help any more but we gotta bounce." Clay turned and started running towards the door of the main building. Jaden wasn't far behind Clay as they once again began racing for the exam room. "See ya Ms. Dorothy!"

A few more minutes of running and the boys had finally arrived at the exam room. Walking in the silent room turned to look at who in their mind would dare to be late to this important test, but upon seeing that it was two Slifer's they returned their attention to the test.

"Sorry Professor Banner, we helped someone on the way here." Clay walked down the steps directly to Professor Banner's desk and bowed his head in apology, Jaden following suit.

"No worries gentlemen, now take a test and begin your exam."

The two Slifer's did as instructed and walked to their seats, finding Syrus asleep on his test. They gave a light chuckle then promptly began their test.

Clay read the questions and breezed through the test, finishing before anyone else despite coming late to the class. Taking advantage of this he laid his head on the desk and dozed off until the end if the exam.

At the end of the test he handed his paper up with a confident smile, knowing he was going to be one of, if not, the top scorers in this exam. The other students didn't appreciate seeing his confident smile even when he came late to the test. Clay didn't mind though, he was going to prove them all wrong.

Walking out of the room, Clay caught the gaze of Alexis staring at him. She seemed intrigued by him and perhaps a bit frightened. Clay paid no heed to the stare and continued making his way toward the duel arena his practical exam was.

"Ah, Mr. Clay, just the person I wanted to see." A voice called out to Clay as he walked into the room. Turning around, Clay found a hooded figure on top of some stairs leading to the bleachers of the duel arena. "I have a proposition for you."

"Why don't you show your face then? After all, what does Dr. Vellian Crowler have to hide from one of his top students?" Clay had his confident smile on his face once more. Crowler's voice was unmistakable and almost impossible to forget.

"Yes, my top student." Crowler took of his hood, a smile on his face as well, but this one of guilt. "Clay, I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition you say, I'm listening." Clay had an idea where this was going. If the anime was anything to go on, then Crowler would ask Clay to duel Jaden using the rare cards he bought. Not that he would do that to his friend, but he needed it to look like he would consider the offer.

"I want you to duel Jaden Yuki in the dorm switch exam. If you win then I will have you skip Ra Yellow and go straight to Obelisk Blue." Crowler began walking down a few steps and grabbed the opening of his cloak. "Of course that is not all, I will also give you these new rare cards to use in the duel against Jaden, and if you win you can keep them."

Finally pulling back the opening of his cloak, Crowler flashed Clay the cards he had bought to try and bribe him to accept his deal. Clay inspected the cards and saw some good ones he could really use.

"Sorry Dr. Crowler, but I cannot duel Jaden. If I were to duel Jaden I would want it to be a match for fun with nothing on the line. Plus, these cards would give me an unfair advantage against Jaden." After a few moments of careful deliberation, Clay decided against dueling Jaden.

As much as it would benefit Clay and how much he really wanted to, he wanted to duel him of his own volition and not because someone was making him do it. Clay turned to walk away, not seeing the shocked look on Crowler's face at being rejected.

'Damn you Clay, I'll show you what happens when someone doesn't follow what should be done here.' As Crowler had these thoughts, an Obelisk blue student walked past who would be more than happy to go after Clay. Now he just needed someone for Jaden.