Chilling In The Schoolyard 8

What's up good looking?" Yarden asked, directing his attention fully to Alexis as he placed his hands in his pockets.

And ignored Zane.

"Hey Yarden," Alexis smiled at him, "That was a pretty impressive duel out there, you controlled it from the very second it started."

"I'm just awesome like that." he smirked and gave a shrug. In all seriousness, his deck was pretty awesome. But he was still lacking some pretty vital counter traps he needed and some effect monsters as well, and even some spells. Right now, his best option in duels was to go full on escalation overwhelming train, and run right over any opponents before they could do anything.

"Seems so," the blonde raised an eyebrow, before shrugging, "As for what brings me down here, well I did want to congratulate you, but it was this guy here that wanted me to introduce you to him." she jerked her head to the side and nodded at the tall blue haired boy.

Well, was that so?

"And what does the big bad Kaiser himself want with me?" Yarden turned his attention to the third year student.

A bit of a snort left the older boys nose, "Finally deigning to give me your attention huh?" he mused, before smirking, "Alexis told me about you earlier, said you might interest me. So I checked your duel out alongside her when she asked, and then I decided to meet you, that's really all there is to it kid."

"Uh-hu," Yarden's eyebrows rose up into his hairline, "..Good for you?" really, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to take or respond to any of this.

Still, what a rude cunt. Maybe that's why Alexis thought he'd be interested in Yarden? So they both could be rude cunts together or something?

"I'm impressed kid, the way you chain together your cards and all the combinations Alexis told me is something else, especially considering where you picked up most of those cards, you really do know the difference between using a card and playing it." Zane praised the younger boy.

...Wait, wasn't that the the whole spiel he gave Syrus in the anime? Yarden didn't get it then, and he still didn't get it now. Really, just a bunch of cryptic nonsense to sound cooler by the looks of it. 'I wonder if he thinks acting cool like that is good payment for stomping all over his little brothers self esteem?' he idly wondered.

"That said," Zane continued, narrowing his eyes at Yarden, "You duel like a complete thug. Your duelling style is all about overwhelming and crushing everyone in your way, just to earn money."

Yarden blinked, "...And?" he slowly asked. He wasn't seeing a bad thing to this.

Zane sighed disappointedly, "You don't even see it do you?" he shook his head, "Your monsters will never respect a duellist like you in the end, this style will fail you when they give up on you."

Yarden gave a second, languid blink, '...So, do I not have your respect or something because of the way I'm using you guys?' he asked internally. Because, instead of debating with some random guy who came up to him and started spouting crap like that, he could literally hear it right from the horses mouth.

'Your dreams of philandering aside, the boy speaks nonsense,' Hyozanryu scoffed, 'I do not even sense the ability to see or speak to us monster spirits within him, how would he ever know what we feel?'

Yeah, he thought so. "Cool story bro," Yarden rolled his eyes before turning to Alexis, who was trying and failing to smother a smile at the interaction going on between you two, "So, what was Jasmine's reaction?" he asked the voluptuous blonde.

"Mostly reluctant acceptance, she already knew you were going to win," Alexis replied, "I was impressed by the way, using a card like that and making it so the only outcomes were you gaining loads of life points or your opponent losing them."

Honestly, that kind of stuff was everywhere back home before he got here. Anyone competent at duel monsters could come up with a combo like that.

"Are you not going to defend your honour?" Zane asked before Yarden could reply.

He sighed and turned to the blue haired third year, "What do you want me to do mate?" he asked, honestly curious, "Do you want me to get all angry because you don't like how I duel, then challenge you to a duel where we pit our ideologies against each other, all dramatic like?"

"You said it, not me," Zane smirked at him, crossing his arms, "I wouldn't be opposed to seeing how you stack up against the best this academy has to offer after all the praise Alexis had for you."

"Really Zane?" Alexis sighed, "It's not fair to goad people into duels you know they can't win."

..He was going to tell him to buzz off. Playing against the Cyber Dragons when you hadn't finished your deck yet? That would be a pain. But hold the damn phone.

"What's in it for me?" Yarden jutted his chin out challengingly at the older boy, "Beyond the DP I'll get from booting you off of your little imaginary throne pretty boy?" honestly, it would be much more fun just to punch his face in, see how much of a tough guy he was then.

...Then again, didn't this dude go full on electric shock masochism later down the line and literally get high off of getting electrocuted to near death?

"Yarden?" Alexis looked at him, confused, as if she couldn't believe someone at this school actually thought they could beat Zane Truesdale.

"Ever the greedy one, huh?" Zane shook his head, "What do you want?"

"Nothing from you," Yarden shrugged, before grinning at the blonde girl across from him, "How about a date with you if I win Alexis?" he challenged.

It served two purposes. One, an actual date with Alexis. Two, didn't Zane have a crush on her as well like every other guy at this academy? I'm a petty fuck like that.

His grin stretched as he saw Zane frown, "Is that all you think about?" Alexis rolled her eyes, before shrugging, "Sure, why not. You're good Yarden, really good. You're a top contender for the best first duellist no doubt, but you can't beat Zane, nobody can, not even..." she agreed and then trailed off, swallowing heavily.

'Not even your brother?' Yarden finished for her internally. Hmm, he felt bad for her. Maybe it was because she was probably his favourite character of the Gx series, or maybe it was just because she was so hot. But, he decided he should probably do something for her in regards to Atticus.

Maybe after the whole fiasco with the Abandoned Dorm he could lay some ground work with his meta knowledge? And getting some brownie points with Alexis was not something he'd ever say no to.