Tagging Up 18

The two days leading up to the much anticipated tag match came and went in a flash. Zane found himself standing overlooking the bleachers, leaning over the railing and staring down at the duelist arena.

"Here we go," his little brother standing beside him quietly murmured, before turning, "Hey Zane, do you really think they can win?"

Zane's chest throbbed with heat and he had to force himself not to frown. Not at Syrus' actions, but rather, at himself. There was such a marked difference in his little brothers attitude towards him and his small shoulders had straightened up massively.

Had his poorly chosen words back then when he found Syrus playing Power Bond wrong really done such damage? Truly, he'd overlooked just how much Syrus had looked up to him. What a failure of a brother he was.

Yet, it proved his little brothers latent potential and hidden resilience that he so easily shed the weight put upon him by Zane's foolishness just from a mere talk and apology.

For all his talk of respecting his monsters and his opponents. He'd failed utterly at giving his brother the respect he deserved.

"While their opponents are incredibly experienced duellists and champions in their own right, I wouldn't worry about them to much," Zane shot his little brother a small smile, "Yarden and Alexis are incredible duellists in their own right and have incredible synergy."

"Incredible synergy with Alexis huh?" Syrus cocked his head at his words and sighed a little sadly, "How lucky."

Zane chuckled lightly. He was never so glad that he was older and more experienced than when he'd saw Alexis again when she turned up this year. Even he found it hard to not be attracted to the girl. For once, he was quite happy with all the parties and double dates and such Atticus had dragged him along for, and the fact the she was his best friends little sister that he had known for years. Otherwise, even he may have started mooning for the girl.

And that was a threshold he would not want to cross. Not only because she was his best friends little sister, but also because the sway she unknowingly had on others was a mite concerning. Even Yarden, someone completely dismissive of even the strongest duellist on the island, who got actively annoyed when anyone bothered him and cut into his plans, positively lit up when she was around.

The boy went from dragon to puppy. Admittedly, a gruff, flirtatious puppy that would give Atticus a run for his money and still be liable to punch someone out for annoying him, but he was a lot 'softer' about it with Alexis around.

He wasn't sure if she was a good influence or bad. He just knew it was totally cliché. The bad boy who got calmed down because of the nice girl. Atticus would have a field day with it.

His chest throbbed again, this time with pain. Atticus, he'd been thinking about his missing best friend a lot since he met Yarden. How he missed the vibrant young man now. They were no closer to finding out what happened to him and what went down at the Abandoned Dorm. Actually, he felt further away from finding out than ever.

After all, this tag duel was going on simply because Alexis had went to the Abandoned Dorm, never entering it and placing a flower to respect the boys memory.

And even his ties to his old master in the Cyber Style, Chancellor Sheppard was no help, the man was completely tight lipped about the subject.

"Ah, don't worry too much Syrus," Jaden Yuki leaned against the railing at his little brother's side and smirked confidently, "Alexis is crazy strong, and you know Yarden. He'll probably bust out Five Headed Dragon on his first turn or something and send these guys packing."

Jaden Yuki was definitely someone he had to keep his eye on. Not only had he defeated Crowler and Chazz Princeton, but he had also apparently defeated Alexis as well. And while they were working out together, Yarden had let slip that he would be hesitant to duel Jaden himself if it was an important duel, because he wasn't one hundred percent sure he could defeat the Slifer boy.

That said a lot. Considering Yarden had been completely confident he could crush Zane himself, and that was before he started building a proper deck and not one made up of mish mash cards.

"He has taken a real liking to that card lately," Zane nodded, "I wouldn't put it past him. But I think he'll go a different route for the first few turns."

"Think so?" Jaden asked, cocking his head.

"Yarden has a special connection to his cards, and likes to show them off, even the weakest ones that most would consider useless," Zane replied, his eyes shooting to the boy down on the duel arena, arms casually crossed behind his head as he talked to Alexis, "This is a televised event, a chance to get his name out there. At the very least, I expect he'll be trying to show off Serpent Night Dragon, his ace monster and make a statement."

"But isn't Five Headed dragon way stronger?" Chumley, the heavyset boy asked confusedly, "Wouldn't it be his ace?"

"Nah," Jaden waved him off, "Five Headed Dragon is amazing and incredibly powerful, and Yarden plays it better than anyone I've ever heard of. But the ace of his deck and the head liner of it, his go to monster is definitely Serpent Night Dragon."

"Exactly." Zane nodded in agreement. Besides, while Five Headed Dragon was indeed an incredible monster, even more powerful than Cyber End Dragon without Power Bond or Limiter Removal, Serpent Night Dragon with the spell card support was a much more formidable enemy as far as Zane was concerned. Revived Serpent Night Dragon and Nightmare Sonic Blast were incredibly threatening cards, enough to completely end a duel right then and there. In his modifications of his deck, Zane had made sure that there was ways he could counter Yarden's go to monster, at least, to a degree.

"But what do you mean by a statement big bro?" Syrus asked.

"Exactly that," Zane shrugged lightly, "Serpent Night Dragon has a terrible reputation as a bad monster. There are one tribute monsters much easier to get out with higher attack points and actual useful effects, and it has little to no support. On top of that, Rex Raptor has outright denounced it as a terrible, useless card."

"Yeah, you should hear Yarden talk about that guy," Jaden winced, "He totally wants to punch the guy out. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts trash talking the guy in this duel so the entire world can hear his thoughts on the dude."

Zane couldn't help but chuckle, "You know, I can actually see that." he mused. Yarden did not take insults to his monsters lightly. Honestly, the boy had almost physically assaulted one of the second years from their dorm yesterday when the guy had called his Petit Dragon 'useless trash'.

Would have, if Zane hadn't managed to hold him back for all of a second and give the second year a chance to run away. Really, the fool should have count his blessings, Yarden was absurdly strong. Zane definitely didn't want to be the target of his ire when it came to physical alterations. And he was no slouch when it came to strength and fighting himself.