Time Passes 4

The more time she spent at Duel Academy, the more times Alexis felt her world view being tossed topsy turvy.

A renowned professor of duelling like Crowler being beat by some no name kid? Some new kid just picking up discarded cards and crushing everyone and anyone in view.

The unbeatable Zane whom even her brother couldn't defeat, utterly demolished by the same kid using discarded cards.

The way her heart fluttered in her chest around said kid after spending all the time she had with him and what he'd done for her.

Then the mythical suddenly became real and Duel Spirits were revealed to her and she finally had a clue as to what happened to her brother.

Only for secret experimental duellist monkeys to suddenly be a thing. Trained and experimented on by a shady organisation working out of Duel Academy Island no less!

Alexis didn't know what to think anymore, 'Could it have been them?' she bit her lip, eyeing the suited men worriedly. Could her brother and the others of the Abandoned Dorm have come across their experiments somehow and have been made to 'disappear'.

The thought clawed at her mind.

She obviously knew of test animals that were experiment on and exposed to drugs before humans to make sure they were safe and such. It was cruel, but a needed thing, she'd been forced to accept that.

This though? the way the short heavy browed man almost gleefully bragged to them about how amazing a duellist Wheeler was and how he would never make the same mistake because if he did the monkey would be heavily punished, and 'poked and prodded' at until he learned his lesson.

It was horrifying, cruel and inhumane.

She still couldn't help the sigh of relief that left her as Wheeler kept his promise and let Jasmine go free after losing to Jaden.

Wheeler to his credit was incredibly skilled as a duellist, better even than many Obelisk's she had seen. But Jaden was just that good, especially now that like her he had apparently gotten some advice from Yarden and enhanced his deck with even more heroes.

The duel only lasted all of four turns and Jaden won decisively, but it was not at all a demerit to the monkeys skill as far as she was concerned. After all, Jaden had beaten her before he upgraded his deck after all. And her duel with him only lasted around the same length at that.

"He reeked of bannana's!" Jasmine sniffled as she hurriedly ran over to them.

Mindy smothered a smile that Alexis noticed and hugged the girl, "There there you're safe now." the black haired girl comforted their friend.

Alexis sighed and rubbed her forehead, today really had not gone how she expected. 'I should have just listened to Yarden, or followed his head.' she groaned inwardly.

Or maybe just skipped class and asked him to join her. He most likely wouldn't have disagreed. And it would surely have been more productive than...this.

She needed to speak to him about duel spirits after all. And how they could possibly have tied into her brothers disappearance.

Jasmine pulled away from Mindy and smiled at Jaden, "Thanks for saving me," she smiled gratefully. Alexis blinked a bit surprised. Jasmine after all, wasn't really a fan of Slifers. She was possibly just that scared before, or possibly because of Yarden being a former Slifer she supposed, "But...what's gonna happen to Wheeler now?" she looked at the monkey with a worried frown.

"He shouldn't have snatched me, but...I don't think he deserves to be dragged back with these cruel needle poking shady thugs." the auburn haired girl cast a disgusted look at the three suited men.

"Spare me you're childish feelings you annoying brat," the short older man snorted, before pointing at the tech clad monkey, "Get this failure now! I can't believe he lost to a Slifer of all things. Clearly we need to be much more thorough with him."

"Roger sir!" the tranquilizer wielding suited man nodded and he and the huge mountain of muscle that reminded her of Titan in sheer size began to step forward towards Wheeler.

"Hold it!" Jaden stepped in front of them and spread his arms wide to block them, casting a glance at the group of monkeys watching from the tree line, before turning back and narrowing his eyes into a glare aimed at the men, "Wheeler doesn't belong with you. He belongs out here in nature, with his family! So that's where we'll be leaving him, got it?"

The men stopped, giving surprised noises and looking at him as if he were an idiot, "Kid, what kind of hippy crap are you smoking?" the larger of the two demanded.

Syrus was apparently emboldened by Jaden's stand against them, "It's alright Wheeler, we won't let them take you!" Syrus called over grinning.

Alexis eyed the huge suited man and bit her lip again. She knew from experience now some people just weren't going to play ball the same way lawful people like her did.

"If they try it, I'll call the T.V stations!" the blonde still added on after Syrus though. If things turned violent, there was little they could do here as they were, but she still had to try.

"And I'll call the newspapers!" Mindy added.

"...I'll call Yarden?" Jasmine added after looking between the two other girls and thinking for a moment.

Alexis blinked, 'I should have done that while the duel was going on!' she almost smacked her for her foolishness.

Things would be a lot different with him here. He'd already shown the ability to handle people like Titan easily after all.

And she'd feel a lot more confident with him here.

In response, the fist of the largest man lashed out and caught Jaden in the cheek smacking him to the ground.

"Ah!" Jaden gasped, grasping his face.

Alexis heart leapt in her chest as Jasmine and Mindy squealed in shock. She was afraid of this.

"Enough of the nonsense you brats out of the way," The shortest man snorted walking forward and up to Jaden as the gun toting suited man aimed at Wheeler, the monkey locking up in fright, "Please, you think your threats scare us? You're just some useless kids. You should run along now before we have to hurt you." he laughed.

Alexis' mind raced a mile a minute. What to do in this situation? Her eyes flickered to Syrus who had totally frozen. He was the only other boy here, but he wouldn't exactly be a help here.

"Is that right?" a familiar voice suddenly spoke up from behind them.