Hey! It's been…..gosh, it's been two months, damn, that's a while, the writing bug hit me, so I'm picking this up again, I….Might, start a 5d's fanfic sometime, the writing is really getting me, but anyway, back to business. This chapter, it's getting dropped right now, I hope you all enjoy it. We now return to, Past Grief, makes Present Music

Duel academy's spring dance and talent exhibition was fast approaching, and the air of the school could show it, people were getting ready, ordering dresses, tuxedos. Performances were getting booked for the big night, everything was going well.

Well, mostly everything.

Chazz had been riding the high of his kiss with Alexis for a while, but he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that something could happen to reveal his identity, and he was beginning to think he might have to duel as the musician persona, so he had been building a deck just in case he had to. It was mostly dragon based, but had more than a few cards to help bring out his draconic allies.

"Boss, I know you're not the most fond of us, but building a whole new deck is a little harsh" Ojama Yellow sighed as the black cloaked duelist kept adding and removing cards from the deck, trying to find the ideal balance for the new deck, but struggling to do so. Ending up banging his head on his desk in frustration, he looked through his new deck for some sort of sign that it would work. He flipped through it until he came across the bi-colored dragon in it.

"I know you've been paranoid about this whole ordeal, what with the, 'Swinging Duelist' personality and everything, but is the entirely new deck really necessary? I know your deck tends to stand out, but still, it's not all that bad." the large dragon settled beside Chazz in his room, staring at the teen, his troubles had not gone away, but they had been able to cope well. His brothers recently sending him his old guitar had done wonders for him.

Just then, the Ojamas piped up again, this time, a bit more excited. The three of them constantly trying to climb over each other to share the news, but none being able to share it, all that was heard was the arguing of the three, each wanting to tell Chazz what had happened.

"Boss! Boss! You're never gonna believe this!" "Someone signed up the swinging duelist to perform at the dance!" "He's the last performance of the night! The big show stopper!" the cards in his hands fell on his desk in a loud clatter as they all fell in different directions and faces, he got up and turned to them in almost raging disbelief.

"Someone….did WHAT?! I can't believe this…." He began pacing back and forth, his mind racing a million miles a minute. 'They can't honestly expect someone to just, show up and perform, right? There's no way, right?' ...although he had been wanting to show off for quite some time now.

A knock on the door ended his thought process, the spirits disappeared as soon as they showed up, and he quickly slid his deck into a drawer, and gently pushed his guitar and sax under his bed with his foot. 'Nobody's finding those' he thought to himself as he looked through the peephole in his door, seeing Alexis and Jaden at his door, he sighed, and slowly opened it up.

"Hey Chazz! How's it going buddy?" Jaden cheerfully asked as the black coated student stepped out of his room, looking grumpy as ever, he replied.

"I'm not your buddy, it's going badly, as usual, and lastly, what do you two want exactly?" Jaden gave a half-hearted laugh, and scratched the back of his neck as Alexis cleared her throat and began to speak.

"Well, that….I guess, jazz duelist has been signed up for the dance and talent show, we still have no idea who it is, but we do know that it's possible they might show up, so we were hoping we could maybe enlist your help to catch them?". Whatever air Chazz had in his lungs was knocked out of them as the question was asked as he started coughing, stunned, he looked up, seeing both of their concerned faces, he just growled.

"I'm not even certain I'm going to the dance, talent show, thing. However, if it means that much to you two, I'll think about it." Jaden looked at Chazz for a moment, then started grinning.

"Alright Chazz, tell you what, let's duel for it! If I win…" Jaden was shortly cut off by Alexis stepping in to the deal.

"Chazz, if I win this duel, you go to the dance, and, you MC it for the night too, but if you win, if you do decide to go, I'll….." she swallowed hard at this point, knowing she'd regret what she was about to say. "If you win, I'll...be your date…" Whatever thoughts Chazz had about turning down the offer were swept away as he heard Alexis say that, he nodded.

"Alright, deal, let's head off the upper stairway, then duel!" they proceeded down to the ground level, Chazz prepping himself for whatever could be thrown his way, knowing he could get whipped, but the prize was too good to ignore.

Alexis and Chazz squared off, both had their duel disks activate, Chazz started staring her down, hoping he could win this one.

Duel Begin

Chazz LP: 4000

Alexis LP: 4000

"Ladies first?" Chazz asked as Alexis drew her first card, she laughed as she looked at her hand.

"Alright, I'll summon Cyber Petit Angel, which allows me to add Machine Angel Ritual to my hand. Next, I'll activate the Ritual spell card, Machine Angel ritual, then, by sending Cyber Petit Angel, and my Cyber Gymnast, I can Ritual Summon Cyber Angel Idaten!" the two monsters were almost instantly transformed into the level 6 ritual, soon appearing on the field.

"Now, I can add a Ritual spell from my deck to my hand, like another Machine Angel Ritual from my deck to my hand, next, I'll place one card face down, and end my turn." Alexis had wasted no time in setting up her field for her next turn, but Chazz had studied it, and was formulating a plan of his own.

"Alright, I draw!" looking at his hand, he saw some options, but he wasn't certain how to proceed. 'Poly, Ojama Yellow, Masked Dragon, X-head Cannon, Ojamuscle, and...Pot of Greed! Yes'

"Alright, I'll play Pot of Greed, letting me draw another two cards" as he picked the two cards off the top of his deck, smirking as the cards he drew would lead him closer to victory.

'Ojamagic and Reload, these could be useful.' "Alright! I'll throw one monster face down in defense, and a card face down, next, I'll use Reload, this let's me shuffle my hand into the deck, and draw the same number of cards, so I'll send these four back, in order to get a different set of four!" as he shuffled his deck and drew his new hand, he smirked.

'Chthonian Polymer, Armed Dragon Lv 10, Ojamatch, and Ojamarking, this could work out well for me.' "I'll end my turn with two facedowns. Go" He smirks as he watches her get ready to make her move.

"Fine Chazz, my go, I draw! Next, I'll summon Blade Skater in attack position, and I'll go straight to my battle phase. Now, go Blade Skater! Attack his face down monster!" the female monster raced forward, just as the masked dragon flipped face up. The dragon took the hit head on, being destroyed in a fiery blast, Chazz just smiled.

"You of course know my dragon's effect, but just in case you don't, let me remind you. When Masked dragon is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, he special summons another dragon type monster from my deck, but it has to have less than 1500 attack points, so I'll summon….another Masked Dragon!" as it appears in defense, Alexis sends her next monster after it, destroying it too.

"I'll summon another Masked Dragon in defense mode" As yet another take it's place on his field, he watches Alexis throw down two face down cards, ending her turn.

"My move, I draw!" He looks at the card he drew. 'Level up! Good, now, I think I can make this work'. "Alright, I'll activate the spell card Ojamatch! This lets me send an Ojama card from my hand to the graveyard, like Ojamarking…" he then puts said card in his graveyard "in order to add two cards from my deck, to my hand, an Armed Dragon, and an Ojama monster, I'll add Armed Dragon Lv 3, and Ojama Blue to my hand! Now, I get to summon one of them to my field, I'll go with Armed Dragon Lv 3!" as the small, orange dragon landed on the field, it flexed before taking it's position. "I'm not done yet, I'll activate another spell card, Level up! Meaning my dragon goes from Lv 3, to Lv 5!" as the small dragon disappears, a bigger, more armored version comes to the field to take its place.

"Now, I'll use it to attack your Cyber Angel Idaten! Go for it Armed Dragon Lv 5! Inferno Roar!" as the dragon began rapidly spinning it's arms around, Alexis revealed her trap.

"Not so fast, you remember this? Doble Passe! I make your monster attack me directly, saving my monster, and you take the same amount of damage I do!" as her lifepoints drop to just 1600, Chazz's follow suit, clenching his fist he looks up to see her shaken, but smirking at the predicament in front of them.

Chazz Lifepoint: 4000-2400=1600

Alexis Lifepoint: 4000-2400=1600

"I'll end my turn with another facedown, your move"

As she draws her next card, Chazz notices something, her hearts not really in this duel, sure, she had determination, but she wasn't set on just winning it, there was more to this than just a win or loss for either side. Then it dawned on him.

'She's not dueling for me to be MC, that's just an excuse, she wants to duel me to see if she can beat me'. He sees her grimace at her draw, she then switches her two monsters to defence, ending her turn. Chazz draws his next card, Ojamuscle. 'Not useful at the moment, but I might be able to draw her out if I could pull out Ojama King'. "Alright, straight to business, Armed Dragon Lv 5, destroy her Cyber Angel!" as it rushed forward, it immediatly smashes through her monster, leaving dust in its wake. Standing up straight, Chazz ends his turn. "And at the end of my turn, when Armed Dragon Lv 5 destroyed a monster this turn, it evolves, to a Lv 7!" as it disappears, the bigger, more monstrous version takes the stage. Letting out a deafening roar as it stands before them, Chazz smiles, knowing he might win this after all.

Alexis draws her next card, smirking, she then straightens up.

"It's over Chazz! I activate my ritual spell, Cyber Angel Ritual! I now send Cyber Tutu, and Cyber Prima from my hand to the graveyard, in order to ritual summon Cyber Angel Dakini! When she's summoned, I get to make you send a monster to your graveyard, so choose!" Chazz looks at his field, then makes the obvious choice.

"I'll send my masked dragon to the grave" as the monster disappears, Alexis smiles.

"Now, I'll switch my Blade skater to attack position. Now, I'll send my Cyber Angel Dakini to attack your Armed Dragon! Since they have the same attack, they're both destroyed! As both monsters are sent to the graveyard, her Blade Skater starts warming up, and Chazz realizes something.

He lost.

Again.

"Blade Skater! Attack him directly!"

Chazz Lifepoint: 1600-1800=0

As he takes the damage, he takes the moment to heart to realize something.

'She won, but...maybe this loss wasn't so terrible' as he brushes off his coat, he looks up to see Jaden high fiving her, and Alexis smiling like a fool as she takes in the victory. He turns and starts walking away, but stops for a moment.

"I'll be the Mc for your dance and talent show, but be warned, I'm gonna make sure that...fucking Musical duelist shows up, mark my words, then this whole thing can be put to rest." as he walks away, the duel spirits showed up to talk to him about his growing plan.

"Uh, boss, are you sure that was a good idea? I mean, you'll actually have to pull double duty for once, is that really a smart thing to do?" as the Yellow spirit hovers in front of him, the twin colored titan shows up beside him.

"I agree with this, thing, for once. Are you sure this is such a wise decision? It's risky, even without you being the MC for the evening" Chazz just smiles, puts his arms behind his head, and keeps walking.

"I think I have an idea of how to make this work, but I'll definitely need a better mask for this" He ponders for a moment when he hears someone shouting his name behind him. He turns to see Alexis behind him.

"Can I help you?" He asks as she catches her breath after reaching him, standing up straighter, she looks at him, looks down at her feet, then says.

"Um...look, I know you've been pretty down lately, and...well, you dueled well back there, I decided, that….if you wanted….I'll still be your date to the dance" he could almost physically feel his jaw drop to the floor, before hearing Light and Darkness Dragon speak to him.

"Correction, I think your mission just became impossible"