(A/N: If there's one thing I always loved about Yu-gi-oh it was the sheer insanity and fun factor several characters could bring to the table. (beat) There's plenty of that this chapter. You'll see why soon enough).

Much unlike her classmate, Hajime Hinata, Natsumi Kuzuryu was hardly surprised when she managed to get into Battle City. Hope's Peak may not have recognized her as an Ultimate Little Sister, but she knew she could duel with the best of them. She was about as good, nay, superior to her brother in terms of skill as far as she was concerned and she intended to let the whole world know it.

Natsumi intended to make her mark by beating down one of the famous duelists in the region. There were so many to choose from: Weevil Underwood, Rex Raptor, Mako Tsunami, Mai Valentine, even the up and coming psychic duelist, Espa Roba. She wanted to duel Joey Wheeler, but her big brother had already laid claim to that bounty so she'd have her opportunity only if he failed. That was their agreement.

However, as Natsumi walked through Domino City, trying to figure out who to duel, a girl popped out of nowhere and, with a high pitched voice full of energy, exclaimed, "Hi there!"

Natsumi was taken by complete surprise, nearly jumping out of her skin and letting out a very girlish scream, "Eeeeek!" Normally she was far more composed than that.

The person that scared her laughed. "Wow, you sure can scream, kind of like how Ibuki does at horror films."

Natsumi now got a good look at the person that had called out to her. She had blue, gray and white dyed hair with a dash of pink that stuck out every which way. The only part of her hair that was styled seemed to be the two conical sections atop her head that looked like oni horns. The girl had bright, pink eyes and wore a sailor uniform for girls along with two mismatched stockings with holes in them. The girl also had a stitch running all the way up her left thigh. Her shoelaces also did not match. And ignoring the three on the left side of her jaw, was there a part of this girl's ears that weren't pierced? She also had several metallic rings on her fingers. Everything about this girl just made her stick out from a crowd, causing Natsumi to feel vehemently annoyed that someone like this had managed to sneak up on her so easily.

"Cool duel disk, you duel?" the girl asked her.

"Of course I duel," Natsumi said, threading her fingers through her gorgeous blonde hair to give about an air of confidence. "I happen to be Natsumi Kuzuryu of the Kuzuryu clan."

"Kuzuryu…" Ibuki said as though she was trying to think of something, but couldn't recall what it was for the life of her.

Natsumi thought she had the idea, "…we're a big Yakuza group."

"No, no, Ibuki knows that, but…Kuzuryu…Kuzuryu…Oh!" It finally hit her. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Fuyuhiko, would you?"

"You…know my brother?" Natsumi asked, slightly disturbed her brother would associate himself with this girl.

Ibuki laughed and laughed, looking positively enthusiastic. "Of course Ibuki knows Fuyuhiko. He's her classmate. He doesn't talk to her much, but Ibuki never forgets a voice."

Natsumi let out of the biggest sigh of relief she could. Okay, they were only classmates. She had assumed the worst. And then it hit her, "Wait, if you're classmates, that means you're an ultimate too, right?"

Ibuki made a scissor sign with her fingers and held it by her head, winking as her open eye seemed to glisten with enthusiasm. "That's right. Ibuki is Hope's Peak Academy's Ultimate Musician."

"I…never would've guessed that from a glance," Natsumi stated flatly.

Ibuki laughed. "Most people can't, but Ibuki sings like an angel!" She declared.

Somehow I doubt that, Natsumi thought.

"So, how about that duel?" Ibuki asked enthusiastically.

"A duel with an ultimate?" Natsumi asked, grinning satanically. "Sounds good to me. When I beat you, I can prove that talent isn't everything."

"That's if you win," Ibuki said. "Ibuki might not be a well-known pro-duelist." She winked at Natsumi again. "But she can kick butt and take life points with the rest of them."

"Just shut up and get your deck out!" Natsumi exclaimed.

Ibuki giggled, grabbed her deck, shuffled it, inserted it into the duel disk and she and Natsumi stood the appropriate distance from each other to let the duel commence.

"Let's duel!" they declared simultaneously.

"Since I'm the underdog," Natsumi stated. "I'll go first." She drew her card and immediately decided to play it. "I'm summoning Hero of the East in attack mode!" A green clad Samurai with red horns on his helmet appeared in front of Natsumi. He had 1100 attack points and 1000 defense points. "But that's not all, I'm also equipping it with the spell card, Lightning Blade!" This raises my monster's attack points by 800 points. Ibuki watched as a lightning broadsword appeared in the Hero of the East's hand and raised his attack power all the way up to 1900.

"Not bad, but not good enough to beat Ibuki," Ibuki said. "My turn!" Ibuki drew the top card of her deck. "I play the monster card Cyber Raider!" Ibuki declared, placing a humanoid android with a blue and lightning bolt print paint job onto the field. "And he's got a special ability. When he's summoned to the field he can either target an equip card and equip it to himself if that's possible, but since it's not, he can outright destroy it. That means Lightning Blade's gotta go. So sorry! Now go, Cyber Raider!" Ibuki declared, leaning forward and extending her arm out, index finger extended. "Destroy her Lightning Blade with Cyber Lightning Kick!"

Ibuki's monster hurled itself through the air and destroyed Natsumi's magic card, causing the blade to disappear from the Hero of the East's hand.

"But that's not all Ibuki's doing!" Ibuki declared. "Ibuki plays the equip-type magic card Machine Conversion Factory, raising Cyber Raider's attack power up to 1700 with an added bonus to defense of course."

Natsumi watched as Cyber Raider was enhanced by a bunch of cybernetic alloys giving the monster a brand new coating and extra bulk. Its eyes also now glowed.

"And now, Cyber Raider," Ibuki said. "Take out her Hero of the East! Cyber Lightning Roundhouse Kick!"

Jumping from its current position, Cyber Raider spun and put its shin into the back of the Hero of the East's neck, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter. Natsumi's life points went down to 3400.

"Next," Ibuki said, slapping a card into the spell/trap slot, "Ibuki will place one card face-down." She then raised her arm high into the air. "You're turn, Natsumi."

"You're damn right it is," Natsumi said, drawing the top card of her deck. She looked at it and slapped it onto the field sideways. "I play Oni Tank t-34 in defense mode." A tank appeared that had a devil's head where the turret gun should be. "Then I play one card face-down and end my turn."

"Don't mind if I dooooooo," Ibuki cooed. "I draw!" Ibuki drew the top card of her deck. "Ibuki plays Graceful Charity. This lets her draw three cards provided she discards two." Ibuki drew the top three cards from her deck and added them to her hand. She grinned with delight. She quickly discarded two cards from her hand and then said. "And now, Ibuki summons Witch of the Black Forest and fuses it with her Lady of Faith in her hand with the magic of Polymerization to play her favorite monster! Say hello to Musician King!" From a burst of white light and a swirling vortex, out appeared a topless man with wild and crazy blond hair holding a shiny red guitar. "And because Witch of the Black Forest is now in her graveyard to be fused, Ibuki gets to pull a monster card with 1500 defense points or less from her deck to her hand."

Ibuki pulled Thunder Nyan Nyan to her hand.

"And now, Musician King! Attack her Oni Tank! Sonic Disruptor Sound Wave!"

"Not so fast!" Natsumi declared. "Reveal face-down card: Castle Walls!" Natsumi's face-down card revealed itself with a purple border and a picture of tall, slanted castle walls. "Now I've got 500 more defense points for my oni-tank until the end of this turn. In other words, more than enough to stop your Musician King's attack!"

Ibuki grinned and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Natsumi asked. "You're about to lose life points."

"No I'm not!" Ibuki declared happily. "Ibuki reveals her face-down card and it's one of Ibuki's favorites: Metalmorph! Now Musician king gains 300 attack points!" Ibuki declared as her monster transformed from a regular rocker to a heavy metal rocker. "But that's not all, since it's attacking it gains an additional 700 attack points to destroy your Oni tank."

"No!" Natsumi cried out in alarm.

"I'm afraid soooooo. Bye-bye Mr. Tank," Ibuki said, waving to it.

Natsumi's Castle Walls came up, but Musican King's soundwaves plowed right through them and destroyed her tank behind it, blowing Natsumi back a bit from the residual backlash.

"And now," Ibuki said, extending her index finger from her raised arm. She then pointed it at Natsumi. "Cyber Raider attack her life points directly! Super Cyber Kick!"

Cyber Raider planted its foot right into Natsumi's stomach knocking her over onto her backside as her life points ticked down all the way to 1700. "That's all for now," Ibuki said, seeming pretty happy with how the duel was going so far. "You're turn Natsumi," she winked.

Natsumi got up, stumbled and then stood up straight. She looked at her hand. I don't have a card in my hand that can destroy one of her monsters. This next draw will decide everything. Natsumi looked at the card she drew. Well, it's not a comeback, but I might be able to survive the turn. First I play Heavy Storm, destroying all your magic and trap cards!" Natsumi declared, activating the magic card of a storm carrying a man, a tree and his house into the air. It destroyed Ibuki's Metalmorph and Machine Conversion Factory. "And then I play Denko Sekka in attack mode!" A samurai woman clad in light colored armor with glowing blue eyes and a glowing blade made from lightning appeared on the battlefield. "And thanks to her special ability, because I have no spell or trap cards on the field, neither of us can play any more spells or traps while she's out on the field."

"H-hey! Th-that's not fair!" Ibuki declared looking irritated.

"This is war, everything's fair!" Natsumi declared. "Now go, Denko Sekka, destroy her Cyber Raider!"

Denko Sekka sliced Cyber Raider in half and caused Ibuki's life points to tick down to 3700.

"Awww," Ibuki said, looking disappointed. "Ibuki thought she was going to perfect this."

"I might not have a monster strong enough to defeat Musician King," Natsumi said, "But unless you have another monster with 1650 or more attack points in your hand, I get another turn."

"But Ibuki does," Ibuki said, still looking disappointed, but this time her disappointment was at Natsumi. "Weren't you paying attention?"

"Eh?" Natsumi seemed slightly startled by this revelation.

"Ibuki sent Witch of the Black Forest to the graveyard to play Musician King, remember? So she gets to play it this turn. Say hello to Ibuki's trusty Thunder Nyan Nyan!"

A redheaded girl in a cheetah print outfit holding a pair of drumsticks with three drums in front of her and a cymbal behind her appeared. It had 1900 attack points and 800 defense points.

"Time to finish this duel with a killer music show! Thunder Nyan Nyan, Musician King, give our friend here her farewell ballad! Attack!"

Musician King and Thunder Nyan Nyan combined their musical talents to create one big lightning-imbued shockwave that combined both of their attacks into one blast, destroying Denko Sekka and the rest of Natsumi's life points.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!" Natsumi declared, falling on her ass. Her life points then hit 0.

"Yahoo! Ibuki won!" Ibuki exclaimed. "That was fun, Natsumi. Now hand over your rare card." Ibuki then heard Natsumi crying. "Natsumi?"

"It's not fair!" Natsumi shouted. She clutched her hands to her head. "This isn't fair!"

"Hey, come on," Ibuki said, "Don't be a sore loser." Ibuki scratched her head and glanced sideways at the ground. "You're gonna make Ibuki feel bad."

"What would you have reason to feel bad for? You're a skilled duelist more than capable of beating a talentless hack like me." Natsumi dropped to her knees and pounded a fist on the hard gravel. "This was my chance. This was my chance to prove that even though I'm not an Ultimate that I still had skill at something." Natsumi glared up at Ibuki. "But you completely destroyed everything I had and now I'm walking away from the tournament without a single victory." Natsumi pounded a fist on the ground. "I hate this! I hate the fact that I don't have any talent! I should be in the main course! Me!"

"What are you talking about?" Ibuki asked, looking confused. "It's just a game."

"Just a game?" Natsumi looked like she was going to fly into a rage.

"Dueling takes talent and skill, sure. I mean, you wouldn't have even have gotten to the tournament if you didn't have a decent deck." Ibuki smiled brightly. "But sometimes dueling is just luck of the draw. I bet if things were different, you could've beaten Ibuki." Ibuki's smile lessened in intensity. "You put up a good fight." Ibuki pointed both of her index fingers sideways. "You should be proud of the fact that you managed to go toe to toe with Ibuki. Hell, you even inflicted battle damage. That counts for something. So don't cry over the fact that you lost. Just be glad that you had some fun. I mean, it's just a silly tournament. I mean, even if you beat Ibuki, did you really think you could get to the finals and take on Seto Kaiba and Yugi Mutoh. Ibuki doesn't think so. She just wants to try her best. I mean, come on, this tournament is totally going to come down to a Yugi and Kaiba rematch. Everyone knows that!"

"Even so, I…"

Ibuki lifted Natsumi up from underneath her arms. "Hey, come on, if you keep acting like a sad puppy, Ibuki will have to take you home with her out of pity."

Natsumi's face turned very sour. "Let go of me."

"Not until Ibuki sees a smile!" Ibuki said cheerfully, eyes closed.

Natsumi made a face that was technically a smile, but looked less inviting and more like she wanted to take a starring role in a slasher film. "How's this?"

Ibuki opened her eyes. She then laughed. "You look like you're trying to be a villain in a horror film. Come on, give me a real smile."

Natsumi turned red and frowned.

"Hey, come on now, that's the wrong direction." Ibuki took her arms out from underneath Natsumi's armpits and tugged at the corners of her mouth, pulling them upwards. "See, like this."

"Ret go urf my frace!" Natsumi demanded.

Ibuki laughed. "You sound funny."

Natsumi slapped Ibuki's hands away, frowning again. "I bet that must be nice to be so carefree without having to worry what your future's like. You're an ultimate so you can just coast through the next three years and you're guaranteed to have a big music career. But me, I never have to stop working hard. Just once I want to be able to show that I have what it takes to be good at something!" Natsumi exclaimed.

Ibuki now felt slightly insulted, cocking her head to the side. "Hey, come on. Ibuki might be carefree about life, but she practices every day you know. And besides, talent isn't everything. Sure, Hope's Peak can guarantee a successful career, but a successful career doesn't guarantee happiness." Ibuki smiled widely, arms spread out. "That's why Ibuki doesn't go through life with a frown on her face. Life's too short if you let the small stuff get you down. And if you smile, the world smiles with you."

Natsumi said nothing, contemplating Ibuki's commentary and how insightful that sounded.

Ibuki rubbed her head, looking away from Natsumi at the ground and to the side. "H-hey come on, say something. Ibuki's kind of outside of her comfort zone here. This is totally not the kind of character I am."

What was she supposed to say? Natsumi outright hated the caste system in the society laid out for her, always striving to achieve a higher and higher place in it, hating those that looked down on her from a higher place by believing that she deserved to be at the top for all the hard work she put in. Yet, here was Ibuki trying to cheer her up. It went against everything Natsumi believed in. Higher society was full of elitist pricks that looked down upon you and wouldn't hesitate to blot you out of existence if given the chance. Her daddy had always taught her to never yield to those above your station. Hide behind your smile with a knife in your back pocket.

Faced with such a controversy and not really knowing how to handle it, Natsumi did the only thing she could do. First, she fought back tears, unable to really handle what was going through her head. Then she grabbed her rarest card and her locator card and shoved both into Ibuki's chest. "Here! Just take these! Take these and leave me alone!" Natsumi shouted and then ran away from Ibuki as fast as she could.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Ibuki wasn't sure if she should run after Natsumi or not, but after the blonde turned a corner, Ibuki knew she was as good as lost, even if Ibuki could easily run track with her running hobby and high energy. Ibuki sighed. "Welp, guess I better see what I got for a prize." She looked at the card that had been shoved into her chest. Her pupil dilated. "EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she squealed in joy. "Holy crap! This card…this card! Oho man! Ibuki's gonna totally destroy the competition with this card!" she shouted, thrusting the card she was holding into the air. It was a 9-star effect monster with a picture of a 3-headed lightning-imbued, white reptilian, dragon-like creature on it.

"Eheheeheehee," Ibuki laughed. "When Ibuki sees Fuyuhiko in class, she totally has to tell him to tell his sister she said thank you. Oooh! Or maybe Ibuki should write a thank you note and mail it! Or better yet she could hand it to Yukizome and have her give it to Natsumi's teacher, or maybe…"

Ibuki continued to ponder the finer points of letting Natsumi know her gratitude while Natsumi continued to run away in tears, still unable to come to grips with what happened.

But as the chapter on one duel closed, another one would soon open. And the next duel in Battle City would forever alter the course of the tournament, all because of one young man's luck.

(A/N: I'm not saying who I mean from that. I mean, we know Makoto is competing, but we still haven't seen Nagito anywhere. By the way, at the time of writing these A/N I have finally seen Dark Side of Dimensions. That was cool honestly and I, unfortunately, have no further commentary other than that it won't really have a big impact on this story for the most part. Anyway, since these chapters are short feel free to click the next button if you feel so inclined, but be forewarned, next chapter is kind of long. And it's one of my favorite duels in the qualifying rounds of this arc. But if you feel like taking a break then from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)