Tucker and Desiree drew their opening hands and started with 4000 life points. "I'll go first," Desiree said as she drew. "I play one card face down and one monster face down." Desiree ended her turn and Tucker drew. "Now I activate my trap, Jar Of Greed. This let's me draw a card," the ghost genie explained as she drew her card.
"I play Polymerization and fuse Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinitrix to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (ATK 2100)," Tucker said and brought forth a humanoid with green skin, one white wing on his left side, a red tail and a red dragon's head for a right arm. "Flame Wingman, attack Desiree's defensive monster," Tucker ordered. Flame Wingman flew into battle and struck the face down monster with his dragon arm, revealing the monster to be Giant Rat (which looked exactly like that). Giant Rat was easily destroyed. "Now you get to see Flame Wingman's special effect. When he destroys a monster, my opponent loses life points equal to the destroyed monster's attack points.
Flame Wingman unleashed a stream of fire from his dragon arm at Desiree. Since Giant Rat had an attack strength of 1400, Desiree lost that many life points. Her new life point total was 2600.
"My monster has a special effect as well," Desiree said calmly. "When Giant Rat is destroyed,I get to summon an Earth monster with less than 1500 attack points from my deck to the field in attack mode. And I choose Millennium Shield (ATK 0)," she explained. Her new monster was a red and gold shield. Tucker ended his turn and Desiree drew. "I convert Millennium Shield to defense mode (DEF 3000) and end my turn."
"What the hell kind of strategy is she using?" Kwan asked out loud as observed the duel. "All she's doing is drawing cards and playing defense. How does she plan to win like that?"
Kwan may be an idiot jock, but he does have point, Tucker thought. There's no way she beat me like that. Unless...... Tucker's eyes widened as he realized what Desiree was up to.
"Judging by your expression, you've deduced my plan," Desiree said. "Since there's no way you can win, there will be no harm in confirming your suspicions. My plan is to assemble the five pieces of Exodia The Forbidden One. Once I get all five cards in my hand, I'll instantly win the duel."
"Not if I beat you first," Tucker said as he drew. Unfortunately for him, didn't have any cards in his hand that could get past Millennium Shield. "I pass this turn," Tucker said begrudgingly.
"Excellent," Desiree said as she drew then passed as well. Tucker drew as his turn began and was glad to get something that could hurt Desiree.
"I play the spell Fusion Recovery. This lets me take a fusion material monster, suck as Bustinitrix, and a Polymerization card from my graveyard and add them to my hand," Tucker said. "Now I play Polymerization and combine Bustinitrix with Elemental Hero Clayman to summon Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster in defense mode (DEF 2500)."
A Woman in large brown armor with a missile launcher on her right arm and a red shield on her left appeared in a defensive stance in front of Tucker. "Now to show off Rampart Blaster's special effect," Tucker said. "When she's in defense mode, she can attack you directly. But doing so only inflicts half as muck damage as a normal attack."
Tucker had Rampart Blaster attack. The fused Elemental Hero unleashed several missiles that flew past Millennium Shield and hit Desiree. Since Rampart Blaster had 2000 attack points, the ghost genie lost 1000. Her new life point total was 1600.
Desiree drew as her turn began. "I summon Card Trooper (ATK 400)," she said and brought forth a yellow machine with a tank like lower half and a torso with two blaster arms for an upper half. "I activate Card Trooper's special effect. I send the top three cards from my deck to the graveyard and Card Trooper gains 1500 attack points," Desiree explained as her monster's attack strength rose to 1900.
"But even with those extra points, Card Trooper isn't powerful enough to destroy either of my monsters," Tucker pointed out.
"Then it's a good thing I'm not going to attack," Desiree countered. "I play Mystic Wok and use it to tribute Card Trooper. Now my life points increase by the amount of attack points my monster had." Card Trooper disappeared from the field and Desiree's life points increased to 3500. "And when Card Trooper is sent to the graveyard, I draw a card." Desiree drew her card and smirked at what she got. "I play Foolish Burial, which allows me to move a monster from my deck to my graveyard. Next, I play Dark Factory Of Mass Production. With this spell, I add two normal monsters from my graveyard to my hand: such as the Left Leg and Right Arm Of The Forbidden One," she explained as she added the aforementioned cards.
This is just great, Tucker thought sarcastically. Desiree's done a great job of keeping her life points up, stalling me and cutting down the size of her deck. To make things worst, I know she's got at least two of the Exodia pieces in her hand. I need to stop her fast.
Tucker drew. "I convert Rampart Blaster to attack mode and play Enemy Controller. I use Enemy Controller to change your Millennium Shield to attack mode," Tucker said and both monsters changed modes. "Flame Wingman, destroy Millennium Shield," Tucker ordered. Flame Wingman flew forward destroyed the Shield with his dragon arm.
"I discard Kuriboh from my hand," Desiree said as she did just that. "Kuriboh's effect allows me to discard it when I take damage and negate that damage."
"Fine," Tucker said angrily. "Let's see you block this. Rampart Blaster, attack Desiree directly," Tucker ordered. Rampart Blaster fired missiles that hit Desiree and decreased the ghost genie's life points to 1500. "I'm done for now."
Desiree drew. "I play Graceful Charity. I now draw three cards and discard two," she said, then drew and discarded her cards. "I summon Spirit Reaper in defense mode (DEF 200)," she said. Her new monster was a skeleton with a dark cloak and scythe in a defensive stance. "And just so you know, Spirit Reaper is indestructible in battle."
Damn, Tucker thought. I have to end this quick. Tucker drew his card. "I convert Rampart Blaster back to defense mode and equip her with Fusion Weapon," Tucker said. Rampart Blaster took a defensive stance and her missile launcher was replaced with an energy blaster that increased her attack points to 3500. "Rampart Blaster, end this duel," he ordered.
Rampart Blaster unleashed a powerful blast of yellow energy that flew past Spirit Reaper and hit Desiree. The blast inflicted 1750 points of damage: more than enough to defeat Desiree.
"Well done," Desiree said as she began evaporating. "You've defeated me, but your skills will avail you nothing against Aragon and the other soul collectors." With that, Desiree completely vanished.
The group of seven continued walking forward. A minute into their continued march, the next two soul collectors obstructed their path: Technus and Skulker.
"Now then," Technus said as he brandished his amulet. "Which one of you foolish teenagers wants to be the first to fall before the ghostly master of technology?"
"I'll go," Kwan said. "Your voice is pissing me off."
"Very well then," Technus said and the two began their duel.
