The purpose of the qualifying tournaments was to find those who are capable of getting inside Duel Battlers, but Diego had other motives. As the tournaments were going on, he was trying to find those he can recruit for his dark cause.
"No... So far, there doesn't appear to be anyone that really stands out." Diego said said as he went over some stats.
"Why are you looking for new recruits? Do we really need new members?" Henry questioned.
"Of course. There are those who oppose our objectives...like Yukina Osama and her friends." Diego claimed. "To help ensure everything goes as we plan, we need to find those who will be willing to duel for us."
"But isn't the point of the tournament to find strong and powerful duelists? Why not just wait until then?" Henry questioned.
"No... That won't work. I don't really like to take chances." Diego claimed. "The more followers we have, the more valuable data we acquire that could be most helpful to us. Also, the more we have competing for our side, the more like we are to succeed. I just need to find those who have what it takes."
"But it sounds like you're not having much luck. Many duelists from around the country are partaking in this tournament. You really think you can find anyone who meet your standards out of hundreds or even thousands of duelists?" Henry questioned. Diego wasn't so sure about that himself until he found something that caught his eye.
"Hello. What do we have here? It seems that you spoke a little too soon, Henry." Diego said.
"What do you mean? You found someone?" Henry questioned as he had a look.
"That's right." Diego said. "His name...is Sabaro Brilliant." He showed the stats of Sabaro and they looked rather impressive. "The deck he utilizes is the Gem-Knight deck, and that can be quite a powerful deck. He's gained a lot of points in a short amount of time, but..."
"But what?" Henry questioned.
"Much about him appears to be a mystery, and they say his dueling skills are average at least. He's also competed in only a couple of the qualifying tournaments." Diego said. "How is it he gains so many points so quickly? Other than that...I can't seem to find much of him. He's a mystery, but I do so love a good mystery."
"You think he might be Black Ace material?" Henry questioned.
"There's one way to find out. Somebody try to find him and bring him here. I say we test him to see what he's really capable of." Diego said as he wants to unravel the mystery that is Sabaro.
...
Later
As the day went on, night soon came over. As it did, a storm began to brew right over them. It was like a foretelling of something ominous was coming. The one at the epicenter of it was Sabaro himself. He managed to find his way to a construction site that was going on. While it was being built, he placed his eyes on another building: the base of the Black Ace Organization. Meanwhile, Diego was still trying to learn more about Sabaro in his office.
"This is rather strange. Why can't I seem to find anything about this young man?" Diego questioned as he was coming up with nothing. "It's like he appeared out of nowhere. Nothing about him from before this whole thing started. How can that be?" As Diego tried to figure Sabaro out, he received an alert that someone was right at his front door. He took a look and saw that it was Sabaro himself. "What's this?! He came to me himself?! This should...interesting." Diego gave the word and allowed Sabaro to come up. Sabaro made his way through the building until he found himself at Diego's office and was allowed in.
"Hello. Are you the one in charge around here?" Sabaro said.
"I am." Diego said. "This an interesting surprise. I just found out about you and was trying to learn more about you. What brings you here...and how did you know about this place?"
"I have my ways." Sabaro said. "I came here because...I want to work for you." He admitted with Diego surprised he would say that. "You offer me a great price and my skills as a duelist are yours to use as you please."
"You want to work for me?" Diego questioned as he found that strange, but it just might work to his advantage. "I don't know. From what I've seen, your skills are only average."
"That? I like to hold some stuff back for my own reasons." Sabaro claimed. "You've heard of Yukina Osama? I came close to beating her." He claimed and that certainly caught Diego's interest.
...
The Duel Field
Sabaro was brought to the Black Ace's own personal duel field while Diego watched from a good view. This was Diego's chance to see what Sabaro can really do.
"You say you want to work for me, but I need to see if you really have the skills to work for me." Diego said. 'I can't find anything on him, let alone his personality. I can't tell if he is doing this for money or for something else. I have no reason to trust him, but him actually working for me could help. We'll see how skilled he really is.' He thought.
"I take it you want to see what I'm really capable of." Sabaro said.
"That's right, and you better not hold back." Diego claimed. "This should be the opponent that will force you to bring those skills out." Sabaro looked to the other side of the field and saw Henry was going to be his opponent.
"You really want me to duel this guy? How do we know he has any skill?" Henry questioned.
"That's what you're going to find out, Henry." Diego said. "Depending how well you do against Henry will help me decide if you're really Black Ace material for my plans. I can't afford weaklings at the moment."
"I assure you that I'm no weakling." Sabaro said as he put his duel disk together.
"Fine." Henry said, but felt like it was a waste of time.
"Let's duel!" They both said and started with 4000LP.
"I'm starting this duel!" Henry said. "I'll start by summoning Moltrock Crawler to the field!" He said as he summoned out his molten lizard with it having 1200atk points. "Next, I activate his special ability! By not attacking with it this turn, you lose 500LP!" He said as his lizard spewed out fire and blasted Sabaro with his life points dropping to 3500. "Next, I will build my circuit!" He said as he had his circuit form and his Moltrock Crawler was placed in one of the arrows. "I link summon Link 1 Moltrock Shovel!" He said as his monster emerged on the field with it having 800atk points. "Next, his special ability brings back my crawler and I can use his ability once again!" His crawler came back with it using it's ability again and blasted Sabaro with his life points dropping to 3000. "Now, I'll build my circuit again with both of my monsters!" He said as both of his monsters were placed inside the circuit once more. "I link summon Link 2 Moltrock Driller!" His driller emerged on the field with it having 2000atk points. "And his special ability deals damage the moment he is summoned!" His driller unleashed a spiral of flames with Sabaro getting blasted and his life points dropping to 2500. "I'm also using his special ability to bring back Moltrock Crawler and use his ability once again!" Henry brought his crawler back. Once it came back, it's ability was used again and Sabaro's life points were down to just 2000. "We just started and you already lost half of your life points. I guess you're not all that good after all. I'll place one card facedown and that ends my turn."
"My turn!" Sabaro said as he took his turn. "I'll start by summoning Gem-Knight Alexandrite to the field!" He summoned out knight as it emerged with 1800atk points. "Next, I activate his special ability! By sending him to the graveyard, I can summon Gem-Knight Crystal!" He discarded his knight and a more powerful one came out with 2450atk points. "That's not all. I'm activating Gem-Knight Fusion! With this, I can fuse the Gem-Knight Amber and Tourmaline that is in my hand!" He took both of his monsters and they began to fuse together. "I fusion summon Gem-Knight Topaz!" He summoned a topaz-designed knight this time with it having 1800atk points. "And I say this duel is already over. Topaz has the ability to attack twice, but let's get Moltrock Driller out of the way! Crystal, attack and demolish it!" His monster went on the attack as it pulled back its crystal coated fist and smashed it against Moltrock Driller with it being destroyed and Henry's life points dropping to 3550. "With that, Topaz can end this."
"You really think I'm that pathetic?" Henry taunted. "I'm activating my Battle Halt trap! Thanks to this trap, the battle phase ends since I just took damage!"
"Is that so? In that case, I place one facedown and end my turn." Sabaro said.
"My turn!" Henry said as he took his next turn. "I'm gonna start by summoning Moltrock Thorny to the field!" He summoned out his other lizard with it having 900atk points. "Now, I'll use my crawler's ability to deal you damage again!" His crawler used its ability again and blasted Sabaro with his life points down to 1500. "Now, I'll build my circuit!" He said as it formed again. "The summoning conditions are two Moltrocks! I'll set both of them in the link arrows!" Both of his monsters went in and were placed in the arrows in the bottom corners. "I link summon Link 2 Moltrock Burrower!" He summoned out a new moltrock as it was designed like the other link monsters, but had a burrowing machine with it and had 2000atk points. "Next, I activate Thorny's ability from my graveyard to add both if and my crawler back to my deck." He said as he took both of his monsters back. "That triggers the ability of Moltrock Burrower."
"What ability?" Sabaro questioned.
"Whenever I have a card return from my graveyard to my deck, Moltrock Burrower can return one monster in my graveyard and summon it next to its link." Henry said. "It's special abilities will be negated, but that doesn't matter now. Welcome back, Moltrock Driller!" He said as his Driller came back with 2000atk points. "What's more is that Burrower gains an additional attack for each monster that it's linked to."
"That means it can attack twice, but Gem-Knight Crystal is stronger." Sabaro claimed.
"Not anymore! I'm activating Rush Recklessly to give Moltrock Burrower and extra 700atk points!" Henry said as he played a spell and Burrower's attack points rose to 2700. "Looks like it's all over. What a bummer, but I guess you aren't really that skilled. Burrower, attack his Topaz!" He said as Burrower charged straight at Topaz. It used its device and burrowed right through Sabaro's monster with his life points dropping to 600. "So much for the Gem-Knight deck being powerful. Attack Gem-Knight Crystal!" He went straight for the attack again and smashed against Crystal, but something was wrong. It wasn't breaking like Topaz did. "Huh? What gives? Why won't it break?!"
"It's thanks to this guy." Sabaro said as he showed a monster in his hand. "Gem-Merchant! By sending him to the graveyard, Gem-Knight Crystal gains 1000atk points."
"A thousand?!" Henry said as he didn't like the sound of that. Crystals' power increased to 3450 and smashed its fist against Burrower and destroyed it with Henry's life points dropping to 2100.
"Even if your attack worked, you still wouldn't have won. I activate Necro Fusion!" Sabaro said as he played his trap. "By banishing monsters from my graveyard, I can fusion summon. I'll remove these three." He said as he removed three monsters from his graveyard and a mix of red, blue, and green energies mixed together. "I fusion summon Gem-Knight Master Diamond!" He summoned out a new gem-knight as it had 2900atk points. "Thanks for destroying Topaz because my Master Diamond gains 100atk points for every Gem-Knight in my graveyard." He said as Master Diamond now had 3000atk points.
"Interesting. He anticipated Henry would try to end this with an attack and was ready for it." Diego said.
"Fine. I'll just place one facedown and end my turn." Henry said with Crystal's attack points returning to normal.
"My turn!" Sabaro said as he drew his next card. "Perfect! I activate Burial from a Different Dimension! This spell will take the three Gem-Knights I banished and return them to my graveyard and give Master Diamond more power!" He said as he returned those cards to the graveyard and it was empowering Master Diamond to have 3300atk points. "Although, he's about to get weaker. I banish Topaz from my graveyard so that Master Diamond gain his name and ability!"
"It's ability?!" Henry said as Diamond's power dropped to 3200, but was still empowered.
"That's right! Now he can attack twice, and destroying a monster will allow him to deal even more damage by your monster's attack points!" Sabaro said. "This is where the duel ends! Attack!" He had Master Diamond attack as it wielded its giant sword. If this attack works, Henry could be finished. However, Henry wasn't going to go down without a fight as he was about to activate his face-down.
"Stop!" Diego said as he had the duel stopped and terminated the duel.
"Hey! Why are you stopping the duel?! I was about to counter his attack!" Henry called.
"I've seen all that I needed to see and I'm most pleased. Congrats, Sabaro. You are in." Diego claimed as he looked down at Sabaro. "Summoning a powerful monster like that and using your cards the way you did tells me you do have some skill."
"Does it? You haven't seen anything yet." Sabaro claimed.
"Oh? Are you saying you have even more power?" Diego said. As lightning struck down, Sabaro appears to be joining the Black Ace organization. Why would a powerful duelist like him join them? What else is he really hiding?