It seemed like everyone except Yukina was getting into Duel Battlers. She did have one last chance with the last qualifying tournament, but Taiyo and Sabaro showed to try and get in the way. Her friends attempted to hold them off, but Yukina decided to forget the last qualifying tournament because she didn't want to turn her back on her friends like this. Now, she might have a chance to even the score with Taiyo after last time.

"So, you decided to face me, but only after I already defeated your friends." Taiyo said. "I wonder if you really are the duelist everyone says you are. So far, I am not impressed."

"You really think I'm not all that?" Yukina said as she was getting annoyed.

"Where does this guy get off?" Kent said.

"Come on. Haven't you done enough to Yukina?" Hana said. "Isn't it enough that you ruined her chances to get in Duel Battlers?"

"Why does getting in that tournament matter so much?" Taiyo questioned. "She said it herself."

"I don't get it. What does he want from Yukina?" Cindy questioned.

"Wait! I bet I know what's really going on!" Kent said. "You're with the Black Ace! Knowing Yukina's a threat to your plans, you want to get rid of her!"

"You're wrong about that. Taiyo seems to oppose Raika just like you all." Sabaro claimed with all them even more confused as to why he's doing this.

"Never mind that. That's really none of your business." Taiyo claimed. "Come on, Yukina. It's time to see if you're really the duelist everyone thinks you are because I'm not convinced just yet."

"You asked for it, Taiyo!" Yukina said as she was ready to duel.

"Not here. Let's take this somewhere more secluded." Taiyo said as he wants to duel somewhere else.

...

The Abandon Amusement Park

Taiyo brought them all to the same abandon park where Cindy dueled Sylvia for the first time. No one would be around to interfere. Yukina didn't care for the location and was willing to face him there. The two of them stood facing each other with the others standing back and watching.

"This will work." Taiyo said.

"Bring it on, Taiyo!" Yukina said. "When I lost to you, the door to Duel Breakers closed. I came close only for it to still be out of reach, but maybe that's a good thing. If I can't beat you, maybe I really can't beat Raika. In fact, it was after I met you that I felt like I really rise back up and became stronger than before. Now it's time to see how strong I've really become."

"Just what I was thinking." Taiyo said as they now stood ready to face each other in the rematch Yukina's been looking forward to.

"Time to duel!" Both said as they started with 4000LP.

"You can beat him, Yukina!" Cindy cheered.

"Don't lose to this jerk!" Kent cheered.

"I think I'll kick things off." Taiyo said. "I'll start by activating Helios Spark! Now, whenever I summon a fire wing-beast, you'll lose 200LP. Next, I'll be summoning Helios Sun Eagle to the field!" Taiyo summoned out an eagle that was just like his other birds with it having 1600atk points. "That triggers the effects of Helios Spark for you to lose 200LP. In fact, you'll be losing more. Helios Sun Eagle's ability causes you to lose 500LP when it's summoned!" Both of his cards unleashed the power of both of his cards with Yukina's life points dropping to 3300.

"The duel just started and he already deal Yukina damage!" Sylvia said.

"This guys really doesn't play around." Hana said.

"And I'm afraid he's just getting started." Felix said.

"I'll place two cards facedown and that ends my turn." Taiyo said as he set the cards. "Time to see if you really can beat me, Yukina. Are you really any different from the last time we faced each other?"

"I'll show you!" Yukina said as she drew her card. "I'll start by summoning my Wild Ally Osprey to the field!" Yukina summoned out and Osprey with white and brown feathers with it having 1700atk points. "They say that an Osprey's eyes can see a lot, and that's what this one can do. My osprey allows me to see one of your face-downs and I can make that card inactive this turn!"

"But I have two face-downs. You better choose carefully." Taiyo claimed. He's right. Yukina needs to choose the right card or else her whole plan could be thrown off.

"I'll choose the one on the left!" Yukina decided. Her osprey unleashed a light from its eyes and could see the face-down. It revealed to be Helios Firewall. "Helios Firewall! You used that in our last duel, but it won't help you this time." She claimed with that trap now useless this turn. "Wild Ally Osprey, attack now!" Yukina ordered. Her osprey dived down and slashed it's talons against Taiyo's eagle and destroyed it with Taiyo's life points dropping down to 3900.

"Is that all you got?" Taiyo taunted.

"Just wait. I place two face-downs myself and end my turn." Yukina said.

"I draw!" Taiyo said as he took his next turn. "You're probably thinking you're safe. If I don't have two monsters for a tribute, I can't bring out my phoenix. Well, you would be wrong. There's more than one way to perform a tribute summon." From what he just said, they all fear his ace monster is coming. "First, I'll place a face-down. Then, I activate my trap: Alchemic Structure! This trap allows me to use my spell and trap cards as monsters for a tribute summoning."

"You're using spells and traps for a tribute summoning?!" Yukina said as he couldn't believe he might be able to pull that off.

"That's right. That is why I'll dispose of these two face-downs!" Taiyo said as his two cards burned away. "Appear from the flames of the mighty! I summon Helios Sun Phoenix!" His cards burned away and his phoenix emerged out of the flames with its 3000atk points.

"Oh man! There's that big bad phoenix!" Kent said.

"I'm sure Yukina can take it!" Cindy said.

"It's not that easy." Felix warned them. "Helios Sun Phoenix's ability is that it can resurrect after being destroyed with 500atk points. On top of that, it weakens its opponent's monster by 500 with the opponent losing 500LP."

"It can do all that once it's destroyed?" Sylvia said.

"If that's the case, Yukina needs to block that ability." Hana said.

"Don't forget that Helios Spark is still in affect! That means you lose another 200LP!" Taiyo warned as his spell unleashed its power and Yukina's life points burned away with her now having 3100LP. "Helios Sun Phoenix, destroy her osprey! Attack with Primordial Sun Blast!" His phoenix unleashed more fire power as it unleashed a powerful flame and blasted Yukina's monster with her life points dropping even more to 1800.

"Yukina!" Her friends called as this was looking bad.

"I thought you improved and got stronger. So far, you haven't done much of anything that proves that." Taiyo said.

"This duel isn't over yet, Taiyo." Yukina said. "You are pretty strong, but I'm not going to lose to you again. It's my turn!" She drew her next card and was still fighting. "I'll start by summoning my Wild Ally Giraffe!" Yukina continued on the duel as she brought out her giraffe with it having 900atk points. "When my giraffe is summoned to the field, I can bring back my osprey!" She said as her osprey came back to the field. "Next, I'm activating my Wild Meeting spell! This will allow me tribute both of my monsters to bust out my own phoenix!" She said as he tributed both of her monsters. "Time to get some payback, old friend! Take to the sky, Wild Ally Phoenix!" She called as she summoned out her phoenix with it having 2500atk points. The two phoenixes are now faced with each other, but only one will be able to fly away in the end.

"Yes! She summoned out her own phoenix!" Cindy said.

"But it doesn't have enough attack points." Hana said.

"Not a problem! I'm activating Frontline Ready!" Yukina said as she activated one of her traps. "Since I just summoned a monster when you have one with more attack points, this trap gives my phoenix an extra 1000atk points until the end of this turn!" Her phoenix was given more power as it rose to 3500.

"That still isn't enough for you to win." Taiyo mocked.

"Maybe not, but I can still deal damage with it!" Yukina said. "Wild Ally Phoenix, attack Helios Sun Phoenix with Shining Wildfire!" Her phoenix ignited itself in its rainbow flames and flew straight at Taiyo's phoenix. Her phoenix smashed right into Taiyo's and was able to destroy it with Taiyo's life points dropping to 3400.

"You're not giving up the fight. I respect that, but how quickly you forget!" Taiyo called. "When Helios Sun Phoenix is destroyed in battle, it rises from it's ashes with more power!" A spiral of flames erupted on his field and his phoenix resurrected with 3500atk points now. "On top of that, you lose 500LP and your phoenix loses 500atk points!" Those flames burned against Yukina and her phoenix as their power dropped to 1300LP and 3000atk points.

"I... I end my turn." Yukina said as this wasn't looking good for her at all. That meant her phoenix's power dropped to 2000.

"This is bad! Yukina needs to do something or her last few life points are going to be burned away!" Hana said.

"Taiyo's phoenix has enough power to end this right now!" Sylvia said.

"No... She can't lose..." Cindy said as she doesn't want to accept that.

"My turn!" Taiyo said as he drew his next card, but he was careful. He knew Yukina must have something that will protect her. She surely would have with her being at a disadvantage now. "I'll start by playing Helios Feathers! Since I have a fire attribute winged-beast, this allows me to draw two more cards!" He drew two more cards with them being a monster and a trap. "That face-down you placed at your first turn is still on the field. I bet you were waiting to use it for when you really needed it. Well, you won't get the chance! I summon Helios Sun Hawk!" He summoned out another firebird with this one looking like a hawk and had 1500atk points. "That means my Helios Burner deals more damage!" His spell activated again with Yukina's life points dropping to 1100.

"What's he doing? Why is he adding all those other moves when all he has to do is attack?" Kent questioned. "Is he that cynical?"

"No. He's just trying to anticipate Yukina's moves." Felix said. "He isn't holding anything back. This is bad."

"Your friends are right to be concerned!" Taiyo claimed. "When Helios Sun Hawk is summoned, all your face-downs are destroyed and you lose 200LP for each one!" His hawk unleashed a blast of fire and destroyed her trap, Mystic Aurora, with her life points dropping to 900. "Mystic Aurora... That trap would have given you 2000LP."

"A trap that gave her 2000LP?! Why didn't she use it?!" Kent questioned.

"She couldn't because the life point difference had to be at least 2000 and she needed hers to be less than a 1000." Felix said. "If her life points were just a little lower, she could have used it."

"Even if you used your phoenix's ability to stop it, you would have been left defenseless." Taiyo said. "This is where it ends. Helios Sun Phoenix, attack her phoenix and end this!" His phoenix unleashed more of its power and the whole field was encased in flames. The sight was horrifying because it means that Yukina lost the duel.

"No... No! She can't lose!" Cindy cried.

"It's over." Sabaro said. "Perhaps Taiyo was right to doubt Yukina. Maybe she isn't the duelist everyone thought she is. If that's the case, I'll try and stop Raika." He turned away and so did Taiyo as they thought this was the end.

"Hold it! We're not done!" Everyone was surprised to hear Yukina. They all saw her emerged through the flames with 150LP and her phoenix was still standing.

"What's this? How did you survive?" Taiyo questioned.

"My friends always have my back. That's what my deck stands for." Yukina said. "You were focused on the cards on the field that you didn't think about the cards in my hand. All I had to do was send Wild Ally Pangolin back to my deck. By doing that, my phoenix survived and the damage I take is cut in half."

"So you were able to hold on a little longer, but now you have no cards in your hand." Taiyo said. "If you don't draw something that can bring a win, it's over." He claimed as he placed a face-down and his turn ended. "So far, I am not impressed, Yukina. How can you ever hope to defeat Raika?"

"Does she really think she can still win?" Sabaro questioned.

"No matter how great the odds against me are, I still have to go for it." Yukina said as she wasn't giving up. "I made a promise to my friends that I would meet them in Duel Battlers, but that was ruined because of you. Even so, it won't stop me! I will face Raika again! I won't let anything stand in my way! The reason I made it this far was because I kept pushing to reach that goal, and it's because of my friends. I can't afford to lose to the likes of you!"

"That's right!" She was surprised to hear that voice. All of them looked at the top of a stand and saw Cray there.

"Cray!" Yukina said.

"The only person you're allowed to lose to is me!" Cray said. "So beat this guy to redeem yourself!" That was Cray's weird way of supproting Yukina, but she got what she meant.

"Taiyo, I don't know what it is you want from me, but you're not keeping me from my goal!" Yukina said. "I won't stop advancing! I won't stop moving forward! No matter what challenge comes my way, I'll face it! You aren't any different! It's my turn!" Yukina continued on with the duel and drew her next card. She ended up drawing the very card she needs. "Time to unleash a new power. I summon my tuner monster, Wild Ally Tortoise!" She brought out a tortoise this time as it was large, green, and had 1000atk points.

"Did you say a tuner monster?!" Taiyo said as he wasn't expecting that.

"That's right, and you know what that means!" Yukina said. "I tune my level three tortoise with my level seven phoenix!" Yukina surprised them all with this. The tortoise turned into a digital circle that came around her phoenix and digitized it. That one circle soon turned into ten with a beam shooting through. "Watch as wherever there is darkness, there will always be a glimmer of light! I synchro summon Wild Ally Star Phoenix!" Yukina brought out a new version of her phoenix as it still had the rainbow shine, but it wore gold armor over it's wings and chest. It was also given two tail feathers to help it take the shape of a star and had a ring-like structure on it's back. It also had 3300atk points.

"I can't believe it! Yukina synchro summoned!" Felix said as they were all amazed.

"I don't think she ever played that card before!" Hana said.

"Her phoenix...evolved!" Taiyo said as even he was astonished by this.

"I activate Star Phoenix's ability!" Yukina said. "On the turn it's summoned, it can negate one monster's special abilities and it's attack points are added to it's own!" Her phoenix shined a light down on Helios Sun Phoenix and robbed it of it's power as Star Phoenix's power rose to 6800 and Helios' Sun Phoenix dropped to 3000. "It's over! Wild Ally Star Phoenix, attack Helios Sun Phoenix and end this!"

"I don't think so! I activate Helios Incinerate!" Taiyo said as he activate his trap. "By sacrificing my hawk, I can destroy your phoenix and you take damage equal to it's attack points!" He claimed as his hawk turned into a stream of fire and was heading for Star Phoenix.

"That won't work! Wild Ally Tortoise's ability prevents the synchro monster summoned by it from being destroyed by effects!" Yukina said. All Taiyo's trap blasted was the barrier around her monster. "It's over Taiyo! Attack now with Wild Shooting Starlight!" She ordered. Her phoenix encased itself in shining energy as it flew around in the sky. Once it gained the necessary power, it dived right down and smashed into Taiyo's phoenix. It was brought down for good this time as Taiyo lost all of his life points and lost this duel.

"It's... It's over! She won!" Felix called as they all almost couldn't believe it. Yukina was able to beat Taiyo and settle the score with him.

"Yukina!" They all called as her friends gathered around her and were happy as well as amazed with her.

"I knew you would win, despite how worried I was." Kent said.

"I can't believe you pulled off a synchro summon! You've never done that before!" Felix said.

"I'm a little surprised myself, but I just believed in the deck my father left me." Yukina said as she could feel it. Her father's spirit is flowing through that deck and it helped her win.

"Yukina!" Taiyo called to gain her attention. "This is proof that you won." He said. All he did was press a button and something happened with Yukina's points. She couldn't believe it as the number jumped all the way to 96000.

"The points you lost are back!" Felix said.

"That means... Yukina, you can enter Duel Battlers now!" Cindy said as Yukina was able to get in after all. Even Cray was pleased to hear that.

"Wait, Taiyo! Why did you do all of this?!" Yukina said.

"I needed to see if you really had it takes to defeat Raika and Life Destroyer." Taiyo said. "I wasn't testing your strength, Yukina. I was testing your resolve."

"My resolve?" Yukina questioned.

"Yes, and now you have proven to me that you really do have what it takes to defeat Raika. You truly are your father's daughter." Taiyo said.

"My father?! Taiyo, did you know my father?!" Yukina questioned, but he didn't answer. He just walked away with him walking past Sabaro.

"And what are you going to do?" Taiyo asked.

"What I can now." Sabaro said as the two of them part ways with Sabaro going over to Yukina and her friends, but they were still on guard around him.

"Sabaro? What do you want?" Yukina questioned.

"Still trying to get in Yukina's way?" Sylvia said.

"No. I told you I'm not with the Black Ace." Sabaro claimed. "Look here. This is the truth." He actually pulled out credentials and a badge. "I'm really an agent that works for the WDA." He admitted with that surprising all of them. "When Duel Battlers was made official, my mission was to infiltrate the Black Ace and learn their objectives. Just like you guys, we didn't trust them. I was also told that if I learned of an enemies of the Black Ace, they could be possible allies to help us."

"So you're a real agent?!" Kent said.

"That's amazing." Felix said.

"I'm sorry for all the deception, but now that I know about the truth of Life Destroyer, I'm hoping you'll allow me to fight along side you." Sabaro said. "I want to fight with everything I've got to stop them."

"It's a deal!" Yukina said as she was more than willing to welcome him. "We'll fight together so we can put an end to the Black Ace's plans." Not only did Yukina settle the score with Taiyo, she now has all that she lost and a new friend to aid in her fight. If they all work together, they might be able to win.

...

The Qualifying Tournament

"That's it! All qualifying tournaments have officially ended!" M.C. announced as he broadcast the news to everyone. "Up next is Duel Battlers! Out of everyone who dueled around the country, only sixteen have earned the points needed to qualify. Here they are!" He announced as he showed the sixteen duelists. Yukina, Cindy, Felix, Kent, Cray, Hana, Sylvia, Sabaro, Henry, Bruce and Butch count as one, Thomas, Takato, Tanya, Tasu, Raika, and a mysterious duelist named Hebi. These sixteen will face each other in this grand tournament. The final showdown between Yukina's friends and the Black Ace is soon to commence.