The moment everyone has been waiting for has finally come. For the past three months, it's all anyone has been thinking about. It's the start of Duel Battlers.
"Ladies and gentleman, it is my great honor to claim that Duel Battlers, one of the biggest tournaments held by the WDA, is about to start!" M.C. announced. Inside the arena that Diego himself has built, many have gathered to witnessed it. "I welcome all you spectators! I also hope that all you watching from home is getting a good view! Now, let's welcome the sixteen duelists that have earned the points to have compete!" The floor opened up and showed the sixteen duelists competing in the tournament rose for them all to see. It featured Yukina and her friends with some of Black Ace duelists with a couple extras.
'Here we go. Just watch, Dad.' Yukina thought as she isn't aiming to just win this grand tournament, but to make her father proud.
"Now, I ask you all to turn your attention to the one who made this possible!" M.C. said as the lights shined on private stand and showed it was Diego. Seeing him had Yukina and her friends on guard.
"I welcome you all." Diego said. "Let me say that the sixteen duelists standing here do deserve a great applause. They have proven to be quite skilled and powerful duelists. I'm sure we're in for many fine duels."
"This guy... We know the only reason he started this whole thing was to sell people off to Raika." Cray said.
"It doesn't matter. We'll still stop him." Yukina said.
"Now, turn your attention to the screen above and you will see the matches for the first round of Duel Battlers!" Diego said as they all looked up and showed the matches. Some of them were surprising.
"I'm up against Henry in the first match?!" Yukina said.
"Good. A duel against Yukina is sure to be fun." Henry said.
"Thomas... He's that sniper guy I've heard about." Kent said.
"Oh man. Looks like I got Tasu." Cindy complained.
"It looks like I'm up against Raika. Looks like we get to finish what we started." Sabaro claimed.
"You've got to be kidding me. I'm dealing with the twins again?" Cray complained. "No way these matches were set by random."
"And I'm up against that fortuneteller, Takato. That isn't too bad." Sylvia said.
"And it looks like Felix and I are the lucky ones. I don't even know anything about my opponent." Hana said.
"And my opponent will be that Tanya girl." Felix claimed. "Diego is the one in charge. I'm willing to bet he set the matches where we would have the disadvantage. At the same time, we can use it to our advantage."
"Felix is right. It's a chance for us to get rid of those who are working with the Black Ace." Yukina said. "Remember that we're not just trying to win another tournament. We need to bring an end to the Black Ace's plans. No matter who our opponents are, we've got to duel with everything we've got." Yukina's friend agreed with her on that. This is there chance and they can't let it pass.
"Now, we won't wait around anymore! We'll begin with the first match!" Diego announced. "The first duel is going to be between Yukina and Henry!" Hearing the first duel is going to be exciting one right from the start, everyone is rather excited about this.
"How about that, Yukina... It's you and in the first match." Henry said as he stepped forward. "Of course, you haven't been able to beat me before and I doubt you will this time."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Henry." Yukina said. "I'll beat you and then I'm going for Raika."
"I hate to tell you, Yukin, but Raika is like a hundred times stronger, not to mention cooler." Henry said. "Still, I'm glad this tournament is finally going to start. Let's make this a fun duel." That was the thing about Henry. He's with the Black Ace and admires Raika, but why when he seems like a decent guy? Time to find some answers. Everyone else cleared the way as the two of them were finally going to face each other.
'And so it begins.' Diego thought as he watched from his own private seat. 'Once this tournament is over, Raika and Life Destroyer will have all the power. All that's left is to get Yukina and her friends out of the way.' He might think his plan is in action, but Yukina and the others are going to do everything they can to stop him.
"We are all set to begin the first duel. We have the one who started Duel Battlers, Henry, going against the shining star of this tournament, Yukina!" M.C. announced with it beginning. As much as Yukina would like to enjoy this battle, she has to win this battle.
'In order for me to face Raika and defeat him, I've got to win this battle.' Yukina thought.
"Get ready, Yukina. I'm afraid this is where it has to end for you." Henry said.
"No more talking! Let's go!" M.C. announced.
"Let's duel!" Both of them said as their duel started with each of them having 4000LP.
"I'm going first!" Henry called. "I'm gonna start by playing Cost Down! By sending one card in my hand to the graveyard, Cost Down cut's the levels of my monsters by two!" He said as he discarded one of his Moltrocks. "Next, I'm summoning Moltrock Thorny!" He summoned out one of his monsters as it crawled out with 900atk points. "Now, I build my circuit!" He said as the gateway opened up and Thorny dived into the bottom arrow. "I link summon Moltrock Shovel!" The gates opened up and his monster came out with 800atk points. "Next, I'm activating Thorny's ability! By returning him and Moltrock Friller, I can summon again! Thanks to Cost Down, I only need to tribute one monster now!"
"Don't tell me you're busting that out already!" Yukina said.
"You got it! I'll send Moltrock Shovel to the graveyard and bring out Moltrock Excavator!" Henry said as he traded away one monster and brought out his ace with it having 2500atk points.
"Yikes! Henry already managed to bust his best monster out on his first turn! How is Yukina going to counter that?!"
"I think I'll end my turn. There's no way you'll beat my Moltrock Excavator." Henry claimed.
"I can't believe he already summoned out his best monster." Kent said.
"And he's only getting started. Yukina might be in for a rough ride." Felix said.
"It's my turn!" Yukina said as she drew her next card. "I'm sure you remember this monster! I'm busting out Wild Ally Skunk to the field!" She said as she summoned out her skunk with it having 1200atk points.
"Oh man. That one is my least favorite." Henry said as he didn't like this.
"Next, I'm activating Wild Meeting! This spell allows me to summon Wild Ally Armadillo to the field!" Yukina said as she busted out her armadillo. "My armadillo instantly switches to defense mode when it's summoned, and it can survive behind destroyed once per turn when it's in defense mode." Her armadillo switched to defense mode with it having 1500def points. "Now I can use my Skunk's special ability! Since I have two Wild Allies on the field, you lose 200LP for each one!" Her skunk aimed its behind and fired stink blasts at Henry. Henry got blasted and his life points dropped to 3600 with him also feeling sick from the stink. "I can't take on your Moltrock Excavator this turn, but I'm not worried about that. I place two card face-down and that ends my turn."
"Yukina makes a small counter, but it isn't enough to beat Henry's monster. What is Yukina thinking?"
"You know you can't beat me, so you're taking small openings and putting yourself at risk." Henry said. "Try all you want, but face it that you can't beat me. My turn!" He said as he drew his next card. "I'm activating my Pot of Greed! This allows me to draw two cards!" He drew two more cards and liked what he got. "I summon Moltrock Crawler to the field!" He summoned out his crawler with it's 1200atk points. "And I'm sure you remember what he can do!"
"I do. I lose 500LP in exchange for that thing not attacking." Yukina said. Moltrock Crawler fired a blast of fire and hit Yukina with her life points dropping to 3500.
"Now, I'm building my circuit again!" He build the circuit and his Moltrock Crawler dived in. "I link summon Moltrock Shovel!" He summoned out a second Moltrock Shovel with it the same as the first. "Thanks to his ability, I'm bringing back Moltrock Crawler and you lose another 500LP!" His crawler came back and attacked Yukina with her life points dropping to 3000. "Now I'm going to build my circuit for a second time! I set Shovel and Crawler in the link arrows!" He said as both of his monsters dived inside. "I link summon Moltrock Driller!" His next monster emerged with 2000atk points. "And you remember that once he's summoned, you lose more life points!" His monster shot fire at Yukina and her life points dropped even more to 2500. "Now to really have some fun. Moltrock Excavator, get rid of her stinky skunk! Blazing Reaction!" Moltrock Excavator gathered power in its hands and unleashed a powerful blast of heat. The blast completely vaporized her skunk and Yukina's life points dropped to 1200. "Don't forget that Moltrock Excavator can also deals 300 points of damage for each Moltrock in my graveyard! I've got three in there right now. That means you lose 900LP!" Moltrock Excavator with Yukina's life points dropping even more to just 300.
"Oh boy! Yukina is down to just 300LP! I'm wondering if there's really anyway to beat Henry at all!"
"Hang on. Why didn't Henry used his Driller's ability to bring back his Moltrock Crawler in the graveyard?" Cindy questioned. "Wouldn't Yukina have lost more life points if he done that?"
"But Moltrock Excavator would have dealt less damage if he did that." Cray said. "Plus, Yukina's armadillo can survive being destroyed once per turn. He doesn't have any monsters that could have helped get through that."
"There's more to it than just that." Felix said. "I'm starting to think Henry enjoys stretching out the duel because he doesn't want things to be over too quickly."
"I told you, Yukina. You just can't beat me." Henry claimed.
"But this duel isn't over just yet! I'm activating Animal Preservation to bring back my Wild Ally Skunk!" Yukina said as she was able to bring back her skunk with 1000def points.
"You can fight all you like, but I'm the one who is going to win in the end. I place one card face-down and that ends my turn." Henry claimed.
"My turn!" Yukina said as she drew her card. "First, I activate Mystic Aurora! I can only activate this trap when my life points are less than a thousand and the difference between ours is two-thousand! This gives me 2000LP!" She said as her life points increased to 2300. "Next, I activate Charitable Reward! I pay 800LP to draw two more cards!" Yukina's life points may have dropped to 1500, but she drew two more cards. "Now I'm going to use my skunk's ability to deal more damage to you!" Her skunk fired away and blasted Henry with his life points dropping to 3200.
"Man, I hate that." Henry said with a plugged nose.
"With that done, I tribute both my armadillo and my skunk to bring out Wild Ally Phoenix!" Yukina called as she tribute both her monsters and summoned out her phoenix as it flew out with 2500atk points. "Time to take down your excavator! I'm activating my Wild Force equip spell to give my phoenix another 500atk points!" She said as phoenix grew stronger and now had 3000atk points. "Wild Ally Phoenix, bring down his Moltrock Excavator with Shining Wildfire!" She ordered for the attack and her phoenix flew straight at Henry's monster.
"Nice try! I'm activating Deflect Barrier! This trap will redirect your attack to my Moltrock Driller!" Henry said. His other monster stood in the way of the attack and got destroyed with Henry's life points dropping to 2200. Not what Yukina wanted, but she can't do much more.
"I end my turn, but at least my phoenix is stronger than your excavator." Yukina claimed.
"He saved his monster, but he took more damage." Sylvia said.
"But now he's got another monster in his graveyard for Moltrock Excavator to deal more damage." Felix said. "If he can get around Yukina's phoenix, like force her to use her phoenix's ability, we could win the duel right now." None of Yukina's friends liked this as it was shaping to be that Yukina is the first to lose.
"My turn! I draw!" Henry said. He drew his next card and only had two cards in his hand. No monsters, but he did have a spell and trap that could help him. "I activate the equip spell Molten Core! This spell gives one Moltrock 700atk points!" He said Moltrock Excavator was gaining power and radiating some heat as it now had 3200atk points. It was now stronger than Yukina's phoenix. 'If this gets through, Yukina will only have 100LP. No way she can comeback from that.' "Moltrock Excavator, attack her phoenix and bring he closer to winning! Blazing Reaction!" His Moltrock Excavator gathered power and unleashed another intense blast of heat right at Yukina's phoenix. "Say goodbye!"
"Not happening!" Yukina said. "By sending Wild Ally Pangolin from my hand back to my deck, my phoenix survives your attack and the damage I take is cut in half!" She said as she returned one of her cards back to the deck with Henry's attack being blocked and her life points dropped to 1400. "And since my phoenix wasn't destroyed, your Moltrock Excavator can't deal any effect damage."
"What?! You've got to be kidding!" Henry said as he was getting frustrated.
"Sorry, but I can't lose." Yukina said. "I'm not just aiming to win this tournament. I'm aiming to take Raika down."
"What? Did you say take Raika down?" Henry said. "You've got a lot nerve. That isn't going to happen because there's no way you can beat him. Not to mention you can't get through me."
"Just you wait, Henry." Yukina said.
"I don't have to. I doubt I need this, but I'm placing one facedown and ending my turn." Henry said.
"My turn!" Yukina said and drew her next card. "Sorry, Henry. I'm done playing around. It's time I ended this. I don't know why someone like you worships Raika or why you're with the Black Ace, but I have to take you down if you are. I have just the monster to help with that. I'm summoning Wild Ally Jellyfish!" Yukina summoned out a new monster as a blue jellyfish floated on the field with the signature collar hanging in its stingers. It also only had 100atk points.
"What? How can that thing help?" Henry questioned.
"I'll show you by activating it's special ability! It can copy the level of another monster on the field, and I choose my level seven phoenix!" Yukina said as her jellyfish went from level one to level seven. "And now, I overlay my level seven phoenix and jellyfish!"
"Overlay?!" Henry said as he and everyone else was surprised by her words. It appeared to be working as the X appeared on the field and both of her monsters dived inside with the summoning working.
"Great cosmic power comes together to give life to a galactic might! I xyz summon Wild Ally Cosmic Phoenix!" Yukina called as she summoned a new monster. Her phoenix was now coated in purple armor with a metal tail and now the feathers of the wings turned into rainbow energy that shot out like flames of thrusters. It also had 3000atk points.
"If you are watching from home, do not adjust your screen because this is real!"
"Wild Force might return to my hand, but I don't need it." Yukina said.
"Why not?" Henry questioned.
"I activate Wild Ally Cosmic Phoenix's special ability! By using one overlay unit, one monster loses 1000atk points." Yukina said. "However, why stop there when I can use both!" She said as her phoenix used both overlay units and emitted a rainbow light that drained away Moltrock Excavator's power as it dropped to 1200.
"What?! This isn't fun anymore!" Henry complained.
"What are you talking about, Henry? Of course it's fun." Yukina claimed. "Don't tell me you're only having fun when you're winning. You should know that it doesn't matter. This has still been a great duel. You don't see me complaining." She claimed and her words got to Henry. "Cosmic Phoenix, attack Moltrock Excavator and end this! Attack With Galactic Blaze!" Her phoenix unleashed more power as the energy from the wings ignited even more with it getting ready to attack.
"Not so fast! I activate my trap: Quake Fissure!" Henry said. "This trap destroys both monsters that are engaged in battle!" He said as both monsters were suddenly destroyed. "But at the end of the turn, I can resurrect an earth monster! Which means you lose and I win! Sorry, Yukina!"
"Not quite!" Yukina claimed with Henry shocked she would say that. "If Cosmic Phoenix is destroyed when it has no overlay units, I can resurrect Wild Ally Phoenix!" She said as her phoenix emerged on the field once again and had the power to end this duel. "Attack now! Shining Wildfire!" Her phoenix went on the attack and Henry was left defenseless. Henry ended up getting blown back from the attack as all of his life points dropped to zero.
"It's over and done! Yukina wins!" M.C. announced with the crowd cheering for Yukina's win. Her friends were real happy she won.
"No! I started all of this and now I'm the first to lose?! That is so not fair!" Henry complained as he flailed around like a child, but he stopped when he saw Yukina came over and held out her hand for him.
"That was a great duel, Henry. Let's do it again some time." Yukina said as she really meant it. Henry was amazed with her. He took her hand and stood back up as the two ended things on a friendly shake.
"Well, I'm actually surprised that Henry lost so early, and that Yukina pulled off an xyz summon." Diego said. "Oh well. It doesn't matter. Raika will be the one who wins in the end and he will be the ones with all the power." Diego doesn't really care what happened because he clearly favors Raika since Raika is the one with all the power. Duel Battlers has only just begun. Yukina might have taken out one of their better battlers, but Diego still believes he'll win in the end.