"Dad wasn't kidding when he said Kaiba goes overboard on everything.", Gold said as he surveyed the tournament. "Especially when he told about all the times he tried to beat Yugi in a duel."
"In any case, we should probably find a duel. The amount of duelists is starting to thin-out.", Sunset noted. "And I got the feeling we'll be facing off against some of the toughest opponents yet." The two continued searching for a duel, until Sunset spotted a familiar face. "Miss Zecora?" Zecora turned to face Sunset.
"Ah, Sunset! Good to see you again. And who would this be? Your boyfriend?", Zecora asked.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Goldenrise. Call me Gold for short."
"I take it both of you are in the tournament?", Zecora asked.
"Just Gold is dueling. So how far have you gotten."
"I have five locator cards. And I assume you'd like to challenge me to obtain them?" Gold smiled.
"You know it. Time to see how my updated deck holds up!"
Gold: 8000
Zecora: 8000
"Hope you don't mind, but I'll take the first move!", Gold said. "I summon a monster in defense mode and set a card face-down! I end my turn."
"I draw! I summon Magical Exemplar! Then I'll equip her with Invigoration to boost her attack by 400 points, but lowers her defense by 200 points. Then her effect allows me to place two Spell Counters on her! Then I'll play Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my life points by 1000! That places two more Spell Counters on Magical Exemplar! Now I'll remove all the Spell Counters from Magical Exemplar to special summon a spellcaster-type monster from my hand whose levels are less than or equal to the amount of Spell Counters I removed! I special summon Familiar-Possessed-Aussa! Now I overlay my two monsters! I xyz summon Downerd Magician! Now she gains 200 attack for each overlay unit attached to her! Then I'll play Hidden Armory! This lets me add an equip spell from my deck to my hand! I'll activate the equip spell I added to my hand! Xyz Unit! Now Downder Magician gains 200 attack points times her rank! She's a rank four, so she gains 800 attack points! Boosting her to 3200 attack points! Now I'll attack your defense mode monster!" Downerd Magician hurled a flask with a potion in it that exploded Gold's monster! "And since she destroyed your monster by battle, she inflicts piercing damage. However, I must detach an overlay unit since damage calculation was carried out. Now Downerd Magician's attack points fall to 3000. I end my turn."
Gold: 6900
Zecora: 9000
"I draw!" Gold looked at his hand. "I play Valhalla! Hall of the Fallen! This lets me special summon a fairy-type monster from my hand since I control no monsters! I special summon Archlord Kristya!" A majestic looking fairy descended! "When he's on the field, niether of us can special summon monsters! Now I play the spell card Terraforming! This lets me add a field spell from my deck to my hand! Now I play the field spell Luminous Spark! Now I'll attack and discard Honest! This lets Kristya gain the attack of the monster he battles! I'll attack Downerd Magician! Now Kristya gains 3000 attack points!" Kristya shot a beam of light that annihilated Downerd Magician! "I end my turn with a face-down. Now Kristya's attack points go back down to 3200 due to my field spell."
Gold: 6900
Zecora: 5800
"Impressive. I summon a monster in defense mode and set a card."
"Time to see what else I can bring out!" Gold drew his next card. "I play Advance Force! This lets me tribute a level five of higher monster on my field to tribute summon a level seven or higher monster! I summon Crimson Dragon!" Archlord Kristya vanished in a pillar of light, and Crimson Dragon descended! "Now that he's on the field, his effect activates! I can target one monster on my opponent's field and destroy it! Then Crimson Dragon gains that monster's attack points!" Crimson Dragon's attack jumped to 4000! "Attack her directly Crimson! Crimson Plasma Blast!"
"I activate my trap! Mirror Force!"
"I don't think so! I activate my own trap! Trap Jammer! When a trap card is activated during the battle phase, I can negate the activation and destroy it!" Zecora's trap was destroyed and her life points took a serious hit! "I end my turn."
Gold: 6900
Zecora: 1800
Zecora drew her next card. "I set a card and summon a monster in defense mode."
"I draw! I'll set my own card and attack your monster!" Zecora's monster was destroyed by a blast of plasma! "Then I'll set a card and end my turn."
"I draw, and activate my trap! Magic Cylinder! This inflicts your monster's attack points as damage!" Crimson's plasma blast went in one cylinder and out the other! Striking Gold's life points!
"Whoops!", Crimson said with a nervous smile.
"I guess I'll end my turn with a face-down."
Gold: 2900
Zecora: 1800
"I draw! Now I'll set two cards and end my turn."
"Hmm. Those two face-downs could be trouble." Gold drew his next card. "So I'll just have to get rid of them! I play Twin Twisters! By discarding one card, I can destroy up to two spell and trap cards on the field! I'll destroy your face-downs! Now Crimson! Attack her directly!" The last of Zecora's life points were wiped out in a flash of crimson plasma! Zecora handed over her locator cards, and went on her way as she waved goodbye.
"Sweet! Looks like you're the first one in the finals Gold.", Sunset said with a smile.
"Yeah. I just wonder how the others are doing."