The elevator descended quickly down the shaft, plummeting into the lower depths of the Dimension Systems building, and the first basement. Below the offices and cubicles of the floors above the hidden surprises and treasures not fit for the corporate world. Research and development for the new tricks of the trade, as well as the largest Dungeon Dice Monsters colosseum were buried beneath the light for the privacy of those in the company's elite.
Serena and Fader were alone in the elevator as it dropped, though alone may not have been the correct observation from Serena's perspective. She had seen Fader's temper flare in the office of the current CEO of Dimension Systems, Thadeus Russo, whose position as company head was the point of dispute. Serena was worried at one point that it may have come to blows between the two men, and looking back at it now she may have been more relaxed had that very thing happened. Instead she now found herself in an elevator with a boyfriend who was not himself at all.
"Is Fader, um, okay?" She asked to the young man standing stoically beside her. She didn't know exactly how the powers of his Millennium Puzzle worked, not understanding how the powers of her own Rod worked, but she knew that they were capable of unleashing great potential and providing benefits for the user. She herself probably wouldn't have won her duel against Sin if the Rod hadn't activated and granted her the knowledge of how to use her newest car, the Winged Dragon of Ra.
Without looking at her the stranger behind familiar eyes replied, "He's perfectly fine Serena. The mind transfer of my consciousness and his own is not harmful, it merely allows me to better interact with our environment. Instead of coaching Fader I can make the actions myself. Had Fader wanted he could have stopped the transfer had he wanted, but he knew, as I did, that my experience in this factor would prove more useful against Russo."
"I was just a little concerned, I've never seen anything like this after all." It was odd to Serena, she looked at him, and aside from the subtle changes to his long hair she would not have seen anyone but Fader. But it was the eyes, when she looked into his eyes and heard him speak it wasn't the young man she loved. Someone completely different, but the tone of his voice, soothing in it's tone provided a calming effect that allayed her fears. "I don't know what to call you though."
"Pharaoh is a more traditional title I held at one point. Though a moniker I picked up from Yugi and his friends was 'Yami'. I supposed that will do." Before any other words could be exchanged between the two the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened to an ominously dark arena. The two of them stepped out of the elevator which swiftly closed behind them. Neon lights shimmered around them, exposing the arena floor where the duel would take place, as well as Russo hovering on a platform above the field. He didn't say a word but instead gestured to another platform at the other end of the field.
Yami nodded respectfully to his opponent and moved to his indicated position. Despite what his or Fader's feelings for his opponent may be, there was still an unspoken amount of respect Yami gave all of his opponents; despite whatever actions they may make off the field. His feet stepped onto the platform and with a mechanical click the platform raised to equal ground with Russo. In front of Yami was a familiar gaming console that Yami had seen years ago when he dueled with Duke Devlin over his title as King of Games. To his right was again the help computer there to assist players during the game by providing them with information about monsters and abilities, but to the left was a device Yami had never seen before. It appeared to have a thin horizontal slot and a glass column beside it.
"What's this?" he asked indicated the device.
"That is a relatively new device," answered Russo. "I'm not surprised you're not familiar with it, it hasn't quite hit mainstream yet. It's a device for players coming to us from Duel Monsters. When the player places one of their cards in the slot the computer scans it and provides them with the Dungeon Dice Monsters version of that same monster. Go ahead and use it. I'm sure you'd be more comfortable using monsters you're comfortable with. "I'll give you a few moments to prepare," he finished crossing his arms over his chest.
Yami pulled his deck out of his belt, flipping through it and the side deck for cards that he could use, remembering that he could only choose fifteen dice to make his dice pool. After a few minutes he had collected his dice and indicated to Russo that he was ready to begin.
"Alright then, since it was you who challenged me to this contest then I will make the first move."
"Go ahead," Yami replied.
Russo placed his collection of dice into the machine, as did Yami. The machines hummed to life, illuminating the field as well as the three glowing red hearts that represented the players' lives. Russo pressed a button and three dice shot out of the machine into his hand. Taking them into his hand he tossed them across the grid mapped board in front of him. He was looking for two numbered stars that matched so that he could summon a monster to the playing field, the higher the value of the star, the stronger the monster, but also the more difficult it would be to summon. "No matched stars," he said dejected. "But I'll add some crests to my Crest Pool."
"Fine," Yami said. He knew that even if a player failed to summon a monster into the dungeon any crests that the dice showed after the roll would be added to the player's Crest Pool to be used later. "My turn." Yami took his dice into hand and looked at the quickly. the dice he held showed level three stars, a fairly high level monster. He tossed the dice in front of him, trusting that he would not be let down. The dice came through for him showing a pair of level three stars as well as a Magic crest.
"I matched crests Russo." Yami then placed his chosen die into the grid to dimension the dice into the holographic monster. "So now I summon to the field the Millennium Shield (00 Atk :40 Def :3 HP). I may not be able to move this monster, but it's high defense will prevent you from easily getting to my Heart Points. Take your turn Russo."
Yami: 3, Russo: 3.
"A excellent beginning. I can see that I shouldn't underestimate you Fader."
"Be sure that you don't."
"Now it's my turn to roll. Go!" he exclaimed as he let the dice fly from his hand. "The Witch of the Iron Cauldron (10:10:1). Not a very powerful monster, but it extends my dungeon path towards your Heart Points."
"I never underestimate any monster Russo. Nor the one who controls them."
"Sound philosophy, but if you worry about my lone witch, then you won't be able to stand the strength of my more powerful monsters as they hit the field."
Yami smiled. "Don't' worry about me. Now if you're done your turn?"
"Go ahead. We're just getting started."
"Indeed," Yami said taking his next set of dice into hand. They clattered to the table unmatched. "No dimension this time, but I will add the movement and attack crests to my pool for later."
"As you should, but if you aren't able to summon more creatures to field soon then you won't be able to stop me from spreading over to your heart points." Russo gathered another three dice into his hand and rolled them out onto the field. "Another matched set of summon crests. This time it's the level two summon, the Vanishing Ghost (20:10:2)."
"Deceptively weak Russo. It hides a powerful effect no doubt."
"I will reveal nothing, you'll just have to wait and see for yourself. For now I'm finished."
Yami tossed his next set of die. "Excellent. I have another summon of my own, the Z-Metal Tank (10:10:1), and I'll use the pair of movement crests I got as well to move it ahead two spaces, closer to you and your monsters." The tank rolled forward to the edge of the path that extended out from the point of Yami's heart points. The paths extended five squares at a time in varying patterns with each monster summoned to the dungeon. Moving your monsters from one end to the other was the goal of both players, but there would come a point when their two dungeon paths would inevitably meet prevent the other from extending any further towards their opponent and forcing them to build outwards if they wanted to continue to summon monsters.
"Two monsters for each of us, but still a long way to go before our dungeon paths meet. There's much left before this battle reaches a climax, but already I can tell that it will be one I remember for a long time."
Yami smiled and nodded. "I'll give you this, you have the heart of a duelist, despite the soul of a villain. I will not hold back though, I will bring this fight to you to protect my friends."