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Fanfic Chapter 47: Dungeon Dice Monsters Pt 3: The Strike Ninja Cometh
Episode Basis: Dungeon Dice Monsters Pt 3
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Yugi and Duke Devlin squared off in Dungeon Dice Monsters, a new game where the players would roll dice and play based on the crests that came up. Duke was awesome, having been able to summon five monsters while Yugi hadn't been able to summon one. But Duke soon revealed that his talent comes from more than just practice: he was the creator of the game! Duke also revealed why he held such a grudge against Yugi. He believes that Yugi cheated in his victory over Pegasus and as such, drove Pegasus to withdraw from everything, just when he was planning on releasing Dungeon Dice Monsters to the world with Duke. Duke was able to take one of Yugi's heart points leaving him with two. Will Yugi have to retire from Duel Monsters forever? Will Joey be stuck in a dog suit forever?
Ryo Bakura was walking along the street when he noticed the crowd in front of the Black Crown store.
"Excuse me, what's going on?" He asked a girl that was towards the back of the crowd.
"Yugi Moto has challenged the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters!" She said excitedly. "If he loses, he's agreed to give up Duel Monsters."
"What?" Bakura cried shocked. He shoved his way to the front of the pack and saw that the girl's words were true.
"Do you really think Yugi cheated?" He heard a bystander ask his friend.
"I doubt it, if he cheated, he wouldn't have been able to win Duelist Kingdom."
"But Pegasus did disappear after the Duelist Kingdom tournament. And he was the creator of the game. Maybe Yugi did cheat."
"Yugi did not cheat," Bakura said firmly. "I should know, I was there!"
"You were at the Duelist Kingdom tournament?" The kids asked.
"That's right, and Yugi Moto did not cheat."
The kids looked confused on whom they should be cheering. Bakura scowled at Devlin as the dark spirit from the Millennium Ring briefly emerged. That foolish snob has no idea who he's challenging.
Inside, the cheerleaders were doing what Duke wanted them to do.
"Duke's so cool, Duke's so dreamy; he will defeat that treacherous Yugi!"
"Zip it, you crazy broads!" Joey snapped. "My bud has never done anything treacherous!"
"Shut up, dog," they shouted back. "You're service is to Duke now!" Joey's face went white and he whimpered in the corner like… well, you know.
"That's just wrong," Harold said.
"Oh on the contrary," Simon countered. "It's all correct. Don't forget, your friends asked for this. Plus, with the defeat of Yugi Moto, Dungeon Dice Monsters will sell like hot cakes."
"Yugi, forget about me," Joey called. "You have to fight for your self; you have to win for your honor!"
"Shut up, you mutt or we'll neuter you!" The shortest of the cheerleaders yelled.
And just like that, Joey backed off.
"Now that's definitely wrong," Harold said.
"Man, those cheerleaders are a pain in the neck," Tea commented.
"I have half a mind to go up stairs, buy a bat, and bonk them on the head with it."
"Can I join you?" Tristan asked.
"Me too," Tea threw in.
Duke's monsters have already taken out one of my heart points, Yami-Yugi thought. Unless I do something quick, I won't be able to win Joey his freedom, plus I'll have to give up Duel Monsters for good, I can't afford to lose both! However… Yugi studied his help screen. If I can get three magic crests, I might be able to put some distance. Come on, I need magic crests. "Go, dice roll!" The two blue dice he rolled came up with a magic crest with an x2 emblem in the bottom corner. "It appears that I've rolled two magic crests, Duke, but since they both have a times two emblem on it, I get double them giving me four magic crests, more than enough to activate Thunderball's special ability! Rolling Crush!" Thunderball rolled himself into a ball and ran over Blast Lizard. "But my attack doesn't end there; I use three more magic crests I have in my crest pool to have him attack again!" This time, it was Gator Dragon who felt the crush.
"Nice going, Yugi, you even found out how to use your help screen," Duke commented.
"Yes, now we have a game!"
"That new game store certainly has a big crowd," Solomon commented. "I wonder what my competition is up to." He sneaked to the front and saw the image of the cheerleaders doing their little "dance." His eyes bugged out. "Oh wow, I'm in love, what I wouldn't give to have a TV this size!" Then the camera focused on Joey in his dog costume. "Joey? I knew that boy would end up in the dog house one day, but in a dog suit?" The image panned to the others. "Tea and Harold are there too? What's going…?" Solomon gasped as he saw Yugi there. "No! It's not enough that they take my business, but they take my grandson too!"
"Mister Moto."
"Bakura! Please tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing!"
"I wish I could," Bakura said. "But it's true. That's Yugi playing up there." Bakura filled Solomon in on what's going on.
"Yugi can't retire from Duel Monsters," Solomon said.
"I know, his destiny is intertwined with it," Yami-Bakura said darkly.
If Solomon heard him, he chose to ignore it.
"I have to admit, Yugi, when we first started I had my doubts but now I see that you've got a little bit of talent. But don't forget, it'll take a lot more than luck to beat me. After all, don't forget who created the game."
"Yes, you created this game just as Pegasus created Duel Monsters, but having created it doesn't mean you can't be beaten at it. Pegasus found that out the hard way."
"You only won against Pegasus by cheating! You're not going to fool me like you've fooled everyone else!"
"No, Duke, you're only fooling yourself."
"Yeah, right, cheat!"
"Yugi never cheats!" Harold protested.
"Except against Pegasus," Simon said with that smug look that Tea just wanted to slap off.
"Go, dice roll!" Duke rolled two movement crests and an attack crest. "Nice, I'll save those in my crest pool.
"Now it's my turn. Go, dice roll!" Yami-Yugi rolled two summons crests and a movement crest. "Dimension the dice! And unlock… the Knight of Twin Swords (20/10/30)!"
"Fat lot of good that did you, none of my monsters are even close!"
"That's why I'll put the remaining crest into my crest pool for later."
"At least you've become expert at conserving your crests."
"I don't get it," Joey said. "What's the point?"
"I guess you really can't teach an old dog new trick." Joey growled at Duke. "I'll explain it again: any crests that you can't use are automatically stowed in your crest pool."
"Oh, I get it now."
"What you should get is a muzzle," the cheerleaders said as they tackled and pinned him. Joey whimpered.
"Man, that's rough."
"It's a dog's life."
"Bow wow."
Yugi's a quick study, I'll give him that. He's certainly learned to master using the help screen and figuring out strategies that took me weeks to come up with. Looks like I'm just going to have to take things to the next level. "Go, dice roll!" Duke got a pair of summon crests. "Dimension the dice and unlock my creature…" The die appeared on the grid near Yugi's Knight. "Here's one monster your knight should stay away from Yugi, the Battle Ox (20/20/20)! But then again, he might have trouble after I use four stored movement crests to move him forward and into your turf!" The Battle Ox moved onto the blue square and came up besides Yugi's Knight of Twin Swords. "Oh, and did I forget to mention? Battle Ox gains a 10 point bonus when fighting warrior monsters (20-30/20/20) like your knight! Battle Ox, attack with battle axe crush!"
"Knight, go into defensive mode!" Yugi commanded. "Sorry, Devlin, but since my knight has a defense power of 10 which means that your Battle Ox will only do 20 points of damage!"
Duke slammed the table. That cheat has taught himself to defend, that's one of the most advanced techniques of the game!
"Of course, my knight will lose 20 of its 30 Hit Points but at least he'll remain on the field!"
(KTS: 20/10/10)
"Now it's my turn, go, dice role!" Yami-Yugi rolled two attack crests and a movement crest. "I'll use my two attack crests to activate my Knight's special ability allowing him to attack twice in one turn!" The knight attacked Battle Ox and destroyed it.
The cheerleaders cried, Yugi's friends cheered.
Simon just scowled. So what if he's beaten one monster, that only makes this match more profitable for me. The better the match, the more people will crowd to buy Dungeon Dice Monsters.
"Your turn, Duke, but this time, you might want to steer clear of my monsters!"
To everyone's surprise, Duke was laughing. Even the cheerleaders were confused. "So you were able to defeat my Battle Ox, so what? My ultimate strategy wasn't about just summoning another monster; it was about building up my dungeon path."
"Say what?"
"Just take a look at your dungeon path, you dunce!" Everyone looked down.
Harold was the first to spot it. "Wait a second, Duke's path; it covers all sides of the field."
"Precisely, Shaggy, and a dungeon path can not cross over another path!"
"I'm boxed in!"
"I still don't get it," Tea said.
"Tea, look at Duke's path. It extends from one side of the board to the other, creating a red line. If Duke was correct in saying that dungeon paths can't cross each other, then there's nowhere for Yugi to extend his dungeon path towards Duke's heart points."
Tea was beginning to catch on. "And since the paths can't cross, there's no way for Yugi to build a route leading to Duke's heart points and that would mean…"
Joey groaned, "I'm stuck in this costume."
"Plus the King of Games will be forced into an early retirement."
"I don't know, Mister Moto, it doesn't look good," Bakura said.
"What do you mean, Bakura?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but I think Yugi's monsters can only move on the blue squares. But it doesn't look like the blue squares reach the whole length of the field. It's a classic pincer maneuver, cutting off all routes and cornering an opponent."
"Isn't there any way he can win?"
"I don't know."
Tristan was wondering the same thing. "Isn't there any way he can win?"
"Well actually he can," Duke said continuing to twirl his hair. "He could always try cruising his monsters through my dungeon path."
"He can do that?" Joey asked.
"Sure, if he doesn't mind running a virtual gauntlet. See if he chooses that way, he'll have to come across every monster I have on the field."
"It would be a massacre," Harold gasped.
"So now you see that a proper master of the game doesn't need to humiliate himself with cheating," Simon said shooting a lewd glance Tea's way.
"My roll now!" Duke gasped at one of the dice that ejected from the randomizer. He chuckled, "Perfect, just perfect."
Yami-Yugi stared suspiciously at him.
"What does this look like?" Duke asked holding out the die in question.
"Looks like a black die."
"A very rare black die to be exact. For with it, I'm going to finish you off and win this game! All I need is a pair of summon crests. Go, dice role!" The black and red dice produced summons. "Dimension the dice! Now you'll see the true power of the black die." The black die appeared on the grid and unfolded to reveal a dark hole. "Behold, the warp vortex!"
"The what?"
"The warp vortex, guess I'm going to have to explain that as well. The dark hole you see before you is a special summoning that only a rare black die can do. It's a cosmic portal; when monsters jump into it, they can jump to another place on the board instantly. This 'other place' is determined by wherever the second black die is placed. And guess what, Yugi, I already got the second location all picked out, deep inside your territory." Yami-Yugi saw an area that looked like it would be prime locale for the warp vortex's exit point. "It's the perfect place to give me easy access to your heart points."
"Oh man," Harold gasped. "Yugi might as well have no monsters on the field because either way, Duke could easily get to his heart points."
"Finally, you're beginning to catch on," Simon commented.
"If I were you, I'd start working on my retirement speech, because your end will come in as much time as it takes for my randomizer to spit out another black die, which I feel won't be long."
The best I can do now is build up my defenses. "Go, dice roll!" The dice came out with two summon crests. "Now, Duke, let's see how well I learned your game. Dimension the dice and unlock… the Strike Ninja (20/10/20)!" A man in black with a red cape and a Darth Vader-like mask appeared. "His high speed allows me to move him three spaces for each movement crest."
"High speed huh, well that's won't even come close to the speed of my vortex. Speaking of which…" Duke's randomizer ejected three dice which included a black one. "Another black die, now I'll roll to complete the warp tube and finish you off for good!"
"Yugi, no!" Tea shouted.
It's all over, Joey thought amidst the cheerleader's chanting.
If Duke summons that last vortex, it's all over.
The dice came up a movement, trap, and magic crest.
"You lucked out this time, Yugi, but next time I'll beat you!"
Yugi's friends breathed a sigh of relief and Duke's cheerleaders moaned in sorrow.
Yugi looked at the ejection slot and gasped. He looked towards Duke and smirked as a plan came to his mind. "Duke, I just found a major hole in your plan… or rather, a vortex!" Yami-Yugi held up a black die.
"A black die!"
"Go, dice roll!" Yami-Yugi's roll came up a pair of summons, especially on the black die. "Excellent, a pair of summoning crests." Duke cringed. "Now I place a second warp vortex so that I have easy access to your heart points! Dimension the dice!" A warp hole appeared at the far end of the field on a blue dungeon path. "Now, Strike Ninja, jump into the warp vortex!" The Strike Ninja's speed reputation was no boast as the ninja jumped into the warp hole and came out near Ryu-Kishin. "Strike Ninja, attack Ryu-Kishin, with Stealth Slash Attack!" The Stealth Ninja was like a blur in his attack.
"Huh, nothing happened," Joey complained before Ryu-Kishin literally fell to pieces. "Oops, scratch that."
"Your boy isn't so cool-looking now," Tristan told Simon.
Simon just grunted and pushed his glasses up with his middle finger.
I can't believe Yugi got a rare black die! Now he's using the warp vortex I summoned against me! And with that high-speed Strike Ninja already deep within my territory, all he needs to do is roll one movement crest and he'll be within striking distance of my heart points! I have to stop him! "Go, dice roll!" I need two summon crests. But this time, it was Duke's roll that came up short.
"Go, dice roll!" Yami-Yugi rolled a set of movement crests. "Perfect. Strike Ninja, advance! The Strike Ninja quickly covered the distance to Duke's podium. "Now, attack his heart points with Lunge Claw Thrust!" The Strike Ninja threw several small daggers which struck the bottom heart point. The glowing heart went out.
(D: XX)
(Y: XX)
Outside, Bakura and Yugi's Grandpa cheered. "That's my grandson," Solomon said proudly.
That fool Devlin doesn't stand a chance, the spirit of the ring thought.
To Yami-Yugi and his friends' surprise, Duke was laughing. "It's been a while since anyone has taken one of my heart points. Well don't get too cocky, because IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN. GO, DICE ROLL!" Duke got a level three summoning. "Perfect. Dimension the dice and unlock my unstoppable creature!" Duke inserted the die so that it would come out right next to the Strike Ninja. A pair of sinister yellow eyes appeared in a cloud of smoke. "I summon Orgoth the Relentless (20/20/50)! And next, I'll use two magic crests from my crest pool to activate Orgoth the Relentless's special ability, raising his attack points."
(OtR: 20-30/20/50)
"Now I'll use two movement crests and position Orgoth for an attack!" Orgoth raised his sword. "Orgoth the Relentless, Diamond Blade Strike!"
Yami-Yugi frantically checked his help screen for something that could help his Strike Ninja.
He found it.
Smoke erupted around the Strike Ninja. "Your Ninja's finished!"
"You think so? Take a look again."
Duke took a look as a shadow formed and gasped.
The Strike Ninja was unharmed.
"Just before you attacked, I used a stored trap crest to activate my Strike Ninja's special ability, enabling him to avoid any attack waged against it."
I can't believe that Yugi taught himself such an advanced defense maneuver! Could he have really defeated Pegasus? No, that can't be, he's just a lousy cheater! I can't let him rattle me, I have to strike back. I won't allow this cheater to make me look like a novice at my own game, and on national television!
Yugi rolled again. "Strike Ninja, Lunging Claw Thrust!" Once again, the Strike Ninja attacked Duke's heart points.
(D: X)
(Y: XX)
Duke rolled then ordered Orgoth to attack the Strike Ninja again. "Show him why you're called the Relentless!" This time, Yami-Yugi had no trap crests with which to use Strike Ninja's special ability.
Strike Ninja was destroyed.
"You were close, Yugi, closer than anyone else has ever gotten, but close doesn't count in Dungeon Dice Monsters. Sure you may have one more heart point than me, but I have Orgoth the Relentless! And none of your monsters will stop him from getting to your heart points! You may have been on a victory trail, Yugi, but now you're at a dead end!"
To Be Continued
