"Dice roll!" Otogi rolled his dice. He smirked as he placed one of his rolled dice on the field. "I'll summon Yaranzo (ATK: 10 / DEF: 10 / HP: 10)."
The die unfolded, connecting to Otogi's previous one, getting closer to Akia. When Yaranzo materialized, Otogi used one of his movement crests to advance him one space. "That ends my turn. Let's see how long you can survive."
"Heh! I won't just survive; I'll win this!" Akia then rolled her dice as well. The yellow and blue ones landed on a star and the black die ended on the movement symbol. On her display screen, the number next to the symbol went up from 0 to 5. Akia then took her yellow die and pushed it into the field, connecting with her last one. There wasn't much space left until her dice collided with Otogi's. "I summon Nuvia the Wicked (ATK: 10 / DEF: 10 / HP: 10)." She then moved her Bubonic Vermin up until it was right behind Nuvia, using up 3 of her 5 movement crests.
Otogi rolled again and summoned yet another monster, Gator Dragon (ATK: 10 / DEF: 10 / HP: 10). His die platform was now connected to Akia's. He then moved his monster up to Akia's Nuvia.
"I'll show you just how serious I am to make you bite the dust! Gator Dragon, attack!" The creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters exclaimed.
"Wait! What is he doing? Don't they have the same attack points? Won't that destroy them both?" Against Akia's expectations and thoughts, her monster was the only one destroyed. She didn't get it. She tried hard to think and find a reason why.
"You must be surprised. After all, it didn't go like how Duel Monsters normally plays out. I just love that confused face you're making," Otogi chuckled.
"That's it! It's not Duel Monsters. There are similarities, but it's still a different game. I can't apply the same rules to it. If anything, the battle is completely different. Monsters don't just have attack and defence: they have hit points or health points too. When my monster was attacked, the heart on its head blacked out. 10 attack... 10 hit points... It's like an RPG! Subtract the attack from the hit points! Then if I think of it as an RPG, then defending would negate attack to a certain extent, depending on how much the defence is. I think I've got it! This game isn't so complicated after all. All this time playing video games with Jounouchi finally paid off." A smile appeared on Akia's face as she found herself figuring out more and more of the game's rules.
Otogi frowned. "What are you smiling about? Do you understand the situation you're in right now?"
"I completely understand the situation I'm in, but I can't help it. It's just so much fun to figure out how a new game works."
Yugi smiled at his sister's passion for games. His heart was now at ease, since he was fully confident that she would win this. Her enthusiasm, however, caught Otogi off guard. He didn't expect her to be enjoying herself. He expected her to be panicking, to feel despair at how utterly powerless she was in this situation.
"Fun... Fun?! You think this is fun?!" Otogi was furious at how carefree she was. Akia looked at him, knowing that he still thought she won against Pegasus by cheating. Needless to say, her duel against Pegasus was anything but normal, but she didn't cheat, and she knew that very well.
"It's all your fault! You can't be having fun! Don't you have a conscience?!" He yelled out at her.
"Otogi... How many times..." Akia tried to explain.
"Shut it! I don't want to hear any more of your lies! Get on with your turn!" Otogi cut her off.
Akia took her next dice and rolled them. She rolled no stars this time, but tallied one attack, one defence, and one movement, bringing the movement crests up to 3. "Alright... Time to get things done. I'll move Bubonic Vermin up to your Gator Dragon. Using one of my Attack crests, I'll attack your monster!" Doing so, Akia used one of her movement crests and her only attack crest. She was able to successfully destroy Otogi's monster. "Just like I thought! I end my turn."
"You might've gotten one of my monsters, but I'm not done with you yet! Dice roll!" Otogi rolled his dice. He then placed one of them on the field. Akia was expecting a monster to pop out, but, instead, it was a chest. This was yet a new element that Akia still didn't make full sense of.
"I'll end my turn here," the owner of Black Clown concluded.
Akia deduced that either Otogi didn't have any movement crests or he didn't have any attack crests. either way, she was planning on ending this match quickly before he got out his big guns. She rolled her dice. Both a green and a yellow ended on a star crest. The other was a black one that landed on an attack crest, giving her a total of 1 attack crest. She took her green die and pushed down, right at the left edge of her farthest dice platform, extending next to Otogi's own platform. The monster that materialized in the middle was a higher level than all the other monsters on the field. It was Firewing Pegasus (ATK: 30 / DEF: 20 / HP: 20). To top it off, it was a flying monster. Akia read the description of her monster on her display board. Since it's a flying monster, she has to use 2 movement crests for one space. However, flying monsters were allowed to fly over other monsters and items. Also, only another flying monster can attack them.
"I guess I landed a pretty good one here." Using up all of her movement crests, she moved Bubonic Vermin up to Yaranzo. Using up her attack crest, she destroyed Otogi's monster once more. "I end my turn here."
"I roll." Otogi was starting to feel on edge. He didn't expect her to be this good right off the bat. It was like she had read the rules of the game. He didn't understand why she was pulling it off this well. He summoned The 13th Grave (ATK: 10 / DEF: 0 / HP: 10). Which paled in front of Akia's other monsters.
"My turn? I roll!" The red-eyed girl exclaimed. A black die ended on a 4 movement crest, and both a red and a yellow die ended on the summon crest. Being attracted to the red colour more, Akia decided to summon it, connecting it to her last dice platform. The monster that materialized filled her with so much excitement she almost screamed from it.
"Red-Eyes Black Dragon (ATK: 40 / DEF: 20 / HP: 30)!"
"What?! That's not possible!" Otogi yelled out.
Using her four movement crests, she moved the Red-Eyes two spaces, considering it was also a flying monster. She knew she needed another 6 movement crests to make it to Otogi's heart points. She also needed three attack crests. She knew that once she had all those, she would win. "I'll end my turn for now."
"No! I won't let an amateur and a cheater like you defeat me!" Otogi exclaimed in denial.
"You keep saying that I'm a cheater. Would I really need to cheat when I'm so good at games?" Akia asked with a smug smile.
Otogi clenched his fists. He didn't want to answer, since he had no answer. He rolled his dice. He was able to summon a powerful monster of his own: Orgoth the Relentless (ATK: 20 / DEF: 20 / HP: 50). Using his movement crests, he moved it right in front of his heart points, protecting them from the eventual attack.
It was Akia's turn. She rolled 3 movement crests and two attack crests. Using up two of those movement crests, she moved her Red-Eyes closer to Orgoth. "I end my turn."
Everyone was watching, feeling just how tense the game was. Otogi rolled. For this turn he didn't obtain any summons, but moved his Ryu-Kishin up to Akia's Bubonic Vermin. If he got past it, he can get to her heart points. "I'll attack your annoying Vermin!"
"As if I'd let you! I use one of my defence crests!" The black-haired girl countered. Doing so, the attack had no effect on Akia's monster, since the defence and attack were the same value. Feeling powerless, Otogi ended his turn. During Akia's turn, she rolled enough movement crests to get to Orgoth. She also rolled two attack crests. "Things are finally looking up! I attack your Ryu-Kishin with my Bubonic Vermin!" Akia's monster easily destroyed Otogi's who stood there, watching it all unfold. "Next... I attack your Orgoth with my Red-Eyes!" Red-Eyes' attack being 40 and Orgoth's heart points being 50, Otogi's monster was still standing, but barely. He didn't know what to do. Orgoth couldn't attack Akia's Red-Eyes since it was a flying monster.
"...I roll." Otogi skipped his turn, feeling already defeated.
During Akia's turn she rolled yet another attack crest, giving her a total of two. She attacked Orgoth once more, destroying him this time. She then moved her Red-Eyes up to Otogi's heart points. Since she was not allowed to attack another time with the same monster, she moved her Bubonic Vermin up to The 13th Grave, using her attack crest to attack it.
Otogi rolled during his turn, obtaining a summon that he summoned close to Akia's heart points, that were completely unguarded. It was his chance. He had enough movement points to get to her heart points and attack. All wasn't lost for him. "I summon Battle Ox (ATK: 20 / DEF: 20 / HP: 20)! How foolish of you! Leaving your heart points wide open!"
Akia frowned at her miscalculation. Otogi was able to attack her and destroy one of her heart points. She had to do something, and fast. "My turn!" She rolled, and got a summon and an attack crest. She summoned Dark Ruler Ha Des (ATK: 20 / DEF: 30 / HP: 20) right next to her heart points. She just needed movement crests to get to Battle Ox. She also used one of her attack crests to attack Otogi's heart Points. Now both of them had two heart points left. Akia ended her turn, not having any other options.
During Otogi's turn, he obtained one attack crest that he used to attack Akia's heart points once more. Another attack and he would win.
Akia was feeling the pressure. "I roll!"
"Please give me movement crests, please give me movement crests!" She pleaded and movement crests were what she got along one attack crest and two trap crests. She only needed one to reach Battle Ox. Doing so, she attacked it using one of her attack crests, destroying it in the process. Using another attack crest, she attacked Otogi's heart points with her Red-Eyes. One more attack and she would win. The same went for Otogi.
"I end my turn." Akia said.
"My turn!" Otogi started his turn. All he needed was one summon and an attack crest. If he rolled those, he would surely win. He rolled his dice. He then smirked victoriously. "It's over. You never stood a chance! This match is mine! I summon Blast Lizard (ATK: 10 / DEF: 10 / HP: 20)!" He used up his movement crests to move his monster right in front of Akia's heart points.
Right as he was about to attack, Akia acted. "I won't let you! I use three trap crests to inflict 20 points of damage to all monsters within three squares of my monster!"
"What?!" The teen with emerald eyes exclaimed.
As she said that, Otogi's monster got destroyed right as he was about to attack. Otogi now had no choice but to end his turn.
"This ends now! I roll! Finally... I use my attack crest to take your last heart point! Go my Red-Eyes!" After Red-Eyes' attack, Akia heard her friends cheer.
"Yeah! I can't believe it! You won!" Jounouchi yelled out.
"I knew you could do it!" Yugi exclaimed.
"You're the best, Akia-chan!" Bakura cheered.
"I barely understood what was going on, but I'm so happy you did it!" Anzu expressed her gladness.
"I knew we could count on you!"Honda added.
Getting off the platform, Otogi looked utterly and completely defeated.
Akia went up to him and extended her hand in a handshake gesture. "It was a good game. Let's play again sometime, only without all the crazy claims."
Her comment made him snort. He took her hand and shook it firmly. "You got it. And since I'm a man of my word, Jounouchi's free."
After getting Jounouchi out of his suit, Otogi insisted on having all of them sit down together to have a little chat.
"First," Otogi started, "I'd like to apologize for all the things I did to you. You certainly have the skills to win against Pegasus. I just didn't want to believe it..."
Akia smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'm sure once Pegasus gets all better, he'll contact you again."
Otogi's eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope. "You think so?"
"Of course I do. Despite the circumstances, I actually really enjoyed the game."
"I could see it all over your face, Akia. You were enjoying every bit of it," Yugi recognized.
"Especially when you summoned that Red-Eyes," Jounouchi said.
"Yeah, that was the best part!" Akia yelled out in excitement.
"In any case, I hope you guys forgive me..." Otogi asked them.
"Of course we forgive you. I'm sure you'd be a great friend to have too." The red-eyed girl casually replied.
Otogi looked surprised. "Friend? Me?"
"Yeah you." Akia reiterated.
Otogi chuckled. "Friends it is then."