I want to apologize for the overuse of "Different Dimension" cards at this point in the series. They were really big at the time of the initial draft. Max eventually drops his, but this theme remains a part of John's deck for the rest of the overall story.
Chapter Fifteen
Epic Final Battle;
John vs. Max
With my Duel Disk and my deck in hand I made my way from the bus stop to the construction site. It was about nine thirty. My friends, save young Amanda, were in tow.
“Where is he?” Karen asked as we made our way across the threshold and deeper into the site itself.
“Can’t tell,” I answered. “It’s pretty dark.”
“I’ll help with that,” said Kimi. Her Soul lit up. Rocky pulled a small flashlight out of his survival vest pocket, and Tucker took out his lighter. With the three of them in front, the Duel Force headed deeper into the abandoned work zone, searching for Max, and my mom.
We walked for several minutes, searching every half-finished building for signs of life as we passed. It wasn’t long before we saw a light up ahead. We walked toward it and found ourselves in an open area lit by a set of elevated heavy duty industrial lights. At the far end of the clearing was a crane. In the control box, tied to the seat, was my mom.
“Mom!” I cried.
“Hey honey!” she replied jovially.
“How could you lose to Max?”
“Sorry!”
I was about to say something else when the Soul alerted me to a presence behind me. I turned, and there, stepping out of the shadow of a nearby building, was Max, wearing a sinister smile. He walked past me and moved to stand at the opposite end of the clearing directly across from me and my friends, near the crane.
“I’m glad you made it,” said Max tauntingly. “Now we can get on with this, our final confrontation.”
“Give me my mom, Max”
“Not until you beat me. This will be a Shadow Game, your mom for your Duelist's Soul.”
Sarah started to speak up, likely to voice her desire to beat Max’s face to mush, but I stopped her rather than allow her to make the situation worse.
“Alright,” I said, “but you should know the balance of my deck has been restored, and my cards haven’t had a chance yet to fully stretch their legs. They’re anxious to fight. You can’t defeat me.”
“We’ll see,” Max said. “After all, it’s impossible to overcome Death.”
Okay, I thought, that's getting a little old.
We activated our Duel Disks, Life Points rising to eight thousand each. “Allow me to alleviate some of this building tension,” Max offered, “and go first.”
As he spoke, the color seemed to drain from the objects around us, and the darkness became more pronounced. I had hoped that the magic that Max had received from Yami would have been depleted, but if anything this Shadow Game felt more intense than the one he’d initiated before.
“I begin,” said Max, “with two copies of the powerful Spell card ‘Different Dimension Capsule’.” Two Egyptian capsules appeared and opened. There was a flash, and suddenly each capsule had a card in it. The capsules closed, and they sunk into the ground.
“Each ‘Capsule’ now holds a card from my deck,” Max explained. “In two turns, both ‘Capsules’ will emerge and those two cards will be added to my hand. Next, because my hand is looking a little small, I’ll activate the Spell card ‘Pot of Greed’. I draw two cards, and then I summon the savage ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’,” The fiendish warrior appeared, pike in hand, riding his motorcycle (ATK: 1400). “I activate his ability by removing my ‘Pot of Greed’ from play. Now my monster gains three hundred Attack until the end of your next turn.”
‘Chaosrider’ was surrounded by a glowing aura that traveled down to the tip of his pike, and his power rose (1400+300=1700).
“For my opening move,” I said, working hard to keep the anxiety out of my voice, “I activate the Continuous Spell card ‘Soul Absorption’. Now each time a card is removed from play I gain five hundred Life Points. Next I activate the powerful Spell card ‘Painful Choice’. I select five cards from deck and show them to you, you must choose one to add to my hand, and I send the rest to the Graveyard.”
“Interesting,” said Max, smiling curiously, intrigued by the clear changes that I’d made to my deck and my strategy, “choose your cards.”
I pulled my deck from the Duel Disk’s deck loader and sifted through, choosing five cards. Then I shuffled my deck and replaced it, and placed the five cards on my Duel Disk. Holograms of the five cards appeared for Max to see. They were ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’, ‘Summoned Skull’, ‘Giant Orc’, ‘Strike Ninja’, and a new card, ‘D.D. Scout Plane’.
“Tough choice,” said Max. “Those are all very powerful cards. But seeing how you have no monsters in play, I think I’ll let you have the two-sacrifice ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’.”
“I thought you’d do that,” I said, “so I was ready with another Spell card," I said, "‘Monster Reincarnation’. By sending ‘Red-Eyes’ to the Graveyard, I can return the ‘Strike Ninja’ that you sent to my Graveyard to my hand. Now, I summon ‘Strike Ninja’ in attack mode, and end my turn.”
My ‘Strike Ninja’ appeared, standing at my side, kunai knife in hand (ATK: 1700). My ninja was strong, but thanks to ‘Gustaph’’s effect, the opposing monster was just as strong. My attack would have to wait.
“When your turn ends,” said Max, “my ‘Chaosrider’ loses strength.” ‘Gustaph’’s aura faded, and his Attack returned to normal (1700-300=1400), “but it won’t matter in the slightest. ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’ still has strength enough to overcome your monster.
“I draw,” Max continued, “and I activate the Spell card ‘Pyramid Energy’, raising the power of my monster by two hundred (1400+200=1600), and because ‘Pyramid Energy’ is in the Graveyard I can remove it from play to increase the Attack of my monster even further (1600+300=1900). In case you can’t count, he’s stronger than your ‘Ninja’ now. Attack, Battle Pike!”
‘Chaosrider’ raised his pike and rode straight toward my monster, his engine revving. My ninja was confident. He stood unmoving with his arms crossed. ‘Gustaph’ rode past the ‘Ninja’, carrying him past me as well, and slashed, but his pike hit only air.
“Where did the ‘Strike Ninja’ go?” Max demanded.
“Due to the 'Ninja''s effect,” I answered, “I can remove two Dark monsters in my Graveyard from play to allow him to step out of play for a turn, so I removed ‘D.D. Scout Plane’ and ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’ from play. He is a ninja after all. Did you really expect him to stand by and take a hit?”
“Very clever,” said Max, “but my monster hasn’t completed his attack yet, so instead of having him attack a monster, I’ll have him attack you.”
I looked over my shoulder at the ‘Rider’. He revved his engine and rode back toward Max, passing me, and slashing me with his pike. I smiled through the pain (8000-1900=6100).
“Remember,” I said, my teeth clenched tight, “that I have ‘Soul Absorption’ in play, so I gained two thousand Life Points before your attack even began (6100+2000 =8100). Your monster’s weapon barely stung.”
“This duel has just begun,” said Max, “and I have plenty of tricks left. For now, though, I place a card face-down and end my turn.”
“Then my ‘Strike Ninja’ returns,” I announced, and the black-clad ‘Strike Ninja’ appeared out of thin air at my side. “Also the ability of my ‘D.D. Scout Plane’ activates, and it appears on the field as well.”
A metal orb with a lens in the center and several multi-jointed arms attached to it along its equator appeared in a ripple of light (ATK: 800).
I drew to begin my turn, and I smiled. My newest card was my favorite monster, the powerful ‘Fiend Megacyber’. Alright my friend, you and I are gonna show this guy just what the two of us can do.
“I begin my turn by sacrificing my ‘D.D. Scout Plane’ to summon the mighty ‘Fiend Megacyber’!”
The yellow-armored warrior appeared, his fists raised, charged with energy.
“Now I’ll gain the lead by attacking ‘Gustaph’,” I commanded, “Megacyber Impact!”
‘Fiend Megacyber’ rushed forward and punched ‘Gustaph’ in the chest. The ‘Chaosrider’ dissolved into wisps of darkness, bike and all (8000+1400-2200=7200).
“Next I’ll attack directly with ‘Strike Ninja’, Ninjitsu Shuriken!”
‘Strike Ninja’ leaped up, flipped, and, mid flip, threw a kunai at Max, hitting him in the chest (7200-1700=5500).
“I place one card face-down,” I concluded, “and I’ll end my turn.”
I can do this, I said, taking a deep breath. Against my new deck, Max doesn’t stand a chance!
Card of the Day:
D.D. Scout Plane
Played by: John
There are many Different Dimension (D.D.) cards which show up periodically in John's deck from this point forward, and while this monster is one of the less common ones, it has always been one of my favorites, and there is no doubt that it makes a huge impact in this duel.
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