//------------------------------// // Episode 3: Just Roll With It // Story: Po-Ni-Oh! ZEXAL: The Crusade // by Master_Birdlion //------------------------------// A group of students were sitting around a table at the school cafeteria. Many of them seemed to be watching a sophomore boy with snowy skin, spiky black hair, and dark green eyes. He was wearing jeans, a leather jacket, a shirt with a pair of dice on it, square sunglasses, and a rabbit foot necklace. In his hand was a cup. He placed his other hand over the top of the cup and shook. A clattering sound came from within it. "So, Flash, you know the deal," he said. "If I roll an eighteen this time, you're buying lunch for all of us." "Bring it on, Trick!" said Flash Sentry. "There's no way you're rolling three more sixes!" "We'll see," said Trick. He tossed three dice from the cup. They tumbled and rolled over the surface of the table. Everyone watched tensely. The first one stopped rolling and came up six. The second soon followed its example, making a total of twelve. "Oh man..." Flash gripped the edge of his chair as the third die slowed down. Finally, after what seemed like forever, it stopped... And came up six. "Sorry, Flash, but food's on you," Trick smirked. Flash buried his head in his hands. "Dang it! Best four out of seven!" he insisted. "Ya don't owe him anything," Apple Bloom said as she approached with her lunch tray. Unseen by everyone else, Astral hovered behind her. "This guy's playin' ya. The dice are rigged." Trick's eyes widened ever so slightly. "No they're not. I'm just really lucky." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and picked up a die. "Ah know a scam when Ah see one. Trust me. Ah've been to the Flim Flam brothers' pawn shop." She held the die up for everyone else to see. "Look. The edges are filed down and rounded. The only side with corners that haven't been rigged is the one on the other side from the six, so the six'll come up more often." Everyone else leaned in and squinted. "Hey... she's right!" Sandalwood said. "It IS rigged! Totally uncool, bro!" "I fell for this yesterday!" Lyra complained. "You owe me money!" "Wait, guys! There's a perfectly good explanation!" Trick said hastily. "Yeah? And what is it?" Flash asked, arms crossed and standing at his full height. "I... don't have lunch money?" Everyone groaned and walked away, leaving only Trick, Apple Bloom, and Astral. "Maybe you'll learn a lesson in honesty from this," Apple Bloom said. She turned and left, Astral right above her. Trick slammed his fist on the table and growled softly. "You're going to regret this, you filthy freshman. Nobody messes with Trick Dice and gets away with it. For now, I'm just gonna have to find a new group of suckers to scam." "I do not understand, Apple Bloom," Astral said. "What was the reason for that boy to rig his dice?" "He's just a no-good scammer that takes advantage of others," Apple Bloom told him as she sat down at her usual table to wait for her friends. "Folks like him get a kick outta stealin' from people and bein' dishonest." "Is that common among humans?" "More so than Ah'd like," the farm girl grumbled as she started eating. Observation number four, Astral noted. Some humans are far less kind than those I have come to know. Later in the day, as the students retrieved their books for afternoon classes from their lockers, Trick Dice wandered the halls. His sunglasses were farther down his nose than before so he could peek over the frames at passersby. Eventually, he spotted the cross-eyed blonde girl named Derpy shutting her locker door. Pushing his shades up and grinning, he strutted over to her. "Hey! Derpy, right? So, I was wondering if you wanted to bring some friends to hang out with me at lunch tomorrow?" Derpy shook her head. "Sorry, Trick, but I heard about your scam," she said. "Everyone did. And I don't really think anyone will feel comfortable hanging out with you for a while." She walked away, leaving a wide-eyed scam artist behind. Trick Dice yelled something unintelligible and punched a locker, denting the metal. "There has to be another way to get some respect around here..." Something fell out of the damaged locker and landed by the scammer's feet. He looked down at it curiously. "A blank Duel Monsters card?" He reached down and picked it up. "I guess I could do something with this." A dark aura surged from the card and wrapped around Trick's entire body. As he looked, the card began to change. Artwork, stats, and everything appeared on it. "Yes, Trick... let the Number take hold..." a deep voice echoed through his head. Trick smirked and chuckled evilly as he looked around at the other students. "Oh yeah," he said as a mark representing an 85 glowed on the palm of his right hand. The aura died down, leaving a sinister glint in his eyes. "I know exactly what I'm gonna do with this." "... And he seemed angry when Ah walked away! Like it's somehow MAH fault he's a bad person!" Apple Bloom finished explaining to the other two Crusaders out in the schoolyard. "That's just sick," Scootaloo said. "I can't stand people like that!" "Neither can I," said Sweetie Belle. "He probably learned his lesson, though." Screams echoed from inside the school as the doors slammed open. Students flooded out in a panic. Some had their Duel Blades extended. Others were looking over their shoulders in fear. "Whoa! What in the hay?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Flash!" She called the blue-haired boy over. "What's happenin' in there?" "It's Trick! He clearly learned nothing from you exposing him as a fraud!" Flash said before continuing to run. Sweetie Belle looked to their floating friend. "Astral? Do you think it's a Number card?" "It very well might be. We should investigate," Astral answered. "Right," the girls said at the same time. They ran through the school hallways before encountering the older boy standing over a fallen senior girl. "Look, we had a deal!" Trick snapped. "I won! Now cough up that card! If you don't cooperate, I'll take your whole deck!" "The ante rule isn't allowed on school grounds!" the girl protested. "And you could seriously get suspended for all this!" Trick laughed. "Ha! You think I care about that? Now give me the deck!" "Hey, Trick!" Apple Bloom yelled. "Why don't ya pick on someone your own size!" "We're all smaller than that other girl, Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle pointed out. "It still works!" the red-haired girl insisted. Trick turned around with a scowl. When he saw who challenged him, his face broke into an unpleasant grin. "Apple Bloom! So glad you could make it!" he said sarcastically. "You know, I should be thanking you. People aren't impressed by my dice routines anymore, but with this new card I picked up in my despair, I found a much better way to get respect: Dueling!" "That confirms it. He has a Number," said Astral. "Nobody respects ya! They're all afraid of ya!" Apple Bloom said. "The only thing Ah hate more than a lyin' cheater is a bully, and you're two for two now! Ah know you have a Number card!" "Yeah, and I remember yours from the other day," Trick replied. "Let's wager not just ours, but your friends' too! Winner of this Duel keeps all the Numbers!" "That's kinda how Number Duels work anyway, according to Astral," said Scootaloo. "Ah accept your challenge!" Apple Bloom cried. She extended her red Duel Blade in a dramatic fashion. "Duel Blade, activate! Time to feel the flow!" Trick cackled as he pulled out the card tray of his own Dueling device. "Don't worry. I'll try to cheat as little as possible." "Let's Duel!" Apple Bloom LP: 8000; Hand: 5 Trick Dice LP: 8000; Hand: 5 "Hope you don't mind, but I'm going first," said Trick. "Let's start off with my continuous spell, the Dangerous Machine Type-6!" A massive roulette machine appeared behind him. "You'll be seeing more of that later. Now, I set two cards, one monster, and end my turn." The projections of all his facedown cards appeared. Apple Bloom LP: 8000; Hand: 5 Trick Dice LP: 8000; Hand: 1 "Now, Ah draw!" Apple Bloom declared. "Let's start off with two facedowns of mah own and Seed of Flame in attack mode!" A seed pod with limbs and a flaming top burrowed up from the floor. "That's cute," said Trick in a mocking tone. "A plant that's burning up before it even sprouts is no threat to me." "Don't underestimate this little guy," Apple Bloom shot back. "Seed of Flames, attack his monster!" "You've attacked into my Dice Jar," said Trick. His monster card flipped up to reveal a stone jar with a grinning face on top. The face spat out a pair of dice, one landing in each player's hand. "When it's flipped up, we both roll a die, and one of us takes damage depending on the result." He tossed his die, and the 85 on his palm seemed to glow brighter. "Go, dice-roll!" "Guess Ah have to," said Apple Bloom before tossing her own. "Go, dice-roll!" The dice clattered to the floor. Apple Bloom's came up a one, and her opponent rolled a six. "Nice! Something different happens when the winner rolls a six with this effect!" Trick said. "Instead of five-hundred times the result, you'll be taking a thousand times my roll!" "Say WHAT?!" Apple Bloom screamed before the dice exploded, sending a plume of debris in her direction. "There's no way ya got that lucky!" Astral gasped. He looked down at his hands as they started to fade. "This is not good... In a Duel with another Number user, my survival is dependent upon your victory... As you lose Life Points, I start to disappear..." "Why didn't ya mention that earlier?!" Apple Bloom demanded. "I did not want to worry you," was Astral's answer. "But it's mah job as your friend to worry about your safety!" "Excuse me, but if you're done talking to yourself," Trick called out, "there's a Duel I'd like to win!" The farm girl glared. "You're not gonna win! Ah'm protectin' mah friend! So do your worst, ya cheater!" Apple Bloom LP: 2000; Hand: 3 Trick Dice LP: 8000; Hand: 1 "My worst is probably better than your best!" Trick taunted. "I draw! And now, my Dangerous Machine Type-6 activates." Another die appeared in his hand. "I can roll this to activate one of six effects. I'm hoping for a three, which'll let me draw another card. Go, dice-roll!" He threw the die and smirked at the result. "Three! That's another card for me!" He drew. "And now, I activate Pot of Greed for two more cards!" He looked over his hand, now consisting of four cards. "Yeah. If everything goes right here, I can summon my Number monster!" "Uh-oh!" Apple Bloom gasped. "Ah might lose, and then Astral..." "I play Monster Reincarnation!" Trick declared. "I'll discard my Grave Squirmer to add Dice Jar back to my hand! Then, I normal summon The Lucky Mage!" His new monster looked very odd. Its main body was blue and crystalline, and it had two grey hands floating at its sides. "And now, I activate the Monster Slots spell card!" A massive slot machine materialized, its slots already spinning. "How does that work?" "I'm glad you asked," said Trick. "I can activate this card when there's a monster on my field with a level matching that of a monster in my Graveyard." The first two slots stopped spinning, depicting his Grave Squirmer and Lucky Mage. "I have to banish the monster I chose that's in my Graveyard, then draw yet another card!" "Seriously?! Again?!" Apple Bloom growled frustratedly. "That's right! And if it's another level one monster, I can Special Summon it!" the scam artist said. He drew his next card, and the final slot stopped on another Lucky Mage. "And now my second Lucky Mage comes to the field! I'll activate both their effects! Just gotta roll a die for each of them, and their levels will become what I roll!" Two more dice appeared in his hand, his 85 mark flashing again. "Go, dice-roll!" Apple Bloom crossed her fingers. "Please don't be what he needs..." she prayed. The dice clattered to a stop and both came up four. Trick smirked. "Perfect! Now that both of my Lucky Mages are level four, I'll use them to build an Overlay Network!" His monsters turned into streaks of light and flew into the black portal. "You're in for it now! I Xyz Summon Number 85: Crazy Box!" A distorted black cube about the size of an average person with its overlay units orbiting around it rose from the portal. There were a few gaps in its surface, and a glowing red eye stared through one of them. The 85 symbol glowed on one of its corners. "That thing... it's so strong..." the farm girl breathed. "You're just lucky he can't attack due to his own effect," said Trick. "What I can do, though, is test my luck even further by removing an overlay unit!" One of the units circling around Crazy Box flew into Trick's hand and morphed into a black die with eye-like dots. "Go, dice-roll!" he yelled again as he threw it. It stopped in the exact center of the field with the five on top. "A roll like that means I can destroy one card on the field! Say goodbye to your little seed!" Apple Bloom shielded her face with her arms as Crazy Box fired a red beam down onto her field. "Well, since Seed of Flame was destroyed by an effect, Ah get to clog up one of your monster zones with a Seed Token and summon any level four plant from mah deck! Ah choose mah Bird of Roses in attack mode!" A tiny seed shimmered into existence next to Crazy Box, and the now extinguished Seed of Flame sprouted into a bird-like monster covered in leaves and rose petals. "Then I'll end my turn. Not that you can do much now," Trick said. Apple Bloom LP: 2000; Hand: 3 Trick Dice LP: 8000; Hand: 1 Apple Bloom glared, then smirked. "Ya know what the funny part is? You're prob'ly cheatin', but Ah'm still gonna win. Draw!" She whipped out her new card. "Ah summon Cactus Fighter!" The floor next to her Bird of Roses was ripped apart from underneath as a cactus human hybrid with large fists came to the field. "Time to bring out one of mah own Number monsters! Ah use mah level four Bird of Roses and Cactus Fighter to build the Overlay Network! Ah Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!" Trick smiled as the winged warrior flew out of the Xyz portal. "There's that card that won the last Duel for you. I'll love taking it away. It'll be the perfect revenge!" "Utopia ain't goin' anywhere!" Apple Bloom replied. "He'll be dishin' out one heck of a hit, though! Go, Utopia, risin' sun slash!" "But Utopia cannot defeat the Crazy Box," said Astral. "He is not strong enough." "Ah wasn't goin' for Crazy Box," Apple Bloom said. "That token that mah Seed of Flame gave 'im has zero attack points, and Ah put it in attack mode! Slice right through that seed!" Her Number monster raised his sword and brought it down with all the force he could muster, cutting the token perfectly in half. "I'll admit it. That was a clever use of the tokens," Trick told his opponent. "Too bad it won't work again." "Ah don't need it to. There's another way to beat ya, and Ah'll find it. For now, Ah end mah turn." Apple Bloom LP: 2000; Hand: 3 Trick Dice LP: 5500; Hand: 1 Trick cackled. "Your Numbers will be mine! I draw! And once again, I gamble with my Dangerous Machine Type-6! Go, dice-roll!" The die once again rolled to a stop agonizingly slowly. "Another three, so another card!" He drew with a sneer. "And I'll activate it! Change of Heart! Until the end phase, Utopia is under my control!" As he said this, a 39 mark appeared on the back of his right hand to join the 85 one. "No! Utopia!" Apple Bloom cried as her warrior drifted over to Trick's side of the field. "Come on, Utopia, snap out of it!" Astral suddenly stopped hovering and collapsed to the floor. "I... I feel weak..." he said. "Oh no, Astral!" "It's no use!" Trick taunted. "I'll activate Crazy Box again with his last overlay unit!" His next roll came up six and Crazy Box exploded. Apple Bloom blinked. "What just happened?" "Well, when I roll a six with Crazy Box, he destroys himself," Trick explained. "Fine by me, though! I activate my trap! Xyz Reborn! This revives an Xyz monster in my Graveyard and attaches to it as a new overlay unit! Come on back, Crazy Box!" A dark violet portal shot the Number card back out with one new orb of light circling it. "Now, I'll end you by attacking directly with your own Utopia!" "No! Apple Bloom!" the other Crusaders yelled. "Ah ain't goin' down that easy!" Apple Bloom said. "Ah play one of mah facedowns, Negate Attack! Ah'm safe and your battle phase is over!" Utopia's sword simply bounced off an invisible barrier. Trick scoffed. "Tch. You bought yourself one more turn at best. I end, and my Change of Heart wears off." True to his word, Utopia drifted back over to Apple Bloom and the 39 mark on Trick's hand vanished. Apple Bloom LP: 2000; Hand: 3 Trick Dice LP: 5500; Hand: 2 Astral seemed to regain some of his strength. He hovered again, but his body was still fading. "That was a close call." "Glad to have ya back, Utopia," Apple Bloom said to her monster. She then turned to her ghostly friend. "Ya alright, Astral?" "Now that Utopia is back on our side, I feel much better," said Astral. "But his Number is still too powerful." "Don't worry. Ah have a plan," Apple Bloom told him. "And it's all thanks to Trick takin' Utopia." Astral's head tilted in a quizzical manner. "How is that?" "Just watch," the redhead replied with a wink. "Draw! First up is mah Heavy Storm! This'll get rid of every spell and trap card on the field!" A tornado whipped up over the field, blowing away the facedown cards and dismantling the Dangerous Machine Type-6. Trick gasped. "My cards!" "That's not all!" Apple Bloom declared. "Next, Ah activate Mark of the Rose! By banishin' the Seed of Flame in mah Graveyard, Ah can equip this spell to Crazy Box!" A pinkish rose symbol emblazoned itself over Crazy Box's 85, and the monster moved over to float next to Utopia. "Huh?! What are you doing to my Number card?! Answer me!" Trick demanded. "As long as Mark of the Rose is equipped to a monster, that monster is always under the control of the player whose turn it is," Apple Bloom explained to him. Trick stared slack jawed. "Like when I used Change of Heart...!" "Now, let's see how much better your Crazy Box does with an honest wielder!" said Apple Bloom. "Ah activate his special ability by usin' an overlay unit!" The ball of light flew at the farm girl. She jumped up and caught it in her hand as it transformed into a red die rather than a black one. "Go, dice-roll!" she said, giving a little spin as she threw the small cube. Everyone held their breath as the die rolled. It rotated on its corner slightly as it began to reach the center of the field, fell, bounced one last time, and finally stopped. "Four," Apple Bloom said. "That means Ah can negate the effects of one face-up card until the end of this turn." She considered her options for a moment before it occurred to her. "Got it! Part of Crazy Box's effect is that he can't attack, so Ah'm gonna have him be negatin' himself!" "No! It can't end like this!" Trick wailed. "Crazy Box, attack him directly!" Apple Bloom commanded, prompting the cube-like monster to shoot a beam at Trick from its eye. "And now you're up, Utopia! Just enough attack points to win! Finish this Duel with one more direct attack! Risin' sun slash!" Trick cried out in anguish as Utopia's glowing weapon was slashed directly at him, knocking him on his back. Winner: Apple Bloom Astral's body stopped fading as the Duel holograms vanished. He was back to his normal state. "Thank you, Apple Bloom." The farm girl turned to him and smiled. "Astral! You're okay!" "Indeed," Astral said, his hand now outstretched. A glowing card flew into it and transformed into the Crazy Box card. "And we have captured another Number." He gasped softly as the memory tied to the card rushed through his mind. He saw an entire world of ethereal energy and stars. He saw himself flying through it. This world... he thought. It is where I came from. I share my name with it. The Astral World... Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both ran up to Apple Bloom and hugged her, congratulating her on her victory. Their celebration was cut short, however, as Trick Dice groaned. The scammer sat up and held a hand to his forehead. "But I can't lose... How will anyone respect me now...?" "Ah'll tell ya how to get respect," Apple Bloom said to him. "By not lyin' to people all the time. If ya start bein' nicer, you could even make friends. And friends will make you feel better than all the respect in the world could. And if ya need help gettin' started, Ah can be your first friend." She held her hand out toward him. Trick hesitated, then gripped her hand and rose to his feet. "Thank you for giving me a chance. I promise, I'll never scam anyone again." The two students smiled and shook hands firmly. Astral watched the exchange take place. "Observation number five," he noted. "Dishonesty is never an acceptable way to gain respect. Even in a world full of dishonest people, those who retain good morals will always be the happiest."