As Ace leaves them, Chip tells Flick that it must be getting towards the end of the day, and that the quarter finalists should be announced soon. Flick regretfully agrees that this is so, and that means she is running out of time; turning to Chip, she tells him she has something important to say. Chip wonders to himself if she is going to ask him out on a date, but instead, she says the last thing he expected to hear- she too is a Dicebreaker! Years ago, Flick spent some time in England with her family, where Mars happened to see her dicing potential. Although he recruited her, Flick never had to do a great deal as an agent- at least until this tournament got underway. Now she must fulfil her master’s commands- by taking Chip’s DESTINED DIE.
Not being the quickest on the uptake, Chip is somewhat confused by these revelations, but even as he claims that Flick will have to try harder if she wants him to fall for his jokes, she withdraws some previously unnoticed dicing equipment and challenges him to a match. Chip continues to laugh off her actions, but Flick insists that he take her seriously- she is a registered tournament participant, and that means he cannot refuse her challenge.
Forced to play in spite of his wishes, Chip is nonetheless confident. Flick has never been a particularly good dice player, and he is sure this will be a quick match; to his surprise, however, Flick almost blows him away with her first few moves. Tears running down her cheeks, Flick apologises for lying to Chip- she always wanted to join in with the dicing, but was under orders to hide her true ability.
Through a series of flashbacks, Chip recalls how he first met Flick in school, and the friendship they shared. He pleads for her to remember it too and go back to the sidelines where she belongs, but Flick sadly replies that those days are over. Finally realising that Flick means what she says, Chip promises that he will stop holding back; out of respect for her true abilities, he will start playing seriously.
Unfortunately for Chip, it seems as if Flick can still outclass him, and he can only watch as his dice points are drained. Flick does not happy about her success; instead, she sorrowfully comments that Chip cannot be the destined Dice Master after all- if he is doing this badly against her, he will not have a chance against Mars Cubehart. Upon hearing her words, time freezes for Chip, and he suddenly finds himself in a waking dream, conveniently animated as a featureless black world.
In the waking dream, Chip sees his younger self together with his father, who conveniently dispenses some generic advice about believing in yourself and never giving up, no matter how the odds are stacked against you. Chip then sees his father walking away from him, causing his younger self to run in a vain attempt to catch up. As young Chip falls over, Chip’s father turns around and addresses present Chip, telling him that someone who would fall at this point is not worthy of meeting his father again.
Re-energised by his father’s words, Chip returns to reality, where Flick asks him if he is ready to surrender. In response, Chip tells her that he cannot give up at this point- no matter how hopeless the situation is, those with faith in themselves will always find a way. So saying, Chip makes his next move, and through an incredibly contrived stroke of convenience, he happens to draw a previously unmentioned die which happens to be just the thing to turn the tide. He apologises to Flick for what must happen next, and within the next few turns, he proceeds to turn the match around.
Chip is now in a position to deliver the final blow, and as he does so, he apologises for having to face her in this way, adding that he hopes that one day they can have a proper match as true friends. Sinking to the ground, Flick replies that there will be no more matches for her, but Chip insists that that isn’t true- they are true friends, and friendship can withstand anything. Smiling at his words, Flick tells him that he is incredibly naïve and innocent- but he may just be the one who can bring a happier world to life.
At this point, a hologram of Mars somehow appears before Chip and Flick, and as he calmly sips his cup of tea, he tells Flick that she has failed him, and that her time as a Dicebreaker is over. Flick accepts his judgement, and Mars Dice Breaks her mind, causing her to slump to the ground. Crying out, Chip runs to her side, but Mars leaves him with a dire warning- he will be next.
After taking her to the hospital, Chip learns from the doctors that physically Flick is fine- medically, there is no reason why she shouldn’t wake up. Gripping her hand, Chip promises Flick that he will confront Mars and find a way to wake her up again.
The prelims have now concluded, and so Ace makes a town-wide announcement- according to the rankings, Chip, Pip, Roku, Mars, Ace, Deuce and Evan have all qualified for the finals, which will take place in a special dicing arena on Ace’s private island. The participants should make their way to the dock first thing the next morning- and anyone who doesn’t show up will automatically be eliminated.
The next day, Chip gets up in plenty of time to catch the boat, but even as it seems it must be early, he runs into a child who is looking for his lost dog. Even though he doesn’t really have time to help out, the kind-hearted Chip is won over when the child starts crying, and agrees to assist in the search. After an episode of looking around the dog’s favourite haunts and flashbacks in which the child remembers the good times spent together and how the dog ran away because he scolded it, the beast is found. The child apologises for making Chip late for his important appointment, but Chip tells him not to worry- there are still five minutes left to get to the docks. The child wonders how Chip can possibly make it across time in five minutes, but Chip tells him to have a little faith, and proceeds to dash across Dice City in an amusing sequence that includes stealing a stranger’s bicycle.
At the docks, six of the other quarter-finalists (Deuce/Six is absent) are waiting for Chip with varying degrees of emotion. As the time approaches the deadline, Roku insists that it should be time to leave, but Ace tells him that his watch is fast. Pip is about to comment that Roku does indeed have the right time, only to shut his mouth as he realises that Ace is bending the rules for Chip, purely because the point of this entire tournament has been to play him.
Even Ace cannot forever, however, but even as he orders everyone to board his specially commissioned boat, Chip comes running towards the docks. Ace comments that he is late, but says nothing else as everyone gets on board. Pip chastises his friend for taking so long, but after looking around, he realises that someone else is absent, and hopes this means he can through to the semis without even having to play. Even as they get on board, however, Six steps out of the shadows and joins the party, prompting Ace to ask what his brother is doing there. Six replies that he is not Ace’s brother, and before he can be questioned further, he withdraws to his private cabin.
On board the boat, Chip and Pip scope out the competition, concluding that Six and Roku are scary but that Mars seems quite a pleasant man. Whilst Evan keeps an eye on everyone from a corner, Chip and Pip decide to catch up with each other’s exploits, a task which requires at least three recap episodes to accomplish.
With the recap finally over, the finalists arrive at the island, and the drawing to determine who faces who begins, resulting in the four quarter final matches being Chip vs. Six, Pip vs. Roku, Three vs. Ace and Mars vs. Evan. Chip vs. Six will be the first match, although Chip is rightfully confused- wasn’t Six already defeated, and what happened to Deuce’s original personality?
As the match begins, Six takes the chance to indulge in flashbacks about how the original Deuce always felt angry about being in his brother’s shadow, and how Snake helped him realise his true potential in the guise of Six. From the sidelines, Ace tells Six that he is lying- Deuce always loved him and looked up to him, and would never turn into Six willingly. Six laughs, and tells Ace that if he can defeat Chip where Ace could not, he will have finally proven himself to be superior.
As the match begins, Six makes a strong start, and soon builds a sizable lead over his opponent. He taunts the watching Ace with his score, telling Ace that all his analyses and simulations cannot make up for sheer talent. His brother doesn’t even know the true power of the DESTINED DICE, something which Six has magically discovered in the time between being defeated in the first arc and waking up in the second. Promising to demonstrate what a true Dice Master is capable of accomplishing, Six plays his DESTINED DIE of Lightning, transporting himself and Chip to an alternate dimension.
Explaining that what he has tapped into is a fragment of the world where the powers contained in the dice are real, Six tells Chip that this will be a special match- one in which the magic and monsters literally come to life. And thanks to his specially customised deck, Six knows just how to take advantage of this, transforming himself into an untouchable dark angel surrounded by a legion of dark monsters. Chip continues to lose dice points, and each time he does, he feels actual pain.
Just as all hope seems lost, Chip draws his own DESTINED DIE, although initially he seems reluctant to play it- does the fact that the DESTINED DIE never showed him its true power mean he isn’t a true Dice Master after all? Even as he doubts, however, Chip is presented with one of those ever convenient encouraging visions- this time of Deuce. Explaining that he is the real Deuce, and that he wants his body back, Deuce tells Chip to have faith- Six forced the DESTINED DIE of Lightning to do his bidding against its will, and that means he will never be a Dice Master. What Chip must do now is tap into the power of the DESTINED DIE of Fire and use it to purify Deuce’s mind of Six’s presence.
As Chip hesitates, Six taunts him, asking if he would like to give up and spare himself further pain and humiliation, but Chip only looks up with renewed determination. He tells Six that he is just a shadow, and that the real Deuce is on his side. So saying, Chip plays the DESTINED DIE of Fire, begging it to lend him its power. To his surprise, the DESTINED DIE performs a CHEATING Purify move that wipes the field of Six’s monsters before summoning a fiery angel to attack Six directly. As he takes damage, Six begins to fade away, but even as he disappears, he whispers “shadows never die.”
Back in the real world, Chip is victorious, but Deuce/Six has collapsed again. Running over to his brother, Ace glares at Chip, but to his surprise, Deuce wakes up- all traces of Six gone from his personality. Deuce apologises to his brother and admits that his desire to emulate him may have led to the creation of Six, but promises this time he will work on becoming his own person instead of merely striving to copy his brother’s path. In a rare moment of warmth, Ace tells him that the reason he works so hard is that he was always afraid his brilliant little brother was going to catch up to him, and suggests that they could accomplish great things if they combined their powers instead of competing.
With the first match over, Pip and Roku step up to play, although Ace is nowhere to be seen- riling Pip as he realises Ace is so dismissive of his ability that he doesn’t even want to watch his match. With that in mind, the hot-headed Pip decides to finish the match as quickly as possible in an attempt to demonstrate just how much he has learned about dicing, and to show off his DESTINED DIE of Wind. Boasting to his opponent, he tells Roku that he will have little chance of beating him, but Roku merely smiles and has a brief flashback about how Mars entrusted the DESTINED DIE of Ice to him.
As the match begins, Pip gets his strongest monsters as quickly as he can in an attempt to take Roku down, and indeed, Roku seems like a weak player. Pip taunts him, telling him it was a fluke that he even got this far, and that he should come back later and ask for some lessons. Roku continues to smile, and in a few turns’ time, Pip finds out why- so focused was he on his own moves that he failed to notice that Roku was slowly constructing an impenetrable defence. Now, the remainder of Roku’s dice points are practically untouchable, whilst Pip has already played his best dice and has little left to rely upon in his dice deck.
With his position secure, Roku takes the opportunity to indulge in a flashback, recalling how he and Mars grew up together at the Cubehart Manor in England. At the time, the master of the family was Mars’ father Mercury Cubehart, who was served faithfully by Roku’s father. At an early age, Roku’s father told him that the Cubeharts, whilst brilliant, tended to become too absorbed in their goals for their own good, and needed people like the Roku family to keep them on the right track. The young Roku promised to always stay by Mars’ side, and despite Mars’ periodic bouts of coldness towards him, he remained a loyal and dedicated friend, accompanying him through school and university.
When Mercury Cubehart and Roku Senior died in a car accident, however, everything changed. After becoming the master of Cubehart Manor, Mars became even more driven than ever, pouring all his ambitions into both dicing and the elusive search for the perfect cup of tea. Although he knew his master was in danger of becoming villainous and evil, such was Roku’s devotion to his friend and master that he couldn’t bring himself to contradict him, instead choosing to support Mars in whatever he did. Thanks to this, he is now the one man Mars relies on most in the world, and he will do anything demanded of him. With such dedication, defeating one boy should not be a problem.
Once his flashback is complete, Pip laughs at Roku and tells him that he has got the wrong idea about friendship- if he truly cared about Mars, he would have put a stop to his crazy schemes instead of going along with them. Roku isn’t a true friend and equal- just a blind follower who is being used by Mars without any mind of his own. In response, Roku tells him that he knows that is exactly what he is, and what he is happy to be- but is Pip happy to always be second place to Chip?
Now it is Pip’s turn to fall into flashback, as he realises that no matter how much he practises dicing, he just cannot match up to a person who has main character abilities. Even in this tournament, he just scraped into the quarter finals with the lowest score, whilst Chip was near the top. For a moment, Pip is despondent, but then he magically comes to a realisation- it is fine if the likes of Chip and Ace are ahead of him, because it gives him something to always strive for. If you’re at the top, there’s nowhere else to go, but waking up and knowing you always have something to work for is the best kind of excitement possible.
