Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Episode 098

"Ultimate Destiny", known as "Finally Activated! The Ultimate D-Card" in the Japanese version, is the ninety-eighth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime.

Aster Phoenix discovers the awful truth about the murder of his father and the theft of the "Ultimate Destiny" card: the culprit behind both incidents is his current guardian, The D (who is another vessel possessed by The Light of Destruction).

Summary
Aster Phoenix confronts his guardian, The D and asks if he won his duel with Doctor Collector. The D responds that of course, he did. When asked he called Aster here, The D reveals his sinister past. After seeing a new card design made by Aster's father, he sneaked into his apartment that night and attempted to steal the card. However, the card had been tainted by The Light of Destruction, and The D kidnaps (kills in the Japanese version) Aster's father. He used "Destiny HERO - Plasma" to become the champion of the Pro League and hold his title for ten years. Though he couldn't use the card in official matches, the powers of The Light of Destruction aided his victories in other ways. In underground duels, he steals the souls of countless duelists using the card.

With his past revealed, Aster wishes to avenge his father, and he begins his duel with The D. Aster summons "Destiny HERO - Dogma" on his first turn, but The D counters with "Destiny Hero - Plasma" and "D - Force", which forms a nearly unstoppable combo that renders "Plasma" virtually untouchable. Aster eventually uses "Destiny HERO - The Dark Angel" to seal the effect of "D - Force", after realizing that his father must have created it specifically to counter "Destiny HERO - Plasma".

When Aster is about to destroy "Plasma", The D reveals that the soul of Aster's father is trapped within the card. Aster's father speaks to him, and says he apologizes for creating such a powerful card. When he began to create it, he heard the voice of The Light of Destruction, and was unable to stop himself from finishing. He stated it was similar to what happened when Maximillion Pegasus created the Egyptian God cards. He states that the The Light of Destruction. that possesses the card is merely a husk., the real The Light of Destruction exists inside of Sartorius. He urges Aster to attack and destroy "Plasma". Aster attacks and his father says good-bye to him before Plasma's destruction which leaves Aster completely sad and guilty on what he just did.

As The D drops his cards, The Light of Destruction escapes from "Plasma" and explodes which causes an explosion to ensue, setting the ship ablaze. The card flies towards Aster and he quickly takes the "Plasma" card. He sadly looks at the card and says goodbye to his dad since he will never see him again. The D regaining consciousness, yells at Aster that he is the chosen one (in the dub he swears that he will have his revenge), but Aster knowing what he must do does not care what The D says at all. Aster rushes out to the deck and is saved via helicopter by Chancellor Sheppard.

Featured Duel
Aster Phoenix vs. The D

Turn 1: Aster
 * Activates "Destiny Draw", discarding "Destiny HERO - Malicious" to draw 2 cards.
 * Activates "D - Spirit": Since he controls no "Destiny HERO" monsters, he can Special Summon a "Destiny HERO" Level 4 or below from his hand, and he chooses "Diamond Dude" (1400/1600).
 * "Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude's" effect allows Aster to check the top card on his Deck. If it is a Normal Spell Card, he can show it to his opponent and activate it on his next turn from the Graveyard; if not, the card goes to the bottom of his Deck.  The top card is "Pot of Greed", so he sends it to the Graveyard.  On his next turn, he can activate its effect.
 * Activates "Over Destiny", selecting "Destiny HERO - Malicious", a Level 6 monster, in his Graveyard so he can summon a "Destiny HERO" Level 3 or below (as the level has to be half of the selected monster's or lower). He chooses "Captain Tenacious" (800/800).
 * Removes from play the "Destiny HERO - Malicious" in the Graveyard and summons another "Malicious" (800/800) from his Deck to the field.
 * Tributes his 3 Destiny Heroes to Summon "Destiny HERO - Dogma" (3400/2400).
 * Sets a card.
 * Activates "Clock Tower Prison". Now, during each of his opponent's Standby Phases, "Clock Tower Prison" will gain a Clock Counter with each passing turn.  If 4 or more Counters are on his Field Spell, all Battle Damage to Aster will be reduced to 0.  If "Clock Tower Prison" is destroyed while having 4 Clock Counters or more on it, Aster can also summon "Destiny HERO - Dreadmaster".

Turn 2: The D
 * During his Standby Phase, "Dogma's" effect halves The D's Life Points (The D: 4000 → 2000 LP). Then, "Clock Tower Prison" positions itself at three o'clock as it gains its first Clock Counter.
 * Activates "Claret Note", which, depending on the sum of the Levels of all of Aster's monsters, lets him Special Summon a "Plasma Token" for every set of the combined monsters' 4 Levels. With "Destiny HERO - Dogma" a Level 8 monster, he is able to Summon 2 Tokens (0/0 each).
 * Activates "Fiend's Sanctuary" to Summon a "Metal Fiend Token" (0/0).
 * Tributes his three tokens to Summon "Destiny HERO - Plasma" (1900/600).
 * Uses "Plasma's" effect to equip itself with any monster Aster controls and gain half the ATK of the equipped monster, as well as any effect(s) it may have. "Plasma" equips itself with Aster's "Dogma" ("Destiny HERO - Plasma's" ATK: 3600).
 * "Plasma" attacks Aster directly (Aster: 4000 → 400 LP).
 * Activates "D - Force", placing it face-up on the top of his Deck. While it is the top card on his Deck, The D cannot conduct his normal draw during his Draw Phase, but now, "Destiny HERO - Plasma" cannot be affected by the effects of Spells and Traps while negating the effects of Aster's monsters.
 * Sets a card.

Turn 3: Aster
 * During his Standby Phase, the "Dogma"–equipped "Plasma" halves Aster's Life Points. (Aster: 400 → 200 LP)
 * Activates "Pot of Greed" from his Graveyard to draw 2 cards (due to "Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude's" effect).
 * Summons "Destiny HERO - Doom Lord" (600/800) in Defense Position
 * Uses "Doom Lord's" effect to remove "Plasma" from play for 2 turns, but "Plasma" negates the effects of Aster's effect monsters.

Turn 4: The D
 * Activates his face-down card, "D - Boost", which lets him draw 2 cards under his face-up "D - Force".
 * "Clock Tower Prison" positions itself at six o'clock. It now has a total of 2 Clock Counters.
 * Activates "Drain Time", which allows him to skip any Phase during Aster's turn and his own next turn. He declares "Standby Phase" (and because of that, "Clock Tower Prison" will not be able to gain a Clock Counter during his next turn).
 * "Destiny HERO - Plasma" attacks "Doom Lord".
 * Aster activates his face-down "D - Counter": This card would normally destroy an attacking monster while he controlled a "Destiny HERO", but due to "D - Force", "D - Counter" cannot affect "Plasma". "Doom Lord" is destroyed.
 * Sets a card.

Turn 5: Aster
 * Sets 2 cards.

Turn 6: The D
 * Due to "Drain Time", The D can skip his Standby Phase, so "Clock Tower Prison" cannot gain another Clock Counter.
 * "Destiny HERO - Plasma" attacks Aster directly, with The D chaining "Dust Tornado" to destroy Aster's "Clock Tower Prison".
 * Aster chains "Eternal Dread" and "Greed Pact" to "Dust Tornado", with their effects activating in reverse order.
 * "Greed Pact" resolves and lets Aster and The D both draw a card.
 * "Eternal Dread" resolves and adds 2 Clock Counters to his "Clock Tower Prison", giving it a total of 4 Clock Counters.
 * "Dust Tornado" resolves and destroys "Clock Tower Prison", which enables Aster to summon "Destiny HERO - Dreadmaster" (?/?) in Defense Position.


 * Since The D drew "D - Force" into his hand with "Greed Pact's" effect, "Destiny HERO - Plasma" could not negate the effect of "Destiny HERO - Dreadmaster": When Special Summoned, "Dreadmaster" was not destroyed, and Aster took no Battle Damage from battles involving it (or any of his other "Destiny HERO" monsters).
 * Aster uses "Dreadmaster's" other effect to Special Summon "Diamond Dude" (1400/1600) and "Captain Tenacious" (800/800) from his Graveyard, also in Defense Position.
 * "Dreadmaster's" original ATK and DEF are equal to the total ATK of all other "Destiny HERO" monsters that Aster controls ("Dreadmaster's" ATK and DEF: 2200).
 * Re-activates "D - Force" and places it face-up on the top of his Deck: This restores "Plasma's" effects that negate the effects of Aster's monsters and protect it from Aster's Spells and Traps.
 * Pays 800 Life Points to activate "Unfair Judge" (The D: 2000 → 1200 LP). Since 1 of his monsters attacked during his first Battle Phase without inflicting Battle Damage or destroying any of Aster's monsters, and the total ATK and DEF of all of Aster's monsters are respectively greater than "Destiny HERO - Plasma's" ATK and DEF, he can conduct a second Battle Phase and attack all of Aster's monsters with 1 of his own monsters.
 * "Plasma" attacks and destroys all 3 of Aster's monsters.

Turn 7: Aster
 * Draws "Destiny HERO - The Dark Angel", remembering that this was a gift from his father. Then he realizes that "Destiny HERO - The Dark Angel" was created to weaken "Destiny HERO - Plasma".
 * During his Standby Phase, the "Dogma"–equipped "Plasma" halves Aster's Life Points. (Aster: 200 → 100 LP)
 * Discards "Destiny HERO - The Dark Angel" from his hand to place it face-up and on the top of The D's Deck. With "D - Force" no longer the top card on The D's Deck, "Destiny HERO - Plasma" cannot negate the effects of Aster's monsters, and it is no longer immune to other card effects.
 * Activates "Dark City": Now, a "Destiny HERO" will gain 1000 ATK, during damage calculation only, if it attacks a monster with stronger ATK.
 * Summons "Destiny HERO - Celestial" (1600/1400) in Attack Position.
 * Attacks "Plasma" with "Celestial", who gains 1000 ATK from "Dark City". ("Celestial's" ATK: 2600)
 * "Celestial" can also destroy 1 Equip Card that The D controls when it attacks and inflict 500 points of damage to him. "Destiny HERO - Dogma" is destroyed. (The D: 1200 → 700 LP)  ("Plasma's" ATK: 1900)
 * However, before "Celestial" is able to strike the final blow, Aster suddenly sees that "Destiny HERO - Plasma" has trapped his father's soul within itself, along with the souls of other Duelists that The D has defeated. Aster's father informs him that he and The D were under the control of the Light of Destruction when "Plasma" was created.  Aster is hesitant to destroy "Plasma" on this note, but his father encourages him to do so, as a larger part of the Light of Destruction is possessing Sartorius, and using him in its attempt to destroy the world.
 * Aster's resolve returns with this encouragement, and "Destiny HERO - Celestial" continues its attack, destroying "Destiny HERO - Plasma" (The D: 700 → 0 LP).
 * Aster wins.

Mistakes in the English dub

 * When Aster Summons Defense Position monsters, the "ATK" icon is shown instead of "DEF".
 * Before Aster Summoned "Dogma", he'd said, "I'll sacrifice them both..." when he'd actually had 3 monsters on the field ("Diamond Dude", "Captain Tenacious", and "Malicious").
 * When The D attacked "Doom Lord" with "Plasma", he ordered it to attack Aster directly.
 * When Aster explains what happened when The D played "Dust Tornado" and he played "Eternal Dread" and "Greed Pact", he says that "Dreadmaster" stepped in to protect "Clock Tower Prison" with his "invincible barrier" when it was actually summoned due to the prison's destruction and due to The D playing "D - Force" again afterward, the "invincible barrier" effect never came into play.

Trivia

 * There was no need for Aster to play "D - Spirit" during his first turn as he could have just Normal Summoned "Diamond Dude" and saved it for later.

Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.