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Dragon’s Lair Fan Fiction Code Challenge!*Closed-Updated With The Winning Entries!*

Alright kids! The second round of Dragon’s Lair codes are ready to be handed out or should I say, worked for?! This challenge will award a total of ten codes/ winners and will last a duration of three hours. The rules are simple!! Submit your best, two-hundred or words or less Dragon’s Lair fan fiction piece!The goal is to be creative! This challenge will award the top ten entries as judged by the XBLA team with a Dragon’s Lair code! Submit your entries by emailing PlayXBLA@Microsoft.com! The rules and times are broken down below for easy reference, enjoy!

*Challenge is now closed - Updated with the winning entries*

We actually chose to award a total of 17 winners that were too awesome to choose from :) RAD submissions everyone!!! 

sp8001-

I have been taken to deep into an evil castle. There is gold and jewels as far as the eye can see. I have been sealed in a magic bubble where I can breathe, but there are no clear paths to escape. Suprisingly, I am not scared… this is normal for me! This is just what princesses go through on a day to day basis. Get kidnapped and held hostage by a menacing bad guy and be guarded by a huge dragon! Welcome to my life.

There is a magic sword off in the distance. I know it is the only item here that will slay the dragon. I hear footsteps off in the distance, followed by several loud shrieks! Could this be my “hero” for today? Judging by his loud screams of terror, I just don’t think he has it in him to go the distance. The footsteps are getting louder. My liberator is getting close! Right as the door bursts open I think to myself, Please god, just once let my rescuer be cute!

eugaet-

I swallow air as my eyes fly open.

I am staring down a U-shaped corridor. Colored balls roll back and forth across the rounded floor. I know the black ball will appear behind me, threatening to crush me like it has many times before. Why I am not able to move until I glance back and gasp in involuntary surprise, I cannot fathom. With a rumble, the black ball rolls into view.

Yellow ball…run!

Red ball…run!

Blue ball — stop, no! Why am I moving forward! Too soon! Too- I am standing at the beginning of the corridor again, screaming. As the black ball bears down on me, I wait for the yellow ball to roll past before running ahead. Except that my feet refuse to move. Run!

RUN! Why can’t I-

There is no corridor, only darkness. Daphne will not be rescued, not by me. I have failed. And that is acceptable. As long as I don’t have to repeat- A single word swims out of the darkness and hovers before me.

‘Continue?’ No, I do not wish to continue! Leave me to my oblivion. I will not- I am staring down a U-shaped corridor, attempting to escape damnation.

 

Fabrice -

Dirk the Daring is a man of many talents. Among others he is high profiled in the art of dragon slaying. Be it with a sword or a bow, no dragon stood a chance against the mighty Dirk.

On one of his adventures he was walking through a snowy unknown land. He knew something was off while wandering around the chilly landscape. „There it is“ he screamed looking at the biggest dragon he ever saw. As the dragon saw him too Dirk drew his sword, ready to slay the mighty foe. „Prepare to die“ Dirk yelled when suddenly a mysterious warrior appeared at his side.

The two stood there in silence as the dragon approached. As the stranger took a deep breath Dirk looked in awe. „FUS-RO-DAH“ he heard and the warrior took down the dragon with nothing else than his voice. Dirk the Daring became deeply depressed and thought „Meh at least I get released on Xbox Live Arcade but THAT guy totally deserves something better“.

And so the story of the dragonborn has begun… Say what? The story should have been about Dirk the Daring? Well that’s awkward…

 

Ben -

Donald Bluth knew that this would be a big day. The plan that he’d sown the seeds of many years ago was nearing completion.
He took his mail from the box, stepped into the office, locked the door behind him and closed the blinds. Approaching his desk, he pressed a button; “Halcyon, open a communications channel, RDI encryption.”The system crackled to life with the audible aura technological communication comes with. A disembodied voice spoke.“Aah, Virgil. To what do I owe this pleasure?” “Have we released Dragon’s Lair on everything yet?” “Yes sir, Dirk‘s daring on all formats but one.” (It was an outrageous concept, was it a videogame that looked like a movie or a movie that played like a videogame?) “One format?” “Yes sir, the Xbox 360. They released this… “device” we put to our advantage. ” He removed the Laserdisc from the packaging, placing it into the computer. “They call it Kinect, we’ve worked to integrate Kinect with Dragon’s Lair.” “You’ve done well, it does more than Halcyon ever could! Is it ready to go?” “Yes.”

Bluth paused for a moment, mulling over the information onscreen. “The time has come. Upload Port 66.”

 

Jakob - 

“Why the heck am I doing this?”, Dirk thought. “I mean, sure thing, it sounded great… ‘Get out in the middle of nowhere, find this nice castle, yadda yadda, rescue this amazingly beautiful young princess so you can marry her. And oh, by the way, there’s also a mountain of gold. What can possibly go wrong, Dirk?’ More like ‘what CAN’T go wrong’… I mean, yeah, sure thing, it’s a nice castle, but they could at least have told me it was filled with death traps! Burning rooms with ropes, crumbling floors, gas-chamber bedrooms, huge face-eating spiders, acid rivers…”Dirk’s train of thought paused, as he dodged yet another flock of bats coming up from the cellar. “It just keeps on getting worse”… “And now THIS!?”, he thought, as the staircase in front of him abruptly dissolved into dust. ”Jeeze, I’m FINALLY at the bottom now! Gold everywhere and a princess there, woohoo! Here comes the Dirk-train, baby! … Wait? What’s that green thi-… A dragon? SERIOUSLY? There’s a DRAGON, and they didn’t even bother to tell me that?”. Dirk let out a frustrated sigh… “I’m never accepting any drunk dares again!”

Outinthedark - 

Deep into that dungeon slaying, long I stood there over mine enemies, wondering the thoughts of their last moments, fearing what lies beyond the next door, doubting I will ever see my betrothed once again, dreaming of the day we are once again united in each others arms.
The smell of the sulfur fills my lungs, and the only thing which stares back at me into that darkness are two dark burning ember eyes that pierce at my soul. But the silence was unbroken, and the only word spoken, “Singe”. “We meet again Dirk”, then began my final trial.
As the flames shot around my shield, the sweat on my brow boiling, my body weakening, one last effort as I plunged my sword into the soft underbelly of the dragon. A sequel of agony, a final heaving breath. I take Daphne by the hand and lead her away from this foul place. We never look back, continue onward. Merely this, and nothing more.

Matt - 

Dirk was on his way to rescue Daphne
Riding on some kind of horse he’d found (which was really a cow)
A woman stood in his path
Greetings, she said, she was really old
Older than time itself, Dirk thought
Nasty boy, she said, you’re so rude
So Dirk rode on, and wondered why he had even stopped
Later, he came to a castle
Ah ha! He exclaimed. My Daphne is surely inside!
Inside, the whole place was empty
Rejected, he rode on
Platypus! He cried, for that was his cow’s name
Lead on, to the lair of Singe the dragon! The right one this time!
And so Platypus led on
You’re probably wondering what happened next
X is a letter that is hard to think of words for
But it didn’t matter! Because he eventually got there
Long did the battle rage, but he was (accidentally) victorious
And Dirk and Daphne lived happily ever after

Declan  - 

Dark and dank, she woke up unaware of what dangers lurked in the depths of the vast cave. Suddenly, out of the darkest area of the cave a chink of light emerged, fighting through the engulfing darkness, it gleamed and sparkled. It highlighted her saviour. She sighed with relief as she wouldn’t have to worry about finding her way out of here, at least, not alone. As she got up and her saviour noticed the damsel in distress a monstrous sight made the damsel cry out but no sound escaped her trembling lips. From behind her saviour reared a dragon, so big that it couldn’t be contained by the walls of the cave. As the dragon spread it’s wings it made the rock surrounding it crack and crash to the ground, alerting the saviour to the presence of the winged beast. Without hesitation the saviour ran, grabbed the damsel and threw her over his soldier and ran, no time to look back he ran as far and as fast as his legs could move. Ahead of him he saw a small gap between the rock and the floor, if he could reach it they would be safe, at least temporarily…

 

Lee –

The day had started out like any other. Dirk had ridden the falling disk, paddled through the rapids, and even squared up against the Giddy Goons a couple of times, only to inevitably fail when the Phantom Knight reared his ugly head. He never quite understood what made him grab for the sword every time, instead of just dodging. It was as if he were acting under the influence of some external force. But, this was different. There had been no sign of the Knight, but there had been one or two unfamiliar sights along the way. And now, up in front, there she was; the beautiful Princess Daphne, trapped inside a gigantic crystal ball! All he had to do was sneak past that sleeping dragon.  This should be easy Then, without knowing why, Dirk tried to swing his sword. And the dragon awoke. Once again, poor old Dirk was reduced to a pile of bones. The same, recurrent strange thought hit him that always did at this moment. “GAME OVER”

“MOM!” said Mike. “Did you see that? I nearly did it. One more go, PLLEEEEEEEEEEEAAASSSE?”

 

Neil -

Dragon’s Lair 2012

The scene begins as the heroic Dirk the Daring, our hero the valiant knight walks towards the Castle of a Dark Wizard. Dirk who is on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of the evil dragon, remembers being here before, and gets the feeling of Déjà Vu He begins to remember this castle was enchanted with treacherous obstacles & monsters. The gate to the castle opens and as Dirk enters he is given two directions to go. Quickly Dirk pulls out his iPhone and uses a search engine to pull up the Dragon’s Lair walkthrough….
20 Minutes later.
……. Dirk enters that final chamber where the princess is being held captive by the evil dragon, as Dirk selects the final page of the walkthrough his iPhone runs out of power. Then frozen in terror our hero does not know what to do.
He must dodge left or right.
Dirk chooses left.
The dragon slays Dirk,
Game Over.

Epilogue: Dirk is searching the main hall of the castle. Our hero thinks “there must be an outlet somewhere!”

 

Frank  - 

Sweat drops started to form on Dirk’s forehead. You could see by the look on his face that he never had to face a bigger challenge than this. His hands trembled. He muttered something under his breath but the words were hard to make out. From his gestures you could tell he was having a hard time. Fighting dragons seemed like child’s play in hindsight, but Dirk had to face this evil. He had heard terrifying stories about the monster. Every man that had entered her territory had been swallowed whole. Their remains would be too scarred to be identified. Unknowingly Dirk had crossed her path and now he had to face her too. His trusty sword would be useless in this battle. He had to rely on his instincts to survive this nightmare. Dirk gathered his courage and started walking towards the place he knew the monster lived. He was hoping for divine intervention to come to his rescue along the way, but he also knew he had to face this monster someday. Nothing could’ve prepared Dirk for this day, but here he was, standing face to face with the oldest of evils: his mother-in-law.

 

Kyron –

‘Twas a cold night for our fellow Knight to set out on his Quest to rescue Princess Daphne who was enslaved in Mordroc’s Castle. Dirk the Daring rode on his noble steed to rush to her aid because he had fell in love with her and he felt no other man nor Knight could be successful. Before reaching the castle, he fought many ugly creatures. “Boy are you one foul fowl! HAHA!”  Dirk said bashing the evil chicken that came from Bowerstone. Dirk made it to the castle and proceeded inside. He ran, pranced, to the top where the Princess was held. There, he saw his final challenge. Singe, the dragon was guarding the door. Poised for battle, Dirk took his trust sword, Nowitzki, and charged! With one mighty whip, Singe syringed the Knight! Even though Dirk was Daring, he was also clumsy and scary and ran away in terror. While he was running, he tripped and Nowitzki flew in the air. Singe was on Dirk’s tail and as he was about to deliver the final blow, the sword came down and severed Singe’s head. “You saved me!” said Princess Daphne. “It was nothing babe.” Dirk replied.

 

Mark -

The Word of Singe

Much has been said during the Dragon’s Lair tale of Dirk the Daring and the beautiful Princess Daphne, but what of I? What of Singe, the wrongly accused and most innocent Dragon? True, I did lock away the Princess Daphne, but there were extenuating circumstances…for example, did you know that the most foul wizard Mordroc had stolen my Dragon Egg and was forcing me to do his bidding, lest he destroy it? I believe he actually said something about making an omelet!!! I had no choice!

Not that you humans would care of such things. All I ever hear is the Dragon did this and the Dragon did that or my favorite, “Run Away, Run Away! The Dragon is coming!” *hehe*

Ahem, yes well, back to my point.

Well, I guess my point is this: Do not judge a Dragon by the amount of fire he breathes – get to know him a little better, you just might be surprised.

 

MJ - 

Hi there, My friends call me Dirk but you can call me Dirk the Daring. So here I am this dark and stormy night. I just strolled down to the tavern for a few pints of mead and my squeeze (Princess Daphne)  has only got herself kidnapped by that low down dirty rat Mordoc. So I mount my trusty steed (Mr. Grumpy) and ride on over to his lair, yeah that’s right, Dragons Lair. You’ve heard of it right? A deathtrap maze of devilish devices and ugly ne’er-do-wells. So with my enchanted sword (sparky) I cut a swathe through the guards and I’m in. My cat like reflexes and sixth, seventh and hell yeah eighth sense allow me to dance through his traps and my penchant for violence puts an end to his goons. And then I’m there (in the lair) and there actually IS a dragon. I thought that was just an old wives tale. So that’s why I’m back here in the tavern telling you all this. Daphnes fine by the way. Just one more pint of mead before I deliver Mordoc to hell and who knows, maybe the Dragon will be asleep by then.

 

zon - 

It was a lovely spring day in the Kingdom. Dirk, the bravest of all knights, was taking a break from training his knights. He walked towards the Gardens of Myst, where he occasionally saw the beautiful Princess Daphne. While on his way, Dirk heard screams of help coming from the gardens. He ran as fast as he could towards the sound. When he came by, he saw Princess Daphne tied by the Giddy Goons and the Smithee. Dirk, unaware of the dangers awaiting for him, attacked them. He fought valiantly to save the Princess from the attackers, killing a handful. But one of the Giddy Goons at the back, cowardly fired a poisoned arrow at Dirk. While the arrow only scraped Dirk’s arm, it was enough to knock him unconscious. Believed to be dead, Dirk was left lying there and Princess Daphne was taken to Mordroc’s castle. Dirk was found by his knights and taken to the Kingdom’s healer. While he was being healed, the knights of the Kingdom tried to save the Princess. They failed. All the knights were killed but one…

 

Brandon -

Dirk was tired of hunting Singe the dragon so he decided to suit up and play some medieval basketball!  You see Dirk was once the greatest knight that ever played and had won the Kings Championship ring.  So, he suited up in his basketball amour suit and headed out to the court.  Little did he know that Singe “The King” dragon had also suited up and was ready to play.   Daphne was on the sidelines cheering on her favorite night Dirk.  At the jump ball Singe flew up and grabbed the ball and quickly knocked the ball into the goal with his tail.  Dirk saw that this was going to be a tough completion.  Dirk dribbled down between the dragon’s feet and dunked the ball.  Back and forth they went throughout the game.  It was now down to the last shot.  Dirk had the ball but the dragon was guarding the goal.  Dirk faked right and went left, stuck out his right knee and faded away and shot a huge rainbow shot over Singe.  And it was nothing but net.  Dirk was the winner.  Daphne rushed the court to embrace Dirk.  I’ll see you in the caves tomorrow Singe!

 

Alexander -

Once upon a time I entered the Dragon’s Lair
Ten minutes later I saved the maiden fair
It didn’t cost me anything, no sweat, no tears, no blood
I wish it was more challenging, but damn I’m just that good
We left the lair together, accompanied by joy and laughter
We kept the dragon as our pet and lived happily ever after

 

 

> Submit a Dragon’s Lair based story

> ENTRY MUST BE TWO HUNDRED WORDS OR LESS

> The entry must be created by you, not pulled from the inter-webz

>The PlayXBLA team will be judging the entries

>Contest Length is 2:30 PM PST – 5:30 PM PST

>The top ten entries receive a code for Dragon’s Lair

>Email Your Entries to PlayXBLA@microsoft.com

>HAVE FUN!

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