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Episode
GuideEpisode 124: Back to Battle City, Part 3 (The Respective Opponents)
Téa thinks this four-way duel is confusing, and wants to know the score. Tristan sums it up for her: Joey's in the lead with 3300, followed by Yugi with 3000, Kaiba's at 2200, and Marik is in last place with 1700 life points. (There's no dialogue in the Japanese. This shot of the Battle Ship in front of the Duel Tower is cut from the beginning of the US version.)
It's Marik's turn, and he summons Dark Jeroid (1200 ATK). Joey points out that it's the weakest monster on the field, but Dark Jeroid's effect allows Marik to lower the attack strength of any monster on the field by 800 points. Kaiba thinks that if Marik attacks him, his Ring of Destruction trap card will be waiting. Marik's not interested in attacking Kaiba—he wants the Pharaoh. (Japanese Kaiba wants Malik to attack him, so he can use his trap to deliver a lot of damage. But Malik knows Kaiba's got traps waiting, and won't fall for that.) But Yugi's Beast of Gilfor, at 2200 ATK, is too powerful for Marik to attack, even with Dark Jeroid's special ability.
So Marik attacks Joey's Gearfried, using Dark Jeroid's effect to lower its attack to 1000. But Joey activates his trap card, Skull Dice. (Devil's Dice, which is a magic card in the Japanese. The real card, as is shown in the US version, is a trap card.)
Skull Dice rolls a two, which lowers Dark Jeroid's attack by half, to 600. Now Gearfried is stronger than Dark Jeroid. But then Gearfried shrinks! Kaiba's activated his face-down Shrink card to further reduce Gearfried's attack to 500, and it's destroyed. Joey's now at 3200. He tells Kaiba he won't forget it as his dueling station rises. Yugi tells Joey to stay focused.
Tristan says he can't believe that Kaiba just helped Marik! He must have something planned. (Anzu says that Kaiba's still got two covered cards, so it's not time to relax.)
But Mokuba thinks that was a great move—his brother's timing was perfect. Téa doesn't trust Kaiba at all. (The shot of Kaiba with his two set cards is moved here in the US version.)
Joey continues to shout warnings at Kaiba, telling him he's going down, while Yugi tells Joey to stay calm. (Japanese Kaiba says all enemies are valuable to him, because they bring him victory.) Meanwhile, Serenity's still at Mai's bedside, telling her to hang on, her brother will rescue her soon. Inside the hourglass in the Shadow Realm, Mai is nearly buried under sand. She seems to hear Serenity's voice, but she doesn't know who "Joey" is. Serenity continues to encourage her, saying she knows Joey can save her.
Now it's Yugi's turn, and he wonders whom he should attack. Kaiba's got Blade Knight on the field, along with two face-down cards. Marik still has Dark Jeroid—but if he attacks him, Kaiba might protect him again. Joey's got no monsters, only one set card on the field. Meanwhile, Joey glares at the gang down below, telling them not to stare at him. Yugi thinks he has to make sure Joey doesn't end up dueling Marik. It's too dangerous. As long as Kaiba and Marik finish last, Joey's safe. (Japanese Yugi worries about Kaiba's trap cards, and thinks it's too dangerous to attack him.) Yugi decides to attack Marik.
Tristan says Yugi's in a tough spot. His best bet is to duel Kaiba in the semi-finals, and win his God card. But that would mean Joey would have to duel Marik, and the gang agree that would be a disaster. (Japanese Honda says Yugi must keep his promise to duel Jounouchi when he becomes a True Duelist. Therefore Yugi's targets must be Malik and Kaiba.) But Duke points out the look in Joey's eyes—he wants to duel Marik!
Téa says Duke's right. Joey thinks that if he defeats Marik, he can bring Mai back from the Shadow Realm. She tells them about talking to Joey aboard the airship after Mai's duel with Marik. He blamed himself for Mai's loss, and insisted that he had to save her himself, by dueling Marik. He gave Mai his word that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, and he never breaks a promise to a friend! (Japanese Jounouchi told Anzu that he had to save Mai with his own hands, as her friend. Then he asked Anzu not to tell Yugi that he intended to duel Malik. He'd promised Yugi that he'd become a True Duelist and duel with him again. To be honest, he wasn't sure if he was qualified to be called a True Duelist. But he was sure that if he couldn't save Mai, he wasn't worthy to be Yugi's opponent. So, in order to keep his promise to Yugi, he had to rescue Mai with his own hands.)
The gang realize that Joey's determined, but Téa hates to think what will happen if Joey faces Marik and loses. (Japanese Anzu says that Jounouchi thinks it's his fault that Mai was lost, because he couldn't protect her.)
Yug's about to attack Marik, when Joey stops him, telling him he's making a mistake, and he can't let him go through with it. (Japanese Jounouchi asks Yugi, "What is a True Duelist?") Joey says Yugi's attacking the wrong duelist—Yugi should be attacking him. Téa wonders what Joey's thinking, but Tristan says Joey's not thinking! He calls up to Joey that the pressure's getting to him, and tells him to relax and let Yugi make his move. Joey tells Tristan to stay out of it—this is something he has to do. (Japanese Anzu asks why Jounouchi would say such a thing all of a sudden. Honda says he doesn't know, but he's sure of one thing—a True Duelist wouldn't stop the duel in the middle of someone else's turn! The sweatdrop on the back of Anzu's head as she agrees is removed from the US version.)
Joey turns to Yugi, saying he knows Yugi's just looking out for him, but he can't keep protecting him for the rest of his life. He'll never improve if Yugi keeps going easy on him.
(Japanese Jounouchi says he's been looking for the answer to his question during the Battle City tournament. He turns to Yugi and tells him that his goal is to duel him. He's dueled with many people and he thinks he has his own way, and he's coming closer to an answer. Kaiba chuckles and says that it's the road of a "bonkotsu" duelist.)
(Jounouchi continues: Yugi has taught him to fight bravely and trust in his cards. Cut from the US version is a sequence where Jounouchi shouts down to Honda, telling him that Honda has taught him to trust his friends under any circumstances. Honda wonders why Jounouchi would suddenly say this! It's really disgusting.)
Joey says that the reason he's gotten this far is that he faced the toughest opponents of his life in Battle City, and he defeated them all on his own. He recalls all the duelists he battled on his way to the finals: Espa Roba, Weevil Underwood, Mako Tsunami (cut from the US version of the flashback is Jounouchi thinking he has his own "ocean" to battle, which is Yugi),
and Odion. (The Japanese version of the flashback shows Jounouchi thinking that because of each of the duelists he's faced, he's learned his weak points and grown up to be a True Duelist with his own way. In the US version, the flashback is changed to show Joey summoning each of the monsters he won in the previous duels, and thinking that these duels made him stronger.)
(Japanese Jounouchi also remembers Mai going to face Malik, and thinks he's learned a lot from her, too.)
He's come a long way since Battle City began, and if Yugi really wants to help him, he should treat him like any other opponent. (Japanese Jounouchi tells Yugi that in a duel, there's only one winner. Everyone else besides one's self is an enemy.) Kaiba chuckles to himself, and Marik impatiently tells them to move on. Joey continues to tell Yugi that if he really believes in him, he'll stop baby-sitting him and start treating him like an equal. He has no monsters on the field, so Yugi's smartest move is to attack him.
Duke points out that Joey does have the most life points so far. But Mokuba says that in a direct attack, Yugi's Beast of Gilfor will blast Joey halfway up the tower, and he'll be in last place.
Joey says if Yugi holds back, he'll know Yugi doesn't think he can take it. Yugi asks, what if Joey loses? Joey says that might not be so bad. This duel is only to determine who faces who in the semi-finals. And Joey has to face a certain someone to keep a promise he made to Yugi and Mai. (Japanese Jounouchi says that even if he's kicked out of this duel, he'll meet Yugi in the final. He asks Yugi to trust him, and attack him.)
At last, Yugi understands. He believes in Joey, he says, and attacks him directly with Beast of Gilfor. Joey's life points go down to 1000, and his dueling station rises up the tower, past Marik. He's in last place, he says, and he's taking Marik down with him.
Now it's Joey's turn. He draws, remembering the entry card Mai gave him that allowed him to duel in the Duelist Kingdom semi-finals. Saying to himself that this time he's dueling for Mai, he summons Axe Raider (1700 ATK). Yugi thinks this is Joey's chance to attack Marik, but Joey attacks Kaiba! The gang wonder why Joey would attack Kaiba if he wants to duel Marik. Duke thinks Joey might have chickened out—unless this is part of Joey's strategy. Mokuba says there's no way Joey's attack can work—his brother will just activate one of his trap cards. And Kaiba does exactly that, activating Ring of Destruction, which will destroy Joey's monster, and inflict direct damage to both of them equal to the destroyed monster's attack. (Ring of Destruction's grenades are changed to flames in the US version.)
Then Kaiba activates Ring of Defense to protect his own life points from damage. ("Game over," Japanese Kaiba says.)
Joey's hand trembles on his cards as Ring of Destruction's blast takes out Axe Raider. The gang thinks Joey's lost—
But it's Marik's life points that go to zero! Joey's played his trap card, Graverobber, and stolen Spell of Pain from Marik's graveyard, using it to transfer his battle damage to Marik. (The real Graverobber costs 2000 life points in order to activate the stolen card—which of course Joey couldn't have afforded to pay.) The gang call out congratulations to Joey. Yugi thinks that was an awesome move. If Joey'd attacked Marik, he'd only have been able to do 500 points of damage, but by attacking Kaiba he was able to use Kaiba's trap against Marik, defeating Marik with one blow.
Marik rises to the top of the Duel Tower, saying he'll deal with Joey shortly.
Now Joey has no cards on the field. But that's part of his plan, too. In order to duel Marik, he has to lose next. Kaiba's only too happy to give him the defeat he wants. Telling Joey he'll always be a second-rate duelist in his book, Kaiba attacks him with Blade Knight, taking the rest of Joey's life points. (This shot of Jounouchi being attacked by Blade Knight is cut from the US version.)
As Joey's duel station rises, he thinks this worked out for everyone. Now Yugi will face Kaiba in the semi-finals, and he'll take down Marik. (Japanese Jounouchi calls out, "Meet you in the finals, Yugi.") Marik tells Joey to prepare to enter the Shadows. Roland announces the end of the duel, and the matchups for the semi-finals. The first duel will be Joey vs Marik, followed by Kaiba vs Yugi. Kaiba tells Yugi that one of them will go on to the final, while the other goes home a loser. Yugi thinks he has to defeat Kaiba! The fate of the world may depend on it! (Japanese Kaiba tells Yugi this is their fated duel. Come and meet his destiny. Yugi thinks to Jounouchi, let's meet in the final. Before then, there must be an end between him and Kaiba.)
The dueling stations are launched to the top of the Duel Tower. It's time for the semi-finals to begin.
