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Episode
GuideEpisode 104: Courtroom Chaos - Part I (Deck Master: Judge Man's Judgment)
In his control center, Noah watches Yugi and Téa on one of his viewscreens, thinking that he never should have hired the Big 5. How could they be outdueled in a virtual world where he makes all the rules? It's time for him to step in. (Japanese Noah says forget about Yugi—he didn't expect that the Big 5 couldn't even beat a beginner. What a bunch of losers!)
Johnson (whose Japanese name appears to be Ooka Chikuzen), one of the Big 5 appears on the screen, apologizing for the Big 5's failures. Noah tells Johnson they're all fired. Gansley and Crump have both suffered embarrassing defeats, and he has no reason to believe the rest of them won't fail. (Japanese Noah says he's not angry, he's just shocked. He thought he could use them as chess pieces in his game, but it seems he was wrong. He tells Ooka they can forget about getting bodies.) He's about to push the button to erase them, when Johnson says that they've analyzed their attacks and come up with a solid dueling strategy that's guaranteed to succeed. (Japanese Ooka says those other two were worthless. But he's different from them. He'll never let Noah down. A short bit is cut from Noah and Ooka's conversation, where Noah says that Ooka is very confident, and Ooka says that so when he wins, he'll be able to take one of the kids' bodies.)
Noah agrees to give them another chance. (Japanese Noah says to himself that they're only responsible for getting rid of the small fry anyway. As the screen focuses in on Kaiba, Noah says that this is the man he wants.)
Meanwhile, Kaiba and Mokuba are back in the woods. Kaiba attempts to reach Kaiba Craft 3 on the radio transmitter in his coat lapel, but there's no answer. Noah must be trying to isolate them from outside contact—but that won't stop him.
Back in the mansion, Joey is still wandering around alone, calling out challenges. (Japanese Jounouchi is calling out to Shizuka and Yugi, worried that with him all alone, the Big 5 won't challenge him.) In frustration, he kicks a wall, and it cracks open, revealing a double door behind it. Maybe he should knock... Nah. He kicks it in, and finds that it leads to the hangar where the airship is waiting. Thinking he's found his way back to the real world, he runs into it, but he can't find anyone inside. Then he notices that the door to Mai's room is open, and he goes in to find her still lying comatose on the bed. He remembers Marik using the Millennium Rod to send her mind to the Shadow Realm. He promises to save her, telling her she'll be dueling again in no time.
Suddenly, her eyes open. Astonished, Joey exclaims that he can't believe she's back. She gets out of bed, but when she speaks, it's actually one of the Big 5, who tells "Joseph" condescendingly that he should know he can't believe anything he sees. Joey asks who he is, and Mai's form morphs into Johnson, who offers his card, introducing himself as former chief legal advisor for the Kaiba Corporation. Joey slaps the card away, telling him to save it, but Johnson tells him his presence is requested at the trial of the century, so it's in his best interest to listen. He's taking Joey to court so he can take his body.
Johnson begins to explain the reasons why he's entitled to Joey's body, but Joey tells him he's had it. All this legal mumbo-jumbo is making him dizzy! Johnson says that means he's doing his job. Joey says talk is cheap, so Johnson tells him to take the stand. Joey says he thought they were going to be dueling! Johnson explains that to him, a Duel Monsters duel is like a trial. (Japanese Ooka tells Jounoujchi that as a Kaiba Corporation lawyer, he can turn wrong into right. No matter what the charge against the company, he can bring in a verdict of "not guilty." Jounouchi says a lawyer's job should be to tell the truth, but Ooka laughs and asks , what is truth? Jounouchi says truth is the "real facts," but Ooka apologizes for asking such a hard question, and says the truth is whatever his legal arguments say it is. Jounouchi gets mad, and calls Ooka a lying lawyer, which Ooka takes as a compliment. Then Jounouchi asks if they're going to duel or what. Ooka says if Jounouchi loses he'll take his body, and Jounouchi tells him not to talk like that! Part of this conversation is cut in the US version to fit the changed dialog.)
The room starts to change, and Joey finds himself in a courtroom, with Johnson behind the judge's bench.
As Johnson sits, he morphs into his Deck Master, Judge Man. After some more posturing, Joey gets all fired up, with actual flames. (In the Japanese, Jounouchi's angry with Ooka for pretending to be Mai and making him think she'd woken up.) Then Joey has to choose his dueling deck from the virtual card database. Johnson says he's researched Joey's games and knows exactly which cards he'll choose. (In the Japanese, he says he knows Jounouchi will choose a "gamble deck.") After Joey's deck is complete, he chooses Flame Swordsman to be his Deck Master. (A short sequence showing Jounouchi taking the card out of his deck and remembering fighting side by side with Flame Swordsman in the past are cut from the US version.)
Flame Swordsman tells Joey he'll serve him well and guide him through the duel. (In the Japanese, Jounouchi asks Flame Swordsman what his Deck Master ability is, and Flame Swordsman explains that he can give up his own attack points to power up Jounouchi's monsters. Jounouchi's not at all surprised that his Deck Master can talk to him.)
Judge Man begins the duel by summoning Hysteric Angel. (This is actually the card's Japanese name. The English card is Hysteric Fairy.) Flame Swordsman says that his Deck Master ability allows him to give up some of his attack points to power up Joey's monsters. So Joey summons Gearfried, taking 500 attack points from Flame Swordsman to increase Gearfried's attack to 2300. He attacks Hysteric Angel and destroys it. Johnson's impressed that Joey's learned to use his Deck Master's ability already. But the trial has just begun.
Judge Man sets a monster in defense and ends his turn. Joey summons Little Wing Guard, taking another 300 points from Flame Swordsman, who's now down to 1000 points, and increasing Little Wing Guard's attack to 1700. Then he destroys the Judge Man's defense monster, Skelengel, whose effect allows the Judge Man to draw one card. Joey uses Gearfried to direct attack. Judge Man's down to 1200 life points, and Joey's feeling pretty pleased with himself. But Johnson says to himself that he let Joey get ahead—it's not the beginning of the trial that counts, it's the verdict. (Japanese Ooka says he'll let Jounouchi get dizzy with success—that's how to deal with gamblers.)
Judge Man plays Mystical Elf in defense, and plays one card face down. Joey whistles in mock boredom, and Johnson laughs to himself, telling Joey to enjoy it while he can—soon he'll be charged with a lifetime sentence in this virtual prison!
Joey and Téa are walking across the ice, wishing they had some hot chocolate. Yugi gives Téa his coat, and she tells him he's a lifesaver. But he's worried about the others—especially Tristan and Serenity. They're not duelists, and if they lose a duel to the Big 5, they'll be trapped there. As Yugi wraps his arms around himself and hops from foot to foot to keep warm, Téa says that if she can beat those creeps in a duel, so can they! (Japanese Anzu says, that's right, Honda has no talent for dueling.)
Tristan, Duke, and Serenity are walking in the woods. Tristan sneezes, and Duke tells him that's what he gets for swimming in the lake! (Japanese Otogi tells Honda not to give his cold to Shizuka, and Honda says it's not a cold, it's someone talking behind his back.)
Yugi says let's just hope they found each other and are pulling together to get out of this place! (Japanese Yugi says that Shizuka doesn't even know the rules.)
Then Serenity sneezes, and Duke tells Tristan way to go, Germ Boy—now he's got Serenity sick. Tristan makes threatening noises at Duke, telling him he'd better stay away or he might catch Tristan's evil germs, too! (Cut from the US version is a shot of Honda grabbing Otogi and wrestling with him.)
Yugi's sure they're going to be just fine. (Japanese Yugi says if they don't find them soon, Shizuka and Honda will be in danger, and Anzu says let's hurry.)
Mokuba tells Kaiba that after today, he never wants to see a virtual tree again. Kaiba says that punk Noah is keeping them trapped because he's too afraid to confront him face to face. Noah, watching them on the viewscreen, says it's an interesting theory, but Seto's wrong again. (Japanese Kaiba says he'll find a way out of this stupid virtual world, and Noah says if he really wants out of that forest, he'll let him have his wish.)
A door appears on the path ahead of them. Kaiba opens it, wanting to see where Noah is leading them now. Kaiba exclaims that this is his office—but then Gozaburo turns around in the chair, saying this is his office, and no one disturbs him there! (Japanese Kaiba says it's the office of the President of Kaiba Corporation, and Gozaburo turns around saying, "How can I help you?") Kaiba and Mokuba see young Seto telling Gozaburo that he has something important to say. Kaiba says it's the day he finally worked up the courage to confront their stepfather. (Japanese Kaiba says he remebers this day, and it happened two years ago.)
Gozaburo says he knows that Seto is there to talk about his invention, but it's no good. Young Seto says he worked a long time on that virtual video game software, and Gozaburo just can't admit that Seto invented something that he never could. (Japanese young Seto protests that he invented his virtual software for playing games, but his father wants to use it for war. Seto invented it to use in his future Kaiba Land.) Gozaburo throws the paperwork down, telling young Seto that's enough! (Cut is a shot of Gozaburo throwing the papers at young Seto and hitting him in the face with them.)
Kaiba Corp doesn't make children's toys, they make vehicles for combat! If Seto's going to take over the company some day, he'll have to forget about games. Gozaburo adopted him to teach him the family business—the business of beating your enemies and rising to ultimate power! Young Seto tells Gozaburo he's insane, and Gozaburo orders his guards to take Seto away. Two big goons (one of them looks like Kemo) drag the protesting boy away. (Japanese young Seto calls out "Tou-san!"—"Father!"—as he's dragged away.)
Kaiba says he'll never forget that day. Not only did his stepfather shoot down his virtual gaming program, but he stole Seto's invention and passed it off as his own. (Japanese Kaiba says that was the last time he ever called that man "Father.")
The scene dissolves, and Kaiba and Mokuba are back in what Mokuba calls Noah's virtual forest. Kaiba says he wouldn't call it Noah's forest—whoever's helping Noah is using the same virtual technology Gozaburo stole from him. Even though it's been enhanced, the basic program is Kaiba's. He has a feeling it's no coincidence. He just has to remember that everything they see there is an illusion, because all these memories are messing with his head. He says to Noah that he doesn't know who he is, but he'll find out. He challenges Noah to come and face him. (Japanese Kaiba says that Gozaburo wanted to use his virtual system to let countless people die in wars and make a fortune for himself. He couldn't hand his system over to that evil man. On that day, he totally lost his expectations of that man, and made up his mind that he would have Kaiba Corporation. Anyway, it's unforgiveable for someone to go into his memories to watch his reaction and make fun of him. He calls out to Noah that if he's planning to steal Kaiba Corporation, he won't succeed.)
Noah, in his control center, says, all in good time, and laughs. (In the Japanese, he says, "Steal Kaiba Corporation?" and laughs.)
Back at the duel, Joey sees that Judge Man has one monster in defense and one card face down. The first thing to do, he thinks, is get rid of that monster. (Wrong—the first thing to do, if he can, is get rid of that face down card. Japanese Jounouchi says that although he's a little worried about that set card, manly Jounouchi will fight it out.) He summons Rocket Warrior, then orders Gearfried to attack Mystical Elf.
But Judge Man activates his Deck Master's special ability. Joey's shocked! It looks like his opponent's Deck Master has special powers, too! (Well, duh. Japanese Jounouchi says he forgot that Judge Man has Deck Master abilities. Slightly less dumb than not knowing it at all.) Judge Man pays 1000 life points, bringing his life points down to 200, to clear Joey's field of monsters. And not only that—Joey loses 500 life points for each monster he had on the field. Poor Joey has to count on his fingers to figure out that he had three monsters, so he loses 1500 life points. He's down to 2500.
Joey looks at his hand, trying to tell himself that he still has the duel under control. (Japanese Jounouchi thinks that Judge Man is down to 200 life points, so he'll still be able to beat him.) He picks out the trap card, Bottomless Trap Hole, which can destroy any monster with 1500 or more attack points, thinking it will help him clear Judge Man's field. (Japanese Jounouchi assumes Judge Man will sacrifice Holy Elf to summon a stronger monster.) He plays it face down.
Yugi and Téa come to a door in the ice, and eagerly run through it, finding themselves in the courtroom where Joey is dueling. He greets them happily, while Judge Man pounds his gavel for order. Joey explains that he's dueling one of the Big 5, and Judge Man tells them to sit down or he'll have them ejected from the courtroom. Yugi whispers to Téa that it doesn't look good—Joey has no monsters, and it's Judge Man's turn.
Judge Man summons Curtain of the Dark Ones, a weak monster with only 600 attack. Then he activates his face-down card to fuse Curtain of the Dark Ones and Mystical Elf. Joey thinks whatever monster Judge Man summons will get sucked into his Bottomless Trap Hole, but the fused monster, Camion Wizard (I think they're saying Chaos Wizard in the Japanese), has only 1300 attack points—Joey's trap won't work on a monster with an attack of less than 1500. Next, Judge Man plays Sinister Justice, allowing his fusion monster to attack in the turn it's summoned. (I bet the writers are sorry they made up that rule at the beginning of Battle City that fusion monsters can't attack in the turn they're summoned. Now every time someone summons a fusion monster, they have to come up with some wacky magic card to let it attack.) He attacks Joey directly, lowering his life points to 1200.
Yugi says Joey's in trouble. As long as Sinister Justice is on the field, Johnson will gain 800 life points every time he attacks with Camion Wizard. Joey doesn't know what Yugi's talking about, but Judge Man says the spikey-headed pipsqueak is right, and his life points increase to 1000. Then Judge Man plays another card face down, saying he's sealing Joey's doom.
Joey says if it wasn't for that trap card, he would have won this duel! (Erm, what trap card? Sinister Justice is a magic card.) Now ever time Judge Man attacks, he'll get stronger and stronger!
Judge Man says he has far worse in store for Joseph!
To Be Continued
