Episode 114: Brothers in Arms, Part 1 (Noah vs Seto: Duel of the Creation of Heaven and Earth)
Joey has Robot Monkey Tristan upside-down by his feet, shaking him, explaining that this could be the only way to save them. Duke goes on to say that since Tristan's robot body was designed by Noah, it might hold some clues about how to get out of there. While Tristan protests, Duke runs his hands along the robot body, and a panel in the back opens up, revealing a keypad. Joey presses a key, which makes the robot switch into wheeled mode, and it races around them in circles. Then Duke tries pushing a key, and the robot sprouts a whirling set of rotor blades and flies around before crashing into the ground.
Finally, Yugi decides to try pushing the red button. The robot monkey sits up and initiates the escape sequence (in the Japanese, the robot says, "Emergency mode, emergency mode" in English). A virtual door appears, leading to Kaiba Land.
Inside the virtual Kaiba Land, Kaiba stands on a subway platform, thinking that this is just a rip-off of his Duel Monsters theme park. (There's no dialog in the Japanese.) The Blue-Eyes White Train enters the station, and Kaiba thinks at least Noah got this right! (Japanese Kaiba says, "Have you come to welcome me?") Kaiba boards the train, thinking that it had better lead him to Mokuba. (Again, no dialog in the Japanese.) As he sits down in the empty train car, he hears an announcement in Noah's voice say that all passengers who have stolen family empires from their rightful owners should prepare to exit at the next stop. (Japanese Noah says, "Welcome to my world.")
In another car, Noah sits cuddling with Mokuba, watching Kaiba on a viewscreen, telling Mokuba not to believe a word Kaiba says. Glowy-eyed Mokuba agrees, saying Noah is his only brother. (Japanese Mokuba asks Noah who Seto is, and says, "He looks like you." Cut from the US version is a short bit showing Noah stroking Mokuba's hair. Noah tells Mokuba that their guest is about to arrive, and he has to prepare to entertain him. "You stay here and be a good boy.")
Outside the virtual Kaiba Land, Yugi and the gang gather, saying it looks like some sort of Kaiba Corp amusement park. (Again, Kaiba Land has actually been in existence in the real world for some time—it's where Yugi took Rebecca to duel her, and also where Yugi dueled Johnny Steps. In the US version, the name "Kaiba Land" was removed from the gate in the Johnny Steps episode, although the three Blue-Eyes White Dragon statues can still be seen out front, but in the Rebecca episodes, the "Kaiba Land" name was left intact.) They begin to follow Tristan into the park, but the robot monkey turns on them, warning them not to come any further. Guns emerge from his robot arms, but Yugi and Joey run right past him, knocking him to the side. Now he's just Tristan again, and Serenity stops to ask if he's all right.
The Blue-Eyes White Train emerges from the virtual Kaiba Land onto an elevated track traveling over a stark landsacape of volcanoes and molten lava. Noah stands on a small shelf of rock jutting out of the lava sea, and the train stops, letting Kaiba out onto another rock island. As the train and tracks disappear, Kaiba faces Noah, demanding his brother back. But Noah says Mokuba is his brother, and he'll be much better off when Kaiba's mind is scattered throughout cyberspace. (Japanese Noah tells Kaiba not to worry—whatever happens between them, it has nothing to do with Mokuba. He'll be released. Then he tells Kaiba to forget about that and look around—isn't it beautiful here? This is the original earth, about to be born. This close-up of Noah was cut from the US version.)
Noah says it's time for him to prove to himself and to his father that he is superior to Seto in every way. If Noah's so superior, Kaiba says, why is he president of Kaiba Corp? It was an unfortunate twist of fate, Noah says, and one he intends to correct. (Japanese Noah says that with Kaiba Corp technology you can create any world you want. But Seto only uses this excellent technology for games. He says they can come to an understanding of who should run Kaiba Corp.)
Kaiba asks Noah who he really is. He saw the home movies, he says, and Noah owes him some answers. (Japanese Kaiba says it's meaningless. Noah's dead. He saw it.)
Now the gang have found the home movies, and are watching Noah's mother emerge from the church carrying Noah's portrait. (Cut from the US version is a close-up of Noah's mother with the portrait.)
They hear Gozaburo saying that if he's going to save Noah, he has to act fast, and Téa thinks Noah must have been in some sort of accident. (Japanese Anzu says it's Noah's funeral, and the gang realize that Noah must be dead.)
Noah says that he might as well tell Seto the truth, since he won't be there for long. It's true, he says, that he hasn't aged in years. This isn't really his body. A metal sphere appears in the sky, and Noah says his living brain is up there. (Japanese Noah says the sphere is his real brain.)
The gang find the subway station. Robot Monkey Tristan is eager to follow the tracks so that they can find Kaiba and Mokuba, get his body back, and get out of there! Téa thinks maybe they ought to wait for a train, but Tristan's already jumped down and found a handcar. Joey tells Tristan nice score, and soon they're speeding along the tracks, Joey and Duke pumping the levers while Téa and Serenity, Yugi, and Tristan hang on for dear life. Téa asks Joey if he knows where the brakes are, and Joey sheepishly holds up a rod, saying this looks like it. The handcar speeds out of control.
Noah continues to explain. His brain is hardwired to a computer that projects a virtual image of him. But things weren't always that way. He used to be a normal kid—a normal kid who had everything! In flashback, young Noah plays on the grounds of the Kaiba mansion, and stands in his luxurious bedroom, attended by swarms of devoted servants. Mathematicians and scientists from around the globe lined up for the chance to teach him, along with musicians and athletes. He was groomed to be the educated and well-rounded successor to Kaiba Corp, until a freak accident rendered his body useless. (In the Japanese, screeching car tires and screams are heard as we see Noah's body spin through the air. Cut from the US version is a sequence showing the injured Noah being rushed to an operating room on a gurney, then lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over his scratched face.)
(Japanese Gozaburo orders the doctors at Kaiba Hospital to heal his son, but the doctors say he must rely on medical science now. Gozaburo pushes the doctors away, telling them they're quacks, and pounds in helpless frustration on the glass window to his son's room.)
(Also cut is this shot of Noah's body floating in a pod, connected to machinery.)
So his father connected Noah's mind to a computer and downloaded his every thought and memory, turning him into a virtual being whose power is limitless! (In the Japanese, Noah explains that his consciousness was downloaded into the Kaiba Corp Battle Computer.)
And then, Noah says, Seto came along. Originally, Gozaburo adopted him to motivate and challenge Noah, to help train him to take over Kaiba Corp. But after the accident, that was no longer possible—without a body of his own, Noah couldn't run Kaiba Corp. Until now!
Noah says that he's no longer human. He exists only as a digital file in his father's computer. But as soon as he defeats Seto in a duel, proving himself to be superior, he'll upload his mind into Seto's body and return to the real world to take over Kaiba Corp.
Kaiba laughs. The only thing more ridiculous than that story is Noah out-dueling him! He re-built Kaiba Corp from the ground up on his own terms, with no help at all. No one else could run it, especially not some kid. He accepts Noah's challenge and activates his Duel Disk, choosing his Deck Master, Kaiser Seahorse.
The duel begins with Kaiba, who summons Giant Germ (Giant Virus) (1000 ATK) and plays one card face down. Noah's first mistake was taking Mokuba, Kaiba thinks, and his second was challenging him to a duel. He's set his Crush card, which will be activated as soon as Noah attacks his Giant Germ, destroying every monster in Noah's deck with an attack over 1500 points.
Noah draws and summons Chiron the Mage (1800 ATK).
Meanwhile, the gang is still speeding along on the handcar, which suddenly bursts through into the lava landscape, crashing onto another of the rock islands emerging from the lava. Joey spots Kaiba dueling Noah, and Yugi calls out for Kaiba to be careful. Noah says it looks like Kaiba's fan club has arrived, just in time to see Kaiba's last duel. Kaiba doesn't look too happy to see them. Yugi says Kaiba can't let Noah win! (Japanese Noah says they've arrived in time to see his Tenchisouzou Deck, which means "Creation of Heaven and Earth" Deck.)
Noah activates Chiron's special effect, the Mirror of Truth, which reveals and destroys Kaiba's face-down Crush card, then attacks Giant Germ with Chiron, delivering 800 life points of damage to Kaiba. But Giant Germ's effect brings it back to the field, while inflicting 500 points of direct damage to Noah. Noah says he's not worried—Giant Germ is weak. But Kaiba says he didn't bring it back to attack with. He sacrifices Giant Germ to summon Vampire Lord (2000 ATK), then attacks Chiron and destroys it. Vampire Lord's effect also forces Noah to discard one card of whatever type Kaiba specifies. Kaiba tells Noah to discard a monster card, and Noah chooses Giant Soldier of Stone to send to the graveyard.
Next, Noah plays the magic card Fissure to destroy Vampire Lord. (In the US version, the Vampire Lord is made to disappear in space, instead of falling into the lava.)
Then he summons another 1800 ATK monster (Aris?) and attacks Kaiba directly. Kaiba's down to 1400 life points. Noah tells him to surrender while he has the chance, while Yugi and Joey urge him to fight. Then Noah plays a card face-down, and Kaiba says he'd rather see his company run into the ground than let Noah have it. (Japanese Noah tells Seto he'd better get serious with his Power Deck if he doesn't want to lose. Kaiba makes furious noises at Noah.)
It's Kaiba's turn. First, Vampire Lord returns to Kaiba's field—as a vampire, it's immortal, and will return whenever it's sent to the graveyard. (The cross is removed from Vampire Lord's coffin in the US version.)
Then Kaiba summons Slate Warrior (Newt) (1900 ATK). Joey says he never thought he'd be rooting for Kaiba, but let's go, Rich Boy! (Japanese Jounouchi just supports Kaiba without comment, saying good, now Kaiba has two monsters to attack with.)
Noah says he can't be beat—they're in his world now. Kaiba says it's just a ripoff of his virtual system. (Japanese Noah says how dare Seto blemish his sacred place with demons. Kaiba says if Noah wants to pretend to be the creator of the world, Kaiba will descend to his world with him.) He orders Vampire Lord to attack, but Noah activates his trap card, Earthshaker, which allows him to select two monster attributes, then Kaiba must choose one of them and destroy his monsters on the field with that attribute. Slate Warrior is a Wind monster and Vampire Lord is Dark, so Noah tells him to choose either a Wind or Dark monster to destroy. Kaiba chooses to destroy his Vampire Lord. Joey wonders why he chose to let his Vampire Lord be destroyed, when it was the more powerful of his monsters, but Yugi reminds him that the Vampire Lord is immortal, and will return next turn. Then Kaiba attacks Noah's monster with Slate Warrior and destroys it, reducing Noah's life points to 3200.
Joey thinks thinks are looking up for Kaiba. Yugi says Kaiba made a good move, but he's still way behind on life points. There'll be time to celebrate later. (Japanese Jounouchi says Kaiba and Noah are nearly equal. Yugi says they both use a Power Deck, summoning powerful monsters. In this duel, whoever is frightened will lose.)
Noah plays the magic card, Giant Flood, which causes a huge tidal wave to sweep over the landscape, turning it into an ocean. (Japanese Noah says that when evil monsters appeared, God washed them from the earth.) Kaiba's Slate Warrior is swept away, and then he sees all of the monsters from his graveyard being sucked into a whirlpool.
Noah says it's time for Seto to meet his Deck Master—Shinato's Ark (Miracle Ark). A huge ark rises from the waters and hovers in the air beside Noah. Noah says this ark will allow him to sail away with everything Kaiba has—his company, and his brother! (Japanese Noah says it's time for the real Creation of Heaven and Earth Duel to begin.)
To Be Continued