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Episode
GuideEpisode 123: Back to Battle City, Part 2 (Battle Royal)
Tristan thinks this four-way duel is nuts! Each duelist can attack any of the other three. Duke points out that each duelist can also defend any of the other three—that's how Yugi saved Joey from Kaiba's attack. (There's no dialogue in the Japanese.)
Kaiba angrily tells Joey that next time he won't be so lucky. (Japanese Kaiba asks Yugi, "How dare you cover Jounouchi!") Joey thanks Yugi, who thinks he can't let Joey lose—if he loses, Joey might have to face Marik in the semi-finals, and all of Marik's opponents have ended up in pretty bad shape. (Japanese Yugi thinks that in order to duel Jounouchi in the finals, he has to get rid of Malik and Kaiba. For this reason, he has to help Jounouchi.) He tells Kaiba that this tournament is more dangerous than he can ever understand.
But Kaiba just wonders what Yugi's babbling about. He knows exactly what he has to do to win this tournament, and he's had it planned all along. First, he'll use Obelisk to beat Yugi in the semi-finals and take his God card, Slifer the Sky Dragon. Then his deck will be powerful enough to crush Marik in the finals and obtain the most powerful God card, the Winged Dragon of Ra. He'll finally prove that he's the most powerful duelist the world has ever known—not Yugi. With all three Egyptian God cards in his deck, he'll be unbeatable! (Japanese Kaiba thinks that it would be a difficult task to beat Malik without the two remining God cards. In order to win and take the title of Duel King, he needs Yugi.)
Joey thinks it's pretty quiet. Everyone must be planning their strategies. His is a no-brainer—he wants a piece of Marik. He promised Yugi that he'd help him take Marik down, plus he promised to bring Mai back from the Shadow Realm. (Japanese Jounouchi mentally thanks Yugi. He understands Yugi's determination to keep their promise and duel with him in the semi-finals. He does want to duel Yugi—but if he doesn't beat Malik, Mai won't wake up again. The flashback has been changed from the scene of Mai being attacked by Ra in the Japanese to scenes of Mai after her duel with Marik in the US version.)
Kaiba tells Joey to wake up—an amateur duelist like him can't afford to be daydreaming. Joey protests that he was strategizing! Kaiba says to do that, he has to understand how to play the game. When is Joey going to realize that the only reason he's made it this far is that Yugi keeps bailing him out? Kaiba says Yugi knows it, too. Why else would Yugi waste his trap card to protect Joey, if not because he doesn't believe Joey can protect himself? Not only does Joey not have the skills to make it in the tournament, he's the only one of the finalists without a God card. Maybe, Kaiba says, Yugi wants to duel Joey in the semi-finals because he knows it's an easy victory. Yugi insists that's a lie. But Kaiba continues to say that Yugi never believed in Joey from the start.
(Japanese Kaiba calls Jounouchi a "weak chick," telling him to just let Yugi protect him. "What a shame, you bonkotsu [mediocre] duelist. Well, you can continue your sweet show of friendship, but think about it, Jounouchi. Why does Yugi save you? I'll tell you. Because that's the only way you can fight him in the finals. No matter who your opponent is, you won't make it past the next round. You don't have real strength. Besides, all the rest of us have God cards. Yugi knows this. And if his opponent in the finals is you, we both know who will win.")
Yugi angrily says that Kaiba's taunting has gone way over the line. But Kaiba says if Yugi wants to prove him wrong, he should let Joey finish the duel on his own. (Japanese Kaiba tells Yugi if he wants to argue with him, he should stage his show in the finals.) Yugi protests, but Joey interrupts, saying that Kaiba's right. He has to prove he can take care of himself. Yugi tells him to be careful. Kaiba thinks that with Joey on his own, it will be easy to eliminate him, so he can duel Yugi in the semi-finals. (Japanese Jounouchi mentally thanks Kaiba for helping him make up his mind. Kaiba thinks he doesn't care what Jounouchi is "barking." And to Yugi: "See you in the finals.")
Meanwhile, Serenity has stayed on the ship with Mai. (Again, Mai is given a shirt to wear in the US version.)
Serenity encourages Mai to hang on, telling her she's one of the strongest people she knows. She remembers how Mai helped her, driving her and Duke and Tristan to find Joey. Mai told her that Joey had a soft side, and could be charming when he wanted to—to Tristan and Duke's astonishment—and she said that during Duelist Kingdom, all Joey could talk about was how he was going to win so he could use the prize money for Serenity's operation. Serenity tells the unconscious Mai that Joey's dueling just as hard in Battle City as he did at Duelist Kingdom, only this time he's doing it to bring Mai back from the Shadow Realm.
Ishizu is with Odion, telling him that he's safe, thanks to Marik's good side. She remembers Marik, using Téa's body, warning her to protect Odion, or the evil force will control his body forever. She knows that as Marik's protector, Odion was able to contain the evil within Marik.
She remembers the night when their father punished Odion for disobeying his orders—that was the first time she'd seen her brother's dark side. Odion was able to hold the darkness back, but not before Marik had sent their father to the Shadow Realm, and she was forced to inherit the Millennium Necklace. (In the Japanese, Malik had killed his father. The next day, Ishizu thinks, he and Rishid disappeared, along with the Millennium Rod. Their mission had gone in misery into the world of the dead. A lily lying next to the Millennium Torque is removed from the US version.)
That was when she saw her first visions of the future, and she saw her brother's destiny unfold. Marik rejected his duties as a Tomb-Keeper and attempted to steal the three God cards and the power of the Pharaoh. He was able to take the Winged Dragon of Ra and Slifer the Sky Dragon. All he needed was Obelisk the Tormentor, but when he brought his Rare Hunters to find it, Ishizu was already there, having taken it herself and hidden it from him. (Cut from the US version is a scene in which Ishizu calls out armed guards to capture Malik and the Ghouls, and tells him to give up. He tells her that won't work, and uses the Millennium Rod to render the guards unconscious.)
Marik told her that he refused to waste his life waiting for the Pharaoh—he was going to take his destiny into his own hands. She reminded him that he was a Tomb-Keeper, but he said how could he forget? and showed her the Pharaoh's secret on his back. She insisted she'd never tell him where the third God card was. (Japanese Ishizu told Malik to give back the God cards, for only the Tomb-Keepers can guard the God cards and the stone tablet. Malik told her the God cards belonged to him—he won them. But she said they belonged to the nameless Pharaoh, and she had to give them back to him. He asked her if she'd forgotten—their misery and sorrow were caused by the nameless Pharaoh. He intended to find him and take revenge on him. Ishizu insisted that their fate was decided and accused Malik of starting another disaster. But he told her to shut up, and showed her the scars on his back, asking if his brand and Rishid's scars were their sacrifice to the Pharaoh. He refused to consent to it. He intended to kill the Pharaoh and become the new Pharaoh. He would change the fate of the Tomb-Keepers. When that time came, he'd come to her, and regain a happy life for the three of them.)
Marik and his Rare Hunters disappeared in a cloud of red smoke. (The fallen guards are removed from this shot of Ishizu staring through the smoke after Malik.)
But through a broken window, she saw Odion on a motorcycle with Marik in the sidecar. (Japanese Rishid has a rocket launcher, which he'd used to blow up the window so Marik could escape.)
She knew that only Odion could contain the deeper evil within Marik. (Japanese Ishizu realizes that this is why Rishid stays with Malik.)
But when Odion lost consciousness, Marik was consumed by that evil. She knows that these events were destined to occur, just as Yugi was destined to complete the Millennium Puzzle, and Pegasus was destined to create the game of Duel Monsters, and Seto Kaiba was destined to receive Obelisk the Tormentor. And she was destined to give her necklace away. She can only hope that it's her brother's destiny to be saved from the darkness that now controls his body! (Japanese Ishizu thinks that everyone's future is now up to Yugi. A brief shot of the duel, then Yugi with his Millennium Puzzle glowing, are cut from the US version.)
Back at the elimination duel, it's Marik's turn. He thinks he knows what he has to do to insure that he faces the Pharaoh. He'll make sure that Kaiba and little Joey fall first. He sets one card face down and summons Lord Poison in attack (1500 ATK). Then he attacks Kaiba's Vorse Raider with Newdoria. Kaiba wonders what Marik's doing—Newdoria's attack is only 1200 points, compared to Vorse Raider's 1900. Yugi thinks Newdoria must have some sort of special ability, which it does—it can destroy one monster on the field when it goes to the graveyard. Marik chooses to destroy Kaiba's Vorse Raider. Joey thinks that's awesome—Kaiba has no monsters to protect him, so he can blast his life points on his next turn.
Then Marik plays a magic card, Spell of Pain (Spell of Hate), that allows him to transfer his battle damage to another player, and he targets Joey. With the loss of 700 life points, Joey's duel station is raised to the 3300 level of the tower. Joey doesn't like heights, and the gang encourages him to stay strong. He doesn't know which is worse—losing the duel, or falling out of the chair! (Japanese Jounouchi thinks he doesn't have any monsters. It's bad.) Marik thinks he's got Kaiba and "little Joey" right where he wants them, so that he can duel Yugi in the next round.
It's Yugi's turn, and he thinks this is the perfect chance to attack Kaiba's life points. He sacrifices Big Shield Gardna to summon Beast of Gilfor (2200 ATK), and direct attacks Kaiba. But Kaiba activates a trap card, Attack Guidance Armor, which allows him to deflect the attack to another monster. Now, which should he choose? He looks around, and Joey quails, but then realizes that Kaiba's trap only targets monsters, and he's got no monsters on the field! He's safe. (Japanese Jounouchi says, "Lucky" in English.) Kaiba turns the attack onto Marik's monster, Lord Poison. But Marik activates the trap card, Mirror Force, to reflect the attack back onto Yugi. Yugi uses his own counter trap card, Seven Tools of the Bandit, to destroy Mirror Force, and the attack reverses back to Marik. Marik loses 700 life points, bringing him to 3300, even with Joey.
Mokuba gives the instant replay of what happened (Japanese Mokuba says it's really exciting), and Kaiba disdainfully tells Marik to go up there with the other chump. But Marik points out that Yugi has to pay 1000 life points to use Seven Tools, so he's now at 3000 life points, and Yugi's dueling station goes up even higher than Joey and Marik's. Kaiba's upset to see Yugi get away from him. Tristan says he thinks Yugi lost those points on purpose—he wants to lose so he can duel Joey in the semi-finals. (Japanese Honda says in the Battle Royal, it's not necessary to win, because the loser can also choose his opponent.) Kaiba thinks Yugi's still protecting Joey from dueling against Marik. (Japanese Kaiba thinks Yugi wants to duel with the "bonkotsu.")
It's Joey's turn, and he thinks he'd better draw a monster this time! And he does. He summons Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800 ATK), but now he has to decide whom to attack. All three of his opponents have used up their face-down cards, and neither Marik nor Kaiba has any monsters on the field. He could blast Marik... nah, he's going for Rich Boy. Joey direct attacks Kaiba, who is furious that Joey managed to do damage to him. He loses 1800 life points, rising to the 2200 level. Yugi realizes that Joey attacked Kaiba because he wants to duel Marik. Joey thinks Marik is his. As soon as he crushes Marik, he'll save Mai from the Shadow Realm. He sets a card face down and ends his turn.
Kaiba thinks that if he wants to face Yugi in the semi-finals, he could just make sure that they both lose. But he can't bear to lose on purpose. He sets three cards, then summons Blade Knight (1600 ATK). Saying that he won't lose this duel, he attacks Marik directly with Blade Knight, taking him to the 1700 point level. Joey's upset to see Marik rise above Kaiba and Yugi, thinking this hurts his chances to face Marik in the semi-finals. The gang thinks this four-way duel is confusing. Everyone seems to want to duel someone else!
Kaiba thinks he'll make sure that Marik and Joey lose this duel. Then he'll prove once and for all that he's a far better duelist than Yugi. When Obelisk and Slifer clash, Yugi will learn what torment is all about! (Japanese Kaiba thinks to Yugi, "Let's show them the fight between Gods.")
To Be Continued
