A 
Episode
GuideEpisode 127: The Darkness Returns, Part 3 (The Tables Turn! Gilford the Lightning)
Marik tells Joey to make his move! Joey tells Marik to quit pressuring him. (Japanese Malik laughs horribly. Jounouchi says it's his turn.)
Téa says this isn't so bad—Joey's got a monster with 3000 attack points. If he attacks Marik directly, he'll win the duel. But Yugi says it's not that easy. Marik gave that monster to Joey—Marik must want Joey to attack. (This pan of the field is cut from the US version.)
Inside Lava Golem's cage, Joey thinks he can't let Marik win, or he'll never get to the finals, or save Mai! He'll be right there in the Shadow Realm with her. (Japanese Jounouchi thinks he has to deal with Malik's trap. It's time for Hurricane [Giant Trunade].)
Joey draws, hoping for a good card, but he doesn't get it. What can he do now? He can't attack Marik with Lava Golem. He's sure that's exactly what Marik wants him to do—otherwise, why would Marik have given him this monster? But if he does nothing, he'll continue to lose 700 life points per turn anyway. He decides he'd better take the chance and attack. (Japanese Jounouchi says he'll use this "grotesque pet" to attack.)
Marik is pleased, telling Joey he finally came to his senses. Or maybe he just realized there's no way he can win. (Japanese Malik tells Jounouchi he thought he was afraid of the trap. But Jounouchi's instinct is good—Malik's set card isn't a continuous trap, so it will only last for one turn.) Téa calls out to Joey not to listen to Marik. (Japanese Anzu wonders what Malik is doing, to tell Jounouchi his card is a trap.)
Kaiba thinks Wheeler's in quite a predicament. If he attacks, Marik will strike back, but if he doesn't, he'll lose life points. (Japanese Kaiba thinks about Jounouchi, "If you stimulate that guy too much, I don't know what he'll do. Even the Kaiba Corporation computers can't predict the way he thinks.")
Joey says it's over. Marik agrees that it's all over for Joey, who says he'll just have to take his chances. His friends freak out, calling out to him to wait. (Japanese Malik tells Jounouchi the Lava Golem's attack is called "Golem Volcano," and he should use this to announce his attack, but Jounouchi he'll name the attack himself! "Lava Golem attack! Jounouchi Fire!" he calls out, and his friends go all goggle-eyed. "Jounouchi Fire!" exclaims Anzu. Honda says, "Go!" and Otogi, with his face red and his eyes all squinched up, calls out, "It's a good name! Jounouchi Fire!")
Marik activates his trap card, Relieve Monster (Monster Relief). It allows him to return one monster from the field to his hand, and replace it with any four-star monster he has in his hand. But he's got no monsters on the field, Tristan points out. But Yugi says hold on—they've forgotten about the Plasma Eel attached to Joey's Panther Warrior. Marik brings it back to his hand, then plays it on his side of the field in defense mode, where it protects him from the Lava Golem's attack. It can't be destroyed in battle, and remains on the field.
Helpoemer takes another card from Joey's hand (it's Gamble), leaving him with only one card in his hand, Graceful Dice. Lava Golem melts, taking another 700 life points. Marik laughs.
On the ship, Ishizu watches the Duel Tower sadly, saying that with every soul her brother feeds to the Shadows, the evil within him grows stronger. (Japanese Ishizu says, "The Dark Game begins again. Will Marik's dark self ever be satisfied unless everyone is sent to the darkness?")
It's Marik's turn. He draws a magic card, Machine Duplication, which he thinks is exactly the card he needs to finish this fool off. (A brief scene of Malik explaining how Machine Duplication works is cut from the US version.)
He plays it, turning his one Plasma Eel into three, and sends two of them to attach themselves to Rocket Warrior and Lava Golem. As they drain Joey's monsters of attack points, they also drain Joey of strength. Joey cries out in pain. (This close-up of Jounouchi screaming in pain is cut from the US version.)
Marik, one eye bugging out crazily, tells Joey that soon he'll be too weak to duel. (Japanese Malik says, "Let me hear more cries! How long can you carry on, Jounouchi?") Marik laughs.
Joey falls to his knees, but determinedly tells Marik it will take more than that to keep him down. (Japanese Jounouchi calls Malik something the subtitles translate as "You son of a bitch.") Marik sets one card face down and tells Joey to go, if he can stand.
(Cut from the US version is a bit where Kaiba complains that Malik doesn't even need his God card to defeat the "bonkotsu.")
Téa worriedly says things aren't looking so good for Joey. Yugi doesn't answer, but in his mind he agrees, and mentally urges Joey not to lose hope. (Japanese Anzu asks Yugi if there's any way Jounouchi can win, but Yugi only thinks that Jounouchi must not give up and trust in his cards.) Joey knows he has to do something to get rid of this flaming monster of his. But he only has one card in his hand, and it won't help him now. If he doesn't do something soon, Marik is going to win. He looks at Yugi, thinking that he promised Yugi he wouldn't let that happen. (Japanese Jounouchi thinks that he promised Yugi to meet him in the final. He can't lose here.)
Asking the heart of the cards to show him some love, Joey draws Gilford the Lightning—a powerful Level 8 monster. But he has to sacrifice three monsters to summon it, and the Plasma Eels have two of his monsters tied up. (The real card can be summoned with a sacrifice of two monsters, like any Level 8 monster. But sacrificing three monsters to summon it activates its effect, which is to destroy all of the opponent's monsters on the field.) (This shot of Panther Warrior, which the subtitles this time call "Dark Puma," is cut, as Jounouchi thinks that only Panther Warrior can be used as a sacrifice.)
Then Joey realizes what he can do. He plays Graceful Dice to increase the attack strength of Marik's Plasma Eel. Since the Machine Duplication card can only be used to duplicate monsters with an attack under 500, if Graceful Dice can raise the Plasma Eel's attack above 500, the duplicate Plasma Eels will be destroyed. Joey's luck holds, and it rolls a six. Plasma Eel's attack is raised to 3000, Machine Duplication is destroyed, and so are the two additional Plasma Eels. Joey's monsters are freed.
Now, Joey sacrifices Rocket Warrior, Lava Golem, and Panther Warrior to summon his ultimate fighting machine, Gilford the Lightning (2800 ATK)! (This shot of Mokuba cowering from Gilford's lightning, while Kaiba stands by smiling, is cut from the US version.)
(Also, this short scene is cut, with Marik staring gloomily at Gilford, and Jounouchi telling him that this guy is going to kill him.)
Joey asks Marik how it feels to be staring into the face of defeat, and the gang cheer Joey on.
But Marik laughs. Thanks to Jounouchi, his Plasma Eel's attack is now 3000, while Gilford the Lightning's is 2800. But, as Yugi explains, because Joey sacrificed three monsters for the summon, Gilford's effect will destroy all of Marik's monsters. The Plasma Eel is destroyed. Marik protests that his Plasma Eel's special ability protects it from being destroyed in battle. Joey taunts him for not paying attention. It wasn't a battle, it was Gilford's special ability that destroyed the Plasma Eel. Now Joey sends Gilford to attack Marik directly. If the attack succeeds, he'll win!
Marik activates a trap card, Nightmare Mirror. Marik tells Joey to look into the mirror—and Joey sees himself. Not only does Nightmare Mirror block Gilford's attack, it reflects the attack back onto Joey. Gilford's mighty sword pierces the mirror, slicing through Joey's image. (The shot of Gilford's sword stabbing Joey in the mirror is obscured in the US version.)
Marik stands safely just beyond the sword's reach, laughing. Joey loses 1000 life points. Marik must discard one card to the graveyard to pay for Nightmare Mirror effect. He chooses Ra, thinking this is the perfect card to get rid of—for now. He laughs, asking Joey if he really thought he could take this duel away from him. This is a Shadow Game! Which means that Marik makes all the rules. (Japanese Malik says that now Helpoemer's effect will throw one of Jounouchi's hand cards into the graveyard—but Jounouchi has no cards in his hand, so he can't do anything.)
Yugi thinks Marik must be up to something, while Kaiba just urges Marik to play that Egyptian God card! Joey ends his turn, thinking that Marik has no cards on the field, or in his hand. If Joey can make it through this turn, he has it made.
Marik draws, and laughs evilly. Joey tells him to just move on. Marik says he'll end this duel once and for all, with Ra. (Japanese Malik says he never thought Jounouchi would see the face of the God card.) Everyone is stunned. Marik has no monsters to sacrifice. Can he have another way to summon Ra? Mokuba tells Kaiba that now's his chance to find out the weaknesses of Ra. Kaiba thinks everything's going according to plan. With Wheeler as his guinea pig, he can watch Ra in action and learn how to defeat it. (Japanese Kaiba thinks that the living sacrifice for the God is Jounouchi.) He might have read the text on the card, but reading is one thing, and witnessing is another. He remembers seeing Marlk summon Ra in his duel with Mai. He needs to see it one more time, so when he sees it in the next round, he'll be able to crush it. (Japanese Kaiba remembers that reading the hieratic text revealed the three abilities of Ra: first, to take on the attack power of its three sacrifices; second, the player can give up life points to increase Ra's attack; and third, to become a Phoenix and destroy the opponent's monsters. He's seen the first two abilities in action, but not the third.)
Marik plays Monster Reborn, and brings Ra back from the graveyard. (Monster Reborn's cross is changed in the US version.)
With a great wind, the huge golden monster appears over the arena. (These shots of Jounouchi boggling and Kaiba moaning ecstatically are cut from the US version.)
Yugi doesn't know why Marik would do this—Ra takes on the attack points of the monsters sacrificed to summon it, but Marik didn't make any sacrifices, so Ra's attack is zero. (Japanese Yugi also points out that magic cards only affect the God for one turn, so Ra will go back to the graveyard at the end of the turn.)
First, Marik says, he'll activate Ra's ability of instant attack, so it can attack now. But that's just the beginning. Ra transforms in a huge bird of flame, and Marik tells them to behold the true form of Ra! (Japanese Malik recites a spell to transform Ra into the God Phoenix.) Joey stares at it in awe, asking Marik to tell him what's going on. Marik explains that Ra has taken on the form of the Egyptian God Phoenix. In this form, it's unstoppable. (Japanese Malik says he never thought Jounouchi would see the God's face. He's giving him a compliment.)
Mokuba says it's awesome! Kaiba says yes, and soon it will belong to him. ("This is the final shape of Ra!" Japanese Kaiba says.) Malik end his turn, laughing. (The above shot of Jounouchi boggling is moved here in the US version.)
In the ship, Serenity waits with Mai, worrying about her brother. She can't stand not knowing what's happening! Sure, her brother's a great duelist, but look what Marik did to Mai! (Japanese Shizuka has a bad feeling. She thinks something terrible is about to happen to her brother.) Ishizu comes into the room, asking if she shouldn't be out there with her friends. Serenity says they'll be fine. Someone has to stay with Mai. Her brother's trying to save Mai's mind. Right now he's dueling Marik in a Shadow Game, hoping to win and bring Mai back. Ishizu then realizes that both of their brothers are battling each other. Serenity says she'll stay strong for Joey and hope for the best. (This shot of Shizuka with her hands clutched together is cut from the US version.)
Ishizu knows how Serenity feels. She also hopes for her brother to be saved, and all of the wrongs he committed to be righted.
She tells Serenity to go and support her brother, and she'll stay with Mai. Thanking Ishizu, Serenity runs out of the room. Ishizu thinks that she understands that bond well, but it's been so long since she felt it with her own brother. Without the power of her Millennium Necklace, she's unsure of what the future holds. Serenity runs toward the tower. (Japanese Ishizu thinks that the Dark Game is a game of death. Watching her brother fight may be a painful memory beyond imagination for Shizuka. But he's her only brother, so she must accept this and fight with him.)
Marik says that now that his beast has taken its strongest form, victory is his. With the burning form of the Phoenix reflecting in his eye, Yugi thinks that he doesn't get it. First Marik summons Ra without a sacrifice, leaving it with zero attack points, and then he transforms it....
Marik calls to Yugi and Kaiba, telling them to take heed. One of them will have to face the Winged Dragon of Ra in the next round, once Little Joey has been disposed of. (Japanese Malik tells Yugi and Kaiba to applaud Jounouchi to his death for showing them the face of the God.) Angrily, Joey says the duel isn't over yet, and he's still got Gilford the Lightning up to bat, with 2800 attack points, and Marik's oversized flame-broiled chicken has zero!
Marik just laughs, telling Joey he's about to activate another of Ra's special abilities. ("Shut up and die," Japanese Malik says.) In its Phoenix mode, Marik says, Ra can disintegrate Joey's monster, if he pays 1000 life points. So what, Joey says, Ra still doesn't have any attack points, and it still can't take his life points.
Life points are the least of Joey's worries, Marik says. The dark energy stream connects him to his monster, and when it's destroyed, Joey will be drained of all his strength. (Japanese Malik asks if Jounouchi has forgotten that this is a Dark Game. Jounouchi will feel his monster's death, and burn into ashes.)
Serenity runs for the tower. Marik laughs that Joey will be rendered completely useless! The time has come. The Phoenix rises tonight!
To Be Continued
