Battle City Arc

“A new tournament arises: Battle City. Organized by Seto Kaiba, it gathers elite Duelists from all over Japan and introduces impressive new technology that would turn Domino City itself into a battleground. As Yugi enters the competition, he must face powerful foes and dark powers, all while uncovering secrets about the ancient Millennium Items and the mysterious Egyptian God Cards.”

Author’s Note: My main goal here was to properly adapt the beloved Battle City arc to the Kingdom Duels ruleset, trying to preserve as much as possible from the original duels while also taking advantage of the fact that the Virtual World arc was moved ahead in the timeline so both the Battle City and the Battle City Finals can take place in a single arc as it should have been in the original anime release.

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List of Episodes

Episode 66 - Stalked by the Ghouls

The Battle City tournament is less than a week away. Jonouchi learns about the tournament from Yugi and Anzu, and decides to join in to help Yugi, despite their warning about Kaiba having a grudge against him.
At the registration office, Yugi is well-qualified to enter the tournament, but when Jonouchi tries to sign up, he finds out his ranking is too low. However, the clerk notices Jonouchi’s Rarest Card is the “Red-Eyes Black Dragon”, something the Ghouls (Rare Hunters) would like to get their hands on. The clerk then secretly changes Jonouchi’s ranking so that it is high enough and tells him he is qualified, that Jonouchi’s “incorrect” ranking was due to a computer glitch. The clerk then issues Yugi and Jonouchi their Duel Disks, and although they had used a prototype of them before in the virtual world, these are the real deal.
Shortly after Yugi and his friends leave, the shop clerk calls the Ghouls to tell them that he found a nice catch.
That evening, Jonouchi splits from everyone else to go to the hospital to visit Shizuka, who is about to get her eye operation. He is confronted by three Ghouls. One of them forces him into a duel. The Rare Hunter tells him that if he loses, he must give up his “Red-Eyes Black Dragon”. During the duel, the opponent plays defensively until he draws all five pieces of “Exodia” and wins. The group of Ghouls then beat Jonouchi up and take his Red-Eyes as per the stakes of the duel.
The next morning, Jonouchi’s mother calls Yugi, saying that he never showed up at the hospital. Yugi, Honda, and Anzu search for him. Honda, riding his motorcycle, finds him at a beach. After some words and blows are exchanged between the two, Honda takes Jonouchi to the hospital. Apparently after getting beat-up, Jonouchi was angry of having lost his Card and thought he couldn’t face his younger sister.
He helps Shizuka get the confidence she needs to go through with her operation. Jonouchi is determined to get his “Red-Eyes Black Dragon” back from the Ghouls.

Episode 67 - Fierce Fight! Battle City Begins

The entire city is filled with duelists to the surprise of ordinary people. Yugi wonders what is the meaning of the puzzle card that came up with his Duel Disk. He bumps into Mai, Haga, Ryuzaki and Kajiki before splitting up, as each will try to find a location that would benefit their own decks.
Kaiba announces the start of the Battle City, detailing the rules and stating that the finals will be in a hidden place. To find where it is there the participants need to get 6 puzzle cards. There are 48 participants in the tournament, all ranked on level 5 or higher, so only 8 duelists can reach the finals.
Yugi and Jonouchi start moving around as everybody else does. Jonouchi spots the Rare Hunter who took his “Red-Eyes Black Dragon” and challenges him to an ante Duel so that he will be able to win it back. The Rare Hunter refuses to Duel him, but wants to duel Yugi to get his “Dark Magician”.
Yugi agrees to the battle on the condition that should he win, the Rare Hunter should hand back Jonouchi’s “Red-Eyes Black Dragon”. As the duel starts, Jonouchi tries to tell Yugi about the Rare Hunter’s strategy, but Yugi tells him not to say so, as it would be unfair.
At Kaiba’s control center, Kaiba and Mokuba watch the very first duel taking place. Kaiba is informed that Yugi’s opponent is one of the Ghouls who had hacked themselves into the Kaiba Corporation mainframe to enlist themselves as participants. Hearing this, Mokuba tries to go and stop the duel and disqualify him, but Kaiba refrains him from doing so, as he wants the other Egyptian God Cards from them.
During the duel, Yugi deduces the Rare Hunter’s strategy to summon “Exodia” and devises a strategy of his own to counter it. After winning the Duel he takes “Red-Eyes Black Dragon” and destroys the Rare Hunter’s “Exodia” cards after realizing they were all counterfeit.
At that point the Rare Hunter posture and demeanor changes: he is being controlled from afar with the power of the Millennium Rod. Yugi is greeted by the man doing the possession, named Marik, who addresses him as “Pharaoh” and declares that the Pharaoh will be destroyed with the help of one of his Egyptian God Cards.
When Yugi tries to return “Red-Eyes” to Jonouchi, he refuses, saying Yugi won “Red-Eyes” fair and square. Jonouchi intends to use the Battle City tournament as a chance to strengthen and improve himself and become a “True Duelist” like Yugi himself. When the time comes, he plans to challenge Yugi to a friendly duel in an attempt to win “Red-Eyes” from his friend.
They shake hands and depart in opposite directions just when Anzu was finally arriving to the place they were.

Episode 68 - Esper Roba - Danger of the Psychic Deck

During his patroll, Mokuba spots the kid who had the star chips that he stole back in duelist kingdom. He apologizes profusely to him about what happened and wishes him the best of luck during the tournament. The kid accept his apologize and even gifts him a few of his own cards. They depart in amicable terms, and Mokuba relieved about it.
Wanting to find a worthy opponent to duel, Jonouchi arrives just in time to watch Esper Roba (a duelist claiming to have psychic powers) defeat Dinosaur Ryuzaki. As per the Battle City Rules, Ryuzaki had to give up his “Serpent Night Dragon” to Roba as it was his rarest card. Roba, knowing Jonouchi was the runner-up in Duelist Kingdom, challenges him to a duel and he accepts.
Meanwhile, in the hospital, Honda visits Shizuka and brings a laptop with him, so he can watch the Duel online and tell her how her brother is doing.
The Duel does not start off very well for Jonouchi, as he is intimidated by Roba’s psychic powers. Yugi is watching the Duel from a rooftop and sees Roba’s brothers spying on Jonouchi’s cards, revealing that Roba is actually cheating. Yugi decides to just watch and let the Duel take its course. Eventually, Jonouchi figures that he is being watched from somewhere above them. Roba’s brothers realize they’re busted for sure. Yugi congratulates Jonouchi on his efforts as he is now in control of the Duel.
Mokuba finds out about the cheating, dashes in and tackles the wicked accomplices up on the roof. He threatens to expel Roba from Battle City, but the brothers talk him out of it after telling him their story: they are orphans and have no one but Roba to protect and care for them. Mokuba, having been in a similar situation, is convinced to let the Duel continue as long as they stop cheating. His decision is also influenced from seeing Yugi watching the duel from a different roof during his conversation and thinking that Yugi would give them a second chance as well. He stands by to be sure they don’t start doing it again.
Meanwhile Anzu, who can’t find Yugi or Jonouchi, is sitting in a bench in the park and ponders about the past of the other Yugi.
Back in the hospital, Honda lies to Shizuka about the Duel, saying that Jonouchi is winning when in fact, he is not. When a nurse comes in to examine Shizuka, Honda leaves the room and decides to call Anzu, who is now with with Sugoroku at the park. Honda asks Anzu to send a message to Jonouchi. He then returns to Shizuka’s room, who now knows the real status of the duel: she asked the nurse to look at the laptop and tell her what was going on while Honda was out. Honda apologizes for lying to Shizuka and the two start cheering for Jonouchi.
The duel is reaching its conclusion. Jonouchi doesn’t look too good, but Anzu and Sugoroku arrive and tell him that Honda called from the hospital to say that he and Shizuka are watching the duel online. Anzu says they all believe in him, encouraging Jonouchi to fight on, which gives him enough motivation to win the duel. Esper Roba is acting like a sore loser, worried about his brothers, but just then the Roba brothers arrive and they tell him how proud they are of him for doing his best and almost winning, even without cheating. Esper stands up and gives his brothers a hug, then he hands over his “Psycho Shocker” and Puzzle Card to Jonouchi and promises he will not cheat again. Jonouchi accepts it and walks off with Anzu and Sugoroku.

Episode 69 - Black Magic of the Soul

A duelist, Koji Nagumo, was unhappy with the card he won through the ante rule after one of his Duels. He was demanding that his opponent also gave him his second rarest card. At that moment Mokuba and Kaiba show up. Kaiba challenges him to a duel, and defeats him (offscreen) with the power of his God Card.
Marik now knows where the god Obelisk is after Kaiba used it. He remembers how he stole the other two Egyptian God cards in Egypt and threatened Ishizu for the final one. He figures that the whole tournament was most likely planned by her, and that he should be wary of her machinations.
After encouraging him in his next duels, Anzu and Sugoroku split up from Jonouchi and go searching for Yugi once again.
Yugi is told to enter a circus tent by a harlequin whose “master” is wating inside. Anzu and Sugoroku manage to see him in the distance and follow him, but lose track when he enters that place. Yugi then enters a real life Mystic Box and disappears into an underground chamber, which blocks the transmission of his Duel Disk to the Kaiba Corporation building. There, he meets Pandora, a Rare Hunter who also has a “Dark Magician” in his deck. He challenges Yugi to a duel.
Both Duelists have their ankles locked so they cannot escape. As they lose life points, a buzzsaw will approach them and slice off their legs if they lose. A box holding a key will open for the winner. In the meantime, Mokuba (who was tasked by Kaiba to investigate Yugi’s dissapearance from the grid) meet up with Anzu and Sugoroku.
During the duel Yugi summons “Dark Magician Girl” for the first time, turning the tables and beating his opponent with the power of the magicians. Pandora tries to use a hidden key to break himself out. However, Marik plays tricks on his mind using his Millennium Rod so he cannot see or feel the key he already has on his hand. Yugi breaks himself and manages to free Pandora out of his locks, saving his legs.
Marik speaks to Yugi through Pandora and tells him of how he was the one who controlled Keith, and of his own motives and plans. He is part of a family of Tomb Keepers who has been protecting the legacy of the pharaoh for 3000 years, isolated from the rest of the world. Marik is the heir to that clan, and wants to become “new Pharaoh” himself by collecting all three god cards. He wants to be freed from that terrible destiny and put an end to the tradition of his clan due to the suffering and pain they have endured for generations. And to do that, he must kill “the other Yugi” and collect all three god cards.
Just afterwards, Anzu, Sugoroku, Mokuba and Honda (who bumped into them a few moments ago) find Yugi.

Episode 70 - The Trap of Revenge - Rampage! Parasite

It’s the morning of the second day of Battle City. At Yugi’s house, Anzu and Honda arrive and meet Sugoroku but he tells them that Yugi has already gone to the city. Anzu blames Honda for being late. Meanwhile, Jonouchi bumps into Mai and Yugi in the main square. Mai has already 4 puzzle cards and Yugi has 3, so Jonouchi is feeling a bit behind with only 2.
Jonouchi then goes searching for another opponent. At one point he is just standing around when he is addressed by a kid who wants his autograph. The kid asks him to hold his Duel Disk and runs away when Jonouchi is distracted bragging. Jonouchi chases him, but the kid is stopped by Honda, who was with Anzu and Sugoroku and had noticed the chase. The four of them question the kid, and he confesses he wanted to become a strong Duelist, but all of his cards were stolen. When pressed for a description of the thief, he describes Insector Haga, and Jonouchi immediately runs off to find Haga for a little payback.
Once everyone is gone, the kid smirks and sneaks off to an alley. Haga is waiting there, and the kid reports that he did everything as planned.
Meanwhile, a kid helps Shizuka watch the duel in the hospital by narrating everything that happens from the laptop.
In a different place, Ryuzaki is bitter that he lost too quickly and would try to requalify by beating some duelist by betting cards, but would then find out it was useless as the system already rejected him, making him drop entirely from the tournament.
Still searching, Jonouchi catches sight of Haga and challenges him to a duel. Both of them have two puzzle cards, and they wager both of them on the Duel. It becomes clear right away that Haga hasn’t lost his taste for Insect-swarming strategies, but Jonouchi puts up a good fight. At one point Haga manages to summon “Parasite Paracide” from Jonouchi’s Deck, and this is met with disgust and consternation from Jonouchi and the others, as Jonouchi doesn’t keep any Insect-Type monsters in his deck. They quickly realize that the kid from earlier put the parasite card in Jonouchi’s Deck under Haga’s orders when he briefly took Jonouchi’s Duel Disk.
The situation gets worse when Haga makes it clear that he is planning to Summon an ace monster to surpass the “Great Moth” he Summoned in Duelist Kingdom. In the end, Jonouchi manages to find a way out of the insect’s trap using his “Gearfried” card and wins the duel, giving another step towards his goal of becoming a “True Duelist”.

Episode 71 - Sky Dragon of Osiris

The Quiet One, a mime completely controlled by Marik and devoid of personality, runs around the city until he finds Yugi near the river, challenging him to a duel. By using a powerful combo, he puts Yugi in a really tight situation which gets even worse when he summons his God Card: The Sky Dragon of Osiris.
Meanwhile, his friends are waiting for Jonouchi to pick an opponent. He is decided on keep challenging only stronger opponents than him so he can grow and become a true duelist. At that point Kaiba shows up, confused about why is Jonouchi dueling in his tournament. Jonouchi recklessly challenges him and he accepts, but at that moment a Kaiba Corporation helicopter shows up, telling Kaiba that the second God Card has appeared. Kaiba leaves, telling Jonouchi that he was lucky this time.
The god card seems invincible and Yugi is on the brink of defeat. Kaiba shows up to watch the duel between Yugi and his Ghoul opponent, and demands that he stand up after seeing him drop to his knees. In the end, Yugi manages to find the out and pulls off an incredible move to turn the tides and win the duel in an unexpected way. With his victory, he now is the owner of Osiris.
Kaiba then demands a duel to see who gets to keep Osiris, but Marik briefly regains control of the Quiet One to tell Yugi that he is on his way to Battle City and that he is now going to target Yugi’s own friends to turn them into his mind slaves and get what he wants. Yugi calls off his duel with Kaiba for the moment, so he can find his friends before Marik.

Episode 72 - The Giant Divine Soldier of Obelisk

Yugi is in a rush searching for his friends, and Kaiba decides to help him on the promise that Yugi will duel him after they make sure they’re safe. They are then stopped by two Rare Hunters who challenge them to a tag duel in which Kaiba displays the oppressive power of his God Card Obelisk for an overwhelming win.
Meanwhile, Jonouchi and his friends encounter Bakura on the streets and go to the aquarium where they find Kajiki. Bakura splits from them and meet Marik, after being alerted of his presence due to his Millennium Ring. Marik gets off his bike and the two of them initially test each other’s Millennium powers. They then make a deal to work together to achieve their respective goals: Bakura will help Marik get the God Cards in exchange for his Millennium Rod.

Episode 73 - The Legendary Fisherman

Back at the aquarium, Jonouchi and Kajiki duel each other in a back and forth duel that concludes in Jonouchi’s victory. He doesn’t want to take the “Legendary Fisherman” card that means so much to Kajiki, but he insists, telling him that he earned it and that he needs to give up that card to be able to grow independently. Jonouchi now has 6 puzzle cards and has virtually qualified to the finals.
After that, Shizuka calls Jonouchi and congratulates him. She says that she’ll soon be able to take off the bandages and that the first thing she wants to see is him dueling. Honda departs to bring her there. As he leaves, they see a man asking for help while holding an injured Bakura. The man introduces himself as Namu (but in reality is Marik) and says that he found it like this in the street. Sugoroku takes Bakura to the hospital. A group of Rare Hunters surrounds Anzu, Jonouchi and Namu and beat them up, taking them hostages.

Episode 74 - The Mask’s Curse - High-Rise Duel

Mokuba goes back to the heartquarters to search for Jonouchi given that Kaiba and Yugi couldn’t find them in the Aquarium. On his way there, Mokuba is captured by some Ghouls.
The Masked Duelists show up and challenge Yugi and Kaiba to a tag duel of great risk on top of a skyscraper, while mocking Kaiba after they kidnapped Mokuba. In that duel, when a player’s LP reach 0, the glass floor under him will break, plunging that duelist to his death. Kaiba and Yugi fail at first to work with synergy and make mistakes that almost cost them the duel, but eventually they get to actually work together.
As the duel is taking place, Mokuba manages to escape captivity with the help of Anzu, who asks for him to get help. Meanwhile Rishid steps on to where Jonouchi is being held tied to a chair and extends his hand towards him. Marik, who is behind Jonouchi completely unseen, takes control of his mind with his Millennium Rod, making it look like Rishid was the one to do it. Afterwards they repeat this process with Anzu.
As Kaiba and Yugi defeat one of the Masked Duelists and they win the duel, Marik takes control of the other one and reveals that he has managed to completely brainwash both Jonouchi and Anzu with the power of his Millennium Rod, and that he’ll be waiting to see them soon.
Kaiba takes the final puzzle cards from the defeated so both Yugi and him have 6 now. A helicopter from Kaiba Corporation shows up to pick them up, and Kaiba receives a call from his brother who tells them what happened with him. Mokuba tells them to meet him in Domino’s Port, the location where Yugi’s friends are being held hostage.

Episode 75 - Heartless Duel - Yugi vs. Jonouchi

There are duels happening all over Domino City as the tournament progress. Shizuka and Honda are on the train going to the city. Meanwhile, in the helicopter, Kaiba and Yugi are talking about Marik and the Millennium Items. While Kaiba refuses to believe in that “occult nonsense” (even though he has experienced the power of Pegasus’ and Ishizu’s items before). The Other Yugi then tells him about himself, about how his true identity is the soul of a Pharaoh trapped in the Millennium Puzzle. Kaiba is surprised by this revelation and recalls his conversation with Ishizu.
Rishid has acquired 12 puzzle cards on his own as requested by Marik, for the next stage of their plan. Then, Rishid gives Jonouchi some new powerful and banned cards to add to his deck.
Yugi and Kaiba reach the port and are greeted by the mind-controlled Jonouchi, who guides them to their dueling platform. The mind-controlled Anzu also shows up and toss Mokuba towards them, a bit beaten up. She defeated him in a duel moments before they arrived, after finding his hiding spot.
Anzu then straps herself to a special metal chair and explains the rules of the duel: Yugi and Jonouchi will be chained to an anchor that hangs above the dueling site. When a player’s Life Points reach 0, his opponent’s key will be unlocked, allowing him to remove the chains. The loser is dragged into the sea forever. If the 40-minute time limit expires, the anchor is released anyway, and both duelists are drowned. Kaiba and Mokuba try to stop the duel but Marik reveal the final part of his plan: if anyone attempts to stop the Duel, a Rare Hunter controlling a crane will drop a shipping container on top of Anzu, killing her in an instant.
Marik then forces Yugi to cast aside Osiris, keeping it from being lost in the water and also preventing him to use it. Osiris wasn’t in Yugi’s deck as he had no intention of using it during the duel as it was too dangerous, but he takes the opportunity to include Red-Eyes in his deck.
As the rules have been explained, Marik releases Anzu from his mind-control to make her watch the duel too. She is surprised about what is happening and asks Kaiba to stop it, but he can’t do it or her life will be at risk. At the same time these events occur, Marik learns of Jonouchi’s sister, Shizuka arriving in Domino City, so he instructs Rishid and his Rare Hunters to go capture her.
The two friends then duel eachother. Jonouchi uses his powerful and banned cards to take an immediate advantage. At one point, Yugi takes over The Other Yugi during the duel, much to Marik’s anger (he wants to see the Pharaoh suffer, not his vessel). As he is reminded of his former self, Jonouchi’s consciousness begins to shake from Marik’s control. He refuses to take “Red-Eyes Black Dragon” by the effect of “Exchange”, remembering that he promised to become a worthy duelist before taking back “Red-Eyes”. Yugi reminds Jonouchi of his promises to himself, to the Other Yugi, and to Shizuka.
Meanwhile, Honda and Shizuka escape from the Rare Hunters with the help of Otogi. They bump into Mai who was on a car and she drives them away. They go to the Port after getting the information from the Rare Hunters, in where they see the conclusion of the duel.
Jonouchi has finally managed to break free from Marik’s control due to the power of his bond with Yugi, but there is barely any time left. Yugi, not wanting to see Jonouchi die, decides to lose the match on purpose. Jonouchi’s key box opens. But Jonouchi is unwilling to let his friend sacrifice himself this way, so he uses the same effect to force the duel to end in a draw. Yugi’s key box also opens, but he is barely conscious due to the banned card’s direct attacking effects which have taken a toll on his body. Jonouchi jumps over the platform to save him just as the time ticks down and the anchor drops. Shizuka takes off her bandage and the first thing she sees is his brother in a duel, jumping and trying to save a friend. She dives into the harbor with Jonouchi’s key to free him after Jonouchi frees Yugi with the latter’s key. At the same time, Kaiba knocks out the Rare Hunter operating the crane by throwing a card at him, and uses a remote control to ram his helicopter into the hanging crate, knocking it away from Anzu.
After the Duel, the Other Yugi’s spirit is invisibly standing behind Yugi and the gang, thinking to himself that Yugi has taught him a lesson about the power of friendship and that Yugi will one day surpass him.

Episode 76 - Shadow of a Duel

After Marik’s attempt to defeat Yugi by mind-controlling his friends backfired, he sets his sights on defeating the Pharaoh at the Battle City Finals. He has implanted a part of himself in Bakura, and once in there Marik convinces the evil Bakura to also enter the Battle City Finals.
The evil Bakura takes over his vessel and stands up. He is in the hospital and Sugoroku is with him. He knocks Sugoroku out using the power of his ring and leaves the place. He steals a Duel Disk and puzzle card from a random duelist and heads to a graveyard, following a rumor that there were Duels being held there. He finds Kotsuzuka, Takaido and Satake dressed in halloween costumes, terrorizing random duelists in order to obtain puzzle cards without even dueling.
Even though they’d already obtained five cards this way, Bakura is not impressed and challenges the three of them to a duel in the Shadow Realm. Not knowing any better, they accept. By losing the duel, all three are sent to hell. Bakura obtains his sixth Puzzle Card, qualifying for the Battle City finals.
Meanwhile, Yugi and Jonouchi have both qualified for the Battle City Finals by having 6 puzzle cards each. By putting the Puzzle Cards on the Duel Disk they receive instructions to go to an unfinished stadium which would be the location of the finals.

Episode 77 - Battle Ship Takes Off!

The group are close to the location of the finals when they are stopped by a hollywood star: Jean-Claude Magnum, who declares his love for Mai and ends up dueling her, saying that if he wins they will marry, and she says that if she wins he will leave her alone once and for all. He has five puzzle cards, so he has apparently proven himself in this Battle City tournament. She, however, defeats him with ease. But unwilling to take a “no” for an answer, he has a stuntman and tries to kidnap her, but it fails and Jonouchi saves her from a big fall.
The group then goes to the place for the finals, Domino Stadium, a place under construction where Kaiba is waiting for them.
Magnum, defeated, decides to forget about her and dueling in general and leaves the place, leaving his duel disk behind. A masked female figure picks up the disk shortly after and takes the five puzzle cards out of it, adding another that she had in her pocket.
After Yugi, Jonouchi and Mai arrive to the arena and are qualified for the finals, Marik arrives too under the disguise of Namu. Jonouchi is a bit suspicious about his true motives, and Marik notices it so he briefly take control of Anzu’s mind to divert the attention. Jonouchi eventually dismiss his suspicious. Bakura (still injured) arrives and announces he is also a finalist, baffling everyone. Rishid comes in at this point, identifying himself as Marik, another finalist, which drives strong reactions from Yugi, Kaiba and Jonouchi.
Mokuba introduces the airship (a blimp) where the finals will take place. The airship lands and all the contestants enter, although Yugi’s friends are initially not allowed as they are not finalists but Mokuba persuades Kaiba to let them on. Kaiba orders the airship to leave, even though the last finalist has not arrived, and his staff is unsure about what to do, but at the very last moment Ishizu Ishtar arrives as the 8th duelist.
The finalists spend time alone in their designated rooms, except for Jonouchi who is with Shizuka and later Honda, Anzu and Otogi, who do not have their own rooms. Yugi plans his deck while talking to the Other Yugi, and says that he is worried about two things: Bakura (they agree that Bakura is most-likely once again under the influence of the Millennium Ring) and the 8th duelist (that no one knows who is it). Then, the finalists are called to the main hall to decide who will duel first that night.

Episode 78 - First Duel in the Sky - Yugi vs. Bakura

Yugi (number 3) and Bakura (number 6) are randomly selected as the first two Duelists and the Aerial Dueling Arena is revealed to be the location of the quarterfinals. The other passengers and duelists watch on the sidelines. Yugi suspects that Bakura is actually the evil Bakura and once they reach the arena he demands that he reveal himself, which Bakura does so accordingly.
They duel in the sky in a really back and forth battle that has Bakura corner Yugi with his powerful spell and trap cards, and it ends up with Yugi finally summoning Osiris to turn the tides.
At the last moment, Bakura is about to lose but Rishid steps up in his disguise of Marik and claims that he is actually in control of Bakura. The other personality of Bakura is confused, but the real Marik tells him to release Bakura, as it is the only way for him to win. The Other Bakura does so and the normal Bakura takes over the duel. He doesn’t know where he is and is still injured so he drops to his knees. He asks Yugi for help but Yugi will be disqualified if he approaches him. Yugi’s only options are to surrender the duel to help Bakura, or attack with Osiris which could do further harm his opponent. At the last moment The Other Bakura decides he cannot risk Bakura dying or being seriously harmed because he needs Bakura as a host to stay alive, so he takes over from Bakura and lets Yugi win the duel.
After the duel ends, the Other Bakura lets Bakura take over again, and he is taken to his room completely unconscious. The group leave to ask Kaiba to land the airship so they can take Bakura to the hospital, and Anzu says she will stay there to look after Bakura in the meantime. At that point, Marik takes control of Anzu and takes away the Millennium Ring from him.

Episode 79 - Hidden Power - Mystery of the God Cards

Yugi and his friends ask Kaiba to land the airship so they can take Bakura to a hospital. Kaiba refuses, but he calls a medical team to take care of Bakura on the ship. Honda leaves to look for the missing Millennium Ring on the dueling platform, dragging Otogi along. Up there they get into a bit of a fight over Shizuka, and they trip and almost fall over but are saved by Shadi.
Moments later, in Yugi’s room, while adjusting his Deck, he notices Shadi’s reflection in the window. Shadi apologizes for their last encounter, saying that he had to be sure that Yugi had the strength to face what will be coming next. Yugi tells Shadi that he knows the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle is really the spirit of the Pharaoh. Shadi confirms this, and tells Yugi that all seven of the Millennium Items are onboard the ship along with all three Egyptian God cards and that the conditions are right to unlock the Pharaoh’s memory. But warns him that the items and the god cards can only be used by those chosen to wield them.
He then tells him about Pegasus’ journey to Egypt. Pegasus was trying to find a way to bring back his lover to life, and ended up discovering carvings of monsters, including the Egyptian Gods thanks to Shadi’s help, which later became the inspiration for the game Duel Monsters. However, following his discovery and launching card production, Pegasus learned that nearly everyone involved with the production of the God Cards had begun to die under mysterious circumstances. Among them was a photographer who fell from the window of his hotel’s room after seeing an apparition of Obelisk, having incurred the wrath of the Gods themselves.
The rest of his team was too afraid to continue working on the project. Pegasus refused to stop making the cards, deciding to take onto the task himself as a challenge to the Gods. On the night after he finished painting the cards’ design, his Millennium Eye showed him a vision of ancient Egypt in his sleep, where the world was being destroyed by the Gods he had painted. At this point, Shadi appeared to Pegasus. He told him the monsters were real and that Pegasus could not control both the darkness and the Gods at the same time; the solution was to seal the God Cards back in Egypt for they were too powerful. Pegasus, having experienced the Gods’ power himself, took the completed cards and gave them to Ishizu Ishtar to be sealed.
Back in the present, the Other Yugi shows up and Shadi drops to one knee in a sign of respect, telling him that all he needs to do to awaken his memory is to win the tournament. He then vanish as the participants are being called for the second match of the finals.
Shadi then briefly goes to Ishizu’s room. She was thinking about his brother being a happy young boy, and tells Shadi that a horrible fate is awaiting Marik and that she joined the tournament to stop it. He tells her that the duty of the Tomb Keepers is coming to an end, one way or another. She asks him if he would relinquish his items to the Pharaoh, as he will need them to fulfil his fate, but he doesn’t answer and just vanish again.
Finally, Shadi appears invisible behind Anzu in Bakura’s room and sees her with the Millennium Ring in her hands. He stares with anger towards the unconscious Bakura and then vanish one last time, leaving the airship.

Episode 80 - The Winged Divine Dragon of Ra

Through random selection, the next duel will have Jonouchi (number 2) face off against Rishid (number 7) whom everybody still believes is Marik. Before the duel begins, Rishid shows off his Millennium Rod to help keep up his disguise (but it is actually just a replica of the original).
As the duel progress, Rishid displays excellent dueling and controls the pace with ease. At one point, Jonouchi almost forfeits but a talk from Mai and Shizuka boost his confidence. Later, Rishid draws the egyptian god card to his own shock and confusion. Marik had slipped it in his deck to help him pretend that he is actually himself. Marik instructs Rishid to play the card but he fears that the card is too powerful and that he is not worthy enough of it. He tells him that is actually just one of many fake copies made by the Rare Hunters. The Rare Hunters could not use them because they had no connection to the ancient scriptures, but Marik believes Rishid will be able to. Rishid decides he doesn’t need to use the card to win.
During a flashback we learn about Rishid being abandoned as an infant in Egypt and taken in by a woman. As a child, Rishid found out from his adoptive father, Mr. Ishtar, that the family needed an heir to carry on the legacy of the Tomb Keepers. Mrs. Ishtar suggested Rishid, but Mr. Ishtar insisted it could only be their biological child; however, he reluctantly agreed when Mrs. Ishtar stated that it was fate that brought Rishid to them. When Ishizu was born, Mr. Ishtar was disappointed she was a girl and he wanted to try again for a boy. Mrs. Ishtar suggested to Rishid that he become the Tomb Keeper. Rishid was pleased about this because he would then truly be part of the Ishtar family. Later on, Marik was born and he replaced Rishid as the heir. Mrs. Ishtar died shortly after giving birth.
When Marik was a child, he became ill after he was bitten by a cobra. Mr. Ishtar was furious and blamed Rishid, but Marik still loved Rishid as his brother. Shortly before his Tomb Keeper’s initiation, Marik was upset that he would have to live underground his whole life. Rishid offered to take Marik’s place but Mr. Ishtar refused. After Marik’s initiation, where he was marked with the scriptures, Rishid marked his own face to prove his loyalty. Rishid also noticed a change in Marik’s behaviour after that date.
Back in the duel, Jonouchi announces that he believes Rishid isn’t really Marik since Rishid is dueling fairly while Marik has always been sneaky and manipulative. Yugi agrees and starts being suspicious of the other participants: it could be Namu, or it could be the 8th duelist. Kaiba is surprised by this declaration but doesn’t believe it, he must be Marik. Although Rishid is about to win, Marik tells him to instead use The God Card, as it is his last chance to convince everyone he is the real Marik. He convinces him by saying that by playing it he will truly be a part of the Ishtar family.
Rishid summons the counterfeit god card, but the real god becomes enraged and creates a thunderstorm. Rishid feels like a failure and is struck by lightning. His fake Millennium Rod shatters, confirming to Yugi he isn’t really Marik. Jonouchi is also struck by lightning. Since both duelists are unconscious with the same amount of Life Points, Kaiba declares that the winner will be the first one to get back on his feet.
Jonouchi has a dream where all his friends give him encouragement. This helps him stand up and win the duel.
Rishid tells Jonouchi who the real Marik is and falls unconscious. Namu (Marik) confirms this against his will, as the Evil Marik takes over his body.

Episode 81 - Awakening of Evil

The group is in Rishid’s room, and he is unconscious. They still don’t know his name. Before the next duel is decided, Jonouchi brings up the dream he had about all his friends when he was knocked out in his duel against Rishid. Mai asks him if she was in this dream but out of embarrassment, he lies and says she was not. Mai interprets this as Jonouchi not caring about her, and steels her heart about dueling and friendship.
Yugi takes a few minutes and goes to the room of the 8th duelist, speaking through the door and saying that he knows her identity. Ishizu lets him in. Yugi explains that Shadi showed up before the duel and mentioned that all the Millennium Items are in the ship, therefore he guessed she was the last one. She confirms it, and asks him what does he know about Shadi. They talk for a bit and she reveals what happened in the Museum just a few days ago, and her encounter with the evil Bakura. She tells him that Bakura took Pegasus’ eye back in Duelist Kingdom, and also tells him that Shadi is actually dead, much to Yugi’s surprise.
At that point the announcer says that the next duel is about to be defined. Yugi leaves to go there, but Ishizu refuses to go with him, simply saying that she knows she’ll duel in the last duel, and that she needs to remain hidden until then.
The next duel is Mai (number 4) against Marik (number 5) who is now his evil persona. Marik, who brainwashed a doctor to get the key to Rishid’s room, is about to kill him when he hears his name called out to the duel, so he leaves for now to deal with that and later deal with Rishid.
The duel is an evil spectacle in which Mai displays amazing skill but is overpowered by how wicked Marik is. He turns the duel into a Shadow Game: when a monster is destroyed its owner will lose pieces of their memory. She starts losing memory of her friends. Marik loses memories of their underlings but he doesn’t care. Mai is tortured by this experience. Yugi tries to help her using his Millennium Puzzle and interfering with the Shadow Game, angering Marik and encouraging her to win.
She turns things around with great skill. At one point she even steals his God Card and summons it but is unable to control it due to not knowing the special chant. He takes controls of it and unlocks its sealed form. She is then chained by some monsters and cannot move. Jonouchi climbs to the stage to free her, and although she does not remember him, he is able to make her remember him by telling her the truth about his own vision after being struck by Ra. The god attacks them, but Yugi jumps and takes the blast. He gets knocked out but he just saved their lives.
Mai thus loses the duel and Marik sends her to hell with the power of his Millennium Rod. Her mind becomes trapped in a giant hourglass where she will slowly forget all her friends.

Episode 82 - A Duel with Destiny

The group is standing in Mai’s room and she is unconscious. There is nothing they can do as she has lost a Shadow Game. Shizuka stays with her and the rest go to see the final duel between Kaiba (number 1) and Ishizu (number 8). She arrives to the arena and reveals who she is, also stating that she is Marik’s sister. Kaiba then reveals to everyone that it was her who was originally behind this whole tournament, and that she gave him Obelisk. Ishizu mentions that she originally said that Kaiba will return that card to her, and this duel will be the moment he does that.
Ishizu and Kaiba duel, and although he seems to have the initial advantage, she is unfazed and completely outplays him thanks to the power of her Millennium Tauk. When Ishizu has him cornered and nearly out decked, it seems that her vision will come true and that Kaiba will be defeated. Suddenly Kaiba receives a vision of his own from the Millennium Rod that Marik holds, much to his surprise too. Kaiba ends up making an inexplicable move and sacrifices his God to summon his Blue-Eyes. This is the first time that Kaiba sees Ishizu surprised by the duel, and he takes it as an indication that his move was correct. He attacks and wins, thwarting fate itself.
Ishizu, surprised and defeated, is also hopeful because just as he changed his own future, she now has the hope that the future in which she saw her brother suffering forever can also be changed.

Episode 83 - The Tomb-Keeper’s Secret

After Kaiba’s Duel with Ishizu, Mokuba leads him to where the script of Ra is being translated. Kaiba is startled to realize that he somehow understands the hieratic text and can read the words on his own. He falls to his knee, overwhelmed, wondering what is happening to him.
The announcer declare through the airship speakers that the final duels of the tournament will take place the following day in the third and final arena.
Elsewhere on the ship, Yugi and the others go to see Mai out of worry, where they are joined by Ishizu. Yugi questions her as to why Marik wants him dead and Ishizu agrees to tell them the whole story of her family.
The Ishtars are the guardians of the Millennium Items and live underground in secret, away from everyone else. The secret of the Pharaoh’s memory is carried over from generation to generation, carved into the back of the succeeding male in ceremony (a fate which in this generation fell on Marik’s shoulders). One year after Marik’s ceremony, he planned with Ishizu and Rishid to sneak outside after their father went to bed. Ishizu reluctantly agreed after Rishid said he will help if anything went wrong, but she said that it will only be for an hour in the following morning. Marik was ecstatic.
Early the next morning, after having put a pillow in Marik’s bed to make it seem like he was still sleeping, Ishizu and Marik slip out into the rising sun with Rishid. Marik was overwhelmed and fascinated by the outside world, the people and everything they found. On a nearby television set (which he has never seen before) he saw a man on a motorcycle drive off. Ishizu quickly dragged Marik off and reminded him that it was time to get back to the family. Marik begged Ishizu to let him keep a picture of the motorcycle. Ishizu, realizing there’s nothing she can do to dissuade him, told him to never let their father find out.
They run into Shadi who was just standing in the middle of the street and who tells them the Pharaoh is about to revive and that a fate of bloodshed and tragedy awaits. He also said that the tragedy is the Pharaoh’s will. He then disappears, telling Marik to find the Pharaoh. After searching and failing to find Shadi again, Ishizu tells Marik to forget all he saw that day.
Upon their return, Marik points out a device that acts as an alarm to tell of someone leaving the tomb. In the darkness, they had previously missed it. Ishizu runs off in panic for Rishid. They find Rishid being whipped by their father. Mr. Ishtar tries to hit Marik, but his evil persona emerges and catches the whip as it nears him. Releasing the whip, Marik takes the Millennium Rod and binds his father and Ishizu to the walls with magic, the latter of whom falls unconscious. Marik proceeds to stab his father to death with the Millennium Rod’s hidden blade. He is about to do the same to Ishizu, but Rishid regains consciousness and the Evil Marik is suppressed by the “good” Marik again.
Marik is completely unaware of what he did. Upon seeing his father’s body, he begins to panic. Shadi then appears above the body and says that it was the Pharaoh’s revival that led to that fate.
The Other Yugi realizes that his own revival is what led to the torment Marik is going through. Jonouchi, however, refuses to forgive Marik for what he has done to Mai and the rest of them, no matter what his reasons are. Ishizu states that they are the only ones who can save Marik from the darkness.
Yugi asks her about the God Cards and he tells him what she knows, on how she met Pegasus and they had a small duel using the power of their Millennium Items that ended in a draw, which gave Pegasus the confidence to give her the cards for safekeeping. As she tells them this, Anzu and Honda recall what they saw back in Duelist Kingdom, that vision of Pegasus in ancient egyptian robes dueling some gravekeeper. They thought it was a dream, but they are now convinced it was real.
At this point there is a call for lights out on the ship and everyone prepares to depart. Anzu and Shizuka will stay in Mai’s room while Honda and Otogi will stay at Jonouchi’s room.
Jonouchi reminds Yugi of their promise to duel each other again. Shizuka jokes that Jonouchi should ask Ishizu to see if they will duel in the final, to which Ishizu states that, since her battle with Kaiba, she can no longer see the future. She then gives Yugi the Millennium Tauk, stating that Yugi still needs the other five Millennium Items and the three Egyptian God cards to awaken the Pharaoh’s memories. She also says that they originally belonged to Yugi and that now her job as a Tomb Keeper is complete.
Anzu chases after Ishizu, asking what will happen to the Other Yugi when the seven Millennium Items are returned to the tomb in Egypt. Ishizu simply replies that every soul has a place to return to.
Anzu is then taken control of and returns the Millennium Ring to Bakura, who wakes up instantly.
In Yugi’s room, he and the Other Yugi talk of what will happen when all the items are returned, with Yugi saying that it’s his duty as his vessel to help him recover his memories (and shedding a tear when his back is turned).
In Rishid’s room, Marik is about to kill him, but is distracted by Bakura revealing himself. Bakura states that the original Marik is with him. After a quick battle with their respective Millennium Items, they agree to play a Shadow Game for the items, with the only rule being that the loser will disappear.

Episode 84 - Showdown in the Shadows

Most of the group is asleep after a really long day. Jonouchi is having a nightmare about losing Mai. Kaiba is still analyzing “Ra” and looking for ways to defeat him.
At the aerial arena, the evil Marik is about to duel against Bakura and the “good” Marik in a Shadow Game. Before the duel starts, Marik confronts his evil self and reveals that he has learned (through Anzu) about what really happened back then after Ishizu told the group. He now knows that it was him who actually killed his father. He reveals that he thought that the man that showed up that day (Shadi) was actually the Pharaoh’s soul and that he was the one who had killed his father. His whole anger towards the Pharaoh started there. He declares that both he and his evil self will pay for what they did to his father, and they will be destroyed together.
In his own thoughts, Bakura deduces that the turban-wearing man that Marik is talking about is Shadi, but also knows that five years ago he was already dead. So he’s been acting as a ghost ever since.
Meanwhile, Yugi is dreaming and his Millennium Puzzle activate, allowing him to actually go to his other self Mind Room and talk to him there.
During this Shadow Game as their life point decrease, they will lose a portion of their body. It’s a back and forth duel. At one point Bakura forces the God Card to Marik’s hand and then takes it via Exchange, however Mairk uses other card effects to stop it from gaining attack on summon. With no use for it, Bakura tributes it. He believes to this to a safe move, because even if Marik were to revive “Ra”, it would have 0 ATK and DEF. However this backfires as “Ra” had an ability not even the “good” Marik Ishtar knew about.
Anzu wakes up, confused about being in Bakura’s room and not finding him there. She also was sure that she was in Mai’s room just moments ago so she is not sure how she got there. She goes to Yugi’s room and wakes him up. They go searching for Bakura. Eventually they take the elevator and find out about the duel that is taking place in the arena.
Due to his greater connection with the Millennium Rod, the evil Marik knew about the Point-to-Point Transfer effect. He proceeds to revive “Ra” and use this effect to win the Duel, causing Bakura to be consumed by the shadows. As he disappears, Bakura vows to resurrect and kill Marik, identifying as the darkness itself. Marik then takes the Millennium Ring to himself.
The regular Marik takes control of Anzu and makes her leave the arena quickly. Ishizu wakes up from a nightmare in which she saw her brother engulfed in flames. Anzu (actually Marik) gets to her room and speaks with her, asking her to hide Rishid to protect him from his evil self.
Meanwhile the portion of Bakura sealed in the Millennium Puzzle wakes up and thinks about his next move. He will wait for now until the Millennium Items are gathered and, in the meantime, will search for the “Door of Truth” that lies somewhere within the Millennium Puzzle maze.
Evil Marik returns to Rishid’s room but he is not there. In the meantime Kaiba has analyzed everything he could about Ra and is worried about his powers.

Episode 85 - The Land of the Decisive Battle, Alcatraz

The following morning the airship arrives to Alcatraz, an island that belongs to Kaiba Corporation and was the headquarters of a previous military installments of the company before Seto took charge. Atop the wreckage stands the Duel Tower, the third and last battlefield for the Battle City finals.
Marik confronts Ishizu about the location of Rishid, and threatens her with his Millennium Rod after realizing she no longer has her Millennium Tauk to protect herself. But as they arrive to the island he says that sadly he does not have the time to brainwash her and extract the information about Rishid. As he leaves, Marik says that because Rishid was struck by the anger of Ra is probably that he won’t ever wake up again anyways. Laughing, he assures her that he will take his time killing Rishid after the duels are done.
Jonouchi goes to see Mai but her condition hasn’t changed. The group reunites with Yugi who was still looking for Bakura but couldn’t find him. The group then leave the airship and goes towards the Duel Tower.
They need to decide the order for the semi-finals, and for that they will hold a four-way free-for-all duel. As each player’s Life Points decrease, their chair in the Duel Tower rises up. When a player’s LP reach 0 their chair will rise all the way to the top, to the setting for the Semi-Final round. The first two duelists to lose will face each other in the first Semi-Final. The two winners will face each other in the second Semi-Final. This allows each duelist to influence who he will face next by deciding to attack who at what time.
Back in the airship, Shizuka remembers how she met Mai and the words she gave her about her brother. Ishizu meanwhile ponders in the room where she hid Rishid, remembering how it all started and wishing for Rishid to wake up as things got terribly wrong when he lost conciousness. She also remembers how the day after Marik killed their father, he and Rishid left the place. That day she put on the Millennium Tauk for the very first time and saw the future, a very similar future to the one they were now experiencing. Some time after that, Marik stole the two egyptian gods but she confronted him when he tried to get Obelisk from a vault. He defeated her military guards using his Millennium Rod and she defeated his Ghouls using her Millennium Tauk, ending in a stalemate. He escaped with the help of Rishid. From that point onwards their destiny would lead to where they are now.
Back at the tower, Kaiba wants to duel Yugi so that, when he wins, he will have two Egyptian God Cards, as he knows he will need all the power he can get to stand up against The Winged Dragon of Ra. Yugi at first cannot decide who he wishes to face due to having reasons to fight everyone: Kaiba to settle their rivalry, Marik to defeat him and save his memories and Jonouchi, to keep his promise about dueling him in the finals, so he decides to wait and see what they will do. Jonouchi wants to duel Marik so he can win back Mai’s soul and claim revenge for her capture. Marik doesn’t really care who he faces or when, so he just plans to have fun wreaking as much havoc in this duel as possible.
The duel is tense and rapidly changing, with strange alliances at every turn. In the end, Yugi and Kaiba rise as the winners and both Jonouchi and Marik will be the first two to duel in the first semifinal.

Episode 86 - The Darkness Returns

The first semi-final duel between Jonouchi and Marik is about to begin on the top of the Duel Tower. Honda calls Shizuka and tells her, but she says that she’ll stay with Mai and believe in her brother.
As the match begins, Marik initiates a Shadow Game with upped stakes. Dark energy strings connect the duelists to each monster they summon. As a monster is destroyed or weakened, a corresponding amount of “damage” is dealt to the monster’s owner. Anzu tells the Other Yugi about something that Jonouchi told her, that he wants to rescue Mai himself with his own strength and he is willing to end up in the same condition as her if that brings her back: he will do whatever it takes.
As the duel progresses Marik is surprised by how strong Jonouchi’s willpower is to sustain the damage of the Shadow Game. Jonouchi plays amazingly and surprises everyone present. The duel end up in a really back and forth fight that forces Marik’s hand to even unleash the final secret ability of Ra: God Phoenix.
In the end, Shizuka feels that she needs to go there, and after Ishizu offers herself to look after Mai, Shizuka reaches the top of the tower just in time for the final part of the duel. Even facing the strongest Egyptian God in a Shadow Game, Jonouchi manages to somehow withstand the god’s attack and stay on his feet, barely conscious. Marik is terrified at this, realizing that he will lose if Jonouchi manages to summon a monster. With the last of his power Jonouchi draws and tries to summon his monster to make the final attack and win, but when he summons it the last bit of strength abandons him. The exhaustion and pain takes its toll and he plummets to the ground.
Mokuba rush to the platform and checks on him, only to realize that he is not breathing. Due to him not being able to continue, Marik wins by default. The group rush to him, trying to resucitate him. Marik is terrified of what just almost happened, but after a few moments he smiles and starts laughing. The medical team arrive and take Jonouchi to the ship. Despite losing a Shadow Game, Jonouchi’s mind is battling the shadows and resisting being banished to hell like Mai. He nonetheless remains unconscious and is taken away for medical attention.
After examination, Jonouchi is in critical condition and they all feel desperate. Yugi walks out the room and punches the wall in anger and frustration. Suddenly, the Millennium Tauk on his pocket shines and he sees a vision of the future, a vision of him and Jonouchi dueling in Battle City.
He is then summoned to the second semi-final, so he goes to see Jonouchi once again and tells him that Jonouchi must keep fighting as a duelist so that they can duel again. Anzu runs after Yugi and tries to stop him, stating this tournament has been too dangerous and he should not duel. The Other Yugi (convinced that he must duel so the vision comes true) reminds her of the egyptian slab in the museum they saw together, and says that even though his life should have been gone a long time ago he is there now, alive, looking to find what has been lost. He tells her that he is convinced Jonouchi will be back, that as long as people have a reason to search for answers they will have a reason to live, a place to return. He will fight as a True Duelist to make his promise to Jonouchi a reality.

Episode 87 - Clash in the Coliseum

The second semi-final duel between Yugi and Kaiba begins. They duel in a field of an ancient Roman coliseum. They summon their powerful Egyptian Gods and clash with each other in an insane duel of skill and mindgames. At one point, an attack from Osiris that misses hits the skyline causing lightning bolts to shoot down from the sky. This reactivates the power levels of Seto’s blimp, allowing Mokuba to call a helicopter for Jonouchi and activating the broadcast of the Duel on Battle City’s giant screens.
Meanwhile, Jonouchi is having visions of the past, of how he fought his very first tournament: the District Duel Tournament before Duelist Kingdom. But the visions are a bit different, he hears some voices, and he has his current deck. Somehow, in his mind, Jonouchi is fighting to come back to life.
At the Sky Duel Coliseum, the fated duel and the clash of the gods ends up in a gigantic explosion when the two gods defeat eachother at the same time. A bright light emerges, destroying the giant tv screens of the city and blinding everyone on the island. Marik’s Millennium Rod starts to glow in response, just like Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle. The light transports the souls of Yugi and Kaiba back to ancient Egypt.
In a destroyed ancient egypt, a giant pyramid can be seen upside-down in the sky. Everything is in ruins. Statues of Osiris and Obelisk can be seen in the distance. Then the scenery changes and they get transported inside the royal palace where they witness a duel between what seems to be their own previous lives.
The priest that looks like Seto claims that “the High Priest of Darkness has conquered Heaven and Earth with his evil power, and that even his Millennium Items were worthless against the power of darkness”. The Pharaoh asks why has he submitted to them. The priest replies that he and his faithful servant shall forever be his enemy. They wield the Puzzle and the Rod against each other. The priest claims that he will defeat him with his own hands and summons his powerful servant: the White Dragon. The Pharaoh summons his powerful servant: the Black Magician. They shout “Diaha!” as their powers clash in a duel.
Yugi and Kaiba are transported back to the present as the light fades and the Rod and Puzzle stop shining. They are still in disbelief of what they just saw. Marik is confused as to why his Rod activated itself and what they saw after that. The Other Yugi is sure that the vision was a part of his past, even if Kaiba refuses to believe it. They continue their duel using his other monsters and are back again at full intensity.
Near the end, Yugi feels the presence of Jonouchi and turns around Kaiba’s attack by summoning Red-Eyes. At this moment, Jonouchi wakes up, to everyone’s relief. He doesn’t understand why Mai is still in that state because he is sure that he defeated Marik, but then Shizuka explains what actually happened to him.
Jonouchi apologizes to Mai and tries to go see Yugi’s duel despite the doctor objections, specially now that the helicopter with medical help has arrived. He insists on going, even after Anzu tries to convince him, and tells her about the promise he made to Yugi, which makes her remember Yugi’s final words before his duel. She then agrees and they all run to see the match.
At the top of the tower, the duel continues and reaches its climax. Kaiba puts up a fantastic final attack but Yugi then comes up with an even better final strategy and ends the duel in fantastic fashion, finally defeating Kaiba and declaring that the anger and hatred that Kaiba feels would never lead him to true victory.

Episode 88 - The Path towards a True Duelist

After a really intense couple of duels, the finalist of the Battle City tournament are decided: Yugi vs Marik. The final duel will begin shortly.
Kaiba, in desbelief after losing at his own tournament and refusing to accept the words that Yugi give him about his friends giving him enough strength to win, tosses Obelisk to Yugi and walks away in a huff. But then, Jonouchi stands in his way and challenges him to a duel for the third place.
Kaiba’s ideology that a True Duelist doesn’t need the power of a friend, clashes with Jonouchi’s words. He accepts the duel and they both go to ground level to fight.
Anzu gets mind-controlled again and leaves as the duel starts. She encounters Ishizu and reveals that the “good” Marik has been hiding inside her mind since the previous night. They talk about the Ishtar family and everything that happened so far. In the end, the “good” Marik says that he will take care of his evil personality and asks Ishizu to take care of Rishid, as Anzu starts running towards the Duel Tower.
Marik is standing on top of the Duel Tower, still thinking about the vision that the Millennium Rod and Puzzle gave to Yugi and Kaiba. He is pissed that the Rod is not replicating the vision for him, even though he is the owner of the Item, and tosses it to the ground. The Millennium Rod ends up at the feet of Anzu, who has just arrived and picks it up. Marik tries to grab the Rod but Anzu uses its powers to push him aside and reveal that it is indeed the “good” Marik taking control of her.
The duel continues and Kaiba has the advantage but Jonouchi puts up a good fight. At this point the Millennium Puzzle react to what is happening with Marik, and Yugi sees a glimpse of Anzu’s face. Worried about her he runs towards the Duel Tower too.
On top of the Duel Tower, Anzu has Marik’s cornered and is threatening him with her Millennium Rod, pushing him to the very edge of the platform. The evil Marik manages to distract his other self by talking about Rishid and takes the opportunity to grab Anzu’s arm and pull her, taking the Rod from her and turning the tables on the situation. Now Anzu is the one pushed to the edge, but she makes an acrobatic move and frees herself from it, dodging Marik’s attack. She later receives a full force energy blast of the Millennium Rod, pushing her to the ground.
Just as Marik is about to kill her, Ishizu shows up. The power of the “good” Marik has weakened by now and Anzu pass out. The evil Marik now attempts to kill Ishizu but Yugi shows up, stopping him with the power of his Millennium Puzzle. They are about to clash with magic, but Marik leaves the place instead, saying they will solve everything in the duel.
Anzu is still passed out from Marik’s mind control. Ishizu tells Yugi that her brother is growing weak and he will continue growing weak until he is no more. She tells him that he can destroy the evil within Marik’s dark side by defeating him in his next Duel but if Yugi loses it would be the end of everything. She begs him to save her brother. The Other Yugi feels responsible because the Tomb Keepers had been guarding the Items and protecting his own memories for so long, so he promises that he will defeat his dark half and save him from the dark curse.
Just then Anzu finally regains consciousness and awakes, Yugi immediately notice and rushes over to her. She had no idea why she was up at the tower, with the last thing she remembers was watching Jonouchi’s Duel with Kaiba. Yugi wonders why would Marik go after Anzu.
Back at the third-place duel, in the end, the experienced duelist proves to be too strong and even if Jonouchi makes some impressive moves, Kaiba ends up winning. Yugi, Anzu and Ishizu arrive but the duel has already ended.
Kaiba, having nothing that matters to him anymore decides to leave the island and detonate it, though Ishizu catches up to him and tries to convince him to watch the final Duel as well as help Yugi beat Marik. She then talks about the stone tablet and how it has written in it a prayer for the dead in Hieratic writing known as the “pert kertu”, a message that the Priest inscribed to “his true friend”, the late Pharaoh: “The corpse sinks to the floor. The vessel becomes sand, becomes dust. Even the brightest gold, even the sharpest sword is wrapped in the sheath of time. Woe to the Pharaoh, for his body lacks even his name. Time is a battlefield of souls. I cry the song of battle, the song of a friend. To the place far away where souls meet… guide me.”
Kaiba asks what does she means with it and she says that just as the Priest and the Pharaoh in the tablet were rivals they were also friends. And this is the time for him to help Yugi aswell. Kaiba refuses to do anything as the only point of his tournament was so that could be the #1 Duelist again, but because of his loss against Yugi, that’s no longer possible, so his only option now is to destroy the island.
Mokuba remembers what Yugi and Jonouchi said about his brother in their Duels against him, that hater and anger wont lead him to the right path, and that he should have fun in the duels. Mokuba states to Seto that destroying the island won’t do any good for anyone, including themselves. Due to this and remembering on how his brother was in the past compared to now, Mokuba reveals that he really wants to see his brother as he used to be, smiling and enjoying games from the bottom of his heart. Instead of causing more damage, Kaiba should try and help Yugi beat Marik since Kaiba did figure out a way to beat “Ra” and was planning on using it against Marik before he lost. Kaiba is left conflicted, but he ultimately decides to do so. As the final Duel begins, Kaiba gives Yugi the card he planned to use to defeat Yami Marik.

Episode 89 - The Final Face Off

The final duel begins. Its a Shadow Game played between the Other Yugi and the evil Marik: as each player’s Life Points decrease, their respective hosts (Yugi Muto and Marik Ishtar) will have more and more of their body wiped out. When a player loses, both spirit and host will be sent to hell. However, Marik would not be sent to hell along with his “host’s” spirit if he loses, since he is an alter ego that Marik created himself, whereas the Other Yugi is a completely different spirit living dependably inside Yugi’s body with Yugi’s own spirit.
The duels begins strong, and they quickly manage to summon the Gods to face each other. During the duel Marik also reveals that it was him who defeated Bakura, and shows the Millennium Ring as proof. At one point, Yugi places his trust in destiny and, with his eyes closed, draws and sets a card without even looking at it. They are all surprised at this, and Kaiba looks around and sees Ishizu staring at him, which makes him realize that somehow the card just played was probably the one he gave Yugi. And it was. Using that card Yugi manages to protect himself from Marik’s insane one-turn-kill attack and keep fighting.
The spirit of the normal Marik shows up in the airship near Rishid’s bed to say goodbye and apologize as he feels that he is going to disappear soon. Back in the duel, Dark Marik’s strategy continues to evolve and he manages to gain the upper hand once again with his powerful God Slime. Then, normal Marik takes control of Anzu in front of everyone and speaks with Yugi, saying that there is no need to hold back and that he is prepared to die, explaining to the rest what is actually happening in the shadow game (they cannot see the other selfs of the duelist actually in combat).
Marik pushes the Pharaoh to its limits, but he finds a way to turn the tables and properly defeat Ra against all odds. In addition to this, Rishid managed to wake up and slowly made his way to the battlegound, and by doing this, he helps Marik takes control of his own body once again, which changes Marik and the evil Marik’s position in the shadow game. The normal Marik now stands as Yugi’s opponent, and in his final move he surrenders by placing his hand on his deck, erasing his dark self forever and giving Yugi the victory.
In the aftermath of the duel, Yugi becomes the champion of the tournament and is once again crowned Duel King. He also gets the last Egyptian God card as per the ante rule. On the other hand, Marik is freed from his evil self and reunites with his sister and with Rishid.
Marik then gives the Pharaoh his Millennium Rod and Ring, and also the Millennium Eye that apparently Bakura had in his possession too. Then Marik shows him the carvings on his back as his final duty of a Tomb Keeper. Ishizu proceeds to read some of them out loud: “In the future, one will come who will wield the power of the three gods depicted on the stone slab. This will be proof that the Pharaoh’s soul has been reincarnated.”. Yugi finds out he can read the symbols himself, and as he does he sees a brief vision of the stone slab.
Kaiba announces that he will destroy Alcatraz in exactly one hour, and they all rush to the airship before the island explodes. Jonouchi goes to see Mai and is devastated that she is still in bed. But she was messing with him and she and Shizuka laugh about it. They later find Bakura in the kitchen, eating a bunch of food, without a worry in the world. The ship is about to depart but they cant find Seto or Mokuba anywhere. Just as they are leaving and the detonation starts, they hear Kaiba’s laugh and see that he and Mokuba emerge from the devastation in a Blue-Eyes-shaped jet.
Mokuba and Kaiba depart, saying they are going to America to develop their new Kaiba Land over there and all over the world. Yugi realizes that Kaiba has started a journey towards his new dream and smiles about it, hoping that he would leave that hatred behind with the destroyed island. The group then starts their journey back to Domino City.

Episode 90 - One for the Road

Back in Domino City, Ishizu and Marik thank Yugi for helping defeat the evil persona. They will rebuild their family in a new direction, now that their generational duty has been fulfiled. Marik says that on the day Yugi visits Egypt he wishes to be his guide. Ishizu says that she will start the preparations for his arrival to the place they would need to go in Egypt, but that he first must find the rest of the Millennium Items. Yugi would need to somehow contact Shadi for the Key and the Scales (something easier said than done). The Ishtars then leave with Rishid to go back home.
Otogi says that he will also leave to America to continue working closely with Industrial Illusions (specially after hearing what Kaiba said about Kaiba Land), and departs from them but not before sneakingly giving Shizuka his phone number. Honda yells at him for this but later says to take care. As they talk about their future, Honda grabs Shizuka’s hand and also gives her his phone number, so Jonouchi yells at him and they all laugh.
Mai then announce that she is leaving as well. After Mai and Shizuka exchange words of thanks between them, she tells Yugi she won’t lose to him again before departing. As she turns around and leaves in a hurry, Jonouchi catches her as she’s getting on the car. She says that their friendship was a little too bright for her, but they depart on good terms and smiling. As she leaves and is out of their sight, her face turns somber as she thinks about everything that happened to her.
The city is fascinated by what just happened and the news of the tournament extend like wildfire. The internet is also being flooded with images and videos of it and its protagonists.
The following morning, at sunrise, Yugi has finished a new deck and grabs the Red-Eyes Black Dragon card. He arrives to the designated area and encounters Jonouchi waiting for him. It’s time for the final duel, the promise of their Battle City clash as the sun rises behind Jonouchi.