Duelist Kingdom
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Duelist Kingdom is a story arc in the manga series Yu-Gi-Oh! (In North America the arc will be released in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist series) and the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (known internationally as simply Yu-Gi-Oh!). This season has the most deviations in rulings from the real life card game due to the fact that the rules for the real life card game had not been finalized yet.
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[edit] Backstory
In the manga, the story begins with Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese versions). Yugi Mutou's defeat of Seto Kaiba (in the manga, the defeat occurs at Death-T in the previous story arc) brings him to the eye of Pegasus. Pegasus seeks to reacquire his deceased love, but to do that, he needed Kaiba's holographic technology. Forced by the Big 5 of Kaiba Corporation to defeat Yugi before being able to take over Kaiba Corp, Pegasus traps the soul of Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Moto in the English Version), Yugi's grandfather. (In the English version, Yugi's grandfather is trapped in the Shadow Realm) - forcing Yugi to join the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Kaiba emerges from a coma after Pegasus announces the tournament.
Pegasus had selected only the best for his Duelist Kingdom tournament. That means that Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler in the English version) would not be included. However, Jonouchi needs the $3,000,000 (3 million yen in the Japanese version) to pay for an eye surgery for Shizuka Kawai (Serenity Wheeler) that would prevent her from going blind. Therefore, Yugi lends one of his star chips to Jonouchi, and they start dueling their way to the top. Pegasus gives each duelist two star chips, and the first four to get ten would be the finalists.
[edit] In the Anime
[edit] Duel with Seto Kaiba
In the anime, the arc begins with the story began with Yugi's duel with Seto Kaiba, a genius programmer and business sensation. This is the Death-T match of the previous arc, but redone. Kaiba is the greatest duelist in the world, and was the favorite to win the most recent duel monsters tournament. Naturally, Kaiba's genius, glory, and business skills make him very arrogant. Kaiba also had an obsession with the Blue-Eyes White Dragons, and is spending great effort to gain all four of them. He already has three, and is searching for the fourth. Kaiba finds the fourth one in Yugi's Grandfather's game shop (The Kame Game Shop in the manga and Japanese versions). Kaiba failed to buy or trade for it, so he forced Yugi's Grandfather into a duel, with Kaiba as the victor. Then, Kaiba tears up the last Blue-Eyes, because in the game, a person cannot have more than three of the same card (The reason for this is different in the manga's story). Next, Yugi duels Kaiba, and upsets the world champion. This story in the Duel Monsters anime is derived from several manga chapters.
[edit] Pegasus's Invitation
Yugi's defeat of Kaiba catches Pegasus's attention, as Kaiba was previously undefeated. Pegasus gives Yugi a box containing the necessary items to enter his newest tournament, Duelist Kingdom, which invited only the best duelists. As such, Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) was not invited. To make sure Yugi goes along with his plan, Pegasus sends a videotape, which allowed Pegasus to start a shadow game. Because of a 15 minute time limit, Yugi loses, and Pegasus takes Sugoroku Moto's soul, forcing Yugi to join the tournament to regain his grandpa's soul.
The $3 million (3 million yen in the Japanese version) prize money was desperately needed by Jonouchi to pay for an eye surgery for his sister, or she'll go blind. He tries to sneak onto the ship, but was caught. Yugi bails Jonouchi out by giving Jonouchi one of his two star chips.
Meanwhile, Kaiba is still shocked at Yugi's upset, and refrains from joining and goes to his retreat. Kaiba's arrogance urges him to regain his previous title, but it also causes him to drop out of the tournament.
[edit] Kingdom Duels
Yugi and Jonouchi's path to the finals.
- Yugi defeats "Insector" Haga (Weevil Underwood), the Japan Tournament (Duel Monsters tournament in the English version) Champion. Has three chips because he wagered his deck in exchange for another star chip.
- Jonouchi defeats Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine). Has two star chips.
- Yugi defeats Ryota Kajiki (Mako Tsunami), a sea duelist: Has five star chips.
- Jonouchi defeats "Dinosaur" Ryuzaki (Rex Raptor), the Japan Tournament Runner-up. Has four star chips and Ryota's Red-Eyes Black Dragon card as part of the ante.
- Yugi loses two star chips after Mokuba Kaiba steals them and then Kimo, Pegasus's main bodyguard, throws them into the ocean.
- Yugi defeats the Player Eliminator "Dark Kaiba" (AKA "Yami Kaiba"). Has six star chips.
- In the anime version, at night, Yugi beats Dark Bakura (Yami Bakura) in a shadow game. This duel was adapted from the Monster World RPG game in Volumes 6 and 7 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and it does not happen in the manga.
- Yugi beats Player Killer (Panik) to give Mai back her star chips that she lost.
- Jonouchi beats Ghost Kotsuzuka (Bonz), a zombie duelist with cards from Bandit Keith. Has 8 star chips.
- Jonouchi and Yugi fight together against the Meikyu Brothers (Paradox Brothers), Mei and Kyu (Para and Dox), who are player eliminators. Both have 10 star chips.
However, Pegasus also has to get Kaiba's technology. Pegasus appeals to the Big 5, Kaiba's vice presidents, and abducts Mokuba. Kaiba goes to Duelist Kingdom to get Mokuba back. Pegasus traps Mokuba's soul in a card. In the English anime, Pegasus sends Mokuba to the Shadow Realm and forces Kaiba to beat Yugi to try to get Mokuba back. The Big 5 are fired after this arc in the manga.
Kaiba confronts Yugi on the top of the castle, explaining his situation to him, and begins their duel.
Kaiba applied the Crush Card Virus to destroy all of Yugi's monsters with more than 1500 attack points, which effectively left Yugi at the mercy of Kaiba's stronger monsters. Kaiba then merged his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons to make Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Yugi countered with Kuriboh and the magic card Multiply, which made an impenetrable wall. He then used a combination of Living Arrow and Polymerization to fuse his Mammoth Graveyard to Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, which would deduct attack points from it at the start of every turn, eventually leaving it weak enough for Yugi to attack. Only when Kaiba deliberately placed himself in a position where he risked being knocked off the roof by Yugi's next attack could Yugi overcome his other self and declare defeat. Yugi was so shaken up by this experience that he broke down in tears and vowed never to duel again for fear that his other self could cause someone serious harm.
In the anime, to get Yugi back into the finals, Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner) decides to duel Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine) who has ten star chips and another eight to repay Yugi for his duel with Player Killer (Panik). However, Mai did not want to give it seeing Yugi's dejection. Although Mai could have won with the card Harpie's Feather Duster, she instead forfeits to Anzu. Yugi, inspired by Anzu's dedication, receives the boost he needed to galvanize himself for the finals. (In the manga, Mai simply gives the star chips to Yugi, rather than dueling Anzu for them.)
[edit] The Finals
Before the finals, Pegasus introduces Kaiba to the finalists, and the two duel. If Pegasus wins, he takes Kaiba's soul; if Kaiba wins, he gets Mokuba back. Kaiba's monsters are far stronger, but Pegasus can see the other person's cards and strategies using the Millennium Eye. Pegasus uses Toon World, which transforms all his monsters into cartoons, who cannot be destroyed. Kaiba attempts to use the Crush Card combo that he used against Yugi, but Pegasus reads his mind and prevents the strategy from working. At the end, Pegasus uses Doppelganger to copy Kaiba's Crush Card Virus, and wins the duel.
Afterwards, Pegasus uses his Millennium Eye to steal Kaiba's soul. Seeing this and knowing it has happened because Kaiba was trying to save his brother, Yugi starts to cry and demands to know why Pegasus is toying with people. Seconds later, the Millennium Puzzle activates and Yugi's "other self" emerges for the first time since his duel with Kaiba, which nearly ended in tragedy. Yugi vows to defeat Pegasus once and for all, but he will first have to get through the remaining rounds of the tournament.
First Duel of the finals comes to Mai and Yugi. In the anime, Yugi tries to hold back Yami Yugi's dueling strength because of his willingness to beat Kaiba even if it meant his death. However, in the manga, Yugi is concentrating on the coming duel with Pegasus and not on the duel with Mai. In both cases this leads to Yugi making mistakes. Because of these mistakes, Mai gets a huge advantage, with the Harpie Lady Sisters and Harpie's Pet Dragon (2000 attack and an additional 300 for each Harpie on the field) while Yugi only has Kuriboh, Gaia the Fierce Knight, and Swords of Revealing Light. However, on the last turn, Yugi gets Black Luster Ritual to summon Black Luster Soldier (3000 attack) and destroys Harpie's Pet Dragon. Being down on morale, Mai forfeits.
Next, is Jonouchi against "Bandit" Keith Howard. Bandit Keith steals Jonouchi's entry card, nearly causing Jonouchi to be disqualified. However, Jonouchi uses Mai's entry card to play. Keith uses machine cards, which are very powerful. Jonouchi uses his trap cards to hold off the machines, until Jonouchi runs out of traps. However, Jonouchi copies Keith's Metalmorph which makes Jonouchi's Red Eyes Black Dragon a machine with an added 400 attack. Jonouchi uses Dragon Nails to power up his dragon even more so avoid being destroyed by Keith's bomb, a monster with 2900 attack. Keith uses Slot Machine, but cheats by putting two magic cards in his sleeve, each being able to power up Slot Machine by 700. On the last turn, Keith damages the Jonouchi's dragon and attacks it with Slot Machine, but Jonouchi uses Graverobber to use Keith's Time Machine, which prevent damage and return a monster the way it was a turn before. Jonouchi attacks Slot Machine and wins the duel. Then, Pegasus confronts Keith and says that he saw his cheating, whereupon Keith tries to get the prize money by force. In the anime, Pegasus drops Keith down a trap door, and Keith eventually reappears prior to Battle City under the mind control of Marik Ishtar. In the manga, Pegasus inflicts a penalty game on Keith, causing his apparent death.
Last, it is the duel between Jonouchi and Yugi, which is only in the anime. They stay rather even, but Jonouchi gains a good lead. Jonouchi copies Yugi's Summoned Skull and fuses it with Red Eyes Black Dragon to make Black Skull Dragon. Yugi destroys it with the combo Dark Magician, Spellbinding Circle, and Book of Secret Arts. Jonouchi then plays the Time Wizard-Baby Dragon combo to summon Thousand Dragon, but Time Wizard's magic turns Dark Magician into Dark Sage, which allows Yugi to play a magic card every turn, even during an opponent's turn and even if the magic card is not set. Yugi plays Magical Mist to counter Jonouchi's attack, then plays Monster Reborn to bring back Black Skull Dragon. Yugi, after telling Jonouchi that this attack is the toughest he has ever made, attacks him and wins the duel.
[edit] Match of the Millennium
Pegasus applies the same strategy to Yugi as he did to Kaiba. Pegasus is able to play Toon World, making all his monsters invincible. Pegasus saw every one of Yugi's strategies, and counters every one of them. However, Yugi then uses mind shuffle. Yugi and Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi) keep changing places, and Pegasus cannot see the mind of the other. Therefore, he does not know what Yugi plans. Yugi destroys the Toon World with the Mirror Force and Living Arrow and is winning. In the English anime, Pegasus then sends the duel into the Shadow Realm, where his illusion monsters come into play. In the manga and Japanese anime, Pegasus does not use the Shadow Realm as the Shadow Realm does not exist in either of those versions. Pegasus summons Relinquished, which can absorb a monster and use it to attack the opponent. At this time, the normal Yugi is too tired to play, but Yugi's friends block Pegasus's Millennium Eye from working, so Pegasus still cannot see Dark Yugi's cards. Pegasus then plays the Jigen Bakudan, which would explode in two turns, dealing life points equal to the attack of the players' monsters. Pegasus would not lose life points because Relinquished has zero attack. However, Yugi uses Brain Control to gain control of Relinquished, and uses the bomb and Dark Magician that Relinquished absorbed to summon Magician of Black Chaos. Yugi then plays a monster in defense and a magic card. When Relinquished returns to Pegasus, Pegasus fuses it with Thousand Eyes Idol, turning it into Thousand Eyes Restrict, which can paralyze all of an opponent's monsters. Pegasus paralyzes Magician of Black Chaos and attempts to absorb it, but Yami flips his Kuriboh and Multiply, which forces Thousand Eyes Restrict to try to absorb all the Kuribohs. Since Kuriboh self destructs at contact, Thousand Eyes Restrict is blinded, and Yugi is free to attack Pegasus. Yugi attacks and wins.
[edit] Aftermath
In the end of it all, Pegasus's Millennium Eye gets stolen by Dark Bakura, and the souls of Mokuba Kaiba, Seto Kaiba and Sugoroku Mutou are restored. Yugi gives Joey the money for the eye surgery of Joey's sister.
