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!).
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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, while in the anime, this occurs during the story arc) brings him to the eye of Pegasus. Pegasus seeks to reacquire his deceased love, but to do that, he needed the seven Millennium Items and Kaiba's holographic technology. Pegasus noticed Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, and traps the soul of Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Moto in the anime), Yugi's grandfather. (In the English anime, Yugi's grandfather is trapped in the Shadow Realm). This forces Yugi to join the Duelist Kingdom tournament. In the manga, Kaiba emerges from a coma after Pegasus announces the tournament. In the anime, 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.
Pegasus had selected only the best for his Duelist Kingdom tournament. That means that Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler in the English anime) would not be included. However, Jonouchi needs the $3,000,000 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.
Seto Kaiba duel
In the anime, the arc begins with the story began with Yugi's duel with Seto Kaiba, a genius programmer and business sensation. 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.
Kingdom Duels
Here's how Jonouchi and Yugi go to the finals:
- Yugi defeats "Insector" Haga (Weevil Underwood), the Japan Tournament (Duel Monsters tournament in the anime) 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 as a result of Mokuba Kaiba stealing and then losing them.
- Yugi defeats the "Dark Kaiba" a.k.a. "Yami Kaiba" (dark side of Kaiba that Yugi destroys in the manga and original Japanese anime with a Mind Crush. In the English anime, Yami Yugi sends the dark side to the Shadow Realm). 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.
Yugi vs. Kaiba:
Kaiba applied the Crush Card Virus to destroy all of Yugi's monsters with more than 1500 attack. Kaiba then merged his three Blue Eyes to make Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Yugi countered with Kuriboh and the magic card Multiply, which made an inpenetrable wall. Semi-fused mammoth graveyard with Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (illegal in the real life game) to keep deducting attack power from Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Kaiba had to force Yugi to resign by putting his own life at stake in order to win.
To get Yugi back into the finals, Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner) decides to duel Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine) who got 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. Anzu wins, even though it was really Mai forfeiting a winning match. Yugi gets back into the finals.
The Finals
Before the finals were to begin, 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, put 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. Pegasus saw Kaiba's crush card combo, and prevented it happening. At the end, Pegasus uses Doppleganger to copy Kaiba's Crush Card Virus, and Pegasus won.
First Duel of the finals comes to Mai and Yugi. Yugi prevents Dark Yugi to surface as a result of Dark Yugi nearly wanting to kill Kaiba to win their second duel. Mai gets a huge advantage, with three harpies and harpy's pet dragon (2000 attack and an additional 300 for each harpy 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 Harpy'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 one of Keith's magic cards 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 disqualifies Keith on grounds of cheating.
Last, it is the duel between Jonouchi and Yugi. 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 summons Thousand Dragon with Baby Dragon and Time Wizard, but it turns Dark Magician into Dark Sage, which allows Yugi to play a magic card every turn, even during an opponent's turn. Yugi plays Magical Mist to counter Jonouchi's attack, then plays Monster Reborn to bring back Black Skull Dragon. Yugi attacks Jonouchi and wins the duel.
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 Toon World 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 a bomb, 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 Mind 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. (At this point in the anime, direct damage is not present; otherwise, Yugi would have won right then and there) When Relinquished returns to Pegasus, Pegasus turns 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.
Aftermath
In the end of it all, Pegasus's Millennium Eye gets stolen by Bakura, and the souls of Mokuba Kaiba, Seto Kaiba and Sugoroku Mutou are restored. Yugi gives Jonouchi the money for the eye surgery of Jonouchi's sister.