Yugi Muto was a shy and timid boy who preferred to keep to himself rather than play with others until one day when he solved the Millennium Puzzle and inherited the powers of the Shadow Games. By harnessing these powers, Yugi would transform into a dark alter-ego and unleash judgments upon those who would threaten the safety of his friends. With his new-found strength, Yugi was able to make friends with Jonouchi – a hot headed tough guy with a kind heart, Honda – the skeptical but endearing type, and Anzu – the feisty and ambitious one.

Yugi’s Grandpa is the owner of the Kame Game Shop, and has collected numerous games and toys from around the world. One day, a boy named Seto Kaiba entered the shop. Seto Kaiba is the world champion of a popular trading card game called Duel Monsters. Kaiba came into Grandpa’s game shop in order to find some good Duel Monsters cards, but he was shocked to see one of the best cards in the entire game – The Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Jealous of Grandpa’s possession, Kaiba stole the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card from Yugi one day when Yugi brought the card to school. When Yugi tried to get the card back, Kaiba smacked him with his briefcase. Yugi transformed into his alter-ego and challenged Kaiba to a game of Duel Monsters. Using the powers of the Shadow Games, Yugi made the monsters on the cards come to life. Overwhelmed by Yugi’s strange powers, Kaiba was eventually defeated. Yugi punished him by sending him to the world of Duel Monsters for a night.

Aggravated by his defeat, Seto Kaiba has prepared the ultimate revenge against Yugi – an entire theme park with the deadliest of attractions. Kaiba kidnapped Yugi’s Grandpa and forced him to play a game of Duel Monsters using his newly-developed, state-of the art, holographic images. Since their last encounter, Kaiba has traveled the world and acquired three copies of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card. Overwhelmed by the realistic appearance of the holograms, Grandpa’s heart races and he can no longer continue the match. An ambulance comes to rush Yugi’s Grandpa to the hospital.

Fueled by his grandpa’s unjustly defeat, Yugi teams up with his friends – Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu – and enters Kaiba’s theme park known as “Death-T.” Together, our four heroes have faced master assassins, horrors and spooks, a murderous chainsaw villain, and giant falling cubes. In the last trial; Yugi, Jonouchi, and Anzu all managed to escape from the room of the falling cubes of death. However, Honda’s shirt got caught between two cubes.

“This is as far as I go…,” cries Honda, as a cube falls down in front of the exit, blocking the others from getting to him.

And thus, we have arrived at the 34th chapter of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, where all of these events will begin to converge.

Yugi’s Other Side

From the other side of the exit, Yugi, Jonouchi, and Anzu morn the loss of their friend, Honda. The grief of losing his friend is making Yugi want to transform into his alter-ego, but something is holding him back. Anzu and Jonouchi notice Yugi is acting strange.

“Are you okay, Yugi?” asks Jonouchi, “Do you need your insulin or something?”

“There’s something I’ve kept secret from you,” says Yugi to his friends, “I think there’s another me inside of myself that I don’t know about. Ever since I solved the Millennium Puzzle, there’s been times when I black out. I think I’m changing into someone that I don’t know about.

“I’ve finally become friends with you guys. I was afraid that you might leave me!”

“Yugi,” says Jonouchi, “Even if there is another person inside of you, we’ll always be friends!”

“He’s right,” adds Anzu.

“Thank you,” says Yugi, “Let’s keep moving.”

From his control room, Seto Kaiba gloats about defeating Honda.

“If this is chess, Yugi is the king, Jonouchi is the knight, and Honda must be the rook. The rook has been captured. The countdown to checkmate has begun.” (So, would Anzu be the bishop?)

Mokuba enters and asks Seto if he remembers the bet they made before Death-T started. They bet on which stage Yugi would die in. Mokuba bet on Stage 4, but Seto bet on Stage 5. The problem is that Mokuba faces Yugi in Stage 4, so Seto is also betting the Mokuba will lose.

“How do you think that feels?” confronts Mokuba.

“You can’t beat Yugi,” says Seto, “I opposed your participation from the beginning.”

“I just thought you’d like me if I beat him.”

“There’s no such thing as brotherly love in the gaming world! Until you figure that out, you’ll always be a loser, Mokuba!”

“I’ll show you! I’ll beat Yugi myself!”

Yugi and his friends proceed down the hallway and enter a large arena. Mokuba is standing at the other end.

“Leave your friends behind and come to the duel box alone!” cries Mokuba.

“Yugi it’s too dangerous for you alone!” says Anzu.

“It’s okay, I’m not a weakling anymore,” proclaims Yugi, “I have you guys no matter where you are! And I…I won’t be afraid of the other me anymore.”

The other Yugi enters the box in the center of the arena, along with Mokuba.

“Congratulations on making it to Death T-4!” says Mokuba, “You’re gonna die at this stage! Along with your friends!”

Yugi looks behind him and sees Kaiba’s henchmen pointing their guns at his friends.

“Don’t worry about us,” cries Jonouchi, “Just kick his butt at his own game!”

“Now, let’s begin!” announces Mokuba, “The competition this time is…Capsule Monsters Chess – The Virtual Reality Version! We will play Capsule Monsters Chess on this board, but the battle will be displayed on the giant field below us! Let me give you a demonstration!”

Mokuba sets a weak Hyumoko monster and a strong Armorsaurus monster on the field.

“The strong piece is like me! It will do battle with this pathetic, low-level piece like you.”

Mokuba has the Armorsaurus attack and destroy the Hyomoko monster.

“Of course, the loser will play a penalty game – The Experience of Death.”

The Game Begins

Much like last time, Yugi and Mokuba begin by drawing their capsules from the coin machine. And also like last time, the machine is rigged to give Mokuba the most powerful monsters and leave Yugi with a bunch of weaklings.

Mokuba’s roster includes Level 5 Armorsaurus, Level 5 Zoid “M”, Level 5 Big Foot, Level 4 Nama Hargan, and Level 5 Megaton.

On the other hand, Yugi’s roster includes Level 1 Toppo, Level 1 Brain Slime, Level 2 Beeton, Level 2 Ninja Squid, and Level 1 Mogley,

Next, the players setup their monsters on the field. Mokuba sets up his five monsters in a “W” pattern while Yugi sets up his monsters in a “P-shaped” pentamino.

“What’s that setup supposed to be?” mocks Mokuba, “All the weaklings are clumped together.”

Almost all Mokuba’s monsters are Level 5, thinks Yugi, if I fight them one on one, they’ll be unstoppable. This is the only way to face them.

“Alright, Game Start!” declares Mokuba, “I go first.”

Mokuba moves his Armorsaurus forward one space.

“Your move, Yugi!” says Mokuba, but Yugi just sits there with his arms folded.

“I pass, I don’t have a move,” says Yugi.

Mokuba continues to move his monsters towards Yugi’s. His plan is to form two groups and attack Yugi’s formation from both the front and the back.

Yugi passes every one of his turns until Mokuba’s monsters are finally in position.

Yugi finally moves his Beeton forward one space.

“You’re too late, Yugi!” shouts Mokuba, “I’ll attack with Armorsaurus.”

Mokuba has Armorsaurus shoot a fire blast at Yugi’s Brain Slime.

“I’m not done yet,” exclaims Mokuba, “Armorsaurus’s turn isn’t over! He attacks one more monster!”

Armorsaurus rolls over Yugi’s Toppo.

“I’m going to have some fun and destroy all your monsters with just Armorsaurus.”

Mokuba sends Armorsaurus to destroy Yugi’s Mogley, but just before Armorsaurus makes contact, Mogley digs underground.

“I forget he can burrow!” cries Mokuba, but Armorsaurus’s attack cannot be stopped. The monster keeps rolling, and it’s headed straight for Mokuba’s Megaton! The collision causes both monsters to be destroyed.

“High level monsters have unrivaled power, but you need to learn to control it,” counsels Yugi, “And now, I’ll move this piece to attack Zoid ‘M’.”

Yugi moves his Ninja Squid.

“A level 2 monster can’t hope to match it,” continues Yugi, “There is one way it can defeat a level 5 enemy…forgive me.”

Yugi has his Ninja Squid self-destruct right next to Mokuba’s Zoid “M”, destroying both monsters in the process.

“And now, a path has been opened,” declares Yugi.

Mokuba looks at the board and sees that Yugi’s Beeton has a clear path to the Evolution Space.

Yugi moves his Beeton one space towards the evolution space each turn until the larve monster lands on the space. The Evolution Space allows the Level 2 Beeton to evolve into a Level 5 Hyper Beetle.

Yugi has Hyper Beetle use a Horn Attack against Mokuba’s Nama Hargar. The monster is destroyed.

Next, Hyper Beetle faces off against Big Foot. The two monsters engage in a 1v1 “strike attack”. The two monsters fight, and then…Hyper Beetle collapses!

“Ha ha ha! Hyper Beetle is dead!” shouts Mokuba, “Yugi, you’re done for!”

Mokuba recalls that Yugi has another monster burrowing under the ground. Mokuba has his Big Foot in position to stomp the mole monster as soon as it emerges, but before Big Foot can put his foot down, a crack starts to form down the middle of the monster. The crack continues to grow until it splits Big Foot entirely in half. Hyper Beetle’s Attack was a critical hit!

And with no monsters left on the field, Mokuba has lost.

Time to Face Kaiba

“I win this game,” says Yugi, “I’m going to the final stage where Kaiba is waiting.”

“I won’t believe it!” cries Mokuba, “There’s no way I could lose!”

Kaiba’s face appears on the jumbotron above the arena.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Yugi!” announces the Game Master, “Take that path to the elevator and rise to the final stage.”

Then he turns to Mokuba.

“Only the winner is allowed out of that Duel Box! A Penalty Game awaits the loser!”

Kaiba presses a button and unleashes the experience of death on his own brother. The monsters of the world of Capsule Monsters appear as holograms and begin to attack Mokuba. Yugi reaches his hand through the holograms and pulls Mokuba out to safety.

“Why did you save me?” asks Mokuba.

“I wouldn’t have won this game if I didn’t have friends who reached out to me,” responds Yugi.

Yugi then leaves the arena and heads up the elevator to the next challenge.

From his control room, Seto Kaiba grabs his briefcase and says, “I’m heading to the final stage of Death-T. My revenge will end there!”

Next Time: The Epic Conclusion of Death-T