Yugi Muto

Yugi Muto, spell Yugi Mutou in the manga and Japanese version. He is the main character of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime series, along with Yami Yugi. It is stated that Yugi is the modern day version of Pharaoh Atem. Together with Atem, he holds the title "King of Games" (King of Duelists in the Japanese version & Funimation Uncut English version) by winning the Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, Grand Championship Tournament and Ceremonial Battle. His best friend is Joey Wheeler, while his closets friend is Yami Yugi/Atem. Yugi possesses a 3,000 year old (5,000 in the English version) Millennium Puzzle, which allows him to bear host to Yami. After meeting Yami, he lets Yami takeover his body.

Background
During his childhood, Yugi first met Tea Gardner in elementary school. He gave her a handheld game, which she got engrossed in. However after spending a lot of time playing it, she did not get any better and smashed the game out of frustration. Yugi laughed at the ordeal and brought her an easier game the next day. Yugi lives with his family in a shop, the Kame Game shop. He lives with his mother, and grandfather while his father is away on business trips. His grandfather taught him a lot about the game, Duel Monsters.

When Yugi enter high school, Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor used to bully him. Joey even went as far as taking a piece of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, and throwing it into a canal. However Yugi stood-up for Joey and Tristan, when they were attacked by Tetsu Trudge Ushio, claiming that they were his friends, whereas Ushio claimed he was protecting Yugi in order to earn money. Joey and Tristan came to be Yugi's friends after the incident and Joey recovered the piece of the Puzzle. After solving the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi unknowingly became the host to Yami Yugi. He shared his body with Yami, who occasionally takes control, typically to help Yugi and his friends. Not even knowing that Yami Yugi had defeated Ushio in a Penalty Game.

Yugi and Joey once visited Burgerpalooza, only to find Tea working there. She feared that if they told, she would get expelled as it's against school rules to have part-time jobs. (In the English version, she worried about getting fired, as they could have revealed that she was under 18, the required age to work there.) She splattered their burgers in ketchup, warning them not to tell. They told her that they did not even know she worked there, and they promised her that they wouldn't say a word about her job. She admitted that, she was working there to raise money so she can go to New York City to study ballet dancing, because she wants to become a great dancer. But Yugi and Joey admired her dream of being a dancer, and didn't tease her about it. Which shocked Tea overall.

Yugi later found Tea in a warehouse, being filmed by a pervert, who threatened to reveal that she was working at Burgerpalooza. (In the English version, he was a mugger who tricked her by writing a note, pretending Yugi and Joey had given her a dance studio.) Yugi tackled the man, but got thrown against a wall. Tea was also knocked unconscious after trying to attack him. Yugi then transformed into Yami Yugi, who defeated the man in a card draw game and Mind Crushed him. When Yugi regained consciousness, he believed that he had saved Tea himself, although he didn't remember how he did it.

Personality
Yugi at first was a very shy, boy that would always stay in the classroom during lunch time playing games. One day his grandpa gave Yugi the mystical millenium puzzle. It said that the one who solves the puzzle will be granted a wish. He tried to solve the puzzle for 8 years but eventually most days he was on track to solve the puzzle. It's almost like the puzzle built itself. Yugi is kind-hearted, caring, selfless, understanding, considerate, and child-like.

When he turns into Yami Yugi, he is more tough, determine and hopeful to finish his battles. He cares about others well being, for example (Joey, Tea, and Mokuba). He would help out others, and try to search for his friend. Like Kaiba, Yugi cares about one person in his life, his grandfather. While Kaiba cares about his little Brother, Mokuba. Yugi would even go too far to help Mokuba save Kaiba, against Kaiba's will.

Yugi respects other duelist that duel without cheating. (For Example Joey, Kaiba, Mako Tsunami, and Rex Raptor) He would later respect Mai Valentine, after she helps him face his own fears after he is defeated by Kaiba.

Yugi also shows his angry side when he sees his friends and family being hurts. He is also in love with Tea Gardner. Like Tea (In the Manga only), he would show an angry expression when he saw her with someone. Yugi has a hard time confessing his love to Tea, but enjoys being around her.

Like Yami Yugi, Yugi is shown to dislike violence. Yugi would never use violence to defend himself. He would try to think of different ways to stay out of fights. Yugi is seen trying his hardest to be tough, and determine, but Yami Yugi and the others would him help for this reason.

Like Yami Yugi, Yugi duels for honor and justice, instead of cheating. Yugi's only weakness is caring for other's well being before his own. Including being Kind, and not showing his tough side in front of his friends. Yugi is also independent, and trys not to ask his friends for help. This is shown when he plays Duels Monsters. But he is shown to give Joey, and his friends support as well. Yugi is also shown to give Mokuba encouragement, hoping that the young boy can make the right decisions.

Like Yami Yugi, Yugi has have a long lasting friendship with many duelist that he fought in the series. (For example: Joey Wheeler, Mako Tsunami, Mai Valentine, Duke Devlin, and Maximillion Pegasus). He is shown to be very kind to the duelists that he encounters.

Years later after the ceremonial battle with Yami Yugi, it's reveal that Yugi was drawn to look more mature, and having to inherited Yami Yugi's strength. However he decides that he will stay working in Kame Game, by helping his grandfather. But his true dream goal is that he wants to become a game designer himself, and create a game that will be enjoyed by children, all over the world.

In the Japanese version, Yugi calls Yami Yugi mou hitori no boku (the other me), whereas Yami Yugi calls Yugi as aibou (partner). In Japanese, the first characters of "Yugi" and "Jonouchi" combine to form "Yujo" (友情), which means "friendship". The "Yu-Jo Friendship" card is named after the word and the fellowship between the characters.

Appearance
Yugi's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi.

His normal outfit consists of the dark blue standard male Domino Junior/Senior High uniform complete with a closed buckled collar. His extremely extravagant hair features multiple layers including long blond crooked, pointy locks for his fringe; the rest features a set of five large spikes and two smaller spikes colored black with a magenta sheen along the edges. So far, he and Yami are the only characters in the franchise to have their hair divided into three different colors. Yugi's eyes are purple. He wears the Millennium Puzzle on a lace around his neck. In the manga and second anime series, the lace is later replaced with a chain. In the manga (post Volume 7) and in the second series anime, he often wears a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left arm.

When he plays Dungeon Dice Monsters against Duke Devlin, he wears a black long-sleeves shirt, a gray sleeve-less vest, dark blue pants and black shoes. When he and Tea took a day together to find out about the Millennium Puzzle, he wore a black linen shirt and several pieces of wrist-chains, along with a pair of leather pants.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters, Yugi wears a different attire of a violet jacket and jeans. He also wears the Capsule Shooter on his left arm. In episode 4, he gains a duel armor that allows him to become one with one of his capsule monsters.

Years later after the ceremonial battle, Yugi is shown to become a little taller. He still wears the Domino City high school uniform, but this time he wears it having it in darker shade of purple color that Atem had, and now wears the Ankh cufflinks that Atem wore. He also wears the belt buckle on his waist the exact same way that Atem did. And lastly Yugi completes the outfit by wearing the tall blue like boots that Atem had wore. In this case Yugi is shown to dress like Atem, but no longer has the Millennium Puzzle.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yugi is much taller, physically resembling Atem much more. His arms are also incredibly muscular now. During this time, Yugi's present day face is not directly shown. Even though he is a young adult now, his voice has become deeper, yet it is still distinct enough to be separate from Atem's.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Manga
One day while being in high school, Yugi stayed in the classroom during lunch time, declining an offer to play basketball with the rest of class. As he worked on the unassembled Millennium Puzzle, he was interrupted by Tristan and Joey who took the puzzle box from him. Joey managed to secretly steal a piece and offered the box back if Yugi would punch him, which Yugi refused to do. Tea arrived and caught the box midair as Joey tossed it to Tristan. Joey and Tristan left after Tea told them off. Yugi then told Tea that the Puzzle was a memento of his grandfather and he had spent eight years trying to solve the Puzzle, believing a wish will be granted a wish upon completing it.

The hall monitor Tetsu Ushio believed Yugi was being bullied by Tristan and Joey, so he took it on himself to be Yugi's bodyguard, although Yugi denied that Tristan and Joey had been troubling him. Regardless Ushio beat them both up and showed them to Yugi. Yugi protested as Ushio continued to hit them, resulting in Ushio attacking him too. Afterwards Ushio imposed bodyguard fees of ¥200,000 and threatened him with a knife should he not pay.

That night, Yugi worked on the Puzzle, while thinking of way to make the money. Unlike other days, he was able to assemble the Puzzle more easily and quickly, until he realized the last piece was missing. As he searched the room, his Grandfather appeared and gave him the last piece, which Joey had returned earlier.

When Yugi assembled the Puzzle, he became the Guardian of the Shadow Games and his body came to bear host for the spirit of the 3,000-year-old Nameless Pharaoh. The spirit, known as Yami Yugi shared Yugi's body, which was unknown to Yugi.

Yami Yugi arranged to meet Ushio, defeated him in the money and knife Shadow Game and inflicted a Penalty Game on him. Yami Yugi changed back to Yugi, who had no knowledge of what had happen. The next day at school, the two boys meet up and saying that they're injuries are fine. But Joey tells Yugi he has something to show him, which makes Yugi excited by asking him what it is. Joey then answered Yugi's riddle. "something you can show, but can't see", saying it's friendship and that they're friends. After hearing this from Joey, this makes Yugi happy. While getting embarrassed by thinking he said something cocky, Joey runs off telling Yugi they will be late for class. But Yugi runs after Joey while telling him that he is forgetting his shoe.

A ZTV director arrived at Domino High School to make a documentary about bullying, Caught on Camera: School Violence. Seeing a TV van, Joey spread rumors that there was a star at their school, but Yugi was skeptical of this. The director's assistant, Fujita overheard Yugi and Joey mention a star. He lied to Yugi that there was a star and he could meet them behind the gym. When Yugi arrived Fujita proceeded to attack Yugi to fake a bullying scene on camera. Joey managed to break-up the fight, but couldn't cease the production. However Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, who later confronted the director and beat him in a dice game Shadow Game.

The untalented singer, Sozoji, forced Yugi to sell tickets to his concert. After Hanasaki tried to sell Yugi a ticket, Yugi took all Hanasaki's tickets off his hands. Knowing neither of them were going to be able to sell the tickets, he tried to spare Hanasaki the burden. The day of the concert, Yugi informed Sozoji that he couldn't sell any tickets. As punishment, Sozoji forced Yugi to listen to music at full blast and revealed Hanasaki, beaten-up, as the audience for the next song. Yami Yugi once again took over and beat the bully in the silence game Shadow Game.

Yugi was keen to eat at Burger World with his friends one day after school. However Tea strongly discouraged this idea. Yugi and Joey noticed Tea was acting suspicious and avoiding walking home from school with them. To get to the bottom of it, they followed her home from school and found that she had been working at Burger World. Since part time jobs were against school rules, she got them to promise they wouldn't tell. An escaped convict entered the restaurant, took Tea hostage and blindfolded her. Everyone else had to lie on the floor except for Yugi, who was forced to serve him vodka and Lucky Stripe cigarettes. Yami Yugi took control of Yugi's body and faced the convict in the one finger BATTLE! Shadow Game. Tea thought his voice sounded like Yugi's, but his actions and bravery were completely different. Yami Yugi defeated the convict, setting him alight. Yugi was oblivious to the game when he regained control of his body.

Yugi became envious of the alleged psychic Kokurano, as he tried to seduce Tea. For Yugi's disbelief in his powers, Kokurano said that in Yugi's future countless letters would fall from the heavens and bring disaster upon him. Later that day Kokurano knocked over bookshelves on top of Yugi. Yami Yugi then emerged to punish Kokurano and saved Tea.

For the Domino High school festival, the class followed Yugi's suggestion to set up a section for Carnival Games. However Goro Inogashira and his classmates tore down their stand to make way for their own. Yugi got injured trying to protect their stand and was taken to the infirmary. Tea took care of him for a while, but after she took her eyes off him he disappeared, having changed to Yami Yugi in order to get revenge on Goro.

Despite Tristan's wishes, Joey let Yugi in on the secret that Tristan had a crush on Miho Nosaka, and asked him for help. Yugi suggested that they browse his family's store for a present, where they decided on a love letter jigsaw puzzle. Having never sent a love letter before, Tristan got Yugi to write one and threatened him, should Miho not like it. The next day at school, the teacher Ms. Chono found the puzzle on Miho's desk before Miho. She confiscated it and demanded the sender come forward. Yugi, Joey and Tristan all claimed to have done so, but Chono continued to solve the puzzle to find out who really sent it and planned to punish the others for lying. Yami Yugi emerged and turns the puzzle into a Shadow Game, Dark Puzzle; as Chono continued to complete the puzzle, she felt the pain she was inflicting on others. The makeup on her face began to crack-up, revealing her true ugly self. Chono fled the room, sparing the boys any trouble. After Miho turned Tristan down for a date, Yugi and Joey treated him to a hamburger to cheer him up. Since then Tristan became good friends with Yugi.

After Joey bought a pair of Air Muscle shoes from the Junky Scorpion, he, Yugi and Honda were ambushed by the Muscle Hunters, who stole the shoes. After finding out that they were sent by the store owner, Yami Yugi emerged and returned to the store, to win back Joey's shoes. Not knowing how he got the shoes back, Yugi returned them to Joey.

Yugi introduced Joey and Tea to Duel Monsters at the Kame Game shop. Seto Kaiba arrived and took interest in Yugi's grandfather's rare "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card. Unable to buy it off him, he attempted to steal it from Yugi the next day at school, by switching it with a counterfeit. Despite noticing this, Yugi waited until no one else was around, before asking for the card back. Kaiba denied stealing it, but when Yugi persisted, he stuck him with a briefcase mocking Yugi and his grandfather's attitude. Yami Yugi then took control and defeated Kaiba in a Shadow Game of Duel Monsters, winning back the card and giving Kaiba a Penalty Game, making him believe he is in the Duel Monsters Spirit World, where he experienced death.

After realizing Joey had missed school for the first time, Yugi, Tea and Tristan investigated. They visit Joey's apartment, but got scared off by his father, who mistook them for Joey and yelled at them for disappearing for two days. The trio searched the city and found Joey with Hirutani's gang attacking a boy. Yugi ran over to ask Joey what was going on, but Joey denied knowing him. As Yugi continued to plea with Joey, one of the gang members punched Yugi in the face. Yugi refused to believe Joey had changed so they followed the gang to J'z. Tristan insisted that Yugi and Tea wait outside, for their own safety, while he went inside. However Tristan could only report that the gang had left, so the trio split-up to look for Joey. Unable to find Joey, Yugi clasped the Millennium Puzzle and asked it to tell him where Joey was. Yami Yugi took control of his body and went to Hirutani's torture chamber, where the gang had Joey tied-up. Yami Yugi managed to take out the gang in Landmine Search Network and relinquished control to Yugi, who escorted Joey out.

Yugi read that there was to be an Egyptian exhibition, Egypt Unearthed at the Domino City Museum in the newspaper, Japan Daily News. Two months later the exhibition took place. Since his grandfather knew Professor Yoshimori, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb, Yugi was allowed to come for free and invited his friends too. Tea noted that Egypt is where the Millennium Puzzle came from and reminded Yugi that his grandfather had said all the archaeologists involved in finding the puzzle had died mysterious deaths. Yugi assured his friends that he isn't cursed. However he thought to himself that he had suffered memory loss, but opted not to tell his friends thinking they'd find it creepy.

Outside the museum, Yugi was introduced to Professor Yoshimori, who in turn introduced him to Professor Kanekura. Kanekura begged Yugi to let him put the Millennium Puzzle on display and Yugi reluctantly allowed him to borrow it for one day. During the exhibition, Yugi didn't feel right without the Puzzle. Yoshimori showed Yugi and his friends around and Yugi bumped into Shadi, who claimed to be bearing the tears of the mummy that was unable to cry itself. After the exhibition closed, Yugi returned to collect his Puzzle. Unable to find Kanekura, he met Shadi and explained what he was looking for. Shadi was astonished to learn that Yugi may be the one who solved the Puzzle. To check, he used his Millennium Key to look into Yugi's soul room. However he found two rooms, one for Yugi and one for Yami Yugi. Shadi left Yugi's mind, after he was defeated by Yami Yugi. He returned the Puzzle to Yugi, saying that there is no need to thank him as he is in his debt, since Yugi's other self had saved him. However Yugi laughed at the idea of there being another person living inside him.

After hearing the news of Kanekura's unexpected death, Yugi, Solomon, Joey and Tea went to Domino University to cheer him up. However Yoshimori, possessed by Shadi, started attacking Yugi's friends. Shadi redecorates Tea's soul room and ordered the other Yugi to appear. He told Yugi that he can make Tea die by commanding her to do so. This prompted Yami Yugi to appear.

Yami Yugi faced Shadi in the Trial of the Mind in order to save his friends and defeated him. Tea and Joey saw Yugi shortly after he won the game and notices he had been acting differently. They approached him over this matter, but Yami Yugi relinquished control to Yugi, causing them to think they'd been mistaken.

Yugi got a Digital Pet, which he named U2. At school, he connected it Joey's pet, where it initially got bullied, but they started to get along afterwards. After Kujirada's pet ate Joey's and Tea's pets, he connected it to U2. Initially U2 got chased, but then used the data it incorporated from its connection with Joey's pet to transform to a more powerful form. The powered-up U2 struck Kujirada's pet defeating it. After U2 reached its life expectancy, Yugi stayed awake to watch him disappear

Tomoya Hanasaki introduced Yugi and his friends to Zombire, by bringing comics to school. Later that day, he invited them to his house, to show them his Zombire collection. Later that night, Hanasaki's father secretly paid three delinquents to stage a crime scene and allow Hanasaki, dressed as Zombie to break it up.

The next day, two of the delinquents approached Yugi, asking if he knew Hanasaki, which he denied. That night the delinquents, lured Hanasaki into a trap, by sending him a message, claiming that they had kidnapped Yugi. Shortly afterwards, Yugi traveled to Hanasaki's house to collect paint for a Zombire figure. There Hanasaki's father explained what had happened and that he could not afford to pay the delinquents to let Hanasaki win this time. Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, who saved Hanasaki by defeating the delinquents in the Maze of Fire Shadow Game.

Kaiba's brother Mokuba, approached Yugi in search of revenge. Using his gang, who were armed with dangerous weapons, he forced Yugi into a game of Capsule Monster Chess. As Mokuba's minions tried to mess with Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, Yami Yugi emerged, as Mokuba had hoped for. Even though Mokuba rigged the dispenser to give Yugi low level monsters for the game, Yami Yugi accepted the ante of having one of Yugi's fingers cut off should he lose, provided he may subject Mokuba to a Penalty Game, should Mokuba lose. Yami Yugi won and Mokuba warned him Death-T is coming, before he believed himself to be trapped in a giant capsule, as his penalty.

At an arcade, Yugi heard rumors of Kaiba building the ultimate game. He took his mind off it, by playing a fighting game, Virtual VS. He received multiple challenges from Street Fighter, defeating him each time. Not too pleased with this Street Fighter beat-up Yugi and stole the Millennium Puzzle. After Joey saw what happened he chased down Street Fighter and won the Puzzle back in the Game of Death.

Shortly after leaving the arcade, Yugi and Joey were invited via limousine to Kaiba Manor. At the mansion, Mokuba treated them to a meal, which turned out to be a game called Russian Roulette Dinner, in which he poisoned Joey. In order to save Joey, Yami Yugi emerged and defeated Mokuba.

The next day, Kaiba took Yugi and Joey to Kaiba Land as special guests. He treated them to a special show. However the show turned out to be Kaiba facing Yugi's grandfather in a game of Duel Monsters inside a Battle Box. Kaiba defeated Solomon using his 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" and tore-up Solomon's after he won. Kaiba subjected him to an artificial Penalty Game to force Yugi into competing in Death-T. Solomon handed Yugi his Deck to use against Kaiba, before being rushed to hospital.

Joey insisted on helping Yugi. Tristan who'd brought Johji to Kaiba Land came out of the crowd to help Yugi too. Much to everyone's surprise they were greeted by Tea as they started the first stage. Tea, who was working there, explained the rules of the shootout game they were about to play; Players basically take out their opponent's by shooting the sensor on their vest. However Kaiba had hired professional hitmen, armed with lethal guns as their opponents, while Yugi and his friends guns were totally ineffective. Joey managed to kick out one of the opponents, while Tristan and Johji used Tea's working gun to take out the other two in a fake surrender.

During the second stage, Yugi and his friends try not to resisted screaming on the Electric Chair Ride. The ride took them to the Murderer's Mansion, where they get their hands stuck in a guillotine. Yugi had to think fast as he solved the bllood puzzle riddle in time to save the group from getting their hands sliced off. In the final part of the stage, Joey was locked in a room, where he faced the Chopman in a deathmatch. While the Chopman's weapon was stuck, Yugi diverted Joey's attention to a candlestick he could use to pick the lock on his cuff. He then instructed Joey to lock the cuff onto the door with the candle slipped inside it. After the Chopman unstuck his weapon he yanked the chain, ripping out the door. Joey made his escape, while the candle hit the tar covered floor, incinerating the Chopman.

At the start of the third stage, the friends were left waiting in a empty room for a long time. Yugi used the time to apologize to his friends and blamed himself for dragging them into this. Joey seized him, demanding he never say that again. Joey and Tristan then admitted that through Yugi, they have come to like themselves. Tea asked them to hold out their hands as she drew a smiley face on them. If they wound up taking separate paths in life, she told them to remember the symbol and they would remember being friends.

After the challenge started, block fell from the ceiling, while the gang climbed them in order to escape through a hole in the wall, high off the ground. Tea made use of her dancing skills to read the rhythm the blocks are falling and help the others avoid them. However Tristan got his coat, stuck under a block, while the others made their escape.

Upset over what happened to Tristan, Yugi admits to Joey and Tea that he believes there is another Yugi living inside him. He had held this information back before, in fear that they won't want to be friends with him, knowing this. The group proceed to the third stage, where they knowingly see Yugi change to Yami Yugi for the first time, as he prepares to face Mokuba in another game of Capsule Monster Chess.

Yami Yugi defeats Mokuba and saves him from the artificial Penalty Game. He proceeds to defeat Kaiba in a game of Duel Monsters in the final stage. As a penalty, he dispels Kaiba's evil half. After the final stage, Yugi is reunited with Tristan, who is saved by Mokuba. From that day on, Yugi remembered all the battles he and Yami Yugi had fought.

Yugi scattered white socks across his bedroom floor in an attempt to exercise his sixth sense through the Sock Concentration game he had come up with. He correctly turned over the two socks he had marked and began to celebrate. But his mother scolded him and told him that Tea was waiting for him outside. On the way to school, Tea gave Yugi a Lovely Two, which initially got no response when he checked for love compatibility with Anzu. While Tea was concerned that their results in an achievement test were going to be put on public display at school, Yugi was looking forward to it, as he had intended to play the Achievement Test Bingo Game with Joey and Tristan.

Yugi managed to win the bingo game, but the guidance counselor, Tsuruoka caught him, Joey and Tristan having fun over the test results, despite scoring poorly themselves. He publicly ridiculed them and confiscated Yugi's Lovely Two, prompting Yami Yugi's arrival. Yami Yugi, Joey and Tristan wound up in a game, where they had to find the Lovely Two or face suspension (expulsion in the English version). Tea became bashful, knowing she was speaking to Yami Yugi and gave him her Lovely Two. After trying the love compatibility test, as Yami Yugi, the Lovely Twos began to beep, revealing the other one's location.

Over the summer vacation, Tea asks Yugi out to Domino Park. Yugi ends up chasing a kid, who sprays him with a water pistol. Seeing him act immaturely, Tea unsuccessfully trys to fake that she's in danger to make the other Yugi appear. After a bomb scare, Yugi is forced to stay back to find Tea, who's gotten on the ferris wheel. Upon learning the bombs are planted on the ferris wheel, Yugi switches to Yami Yugi, who engages in a game of clock solitare set by the bomber in order to save Tea. After stopping the bomber, Tea attempts to continue the date with Yami Yugi.

When Joey won a spot on The Get the Million Game, Yugi suggested that he, Tea and Tristan all be part of the studio audience, so that they could cheer him on. During the shows intermission, while Yugi was searching for the toilet, he overheard the producer talking to a technician. The producer asked to technician to make sure the game was rigged and mentioned that they were using Joey's struggle to gain ratings. Outraged, Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, who faced the producer and technician in the Red Paint Lottery game he set up impromptu and prevented them from rigging the game.

Yugi took up the game, Monster Fighter, which proved to be a big hit, with Yugi asked numerous times at school if his family's store has any in stock. Among Yugi's opponents was Koji Nagumo, who cheated by punching Yugi and stole his Monster Fighter. Yugi borrowed Joey's Monster Fighter and changed to Yami Yugi, who used it to defeat Koji in a Shadow Game of Monster Fighter.

The evidence existing becomes drastically clearer and clearer that Yugi and Yami Yugi are different souls. In the most prominent of these, Yugi is challenged to a Shadow Game by a boy named Imori using Chinese Dragon Cards that were sealed. Yugi loses and, as the rules say it must, his soul is sucked into the soul-eating jar. However he seizes the puzzle just in time and Yami Yugi challenges him to a re-match, defeating Imori and setting the captured Yugi's soul free while at the same time imprisoning Imori's. Now it is made clear that Yami Yugi and Yugi just live in the same body.

Yugi and Joey agreed to help their classmate, Nezumi, get back at three people who had mugged him using yo-yos. However Nezumi had double crossed them and led them to the Hirutani's gang, which had much more than three members. Hirutani had one of his minions hang Yugi from a hook, threatening to let him die, if Joey did not rejoin the gang. However Joey endured a bombardment of yo-yos and helped Yugi down. Joey borrowed the Millennium Puzzle to incapacitate a number of the gangsters. Yugi then switched to Yami Yugi leading for him and Joey to took out the remaining gangsters.

Yugi made friends with Ryo Bakura, after Bakura transferred to Domino High School. Bakura told Yugi and his friends of his interest in Monster World. But he advised them against playing it with him, as people he had faced in the past wound up in comas. When Bakura misses a day of school, Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan visited his apartment. Bakura tried warning them to leave, but he became possessed by Yami Bakura, who invited them inside.

Yami Bakura had a Monster World game set up and had created miniatures to resemble Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan to use as their avatars. He then got them to fill out data for their characters and touched up their miniatures accordingly. Yugi choose for his character to be a half-elf beast tamer.

In the game, Yugi and his friends played the role of the adventures, while Yami Bakura was the Dark Master. The adventures went to a tavern to find information on what to do. They learned that Zorc had been terrorizing the kingdom, from the Villager D character and Yugi became slightly suspicious of how lifelike the villager miniature seemed. On the way to Zorc Castle, the adventurers found an unconscious stranger, not knowing it was Zorc in disguise. Yugi was cautious that it could be a trap, but the group decided to wake him. The stranger told them of a holy sword capable of defeating Zorc, which a monster had stolen from him in the forest. Yugi remained suspicious, but the group decided to help the stranger locate the sword.

Inside the forest, the adventurers encountered a group of monsters, including Pokii, which Yugi tamed into an ally, while Tristan and Tea defeated the others. Zorc then revealed his true identity and having caught the adventurers off guard, was able to attack first. Yami Bakura rolled a super critical for Zorc, allowing him to trap Anzu's consciousness in her miniature. During the next few dice rolls, he also trapped Joey and Tristan in their miniatures. Yugi demanded that Yami Bakura do the same to him. Yami Bakura explained that with no one left to roll the dice, Yugi's team would lose, but still complied with Yugi's wishes. With Yugi's soul in his miniature, Yami Yugi took control of his body and continued to roll the dice for the adventurers.

Being within a separate body, Yugi was able to meet Yami Yugi for the first time. Yami Yugi credited the meeting to Yugi's courage. With Yami Yugi rolling, the adventurers severed Zorc's left hand, which mutated into more monsters. Zorc returned to the castle, leaving his spawn to battle. Yami Yugi for his team members, defeating the monsters, apart from Pao, which he got Yugi to tame. The adventurers proceeded to Zorc Castle, where they inspected a tower. Yugi suspected the markings on a pedestal inside the tower were of significance. However entering the tower, triggered a trap where the spiked ceiling fell on the adventurers' heads. Yami Yugi managed to save them by completing a support pillar before the miniatures broke under pressure.

Yami Yugi, whose double hit technique had been outlawed earlier began to roll more critical hits by channeling the anger of Yugi and his friends into the dice. This unleashed an onslaught of powerful attacks on Zorc, who was largely unharmed due to his high level. Using brainwashed dice, Yami Bakura rolled a super critical for Zorc's next attack, which hit all of the adventurers. However Ryo Bakura, who had regained control of his left hand, following Zorc's mutilation, interfered with the damage calculation, so Yugi and his friends survived with 1 HP each.

Tea was given sufficient time to heal Yugi and the others, due to Ryo Bakura continuing to sabotage Yami Bakura's moves. When Yami Bakura deliberately injured his hand to disenable Ryo's interference, Yugi began to suspect that there were two Bakuras and his friends agreed. On Yugi's turn he used his beast training hand to pull Ryo Bakura's miniature, White Wizard Bakura, from the stump of Zorc's right arm.

Wizard Bakura lowered Zorc's defenses, allowing Yugi's team to inflict serious damage on Zorc, prompting him to transform into Last Zorc, increasing his offensive and defensive power. Yugi wondered why Zorc did not assume this form sooner and Yami Yugi realized that it had exposed a weak point, an eye which is briefly exposed after Last Zorc attacks. Pokii flew into the eye to hold it open and Yugi used his training hand to punch the eye and simultaneously pull Pokii to safety. The other adventurers attacked Last Zorc and Ryo Bakura sacrificed his soul to destroy Yami Bakura's doppelganger dice, preventing Last Zorc's self-destruct attack.

After defeating Zorc, Yugi and his friends were returned to their bodies, including Bakura, whose soul was still alive in the White Wizard. A few days later, Bakura made a diorama featuring himself, Yugi, Yami Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan, Pokii and Pao, as a memento of their adventure.

Yugi visited Seto Kaiba in the hospital and found he had not recovered from Death-T. Yugi abstained from taking part in the Japanese National Duel Monsters Championship, as he had decided that when he was to enter a tournament, it would be to fight Kaiba in a fair Duel. At lot of Yugi's classmates played Duel Monsters during their lunch breaks. Following a losing streak, Joey turned to Yugi for help. Yugi quickly pointed out the imbalance of Joey's all-monster Deck and invited him to his house to train. They began by watching the national championship finals.

Yugi opened a package he had received, containing a a VHS, featuring Maximillion J. Pegasus. Although claiming to a prerecording, Pegasus challenged Yugi to a Duel on the spot. Despite the seemingly impossible nature, Yugi rose to the challenge, seeing it as a dream to play against the creator of Duel Monsters.

In addition to knowing what cards Yugi played, Pegasus was also able to tell what cards were in Yugi's hand and correctly predict what moves he was planning. When the picture on one of Yugi's cards got sucked into the TV screen, Yami Yugi realized that they were playing a Shadow Game and took control. Pegasus won the Duel and as Penalty Game, he sucked the soul of Solomon into the TV, coaxing the Yugis to participate in the Duelist Kingdom tournament to save him. By putting the videotape into a camcorder, Yugi was able to move his grandfather to a different screen, making him portable enough to communicate with wherever he went.

Having recently attained the ability to tell what his other self is feeling, Yugi told his friends that Yami Yugi felt bad for losing to Pegasus. They filled Ryo Bakura in on what happened and considered entering the Duelist Kingdom tournament to return Solomon to normal.

When Yugi arrived home, he found the invitation to Duelist Kingdom attached to the door. Joey, Tea, Tristan, and Bakura appeared and informed him that Joey had also received a videotape in the mail, which they feared could be from Pegasus. Since he did not have an 8 mm VCR of his own, he asked if they could watch it on Yugi's. However the tape was a message from Joey's sister Serenity Wheeler, who discussed her inevitable blindness. As Joey wept about being unable to afford the surgery to help her, Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, who split his Star Chips with Joey, urging him to enter the tournament for the prize money.

Yugi and Joey spent the next week training for the tournament. During this time, Yugi gave Joey the card "Time Wizard".

The day before the tournament, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Bakura and Tristan went Domino Pier to board the ship to the tournament. There they met Mai Valetine, who informed Yugi that he was famous for defeating Kaiba and teased him over his size.

Yugi spent some on the ship conversing with Weevil Underwood, who leaked word of new rules being in use for the tournament and advised Yugi on the tactical advantages of staying in the same room as the other participants. On the ship's deck, Solomon discussed the suspicious nature of the tournament with Yugi. Weevil then appeared and requested to see the "Exodia" cards Yugi used to defeat Kaiba, only to throw them overboard. Joey dived into the water but was only able to recover two of the five cards. Yugi then changed to Yami Yugi, who vowed to take out Haga first in the tournament.

When the tournament started, Weevil led Yugi to the forest. But before their Duel, to make benefit of the Field Power Source. Weevil wager his life in addition to his one Star Chip, but Yami Yugi was able to take both of Haga's Star Chips when he won, eliminating Weevil from the tournament.

Yugi spent much of his time as Yami Yugi, who watched Joey duel Mai, while himself Dueled Mako Tsunami. Later battling for Mokuba Kaiba to join their group Yugi battle Mimic of Doom. Through defeating Mimic, he acquired Kaiba's stolen Deck and awoke Kaiba from his coma. But he realize that Kemo had taken Mokuba anyway.

Agreeing not to help Joey in his duel against Rex Raptor, Yami Yugi returned control to Yugi. However as Joey was being overpowered, Tea, Tristan and Bakura tried convincing Yugi to help him, reminding him that Serenity could go blind if Joey lost. Yugi agreed to help, but was stopped by Yami Yugi, who explained the necessity of Jonouchi's independence and directed his attention to the determination in Jonouchi's eyes.

During the night of the preliminaries, Mai proposed a ceasefire and shared her food with Yugi and his friends. Yugi gathered firewood to help Bakura with the cooking. As they ate, Mai made it clear that they would go back to being enemies the next day and that she intended to defeat Yugi. Before trying to go to sleep, Yugi spoke with Solomon on the camcorder, briefing him in on his progress in the tournament. After Joey, Tristan and Bakura fell asleep, Mai arranged for Yugi and Tea to meet up. She tells Yugi that Tea wanted to speak with him. The two met at the cliff and Tea began to talk about old times. Yugi suspected that she wanted to speak with Yami Yugi and offered to change, but Tea refused and tried to convince herself that both Yugis were the same person. She held his hand and told him he was fine the way he was.

Yugi and Tea's meeting was interrupted by the sound of Mai screaming. They located her and found that she had been beaten by the Panik, who took all eight of her Star Chips. Panik then challenged Yugi, who switched to Yami Yugi and defeated him, winning back Mai's Star Chips. Mai reluctantly accepted his offer to take them back and said that she owed him one. Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Bakura slept outside under the trees. They were woken several times, including once by Bakura, who to their surprise had brought the Millennium Ring to the island. He showed them that the ring was pointing to Pegasus Castle. Yugi reminded Bakura that the ring was dangerous and advised him against putting it on.

Later that night, Kaiba arrived on the island. Yugi returned his Deck, which he had recovered from Mimic. Kaiba thanked him, but said not to be mistaken, as he intended to defeat Yugi in a Duel sooner or later. Joey, unwilling for forgive Kaiba for Death-T tried to pick a fight with Kaiba. As Yugi and Tristan tried to restrain, he challenged Kaiba to a Duel. When Kaiba defeated and mocked Joey, Yugi questioned if Kaiba had changed at all to which Kaiba replied that Yugi's friendship still disgusted him. Before leaving Kaiba warned Yugi of Pegasus' apparent ability to read minds, which he believed even Yugi would not be able to overcome.

The next morning, Mai had left by the time the rest of the group woke up, but left some supplies and a note to Yugi saying that she owed him eight Star Chips. As they discussed their plans, Yugi said that they should not waste time as the preliminaries would be over after four people have collected ten Star Chips. He also warned that the remaining Duelists should be stronger than ones from the previous day.

When Joey got separated the group, the group split up and searched to no avail. Yugi then switched to Yami Yugi, who with the power of the Millennium Puzzle sensed Joey was underground, helping them find Joey in a cave, just after he defeated Bonz. However, before the group could leave, Bandit Keith got his gang to trap them inside the underground by rolling a boulder in front of the entrance.

As Yugi's group searched for another exit, they encountered the Meikyu Brothers, whom Yami Yugi and Joey defeated in order to escape to the surface and raise both their Star Chip counts to ten. As Yami Yugi he told Solomon that he is on his way to Pegasus' castle, while Solomon advises him to stay strong during a duel. At the entrance to Pegasus Castle, Yami Yugi was challenged him to a Duel by Kaiba. As Yami Yugi was about to win, Kaiba threatened to jump to his death should Yami Yugi attack. Yami Yugi refused to lose and tried attacking, but Yugi took over and stopped the attack. Kaiba won on the next turn, taking five of Yugi's Star Chips.

Yugi wept over how close he had come to killing Kaiba. Tea began to comfort Yugi, telling him he had done the right thing. However Kaiba insisted that Yugi had lost, as a consequence of showing weakness at the end and that caring for the enemy's safety is the most foolish thing he could do. Tea argued that Kaiba was the one, who had shown weakness, by being afraid to live with defeat and that Yugi's actions had shown true courage. As Kaiba left, Joey told him not to forget that Yugi saved him when he was willing to throw his life away. Yugi and his friends rushed to find an opponent for Yugi to win back his five Star Chips, but were stopped by Kemo, who claimed Yugi was to be disqualified. He informed them that four participants had already collected ten Star Chips, Keith, Joey and a third, who had left to collect the fourth, and that the other participants had all left the island.

Joey tried convincing Yugi to take five of his Star Chips, but Yugi would not accept. Mai then arrived and offered Yugi the six additional Star Chips she had earned, in order to repay her debt. Yugi still refused to accept, insisting it was was not something Yami Yugi would do. Joey told Yugi that he should not feel inferior to Yami Yugi and that he was fighting for things more important than "Duelist's pride". Mai said that while she had collected the extra Star Chips, hoping it would give her the right to face Yugi, she had also done it with the hope of seeing Yugi and his friends again, as she was happy that they had considered her to be their friend. Yugi finally accepted the Star Chips and Joey offered to kick Yami Yugi's but, if he was to complain.

Upon entering Pegasus Castle, Yugi and his friends spotted Bandit Keith, who directed their attention to a Duel between Kaiba and Pegasus, which was about to start. Seeing how Kaiba was fighting to save Mokuba, Yugi opted to support him and warned him of the "Dragon Capture Jar" in Pegasus' Deck. Yugi learned of Pegasus exclusive "Toon World" card. When Kaiba lost and his soul sealed in the card, "Soul Prison", Yugi said that Kaiba's motives were no different than his or Joey's and vowed to never forgive Pegasus.

During the night, Yugi heard noise coming from Joey's room and went in to check it out. He found Keith, who tried to quieten Yugi by punching him, but Joey woke up and fought Keith off. Keith then left, without them knowing that he had taken Joey's participation card, "The Honor of the King's Right".

While Tea tended to Yugi's face, where Keith had hit him, he admitted to feeling embarrassed, having to always be helped; by her, Joey and Yami Yugi. He reminded her how she had said that he was fine the way he was, but insisted that he could not stay that way. He said that he could not protect her that way and that he intended to become stronger one way; strong enough to not lose to Yami Yugi.

On the final day of the tournament, Yugi spoke with Solomon and vowed to defeat Pegasus and return Solomon to his body. Solomon informed Yugi that a Duelist's self-esteem can turn into pride and dig their own grave. He believed that Yugi and Yami Yugi balanced each other's hearts and that when Yami Yugi becomes overconfident and loses his sense of justice, it becomes Yugi's duty to help.

Yami Yugi initially played poorly in his semifinal Duel against Mai. But as Mai informed him that a Duelist's courage is tested in defeat, not victory. He realized that he had been afraid to lose against Kaiba, while Yugi had not. He saw that Yugi's strength had made up for his own weakness, and that the two of them fight best together. He proceeded to win the duel. After Joey defeated Keith, a final duel between Yugi and Joey was deemed unnecessary and Yugi immediately advanced to face Pegasus.

Yami Yugi struggled against Pegasus' Mind Scan, during their Duel. However Yugi managed to speak with Yami Yugi inside their soul room for the first time. He suggested that Pegasus might only be able to read one mind at a time and proposed the Mind Shuffle strategy, where they would take turns making moves. This way after one Yugi made a move, Pegasus would only be able to read the mind of the other Yugi, who would not know what move the first Yugi had made.

Using the Mind Shuffle strategy, the Yugis mislead Pegasus as to which of the "Magical Hats" "Dark Magician" was hidden under and Yugi Set 2 cards, without Pegasus knowing what they were. This prompted Pegasus to use "Magic Neutralizing Force" to get rid of the hats, before trying to attack the "Dark Magician". However this allowed Yugi to use the cards he had Set, "Living Arrow", causing "Magic Neutralizing Force" to nullify the effects of "Toon World" and "Mirror Force" to destroy Pegasus' monsters, which were no longer protected by "Toon World".

Pegasus commended Yugi's strategy and regarded him as worthy of possessing a Millennium Item. He then said that he would duel Yugi with the power and respect he deserved, and changed the duel to a Shadow Game. He told Yugi that ancient Egyptian magicians used to seal monsters in tablets and use them to battle and that he created Duel Monsters to recreate those battles in the modern world.

Yami Yugi knew that Yugi's heart would not be strong enough for the burden of maintaining the monsters' ethereal, but Yugi insisted on fighting. He spent some time in control to stop Pegasus reading Yami Yugi's mind, but the duel proved physically draining for him. Before collapsing, he set a card, telling Yami Yugi to use it to defeat Pegasus. Pegasus declared that Yugi's soul had died, but Tea remembered Yugi telling her that as long as one Yugi's soul lived, the other would live too. Since Yami Yugi was still alive, she deduced that Yugi was alive too. With Yugi disengaged, Pegasus continued to read Yami Yugi's mind, until one turn where an apparition of Yami Yugi's friends, including Yugi, began blocking his powers. Yugi slowly regained consciousness, in time for Yami Yugi to play the card he had Set, "Dark Magic Ritual", which was critical in their strategies to stop "Jigen Bakudan" exploding and defeat "Thousand-Eyes Restrict", which led to their victory.

As agreed, Pegasus released the souls of Solomon, Kaiba and Mokuba and had his men get Yugi's prize money, which Yami Yugi gave to Joey. Pegasus also told Yami Yugi how he acquired the Millennium Eye and that the Millennium Items contain an evil intelligence. Although Yami Yugi himself came from a Millennium Item, Yugi assured him that it did not matter where he came from; he was glad to have him.

Yugi and his friends met Kaiba and Mokuba after their souls had been restored. Kaiba admitted that he owed Yugi for saving Mokuba, but told him to tell Yami Yugi that their battle was not over yet. When Bakura reported that there were no boats on the island, Kaiba begrudgingly agreed to let them ride in his helicopter, but insisted that they would be even once they got back to Japan. As they flew over the ocean, Yugi bade a silent farewell to Duelist Kingdom.

Yugi replaced the string he used to wear the Millennium Puzzle with a chain, which he felt represented the bond between him and Yami Yugi. As he discussed the new look with Yami Yugi, his mother, unaware of Yami Yugi's existence, noted that Yugi had been talking to himself a lot. Despite his grandfather, Solomon, feeling his business was threatened by the new game store, the Black Crown. Yugi insisted that he and Tea have a look at the store on their way to school, the day before it opened. There he learned that a new game, abbreviated D.D.M. was to be released.

Having went up a grade, there were some new students in Yugi's class, including Duke Delvin, whose popularity made Joey jealous. Duke proposed a bet with Joey, where the loser would do the others bidding for a week. Duke had to move a die from inside an upside-down cup to his hand without touching the cup. Yugi coped on to Duke's ploy, when he tempted Joey into moving the cup, but Joey fell for it and gave Duke an opportunity to grab the die. Yugi argued that the game was not fair, but Duke explained that his actions fell within the rules.

Yugi was unsuccessful in talking Joey out playing another game with Duke, Four Aces. Joey lost and Duke proceeded to issue orders and humiliate him, prompting Yami Yugi to challenge Duke to a game for Joey's freedom. Yugi asked Yami Yugi if he planned on playing Four Aces and admitted his suspicions that the game may be rigged. Yami Yugi confirmed and explained how the apparent 50-50 chance of winning was in fact a one-in-three chance. After modifying the rules to balance the odds, Yami Yugi defeated Duke.

Yugi attended the Black Crown grand opening with Tea, Ryo Bakura and Joey. As they queued up, unaware that Solomon was behind him, Yugi asked the others not to tell him that he was shopping there and blamed the lack of popularity of his family's store on Solomon's old-fashioned taste in games. Inside the store, Yugi got separated from the others and was constantly cut in front of. However Mr. Clown moved Yugi up in the queue and discretely slipped D.D.M packets into Yugi's pocket. Security then pulled Yugi into an office, where they accused him of stealing the packets and confiscated the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi was then brought to another room, where he he met Duke, who informed him he was the creator of D.D.M., Dungeon Dice Monsters, and imposed a game.

Duke handed Yugi a briefcase, filled with dice and instructed him to assemble a pool of twelve. Yugi choose a mixture of blue, white, black dice for Warriors, Spellcasters and special abilities. Each player was given a Dungeon Master with three Life Points and each turn they were dealt three of the dice they had chosen. Without the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi had to play without Yami Yugi's aid. He got Duke to promise to return the Puzzle, if he won. By rolling at least two summon Crests per turn, Duke was able to dimension his dice, unfolding them into a path on the board and revealing the creatures inside. He quickly managed to summon four creatures, before Yugi, who had chosen high-level dice, managed to summon his first.

Although Yugi's monsters were of a higher level, Duke's knowledge of the game allowed him to overpower Yugi at first. As Yugi started to doubt he had a chance. Duke explained that he knew Yugi fulfilled a prophecy, by completing the Millennium Puzzle, earning him the title "King of Games", and that he had defeated numerous opponents using the Puzzle's power. He said that he had stolen the Puzzle in order to test Yugi's true power and demanded that he not be disappointed. Yugi asked how Duke knew about the Millennium Puzzle and was told that Duke's father, Mr. Clown, had been Solomon's apprentice. Duke said that Clown had challenged Solomon to the Devil's Board Game for the ownership of the Puzzle, only to lose and that he and Yugi were now fighting a battle which had been passed down through the generations.

Yugi placed the die for "Iron Golem Gorogon" on the field, without dimensioning it and baited Duke's monsters into lining up, at the cost of a Life Point. He then played "Gorogon", whose effect destroyed Duke's two monsters that were in line with it. Duke played "Flame Armor Dragon", which Yugi defeated with "Duker of Twin Swords". However this was a deliberate sacrifice to block Yugi's dice path, leaving with little room to dimension more dice.

Duke dimensioned a rare black die, placing a "Warp Crest" on the field and hoped to play another one to easily teleport his monsters closer to Yugi's Dungeon Master. However Yugi also dimensioned a rare black die, completing the warp path and teleporting his "Black Ninja" to Ryuji's territory, where it defeated "Dark Eye Stalker" and took out one of Ryuji's Life Points. By rolling a triple crest, Duke summoned "God Orgoth" at LV4 and used three Magic Crests to raise its ATK to 2000. Yugi also three Magic Crests to allow "Black Ninja" to dodge an attack from "Orgoth", allowing "Black Ninja" to attack Ryuji's Dungeon Master again next turn, leaving him with one Life Point.

Mr. Clown entered the room, annoyed that Duke was having trouble defeating Yugi and forbade Ryuji from losing. As Clown argued with Yugi about returning the Puzzle, Duke asked him to stay out of the fight and not get in the way. Intent on helping Duke, Clown disassembled the Millennium Puzzle to break Yugi's will to fight. Yugi wept and asked how Clown could break his other heart. Disapproving of his father's actions, Duke apologized to Yugi and helped him pick up the pieces. Nevertheless, he resumed the game and maintained that the winner would keep the Puzzle. "God Orgoth" proceeded to slay all of Yugi's monsters, bar "Duker of Twin Swords". As, Yugi began to wonder if he was really going to lose, Yami Bakura entered the room and asserted that Duke would be incapable of handling the Puzzle. Yugi realized that Ryo Bakura was being possessed again, but Yami Bakura claimed to now be his friend, having turned over a new leaf. He examined the board and acknowledged that Yugi was in a bad, but not hopeless situation and believed that Yugi, powerful enough to be the Puzzle's chosen host, would win.

Yugi was suspicious about Yami Bakura's claims to be an ally, but decided to focus on winning the game. Yugi spent all his Attack Crests to make "Duker of Twin Swords" stronger than "Orgoth", but Duke blocked his attack with "Anagora". "Orgoth" progressed, destroying "Duker" and attack Yugi's Dungeon Master. Yugi thought there was no longer any way he could win the game and Duke began trying to reassemble the Puzzle, but Yami Bakura remained confident that Yugi would win.

Yugi noticed a space on the board capable of fitting on oddly-unfolded dice and used it to Summon "Armor Wizard Pazoo". As Yugi struggled to think of how he could defeat "Orgoth" with such a weak monster, Yami Bakura told him that this was another test to see that he was the true successor to the Millennium Puzzle. He claimed that there was only one person capable of solving the Puzzle and chosen for the duty of awakening the King's, Yami Yugi's, memories and that person is Yugi. Yugi used his monster's secret power, which turned itself into a shield his Dungeon Master used to block the next attack from "Orgoth" and then a sword, which defeated "Orgoth", winning the game for Yugi.

Yugi explained that it was not a desire for the power of the Puzzle, but his wish to be reunited with Yami Yugi, that led to his victory. As Yami Bakura picked up the Puzzle pieces to return to them to Yugi, Yugi acknowledged that he would not have won without his support and thought that he would like to think Yami Bakura is a friend. Unknown to Yugi, Yami Bakura used his Parasite Mind ability to seal a part of his soul in a piece of the Puzzle. Despite losing, Duke said he had no regrets and could not hate Yugi. Pretending to apologize, Clown put the Puzzle's chain around Yugi's neck. However he tightened it and dragged Yugi into a secret room, where he locked the door and pinning down a piece of the Puzzle by its chain. He prepared to face Yugi in the Devil's Board Game to make him suffer the same hyper aging it had inflicted on him. Clown tried to reconstruct the Millennium Puzzle himself, hoping to use its power to win the game. Yugi urged him to stop, warning him that he was angering the Puzzle. Clown began to suffer hallucinations, causing him to knock over the candles, setting the room on fire.

Yugi saved Mr. Clown by rolling him on the floor to stop his clothes burning. The door was jammed, leaving them unable to escape until Jonouchi and Honda arrived and broke the door open. With a piece of the Puzzle still pinned to the table, Yugi could not take it with him. Despite his friends suggestions, Yugi refused to leave without seeing Yami Yugi once more to apologize and began to reassemble the Puzzle. He quickly completed the Puzzle, but collapsed as he inserted the last piece. Jonouchi tried to carry him out, but could not loosen Yugi's grip from the chain. Using the Devil's Board Game board as a level, he was able to pull the pin out and rescue Yugi.

Following the fire at the Black Crown, Yugi spent some time, recovering at Domino City Hospital. Over the course of three days, he and Dark Yugi assembled a new Duel Monsters Deck. When visited by his friends, he dueled Joey, who had left his Deck unchanged since Duelist Kingdom. Having come up with a strategy to counter it, he was able to beat Joey each time and suggested that he build a new deck. Yugi was shown a newspaper advertisement for The Art of Egypt, by a man, who noticed the similarity between Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and an item worn by Ishizu Ishtar in the advertisement. Yugi was certain that this was a Millennium Item and that something big was about to happen.

Before leaving the hospital, Yugi spoke with Yami Yugi about what Yami Bakura concerning Yugi having the duty of awakening the king's memories. He asked Yami Yugi if he was king, but Yami Yugi had no memory of where he came from. He suggested that going to the store tablet in Egypt for the Millennium Items might help him. Yugi dropped the subject and the two agreed that they would rather stay together forever than have Yami Yugi regain his memories. Yugi wept and offered to share his memories with Yami Yugi. After the hospital, Yugi noticed that Yami Yugi had been feeling uneasy, but unwilling to talk about it. At school, he asked Tea if she was free that Sunday to spend time with Yami Yugi to cheer him up. Yugi put on some accessories and told Yami Yugi he was meeting Tea, before saying it was actually Yami Yugi's date. While visiting The Art of Egypt exhibition, Dark Yugi and Tea learned that Yami Yugi was the soul of a Pharaoh, but decided not to tell Yugi, as he they felt he was not ready to accept the consequences of Yami Yugi regaining his memory.

Yugi learned about Kaiba Corporation's Battle City tournament from Dark Yugi and decided to enter, hoping it would give him a chance to face Kaiba in a fair Duel. Knowing Yami Yugi's distaste for playing with an ante, Yugi found it odd that he also wanted to enter and suspected he had another reason. The day before the tournament, Yugi and Joey went to the RPG Hobby Trading Cards shop to collect Duel Disks, which were necessary to participate. Having the highest possible Duelist level in Kaiba Corporation's Duelist database, Yugi was entitled to a free Duel Disk.

At home, Yugi spent some reviewing Joey's new deck and after Joey left, the Yugis stayed up all right working on their Deck. The morning of the tournament, Yami Yugi confessed that he was fighting to find himself in Battle City and that he would need Yugi's help. Yugi respected his decision to not be more specific and hoped to go with him to find the answer. At the beginning of the preliminaries, Yugi, as Yami Yugi, defeated the Rare Hunter, who had taken Jonouchi's "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" and learned about their enemy Marik Ishtar, who used the Millennium Rod to control people and entered the tournament to get the Egyptian God cards.

As Yami Yugi sought out Marik's Rare Hunter Ghoul underlings, Yugi expressed concern regarding Joey dueling without the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Yami Yugi explained that by holding onto the card they were bringing out Joey's true strength, by giving him something to fight for. Yugi agreed and thought Joey would be fine. As Yami Yugi wondered how the Rare Hunters knew Joey had "Red-Eyes", Yugi remembered that the clerk at the card shop had seen data on their cards before he gave them the Duel Disks, leading them to suspect the shop was a front for Rare Hunters.

At the basement of the card shop Yami Yugi defeated Arkana in a Duel, where the loser's feet were to be sawn off. Marik stopped Arkana from saving himself, but Yugi took back control of his body and unlocked the shackles around Arkana's feet, freeing him. Marik took control of Arkana to speak to Yugi, whom he referred to as "the vessel". He told Yugi that his family had protected the Millennium Items and memories of a king, who would be risen and identified by having the three God cards. However, since this duty had brought suffering on his family, he planned to kill the king in vengeance and wield the God cards to become the new king. Now knowing that Yami Yugi was fighting to regain his memories, Yugi thought again about how this could mean their separation, but ultimately decided it was the right option to pursue. Marik warned Yugi that he would be killing him too and that while he was still on his way to Domino City, he had a Rare Hunter, the "Stings", with a God card in the city ready for them. When Yami Yugi proposed that they wait for their enemies to appear, Yugi disagreed, fearing that they could be planning something. He admitted to knowing the Ghouls were trying to kill Yami Yugi and that Yami Yugi had entered the tournament to recover his memories and felt it was his duty to help Dark Yugi.

Yugi was approached by Stings, possessed by Marik, who imposed a Duel. Yugi warned Yami Yugi about the Egyptian God card, "Slifer the Sky Dragon", which Yami Yugi proceeded to win through the ante rule, but then learned his friends lives were in danger. Yami Yugi defeated a few more Rare Hunters, qualifying him and Yugi for the final rounds.

Yami Yugi was forced into a Duel against Joey, possessed by Marik, in which the loser would be dragged to the bottom of the sea. Determined to help Joey, Yugi insisted that he fight this Duel. Yami Yugi allowed him, but stipulated that he would take over if Yugi's life was in serious danger. With Yami Yugi being the one he wanted revenge on, Marik demanded that he switch back, but Yugi refused.

Yugi used "Exchange" while holding "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", a card of sentimental value to Jonouchi. He hoped showing it to Joey would invoke true heart. It was enough to make Joey disobey Marik's order and take a card other than "Red-Eyes". Yugi then Summoned "Red-Eyes" and claimed it wanted Joey to revert to his old self.

As the Duel got more intense, Yami Yugi wanted to take over, but Yugi removed the Millennium Puzzle, uncoupling his control.Yami Yugi warned him of the dangers, but Yugi said that he trusted Joey. He also felt that he needed to independently become stronger for Dark Yugi to ever be able to leave him. Knowing he would not bring himself to defeat and kill Joey, Yugi gave the Puzzle to Joey to ensure it would not get dragged to the bottom of the sea. As Marik ordered Joey to throw away pieces of the Puzzle, it reminded Joey of how he had become friends with Yugi, allowing his true self to resist the order.

With one minute left in the Duel's time limit, Yugi, certain that have Joey fully overcome Marik's control, declared Marik to be the true loser; a failure to be branded in his memory even if Yugi and Joey were both to be pulled into the ocean. He then urged Marik to try and defeat him. Marik responded by playing "Meteor of Destruction", but Yugi activated "Mystical Rift Panel", allowing him to choose the target of the meteor. Expecting it to be redirected to Joey, Marik thought he had lost the duel. Joey then fully snapped out of Marik's control and asked why he and Yugi were fighting, but Yugi replied that they were not really fighting each other; Joey was fighting Marik's influence, while Yugi was ensuring they stayed friends and that they had both won. Yugi let Joey know that he loved him and was grateful for everything he had thought him, before finally choosing himself as the target of the meteor, causing Yugi to lose the duel.

As an anchor was about to pull Yugi and Joey into the ocean, Yugi, before falling unconscious, instructed Joey to use the key, he had unlocked as winner, to uncuff himself from the anchor. However Joey got "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" to attack causing himself to also be defeated, unlocking Yugi's key too. Joey grabbed Yugi's key just before they both got pulled into the water and used it to free Yugi. While Mokuba pulled Yugi onto the pier, Kaiba dropped the other key into the water to allow Joey to free himself. Joey felt bad, but Yugi told him not to blame himself. After the Millennium Puzzle was returned to Yugi, Yami Yugi thought to himself that he had learned from Yugi that in kindness lies the greatest strength of all and that one day Yugi would surpass him in every way. As Kaiba left for the finals, he asked Yugi to tell Yami Yugi that Yugi and his friends had given him "the answer".

Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan, Duke and Serenity all squeezed into Mai's car to travel to Domino Stadium for the finals. Yugi was surprised to see Bakura arrive as a finalist, as he had been in the hospital earlier that day. Yugi was suspicious of Bakura's participation and thought that it momentarily looked like Bakura had been controlled by Yami Bakura. He also got bad vibes from the finalist, Namu, who was actually Marik undercover, but when Bakura and Tea identified him as a friend, Yugi dropped his distrust. Bakura showed Yugi his Millennium Ring reacting to the proximity of another Millennium Item, as Odion, posing as Marik arrived as another finalist. The finalists and companions then boarded the Battle Ship blimp, the stage for the next round, when it landed in the stadium.

Prior to the quarterfinals, Yugi added "Slifer the Sky Dragon" to his deck, partly following advice from Kaiba. The first quarterfinal duel featured Yugi and Bakura, each controlled by their alternate serves. Yami Yugi won the duel, but noted his similarity to Yami Bakura in terms of protecting his host. However Yugi felt they were different as unlike the Bakuras, the desire to help each other was shared by both Yugis. Yugi took back control of his body and declined his permission to take one of Bakura's cards via the ante. In analysis of the duel, Yugi discussed Yami Bakura seemingly putting Bakura in danger, only to pull him back to safety and concluded it was actually Marik, who had exposed Bakura to the danger.

In Joey's quarterfinal against Odion, Yugi witnessed Joey expose Odion as not being Marik. During the duel, Joey and Odion were knocked unconscious by Ra, causing Joey to have a dream, featuring his friends, including Yugi, helping him get ready for a tournament. With Odion's defeat, Yugi also witnessed the real Marik becoming exposed and controlled by Yami Marik. Yami Yugi stayed in control of Yugi's body for the remaining two quarterfinals, seeing Yami Marik defeat Mai and Kaiba defeat Ishizu.

When Yugi and his friends went to visit Mai, who had been comatose, following her duel with Yami Marik, they were accompanied by Ishizu. As Ishizu told them about her family enduring suffering in the line of their duty, Yugi realized that she was Marik's sister and asked her about Marik's motives. She told them about her family protecting the Millennium Items, a painful ritual Marik had to endure, them meeting a man, whom Yugi recognized as Shadi, and Yami Marik's first surfacing, in which he killed their father. With the Millennium Necklace no longer working for her, Ishizu passed it on to Yugi and said that he would need it to get all seven Millennium Items to awaken Yami Yugi's memories.

Yugi had trouble sleeping that night, thinking of what Ishizu said. He assured Yami Yugi that they would collect all the Items and awaken his memory and insisted that they get some sleep, while he secretly wept. After falling asleep, Yugi found himself inside his soul room. He sensed something bad happening in Yami Yugi's soul room and went inside for the first time. He got a freight when Yami Yugi appeared behind him. Yami Yugi got the same uneasy feeling as Yugi and unknown to them, they were watched by the portion of Yami Bakura's soul that had been sealed in the Puzzle, before its latest reassembly. Yami Yugi asked if Yugi found it odd that his room was a maze, but he said it made sense considering Yami Yugi had no memories, he did not know which path led to his true heart. Yami Yugi told him about the time Shadi had trespassed, looking for the door that led to the true soul room, but not even Yami Yugi knew of the door's location. Yugi suspected the door was related to the lost memories, before agreeing to return to his own room to get some sleep.

The Battle Ship landed on the island, Alcatraz, whose Duel Tower was the location of the next round of the tournament. Yugi, as Yami Yugi faced the other semifinalists in a battle royal, to determine the pairings for the semifinals, resulting in Joey facing Yami Marik and Yugi facing Kaiba. Joey was left unconscious and declared dead by Yami Marik, following their duel. While Yugi and Yami Yugi grieved, they noticed the Millennium Tauk glowing. Its power of foresight showed them a future, where Yami Yugi and Joey prepared for a friendly duel.

When Yami Yugi defeated Kaiba in the second quarterfinal, the Yugis got the Egyptian God card, "The God of the Obelisk", and qualified for the finals. After the Duel, they were relieved to find that Joey had recovered. Yami Yugi and Yami Marik Duel, with Yugi and Marik as sacrifices. Yami Marik turned the final Duel into a Shadow Game, where Yugi and Marik appeared out-of-body next to Yami Yugi and Yami Marik respectively, as sacrifices. As players lost Life Points their corresponding sacrifice would synchronously disappear into darkness, suffering pain in the process and dying upon full consumption when their player loses. Unlike the Mariks, Yugi's death would also result in Yami Yugi's death.

Marik apologized to the Yugis for his misguided hatred and urged them to defeat Yami Marik, despite it meaning his death, but Yugi remained adamant that they save Marik. He theorized that they could exploit an effect of his Egyptian God, "The Sun Dragon Ra"; its ability to fuse with a player would result in Dark Marik being treated as a monster. With that in mind, Yami Yugi prepared to use "Dimension Magic" to destroy the fusion of "Ra" and Yami Marik. The Yugis were hesitant to proceed, realizing Marik lacked to willpower to survive with 1 Life Point. Following a motivation boost from Rishid, Marik convinced Dark Yugi to continue. With "Ra" and Yami Marik, defeated, Marik remained as the Yugis opponent, with Dark Marik as his sacrifice. He then surrendered the Duel, vanquishing Yami Marik, resulting in Yugi winning the tournament.

Marik gave the Yugis the "The Sun Dragon Ra", the Millennium Rod and the Millennium Ring, he had acquired from Yami Bakura. He also showed them his back, which had a prophecy for the pharaoh tattooed onto it. The group boarded the Battle Ship to return to Japan, after Kaiba announced that Alcatraz was to self-destruct. Yugi agreed with Yami Yugi's decision to lie to Bakura about not knowing where the Millennium Ring was, but Bakura found it and took it back when the group split up to look for the Kaibas.

We then flash over to Domino High School where we see Yugi, Joey, Tea, and Tristan about to leave. All of a sudden, the hacker's head, and later the rest of him, starts coming out of a desk causing Joey to freak out. He announces his name as Yako Tenma and that he is with Industrial Illusions (I2) and later states that he would like to challenge the current champion, Yugi, on the roof top. Yugi accepts and everybody rushes up.

Yako says that it is time to duel but Yugi states that Yako is not really there causing Joey to freak out even more. Yako congratulates Yugi for realizing this and tells everybody that this is not his actual body but a projection created by Kaiba's solid vision system. He then forces the beginning of the duel, stating that as the Duel King, Yugi cannot maintain his title without accepting challenges. He adds that the card he holds won't let Yugi off easily either, claiming it to be invincible. Joey is about to run over towards Yako, but Yugi, switching with Yami Yugi (manga), stops him, and accepts the challenge again. Meanwhile, in Yako's machine, he thinks that, while Yugi may not know it, he will experience divine punishment - at the hands of a God card stronger than Yugi's.

Skipping ahead, both players control three monsters, Yugi controls his "Magnet Warriors", while Yako has three unnamed monsters. Yugi tells Yako to watch as he Tributes his three monsters to Summon "Slifer the Sky Dragon", and uses it to destroy one of Yako's monsters. Though Yugi's friends cheer ecstatically, Yako is unconcerned, reviving his destroyed monster with "Silent Doom" and Tributing his three monsters to summon "The Wicked Avatar," which appears as a black orb before transforming into a black colored version of "Slifer".

Yugi and Yako Tenma's Duel continues on. After Yako summons "The Wicked Avatar", and it transforms into "Slifer," Yugi uses his own god's effect, "Slifer the Sky Dragon", to lower its attack. But Yako explains that it has no effect because the "Avatar" is on a higher scale than "Slifer". Yako then goes into talking about a rank among the Gods. He says that it's like a pyramid with "Ra" on top, and "Slifer" and Obelisk at the base. He then declares that his Avatar is the same "rank" as Yugi's Ra.

Yako begins saying that he is the one who created "The Wicked Avatar" on behalf of Maximillion Pegasus who initially designed it but was very hesitant to actually create it himself. We are then taken to a flashback of Pegasus having tea with Yako a day before the Duelist Kingdom Tournament was scheduled to begin. It then flashes immediately to the duel table where Yugi dueled Pegasus for the title of King of Games and his grandfather's soul, with a Duel Monsters card featuring Pegasus's lover, Cyndia, splattered in blood. After Yako sees this, he demands Croquet to tell him who killed Pegasus, who in turn replies that it was Yugi.

We then see Tea disappearing into thin air. In order for Yako's plan to work, he captured Tea and was using the KaibaCorp solid vision system so that nobody would notice her absence. He says to Yugi, Joey, and Tristan that if they ever want to see her again, they will have to infiltrate the KaibaCorp main headquarters and duel all of Yako's duelists in the tower. After this, the real Yako tells his staff to proceed to phase three of his plan. Joey, Tristan, and Yami Yugi are then seen at the base of the KaibaCorp building, ready to save Tea.

After dueling Yako Tenma on the rooftop, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan all rush to KaibaCorp headquarters to duel their way to their friend Tea. However, upon arrival to KaibaCorp, Yugi and his friends are confronted by Deschutes Lew the first card professor. He gives Yugi Tea's soul, contained in a Soul Prison card. Deschutes welcomes them to KaibaCorp and starts explaining that there are thirteen total Card Professors scattered throughout the block areas of the tower. He then challenges Yugi to a duel with the ante being Tea's soul card for the key card to get into the building.

Yugi starts off with a Set card and Queen's Knight. Deschutes simply Sets two cards and summons Gear Golem the Moving Fortress in Defense Position. On his next turn, Yugi gathers his three Knights, and Joey and Tristan remark that Yugi can summon his God cards soon, though Deschutes is unconcerned, believing that he has control over the whole duel.

He brings out Castle Gate, and uses it's effect to attack Yugi directly. Refusing to let his monsters be used against him, Yugi brings out Dark Magician, but Deschutes takes control of it. Yugi simply returns control of his Magician back to him with Owner's Seal, and wipes out Deschutes' life points. After Deschutes loses the Duel, there is a scene of Yugi and the "Dark Magician" standing back-to-back.

Outside the building, Yami Yugi scans the key card, and the door opens. He remembers Deschutes admitting that Yugi beat him and that the rumors are true - Yugi's one tough Duelist. Yugi just thinks that he got the key card. Deschutes explains that the building is divided into ten security blocks, each one needing a key card to access it. Yami Yugi comments that Deschutes is a real weirdo, asking if he's allowed to give him this info. Deschutes replies that he is, and salutes Yugi, admitting that he respects him, though it isn't much, and won't help him demolish all the card professors in his way. He reminds them that there's twelve more, wishing them the best of luck before leaving. Joey scoffs, commenting "as if he really means it."

As Yami Yugi, Joey, and Tristan walk into the building, the door closes behind them. Tristan remarks that there will be another Card Professor on this floor, and Joey tells him to bring it on; he and Yugi will take care of them. Tristan angrily asks Joey if that's all he thinks of, pointing out that they're there to save Tea. Joey points out that he knows, but they've got to Duel to get there. As the boys start grappling with each other, fog begins to waft around the floor, and a voice welcomes them to her duel field. A woman in black clothing steps forwards, introducing herslef as Tilla Mook, their second opponent. A graveyard appears, and Joey wonders if they're outside, but Tristan points out that it's just Solid Vision.

Tilla explains that she wanted to make the field appropriate for her master, who sleeps in her Deck, and she claims that the master of this yard will destroy Yugi. Yami Yugi smiles, telling her that if she likes this barren field so much, he'll make it her master's graveyard for him. Tilla isn't impresed, and holds up her ante - the key card to the next block, while Yugi's will be Tea's card, the proof of her victory over him, and allowig her to get a cash reward. Joey is shocked that there's a cash reward for Yugi, and Tilla explains that Yugi is worth $100,000, which, as Tristan explains while Joey tries to count it on his fingers, is 12 million yen. Joey is shocked, and asks how much he's worth. Tilla disdainfully tells him he's worth ten bucks, and tells him to get out of the way. Yami Yugi and Tristan's sweatdrop, as Tristan tells Joey that that's only 1,200 yen. Jonouchi thinks that he hates Yako. Tilla asks Yugi if they shall begin, and they start their duel.

Tilla begins, drawing a card, setting a card, and summoning "Blood Sucker," before ending her turn. Yami Yugi draws, wondering if Tilla is waiting for him to attack, and summons "Beta The Magnet Warrior", deciding to attack. "Beta" attacks and destroys "Blood Sucker", and Tilla calmly closes her eyes as her Life Points decrease to 3600. She comments that her face-down card doesn't intimidate Yugi, and activates it, using the effect of "Blood Curse" to Summon "Vampire Lady" from her deck. Yami Yugi wonders if she's going to summon a more powerful monster next turn, and Sets two cards to end his turn. He points out that she said this barren yard was for her master, and suggests that she call her master from her deck. Tilla smiles; if Yugi insists. She draws, and warns him that the reason she calls the card her master is because he takes over the field until the battle ends, for he is a resurrected immortal. Tilla Tributes "Vampire Lady" to Summon "Vampire's Curse", and attacks, destroying "Beta" with Razor Nail Blade, reducing Yami Yugi's Life Points to 3700. He asks if that's Tilla's master, and she comfirms it, claiming that he won't go back to sleep until he beats Yugi, as he's immortal.

Yami Yugi responds that they'll see about that, activating "Soul Rope", special summoning the Level 4 "Gamma The Magnet Warrior" from his Deck (unseen is the cost of 1000 Life Points that he pays.) He declares his turn, drawing, and then summoning "Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts," then activating a Spell Card from his hand: "Union Attack", which combines their attack points, though Tilla won't take damage from the attack. The two monsters destroy "Vampire's Curse", and Joey cheers that Yugi did it. Tristan adds that it was a piece of cake. Tilla reveals that now he resurrects, and "Vampire's Curse" emerges from her Graveyard, sinking its teeth into her neck and sucking her blood, as Yami Yugi, Tristan and Joey observe in shock.

Tilla states that this is immortality; he sucks her blood, and returns even stronger. "Vampire's Curse" gains 500 ATK, rising to 2500, and Tilla loses the cost of 1000 Life Points, bringingher down to 2600. Joey realizes that no matter how many times he's beaten, he'll come back, and Tristan admits that that's the creepiest thing he's ever seen. Tilla begins her turn, drawing her card, and declaring that they're in the Battle Phase now, ordering Yugi's monsters on their knees. They obey, much to his shock; as Tilla activates "Evil Eye of Coercion", allowing her to attack directly. "Vampire's Curse" attacks directly, reducing Yami Yugi to 200 Life Points. Tilla laughs, remarking that Yugi survived, and Joey observes that this isn't good. Tilla tells Yugi that no matter what he summons, "Vampire's Curse" will finish him off the next turn.

Yami Yugi draws, telling her not to be so sure. He tributes "Gazelle" and "Gamma" to summon "Buster Blader", but Tilla just laughs, pointing out that even if it destroys "Vampire's Curse", her master will just resurrect and get stronger - doesn't he get it? Yami Yugi replies that he does, and activates his set card. "Vampire's Curse" is forced to his knees, much to Tilla's horror, and Yami Yugi explains that he's used "Bounce" to transfer the effect of "Evil Eye of Coercion" to his side of the field. Tilla has completely lost the plot as she sees "Buster Blader" standing above her, and the Warrior attacks, reducing her Life Points to zero. Yami Yugi tells her that no master of her kneels to them - she loses.

As Yami Yugi and Tristan look at the key card, Joey asks a reluctant Tilla Mook if she could lend him her duel disk. Having coaxed the disk from her, he asks who's next. Tristan again points out that they have to reach Yako and save Tea - they aren't just here to win duels. Joey points out that he knows that; which is why they have to keep winning, for Tea. He angrily accuses Tristan of thinking that he'll lose, much to Tristan's embarrassment. Yami Yugi reassures Tristan that Joey won at Battle City. He reassures them that whatever they're up against, they can win. He thinks that they've always gotten through thanks to their friendship, remembering the smiley face that they drew on the hands of the four of them, and sees Tea's hand disappear. He tells them that they'll get back the missing piece.

Entering another room, Joey spots a "Booby Trap" card on the ground, running over to pick it up. Suddenly, the floor opens up under him, and Tristan calls him an idiot as he dives after him. He tells Yugi to go on ahead, and that they'll join him later. He tells Yugi not to let them beat him, and gives him the thumbs up as he vanishes through the gap in the floor as it closes. As Yami Yugi yells after him, a man in military fatigues approaches him.

The man in milatary garb walks towards Yami Yugi, musing that his friends are always watching over him when he fights. The Card Professors don't understand it, but he hears that Yugi is a lot tougher with his friends around. He comments that they need to exclude such uncertain factors, and Yami Yugi realizes that the bobboy trap was the man's doing, and the man introduces himself as Kirk Dixon, saluting. He comments that Yugi's friends were easy prey; they walked right into the first trap. They would have found a lot more had they made it further, too. Yami Yugi doesn't respond, so Kirk comments that he must be in a hurry, so they should get this underway, and Duel. He grins nastily, asking if Yugi can't fight without his little friends. Still kneeling on the floor,Yami Yugi asks where Joey and Tristan are. Kirk admimts that with all the security traps in the building, he isn't sure which leads where - he could ask the owner. Though if Yugi were to ask Kirk, he's sure they would up right where they belong, like the garbage room. Yami Yugi loses his temper, refusing to let Kirk continue to insult his friends. He'll pay with his defeat.

The duel begins, and Kirk thinks to himself that they'll see if Yugi can keep up with his "warrior deck". Yugi starts, drawing, and then Setting two cards, and Summoning "Alpha The Magnet Warrior" in Defense Position, ending his turn. He tells Kirk that now it's his turn - bring it on. Kirk snorts, thinking that Yugi should laugh while he can. He plays his own face-down card, and Summons "Machina Soldier", then activates "Ties of the Brethren" from his hand, allowing him to pay 1000 Life Points to Special Summon "Machina Sniper" and "Machina Defender" from his Deck.

Yami Yugi is shocked to see Kirk Summon three monsters in a single turn, but Kirk ends his turn there, as none of his monsters can bring down "Alpha". Yami Yugi draw, thinking that the two Special Summoned monsters can neither attack, or be Tributed, and he wonders what Kirk is doing. He decides that he'll figure it out, Setting another card, and then Tributing "Alpha" to Summon "Dark Magician Girl". She attacks "Machina Defender" with her "Black Burning" attack, and Kirk comments that that's more like it. He activates his Set "Intruder Alarm - Yellow Alert", allowing him to Special Summon his 2700 ATK "Caterpillar Tank" from his hand and redirect the attack to it. Commenting that he hates to see a lovely magician perish so quickly, he has "Caterpillar Tank" counterattack with "Buster Cannon". Dark Yugi saves his "Magician" with "Spellbinding Circle", preventing the counterattack, and reducing the "Tank's" ATK by 700. Kirk admits that at the end of the Battle Phase, "Caterpillar Tank" returns to his hand.

He begins his next turn, claiming that this is the ultimate formation of his armed division. He Summons "Commander Covington", which will keep the "Machina" on his field together. "Covington" raises his hand, and the parts of the three "Machina" combine into a massive four-armed, four legged "Machina", "Machina Force". The ATK and DEF of "Machina Force" are equal to the total of its combined parts - 4600 and 4100 respectively. Paying 1000 Life Points to attack, Kirk does so, and "Machina Force" attacks with "Machine Knuckle", but the attack stops before it can connect. Yami Yugi has activated a face-down card, "Spellbinding Illusion", which negates "Covington's" ability, and reduces its ATK by 500, as well as preventing "Machina Force" from remaining fused. Then, on Yami Yugi's turn, he activates "Diffusion Wave-Motion", paying 1000 Life Points himself to have his "Dark Magician Girl" attack all of Kirk's monsters. Kirk is horrified that his army will be destroyed in a single attack, and "Dark Magician Girl" attacks with "Super Magic Wave Bullets" and destroys all of Kirk's monsters, reducing his Life Points to zero.

Shellshocked, Kirk drops his cards, as well as the key card, and as Yami Yugi tells him that he's won, Kirk looks at his hands, stating that it can't be; he lost. Before he can make any further comments, he stands on another booby trap that tosses him into a trash can. Yami Yugi remarks that Kirk fell into his own trap, and picks up the key card. The Millennium Puzzle glows, and Yugi points out that they're fine. They don't know where they are now, but they do know where they're headed. He reminds Yami Yugi of when he said that they would keep winning no matter what. Yami Yugi agrees, walking over to the key card and picking it up. He thinks that Yako should just wait.

Meanwhile, as Joey and Tristan climb a flight of stairs, Kirk falls out of the trash chute into a dumpster, much to their surprise. In the next block, Yugi is confronted by Maico Kato, the next card professor.

Seeing Yako Tenma sitting on the floor above, Yami Yugi thinks that Tenma is no hologram this time as he can sense his duelist's aura. As he runs off to confront Yako, Maico Kato thinks to herself that Yugi had best be prepared, as they call Tenma the "Perfect Duelist."

Yugi reaches Yako's floor, yelling his name. He asks why Yako is here, this isn't the top of the building. Yako agrees - they're only halfway up. He remarks that he's been watching Yugi, and comments that he was brilliant - there are only seven card professors left. Yugi thinks in satisfaction that Jonouchi is also winning his way up the building.

Yako states that when they duelled on the Domino High rooftop, The Wicked Avatar was still new, and his deck and strategies were unprepared, so he wanted another go. He picks up a deck, calling it perfect, and asks if Yugi would like to duel it. He reassures Yugi that the duel will have no effect on his progress up the building, and tells him that he will let him see Anzu if he wins, but if Yako wins, he wants Yugi's Egyptian God Cards. Yugi agrees, and Yako asks Mr. Crocketts to take them to the duelling stage.

Crocketts takes them to a theater, and the two face off on the stage, Yugi shedding his jacket for the duel. They begin, with Yugi starting off with a set card and "Queen's Knight". Yako wonders if Yugi's trying to summon a God card already. He comments that the summoning speed of the Poker Knight's is a thing of the past. He summons "Summoner Monk" in Defense Position, and reveals its effect - he can Special Summon a Level 4 monster from his Deck each turn, though it cannot declare an attack on the turn it is summoned. The Monk chants, and Yako summons "Seraphim Saber" from his Deck in Attack Position. Setting a card, he ends his turn.

Yugi thinks that if Summoner Monk stays on the field for too long, Yako will have the sacrifices he needs to summon a God card easily. Placing another card facedown, he Normal Summons "Beta The Magnet Warrior" and attacks "Summoner Monnk," but the attack instead hits Yako, decreasing his life points to 2300. Yako reveals that he activated "Shadow Shield" to make the attack into a direct attack. Yugi is shocked that Yako is sacrificing his own life points to protect "Summoner Monk."

Yako Summons two more Seraphim in his next turn, "Blaster" and "Gardna". Their effects all increase their attack and defense points, and Yako orders them to attack. Yugi saves "Beta" with "Spellbinding Circle", but "Queen's Knight" is destroyed. Yako is quite surprised that Yugi let "Queen's Knight" be destroyed as opposed to "Beta," and asks if he's made a mistake. Yugi agrees that God cards are powerful, but states that they have their disadvantages. He plays the Trap Card, "Soul Rope" and uses it to Summon "Alpha The Magnet Warrior" from his deck by paying 1000 life points. Yugi then Normal Summons "Gamma The Magnet Warrior", and combines the three "Magnet Warriors" together into "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior" using it to attack and destroy "Summoner Monk." Even so, Yako thinks that it's too late for Yugi to destroy the Monk, as he already has everything he needs to Summon a "Wicked God". Yugi thinks so as well, and sets "Lightning Blade", thinking that while he doesn't know what "The Wicked Avatar" is capable of, even if it is as powerful as Obelisk, he can increase Valkyrion's ATK to 4300 with "Lightning Blade."

Yako draws, and then whispers his own name, asking himself to stop. He then asks Yugi if he can feel the ultimate fear, and Yugi realizes that Yako has drawn a Wicked God card. Tributing his three "Seraphim," Yako summons "The Wicked Dreadroot" in Attack Position with 4000 ATK. It attacks and destroys "Valkyrion" effortlessly, as Yugi thinks to himself in horror at the sight of a second Wicked God.

Yako Tenma, wearing his normal attire, laughs as he stands in front of Tea's body, trapped in his machine and glowing with light. He comments on the energy, stating that the Project has just advanced to the next stage. He tells the "Evil God" to come forth and unleash its full power.

In the theatre, "The Wicked Dreadroot" emerges from a blaze of power behind Yako. Yami Yugi is horrified to see that there is another Evil God besides "The Wicked Avatar"; "The Wicked Dreadroot." Yako, who had had his hand clasped over his heart when the monster was Summoned, orders it to destroy him. "Dreadroot" attacks with "Fear's Knockdown", launching a punch, and Yugi activates his Set card, "Lightning Blade", which increases the ATK of "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior" by 800. But despite the attack point boost, "Dreadroot" destroys "Valkyrion" with a single blow, much to Yugi's horror. Yako thinks that "The Wicked Dreadroot" is the root of all terror, explaining that "The Wicked Dreadroot" spreads an aura of fear wherever it goes, halving the ATK and DEF of all monsters except Evil Gods. "Lightning Blade" had only boosted "Valkyrion" to 2550 ATK, leaving Yugi with 1550 Life Points. Yako Sets a card, and ends his turn, telling Yugi to fall on his knees before the terror of the Evil God.

Yugi thinks to himself "what a monster", before correcting himself that it's a God, and an Evil God at that. It has 4000 ATK, and no matter what he Summons, the ATK and DEF of the monster will be cut in half. Thinking that he can't defeat it with the three cards in his hand, he draws, beginning his turn. Yako chuckles, asking Yugi if he really thinks that he can defeat a God of evil. He comments that Yugi had better Summon a monster for defense at least, or he'll win on the next turn. Yugi thinks that all he can do now is pin his hopes on this card, and activates it - "Card of Sanctity." They both draw cards until they are holding six, and Yugi looks at his new hand, thinking that he can do this. He Sets two cards, and then sends a card from his hand to the Graveyard to Special Summon "The Tricky" in Defense Position. Yako laughs, commenting that "The Tricky" may be a Level 5 monster, but with its DEF cut down to 600, it'll barely last the round. Yugi can struggle all he wants, it's useless, as there is no card in existence that's a match for his God.

Chuckling, Yugi muses that he wonders - there's one type of card that the "Dreadroot's" pwoer doesn't affect, and maybe one of those cards might be able to take Yako down. Yako is startled, realizing that Yugi has figured it out, and then realizes in shock what the card Yugi sent to the Graveyard to Summon "The Tricky" is. Yugi tells Yako that he's coming, and activates "Monster Reborn". He revives "The Sun Dragon Ra" and the golden dragon appears behind him. Yugi tells Yako that this is the most powerful of the Egyptian God cards - the Winged Dragon of Ra!

And then "Ra" begins to vanish, shredding in wisps of smoke, much to Yugi's shock and horror. He calls Yako scum, as Yako reveals that he had activated "The Selection", which allowed him to negate the Summon of "Ra" because he already controlled a God himself. He points out that Yugi is right, the only type of card that is not affected by "Dreadroot" is a God card. Once it is Summoned, it is truly a God, with absolute control over the world, but before it is Summoned, it's only a card. As long as he doesn't let Yugi Summon one, he doesn't have a chance of fighting his Evil God. He bursts into insane laughter, and Yugi realizes that Yako really is a good Duelist. At the sideline, Croquet claps his hands, thinking that this is perfect. Yugi may have conquered Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, and is truly an elite Duelist, but of all the Duelists raised by Pegasus, Master Tenma was the only one he called "perfect". He thinks that the outcome of the Duel is clear.

Yako begins his turn, drawing his card and thanking Yugi for allowing him t reinforce his hand back there - as a result, this card found its way to him. He plays the Spell Card, "Divine Evolution", which allows his Evil God to become even stronger. "Dreadroot" changes form, gaining a snake trunk instead of its legs, the skull around its face becoming elongated, and its fingers, neck and bone spurs all lengthening as its ATK and DEF increase by 1000 points, to 5000 each. Yako admits that in general, Spell cards will only last one turn on Gods, but "Divine Evolution" is an exception, and no card can stop it.

Yugi realizes that the card was designed just for God cards, and wonders if there's a chance he could lose. Yako thinks that that's right: faced with an Evil God, Yugi's body will freeze with terror, and there isn't a glimmer of hope. He Sets a card, and then attacks "The Tricky" with "Dreadroot." But the attack doesn't connect - "The Tricky" has disappeared. Yako comments that Yugi is a very poor loser; here he is, kindly trying to release him from the terror of the Evil God by defeating him, what other way is there? Yugi reveals his Set card was "Soul Barter", allowing him to switch "The Tricky" with the "Queen's Knight" in his Graveyard. Yako realizes that by switching monsters, he escaped the Jashin's attack, but it will only delay his defeat by one turn. Dark Yugi tells Yako that he's not going to fall on his knees before the Evil God; he has to beat him and save Tea.

He refueses to lose. He begins his turn and draws, then Sets another card face down and Summons "King's Knight", then uses its effect, as the "Queen" and "King" are both on the field to Summon "Jack's Knight." Yako asks if Yugi's planning to Summon a God card again, pointing out that it will only work if all three monsters last through to the next turn. Yako thinks that even if he does, he can reactivate "The Selection" with "Trap of Darkness" and destroy the Summoned God once again. Yugi chuckles - he guesses that Gods must be a pretty big deal. He plays "Polymerization", fusing his three Poker Knights into "Arcana Knight Joker." As the monster appears, Yami Yugi thinks that his fighting spirit will overcome fear.

Yami Yugi tells the Poker Knights to join together, and tells his new monster to come forth. "He who holds the imperial title, the ultimate fusion warrior, "Arcana Knight Joker". Tenma can't believe that Yugi has fused his three monsters into one without the cost of a sacrifice, thinking that he's face-to-face with the Wicked God, and still has the will to fight. He acknowledges it as impressive, but points out that "The Wicked Dreadroot" has 5000 ATK, and his fear power will cut "Knight Joker's" ATK in half. His Life Points stand at 2300, while Yugi's are at 1550, and "Arcana Knight Joker" falss from 3800 to 1900 ATK. Tenma claims that Yugi will never defeat him with a puny swordsman like that. Yami Yugi admits that that's true, and a Fusion monster can't attack on the turn it is Summoned, so he'll end his turn.

Tenma laughs, observing that Yugi's given up on Summoning his own God, and now he's relying on a Fusion monster. He asks if this is the best he can do, now that his God won't help him. Yami Yugi replies that he suspects that Tenma will do anything to prevent him from Summoning a God. He asks if his Egyptian God cards frighten Tenma that much, telling Tenma that he's the one who's afraid. Tenma is quiet for a moment, but tells Yugi he can say what he likes; he's about to feel the terror of the Gods. He asks Yugi if he's ready, and tells him to shudder before his Wicked God. He orders "Dreadroot" to attack "Knight Joker" with Fear's Knockdown, and "Dreadroot" lunges, throwing a massive punch.

Yami Yugi plays his Set card, "Spellbinding Illusion", causing the Wicked God's ATK to fall by 500, to 4500, and negating its fear power. "Arcana Knight Joker's" attack points are restored to 3800, but Tenma's unfazed, pointing out that it's a nice try, but the trap won't stop the God's attack, and he yells at "Knight Joker" to die as "Dreadroot's" fist crashes into "Knight Joker", who blocks the blow with his sword and bladed shield. Tenma is shocked, and Yami Yugi claims "Arcana Knight Joker" to be the embodiement of his fighting spirit, and states that Tenma can't defeat them with the power of terror. He activates his Set card, "Weapon Regeneration", allowing him to reuse an Equip Spell Card from his Graveyard, and he chooses "Lightning Blade". "Joker Knight's" ATK increases by 800, to 4600, and Yami Yugi declares "slash through the terror" with "Lightning Thunder Blade". "Joker Knight" drags his blade across "Dreadroot", leaving a massive scar on it before it shatters. Tenma appears to emerge from his body, thinking that he doesn't believe it - to think a non-God could defeat a "Wicked God". No matter though; he's already achived his objective. His image fades away, as he thinks "see you later, big brother."

Tenma's body falls to his knees, and Yami Yugi begins his next turn, attacking directly with "Knight Joker". Croquet orders Yugi to stop, and Yami Yugi asks him what's the meaning of this. Croquet rushes up to Tenma, and shakes his shoulders. He tells Yugi that Tenma is no longer in any condition to fight, and tells Yugi that they victory is his. Suddenly, Yako Tenma's voice sounds out, and he appears on a video screen, congratulating Yugi, and admitting that he should have known that Yugi would defeat "The Wicked Dreadroot." Yami Yugi asks if he's speaking to a recording, but Yako tells him that it's live - he's been on the top floor of the building the entire time, though the person who Yugi has defeated is also him.

Yami Yugi asks him what he means, and Yako explains that he hacked Tenma's body, took over and controlled him. Tenma is his twin brother, Gekko Tenma. Yami Yugi is floored by the fact that Yako has a twin. Gekko destroys his "Wicked Dreadroot" card, and Yako chuckles, seeing that he's broken free of his curse. Croquet helps Gekko stand up, and Gekko groans, muttering Yako's name. Yako thanks him, commenting that he's managed to advance the R.A. Project another phase. Gekko begs Yako to stop, but Yako ignores him, telling Yugi that he'll let him see the results of what happened. He shows Yugi Tea's body, and Dark Yugi is horrified to see that Tea's eyes are blank. Yako caresses her head, telling Yugi that this is the former Tea Gardner; thanks to the energy emitted by "The Wicked Dreadroot", her body and soul have been seperated.

Just as he thought, the "Wicked God" released its full power in the heat of battle, and he used that power. Yami Yugi furiously tells Yako to keep his hands off Tea, and begs her to answer him. Yako points out that its no use. She's already a soulless soul, a living mass of meat, a vessel for the next soul. Tea Yugi is horrified, and Yako explains that her soul floats free from her body, which has become a vessel to receive his soul - the soul of Maximillion J. Pegasus. His right eye bulges as he explains that the purpose of the "R"ebirth of "A"vatar Project is to summon Pegasus to him once again. In a few hours, he will begin the procedure to transfer Pegasus's soul into a new body. He wonders if Yugi can stop him, and cuts the feed with a laugh.

Gekko tells Yugi that Pegasus sold his soul to see his beloved Miss Cyndia one more time, and Yako is the same way; he'd do anything to see Master Pegasus again. He wants to see him too. Dark Yugi grabs Gekko's coat lapels, and Gekko states that he doesn't want it so badly that he'd sacrifice someone for it. He tried everything that he could think of to dissuade Yako from this folly, but he's overflowing with power from the Wicked Gods. He used that power to supress Gekko's consciousness and control his body. Yami Yugi lets Gekko go, and Gekko explains that their Duel was all part of Yako's plan. He needed to Summon "Dreadroot" to produce enough mystic energy to seperate Anzu's soul from her body. He states that he shouldn't have Summoned "The Wicked Dreadroot" and he asks Yugi to forgive him. Then he reminds Yugi that he said he'd let Yugi see Tea if he won, and explains that her spirit is trapped in the Duel Ring Server. If he puts her card in his Duel Disk, he'll see.

Holding up Tea's Soul Prison card, he puts the card in his Duel Disk. Tea appears in front of him as a hologram, gasping in surprise, and sees Yugi. They call out each other's names, and she dives forwards, her image passing right through him. She looks saddened, but turns around and thanks Yami Yugi for coming to save her. Gekko explains that she was likely watching everything through the Duel Disk, and Yami Yugi desperately vows to save her. Tea calms him down, asking why he's all freaked out. She points out that he's a man, isn't he? She tells him to keep it together, patting his shoulder, but her hand passes through him once again. She yanks her hand back, remarking sadly that they're so close, but they can't touch. It feels lonely.

Meanwhile, Kaiba's fighter plane has entered Japanese airspace, as stated by Mokuba. Kaiba chuckles, declaring full speed to Domino City.

Yugi and Gekko are met by Bandit Keith, who introduces them to the next card professor, Ted Banias. Gekko Duels him to give Yugi some rest.

Yugi and Tea are shocked, while Bandit Keith just smirks. Banias snickers, calling it unbelievable. Gekko drew new cards so many times, and still got no monsters. Either he's got terrible luck, or his deck balance is awful. He adds that Gekko's side of the field is deserted, and if he can't summon a monster by the next turn, his powered-up "Assault Lion" will attack, and it'll be game over. Bandit Keith interrupts, calling Gekko's hand trouble a joke. He gets what Gekko's planning; he has to have and excuse for Yugi when he loses. If Gekko loses on purpose, Yugi would get kicked out of the building, and the R.A Project would suceed. He calls Gekko a "great brother."

Worried, Tea whispers Yugi's name, but he merely replies that he thinks that Gekko and Yako are a little like him and "the other him." "The other him" has always been with him, while Gekko's other self has been warped by the Wicked Gods. Gekko's fighting this battle to get back a part of himself, and that's why he can't lose. Banias snorts, suggesting that they say that's true. How's Gekko supposed to fight like this? He's got no monsters in his hand, nor a guard monster on his field, and on Banias's next turn, his "Assault Lion" will rip his Life Points to pieces. He asks if Gekko wants to surrender and get it over with. Gekko agrees; he'll get it over with. Banias begins to laugh, but Gekko cuts him off - that's because Banias is about to lose.

Gekko activates "Armament Reincarnation," allowing him to summon all the Equip Cards in his Graveyard as monsters, each with 500 ATK and DEF, plus the bonuses applied to them if they were monsters equipped with their own Spell card forms. Five figures of white flame appear in front of Gekko. Banias protests that Gekko didn't use all those Equip cards and must have miscounted, but Keith knows what's happened - Gekko's been using his "Graceful Charity" to put his Equip cards into his Graveyard. He thinks that this is bad. Banias tells Gekko that all his monsters are just small fry, and they can't take down his "Assault Lion." Then he realizes that Gekko must be planning to use them as a defense to survive another turn. But it won't work: Banias's face-down card is "Stop Defense." If he puts even one of the monsters into Attack Position, Gekko's dead, and it's all over on the next turn.

Gekko warns Banias that there is no "next turn." He told him - the Duel ends now. He asks Banias to let him show him his face-down card, and Keith realizes what the card is as Gekko activates "Power Connection." All of his monsters will gain 500 ATK for each other monster of the same type, 2000 points each. Both "Spirit Slayer" and "Neon Laser Blaster" rise to 3000 ATK, while all the others rise to 2500. Banias screams in horror as "Spirit Slayer" attacks "Assault Lion," using its effect to lower "Assault Lion's" ATK by 500, to 2600, allowing "Spirit Slayer" to destroy it and reduce Bainas to 3600 Life Points. He stutters that this is the strategy of a "Perfect Duelist" as the rest of Gekko's monsters wipe out his remaining Life Points. Gekko tells Banias that he loses. Yugi and Anzu rush over to him, and Yugi congratulates Gekko. Gekko thanks Yugi for believing in him until the end. He couldn't have fought if Yugi hadn't. Yugi suggests that they fight together from now on, and Gekko agrees, smiling.

Still down on his knees, Banias mutters that Gekko wiped the floor with him. Keith suddenly kicks him under the chin, furiously asking what kind of Duelist he is. Banias crashes through a glass wall, and Keith yells that Banias was supposed to thrash Gekko, asking him how he could lose that match. He yells that this is why Banias owes him so much money, and Banias calls himself a Card Professor. He picks Banias up by his collar, telling him that his debt just doubled. Banias, however, has passed out. Keith looks sideways at Yugi and Gekko before dropping Banias. Yugi tells him to give them the key card so that they can get to the next block, or is he going to fight them next? Bandit Keith tells them to hold their horses - he doesn't have a key card. Yugi and Gekko blanch, but Keith explains that he doesn't need one. He'll take them right to Yako Tenma.

Depre Scott and Richie Merced confront Yugi and Gekko. Yami Yugi entrusts the duel to Yugi and he and Depre begin.

Depre's strategy using "Cosmic Space" is put into action, and monsters can only survive with Life Star Counters. Dark Yugi believes Yugi's trapped "Toy Magician" to be the key to victory. Depre's strategy with Life Star Counters is thrown when Yugi rescues his trapped "Toy Magician". Using a combination of Spell Cards, Depre is defeated.

As Yako shows his "The Wicked Avatar" card to Kaiba, Gekko and Yugi approach Depre Scott as "Cosmic Space" disappears. Kaiba repeats "your 'God?'". He angrily asks if Yako expects him to believe that. There are only three God cards, "Slifer," "Obelisk," and "Ra," and Yugi has them all. There had only been three Gods drawn on the ancient Egyptian stele that Pegasus used as the theme for his God cards. There can't be any other God cards, Kaiba says. Yako replies that the Wicked Gods are real. Holding up "Avatar" he explains that they are cards that Pegasus disavowed, Gods which were never meant to exist. Kaiba is surprised, and Yako further explains that Pegasus created the Egyptian God cards, but they surpassed even his expectations, so powerful that they seemed to be truly possessed by the Gods. For that reason, it is said that Pegasus agonized over them, and even tried to destroy them by his own hand. Kaiba snorts, calling Pegasus a coward. Yako admits that in the end, Pegasus loved his creations too much to destroy them, and instead sealed them away in Egypt, where Duel Monsters originated. Though he believes Kaiba knows more than he of what came after.

But it isn't the end of the story; Pegasus created something for use in the event that the God cards went on a rampage. He designned other Gods - Yako's Gods - in order to keep the original three Gods in check. As he explains this, both "Avatar" and "The Wicked Dreadroot" are shown behind him, along with a third, serpentine creature lined with spikes. Kaiba is shocked that the Wicked Gods were designed to keep the God ards in check, and asks if Yako's telling him that they're just as strong as the original three God cards. Yako states that he is. He softly comments that if only Pegasus hadn't stopped at the design stage, if only he had released them... He'll never understand why he didn't.

Kaiba knows - the power was great enough to frighten even Pegasus. Yako then claims that he knows why he left them unreleased, he left them for him. Yako carried out Pegasus's will, and poured it into the Wicked God cards. He raises "Avatar" again, declaring that this is the God that will pass judgement on Yugi Muto. But Kaiba just laughs, commenting that the cards aren't so bad, but they won't be enough for him to take down Yugi Muto. Even Yako's brother Gekko is a better Duelist than Yako. His right eye bulging, Yako declares that he surpassed Gekko the moment he got the cards. He will be Yugi, even if no-one else can, he will. Now that he has the Gods, why not test Yako? Kaiba agrees - he'll take Yako down and then tame his God with his own hands. Yako asks them where they shall Duel, and Kaiba turns, telling Yako to follow him. They'll go to the Apex Arena.

Down in the lower levels of the building, a frustrated Depre clenches his fists as tears run down his face. As Yugi states that that's the match and he walks forward with Gekko, Depre screams that he can't lose to him. Master Pegasus is all they have. If it weren't for Yugi, Master Pegasus would never have left them. As Richie Merced helps Depre to his feet, Depre sobs that he just wanted to see the Master just once more. Richie asks if he can get some helo here, and two Industrial Illusions suits rush over. Richie talls them to take care of Depre, and the suits carry the defeated card professor away. Richie admits that's the first time he's seen Yugi Duel, and the rumors don't lie. To think that he beat Depre... Yugi states that he can't lose, not until they save Anzu. Richie remarks that that's how Depre thought too. To him; no, to all of the kids Pegasus raised, he was something like the sun. Without him, they can't survive. All Depre wanted was to see Pegasus again. Yugi guesses he'll be fighting Richie next, but Richie admits that he would do that if he was fighting for Depre, but he isn't. Depre was a fellow card professor, but he won't put his neck on the line to avenge Depre, it's not his style. Card professors only meet up when they're fighting, they win or lose, and that's it. This stuff happens.

But it's Gekko that Richie wants to fight. He's a traitor - betraying everyone raised by Pegasus. Gekko seems surprised, but tells Yugi that he'll handle this. He states that he knows how he feels about Pegasus, but they can't drag others into this. Not Yugi, Miss Mazaki, or the KaibaCorporation. This is something that they should have dealt with themselves, but Yako had to involve innocents. Richie asks what do they care who they use or whose stuff they take. They live for Master Pegasus, and outsiders don't matter. Gekko yells that Pegasus would never allow that sort of thing, and Richie states that they'll ask him when they see him. If he doesn't like it, he can try and stop him. Raising his black Duel Disk, he tells Gekko to come on and Duel. Gekko waits for a while, but Richie is set on fighting, so he begins the Duel.

Gekko starts, drawing, then Setting two cards and Summoning "Learning Elf" in Defense Position, ending his turn. Richie asks if he calls that a monster, and draws, Setting two cards of his own, and Summoning "Twin Gunfighter." He orders his monster to kil the Elf, and "Twin Gunfighter" attacks with Double Fire. Gekko reveals a Set card, "Shield Reflector" and one of the bullets bounces off the shield, reflected back at Richie. Richie laughs, commenting "right back at you!" and activates his Set "Mirage" The bullet passes through a mirage of Richie, and Richie comments that nothing they can do will target him. He grins, asking Gekko what the matter is.

He got by without a scratch, but it looks like Gekko took a bad hit there. A smoking hole fades from Gekko's chest, as Richie explains that one of "Twin Gunfighter's" pistols is always aimed at his chest,nd Gekko's Life Points are reduced to 2400 (the effect of "Twin Gunfighter" is explained on the card to inflict damage equal to its ATK). Yugi thinks that this could get hairy. Richie remarks that Gekko used to be good. There was a time where Pegasus called him the "Perfect Duelist" and where Richie couldn't beat him no matter how hard he tried.

But he left Master Pegasus and fought countless Duelists as a card professor. He climbed all the way to the top spot in the card professor's Guild, he fought hard, and eanred this black Duel Disk. He raises the Duel Disk, explaining that the Disk is only used by the number one card professor. Gekko may have been perfect once, but that's ancient history. He'll prove it to Gekko, and after that, he'll be the one that Master Pegasus calls the "Perfect Duelist". Gekko just sadly says Richie's name.

Richie reiterates that only the highest ranked Card Professor gets to use a black Duel Disk. He calls black the sum of all colours, and like a black belt in karate, the Duel Disk is proof that he's mastered all the training a Duelist can have. Gekko and Yugi just stare ack at him, and Richie declares that the Duel Disk's black gleam will blot out their white, shining hope of victory. Gekko simply murmur's Richie's name.

The score stands with Gekko on 2400 Life Points, and Richie still on his full 4000. Yugi thinks that Gekko is fighting to rescue Anzu, to stop this insane plan of summoning Pegasus, and most of all, to get his old brother back. He thinks that Gekko has to win this as Gekko declares his turn. Drawing his card, he Sets a card face-down, and then tells Richie to prepare to face "Wonderbeat Elf," explaining that it can deliver an extra attack for each other "Elf" present. Yugi thinks that this is good - Gekko has "Learning Elf" on his field, so "Wonderbeat Elf" can take down "Twin Gunfighter" with its first attack, and make a direct attack on Richie with the second. Gekko orders his Elf to attack, and Richie activates a Trap Card, "Theft Whip," allowing him to gain control of Gekko's Equip Card, taking "Shield Reflector" from "Learning Elf," and then equipping it to "Twin Gunfighter." The shields effect means that "Twin Gunfighter" will only have half the damage applied to it, while the other half is directed at Gekko. "Twin Gunifghter survives, will Gekko takes half of "Wonderbeat Elf's" ATK as damage, 850, reducing him to 1550 Life Points. And, as Richie points out, "Wonderbeat Elf's" special ability will force it to attack again, and Gekko is reduced to 700 Life Points. Yugi is horrified - "Wonderbeat Elf's" special power backfired.

Chuckling, Richie comments that it looks like the gap is getting wider. From what he's seeing, Gekko's Deck is made up of Effect Monsters with lower ATK, but powerful abilities. Richie's Deck is built along the same lines, but only a few turns in, and look at the gap in their Life Points. He wonders if his draw was lucky, or there's a difference in skill here. Gekko admits that Richie may be right about that. After they lost Master Pegasus, he stepped in to rebuild Industrial Illusions in his place, while Richie became a Card Professor and devoted himself to fighting in order to defeat Yugi. Richie asks if Gekko's losing because he didn't have time to practice, and comments that it sounds like somebody's making excuses. Gekko asks Richie, doesn't he see? His growth is a direct result of losing Master Pegasus. Richie is shocked, and Gekko continues, explaining that Pegasus raised them, but now they've learned to stand on their own twoo feet. And now Richie wants to bring him back at the cost of someone else's life? So they can depend on him for everything the way they did before. Richie yells at him to shut his mouth, asking if Gekko is telling him it's good that Pegasus died. Gekko states that of course not, he's only saying they can't stay Pegasus's children for ever. Richie screams that he's wrong. A world without Master Pegasus isn't worth living in. They lost someone important to them, and they're taking him back. That's all there is to it. Gekko angrily says Richie's name, and Richie states that Gekko has changed. He's not like the rest of them. And if that's the case, he has to defeat him.

He draws, beginning his turn, and Summons "Pierce Musketeer," telling Gekko to take this. Both of his monsters attack, and Yugi yells his name. Gekko counters with his Trap, "Holy Sacrifice," using "Learning Elf" to absorb all the damage and destroying it. Richie calls Gekko a wise guy, as Gekko draws a card with "Learning Elf's" effect. Relieved Yugi observes that Gekko managed to get through the turn without taking any damage. Richie Sets a card face-down, and ends his turn. Gekko begins his turn, and activates "Owner's Seal," returning control of "Shield Reflector" to him. Richie realizes that he won't be able to inflict any damage with the Shield up, and then Gekko tells Richie that they had no relatives. Their lord, Master Pegasus, was their only family. They both know how much it hurts to lose someone that special. They mustn't let it happen to anyone. else. Declaring that this is it, he activates a face-down card, "Sacrifice of Grave Goods," which allows him to count a Tributed monster's Equip Card as an additional sacrifice. He Tributes both "Wonderbeat Elf" and the equipped "Shield Reflector" as two Tributes, and Richie lookson in shock as Gekko Summons "Angel O7," a Level 7 monster. Richie notes on horror that "Angel O7's" effect will neutralize the effects of his own monsters. Gekko orders "Angel O7" to attack with Angel Beam Buster, destroying "Twin Gunfighter" and reducing Richie to 3100 Life Points, as Richie angrily reflects that the effect of "Mirage" doesn't prevent Battle Damage from when monsters battle. Yugi thinks that Gekko's making a comeback as Gekko Sets a card to end his turn. He tells Richie it's his move.

A frustrated Richie draws, thinking that "Angel O7" is the worst kind of enemy he could face due to his Deck being, as he'd said, mainly being made up of Effect Monsters. Setting a card, he also Summons "Grenadier" in Defense Position, switches "Pierce Musketeer" to Defense Position, and ends his turn, causing the effect of "Mirage" to expire. Gekko draws, Summoning "Boomerang Elf" and ordering his monsters to attack. Richie's monsters are destroyed, and Yugi thinks that while Gekko didn't inflict any damage, he wiped out all of Gekko's monsters and he has the upper hand. Gekko tells Richie that it's his turn. But Richie states that on this turn, he won't do a thing, and ends his turn without making a move. Yugi is shocked, but Gekko tells him it's over. Declaring his turn, he attacks, thinking that Richie will let them pass. Richie smirks, activating both his Set card, and blotting out the area with a blaze of light. A horrified Gekko can only gasp, asking Richie how he... Gekko's Life Points have been reduced to zero, much to Yugi's horror.

Unfortunately, his thoughts couldn't be further from the truth, as Yugi looks in horror at Gekko, who sinks to his knees, having lost the duel to Richie. Richie chuckles, and tells Gekko that he wins. Gritting his teeth, Gekko looks up at Richie, who explains that he was in too much of a hurry to win, which was why he lost.

The scene flashes back to where it left off at the end of the previous chapter before the flash of light. Gekkos had attacked with his "Boomerang Elf" and "Angel O7," thinking that Richie would let them pass. Richie activated a Trap Card, "Dazzling Radiance," the Trap that caused the glare of light from the previous chapter, which Richie explains will dazzle Gekko's monsters and cause them to attack one another, with "Boomerang Elf" ending up on Richie's field, though the excess damage will still go to Gekko. Yugi is horrified, but Gekko activated his own Trap, "Amulet of Affection" to reduce the damage to zero. However, instead of hitting "Boomerang Elf," "Angel O7's" "Angel Beam Buster" hits Richie, reducing his Life Points to 600. Gekko is shocked that Richie ended up getting hit, and Richie explains that he activated "Grazing Bullet," causing the attack of the monster standing in front of each player to attack that player. Then "Boomerang Elf's" boomerang hits Gekko, reducing his Life Points to zero.

Yugi walks up to Gekko in shock and tries to console him, and Richie comments that Gekko wasn't Dueling the way he normally was, otherwise he'd have countered the move. The reason he didn't was because, unlike the other orphans, Gekko still has his brother. Gekko is shocked, and Richie explains that his desire to save Yako made him act without thinking. Yugi refuses to believe it, asking if Gekko lost because he cared about his only brother? How is that different from Richie, who is fighting for Pegasus? Richie explains that he fights for Pegasus, but not to protect him like Gekko was for Yako. When he was a kid, his world was dirt and trash, and he crawled in the slime like he wasn't even alive. The one who taught him to live - as a Duelist - was Pegasus (a flashback shows a younger Richie being given his deck by Pegasus). He declares that Pegasus gave him his life, so he's fighting to give him back his. This was a Duel of wills.

He turns to leave, declaring that he's not some spoiled kid who's scared of losing. Yugi yells at him to wait, and Richie turns, asking if Yugi remembers his promise. He agreed to have Gekko fight for him, and he lost. This is as far as he goes. Yugi freezes up, and Gekko begins to cry, tears hitting the floor. Yugi cries for Richie to wait, but Richie leaves, closing the door behind him. Gekko screams in frustration, burying his hands in his hair, and apologizes. It's all his fault. He's so sorry. Yugi looks at him in horror and runs to the door, begging someone to open the door. They have to get to Yako. IF they don't, he won't be able to save Tea... He screams "Nooooo!!!" as tears form in his eyes.

In the Duel Ring Server control room, Mokuba slams his fists onto a console, frustrated at his brother's loss. He observes that the Duel Ring Server is howling, Yako must have started something. Joey angrily asks, what about Yugi, where is he? Did he actually lose? He begs Mokuba to find Yugi, and Mokuba nods. Still where he was before, Yugi has failed to open another door, when he hears Tea's voice. He quickly puts her card onto his Duel Disk and she appears in the air. Yugi asks Tea what is wrong, and she replies that she's scared, something is rushing into her. She begins to fade, asking Yugi if she's going to disappear, and they reach out for one another as she fades fully. Yugi screams her name with tears in her eyes. Joey's voice sounds out from the video screen at the wall, and Yugi answers. Tearing up, he tries to tell Joey about Tea, but Joey tells him that this is no time for crying.

Yako's started his Project, and he beat Kaiba too, so things aren't looking so good. Yugi is shocked that even Kaiba was beaten. One of the employees states that they've nearly recovered full control of the skyscraper, but the Duel Ring Server won't accept Master Mokuba's control codes. Mokuba mutters that he'll get Yako for this. One of the employees tells Mokuba that all the data in the Duel Ring Server is being downloaded to one place. Mokuba asks where, but then he finds it - Tea, who is on the floor above them. Joey contacts Yugi to tell him that he's found Tea, telling Yugi to leave her to them. He should just hurry and get up to the roof where Yako is. He opens the way for Yugi, and tells him there isn't a moment to waste - get up there and kick Yako's ass!

Wiping his tears away, Yugi agrees, and turns to Gekko, who still kneels defeated on the walkway, telling him to come on. Gekko replies that he's already lost, and mustn't go any further. Yugi tells Gekko not to say that, he's got a path right in front of him, and if he doesn't keep going, he can't save Yako. He tells him to think back to when he decided to fight with Yugi, and Gekko does so. Yugi tells him that if he still feels the way he did then, come with him. Gritting his teeth, Gekko rises, and admits that Yugi is right. He wasn't fighting Yako to determine which was the stronger, but to free him from the curse of the Wicked Gods. The two smile at each other, and then run through the door, yelling "let's go!"

As Yugi and Gekko race down a corridor, a man leaning against a way is shocked that they made it up to this floor, calling them losers. He hadn't heard anything about losers getting a second chance, but they're here, and he can't just ignore them. Gekko grits his teeth, realizing that the man is a Card Professor, and Yugi rushes forwards as the Millennium Puzzle glows. Yami Yugi orders the Card Professor out of the way. Whether or not they Duel is not shown (though it is later implied that they did) as Yami Yugi finishes the Card Professor off with a single blast from "Slifer the Sky Dragon, and thinks that they're coming.

In the ventilation ducts, Joey yells in pain after Tristan accidentally kicks him in the face. Honda apologizes, and Joey mutters that it's too tight in there. Tristan reminds him that it was this or nothing, as there were Industrial Illusions goons waiting right outside that room. If they're going up to where Tea is, the ventilation ducts are the only way. Joey reluctantly agrees, but claims that he's a little claustrophobic, and that he hates the dark. Tristan's response is another accidental kick in the face, much to Joey's fury. Then suddenly, he hears voices coming from a side duct, and sees Yami Yugi standing with Gekko, who are looking in shock at someone. Seeing Gekko, he kicks out the duct hatch and leaps down to the ground, landing in a crouch, much to the surprise of Gekko and Yugi.

Charging, Joey tells Yugi to step aside. Yugi tries to tell him to wait, and Gekko seems surprised, before realizing what's happening as Joey punches him across the face, knocking him across the floor and into the wall. Joey tells Tenma to get on his feet; he's got plenty more where that came from. Before he can hit him again, Yami Yugi grabs his arm, telling him to stop. Joey tells Yugi not to stop him, but Yami Yugi replies that that isn't him. Joey is confused, it's obviously Tenma. But Yugi is on his knees, asking Gekko if he's okay. As Joey regards the situation in confusion, Yami Yugi explains that this is Yako Tenma's twin brother, Gekko Tenma. They fought their way up together. Joey is shocked that Yako had a twin, and sheepishly apologizes for decking Gekko. Gekko replies that he deserves to be hit, but Joey is still apologetic as Tristan leaps down from the ducts. He sees who Yami Yugi and Gekko were looking at, and mutters that this is getting really weird.

The person the two had been looking at, Bandit Keith, laughs, commenting that he finally came out of hiding. Joey, meanwhile, is being filled in by Gekko on the situation, learning that Yako changed after getting the Wicked Gods, while Tristan tries to fill Joey in on the situation. Gekko explains that he thought, if they could take the Wicked Gods away from him, he might go back to normal, Joey finishes (Tristan still attempts to warn Joey). Keith laughs, sticking out his tongue, commenting that he hasn't felt this good since he first woke up. Joey's go the gist of things, and tells Yugi and Gekko to go and get Yako (even as they attempt to warn him about Keith), while Tristan asks him what's wrong.

Joey tells him to get his butt in gear and go save Tea. He tells them to move it, and Keith is furious that Joey is ignoring him, bellowing at Joey to turn and face him, or he'll put a bullet between his eyes. Everyone except Joey flinches and turns towards Keith, and Joey remarks that the bit players just won't shut up today.

He then comments, speak of the devil, if it isn't Keith, the guy who used to be the all-American champion - back in the Stone Age. Keith warns Joey that he came back to this world to destroy him. Joey gets serious, telling Yugi to let him take care of this, while he hurries up and goes. He tells Yami Yugi not to worry about him, and go help save Tea. He points out that he already beat Keith once, he knows exactly how this is going to go. Yami Yugi smiles, telling Joey to beat him, but warns him not to get careless. Joey tells him, he bets, and Yami Yugi turns and runs, with Gekko starting after him.

Yugi reaches the top of KaibaCorp, ready to begin the final confrontation with Yako. Yugi summons "Arcana Knight Joker", but Yako's Deck now contains all three "Wicked Gods". He begins with the Summoning of "The Wicked Eraser". Yugi is faced with the "The Wicked Eraser". Yako Tributes it to clear the field and the brings out "The Wicked Avatar". Yami Yugi is forced to stall using "Swords of Revealing Light". "Obelisk the Tormentor" faces the "The Wicked Avatar". Yugi plays "Divine Evolution", evolving "Obelisk" into a greater form. The Wicked Gods are defeated, and with them, their influence over Yako. Yako and Yugi agree to complete the duel for fun. With both Duelists pushed to their limits after a long and harrowing duel, Yugi is set to finish his battle with Yako. Summoning one monster after another, Yugi is put into a tight spot. He wins the duel against Yako, and reunites with Tea. Everything goes back to normal, and Kaiba owns KaibaCorp again.

Yugi's grandfather, Solomon, grew very fond of Yugi's Egyptian God cards and frequently asked to see them. Yugi allowed him, but declined his request to put them on display in the store. He let slip a mention of Yami Yugi when telling his grandfather that he did not know the life or death Duels they had to go through to earn the God cards. However he was surprised to find that Solomon already knew that the pharaoh's soul resided in Yugi's body. Solomon informed Yugi that it was the fate of the one who solved the Millennium Puzzle to be endlessly tested and encouraged Yugi to never give up.

Yugi made plans to visit Domino City Museum, knowing that the slab there and the Egyptian God cards were linked to Yami Yugi regaining his memories. He found it hard to sleep the night before and thought about what Solomon and Yami Bakura had told him about his duty. Yami Yugi also had trouble sleeping and assured Yugi that no matter what, he would treasure the memories of his time with Yugi and their friends. After Yugi managed to fall asleep, he was awoken by a burglar, who grabbed the Millennium Puzzle box, containing the Egyptian God cards, and left the house. Yugi made chase and maintained that this was his duty when Yami Yugi tried to take control. By the time Yugi caught up, the burglar had been attacked by Yami Bakura.

Yami Bakura returned the cards to Yugi, but scolded him for allowing them to be taken. Yugi thanked him, but drew attention to the fact that he had the Millennium Ring. Yami Bakura was aware that Yugi would be needing the ring eventually and promised to return it when that time came, but no sooner. As a pledge of allegiance, he gave the Millennium Eye to Yugi. Yugi asked what happens when the Millennium Items are placed inside the Memory Tablet, to which Yami Bakura replied that the doors to the underworld would open. Still cautious about trusting Yami Bakura, Yugi asked why he was helping. Yami Bakura claimed that like the pharaoh, he was a 3000-year-old spirit sealed in a Millennium Item, wanting to move on. Before parting, Yami Bakura said that Bakura was looking forward to going to the museum with Yugi tomorrow and that he would be watching from the shadows.

The next day at school, Joey told Yugi that his VCR had been fixed and asked if he could have the Video Girl♡ tape back, but Yugi thought his grandfather had taken it. They were both caught off guard by Tea, who asked what they were talking about. After school, Yami Yugi presented the Egyptian God cards to the slab at the museum, causing his consciousness to be separated from Yugi and taken to a table to play the Shadow RPG. Yugi was left worried as he reported no trace of Yami Yugi in the Millennium Puzzle or his heart, but Bobasa informed Yugi and his friends that Yami Yugi had traveled to the World of Memories, where he was to re-experience his life as pharaoh, including his death.

Intent on helping Yami Yugi, Yugi and his friends asked Bobasa to take them to the World of Memories. Using the Millennium Key, he transported Yugi, Tea, Joey and Tristan to Yami Yugi's soul room, while Bakura, who failed the Millennium Scales character test was refused entry, despite Yugi's wishes. They awoke in the soul room, which was a maze of doors and stairs. Yugi wondered if it would be possible for them to do anything of consequence in the World of Memories, considering they did not exist in this part of the pharaoh's memories and Bobasa informed them that it would be their duty to find the pharaoh's name, hidden within his subconscious.

While searching for the "true door", which would lead to the World of Memories, Yugi opened a door, which led to a moment in Yami Yugi's past, where he nearly killed Kaiba during Duelist Kingdom. Yugi thought that the doors contained Dark Yugi's feelings, as he felt a jab to his chest from opening that door. As the group grew frustrated trying to find the right door, Yugi theorized that the maze was a reflection of their own hearts, not Yami Yugi's, resulting in its complexity increasing in sync with their uneasiness. He got the group to put their hands together in unity and focus on their goal. This caused a new door, which led them to the World of Memories. Unknown to them, they were followed by the portion of Yami Bakura's soul, which had been sealed in the Millennium Puzzle.

The group consciously found themselves in an Ancient Egyptian street, where they were invisible to the locals and would pass through certain matter that they tried to touch. Their unconscious bodies were placed inside coffins in another room of the museum, while they unknowingly became non-player characters in the Shadow RPG, which was set in the World of Memories. In the game world, Yugi and his companions happened upon Kisara, who was being stoned by a group of people. They tried to intervene, but were incapable of interacting with the local people. Kisara was instead rescued by Priest Seto, whom they recognized as looking like Seto Kaiba.

Yugi and his friends followed Seto and his men to the palace, but were unable to enter, as it was protected by the will of Dark Yugi, the pharaoh. They opted to wait outside the palace and were woken up that night by the sound of the pharaoh chasing Bakura, King of Thieves on horseback. Yugi eventually caught up with the pharaoh, whose ka, Slifer the Sky Dragon, had just been defeated by Thief Bakura's Diabound. Yugi shared his strength with the pharaoh, allowing him to summon The Sun Dragon Ra, which defeated Diabound and Thief Bakura, diverging from how events played out in the pharaoh's past. Yugi and his friends were relieved to find that the pharaoh could see them and remember them. Yugi also informed him of their mission to find his real name.

Using one of his hourglasses RPG items, Yami Bakura had time rewound to undo Yugi's interference. This time, the portion of Dark Bakura's soul that had been sealed in the Millennium Puzzle blocked Yugi from getting to the pharaoh. Yami Bakura explained that he was there to stop them saving the pharaoh, as was necessary for his progenitor Zorc Necrophades to enter the real world. He demonstrated their ability to manipulate matter in the memory world, by causing a Duel Disk to grow on his arm. Yugi and his friends also managed to create Duel Disks with Decks. The world was plunged into darkness following the pharaoh's defeat to Thief Bakura, abruptly ending their encounter with Yami Bakura. Following role-playing game decorum, Yugi went to a bar, the Winking Camel, to find information and overheard that the pharaoh was now in the village of thieves.

While focused on another part of the RPG, Yami Bakura used another hourglass to freeze time. Everyone around Yugi and his companions became immobilized. As Tea noted similarities to the Shadow Game they had played against Yami Bakura before, Yugi began to suspect the World of Memories' true nature as a game world. Bobasa's body lit up as the Millennium Items had been placed inside the stone. He warned Yugi that Zorc had been awakened, before transforming into Hasan. Hasan informed Yugi and his friends that they could find the pharaoh's name in his tomb, before he flew away to protect the pharaoh. Figuring they could fly, if they were in a game world, Yugi leapt into the sky to quickly make way to the tomb at Valley of the Kings.

Inside the tomb, Yugi warned his friends that there could be traps. After he, Tea and Tristan rescued Joey, who tried flying over a pit, Yugi explained that like in Duel Monsters, they could not fly in a dungeon. With time still frozen, they were safe from the moving statues, while they crossed the pit's maze-like bridge. However Yugi found a "Destiny Board" Duel Monsters card and realized somebody else was there. Time suddenly unfroze and the group had to rush to the end of the pit to avoid being attacked by the statues. At the bridge before the final room, they met Yami Bakura, the portion which had been inside the Millennium Puzzle. In order to pass, Yugi faced Yami Bakura in a Shadow Game of Duel Monsters, in which the loser would die. The players composed Decks from 40 cards they imagined, with Yugi building a Deck distinctly different from what he had used alongside Yami Yugi.

Yugi leveled up his "Silent Swordsman", under the protection of "Marshmallon" and "Marshmallon Glasses". Using "Turn Jump", he neutralized the effect of Yami Bakura's "Death Spirit Zoma" and further leveled "Silent Swordsman", leaving Anzu and Jonouchi surprised by how strong Yugi was by himself. Yami Bakura used "All Killing Death Card", while his field was heavily populated due to the effects of "Multiply" and "Accursed Necrotwins", which caused his deceased monster to linger on the field, with no Graveyard. This caused Yugi to send massive amounts of cards from his own Deck to his Graveyard each turn. Yugi summoned "Gandora the Dragon of Destruction" to clear the field, apart from "Silent Swordsman", which he protected with "Magic Barrier". With "Silent Swordsman", he attacked and defeated Yami Bakura, banishing him to the shadows. Using his final hourglass, Dark Bakura used Zorc's "Natural Catastrophe" ability, making the ground to sink in the World of Memories. This caused the pharaoh's tomb to begin collapsing, while Yugi and his friends were still inside. Before escaping they managed to find the pharaoh's name, but were unable to read the hieroglyphics.

The group managed to get out of the tomb and flew to the aid of the pharaoh, who was battling Zorc Necrophades. This time Yugi employed the Deck he had built with the pharaoh and using his Duel Disk Summoned the Dark Magician from it to battle Zorc. Along with monsters summoned by Joey and Tristan, they launched an unsuccessful attack on Zorc. As Zorc retaliated, the group were shielded by Hasan, who told them they would need to make the pharaoh see his name. Under the pressure of Zorc's attack, Hasan's mask broke, allowing Yugi and the others to see that he was Shadi, just before he died. Tea instructed the others to concentrate on the hieroglyphs in order to etch them onto the cartouche pendant she had given the pharaoh. With that, the pharaoh learned his name was Atem and upon announcing it, the three Egyptian Gods were summoned from Yugi's Deck. Atem then united the gods into The Creator God of Light, Horakhty, who quickly eradicated Zorc.

Horakhty credited Yugi and his friends for protecting Atem and said that they had been the true keys to unlocking his name and driving back the shadows. With Atem having his own name, Yugi said that he was finally his own person, separate from Yugi. While it made him somewhat sad, he knew it had to be that way. Atem thanked Yugi and the others for their help, but with the world still collapsing from the "Natural Catastrophe", he urged them to find a way out of the World of Memories. Yugi did not want to leave without him, but Atem had to see the world of his memories through to its future and promised to come back after them. Isis and Mana bid Yugi, Tea, Joey and Tristan farewell and thanked them as they flew to the Millennium Puzzle in the sky to exit the world.

Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan reawoke in the museum in the modern world and were soon joined by Atem, who returned to Yugi's body. They checked on Bakura, who was alive but unconscious. The Yugis took the Millennium Ring back from him again. As Atem picked up the Millennium Puzzle, he and Yugi agreed that it was "almost time".

One month after the Shadow RPG, Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan, Bakura, Duke and Solomon Muto traveled to Egypt. Yugi opted to continue calling Atem "other me", while they resided in the same body. They planned to fly with Marik and Odion from Cairo to Luxor to get to the Valley of the Kings. The airport at Luxor was closed due to a sandstorm, so Ishizu arranged for a ship from the government to take them. Yugi took out a photo the Ishtars had sent him earlier. They informed him that the photo depicted the door to the afterlife and that the surrounding hieroglyphics explained how to send the send the pharaoh's spirit to the afterlife. The door was to be opened by placing the Millennium Items in the Memory Stone and speaking the pharaoh's name and the pharaoh's spirit could not be put the rest, while carrying his sword. Yugi realized that this meant someone would have to defeat Atem in a Ceremonial Battle.

Tea who was uncomfortable with the idea of Atem leaving, tried talking to Yugi, but was unable to do so and changed the subject to Tristan's medicine. Unable to sleep, Yugi went onto the ship's deck, where he met Joey. Reminded of the journey to Duelist Kingdom, Joey spoke about how he had changed since then thanks to Atem. He joked that they should forget their mission and throw the Millennium Items overboard. Yugi thought he was serious for a moment and was reminded of Weevil. Yugi then informed Joey of his decision to be the one to fight Atem.

Atem had heard Yugi and Marik talk about the battle, so he kept away to give Yugi privacy to build a Deck. When Yugi had done so, Atem surfaced. Yugi promised to use all his strength to beat Atem. He then warned him that he knew Atem's Deck's weak points, before giving him privacy to build his new Deck. The next morning, Yugi, Atem and their companions went to the Shrine of the Underworld, where the tombkeepers clan gave them the remaining Millennium Items, the Ring and Scales. When Atem placed all seven items in the Tablet of the Pharaoh's Memories, the Eye of Wadjet shone upon him and split him and Yugi into separate bodies. Despite needing to lose to pass on, Atem intended to make every effort to win the Ceremonial Battle.

Yugi quickly summoned the three "Gadget" monsters with "Ties of the Brethren" and used them to power up "Stronghold the Moving Fortress". However Atem held it back from attacking, by using "Bounce" on Yugi's "Swords of Revealing Light". Yugi was relieved at this point to see Atem was taking him seriously. Using "Tricky's Magic 4", Atem gathered enough sacrifices to summon "The God of the Obelisk" and dispose of "Stronghold". Yugi used "Turn Jump" to power up "Silent Swordsman LV0" and significantly weaken "Obelisk" with "Crumbling Axe", resulting in the two monsters destroying each other. Yugi suspected Atem had only included one Egyptian God card. With it in the Graveyard, he predicted Atem would eventually use "Monster Reborn" so he selected it for "Gold Sarcophagus" in anticipation.

Atem summoned "Dark Magician" in order to defeat Yugi's "Marshmallon". Having found it reassuring to have "Dark Magician" on his side before, Yugi recognized it as a strong enemy. He failed to destroy it with "Gandora the Dragon of Destruction", due to Atem's "Mirror Force". When "Dark Magician" attacked, Yugi played "Magician's Circle" to Summon "Silent Magician", while Atem Summoned "Dark Magician Girl". Atem combined his monsters attacks with "Magicians Unite", but Yugi powered up "Silent Magician" with "Card of Sanctity", allowing it to defeat the "Dark Magicians". Atem attempted to use "Monster Reborn" to revive "Slifer the Sky Dragon", which he had discarded earlier.[208] Yugi then revealed his choice of "Monster Reborn" for "Gold Sarcophagus", preventing the revival. Ishizu suspected this was Yugi's message to Atem that the souls of the dead must linger in the world of the living. Yugi then attacked Atem with "Silent Magician", winning the duel.

Upon winning, Yugi dropped the ground and began sobbing. Atem insisted that as winner, he should not be on his knees, but Yugi replied that he was too weak. However Atem told him he was not weak and had always had a power that no one could ever beat; the power of kindness, which he had taught to Atem. Yugi began to say "other me", but Atem corrected him, saying he was not "the other Yugi" anymore and that Yugi is no one, but himself and the only Yugi Muto in whole world. After Tristan, Tea and Joey said their last words to Atem, Yugi said "we'll never forget you", before he passed through the gate to the afterlife. When the door finished closing, the shrine began to cave in and pulled the tablet and Millennium Items into the depths of the Earth. Yugi bid farewell to Millennium Puzzle, as he and the others ran outside to safety. On the surface, Yugi thought about how everyone has a story of their own and that his was just beginning.

Duelist Kingdom arc
Yugi defeated Joey in Duel Monsters at school and decided to invite Joey, Téa and Tristan to see his Grandpa's rare card, the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", after school. Seto Kaiba, who overheard, kidnapping Grandpa and forced him into a Duel for his "Blue-Eyes", as he refused to trade or sell it. Yugi and his friends caught up after Solomon had already been defeated, and witnessed Kaiba tear-up the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in front of them. Outraged, Yugi challenged Kaiba to a Duel, and Solomon gave Yugi his Deck. Yugi dueled Kaiba as Yami Yugi and discovered Kaiba had the other three "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" in his Deck but defeated him using "Exodia the Forbidden One", taking Kaiba's title as the Duel Monsters World Champion.

Since Joey had been having trouble with winning in Duel Monsters, Yugi asked his grandfather to help train Joey. Maximillion Pegasus heard of Yugi's victory over Kaiba and sent him a videotape inviting him to participate in his Duelist Kingdom tournament. Pegasus appeared on the TV and dueled Yugi on the spot, while freezing everyone else in the room. Pegasus placed a time limit on the Duel and won because time ran out seconds before Yugi could claim victory. As a penalty for Yugi's defeat Pegasus stole Grandpa's soul.

Yugi entered the tournament in order to rescue Grandpa. At the pier, before boarding the ship to the tournament, he gave Joey one of his two Star Chips, allowing Joey to participate and help him.

On the ship, Yugi met Weevil Underwood, who acted friendly towards him and told Yugi that he knew of secret new rules to be introduced in the tournament. Shortly after Weevil left, Yugi gave Joey the "Time Wizard" card, telling him how it can be helpful in a tight spot. Yugi met Weevil again later and showed him his "Exodia" cards, which Weevil tossed overboard, to hinder Yugi's Deck. Joey jumped into the water to recover them, but after getting two of them was hit by the current and Yugi dove in to save him. Both of them were then rescued by the stowaways; Téa and Tristan, who threw them a rope ladder.

Once the tournament started, Yugi tracked down Weevil to get revenge, but Weevil fled, leading him into a forest. Yugi suspected this was to do with the new rules Weevil mentioned. Weevil led them to a meadow, where he accepted Yugi's challenge, as his monsters got Field Power Bonuses there. Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, who bet both his Deck and Star Chip, earning him Weevil's two Star Chips after he won.

Yugi cheered for Joey in his Duel against Mai. As Yami Yugi, he offered Joey abstract clues to help him win. Joey defeated Mai using the "Time Wizard" card, Yugi gave him. Yugi as Yami Yugi gave Joey courage to defeat Mai in a duel.

While searching for food, Yugi and his friends, found fish Mako Tsunami had prepared. Unbeknownst to them, Mako had set it as bait to lure opponents, to where his monsters greatly benefit from the field. Mako then appeared, angered over them stealing his food. After Yugi introduced himself, Mako was happy to meet the duelists, who defeated Kaiba and shared the food with them. Yugi got up to leave, but Mako stopped him by throwing a harpoon in front of him and demanded a Duel. Yugi switched to Yami Yugi and defeated Mako, winning two more Star Chips.

Yugi and his friends saw a contestant, being forced to leave the island as he was out of Star Chips. The boy claimed they had been stolen, along with his Deck. He described the thief and where he met him. Yugi promised to get his Star Chips back, before the boat left the island. Back at the scene of the crime, they met the thief, who was Mokuba Kaiba with his face disguised. He dueled Yugi as Yami Yugi with five Star Chips on the line and Yami Yugi soon realized that he was Mokuba. Mokuba explained how Yugi humiliated his brother, causing him to leave, giving Pegasus an opportunity to take over KaibaCorp. Mokuba sought revenge on Yugi for this. Unable to win the Duel, he made a grab for Yugi's Star Chips, but Yami Yugi discouraged Mokuba and promised to help him and Seto.

The group made their way back to the bay, but the boat had already left. Mokuba showed Kemo that Yugi won back the Star Chips, but Kemo slapped them into the water, including some of Yugi's. Kemo grabbed Mokuba to take him back to Pegasus, but Yami Yugi challenged Kemo to a Duel for Mokuba's freedom. Since Kemo wasn't a duelist, he told Yugi as Yami Yugi to come back in an hour (4 hours in the English version) and he'll have an opponent arranged for him.

Yugi as Yami Yugi returned to the spot and faced Ghost Kaiba, who pretended to be the actual Seto Kaiba and used his Deck. With the help of the real Kaiba, who weakened Ghost Kaiba's "Blue-Eyes White Dragons", via a virus, Yami Yugi won. Yugi retrieved Kaiba's Deck, but Kemo had already disappeared with Mokuba.

Yugi was not allowed to help Joey in his Duel with Rex Raptor. As the Duel started Yugi went to find Tristan, who left in a huff with Joey for accepting those conditions. Tristan reminded Yugi that he should still be at the Duel to offer Joey his friendship, so the two of them returned to watch. Yugi witness Joey winning the duel against Rex Raptor.

That night, Mai shared her food with Yugi and his friends, although she promised that they would be enemies again tomorrow.

Ryo Bakura appeared at their campsite, shortly after Mai left for a walk. While the group talked about cards they own, that they an identify with, Yugi encouraged Téa to pick one for herself. Yugi picked the "Dark Magician" as his. After everyone had exchanged, which cards they recognize with, Bakura suggested that they play a friendly Duel, where Yugi includes the cards Joey, Tristan and Téa choose; "Flame Swordsman", "Cyber Commander" and "Magician of Faith" in his Deck and he can show them how his card, "Change of Heart" works. Bakura changed to Yami Bakura, who trapped the group's souls in the cards they selected. He proceeded to take Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, but Yami Yugi emerged. Yami Yugi faced Yami Bakura, in a Shadow Game, to return his friends, but staking his Millennium Puzzle.

Yugi's friends appeared in place of the monsters they selected as Yami Yugi Summoned them. When the "Dark Magician", Yugi was Summoned, the two Yugis met. In the Japanese version, Yugi was aware of Yami Yugi's existence and the two of them agreed now is not the time to keep secrets. In the English version, Yugi was unaware of Yami Yugi's existence until that time, though he said he often heard a powerful voice coming from the Millenium Puzzle when he dueled. Yugi told his friends of Yami Yugi's existence, that he is the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle and apologized for not telling them before. In the English version, Yugi admitted to have felt Yami Yugi's presence while he dueled, and felt they could trust him. Yami Yugi managed to win the Duel, with the help of Ryo betraying Yami Bakura, returning everyone to normal. Yami Yugi made Téa, Tristan and Joey believed the Duel to have been a dream. Yugi didn't take time to explain as they heard Mai scream at that point.

The group found the Eliminator, PaniK, who had just beaten Mai and taken all eight of her Star Chips. Yugi accused PaniK of being a coward and dueled him as Yami Yugi, winning back Mai's Star Chips. He offered them to Mai, who reluctantly took them back, remarking that she owed him one.

Later that night Kaiba arrived on the island and Yugi returned his Deck.

The next day, Mai left a letter explaining she had left and owes Yugi for winning back her Star Chips. Joey later got separated from his friends, who searched a cave after finding his wallet outside. After running from many traps, they found Joey in a Duel with Bonz. Joey won, but Bandit Keith's gang trapped Yugi and his friends in the cave, by sealing the entrance with a boulder.

Using Bakura's Millennium Ring as a guide, the friends found the Paradox Brothers guarding an exit. Yugi switched to Yami Yugi and paired up with Joey in a Tag Duel to gain passage. After winning Yugi and Joey, each had enough Star Chips to enter the finals and Yami Yugi passed the brothers riddle test in order to exit.

At the stairs to Pegasus' castle, Téa pondered on Yugi's differing personalities and wondered if there could be two Yugis. Yugi admitted to feeling as though there is someone else living inside him, but hoped he wasn't going crazy.

At the top of the stairs, Kaiba blocked the way and talked Yugi into a Duel. Yami Yugi took control and faced Kaiba, using his Duel Disk technology. As Yami was about to win, Kaiba stood up on the edge of the castle, such that the shockwaves from Yugi's attack may cause him to fall to his death. (In the English version, Yugi spoke to Yami Yugi, telling him not to do it.) Yami Yugi contemplated, but in the end decided to attack. Téa ran to Yugi insisting that this isn't like him and calls for the ordinary Yugi to come out. Yugi took control in time to cancel the move. He fell to his knees, shocked by what he'd almost done. Kaiba took his turn and won the Duel, claiming five of Yugi's Star Chips.

Now fully aware of Yami Yugi's existence, Yugi admitted it to his friends, telling them that he is doubt to the Duel, but Téa protested arguing that Yugi saved him and Kaiba is the real loser. After Kaiba left, Yugi continued to mope. Joey offered Yugi to take his Star Chips, so he may enter the finals, but Yugi ignored him. Frustrated Joey grabbed Yugi by the shirt, asking him if he cares about his Grandfather.

Mai appeared and was briefed in on what just happened. She offered Yugi her excessive Star Chips, as per her promise from earlier, but Yugi didn't even acknowledge Mai's appearance. Annoyed Mai told him to grow up and hang on to the Star Chips. She accused him of being afraid to Duel again and challenged him. Téa instead accepted the Duel, to win back Yugi's Star Chips.

Yugi began to slowly snap out of his depression as he watched Téa duel. After Mai surrendered, Yugi approached her about the face-down card she didn't use. Mai denied that she lost for him. (In the English version, she said that some cards just aren't worth playing.)

Inside the castle, the group were invited to watch Pegasus duel Kaiba. Seeing as Kaiba was dueling to save Mokuba, Yugi opted support to Kaiba. Kaiba was trapped in Pegasus' "Soul Prison" card, after his defeat. Yugi then shouted down to Pegasus' asking who he is to mess with people and their families like this.

The finalists along with Téa, Tristan and Bakura were treated to a meal that evening, where the finalists got paired-up. After the meal, Yugi gave Joey his "The Glory of the King's Hand", as it is mandatory for each finalist to possess either it or "The Glory of the King's Opposite Hand".

That night, Yugi was woken by his grandfather's voice, calling him. He followed it and found a "Soul Prison" card, with his grandfather's soul inside. Solomon warned him about Pegasus and is accompanied by the cards containing Seto and Mokuba Kaiba's souls. Yugi woke up afterwards, wondering if it was a dream.

Yugi switched to Yami Yugi before the finals started, and faced Mai in the first Duel of the finals. Yami Yugi gives little effort to the Duel, as he worried about facing Pegasus. (In the English version, Yugi refused to let Yami Yugi duel, fearing how he may harm their opponent.) This resulted in Yugi playing poorly. Encouraging words from Mai returned the Yugis to the top of their game and allowed them to turn the Duel around, and emerge with a win. Yugi cheered for Joey in his Duel against Bandit Keith.

Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, and faced Joey in the final round. Joey used all he learned from Yugi, but was still defeated by Yami Yugi. Afterwards Joey offered to give "The Glory of the King's Hand" back to Yugi, so he may claim the prize money. However Yugi declined, as he had entered to tournament with the intent of saving his grandfather and now the Kaiba brothers. The money was not important to him, but Joey needed it for his sister's eye operation.

Yugi advanced to duel Pegasus. At the start of the Duel, Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, and requested that the Kaiba brothers' souls be released as well as his grandfather's, if he wins. Pegasus accepted but indicated that he plans on taking Yugi's soul if he wins. Pegasus used his Millennium Eye to read Yami Yugi's mind during the Duel, but Yugi had an idea about countering Pegasus's powers by the risky strategy of having him and Yami Yugi switch minds each time they played a face-down card, thus preventing Pegasus from reading their strategy while running the risk that one of them would attempt something that would hinder the other's plans.

After the Yugis destroyed Pegasus' "Toon World" card, Pegasus transported them all into the Shadow Realm. In the Shadow Realm, Yugi lost his life energy while doing the mind shuffle strategy, lacking the spiritual strength to play on that level, and Pegasus continued successfully reading Yami Yugi's mind until Joey, Téa, and Tristan blocked his Millenium Eye. Yami Yugi defeats Pegasus, returning them both back from the Shadow Realm.

Pegasus disappeared after his Duel with Yami Yugi. Determined to ensure the captive souls are returned, Yugi and his friends searched for Pegasus. They found a number of Pegasus' men carrying him away after he was assaulted by Yami Bakura. Croquet explained that he was attacked. (In the English version, he said that Pegasus had fallen ill.) Yugi and company headed to Pegasus' tower, where they found a diary entry addressed to the new King of Duelists who defeats him, explaining why he created Duel Monsters. Yugi then spotted the three "Soul Prison" cards, which are now blank, meaning the souls are no longer imprisoned.

As he left the tower, Yugi bumped into Shadi, who used his Millennium Key to enter Yugi's mind. To Shadi's surprise he found two soul rooms; one for Yugi and one for Yami Yugi. Shadi wound up in a Shadow Game with Yami Yugi, but was rescued by Yugi. Yugi informed Shadi that he doesn't believe Yami Yugi intends to harm him and asked Yami to release Shadi from the game.

A door opened, leading them to a room lined with stone tablets of Duel Monsters. Yugi learned from Shadi that millennia ago, Egyptian kings played Shadow Games with real monsters and magic. After the games became a war that threatened to destroy the world, one brave pharaoh sealed the magic away. The duo were confronted by the Dark Magician. Shadi prepared to counter by Summoning the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. However Yugi insisted that the Dark Magician would never harm him and asked the magician to let them past. To Shadi's astonishment the magician complied. Seeing Yugi's control over the Dark Magician, Shadi believed he may be the chosen one.

Shadi returned himself and Yugi to outside Yugi's soul. Before disappearing, he told Yugi his name and claimed to have not told it to anyone before.

After the group found Mokuba was back to normal, Croquet handed Yugi the other prizes on behalf of Pegasus, who had been taken to hospital. Yugi received the card "The Ties of Friendship". He was crowned the King of Games, and also received the 3 million dollar check, which he gave to Joey for Serenity's eye operation.

Kaiba thanked Yugi for saving Mokuba and insisted that they have a fair Duel someday to determine who is the better duelist. Yami Yugi congratulated Yugi on saving everyone. (In the English version, Yugi pointed out that he doesn't even know Yami Yugi's name. Yami Yugi replied that he has been called many things such as Pharaoh, Yu-Gi-Oh and Yami. Yugi refered to him Yami, and said he is glad to call him his friend. While Yami Yugi was proud to be one.)

Yugi and his friends got a lift back to Domino City from Kaiba.

As Yugi brought his grandfather home from the hospital, the group was confronted by Rebecca Hawkins. She accused Solomon of stealing her grandfather's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and challenged him to a Duel. At Kaiba Land, Yugi faced Rebecca in the Duel, as his grandfather was unfit to play. The Duel turned out to be an exact repeat of the Duel their grandfathers played a long ago over a drink of water. Like how Solomon surrendered back then as Arthur needed the water more, Yugi surrendered to teach Rebecca about the Heart of the Cards. Just then, Arthur arrived, showed that Yugi could have won, and explained why he surrendered. After Rebecca apologized, Yugi gave her the card, "The Ties of Friendship".

Legendary Heroes arc
Mokuba arrived at Kame Game and informed Yugi and his friends that Kaiba's mind had been trapped in the Virtual World by The Big Five, while testing out a virtual reality machine that he created. Upon agreeing to help, Yugi, Joey, Téa, Tristan and Mokuba snuck into Kaiba's laboratory at the Adventure Game. Yugi, Joey and Mokuba got into pods to transport their minds to the virtual world, while Téa and Tristan kept guard.

Yugi, Joey and Mokuba appeared in a graveyard, where they were confronted by "Armored Zombie", "Clown Zombie" and "Dragon Zombie". They Summoned monsters to battle them, but the zombies kept reviving stronger than before. However Joey continued to attack them, until Yugi reminded him of his Duel with Bonz. So Joey played "Shield & Sword", dropping their DEF to 0 and Yugi finished off the zombies with "Dark Magician". Upon beating the zombies, they were each given a card displaying how much currency they have.

The trio spotted the fairy Iru, who guided them to a town. Here they heard that a prisoner, who may be Kaiba, had been taken to the Cave of Death. They were unable to travel there due to the sandstorm and a townsman informed them that they would need a "Niwatori" in order to cross that desert. Upon searching the town, they found a battle competition with "Niwatori" as a prize.

Yugi and Mokuba watched Joey Duel Madam Butterfly in the Coliseum. Once Joey found out that Madam Butterfly was Mai Valentine, Yugi and Mokuba ran over to them and explained what happened to Kaiba. Offering to help, Mai got her "Harpie Lady" to snatch the "Niwatori" card from the Coliseum owner and the four of them ran for the desert. At the edge of the desert, Mai played the "Niwatori" card, producing four large birds for them to ride on.

Once they crossed the desert, they reached the template at the Cave of Death. Inside they found themselves in a maze and were chased by "Labyrinth Tank". Yugi used "Magical Hats" to hide them and transport them to another part of the maze, where they met Iru and Edina. Iru guided the group to the exit, but it was guarded by "Gate Guardian". Yugi and Joey together Summoned "Black Skull Dragon" and equipped it with "Dragon Nails", making it strong enough to defeat "Gate Guardian". Outside the maze, a rescue party arrived and took Yugi and his friends to the palace as a reward for saving Edina.

At the palace Yugi and his friends learned that Edina was the queen of the land. (In the English version, she was a princess.) Edina informed them of a ritual where they must offer sacrifices to the Mythic Dragon. They learn that Edina is to be this kingdom's sacrifice and Kaiba is to be another kingdom's. Edina tells them of a legendary flying machine which can access the castle where Kaiba is and how she believed that Yugi and his friends are prophesized heroes who will destroy the Mythic Dragon. Yugi, Joey, Mai and Mokuba agreed to help and were given hero costumes to wear.

On one of the battlements, they were attacked by monsters who were after the sacrifice. Yugi, Joey and Mai unsuccessfully tried fighting them off. However Mokuba, who had previously swapped clothes with Edina, was kidnapped instead. While trying to find a way to save Mokuba, Yugi noticed a recent storm had revealed the outlines of the flying machine on the floor below them. Yugi asked Edina how long ago the legend involving the flying machine took place. With the unlikelihood of the machine still working and not enough time to dig it up, Yugi hinted to Joey that they needed to restore it to the condition it was 1000 years ago, prompting Joey to use "Time Wizard" to take the machine back 1000 years.

Yugi, Joey and Mai flew the airship up to the castle. On the way they were attacked by monsters, which they countered by Summoning their own monsters. Yugi was attacked while his "Dark Magician" was too far away to save him. However Iru, blocked the attack, sacrificing itself. Yugi then played "Swords of Revealing Light" to block attacks. Angry over Iru's death, Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, who led the group to the castle.

As Yami Yugi, he managed to regroup with the Kaiba brothers and defeat The Big Five's "Mythic Dragon" in the final stage by Summoning "Dragon Master Knight". Shortly after Edina thanked them and revived Mai, Joey, Mokuba and Iru, the group returned to the real world.

Dungeon Dice Monsters arc
Grandpa feared for his business, the Kame Game, when the new game store, the Black Clown opened in Domino City. He ordered Yugi to stay away from the new shop. However Yugi and Tea passed it on the way to school later. Yugi received a flyer for a new game Dungeon Dice Monsters, but Téa dragged him away after he blushed at the lady handing out the flyer.

At school, they met the new student, Duke Devlin, the owner of the Black Clown. Joey was jealous of Duke's popularity and challenged him to a game of Duel Monsters. Yugi objected to the condition that Joey and Duke both use Decks from packs they open on the spot. Joey lost the televised Duel and in keeping his end of the bargain had to do whatever Duke said. Yugi became disgusted after Duke forced Joey to wear a dog suit and behave like a dog, so he switched to Yami Yugi who challenged Duke to a Duel. Duke accepted if they play Dungeon Dice Monsters instead of Duel Monsters and should Yugi lose he must relinquish his title of "King of Games" and give-up playing Duel Monsters.

Unfamiliar with the rules, Yami got off to a rough start. His chances did not improve as Duke revealed that he designed Dungeon Dice Monsters with Pegasus' aid. Duke blamed Yugi for Pegasus' disappearance after Duelist Kingdom. Yami used his innate gaming skills to turn the tables on Duke. Yami succeeded in calling "Dark Magician", which Pegasus had added to the game, and used it to defeat Duke.

After the game, Duke, Yugi and his friends went to Duke's office. Duke lamented that his dream has been crushed as nobody would want to play Dungeon Dice Monsters now. However Yugi assured him that it was a great game and his friends agreed. Duke apologized for how he had treated them and they agreed to be friends.

Battle City arc
Yugi replaced the brown rope around the Millennium Puzzle with a chain, which Yami Yugi complimented and offered him advice on impressing Téa, who was waiting for him. Embarrassed, Yugi asks what he was talking about. As Yugi left the room, his mother asked who he was talking to. Yugi replied that it was nobody and dashed off, telling Yami to stop picking on him, as he offered to help make Téa like him. (The Yugis talking about Téa and the scene with Yugi's mother was removed in the English version.) Yugi met up with Téa and left for school with her. (In the English version, they were going to a soccer game) Yugi told her about the Yami Yugi; that he lives in the Millennium Puzzle, is worried about his destiny and has no memory of his past.

On the way to school, Yugi bumped into Bandit Keith, who was possessed by Marik Ishtar and disguised as a fortune-teller. Falling for the disguise, Yugi reluctantly let him hold the Millennium Puzzle in order to read his future. Keith knocked over the table at Yugi and Téa and ran off with the Puzzle. Yugi and Téa split-up to find him. In his search, Yugi followed a series of arrows, although he knew it was a trap, he felt that he had no other choice. Yugi caught-up with Keith, who had the Puzzle bolted to a wall. According to ancient rules, Marik had to win the Puzzle in a Duel, so he challenged Yugi to a Duel through Keith. Yugi was unable to switch to Yami Yugi during the Duel and quickly realized that Bandit Keith was his opponent after seeing he used a Machine Deck.

Yami Bakura sensed an evil presence and pinpointed it to the Duel. Seeing Keith controlled, Yami Bakura used the Millennium Ring to break Marik's control. Keith struggled to resist being repossessed, but Marik took control long enough to have Keith smash the Puzzle. Bakura swung down from a rope, knocking Keith unconscious. Bakura then collected a piece of the Puzzle and sealed a fragment of his soul inside it, before returning it to Yugi. Keith regained consciousness and continued to struggle with Marik's mind control, setting fire to the warehouse in his confusion. Unable to remove the piece of the Puzzle connected to the wall, Yugi stayed in the burning building to reassemble it. After inserting the last piece he collapsed and goes unconscious from the heat, but was rescued by Tristan and Joey and was taken to the hospital.

Worrying about how the Puzzle almost got stolen, Yugi took time to talk with Yami Yugi and discovered that Yami Yugi has no idea of who he once was, as he has lost all his memories. The duo suspected that their new enemy is in possession of a Millennium Item.

To try and help Yami Yugi regain his memories, Yugi asked Téa to spend time with Yami Yugi. He asked Téa out, but switched to Yami Yugi just before the date. Not expecting this Yami Yugi started shouting into the Puzzle at Yugi, until he was noticed by Téa. On the date, Yami Yugi and Téa learned from Ishizu Ishtar that Yami Yugi was once an Egyptian pharaoh and that Yugi had to enter the upcoming Battle City tournament to stop their new enemy.

While talking with Téa, about Duel Monsters at school, Téa asked which card best suited Yugi, assuming he would pick "Dark Magician". However Yugi explained that while "Dark Magician" is powerful, "Maha Vailo" better suits him, as it's not the strongest card, but it had hidden power. He would have liked to have picked "Dark Magician", but thought it's better suited to Yami Yugi.

The day before the tournament, Yugi and Joey picked-up their Duel Disks in order to compete and the next morning Yugi finished reconstructing his Deck for the tournament. Before the tournament started, Yugi went to find Joey who was missing. He was happy to see that Tristan w found Joey, and was glad that Joey say Serenity's eye operation was a success. Yugi also met up with Mai, Mako, Weevil and Rex before the tournament began. Yugi also heard of the new Battle City tournament rules from Kaiba, who was in the Kaibacorp helicopter.

When the tournament started, Yugi spotted Joey trying to get a rematch with the Rare Hunter, Seeker, who had won his "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Yugi noticed his robes were the same as the ones Bandit Keith wore, while he was possessed. Seeker refused to face Joey again, but challenges Yugi to a Duel. Yugi accepts and switched to Yami Yugi, who won and took back Joey's "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Marik then used Seeker as his puppet to communicate with Yugi. He introduced himself, told Yugi how he's after the power of the pharaoh and warned him that there are more deadly Rare Hunters. Yugi as Yami Yugi offered Joey back the "Red-Eyes", but Joey refused, saying he will wait until he's a true duelist before earning it back.

Yugi as Yami Yugi was lured into a tent by a harlequin and confronted by the Rare Hunter, Arkana. He faced Arkana in a Duel, where the loser's feet got cut off by a buzzsaw. (In the English version, they got sent to the Shadow Realm by using energy disks.) Yami Yugi won the Duel, but Yugi then took over and saved Arkana from the buzzsaw (energy disk in the English version).

At the canal side, while Yugi spoke with Yami Yugi about recent happenings they were confronted by another Rare Hunter, Strings. Strings was under Marik's complete control and dueled Yami Yugi using the Egyptian God Card, "Slifer the Sky Dragon". Yami Yugi won the Duel, earning "Slifer the Sky Dragon" through the Ante rule. Kaiba, who had appeared during the Duel challenged Yugi to a Duel on the spot, but Marik warned Yugi that he was going to take control of Joey. Yugi declined Kaiba's challenge as he had to find and save his friend.

Yugi still as Yami Yugi searched the city for his friends, with Kaiba's help, they defeated the Rare Hunters Umbra and Lumis twice, gaining enough Locator Cards to qualify for the finals and also located Joey at Domino Pier.

At the Pier, Yugi as Yami Yugi was forced to duel Joey, who was possessed by Marik. Each player had their ankles chained to an anchor, which would drag them underwater to drown after the timer reaches 0. The only way for either player to save themself was to defeat their opponent, which would open a box, giving them a key. Yami Yugi made the first few of Yugi's moves, but Yugi insisted that he should fight this battle himself. Through talking to Joey and using "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" to remind him of his promise to become a true duelist and even giving him the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi managed to get Joey's subconsciousness to ignore Marik's commands.

Yugi managed to fully snap Joey out of Marik's control shortly before forcing himself to lose. With Joey back to normal, Yugi told Marik that he was the true loser of this Duel. Yugi let his Life Points fall to 0 and collapsed, releasing Joey's key. However Joey managed to force the Duel into a Draw, releasing Yugi's key too. Using the chain, Joey swung to Yugi's side of the field and grabbed his key, before the anchor dragged them both down. He unlocked Yugi, who floated to the surface and was brought ashore by Tristan. Serenity dove in with the other key to save Joey. Joey later apologized and returned the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi thanked Yami Yugi for trusting in him and Yami Yugi said that Yugi has taught him the strength behind kindness and that one day Yugi will surpass him in every way. Afterwards Mai gave Yugi and his friends a lift to the finals.

Yugi, Joey, Mai, Téa, Tristan, Duke and Serenity arrived at the KaibaCorp Stadium for the finals. Yugi was suspicious of the finalist Marik, who is under the guise "Namu", and Ryo Bakura, who should be in the hospital. Téa cleared any suspicion of Namu, by informing Yugi of how he saved her, Joey and Bakura earlier. Shortly after Odion Ishtar, pretending to be Marik arrived, everyone boarded the blimp, where the finals took place.

As Yugi prepared for the finals in his room, he added "Slifer the Sky Dragon" to his Deck, thinking he was going to need it to face Marik. He also suspected Bakura had come into contact with the Millennium Ring again.

Yugi as Yami Yugi faced Yami Bakura in the first of the quarter-finals on the Stratos Dueling Arena. Yugi's suspicions were confirmed as they faced Yami Bakura. When Bakura was one turn away from winning with "Destiny Board", the two Yugis agreed that they had to use "Slifer the Sky Dragon" to defeat him. Yami Yugi Summoned "Slifer", but Marik switched control of Bakura's body from Yami Bakura to Ryo, who was too weak to withstand the attack. However Yami Bakura disagreed with Marik's plan and took control of Ryo's body. He invited Yugi to attack him, refusing to let his host die. Yugi won the Duel, knocking Bakura unconscious and in leaving him need of medical attention.

During the intermission before the next Duel, Yugi unsuccessfully tried to get Kaiba to make an emergency stop to take Bakura to a doctor. Yugi went back to his room and began examining his Deck. He was interrupted by Shadi, who told him how the Egyptian God Cards were created and why he must stop Marik from getting his hands on them.

Joey defeated Odion, who was still pretending to be Marik and exposed him as a fake. Subsequently Namu was exposed as the real Marik and Yami Marik took control of his body. Marik confronted Yugi, saying the battle for the Pharaoh's power had just begun.

After losing to Kaiba, Ishizu Ishtar told Yugi of the Ishtar family's history and gave him the Millennium Necklace, as he was going to need all seven Millennium Items to recover the Pharaoh's memories. That night Yugi was woken by Téa, who reported Bakura has gone missing. They discovered he was dueling with Marik and saw him lose shortly after they arrived.

Virtual World arc
The Battle City blimp got sucked into a mechanical fortress in the sea, by Noah Kaiba. Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Serenity, Duke, Kaiba and Mokuba exited the blimp, where they were greeted by a projection of the Big Five, who explained that they got trapped in the Virtual World, after they failed to trap Kaiba there, during the Legendary Heroes game. For that they hate Yugi and his friends for helping Kaiba. Having Kaiba as a common enemy, Noah uploaded their minds into his computer system. Using an altered form of Duel Monsters, they planned to face the gang in order to claim possession of their bodies, so that they may exist in the real world.

The group were then transported to a virtual jungle, where they are given a demonstration of the Deck Master rules. The Big Five then separated the gang, by making holes appear under them.

Yugi was transported to a pond, where he was faced by Gansley, who had taken the form of "Deepsea Warrior". Before dueling Gansley, Yugi changed to Yami Yugi, who Gansley identified as "Type-B". During the Duel, Yugi noticed that their Deck Master, Kuriboh was trying to tell them something. As Yami was about to lose, Yugi took over and used Kuriboh's Deck Master effect to save them. Shortly afterwards, Yugi collapsed so Yami took back control and won the Duel.

The Yugis entered a hallway afterwards. Although they were aware there were traps behind some doors, Yugi ran through one, after hearing Téa scream, but was thrown back by an attack. Yami Yugi drew the Level Star of the door to Yugi's attention, so Yugi Summoned a monster of a higher Level, "Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress" and has it launch an attack into the doorway. They entered the doorway and wound up repeating the same process. Realizing it was because they keep choosing the Level 1 door, they started attacking different Levels. The final door had the 2000 ATK, Level 4 monster, "Flash Assailant", backed up with a series of face-down Magic or Trap Cards. Yugi used "Heavy Storm" to clear the face-downs and "4-Starred Ladybug of Doom's" effect to destroy "Flash Assailant".

Yugi arrived at the scene of Téa's Duel, but was held back by a wall of ice. "Dark Magician" was taken from his Deck and Summoned to Téa's field, after she played "Sage's Stone". Attacking with both "Dark Magician" and "Dark Magician Girl", Téa defeated Crump, causing the ice around her to disappear. Yugi rushed to her aid and gave her his coat. Together they walked though the ice region and entered a door, taking them to a courtroom, where Joey was dueling Johnson.

Yugi and Yami Yugi correctly suspected that Johnson had rigged the outcome of Joey's luck based cards. Although Noah attempted to disqualify Johnson, Joey insisted that they continue with the game unrigged. After Joey won, he, Yugi and Téa exited though another door.

The trio found their way to Duke, Serenity and Tristan's Duel against Nezbitt. After the Duel, the gang tried to find Tristan, before the Big Five took his body. They briefly met up with Kaiba and Mokuba, but were attacked by Nezbitt in possession of Tristan's body. The real Tristan in the body of a robot monkey helped them fight the imposter. However Nezbitt kidnapped Mokuba and Kaiba took off after him, leaving the others think about what to do with the monkey, not knowing it was Tristan.

The group took a pick-up truck to go after Kaiba. On the way, they found out the monkey was Tristan after he accidentally flipped a switch, allowing him to speak normally. After watching Kaiba duel Leichter, Yugi and Téa went with Kaiba to help him find Mokuba. The others tried to follow, but the tunnel disappeared, before they could enter.

Inside the tunnel Yugi and Téa got separated from Kaiba, and found themselves in a simulation of Kaiba's mansion back when Seto Kaiba got adopted. Yugi found a picture of Kaiba's father, Gozaburo, with Noah, shortly before meeting up with Kaiba again. Noah then showed the three of them a projection of the past, where Gozaburo showed Noah a picture of Seto, who Noah had to be able to compete with in order to run KaibaCorp.

Noah transported Yugi, Téa and Kaiba back to their friends, where they were confronted by the Big Five, now all sharing possession of Tristan's body. Yugi switched to Yami Yugi and teamed up with Joey to duel them in order to win back Tristan's body. Although Yugi and Joey won, the Big Five attempted to steal their bodies, but Noah took them away, along with Tristan's body, before they could.

Since Noah designed the robot monkey, Yugi and his friends searched it for clues. Yugi pushed a red button, which transported them to a virtual Kaiba Land. From there the gang took a handcar through a subway and wound up on the scene of Noah and Seto Kaiba's Duel.

Noah won and turned Seto and Mokuba to stone. This caused Yugi to get mad and change to Yami Yugi, who accused Noah of foul play, as he had used Mokuba as a shield to help him win. As Yami Yugi, Yugi combined his Deck with Seto's and continued the Duel. Noah gradually turned Yugi's friends to stone as Yami Yugi dueled, until none of them were left. Yugi then offered Yami Yugi support and took him to his soul room. Inside he brought Yami Yugi to a room containing his recent memories, where everyone, who had been turned to stone offered their support. Back in virtual reality, Yami Yugi imagined Yugi's friends giving him the cards drawn by "Card of Sanctity". With them, Yami Yugi Summoned Kaiba's three "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" to win the Duel against Noah.

After the Duel, Noah attempted to steal Yugi's body and escape to the real world, but the power of the Millennium Puzzle forced him back. After Noah found out that Gozaburo had been using him, he tried to help everyone escape the virtual world and took them to a virtual Domino City. The group got separated and met-up again, minus the Kaibas. Having realized Noah double crossed them, Yugi started to blame himself for trusting Noah.

Gozaburo had monsters attack Yugi and his friends as they looked for a way out, but Yugi and Joey fought them off by Summoning monsters from their Decks. Noah, having stolen Mokuba's body and escaped to the real world, organized a missile attack to destroy the fortress, including the servers for the virtual world. After having a change of heart, he contacted the group and explained that they must get out out quickly before the virtual world is destroyed.

Noah told them to go the arcade. Yugi, Duke and Joey fought off more of Gozaburo's monsters, while Téa, Serenity and Tristan went there. When Yugi, Duke and Joey got to the arcade, Noah asked Yugi to go and get Seto before returning himself.

Yugi complied and went to the KaibaCorp building, catching Seto shortly after he beat Gozaburo in a Duel. Gozaburo took the form of a monster and chased the two. Noah instructed them to jump off the building. With no other option they complied and awoke in the real world, before hitting the ground.

Yugi, Kaiba and Mokuba ran to escape the fortress before the missile strike and were helped onto the moving blimp by Joey and Tristan, shortly before the fortress got destroyed.

Battle City Finals arc
The KaibaCorp blimp took the finalists to the Duel Tower for the Battle City finals. Yugi switched to Yami Yugi for the Battle Royal to determine match-ups, and wound up with Kaiba as his opponent.

Yugi tried to stop Joey from dueling Marik. However Yami Yugi reminded him that Joey accepted the Duel knowing it would be a Shadow Game and nobody can stop such a game. (In the English version, Yugi worried for Joey and wondered if there was something they could do to help. However Yami Yugi assured Yugi that this was Joey's fight and he can win with their support.) After Joey lost, Yugi screamed that it's a lie. (In the English version, he said that he won't lose Joey to the Shadow Realm.) Later at Joey's bedside, he begged for him not to die. (In the English version, he blamed himself, saying that he should have dueled Marik instead.)

Out in the hallway, Yugi cried more and considered stopping dueling, but Yami Yugi convinced him that they must not give-up and let Marik win. Yami Yugi got the idea to use the Millennium Necklace to see what happens. He and Yami Yugi then used it to look into the future, where they saw Yami Yugi and Joey preparing to Duel.

Yugi dueled Kaiba in the second semi-final as Yami Yugi. They managed to defeat Kaiba and afterwards found out Joey was okay to Yugi's delight. Yugi and Yami gained Kaiba's "Obelisk the Tormentor" card through the ante rule.

Yugi and Yami Yugi watched Joey duel Kaiba in a third place play-off. They both agreed that Joey was a great duelist and would have defeated Marik, had their Duel not been turned into a Shadow Game. The two them noticed the Millennium Puzzle acting strange and saw Téa's reflection in it. They left the Duel to find Téa, who was possessed by the original Marik to confront Yami Marik. At the top of the Duel Tower, they found Téa, Marik and Ishizu. Ishizu explained that Téa would be fine and that Marik's good side still lives on within Téa's mind.

Before facing Marik, Kaiba gave Yugi the card, "Fiend's Sanctuary", which Kaiba intended to use against Marik himself. Yami Marik and Yami Yugi's final Duel was a Shadow Game, where the regular Yugi and Marik were drawn from their bodies and floated next to them in spirit form. Yugi and Marik were bound by their wrists and ankles in darkness and parts of their bodies disappeared as their "Yami" selves lost Life Points. (In the English version, they were disappearing into the Shadow Realm.) If Yami Yugi lost, Yugi would vanish, and Yami Yugi would cease to exist.

Yugi encouraged Yami Yugi throughout the Duel. He even urged Yami Yugi to pay Life Points to keep "Fiend's Sanctuary" active, knowing it would make part of his body disappear. Yugi insisted that they must find a way to win without causing the good Marik to disappear. However, the good Marik possessed Téa and told Yugi not to hesitate, he's prepared to die. He no longer blamed the Yugis for his father's death. (In the English version, Marik said not to worry about protecting him, he wants to defeat his dark side at all costs.)

Yugi was certain that Yami Marik was going to fuse with "The Winged Dragon of Ra" a second time in the Duel and reminded Yami Yugi that if he does that again, he will become a monster and have the weakness of a Monster Card. With that in mind, Yami Yugi managed to use "Ragnarok", which would destroy "Ra". As Yugi wondered if this would cause the good Marik to disappear, Odion appeared. Since Odion had been keeping Yami Marik away, his return allowed the regular Marik to regain some control of his body and urged Yami to attack. The Yugis continued to use the effect of "Ragnarok", which destroyed Ra and caused Marik and Yami Marik to switch places. With only 1 Life Point left, only Yami Marik's eye remained. Marik then surrendered causing Yami Marik to disappear and Yugi to win the Duel.

As the host, Kaiba congratulated Yugi for winning. (In the English version, he added that Yugi only won because Marik surrendered.) Marik informed Yugi that with his dark side gone, the souls of Mai and Bakura should be released and gave him "The Winged Dragon of Ra" due to the ante rule. Marik then showed Yugi the hieroglyphics carved on his back, explaining that the secret of the Pharaoh's power is written there, and whoever holds the three Egyptian God Cards can unlock that secret. With his mission complete, Marik handed the Millennium Rod and Ring to Yugi.

Kaiba announced that he was going to blow-up the Duel Tower and gave everyone an hour to evacuate. Yugi and his friends returned to the Battle Ship and found that Mai and Bakura were okay, but there was no sign of the Kaiba brothers on the blimp. With the Battle Ship damaged from escaping Noah's fortress and no one able to find the Kaibas, everyone else boarded the KaibaCorp helicopter. As they left, they saw Kaiba and Mokuba had escaped in their Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet.

Back in Domino City, Yugi and his friends said goodbye to the Ishtar family, Duke and Mai. Afterwards, back in Kame Game, Yugi and Yami Yugi assembled a Deck and included the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" Joey gave them. At sunrise, the Yugis met Joey at the plaza for a final Duel to conclude their Battle City adventure.

Waking the Dragons arc
Between classes, Yami Yugi took control of Yugi's body and skipped out of school to go to the museum, with Egyptian God Cards to uncover his memories. Yugi asked why they were going alone. Yami replied that it would be too depressing to say goodbye and just wants Yugi to see him off. (In the English version, there was no mention of why they were going alone. Instead Yami said that he felt the Egyptain God Cards pulling him to the museum.) However, Téa, Joey and Tristan caught up with him outside the museum and reminded him that they are a team. Inside Yami held the Egyptian God cards up to the tablet, but something held him back. The group heard a scream and dashed outside, finding a large number of living Duel Monsters in the city.

Suspecting the Duel Monsters appearing was caused by Kaiba's holographic technology, they went to KaibaCorp, but were unable to get past a crowd of reporters.

Later at the Kame Game, as Yugi and his friends watched Kaiba on TV explaining that he wasn't responsible, there was a break-in and the Egyptian God cards were stolen by motorcyclists from Doma. They quickly rushed outside and saw the Gods appear in the city. Yugi wondered who could have Summoned them as only someone with a connection to the Millennium Items can Summon the Egyptian Gods. The thieves then appeared before them, demanding that Yugi follow them if he wants to get the God cards back. Yugi changed to Yami Yugi and wound up dueling one of them, Gurimo. Gurimo used the soul stealing card "The Seal of Orichalcos" and was even able to Summon "Obelisk the Tormentor" through its power.

Yugi still managed to defeat Gurimo, causing his soul to be sealed in the card. Afterwards Yugi took his necklace containing a fragment of the Orichalcos stone. As a reward for his victory, Rafael released the souls of Rex and Weevil, which Gurimo had previously captured using "The Seal of Orichalcos".

On the street, Yugi, Téa, Joey and Tristan found Rex and Weevil and discussed the bikers, who had stolen their souls and Yugi's God cards. Rex and Weevil pretended to agree to help them, but secretly planned on getting the God cards for themselves.

After leaving Rex and Weevil, Yugi and his friends met Rebecca Hawkins, who claimed that Yugi is now her boyfriend and took them to the museum to see her grandfather Arthur. From researching the origins of Duel Monsters, Arthur confirmed that Yugi was indeed sharing a bond with an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and informed them that pharaoh saved the world when Ancient Egyptian sorcerers harnessed real monsters' powers by sealing them in tablets, like Duel Monsters.

He also showed them photos from what he believed was Atlantis, showing carvings of Duel Monsters, proving that the origins of Duel Monsters dates back further than 3000 (5000 in the English version) years in Egypt to at least 10000 years ago in Atlantis. Arthur told them that he believes there is a parallel dimension where Duel Monsters are real. Since the pharaoh saved the world the last time people conjured these monsters, Arthur believes Yugi is to save the world this time, since the pharaoh has been reborn in him. Not certain what to do next, Yugi gave Arthur the stone he had taken from Gurimo for him to test. Outside the museum, to Yugi's embarrassment, Rebecca gave him a kiss before leaving. Shortly before leaving himself, Yugi thought that he heard someone calling for help, but couldn't see them anywhere.

As Yugi went to sleep that night, he heard the voice calling for help again. The Millennium Puzzle activated and the two Yugis were sent to the chamber inside the Millennium Puzzle. They heard the voice calling for help again and searched to see if they could find who it was. They eventually found Kuriboh, who led them to a room they'd never been to before. They heard the voice again and followed it, causing them to be transported through a vortex to the Duel Monsters Spirit World.

Yugi and Yami Yugi found themselves hovering above a castle. They flew down into it and met Dark Magician Girl, who told them that both worlds were in danger. She explained that the two worlds rely on each other for survival, but now a gateway has been opened between the two worlds and the great beast, who feeds on the life force of humans and spirits will consume them all. Yugi and Yami Yugi agreed to help them, so Dark Magician Girl took them to three dragons trapped in crystal. According to legend, three warriors should be able to free them. Believing Yugi to be one of the warriors, she instructed the Yugis to remove a sword from one of the dragons. Yugi and Yami Yugi pulled the sword out, freeing the dragon, Timaeus.

Yugi woke-up in his bed shortly afterwards. He saw a strange light phenomenon trapping monsters outside. He ran to the plaza to see what it was and met his friends there. The monsters were absorbed into a crystal, which shattered, revealing an eye, which shot a twister at Yugi. However Yugi's Duel Disk began to glow as the card, "The Eye of Timaeus" appeared in it. Using it, Yugi Summoned Timaues to attack and destroy the eye. The Dark Magician Girl then appeared next to Yugi and informed him that the battle is just beginning.

While showing his friends the card, Yugi received a package from Industrial Illusions, containing a videotape and the card, "Illusion's Key". He was initially reluctant to watch the video, remembering the last one Pegasus sent him. After deducing Pegasus can't seal souls, since he no longer has the Millennium Eye, Yugi and his friends watched the tape. Pegasus offered some explanation for the recent events, but since it was too risky to leave the information on tape, he asked Yugi to meet him in person and arranged a jet for Yugi and his friends to come to California and bring the "Illusion's Key" with them.

The group took the plane to San Francisco, where a limousine was provided to take them to the Industrial Illusions headquarters. Inside the limousine, Yugi noticed "The Eye of Timaeus" lighting up as Kaiba freed Critias elsewhere. However the limousine took the group to a desert and the driver abandoned them at a gas station. At the station, they were approached by another motorcyclist gang looking for trouble, but Mai Valentine appeared on a motorbike and fought off the bikers, causing a fire. Tristan drove Yugi, Joey and Téa in the limousine away from the station before the gasoline pump caused an explosion. Mai also escaped on her motorbike and drove away. The limousine broke down, while still in the desert, leaving Yugi and his friends stranded. Using Téa's femininity while the boys hid, they were able to hitch a ride from a truck driver to Industrial Illusions.

When the group finally at the Industrial Illusions headquarters, they were locked in by Mai, who revealed that she was with Doma and had captured Pegasus' soul in a "The Seal of Orichalcos" card, before challenging Joey to a Duel. During the Duel, Yugi's "The Eye of Timaeus" card once again lit-up as Joey was sent to the Spirit World to free Hermos. Fearing Mai would lose, Valon broke-up the Duel and the members of Doma fled.

Yugi and his friends were then joined by Duke, Rex, Weevil and Kaiba. Using the card "Illusion's Key", Yugi was able to open a secret room, where they encountered a holographic recording of Pegasus. Pegasus told them about Doma's involvement in historical events and told Yugi where to find an exclusive card, he would need later. They found the card, "Legend of Heart", albeit blank at the time, within the room. Although, Kaiba decided not to stick with Yugi and his friends, they correctly guessed that he had the other Legendary Dragon, "The Fang of Critias".

Duke gave the gang a lift to Arthur Hawkins' house to look for clues on what to do next. By the time they got there, Arthur had been kidnapped and the house was blown-up. Rebecca flung herself around Yugi and explained what happened. The group went into Arthur's mobile home and discussed what happened. Rebecca returned the Orichalcos stone, Yugi had lent to Arthur. While the others prepared something to eat, Yugi and Rebecca stepped outside to talk. Rebecca showed Yugi a card and note from Rafael she found after the explosion. Rafael's note told Yugi to come alone to Death Valley. (In the English version, it told Yugi to go there if he wanted to see Arthur again.) Later that night, Yugi borrowed Rebecca's horse, Copernicus, to go there.

Yugi dueled Rafael as Yami Yugi at Death Valley, but still accompanied Yami Yugi in spirit form. Yugi was relieved when Rafael said that he had no intention of playing "The Seal of Orichalcos" in this Duel. However Rafael used "Exchange" to give the card to Yugi later on. Yugi urged Yami Yugi not to use that card, no matter what happens and Yami Yugi agreed. However, they reached a point, where Yami Yugi felt he was going to lose, unless he played the Seal. Despite Yugi's objections, Yami Yugi played it and Yugi's spirit form left him alone.

Yugi was unable to contact Yami Yugi for the rest of the Duel, as he was trapped behind a seal. He unsuccessfully tried pleading with him to not sacrifice his monsters, including "Dark Magician Girl", who they made a promise with. Yami went on to lose the Duel and was about to lose his soul to "The Seal of Orichalcos". Using the power of the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi broke the seal that was holding him back and appeared next to Yami Yugi again. Since "The Seal of Orichalcos" only takes one soul, Yugi pushed Yami Yugi aside and let the seal take him instead. This may Yami Yugi be sad, and devastated

Yami Yugi traveled to the Stone Wilderness, where spirits are roam, in the hopes of contacting Yugi. He managed to find Yugi and apologized for what happened. Without Yugi, Yami Yugi said the darkness inside him is starting to grow. He was afraid that Rafael might be right that he is evil and feared getting his memories (This maybe false because, he was manipulated easily by Rafael's words to be a lie from Dartz only to get his soul or being influenced by the Orichalcos itself). Yugi reminded Yami Yugi that he has been locked away. Yami tried apologizing again, but Yugi said that he didn't want his pity. Yugi asked if Yami only came here to demoralize himself. (In the English version, he said if Yami truly is evil, there's only one thing to do.) A Duel Disk appeared on Yugi's arm and he challenged Yami to a Duel. Yugi knew that he would have to duel Yami Yugi sooner or later and if Yami Yugi's heart has become dark or engulfed in the darkest abyss, Yami Yugi shall lose. (In the English version, Yugi said that Yami Yugi doesn't deserve to be a part of this world and must pay for what he has done.) Yami Yugi reluctantly accepted the Duel.

Both Yugi's drew the same cards in the same order, so Yugi used "Sangan" to shuffle his Deck and "Card Destruction" to reset their hands. Yami Yugi stated that the Duel was meaningless. However Yugi explained that Yami Yugi's weakness is the darkness in his heart, he is arrogant and warped by his sense of pride. With only one value, it's impossible for Yami Yugi to see other people's pain. (This explanation is removed from the English version.) Since he was a mirror reflecting Yami Yugi's dark side, Yugi had "The Seal of Orichalcos" in his Deck.

Yugi used it and proceeded to use the same strategy Yami Yugi used against Rafael, sacrificing his monsters to win. Yami Yugi realized that this is what he looked like in the Duel against Rafael warped by his own psychological disruption and descends into his own darkest abyss. He refused to lose, as it would prevent him from saving Yugi and two worlds will eventually be destroyed. But, Yugi only see Yami who never cared about anyone's suffering because his pride got in the way and proceeds with monster sacrifice. He managed to counter Yugi's strategy with Divine Wind and win. Yugi was pleased that Yami Yugi won and said that in defeating him, Yami Yugi defeated the darkness in his heart and Orichalcos influence that corrupted him. Before disappearing again, he urged Yami Yugi not to give up and said that he will always be with him.

When Kaiba and Yami Yugi were dueling Dartz, the leader of Doma, Dartz Summoned four "Mirror Knight Tokens". When Kaiba tried destroying them, he instead caused their helmets to break revealing that they had taken the form of people whose souls had been lost to "The Seal of Orichalcos", including Yugi, Joey, Mai and Pegasus. Dartz claimed that destroying the Tokens would result in destroying their souls. The "Mirror Knight" Yugi tried to resist when Dartz made him attack Yami Yugi.

Yami Yugi refused to attack any of the Tokens as it would risk killing his friends. Kaiba was convinced nothing would happen if the Tokens were destroyed and attacked the Joey one, but the Yugi one used his effect to block the attack at the cost of his shield. Yami Yugi was given another opportunity to destroy the Tokens. He was reluctant, but Yugi insisted that Yami Yugi must attack and not worry about him, as he has a more important mission to focus on. (In the English version, Yugi said that he would be fine.) However, Yami Yugi still refused to attack. After playing "Orichalcos Tritos", the "Mirror Knights" were unable to defy Dartz and he had Yugi attack Yami Yugi. Eventually Kaiba got the opportunity to destroy the Tokens. Yami Yugi tried to stop him, but Yugi insisted that he would be fine and Kaiba continued.

Yugi's soul was trapped in a bubble being sucked into The Great Leviathan. The souls of people, who were recently taken by "The Seal of Orichalcos" floated in bubbles near him. After Yami Yugi defeated Dartz, the Legendary Dragons now in their Legendary Knight forms, released the souls of the chosen duelists; Yugi, Kaiba and Joey. Yami Yugi informed Yugi that the knights had freed him and Dartz had disappeared into a vortex after the Duel.

Roland alerted Yugi, Kaiba and their friends about Atlantis rising from the sea. Yugi, Kaiba and Joey opted to travel through the vortex Dartz used, suspecting it would take them to Atlantis to face him. Téa objected as they could be walking straight into Dartz's trap, Yugi convinced her that they must go to save the other lost souls. Inside the temple where the Duel took place, the Millennium Puzzle started to glow and led Yugi to the location of the Egyptian God cards. However they were powerless as Dartz had already sucked their energy into the leviathan. Yugi caught up with Joey and Kaiba and returned their Legendary Dragon cards before the three stepped into the vortex. The trio emerged on Atlantis and Yugi switched to Yami Yugi. They found that Dartz had left his body and combined with The Great Leviathan, to compensate for not getting the souls of the chosen duelists.

As Yami Yugi, he, Kaiba, Joey and an army of Duel Monster Spirits battled the leviathan. However the leviathan's tendrils pulled the three chosen duelists inside it. Yugi appeared next to Yami and suggested that they might be able to fight back by calling to the other people trapped inside. Taking Yugi's advice, Yami Yugi called on everyone else to focus on the light in their hearts and pass that strength onto him. Using it he Summoned the Egyptian Gods and freed the chosen duelists from the leviathan. Thinking the Gods might need his help, Yami Yugi returned control of Yugi's body to Yugi and flew up to the Gods in spirit form. Yugi cheered for Yami Yugi as he watched him and the Gods battle and defeat the Leviathan.

Yami Yugi returned to Yugi back on Atlantis just as it started to sink. As Yugi was about to leave through the vortex after Joey and Kaiba, Yami Yugi called him back and the duo were confronted by Dartz and The Great Leviathan in a smaller form. After Timaeus failed to destroy the leviathan, Yami Yugi advised Yugi to run, but Yugi refused to leave and helped Yami Yugi argue against Dartz's ideology. The Leviathan turned into a black whirlwind and surrounded Yami Yugi. Yugi tried to help Yami Yugi, but Yami insisted it was his fight and he must prove the darkness in his heart is gone. Focusing on that the leviathan disappeared.

Yugi and Yami Yugi saw that Dartz's evil side was now gone as was accompanied by Ironheart, Chris and Skye. Ironheart and Chris thanked the Yugis and told them to return through the portal where a new future was waiting for them.

Yugi washed-up on a shoreline afterwards, where they were greeted by Dark Magician Girl and the Legendary Knights, who thanked them for their help. Yugi's friends, who had escaped Dartz's temple in Kaiba's helicopter, flew down to greet him, relieved that he had survived. Yugi and the others decide to stay at Rebecca's house, since they have no way to get back to Domino City.

KC Grand Championship arc
Yugi, Kaiba, and all of Yugi's friends prepared for Kaiba's ultimate tournament, the KC-1 Grand Prix Championship. The winner of the tournament would face Yugi Muto in an attempt to claim his title as the world Duel Monsters champion.

On the opening day, while Yugi and his friends are watching a Duel between Rick and a CPU opponent, a hacker traps all the duelists and spectators inside the makeshift electronic stadium. The CPU opponent level has been altered to its highest of difficulty, and the only way for everyone to escape is to defeat the CPU in a Duel. Rick had mostly Dragon-Type Normal Monsters and almost no Magic or Trap Cards in his Deck. Yugi transforms into Yami Yugi and takes over, using "Heart of the Underdog"—a card Yugi had given Rick—and combined it with the effects of "Spirit Ryu" to win and free everyone.

Yugi didn't duel much in this season. He cheered for Joey and Rebecca throughout the tournament. He switched to Yami Yugi and defeated Vivian Wong, in order for her to cure Solomon Muto's back.

Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, and faced Leon von Schroeder, who assumed the alias Leon Wilson, in the finals. Leon acted differently during the Title Bout and Yugi discovered that Leon only wanted to duel and defeat him to earn the respect of his family that Zigfried couldn't earn in his youth. Leon played an illegal card, "Golden Castle of Stromberg", that forced Yugi to discard half the cards in his Deck with every passing turn that Leon took and also infected a virus into the KaibaCorp computer system. Yami Yugi figures out a weakness in the card; He couldn't discard half the Cards in his Deck, having only 1 card left. He was able to destroy it and nullify the virus. With "Golden Castle of Stromberg" defeated, Yugi continued the Duel and played several Magic and Trap Cards before striking the final blow using "Dark Magician", "Necromancy", and "Diffusion Wave-Motion" to win. He is then announced as the winner of the tournament.

Capsule Monsters arc
Yugi wakes up after having a strange recurring nightmares about the Pharaoh being captured by an evil monster with glowing red eyes and telling him that why he is having these dreams will become clear when he "plays the game". This time, the Millennium Puzzle starts glowing in response to the dream, bewildering Yugi even further.

Before leaving for school that day, Yugi noticed that his grandfather, Solomon Muto, had not returned from his "secret expedition" (Yugi was told at the last minute) as his flight was due last night. Yugi is worried about the fact that Solomon is missing.

Meanwhile, there is a new game on the block; the Capsule Monsters board game is the new fad in the Duel Monsters craze, and Yugi has already taken the opportunity to learn the rules of the game. When Joey breaks the news about the trip, Yugi and his friends could not contain their excitement. Yugi, Tristan, and Tea agree to take Joey's other three tickets.

Just when the private plane for the trip approached its final destination, the engines cut out and the aircraft crash lands in a mysterious forest. After Yugi and his friends evacuate the aircraft, they find a man who says his name is Dr. Alex Brisbane.

When Yugi lets slip to Brisbane that he is Solomon Muto's grandson, Brisbane tells him that he's a colleague of Grandpa, and on their latest expedition together he disappeared. Now Yugi knows just where Grandpa had gone, but the Pharaoh still suspects something. They just happen to win a trip; their plane just happens to crash; and they just happen to meet the man who was the last person to see Grandpa. It all seems a little bit coincidental. Brisbane shows Yugi and the gang where he last saw Solomon. Yugi and his friends are surprised when they discover that Brisbane last saw Solomon in a pyramid.

Brisbane explains that he believes it to be the legendary pyramid of Alexander the Great, and that it's supposed to contain some sort of ancient game. They check it out, narrowly avoiding a number of dangerous traps, and come across a room that, as Tristan put it, is the size of Cleveland. The floor looks like a giant map of different land types, which looks incredibly familiar to Yugi. Joey decides to check it out but, to everyone's surprise, disappears into thin air the second he steps on the map. Coming to the conclusion that Solomon must have gone to the same place as Joey, the rest of the gang decide to follow, leaving a bewildered Brisbane behind.

They find themselves in a forest, with Joey nowhere to be seen. Yugi notices a lot of egg-shaped rocks around, but before they can investigate, some giant cockroaches (Gokibore, a monster from the Volume 6 expansion set) and a giant praying mantis (Kamakiriman, from Volume 3) ambush them. The escapes of Yugi, Tristan, and Tea causes them to have to split up.

Yugi is cornered by the mantis, so the Pharaoh takes over to protect him. He accidentally touches one of the strange egg-shaped rocks whilst jumping, which somehow causes Celtic Guardian to appear. Celtic Guardian attacks the mantis, destroying it.

Meanwhile, Tristan and Tea escape the cockroaches by ducking into a cave. They find themselves on a beach, accompanied by two monsters: Thunder Kid and Happy Lover.

At the same time, Joey is up high on a mountain, looking over onto the forest that the gang are in, hearing Yugi's shouting. Suddenly, a giant bird (LOB-039 Kurama) comes up behind him and grabs him by the shoulders, flying away with Joey in his claws.

Back in the forest, Celtic Guardian disappears in a beam of light, transforming into a small capsule. Now, Yugi knows where he'd seen this before. Somehow they have entered a real life version of Capsule Monsters. However, he is soon again attacked by a monster, this time it's a Trent. The Pharaoh realizes the strange device on their wrists are for launching the capsules that house their monsters in order to summon them. Calling upon Celtic Guardian, the Pharaoh attacks the tree, but it gets the upper hand and injures Celtic Guardian. The Pharaoh feels Celtic Guardian's pain and realizes that the Capsule Monster world is a deadly Shadow Game. To make matters worse, the Trent turns surrounding trees into copies of it to assist its attack. However, the Pharaoh releases a new capsule monster to assist them, the fire-attribute Hinotama Soul. It easily burns the Trents to ash. The Pharaoh switches with Yugi, and Yugi runs off to find his friends.

Elsewhere, Joey has been dropped by the Kurama into a nest of its young. Joey repeatedly jumps off cliffs housing Kurama nests to escape until he lands on a branch and accidentally releases Baby Dragon from another rock. Joey boards Baby Dragon and flees the mountains. However, a flock of Kurama chase after them. Realizing there are too many to take on head first, Joey decides to trick them into getting stuck in a small opening in a canyon.

On the beach, Tristan figures out that Happy Lover and Thunder Kid are monsters they accidentally released from the egg-shaped rocks back in the forest when they ran from the giant roaches. Suddenly a giant sea monster called Root Water emerges from the ocean. Happy Lover and Thunder Kid stand before it to keep Tristan and Téa safe.

Elsewhere, Joey has taken refuge behind a waterfall and checks his guide book, still believing himself to be in India. Joey then notices a treasure chest behind him and Baby Dragon and opens it. However, instead of treasure a scroll wraps around him, and Baby Dragon burns it off him (with Joey having to put out the fire on him in the waterfall). The ashes of the scroll turn into a map, and Joey wonders if it's a treasure map.

Back on the beach, Tristan is having Thunder Kid attack Root Water with limited success as Thunder Kid is taking a pounding from the giant monster. (They too realize they feel the pain inflicted on their monsters.) Tea remembers Yugi's advice on how to play the board game version of Capsule Monsters and has Happy Lover heal Thunder Kid with its Heart Beam. Tristan then decides to blind-side Root Water with a sneak attack and Thunder Kid is successful in frying the fish. However, instead of vanishing, Root Water's charred body shatters and the beast evolves into High Tide Gyojin. It then creates a typhoon, sucking up Téa and Tristan along with their monsters. However, Solomon arrives and uses his Summoned Skull to blast High Tide Gyojin apart, saving Tea and Tristan.

Having seen Summoned Skull's "Lightning Strike" attack, Yugi heads to the beach to find Tea and Tristan unconscious with their monsters. However, his mind is put to ease when Solomon walks up to him and tells him that they're resting after the ordeal they went through. Yugi happily clings onto his grandpa and cries in joy of seeing him again.

Later, Yugi and the others make camp and begin to wonder where Joey is in the Capsule Monsters world. At the same time, Joey has gotten hungry and follows the smell of the campfire to his friends (after nearly fallen to his death before Baby Dragon managed to catch him). The Pharaoh switches with Yugi and explains that their dilemma of being in this world won't be an easy problem to solve.

However, Tea points out that the flowers around them have gotten closer since they set up camp. Solomon tosses a stick from the fire into the flowers to reveal that they are actually a pack of Flower Wolf. Everyone but Solomon (whose Summoned Skull is too high level to be used frequently) releases their Capsule Monsters to fend off the pack. However, the Pharaoh knows they don't stand a chance and has Thunder Kid blind the wolves temporarily by reflecting its lightning off Celtic Guardian's sword.

The next day, Tristan and Joey do an annoying "victory dance" while the Pharaoh and Yugi wonder about the safety of their friends. Joey and Tristan then collapse and beg for food. Tristan then remembers about snacks he packed for the trip, but then remembers everyone (except Solomon) left their packs back at the campsite. After Solomon tries to encourage them to go a few days without food, they take off to find some, but run into tree branches. Tea reveals Solomon had a bag of food and taunts them as she eats a chip. Solomon tells them all they had to do was ask nicely. While Joey and Tristan complain, Yugi notices that the mountains are moving and runs to the edge of the forest to see they're on an Island Turtle. Joey and Tristan try to be tough until Yugi tells them it won't attack them unless they keep it up. Joey and Tristan apologize but immediately do another victory dance. Tea complains about the lack of female friends she has, while the Turtle roars in annoyance to Joey and Tristan's song. It dives, forcing everyone to "abandon ship!"

They then reach a temple in the middle of the lake and enter to have the doors shut behind them. Joey notices a "giant tea pot" in the middle of the room and (having switched with Yugi) the Pharaoh tells him it is not a tea pot. La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp emerges from the lamp. The Pharaoh summons Celtic Guardian and begins fighting the genie. Suddenly, the doors swing back open and a flood of water rushes in. It then freezes, trapping Téa and Solomon in ice. The perpetrator behind this is Neo Aqua Madoor, "Jack Frost's evil cousin". Tristan and Joey summon their monsters to help out the Pharaoh despite his constant protests, telling them to not interfere out of concern for their safety. Joey then tells him that they don't want to see him get hurt either as the Pharaoh realizes they can use the two enemies' attacks against each other. After faking head on attacks, Celtic Guardian and the others' capsule monsters back off as Neo Aqua Madoor and La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp's attacks collide into each other and destroys them.

Tea and Solomon are released form the ice, and a tablet with Egyptian writing on it appears. Solomon translate it: " Before the shadows blanket the land, Go to the fortress of fear. Locate the place where the spirit sleeps, And the pathway you seek will appear." Joey takes out his map from earlier and realizes that it shows the exact space they're on right now and that the fortress is on the same square, but VERY far away. Everyone resolves to go there, hoping the pathway it mentioned means the way home. Tristan finds a secret passage under the main floor (as they did not want to take chances with swimming across) and they quickly run through it.

Coming out above ground, they find themselves in an ancient graveyard that is soon flocked with Wood Remains and The Wandering Doomed. Yugi, Tea and Joey each release a new monster; Kuriboh, Dark Witch and the Flame Swordsman respectively. With their new monsters the Zombies are easily defeated.

Racing to the top of the hill the fortress lays upon, Tristan jinxes their good luck as four walls rise up from the ground and surround the fortress with statues of the Aqua Spirit, Spirit of Flames, The Rock Spirit and Garuda the Wind Spirit at each corner. Joey unsuccessfully tries to fly over as he is repelled by a force field. Yugi figures out that if four people mimic the stances of the four statues, the door will open. They do so, forcing Yugi to enter the fortress himself. Yugi falls into a pit, but is saved from a rough landing by the Pharaoh taking his place. The walls of the room they are trapped in begin to close in on them while outside, Joey breaks his pose and the statues come to life and begin attacking everyone. The Pharaoh finds a new capsule and releases the monster, which carries him up in a beam of light. Coming to his senses, the Pharaoh sees his new monster is Dark Magician and that his friends are in trouble. Using Dark Magician's "Magical Crossroads" the statues are destroyed at the cost of Solomon's Summoned Skull being taken down by the Rock Spirit.

Inside the fortress, Yugi opens the coffin located in the fortress (the place where the spirit sleeps) just as the sun sets and everyone else comes in. The coffin turns into a doorway and a piece of golden armor hovers above it. Another riddle appears as the armor dons itself on Yugi. Solomon says it says five trials await them to test the strength of Yugi's heart. Despite some discussion about not going through with the trials, everyone decides to go along with it in hopes of it leading them home again.

They arrive in a desert and find a village, where they are given a pendant and the instructions for the first trial; "Silence the whisper that rides the desert wind". While Solomon stays a safe distance form everyone else, they call forth their monsters and destroy a Medusa Worm, which they initially believed to be the enemy. However, it turns out to be one of many Medusa Worms under the voice's control. Everyone, but the Pharaoh is spat on by a worm and are turning to stone. Dark Magician takes the Pharaoh above the storm and the voice sent to confuse them to show him a tornado causing it.

The Pharaoh calls Dark Magician back to his capsule and proceeds on foot to reach the voice. However, he isn't strong enough to reach the tornado. He then sees a man wearing a cape and mask, telling him to merge with the Dark Magician to gain the strength needed to pass the trial. Doing so, the Pharaoh becomes the Dark Warrior and flies into the tornado to find the voice is Mystical Sand. Silencing her, the Pharaoh clears the trial and reverses the Medusa Worms' petrification on his friends. The armor takes a toll on the Pharaoh as he is not used to it yet. Yugi takes his place to relieve some of the pain and tells of the man he saw explaining how to use the armor. One of the five shapes on the pendant lights up to signify the victory over this trial, and a doorway comes out of the sand.

Entering it, everyone finds themselves on a floating island above the clouds. Yugi collapses from the strain of the Duel Armor and is taken to a cave to rest. Another message arrives, and Solomon reveals that next is "The Trial of Light and Shadow". They are tasked with breaking an unbreakable stone in the "valley of light" as it appears only once a day. Deciding to take care of the trial in Yugi's place, Tristan, Joey, and Solomon head for the nearest valley as it becomes noon and the stone is revealed. However a Prisman appears and begins to attack them. Tristan takes advantage of its short temper and uses it to blast the stone apart.

In the meantime, Yugi has recovered, and Tea shows the Pharaoh the trial's instructions. Noticing they only know half of the trial, the Pharaoh realizes that by exposing the parchment to darkness, the second half is revealed. He realizes they are now in danger and takes off with Tea to find them.

Elsewhere, everyone has picked up a large piece of the stone and smash Prisman to pieces. However, a Skull Guardian appears as a sign of the second phase of the trial beginning. Joey hoped he was there to congratulate them, but it began attacking instead. The Pharaoh once again merges with Dark Magician to become the Dark Warrior and easily defeats the monster. However, he spares it as a glow where the stone was appears. The Pharaoh then explains that the second part of the trial was to not only defeat

the Skull Guardian, but to show mercy. This rewards them with the means to leave the island. At the same time the masked man from before appears to all of them and congratulates the Pharaoh on completed Level 2 of the trials. The Pharaoh wonders what will happen if he completes the trials, and the stranger explains that he will receive the power to rule the world as he will have proven himself a true king. However, even though the Pharaoh might not want it, there are others seeking it, and it must be claimed before someone evil does. Also, if they fail, they will be trapped here until the next challenger arrives.

Using the wings found in the trial's reward chest, everyone flies off into another glowing doorway.

Back outside the game, Dr. Brisbane is laughing evilly that soon the power to rule the world will belong to him.

In the game, everyone has reached a volcanic area, where they must remove the Blade of Chaos before it's too late. Tristan gains a new monster, Thunder Dragon. Joey ends up separated from them, but returns, fused with Red-Eyes B. Dragon and full of evil. As Joey fights the Pharaoh in Dark Warrior mode, Joey begins to wonder why he is attacking his friend and realizes this happens because of his fusing with Red Eyes. Breaking free of the evil controlling him, Joey separates form Red Eyes, sees the Blade of Chaos is stuck in its thigh. Removing it, Joey clears the third trial and claims Red Eyes as his monster. Everyone leaves through another glowing doorway.

They then end up in a jungle (where they learn that despite its apparent endless scenery, it is only as big as the game board itself). Their next test is to find a golden apple that "gives you a raise" and offer it up. Tristan finds a giant melon and draws a picture of himself on it. The fruit then falls down a hole, and everyone follows it to find themselves in a chamber with three long pedestals with an apple each on them. Tristan then notices his melon in the corner, which turns out to actually be a Petit Moth.

Everyone attempts to leave, but are then caught in a labyrinth. Joey eats some of the fruit he took from the forest and instantly becomes a genius. Right as he is about to figure out how to get out of the labyrinth, a Battle Ox chases him away from his equations. At the same time, Tea gets a Seiyaryu after defeating a Jirai Gumo. Hopelessly lost in the meantime, Tristan releases a Shovel Crusher and it careens around the labyrinth like a lunatic, collecting his allies and depositing them back at the apple room. However, there is a slight difference. An apple is missing and a Cocoon of Evolution is where Petit Moth was. It hatches into Great Moth and Yugi becomes the Dark Warrior to fight it. However, a Dark Magic Attack simply further evolves it into Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth. The Pharaoh then realizes that he must eat one of the apples to evolve Dark Magician in order to stand a chance against the moth. Doing so evolves his magician into Magician of Black Chaos and earns them victory. He then takes the remaining apple to an altar, which opens a doorway.

They then find themselves back at the camp where they were attacked by the Flower Wolves. The masked man appears and properly introduces himself as Alexander the Great. He then goes on to explain he once possessed the Millennium Ring, which he considered his lucky charm as it helped him conquer most of the world. However, prolonged possession of it caused a split personality to emerge (due to Zorc being sealed in the ring) and most of his retainers lost faith in him. He was then put to a test to see if he was still worthy to wear the ring by Shadi and was the first to participate in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters Collectible Figure Game.

However, though he was victorious in the trials, the door leading to the great power to rule the world did not open. This enraged his darker half into attacking his four vassals. It was then the pyramid punished him by splitting his soul in two. His darker half was sealed into the pyramid and he was sent to the game to act as a guide for future adventures. Alexander then gifts the monster-less Solomon with a new monster and tells him he will need it for the fifth trial.

They head to a village, where Alexander explains that the fifth trial involves destroying five different elemental dragons known as the Fiendish Five that terrorize the village. They find a girl about to sacrifice herself to give their dragon god the strength to keep the five away. However, they intervene and promise to slay the dragons. Solomon, using his new Curse of Dragon against Aqua Dragon, the Pharaoh faces Tyrant Dragon, Téa versus Serpent Night Dragon, Tristan battles Luster Dragon #2 and Joey fights Meteor Dragon. However, despite the aid of Yugi's new Black Luster Soldier, everyone fails to defeat the dragons and are forced to return to the village. The Pharaoh then learns of a sword that can slay the five only if a large power descends upon the village. Tricking the five into coming towards the village, the Pharaoh frees the sword and slays them. However, the defeated dragons transform into the Five-Headed Dragon. The girl from earlier prays for her god's help and her tears free the Blue Eyes White Dragon from its picture, and it fuses with the Pharaoh and slays the Fiendish Five once and for all.

With the trials now completed, everyone is about to be sent home, and Alexander is given permission to use Solomon's body as a means of taking himself out of the game.

They arrive outside to find Dr. Brisbane acting normal and concerned for their safety. He then wonders if they found anything interesting in the game, and Solomon presents the trial pendant, now fully lit. Right as the evil side of Alexander tries to grab the pendant, the good side jumps into Dr. Brisbane and seemingly subdues his evil side. However, it's a trick as the evil side was stronger and fused together with his weaker good half. Evil Alexander takes the pendant and runs up to the doors and successfully opens them after waiting for thousands of years. Everyone chases him into the room and they find themselves in an alternate dimension.

Shadi appears and wonders who should receive the power promised to the victor of his challenge. Though the Pharaoh protests that Evil Alexander cheated, Shadi points out that Alexander has a fair claim to the power as he tried himself and won thousands of years ago. To end the stalemate, Shadi announces one final Capsule Monsters battle. Evil Alexander summons the souls of his vassals to assist him and Good Alexander's Duel Armor.

Evil Alexander fuses with Reshef the Dark Being and sacrifices his retainers' monsters to summon his Seven-Armed Fiend, the apparition from Yugi's dreams. Everyone but Yugi's monsters are destroyed except for their dragons and Seven-Armed Fiend is destroyed. However, Evil Alexander decides to use the remaining monsters he used for his sacrifice to power Reshef and use his pawns' pain connection to them as a shield. However, the Pharaoh, disgusted with Evil Alexander for how he treats his loyal subjects, fuses with his friends' dragons to form the Armor of Unity and destroys Reshef. The evil side of Alexander is purged and the good Alexander tells the Pharaoh that his reign over Egypt is what inspired him to be pharaoh himself. Alexander then passes on with his vassals. Shadi wishes to gift the Pharaoh with the power promised, but he instantly turns it down. Shadi then muses to him that the one who can rule the world need not possess the power. The pyramid then begins to collapse, and everyone manages to escape safely.

They return to their pilots to discover the rescue plane has come. They talk the pilots into taking Solomon and Dr. Brisbane back to Domino City with them.

Dawn of The Duel arc
Before heading to Egypt to finally unlock the pharaoh's memories, Yugi wanted to learn as much as he could. He asked his Grandpa to tell him about his adventure where he recovered the Millennium Puzzle from the Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh. He was sad to hear that Grandpa didn't know the way back to the tomb, but Grandpa advised him to stay away from there. Obsessed with the Egyptian God cards, Grandpa pleaded with Yugi to leave them with him rather than return them. Yugi reminded him how the pharaoh was going to need them and Grandpa apologized. Before saying goodnight, Grandpa said that his own adventure was over and assured Yugi that he is the only one with the power to help the pharaoh recover everything he has lost. Holding the legacy of the pharaoh is no small task, he said and advised Yugi to take every challenge like he faces a game.

As Yugi slept, he dreamed he was talking with Yami Yugi, reflecting on how meeting each other had changed their lives.

Yugi was woken-up as he heard Rex and Weevil breaking in to steal the Egyptian God cards. They took a bag, not knowing it also contained the Millennium Items, and Yugi ran after them. By the time Yugi caught up, they had been knocked unconscious by Yami Bakura who had taken back the Millennium Ring. Yami Bakura returned the Items and God cards to Yugi, but insisted on keeping the Ring for himself. He tried to assure Yugi that they had the same goal; to bring the seven Millennium Items to the Millennium Stone. Taking control of Yugi's body, Yami Yugi ordered Bakura to stop poisoning Yugi's mind. Before parting Bakura said that in order to solve the riddle of the pharaoh's memory they will play the ultimate Shadow Game.

At the airport as Yugi prepared to board his flight, he unexpectedly met Joey, Tea and Tristan. He told them that they didn't have to come, but they insisted that they wouldn't miss this for the world.

At the airport in Egypt, Yugi and his friends were greeted by Ishizu, Marik and Odion, who brought them to an underground cavern in the desert, where the stone tablets from the museum had been relocated. As Yami Yugi held the Egyptian God cards up to the tablet, his spirit was sucked out of Yugi's body and into the Memory World. The portion of Yami Bakura's soul that had secretly been sealed in the Millennium Puzzle was also sucked into the Memory World, taking the rest of Yami Bakura's spirit from Ryo Bakura with it. Yugi reported that Yami Yugi was no longer present in his heart or the Puzzle.

Shadi appeared and confirmed that the pharaoh had left Yugi. He informed them that the pharaoh has gone to a world of his memories, which was created 3000 years ago (5,00 years agao in the English version) from the Pharaoh's experiences. Fearing Yami is in the same danger that sealed him in the Millennium Puzzle the first time around, Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan pleaded with Shadi to let them go to the Memory World to help Yami. Shadi explained that they must go through a doorway in the Millennium Puzzle to get there. Again Yugi insisted on going alone, but his friends wouldn't have it. Using the Millennium Key, Shadi brought the four them inside the Puzzle, where they began searching the labyrinth for the right door.

Yugi and company searched the inside of the Puzzle for a long time, but no no avail. Behind one of the doors they found Yami Bakura who turned into a monster and attacked them. After escaped Shadi informed them that that was the pharaoh's enemy in his true form. Since the maze reflected the pharaoh's heart, Yugi eventually started to feel it tremble as Yami Yugi was in danger. (In the English version, the temperature changed as the pharaoh's emotions changed.) Yugi realized that rather than calling for the pharaoh, they needed to wait for the pharaoh to call to them, so he got everyone to sit together and concentrate. This caused to labyrinth to open a door to the Memory World.

Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan entered the Ancient Egyptian Memory World, where Yugi no longer had the Millennium Puzzle. Despite looking out of place, no one took any notice of them. They quickly learned that other people could not see them and trying to touch solid matter, resulted in them phasing through it. Unknown to them, they had entered an RPG played by Yami Bakura and Yami Yugi, where they acted as non-playable characters.

The group found Bobasa, who like them could't be seen by most other people, but unlike them was able to touch objects. Chasing Bobasa led them to find Priest Seto saving Kisara. Recognizing him as the guy who looked like Kaiba from the tablet, they knew he worked for the pharaoh and followed him to the palace. Unlike other objects, they found that they couldn't phase through the palace gates. Bobasa reappeared and offered to help them.

The five of them fell asleep outside the palace until the gates finally opened as the pharaoh chased Thief Bakura on horseback, accompanied by the monster Ka Diabound and Slifer the Sky Dragon respectively. Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan ran after them and finally caught up with the pharaoh after he fell off his horse following Slifer's defeat. They were happy to find that the pharaoh could see them, as he asked Yugi in surprise if it was really him. By taking the pharaoh's hand, Yugi was able to give him some of his strength, enabling him to summon The Winged Dragon of Ra to battle Bakura's Diabound.

Ra initially defeated Diabound, but Yami Bakura, playing the RPG, used one of his Hourglass Tokens to turn back time to a few minutes previous. This time following Slifer's defeat, Diabound's attack smashed the ground below the pharaoh, causing him to fall into a chasm before Yugi and his friends could get to him. Yugi's friends briefly encountered Thief Bakura before being called by Bobasa to hide. Téa worried that the pharaoh may have lost his soul, since he just lost a Shadow Game, but Yugi reminded everyone that the world is built on the pharaoh's memories and since it still existed, he had to be okay.

The next day, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan and Bobasa searched for the pharaoh along the River Nile. There they found Mana, who was able to see them and mistook Yugi for the pharaoh. When they started talking about looking for the pharaoh after Bobasa had found his cape, Mana realized that Yugi isn't the pharaoh. She quickly learned that they were his friends and joined their search party. The group were about to be attacked by Thief Bakura's men, shortly afterwards but Mana used her magic to raise the river and sweep the attackers away. As they continued their search Mana explained how only half her spells work, but Yugi told her how she resembled the card "Dark Magician Girl" and that if she kept practicing he's sure Mana could become as strong as the "Dark Magician Girl". Eventually the party found the pharaoh on the beach.

Yugi and his friends learned that Thief Bakura had taken the Millennium Puzzle from the pharaoh and was after the other Items too. The pharaoh told them that had only regained a fragment of his childhood memory and no one would tell him his real name. The pharaoh eventually left on horseback with Mana and asked that Yugi and the others return to their world and not get involved.

Tristan suggested that the pharaoh deliberately made himself lose his memory in order to forget information only he knew that someone would need to bring back the evil that he had locked away. Yugi and the others agreed that this must be his name, which had been erased from history. Yugi figured the pharaoh must have used it as a password to lock Zorc Necrophades away. Since the pharaoh was going to relive his battle with this creature, Yugi realized that without knowing his name, the pharaoh will lose this time. Determined to find out the pharaoh's name before the battle, they decided to go to the palace to see if there was some record of it.

This time at the palace, thinking to himself, Yugi asked the pharaoh to let them in it, and found he could pass through the palace gates. Inside the courtyard, he suggested that they split up to search and meet back in an hour. As they searched, Yami Bakura used another Hourglass Token to temporarily freeze time.

The five of them met-up again, finding Bobasa had eaten all the food in a storage room. Despite this, he was still hungry and couln't move without eating again. Tristan, who was still possessed argued that Bobasa was no help and they should leave him. However Yugi pointed out that he had helped them find the pharaoh. The others agreed and helped Bobasa find something to eat. After finding some grapes they pulled him outside and let him eat them. The grapes finally filled Bobasa, who said this allowed him to grant their wish. His body inflated, allowing him to float in midair. He invited them to get on his back, so he could take them to see the pharaoh's name. He flew them to the pharaoh's tomb at the Valley of the Kings.

The inside of the tomb was filled with traps. Remembering Grandpa's story about his visit to the tomb, Yugi knew how the traps operated and was able to guide his friends safely through. They reached the room where Grandpa found the Millennium Puzzle, but were unable to find any clues there, so they began searching for another room.

Joey accidentally leaned on a hidden switch, unlocking a passageway. Possessed, Tristan ran ahead of everyone else, but found the room was empty. To everyone's surprise, Tristan read the hieroglyphics on the floor claiming they said that whoever solved the Millennium Puzzle must return the wish that they were granted in order to pass. Yugi claimed that what he wished for could never be returned, but after some coaxing admitted that he wished for friends. Tea and Joey were touched, having never heard this before.

Tristan pushed Yugi onto one eye pattern on the floor and pushed Joey and Tea onto another, where he joined them. The floor apart from the two eyes and a connecting beam gave away, leaving the two eyes balancing on a stone needle below the middle of the beam. (In the English version a pit of shadows is added below the platform. In the Japanese, it's just a long fall.) The beam turned, positioning Yugi's eye at a door to another room. Yugi was reluctant to go through as it would have meant losing his friends.

After calling Yugi weak, Tristan leaped from the platform to the doorway, causing the platform to go off balance. Joey and Téa jumped off the platform and grabbed onto the ledge. Yugi ran after them and jumped catching onto Joey. The three of them climbed up and entered the room.

Inside the room, they found the name written on a wall. Unable to read it, they just memorized the hieroglyphics. As they looked around for Tristan, they spotted and exit and followed it.

Yugi, Joey and Tea were taken to a chamber with two sides connected by a bridge. Standing at the other side was Tristan who revealed he was possessed by Yami Bakura and took on his appearance. At the same time, the room shook as Zorc was about to be resurrected elsewhere. Yami Bakura laughed that they weren't going to leave with the pharaoh's name, then formed a Duel Disk on his arm and challenged Yugi to a Duel.

Bakura explained that their Decks will be created from images of their mind and the order of the cards won't be revealed until they draw. Duel Disks and Decks then appeared on their arms. Yami Bakura told Yugi that this would be a Shadow Game, so losing would mean losing his soul. (In the English version, Yami Bakura instead said that it had been a while since they dueled, but this time Yugi doesn't have Yami Yugi to bail him out.) As they dueled, Yugi realized that the Deck created from images of his mind was much different than his real Deck.

Yugi intended to level up "Silent Swordsman LV0" under the protection of "Marshmallon" and "Marshmallon Glasses". However Bakura forced "Marshmallon" into Attack Mode, leaving Yugi the burden of defending it too. Whenever Yami Bakura took the upperhand, he would often taunt Yugi about not being able to win without Yami Yugi.

Bakura used "Cursed Twin Dolls" to remove his own Graveyard, filling his field with ghosts and "Counterbalance" to cause players to send cards from their Deck to the Graveyard equal to the number of cards on the field including the ghosts each turn. Since Yami Bakura no longer had a Graveyard he was unaffected. Yugi used "Aria from Beyond" to use "Spirit Sword of Sealing" to temporarily remove "Silent Swordsman" from the game. Yami Bakura's strategy left Yugi with one card in his Deck, "Gandora the Dragon of Destruction", which he drew and Summoned. Using its effect, "Gandora" destroyed and removed from play all other monsters on the field and then destroyed itself.

This deactivated the effect of "Spirit Sword of Sealing" and returned "Silent Swordsman". Yugi used "Silent Swordsman", with 4500 ATK to attack and defeat Yami Bakura.

Yami Bakura said that he couldn't believe he lost to a "container". Before relinquishing control of Tristan's body, he laughed that Zorc had still been freed and they couldn't win if the pharaoh dies. After explaining to Tristan what just happened, the chamber started to collapse. The quartet exited through a tunnel leading them to the side of a cliff.

After sliding down the cliff, Yugi and his friends were attacked by hooded riders. Like how Yugi and Yami Bakura were able to form Duel Disks, Yugi realized that if concentrated hard enough, their thoughts could become real. With no time to fight the riders, they imagined that they could fly and took off to find the pharaoh.

As Zorc was about to throw a fireball at the pharaoh, Yugi and his friends arrived. Zorc instead threw the fireball at them, saying that they should have stayed in their own world. The group dodged the attack, but saw some of Yami Bakura's soldiers approaching. Preparing to fight, Yugi conjured a Duel Disk and the Deck that he and Yami Yugi built. He Summoned the "Dark Magician", who the pharaoh now recognized as Mahad. Joey, Tea, Tristan and Mana, who was at the palace, Summoned more monsters to battle the soldiers.

With the Monster Spirits battling Zorc and the soldiers, Yugi and his friends gathered around the pharaoh. They told him that they had seen his name and remember what it looked like, but were unable to read it. However after seeing the pharaoh's cartouche, Tea suggested that they concentrate on making the hieroglyphics appear on it. They all held their hands over the cartouche and tried this.

Zorc tried to stop them by throwing another fireball in their direction, but Seto Kaiba appeared and used "Ring of Defense" to block the attack. Zorc launched another attack destroying the ring. Yugi and company managed to survive with the name engraved on the cartouche. The pharaoh declared that his name was Atem. Knowing this he was able to revive the Egyptian Gods and combine them into The Creator God of Light, Horakhty, who attacked and destroyed Zorc.

Yugi and the pharaoh both found it weird having different names at first, having shared an identity since Yugi solved the Puzzle. Yugi said he felt a bit lonely, but it was okay. Even if their names are different, he said that they will still be a team. After saying goodbye to Priest Seto, Yami Yugi reached the end of his memories, and says he could no longer exist in the Memory World, so he joined Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan and Kaiba to leave through an opening in the sky.

Ceremonial Battle arc
Yugi and the others awoke in the cavern they had entered the world of the pharaoh's memories from. Yugi found that Atem still residing in his body and received the Millennium Eye from Kaiba, who said he'd be needing it. Before they can question Kaiba on how he got it, they were interrupted by the appearance of Ryo Bakura, who was no longer possessed by Yami Bakura. As they left the Yugis took the Millennium Ring from Bakura and found the Millennium Scales and Key, left behind by Shadi.

The Ishtars began to guide Yugi and his friends to the Shrine of the Millennium Stone; The pharaoh's final resting place. They went on to a boat, where Yugi met up with Duke, Grandpa and Mokuba. On the boat, Marik told Yugi that Yami Yugi would have to lose in a Ceremonial Battle in order to move on. Joey and Kaiba both offered to Duel Atem, but Yugi declined their offers in favor of dueling Atem himself. He believed that this was something both he and Yami Yugi needed. Angry, Kaiba showed Yugi a briefcase of cards and said that if he's dueling he might as well use a real Deck, but Yugi declined again, wanting to use his and the pharoah's cards.

The night before they arrived at the shrine, Yugi worked on his Deck. Téa came into Yugi's room and admitted that she didn't want see Yami Yugi to go and asked how Yami Yugi felt about it. However Atem had been hiding within his soul room to give Yugi privacy while he made his Deck. As he constructed the Deck, Yugi reflected on how solving the Millennium Puzzle changed his life. Once he finished, he gave Yami Yugi privacy to construct his Deck.

The next day, everyone arrived at the shrine. This was the best time for the Duel as Zorc had just been defeated, Ishizu assured them and said the pharaoh will stuck in this time if they don't take this chance. Yugi placed the Millennium Items in the Millennium Stone. This caused the Eye of Wdjat to scan him for the pharaoh's soul and split them into two bodies. Yugi and Yami Yugi walked to opposite sides of the cavern and prepared to Duel.

Yami Yugi choose not to hold back and quickly Summoned the three Egyptian Gods. Using "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior" in combination with "Magnet Force" and predicting Atem's moves, Yugi was able to redirect the blasts from "Slifer the Sky Dragon" back at the Gods, lowering their ATK and eventually destroying them. Yugi and Yami Yugi continued to battle using cards that both of them had used before together. When Atem Summoned "Dark Magician" and "Dark Magician Girl", Yugi fought them using cards like he used against Yami Bakura and played "Gold Sarcophagus", predicting Atem would use "Monster Reborn". Once the magicians were defeated, Atem attempted to revive "Slifer the Sky Dragon" using "Monster Reborn", but Yugi revealed that he had selected that card with "Gold Sarcophagus" and negated its effect. Yugi reluctantly attacked Atem directly with "Silent Magician", winning the Duel.

With the Duel over Yugi wept. He called himself weak and said that he had always followed Atem, wanting to be as strong as him. However Yami Yugi said that Yugi has the strength of tenderness, which Yugi has also taught him. Yugi called Yami Yugi "the other me", but Yami Yugi said that he is no longer another Yugi and Yugi Muto is now himself and nobody else. (In the English version, as Yugi wept, he said that he had been so focused on the Duel, he forgot what winning meant. However Yami Yugi said that Yugi has opened the door for him, so he can finally be at rest where he belongs and that they have fulfilled their destiny. Yugi said that he was going to miss him, but Yami Yugi said that they will never be truly apart as the gift of kindness Yugi has given him and the kindness he has given Yugi will bind them forever.)

The Eye of Wdjat then began to glow and upon hearing Yami Yugi say his name, opened the door to the spirit world. Yugi and his friends tried to convince him to stay. After Joey convinced Téa that the pharaoh had to go, Yugi said that he will never forget Yami Yugi/Atem. (In the English version, Yugi said that it's like they always say "It's your move!".) Once the doorway shut, the chamber began to shake. Yugi and the others all ran outside, while the shrine collapsed, burying the Millennium Items with it.

Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan and the others flew back to Japan afterwards where Yugi received a hug from Rebecca at the airport. Later when he met up with his friends again, he thought that this isn't the tale of the pharaoh; Everyone has their own story and although one has just ended, his own is just beginning.

Yu-Gi-OH! GX (Anime)
Jaden Yuki bumps into him on the way to the Duel Academy sign ups. Yugi gives Jaden the card "Winged Kuriboh". In the Japanese version he says the card is lucky. In the English version, he says that he feels the card belongs with Jaden. He the wishes Jaden good luck, and continues walking. Later Yugi's Deck goes on display at Duel Academy. Later on, it is stolen by Dimitri, who Duels Jaden with it. During the Duel, Dimitri began to mimic Yugi and a shaded figure of Yugi appeared behind him. Afterwards the Deck is returned.

In his Duel with Gravekeeper's Chief, Jaden mentioned that Yugi had won many Shadow Duels. While Lyman Banner was giving a history lesson, he mentions Yugi and Kaiba as the best Duelists of their generation and shows drawings of them to the class. One of the girls in the class says that they are one of the best looking, and another girl calls them dream boats. During Jaden's Duel with the Dark Magician Girl, Bastion Misawa and Zane Truesdale state that Yugi's the only Duelist that possesses the "Dark Magician Girl" card, making them confused about who Jaden's Dueling against.

When Jaden visits the Kame Game shop during the school trip, Solomon Muto states Yugi went on another journey and he does not know when he will come back. While Jaden is Dueling T-Bone, Jaden gives T-Bone some words of wisdom, which Solomon Muto believes to be exactly what Yugi would have said.

While Bob Banter is caught spying on Alexis Rhodes, he distracts Jaden, Syrus and Hassleberry, by saying "Hey look! It's Yugi", so he make his escape. When Jaden's Duels Frantz, who stole a copy of "The Winged Dragon of Ra", Pegasus compares Jaden to Yugi.

During one of Aster Phoenix's flashbacks, Pegasus mentions Yugi being "Number 1" in his top five Duelists, with Kaiba as number 2, Joey as number 3, Aster as number 4, and Jesse Anderson as number 5.

During Jaden's last year, the person who had gained the most graduation points at the exam would get a copy of Yugi's Deck, excluding the God Cards. Chazz Princeton, Alexis Rhodes and Syrus Truesdale qualified, but turned down the prize in favor of their own decks. During the graduation party, Jaden is led by Winged Kuriboh to the room containing Yugi's Deck. Yugi appears and sends Jaden back in time to Duel his younger self. In this time Yugi seems to be taller and more muscular.

Yugi won Battle City V2 at some point and had a dream where Kuriboh told him he would meet someone and have to Duel him. Shortly after this, Yugi bumped into Jaden Yuki, who had been sent back in time by Yugi's future self. Jaden showed Yugi a "Winged Kuriboh" card, which he said Yugi had given to him and it helped him come here. Yugi saw that Jaden's "Winged Kuriboh" looked like his own "Kuriboh", but had no knowledge of ever meeting Jaden or giving him a card. He told Jaden about his dream and asked if Jaden was there to Duel him.

The two proceeded to Domino City Plaza, where they saw that time had frozen and nobody else was around and began to Duel. Yugi was impressed by Jaden's "Elemental Hero" cards.[159] After Jaden got the upper hand, Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, who Summoned "Slifer the Sky Dragon", stating that the only worthy opponent for Jaden is a god. Jaden then remembered the important thing that he had lost - how to have fun in a Duel regardless of its importance. No outcome to the Duel is shown and Jaden returned to his own time.

Yu-Gi-Oh! movie 1
The events of Battle City have just concluded, and Yugi now owns all three Egyptian God cards. Seto Kaiba longs to finally defeat him, and he has a plan. He suspects that since Maximillion Pegasus created the Egyptian God cards, he would have also created a way to beat them, just in case something ever went wrong.

Kaiba heads off to Pegasus's castle and challenges him to a duel. The stakes are the following: if Pegasus wins, he gets Kaiba's three "Blue Eyes White Dragons"; if Kaiba wins, Pegasus hands over the card that can beat the Egyptian Gods. Kaiba wins, and Pegasus must fulfill his wager: he picks up two cards from Pegasus's decks. However, Pegasus only created one card to beat the Egyptian Gods, so where did the other card come from?

Meanwhile, Yugi Muto and Tea Gardner, seeking refuge from a mob of duelists wanting to face Yugi for the Egyptian Gods, stumble into Domino Museum, where they discover a new attraction on display called the Pyramid of Light, which looks a little like the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi's grandpa, Solomon Muto (who also happens to be visiting the museum), reads an inscription on the side of a sarcophagus (The eye that sees what's yet to come, its vision shall be fulfilled, unless blinded by events predetermined, thus light & shadows both be killed), triggering a strange vision in Yugi's mind concerning his Millennium Puzzle, the Pyramid of Light, Anubis, and Kaiba. After he wakes up, he finds the pyramid stolen, the sarcophagus now empty. Yugi also finds Mokuba standing outside. Mokuba says that Kaiba wants Yugi to bring his duel disk to the KaibaCorp Duel Dome immediately.

Yugi does so, transforming into Yami Yugi on the way, and finds Kaiba ready to duel. Seto asks Mokuba to seal all the exits, forcing Yugi to duel him, but not before Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor find their way in to watch.

The duel goes on for what seems like an eternity, and Yugi is starting to suspect that there are dark forces at work - especially when Kaiba activates a Trap Card called the "Pyramid of Light", which not only bears a striking resemblance to its namesake in the museum, but also prevents Yugi from using any of the Egyptian Gods! Before long, Kaiba has his "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" on the field, but to Yugi's surprise, he sacrifices it to summon a monster known as the "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", which is even stronger!

The Pyramid of Light also pulls the souls of Yugi, Joey, and Tristan into Yugi's Millenium Puzzle, where they are chased by a group of mummies controlled by an unknown force...

Kaiba could win the duel there and then, but he wants to humiliate Yugi by wiping him out with his own Egyptian Gods! His "Pyramid of Light" removed the gods from play, and he wants to play "Return from the Different Dimension" to get them under his control. Of course, to do that, he needs to destroy his Pyramid of Light first, otherwise it would just destroy the gods again! Kaiba commands his "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to use its "Shining Nova" effect, which allows it to sacrifice itself to destroy anything on the field - and he aims it at the Pyramid of Light. Suddenly, a ghostly voice calls out, "This I cannot allow!", and the Pyramid stays exactly where it is. Then, a man rises up from behind Kaiba, throws him aside, and takes over the duel himself.

It's Anubis, the Egyptian Lord of the Dead, whom the Pharaoh destroyed 5000 years ago. But now he's back with the Pyramid of Light around his neck and two of his most powerful monsters - "Andro Sphinx" and "Spinx Teleia! On top of this, Téa, Joey, Tristan and Yugi are all trapped inside the Millennium Puzzle, leaving the Pharaoh to duel all alone. Putting all his faith into the cards, Yugi draws the "Double Spell" card, which allows him to discard his other spell card to activate "Monster Reborn" from Seto's Graveyard. He uses it to revive "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", who then destroys the "Pyramid of Light" (after it was weakened by Yugi from inside the Millennium Puzzle), along with "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia". But Anubis's not done yet. With the Pyramid gone, he summons his last trick up his sleeve - "Theinen the Great Sphinx"! Yugi, however, activates "Reverse of Reverse" to activate Kaiba's "Return from the Different Dimension". The God Monsters return, destroy the Great Sphinx and Anubis is seemingly defeated. But a giant jackal - the ancient Egyptian representation of Anubis, the Lord of the Dead - rises from the remains of the Pyramid!

Kaiba and Yugi join forces, putting all their strength into the "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" card, and using Shining Nova to destroy Anubis once and for all. On top of it all, Pegasus, who had earlier arrived via helicopter to help them, gets them out of the explosion in time. After this, Yugi thanks kaiba for all he's help. But brushes the thanks a side, and departs promising to defeat Yugi. Mokuba then leaves as well asking his brother to slow down. Yugi thanks his friends for helping him, and lastly talks to Yami Yugi.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's movie
Yusei Fudo had a nightmare about the Zero Reverse incident that his father created. With Yusei upset, Jack Atlas and Crow Hogan decided to have a Turbo Duel to cheer Yusei up. After driving down the highway, Paradox, who traveled back in Yusei's time, challenges Yusei to a Turbo Duel. After a few turns, Yusei tunes "Junk Synchron" with "Junk Warrior" and Synchro Summons "Stardust Dragon", but Paradox reveals a blank card and launches a beam at "Stardust Dragon", absorbing it and creating a blackened corrupt card of it into the blank card. Yusei confronts Paradox, who shows him the corrupt card, before vanishing through time again. Yusei, Jack and Crow halt their Duel Runners and look in bewilderment at the original "Stardust Dragon" card, whose illustration has just been blanked.

Yusei, Jack and Crow then started questioning about Paradox's identity at their garage, when Akiza Izinski, Leo and Luna arrived and showed the archives they found about the past. They found an old article about "Maximillion Pegasus" and "Yugi Muto", with Yusei recognizing Yugi as a legendary duelist. They also discovered a record of "Stardust Dragon" assaulting various duelists in Europe. Knowing that "Stardust Dragon" could not have existed in that era, Yusei zooms in on the article's picture to discover Paradox standing in the background of the dragons. Outside, New Domino City begins to crumble and collapse. Witnessing the destruction, Jack Atlas realized that "Stardust Dragon's" existence in the past is now changing the future, which is their era.

With the support of the other Signers, their marks begin to glow as the complete Crimson Dragon appears on Yusei's back followed by Yusei's Duel Runner glowing as well. Yusei feels himself being called by the Crimson Dragon and beckons Yusei to board his runner. With its help, a time slip is opened and Yusei begins his chase after Paradox.

In Venice, Paradox finds Jaden Yuki, who still has the powers of Yubel and The Supreme King. Paradox attacks him with "Cyber End Dragon" and "Rainbow Dragon". Jaden manages to resist by Summoning "Elemental HERO Neos" to protect him. In response, Paradox Summons "Stardust Dragon", a monster from the future, and proceeds to overwhelm Jaden (This scene is how the movie opens before changing to Yusei's nightmare of Zero Reverse). Stardust Dragon's first attack almost destroys Neos and sends the two skidding backwards into a wall.

As Paradox commands Stardust Dragon to attack Jaden again, Yusei appears with the Crimson Dragon, who takes the blows for Jaden. Paradox disappears once again.

Soon, Yusei and Jaden began to chat on a roof. Seeing Yusei's Duel Runner, Jaden gets excited seeing such a technology, asking Yusei if that was the Duel Disk of the future. He then explained that he came here because he heard that there were cards missing from duelists. Yusei explains to Jaden that Paradox is trying to change the past and that his target was Maximillion Pegasus. Jaden then used his laptop to find out an article about the event that Paradox performed that would create a major historical event. (In the English version, Jaden did not believe Yusei, which is why he opened his laptop and discovered that truth.) Jaden then checks his card, as his "Elemental HERO Neos" card turns into a blank card. As the country began to collapse, Yusei tells Jaden that they must hurry to save the world.

Yusei and Jaden then ride Yusei's Duel Runner, with the Crimson Dragon taking both of them even further back in time.

Meanwhile, in Yugi's timeline, sometime after Battle City but before the Waking the Dragons arc, Maximillion Pegasus is currently holding a tournament. The Sakiyomi Jan Bang! made a cameo as the MC of the event. Yugi and his grandfather, Solomon Muto, noticed "Stardust Dragon", "Cyber End Dragon" and "Rainbow Dragon" in the sky. Paradox then attacks the crowd with "Cyber End Dragon" and "Stardust Dragon", killing almost everyone, including Pegasus and Yugi's grandfather.

Amongst the ruins, Yugi is the only survivor against Paradox's attack. He stands up and searches for other survivors. He finds a bandanna belonging to his grandfather and cries over his death. He then sees Paradox laughing on top of a building, happy that he finally completed his mission. At that moment a crack in the space appears and the Crimson Dragon suddenly "swallows" Yugi. Then, Yugi is thrown back in time at the same place half an hour earlier. Yusei and Jaden find Yugi and explain to him what they know about Paradox to him. Yugi agrees to fight with them against Paradox to free the trapped monsters and save the world.

At the event, Jaden Summons Yubel and starts to scare the audience, so they would flee. By doing so, Yugi hopes the future is safe as Jaden regains his "Elemental HERO Neos" card. However, Paradox arrives regardless to the shock of the heroes. After Paradox took his mask off and introduced himself, Yugi asks Paradox what kind of person he is. Paradox replies that he is from a future which was destroyed by Duel Monsters. He intends to destroy the game of Duel Monsters to prevent that future from happening. Yusei tries to tell Paradox that by changing time and trying to destroy Duel Monsters, he will also erase people from the timeline as well, to which Paradox replies that it is what he is looking forward to the most. Yusei, Yugi and Jaden challenge Paradox to a 3 on 1 Duel, with a time limit of 20 minutes, before Pegasus arrives at the event and the other dimensions crumble to pieces. Jaden's eves change color as Yubel appears behind him and Yusei's Mark of the Dragon glows as the Crimson Dragon roars behind him as the two Duel Kings say their catchphrases and then Yami says to Yugi that the Duel against Paradox would be the toughest and Yugi responds by saying that they should rise to the challenge. Yugi transforms into Yami and says his catchphrase as Paradox accepts this challenge and the Duel begins.

Paradox's Duel Runner transforms into a flying type and he floats up high and the Duel begins.

Paradox declares the first move. He activates "Malefic World" that lets him put a random "Malefic" monster from his Deck to his hand instead of drawing a card during his Draw Phase. The field begins transforming into a purple atmosphere full of stars. Then, he sends "Cyber End Dragon" from his Extra Deck to the Graveyard to Special Summon "Malefic Cyber End Dragon" from his hand. He sets a card to end his turn (because in a 3-on-1 Duel, you cannot attack on the first turn). By this time, Yugi, Jaden and Yusei come to the realization why Paradox has been stealing monsters: He's using them to Summon the "Malefic" monsters, as Yugi understands that by destroying a monster's good version, Paradox can Summon their dark version.

Yusei tells everybody that despite them never fighting together before, they must work together to defeat Paradox, as Yugi & Jaden agree. Yugi then asks Yusei to take the first turn for his team.

Yusei activates "Reincarnation of Hope", which sends "Sonic Chick" and "Quillbolt Hedgehog" from his hand to the Graveyard; but on their team's second Standby Phase, they are allowed to add a monster from their Deck to their hand. Yusei then Summons "Junk Synchron" and due to its effect, he also Summons "Sonic Chick" back on his field. He then activates the effect of "Quillbolt Hedgehog" to Summon it back to his field. He then uses the 3 monsters to Synchro Summon "Junk Gardna" in Defense Position. Yugi becomes surprised by the concept of Synchro Summoning, as Jaden is just as confused by Yusei's Synchro card, but praises Yusei's play and shows his interest in the future cards. Yusei Sets 2 cards to end his turn.

Paradox adds "Malefic Rainbow Dragon" to his hand due to the effect of "Malefic World". He then sends "Rainbow Dragon" from his Deck to the Graveyard to Special Summon "Malefic Rainbow Dragon" from his hand. Jaden then becomes angry since Paradox is using Jesse's card. Paradox attacks "Junk Gardna" with "Malefic Rainbow Dragon", but Yusei activates the effect of "Junk Gardna" that switches "Malefic Rainbow Dragon" to Defense Position, thus stopping the attack. Paradox then attacks "Junk Gardna" with "Malefic Cyber End Dragon", this time destroying it and inflicting Piercing Damage to Yusei's Life Points. Yusei felt the real damage that Paradox did to him, but not before activating "Junk Gardna's" 2nd ability, which switches Paradox's other monster in Defense mode and "Miracle's Wake", reviving his "Junk Gardna". Yusei apologizes for losing some Life Points, but Yami and Jaden insisted that Yusei did a good job, stopping the assault of both monsters. Paradox then Sets a card and ends his turn.

As Jaden's turn begins (his theme song plays in the Japanese version), he asks Yusei if he may borrow "Junk Gardna". Yusei agrees, as Jaden activates "Polymerization", fusing his "Elemental HERO Neos" with Yusei's "Junk Gardna" to Fusion Summon "Elemental HERO Neos Knight". The ATK of "Elemental HERO Neos Knight" increases by half the ATK of "Junk Gardna", making it 3200. Because of the other effect of "Elemental HERO Neos Knight", it can attack twice during the same Battle Phase. Thus, Jaden attacks Paradox's "Malefic Rainbow Dragon" and "Malefic Cyber End Dragon" with "Elemental HERO Neos Knight". Paradox activates "Malefic Tune", allowing him to draw 2 cards. Jaden Sets four cards to end his turn.

Paradox adds "Malefic Stardust Dragon" to his hand due to the effect of "Malefic World". He then sends "Stardust Dragon" from his Extra Deck to the Graveyard to Summon "Malefic Stardust Dragon". Yusei then became shocked to see that his ace monster became corrupted and in the English dub he yells at Paradox, calling him a snake and is horrified at what has been done to his card. Paradox then Normal Summons "Malefic Parallel Gear" and tunes it with "Malefic Stardust Dragon" to Synchro Summon "Malefic Paradox Dragon". Yusei is stunned by this, to which Paradox says that he is not the only one who could Synchro Summon. He activates its effect, Special Summoning "Stardust Dragon" and decreasing the ATK of Jaden's "Elemental Hero Neos Knight" by 2500. Paradox attacks "Elemental HERO Neos Knight" with "Malefic Paradox Dragon", but Jaden activates "Hero Barrier", negating the attack. Yugi and Yusei praise Jaden for that move, but Paradox activates "Malefic Claw Stream", destroying "Elemental HERO Neos Knight", but Jaden activates "Elemental Mirage", resurrecting "Elemental HERO Neos Knight" with its original ATK (2500). He explains to Yugi and Yusei that he did this to ensure that there was at least a monster on the field by Yugi's turn. Because of the effect of "Malefic Paradox Dragon", the ATK of "Elemental HERO Neos Knight" is reduced to 0. Paradox Sets 2 cards to end his turn.

As Yugi's turn began (his theme song plays in the Japanese version), he adds "Dark Magician" to his hand due to Yusei's "Reincarnation of Hope". Paradox knew that he would try to go for the "Dark Magician". Yugi activates "Ancient Rules", which allows him to Special Summon it. The Dark Magician, however, is still affected by the effect of Malefic Paradox Dragon, reducing its ATK to zero. Jaden gets excited seeing Yugi's ace card, while Yusei remembers based on the archives, the Dark Magician is Yugi's ace monster. At this point, Yusei asks Yami to destroy Stardust Dragon, since Malefic Paradox Dragon's effect will prevent them from launching an attack. Yugi then activates "Bond Between Teacher and Student", which Summons "Dark Magician Girl" to his field. Yami then activates "Magic Gate of Miracles", which lets him take control of one of Paradox's monsters and which Paradox assumes it is his "Malefic Paradox Dragon". In response, Paradox chains "Malefic Force", which protects his "Malefic Paradox Dragon" from Yami's card effects. Yami then smiles claiming his true target is "Stardust Dragon". Now Yusei gets his "Stardust Dragon" back on his field. Jaden then praises Yami for this, noting that Yami never wanted Malefic Paradox Dragon in the first place. By doing so, Malefic Paradox Dragon's effect is negated, thus returning the Dark Magician & Elemental Hero Neos Knight's ATK to their original amount. Yami then activates "Dark Magic Twin Burst", combining his two monsters' ATK together, raising the ATK of "Dark Magician" to 4500. He attacks and destroys "Malefic Paradox Dragon", resulting in Paradox losing 500 Life Points. Paradox then grins, claiming that these desperate moves change nothing. Yugi disagrees, mentioning to Paradox that he had two monsters and now he has none. Paradox mentioned that they only created the path for the Summoning of a powerful monster and activates "Malefic Paradigm Shift", which Summons "Malefic Truth Dragon" to his field when his "Malefic Paradox Dragon" is destroyed. This costs Paradox half of his Life Points to activate (Paradox: 1750 Life Points). Paradox then fuses with his new monster and everyone is amazed to see such a gigantic monster. Yugi then Sets 2 cards face down and ends his turn.

By now, time has run out as Pegasus is about to arrive, but cannot land his helicopter due to Malefic World still being in play. Back in New Domino City, everybody is watching their dimension collapse but Jack knows that Yusei still has a chance.

Paradox then starts his turn. He plays "Malefic Selector" to remove "Malefic Parallel Gear" and "Malefic Cyber End Dragon" from play to add "Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon" to his hand. Paradox then sends both "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" from his Deck to the Graveyard to Summon "Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon".

Yugi is shocked that the "Red Eyes Black Dragon" & "Blue Eyes White Dragon" have become Malefic monsters as well. Paradox then attacks "Dark Magician Girl" with "Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon". At that point, he also mentions Malefic Truth Dragon's ability: If a Malefic monster destroys one monster, the other monsters are destroyed also. Jaden then activates Yugi's "De-Fusion", sending Elemental HERO Neos Knight back to the Extra Deck and Summoning his "Elemental HERO Neos" and Yusei's "Junk Gardna". Yusei then uses the effect of "Junk Gardna" to switch "Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon" to Defense Position, thus canceling its attack. Yugi praises both Jaden and Yusei for this impressive display of teamwork but then Paradox then attacks "Dark Magician" with "Blue Eyes White Dragon" and destroys it, costing Yugi, Yusei and Jaden 500 Life Points. He then activates the effect of "Malefic Truth Dragon" which would destroy all of Yami, Jaden and Yusei's monsters, but Yusei activates the effect of "Stardust Dragon" to negate the destruction effect of "Malefic Truth Dragon" and destroy it. However, Paradox activates the effect of "Malefic Truth Dragon" which removes from play his "Malefic Rainbow Dragon" and negates the effect of "Stardust Dragon". He then attacks "Elemental HERO Neos" with "Malefic Truth Dragon" and thus activating its effect again, destroying "Dark Magician Girl" and "Junk Gardna". Also, for every monster destroyed, Malefic Truth Dragon inflicts 800 damage. Yami, Jaden and Yusei's Life Points are all reduced to 500 as all 3 of them are pushed back by the explosion. Paradox then activates "Malefic Divide", Special Summoning "Malefic Stardust Dragon" from the Graveyard. He then orders it to unleash its fury so that Duel Monsters will perish forever. Yusei falls to his knees, saying that everything is lost and the future is doomed. Jaden tells Yusei not to surrender reminding him that they have a "secret weapon" on their side. Yugi also tells Yusei that other than Paradox, they believe in Duel Monsters. To show him what he means, Jaden activates "The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh". The effect of "Flute of Summoning Kuriboh" allows Yami to add "Kuriboh" to his hand. Yami then discards "Kuriboh" to reduce the Battle Damage to 0. Paradox ends his turn, but not before "Malefic Stardust Dragon" gets destroyed by the effect of "Malefic Divide" and the original "Stardust Dragon" gets Summoned back to Yusei's field due to its ability. Yami then tells Yusei that no matter which era he is in, his friends will always be supporting him.

Yusei gets up, as Yami & Jaden tell Yusei to end the Duel, as they promise to aid. Yusei activates "Stardust Mirage", Special Summoning all monsters that Paradox destroyed during this turn. This brings back "Dark Magician Girl", "Dark Magician", "Elemental HERO Neos" and "Junk Gardna". Paradox is shocked, as all the monsters previously destroyed in his turn are Special Summoned back to their field. Yusei then draws a card to start his turn, as Jaden then activates "Neos Spiral Force", doubling the ATK of "Stardust Dragon" to 5000. Yami then activates "Dark Spiral Force". This then doubled Stardust Dragon's attack again to 10000. Yusei attacks "Malefic Truth Dragon" with "Stardust Dragon" and the combined efforts of "Dark Magician" and "Elemental HERO Neos", winning the Duel and restoring peace. Paradox is destroyed by the attack and is never to be seen again. Pegasus is finally able to land and arrive at the event.

After the Duel, Yusei thanks Jaden and Yami and hopes to meet them again, as Yami looks down from the rooftop towards the event where Pegasus is among the crowd. Yami gives a friendship speech and Yusei and Jaden return to their respective timelines. Back at New Domino City, everybody comes running to Yusei as Yusei himself looks at the sky and hopes to protect his future so that one day, he can meet Jaden and Yugi/Yami again. In the English version, he also says that the true magic of Duel Monsters isn't in the cards, it's the bonds we forge because of it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! movie 2
At Kame Game, Yugi is leaving to go to school, but is stopped by Solomon Muto, who struggles to remember what it is he has to tell Yugi. Yugi gets impatient and he finally remembers it by telling Yugi that Tea is going to be late, so Yugi must wait for her at their meeting point.

At the rendezvous point, Tea greets Yugi with a shoulder bump and asks if he has been waiting long, to which Yugi replies that he has not. Yugi and Tea arrive at school, where they spot Ryo Bakura, who is being obsessed over by a group of girls. At lunchtime on the roof of the school, Yugi and his friends discuss their futures. Yugi learns that Tea wishes to study dancing in New York. While Tristan is unhappy with the job, he has lined up working for his father. Whereas Joey would like to become a professional Duelist, but needs to retrieve his Duel Disk, which has gotten old and broken. Yugi reckons he will stay working in Kame Game, helping his grandfather, because he wishes to become a game designer himself and create a game that will be enjoyed by children, all over the world. Tristan and Joey support his idea and offer to help him out. While Tea says that she is certain Yugi will succeed.

When Yugi and his friends return to class, they spot a new student. They think that they remember him, but struggle to think of his name, before Tristan finally says that it is Aigami.

After school, Yugi is walking with Joey and Tea. He and Joey have received back their Deck and Duel Disk respectively, that their teacher confiscated. As Yugi looks through his Deck, he thinks of Atem and pauses. Joey asks him what is wrong and although Yugi insists it is nothing, Joey realizes he is thinking of Atem and say that it is impossible to forget him. Yugi reflects on the Ceremonial Battle, remembering himself sealing "Monster Reborn" in "Gold Sarcophagus", Atem walking through the Doorway to the Underworld and the Millennium Items, falling into the depths of the Earth.

After seeing Aigami being bullied by by Kudaragi and his gang. He tells Yugi and Tea that he is fine before leaving. At a mall, Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Bakura are sitting at Devlin's cafe, being served by Duke Devlin, while in the news, it is reported that Kudaragi and his gang have disappeared. Nearby, Joey is wearing a dog costume, walking around, handing out balloons. Bakura mentions how recently he has been getting the feeling he is being watched, which Tea points out that it is due to the girls obsessing over him, who are currently stalking him.

He then watches Kaiba suddenly appears on screens across the mall and introduces his new Duel Disk. Along with learning that he will be demonstrated in an exhibition Duel at Kaiba Land. Later on while on stage, Yugi practices his speech. Yugi and his group go bowling with Aigami and then head to Burger World. The group tell Aigami stories about their adventures together, including their trip to Egypt, which Aigami says he would look to hear more about. While Aigami shows interest in dueling Yugi, Joey says that he will have to get through him first, so Yugi invites them to have a Duel tournament at his house.

Video Games
Yugi Muto appears in the following video games:
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links

Tea Gardner
Tea Gardner has been Yugi's friend since childhood. Tea is in love with Yugi, but no one knows if she loves Yugi more than his other half. The fact that Yugi and Yami Yugi are two separate beings causes her confusion as to who she really loves. Though it seems her deepest feelings reside toward the original Yugi, as it is shown in many episodes when Rebecca Hawkins hugs Yugi, Téa appears upset, though this is before she accepts that Yugi and Yami are separate people. She has also shown jealousy towards Mai Valentine for her initially flirtatious attitude towards Yugi during her first appearance at Duelist Kingdom, as well as Vivian Wong.

Yami Yugi/Atem
After putting the Millennium Puzzle together, a "walk-in" spirit entered his mind and bonded with him. Yugi was initially unaware of Yami Yugi's existence and control of Yugi's body would involuntarily shift when Yugi or his friends are wronged. After finding out about the spirit, he was afraid of him, but eventually grew to accept this revelation as well as Yami himself. The two develop a bond similar to that of brothers or a father and son, and Yugi begins to grow, becoming stronger as he remains in Yami's shadow. After winning the Ceremonial Battle, Yugi was upset to see him go, claiming that he was weak and wasn't ready. Yami, proud of him, tells him otherwise, and as he steps through the door to the afterlife, Yugi gives him a thumbs up, now ready to go on his own.

Years later after the ceremonial battle, it's reveal that Yugi is shown to look more mature, and having to inherited Yami Yugi's strength. Including that Yugi is shown to become a little taller. He still wears the Domino City high school uniform, but this time he wears it having it in darker shade of blue color that Atem had. He also wears the belt buckle on his waist the exact same way that Atem did. In this case Yugi is shown to dress like Atem. Yugi admits he still thinks about Atem every single day, and still keeps his card deck inside the box that use to hold the Millinneum Puzzle. Atem even returns to helps Yugi defeat Deeva, and they go their separate ways once again after seeing each other again for the first time since the ceremonial battle. However Yugi says Atem was alright, and is doing just fine when Tea asks about him. In fact Yugi says he was very happy to see Atem again. Many years later in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yugi now a young adult who is much taller. Physically resembles Atem much more. But Yugi's face is not shown. Even though he is a young adult now, his voice has become deeper sounding a little bit like Atem's.

Joey Wheeler
Joey Wheeler initially bullied Yugi along with Tristan, but after he saw how Yugi stood up to Ushio, he became a close friend to him. When he was possessed by Marik, Yugi took Yami's place to get his friend back to his senses. After Joey's first Duel with Marik, Yugi couldn't believe he was dead (sent to the Shadow Realm in the English version), and was in grief. Joey, likewise, was upset when Yugi's soul was taken by the "Seal of Orichalcos". Joey is fiercely loyal to Yugi and is often quick to give his support to him. During the Ceremonial Battle he was the first to declare his support for Yugi over Yami Yugi.

Tristan Taylor
Tristan Taylor initially bullied Yugi along with Joey, but after he saw how Yugi stood up to Ushio, he became a friend to him. While his friendship with Tristan is not as strong as Joey or Yami Yugi, Tristan is still a good friend of Yugi who just like Joey looks out for Yugi and the gang. Tristan has on occasion lent his cards to Yugi to help in a duel such as Cyber Commander in his first Duel with Yami Bakura. When Tristan was possessed by Bakura, he almost killed Tea, Joey, and Yugi (sent to the Shadow Realm in the English version). But when he meet up with them again the others were hostile towards him but Yugi knew Tristan better than to attack the three.

Mokuba Kaiba
Mokuba Kaiba, Seto's little brother, has a good friendship relationship with Yugi. At first Mokuba wanted to get revenage on Yugi for defeating his older brother in a duel. But then Yami Yugi try to explain to him what happen after the duel between them. But Mokuba won't listen,and told Yugi that Pegasus was trying to took over KaibaCorp. Yami Yugi told Mokuba that after the duel with Kaiba, he wiped out the evil in Seto. Now Seto trying to start over to redeem himself. But Yami Yugi fial to notice that Mokuba left the dueling post that he was in. Mokuba instead grab Yugi's star chips,and started to run off. Yami Yugi told Mokuba to stop,and that what he is doing is wrong. Yami Yugi told Mokuba that they can help him rescue Seto,and defeat Pegasus toghter. Mokuba then asks Yami Yugi what can he do,and Yami Yugi tells him that he can start by trusting in him. He then tells him that he has to return the star chips to the kid that he stole them from,and agree. But they were to late to reach the boat,and Mokuba beg Kemo to bring the boat back so he can return the star chips to it's owner.

But Kemo slaped out of Mokuba's hand,and into the water. Kemo then grabed Mokuba. Yami Yugi then yells at Kemo to release Mokuba. But Kemo says that in order for Mokuba to be free, is to have a duel. Yami Yugi agrees to duel,but finds out that he is dueling the mimic of doom who looks like Kaiba. After he defeats the mimic of Doom,with Kaiba's help. Kemo takes Mokuba,and locks him in a deep dark dungeon.

When Yugi saw Kaiba about to duel Pegasus. Pegasus then brought out Mokuba's soul les body.which shocked everyone and Yugi. Yugi now knows that Mokuba is in the same situation as his grandfather. After Kaiba lost the duel to Pegasus,which would have free Mokuba. Yugi was so angry that Kaiba was trying to save someone that he truely cared about. Yugi turn into Yami Yugi, and yells that he will see Pegasus at the finals.

Yugi then vows to rescue Mokuba,his grandfather,and Seto. Before he duel Pegasus,Yugi asksed if he wins the duel. That Pegasus will free Mokuba,Seto and his grandfather's souls as promise. Pegasus then read Yugi's mind,and found out the promise between Yugi and Mokuba.

After Yami Yugi defeated Pegasus in the shadow round duel. Yugi realizes that Pegasus went to his bedroom to free the souls of Mokuba,Seto and Solomon Muto as promise. Yugi the watch Mokuba happily reunited with Seto,and as a reward for saving Mokuba from Pegasus. Kaiba gives Yugi and his friends a ride back home in his helicopter.

Mokuba then repaided Yugi with a dueling area in Kaibaland,so he can duel Rebecca. When Seto was trap in his vitural game,by the Big Five. Mokuba then went to ask Yugi and his friends for help. Yugi agree to help Mokuba in the vitural world game with Joey, to save Kaiba. After everyone saves Kaiba,and wins the game. Everyone returns to the real world. Mokuba then tells Kemo that Seto is looking for him. After Kemo leaves,Mokuba thanks Yugi for rescueing his brother again.

During the Battle City Touranment, Mokuba sees Yami Yugi in person while trying not to throw the Espa Roba brothers out the touranment for cheating. Mokuba then helps Tea and Solomon successfully find Yugi after his duel with Arkana. Mokuba then witnesses Yami Yugi's duel with Slifter the sky dragon. After the Duel,he gives Slifter to Yami Yugi. Mokuba even trys to call off the Duel between Joey and Yugi. He saw that if either of them lost the duel,one of them would get hurt. Mokuba even knows that if Joey,or Yugi drowned in the ocaen. Then Tea would get hurt as well. This shows that Mokuba cares about Yugi's well being.

During the battle city finals, after seeing Seto lose to Yami Yugi. Mokuba believes that what Yami Yugi and Joey say about his older brother is true. Mokuba begs Seto to stop trying to destroy the past,and instead try to help Yugi defeat Marik. After the Battle City tornament is over,Mokuba tells Yugi that he is going to help build Kaiba Land in america.

Mokuba then sees Yugi the Doma Saga,and is shock that Yugi's soul got capture by Dartz. But Mokuba was confuse, and thought that Yami Yugi was the real Yugi. Mokuba then support Yami Yugi and Seto in their duel against Dartz. Mokuba was angry that Seto lose,but was knock unconsicious by Dartz. Mokuba did not see the rest of Yami Yugi's duel with Dartz. When Yami Yugi defeated Dartz,and the three legendary duelist's souls were return to their rightful body. Mokuba woke up,and was happy to see Seto and Yugi alive. Mokuba then try to go help Yami Yugi,Joey and Seto fight the great Leviathen. But Tea told him to stay with her,so he can be save from harm. After the Great Leviathen is gone for good,Mokuba reunites with Yugi on the beach.

During the Grand Championships Saga,Mokuba gave Yugi,Joey and Rebecca their invites to the touranment. Mokuba then helps out at the touranment to see who the stange hacker was. Mokuba also witnesses Yugi becoming Champion of the Tournament.

Mokuba then sees Yugi battle Yami Yugi in the ceremonial Battle. He also witness Yugi being the true King of Games,along with Yami Yugi. Mokuba,Seto,Yugi,and the rest of the gang flew back to Domino City after the Ceremonail battle ended.

Seto Kaiba
After Seto Kaiba lost to Yugi in their first duel he becomes determined to defeat Yugi and becomes his rival. Their differing personalities often causes them to come into conflict with each other such as their initial meeting with Kaiba's belief in cards being meant for power over Yugi/Yami's belief that cards have a heart.

Despite their differences Yugi bears no animosity towards Kaiba, which cannot be said the same for the other way as Kaiba held a grudge against Yugi for quite some time (which is even more so in the manga). He even cheered Kaiba on when the latter played a match against Pegasus even though Kaiba had taken Yugi's star chips by threatening to jump off the edge of the castle unless Yugi stopped an attack that would have won him the duel, something that made Yugi suffer a loss in confidence due to nearly killing Kaiba and that Kaiba truly loathed Yugi.

When Kaiba ultimately lost to Pegasus he had his soul taken away. Yugi became outraged at Pegasus for playing games with their lives. He and Yami made it their mission to free Kaiba along with Mokuba Kaiba and Yugi's grandfather. Kaiba helped Yugi find his friends when they were abducted by Marik. Usually circumstances force Kaiba to work with or aid Yugi such as common foes like Marik and his Rare Hunters, the Big Five, or Dartz. Yugi respects Kaiba as a duelist, a sentiment that Kaiba seems to share.

When Kaiba discovers that Yugi and Yami Yugi are two different people he focuses his rivalry on the latter for past defeats. However, he still respects Yugi as a duelist in his own right. This is shown at the start of the Ceremonial Battle when Kaiba described the duel (to himself) as the ultimate duel for the title of Duel King, acknowledging Yugi as Yami's equal. When Yugi defeats all three God cards Kaiba openly states he believes Yugi can win. Yugi considers Kaiba to be a friend. Before they traveled to Egypt Yugi and Yami reflect on their journey until that point, Yugi muses on all the friends he made because of Yami and Kaiba appears along with his other friends.

Rebecca Hawkins
Initially, Rebecca was hostile to both Yugi and his grandfather, accusing them of stealing her grandfather's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", but this conflict is resolved very quickly. However, during her second appearance in the Waking the Dragons arc, Rebecca announces that she is in college and has taken Yugi as her boyfriend. Since then, Rebecca continues to express her romantic affection for Yugi, getting angry at Yami Yugi after his loss to Rafael. The two even share a bit of a moment at Rebecca's destroyed house.

She also gets mad at Vivian when she tries to flirt with Yugi, and taunts her after beating her in a Duel. Then, during her Duel with Leon von Schroeder, she gets depressed when Yugi gets distracted by having to find his grandfather, who goes missing, and hugged him pretty much whenever she saw him.

Knownable Relatives

 * Mrs. Muto (Mother)
 * Unnamed Father
 * Solomon Muto (Grandfather)
 * Tea Gardner (Childhood Friendlove interest)
 * Joey Wheeler (Best Friend)
 * Seto Kaiba (Rival)
 * Yami Yugi (Closet Friend & Past Incarnation)
 * Uzumaki Naruto (True Counterpart)
 * Yusei Fudo (Partnal Counterpart)

Trivia
Yugi Muto shares many similarities with Uzumaki Naruto from Naruto/Naruto Shippuuden. Yugi Muto also shares some similarities with Yusei Fudo from '''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's'''.
 * Yugi's given name literally translates from Japanese to "Game", symbolizing how Yugi loves to play games. In the English version, his surname is pronounced as "Moto"; in Japanese, the word "moto" can mean "foundation" or "basis", which may be a reference to how Yugi served as a host for Yami Yugi.
 * Yugi along with Yami Yugi, Ryo Bakura, Yami Bakura, Mokuba Kaiba, Seto Kaiba and Gozaburo Kiaba. Are the only Yu-Gi-Oh! characters who's names remain the same in the Japanese version and English version.
 * Yugi Muto shares the same English voice actors as Kyoshiro Mibu and Demon Eyes Kyo from Samurai Deeper Kyo, Asato Tsuzuki from Descendants of Darkness, Knuckles the echidna from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Tetsu Trudge from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
 * He and Yami Yugi are the only protagonists to have performed a Ritual Summon.
 * His birthday is June 4, and his bloodtype is AB.
 * His favorite food is hamburgers. While his least favorite is Shallot.
 * Both are seen crying in the series.
 * Both don't like to use violence to hurt someone unless they have to protect their friends.
 * Both try not to punish their enemies, and would spare their life.
 * Both can communicate feel with their allies.
 * Both use Japanese-honorifics at the end of someone's first name.
 * Both try their hardest not to be a burden to others.
 * Both try to do things on their own without their friends support, but accepts it in the end.
 * Both try to get their rivals to help them face someone that is evil. (For Yugi : trying to have Kaiba help him face Pegasus. Whereas for Naruto : trying to have Sasuke help face the Ten Tails)
 * Both of their parents are present in the franchise. (However for Yugi : his parents are alive. Whereas for Naruto : his parents are dead)
 * Both wear long sleeve clothing. (For Yugi : Blue and Black. Whereas for Naruto : Orange and Black)
 * Both have spiky hair. (However for Yugi : he has three hair colors. Whereas for Naruto : he only has one hair color)
 * Both are the main characters of their respective series. (For Yugi Muto : Yu-Gi-Oh!/Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Whereas for Naruto : Naruto/Naruto Shippuuden)
 * Both have another half inside of them (For Yugi : Yami Yugi. Whereas for Naruto : Dark Naruto)
 * Both have two best friends. (For Yugi : : Yami Yugi and Joey Wheeler. Whereas for Naruto : Sasuke and Gaara)
 * Both have a rival that dislike them. (For Yugi : Seto Kaiba. Whereas for Naruto : Sasuke)
 * Both have two people that truly cares about them. (For Yugi : Joey and Yami Yugi. Whereas for Naruto : Iruka and Hinata)
 * Both have someone that is in love with them. (For Yugi : Tea. Whereas for Naruto : Hinata)
 * Both call someone Oji-Chan throughout the series. (For Yugi : Solomon Muto. Whereas for Naruto : Hiruzen)
 * Both are the main characters.
 * Both hate violence.
 * Both have spiky hair.
 * Both have a rival.

Voice Actresses & Actors

 * Japanese : Shunsuke Kazama (all media)
 * Japanese voice actress : Megumi Ogata (Season 0 & Yu-Gi-Oh! The movie)
 * English : Dan Green (all media)


 * all information on Yugi Muto came from http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yugi_Muto