Joey Wheeler

Joey Wheeler, aka Katsuya Jonouchi in the manga and Japanese version. In the Funimation Uncut English version he is call Joseph "Joey" Katsuya. He is a main character from Yu-Gi-Oh!. His #1 best friend is Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi, while Tristan Taylor is his second best friend. He gets along with Tea and Mokuba as well. Just like caring for his little sister, Serenity, Joey also cares about Yugi's grandfather as well. Since Yugi's grandfather taught Joey how to play Duel Monsters, and about the cards true meaning (The Heart of the Cards). Joey even cares about Mai Valentine, and would go through great lengths to save her. He is shown to have a huge dislike for Seto Kaiba, and has made Kaiba his #2 rival for this reason.

Background
Joey lived with his parents and little sister, when he learned that his little was born with a really bad eye sight. Joey decided to protect her, and want through great lengths to figure out how to make his sister's eye sight better. During his childhood, he would take his little sister to the beach, so they can play there, and so she can see how beautiful it is. He even promised to her that he would bring her back there again. But Joey and his sister, Serenity Wheeler, were separated when their parents divorced when he was 10 years old. Serenity lived with her mother while Joey lived with his father. Due to Joey being separated from Serenity since she left with their mother, Joey never said a word to his mother after that. Joey then became a street thug and hung out in Hirutani's gang for long periods of time when he was in middle school. He often got into fights and developed great fighting skills. He also hung out with Tristan Taylor, who was not in Hirutani's gang. Joey lived in poverty, due to his father's gambling addictions and alcoholism. So Joey went to great lengths to repay his father's debts, such as working at multiple jobs. He was the "lone paperboy" in middle school, meaning that he was one of the few that were permitted to work while going to school.

In a flashback by Joey, sometime before he enter Domino High, it was reveal that he saved a little boy from getting beat up by a gang. Tristan came to his aid and both of them beated up the thugs. After the fight, Tristan offer Joey a hand, but Joey angrily asked Tristan why was he butting in his business, and that he could have handle the whole gang himself. Joey then told him that he appreciate's his help but didn't need to be baby. (In the Japanese version, Joey angrily told Tristan that he could have beaten up the whole gang on his own, and that he didn't need Tristan's help). It turns out that Tristan only did what he did because he was a true friend who would never abandon Joey.

When Joey and Tristan entered Domino high school. He and Tristan used to bully Yugi Muto at school. At one point Joey took a piece of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and threw it into a swimming pool from a window outside of their classroom. However when Ushio started beating up Joey and Tristan, Yugi stood up for them, saying they were his friends. Joey was inspired by how Yugi had tried to help him and came to care for Yugi. He retrieved the piece of the puzzle in the pool and gave it to Yugi. Yami Yugi then punished Ushio with a Penalty Game. Joey then became Yugi's best friend after this incident, and decided to hang out with Yugi more. Due to this incident, Joey and Tristan would also start to protect Yugi from bullies. Joey also became good friends with Tea Gardner after this incident.

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 Joey and Yugi admired her dream of being a dancer, and didn't tease her about it. Which shocked Tea overall.

Personality
Joey started out as a bully, but becoming friends with Yugi Muto changes this. Joey can seem gullible, and is portrayed as not that smart, he is heroic, loyal, good-natured, funny, friendly, brave, selfless and loving. Though occasionally portrayed as comic relief, he is essential to the plot and the series' overall theme. He is an enthusiastic duelist, who firmly believes that Dueling is about fighting to help people you love. Like Seto Kaiba, Joey deeply cares for his younger sister, [[Serenity Wheeler] and will do anything to make her happy. He seems to be very protective of Serenity, which he shows once by sacrificing his own life in order to ensure her safety. He often gets freaked out or offended easily; he responds rather impulsively to insults, especially remarks about his outward appearance, such as his hair or his outfit, or his Dueling skills. In the English version, he also gets upset when people compare him to an animal, such as a monkey or a dog.

The first syllables of Yugi and Jonouchi's names form Yūjō, which is Japanese for friendship, symbolizing the bond between the two characters. The card "Yu-Jo Friendship" is based on this connection.

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

In the first seven volumes of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Joey's hairstyle changes drastically. Originally featuring two large fringes in front of his ears, the hairstyle changes to a sporadically arranged taper-like and unrealistic hairstyle. Joey's first color appearance depicts him with medium brown hair and black eyes. Subsequent appearances lighten the hair color to dirty blond and blond. His eyes are portrayed as brown or hazel.

In the first series anime, Joey's hairstyle does not change, and the sporadic hairstyle colored in a bright blond style is used. His eyes are brown.

In the second series anime he has dirty blond hair in the sporadic hairstyle and dark brown eyes. His usual outfit from the second series anime consists of a long green open jacket with a raised collar, a white T-shirt underneath and blue jeans. Later in the series, his green jacket is replaced with a blue denim one. He often carries a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left arm.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Manga
Joey used to live with his sister, Serenity. They used to walk all around town together. They were separated when their parents divorced when Joey was about 10. Serenity was force to live with their mother while Joey lived with their father. Joey became a street thug and hung out in Hirutani's gang for long periods of time when he was in middle school. He often got into fights and developed great fighting skills. He also hung out with Tristan Taylor, who was not in Hirutani's gang.

Joey lived in poverty, due to his father's gambling addictions and alcoholism. Joey went to great lengths to repay his father's debts, such as working at multiple jobs. He was the "lone paperboy" in middle school, meaning that he was one of the few that were permitted to work while going to school.

Joey along with Tristan used to bully Yugi at school. Joey was annoyed at how Yugi would let himself get pushed around and claimed his bullying was teaching Yugi how to be a man and even offered Yugi to punch him back, although Yugi hates violence. After he and Tristan swiped the box containing the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle, Joey was told off by Tea and left the room, but managed to secretly take a piece of the puzzle beforehand.

In the hallway, Joey said he was sickened by how Yugi was obsessing over a puzzle and how Tea had called them bullies. They then bumped into Tetsu Trudge, who asked what they were saying about bullying. Joey tried telling Trudge to stay out of it, but was restrained by Tristan and insisted it was nothing. After explained how influential and powerful Trudge was, Joey vowed to get back at him. He then showed Tristan the piece of the puzzle he had taken and threw it into the school pool.

The next day, Tetsu beat-up Tristan and Joey under the suspicion that they were bullying Yugi. Yugi tried to stop Trudge, saying they were teaching him how to be a man, not bullying him. That resulted in Yugi also being beaten-up. Joey was inspired by how Yugi had tried to help him and came to care for Yugi. Later that day, he retrieved the piece of the puzzle from the pool and gave it to Yugi's grandfather, to give to Yugi. The next day at school, Joey answered Yugi's riddle, "something you can show, but can't see", saying that it's friendship and he is Yugi's friend.

When Joey saw a ZTV van outside their school, he began to spread rumors about there being a star at their school. He suspected that they were disguised as a student and planned on unmasking them to make a fortune. However Yugi was skeptical of there being a star, so Joey left him to find that star by himself. Later he spotted Yugi being beaten by Fujita. He quickly broke up the fight and found out that it was a staged bullying scene for a documentary, Caught on Camera: School Violence. When he confronted the director, the director reminded him that he was being filmed, so Joey was reluctant to attack. However the director attacked Joey when he told the cameramen to stop filming.

Later having looked into it, Joey admitted that there was no star at the school, which Yugi was surprised he hadn't given up on until now. Joney instead vowed to become the star of the school himself. He noticed something was bothering Yugi, who hadn't told him he was being forced to sell tickets to Sozoji's concert. Yugi insisted that he was fine. Joey and Tristan then proceeded to lift up Tea's skirt using a t-square, earning him a punch in the face.

Joey noticed how Tea was acting odd, after avoiding walking home with them a few days and discouraging them from going to from Burger World. He initially assumed that she was dating older men for pay. He and Yugi secretly following her home after school to find out what she was really doing. They were surprised to see her enter Burger World and greet them at the door, in a waitress uniform. Tea was intimidated, as after school jobs were against the school rules, and worried that Joey, being a loud mouth would tell everyone. Tea told the boys that she was saving money to go to New York to study dancing and Joey promised not to tell anyone. Tea got held hostage by an escaped convict. Joey was unable to assist as the customers had to lie on the floor and couldn't see that Yami Yugi was rescuing her, as he was positioned by behind an obese man.

Joey told Yugi that he was down on his luck, claiming to have gotten hit once in a fight against four punks. He attended a service hosted by the alleged psychic Kokurano in the hopes of curing his bad luck. Seeing that it was mostly girls at the service, he pretended Tea dragged him there, when he was the one who insisted on her and Yugi coming. Kokurano simply told Joey that he was having bad luck and didn't offer him any advice.

When coming up with ideas for their classes fundraiser in the school festival, Joey suggested that they put on a cabaret, staring the girls from their class, which was immediately rejected. The class decided on a Carnival Games booth. Joey worked on making the barrel for the life size version of Pop-up Pirate and planned on teasing whoever was to play the role of Bluebeard. However since Joey was the right size for the barrel and Yugi had specifically made the head to fit Joey, Tea gave Joey the role. When Goro Inogashira attempted to steal the class' spot, Joey tried to fight him, but got stuck in the barrel and was easily knocked back by Goro. On the day of the festival, Joey played Bluebeard and Tea thought he had fun.

Tristan fell for their fellow classmate, Miho Nosaka and despite Tristan's objections, Joey enlisted Yugi to help them find a gift for Miho. Yugi took them to his family's game shop where they get a love jigsaw puzzle. Together they hid the gift in Miho's desk. However Miho didn't find it until Ms. Chono performed a desk check. Chono started to assemble the puzzle and read its message out loud to the class. She intended to punish the sender, but Yugi, Joey and Tristan all claimed responsibility. Yami Yugi turned the jigsaw into a Shadow Game, Dark Puzzle, so that Ms. Chono felt the pain she inflicted on others by working on the puzzle. This caused her ugly make up free face to be exposed, causing her to flee the classroom, without punishing Tristan and his friends. Afterwards Tristan asked Miho out directly, but she declined. Joey then offered to buy him a hamburger to cheer him up.

Having had his eyes on a pair of Air Muscle shoes for a long time, Joey took Tristan and Yugi to the Junky Scorpion shop, to buy a pair. The owner refused to sell Joey the shoes unless he puts his foot inside one of the shoes, while there was a scorpion inside. Joey did it and found out that there really was no scorpion inside; it had just been a test and the owner sold him the shoes for half price. Shortly after leaving the shop, Joey, Yugi and Honda were ambushed by a group of thugs, who stole the shoes. The three boys tracked down the thugs afterwards. Joey and Tristan beat them up and learned that the store owner paid them to get back the shoes. By the time Joey and Tristan returned to the shop, Yugi already had gotten the shoes back and the owner was being rushed to the hospital for scorpion stings. Unaware that he changed to Yami Yugi and defeated the owner in coin in sneaker, Yugi returned the shoes to Joey, with a hole in one, which Joey considered a battle scar.

Joey took up Duel Monsters, having been introduced by Solomon and Yugi at their shop, where Solomon showed them his rare card, the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Joey made plans to play Duel Monsters at school the next day with Yugi, just before Seto Kaiba arrived. Learning that Kaiba plays Duel Monsters, Joey invited him to join them, but Kaiba ridiculed his cards and told him to come back after collecting at least 10,000. The next day at school Joey was defeated by Yugi and asked him for a rematch, unintentionally distracting Yugi from approaching Kaiba, who just stole the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card.

Hirutani blackmailed Joey into rejoining his gang by threatening to beat-up Jonouchi's classmates if he didn't. This caused Joey to be away from home for two days without leave and consequently missed a day of school. Honda became suspicious when he noticed Joey was absent, as he couldn't recall Joey ever missing school beforehand. Joey and the gang were spotted mugging someone outside the American Club, prompting Yugi to rush over and plea with Joey to leave the gang. Joey denied knowing Yugi and didn't react when one of the gangsters punched Yugi. Later at J'z, Joey attacked the gangster for hitting Yugi earlier. Hirutani then orders the rest of the gang to seize Joey and take him to the torture chamber. At the chamber, Joey had his hands tied above his head and was beaten by the gang. They electrocuted him with stun guns to the point where he couldn't speak. Hirutani orders the gang to continue to shock him, despite concerns that it could kill him. Yami Yugi arrived, stopped the gang and defeated them in Landmine Search Network, saving Joey

Yugi invited Joey, Anzu and Tristan to the Egypt Unearthed exhibition at the Domino City Museum. Joey was worried about getting cursed, since they found a mummy. He also became worried that Yugi might be cursed when Tea said didn't Yugi's grandfather say that the archaeologists who uncovered the Millennium Puzzle died mysterious deaths. One the day of the exhibition Joey told Yugi off for wearing his school uniform on the weekend and was shown around by Professor Yoshimori.

When news broke of Professor Kanekura's death, Joey, Tea, Yugi and Solomon visited Professor Yoshimori at the university to comfort him. However Shadi, seeking to test Yugi, had possessed Yoshimori by redecorating his soul room. Yoshimori acted strange and began choking Joey, while Joey's friends tried pulling him off. Tea freed Joey by walloping Yoshimori in the head with a globe. Joey distracted the zombie Yoshimori from the others, by having him chase him around the building. Among Joey's efforts to snap the professor back to normal, he punched him the face, knocking out more of his teeth and sprayed him with a fire extinguisher.

Eventually, Yoshimori pushed him out a third floor window. Joey managed to get onto a ledge and spotted Tea, who was being used in the Trial of the Mind Shadow Game, standing motionless on a board hanging over the edge up above him. He climbed up to rescue her, but was followed by the professor. Still hassled by the professor, Joey held onto Tea's board as its supporting rope began to break. Seeing Yugi's friends work together and trusting each other, caused Shadi's ushebti to break, letting his Millennium Key, slide down a rope to Tea, returning her to normal. Joey and Yami Yugi helped Tea to safety and Yami Yugi told Joey to touch the key off the professor to return him to normal. He complied, but also noticed Yugi was acting different. After seeing everyone was okay, Joey told Shadi he was unwelcome here. After Shadi left, Tea asked Joey if Yugi seemed different to him, but after they approach Yugi, he had turned back his normal self. When Yoshimori noticed some of his teeth were missing, Joey tried blaming Tea.

During the previous Shadow Game, Yami Yugi faced an illusion of Joey created by Shadi. They were to play the Game of Death, where each player was to try and force their opponent to walk over the edge and fall to their death. The illusion displayed the traits Joey had when he was a bully. Yami Yugi refused to take his turns, as it was possible he was facing the real Joey, possessed by Shadi. Yami Yugi's trust in Joey, caused the illusion to disappear, rather than force him off the edge.

When Digital Pets became popular, Joey purchased one, which his friends mocked how ugly it had become. When he connected it with Yugi's pet, U2, to exchange data, Joey's pet proved to be a bully as a kicked U2, but they became friends shortly afterwards. Their classmate, Kujirada had a hidden character pet, which Joey tittered at for being uglier than his. The next day at school, Jonouchi left his pet unattended, during which Kujirada fed it to his own pet. As Kujirirada tried feeding more pets to his own, it was defated by U2, who had become stronger due to its data transfer with Joey's pet.

Joey was introduced to the American comic Zombire by Tomoya Hanasaki. He, Yugi, Tea and Tristan were all invited to Hanasaki's house to see his Zombire collection afterwards. Among their antics, Joey got a fright when Hanasaki's father entered wearing a Zombire mask and assembled a figure not knowing Hanasaki had wanted to keep in its box unopened. As they left Hanasaki forgave Joey for assembling the figure, which he now thought was better assembled, and Hanasaki's father begged them to stay friends with Hanasaki. After assuring him that they would, Joey told him that Hanasaki wasn't as fragile as his father thought.

Joey went with Yugi to the arcade hoping to beat "KAI" in at least one of the national high scores. He heard from other kids at the arcade, that the "KAI" high scores belonged to Seto Kaiba and that there was a rumor Kaiba was working on building the ultimate game. Joey failed to beat Kaiba's score on a racing game and after watching Yugi play Virtual VS for a while went to buy a coffee and a cola for himself and Yugi. However when he returned, he found Yugi had been beaten-up and his Millennium Puzzle was stolen.

Joey tracked down the thief, Street Fighter who offered to give back the puzzle, if Joey could beat him in a fighting game, Game of Death. The rules involved each player holding a knife in their mouth that would stick into their throat if punched in the face. Joey asked that his opponent not use a knife, as he didn't want to hold back punching him in the face. Joey fought with his hands in his pockets and found it difficult to dodge his opponent's punches in the alley. He told his opponent that he had promises in each of his pockets. He revealed one of the promises was Yugi's cola, which he sprayed in his opponent's eyes after it had been shaken, and that the other was the promise to "clobber" him and punched his opponent in the jaw. Joey then took back the Puzzle to give to Yugi.

Shortly afterwards a limousine pulled up beside Yugi and Joey and chauffeur explained that Seto Kaiba requested to see Yugi at his mansion. Yugi and Joey both got inside the limousine and Joey was surprised to hear that Kaiba was president of KaibaCorp. When it was discovered that Kaiba was unable to see them, Mokuba Kaiba asked the butler to prepare the "special course" meal for them. Yugi and Joey were disappointed to find that it consisted of childish meals and Mokuba suggested that they make a game out of it by spinning the turntable and eating the meal that stopped before them. Mokuba lied when Joey asked if the food was poisoned. Mokuba cheated by using a hidden switch in a syrup bottle, to make Joey eat a poisoned meal. Yugi turned into Yami Yugi and defeated Mokuba winning the antidote to save Joey.

Joey and Yugi stayed the night at Kaiba's mansion and were greeted by Kaiba the next morning. Joey initially got mad over what Mokuba did, but Kaiba brought them to the grand opening of his Kaiba Land theme park as special guests. They and many other children were given free access to all the attractions, leading Joey to believe he had misjudged Kaiba. However Kaiba showed them a special show, where he dueled and defeated Solomon Muto. After which, he forced Yugi to take part in Death-T, the theme park of death, before releasing Solomon from the simulation capable of driving humans insane. Joey insisted on accompanying Yugi in Death-T, as did Tristan who was babysitting his nephew, Johji, in the audience.

In the first stage, Death T-1, they bumped into Tea, who to their surprise was working there. She told them the rules of the stage; how they were to face three others in a shootout game. Unbeknownst to them, Kaiba had hired professional hitmen, Johnny Gayle, Bob McGuire and "name unknown", as their opponents. Joey couldn't bear Tristan's plan of staying put, waiting for the other team, so he leapt up on the walls of the arena and took out Gayle by kicking him in the face. Tristan called the team to retreat after finding their guns had no effect on their opponents, while their opponents were armed with lethal guns. Joey suggested another one of his sneak attacks, but Tristan and Johji dealt with the situation after finding Tea's gun hadn't been rigged.

Joey's bravery vanished as they entered the Horror Zone for Death T-2. The first part of the stage consisted of the Electric Chair Ride, during which, Joey, Yugi, Tristan, Tea and Kaiba's butler, who was orchestrating the ride, were strapped to electric chairs that shock their sitter if they screamed. Joey advised his friends not to make a sound, but they yelled back that he was most likely to scream. The participants were subjected to various terrors during the ride. These caused Joey to faint, preventing him from screaming. The gang were saved as Johji caused the butler to scream and consequently electrocute himself.

After the ride, the gang entered the Murderer's Mansion and the doors locked behind them. Joey's attempt to pick the lock was mocked by Johji, as there was no use going back the way they came. The gang were had to put their hands through holes, where they got locked below a large guillotine. Yugi managed to solve the necessary riddle to save them.

After the guillotine substage, Johji got kidnapped by the Chopman. Since Johji had saved them in the Electric Chair Ride, Joey faced the Chopman to make it up to him. Under Kaiba's death threat, Johji handcuffed Joey to the Chopman. The two had to fight to the death inside a small chamber with weapons hanging from the ceiling. Joey was no match for the Chopman's strength, but after the Chopman's chainsaw got stuck in a pillar. While the Chopman tried to free his chainsaw, Joey looked for something to pick the lock on the handcuff. Yugi pointed him to a candlestick and then briefed him in on a plan to defeat the Chopman. Joey picked open his end of the handcuffs with the candlestick holder. By the time the Chopman freed his chainsaw, Joey had attached his end of the handcuffs the door and left the candle hang loosely off it. Before noticing this, the Chopman gave the chain a tug ripping out the door, allowing Joey escape. The candle hit the oil covered floor, setting the Chopman on fire.

For Death T-3, Joey and his friends were locked in an empty room. While waiting for something to happen, Joey talked about how his life had changed a lot lately. Tea drew a smiley face on her, Joey, Yugi and Tristan's hands and explained that if they wound up taking separate paths in life, they should remember this symbol and they'll remember being friends. Yugi broke down and cried that if it wasn't for him, they wouldn't be in the mess they were in. Outraged, Joey grabbed Yugi by the collar, demanding that he never say that again, as they were a team. The stage began and large blocks started falling from the ceiling. Having studied dance, Tea could follow the rhythms the blocks were falling at and guided the group away the blocks about to fall. After the room filled up, the gang were able to escape through a hole high up on one of the walls. While the everyone else made it through, Tristan got stuck and told the others to go on. A block sealed the gap they escaped through preventing them going back to Tristan.

Upset over what happened to Tristan, Yugi admitted to Tea and Joey that he thought there was another Yugi inside him. He'd been afraid to tell them, as he feared they might leave him if they knew. Joey promised that even if that's true, he'd always be friends with Yugi. Joey and Tea, knowingly saw Yami Yugi for the first time as, Yugi switched to him, before facing Mokuba in Capsule Monster Chess in Death T-4.

Joey and Anzu were held at gunpoint by Saruwatari and another KaibaCorp guard during Death T-4. After Yami Yugi won, they were escorted to watch him in Death T-5, where he faced Kaiba in Duel Monsters. Before Yugi and Kaiba's Duel began, Joey swiped Kemo's phone and called Tomoya Hanasaki, who was at the hospital, to check up on Solomon. During the Duel, Yami Yugi imagined Joey, Tea and Tristan were with him before drawing his last card. When he won, the guards still had Joey and Tea at gunpoint, but Tristan, who had been saved by Mokuba, appeared and helped Joey fight the guards off. One of the guards managed to get back on his feet and hold his gun to Joey's head. However Mokuba told him to stop down and explained that he saved them because he owed Yugi a favor.

As they left Kaiba Land, Joey got word from Hanasaki who said Solomon's surgery was a success. After realizing that Yami Yugi had switched back to Yugi, Joey was about to ask him a question, but then decided not to.

Joey, Tristan and Yugi played the Achievement Test Bingo Game when the results of their achievement tests were posted. Joey lost having not got any lines on his card and had to buy three hamburgers for Yugi and two for Tristan. The guidance councilor, Tsuruoka, spotted them making a game of the test results and pointed out how they scored among the lowest of the four hundred who took the test. He confiscated Yugi's Lovely Two love compatibility tester and threatened to break it while calling the three of them "unskilled slackers". However Yami Yugi emerged and claimed they had skills Tsuruoka could never match. This resulted in Tsuruoka imposing a game, Find the Keyring! where he hid the Lovely Two and gave them one hour to find it or be expelled. Joey and Tristan fetched some digging equipment in case Tsuruoka had buried the device, but Yami Yugi deduced he had hidden it inside. Eventually Yami Yugi discovered the device was somewhere on Tsuruoka's body and used Tea's Lovely Two to get Yugi's to make a reaction noise proving it was there. Joey and Tristan pounced on Tsuruoka and discovered he was wearing a wig and his device inside it.

Joey sent in an entry form to participate in ZTV's The Get the Million Game. He decorated his form with rainbow colors to make it stand out. The studio did a background check on him and found that his father was an unemployed alcoholic, whose gambling debts Joey was working to pay off. The producer thought Joey's sob story and struggle would be perfect to boost ratings and he was selected to appear on the show. Joey succeeded in the first two stages of the game, Darts of Fortune and The Electric Helmet. The final stage The Wheel of Fate had been rigged to lose, but Yami Yugi had discovered this and played Red Paint Lottery, which prevented the game from being fixed. Joey succeeded and won the million yen. However the studio went bankrupt before Joey cashed the check.

Joey purchased a Monster Fighter figure; "Killer Emaada" at Kame Game and used it in a a game against Yugi, which he lost. The two of them brought their fighters to school the next day, where Joey lost another game to Yugi and got plenty of other students interested in the game. After Yugi's fighter got stolen by Koji Nagumo, he borrowed Joey's "Killer Emaada", which Yami Yugi used to defeat Nagumo in a rematch.

Imori brought the Dragon Cards, while they were sealed, to Kame Game to ask Solomon for information about them. He allowed Joey to open the seal, but Joey was stopped by Sugoroku, who explained that breaking the seal would cause yin and yang to clash and create a warped power. This freaked Joey out. A few days later he realized something was wrong with Yugi, who had received a ransom note from Imori, but Yugi insisted everything was okay.

Joey purchased a Yovega Fireboy yo-yo brought it to school school. The other students mocked him for trying to show off by giving walk the dog a new name. Determined to impress them, he tried his "loop the loop" trick, causing everyone to run for cover. Nezumi was unimpressed and told him he never wanted to see a yo-yo again after he had been mugged by a yo-yo-wielding gang. Disgusted by the misuse of yo-yos, Joey agreed to help get revenge on the gang. Nezumi led Joey and Yugi to the location he said he got mugged, which they recognized as Hirutani's torture chamber". After entering they were surrounded by Hirutani's gang, who tried getting Joey to rejoin them, as Hirutani's number 2. Joey refused, but Nezumi who had set them up, helped the gangsters capture Yugi and hang him from a hook by his Millennium Puzzle rope. Joey pushed his way through the gang taking numerous blows from their yo-yos and helped Yugi down.

Hirutani gave Joey a last chance to join him, before ordering the gang to kill him and Yugi. While the gangsters swung their yo-yos at them, Joey borrowed Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and swung it around, catching the yo-yos on its rope. He then took all the yo-yos and attached them to the hook, causing the gangsters to be hung by their fingers.

Yugi switched to Yami Yugi to help fight off the rest of the gang. Yami Yugi led the remaining gangsters onto a rooftop and Joey separated Hirutani from them. The two engaged in a fight, where Joey punched out two of Hirutani's teeth. Hirutani broke some glass and threw at Joey, causing some to go in his eyes. Hirutani punched Joey around while he was temporarily unable to see and prepared to stab him with a shard of glass. However Joey heard Hirutani step on some broken glass and determined his location. He swung a punch at Hirutani, knocking him off the roof and leaving him hang on by one hand. Joey then took out his yo-yo and used walk the dog to hit Hirutani's hand, causing him to fall. Joey met up with Yami Yugi who had disposed of the other gangsters and apologized for getting him dragged into his problems, but Yami Yugi insisted that Joey's problems were his problems too.

When Ryo Bakura transferred to Domino High School, he sat next to Joey and the two quickly got along. During the lunch break, Joey introduced Bakura to Yugi, Tea and Tristan with the four of them agreeing to play the tabletop role-playing game Monster World the next day. A group of girls then came over and told Joey not to be hogging Bakura and pulled Bakura away for a guide of the school. After school, Joey, Yugi, Tea and Tristan caught up with Bakura to ask where they'd play Monster World, but Bakura said that it was better they don't play at all, since the last few people who played games with him all wound up in comas.

Bakura didn't come to school the next day, so Joey, Yugi, Tea and Tristan went to his apartment to cheer him up and prove that his old friends ending up in comas was just a coincidence, by playing Monster World. They met Yami Bakura at the door and mistook him for Bakura. Yami Bakura went over the rules of Monster World and created their character miniatures after giving them forms to fill out. Joey's character, "Joey" was a human warrior. He, Yugi, Tea and Tristan played the adventurers, while Yami Bakura played the Dark Master.

Not knowing anything about their enemy or the world the game was set in, the adventurers went to the village for information. Joey got enthusiastically involved in the game as he pushed the barman into telling them how Zorc had taken over the land and infested it with his monsters. Tristan noted how the game brought out the worst in Joey, as he demanded the barman give them gold so they could help him. The barman directed them to another villager, who could tell them the safest path to Zorc Castle. Joey and Tristan roared out laughing at how the villager looked like Mr. Karita, the gym teacher, not knowing it was really him, trapped in a miniature. Karita gave them directions and advised them to stay out of the forest.

Outside the village there was a 30% chance of an enemy monster encounter. Yami Bakura rolled a 02 on a pair of ten-sided dice. Since this was less then 30, an enemy Level 3 Goblin appeared. Jonouchi rolled the dice to determine the strength of his attack. Yami Bakura calculated he would need 40 or lower to slay the goblin and Joey rolled a 13, easily killing it.

The adventurers encountered a stranger lying unconscious in their path. Unknown to them it was Zorc in disguise. Joey got his character to poke the stranger with his sword, waking them up. The stranger told them that he had a holy sword, capable of defeating Zorc, stolen from him after he was attacked in the forest and begged for their help. Joey thought it was worth going against Karita's safety advise for the sword and after some discussion the adventurers agreed to help the stranger. Inside the forest there was a 80% encounter rate and the adventurers were quickly faced with five monsters. Joey rolled an 82, causing his character to fall on his face when he tried attacking Tristan, Yugi and Tea defeated the monsters and tamed Pokii into joining their party.

The stranger revealed that he was Zorc and changed form. Yami Bakura rolled a 00, causing Zorc to trap Anzu in her miniature. Angry over this, Joey rolled to attack Zorc, not realizing it wasn't his turn. He rolled a fumble, 99, causing his soul to also be sealed in his miniature. Tristan and Yugi were sealed in their miniatures too shortly afterwards, leaving Yami Yugi to roll for all four of them. Yami Yugi caused Tristan to blow off Zorc's hand. Zorc retreated afterwards, while his hand mutated into two more monsters. Using the double hit technique, Yami Yugi rolled a super critical 00 for Joey, allowing him to slash the eyeball monster in two. The double hit was banned for both players after Yami Yugi used it again to get Yugi to tame Pao.

At Zorc Castle, the adventurers inspected a strange pedestal inside a tower, causing them to get caught in a trap. The spiked ceiling dropped onto their heads and it was estimated that they would have three turns before the miniatures broke under its pressure. While trying to figure the required dice roll to complete the roof's supporting tower, Yugi and Joey were attacked by Zorc lowering their HP. Yami Yugi managed to make the right roll and due to the adventurers' high speed scores, they escaped just before Zorc attacked again. Joey's figure was left with two holes in his head due to the spikes.

Having caught Zorc off guard, the adventurers won initiative and began attacking Zorc. Channeling their anger into the dice, Yami Yugi made powerful rolls as they attacked Zorc, but due to the difference in levels, Zorc wasn't injured too badly. Using brainwashed dice, Yami Bakura rolled a 00 for Zorc's attack. However Ryo Bakura had been able to take control of Yami Bakura's left hand, since his avatar's hand had been blown off, and used it to recalculate the damage so the adventurers each survived with 1 HP remaining. Yami Yugi rolled a 05 for Joey, allowing him to stab and gouge out Zorc's left eye. Yami Yugi got Tea to heal the party afterwards.

With his control of the left hand, Bakura rolled a 99 with the brainwashed dice, causing Zorc's next attack to backfire. Dark Bakura then impaled the left hand on one of the castle towers, causing the adventures to suspect Yami Bakura was not the same Bakura they knew. Yugi used his beast tamer training hand to pull the White Wizard Bakura, the avatar of Ryo Bakura, out of Zorc's wounded left arm. Bakura joined the adventurers and helped them fight Zorc. After taking significant damage, Zorc transformed into Last Zorc and attacked the party, but they were shielded by Bakura's magic, leaving them with some HP. Pokii and Yugi were able to take advantage of Last Zorc's weak point being exposed to inflict serious damage and Joey cut Last Zorc in two afterwards.

Last Zorc was still alive and Yami Bakura threatened to have it self-destruct and kill the adventurers. He and Yami Yugi rolled for initiative, tying at 00 each. However with part of his soul sealed in the brainwashed dice, Bakura was able to shatter Yami Bakura's dice, allowing the adventurers to move and kill Zorc. With Yami Bakura defeated Joey, his friends and everyone else Yami Bakura sealed in miniatures returned to their bodies. Bakura made a diorama of the adventurers as a symbol of their friendship when they fought together.

Joey built-up his Duel Monsters Deck to contain nothing but the strongest Monster Cards he could get. However this caused him to lose several Duels, including one to Tea. Frustrated, he asked Yugi to help him become better. Yugi pointed out the problem with using just Monster Cards and invited him and Tea to come to his house to watch the finals of the Duel Monsters tournament. After the finals, Yugi put on a videotape he received in the mail. The tape contained what appeared to be a pre-recording of Maximillion Pegasus, who challenged Yugi to a Duel. Yami Yugi got help from Joey, Tea and Solomon in testing his theory that Pegasus was using subliminal messaging. He witnessed Yami Yugi losing and Solomon getting sucked into the videotape by the power of Pegasus' Millennium Eye.

The next day at school, Joey explained to Bakura what happened to Solomon. he also tried cheering-up Yami Yugi. After school, he received a videotape, which he feared could also have been from Pegasus. He, Tea and Tristan went to Yugi's house to watch it, as Joey didn't have an 8 mm player of his own. Before playing the tape, Yugi showed Joey the invitation package for Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom tournament he'd received. However the tape contained a greeting from Serenity. Afterwards Joey told his friends how he and Serenity had lived apart since their parents split up and that Serenity was close to losing her eyesight. Joey wept about how he couldn't help her, but Yami Yugi split his Star Chips for the Duelist Kingdom with Joey. He said that Joey could enter to win the prize money to pay for the surgery to save Serenity, while the Yugis entered to save Solomon. Yami Yugi and Joey spent the next week training for the tournament. During this time Yugi gave Joey the cards "Baby Dragon" and "Time Wizard". According to Joey they dueled 187 times over this period, with Yugi winning every time.

Yugi and Joey, accompanied by Tea, Tristan and Bakura went to Domino Pier to get on the boat to the kingdom. Here Jonouchi met Mai Valentine and unsuccessfully tried to impress her by saying he was friends with "the famous Yugi". He was unimpressed to find that he had to sleep in the common room on the ship, but took the chance to try and trade with the other participants. When Weevil threw Yugi's "Exodia" cards overboard, Joey dived into the water, but only managed to retrieve two of them.

When they arrived Duelist Kingdom the next day, Joey briefly had a cold. Once the tournament began, he and his friends followed Weevil into a forest, and supported Yami Yugi as he dueled Haga to get revenge. Joey's advice to burn down the forest if necessary to defeat "Cocoon of Evolution" gave Yami Yugi the idea to use "Burning Land" to rid it of its Field Power Bonus. After Haga was defeated, Joey took his Dueling Gauntlet.

Joey went out into the grass plains and promised to show Serenity scenery like it some day. He was advised by Yami Yugi to be careful when choosing the location of his Duel. Joey thought he would be safe in the plains, which should strengthen his Warrior and Beast-Warrior-Type monsters. Mai then came over to their group. Expecting her to challenge Yami Yugi, they were surprised to hear she wanted to Duel Joey. She explained that it was a better strategy to crush weak Duelists and earn Star Chips before dueling Yami Yugi. Tea tried talking Joey out of accepting, but Yami Yugi told him to do his best and Joey didn't want to be remembered as a coward, so he accepted the Duel and they bet 1 Star Chip each. Joey asked Mai why she entered the tournament and thought her desire to have the prize money for excessive self interests was a weak reason. When asked himself, he said he was fighting to save a life.

Mai began using her Aroma Tactics to catch Joey off guard and strengthened her "Harpy Lady" with accessory Spell Cards. When Mai mocked Anzu's talk of how hearing friends' feelings could make a Duelist stronger, Yami Yugi reminded Jonouchi of the "something you can show, but can't see" riddle. Thinking the answer "friendship" wasn't going to save him this time, Joey thought he wasn't smart enough to figure out what Yami Yugi was trying to tell him. Thinking he'd let Serenity down, he closed his eyes to imagine what blindness was like. Without concentrating on what he could see, Joey noticed the smell of various perfumes and realized Mai had marked her cards with perfume to see what they were without looking; one could "show the cards", but couldn't "see the smell". No longer put off by Mai's trick, Joey was able to concentrate. Although Mai said he still couldn't beta her in a hundred years. Joey used "Time Wizard" to weaken Mai's "Harpy Lady" monsters and age "Baby Dragon" into "Thousand Dragon", who destroyed the Harpies and defeated Mai. After the Duel Joey told Mai that there was one thing that doesn't change after a thousand ears and its "something you can show, but can't see".

Joey and his friends soon realized they hadn't any food for the rest of the day. Joey annoyed Tea, remarking that as a girl, she should have thought ahead and made lunch. He wasn't keen about eating mushrooms Tristan's Survival Book deemed safe, but quickly smelled Mako Tsunami's unattended fish being cooked. Joey compared stealing the food to taking Star Chips and deemed it all part of the game of life. Mako spotted them and seemed angry at first, but eventually shared his fish with them. However he challenged Yami Yugi to a Duel afterwards and revealed the food has been bait to lure Duelists to the ocean terrain, which suited his Deck. Joey and the others supported Yami Yugi during the Duel.

Joey spotted Kemo forcefully restraining a boy, who was to be eliminated for running out of Star Chips. The boy claimed the Star Chips were stolen and Joey offered to catch the thief to save him from being eliminated. He added last second that he'd take half the Star Chips as payment. Shortly after Joey and his friends began searching, they saw that the boy had been put on a boat leaving the kingdom and they were confronted by the thief, who turned out to be Mokuba. Mokuba unsuccessfully tried to steal Yami Yugi's Star Chips and told the group about Pegasus plan to take over KaibaCorp, where it was necessary for Pegasus to defeat Yugi in a Duel.

Joey watched Yami Yugi Duel and defeat the Ventriloquist of the Dead, during which time Kemo secretly took Mokuba back to Pegasus Castle without any of them noticing.

Joey had trouble finding opponents as they were afraid to be near Yami Yugi in fear of being challenged by him. Mai was annoyed that she lost to Joey. Thinking it would be shallow to challenge him to a rematch, she arranged for Rex Raptor to duel him, and planned to defeat Rex afterwards effectively outranking both duelists. Joey accepted the duel and requested that Yami Yugi didn't help him. Each played wagered 2 Star Chips.

Joey planned on using the same combo he beat Mai with, but Rex destroyed "Baby Dragon" before Jonouchi got to age it with "Time Wizard". Joey got overpowered by Ryuzaki's Dinosaurs at first and didn't know how to use "Time Wizard" without "Baby Dragon". He took advantage of Dinosaurs weakness to fire-based attacks with the "Flame Swordsman" to defeat a number of Rex's monsters before being overpowered by the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Rex imposed an ante, where he bet "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" and Joey bet "Time Wizard". Joey took the gamble and played "Time Wizard", whose effect was a random chance "Self-Destruct" or "Time Magic". The "Time Magic" effect activated and fossilized Rex's monsters. Mai inadvertently cheered when Joey won.

As it got dark, Joey and his friends found a space in the woods to spend the night and grew hungry once again. Joey was about to eat a mushroom, despite Yugi, Tristan and Bakura'a attempt to restrain him. He stopped when Mai arrived with food. Having overheard Jey cry that he wanted food not Star Chips, she joked about trading him a small piece of food for a Star Chip. Mai suggested a ceasefire. She shared her food with the others and got the boys to do the cooking. While they ate, she made it clear that they could be friends that night, but would be enemies the next day. Joey and the other boys slept outside, while Tea and Mai used the tent.

Joey, Tristan and Bakura were woken up during the night. Joey learned Mai had lost all her Star Chips to Panic and refused to take them back after Yami Yugi won them back. Joey proposed that he take the Star Chips instead, causing Mai to angrily demand them back, which he happily did. He said she could still throw them away, but suggested not letting her pride throw them and her dream of dueling Yugi away.

Joey's next three attempts to fall asleep were disturbed by Tristan thinking a vine was a snake, Bakura finding the Millennium Ring reacting to the Millennium Eye and Kaiba landing his helicopter on the island. Still angry over Death-T, Joey tried picking a fight with Kaiba. Kaiba offered to have a duel using his new Duel Disk technology, which used an altered set of rules.

Joey Summoned an array of monsters all of which got destroyed by Kaiba's "Battle Ox" or its upgrade, "Rabid Horseman". Eventually Joey summoned "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", which defeated the horseman, only for Kaiba to defeat it with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and win the Duel. Kaiba continued to mock Joey after winning. Tea tried telling Kaiba off and Bakura was about to tell him about Joey fighting for Serenity, but Joey told him not to tell Kaiba. Before leaving Kaiba told them about a duel Pegasus had with Bandit Keith, in which Pegasus demonstrated his Mind Scan ability. That night, Joey was tormented in his dreams by his loss to Kaiba.

The next morning, Joey got a bit worried by Yugi's deduction that today's opponents would be even stronger, but insisted he would take down whoever stood in his way. Joey left the group while he urinated. He was ambushed afterwards by Bandit Keith's lackeys who dragged him into the hidden Crypt part of the island, where he was to duel Bones. Joey fainted at first, but was woken up as one of Bandit Keith's lackeys punched him. Joey instinctively seized him and prepared to fight back, but stopped on seeing skulls everywhere. He got creeped out as Bones told him he was in the crypt and surrounded by ghosts. Terrified, Joey accepted the duel and the wager of his four Star Chips. Not wanting Kaiba to be right about him being afraid to ever duel again, he outruled running.

Bones reluctantly Summoned non-Zombie-Type monsters under Keith's orders, which Joey easily defeated. However Bones then used "Call of the Haunted" to revive his three monsters as Zombies, which were powered up by the Graveyard terrain. Whenever he defeated these Zombies, they came back even stronger. His attempt to get rid of them with "Time Wizard" backfired as it self-destructed when the "Time Roulette" stopped on a skull. Bones further powered up the Zombies with "Pumpking the King of Ghosts", but Joey defeated it with "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Bone's remaining Zombies were stronger than "Red-Eyes" and with "Stop Defense" prevented him shielding his Life Points by putting monsters in Defense Mode. Joey Summoned "Kung Fu Fighter Ultimator" and used "Shield and Sword" to swap all monsters' ATK and DEF. Since the Zombies were only able to instinctively attack, they had 0 DEF, which became their ATK, allowing "Kung Fu Fighter Ultimator" to easily defeat one and drop Bone's Life Points to 0.

Yami Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Bakura found Jonouchi just after the Duel and congratulated him on his win. Joey called back Keith as he was leaving and asked him to play fair next time if he's a true duelist. Keith laughed and said that card games are about outwitting your opponent. He suggested that Joey stop pretending to be a nice guy and then prizes would come his way, like the various decks filled with rare cards under his jacket.

Before Joey and his friends got to leave the underground, Keith had his companions push a boulder in front of the exit, trapping them inside. Before the gap was fully closed, Joey yelled at Keith that he was going to beat him.

Searching for a way out of the underground, Joey and his friends passed through a maze, which led them to the Labyrinth Duel Arena. Here they met the Meikyu Brothers, who told them they needed to pass through one of the doors behind them to exit. To find the right door, they needed to defeat them in a Duel so Joey and Yami Yugi joined-up for a Team Labyrinth Duel against the brothers. Joey bet 2 Star Chips and Dark Yugi bet 4.

The Meikyu Brothers used "Labyrinth Wall" to turn the field into a maze. Each turn, monsters could move through the maze by a number of squares equal to their Level. After the Duel Dark Yugi and Jonouchi had to choose one of the two doors. One of which led to the exit, while the other led to doom. To give them a hint, the brothers said that one of them would only tell the truth and the other would only lie. Each claimed that the door they guarded was correct and offered to answer one question from each of Dark Yugi and Jonouchi.

Joey remembered a similar riddle, in which a man met a villager at a crossroad between Honest Town and Liar Town. The man wanted to go to Honest Town and was allowed to ask one question. The solution was for him to ask to the villager to take him to his town. In either case, he would be taken to Honest Town. Joey asked the Meikyu Brothers which door they were guarding and both of them pointed to Meikyu the Younger's door, implying Meikyu the Elder was the liar. However Yami Yugi was cautious since both had said "one of us always tells the truth and one of us always lies", whereas as a pure liar and pure truthful man could not both say that.

Learning that "Wall Shadow" could attack monsters anywhere in the maze, Joey played "Axe Raider" at a distance from the entrance and comboed it with "Kunai with Chain" on Yami Yugi's turn to ensnare "Wall Shadow" when it tried attacking "Celtic Guardian". Yami Yugi and Joey tried keeping their monsters together, but the brothers used "Magical Labyrinth" to rearrange the walls, splitting up the group. Joey inadvertently got "Axe Raider" to step on a "Jirai Gumo" trap, killing "Axe Raider" and leaving "Flame Swordsman" faced with "Jirai Gumo" and "Labyrinth Tank", but Yami Yugi used "Dark Magician" and "Mystic Box" to destroy those two monsters. The brothers tried using "Dungeon Worm" to dispose of Yami Yugi and Joey's monsters. However Joey equipped "Flame Swordsman" with "Salamandra", allowing it to send an attack into the wormhole and destroy "Dungeon Worm".

Eventually the brothers managed to bring out "Gate Guardian" by Summoning its components. The components "Suijin", "Kazejin" and "Sanga of the Thunder" could attack monsters anywhere in the labyrinth and block attacks directed at each other. When Joey tried attacking "Kazejin" with "Flame Swordsman", "Suijin" blocked and created a flood, which destroyed "Flame Swordsman". Yami Yugi used the water it left to carry the lightning attack from "Summoned Skull" to "Suijin" and used "Spellbinding Circle" to stop "Kazejin" defending. Joey summoned "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", which Yami Yugi fused with "Summoned Skull" into "Black Skull Dragon". The labyrinth couldn't be only be crossed by flight, nor could "Black Skull Dragon" fit into the narrow corridors, leaving it immobile. Joey used "Copycat" to mimic the brothers' "Ryoku", halving their Life Points to strengthen "Black Skull Dragon" and Yami Yugi used "Shift" to sway its location with "Dark Magician". "Black Skull Dragon" then attacked and destroyed "Gate Guardian", defeating the brothers. Earning Joey and Yami Yugi enough Star Chips to enter Pegasus Castle.

With the correct door still left to choose, Joey's head hurt trying to figure it out. He helped the others search the chamber for clues. Yami Yugi was confident that the brothers would say whichever door they choose was wrong, so he tricked them into thinking he had chosen one door for long enough for them to say it was the wrong door, before revealing he had actually chosen the other. This allowed the group the leave the underground and emerge just outside Pegasus Castle.

Kaiba blocked Joey, Yami Yugi and their friends from entering the castle. Joey threatened to beat-up Kaiba if he didn't move, but was restrained by Tristan and Bakura. Noticing that Joey had earned 10 Star Chips, Kaiba said that he promoted him from a loser to a horse bone (from a loser to a deadbeat in the English version). Yami Yugi wound-up accepting a duel with Kaiba using Duel Disks, with five Star Chips on the line, while Joey and the others watched. Joey accused Kaiba of fighting dirty when he threatened to kill himself if he lost, though became very shocked when Bakura suggested it was not a bluff, and was a tactic which led to Kaiba's victory. After Tea told Kaiba that he had been the weak one in the Duel, Joey told him not to forget it was Yugi who saved him. However, Kaiba stormed out of their ideologies, Joey expresses his utter disgust at Kaiba and angrily chucked the Duel Disk back to him.

With no time to lose, Yami Yugi and Joey set out to find more Duelists to earn Star Chips. However Kemo pointed out that a boat containing the remaining Duelists had left and claimed that there were already four qualified finalists; Keith, Joey and a third who had left to collect the fourth. Joey tried giving Yugi five of his Star Chips, but Yugi was unwilling to take them. They were then interrupted by Mai, who had collected sixteen Star Chips and offered to give Yugi six in return for him winning back hers earlier. Yugi refused to accept and explained that Yami Yugi would do the same.

Joey told Yugi not to feel inferior to Yami Yugi and to think about he wanted himself. Joey said that if a real Duelist only cares about their pride, he doesn't want to be like that. Duelists like that were show-offs, whereas he would crawl through the mud if it meant protecting someone precious to him, he claimed and professed that he is Katsuya Joey Wheeler before he is a Duelist. Eventually, Yugi took Mai's Star Chips and Joey said that if Yami Yugi had a problem with it, Yugi was to bring him out, so he could kick his butt. With 10 Star Chips each, Yugi, Joey and Mai entered the castle. Kemo tried stopping Tea, Tristan and Bakura entering, but Joey got fed up with him and punched him in the head, knocking him out.

Inside the castle, Joey saw Bandit Keith and began to threaten him for trapping them in the cave. However Keith quietened him as he pointed to a Duel between Kaiba and Pegasus about to start. Although Joey wanted both of them to lose, Pegasus losing would ruin the tournament, so he hoped to see Kaiba lose. He was surprised to hear Yugi shouting advice to Kaiba before the Duel. Joey and the others watched Pegasus defeat Kaiba and seal his soul in a "Soul Prison" card as a Penalty Game. The finalists were told that they would need the cards "The Honor of the King's Right" and "Left Hand" to advance any further. Having not been invited, Joey had neither of those cards, but Yami Yugi gave him the "Right Hand" card, which was required for the prize money.

The finalists and friends were then taken to the dining room for a dinner party. Here they were surprised to see a portrait of Shadi, after which Joey helped explain his and his friends last encounter with Shadi to Bakura. As they ate their soup, Joey was unenthusiastic about Tristan's desire for Yami Yugi to save the Kaiba's and stated that they got what they deserved, but Tristan compared Kaiba fighting for Mokuba to Joey fighting for Serenity. Joey was disgusted to find a Millennium Eye replica in his soup. Each finalist received an eye containing a letter which determined their opponents for the finals; In Joey's case, Keith.

That night Keith who had neither of the "Honor" cards snuck into Joey's room to steal his. Yugi who heard Joey talking in his sleep also came into the room and spotted Keith. Joey was woken up as he heard Keith attacking Yugi and managed to fight him off. Keith left without the others noticing he had taken the card and Joey assumed he had just stumbled into the wrong room.

Joey and Tea supported Dark Yugi during his duel with Mai. During the Duel, Mai put the "something you can show, but can't see" riddle before Yami Yugi. Joey pointed out that he had asked Mai when they Dueled and asked if she even knew the answer herself. Mai replied that she came up with her own answer and Joey offered to answer on Yami Yugi's behalf, saying that the answer is "friendship". However Mai said he was incorrect and her answer wasn't such a cliché. She thought to herself that Joey was the one who taught her the answer, so he should know. As Mai proceeded to overpower Yami Yugi, Joey started to think that he had been lucky when he beat Mai before. Mai disagreed and asked Joey if he knew why he had gotten so for in the tournament. Joey credited it to his friends, saying there was no other way a bad player like himself could have gotten that far. Mai said he was right; he knew and accepted his weakness and worked to overcome it. As she elaborated, Yami Yugi realized how he had been fighting wrong and was able to defeat Mai.

Keith annoyed Joey by putting his feet on the table before their Duel and asked if Joey would lick the bottom of his boot in exchange for him forfeiting. Joey was unable to find his "The Honor of the King's Right Hand" and was given five minutes to produce it before he would be disqualified. Joey ran around to look for the card and dropped to his knees in defeat after four minutes. Mai spotted him weeping and told him to save his tears for if he loses. She handed him her qualification card, which she no longer needed and said that Joey shouldn't give up on his wishes. Joey tried asking why she did this for him, but she reminded him he had no time. As he ran back to the Duel room, Mai thought to herself "You idiot.. it's because we're friends!".

Keith's Machine-Type monsters immunity to magical attacks was an obstacle for Joey. He thought he had an opening when Keith played "Zoa", but Keith transformed it into a Machine with "Metalmorph" when Joey attacked it. Joey still overcame Keith's "Metalzoa", "Stop Defense" combo with "Chasm of Spikes". He took out Keith's remaining Machines with "Garoozis" and "Kunai with Chain". Keith then took out Joey's monsters with the "Russian Roulette" effect of "Barrel Dragon". Joey tried fighting a gamble with a gamble and used the "Time Roulette" effect of "Time Wizard". He succeeded in ageing both monsters, but Keith used "Time Machine" to revert "Barrel Dragon" to its earlier state, causing it to defeat "Thousand Dragon".

Joey eventually beat "Barrel Dragon" by using "Copycat" to duplicate "Metalmorph" transforming "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" into "Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon". Keith powered-up his "Slot Machine" with "7 Completed" cards he had hidden in his sleeve and attempted to destroy "Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon" with "Blast Sphere", but Joey used "Dragon Nails" to make it too strong to be affected. "Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon" and "Slot Machine" each stood at 3400 ATK, but Keith used "Pillager" to take Joey's "Shield and Sword", swapping the monsters' ATK and DEF, making "Slot Machine" stronger. However Joey used "Graverobber" on "Time Machine", reverting "Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon" to its unswapped ATK and DEF, causing it to defeat "Slot Machine" and Joey to win.

Tea thought that Joey and Yami Yugi would have to Duel in the final. However Yami Yugi said it was unnecessary and they would only end up exposing more of their tactics to Pegasus. Joey was alright with skipping the duel and letting Yami Yugi face Pegasus as Dark Yugi was the only person he knew capable of defeating Pegasus. Although he was still unsure if it was okay for him to weigh Yami Yugi down with his baggage, by leaving Yami Yugi duel for him. On the contrary, Yami Yugi claimed that he would win because he was fighting for Joey, like how Jonouchi won because he was fighting for Serenity. Joey handed "The Honor of the King's Right Hand" to Yami Yugi so he could claim both prizes when he defeats Pegasus. Pegasus also deemed a duel between the two of them pointless.

Joey, Tea, Tristan and Bakura watched and supported Yami Yugi in his duel against Pegasus. They were surprised to hear that Yugi would have his soul sealed in a card if he lost and that he accepted the duel knowing that.

During the duel Joey got annoyed by Pegasus' use of the Millennium Eye to read Yugi's mind, but was confident the Millennium Puzzle would overpower it. This was confirmed when the Yugis used the Mind Shuffle strategy. When Pegasus changed the nature of the duel to a Shadow Game, Yugi quickly became over exhausted leaving Yami Yugi to duel by himself. Tea explained to Joey that Yugi's soul hadn't died as Yugi had told her before that one Yugi cannot live without the other. Joey feared that this could mean Yami Yugi is on the verge of dying. When Pegasus tried reading Yami Yugi's mind again, an apparition of Bakura, Joey, Yugi, Tea and Tristan blocked his view. With this Yami Yugi was able to defeat Pegasus.

Joey tried describing how he felt during the Duel, but his friends spoke before he got the chance and said everything he was about to say. Yami Yugi then got Pegasus to tell them the story of how he received the Millennium Eye. Afterwards, Joey wondered why Yami Yugi didn't give Pegasus a Penalty Game. Tea suspected it was because he would only be proving what Pegasus said about the Millennium Items possessing an evil intelligence was true if he did so.

Mokuba woke up shortly after Pegasus returned his soul to his body. He, Joey and Joey's friends went outside the castle, to find Kaiba. While they waited, Joey suggested that Kaiba's soul might have been summoned to Heaven, causing Tea to snap at him. Joey got a bit teary-eyed when he saw the Kaiba's reunited and thought he just couldn't hate them. Joey received the prize money from Yami Yugi and asked if it was really okay if he took it. Yami Yugi replied that it was as he thought Joey was the real champion of the kingdom. Joey still insisted that he owed Yami Yugi big time. Yami Yugi said that he can owe him until the day he beats him, prompting Tea to ask what Joey's record against the Yugis' was, to which he replied that he had 0 wins and 187 loses starting from the one week earlier.

With no boats leaving the island, Kaiba gave Joey and his friends a lift back to Japan in his helicopter as payment for saving him and Mokuba.

With the money from Duelist Kingdom, Joey was able to pay for Serenity's operation and the doctors predicted that her vision would be fully restored.

At school, Joey got jealous of the new student, Duke Devlin, as he impressing some girls with dice tricks. He boasted to Duke about his success in Duelist Kingdom. Duke acted impressed and offered to play a game with Joey. Duke placed a die under a cup and bet Joey that he could move the dice without touching the cup. The loser of the bet was to do whatever the winner told them to do for the next week. Duke claimed that the die had moved, causing Joey to lift the cup to check, allowing Duke to grab the die from under it. Feeling he'd been cheated, Joey challenged Duke to another game. Ryuji imposed a game of four aces. Disillusioned that he had a 1/2 chance of winning, rather than a 1/3, Joey accepted and lost twice, increasing the length of time he would have to do as Duke said. Duke ordered Joey to be his dog and fired dice at his face when he was disobedient. Angered, Yugi switched to Yami Yugi and challenged Duke to four aces, with the rules modified to give each player a 1/2 chance of winning. Yami Yugi won both games, granting Joey his freedom.

The next day, Joey met up with his friends at the grand opening of the Black Clown. He purchased some Dungeon Dice Monsters Booster Packs and unknown to him, Yugi got forced into a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters with Duke. Joey, Tea and Solomon didn't find Yugi back at the Kame Game shop and when Tristan reported that Yami Bakura went to the Black Clown, they suspected something was up. When they got back to the Black Crown, they found the security guards unconscious and saw Bakura and Duke outside a room that had just caught fire while Yugi and Mr. Clown were inside. Joey and Tristan kicked down the door and found Yugi trying to re-solve the Millennium Puzzle, while its chain was pinned to a table. Yugi refused to leave Yami Yugi behind. Unable to get Yugi to let go of the puzzle, Joey used the Devil's Board Game as a lever to remove the pin and then carried Yugi out.

Joey heard of the Battle City tournament from Yugi and was annoyed that Kaiba hadn't invited him. He worried about losing his "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" when Yugi told him about the ante rule, but also saw it as an opportunity to get more rare cards. Serenity's operation had been a success, but she was reluctant to remove the bandage from her eyes. One of the reasons Joey decided to enter the tournament was to show his courage in order to give Serenity the courage to remove her bandages.

Joey went with Yugi, Tristan and Tea to the RPG Hobby Trading Cards shop to pick up a Duel Disk afterwards. Kaiba assigned Joey a weak Duelist rating of two out of eight stars, making him ineligible for a free Duel Disk. However the salesman noticed Joey had a "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" and said there was a mistake and Joey actually had 5 Stars, entitling him to a Duel Disk. After Joey left, the salesman phoned the Rare Hunters to notify them of Joey's rare card.

Joey went over to the Kame Game shop for a while to get Yugi's opinion on his new Deck. As he went home, he was approached by three Rare Hunter Ghouls. Disliking the organization he accepted a duel with one of them hoping to take them down. Joey seemed to be winning for the first few turns. However his opponent had three copies of each "Exodia" component in his Deck, which were marked with invisible ink and managed to gather the five pieces, granting him automatic victory. The Rare Hunters proceeded to attack Joey and take his "Red-Eyes Black Dragon".

The tournament began the next day and Joey quickly found the "Exodia" Rare Hunter outside Coffee Prart. Yami Yugi spotted Joey confronting him and challenged the Rare Hunter to a Duel when he heard about what happened. Joey tried warning him about the Rare Hunter's Deck strategy, but Yami Yugi refused to let himself have an unfair advantage. Joey watched Yami Yugi defeat the Hunter and afterwards saw the Hunter being controlled by the leader of the Ghouls, Marik Ishtar, who told them that he had entered the tournament to collect the Egyptian God cards.

Yami Yugi won back "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" through the ante rule, but Joey refused to take it back without earning it first. With a Puzzle Card, a 40 card Deck and "Time Wizard" as his rare card, he was still able to participate in the tournament. He vowed to become a true duelist and asked Yami Yugi if he would duel him if he did well in the tournament.

Joey spotted Rex Raptor being defeated by Esper Roba. As Roba looked his next opponent, Raptor warned Joey that he wouldn't be able to defeat Roba as he was said to have ESP and was capable of predicting opponents' strategies. However Joey refused to pass up on any opponent and challenged Roba to a duel. They waged a Puzzle Card each and Joey's "Time Wizard" for Roba's "Jinzo". Rex demanded to know what happened to the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card. Joey replied that someone stole it because he screwed-up and although he got it back, his "rival" was holding onto it for him.

Jonouchi thought that Roba used ESP to destroy his "Giltia the D. Knight" before realizing he had forgotten about the Super Expert Rules and a sacrifice had been required to play that card. Roba could tell what cards Joey had, because he had his brothers spying on his hand. Joey realized something was up when Roba incorrectly predicted Joey's "Skull Dice" was "Graceful Dice". Jonouchi was able to use this error to his advantage in the Duel. He also figured that Roba had someone spying on him, because to an onlooker the portion of "Skull Dice" that was visible made it look like "Graceful Dice". Roba stopped relying on his brothers from that point and Summoned "Jinzo".

Joey used "Roulette Spider" on "Jinzo" and challenged Roba to use his alleged ESP tell the roulette when to stop such that it would attack make "Jinzo" attack Joey. However he made it attack his own "Reflect Bounder", causing both monsters to be destroyed. This left Roba open for a direct attack, allowing Joey to defeat him with "Baby Dragon".

Roba broke down after the duel and asked if everyone else enjoyed looking down on him. Joey told him that nobody there thought he was a loser and that he shouldn't be so hard on himself. After his brothers appeared, Roba admitted Joey was right and handed him "Jinzo" and a Puzzle Card.

Joey went to the Beef Buster for lunch, where his Duel Disk kept hitting off the customer next to him as he ate. He refused to take it off when the customer complained, but the staff who had given him complimentary pickles told him not to bother the other customers. When he took it off, a boy working for Weevil Underwood swiped it and inserted the card "Parasite Paracide" into his Deck as he ran away with it. Joey managed to catch the boy and met up with Tea, Bakura and Solomon as he did so. The boy lied that he had only tried to steal the Duel Disk temporarily so he could win his own Duel Disk back from someone who had stolen it. Joey offered to help the boy, who left to get the person who stole his Duel Disk. While the others asked Joey if he could trust this boy, he said to have faith and told them about how he was fighting to give Serenity courage. Weevil, who wanted to beat Joey to coax Yugi into a duel appeared as Joey's opponent. They wagered two Puzzle Cards and their rare card.

Joey drew the "Parasite Paracide" during the Duel, which infected his monsters making them Insect-Type and ineligible as Sacrifices. As other consequences, he couldn't attack when Weevil had "Insect Barrier" in play and his monsters strengthened Weevil's "Insect Queen". Joey was able to get at Weevil's Life Points by using "Magic Arm Shield" to make "Insect Queen" attack her own egg and attacking another egg with "Gearfried the Iron Knight" who was immune to the parasite. Finally Joey used "Graverobber" on Weevil's "Insecticide" to kill "Insect Queen" and attacked him directly with "Gearfried".

The rare card that Joey took was "Insect Queen". Afterwards Bakura pointed out that both cards Joey won through the ante rule, "Jinzo" and "Insect Queen", were weird and scary. Jonouchi thought he was being insulted at first, but Bakura said he loved grotesque cards and wished he had them in his Deck. Joey was surprised Bakura had a Deck and was afraid on hearing it was an Occult Deck.

Joey used the Duelist Search Sensor in his Duel Disk to locate a Duelist at Domino City Aquarium. Bakura got separated from the group as Joey, Tea and Solomon ran there. Unknown to the others Marik Ishtar had a Rare Hunter watching them. Mako Tsunami turned out to be the Duelist. He laughed at Joey thinking he stood a chance against his Sea Deck, but accepted the challenge. Joey bet two Puzzle Cards, along with "Jinzo" and "Insect Queen" and Kajiki bet two Puzzle Cards, along with "Leviathan" and "Fortress Whale". The others at the aquarium were waiting to see a killer whale show and thought the Duel must be an opening act.

Joey forget to take the "Parasite Paracide" out of his Deck and it infected his monsters again, until Mako destroyed it with "Torrential Tribute". Mako was initially disappointed by Joey's poor moves and said he found it disrespectful to the opponent if a player doesn't give their all. Joey began to put up a better fight from then on. Mako's "Umi" prevented monsters incapable of swimming from attacking. However Joey fused "Alligator Sword" into "Alligator Sword Dragon" allowing it to fly across the water and attack Mako. Mako used "Tornado Wall" to block further attacks. Mako used his Sea Stealth strategy to hide his monsters in the water and also summoned "Fortress Whale". He used his hidden monster, "Legendary Fisherman" to beat Joey's monsters, allowing "Fortress Whale" to attack directly.

Joey used "Magic Arm Shield" to expose "Legendary Fisherman" and make "Fortress Whale" attack it. Joey used "Kunai with Chain" to allow "Panther Warrior" to swing across the water onto "Fortress Whale". He equipped "Panther Warrior" with "Lightning Blade", striking his sword embedded in "Fortress Whale" with lightning, killing it and causing it to fall into the water, electrocuting Mako's other monsters. Mako used "Return of the Doomed" to bring back a monster which hid in the water. Joey used "Giant Trunade" to remove "Umi" and was surprised to see that he brought back "Legendary Fisherman" rather than "Fortress Whale". "Panther Warrior" attacked and destroyed "Legendary Fisherman", winning the Duel for Joey.

Joey questioned Mako's decision to revive "Legendary Fisherman" rather than the stronger "Fortress Whale". Mako insisted it didn't matter, but Joey refused to accept a victory when his opponent threw the game. Mako explained that "Legendary Fisherman" was his trump card, which he always fights alongside because of its resemblance to his father and he couldn't leave it in his Graveyard. Mako thought he was being silly, but Joey said he would have done the same thing. Maki tried giving Jonouchi "Legendary Fisherman" instead of "Leviathan" as it was his most valuable card. At first Joey couldn't accept because of its sentimental value, but Mako assured him that if his father would think he was putting too much faith in a card and that his father will always fight by his side even without the card.

Joey was about to use his Puzzle Cards to find the location of the finals, but he, Tea and Solomon were interrupted by the sight of Bakura wounded and being helped walk by Marik. Marik lied that his name was "Namu" and he had found Bakura lying on the street. Two guys tried picking a fight with Bakura over him stealing a Duel Disk and hit Marik as he tried defending Bakura, but Joey proceeded to beat up the two attackers. Solomon took Bakura to the hospital afterwards and Jonouchi thanked Marik for his help. Marik was also a contestant in Battle City. Pretending to not be very good, he said he hoped he wouldn't duel Joey and asked him for dueling advice.

Using the Millennium Rod, Marik possessed Joey and Tea and brought them Domino Pier. He gave Joey the incentive to kill Yugi and had Ghouls fill Joey's Deck with direct damage Spell Cards, which were Forbidden in the tournament. After Yami Yugi and Kaiba arrived, Joey led Yami Yugi to the Arena of Death for a duel with Marik threatening to have Tea commit suicide if Yami Yugi didn't comply. Yami Yugi and Joey each had a hand chained onto an anchor set to drop 15 seconds after one of them lost the Duel or forty minutes after the beginning of the duel. When a player won, they were given access to a key and could use the fifteen seconds to uncuff themselves from the anchor.

Joey quickly gained the upperhand with his new Spell Cards. Yugi took over from Yami Yugi, believing he could get through to Joey. Yugi used "Exchange" to show Joey "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Although Marik told Joey to take "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", the will of Joey's regular self who had promised not to take that card back until he proved himself a duelist, caused him take "Card Destruction" instead. Yugi then summoned and attacked with "Red-Eyes". Joey managed to weaken "Red-Eyes" with "Rocket Warrior" but began to feel its pain too. Yugi admitted that he couldn't bring himself to win the duel, so he gave Joey the Millennium Puzzle to stop it being dragged into the ocean. Marik then tried telling Joey to throw the pieces of the Puzzle into the water, but this reminded Joey of when he had done that before and how Yugi had protected him that day, so he disobeyed Marik again.

In the last eight minutes of the duel, Marik ordered Joey to do nothing and wait for both players to be dragged into the water. However Yugi reminded Joey of his promises to owe the Yugis one and duel them after proving himself. Joey continued the duel and eventually drew "Meteor of Destruction" He resisted Marik's command to use it to kill Yugi for a while, but was eventually forced to use it. Fearing to see Yugi die, he managed to break Marik's hold over him. Yugi used "Mystical Rift Panel" to allow him to choose the meteor's target. He used this time to explain to what had happened and how Joey overcame Marik's mind control before choosing himself as the meteor's target. Yugi told Joey to take his key and save himself. However Joey got "Red-Eyes" to attack himself, making the Duel a Draw and releasing Yugi's key.

Joey took off his Duel Disk and the Millennium Puzzle and then used his chain to swing over and grab Yugi's key. Both of them were dragged into the water as the anchor fell, but Joey was able to uncuff Yugi. He was unable to free himself with Yugi's key, but Kaiba dropped the other key into the water to let Joey save himself. Kaiba claimed that he only helped because he admired Joey's stupidity in taking time to remove his Duel Disk rather than grab his own key, but secretly thought to himself that Joey was finally a decent Duelist. Annoyed Joey said he owed Kaiba one.

Jonouchi returned the Millennium Puzzle to Yugi and was glad to see Tea return to normal. Just then Mai, Tristan and Duke arrived with Serenity. Thinking he had failed as a duelist and was unfit to be a role model, Joey didn't want Serenity to see him. However Mai slapped him, telling him to stop being a baby. His friends reminded him of how he had fought for Serenity. Serenity said Joey had given her more than enough courage and removed the bandages from her eyes.

Joey, Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Duke, Serenity and Mai all squeezed into Mai's car to go to Domino Stadium for the finals.

Kaiba was already at the stadium as a finalist. Joey, Yugi and Mai were accepted too and were surprised to see Bakura who was meant to be at the hospital arrive as another finalist. They were worried about him dueling in his condition, but Bakura insisted he was fine and grossed them out by offering to let Joey touch his wound. Joey asked how he had managed to get a Duel Disk, but Bakura said it was a secret. Marik, still claiming to be Namu, arrived as another finalist. Joey grew suspicious of him, remembering that he was possessed by Marik not too long after meeting Namu. However Bakura thanked Marik for saving him earlier and Tea insisted that he was their friend.

Not knowing Marik had controlled them as they said that, Joey thought he must have been over thinking things. Odion arrived as another finalist pretending to be Marik. The Millennium Ring pointing to him. led Joey and the others to believe he was Marik. The group was notified that the finals were going to take place in the sky as the Battle Ship blimp arrived.

When they boarded the blimp, much to Joey's dismay, Tea, Tristan, Serenity and Duke all went into his room. He unsuccessfully tried to tell all of them except Serenity to leave. He got mad at Tristan for respecting that Yugi needed time to prepare, but not him and saying that Yugi was the favorite to win rather than him. However he thanked Tristan for bringing Serenity to him.

Joey watched Yugi and Bakura's Duel. After learning that Bakura had been possessed by Yami Bakura again, Joey gave a brief explanation of what the Millennium Items are and how they sometimes possess evil minds to Marik, who was still in the guise of Namu. Joey saw "Slifer the Sky Dragon" for the first time during the duel and witnessed Marik's plan to have Yami Yugi lose by endangering Bakura's life. However Yami Bakura intervened and Yami Yugi won. This further fueled Joey's hatred of Marik, whom he still believed Odion to be. In the second quarter final, Joey was matched up against Odion, who claimed to be Marik. Jonouchi declared that he would defeat his opponent on the eleventh turn, with Serenity being the only one to believe this prediction. As the duel took place on top of the blimp, Joey's cards almost blew away, but he managed to catch them.

Odion began with "Royal Temple" and seting a number Trap Cards. Joey held off from attacking for a few turns and used "Giant Trunade", hoping to clear the Traps and attack and defeat Odion with the monsters he'd gathered. However Odion countered with "Judgment of Anubis", destroying the monsters and damaging Joey's Life Points.

Joey baited out one of Odion's Trap Cards and determined that his deck had little reliance on Monster Cards. However Odion played his "Embodiment of Apophis" cards, which doubled up as monsters and attacked, leaving Joey with 50 Life Points. Joey contemplated surrendering and Odion asked why he entered the tournament. Joey replied that there is someone he had to beat and that surrendering now would be disrespectful to his earlier opponents, who all fought him till the end.

Joey summoned "Jinzo" through a combo of "Foolish Burial" and "Graverobber", destroying all of Odion's Trap Cards. Odion used "Swords of Revealing Light" to hold off attacks for three turns and later summoned "Mystical Beast of Selket", which guarded "The Sun Dragon Ra", which he placed inside the temple's ark. "Selket" proceeded to eat Joey's monsters, increasing its ATK.

Serenity became afraid to look, but Joey insisted she be courageous to watch until the end. When Joey said he would fight on despite seeming to have no chance, Odion said he admired his fighting spirit. Joey left himself open for defeat when he passed a turn. Before Odion could use this chance, Joey accused him of not being Marik, as he wasn't feeling his hatred towards Marik against Odion, who had fought fairly. Odion followed Marik's order to summon "The Sun Dragon Ra" to convince everyone he was Marik However, Odion's "Ra" being a counterfeit angered Ra, who then stroke down both players. Roland ruled that the first to stand up would be the winner and if neither stood up within the time limit, both would be disqualified.

While unconscious, Joey dreamt he was in a classroom with his friends. There, Yugi reminded him of a Duel Monsters tournament at Domino Toysaurus. After gesturing at Kaiba for insulting him, Joey dropped his cards and his friends helped him pick them up. As he left the room in the dream, he regained consciousness and awoke standing up, making him the winner. Joey rushed over to check on Odion, who said he was proud to have fought Joey. When asked who he was, Odion said he was Marik's shadow and pleaded with Yami Yugi to stop Marik's other self. With Odion unable to fight, Yami Marik took control of Marik and revealed himself to everyone.

Joey theorized that the reason he could stand up in the last Duel while Odion couldn't, was because he had the dream where his friends supported him, while Odion was alone. Afterwards Mai asked Joey if she was in the dream. He replied that the dream took place in the classroom, whereas Mai was too old for school and joked that she could be the teacher next time. Tea pulled Joey aside after this and told him that he was "the worst". Feeling excluded, Mai reverted to her self-reliant persona. She told Joey that she wasn't a soft Duelist like him and didn't need anyone cheering for her in her quarter-final against Yami Marik. Regardless Joey and the others showed up to support her, insisting that she was their friend.

Yami Marik turned the Duel into a Shadow Game. Joey realized he couldn't talk Mai out of accepting and encouraged her to win. He witnessed the Sphere Mode of "The Sun Dragon Ra" as Mai attempted to Summon it without knowledge of the hieratic text. When Yami Marik took back control of "Ra" and declared an attack on Mai, whom he held in place by his other cards, Joey ran onto the field and tried to free her. He was about to be hit by the blast from by "Ra", but Yami Yugi stood between them and took the attack on his back.

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.

Below the ground, Tristan gets up, rubbing his back. He asks Joey if he's all right, and sees Joey looking at a short Card professor who introduces himself as Klamath Osler. Klamath admits that he didn't expect anyone to come tumbling down there. Tristan observes that this must be this block's Card Professor, and Joey agrees as he places his deck in Tilla's Duel Disk. Klamath comments that a couple of losers walked right into the trap, and Joey angrily asks who the shrimp is calling losers (earning a look from Tristan). Klamath muses that when he'd drawn the bottom, he'd thought he was out of the game, remarking that he's still lucky. Joey asks him what he's mumbling about, pointing out that they have no choice but to beat him to go up, and tells him to get it on. Tristan cheers him on, and the Duel starts.

Klamath draws, and claims he's drawn a good one, calling himself lucky. He summons "Antlion" but the monster doesn't appear. Joey wonders if his Duel Disk is broken. Klamath laughs, claiming that nothing is wrong with his Disk, telling Joey to come on. Joey draws, setting a card and summoning "Gearfried the Iron Knight", then attacking. "Gearfried" charges forwards, and then disappears into a pit of sand, from which "Antlion" emerges, biting the Warrior in two and reducing Joey to 3600 Life Points. "Antlion" only had 1500 ATK, but its effect lowers the ATK of attacking monsters by 500. Tristan asks Joey if he's all right. Klamath draws, equipping "Antlion" with "Laser Cannon" and boosting it to 2200 ATK. Then he summons "Worm Drake", attacking directly with both monsters. Joey's down to 200 Life Points already.

Tristan is shocked, asking Joey what he's doing, but Joey just tells him to shut up. Klamath laughs, asking Joey what he's doing with a useless face-down card. Joey thinks that he'd played it as a bluff, but it didn't work. Klamath grins, commenting that lucks is on his side; maybe he could beat Yugi Muto. Joey tells him to dream on as he draws, but he's worried until he sees his draw. He Sets another card and summons "Rocket Warrior" in Defense Position, ending his turn. Drawing, Klamath states that Joey put up a good fight, but his defense monster is nothing before "Antlion". He plays "Double Evolution", to double the increase granted by "Laser Cannon" and increase "Antlion" to 2900 ATK. He attacks, but he's fallen into Joey's trap, "Magical Arm Shield", which changes the attack target to "Worm Drake", reducing Klamath to 2500 Life Points. Klamath protests that that's not fair. Joey points out that Klamath is the one claiming that luck is on his side. He states that he's also feeling lucky. Klamath scoffs, pointing out that Joey is down to 200 Life Points, but Joey comments that they'll see which one of them is the lucky one.

He plays "Roulette Spider", which blinds "Antlion and spins it around. Klamath has no idea what's happening, and Joey explains that they'll see where the arrow stops. He tells Klamath to stop it, and Klamath thinks that this must his desperation card, but the probability of the arrow stopping at him is only 33%, nothing to worry about if he's lucky. Sure enough, the arrow is pointing at Joey, much to his horror. Klamath cheers that today is his lucky day, but Joey grins - not quite. He reveals his Set "Probability Change", respinning "Roulette Spider", but eliminating the last result, leaving Klamath with a 50% chance of being hit. Klamath yells for it to stop, thinking that he's lucky, and it does - at him. "Antlion" blasts him and reduces his Life Points to zero, and Joey cheers that today's his lucky day after all. Tristan remarks that Jonouchi is more of a gambler than a Duelist.

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 hallways of the Kaiba Corporation Building, Joey and Tristan hear a noise that they think is one of Yugi's God cards. Honda is shocked that Yugi's opponent is of the strength that would force Yugi to Summon one of the God cards, and they decide to hurry up and get up there. Joey thinks that Yugi had better win this one.

Meanwhile, Joey and Tristan scale another flight of stairs, running into a girl in a schoolgirl outfit buying a drink from a vending machine. Joey yells that he finally found her, asking if she's the Card Professor for the block. The girl swallows nervously, and Honda notes that she seems kind a shy, as Joey readies his Duel Disk. The girl turns and flees, much to their shock. Joey wonders what she's doing, and Tristan rushes after the girl, telling Joey to go after her. The panicked girl reaches an elevator, but the button doesn't work, and Joey and Tristan catch up with her. Tristan asks her why she's running, and the girl admits that she doesn't know. She apologizes, explaining that she's a little scared of Duelists. Joey asks if she's really the Duelist that is in charge of this block.

The girl admits that she is. She told everyone in the Guild that she wasn't good enough, but they said that she had to, so here she is. Honda and Joey note that she doesn't have any fighting spirit, even as the girl states that since she's here she'll do her best. Tristan speaks up, asking because he thinks she looks like she'll say yes, will she just give them the key card? The girl admits that she doesn't know why they're here, but she refuses. She made a promise. Joey figures that she doesn't look so tough, so he can hurry up and beat her.

The girl smiles, and Joey gets flustered. He then states that they'll do this proper, introducing himself as Joey Wheeler. The girl introduces herself as Reiko Kitamori, and bows politely, asking him to go easy on her. Joey tells himself to stay focused, and the Duel begins.

Joey and Tristan each land a punch as the elevator doors open, knocking out one of the guards. As the guards body crashes to the ground, Kemo recognizes his old enemies, and Joey cracks his knuckles, asking if they're going to get in his way too. As he knocks down one man and kicks Kemo in the chin, Tristan asks Mokuba which they go. Mokuba, still holding his hacking device, directs them, and Tristan yells at Joey to stop beating up dudes - the exit's this way. Joey is a little annoyed they didn't tell him earlier, and flees with the guards on his tail, forcing him to turn and kick them to the ground. Kemo yells that they can't let them reach the Duel Ring Server, and orders his men after them. Joey muses that he's been Dueling for so long that it's been a while since he's been in an actual fight, though he thinks that Yugi is winning his way up by Dueling, isn't he?

Mokuba holds the door to the Duel Ring Server open for Joey and Tristan. Three Industrial Illusions suits are in close pursuit, ordering them to stop. Mokuba hits the door lock just in time, closing it and causing the three suits to crash into it. Wiping his chin, Joey comments that they finally made it. Roland turns and sees them, and is gratified to see Mokuba, who greets them. Joey looks up at the Duel Ring Server for the first time and shivers. He wonders if it's just him, or is it freezing in here. His and Honda's breath fog up as Honda admits that now that he mentions it... Mokuba, however, is perplexed by amount of heat in the room being given off by the Duel Ring Server, and the cooling system can't keep up.

Any more of this and it'll overheat. One of the KaibaCorp employees explains that the Industrial Illusions people input data for some new cards, and it's been using all its processing power to perform strange calculations ever since. Mokuba angrily slams his hand on a console, angrily asking what those jerks are doing with their Duel Ring Server. That's not all, the employee adds. Since Master Seto went up to Duel at the Apex Arena, it's gotten even worse. Mokuba is surprised that his brother is Dueling, and realizes that he must be Dueling with Tenma. Jonouchi overhears them, and Mokuba immediately sets up a video link with the arena. On the screen they see a black monster and asks what it is, before Mokuba cries "big brother!"

"The Wicked Avatar's" massive fist slams into Kaiba, knocking him backwards. Kaiba screams in horror as his Life Points are reduced to zero, and manages to keep his footing. Yako smiles in satisfaction, as Kaiba asks himself if he just lost to a weak Duelist like Tenma. He looks up at "The Wicked Avatar" and "The Wicked Dreadroot," asking himself if he was defeated by that Wicked God with its insane power. Gritting his teeth, he wonders if this means that this worthless upstart will win his Corporation and use it for his own purposes. Looking at his shadow, he tells himself that he built this building to challenge Yugi to their fated Duel, remembering Yugi telling him that it was destiny that they fight, he'd been waiting for their Duel for 3000 years. He also thinks that he built the building as the first foundation to fulfill his and Mokuba's dream of building amusement parks worldwide for people to enjoy. All those hopes are being swallowed by the Wicked Gods. A black "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" emerges from his shadow and roars at Kaiba, and he screams in terror.

As Kaiba holds his hand over his left eye, Yako walks over to him, telling him that since Yugi Muto was unable to reach him, he's glad that he got to Duel him. In all the Duels that took place in the building, and especially in their Duel which became more than a battle of Gods, in all of them shone the souls of Master Pegasus's cards. As "The Wicked Avatar" hovers over him, now back in its dark sun form, he states that now, the final battle of the Wicked Gods comes to a close. The light of all these cards will become Master Pegasus's avatar and restore him to life. He tells the living corpse, the guinea pig of their experiment to Summon the final Wicked God, and offer its energy to Master Pegasus's avatar!

Richie Merced can only gasp in horror, with "Twin Gunfighter" and two Set cards out as a blaze of dark power glares out from behind Bandit Keith. He has a Wicked God? asks Richie. The Wicked God, a sickly looking serpentine draconian beast blasted out a stream of power from a massive beak atop its demonic second face, shredding "Twin Gunfighter" as Keith tells Richie to behold "The Wicked Eraser!" He comments that he hates to break it to Richie, but he's the number one Card Professor.

A massive explosion sounds at the top of the building, and Yako laughs, asking Kaiba if he's watching. Can he feel it, the beautiful burning of his soul. Looking up at him, still on his knees, Kaiba grits his teeth. Right eye bulging, Yako declares that right here, right now, he summons thee. Rebirth of Avatar! Lightning surrounds "The Wicked Avatar" as Willa Mette watches from below, observing that the Duel's over, but the "Avatar's" still there. He wonders if Rebirth of Avatar has started, while down below, power flows into the helmet connected to Tea.

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!

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 accidentally 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 Honda 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 him not to worry about Joey, he'll go help save Tea in just a bit. 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 warning him not to get careless. Joey tells him, he bets, and Yami Yugi turns and runs, with Gekko starting after him. Bandit Keith admits that he never thought it'd feel so good to see the man he hates most in all the world.

In the end Yugi ultimately defeats him, and control of KaibaCorp returns to Kaiba, while Yugi is reunited with Tea.

Duelist Kingdom arc
After Seto Kaiba wins against Solomon Muto, Yugi's grandfather, and then rips up his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card, Joey spurs a bitter hatred of Kaiba. After taking up Duel Monsters, it becomes clear that Joey isn't very good at the game initially, so Yugi suggests that Joey take lessons from Solomon. The training proves rigorous, yet Joey copes and becomes a stronger duelist. He makes the top eight in the regionals (nationals in the Japanese version).

Joey accompanies Yugi in the Duelist Kingdom tournament, to help Yugi rescue Solomon and so he can use the prize money, to pay for Serenity's eye operation. Yugi gives Joey one of his Star Chips allowing Joey to also enter the tournament. On the boat journey to the Duelist Kingdom, Yugi gives Joey a "Time Wizard" saying it can be useful in a tight situation. Here Joey meets Mai Valentine for the first time. At this point she claims he is not worth her time. After Weevil tosses Yugi's "Exodia" cards overboard, Joey dives in to the water to rescue them, he manages to retrieve two of the cards, before Yugi dives in to rescue Joey. Both of them are saved by Téa and Tristan, who managed to sneak onto the boat.

Still an amateur, Joey manages to beat Mai Valentine with Yugi's help and support from Téa and Tristan. He later beats Rex Raptor in a Duel, where he is not allowed to accept help from Yugi. Here he wins Rex's "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card by betting "Time Wizard".

When the group meet Bakura, they end-up trapped inside Duel Monsters cards, by Yami Bakura. Using his friends as cards, Yami Yugi duels Yami Bakura. Joey is trapped in the "Flame Swordsman" card, but appears on the field, when Yami Yugi Summons him. Joey offers to sacrifice himself for Yugi's "Horn of Heaven" so they can stop Yami Bakura's "Man-Eater Bug". Téa, who has taken the form of the "Magician of Faith", cries over Joey's sacrifice, activating her effect, returning "Monster Reborn" to Yami Yugi's hand. Yami then uses it to revive Joey. Yami Yugi defeats Yami Bakura, after using his Millennium Puzzle to switch Yami Bakura's place with the regular Bakura. Afterwards Joey believes the events of the Duel to have been a dream.

In attempt to get revenge, he has a Duel outside of the tournament, against Seto Kaiba, where he is brutally defeated. Joey loses confidence after this defeat and briefly leaves his friends before being forced into a Duel against Bonz. He manages to beat Bonz and later the Paradox Brothers in a tag duel with Yugi. Joey then qualified to the semi-finals. Pegasus then mentioned that each duelist must hold one of two entry cards or face disqualification. In order to keep Joey in the competition, Yugi gave him one of his entry cards. Although Bandit Keith steals Joey's card, Joey proceeds to defeat Keith in the semi-finals, because Mai gave Joey one of her entry cards after she loses to Yugi. In the final round Joey uses everything he learned from Yugi, throughout the tournament. Despite their friendship, neither of them hold back and Yugi wins after a close duel. Joey remains on the sideline cheering for Yugi in the final. After Yugi defeats Pegasus, he gives Joey the prize money for Serenity's operation. Kaiba then gave them a ride home, since them help save Mokuba from Pegasus.

Legendary Heroes arc
Shortly after Duelist Kingdom, Mokuba Kaiba comes to Solomon's shop to inform Yugi and his friends that Seto had been kidnapped and trapped in a Virtual World. The gang went to KaibaCorp to help Seto. Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba get into the virtual pods, which transfer them to the virtual world. On the way, Joey is forced to Duel with Mai Valentine. When she finds out her opponent is Joey (they were both masked), she joins in the search for Kaiba.

On the way they encounter a maze. Joey hears a girl crying and attempts to rescue her. (Mai disgustedly observes that Joey is too easily attracted to maidens in distress.) Joey finds Princess Adena who strongly resembles Mokuba. (Joey initially thinks that the princess is Mokuba, and asks why he is wearing a dress.) Adena says she is about to be sacrificed to the Mythic Dragon.

The four become guests to a royal feast. Adena explains everything about the Five-Headed Dragon. When they are ready to go vanquish the dragon, Adena is suddenly captured. However it is actually Mokuba in disguise. The remaining three heroes give chase, destroying many obstacles in their way. Finally, they reach the Kaiba brothers. But then, the Big 5 cheat by re-writing the program and summon the Mythic Dragon themselves. After many sacrifices leaving only Yugi and Kaiba standing, they finally vanquish the dragon, by fusing Kaiba's "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" and Yugi's "Black Luster Soldier" into the "Dragon Master Knight". After the Big Five's defeat, Adena reveals herself to be a "Mystical Elf" and resurrects the sacrificed Joey, Mai and Mokuba. The group leave the virtual world once their task is complete.

Tea is happy that Yugi,Joey and Mokuba are back. Mokuba then tell Kemo that Seto is looking for the. Which makes Kemo and the others leave quickly. Mokuba the thanks Yugi, and his friends for him save Seto. Mokuba then leaves to go find Seto. (In the English version, Yugi and the gang say goodbye to Mokuba) In the Japanese version, Yugi and his friends say that they are going out for Ramen Noodles.

Dungeon Dice Monsters arc
After Duke Devlin transfers to Domino High, Joey becomes jealous of his popularity and challenges him to a Duel, where if Joey wins, Duke must shut down the game shop he'd just opened, since Solomon had been complaining about the loss of business his own game shop was getting as a result. Duke sets the stakes so that if he wins Joey must do as he says. Despite Yugi's objection, Joey and Duke duel using whatever cards they acquire in a bunch of Booster Packs. Duke wins, with Joey bitterly reflecting that the motivation to help his sister might have pushed him beyond what were otherwise his limits in Duelist Kingdom. Holding his end of the bargain Joey does as Duke tells him and wears a dog costume. He was later released of this embarrassment, after Yugi defeated Duke in Dungeon Dice Monsters, freeing Joey. Despite their conflicts, Duke becomes friends with Joey.

Battle City arc
When Seto Kaiba hosted the Battle City tournament, he allowed duelists to enter based on a rating he'd given them. At the enrollment, Yugi was allowed to enter based on the 5 star rating he was given, but Joey was given the minimum rating of 1 star. While Joey was ranting about Kaiba, the tournament official, notices "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" listed as Joey's rarest card, so he changes Joey's rating to 4 stars saying there had been a mistake. After Joey and his friends have left, the official phones a Rare Hunter, to inform him about the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card.

While heading to the hospital for Serenity's operation, Joey encounters a group of Rare Hunters. One of them, Seeker, duels Joey and defeats him using "Exodia". The hunters beat-up Joey and take the Red-Eyes card. This makes him feel unworthy to be present at Serenity's operation. But Serenity refuses to take the operation until Joey arrives. Tristan manages to find Joey and talk him into coming to the hospital. Serenity is still angry at Joey for being late, but Joey manages to talk her into taking the operation. But while this on top of his loss to Duke Devlin, a capable but unranked duelist, would effectively seem to be Joey's fall from grace, a comeback was in the near future for him.

Joey finds Seeker on the first day of the tournament in an attempt to get a rematch, but is denied, so Yugi duels and defeats Seeker instead. He wins back the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card and offers it to Joey, but Joey insists that Yugi keep it. Despite losing the card, Joey goes on to defeat Espa Roba, who had just defeated the card's original owner Rex Raptor. He then defeats Yugi's old rivals Weevil Underwood and Mako Tsunami, qualifying for the quarter-finals and gaining new cards that boost his Deck considerably. He decided that early on, he only wanted to defeat strong duelists to qualify, rather than do things the easy way. This led him to go as far as challenging Seto Kaiba. Kaiba declined after he is informed of Yugi's location while hunting for the Egyptian God Cards. Although he is relieved about not facing Kaiba, he still acts tough and calls Kaiba a coward.

After his Duel with Mako, Marik Ishtar, the leader of the Rare Hunters, uses his Millennium Rod to possess Joey and force him to duel Yugi, with both their lives on the line. They were both chained to an anchor which would drop after a time limit or when a players Life Points hit zero. Also once a player's Life Points hit 0, the opponent would be able to get a key, that could unlock him from the chains. Marik boosts Joey's Deck with powerful spell cards that have Yugi and Kaiba amazed. Yugi, to show Marik how strong his friendship with Joey is, summons Red-Eyes and gives Joey his Millennium Puzzle. Yugi loses, but Joey breaks out of Marik's control and manages to force the Duel in a draw. He grabs the key to unlock Yugi's chain and dives into the water to rescue him. He is unable to unlock his own chains with Yugi's key. Serenity arrives in time to take the bandages off her eyes and take Joey's key and dive in to rescue him.

Joey along with his friends proceed on to the Kaiba's blimp, where the quarter-finals are held. He is paired against Odion Ishtar in the quarter-finals. At the time Odion was pretending to be Marik, while the real Marik pretended to be a boy called Namu, who earned their trust by pretending to have helped Bakura. After Odion obtains a clear advantage in their duel Serenity begins to leave, saying she cannot bear to watch, but Joey calls her back, saying that she is his inspiration and he needs her to win. Despite a comeback, Odion attempts to claim victory, but Joey accused him of not being Marik. He claimed Odion was fighting fairly and proving honorable and didn't think he was the same guy who was controlling him earlier. Odion withdraws his winning move and tries to summon "The Winged Dragon of Ra" to prove he was Marik. Since the Ra card was a counterfeit that Marik had put in Odion's Deck, the real Ra was angered and struck down both players. When this occurred, Odion's fake Millennium Rod shattered giving Marik away. Seto Kaiba announced that the first player to stand up within a time limit would be declared the winner, otherwise both players would be disqualified. While unconscious, Joey has a dream about his friends helping him to stand up and he ends up standing up for real, claiming victory. Odion then asks for Joey's forgiveness, and tells him that it had been an honor dueling him, before falling into a coma.

Joey later thanks his friends, telling him they were there with him in the dream helping him stand up. Mai asked Joey if she was in his dream. Joey lies and says that she wasn't, which infuriates Mai. She stormed off claiming she didn't need friends, while Téa pulled Joey aside to tell him off.

Mai was paired against Marik in her quarter-final. Joey attempted to encourage her from the sideline, but she was still disgusted by what he had said earlier and claimed she didn't want or need his help. Marik set the Duel such that each time a player destroyed one of their opponent's monsters, the opponent would forget everything about someone they knew. This forced her to forget about Téa first, then Joey. Marik was about to win the duel by attacking with "The Winged Dragon of Ra", while Mai was strapped to a wall by Marik's monsters, so Joey climbed into the arena and tried to unstrap Mai to save her from Ra's blast. He was unable to but Yami Yugi jumped in protecting both from the blast. Yugi and Joey survived, though Marik was able to send Mai to the Shadow Realm. He feels somewhat responsible for Mai’s loss. This further fueled Joey's hatred for Marik, making him want to face Marik in the next round.

The Virtual World arc
After the quarter-finals, the blimp was sucked into a hidden area where Yugi, Joey, Téa, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, Seto and Mokuba were linked into a Virtual World apparently hosted by Kaiba's stepbrother Noah Kaiba. The party was split up and to defeat members of the Big Five, who would take their bodies to escape from the virtual world and live inside that body in the real world. Joey was able to construct his Deck using lists of given cards. He also included a few "Harpie" cards, remembering how Mai used to use them. He faced Johnson, who rigged Joey's lucked based cards to work in his favor. Noah threatens to disqualify Johnson, but Joey asks that the Duel continue, and he defeats Johnson. He later pairs up with Yugi as they duel the Big Five combined. Working together they defeat the Big Five. Joey and the others see Kaiba duel Noah, and see that Kaiba and Mokuba are turn to stone. Joey gives Yami Yugi support in his duel against Noah, but is turned to stone as well. After Yugi defeats Noah, Joey and the others find their way out of the vitural world. After the escape the virtual world, the party returns to the battle City finals.

Battle City Finals arc
For the quarterfinal round, the duels were to be staged atop Kaiba's airship, the Battle Ship with the draw determined at random.

On entering the Duel Tower Island, where the Battle City finals are taking place, Kaiba continues to mock Joey and asked how he managed to enter the tournament, saying somebody must have messed up on the computer systems. Despite his hatred for Kaiba, Joey hated Marik more and used the Battle Royale Duel, which would determine who faced who in the next round in his favor to pair him against Marik.

When Joey Duels Marik in the semi-finals, Marik links all monsters summoned by a player to the player themselves, so that any pain the monster feels, the controller would also feel. Joey Duels surprisingly well against Marik, but when Marik summons "The Winged Dragon of Ra", he uses its effect to destroy Joey's monsters causing Joey immense pain. It appeared that Joey would not survive the blast. This even resulted in Yami begging Kaiba to call off the duel, but Kaiba refuses, and insisted he had to witness Ra's special ability with his own eyes. But when Ra had finished, Joey was still standing. He struggled to draw his next card, "Gearfried the Iron Knight". He summoned it and tried to attack Marik's Life Points directly for the win, but collapsed before the attack went through, leaving Marik the winner. After seeing Joey stand up after Ra's blast, Kaiba actually admits to himself that he was impressed by Joey's performance, and realizes Joey isn't the third-rate amateur that he thought he was.

Joey remains in a coma for a while (In the English version, a few screen shots were cut that showed that in fact he was dead for a few minutes, and also dialogues were rearranged to show him simply as unconscious), leaving his friends worrying that he may have been sent to the Shadow Realm. He is taken care of by KaibaCorp doctors on the Kaiba's blimp, until Yugi's Duel with Kaiba in the semi-finals, when Tristan drags him to the window to see Yugi's duel claiming Yugi needs him. Joey slowly regained consciousness and afterwords dashes up the Duel Tower, catching the end of Yugi's duel. After Kaiba gives Yugi "Obelisk the Tormentor", because of the ante rule, Joey challenges Kaiba to a play off to determine 3rd and 4th place. Though Joey plays rather well, managing for a short time to use Kaiba's own "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" against him, Kaiba wins and says that dueling Joey was just a waste of time. However, Mokuba, who was one of the few spectators, is impressed by how Joey dueled his brother.

Joey cheers on Yugi in the finals against Yami Marik and returns to Mai's bed to see if defeating Yami Marik had woken her up. He cries over her body, until he hears Mai and Serenity snickering, as they pranked him into admitting he would do anything to have Mai wake up, Mai having woken up before he even reached her room.

After the gang flew back to Domino City, they said their goodbyes and parted. Later on, Joey met up with Yami Yugi for a Duel they promised each other. Joey claimed he was going to win back his "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". The Duel's result was not shown, but Joey did use "Red-Eyes" in later arcs.

Waking the Dragons arc
Joey accompanies Yugi in saving the world from Dartz and his organization, Paradius. When Arthur Hawkins tells of an alternate world where real Duel Monsters exist, Joey, remembering all the experiences he and his friends have had previously, tells Arthur that he believes him.

He later finds out Mai is working for Paradius and is set on using "The Seal of Orichalcos" to strip Joey of his soul. Joey refuses to accept that Mai joined under her own free will and accused Paradius of brainwashing her. Mai duels Joey in an attempt to take his soul. Joey, holding back at first for fear of losing Mai, struggles to avoid losing the duel, until his mind is taken to another world, where he pulls a sword from a large dragon sealed in crystal. Back in reality that dragon, "The Claw of Hermos" is added to his Deck. He uses this card to gain an advantage in the Duel. When it becomes apparent that Joey is about to win, Valon interrupts, using a fragment of the Orichalcos stone to remove "The Seal of Orichalcos" in order to save Mai.

Joey manages to catch the last glimpse of Yami's Duel with Rafael. He is astonished to see the symbol of the Orichalcos on Yami's forehead, since this must have meant Yami played the Seal on his own. This is nothing to his shock when he witnesses Yami lose the duel and watches a soul be taken. Rafael began to make his escape in a helicopter, taking Yugi's body with him. When Joey pursues and demands that Rafael give him back, Rafael flings the body down. After Yugi begins to show signs of life, Joey becomes excited thinking Yugi had found a way to avoid losing his soul. But Yami Yugi revealed that only he had survived while "regular" Yugi let his own soul be taken. Joey punches Yami for moping around and losing hope, and tells him to focus on saving Yugi.

Joey and Tristan get separated from Téa and Yami Yugi when the train they were riding split in two. Outside the train, Joey and Tristan meet Rex, who is now working with Paradius and looking to duel Joey. Joey refuses to duel, knowing one of them would lose their soul if the Seal of Orichalcos was played. But Raptor begins to duel anyway, playing the Seal on the first turn and leaving Joey no choice but to duel back. Throughout the duel, Rex reveals his motive for targeting Joey. He and Weevil had been humiliated after their defeats to Joey and Yugi in Duelist Kingdom. They both suffered a mass loss in popularity and were now regarded as losers and a joke. He blamed Joey for all this, including going on to say Joey stole, not fairly won, his Red-Eyes. Joey proceeds to win the duel, causing Rex to lose his soul. He and Tristan are left carrying Rex's body through the desert after this.

Joey's Hermos card begins to glow, and he sees the three Legendary Dragons appear and guide an airplane to land safely nearby. Joey and Tristan rush to the plane, where they meet up with Yami and Téa, who had also seen the Dragons guide the plane. Kaiba emerges from the plane, and he explains how Paradius had hacked into KaibaCorp and began taking over. Kaiba gives them all a lift to Domino City, leaving Rex in the care of his remaining faithful staff. The City has become overrun with Orichalcos Soldiers. After being chased by one, Joey meets Valon, who takes off on a motorcycle. Joey grabs a motorcycle that an Orichalcos Soldier had caused someone to fall off of and chases Valon. After catching up, they duel, and Valon explains his reason for targeting Joey; from hearing Mai constantly rant about him, he felt eliminating Joey would be a favor to her. However, Valon becomes impressed by Joey's dueling skills and speech about how he felt dueling was about fighting for people you love. He soon comes to respect Joey and see why Mai is so interested in him. Mai appears midway through the duel, telling Valon off for dueling Joey because she wanted to be the one to defeat him. Joey wins, and just before Valon lost his soul, he asked Joey to save Mai.

Unable to convince Mai that she has been brainwashed, Joey says the only way he could get through to Mai was to duel her. But though he tries his best, he is again handicapped by the strain his battle with Valon put on his stamina. Through the course of the duel, Mai comes to remember why she had once cared for Joey. She holds back from attacking him when she is able to declare victory, but Joey still falls and the Seal of Orichalcos begins to take his soul. Mai rushes and hugs him to stop him from falling, telling him she was sorry and that he was "the closest friend she ever had". Shortly after, Joey pushes her safely out of the Seal while his soul gets taken. An image of him standing, fists at his sides, appears on a tablet in Dartz's temple to show his soul's capture. (It is noteworthy that he is one of only two characters whose soul-carving does not look like he's panicking at his imprisonment. The other is Valon.) Mai weeps over Joey, denouncing everything she did. Once she calms down, she takes the Hermos card and rests his body next to Valon's before dashing to duel Dartz for Valon and Joey. Yami, Téa and Tristan arrive and take care of Joey's body.

Joey's soul returns to his body after Yami's duel with Dartz. Yugi returns Hermos to Joey, and he helps summon monsters to defeat The Great Leviathan. After the defeat of the Leviathan, he watches as the Legendary Knights and Dark Magician Girl return to their world. The Hermos card fades away as he does so.

Capsule Monsters arc
Yugi Muto (romanized as Yugi Mutou in the English-language manga) 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 (Sugoroku Mutou in the Japanese versions and English-language manga), 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 Taylor (Hiroto Honda), and Téa Gardner (Anzu Mazaki) 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 (Sugoroku Mutou) 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 Téa 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 Téa 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. 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.) Téa 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 Téa and Tristan.

Having seen Summoned Skull's "Lightning Strike" attack, Yugi heads to the beach to find Téa 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, Téa 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. Téa 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.

Téa 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 Téa 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 Téa 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, Téa 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

Grand Championship arc
Joey was invited to Seto Kaiba's Grand Championship tournament. He served as mainly a comic relief character in this arc. After Yugi said the card "Heart of the Underdog" reminded him of a friend, calling Joey an underdog became a running gag that day. In the first round, he defeated Solomon Muto, who entered under the identity Apdnarg Otum, to test how well he had trained Joey. Only Joey was fooled by his disguise. After putting up a good fight he was defeated by Zigfried von Schroeder in the next round. When Yugi's grandpa was missing, Joey joined Yugi and the gang on a search to find Yugi's grandpa. Joey also watches Kaiba duel Zigfried, and watches Yami Yugi duel Leon.

Dawn of the Duel arc
Joey, Yugi, Téa and Tristan go to Egypt so that they might help Yami Yugi fulfil his destiny as Pharaoh. They were greeted at the airport by the Ishtars. After Yami Yugi entered the Memory World, his friends were shocked to see that he had left the Millennium Puzzle. So Shadi used the Millennium Key to open the way to the Maze of Yugi's heart so that he might try to find the door to the Memory World. Once there, the four of them met up with Bobasa, who promised to help them. They were able to phase through other buildings and people unnoticed and remained invisible to the majority of people, but they could not pass through the palace gates. Joey, Téa, Tristan and Yugi manage to find Yami's real name, but are unable to read the hieroglyphics. When they meet up with Yami later, they are unable to tell him his real name. Together they summon monsters to fight Zorc Necrophades.

After Zorc defeats their monsters, they try concentrating, on their memories of the hieroglyphics, and are able to make them appear on a cartouche. Yami read his name Atem from the cartouche allowing him to summon The Creator God of Light, Horakhty so that it may destroy Zorc Necrophades.

Ceremonial Battle arc
Both the Pharaoh and Yugi have obtained all 7 Millennium items and all 3 Egyptian God Cards. The Pharaoh has defeated Zorc Necrophades in the memory RPG and The Pharaoh has learned his name. Now it was time for the final test to see if Yami Yugi and Yugi were finally ready to separate for good; Atem would have to be defeated in a duel where he was actively trying to win, demonstrating that he had learned from Yugi that one did not need to win all the time and that defeat could teach us just as much as victory.

Originally planned to fly to Luxor via the Cairo International Airport, a sandstorm has brewed over the Valley of Kings, blocking that path but with the help of Marik and Ishizu Ishtar, they proceed to the Valley by boat from where its stated that the sandstorm might have not been without purpose due to the ancient belief that Ships carried kings or people back from the gods as it to say, travel from this world to the Land of the Dead. (Afterlife) Both Joey (Jonouchi in the Japanese anime) and Kaiba asked Yugi if they could battle The Pharaoh. Yugi declined both requests, feeling that battling The Pharaoh was something he had to do to prove to himself that he was ready to separate from him.

The boat docked and everyone was waiting for him. Ishizu then lead them across the desert to an underground cavern to the back of the cavern there was a large door with a carving of The Eye of Wdjat which Ishizu explained would unravel the Pharaoh's spirit from Yugi's, further explaining that in order to pass on he must pact with the Rite of the Duel. Yugi approached the Shrine of The Millennium Items and placed all the items in their appropriate places. A wave of light passed over Yugi, his shadow split in two, then his body. The Pharaoh and Yugi walked opposite ways to the far sides of the cavern. The Final Duel had begun.

Yugi falls to his knees, cries and tells Atem that he (Yugi) is weak. Atem tells him that he would not cry if he were in his place. Yugi says that that is the point, he admits that he could not follow in the footsteps of Atem. Atem reminds him that he is not a coward and it was he who taught Atem about the principles needed to win. He also says that now he is leaving, there would be no one else for Yugi to follow and that there would only be one Yugi.

The Eye of Wdjat glows on the wall, and Ishizu says the spirit of the Pharaoh has been freed. Atem stands before the Eye and declares that he is Atem. The wall parts to reveal a glowing light, and Atem walks towards it. Téa, Joey and Tristan step forward, asking him if this is how it ends: Atem can't show up, change their lives, and leave.

Yugi says that they don't want to say goodbye, and Téa cries that while she know its for the best, it doesn't seem fair that Atem has to leave. They were just getting to know him, and Atem was just getting to know himself, but now he's leaving. She knows they should be happy for him, but its hard when they're losing their best friend and they don't understand why. Joey says there are some things they aren't supposed to understand: he goes through half his life like that. But he does know that while Atem's stay isn't as long as they'd like, they were lucky to know him at all. Atem silently thanks him, and Téa wishes him luck.

Joey shouts that Atem isn't going anywhere: the memories he gave each of them will remain in their hearts. Joey and Yugi give Atem a thumbs-up, and Atem returns the gesture as he walks forward. The Pharaoh's cloak and clothing appear around him as images of Adviser Siamun, Mana, Akhenamkhanen, and the six priests (Young Akhenaden, Mahado, Seto, Isis, Kalim and Shada) greet him. Atem vanishes into the light, the wall closing behind him.

The Wdjat temple then starts to crumble as the Millennium Stone shatters, scattering the Millennium Items in a bottomless pit. They all run away from the temple while Shadi's spirit watches the temple he protected crumble, his duty being fulfilled, the Pharaoh's spirit has gone to the Afterlife.

Yugi, Téa, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Grandpa, Kaiba, and Mokuba all leave Egypt and return to Japan. In the airport, they meet up with Rebecca and Serenity. Both Duke and Tristan fall for Serenity, but are pulled back by Joey. Rebecca hugs Yugi much to Téa's annoyance.

Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor get into an argument again and decide to duel. Zigfried and Leon von Schroeder make a business proposition with Pegasus, which turns to their favor. Mako Tsunami sets sail from his fishing trip to be met up with Espa Roba at the harbor. Mai Valentine and Vivian Wong are facing a two-on-two duel against the Paradox Brothers atop the Great Wall of China.

The credits end with a cutscene where Grandpa is sweeping while Yugi comes out from the house to join Téa, Joey and Tristan to go to school. Yugi ends the show by saying that his story has not ended and that his story is not about a pharaoh who after three thousand years defeated the evil Zorc.

In fact, he says that his story is just beginning. This alludes to the famous phrase "This isn't the legend of a Pharaoh. Everybody has his own story....The story that completes in the light. My story has just started." FIN

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (Anime)
His name is mention in one episode in the english version. When Jaden Yuki duels a lab chimpanzee, the scientist says the ape's name is Wheeler. This is a reference to Seto Kaiba once calling Joey a "Dueling monkey" in the english version.

Joey is mentioned by name, by Pegasus. He includes Joey in his top five Duelists as number three. Two being Seto Kaiba, and number one being Yugi Muto.

When Jaden is taken to the past to Duel against the younger Yugi, he picks up a flyer that has a picture of Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Joey and Kaiba.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (Anime)
A duelist who looks like Joey is seen dueling at Daimon area. In the English version of  Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, someone asks if the duelist is Joey Wheeler. Someone else replies that it is his cousin Jesse Wheeler. In the Japanese version, this duelist was merely an unnamed background character.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Pyramid of Light
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 Téa 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! The Dark Side of Dimensions
Joey will make an appearance in this film.

Yugi Muto
Joey and Tristan used to bully Yugi, but after Yugi defended Joey and Tristan against Ushio, Joey and Yugi became very close friends. When Yami Yugi was unable to snap Joey out of Marik's brainwashing, Yugi took over - Yami Yugi conceded that Yugi was closer to Joey than he was - and succeeded in bringing Joey back to his senses. Shortly thereafter, each proved they were willing to die for the other, as Yugi chose to lose a duel in which the loser drowned so as to save Joey, and as Joey then gave up his own chance to escape drowning to save Yugi from the same. When Joey is unconscious after his duel with Yami Marik, Yugi only continues participating in the tournament because the Millenium Necklace tells him that's the way to save Joey. Similarly, after Yugi's soul is taken by the Orichalcos, Joey decides to challenge Doma himself in order to save Yugi.

Yami Yugi
Joey is close friends with Yami Yugi, and each risks his life to help the other countless times. In Battle City, Joey calls Yami Yugi the "true duelist", and makes it his goal to become a duelist worthy of dueling Yami Yugi. When Joey is unconscious after his duel with Yami Marik, Yami Yugi only continues participating in the tournament because the Millenium Necklace tells him that's the way to save Joey; Joey exhibits similar selfless behavior in return when he continues to support Yami Yugi after Yami Yugi's corruption led to Yugi's loss, choosing not to blame Yami Yugi for what had transpired and instead urging Yami Yugi to fight to get Yugi back. When Yami Yugi was depress when Yugi's soul was thinking,he blamed himself for what happen to Yugi. Joey kept telling him to stop blaming himself,But Yami kept saying it was all his fault. Joey punched Yami Yugi in order to make him snatch out of depression,but it didn't work still. On the train, he told Tea, that Yami Yugi is already alone. But he will feel better once he is reunited with Yugi. After Yami Yugi won the duel against Dartz, Joey was happy that Yugi was back with Yami Yugi. Joey even help out Yami Yugi battle the Great Leivathan. On the boat ride to the Pharaoh's tomb, Joey tells Tristan and Duke that although he doesn't want to see Yami Yugi go, he supports it because he knows it's best for Yami Yugi. As Yami Yugi leaves, Joey cries, but he encourages the others to let Yami Yugi go to the afterlife, while saying that, "Even in 1000 years, you're still our partner".

Tristan Taylor
Joey and Tristan are close friends. While Tristan pokes fun at Joey and Joey is annoyed with Tristan's behavior towards Serenity their deep friendship can be seen in Tristan's horrified reaction both times Joey lost shadow games.

Tea Gardner
Joey became friends with Tea through Yugi.

Mai Valentine
When Joey and Mai first meet, Mai cares only about winning and is rude to Joey. However, Joey and the rest of his friends soon become friends with Mai. After this, Joey and Mai grow continually closer, with Mai giving Joey the pass he needs to get into the Duelist Kingdom finals, Joey saving Mai from Jean-Claude Magnum, and Joey breaking Yami Marik's hold over Mai and shielding her from Ra's attack. When Mai joins Doma, Joey makes it his goal to bring her back to her senses, willingly sacrificing his soul to the Orichalcos to do so. Over the course of the series they come to care deeply for each other's well-being. Ultimately, Mai, ashamed for her behavior as part of Doma, leaves the other characters to reevaluate her life, but she states that she will return to Joey.

Serenity Wheeler
Although they were separated as kids when their parents divorced, Joey and Serenity care deeply for each other. When Joey learns that Serenity needs money for an eye surgery, he enters the Duelist Kingdom tournament to win the money necessary to perform the surgery. The first thing Serenity does after recovering her eyesight is save Joey's life. Serenity generally admires Joey, who in turn acts protective of his sister, becoming angry with Tristan and Duke when they flirt with her.

Seto Kaiba
At the series' start, Joey and Seto dislike each other, neither showing any respect for the other. In particular, Joey dislikes Seto's arrogant behavior, and Seto considers Joey a weak duelist. However, over the course of the series, each individual shows concern, empathy, and/or respect for the other several times. When Marik is controlling Joey into dueling Yugi with the duelists' lives on the line, Seto is worried that for the duelists' safety; he works hard to call off the duel. Later, when Noah offers Yami Yugi the opportunity to save all of Yugi's friends - including Serenity. If Yami Yugi lets Noah keep Seto trapped in the Virtual World, Joey insists that Yami Yugi keep fighting in order to save the Kaiba brothers. Including for Yami Yugi to maintain the bond the Kaiba brothers share. Later, Seto comes to respect Joey as a duelist after Joey withstands Ra's attack, and Joey in turn gains enough respect for Seto to actively root for him in Seto's match against Zigfried.

Knownable Relatives

 * Mrs. Wheeler (Mother)
 * Mr. Wheeler (Father)
 * Serenity Wheeler (Little Sister)
 * Mai Valentine (Love Interest)
 * Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi (Best Friends)
 * Jeese Wheeler (Cousin)
 * Seto Kaiba (#1 Rival)
 * Crow Hogan (True Counterpart)

Voice Actresses & Actors

 * Japanese : Hiroko Takahashi (Teenager)


 * Japanese voice actress : Mariko Nagahama (Child)


 * English : Wayne Grayson

all information on Joey Wheeler came from http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Joey_Wheeler