Episode 17: Terror! Call of the Living Dead

Joey is running frantically through the fog, pursued by—the Blue Eyes White Dragon! He stumbles and falls, and the huge dragon looms over him. He turns and sees Kaiba looking down on him. "Kaiba, call off your dragon!" he begs. Kaiba calls him a scared little puppy dog, and Joey protests that he's not afraid of Kaiba, but Kaiba says "Bad dog!" and tells him to sit. Joey finds himself in a dog suit crouching at Kaiba's feet, and he begins to whine like a scolded puppy. In the Japanese, once again, even Jounouchi's dream Kaiba isn't anywhere near as nasty as US Kaiba. "You're afraid to duel again," Kaiba tells him, and calls him a loser (makeinu, which literally means "defeated dog"). Which, okay, isn't very nice, but there's none of this "Bad dog! Sit at your master's feet!" stuff. Jounouchi conjures up the dog suit all on his own. Which, in the Japanese, has the kanji for makeru ("lose") on the back.

The fog clears away and Joey's crying in his sleep, crouched under a bush. A drop of dew falls on his face and wakes him—it was all a dream. Angry with Kaiba for humiliating him, he jumps up, ready to go out and prove himself. He wakes everyone up, eager to get the day started. Téa gives Yugi a note from Mai (aha! so she was there last night!) that reads "I owe you eight Star Chips," and is sealed with a kiss. Yugi blushes like a little girl. (Mai's note gets turns into a bunch of smudges in the US version. How the heck can Yugi read it?)

The gang walk along through the woods, wondering how many duelists are left on the island. The duelists they'll face today will be stronger for having survived. Tristan says Joey's afraid of them, which makes Joey pretty steamed.

On a hill nearby, three duelists are watching our gang. They're picking out their next victim, and Joey looks like easy prey to them. They recognize Yugi as the duelist who beat Kaiba, and rush off to tell their boss—who turns out to be Bandit Keith—what they've seen. Bandit Keith is determined to pay Pegasus back for humiliating him at the Intercontinental Championship. He instructs his minions to take "the dweeb" (Joey) out first.

Back with the gang, Joey thinks he hears something and runs off to try to find out what it is. (In the Japanese, Jounouchi runs off to take a pee. In the US, our cartoon boys do not have such bodily functions, apparently.) Sid and Zigor (I'm guessing how these names are spelled, but this is what it sounds like to me) watch from the bushes, chuckling evilly to themselves.

Bandit Keith is leading Bonz (Ghost Kotsuzuka) through some caves to a hidden dueling arena. He checks Bonz's zombie deck, and gives him some more cards to add to it. Bandit Keith warns Bonz that he'd better win, and knocks him down into a pile of skulls, scaring the bejabbers out of him. (Hm, in the US it's made to look as though Bandit Keith smacks Bonz deliberately as a warning, but in the Japanese it looks more like Bandit Keith is giving him an encouraging slap on the back, which sends him flying because he's such a tiny little guy.)

Joey's washing his hands in a waterfall, when Zigor sneaks up on him and snatches him. Cut from the US version is the scene where Zigor actually punches Jounouchi in the stomach and knocks him down.

Joey wakes up down in the caves, in the spooky graveyard dueling arena, and freaks when he sees Bonz on the other side of the arena.

The gang are beginning to get worried about Joey, so they split up to go and look for him.

Joey's so scared he's fainted on his feet, until Zigor wakes him up by throwing a skull at his head. Joey protests that he's not scared of the graveyard, but Bonz's face, which gives Bonz's companions a good laugh. Joey doesn't like the looks of this duel, but he accepts the challenge, determined not to be a scared little puppy dog. He wagers four Star Chips, then finds out that Bonz has a zombie deck, and his zombie monsters will get a field power bonus from the graveyard.

Bonz starts to play a card, but Bandit Keith stops him, telling him to play Zanki (Armored Warrior Zanki) instead. It's not a zombie card, and Bonz doesn't want to play it, but he reluctantly follows Bandit Keith's orders. Joey plays Axe Raider and destroys Bonz's monster. Again, Bandit Keith instructs Bonz to play a non-zombie card, the Call of Dragon, which he plays in defense. It too is destroyed by Axe Raider. Next, he plays Crass Clown and Joey summons his Flame Swordsman to destroy it. Bonz's Life Points are down to 1350, and Joey thinks he's got it all under control, when Bonz draws the magic card the Call of the Haunted (Call of the Living Dead). It brings back all the monsters in Bonz's graveyard as immortal zombies, and Joey's in trouble now! (The real Call of the Haunted allows the player to bring back one monster from the graveyard. And it doesn't turn it into a zombie or make it immortal.)

Téa finds Joey's wallet, with a picture of his sister, Serenity. Now everybody's really worried: Joey'd never be careless with Serenity's picture. There must have been foul play! They see the cave entrance and go in to look for Joey. There are coffins inside the entrance, and when Téa goes to investigate, skeletons pop out and start chasing her and Bakura around. Much girly screaming (on both their parts) ensues, until Tristan smashes the one chasing Bakura, and Yugi and Téa manage to knock down the other.

Bonz's Dragon Zombie destroys Joey's Axe Raider, and the other zombies prepare to gang up on the Flame Swordsman. Joey has no way to destroy them! He's afraid he's dead meat.

To Be Continued