Episode 19: Labyrinth Tag Duel

Yugi and the gang are trapped in the caves, thanks to Bandit Keith and his henchmen. (Note that Yugi, Joey, and Tristan are the ones trying to push the boulder out of the way, while Téa and Bakura stand back and let the men do the work...)

Bakura starts to walk away down one of the tunnels. They think Bakura's Millennium Ring might be leading them to Pegasus's castle, so they follow. (In the Japanese, Bakura doesn't explain anything to the gang, he just tells them the castle is this way, let's go.)

Unbeknownst to them, Pegasus is watching them from his castle over hidden cameras. He's pretty amused by their plight, but then decides to see what's playing on "dungeon TV." It's Mokuba, chained to the wall in a dank, dark cell. (In the Japanese, Pegasus doesn't say anything at all in this scene, beyond "Hmm." In fact, people in general talk a lot more in the US episodes, while the Japanese seem content to let the visuals tell the story.)

In the dungeon, Mokuba is telling himself that his brother will come for him. He remembers when their parents died, and Seto promised he'd always be there for him. He remembers playing chess with his brother, who never lost at anything, and he knows Seto won't lose to Pegasus. He takes out a locket, shaped like a Duel Monsters card, which holds a picture of his brother, and begs him to come soon. (Japanese Mokuba says as long as Big Brother is with him, he's happy. Then he starts to cry, saying, "I want to see you, brother.")

Meanwhile, Yugi and the others are still walking through the tunnels. Téa points out the the tunnels have become stone corridors—these are no longer natural caves, and they wonder if someone's living down there. (It's Jounouchi who comments that the tunnels are artificial in the Japanese.) Then Bakura's Ring starts pulling at him more strongly, and he takes off down one of the passageways, and the rest of the gang hurry to keep up with him.

Bakura finds huge cavernous room, with a Duel Monsters arena, and two twin duelists who call themselves Para and Dox (Mei and Kyuu) tell the gang they must win their way out of the chamber in a duel. Meikyuu is the Japanese word for "labyrinth," and the kanji on the brothers' foreheads are Mei (left) and Kyuu (right).

The brothers, rhyming acrobats wearing Chinese clothes, have been hired by Pegasus as player eliminators (player killers in the Japanese).

But it won't be enough just to win a duel with the Paradox brothers. Even if our side wins, they'll have to choose which door to take out of the chamber. One door will lead them to Pegasus's castle; the other will lead them into an endless maze, leaving them wandering in the caves forever. (All this is not explained until later in the Japanese.)

Then they tell the gang that they must duel as a team, two on two. Yugi goes Yami and prepares to duel, asking Joey to duel with him. (And, being the only other competetive duelist there, he gladly agrees.) Joey wagers two Star Chips, and Yugi four. If they win, they'll both have enough Star Chips to get into the castle. At this point, in the Japanese version, Mei and Kyuu are looking very fierce. In the US version, the fierce faces are replaced with milder ones from earlier. But Para (Mei)'s frame is flipped to match the fierce face, so that his kanji is backwards.

Dox starts off by playing Labyrinth Wall. Yugi wonders why he'd play a monster with zero attack points, but the card causes a maze to form on the arena.

Meanwhile, Kaiba is walking through the woods with his ubiquitous briefcase and a grim expression, thinking that Pegasus is going to be sorry for the pain he's caused Kaiba and his brother. He's got a locket just like the one Mokuba wears, with a picture of Mokuba inside. (Here, too, Japanese Kaiba says nothing throughout this scene except "Mokuba.")

Back at the duel, the Paradox brothers explain how the tag team duel will work. Each player begins with 2000 Life Points, but when one player's points reach zero, his team will lose. Joey realizes that Yugi's putting a lot of faith in him, and reflects that he can't let him down. (Japanese Jounouchi thinks, "Damn, if I lose, Yugi will, too.") As for the labyrinth playing field, monsters move through the arena by traveling one square for each of their Level stars. Then, if Yugi and Joey win, they still must choose which door to exit.

Joey complains that that isn't fair, so the brothers give them a clue. One brother will tell them the truth, while the other tells only lies. Then both brothers tell Yugi and Joey that their door is the one to choose.

Joey thinks he's got it figured out. He remembers the story of the liar and the truthteller. A boy is trying to find the village of the truthtellers, when he comes to a fork in the road. He asks a villager for directions, but doesn't know whether the villager is a truthteller or a liar. (The kid in Joey's story is a little chibi Joey.) So the kid asks the villager to take him to his own village. If the villager is a truthteller, he'll take him to the truthteller's village. But if the villager is a liar, he'll still take him to the truthteller's village, since he would have to lie about which village is his. Then Joey asks each of the brothers to tell him which door is his, thinking that the truthteller will point to his own door, while the liar will point to his brother's door. Both point to Dox's door. Joey concludes that Dox is the truthteller, so now all Yugi has to do is ask Dox which door leads to the castle. (Japanese Jounouchi simply asks both brothers which is the right door to choose, thinking that both would point to the right door.)

But Yugi's not so sure. Both brothers told them that one of them would always tell the truth while the other would always lie—but if that were true, the liar would have to deny it. So he concludes that both brothers are lying, and they can't trust them or their riddle. He suggests they just win the duel first and worry about the doors later.

Yugi goes next, and summons Beaver Warrior (Ruiz), and sends him forward four spaces.

Para then fuses Labyrinth Wall with Shadow Ghoul to create Wall Shadow, which slides along the walls of the labyrinth to attack Beaver Warrior and destroy it, then sinks back into the wall, hidden. Yugi loses 400 points, and Joey complains that they're cheating—the Wall Shadow moved too many spaces. But the brothers point out that the Wall Shadow didn't move any spaces, it moved along the wall.

Joey summons Axe Raider, and sets a card face-down, but he doesn't move Axe Raider forward, so it can't be attacked by the Wall Shadow. Yugi congratulates him on a good move, and Joey is relieved that he didn't cost them any life points. Téa and Bakura are encouraged, but Tristan points out that the way the duel works, the brothers can concentrate on the weaker duelist—Joey—and win by knocking him out. (Japanese Honda merely says that if either Yugi or Jounouchi doesn't play well, there's a good chance they'll lose.)

Dox sets Jirai Gumo face down, then plays Labyrinth Tank in attack mode, moving it forward seven spaces. (Hm, according to the real rules of the game, you can only normal summon or set one monster per turn, and Jirai Gumo is an effect monster. However, Para's playing Jirai Gumo in the magic and trap zone, as if it's a trap card, and in the Japanese episode, it is indeed a trap card of a completely different design.)

Yugi summons Celtic Guardian (Elf Swordsman) and sends it four spaces into the maze. Dox sends Wall Shadow to attack it. But Joey plays his trap card, Kunai with Chain (called Blast with Chain in the real game, Chained Boomerang in the Japanese), which captures Wall Shadow while raising Celtic Guardian's attack points so that it can destroy Wall Shadow.

Pegasus, watching the duel on his big screen in the dining hall, raises his glass in a toast to Yugi for winning the first round. Then there's a knock on the door, and Croquet comes in to tell him that Seto Kaiba's been spotted on the grounds. Pegasus tells him he already knows, and isn't worried. Kaiba will come to them—Pegasus has the bait.

Mokuba stares at the picture of his brother, wondering where Seto is. He remembers when the older bullies picked on him and stole his toys, and Seto would always come to his rescue. "Why haven't you come for me?" he asks. (Japanese Mokuba is much less whiny. He tells himself not to be afraid, his brother will be here soon. He says he won't give up. He'll protect the key [the Kaiba Corp passwords, hidden in his locket] and Kaiba Corporation.)

Kaiba's on his way, duster floating elegantly behind him.

To Be Continued