Episode 20: Three-God Combination! Gate Guardian

Kaiba is on his way to Pegasus's castle to rescue Mokuba. Nothing's more important than his little brother, he thinks. He recalls how, after their parents died, he promised always to take care of Mokuba, and now he vows again to keep that promise.

Kimo steps out from behind a tree to capture Kaiba—but Kaiba's got some pretty good moves on him. He throws Kimo down and tells him he's going to take him to Mokuba.

(Whoa! Kimo's got a gun on Kaiba in the Japanese! And he calls Kaiba "Seto-sama" and says he hasn't seen him in a while. Clearly, Kimo is a Kaiba Corp employee who's gone over to Pegasus with the Big 5. This is never made clear in the US version. Kaiba also calls him by name, which is Saruwatari. There's a whole big scene here that was cut out of the US version, in which Kaiba puts up his hands, concealing a card in his palm, then just as Kimo's about to shoot him, flips the card into the gun's cocking mechanism, jamming it. Then Kaiba rips the gun out of Kimo's hand, twisting it so that Kimo's clutching his hand in pain, and retrieves his card, complaining that Kimo made him scar his valuable card. Kaiba tosses the gun aside, and gut-punches Kimo. Go Kaiba!)

Back at the duel, Para and Dox acknowledge that Yugi and Joey stopped their Wall Shadow, but they're still ahead on Life Points. It's Joey's turn, and he thinks he needs to get another monster out, so he summons his Flame Swordsman, and moves him forward four of his allowed five spaces, and moves Axe Raider four spaces to join him, along with Yugi's Celtic Guardian, already on the field. He powers up Axe Raider with Kunai with Chain so that its attack strength is now 2200 points.

Dox moves Labyrinth Tank forward seven more spaces, telling them that its futuristic weaponry will be too much for their archaic warriors, and reminding them of the trap still lurking on the field.

It's Yugi's turn, and he summons Dark Magician, moving him forward five spaces to protect the other warriors. He moves by doing an impressive flip through the air. Coooool, as Joey says.

Para draws a card that pleases him, and the brothers do their own little celebratory acrobatic leaps. (But not in the Japanese. I suspect they had to pad the US version to make up for the scene they cut earlier.) The card is a magic card, Magical Labyrinth, which causes the walls of the labyrinth to shift, and separate Yugi and Joey's monsters from each other. The brothers now plan to attack the weakest link—Joey.

Joey moves his Axe Raider and Flame Swordsman four spaces through the maze, but the monsters step on the wrong space, activating the trap Jirai Gumo (which Para calls Landmine Spider here) and destroying Axe Raider by reducing its attack to its original strength. In the US, a spidery graphic was added to the square Axe Raider stepped on.

Then Dox moves the Labyrinth Tank forward seven more spaces, and sets a monster face-down in defense.

Yugi plays the magic card Mystic Box (Death Magic Box), concealing his Dark Magician. Swords pierce the box, and Para and Dox think Yugi's sacrificed his own Dark Magician, but then they see another box form around Jirai Gumo (who's now back to his original name). The boxes open—and Dark Magician has switched places with Jirai Gumo, leaving him unharmed, while Jirai Gumo is destroyed in the box full of swords. Yugi sends Dark Magician to attack the Labyrinth Tank and destroy it.

Kaiba's got Kimo at the entrance to the castle, telling him to use his clearance to open the door. Kimo isn't worried—he says nobody takes Pegasus by surprise. In his hall, Pegasus sips his wine as his Millennium Eye glows gold.

In the dungeon, Mokuba looks at his pendant with its picture of his brother, wondering where Kaiba is.

Para draws Sanga, God of Thunder, one of three elemental gods, the other two being Suijin, God of Water, and Kazejin, God of Wind. These three cards can be combined to form the powerful Gate Guardian. Para plays the card face down, where it turns into a mysterious box, and ends his turn.

Joey moves Flame Swordsman forward five spaces and ends his turn.

Dox draws Suijin and plays it face down. It also turns into a box on the field. Yugi is worried, and the Millennium symbol on his forehead glows, as he senses some sort of dark power. Then Dox flips over the monster he'd previously placed in defense, Dungeon Worm, and powers it up with Invigoration. The Dungeon Worm can burrow under the labyrinth, and it comes up under Yugi's Celtic Guardian and destroys it. (Joey says "No! My Celtic Guardian!" Even though it's Yugi's monster.)

Yugi plays Magical Hats, hiding Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman so that the Dungeon Worm can't find it. Since the Dark Magician's attack strength is greater than the Dungeon Worm's, it won't dare attack any of the hats.

Para plays Monster Tamer, which allows him to power up Dox's Dungeon Worm to 2800, and control it during his turn. He commands the Dungeon Worm to attack one of the Magica Hats, but fortunately for Yugi and Joey, it attacks an empty hat.

Joey has a plan. He moves his Flame Swordsman out of his hat, powering it up with Salamandra, and attacking the Dungeon Worm and destroying it.

But Dox draws Kazejin, completing the Gate Guardian, which has the strength of three monsters! The Paradox brothers say the Gate Guardian has never been defeated, but Yugi says he and Joey are a team, and nothing can stop them!

Meanwhile, Kaiba's being led through the dungeons of Pegasus's castle by Kimo. Kaiba's warning Kimo he'd better take him to Mokuba soon. Kimo says Kaiba only got the jump on him because he took him by surprise, so Kaiba grabs him by the collar and does a little more threatening. Unworried, Kimo says he'll reunite Kaiba with his brother. (In the Japanese, this exchange is quite different. Kimo is taunting Kaiba by remarking on how devoted Kaiba is to Mokuba, and how much the brothers love each other. Kaiba is furious and tells him to shut up.)

In his cell, Mokuba remembers the orphanage, and how lots of families wanted to adopt Seto, because he was a genius, but Seto refused to go without Mokuba. Nothing would ever split them up. Now, Mokuba wonders if Pegasus will be able to separate them. (Japanese Mokuba has no doubt that nothing will ever separate them.)

Kimo steps on a switch in the floor that sets off an alarm, and Kaiba hurries off to find Mokuba before more of Pegasus's goons arrive. Meanwhile, Croquet comes to tell Pegasus that Kaiba is in the tunnels. Pegasus says he already knows, and makes vaguely SM-ish threats towards Croquet. (In the Japanese, Pegasus doesn't threaten. He's very blasé about the whole thing.) But Pegasus thinks he can turn Kaiba's presence to his advantage.

Mokuba hears Kaiba calling to him in the tunnels....

Yugi doesn't have any monsters in his deck strong enough to attack the Gate Guardian, so he plays two cards face down and ends his turn.

Para uses Gate Guardian to attack Flame Swordsman. The boys are in big trouble now!

To Be Continued