Episode 24: Kuriboh Multiply! The Astonishing Result

Kaiba has done it: he's summoned the powerful Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Yugi has no monsters on the field, and his deck has been infected by Kaiba's Crush Card virus, and he can't use any monsters with an attack greater than 1500. Can he possibly win? Everything depends on this next draw....

It seems hopeless. But Yugi draws his card and smiles. He's drawn the card that can defend him against the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! He summons—Kuriboh in attack mode!

Kaiba laughs. Kuriboh's the weakest monster in Duel Monsters! What can Yugi be thinking? Kuriboh can't possibly stand against his ultimate dragon! But Yugi tells him he's wrong, and plays the magic card Multiply, which multiplies the Kuriboh endlessly.

Kaiba doesn't care how many Kuribohs are on the field, he thinks his dragon can destroy them all. He attacks—but when the smoke clears, Yugi is still protected by dozens of Kuribohs. The little monsters multiply faster than the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon can kill them, and Kaiba can't touch Yugi's life points until he's destroyed them all!

It's Yugi's turn, and this time he plays Mammoth Graveyard, with 1200 attack points, in combination with Polymerization and the Living Arrow (Magic Arrow) magic card. Living Arrow, Yugi says, allows him to use his own cards in combination with his opponent's cards, and he uses it to fuse the Mammoth Graveyard with the heart of Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. And since the Mammoth Graveyard is an undead-type monster, it can't fuse properly with the living dragon, causing the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon to decay and lose attack points. (In the Japanese, it's the combination of a Light monster like the dragon with a Dark monster that causes the fusion to go bad.) Since the Mammoth Graveyard's attack is 1200, it will drain 1200 points from the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon each turn. (Need I point out that none of this wacky partial-fusion stuff is possible in the real game?)

Kaiba's on the ropes now. His powerful dragon is rotting away, and knows he has nothing in his deck that can reverse it. Yugi's friends cheer for him, thrilled that he's managed to turn the battle around. Even Bandit Keith is impressed at Yugi's intensity.

Knowing Mokuba's fate depends on winning this duel, in desperation Kaiba sends his decaying dragon to attack the Kuribohs. But the attack has no effect. Yugi draws a card and ends his turn, letting the Mammoth Graveyard drain another 1200 points from the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Kaiba, refusing to admit defeat, makes another futile attack.

Yugi lets another turn take another 1200 points from Kaiba's dragon. Its attack is only 900 points now, and even Yugi's weakest monsters can destroy it.

Kaiba's devastated by his hopeless position. He sees the photo of his brother in his mind's eye, and the rotting dragon, now with Mokuba at its heart, begging him for help. Young Seto rushes to help, but he's too late—Mokuba is consumed by the decaying Blue Eyes. LIttle Seto turns on his older counterpart, telling him he's rotten to the core, just like his dragon, for letting his little brother down. Kaiba sees himself rotting away, helpless.

Yugi and the others wonder what's up with Kaiba. He's just standing there, speechless, apparently unable to deal with his impending defeat. Yugi draws Celtic Guardian and summons it, sending it to attack the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. But, since the dragon is a fusion of three monsters, Celtic Guardian has only destroyed one of its heads. Kaiba loses 500 life points, bringing him down to 400, but two of the dragon heads still stand. It will take one more attack to end the duel.

Coming back to himself, Kaiba makes a decision. No matter what it takes, he can't allow himself to lose the duel. He walks backwards on the tower until he's standing on the ledge, telling Yugi that if he attacks again, the resulting shockwaves might cause him to lose his balance and fall off the tower. Yugi has to decide whether put Kaiba's life in danger in order to win the duel.

Okay, here's where the US version takes a big departure from the Japanese. In the Japanese, Kaiba tells Yugi that for every 100 life points he loses, he'll take a step backwards. Since he lost 500 points in the last attack, he'll take five steps back. This brings him to the ledge. And there's a long, sweeping pan showing us just how high the tower is from the ground that's trimmed in the US version. Now, Kaiba says, if Yugi attacks again, he'll take Kaiba's real life in the next round. He is willing to die in a duel, he says. And if he were Yugi, he'd push his enemy to the bottom of the mountain without hesitation.

Joey and the others are enraged by Kaiba's ploy, exhorting him to come down off the ledge and play fair. Yugi tells Kaiba not to push him—he has to win to save his Grandpa. Kaiba says he has to win, too, to save his brother—the difference between them is that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win.

It's Kaiba's turn, and he draws Monster Reborn, which he uses to resurrect the Blue Eyes head that Yugi had destroyed. Now that Yugi's got Celtic Guardian on the field, he can attack it and wipe out the rest of Yugi's life points, unless Yugi attacks him first. (Why doesn't he just attack now and win the duel? I don't know. There's no rule that reborned monsters can't attack in the turn they're summoned. Kaiba's just toying with Yugi at this point, it seems. —Aha. In the Japanese, Kaiba explains that because the Blue Eyes is part of a fusion monster, it can't attack in the turn its summoned. Okay, would it have been so hard to let him say that in the US version? It's kind of wack, but at least it's a reason.) Kaiba makes a throat-cutting motion and says "Come on, if you have the courage to unleash your attack!" In the Japanese, he says, "Use your cards to cut my throat!"

Yugi and his darker self argue about whether or not to attack. "We must!" Yami Yugi says, willing to destroy Kaiba if necessary in order to win. "We can't!" little Yugi protests. (In the Japanese, the struggle is internal—we just hear Yami saying, "I... I...") Yami Yugi prevails, and sends Celtic Guardian to attack. Téa runs towards Yugi, shouting at him to stop the attack, and little Yugi takes control, falling to his knees, calling out to the Celtic Guardian to stop. (In the Japanese, Anzu is calling out for the "ordinary Yugi," and when Yugi takes control from Yami, the Celtic Guardian stops without being told.) Little Yugi is horrified by what he's almost done, and a triumphant Kaiba attacks with his reborned Blue Eyes, winning the duel.

Little Yugi is left on his hands and knees, crying. His friends rush to him, and he sobs that he almost couldn't control the other presence inside him, who was willing to go all the way against Kaiba. He's so afraid that he vows never to duel again. (In the Japanese, he just says he's afraid of his other self, and afraid to duel.) Téa tells him she's sorry about his Grandpa, but she knows he did the right thing.

Kaiba's disdainful, saying Yugi was too weak to do what had to be done to win. Téa turns on him, telling him he's spent so much time with his machines, he's no longer human. Yugi has a heart, she says, and friends who'll stick by him. "And what do you have, Seto Kaiba?"

(Japanese Anzu tells Kaiba he's the real loser—he planned to give up his most important card, his life. She tells him he doesn't have the courage to face himself, and Yugi won by protecting him from himself. Kaiba doesn't have anything to say to that.)

Kaiba tosses his Star Chips in the air, and says he has all he needs. He walks away, coat flapping elegantly in the breeze, and enters the castle, ready to face Pegasus.