Episode 25: Duel of Tears! Friendship

Yugi is still devastated by his loss to Kaiba, on his hands and knees before the gate of the castle, unspeaking. He's lost his chance to enter the castle and win back his Grandpa's soul, and he's so frightened of the spirit inside him, who was willing to risk killing Kaiba in order to win the duel, that he feels he must never duel again. (In the Japanese, he is thinking that he had to stop his other self—but without him, he cannot win.)

His friends gather around him, wanting to help. Joey offers to give Yugi his Star Chips, saying he owes him for helping him to get this far. (In the Japanese, Jounouchi says it was Yugi's Star Chip that allowed him to enter the tournament in the first place, so they're all really Yugi's Star Chips anyway.) But Yugi, motionless, refuses to take them. Frustrated, Joey picks little Yugi up off the ground, telling him to snap out of it, but Yugi lies limp in Joey's hands, not responding.

Just then, Mai shows up. They tell her about Yugi's loss to Kaiba, and she says it's lucky she came by.

Kaiba is in the castle entrance hall, with Pegasus watching on the screen in his dining hall. He raises a toast to Kaiba, for his stunning upset victory over Yugi. But defeating him won't be so easy. (Japanese Pegasus says the sight of Kaiba charging towards him with hatred is beautiful.)

Mai gives Yugi a pep talk, and offers him six Star Chips—the ones he won for her from Panik, which she considers a loan, and now returns them to Yugi. She's already won ten Star Chips of her own.

But Yugi remains lost in his own little world, not even acknowledging Mai's presence. When he doesn't take them, Mai gets angry and says she'll just keep them. Then she challenges him to a duel for them, but he's still out of it. So Téa steps in and takes Mai's challenge. Mai's pretty condescending about dueling Téa, but she accepts the duel (Japanese Mai thinks she doesn't care, as long as Yugi gets the Star Chips—but she accepts the duel on one condition, that if Téa loses, she'll never talk about friendship again). They adjourn to one of the dueling arenas.

Yugi's still space-boy, but the gang hopes that watching Téa duel for him will help snap him out of it. (Bakura's been standing behind Yugi with his hands on Yugi's shoulders this whole time. It's so sweet!)

Téa starts by playing Petit Angel in attack mode. It's a tiny little monster, with only 600 attack points. Joey and Tristan groan and tell Téa that's not funny! Mai responds by playing Harpie Lady, which promptly destroys the little chew-toy, and plays a card face-down.

Next, Téa plays Fairy's Gift. Mai is disdainful of another of Téa's cutesy monsters (even though, at 1400 ATK, Fairy's Gift is more powerful than Harpie Lady, at 1300). Fairy's Gift is naked in the Japanese, but she gets a drawn-on dress to wear in the US version. (I'd include pictures, but she's all shiny and gets washed out in the screencaps, so you can't really see her.)

Téa also sets a trap card, Waboku, face down, even though she doesn't remember what it does. (And the redrawn cards don't have descriptions of their effects written on them, so she can't just read the darn card. In the Japanese, she just reads the card description and thinks it might come in handy, so she sets it face down.) Then she attacks Harpie Lady. But Mai activates her face-down card, Rose Whip, which powers up Harpie Lady by 300 points so that it can destroy Fairy's Gift. Harpie Lady's rather scanty costume in this episode also gets covered up in the US.

Mai tells Téa she should just give up, telling her she's a little girl who's out of her league, but Téa is determined, and getting a little p.o.'d at Mai's insults. In the Japanese, Mai isn't just insulting Téa: she tells her she thinks too highly of herself, if she thinks she made Yugi lose the duel with Kaiba. Each player is alone on the field, she says, and can't use other people's power. If Yugi lost, it was because he wasn't good enough.

Mai sets Harpie's Feather Duster face down. Next Téa draws Shining Friendship (Friendship), which reminds her of the bond between the four friends. She wishes the card were as strong as their real friendship, saying it would have Joey's courage, Tristan's spirit, and Yugi's heart. Tristan and Joey urge her on, and she asks Yugi if he's with her, too. He glances up, but still doesn't respond.

Now Téa gets an idea. She plays Shining Friendship in attack mode. Mai sends her powered-up Harpie Lady to attack, but Téa activates her trap card, Waboku, which reduces Harpie Lady's attack to zero and saves Shining Friendship. (Actually, it doesn't reduce the attacking creature's attack points—if it did, Harpie Lady would be destroyed. What it does is reduce battle damage to zero.)

Joey cheers, saying he taught Téa that move—to which Tristan replies, yeah, if you mean getting schooled every time she beat him with it. (It's nice that somebody remembers that Téa is actually a pretty good Duel Monsters player, who was regularly whipping Joey's butt in the early episodes.)

Téa gives Mai one of her friendship speeches, and says she might be scared, but nothing's going to stop her from winning this duel for Yugi. Joey pleads with Yugi: "Is any of this getting through to you?" Yugi seems to be waking up a little, but still doesn't speak.

Téa sets Magician of Faith face down in defense mode, and powers up Shining Friendship with the Silver Bow and Arrow, raising its attack to 1600, matching Harpie Lady's. But Mai plays Cyber Shield, raising Harpie Lady's attack by another 500 points, to 2100. Then she uses De-Spell to destroy the Silver Bow and Arrow, and attacks Téa's face-down card, destroying the Magician of Faith.

But destroying Magician of Faith activates its effect, which Mai has to remind Téa about—Téa gets to take one card back from the graveyard. Mai tells Téa again that she might as well give up—Yugi already has. Téa can't fight Yugi's battles for him, Mai says. He has to fight for himself.

Yugi starts to think that maybe Mai's right, but he still doesn't know how to fight when the battle is something within himself. (In the Japanese, Mai says that friends might help relieve part of the pain of living, but in the end, you can only rely on your own determination. This is where Yugi wakes up a little and repeats the thought: one's own determination. Then Mai says that a duellist who doesn't have this courage will only betray his friends' expectations by losing.)

Téa's pretty upset, and starts to cry, but she refuses to give up, insisting that she will fight on for Yugi. (In the Japanese, she says Yugi must make his own decision, but she still wants to protect and encourage him, and no matter what, she will enable him to enter the castle.) She plays the Silver Bow and Arrow that she brought back from the graveyard, then powers up her Shining Friendship even more with Elf's Light, raising Shining Friendship's attack to 2000. And turning Shining Friendship into another naked fairy, given a dress to wear in the US.

Mai says that's still not enough, and sends her powered-up Harpie Lady to attack. (Why don't these people ever wait for the other player to finish a turn before they attack?) But Téa's not finished yet—she plays De-Spell, and destroys Harpie Lady's Cyber Shield.

Mai's got one move left: she could play her Harpie's Feather Duster and destroy Téa's magic cards, reducing Shining Friendship's attack back to its original 1300 points. But she decides not to play it, allowing her Harpie Lady to be destroyed, and surrendering the game, claiming that without her Harpie Lady, she doesn't have the cards to win. She gives the Star Chips to Téa and starts to leave, when Yugi stops her to ask about her covered card, suspecting that it was Harpie's Feather Duster. But Mai claims it was just a throwaway. "Some cards just aren't worth playing," she says, giving Yugi thumbs up and heading off to the castle. (In the Japanese, she tells Yugi, "It wasn't because of you that I lost," meaning that of course it was.)

Téa gives Yugi the Star Chips, and he thanks her, telling her she's given him the courage to face his fears and duel again. And the gang heads off to the castle.