Fruit of Evolution

It seemed too good to be true as everyone found themselves standing in the middle of the tropics. Joey was more than excited and gathered as much fruit as he could from the trees. No one was surprised that he was more hungry than they were. Then again, he is a self-proclaimed food freak.

Joey was about to take a bite off of a banana when it suddenly turned into a scroll. Again, Yugi's grandfather deciphered the text. The contents read: 'Choose the apple that gives you a raise, then offer it up in the sacred maze'.

It was hard to know which apple was the right one they needed. There were hundreds in the trees and the tropics were huge. There wasn't even a maze anywhere in sight. But the place wasn't as big as any of them thought. They came across a barrier of some sort, only to see darkness at the other end. This meant that this was as far as this part of the game would go. Perhaps finding the apple they needed wouldn't be so hard after all.

This time, Tristan was the one who became excited as he saw what he thought to be the biggest melon he ever saw. He tried to move it from the ground, but it was stuck. Max rolled her eyes. "We don't have time for this."

"Tristan, Max is right. We should get going," Emily tells her friend. "Plus, I doubt anyone's going to run off with that thing."

"You bet they won't," Tristan said as he took a marker and drew a picture of himself. "There, now everyone knows that this melon's mine."

"That's great. Can we go now?" But when Max asked that, the melon began sinking into the ground. Tristan began to pursue his prized melon, but slowed down and waited for his friends.

The tunnel led them to some sort of underground chamber. Looking up, they saw three golden apples resting on three pillars. One of them had to be the apple mentioned in the riddle, but which one? Téa was about to walk inside the chamber, but Emily told her to wait. "See anything familiar?"

Tristan saw it too and exclaimed, "That's my melon."

Max grinned. "Don't be so sure."

"What's that mean? There's another giant melon with my face on it?"

Max sighed. She was at the point of becoming frustrated. "What I mean is, that's not a melon." And she was right. It was an insect monster called Petite Moth. Tristan was disgusted and wanted to teach it a lesson for fooling him, but as he used his capsule launcher to summon Thunder Kid, the chamber rumbled and walls formed everywhere, cutting everyone off from each other and putting them in separate teams. Téa and Emily were paired together and so were Max and Joey. Yugi was still with his grandpa and Tristan was with his Thunder Kid.

It seemed hopeless for everyone. There were dead ends almost everywhere and every wall looked the same. Tristan got the idea of using his marker to draw himself to know he had been the spot he was in so he could take a different route. But he couldn't remember which route he took before and ended up going back to the same wall he drew on a thousand times. Just when Tristan was about to cry and say he missed his friends, Thunder Kid tapped his shoulder and showed him a capsule nearby. Tristan touched it and release a fish-like creature with claws called Shovel Crusher.

At another part of the maze, Téa and Emily continued to walk until they saw a monster hanging from the ceiling. It was a giant spider called Jirai Gumo. The girls were about to summon Dark Witch and Magician's Valkyria, but the spider used its silk to steal their capsules. They knew Happy Lover and Watapon wouldn't stand a chance against the monster, but they hoped the capsules they saw would. But just when the blonde and the brunette were about to touch them, Jirai Gumo used its silk to stop them in their tracks. Unable to reach the capsules, the girls summon Happy Lover and Watapon to help them out. The two little monsters try to knock down the capsules before the spider can come any closer to attack them. With all their might, Happy Lover and Watapon knock the capsules over and the girls manage to touch them with their fingertips. Released from the capsules are Seiaryu and Dark Magician Girl. Together, they destroy Jirai Gumo and the girls get their capsules back.

Far away from the others, Max and Joey were figuring their way around the maze by drawing a map. And as they were eating the fruit Joey brought along, they found themselves feeling physically and mentally strong again. While Joey was busy playing genius, Max saw a monster behind him trying to get his attention. She pulls Joey towards her, seeing he's not paying attention. Joey yells at her for breaking his concentration, but Max tells him that she had to because the monster that was about to attack them was Battle Ox. Joey used his capsule launcher to summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon, but the corridors in the maze were too narrow and the Dragon couldn't fit. Just then, something broke through the walls and crushed Battle Ox. It was Shovel Crusher and Max and Joey saw Tristan riding on it. Quickly, they joined him and began looking for the others.

Téa and Emily were riding on Seiaryu, still trying to navigate their way through the maze. Suddenly, Shovel Crusher broke through one of the walls and took the girls by surprise. What was even more surprising was that the wall opposite from them had been broken through to reveal Yugi and Solomon. "Yugi, Grandpa, we found you," said Emily.

"Howdy, strangers," Yugi greeted.

"You got room for the two of us?" his grandfather asked.

Finally, the team was reunited at last. Everyone was riding on Shovel Crusher and the monster continued to bust through every wall in front of it. "Nice job, guys," Yugi tells his friends. "Thanks to the Capsule Monsters you found, the gang is back together and better than ever."

"And with two powerhouses in our corner, there's not a creature we can't clobber," his grandfather mentioned.

"There's not a brick wall we can't clobber either," Tristan added. "I just hope we're heading in the right direction."

"Speaking of that," Joey was saying, "don't you sort of think we're cheating our way through this maze?"

"Not necessarily," said Max. "The riddle didn't say we couldn't take a shortcut. For all we know, this was our only solution."

After breaking down almost every wall, the group was finally out of the maze and back in the chamber with the pillars. But when they looked up, they noticed that there were two apples. What they also noticed was that Tristan and Solomon were missing. They were still riding on Shovel Crusher and the monster wouldn't stop breaking everything down. Another thing the group noticed was a Cocoon of Evolution right next to the stairs. As if on cue, Great Moth emerged from the Cocoon and was ready to fight. The Millennium Puzzle activated and Yami was ready to battle too. He summoned Dark Magician and activated his duel armor to merge with him. Joey and the girls were ready too. He summoned Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Max summoned Harpy's Pet Dragon, Téa summoned Seiaryu, and Emily summoned Dark Magician Girl.

Though they were able to bombard it from five different directions, the Great Moth was able to withstand all of their attacks. Even worse, it had evolved into the Ultimate Great Moth. Seiyaryu and Red-Eyes tried to attack again, but the Moth deflected their attacks. Yami tried to attack as well, but the Ultimate Great Moth shielded itself and counter attacked. Then Yugi got an idea; maybe the answer to this was the apples on the pillars. Yami agreed and went up to the top of one of the pillars. He ate the apple resting on it to gain the power of evolution, transforming Dark Magician into the Magician of Black Chaos. Yami activated his duel armor again and became one with his chaos mage. Finally, he was able to take down the Ultimate Great Moth with his Chaos Scepter Blast.

Tristan and Solomon finally rejoined the others. Knowing they missed out on the action, Emily decided to fill them in. "When we first arrived, there were three apples resting upon three pillars. But when we returned, there were two apples. One of them was missing. Then we realized that there were three for a reason though we only needed one."

"But how'd Yugi know which one to choose?" Téa asked. "They all looked the same."

"That's true," Max tells her. "Each apple had the same power, but they also had different roles in the test. The first apple was consumed by Petite Moth, giving it the power to evolve into Great Moth. That was when the pharaoh realized that if he ate the second apple, he would gain the power of evolution too. That's why it was called the apple that gives you a raise. Joey and I figured that out when we were eating some of the fruit we packed with us in the maze. It was making us physically and mentally strong. Now one apple remains and that's the apple we need to offer up."

"Nice work, you guys," said Tristan.

"By the way, Tristan, how'd you and Mr. Muto miss out on all the action?" Emily asked. "And what happened to your monster?"

He shows them the capsule in his hand and tells her that it's resting. All that careening around finally took its toll on the beast.

Yugi came back with the last apple and now the group could finally climb the stairs. There was a pedestal on top and when Yugi placed the apple on it, the pendant around Téa's neck glowed once again. The apple turned into a stairwell that led to the door to the last trial.