A Blue-Eyes White Dragon Train passes by the Kaiba Dome, while inside, Roland announces to a cheering crowd that the KC Grand Championship is heating up!

''We're moving into the semifinals, where Rebecca Hawkins, Balfry Ginger, Leon Wilson, and Zigfried Lloyd will duke it out for a shot at the international Duel Monsters champion, Yuna Yami Mouto!''

The crowds cheer so loudly that the entire park heard it.

One of Kaiba's employees enters the control room where Kaiba and Mokuba (Yuna was off with Noah and Fugata doing something to help promote the theme park) are watching the tournament. He says they've conducted an in-depth investigation of Zigfried Lloyd. It appears Zigfried has participated in over fifty tournaments in the last three years, each time ranking in the top five. But their research revealed almost nothing about personal background or family history. And there's no record of any connection with the Schroeder family.

''So this Zigfried has been winning tournaments around the world, and no one knows anything about him?'' This sounded suspicious to Seto.

Kaiba's man says that apparently he gains entry into these tournaments with letters of recommendation from local politicians. He's compiled a list with dozens of names, but none were available for comment.

Kaiba says they just need some incentive, and takes the list and begins to go through the names. ''Number 13,'' he says. Kaiba says to question that man again, and if he still refuses to make a comment, make him an offer he can't refuse. ''And please do remind him that I still remember what happened. He'll know what I'm talking about and that might change his attitude.'' Kaiba's man leaves, while Kaiba looks at the photos of the duelists on his screen. He tells Zigfried that he's got him by the tail.

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''I can't believe I was knocked out of the tournament by a guy with pink hair!'' Joey complains as the gang arrives at the Blue-Eyes White Dragon train station. They were on their way for Rebecca's next duel, but Joey had to make a scene.

''Yeah,'' says Tristan, ''a guy with pink hair who's an expert duelist!''

Joey wails that he wants to be Number One. Téa tells him to grow up—there'll be other duels. Joey tells her she's not the one who's a runner-up every year. Tristan says he's got a point, and Yugi says to think of it this way—every match he loses helps make him a better duelist. Tristan says, then Joey should be the best by now.

Suddenly, Professor Hawkins runs into the station saying to Yugi, it's his grandfather!

Yugi ask what's wrong and the Professor explains that while he was getting a nurse, Solomon disappeared.

''This is bad!'' Tristan says and Duke tells him ''No shit, Einstein.'' Before they could get in a fight Tea points out that this might be the same guy who was after Yuna's files and Yugi suddenly realizes that his sister probably doesn't even know that this was happening.

Professor Hawkins tells the gang that he wishes he hadn't been distracted. Joey tells him not to sweat it, he's sure Gramps is fine. But the professor says Grandpa was barely able to move a muscle, so there's no way he could have gotten out of bed. Téa says maybe someone came and helped him. ''But who?''

Tristan suggests it might have been a secret admirer.

Téa bops him one, telling him to be serious.

Duke says they need a plan—Gramps might be in real trouble.

Joey agrees, saying that Grandpa has the worst luck of anyone he knows.

''Mokuba said some strange characters had snuck into the tournament.'' The Dice Master adds.

''Yea but what good it would do them to kidnap Grandpa Solomon?'' The blond asks.

''YUNA!'' Yugi screams in realization and tries to run off to ind both his family members, but Joey stops him and reassures him that he's sure Grandpa is just fine. The others agree, and Yugi thanks them.

Téa tells Professor Hawkins that he should go cheer for Rebecca. Duke says they'll catch up later, as soon as they find Yugi's Grandpa. Professor Hawkins thanks them and wishes them luck. Yugi says to tell Rebecca they're all rooting for her. They agree to split up and find that Grandpa.

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Meanwhile, Rebecca has arrived at her duel, but is disappointed to find no one there to cheer for her. She snickers as she remembers the sign saying "Welcom to Miniatureland" and wonders how many employees Kaiba-senpai was going to fire when he hears about it.

Then her grandfather runs up, and she greets him happily. He congratulates her on reaching the semifinals, and she asks where Yugi is. Awkwardly, Professor Hawkins explains that Yugi had to deal with a situation, but says he'll be there as soon as he can, and urges her to focus on her duel. He passes on Yugi's message, which cheers her up, and they head off to the duel.

The location of the duel is a tiny town, with buildings that come up to Rebecca's waist. She's delighted to feel tall for once in her life, and runs through the tiny streets, saying it's just like their town, only everything's mini. Except for a full-sized boy lying on a playing field. Professor Hawkins says that the detail on these statues is incredible!

Then the boy sits up—it's Leon Wilson, rubbing his eyes. He must have dozed off, he says. He was up all night practicing, and supposes he just needed a nap. He asks when Yugi's going to show up. He was hoping Yugi could watch his next duel. Rebecca says Yugi will be there—but he'll be rooting for her. Professor Hawkins asks about Leon's friends and family. Won't they be there? Leon shrugs and says everyone was too busy to come, but he's used to being on his own.

Not this time, says Professor Hawkins, and points out the fans arriving to cheer for both duelists. Leon smiles at the cheering crowds and stands up, telling Rebecca they should make this the best duel their fans have ever seen. She agrees, but she still wishes Yugi were there.

00000

Meanwhile, Joey runs through the jungle, calling out for Mr. Muto, while Tristan searches the train station. Duke looks for Grandpa near the roller coaster, and Téa searches the gardens

Then an announcement is heard: a short, stocky, elderly gentleman in overalls and a black headband has been separated from his loved ones. If anyone has lost a grandpa, he's waiting for them at the main gate. Yugi, at the jungle ruins, exclaims, that's his Grandpa! He and the others all run to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon statue at the main gate. But Grandpa isn't there.

Téa notices a note tied to the Blue-Eyes' claw, and Yugi retrieves it. It's a map of Kaiba Land, with an "X" drawn on it.

''If we find that spot, will we find Grandpa?'' Tea asks and Yugi sure hopes so.

Duke doesn't like the looks of this. Why would Yugi's Grandpa page them to come there, run and hide and leave a map so they can find him? He thinks someone set a trap for them. Everyone gasps!

Tristan says he's not going to fall for any trap, but Duke points out that if they want to save Yugi's Grandpa, they might have to.

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In the Kaiba Dome, Roland announces the beginning of the semifinal round. First, it's Zigfried Lloyd against Balfry Ginger, facing off in Kaiba Corp's Galaxy Theater. The second matchup features the two youngest minors to ever join a major tournament—Rebecca Hawkins and Leon Wilson, dueling in Small Town USA

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Kaiba watches from his control room, and the crowds cheer, as the duelists begin their duels.

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Rebecca begins by playing Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. She discards Ring of Magnetism and Marie the Fallen One. With Marie the Fallen One in the graveyard, she'll gain 200 life points with every turn. Next, she summons Fire Princess (1300 ATK) in attack mode, sets one card face down, and ends her turn.

Leon starts off by summoning Forest Wolf (1800 ATK) and attacking Fire Princess. Forest Wolf gulps Fire Princess down.

Rebecca loses 500 life points, taking her down to 3500.

''What big teeth he has!'' Leon says. ''The better to devour your princess with.''

''Is that the Big Bad Wolf?'' Rebecca asks.

''Wrong story,'' says Leon. Then he plays the magic card, Curse of Thorns. Its thorns dig underground, seizing Marie the Fallen One and preventing her from using her effect.

Rebecca tells Leon, not bad. He laughs, saying, glad she liked it. Leon's supporters, including Luke from their previous adventure in the Kaiba Dome, cheer for him, while Rebecca's fans look on in dismay.

Rebecca draws, then summons Luster Dragon (1900 ATK) in attack mode, saying that if Leon thinks his Wolf has a big mouth, take a look at her dragon's! She attacks and destroys Forest Wolf, who spits up Fire Princess as he's destroyed. Leon explains that when Forest Wolf is destroyed, whatever monsters he's swallowed return to the field, so Rebecca gets her Princess back. He tells her, nice dueling, and she thanks him, then attacks him directly with Fire Princess. He's down to 2600 life points. Rebecca ends her turn.

Leon says Rebecca's just as good as they say she is. But he's not scared. He draws, then summons Glife the Phantom Bird (1500 ATK) in attack mode. Rebecca thinks, big deal. As soon as she activates her face-down magic card, his bird will be useless. But then her set card is destroyed. Leon says that when Phantom Bird is summoned to the field, it destroys one of his opponent's trap or magic cards. Then Leon uses Glife the Phantom Bird to attack Fire Princess, destroying it and reducing Rebecca's life points to 3300. Next, he plays the magic card, Gingerbread House, and ends his turn.

Rebecca draws, but before she can make her move, Gingerbread House's effect activates. A giant blue tongue snakes out and slurps up Rebecca's Luster Dragon. Then the Gingerbread House spits out Luster Dragon, and it returns to Rebecca's side of the field, bloated, its attack raised to 2500. How strange, Professor Hawkins thinks. Leon just raised the attack points of Rebecca's monster. But then the Luster Dragon explodes. Leon explains that the Gingerbread House gives the opponent's monster 600 attack points, but if the total is 2500 or more, the monster is destroyed, and Leon gains 500 life points. His score rises to 3100.

Rebecca fumes to herself that Leon's cards are so weird! She's never seen any of them before. She plays The Shallow Grave, allowing them both to bring back one monster from the graveyard to the field in defense mode. Rebecca brings back Luster Dragon, while Leon revives Forest Wolf. Rebecca then sacrifices Luster Dragon to summon Luster Dragon #2 (2400 ATK). Then she attacks Glife the Phantom Bird with Luster Dragon #2, destroying it, and taking Leon down to 2200 life points.

Leon tells Rebecca she's pretty good, but this story isn't over yet. He draws, then switches Forest Wolf to attack mode. Next, he summons Cinderella (300 ATK), who first appears in rags, but then her fairy godmother waves a magic wand over her, dressing her up for the ball. Her special effect allows Leon to automatically summon Pumpkin Carriage to the field. Finally, the fairy godmother waves her wand at Cinderella's feet, to give her her Glass Slippers.

Rebecca is a bit bemused by all of Leon's fairytale cards and effects.

Leon explains that as long as Pumpkin Carriage is on the field, Cinderella can attack Rebecca's life points directly. Cinderella kicks off her Glass Slippers and they crash into Rebecca, reducing her life points to 3000. Then the Glass Slippers form on Luster Dragon #2's hind feet. As long as it wears the Glass Slippers, Luster Dragon #2 can't attack Cinderella. Not only that, it loses 1000 attack points, bringing it down to 1400. Next, Leon attacks Luster Dragon #2 with Forest Wolf, who swallows the dragon up.

Rebecca's down to 2600 life points.

''Whenever a monster wearing Glass Slippers is destroyed,'' Leon explains, ''Cinderella gets a new pair of slippers she can use for her next attack, and boosts her attack points by 1000, to 1300.''

Finally, Leon sets one card face down and ends his turn.

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Meanwhile, in the Galaxy Theater, Zigfried has just defeated Balfry Ginger, telling him that a victory just wasn't in the stars for him.

Roland announces Zigfried the winner, while Zigfried smiles, thinking to Kaiba, 'Come and get me.'

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Kaiba watches from his control room with Mokuba at his side, thinking that he's on to Zigfried.

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Duke and the others run down the street. Tristan wonders if they're going the right way, and Téa says that if that map is right, Yugi's Grandpa should be just around the corner. They all hope he's okay.

They turn the corner and stop. Duke consults the map and says, that's it.

They're standing before...

''A Chinese restaurant? While we were running around like lunatics,'' Joey protests, ''Grandpa was eating won ton soup!''

Yugi steps up to open the door. Téa warns him to be careful, and he nods, then opens the door, calling out to his Grandpa. 'No matter what it takes,' he thinks, 'I'll save my Grandpa!'

''Yugi?'' Said boy stops as he hears Yuna's voice and the group turn to see the Queen of Games coming their way with Noah and Fugata behind them. ''What are you guys doing here?''

''Gramps was kidnapped, so we're looking for him.'' Duke explains and the crimson eyes narrow.

''What do you mean? And why would you look here of all places? This restaurant is supposed to open tomorrow.'' Noah immediately reports to his older brother that something fishy was happening in the China Town.

''We got a map that says Grandpa is here.'' Yugi says as the Dice Master shows her the map. Noah looks at the map over Yuna's arm and says that it's the place. Yuna looks at the door with anger and she storms to stand beside Yugi. Nodding to her younger twin, the two do it at the same time.

Yugi and Yuna opes the door to the Chinese restaurant, where they've come in search of Grandpa. Everyone gasps when they see Grandpa in Chinese clothes, striking a huge gong with a mallet. They cover their ears from the ringing noise, as the interior lights up, and they enter the biggest Chinese restaurant they've ever seen! It's several stories high inside, with balconies all around, and there's a huge dragon carving in the middle of the high ceiling. The tables are set with numerous Chinese dishes.

''This place is huge!'' Tea gasps again as she takes everything in.

Noah nods and says it's one of the biggest and best restaurants in the world.

A drooling Joey and Tristan run for the food.

But they're stopped by Vivian Wong, standing on the highest balcony in a kung-fu pose, who tells them she didn't see their names on the guest list. It's Vivian, they exclaim, and Duke says, she led them here?

Yugi asks, ''But why?''

Téa suggests it's because Vivian's nuts, as Vivian continues to prance about on the high balcony, holding a fan in each hand, making kicks and leaps. Joey tells her to come down there and tell them what's going on, and she promptly hops off the balcony.

Joey and Tristan clutch each other in horror, and the others gasp, as Joey calls out, ''Oh no! She's falling... really slowly.'' Vivian floats down toward the floor, and Duke points out that Vivian's got a little helper—Grandpa stands at the side, lowering Vivian on a rope.

Grandpa notices them noticing him. Yugi says, ''Grandpa?'' Joey thinks this is getting weird. Yugi asks Grandpa what he's doing. Flustered, Grandpa lets go of the rope, saying he can explain.

Vivian tumbles to the floor, landing nose-first. She gets up, yelling at Grandpa that he had one simple job! He asks her to give him another chance. ''Please Vivi-chan."

''He works for her? And 'Vivi-chan'?" Joey wonders.

Yugi asks Grandpa if Vivian kidnapped him, or did they plan this together?

Vivian tells him to forget about that old man. She wants to talk about Yugi and herself. She snaps her fingers, and Grandpa bangs the gong again.

Vivian welcomes Yugi and Yuna and their friends to the real Grand Championship tournament, where she and Yuna are going to duke it out for the crown!

Téa angrily tells Vivian to give it up. She had her chance, and Rebecca canceled her out. Duke says that's right. ''Only the winner of the tournament gets a title shot, and you already blew it.''

Vivian insists she's starting her own tournament, and the first match is Vivian against Yuna.

Yuna says she's sorry, but it's against Kaiba's tournament rules. ''I'm not about to go against him just because of you.'' The girl growled out, sounding suspiciously like her rival. Noah shivered and wondered if his Nee-chii was spending too much time with his older brother.

But Grandpa tells Yuna the right thing to do is duel against Vivian.

Joey thinks Vivian must have hypnotized Grandpa. ''That, or he has a crush on Vivian.''

Grandpa blushes, and tries to explain. After Professor Hawkins left Grandpa's hospital room, Vivian came by. She said she might be able to help him, if he helped her. Grandpa said he'd do anything! And with one swift chop to his back, Vivian put it back into place.

''If it hadn't been for Vivian,'' Grandpa says, ''I wouldn't be standing there, so I owe her a favor. That's why I led you kids there.''

Tristan adds, and turned his back on his grandchildren.

Grandpa protests that he heard that! Joey says, to think he once looked up to Grandpa! He forgot what's important—the heart of the cards!

Yugi says Joey's right.

Although Yuna doesn't speak, her eyes said everything loud and clear. As she turned to leave Grandpa slumps, saying he's sorry. So Vivian hits him in the back and puts his back out again.

He curls up on the floor, moaning and Yuna twirls around, yelling ''GRANDPA!'' in the same voice as Yugi. Vivian tells Yuna if she wants her Grandpa to walk upright again, she'll have to duel her.

Joey says that's a dirty trick.

Vivian agrees, saying she can't believe she didn't think of it sooner. She jumps up onto one of the tables, asking Yuna what will it be? ''Your grandfather, or him?'' The group looks on questioningly when Noah suddenly groans as he realizes what this lunatic wants! Yugi-tachi looks at him and asks him to explain.

''Vivian is one of Seto's many obsessive fan girls.'' Yuna answered instead. ''Like all his other hardcore fan girls, she wants my place as Seto's friend and rival, since Seto usually pays more attention ti me than anyone else. She thinks that if she beats me, Seto will pay attention to her. That's why she dares call herself Asian Duel Queen, to get his focus on her. But she can't keep that title since Rebbeca, a child, defeated her so the only way for her to keep her reputation is by dueling me. What you don't understand, Vivian, is that Seto will never like you or respect you if you defeat, as if you could, me in a duel or any game for that matter. He'll kill you for taking that pleasure form him and set your remains on fire so no one could ever identify you.''

''What!? All this for KAIBA!'' Joey yelled, not believing that two incredibly hot girls were about to duel because of that prick.

''Shut up! I'll beat you and Seto-dear will be mine!'' Vivian shrieks and Yuna's control finally snaps. Jumping up onto one of the tables, ready to duel, she tells Vivian it's time to see why everyone fears her and her rival.

As all of this was going down, Noah had contacted Seto and was showing him what was going on. Seto redirected the duel to go live all over the park as Roland announces they have a special treat for their guests: Duel Queen vs Asian Duel Queen. The crowds all around Kaibs Land cheer for their Queen of Games as the duel starts.

Vivian sets the terms—if she loses, she'll fix Grandpa's back. If she wins, Seto must become her love slave.

More than half the world seethed at the bold exclamation and Seto himself felt sick with both anger and disgust. He swore to himself that Vivian will never be able to pick up a trap card after he is done with her! Mokuba couldn't believe Yuna hadn't already torn the older girl to pieces as Tea looked ready to do so.

Yuna accepts the terms, but says that she can't decide for Seto. ''If he wants to date you, it's his decision.''

Duke says it's no problem—Yuna can duel circles around her.

Vivian says, don't count on it.

They get ready to duel. Yuna swore she hadn't been this angry since Marik's bold exclamation on top of the Duel Tower on Alcatraz.

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Leon says he'd pay attention if he were Rebecca. He plays the magic card, Giant's Training, saying that this card will be her downfall. It lets him sacrifice Tom Thumb to summon Globerman (2600 ATK). He uses Globerman to attack Ruby Dragon, destroying it and reducing Rebecca's life points to 100. She activates her trap card, Rope of Life, discarding her hand to bring back her monster with an extra 800 attack points. Next, she activates her set magic card, Adamantine Sword Revival. It lets her replace the dragon she just brought back with an even stronger one from her deck—her Diamond Head Dragon. It starts out with the same number of points as Ruby Dragon had, but then it gets an extra 1000 points from her magic card, making its total attack 3400.

Leon ends his turn, but tells Rebecca to wait till she sees what he's got planned next.

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Back at the Chinese restaurant, Joey and Tristan are busily stuffing their faces. Téa tosses a toy panda at them, asking them how they can be eating now!

''Yuna needs us.''

Joey says Yuna doesn't need them yelling in her ear to win, and Tristan tells her to relax and try the chicken.

Then Duke tells them that things aren't looking so good for Yuna.

Holding the magic card Luminous Clouds, Vivian sacrifices Master Kyonshee and Kung-Fu Nyan Nyan to summon Dragon Lady (2500 ATK). Next, she plays Lightning Saber, increasing Dragon Lady's attack by 300, and attacks Yuna's fateful Dark Magician. The gang watch in shock as Dark Magician is destroyed. They're even more shocked when Dragon Lady attacks again, attacking Yuna directly. Her new sword allows Dragon Lady to attack a second time, with half the attack strength.

Yuna's down to 1800 life points.

She draws, and plays Big Shield Gardna (2600 DEF) in defense, then sets a card face down and ends her turn.

Tristan says that even if Yuna loses, the worst thing that happens is that Kaiba gets a date.

Téa insists that Yuna won't lose!

Yugi agrees even as some of the food was finally getting to him from his position, kneeling by Solomon.

Vivian attacks Big Shield Gardna with Dragon Lady, but Yuna activates her trap card, Mirror Force, to stop her attack. Vivian plays her magic card, Snowfall Sword, to cancel out the effect of Mirror Force. Dragon Lady's attack goes through, and Big Shield Gardna is destroyed. Then Dragon Lady's attack is cut in half, to 1400.

Between bites of food, Joey says this is no good. Yuna doesn't have any monsters on the field to protect her.

Vivian plays the magic card, Flying Dragon Whirl, discarding four dragon cards to raise Dragon Lady's attack by 1200 points, to 2600. She orders Dragon Lady to attack Yuna directly, then begins to celebrate, saying she did it! She won!

But Yuna tells her to guess again. She discards Kuriboh, protecting her life points.

Vivian whines, how dare she! ''Just wait until next turn.''

The crowds cheer as Yuna stops the attack and stays in the game!

Yuna snorts and says there is no next turn. She's ending this right now.

The whole park was almost quiet as they watched the Duel Queen in her element as she prepares to deliver the final blow to her opponent and Seto smirks in his office. He could tell already that Yuna had a good move planed.

Yuna draws, then summons Skilled Dark Magician (1900 ATK) in attack mode. Next, she plays Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards, and a light glows on Skilled Dark Magician's shoulder. Then she plays Emblem of Dragon Destroyer, allowing her to bring back Buster Blader from the graveyard to her hand, and Skilled Dark Magician's other shoulder lights up. Vivian asks what those lights are, and Yuna says they're spell counters. Every time she plays a magic card, another one lights up.

Finally, she plays one more magic card, Monster Reincarnation. This lets her bring Dark Magician back from the graveyard to her deck, and lights up Skilled Dark Magician's third spell counter.

''Now I can sacrifice Skilled Dark Magician to summon Dark Magician.''

Yugi cheers, knowing that the sellcaster was definitely going to save Yuna in this duel. Noah smirks from his place filming it all and he knew that his brothers were grinning as well. Yuna got Vivin line, hook and sinker!

Yuna's not through yet. She plays Polymerization to fuse Dark Magician with Buster Blader, forming Dark Paladin. ''Dark Paladin gains 500 attack points for every dragon on the field and in their graveyards.'' Vivian starts to cry, realizing that she just sent four dragons to the graveyard and that she had sent Yuna's Blue-Eyes to the graveyard a few turns ago, due to her magic card. Dark Paladin's attack rises from 2900 to 5400, and Yuna uses it to attack Dragon Lady, destroying it and the rest of Vivian's life points.

''Game over.''

''Noo!'' The distraught Chinese duelist whines, not believing how easily the Duel Queen had defeated her. It can't be possible to be that good a Duelist, the duel had lasted only a few turns!

Yuna snorts at Vivian. ''Your last move was the stupidest one I've ever been faced against.'' Vivian was about to protest that the strategy was a good and well used one, but stops as Yuna finishes her comment. ''Everyone knows that my greatest and only rival uses a Dragon Deck, although centered around his Blue-Eyes White Dragons. My opponents know not to use many dragons due to this fact. Anyone that doesn't think of that wasn't worth the time I wasted dueling them!''

As the gang cheer, Yugi switches places with Yuna, and tells Vivian to pay up. ''Grandpa's waiting.''

Still curled up on the floor in pain, Grandpa thanks Yuna and Yugi.

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Yugi and the gang finally arrive to cheer Rebecca on. Leon says, let's go, and Joey tells Rebecca, no sleeping on the job, with only 100 life points left. She says she can't lose now that her lucky charm's finally here.

Yuna chuckles at her twin's blush. 'Puppy love. It's the cutest thing you'll ever see!'

Rebecca attacks Globerman with Diamond Head Dragon. Leon loses 800 life points, taking him down to 900. Then she sets one card face down and ends her turn. Thanks to her set card, she thinks, even if Leon summons a monster in defense, the difference between its defense points and her monster's attack points comes out of Leon's life points. So as long as he plays something with less than 2500 defense points, she'll win.

Leon draws, then plays his Gold Moon Coin magic card. He gives his every card in his hand to Rebecca, then he can draw the same number of cards from his deck. He gives her one card, Spinning Wheel Spindle.

Rebecca looks at it, and says it doesn't make sense, He could have used this card to destroy her monster.

Leon says that's true, but it wouldn't have wiped out her life points. He has a better idea—one that lets him win the duel right away.

Yugi wonders how, and Yuna says she doesn't know, but something tells her Leon isn't bluffing.

Leon returns to his side of the field, then draws his card and plays the magic card, One Hundred Year Awakening. It lets him sacrifice his Curse of Thorns to summon Thorn Princess (400 ATK).Thorn Princess's special effect allows him to take control of one of Rebecca's monsters. He takes over Diamond Head Dragon and uses it to attack Rebecca's life points directly, wiping her out and winning the duel.

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At the Kaiba Dome, one of Kaiba's employees comes to tell him that they've completed their investigation of Zigfried Lloyd, and Kaiba's assumptions were correct. Kaiba looks at the screens showing the duels, telling Zigfried his little game is over.

''I won't let you endanger Yuna and my brothers' lives and future!''

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Rebecca stands with her head down. Leon tells her not to sweat it—she played a great duel.

She says she doesn't need his pity, but thanks him anyway, and tells him not to let it go to his head. ''There's a long way to go.'' At this, she looks over to the Queen of Games. She knew that only Kaiba-senpai has even the slightest chance of defeating this girl, but for now she stands undefeated. If Leon wants to duel her, he'll have to get his fan boy self together. Otherwise, Yuna'll crush him in a few turns.

Leon follows her gaze and he smiles happily as he sees his idol, but Noah was fast to take Yuna's hand like a possessive younger brother.

Yugi tells her, good game, and Joey says it wasn't half bad for a couple of kids. Kids that can outduel Joey, Tristan adds.

Yugi jumps over one of the little houses to join Rebecca, telling her she did great. She thanks him, then starts to cry and flings herself onto him, saying she wanted to win so badly! Grandpa wonders, must she be so dramatic? And Téa, Tristan and Joey say, look who's talking!

Rebecca cries on Yugi's shoulder and Yuna finally sees that something in Yugi had changed his reactions to the little blond as he held her. Smiling at her brother's crush, Yuna wonders how to get the two on a date.

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The next and final day of the tournament, Roland announces the finalists of the KC Grand Championship: standing on a high pinnacle of rock in the middle of the ocean is Zigfried Lloyd, and across from him on another pinnacle stands Leon Wilson.

''The winner of this bout will face Yuna Yami Mouto for the championship crown. History may be made in the next few hours here in the Kaiba Dome.''

The crowd cheers and Roland wonders how many of them realize that they just gave money to see the same thing happen, over and over again. Yuna was the undefeated champion for seven or more years now. It was rather obvious who the winner will be in the end.

The images of the ocean and pinnacles of rock fade, to reveal Leon and Zigfried standing at either end of the Kaiba Dome's dueling arena, surrounded by the cheering crowds. The Dome opens up, letting sunlight spread across the arena, as Roland says, let the KC Grand Championship finals begin!

Then a helicopter is seen flying above the stadium, with Kaiba suspended from it on a ladder, decked out in a gray version of his Battle City coat and the same black getup, his bangs flying around in the wind. At the sight of him, everything went quiet before the fans broke out into cheers for the ultimate master of ceremonies. The gang watch, openmouthed. Joey wonders what he's doing here, and Yugi suggests, just dropping by?

Mokuba says he wasn't scheduled to be here.

Noah nods and the two younger Kaibas make sure they're beside Yuna. in case something bad is about to happen.

The helicopter lowers Kaiba to the dueling arena, where he jumps down, sets down his briefcase, and demands that the duel be stopped. ''As president of Kaiba Corp, I declare the match invalid.''

Joey protests that Kaiba can't rip them off like that!

And Leon says he doesn't get it.

Kaiba goes on to announce that, as a result of a disqualification, the winner of this duel is Leon Wilson.

''Mokuba, what's going on?'' Tristan asks but Mokuba says he doesn't know. The same was with Noah, but Yuna says she has a suspicion that Seto had caught his rat.

Zigfried asks if there's any particular reason for this.

Kaiba says he broke his tournament contract by entering the tournament under a false name. ''Your real name is Zigfried von Schroeder, of the Schroeder Corporation.''

Yugi turns to his Grandpa to ask, wasn't that an old gaming company? Grandpa says it still is, you just don't hear much about it any more. Once Kaiba Corp became number one, everyone forgot about the Schroeders.

Téa wonders if Zigfried joined to get revenge.

Kaiba tells Zigfried he never trusted him from the start—and his instincts are never wrong. Remembering the hacker attack on the Kaiba Dome and the other Kaiba Land dueling locations, he says it all makes sense—Kaiba Corp's biggest rival joins the tournament and suddenly everything goes haywire. Coincidence? Kaiba doesn't think so. But since he's a nice guy, he won't have Zigfried arrested for trespassing and fraud, under one condition—Zigfried gets out of his life, and takes his bad hair with him.

Joey snorts about the remark and wonders if he and Kaiba are not all that different.

Grandpa cringes at both Kaiba's remark about Zigfried's "bad hair" and Kaiba's statement about entering the tournament under a false name—since Grandpa did, indeed, enter under a false name himself.

If Zigfried comes near him again, Kaiba says he'll destroy what's left of his pathetic company.

Zigfried just laughs, and says Kaiba has finally been exposed to the public for what he is—a complete coward. ''The truth,'' Zigfried says, ''is that you're afraid of my superior skills, so you're hiding behind a technicality instead of facing me. And now the whole world knows! I didn't expect the president of Kaiba Corporation to be so petty. Or is the great Seto Kaiba afraid that someone from Schroeder Corporation will be the first winner of the KC Cup?''

Seto snorts. ''The day you exit this place as the winner is the day the world stops spinning! Or did you forget what it means to win this tournament?'' A glance at the Queen of Games and she was instantly on the big screen, causing the crown to boo the pink-haired man for thinking that he can take down their undefeated Queen.

Zigfried, completely ignoring the angry crowd of fans, says he doesn't blame Kaiba for throwing him out—Kaiba knows that if Zigfried won the tournament and became the world champion, Kaiba would never win the title back. The booing got even louder as they heard that and were surprised when the Duel Queen stood up. The crimson eyes were flashing as she started walking over to where the two CEO's were arguing.

Said men almost didn't notice how everything was silent.

Kaiba says he's throwing Zigfried out because he doesn't like him, not because he's scared of him. Kaiba says he promised himself he wouldn't duel in this tournament, but now that he has the chance to embarrass Zigfried, those plans have changed!

The crowd fired up again at the treat in store for them. Kaiba doesn't duel all that often, so to see him so fired up to beat someone to a plop was going to be a great experience. Many were already getting ready to film the event on their phones or cameras.

Yugi says, Kaiba's going to duel Zigfried! Rebecca says, there's never a dull moment.

Zigfried agrees to duel Kaiba. But if he wins, he gets to stay.

''And if you lose,'' Kaiba says, ''you disappear, never to be heard from again.''

Yuna was standing by the dueling platform now and Leon slowly got off the battlefield. Seeing the beautiful girl, Zigfried smirks and point to her. ''Also, when I win, I have the right to duel your beautiful rival before even the supposed winner gets that honor!''

Yuna froze and Seto tensed. The Yugi-tachi and the crowd started protesting immediately, not wanting the Duel Queen to be disrespected in such a way. Said girl had her head bowed, her long bangs hiding her face.

Seething, Kaiba was about to kill the German instead of dueling him for such disrespect for his rival when Yuna spoke up.

''Alright.'' Everyone froze. Yuna looked up with her rose eyes, freezing Zigfried's blood in his veins at how cold and unforgiving they were. ''It's just a good thing that Seto will destroy you in this duel before you get to hopeful.'' Seto smirks and nods to his rival. There's no way he'd let the pink-haired freak win, not with Yuna watching.

Yugi doesn't know about this, but Mokuba is sure his brother will win.

Kaiba tells Roland to hold his briefcase while he takes out his Duel Disk and deck. He says this shouldn't take too long.

Kaiba asks Zigfried if he's sure he wants to go through with this. Zigfried says he wouldn't miss the chance to destroy his arch-rival in front of the entire world. Kaiba asks Zigfried if he's afraid. Zigfried says no, it's his honor to duel Kaiba and beat him. They shuffle each other's decks, then Zigfried wonders who should go first. Saying there's only one fair way to decide, he flips a coin. Kaiba says it's Zigfried's call, and Zigfried chooses heads, and heads it is. He chooses to let Kaiba go first. Kaiba says he never knew Zigfried was so kind—he'll have to return the favor.

Zigfried says there's no need, but Kaiba says he insists.

The two go to the dueling stations, as Roland announces a slight change of plans. ''The tournament host, Seto Kaiba, will face off against Zigfried von Schroeder.''

Kaiba plugs his Duel Disk into the dueling console, and his life point counter lights up with 4000 points. Zigfried does the same, setting his deck on the field.

Mokuba calls out to Seto to show this circus freak who's boss!

''You better not lose, Kaiba!'' Joey yells in a rare moment of support for the brunet, causing Yuna to give him a wide, grateful smile and Seto a stunned look. His friends were also looking at him strangelly, so he tried to explain that even Kaiba's better than Ziegfried. ''If nothin' else, Kaiba has pride. And we all know that Rich boy would never disrespect Yuna the way dat pink-haired bastard is doin' right now!''

Leon joins Yugi and the others, asking what's next. Is he going to duel against Yuna or Zigfried?

Téa says she guesses it depends on how well Kaiba does in this next duel. Leon says he hopes Kaiba wins, and Téa says not to worry, she's sure Leon will get his chance, no matter who wins. Rebecca adds, unless he wants to give her his place in the tournament.

Leon says he thinks he'll pass. ''I just didn't expect to duel Yuna this way.''

''But wasn't your dream to duel Yuna?'' The brunette asks, slightly puzzled by this kid. Duelists were so strange.

''I suppose so.'' He replies hesitantly.

''Then what's the difference? You'll still get to duel Yuna.''

''Yeah, sure. But ...'' Leon couldn't continue as he looked over to the Duel Queen. She was the only one as calm and collected as the brunet CEO on the Dueling Arena was, and she seemed to have absolute faith that he would be victorious. Leon felt envy for the Blue-Eyes Duelist as he realized that even if he won and presented a great duel for the Queen of Games, Yuna would only ever see Seto Kaiba as her rival.

He was distracted from his thoughts when Joey says that as much as he can't stand Kaiba, anyone's better than that pink-haired sideshow freak, Zigfried.

Yugi and Téa agree.

As the dueling stations rise into place, Zigfried thinks that his most devastating flower is about to blossom. Kaiba thinks that he doesn't know what Zigfried is after, but it all ends here. He'll show him it was a mistake to challenge him.

Kaiba begins by summoning X-Head Cannon (1800 ATK) in attack mode. He also sets two cards face down and ends his turn.

Zigfried tells Kaiba his little mechanical toys are nothing but insignificant seedlings that are about to be uprooted by his raging wildflowers. Kaiba says these people came here to see a duel, not a bad poetry reading. Zigfried supposes Kaiba's right—the true beauty of his maidens of mayhem can best be appreciated if he simply calls them to the field. He plays his magic card, Ride of the Valkyries, which allows him to summon every Valkyrie he holds in his hand. He summons three of them, Valkyrie Zweite (1600 ATK), Valkyrie Erste (1600 ATK), and Valkyrie Dritte (1000 ATK).

Thanks to Valkyrie Zweite's special effect, Kaiba's X-Head Cannon is destroyed. Next, Valkyrie Erste removes X-Head Cannon from play, and takes on its attack. Then, Valkyrie Dritte gains 100 attack points for every monster removed from the game.

Joey says, Zigfried summoned three monsters at once!

''And,'' Yugi adds, ''Kaiba's life points are defenseless, so if Zigfried attacks with all three Valkyries, the duel is done.''

Mokuba urges his brother on.

''Hold on, guys!'' They look at Noah, who was frowning at his Seto-nii's opponent. ''Seto-nii has two face down cards! He's no fool.'' The conviction with which he looked at them with made them realize that Noah knew more about Seto Kaiba then they did. Mokuba grinned at the stunned faces. Noah, before he met them all, had researched everything about Seto he could find and had probably drilled everything out of Gozaboro, just so he could try and best Seto. Beside himself and Yuna, no one knew Seto's strategies as well as Noah does, yet even the two younger Kaibas get a surprise here and there, once in a while.

Zigfried says it looks like they've reached the finale before they've even begun. Telling Kaiba "Auf Wiedersehen," he orders Valkyrie Zweite to attack Kaiba directly. But Kaiba activates his trap card, Negate Attack, stopping the Valkyrie's attack.

Yugi says it's awesome. ''Zigfried's turn is over, so his three Valkyries go back to his deck.''

''Go Seto!'' Mokuba and Noah exclaim.

Yuna smirks.

Kaiba asks Zigfried what he's waiting for—call back his ponies. But Zigfried plays a magic card, saying it gives them a second performance. Again, he orders Valkyrie Zweite to attack.

Téa says he's cheating! Mokuba agrees, saying those Valkyries should have gone back to Zigfried's deck.

Kaiba asks what Zigfried is doing. Zigfried explains that his magic card, Mischief of the Time Goddess, allows him to skip Kaiba's turn and pick up where he left off.

Kaiba activates his other trap card, Magical Trick Mirror, which activates a magic card from Zigfried's graveyard. He chooses Mischief of the Time Goddess, skipping Zigfried's turn.

Joey says Kaiba just bought himself a second chance, and tells Kaiba not to screw it up.

Kaiba says if Zigfried thought he could win this in one turn, he doesn't know who he's up against. Kaiba's come a long way since they were kids. Kaiba summons Z-Metal Tank (1300 DEF) in defense mode, then summons Clone Dragon, which becomes an exact duplicate of the monster he just played.

Leon says, what a duel! The action hasn't stopped since Kaiba made his first move. Unfortunately, Tristan says, most of the action has been at Kaiba's expense. Yugi says it's going to get worse—Zigfried's Valkyries are still on the field.

Zigfried asks if Kaiba's going to do anything but stall. They both know Kaiba's going to lose, so why not get it over with? That way he can still make his eight o'clock massage.

Yuna wrinkles her brows, wondering if this guy was serious about dueling her rival or just messing around.

Kaiba says Zigfried nauseates him, and tells him to make his move.

Zigfried plays a magic card, Valkyrie's Embrace, then switches Valkyrie Dritte to defense mode. One of Kaiba's Z-Metal Tanks disappears. Zigfried explains that after he plays his magic card, switching one of his Valkyries to defense removes one of Kaiba's monsters from play. Then Valkyrie Dritte's attack goes up by another 100 points, to 1200. He orders Valkyrie Erste to attack Kaiba's Clone Dragon, destroying it. Then Valkyrie Zweite attacks Kaiba directly. Kaiba loses 1600 life points, taking him down to 2400.

Yugi says, this is bad.

Rebecca says, Kaiba lost almost half his points, and Joey adds that there's more where that came from. But Kaiba just brushes off his sleeve and draws, saying, that's all? Zigfried says Kaiba's not fooling anyone. ''The whole world can sense your fear.''

Kaiba wonders what Zigfried thinks he's afraid of. ''Your ferocious galloping Girl Scouts? Please! I've seen Atlantis raise out of the sea, witnessed Wheelers eating habits-''

''HEY!''

''Spent more than a day with Pegasus, lived through hell and came back with a few memories I don't wish to share, saw Mokuba almost die, jumped out a window and down a cliff and then climbed back up while dragging my metal briefcase, almost got demolished by a missile, saw my dead stepfather and saved his son, saved Wheeler, almost been in a plane crash, had Pegasus do something freaky to me during Duelist Kingdom and had to fight a stubborn, Russian boy for the last plate of borscht!'' Everyone blinks at the last one while Mokuba, Yugi, Yuna and Solomon almost die laughing as they remember the many fights for the last plate between the two stubborn boys, one cursing in Russian like there was no tomorrow and the other scolding him for such a dirty mouth.

Somewhere in Japan, in St. Mihailov high school ...

''Achoo!'' The whole class jumps out of fright as the seemingly cold little Russian sneezes loudly. An eleven year old Sasha rubs his nose, Mafuyu pokes him.

''Ey, Sasha, you okay?'' She whispers.

The silver-haired boy noods, but the redhead wasn't convinced and was about to ask him something else when the teacher screamed at her for talking during a test, and Sasha had to glare the annoying adult away, causing some people in the class to snicker.

Back at Kaiba Land ...

''Do you seriously think that I'd be scared of those little monsters after all of that?'' The CEO finished sarcastically. Kaiba plays Pitch-Dark Dragon (600 DEF) in defense, then sets one card face down and ends his turn. Zigfried switches Valkyrie Dritte to attack mode, then attacks Pitch-Dark Dragon with Valkyrie Zweite, destroying it. Tristan says, every time Kaiba summons a monster, it gets crushed! Yugi tells the guys to hold on and not lose hope yet.

Kaiba activates his trap card, Flat Level 4. Now that his dragon is gone, they can each choose a 4-star monster from their decks and summon it to the field. Kaiba chooses Y-Dragon Head (1600 DEF) and plays it in defense.

Zigfried chooses another Valkyrie Dritte, which gets the 200-point power boost from Kaiba's two monsters that have been removed from play, making her attack 1200. Then he ends his turn.

Kaiba draws, then plays Pot of Greed, allowing him to draw two more cards. Next, he plays the magic card, Dimension Fusion, paying 2000 life points to bring back his X-Head Cannon and Z-Metal Tank that were removed from play.

Now he'll be able to combine them together, says Yugi.

Téa says, but he paid 2000 life points.

Tristan thinks it wasn't worth it.

Yuna nods in approval of Seto's move. 'It might be risky, but Seto knows how to turn the situation into his favor.'

Next, Kaiba plays the magic card, Soul Absorption, giving him an extra 500 life points each time a card is removed from play. Then he removes X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank from play, in order to summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon (2800 ATK), and gaining 1500 points in the bargain to bring his score back up to 1900.

Duke's impressed—not only did Kaiba summon a really powerful monster, he was able to regain 1500 life points! Grandpa says this could be just the break Kaiba needed to make his comeback. Yugi hopes so.

Just then, the Yugi-tachi turn to see the three Egyptian families coming to join them, along with the Crawfords and Mai and Serenity. They had all been laughing at the usual banter between Marik and Bakura about who should be declared a winner at the arcade games of the amusement park, but the cheery conversation stopped as they saw Kaiba dueling.

''What's going on?'' Pegasus was the first to ask, noticing how Yuna stood directly in the middle, between the two dueling stations. That newer meant anything good, seeing as the Duel Queen was often the center of attention. He recognized the other CEO as the one that had tried to sell him Seto's first sketches of the Dueling System, but the brunet had already finished a far better design. He never knew how the preteen had been able to redesigned the whole system to look and work so much better, nut he had found out that the young CEO had wanted to test them out with his rival as soon as possible.

Yuna had been Seto's inspiration to be better at everything, and the Blue-Eyes master had took the challenge head on!

''Zigfried is the hacker that has been giving Kaiba-senpai problems and now they're dueling for Zigfried's right to continue with the tournament and a direct access to a duel against Yuna-san. Kaiba-senpai hadn't been all that happy with the man's boldness, so he told Zigfried that he would have to disappear if he lost.''

Bakura looked at the duel. ''Although he's doing fine now, I don't know how long the Priest can stand against those pony girls. They're tricky cards, but not unbeatable.''

''And I'm sure Kaiba's more than capable to defeat this Zigfried if he can give Yuna such a challenge every time they duel.'' Ryou jumped out of his skin as Rafel came to stand behind them, the rest of the Paradias employees and Dartz's familiy behind the tall blond.

''He should be able to wipe the floor with that bastard before it's noon.'' Amleda commented and they realized that there was only about 20 minutes before said time.

Zigfried isn't so happy, though. He makes a fierce face at Kaiba, as Kaiba says it's time to get rid of Zigfried's little friend. He attacks with XYZ-Dragon Cannon, destroying one of the Valkyrie Drittes, and taking Zigfried's life points down to 2500. Téa says it was a nice move—Kaiba totally caught Zigfried off guard.

Mokuba says, that's his bro! ''Always one step ahead.''

"Sasuga Kaiba!" Tristan says as he raises a fist into the air. Joey was also pumping air with his fists, stunning the Ishtar twins.

'One step ahead?' Zigfried thinks. He swore that would never happen again! '"Sasuga Kaiba?"'

Flashback

Zigfried sees a gathering of businessmen saying that Seto Kaiba is a genius.

''Thanks to him, the gaming industry will never be the same.''

"Sasuga Kaiba."

A younger Zigfried runs into the room with his briefcase, but he's too late. The crowd watches, flashbulbs flashing, as Pegasus shakes Kaiba's hand. Before them is a gaming table on which Kaiba's first holographic Duel Monsters system is displayed. A holographic Battle Ox shimmers on the table. Zigfried falls to his knees, protesting that that idea belongs to him! His briefcase falls open, and the papers slide out, showing diagrams of a similar dueling system.

''Gozaboro-san must be proud of his heir!'' another businessman says as they hurry off to speak with the child genius, leaving Zigfried to seethe as the boy who had ruined his chance to prove his worth to his father only a few weeks before. ''Not again!''

End of flashback

Back in the present, Zigfried vows that Kaiba's beaten him to the punch for the last time!

Yugi thinks that Kaiba's not out of trouble yet. And now it's Zigfried's turn again...

Zigfried draws, then plays the magic card, Nibelung's Treasure. Tristan recognizes it as the card Zigfried use to do Joey in. Joey says that's it, and it's not a fond memory. Nibelung's Ring appears on Kaiba's side of the field, the Ring forming around XYZ-Dragon Cannon. The magic card also allows Zigfried to draw five new cards, and the Ring stops XYZ-Dragon Cannon from attacking. It gets worse, says Joey. Kaiba will have to draw two cards, and if one of them is a monster, it will be removed from play.

Next, Zigfried sacrifices Valkyrie Dritte to summon the instrument of Kaiba's destruction. A chariot drawn by two horses comes pounding out of the sky. It's Fortune Chariot, Zigfried says, and it's come to cart Kaiba to oblivion! Valkyrie Zweite leaps from her horse into the chariot. This allows her to attack Kaiba directly, with half her attack points. Kaiba loses 800 life points, taking him down to 1100. Yugi calls out to Kaiba to hang in there. But Zigfried isn't finished yet. He plays Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Kaiba's Soul Absorption, then sets a card face down and ends his turn.

Zigfried gloats that without his Soul Absorption magic card, Kaiba can no longer replenish his life points. And with his Fortune Chariot in play, Zigfried can continue to chip away at Kaiba's life points.

''Now, who's one step ahead, Herr Kaiba?''

The score stands at Kaiba 1100 life points, Zigfried 2500. Zigfried says that embarrassing Kaiba in front of millions of people is more fun than he imagined! The effect of Nibelung's Ring forces Kaiba to draw two cards, and if there are any monsters, they are immediately destroyed. Kaiba asks if Zigfried thinks that scares him, and draws his cards. They are a magic card and a trap card (Monster Reborn and Attack Guidance Armor), so he tells Zigfried he's out of luck—no monsters here. He sets one card face down. Zigfried says that since there's nothing else Kaiba can do, he assumes that ends his turn. After all, Nibelung's Ring has rendered the XYZ-Dragon Cannon useless. Watching worriedly, Mokuba says this doesn't look good.

Zigfried draws, saying Kaiba knows what comes next, and orders Valkyrie Zweite to use Fortune Chariot to attack Kaiba directly. With her attack cut in half to 800, Valkyrie Zweite attacks, but Kaiba activates his trap card, Attack Guidance Armor, redirecting her attack to another of Zigfried's monsters. Then Zigfried activates his own trap card, Wotan's Judgment, to save his Valkyrie. By switching one magic card in his hand (Nobleman of Crossout) with the top card in his deck, he immediately ends his battle phase. Then he tells Kaiba that, thanks to him, he's assembled three of his most powerful cards. He plays his magic cards, Goddess Urd's Verdict, Goddess Verdande's Guidance, and Goddess Skuld's Oracle. Joey says those dames are nothing but bad news, and Yugi says Zigfried played them last time, and they nearly destroyed Joey's deck.

Kaiba says that strategy may have worked against a lame dork like Wheeler, but he's in a different league.

Zigfried suggests that they let his Goddesses be the judge of that. He activates Goddess Skuld's effect, making Kaiba show him the top three cards on his deck. Three Blue-Eyes White Dragons are revealed, making Zigfried gasp that it's impossible!

The arena goes wild as they see the three legendary dragons of ancient legends and Yuna smiles as she feels her own Blue-Eyes answering the call of battle, like Seto's were doing. The gang, although knowing that Seto is as connected to those cards as he was connected to his own limbs, could only gawk at the impossible sight. Rebecca never again felt like Seto didn't deserve those three Dragons and many duelists all across the world that had faced the brunet wondered how they had survived even one turn with the dragons' loyalty to their master being so strong and evident.

Kaiba says that by the look on Zigfried's face, he's guessing his destiny looks pretty good.

Zigfried says Kaiba was doomed the moment he decided to duel him. Then he calls upon the Goddess Verdande, allowing him to guess Kaiba's top card. He guesses it's a monster. Kaiba draws his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, sarcastically asking how Zigfried ever guessed. Zigfried tells him to just put it on the field in defense mode, which Kaiba does. Then, Zigfried uses Goddess Urd's effect to let him remove the card from play by correctly predicting it's a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Mokuba exclaims that it's gone!

Yugi says this is bad.

Zigfried goes on taunting Kaiba, saying he destroyed Kaiba's favorite monster. But, he thinks to himself, that's just the beginning. Kaiba and his company have been a thorn in his side since the day they met, so it's time he removed Kaiba once and for all.

Kaiba draws his two cards, and one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons is discarded. Zigfried assumes that since Kaiba can't attack, he's ending his turn, but Kaiba says he assumes wrong. He plays Monster Reborn, bringing back his Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the graveyard.

Mokuba says ''That's what I'm talking about!'' and Joey tells Zigfried, ''In your face!''

Yuna draws her own Blue-Eyes White Dragon, all four being visible on the giant screen in the arena. The Blue-Eyes on the field roars in the name of his three brothers and many shiver in fear.

Kaiba says nobody comes between him and his Blue-Eyes! The dragon roars once again, confirming its master's claim.

The Blue-Eyes attacks Valkyrie Zweite, but only the Fortune Chariot is destroyed. Zigfried says that by giving up his Fortune Chariot, he's saved her. But he still loses 1400 life points, bringing him down to 1100.

Kaiba says it's the same old story—he rises to the top, and Zigfried gets lost in his shadow. ''If there is any destiny, it's on the side of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.''

Zigfried says they'll see. He draws, then uses his Goddesses to look at Kaiba's top three cards (Shrink, Cave Dragon, and Luster Dragon #2), and remove Luster Dragon #2 from play. Next, he plays the magic card, Gryphon's Feather Duster, to destroy all the magic and trap cards on his side of the field and increase his life points by 500 for each card destroyed. His three Goddesses disappear, and he gains 1500 life points, bringing him back up to 2600. Mokuba says he just got back everything Blue-Eyes took away!

Finally, Zigfried sacrifices Valkyrie Erste and Valkyrie Zweite to summon Valkyrie Brunhilde (2000 DEF) in defense mode.

Kaiba draws his next two cards. Nibelung's Ring forces him to discard Cave Dragon, but Kaiba says he doesn't need that card anyway. He attacks Valkyrie Brunhilde, but by reducing her DEF by 1000, she's not destroyed in battle. Kaiba sets one card face down and ends his turn.

Zigfried says, another turn wasted. But Kaiba says that eventually, Zigfried's girlfriend is going to run out of points, and then his dragon will be waiting. Zigfried says that by that point, he'll have won. Zigfried draws, then switches Valkyrie Brunhilde to attack mode (1800 ATK). For every dragon on the field, her attack increases by 300, raising her to 2100. Then he plays his magic card, Enchanted Sword Nothung, destroying the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The gang all gasp in shock, as Zigfried explains that his sword removes all dragons from the game, and gives his Valkyrie a boost. Brunhilde's attack, which went back to 1800 after the Blue-Eyes was destroyed, now rises 400 points, to 2200.

Zigfried asks Kaiba ''What it's like being a washed-up has-been.''

''Why don't you tell me?''

Bakura howls in laughter, followed by Valon, Joey and Marik. The rest were all either snickering or choking down giggles as the man fumed at Seto's witty tongue and sharp retorts.

Zigfried says enough small talk, and plays his magic card, Pegasus Wings, allowing him to cut his Valkyrie's attack points in half to attack Kaiba directly. Valkyrie Brunhilde's attack goes to 1100. Kaiba says his face-down card will protect him, but Zigfried says he already knows what Kaiba's card is, and it doesn't change his plan. He attacks, and Kaiba activates his face-down magic card, Shrink, cutting Valkyrie Brunhilde's attack in half again, to 550. Kaiba's life points go down to 550, and Mokuba says he lost half his life points!

Zigfried says, this is payback.

''That guy needs lessons in revenge.'' Marik mutters to himself and Noah, Malik, Bakura and Amelda all nod

Then Zigfried laughs, saying the epilogue is near. Does Kaiba know how long he's waited for this day? Zigfried has been thinking about it from the day he met Kaiba.

Seeing the opportunity, Malik yells out at Zigfried ''If you wanted to get in his pants so badly, you could have asked him out on a date! He's single!'' The murderess glare from the brunet CEO and all of his fan girls scared the Egyptian only a little, but he didn't expect Noah and Mokuba to knee him in the crotch! Yuna glared at the younges Tomb Keeper and the laughing Tomb Robber while an embarrassed and angry Zigfried tried to get his mad blushing under control. He had never before been this humiliated in public!

Kaiba asks Zigfried what his problem is. Is he jealous because Kaiba runs a successful company, and he doesn't?

Zigfried says Kaiba knows as well as he does what this is about. Their companies have been rivals for generations, and Kaiba's always had the upper hand.

''Not my problem I'm more successful than you ... Oh, wait. Yes it is.''

The comment only made Zigfried madder!

Flashback

At the party where Kaiba and Zigfried met, Zigfried's father tells Gozaburo that they're about to sign an international contract, but Gozaburo says he's too late—they've chosen Kaiba Corp.

''They said they loved Seto's designs and wanted more of what Kaiba Corp's genius heir can make!''

End of flashback

Zigfried says it was humiliating. In the Schroeder family, losing is not an option, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. ''I worked for hours, my goal was simple—boost Schroeder Corp to number one, and leave the Kaiba family in ruins.''

But, Zigfried continues, that proved to be a task that neither he nor his father could accomplish. In fact, it drove his father mad. With his father unable to maintain the company, Schroeder Corp fell under new management. Zigfried's first act as company president was controversial—he decided to enter into the gaming industry, a business untapped by any other company.

''However, I received a shock when I heard of Gozaboro's death and that Kaiba Corp has just announced that they've converted their company as well. 'Kaiba Corp is now the largest full-scale gaming corporation.' One of my employees had said just before announcing that he's quiting because he tried out at your company and got a job!''

Seto arched his eyebrow. It can't be just because of one employee, right?

''From that moment on,'' Zigfried says, ''I devoted all of my time to game development, and one day, it happened.''

He succeeded in a landmark invention that would revolutionize the game of Duel Monsters—holographic monster projection. But somehow, Kaiba managed to steal his invention and take all the credit, leaving him with nothing!

Yugi wonders if that can be true. Zigfried says that justice will be served there today. Kaiba's company's reputation is in jeopardy, and Kaiba Corp's stock price is at an all-time low. When Zigfried defeats Kaiba, the world will see that the era of Kaiba Corp is over. Zigfried says that now that Kaiba Corp's stock is low and confidence in the company is down, he'll defeat Kaiba with the help of Pegasus Wings, then Pegasus will give up on Kaiba and make a new partnership with Zigfried.

Mokuba and Noah look over to said Duel Monsters creator, who reassured them with only a smile that no such thing will happen, even should Seto by some miracle lose the duel.

Kaiba asks if he really believes that, and Zigfried says he bets the public has already turned on Kaiba, now that he's been exposed as a thief and a fraud.

Kaiba says it's too bad it's not true. He tells Zigfried not to blame him because Zigfried came from a family of failures. Kaiba says he's never stolen anything in his life. He got where he is through hard work and determination. ''Now, let's duel.''

''No! You will admit to stealing my invention right now!'' Zigfried shrieked and Pegasus decided that he'd had enough.

''That's enough!'' Both Duel Monsters creator and Duel Queen said in union. The silver-haired man came to stand beside the enraged Yuna as he explained that he had met with Seto about ''Zigfried's'' design a month before he signed a contract with Kaiba Corp for the new, improved Duel System.

''At the time, I knew that Kaiba-boy had a rival that was pushing him to greatness and thus I knew for sure that the design was explicitly his! The original will always be better than a copy!'' The crowd cried out in horror as they heard the truth. Yuna's red eyes flashed as dangerously as Seto's blue eyes did as they glared at Zigfried. Said man gulped as he realized that Pegasus wasn't willing to let his eight-years long business partner and friend be humiliated with such lies and he knew that the Duel Queen would make it so that he never dared even look at a Duel Disk again.

''I won't forgive you.'' Both rivals seethed and the arena shivered at how cold the atmosphere became.

''My design and gaming style, as well as computer skills are far above yours, but it seems that you didn't get that the last few time. Now, I'll teach you the difference between the way we duel.'' The Ice Prince growled out and Zigfried swore he saw blue lightning in the young CEO's eyes.

Kaiba draws Graceful Charity and Emergency Provisions. Zigfried reminds him that if he draws a monster card, he must discard it, but Kaiba says not if he activates this card. He plays Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. Joey says it's awesome, and tells Kaiba, that's showing him!

''It's a strange twist—Joey's cheering for Seto Kaiba.'' Bakura comments and Mana nods.

''Seto Kaiba's attack has begun.'' Yuna says and Pegasus wonders just how deep the connection between the rivals really is.

Kaiba discards Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a trap card. Zigfried is astonished—why is Kaiba discarding his Blue-Eyes? Kaiba tells him to just watch. By removing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Pitch-Dark Dragon (a Light and a Dark monster) from play, he's able to summon Chaos Emperor Dragon (3000 ATK). Zigfried says, so what? His Enchanted Sword removes all dragons from play. But Chaos Emperor Dragon's special effect removes every card on the field and in their hands and sends them to the graveyard. Zigfried points out that Kaiba has to pay 1000 life points to activate that effect, and Kaiba can't afford it.

Kaiba says there's nothing he can't afford. He sets a card face down, then plays Emergency Provisions, allowing him to send a magic or trap card to the graveyard to gain 1000 life points. He destroys the card he just set, gaining 1000 life points, which he then gives up to activate Chaos Emperor Dragon's effect. Zigfried's Brunhilde and Enchanted Sword Nothung are destroyed, and so is Chaos Emperor Dragon, along with XYZ-Dragon Cannon and Nibelung's Ring.

Kaiba explains that Zigfried loses 300 points for each card.

Kaiba tells Zigfried that, once again, he's left with nothing.

Zigfried draws, saying not for long. He plays Pot of Greed and draws two more cards. Then he plays the magic card, Magical Alms, raising his life points by 1000, to 2100. Next, they each have to predict how many magic cards they'll use each turn. They both get 500 life points for each card, but if they use fewer than they predict, they'll lose 1000 life points per card.

Zigfied estimates that he'll use one magic card. His life points rise to 2600, and Kaiba's to 1050.

Next, Zigfried plays Final Light, predicting that's the only magic card he'll use that turn. For a cost of 1000 life points, he can summon a monster from his graveyard. His life points, which went up to 2600, go down to 1600, and he summons Valkyrie Brunhilde.

Kaiba is also able to summon a monster from his graveyard. He chooses Cave Dragon (2000 ATK). His dragon gives Valkyrie Brunhilde an extra 300 attack points, raising her attack to 2100. Brunhilde attacks Cave Dragon and destroys it, taking Kaiba down to 950 life points.

Zigfried tells Kaiba to predict how many magic cards he'll use. He can't afford to guess wrong. Drawing, Kaiba says he won't. He predicts he'll use four magic cards this turn.

Zigfried says, ''Four cards!''

His life points go up to 3600, as he protests that Kaiba's only holding one card in his hand! Kaiba, whose life points go up to 2950, says that's all about to change.

Kaiba plays his magic card, Card of Demise. This allows him to draw until he's holding five cards, then, in five turns, he must discard his entire hand. Next, Kaiba plays another magic card, Soul Release. Soul Release allows him to choose a card from the graveyard to remove from the game, and he chooses Chaos Emperor Dragon. Next, he plays his third magic card, Spell Reproduction. This lets him send two magic cards to the graveyard in order to bring back one. (The cards he discards are Cost Down and Spell Absorption. De-Fusion is the card remaining in his hand.) The card he brings back is Dimension Fusion, which he plays at a cost of 2000 life points, taking him down to 950. Now, each of them can bring back any of their monsters that have been removed from the game—and Kaiba has five. He summons Chaos Emperor Dragon, Luster Dragon #2, and all three of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons.

Five dragons on the field raises Valkyrie Brunhilde's attack to 3300. Kaiba attacks Brunhilde with Luster Dragon #2. His dragon is destroyed, and he loses 900 life points, bringing him down to only 50. Téa wonders why he did that, and Mokuba calls out to his brother. Zigfried says Kaiba's given up—but then Brunhilde's attack goes down to 3000. Joey realizes that with one less dragon on the field, the Valkyrie's points drop.

Now, Kaiba uses Chaos Emperor Dragon to attack Valkyrie Brunhilde. Their attacks are equal, so Chaos Emperor Dragon is destroyed, but Valkyrie Brunhilde gives up 1000 defense points to stay alive. Her defense goes down to 1000 and her attack goes down to 2700. Kaiba attacks Valkyrie Brunhilde again with one of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons. This time, Zigfried loses 300 life points, bringing him down to 3300, and Brunhilde loses another 1000 defense points. Now her defense is zero.

Zigfried shrinks back in horror, realizing what's happening, as Kaiba tells him his Valkyrie's special powers are all used up.

Kaiba's second Blue-Eyes White Dragon attacks. Brunhilde's destroyed, and Zigfried's down to 3000 life points. And Kaiba still has one Blue-Eyes White Dragon left.

Kaiba says he's glad Zigfried came, because now he has a chance to publicly humiliate him again. He orders his third Blue-Eyes White Dragon to attack Zigfried directly, wiping out the rest of his life points.

The crowds cheer as the Kaiba Corp King wins the duel, silhouettes of all four Blue-Eyes White Dragons flying off into the sky and firing White Lighting as fireworks. The Yugi-tachi are jumping around and the Kaiba brothers were hugging each other. The Egyptian families all join in the celebration and drag the Doma members and family into it.

Yuna smiles widelly for only her rival and Seto returns it with his confident smirk.

Zigfried falls to his knees, insisting that this isn't over. He's holding a magic card with the image of a golden castle on it.

Kaiba tells Zigfried to face it—his life points hit zero. ''That's about as over as it gets. A mouse is a mouse. There's no way you could defeat me. Now, you should take what's left of your dignity and get lost.''

Mokuba says that's telling him! Zigfried's history.

Yugi says, let's hope so.

Kaiba laughs triumphantly.

Yuna shakes her head at her rival's arrogant antics.