The Heart of the Cards

Tristan and Tea have barricaded themselves in while Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba go on the virtual reality quest. They are trying to rescue Kaiba. Right now, Joey is dressed as a pig ready to fight the champion and win a Niwatori Card so they can cross the desert. Joey makes his first move against the champion and brings out Flame Swordsman. The champion brings out Harpies Lady. Joey attacks the Harpies Lady but the champion activates Mirror Wall. Joey and Yugi both recognize her dueling style. The champ says that "Senor Porky" is no match for her Harpies Lady. Joey recognizes her laugh and her attitude. The champion then adds Rose Whip to her Harpies Lady and attacks the Flame Swordsman. Joey tells her to wait and takes off his mask. The whip stops right in front of the swordsman and the champion reveals herself as Mai Valentine.

Yugi and Mokuba jump out of the stands and go over to Joey and Mai. She asks what they are doing here and they explain about Kaiba. Yugi says that they are friends and they shouldn’t be fighting. The crowd starts booing. They want to see them fighting. Joey says they're wasting time, all they need is that Niwatori Card. Mai winks at them and says that she was looking to leave here anyway. She uses her Harpies Lady to snatch the card from the agent and they all make a break for it. The whole Colesium chases them. Joey decides that's enough and whips out his Trap Hole. A giant hole opens up and blocks the way, setting the free.

As they cross the desert on their Niwatoris, Joey asks Mai why she is in the game. She explains that she was paid to test the game but then got stuck. A monster attacks on the way but Joey uses his Red Eyes to clear a path to the Cave of Death ahead. Inside the cave they come to a large wooden door that leads to a maze. The door closes behind them locking them inside. Right then they hear a girl screaming from within the maze. Joey dashes a head to save her. A Labyrinth Tank smashes through the wall and chases Mai, Mokuba and Yugi down a path. The meet up with Joey who runs with them. They turn a corner and see another Tank coming straight at them. They're trapped!

Just as they attack, Yugi pulls out Magical Silk Hats and a hat covers them. They are transported to another part of the maze and come out from under a hat. They hear the tanks rumbling towards them again. They see the same fairy that they saw earlier and decide to follow it. It leads them to a girl who looks exactly like Mokuba! Joey asks if she knows where the exit is. She says her fairy will lead them to the door. Just as they are about to get out free. Gait Guardian blocks their path. Yugi and Joey know what to do and Joey brings out his Red Eyes Black Dragon and Yugi brings out his Summoned Skull and his Polymerization and summon the Black Skull Dragon. But the dragon's attack power is only 3200 and the Gate Guardian's is 3750. Joey then adds the Dragon Claws magic card to their dragon to raise it's attack power to 3900 and they destroy the Gate Guardian.

Down the cave they meet a lady with a bunch of soldiers. The Lady greets "Princess Adina" and is glad she is safe. She notices her new friends who helped save her life. They are escorted to Princess Adina's castle. They wonder if Adina was modeled after Mokuba. Then they all see Meyari's kingdom, high up on a cliff. They get out of the coaches and are walking down a red carpet when the fairy nestles itself between the yellow bangs on Yugi's head and Meyari says that it likes him. Then she tells them that she is actually not the princess of this kingdom, but the Queen, which shocks everyone.

Meanwhile, in a place unknown, Seto Kaiba is unconscious and strung up on a cross. He slowly awakens and wonders where he is. A monster appears from the ground and sees Kaiba is finally awake. Kaiba recognizes the monster as the Witty Phantom and asks what he's going to do with him. It tells Kaiba that he is a sacrifice to the Five God Dragon, the evil that brought darkness to this world. They need another sacrifice to bring the Five God Dragon to life and it's being delivered to them soon. Kaiba wants to finish the game but the Witty Phantom explains that it's their mission to stop him everyway they can and to just be patient and wait for the other sacrifice to arrive. He vanishes though the floor without telling Kaiba who the other sacrifice is.

Inside the castle, Joey is making a pig of himself, eating the spread that Adina had for them and he almost chokes on some food for his effort. Mokuba asks Adina if she's heard of his brother. She explains that the Kingdom of Gorland and the Kingdom of Gortas every year offer a person as a sacrifice for the Five God Dragon. If they dont, it will destroy their kingdom. She heard that the other kingdom has a prince from somewhere as their sacrifice. Mokuba knows it has to be his brother and asks where is he. She says he's at the Dark Flying Castle. Yugi asks how they can get there. Adina shows them a picture on the wall behind them of a bird. She explains that a long time ago, something escaped from the Dark Flying Castle 1000 years ago and now hides in their land, but they don’t know where. Mai suggests that they just use Duel Monsters but Adina explains that Duel Monsters are of no use in the castle. Mokuba is depressed but Mai says it's just a game and Adina and her people just blink. Mai tries to change the subject and asks did they decide who was going to be the sacrifice. Adina says she was, but they all might be able to save this world. There is a legend that one day, a group of heroes will cross the mountains to save them by defeating the Five God Dragon and destroy the evil behind it. Mai wonders if she thinks THEY are the heroes that legend speaks of and Adina says yes they are. Joey is excited since this is turning out to be more an adventure now. Mai calls him naive, saying their priority is to find Kaiba. Joey explains that they need to beat the Five God Dragon in order to save Kaiba and Adina asks them to help themselves to anything they want.

Later on, after a change of clothes, Mai takes a look at herself, and likes it. Yugi is a little embarrassed with his new clothes but Mai thinks it suits him. Yugi asks Mai why she's risking her life and she says they're all together and tells Joey to come out. Joey is hiding behind a curtain and Mai tells him to let them see. Joey is now wearing a caveman look and wonders why is he the only one looking so dumb. Right then, some lightning crashes and everyone comes out to see the sky has darkened and the sky is littered with monsters coming for them. Joey sees they're coming for their sacrifice. Mai summons her Balki and starts taking out monsters but Yugi tells her there's too many of them and tells Mai to call her back, which she does. Yugi then draws a card and uses his Black Hole to destroy them all but a dagger cuts through Yugi's Black Hole and sticks it to the ground. Joey sees that dagger came from the Armed Ninja and knows it's effect is that it can destroy one magic card. Armed Ninja sends down a net and scoops up Princess Adina and is carrying her away. Joey summons his Axe Raider and equips it with his Chained Boomerang and destroys the Armed Ninja. The princess begins to fall but another monsters flies down and snatches her away and the monsters fly away.

     Mokuba falls to the ground and now has a slightly female voice. Joey sees this and see's this is not Mokuba, its actually Princess Adina! A flashback occurs and Mokuba is asking Adina to switch places with him and let him be the sacrifice so he can get to his brother. Adina begs them to save Mokuba now but they have no way to get to the Dark Flying Castle. Yugi goes to the edge of the castle and sees something and as they all look down, they see the Naska Plains. Yugi tells them to look closer and Mai thinks its the picture Adina was talking about, which kinda looks like a card.

     A notice appears in the town that reads "Citizens of the Kingdom of Gorland, it's time to stand up. Send our warriors to the Dark Flying Castle to defeat the source of evil, Five God Dragon. We need your help. There must be a clue on how to revive the airship. We must find it." Yugi says for Kaiba and Mokuba to wait, they'll save them. Meanwhile, the peasants haven’t turned up anything. Yugi and Mai think there has to be another way but Joey says that the Big 5 created this game, even if they did find Mokuba and Kaiba, who knows what else they did to stop them. The fairy appears again and Yugi thinks to himself that there has to be a way to get to the castle and start to think about the legend of the airship. He gets an idea and asks the princess when the legend began and she says a thousand years ago.

     Yugi, Mai and Joey head for the plains and Yugi explains that the legend started 1000 years ago, so to bring it back, all they have to do is turn back time. Joey knows its impossible but Mai thinks that Joey can do it. Yugi asks Joey why would a relic exist in a card form. It's so they can revive it and Joey realizes the card they mean, his Time Wizard. But they don’t know the effects of this card, there's no telling what will happen. Yugi says that if it works, they can save Mokuba and Kaiba. Joey decides to go for it and summons his Time Magician. As time begins spinning backward, buildings begin to reassemble themselves from the ruins and as 1000 years go back, there is a clear outline of the picture Adina showed them and the buildings around it look good as new, but nothing else happened. Suddenly, a earthquake hits the area...

     Back in the real world, Tristan is struggling to keep Kemo and his buddies out of their room...

Characters Shown: Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, Bakura, Kaiba, Mokuba, Kemo, Mai, Princess Adina

Episode Rating (1-10) 6.7 Hmmm, Mokuba's gone too... And nice outfit Mai & Yugi. However, definately a filler episode still though it's part of three. Not much action just fun. And NO plot movement...