Yugi Vs. The Rare Hunter

Yugi Vs. The Rare Hunter

 January 15, 2003

 Hi, guys. Welcome to another day in the life of me, in 2003

 So The day of the Battle City Tournament has arrived as Solomon complains about Yugi ditching his chores so he can prepare for the tournament. However, Solomon quickly changes his mind when he realizes that he'll get to see multiple Duels in Domino City and decides to close up the store. Meanwhile, Yami Yugi and Yugi finalize their Deck, with the former believing that it should be good for the tournament. Although Yugi is not certain it will be strong enough against the Rare Hunters, Yami Yugi reminds his friend to believe in the Deck as the entire world is their hand. Recalling what Ishizu Ishtar told them, Yami Yugi says that the only way to stop the great evil coming for them is to enter Seto Kaiba's Battle City and win the tournament. With the two in agreement, and Yugi swearing to be by Yami Yugi's side to discover his past, they get ready for the tournament.

Meanwhile, Joey is still upset that he lost his "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", but manages to call Serenity's room to check in on her. Tristan answers the phone, having decided to stay with Serenity as she recovers from her surgery. This doesn't please Joey at all, and he's more upset when Serenity is under the impression that Tristan taught Joey about Duel Monsters.

As everyone gathers for the Battle City Tournament, with two Duelists explaining to a pair of businessmen what's going on, Yugi takes a look a clear card that was in the Duel Disk package, wondering if it's part of a map. Yugi runs into Mai and reunites with Weevil, Rex, and Mako. After some talking, the five part ways as the Seeker who took Joey's Red-Eyes looks at a database to know which rare cards all the duelists have. Soon, Kaiba announces the start of the tournament from a Kaibacorp blimp with giant TV on the side. Kaiba explains the rules of the tournament: each Duelist can challenge another anywhere in the city, and the winner gets the loser's rarest card. Kaiba also says he is competing in the tournament, but warns everyone that trying to Duel him is a foolish idea. The finals will be held in a private location, and the only way to find it is to collect six Locator Cards. Everyone has one locator card each and in each Duel they will wager at least one and whoever wins gets it. He also tells the Duelists that there are only eight spots in the finals so they will have duel hard to make it. After the announcement, the Battle City tournament begins.

Once the announcement ends, Yugi sees Joey walk straight towards the Seeker, challenging the latter to a rematch. However, the Seeker declines the rematch as he already won Joey's "Red-Eyes Black Dragon". Yugi comes to Joey's side and recognizes the Seeker's robe as the same Bandit Keith wore. Joey tells Yugi what happened to him that night, and the Seeker, noticing Yugi as the person his master wants to take down, challenges the latter to a Duel. Yugi accepts the challenge, lets out Yami Yugi, and prepares to Duel the Seeker as his first Battle City challenger. Joey doesn't want Yami Yugi to battle for his sake, especially as he could lose his "Dark Magician", but Yami Yugi tells Joey he must Duel the Seeker as this will be the first step to his destiny. Before Joey can warn Yami Yugi about the Seeker's "Exodia", the latter threatens Joey to be quiet unless he wants his "Red-Eyes" to be torn up.

Meanwhile, Téa runs around Domino City to look for Yugi and Joey, having slept in on the day the tournament began.

Yami Yugi and the Seeker activate their Duel Disks, which Kaiba and Mokuba taking notice. Soon, more Duelists begin, and their team begins seeking out any Duelist who have the two remaining Egyptian God Cards. As the Duel begins, the Seeker sees that he already has two pieces of "Exodia" (the Right Arm and the Left Leg), and silences Joey again. Yami Yugi starts the Duel by Setting two cards face down and playing "Beta the Magnet Warrior" in Attack Position. The Seeker plays "Graceful Charity", using it to draw the "Right Leg" and leaving him with two pieces left. As the Seeker taunts Yami Yugi for not knowing what's in his hand, the latter responds by activating his "Light of Intervention" Trap Card. Because of this Trap Card, the Seeker cannot set monsters face down in Defense Position. However, the Seeker says it doesn't matter and summons "Stone Statue of the Aztecs" in Defense Position.

Yugi wonders what the Seeker's strategy is, and Draws on his next turn. Following the new Battle City rules, Yami Yugi Sacrifices "Beta" to Summon "Berfomet" and activates the latter's effect: bringing "Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts" from his Deck to his hand. Then, Yami Yugi activates "Polymerization" from his field, Fusing "Berfomet" and Gazelle to create "Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast". Because the Battle City rules prohibit a Fusion Monster from attacking on the turn it was Fusion Summoned, Yami Yugi ends his turn by Setting a card face down. Yami Yugi warns the Seeker that "Chimera" will destroy his "Stone Statue" monster. Also, the rules state that Yami Yugi is allowed to attack the Seeker directly if the latter has no monsters on his side of the field. However, Joey is more concerned about what's in the Seeker's hands, and he knows this is the same strategy the Seeker used against him.

On the Seeker's turn, he correctly guesses another "Graceful Charity" Magic Card and activates it, making Yugi wonder how he knows what card he will draw. Secretly, the Seeker has marked all his card with invisible ink and has X-ray contacts in his eyes to correctly see what card he will draw. One of Kaiba's techs tells him that the Seeker wasn't in the tournament database a week ago, and believes that he hacked into the system to enter the tournament. Before Mokuba can go disqualify the Seeker, Kaiba tells his brother to stay put as he realizes that the Rare Hunters took his bait. Now, Kaiba wants to see if the Seeker has an Egyptian God Card. The Seeker now has four pieces of "Exodia" in his hand, and sees the "Left Arm" on top of his Deck. Once he draws it, Yugi will lose. Then, the Seeker plays "Gear Golem of the Moving Fortress" in Defense Position, knowing that its 2200 DEF is stronger than Chimera's 2100 ATK

At this point, Joey tries to warn Yami Yugi about the Seeker's strategy again, but he tells his friend not to reveal the latter's strategy. Yami Yugi tells Joey that he's fighting for him, reminding the latter how he tried to reclaim the "Exodia" cards Weevil threw overboard at Duelist Kingdom and he wants to return the favor. It's through that conversation that Yugi and Yami Yugi realize the Seeker's strategy, and the latter calls him out in public for trying to summon "Exodia". Although upset that his strategy is revealed, the Seeker points out that "Exodia" is unstoppable and asks Yami Yugi how he can stop him. While Yami Yugi knows that nobody has defeated "Exodia" before, he says he'll be the first so he can win back Joey's "Red-Eyes Black Dragon".