Battle City (part 2)

These are the final playoff rounds from the Battle City story arc.

Quarter-finals
For the quarterfinal round, the duels were to be staged atop Kaiba's airship with the Duelists for each duel determined by lottery.

Yami Yugi vs. Yami Bakura
Yugi and Bakura would duel each other first. Although Yugi would get an early advantage, Bakura activated Dark Sanctuary, whose effect allows Bakura to possess one of Yugi's monsters so that when it attacks, the attack would be negated, and Yugi would lose Life Points equal to half of that monster's ATK. It also increased Bakura's Life Points by the same amount. Bakura activates Destiny Board cards, which, when all four Spirit Messages are played while Destiny Board is active, would give Bakura an automatic victory. In desperation, Yugi is forced to Summon Slifer the Sky Dragon and win the duel, as Slifer (Osiris) is immune to the effects of Dark Sanctuary.

Joey Wheeler vs. Odion Ishtar
Joey duels Odion in the second quarterfinal match. Although Joey is being done in by Odion's Traps, bringing his Life Points to 200 while Odion still has 4000, he comes back to bring him down to 400, thanks to the three cards he had won in Battle City, especially Jinzo, which prevented Odion from using any Trap Cards. However, Odion Summoned Mystical Beast Serket, which destroys the three monsters and left Joey wide open. However, as Odion was still posing as Marik, Marik would force him to play his counterfeit God Card, The Winged Dragon of Ra (Ra no Yokushinryū in Japan, "Sun Dragon Ra" in the English manga). However, the counterfeit card backfires on him, striking down both duelists in the process. Although Joey would win the duel by virtue of Kaiba's verdict, the dark side of Marik was unleashed due to Odion being unconscious.

Yami Marik vs. Mai Valentine
Mai would be the first to fall against Marik, as she is put in Marik's shadow game. Each time one of Mai's monsters is destroyed, someone is erased from her mind. Although she was being done in by Marik's traps, she manages to get the real The Winged Dragon of Ra card from Marik and Summons it. However, for it to obey Mai (and thus, for Mai to use the card), Mai must recite the hieratic text on the card. With Mai clearly unable to do so, Marik successfully recites the text, and uses Ra to attack Mai and win, leaving Mai critically injured (in the English anime, she is sent to the Shadow Realm).

Seto Kaiba vs. Ishizu Ishtar
The final quarterfinal duel saw the eighth "mystery duelist", whom reveals herself as Ishizu Ishtar, face off against Kaiba. Although Ishizu predicts that she will win, thanks to the ability of her Millennium Necklace to see into the future, Kaiba manages to systematically destroy Ishizu's deck using Crush Card Virus (Deck Destruction Virus of Death in Japan) and Virus Cannon. Yet, Ishizu manages to play Exchange of the Spirit, requiring both players to switch their Decks with Graveyards, thus leaving Kaiba with only six cards in his deck and Ishizu with her most powerful cards because of Kaiba's virus cards. In desperation, Kaiba attempts to summon Obelisk the Tormentor, while Ishizu, knowing Kaiba's intention, applied the Blast Held by a Tribute on Obelisk that would force itself to self-destruct when it attacks, causing Kaiba to lose the duel. When Kaiba summons Obelisk, however, Marik's Millennium Rod gave him a flashback of his past self and a dead girl named Kisara in front of a large tablet showing what seems to look like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He analyzes this and trusts in this card so he summons it even if it is a less-powerful card but still having sufficient power to win. Kaiba does so and wins. It is later revealed that Blue-Eyes is actually Kisara (Priest Seto's loved one)'s Ka monster. It also turns out that she sacrificed her life for Seto and her ka monster stayed loyal to Seto. This flashback was Kisara's way to save Seto's future destiny once more.

Shadow Game: Yami Marik vs. Yami Bakura
In an unofficial Battle City duel after the Quarterfinals, Marik and Bakura (bearing the soul of Light Marik) attempt to defeat Dark Marik in order to win Marik's body back but ultimately loses to Ra's One Turn Kill sending Bakura to the shadow realm. (Or in the Japanese version, he 'dies'.)

Virtual World Story Arc
In the second series Yu-Gi-Oh! (known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters in Japan), the Virtual World story arc would be played out before the semifinal rounds took place.

Yami Yugi and. Yami Marik and. Seto Kaiba and. Joey Wheeler
In the semifinal round, taking place upon Alcatraz Tower (not titled in the English anime, in which it is known only as "KaibaCorp Island"), a special, massive mechanical tower located on a lone island, the four duelists would take part in a four-way duel, with the first two losers playing in the first semifinal. Both Marik and Kaiba wanted to duel Yugi for their reasons. Joey, however, wanted to duel Marik for what he did to Mai. In the end, Joey (and by extension, Kaiba) got what they wanted.

Joey Wheeler vs. Yami Marik
Like Mai, Joey was subject to a shadow game, with each duelist being drained of life as each monster is destroyed. As Joey is done in by Marik's traps and monster effects, he manages to create a short comeback by Special Summoning Jinzo with Question, and later Gilford the Lightning to destroy Marik's Plasma Eel. However, the comeback was short-lived as Marik revives The Winged Dragon of Ra and uses its Egyptian God Phoenix and One Turn Kill abilities to bring Joey to the brink of defeat. However, Joey, to Marik's surprise, manages to remain standing, and he summons Gearfried the Iron Knight in an effort to attack a wide-open Marik. However, Joey collapses before making his attack, and Marik wins.

Yami Yugi vs. Seto Kaiba
With Joey being in critical condition (in the English anime, he is said to be "fighting the shadows" of the Shadow Realm), Yugi is forced to battle Kaiba when more pressing matters were at stake (namely, Joey's health). The duel was evenly-matched, as Yugi's attempt to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon was countered by Kaiba's attempt to summon Obelisk the Tormentor. The two God cards would be summoned in successive turns, and after more jockeying for power with magic cards, the two evenly-matched God cards would destroy each other. With both God cards gone, Kaiba resorts to summoning his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, while Yugi would have Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Joey's "soul card". Kaiba would force the duel to the end by playing Final Attack Orders, making both players discard all but three cards from their decks and prohibiting monsters from being played in Defense Position. Using his three cards, Yugi manages to fuse Dark Magician (Black Magician in Japan) with Buster Blader to Fusion Summon Dark Paladin (Black Paladin in Japan), and, along with Diffusion Wave-Motion, to win the duel. As the tournament rules states, Kaiba is forced to give up Obelisk.

Joey Wheeler vs. Seto Kaiba
During the duel, as Red-Eyes Black Dragon was being played, Joey manages to regain consciousness. In the anime (but not the manga), he promptly challenges Kaiba to a duel for third place, just for fun. Kaiba declines at first, believing that dueling Joey would be beneath him, but Joey manages to convince him to duel. Although Kaiba would win, Joey reveals that Kaiba had simply allowed anger to get the best of him in both his duels him and Yugi (as witnessed by Joey once taking control of Blue-Eyes White Dragon in their duel, a card considered to be Kaiba's prized possessions,, and Kaiba using another Blue Eyes to destroy it).

Yami Yugi vs. Yami Marik
Before the final match, Kaiba is convinced that Yugi cannot win, yet he cannot allow Marik to win, both for his personal reasons and for the greater good. He believes he has the perfect card to defeat The Winged Dragon of Ra, Devil's Sanctuary (Fiend Sanctuary), which he gives to Yugi. Again, Marik turns the duel into a shadow game, in which the loser must forfeit their alter-ego. Marik discards Ra in his first turn, with the intention of Special Summoning Ra with Monster Reborn for one turn at a time. Yugi, meanwhile, manages to quickly summon Slifer the Sky Dragon, but Marik simply revives Ra to deal with it. Marik then tries to use Ra's One Turn Kill against Yugi, but Yugi forces Marik to stop the attack with Devil's Sanctuary, creating a Metal Fiend Token so that, when attacked, would redirect the damage to Marik, causing him to lose. Marik saved himself by playing De-Fusion (apparently, Marik is fused together with Ra when he used the One Turn Kill ability) - thus, Ra's ATK is transferred to Marik's Life Points, and Ra, with 0 ATK, deals no damage to Marik. Yugi then quickly turns one Metal Fiend Token to three with Multiply, then Tributes all of them to Summon Obelisk the Tormentor. He attacks, reducing Marik's Life Points to 700.

Yugi's triumph would be short-lived, however, as Marik fused Metal Reflect Slime and Revival Jam to Fusion Summon Egyptian God Slime, which can't be destroyed by battle. With Yugi unable to attack with Obelisk, Marik revives Ra once again to destroy Obelisk, but Yugi Special Summons Slifer with Monster Reborn to block the attack (The move would be illegal in the real game). Then Yugi uses Soul Taker and Tributes Egyptian God Slime, using it for Obelisk's effect, which would destroy Ra and and the rest of Marik's Life Points This fails and Marik revives Ra once again. This time, Yugi activates Magical Dimension, Tributing Obelisk and Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts to Special Summon Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl (Black Magician Girl in Japan), and with the two magicians activates Ragnarok. This allows Yugi, at the expense of all his monsters, to finally destroy Ra, and, as Marik was using the One Turn Kill at the time, most of Marik with it. The two sides of Marik begin to fight, the good side attempting to take control and allowing Yugi to attack as a way to atone for his actions, while the evil side attempting to stop Yugi's attack. With the help of a struggling Odion, the good side prevails. When the smoke clears, the good Marik has control of the body, and the Dark Marik is now his sacrifice. Marik forfeits his sole remaining Life Point, destroying his other self, leaving Yugi the last man standing. Yugi is now the owner of the three God cards, as well as the keys to unlocking the nameless Pharaoh's past.