Katsuya Jonouchi and Esper Roba's Duel (manga)

Katsuya Jonouchi and Esper Roba had a Duel in the preliminary rounds of the Battle City tournament.

Each player wagered one Puzzle Card and a rare card. Jonouchi's rare card was "Time Wizard", while Roba's was "Jinzo".

Despite Roba having his brother's spy on Jonouchi's cards, Jonouchi won the Duel.

Prior events
Jonouchi spotted Dinosaur Ryuzaki being defeated by Esper Roba. As Roba called for his next opponent, most of the bystanders were too put off by his alleged ESP. Ryuzaki warned Katsuya Jonouchi not to consider, while informing him that Roba was capable of predicting opponent's strategies. However Jonouchi was intent on becoming a stronger Duelist and refused to pass up on an opponent.

They waged a Puzzle Card each and Jonouchi's "Time Wizard" for Roba's "Jinzo". Seeing "Time Wizard" as the wager, Ryuzaki demanded to know what happened to the "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", Jonouchi had won from him.

The Duel
1st turn: Jonouchi

Jonouchi's opening hand contained "Giltia the D. Knight", "Swordsman of Landstar", "Skull Dice", "Scapegoat" and "Chasm with Spikes".

Roba said that he could feel the energy of the cosmos passing through his body becoming one with him and that it was destiny and the law of the cosmos that he would win.

Jonouchi attempted to Summon "Giltia the D. Knight" only for the card to instantly disappear. He began to panic, fearing that this was the power of Roba's ESP. However the crowd erupted into laughter and Ryuzaki reminded him that he was playing by the playing Super Expert Rules, wherein high Level monsters require a Sacrifice to be Summoned.

Roba told Jonouchi that he had just wasted a turn and offered him some advice, suggesting that he play "Swordsman of Landstar". He claimed to have learned it was in Jonouchi's hand through the use of telepathy.

2nd turn: Roba

Roba Summoned "Cyber Raider" and attacked Jonouchi directly (Jonouchi: 4000 → 2600 Life Points).

3rd turn: Jonouchi

Jonouchi drew "Graceful Dice". Roba feigned some psychic channeling and declared that Jonouchi drew a second "Graceful Dice". He claimed to have received that knowledge by communicating with the deceased spirit of Maximillion J. Pegasus. Looking at his hand, Jonouchi realized that Roba had been wrong about it being his second "Graceful Dice" and that his partially covered "Devil Dice" could look like "Graceful Dice" to an onlooker.

Jonouchi Summoned "Swordsman of Landstar" and played his two "Dice" cards face-down.

4th turn: Roba

Roba's hand contained "Jinzo", "Mind Control", "Brain Control", "Amplifier" and "The Fiend Megacyber".

Roba thought that he knew Jonouchi's plan. He knew that Jonouchi planned to oppose his ESP with the roll of a die, because luck was something he could not predict. Roba accepted the challenge and Tributed "Cyber Raider" for "The Fiend Megacyber".

Jonouchi activated "Graceful Dice" needing a 5 or 6 to make "Swordsman of Landstar" stronger than "The Fiend Megacyber". However he rolled a 3, tripling its ATK (ATK: 500 → 1500).

Roba attacked "Swordsman of Landstar" with "The Fiend Megacyber". To his surprise, Jonouchi activated "Skull Dice", targeting "The Fiend Megacyber" and rolling a 5, dividing its ATK by that amount (ATK: 2200 → 440). This caused "Swordsman of Landstar" to win the battle, destroying "The Fiend Megacyber" (Roba: 4000 → 2940 Life Points).

Jonouchi explained Roba had mistook "Skull Dice" for "Graceful Dice" by only seeing a portion of the card and accused him of having someone spy on his cards, rather than use ESP. Roba denied having spies and told Jonouchi not to be making baseless assumptions. Having been caught, Roba's brothers decided to stop spying and were confident that their brother could win without their help.

Roba played "Mind Control" face-down and ended his turn.

5th turn: Jonouchi

Jonouchi drew "Alligator Sword" and Summoned it.

He attacked Roba directly "Alligator Sword" (Roba: 2940 → 1440). He declared another direct attack with "Swordsman of Landstar", but Roba played "Mind Control", taking control of it. Jonouchi wondered why he did not use that when the first monster attacked and Roba explained that it would have resulted in both monsters being destroyed, as they had the same ATK, but he wanted Jonouchi's monster alive.

Jonouchi played "Chasm of Spikes" face-down and ended his turn.

6th turn: Roba

Roba activated "Brain Control", taking control of "Alligator Sword" and sacrificed both of Jonouchi's stolen monsters to Summon "Jinzo". "Jinzo" used its special power to detect and destroy Jonouchi's Trap Card, "Chasm of Spikes".

Roba then attacked Jonouchi directly with "Jinzo" (Jonouchi: 2600 → 200 Life Points).

He suggested that Jonouchi give up at this point, but Jonouchi thought that if he gave up now, he would not be able to reach his future, where he was to fulfill his promise to Duel Dark Yugi after becoming stronger.

7th turn: Jonouchi

Jonouchi drew "Baby Dragon" and activated "Scapegoat" to Summon 4 "Sheep" to buffer Roba's attacks.

8th turn: Roba

Roba drew "Reflect Bounder".

Roba activated "Amplifier", increasing the ATK of "Jinzo" by 500. He then Summoned "Reflect Bounder" and explained that it had the effect to bounce enemy attacks back at them, so even if Jonouchi could Summon a monster he would lose if he attacked.

Roba then attacked and destroyed two of Jonouchi's "Sheep" with "Jinzo" and "Reflect Bounder".

9th turn: Jonouchi

Jonouchi drew and activated "Roulette Spider", at the cost of half of his Life Points (Jonouchi: 200 → 100 Life Points). The spider clamped itself onto "Jinzo" and covered its eyes. A roulette table then appeared around them. He explained that "Roulette Spider" blinds the strongest monster on the field and spins it around. When Roba calls for it to stop, the monster will stop spinning and attack whatever it is pointing at. Its possible targets included, Roba, Jonouchi, "Reflect Bounder" and the two remaining "Sheep".

Jonouchi said that if Roba really had ESP, he should be able to tell the monster to stop at the right moment. Roba shouted "stop", leaving "Jinzo" point at "Reflect Bounder". Its attack was reflected and both monsters were destroyed (Roba: 1440 → 240 Life Points).

Jonouchi then Summoned "Baby Dragon" and attacked Roba directly (Roba: 240 → 0 Life Points).

Jonouchi won the Duel and claimed that he had been the one who had seen the future.

Aftermath
Roba broke down and began sobbing. Some onlookers were surprised that he lost to Jonouchi, a "newbie". Jonouchi said that he knew from experience that psychic powers are real and that Roba does not have them. Per the rules of the tournament, he asked for Roba's Puzzle Card and rare card. Roba yelled at everyone watching, asking if they enjoyed looking down on him. Jonouchi told him that nobody there thought he was a loser and that he should not be so hard on himself. After his brothers appeared, Roba admitted Jonouchi was right and handed him "Jinzo" and a Puzzle Card.

Cards used
The following cards from each player's Decks were shown: