"The Beginning of the End", known as "Fight for the Future! Machine Emperor Skiel VS Scar-Red Nova Dragon" in the Japanese version is the one hundred and thirty-first episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime. It first aired in Japan on October 13, 2010 and in the United States on August 13, 2011.
The World Racing Grand Prix final between Team 5D's and Team New World begins. Yusei and company realize that New Domino City will vanish off the face of the earth if they don't win, so they need to fight.
The match begins with Jack against Lester. Jack, wary of Lester's strategy, believing it to be the "Synchro Killer" "Meklord Emperor", performs a Double Tuning to Synchro Summon "Red Nova Dragon". Lester tries to fight back with "Meklord Emperor Skiel", though this strategy fails as Jack uses the effect of "Red Nova Dragon" to remove it and negate an attack. Lester then reveals his "Infinite Aura" trap, which converts his Life Points into counters. Jack finally defeats Lester, allowing the next Duelist Primo to go; however, Yusei notes that Jack defeated Lester way too easily.
Featured Duel: Jack Atlas vs. Lester[]
Turn 1: Jack Atlas
Jack draws "Dark Resonator" and subsequently Normal Summons it (3/1300/300) in Defense Position. Jack's hand contains "Gear Changer", "Burning Strike", "Dimension Switch", and "Power Pressure". Jack Sets three cards.
Turn 2: Lester
Lester draws "Sky Core". During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World 2" activates (Jack's SPC: 0 → 1; Lester's SPC: 0 → 1). Lester Normal Summons "Sky Core" (1/0/0) in Defense Position and Sets three cards.
Turn 3: Jack Atlas
Jack draws. During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World 2" activates (Jack's SPC: 1 → 2; Lester's SPC: 1 → 2). Jack then activates his face-down "Dimension Switch", which removes "Dark Resonator" from play. Jack then Special Summons "Gear Changer" (4/1500/700) in Attack Position via its own effect as Lester has monsters on his field, but Jack doesn't. Jack then activates the effect of "Gear Changer" to increase its Level by the Level of "Sky Core" ("Gear Changer": 4 → 5). Jack then sends "Dimension Switch" to the Graveyard in order to return "Dark Resonator" (3/1300/300) to the field in Defense Position. Jack then tunes "Gear Changer" with "Dark Resonator" in order to Synchro Summon "Red Dragon Archfiend" (8/3000/2000) in Attack Position.
Jack then Normal Summons "Trust Guardian" (3/0/800) in Attack Position. He then Special Summons "Red Nova" (1/0/0) in Attack Position via its own effect as he controls "Red Dragon Archfiend". Jack then double tunes "Red Dragon Archfiend" with "Trust Guardian" and "Red Nova" in order to Synchro Summon "Red Nova Dragon" (12/3500/3000) in Attack Position. Due to the first effect of "Red Nova Dragon", it gains 500 ATK for each Tuner monster in Jack's Graveyard. There are currently three ("Red Nova Dragon": 3500 → 5000/3000)
"Red Nova Dragon" attacks "Sky Core", but Lester activates his face-down "Twin Vortex" to destroy "Sky Core" and "Red Nova Dragon", however only "Sky Core" is destroyed as "Red Nova Dragon" can't be destroyed by Lester's card effects. Since "Sky Core" was destroyed by a card effect, its effect activates, allowing Lester to Special Summon "Meklord Emperor Skiel" (1/0/0) in Attack Position, "Skiel Top" (1/600/0) in Attack Position, "Skiel Attack" (1/1000/0) in Attack Position, "Skiel Guard" (1/200/300) in Defense Position, and "Skiel Carrier" (1/400/0) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Meklord Emperor Skiel", its ATK is equal to the combined ATK of the other four Skiel monsters ("Meklord Emperor Skiel": 0 → 2200/0).
A replay occurs and Jack uses "Red Nova Dragon" to attack "Meklord Emperor Skiel", but Lester activates the effect of "Skiel Guard" to negate the attack. Jack activates his face-down "Power Pressure" to inflict 1000 damage to Lester as a monster's attack was negated (Lester 4000 → 3000). Lester then activates his face-down "Infinite Aura" which gains ten Aura Counters (one Aura Counter for every 100 damage that Lester takes) (Aura Counters of "Infinite Aura": 0 → 10).
Turn 4: Lester
Lester draws "Infinity Barrage". During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World 2" activates (Jack's SPC: 2 → 3; Lester's SPC: 2 → 3). Lester activates the effect of "Meklord Emperor Skiel" to equip itself with "Red Nova Dragon", but Jack activates the third effect of "Red Nova Dragon" to remove it from play and allow Jack to negate one attack this turn. Lester Sets a card. On Lester's End Phase, "Red Nova Dragon" (12/3500 → 5000/3000) returns to the field in Attack Position.
Turn 5: Jack Atlas
Jack draws "Force Resonator". During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World 2" activates (Jack's SPC: 3 → 4; Lester's SPC: 3 → 4). Jack Normal Summons "Force Resonator" (2/500/500) in Attack Position. Jack then activates the effect of "Force Resonator" to send it to the Graveyard and prevent Lester from activating card effects that target "Red Nova Dragon" when it attacks this turn ("Red Nova Dragon": 5000 → 5500/3000).
"Red Nova Dragon" attacks "Meklord Emperor Skiel". Lester activates his face-down "Infinite Prison" to take "Sky Core" from his Graveyard and Set it in his Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Spell Card by discarding "Skiel Carrier 5". "Red Nova Dragon" then destroys "Meklord Emperor Skiel" (Lester 3000 → 0). The effect of "Infinite Aura" activates (Aura Counters of "Infinite Aura": 10 → 40). Since "Meklord Emperor Skiel" had been removed from the field, "Skiel Top", "Skiel Attack", "Skiel Guard", and "Skiel Carrier" are all destroyed.
Due to the rulings of the WRGP, it immediately goes to Jack's End Phase. Lester passes the baton to Primo who proceeds in Dueling Jack with all the cards that Lester had on his field.
Differences in adaptations[]
- Z-one explaining to Sherry about the future is cut from the dubbed version.
- Also cut is "Power Pressure" being activated.
Mistakes[]
All mistakes are displaying in Dub version:
- Lester refers to Jack's "Dark Resonator" as a Synchro Monster when its actually a Tuner monster.
- When Jack activated "Power Pressure" it did not show the card, simply showing only the sound activation of the card.
- When it shows the card explanation for "Meklord Emperor Skiel", the OCG/TCG artwork of the card is shown, as well as saying that it had 2200 ATK and DEF as their original values while in the anime it is actually 0 ATK and DEF.
- When Jakob depletes Jack Atlas's life points to 0, the gauge briefly displays the Japanese version gauge.
- When Lester draws on his second turn, the card he drew was a second copy of "Twin Vortex" instead of "Infinity Barrage".
Featured cards[]
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.