Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 094 The Magic of the Maze!

Well, it'll have to be magic OTHER than fusing the field with a monster, because that was utterly DESTROYED by Jonouchi and Yami at the end of the last chapter. It only took one round for them to figure out a way to get around it. I mean, just look at this loser's face in response to his shitty plan being foiled so thoroughly:

That's the face of a guy who just realized this is not going to be as easy as he figured.

Jonouchi brags it up about their flanking attack, how he and Yami are the best tag-team EVER, and they're going to bust right through the labyrinth. Yami agrees wholeheartedly, his grin less pronounced, though. Friends in the back are cheering like crazy, Anzu asking the guys if they saw that Jonouchi played a helpful card. Bakura thinks it was a sweet combo and Honda pumps his fist in jubilation. He looks on proudly, silently surprised at just how good at the game Jonouchi is getting.

Yami and Jonouchi glare across the table, thinking yet again that they'll get to Pegasus's castle after this, but the Meikyu Brothers are annoyed they're so quick to believe that was all it took to win. The brothers aren't beat yet, and they're sure their young opponents are going to plummet into their pitfalls in the future. Yami, on the other hand, is sure that the brothers can't beat them because he and Jonouchi have teamwork on their side.

What is it that the Meikyu brothers have, then? Chopped liver?

They call for a continuation of the game and Yami reminds Jonouchi that it's his turn now. How's he going to top that cool play? He draws a card, saying he's on top of it, and glances at it. Jonouchi decides that he needs more monsters than just Axe Raider to support Yami, so busts out his Flame Swordsman as his first action of the turn. Then he moves Axe Raider into the labyrinth with the Celtic Guardian, saying that the Kunai and Chain remain with him and continue to boost his attack as he goes. That ends his turn.

Kyu notes that Jonouchi and Yami's monsters are in close formation now, before shouting that it's his turn and directing his tank to attack them. Of course, by attack I guess he just means for the tank to move into the labyrinth, because it's only SOON that the high stats machine will be in range to attack the monsters. But there is something else.

Well, we'll just wait for that too, then.

Yami says it's his turn while thinking that it's pretty obvious that the brothers have set up some traps for them along the path. Jonouchi is pissed that they can't just jump over the walls and get to the doors that way, because we already know he's all about clearing barriers from Death-T. Yami tells him that they wouldn't be able to do that, considering flying monsters won't work in the labyrinth because there's no room to fly. Though the ceiling is invisible to players, the field is in actuality a dungeon with a stone top, bottom and walls. This seriously stresses Jonouchi out, because his Red Eyes Black Dragon is a flying monster. Yami has to be the one to break to Jonouchi that only his ground forces will be able to navigate the labyrinth, unfortunately. He says that they'll just have to go forward one step at a time.

Just like...

After the Dark Magician catches up to the other monsters in the maze, Yami thinks that their marching order is too tight on which to launch an attack. He wonders what the Meikyu Brothers will do now with a smirk.

Mei is grinning pretty hard at them, though, thinking that Yami is planning on getting through the labyrinth with sheer force of numbers. He draws a card, not willing to let that happen. He smirks when he glances at his card, confident that this will put an end to Yami and Jonouchi's teamwork once and for all. He slaps down the card and Yami and Jonouchi both lean forward, bewildered.

Yami's and Jonouchi's monsters are separated by a wall popping up right between them, as Jonouchi complains. He and Yami are both devastated that their group was split up. Mei laughs that now their pieces are separated, Jonouchi and Yami can't help each other out even in the most dire situations.

Mei now wants to get down to a real tag-team pass-time: picking on the weaker partner. It looks like he's got his sights set on Jonouchi here, just as Jonouchi draws a new card and announces that he's about to take his turn. Since he would have to take quite the detour to get back to Yami, he plans to go through the labyrinth on his own. He directs his monsters to get going, because it's just the fighters now. Said fighters both go at the same time, and I wasn't aware they could do that. You learn something new every day, I guess.

As the monsters walk forward, Kyu looks on in anticipation until they step on a particular square. He's got them now.

*shudder*

The spider rips apart the Axe Raider and Jonouchi's life points go down to 1600 while he whines about the loss. Yami tells Jonouchi to hang in there, and the cheer squad in the background lets out a collective call of Jonouchi's name. Kyu laughs about how Jonouchi fell for his trap so easily, though not all his pieces have fallen yet. Kyu promises to pin Jonouchi down even harder, announcing that it's his turn now.

He orders the Labyrinth Tank forward, and it thunders along, right within range of the Flame Swordsman and spider. Kyu gleefully thinks that it'll only be one more turn until he's able to take out the Flame Swordsman. Jonouchi groans, seeing perfectly well that his swordsman isn't powerful enough to take out either the spider or the tank. It looks to him that Flame Swordsman is as good as dead.

Anzu and Honda encourage Jonouchi not to say such things, and not to give up. Kyu, however, is sure that Jonouchi is right, because Yami can't interfere with the wall in his way. Giggling, Kyu thinks the Flame Swordsman is as good as gone, and he's already calling checkmate.

Yami is wearing a smirk when he asks if it's his turn, though. He draws a card and glances at it, while Kyu tells him that all he can do is sit and suck his thumb as Jonouchi dies on on the other side of the wall. Yami chuckles and asks if Kyu REALLY thinks so. Kyu is flabbergasted when Yami says that his next card is Mystic Box played in conjunction with the Dark Magician. Kyu's confusion only seems to grow with this announcement.

It's usually the lovely assistant that gets in the box, but you know, in lieu of one...

Perplexed, Kyu asks if Yami's monster just committed suicide, but the trick isn't over yet. Mei tells him to look, because a second box has appeared on the field in place of the spider. The doors of the box open to reveal that the spider has been skewered instead of Dark Magician, who was the REAL stand-in for the lovely assistant! What a twist!

But wait! The show STILL isn't over!

PRESTO! Wasn't THAT quite the trick?

Kyu gasps in alarm, and Yami asks if he gets it now. The Dark Magician teleported using the spider as a sacrifice and even gets another attack in addition. Jonouchi is all fired up for this happy play, which Yami concludes by telling the Dark Magician to use Dark Magic on the Labyrinth Tank. It explodes, eliciting cheers from Yami and Jonouchi's fans friends. Kyu screams, his life points lowering to 1600.

Having a magic box probably doesn't hurt either, though.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Man, Jonouchi and Yami really are an incredible team! They've been able to get out of these very tight situations together with very little damage, even getting to inflict some damage on Meikyu Brothers in the meantime. They've taken turns giving each other a nice leg-up the past two chapters, and it does give them quite the advantage. Whenever one of the Meikyu Brothers goes for one of them, they're able to jump right in and prevent their opponents from "picking on" either one.

Maybe this ability will be taken away in the next chapter or two? In order to force both characters to adjust to the new circumstances, just like in Jonouchi's last duel. I'm not actually sure, because while KT did wonderfully in amping up Jonouchi's struggle within that last mini-arc, companionship and support from others IS the overarching theme of the whole manga, and I don't know if he'll be too keen on showing his protagonists going a different route than that.

Pretty cool little addition to the Dark Magician's arsenal too! Although, I've got to say, the teleportation only made sense within this particular situation. There have been duels before that used the POSITION of monsters as an advantage, but I don't see where Yami would ever need to take the place of an opponent's monster like that outside of the labyrinth. Seems a little too specific to be of use elsewhere, but we'll see if this pops up again later.

Random question that just occurred to me: can monsters be in defense in the labyrinth? You have to be in attack in order to move, so I wonder if it's even possible for them to be in defense. Again, totally random and I'm not sure it matters. Just one of those things that wanders through my skull from time to time.