It's a rainy day at KaibaCorp, and Seto Kaiba is approached by the Big Five, who schemed with Pegasus to take over his company. They apologize and claim they were being used by him, and to prove it they fixed up his new virtual reality Duel Monsters game for him! Seto agrees to give it a test run, but Mokuba isn't so sure. The rules of the game work much like Duel Monsters, though they can be summoned in "real life" to aid the players.
Mokuba's concerns turn out to be right when Seto's mind is trapped in the game! The Big Five plan to leave him an empty shell so they can control KaibaCorp their way. Barely escaping the Big Five's goons, he runs to the only person who he knows can help: Yugi. After explaining the situation, Yugi, Mokuba, and the gang head to Kaiba's private lab, where other VR pods reside. Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba plug themselves in and enter the game world. Tea and Tristan stay behind to keep Kemo and his thugs from entering the room and unplugging the pods, which would trap their minds as well.
Inside the game, Yugi and friends find an impassable desert whirlwind, which can only be crossed by winning a Niwatori card in a tournament. Having fewer Life Points than the rest of the group, Joey volunteers to win it and is shocked to find the tournament's champion is a girl!
This episode contains examples of:
- Blatant Lies: The Big Five claim that they made a phony alliance with Pegasus to rescue Kaiba. Of course, Kaiba doesn't buy it for a moment.
- Call-Back: Throughout this arc, Yugi and Joey encounter threats they've already faced, starting with Bonz's Zombie Monsters. In addition, they are destroyed after Joey activates Shield & Sword just like how he beat Bonz.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Starting with this arc, the Big Five got individual character designs and names.
