Kaiba and Mokuba return to Kaiba Corporation to confront the Big 5: The ones who conspired with Pegasus against him. Kaiba fires them all, but one insists Kaiba should hear him out. He explains that they made a phony alliance with Pegasus in hopes of getting Kaiba back. Kaiba refuses to believe them. They then tell him that they've been advancing his project for the virtual reality game Duel Monsters Quest. This makes Kaiba quite happy, and he heads down to try it out.

Mokuba keeps begging Seto not to do it, as it could be a trap. But Seto won't listen, as he's been waiting forever to try the program. Seto assures Mokuba that he programmed it, and nothing would happen to him. They reach a room with a pod. Kaiba gets into the pod. A visor comes over his head. A drive opens up for his dueling deck. He inserts it, and awaits the game load.

A moment later, the game fully loads, and Seto finds himself in a forest. He's glad, as this is just how he programmed it. Soon, a Two-Headed King Rex comes into view in the trees. (L4/1600/1200) Kaiba summons the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. (L8/3000/2500) He attacks and destroys the Rex. Suddenly, the Armed Ninja comes speeding across the tree tops. (L1/300/300) Kaiba is puzzled, as he never programmed this. The Armed Ninja throws out a Dragon Capture Jar, which captures the Blue-Eyes. Then, it throws an electric net on Kaiba.

Back at Kaiba Corp, Mokuba is horrified to see this happen. His brother is being shocked while still in the pod. Mokuba can't stop it. Just then, one of the Big 5 comes on the monitor, and tells Mokuba that Kaiba should have heeded his warning. Kaiba's mind is trapped in his own game. Now, Mokuba is to be captured, as Kemo and several others are near. Mokuba grabs Seto's deck from the pod. Kemo and the others get there and break the door down, only to find out that Mokuba has escaped through a ventilator shaft. Kemo calls in to one of the Big 5. The man tells Kemo to go find him, but another one of the 5 tells him not to. Mokuba will come back to them soon enough.

Mokuba runs through the rainy streets. Eventually, he comes to the Game Shop. Yugi and the others are surprised to see him. Mokuba asks for his help, nearly passing out. They give Mokuba a blanket and some hot cocoa and Mokuba tells them what just happened, and how Seto is trapped. When asked about the simulator, he reveals that Seto has been working on this for years and years. Yugi and the others agree to help him. Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Tea follow Mokuba to a warehouse. The warehouse is where Seto keeps all of his secret stuff. Inside, there are some pods that will connect them to the game. There are only 3. Mokuba, Yugi, and Joey go in. Tristan and Tea stay behind.

» ULTIMATE GAME - The Duel Monsters Quest

The game loads. Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba find themselves in a Graveyard. They begin walking through it, when Zombies pop-up from behind Joey. Dragon Zombie (L4/1600/0), Armored Zombie (L4/1500/0), and Crass Clown Zombie. (L3/1350/0) Mokuba plays Rude Kaiser (L5/1800/1600), and Yugi plays Dark Magician. (L7/2500/2100) They attack the zombies, wiping them out. Joey gets ready for his move. Then, the Zombies reappear, more powerful. (1760/0, 1650/0, 1450/0) Joey plays Flame Swordsman. (L5/1800/1600) Yugi tries to stop him, but Joey destroys the Dragon Zombie. It comes back. (1920/0) It destroys the Flame Swordsman. Yugi reminds Joey that he's beaten them before. Joey remembers. He plays Shield & Sword, swapping the ATK/DEF of the Zombies. (0/1920, 0/1650, 0/1485) Dark Magician attacks, destroying the Zombies. A card appears with a 5 on it. They take it. Joey then notices his Life Points are at 1820 from the destruction of Flame Swordsman. Then, they see a fairy. They go to it, and believe it's one of those faeries found in games to help the players out. They follow it, eventually losing track, but seeing a large town. They decide to go to it.

When at the town, they see a card shop with lots of Ritual Cards for sale. They don't have nearly enough points to buy any. So, they split up to find information on anything. They meet back, and Mokuba found out that an old woman saw people carrying a prisoner across the desert, to a sacred temple. They head to the desert and begin crossing it, despite the sand. Soon, a giant dust tornado comes for them. They brace themselves and take the hit.

A little while later, Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba wake up back at the town, by the start of the desert. An old man talks to them and tells them they can't cross the desert with out the Niwatori. Joey remembers that that's a card. The old man tells them it can't be found... it can only be won.

Back in the real world, Tea and Tristan find out that the Big 5 have sent thugs to come and get them. They prepare to keep them out of the room.

After heading back into town, Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba contemplate on how a Niwatori card would be won. Yugi then remembers a poster he saw. He heads to it. It's a flyer for a competition. Anyone who could be the town's undefeated Champion would win the Niwatori card. They decide to try.

Upon getting into the stadium and issuing the challenge, the challenger is forced to wear embarassing garments and sign-up as "Señor Porky." Yugi at first is going to challenge the Champion, but Joey wants to go instead. So he does. When in the arena, Joey finds out the champion is a woman: Madam Butterfly. He still goes with the duel.

» COLLUSSEUM BATTLE - Joey Wheeler vs. Madame Butterfly

Joey starts off with the Flame Swordsman. Butterfly plays a Harpie Lady. (L4/1300/1400) Joey KNOWS he's seen the Harpie Lady before. Butterfly lays one card face-down to end her turn. Joey attacks, only to be hit by Butterfly's Trap: Mirror Wall, halving Flame Swordsman's ATK to 900. Butterfly then plays Rose Whip, raising Harpie's ATK to 1700. Joey knows only one duelist would use moves like this. He removes his mask. Butterfly stops the attack, and takes off her mask. She is none other than Mai Valentine.

» SEARCH FOR KAIBA - To the Temple!

Mai asks what Joey is doing there. Mai also sees Yugi and Mokuba in the stands. Joey tells her what they're doing... going to save Kaiba. And she's in danger being here. Mai says the Kaiba Corp Execs paid her to help try this out. Joey tells her they need the Niwatori card to cross the desert. Mai orders her Harpy to nab the Niwatori card, and they all start running off. Several people give chase, but Joey activates Trap Hole, opening up a huge hole under them. They proceed through the desert. They activate the Niwatori, which guide them through the desert on their backs. While heading through it, they're attacked by a Sand Stone. (L5/1300/1600) Joey summons Red-Eyes Black Dragon (L7/2400/2100) and destroys it.

At the end of the desert, they come to the temple. They enter it, and come upon a giant labyrinth. They decide they'll have to go through it. They get to about to the middle, when a Labyrinth Tank (L7/2400/2400) comes at them. They go another way, but another one is there. Soon, they're surrounded on all sides by Labyrinth Tanks. They panic, but Yugi uses Magical Hats. The 4 hats project to all ends of the maze. The group steps out of one of them. Just to their luck, they're nearly out. Just then, they hear a scream. Another fairy appears. This one helps them out of the maze, and two a beautiful young lady, who bears a striking resemblence to Mokuba. Turns out Seto modeled her after Mokuba. Her name is Adina. She was afraid as she and Eirro were separated. They hope Adina can lead them out of this place, and she agrees. Soon enough, they encounter another behemoth: The Gate Guardian! (L11/3750/3400) Joey plays his Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and Yugi plays his Summoned Skull. (L6/2500/1200) Yugi then uses Polymerization to fuse them into Black Skull Dragon. (L9/3200/2500) They still need more attack power, so Joey plays Dragon Nails, raising BSD's ATK by 700. (to 3900) Black Skull Dragon destroys the Gate Guardian. Adina comments that they are much like the heroes of legend. A search party look for Adina shows up, and leads them out of the temple.

Meanwhile, Kaiba wakes up chained to a wall. The person who appears there is Witty Phantom. (L4/1400/1300) Witty Phantom informs him that he and another will be used as sacrifices to summon the Mythic Dragon. Kaiba tries his best to end the program, but to no avail. The game has been re-programmed, and will not listen to him, as the Phantom makes quite apparant.