No One to Duel

No One to Duel was the pilot episode of the Ni-Ki-Oh! series. The episode first aired on August 24, 2002 at a special meeting of the Free United Club of Kids, playing from the unique VHS copy onto which it was recorded using a tape-to-tape method of linear editing.

This is a synopsis of the DVD version.

Before the episode begins, Niki Moto introduces us to Tommy and explains to us the Duel Monsters Tournament. Niki tells us that he has five star chips, and that a duelist needs ten in order to advance to the next round of the tournament.

Niki challenges Great Terra, an eliminator in the tournament, to a duel for three star chips.

Yami Niki: 2000 Great Terra: 2000

As they begin, Yami Niki takes the duel to the shadow realm. Great Terra sets one card and plays Ookazi, doing 800 damage to Yami Niki's life points. Suddenly, Great Terra has to leave for some reason. He tells Yami Niki that Clera will take his place in the duel, and if Niki wins, Great Terra will duel him. Clera refuses to duel Niki. As a result, Yami Niki finds himself dueling No One.

Yami Niki: 1200 No One: 2000

For his first move, Yami Niki summons Neo the Magic Swordsman [1700/1000]. No One summons Kojikocy [1500] and activates a trap card, Reinforcements, raising Kojikocy's attack power to 2000. However, Neo, as a magic user type, gains a field power bonus from the shadow realm [2210/1300].

Yami Niki: 1200 No One: 1790

Next, Yami Niki summons Silver Fang in defense mode [1200/800]. No One sets a card and summons Blue-Eyes White Dragon [3000/2500]. Blue-Eyes attacks and destroys Neo.

Yami Niki: 410 No One: 1790

Yami Niki plays Dian Keto the Cure Master, raising his life points by 1000. Blue-Eyes destroys Silver Fang. Then, Yami Niki summons Dark Magician [2500/2100]. The shadow realm raises its stats to 3250/2730, and Dark Magician attacks Blue-Eyes. No One activates Reverse Trap, changing the increasing of attack power to decreasing. Dark Magician's stats become 1750/1470. Dark Magician is destroyed. So, Yami Niki plays Dark Hole, destroying all monsters on the field.

Yami Niki: 160 No One: 1790

For most of the duel, Yami Niki defends and hangs on to his last bit of life points. He plays the Umi card, changing the field to an ocean. This causes the land-based monsters No One controls to drown, lowering their attack points drastically. After a while, Yami Niki draws Monster Reborn and resurrects the Dark Magician. He then plays Book of Secret Arts, raising Dark Magician's attack to 3550. Dark Magician attacks the Rude Kaiser [1400] and reduces No One's life points to 0. Yami Niki then banishes No One to the shadow realm.

The next day, Niki's friend Joey comes to his house. Joey shows Niki his new cards, and Niki's grandpa teaches Joey about playing Duel Monsters well. Niki realizes that he had never let Great Terra back. So, Yami Niki takes Joey, Clera, and himself to the shadow realm to look for Great Terra. They find Great Terra and begin the duel, with Bandit Rich as a spectator. Yami Niki is threatened by Great Terra's powerful monsters, but wins by using a Mystic Lamp, with the ability to attack an opponent directly. After the duel, Yami Niki banishes Great Terra to the shadow realm. Niki now has eight star chips.

A few days later, Niki challenges Joey to a duel to obtain the last star chips he needs.

• "No One to Duel" is the first episode on the The Lost Episodes DVD.
• Characters Introduced: Tommy, Niki Moto, Clera Gardner, Great Terra Vacca, Jokuba Vacca, No One, Bandit Rich.
• In the original showing, most of the duel with No One was shown, nearly 15 minutes. The party did not even search for Great Terra. Yami Niki just said to look for him, then the screen says "FIVE HOURS LATER" and it shows Niki making the winning move. Also, the duel with Joey is shown in this episode, but compressed into two minutes, while on the version on the DVD, Niki duels Joey in Immense Damage.
• At the end of the episode, Bandit Rich and Yami Niki have a conversation that foreshadows their duel in Ni-Ki-Oh! S01E05 - Staying Deep-seated.

• (thunder crash)
  Joey: I...I think I gotta go, guys.
  Great Terra: Yeah, guys.
  
• Yami Niki: And that brings your life points down to zero! Now, it's time to stop hiding. Show us who you really are!
  No One: ... (doesn't appear)
  Yami Niki: Great Terra may have helped you escape from noplace before, but now, no one will help you escape from... OBLIVION!
  No One: Aaaaaghhhh!
  Yami Niki: You won't be causing trouble anymore.
  
• Yami Niki: Great Terra, your stealing and cheating ways are done for. Because... you will now be banished!

• At the beginning of the episode, Niki refers to Clera as his sister. However, it is not known that Niki has any sister.
• In this episode, Clera is called "Clare."
• Yami Niki tells Great Terra that he would send him back to the regular world after the duel, but he never does.
• Bandit Rich watches Niki duel Great Terra even though he isn't in the shadow realm.

• Clera cuts a piece of Entenmann's cake.
• The characters duel using actual Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards.