"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" "Machine Emperor", performs a Double Tuning to Synchro Summon "Red Nova Dragon". Lester tries to fight back with "Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity", 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. LesterEdit

Turn 1: Jack Atlas
(Jack's SPC : 0; Lester's SPC : 0)

• Normal Summons "Dark Resonator" (1300/300) in Defense Postion.
• Sets 3 cards face down and ends his turn.

Turn 2: Lester
(Jack's SPC : 1; Lester's SPC : 1)

• Normal Summons in Defense Postion"Sky Core" (0/0)
• Sets 3 cards face down and ends his turn.

Turn 3: Jack Atlas
(Jack's SPC : 2; Lester's SPC : 2)

• Activates "Dimension Switch" removing "Dark Resonator" from play

• Special Summons "Gear Changer" (1500/700) from his hand since he controls no monsters and Lester controls one. The other effect of Gear Changer actives increaseing its Level by the Level of Sky Core. Gear Changer (Level 4 → 5)

• Sends "Dimension Switch" to the Graveyard to return "Dark Resonator" to the field

• Tunes "Dark Resonator" with "Gear Changer" to Synchro Summon "Red Dragon Archfiend" (3000/2000)

• Normal Summons "Trust Guardian" (0/700) and Special Summons "Red Nova" (0/0) to the field from his hand since he controls Red Dragon Archfiend.

• Double Tunes "Trust Guardian" and "Red Nova" with "Red Dragon Archfiend" to Synchro Summon "Red Nova Dragon" (3500/3000)

• "Red Nova Dragon" gains 500 ATK for each Tuner monster in Jack's Graveyard, 3 × 500 = 1500 ATK Red Nova Dragon (ATK: 3500 → 5000)

• Attacks "Sky Core" with "Red Nova Dragon", but Lester activates "Twin Vortex" targeting "Sky Core" and "Red Nova Dragon".

• Since "Red Nova Dragon" cannot be destroyed by card effects, only "Sky Core" is destroyed.

• With "Sky Core" being destroyed by a card effect, Lester Special Summons "Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity" (0/0), "Skiel Top" (600/0), "Skiel Attack" (1000/0), "Skiel Guard" (200/300) and "Skiel Carrier" (400/0).

• "Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity"'s ATK becomes the combined ATK of the other 4 Skiel monsters (ATK:2200).

• A replay occurs, Jack continues to attack "Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity", but Lester actives "Skiel Guard" effect to negate the attack

• Jack activates "Power Pressure" inflicting 1000 damage to Lester (Lester: 4000 → 3000 Life Points)

• Lester activates "Infinite Aura" gaining counters for each 100 Life Points Damage (Counters:0 → 10)

• Jack ends his turn.

Turn 4: Lester
(Jack's SPC : 3; Lester's SPC : 3)

• Tries to use "Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity's" effect to absorb "Red Nova Dragon", but Jack removes Red Nova Dragon from play to prevent Skiel from attacking this turn

• Sets 1 card.

• "Red Nova Dragon" returns to the field During the End Phase.

Turn 5: Jack Atlas
(Jack's SPC : 4; Lester's SPC : 4)

• Normal Summons "Force Resonator" (500/500) and activates it's effect by sending it to the Graveyard, Lester cannot activate his Skiel Guard effect.

• Since another Tuner monster was sent to the Graveyard, "Red Nova Dragon" gains 500 more ATK Red Nova Dragon (ATK: 5000 → 5500)

• Attacks "Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity" with "Red Nova Dragon"

• Before taking Battle Damage, Lester activates "Infinite Prison" discarding 1 card "Skiel Carrier 5" to Set "Sky Core" in the Spell & Trap Card Zone (Lester: 3000 → 0)

• Due to its effect, "Infinite Aura" gains 30 more counters (Counter: 10 → 40)

Jack wins. Due to the WRGP rules, Primo takes Lester's place within the duel with 4000 lifepoints, and keeps any cards on the field and Speed Counters he had.

Differences in adaptationEdit

• In the original, Lester did not mention he lost to Primo in Rock, Paper, Scissors.
• Z-one explaining to Sherry about the future is cut from the dubbed version.

MistakesEdit

• In the dub, Lester refers to Jack's "Dark Resonator" as a Synchro Monster when its actually a Tuner monster.
• In the dub, when Jack activated "Power Pressure" it did not show the card, simply showing only the sound activation of the card.
• In the dub, when it shows the card explanation for "Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity", 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.

Featured cardsEdit

The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.