Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 132 The Tragic Tale of the Millennium Eye

Oh, I have no doubt. Any tale that will inevitably involve that douchebag Shadi is bound to be tragic. Can't wait to learn what he did to Pegasus to turn him into the twisted piece of shit that would recreate Golding's Lord of the Flies with cards. Did he break into Pegasus's mind and force him to do all this shit like Yoshimori? If Shadi happens to be behind this whole tournament I will not be surprised. Horrified, but not surprised.

Just imagine Pegasus's face here, but without the shock. Just pure horror.

He expresses growing disbelief that he could lose a game he created while also wielding the power of the Millennium Eye, clutching the side of his head after another moment of gaping. On the other side of the table, Yuugi sighs, tired but smiling. He closes his eyes, meeting back up with Yami behind his eyelids. Yami nods and gives Yuugi a thumbs-up when addressed, then the two of them mentally high-five. Yuugi is glowing when Yami confirms that they did it, calling him "partner" as he does so.

Oh chapter, you're just overloading the adorableness now.

The ACTUAL friends are still standing behind the banister, with some sort of spectral outline surrounding them as a group. I'm guessing an indication of the return to their bodies? *Shrug*

All of them are smiling when we get a good profile view of them. Jonouchi looks a bit childishly smug when he chuckles, telling the rest of them not to say anything, and bragging that he knows how it feels. He begins to describe this feeling when Bakura alarms him by blurting that he felt it too - the pain of battle and the joy of winning that Yuugi felt. Jonouchi turns his astonished glare to Honda when he says that he feels like he fought alongside Yuugi somehow, and Anzu says she feels happy. Jonouchi grinds his teeth in frustration, because they already said everything HE wanted to say.

When Yuugi stands from the table, Jonouchi pushes Anzu out of the way to lean over the railing and shout out to him. Yami is on the outside again, and holds up his thumb with a grin. His friends jump up around and cheer, flailing in their utter joy.

Yami turns to Pegasus again, glaring at him as he hunches over the table, head in hands. Because Pegasus isn't paying attention, Yami has to yell at him to do what he has to and release Sugoroku, Mokuba, and Kaiba. Pegasus slowly lifts his head, dejectedly agreeing to keep his promise. He pulls the Soul Prison cards with the Kaiba brothers' pictures on them, while Croquet and Vlad the Hair Impaler gulp and mutter Pegasus's name. The shadowy creepsters behind the observation window mourn the loss of their deal, in various states of distress from what you can see of their silhouettes.

Somehow, Anzu is holding Sugoroku's camera when he lets her know that something feels good. The camera is emitting some sort of smoke.

Are you SURE that feels good, Sugoroku? Because I'm pretty sure it looks more like you're about to blow chunks.

Yami watches the souls ricochet this way and that, finding their ways to their bodies, with a smile. Back on the balcony, Anzu excitedly shows the camera's screen to the others and how it's empty now, Sugoroku's soul having been freed. Yami hears this and grins, happy that Sugoroku is free again. He looks over at the table where the discarded Soul Prisons lie, noting that Kaiba and Mokuba are also free.

Pegasus assures Yami that his men will get the prize ready for him, head still inclined somewhat. Yami just glares, allowing Pegasus to continue. He says that he's seen all kinds of minds with his Millennium Eye, but never anyone with multiples before. He assumes that must be the power of the Millennium Puzzle, but Yami verbally shrugs, because even HE doesn't know the full power of the puzzle. He tells Pegasus that he feels some sort of force brought him and Yuugi together, and this prompts Pegasus to wonder out loud if he's familiar with the evil power hidden in the Millennium Items. Or rather, the evil INTELLIGENCE. Yami repeats this phrase in his head with some surprise, and Bakura also looks somewhat alarmed by the subject.

Yami demands to know where Pegasus got his Millennium Item, as well as how and why, before he sends Pegasus to oblivion. Oh yeah, penalty games and shit. Pegasus pulls yet another card from within his blazer, explaining that he has to tell Yami about a woman in order for the story to make sense. He places the card on the table, which shows the same picture Yami remembers he and his friends saw in the dining room next to Shadi's. Yami wonders what these two individuals have to do with the Millennium Items. But... you already KNOW what Shadi does. There was a whole arc... Never mind.

Guys, we really have to talk about this fridge. It's always leaking, making louder and louder whirring noises, and it's starting to smell. I don't imagine all the women comic book writers are stuffing inside are helping matters. Can we get rid of it?

Anyway, Pegasus met Cyndia fourteen years before the current time, when he attended one of his extremely wealthy Las Vegas casino owner father's social functions, holding daddy's hand the whole way. Cyndia was the daughter of one of his father's wealthy friends, and baby Pegasus went from holding his dad's hand to holding Cyndia's pretty easily. It must be nice (presumably) not attending public school where your classmates would inevitably ridicule you for both of these things. Pegasus says he and Cyndia were drawn to one another very soon. That's bound to happen when you're the only two kids at an adult function and bored out of your minds.

He goes on to say that he and Cyndia talked about their dreams often. He was going to become a famous painter and travel the world and she... well, he never says. I guess when you exist to die in order to motivate your lover with grief and pain, you don't really NEED dreams, do you? Either that, or he just wasn't paying attention, preferring instead to do all the talking as they sat on the sprawling lawn of his dad's estate telling Cyndia what their lives (sworn to spend together, of course), would consist of. Also painting her on his easel.

Soon after Pegasus turned 17, Cyndia got sick with an unspecified disease and died. She's shown lying in a coffin that is decorated with a cross and lowered into the ground within the next couple of panels. I congratulate her on getting out of this story while she could. Pegasus isn't so lucky. He's shown sitting among a whole slew of canvases painted with Cyndia's face painted on them, knees drawn up to his chest and head resting on them. When he's shown looking up, his face has a listless expression, which Pegasus describes as months of staring at the blank canvas of his heart.

Yeah, because the ancient Egyptians were the only ones who believed THAT. Specifics please?

Yami is shown acknowledging the mention of Egypt in Pegasus's tale, likely the only part he's listened to so far. He wonders if Pegasus got the Millennium Items there too. Wait, does he have more than the one? The plural here suggests so. Maybe the translators should just have been more careful with what they were writing down.

Pegasus lays down some trivia about the Valley of the Kings being 500 km from Cairo and pretty close to the Nile. Then he goes all poetic on us with a description of the city of the dead as a necropolis with the ruins of ancient pharaohs' tombs, the yellow-brown desert reflecting his heart. Okay dude. Even if it was so close to emotional home, Pegasus was dejected to find that there wasn't anything there that could fill that blank canvas.

But he comes across some sort of village out in the middle of nowhere, I guess. It's not really clear - he's just surprised it exists. As he passes the buildings, Pegasus side-eyes some guy hanging outside one of them in a turban, looking depressed. Or parched. That's not clear either. Some other dude in a turban comes barreling past Pegasus, running from a couple of guys dressed in black. They must be DYING in those colors, but I suppose it helps the readers know who the baddies are, even when the guys in black are calling the running dude in white a thief.

The guy in white trips and falls, groaning, and he throws one of his hands out in front of him as he does a face-plant. Clutched in it is the Millennium Ring. The guy is quickly surrounded by the men in black (heh), and he turns over, brandishing the ring, asking them to let him go in exchange for it. Pegasus stares in shock as the man is beaten, and doesn't make a move until the guy in white is dragged up to his feet, being commanded to get up. With a fistful of cash, Pegasus lunges forward, begging the men in black to let the guy in white go. He says he'll pay for the ring with all the money he has if they'll leave the guy in white alone.

The men in black glare, and after a moment are parted by the approach of someone else in white.

Yami instantly recognizes the description of the key and knows it's Shadi. Good deal, because it's really difficult to describe everyone else when they're all wearing the same thing. KT didn't do a lot of research on what people wear in Egypt, did he?

Anyway, since Yami said Shadi's name out loud, Pegasus is astonished. He asks if Yami KNOWS that guy, because he never so much as knew his name. Instead of answering, Yami demands that Pegasus keep talking.

So, Pegasus keeps the story going, picking up with Shadi side-eyeing him while warning him not to flaunt his wealth in a place like this. Shadi informs Pegasus that the guy in white stole artifacts from a sacred place, and they only punished him for the theft. The value of the ring is irrelevant to this gang, though no amount of gold would be enough to measure it. Shadi asks Pegasus if he's a traveler, and Pegasus doesn't answer, probably thinking that's an awfully stupid fucking question to ask. Geez, even in flashbacks I can't stand this fucker.

Smiling, Shadi informs Pegasus that his village is called Kul Elna, a village often referred to for the grave robbers who founded it, and thieves like the guy in white aren't uncommon. Pegasus looks enthralled, head cocked to the side and wondering what that means. But Shadi doesn't tell him anything further, instead urging him to leave because it's not a good place for folks like him to visit. He also says that what Pegasus is looking for isn't here, because the sadness from losing a loved-one can't be healed in a place like this.

Pegasus is astonished that Shadi read his mind, even as Shadi and the men and black take away their thief to be punished more. Because Shadi's words stuck with Pegasus, he decides to follow him and his gang. This is undoubtedly a terrible idea, but whether Pegasus's brain is addled with grief or he's just plain stupid, he tails them to a house of sun-dried brick where they bring the guy in white. It leads to a place that surprises Pegasus, given how unremarkable it looked on the outside.

Fiction!Egypt is just FULL of them, Pegasus. You'll get used to it.

The guy in white grovels and apologizes to Shadi as he kneels before him, asking not to be killed. Shadi says he's not condemning the guy in white for stealing the ring, because he's much more interested to see if the guy in white is a chosen one, picked by the ring to be its wielder. He holds it out to the guy in white as sweat pours down the guy's face. Shadi demands he put it on, so they can know the answer to this question, and the men in black hold the guy in white's arms as they loop the pendant around his neck.

At first, the guy in white just sits there, staring down at the ring and sweating. Suddenly, the dangling needles pierce the guy in white's bare chest where Shadi's gang stripped him, much like it had done to Bakura. Pegasus is horrified at the terrible sight of streams of fire coming from the guy in white's mouth and eyes. His burnt corpse collapses in front of Shadi, who stares down at it coldly. Clearly aware he has an audience in some capacity, Shadi decides to exposit that the Millennium Items test the souls of those who bear them, burning them alive if they're unworthy.

One of the men in black asks Shadi when the chosen ones will appear, because they won't be able to find the missing items without the ones they have having suitable hosts. Shadi tells him there's no need to hurry, because the Millennium Items are drawn to each other. He reluctantly compares them to pieces of a puzzle, that will be united in time. Shadi reaches down to place the ring into a slot that it fits into perfectly.

Yami is struck by the name of this artifact, so Pegasus describes it to him as like the lid of a sarcophagus with indentations, containing three items. The ring, a set of scales, and, of course, an eye. With his real eye closed, Pegasus haltingly says that it was the eye that he was to wear from that day on. Yami's eyes widen.

Back in the flashback, Pegasus is being apprehended by men in black from the stairs behind him, demanding to know what a frightened kid like him is doing there. Hieroglyphics represent their speech as they drag Pegasus down to where Shadi stands in front of the tablet, Pegasus screaming for them to let him go the whole time. Shadi turns, saying he thought he told Pegasus to leave this place, but now that he's seen something he shouldn't have seen, the only way he can leave is to be chosen by a Millennium Item.

Pegasus pleads with Shadi to spare him, promising not to tell a soul what he saw, but Shadi ignores him. Shadi plucks the Millennium Eye from the tablet and holds it up in front of Pegasus, telling him he has to be tested by the eye, to see if he'll be a worthy host. Pegasus looks super nervous, probably because the implications are FAR worse for Pegasus than for the guy in white. I mean, at least the guy in white didn't have to give up a body part in order to be tested. Pegasus repeats the name of the item like a question, which Shadi responds to by assuring Pegasus that if he's worthy, he'll be granted his dearest wish. Pegasus's eyes alight at THIS incentive, elaborated as Shadi's promise to open the door to the other world so Pegasus can see his beloved again.

Attention now fully grabbed, Pegasus questions this promise very little. He says he finds it hard to believe as he's kneeling in front of Shadi, but by the next panel he's agreed to the deal, hook, line and sinker. The men in black approach him with the eye, grinning sadistically, and then we see Pegasus's shadow projected onto the wall as he's clutching at his head, screaming.

In the present, Yami looks at Pegasus like he's fucking nuts, which is entirely fair. Pegasus tells Yami that a miracle happened after that. While blood is pouring down his face, he sees a light surrounding him, coming from a door he sees in front of him. And outline of Cyndia appears in the doorway, Pegasus's dearest wish.

Yami, did you miss the part of the story that he wouldn't be able to leave until he tried the eye anyway? At least he got a little something out of it, as opposed to the poor guy in white.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It was HARD to get through, though not because it was boring or anything. Relevant backstory is always welcome, and the chapter didn't waste a lot of time beating around the bush. It was telling the straightforward story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy does really stupid things in the midst of his grief. Cut and dry.

But I was SO ANNOYED by Cyndia's part in it. I WANT to be moved by how much Pegasus loved her, by how he would endure horrible pain and agony in order to maybe, possibly get another glimpse of her. I WANT for this to be a tragic love story that makes me feel for Pegasus. It SHOULD have made me feel that way, but it made me ANNOYED.

I don't know a single solitary detail about Cyndia because they're conspicuously absent in Pegasus's account. What kind of person was she? What did she like? What couldn't she stand? What were her talents or skills? Pegasus had an opportunity to say SOMETHING about her dreams for the future, but he doesn't even drop one tiny little tidbit of information about her as a person. If he loved her that much, you would think these details would just spill right the fuck out like a waterfall. I ALWAYS talk about the details of my husband's life and personality to family and friends, and he's not even DEAD.

And don't get me wrong. We as the audience don't NEED to know these things. They're not exactly details important to the plot. However, they would have added depth and realism to Pegasus's feelings. If he was talking about her as if she were a person rather than a cardboard cut-out he accidentally left out in the rain, his love for her might have been BELIEVABLE. As it stands though... it's just painfully obvious that Cyndia wasn't a love interest so much as a plot device. KT couldn't be bothered to make her seem more like someone who was once alive so much as someone who died, making some important schmuck sad. More panels were dedicated to showing her funeral than showing her living, which should tell you something.

RIP Cyndia. Sorry you had to be a footnote in this other guy's life.