Is that what we're talking about here?
Yami is thoughtfully considering how a mystery only grows deeper with the new information he gained. Pegasus got that eye from Shadi in the Valley of the Kings, but the price seems pretty awful for Yami. He's also learned that there is a tablet with seven indentations for all the Millennium Items to be set inside, including his own puzzle.
As he stands out on the balcony, his friends are gathered in the room leading out to it. Bakura is turned to look at him, observing aloud that Yami doesn't seem too terribly happy about beating Pegasus. Yeah, he should be jumping for fucking joy, right? Jonouchi echoes this sentiment, revealing that Yami didn't even give Pegasus a penalty game. Oh thank every god that's listening right now! The LAST thing this comic needs is another of its villains to come back later having been driven mad by a botched punishment.
Jonouchi says he should have just slugged Pegasus, which actually sounds like it would have been a solid idea - if not for the guards Pegasus has flanking him. Yeah, probably better that you didn't do that, Jonouchi. Bakura admits that Pegasus IS unforgivable, but he still feels bad for the guy given how he got the Millennium Eye. See audience? Bakura feels bad for Pegasus! You should too! And Anzu too! She's reminding us how his lover dying was the start of his awful tragedy! Has KT dropped enough hints yet???
Anzu looks out the door at Yami as well, remembering how Pegasus mentioned what he called an "evil intelligence" in the items. She thinks it must have been hard to hear that if Yami came into Yuugi's head following his completion of the Millennium Puzzle. She imagines that Yami couldn't punish Pegasus without admitting that Pegasus was right about this intelligence being "evil". It IS a fine line to walk, and Yami DOES appear to be thinking along the lines Anzu predicted. As he stands staring out over the island, he wonders where he came from and who he is.
Mokuba remains listless for a moment, staring straight forward, while Anzu, Bakura and Honda shout their salutations and relief at him. He freaks out, recoiling from them and shivering and he yanks the blanket over him up to his cheek. Anzu mothers about how the poor thing is so scared and Mokuba regains his bearings, recognizing their faces a bit late. He sits up, staring at his lap now and haltingly asking if he's back.
Anzu assures him that Yami beat Pegasus, and Honda tells him that Kaiba Corp is also perfectly safe now. Mokuba appears mystified by the notion that Yami saved him, and Yami, leaning on the doorway to the balcony, says that it wasn't just him, but everyone.
Mokuba suddenly throws his covers off, ranting that he can't just lay there when he has to go home and take care of his brother. Uh, dude, that's what you have trained medical professionals for. Regardless, Mokuba elbows Anzu out of the way to get past her, but is stopped by Yami calling to him, alerting him to the fact that Kaiba is on the island. Mokuba gapes at Yami for his assertion, and Yami confirms that it is indeed the case. In the next panel, Mokuba's locket with Kaiba's picture inside has popped open, but he hasn't noticed in his utter disbelief. Eventually, he snaps out of it and demands to know where his brother is.
Oh, and also follow a vivid hallucination of your younger self that's standing outside the open cell door. Hallucination!baby!Seto grins wide and reaches out as if to greet the real one, who is staring with pure shock. He staggers to his feet and out the door after hallucination!baby!Seto, because the vision is jumping up and down and pointing down the corridor in the dungeon like it's on crack. Kaiba's expression settles into a dazed hypnotism as he follows his inner-child's excited directions. They balance each other out well.
Back at Yuugi/Yami's room, there's a knock on the door. Jonouchi opens it to find Croquet standing outside, asking to be excused, and Jonouchi questions what the hell HE wants. Croquet inquires as to whether Yuugi is around, and Yami comes to join him in the hall. They stand face to face silently for a moment, until Croquet produces an envelope that he says contains the promised prize for winning the tournament. He also tasks Yami with returning the briefcase he's carrying to Kaiba, since it contains his Duel Disk device. Yami takes the case, mentally repeating the contents of it.
Croquet offers up an explanation for why Pegasus wanted to take over Kaiba Corp - for the Duel Disk itself. Yami stays silent and glares, so Croquet takes this as a blessing to continue. He reiterates the information that Kaiba Corp developed the virtual simulator that projected the monsters in the game as 3D holograms. However, "Solid Vision" from the Duel Disk can produce even more incredibly realistic projections, a technology that Pegasus was especially desperate for. This statement overlays the image of Cyndia on the card that Pegasus pulled out of his jacket for his story. As Croquet walks away from Yami, he suggests that Pegasus was always chasing the illusion of his lover. Yami watches him go with a frown.
Outside the castle, the gang has assembled at the bottom of the stairs, Mokuba clutching the briefcase that's almost as big as him and pacing. He glances this way and that nervously, stuttering out "big brother" every once in a while. Eventually, his impatience gets the better of him and he snaps at those waiting with him, asking where Kaiba is and if he's REALLY on the island. Kid, why would they lie about that? Just to fuck with you? Get real.
Honda says he and Bakura looked around, but couldn't find Kaiba. Jonouchi suggests with a guilty little smirk that Kaiba's soul was summoned to heaven, and Anzu shouts at him not to make jokes like that. Yeah, Jonouchi! If anything, Kaiba would be summoned to HELL! Suddenly, Anzu looks around, asking where Bakura went to. Jonouchi makes the considerably less cocky suggestion that Bakura is probably still in the castle looking for Kaiba.
Suddenly, Yami is surprised, but he doesn't LOOK it? The only indication is the exclamation point above his head. Mokuba's expression is a tad more... expressive.
I'd still punch the older one.
Anzu tries to color him stoked by mentioning how he got what he wanted too; getting that prize money to spend on his sister's eyesight. Jonouchi looks all the more troubled by this, though, pausing before he holds up the money envelope Yami got from Croquet and asking if it's REALLY okay he takes it. Yami sincerely tells Jonouchi that it's more than okay, because he's the REAL champion of the tournament.
Honda wears a sour expression while admitting that it's definitely true how much of a miracle it was that Jonouchi got to the finals at all. Anzu states happily that Jonouchi's level definitely raised the most. Still, Jonouchi tells Yami that he owes him BIG, who responds that their real challenge has only just begun. Yami says that Jonouchi can owe him until the day Jonouchi beats him. Anzu asks Jonouchi what the record is between him and Yami, and Jonouchi massages the back of his head out of embarrassment. He has officially 0 wins to the 187 losses he's had between last week and this tournament. That's... promising. Honda and Anzu don't look all that reassured either, muttering that Jonouchi has an awful long way to go.
While Jonouchi grabs Honda's collar and Honda holds up his hands in mock surrender, Yami watches. He's surprised when Yuugi shows up next to him, looking just as solid, though I doubt very much that he's really there. Yuugi assures Yami that it doesn't matter where he came from. Yami looks at him quizzically, Yuugi telling him that what DOES matter is his presence is definitely appreciated by his other self, and the ridiculous people play-fighting in front of them. Yami smiles and Yuugi grins happily.
Meanwhile...
Well. That fucker is dead. And Bakura is going to wake up to a nasty copper taste in his mouth because Asshole Bakura is a creepy piece of shit. Hope Pegasus didn't have any blood-borne diseases!
Oh, and we're back outside again while the Kaibas face off with Yuugi and the gang. Okay, I guess KT didn't know where else to stick that page showing that Asshole Bakura murdered Pegasus. Could have placed it after Anzu asked where Bakura was a couple of pages ago to give me less severe whiplash, but whatever. Anyway, Yuugi asks Kaiba to take care of Mokuba, and I get the feeling there's an unspoken "better" tacked onto the end of that ultimatum. Kaiba says he owes Yuugi for helping out his little brother, which is about as close to gratitude as he's capable of getting, I'm sure. However, he follows this "almost" thank you with a request to tell Yami that their fight isn't over yet. Not until Kaiba can beat him in a TRUE battle. What's the definition of a TRUE battle, you may ask? Kaiba's not telling; the conditions of such a battle have to be opaque enough for him to change them if he doesn't like the outcome.
He turns to walk off, but Mokuba lingers to brag that he and his brother are going to fuck off in their private helicopter, and snarks that it's such a shame Yuugi and pals don't have one. If this murder child isn't careful, he'll soon become the murderED child. Jonouchi's hackles are raised as he growls out his anti-Mokuba sentiments at the teasing. Anzu just absently wonders aloud how they ARE getting home. Pegasus probably didn't plan for them to LEAVE the island, that's for sure.
Kaiba shoots a comment over his shoulder to Mokuba to come along, because losers like them will just have to swim in the ocean. This coming from the guy who has a habit of becoming literally comatose after HE loses. Mokuba, however, continues to look at the people who saved them, because it seems like he's actually starting to grow a conscience.
Bakura descends the stairs from the castle apologetically, for his lateness, and Jonouchi demands to know where the hell he was all this time. Without answering, Bakura informs everyone in the most blase manner possible that he looked out from the castle but didn't see any boats at all. Jonouchi is a bit more concerned with this news, shouting in disbelief.
Mokuba calls out to Kaiba hesitantly, suggesting that they let Yuugi and pals ride in the helicopter too. Kaiba's initial reaction is indignant questioning of this notion, growling as he looks back that those hated people who happened to SAVE HIM.
Elsewhere, Mai is throwing rocks into the ocean while complaining that she has no way to get home without a boat. That's when Kaiba's helicopter comes hovering over her from above the trees, and after a moment of bewilderment, she calls out to it. Good luck getting anyone to hear you over those propellers, Mai.
The five folks squished into the back make faces of discomfort as they're all jostled around. Jonouchi soon notices that they're forgetting something though.
And I mean REALLY done with Pegasus. More done with Pegasus than I anticipated, because I distinctly remember that he was alive well past this point in the show. Because the show was aiming for a more general audience than this comic, however, we have ourselves the first really BIG discontinuity since the beginning of it was completely axed. Though Bakura still took Pegasus's Millennium Eye, which brings up all KINDS of questions for me. How did anime!Pegasus let Bakura get away with that? Did he not try to stop him from leaving the island with his numerous trained guards and staff? Would Bakura be slapped with an aggravated assault charge sometime in the future, given the seriousness of what he did?
Not that Pegasus's death in this chapter makes anything less complicated. Now that Pegasus is dead, there are TWO dead bodies in this castle, one of which is a billionaire who created a card game that is immensely popular all around the world, so HIS death at least will be noticed. The people who find those bodies are going to have questions, and while Keith's body doesn't have a scratch on it and therefore can't be tied to anyone, Pegasus's body bears all the signs of this having been murder.
But somehow I think that the lack of meaningful law-enforcement presence (unless it is required by the plot, of course) will continue, and investigations will not proceed, because who the fuck cares let's play more games WOOOOOOOO!
Aside from this and the major disorientation of the PLACEMENT of Bakura's kill-scene, I did enjoy the content of this chapter. Mokuba's behavior in particular was very well-done. I said in a recent review for my other review project that it's often difficult to get kid characters across believably, but this is an instance of it being pulled off. Mokuba managed to be both anxious about his brother and the snotty little jerk we've always known him to be at the same time, and it was a nice blend of the traits. I also really enjoyed how he taunted the protagonists about the helicopter, but made the plea to Kaiba later that they should help them out. It was such a fundamentally childish move to be a jerk and then feel bad about it immediately afterward.
And finally, the fact that Yuugi reassured Yami that he was appreciated and loved by everyone was really sweet. Pegasus's comments about an "evil intelligence" in the Millennium Items was DESIGNED to make Yami self-conscious and question himself. There was no mention in Pegasus's tale about such an entity in the eye, so you can be mostly sure that Pegasus said that just to make Yami squirm. And it worked; Yami began to worry about his origins starting with the puzzle, and the implications that carries about WHO he is as a person.
But Yuugi isn't conflicted. Knowing Yami, the situations they've been through together, the allegiances that they've both formed over that time, Yuugi has no trouble assuring Yami that he and everyone else are better off having him around. The net positives are there, so no matter what Pegasus said, there's no way Yami could be ALL bad.
Pegasus, I'm sure you could've just given Kaiba a bunch of rare cards in exchange for your own personal copy of the Solid Vision technology. Heck, Kaiba already made the technology to enhance the card game; you probably could've made some kind of business deal. I bet Shadi told him to take over the company. I also choose to believe that Shadi is the reason Gozaburo was an asshole!
ReplyDeleteI also have no idea why the translation has Mokuba calling his brother "Kaiba" instead of "Seto". Kind of weird.
In the anime, Pegasus does indeed go on to live, being beaten by Bakura in a Shadow Game. Presumably he gets an eyepatch or maybe inserts one of those fake Millennium Eyes (which we never see in the anime incidentally). He goes on to appear in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX's anime a few times as well as a few filler scenes in the OG anime and a few movies.
Also, Bakura, if you want to get away with murder, maybe don't leave your fingerprints at the crime scene, eh?
I am totally down with this headcanon: blame Shadi for everything! He's behind so many of the horrible things in this manga that I don't even need convincing. It's the most likely explanation.
DeleteI actually remember Pegasus being alive in the anime... vaguely. Can't kill anyone in a show aiming for a more general audience, of course, so I get it. And frankly, it makes a little more sense for him to live, because KT never dealt with who is in charge of Pegasus's company after this. I assume it gets broken up and sold by the Big Five, since Pegasus had no discernible heirs? But the cards are obviously still being produced and distributed like normal, sooooo... I dunno. *shrug*