<i>"Ha Ha Ha! My brother and I are flying out of here in our private helicopter! Too bad <b>you</b> don't have one...losers!"</i> 

Finally, we have arrived at the end of the Duelist Kingdom arc: the match between Yami Yugi and Pegasus. 

One of the things I really think the anime adaptation failed to get right was the balance between goofy and sinister that made Pegasus such a good villain in the manga. Like, yes, he's super charismatic, but he's also incredibly intimidating and ruthless, and the stakes of this duel are incredibly high. Excellent set-up for a finale. 

Yes, the 'Pegasus can use the Millennium Eye to read his opponent’s mind' bit is a little repetitive at this point, but at least the payoff of Yami Yugi/Yugi figuring out how to get around it is satisfying since it relies on the unique property of their two minds in one shared body. That being said, all the magic shenanigans mean that this duel isn't really about strategy in the same way many of the other duels have been, so to keep it interesting, we need some good visuals, some banter, and we do get that. 

That being said, the emotional climax of the arc really is the Yami-Yugi/Kaiba re-match, so everything after that, including this duel, feels like falling action leading to the resolution of Pegasus's defeat. And even that defeat feels limp given that the second he loses, Pegasus just kind of slumps in his chair and sighs and says: "My men will get your prize ready, don't worry." And then we immediately go into the exposition of Pegasus's motivation for throwing the tournament. 

We are reminded that the entire thing was really about Pegasus gaining control of Kaiba Corporation, and it's finally revealed that the reason this was something he wanted to do badly enough to go to all this trouble is because he wanted to be able to combine the power of the Millennium Eye with Kaiba's Solid Vision technology to create a life-like hologram of his dead girlfriend/fiancée, Cyndia. 

Ok, great, I can get behind this as a motivation. Not sure what is added by getting this reveal at the end rather than up front, but sure. He goes on to quasi wave away his own incredibly villainous and sadistic behaviour by blaming the 'evil intelligence' possessed by the Millennium items.

Yeah, no, I'm not buying it. 

But Yami Yugi is more interested in hearing about the Millennium Items than pointing out the lameness of this excuse, so Pegasus explains how he came to have the Millennium Eye, which involved a trip he took to Egypt, where he met Shadi, and then is ultimately 'tested' and chosen to wield the Millennium Eye. 

And that's basically that on that. 

Bakura summarizes the collective feeling they all ultimately have about this little adventure by saying: <i>"Pegasus is unforgiveable...But I feel sorry for him because of how he got the Millennium Eye." </i>

Well, <i>I</i> don't, but I suppose no one asked me... 

Finally, everyone whose soul was captured by Pegasus is restored, and we get a very sweet reunion between Kaiba and Mokuba, cementing their storyline as the true emotional core of the arc. Yami Yugi comments that Mokuba was the final piece Kaiba needed to complete the "puzzle of his heart" that served as his penalty game after losing to Yami Yugi at the end of 'Death-T'. 

But we abruptly cut away from this for one page to show that while everyone else gathered outside the castle, Yami Bakura stayed behind and forcibly and grotesquely removed Pegasus's Millennium Eye, saying <i>"two down...five to go"</i> -- a sort of reminder that there is a bigger over-arching plot going on in the background that we still don't completely understand. 

Is Pegasus dead as a result of this? I think that's kind of the implication, but it's not clear. 

But who cares, really? We're back with the gang outside, and Mokuba has offered everyone a ride back home in his and Kaiba's helicopter. Kaiba grudgingly agrees, saying that makes them even after Yami Yugi saved Mokuba, but declaring their battle isn't over yet, and that the next time he'll beat Yami Yugi in a 'true' duel. 

And that's how we leave things until the story picks back up in Volume 9.  

Compared with the original, pre-Duel Monsters-centric arcs, Duelist Kingdom is definitely more cohesive, but I do kind of miss how unhinged 'Season Zero' could be. However, in terms of storytelling, this arc is definitely stronger, and really hits its stride with Battle City, so I'm looking forward to it!