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"The Light at the End of the Tunnel", known as "Pitch-Black Duel! Castle of Darkening" in the Japanese version and "The Castle of Dark Illusion" in the Odex dub, is the fourteenth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime. It first aired in Japan on July 25, 2000 and in the United States on February 2, 2002.

When this episode first aired in the United States on Kids' WB!, it was merged with the following episode, so the Duel took place in just one episode titled "PaniK Attack". 4Kids TV aired the episode in two parts in 2007.

Summary[]

Last episode ended with the gang waking up from what seemed to be a dream with the last thing Tristan Taylor remembering was Bakura Ryou went insane. After hearing a loud scream they rush to see where it came from. It was from Mai, who had just lost a Duel against an eliminator named PaniK, forcing her to give up all her Star Chips, and therefore she is eliminated from Duelist Kingdom (as her "Harpie Lady Sisters" are shown being destroyed through unknown means and this somehow in turn causes Mai to be defeated).

Yugi and the others, now joined by Bakura Ryou, find Mai and PaniK. PaniK tells them that he was hired by Maximillion Pegasus to eliminate any weak players. Mai explained that PaniK is one of the Island's eliminators. When Yugi asks what an eliminator is, PaniK grabs her by the arm and shows her now empty Duelist's Glove. Mai has lost all confidence and PaniK pushes her claiming that she was his easiest victim.

Upset at the way PaniK treated her, Joey Wheeler wants to fight him for pushing Mai but Bakura points out PaniK is twice his size. But Yugi stats that fighting will not solve anything since he dealt with a lot of bullies and the only way to beat them is to stand up to them. Yugi Muto changes into Yami Yugi and challenges him to a Duel. PaniK informs Yugi that Pegasus offered a generous bounty to the eliminator who defeats him and wonders if he could inflict bodily harm for extra cash and doesn't mind if he does it for free, and even though he has made enough money to have retired long ago, he won't quit since to him there's nothing more fun than the thrill of the hunt. Mai warns Yugi that PaniK is ruthless and had her shaking in fear and PaniK confirms it and says she isn't the first duelist he beat and tells Yugi he enjoys breaking weak duelists. Yami Yugi calls him out for being a coward for sneaking around and strongarming his opponents instead of challenging them face to face and that true Duelists fight with honor and not with the underhanded tactics of a poacher. To prove it, Yami Yugi wagers all the Star Chips he has to win back Mai's. PaniK agrees to the terms. If Yugi wins, he gets all of Mai's chips back. However, if PaniK wins, not only will he get Yugi's chips, Yugi will be burned to death. As a demonstration, Panik presses a button to shackle Yami Yugi's ankles and presses another button, activating flamethrowers on Yami Yugi's side of the field. Panik claims to see the fear in Yugi's eyes and Tristan tells Yami Yugi to come down as this is too dangerous but Yami Yugi tells him it will take more than this for him to lose his cool. Laughing at this bravado, PaniK tells Yami Yugi he broke in half the last person who stood up to him and with this the duel commences.

The Duel does not start very well for Yugi, as "Castle of Dark Illusions" makes it impossible to see any of PaniK's cards, and with a DEF of 2509, almost none of his monsters can destroy it. And Yami Yugi does not get a Field Power Bonus because of the Castle.

All of Yami Yugi's first few monsters are destroyed, with Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress using Fireball Attack to reveal Barox and Dark Chimera only for Winged Dragon to be destroyed by the former, but he is not intimidated by PaniK's tricks and insults. He then starts mocking back at PaniK. He shows PaniK the "Swords of Revealing Light" in his hand, and declares he will be defeated in five turns. Then he Summons "Curse of Dragon" in Defense Position and Sets a card.

PaniK, believing the Set card is "Swords of Revealing Light", Summons "Reaper of the Cards" and uses its effect in an attempt to destroy the Set card, but it turns out to be a Trap Card, "Spellbinding Circle", which traps "Reaper of the Cards" and reduces its ATK by 700.

Yami Yugi then Sets 2 cards. PaniK says he is not finished yet. He has a whole bunch of powerful cards that can destroy Yugi and win the Duel.

Featured Duels[]

Mai Valentine vs. PaniK[]

Duel already in progress. Mai has 800 Life Points and controls "Harpie Lady Sisters" (1950/2100) while PaniK controls "Castle of Dark Illusions" (920 → 1196/1930 → 2509) and an unknown monster.

Monsters compatible with Night receive a 30% Field Power Bonus. This includes DARK monsters.

PaniK's turn
PaniK's unknown monster attacks and destroys "Harpie Lady Sisters" (Mai: 800 → 0 LP).

Yami Yugi vs. PaniK[]

Monsters compatible with Night receive a 30% Field Power Bonus. This includes DARK monsters.

Turn 1: PaniK
PaniK Normal Summons "Castle of Dark Illusions" (920 → 1196/1930 → 2509) in Defense Position. The effect of "Castle of Dark Illusions" covers PaniK's side of the field in darkness, making Yugi unable to see what cards he plays, and also preventing Yugi's monsters from receiving a Field Power Bonus.

Turn 2: Yami Yugi
Yugi Normal Summons "Celtic Guardian" (1400/1200) in Defense Position.

Turn 3: PaniK
PaniK draws. He then Normal Summons "Barox" (1380 → 1794/1530 → 1989) in Attack Position. "Barox" attacks and destroys "Celtic Guardian".

Turn 4: Yami Yugi
Yugi draws. He then Normal Summons "Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress" (1400/1200) in Defense Position.

Turn 5: PaniK
PaniK draws. He then Normal Summons "Dark Chimera" (1610 → 2093/1460 → 1898) in Attack Position.

Turn 6: Yami Yugi
Yugi draws. He then switches "Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress" to Attack Position. "Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1" attacks. The attack briefly reveals PaniK's monsters.

Turn 7: PaniK
"Barox" attacks and destroys "Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress" (Yugi: 2000 → 1606 LP).

Turn 8: Yami Yugi
Yugi draws. At this point, he tells PaniK that the latter will be defeated in five turns, while also revealing the "Swords of Revealing Light" in his hand. He then Normal Summons "Curse of Dragon" (2000/1500) in Defense Position and Sets a card.

Turn 9: PaniK
PaniK draws "Reaper of the Cards" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1380 → 1794/1930 → 2509) in Attack Position. PaniK then activates the effect of "Reaper of the Cards" to destroy Yugi's Set card, believing it to be "Swords of Revealing Light", but the card turns out to be "Spellbinding Circle" which is immediately activated, decreasing the ATK of "Reaper of the Cards" by 700 and forbidding it from attacking or changing its battle position ("Reaper of the Cards": 1794 → 1094/2509).

Turn 10: Yami Yugi
Yugi draws. He then Sets two cards (one of which is "Swords of Revealing Light").

Duel continues in the next episode.

Differences in adaptations[]

  • A musical montage of the Duel is used to bridge the two episodes together, showing part of the Duel but not its entirety.
  • Cut from the beginning: a flashback of Mai standing on the beach, saying to herself that it's not her style to think of the past, then being grabbed by the Player Killer.
  • The reflection of PaniK in Mai's eyes is added to the US version.
  • In the dub, the episode ends with PaniK telling Yugi that he's going to win the Duel then his monster is shown charging. In the Japanese version, it ends with Mai watching the Duel, PaniK scowling, Yami smiling and a long shot of the Duel.
  • The kanji for "Yami" (darkness/dark) is removed from the Castle of Dark Illusions, but was ironically always kept in the Attribute on the card.

Mistakes[]

  • In both versions, "Spellbinding Circle" is shown to be face-down after it was activated even though it should be face-up.
  • Also, while the artwork of the aforementioned card was altered in the dub, the hexagram was retained when it ensnared "Reaper of the Cards".
  • During the transformation sequence in the dub, Yugi tells Joey that he'll handle this, which, in the original Japanese version, is what he says before switching with Yami.

Quotes[]

Yami: (smiles) I see how you work, PaniK — sneaking up on unsuspecting Duelists because you haven’t the courage to challenge them face to face.
PaniK: (angrily) Watch your mouth, you insolent cur!
Yami: (his smile changes to a frown) True Duelists fight with honor and respect — not the underhanded tactics of a poacher.

Featured cards[]

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



Mai Valentine


Notes[]

  1. This card was played as a Normal Monster. It is a Fusion Monster in the TCG/OCG.
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