Aftermath, known as King of Duelists in the Japanese version, is the fortieth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime. There are no duels in this episode, as it instead centers on the childhood and teenage life of Maximillion Pegasus, and Yugi Muto's meeting of Shadi.

SummaryEdit

Yugi and his friends are running through the castle in order to find Pegasus, so that he will release all the souls that he captured like he promised. Téa stops for a brief moment because she notices a nearby tower. She notes to her friends that she recognizes that tower as the one she thought that Tristan and Bakura went up into before in a dream. She then realizes that was Pegasus' sanctuary and what she remembered was real. Tristan agrees too as the memory is coming back to him.

Pegasus is in his private tower and is depressed that he lost against Yugi and the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. Regardless, he is a man of his word, so he releases the souls of Solomon Muto and the Kaiba brothers. Because of this, Mokuba, Kaiba, and Solomon wake up and regain their senses. Just then, Yami Bakura arrives and gives Pegasus an impromptu tarot reading before challenging him to a Shadow Game using their Millennium Items. Bakura easily wins and takes Pegasus' Millennium Eye. Yugi and the gang arrive to see Pegasus being carried away by his guards. They enter the tower and finds Pegasus' diary. Téa Gardner reads from it, and it explains that as a teenager, he met a girl named Cecelia. They were true lovers, but just as they were about to be married, Cecelia got sick and died. Pegasus traveled all over the world trying to get her back. He winds up in Egypt, where he meets Shadi, who gives him the Millennium Eye.

Pegasus gets the idea that using the holographic technology of KaibaCorp along with the power of the Millennium Items could bring Cecelia back to life, and this his reason for hosting the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Yugi notices that there are three soul cards that are blank. That means Pegasus did release the souls of his prisoners like he had promised. As the group leaves, Shadi confronts Yugi. He uses his Millennium Key to enter Yugi's mind. To his surprise, he finds two chambers, one for Yugi, and the other for Yami. The latter is giant maze filled with trap doors. Shadi enters through several of them before Yugi saves him. In one of them, they encounter the "Dark Magician" who is about to attack them as he thinks they are intruders. Shadi plans to use the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" tablet below them to destroy it, but Yugi talks him out and manages to convince the "Dark Magician" to let him go. Shadi is shocked that Yugi was able to convince the "Dark Magician" that easily. Shadi leaves Yugi's mind, believing he is the one that will save the world from chaos. Before he leaves, Shadi warns Yugi to take great care as the thief that stole the Millennium Eye will go after Yugi's Millennium Puzzle soon.

Differences in adaptationsEdit

• In the US version, we zoom in on Cecelia's portrait. But in the Japanese version, it's Shadi's portrait we see in close-up, and Shadi's blue eyes briefly glow.
• Cecelia's image on the card is changed in the dub.
• Cut from the US version is a shot of Pegasus at Cyndia/Cecelia's funeral, standing over her in her casket and the casket lid closing over her. It's replaced by a shot of a cemetery and a headstone with "Cecelia Pegasus" engraved on it.
• Cut from the US version is Shadi shoving the Millennium Eye into Pegasus' eye socket.
• When Pegasus saw Cecelia in a vision there was blood dripping down his eye, the blood is erased in the dub.

TriviaEdit

• This marks the third episode to not feature dueling.

Featured cardsEdit

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

NotesEdit

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} This card was used as part of Yami Bakura's tarot reading on Pegasus.