*CLAP*
"Now that we know the rules and each other's favourite cards, how about we start?" Mini Yugi said as he clapped his hands.
"Of course, Yugi... This will definitely be a fun duel..."
While Bakura was speaking, Yuta and the others got more and more sleepy.
As he was about to pass out, the only thing Yuta could see was the glow of the Millennium Ring.
Fuck!
This was definitely a shadow duel!
Well, at least it was Yugi that was fighting, so nothing should happen to him.
He might as well use this opportunity to slack off for once and just sleep.
***
When Yugi came to himself, he had found himself in a dark dimension.
He was sitting at a table across from Yami Bakura, who was shuffling his deck.
"Finally woke up?" Even though his words showed concern, Yami Bakura's face showed anything but that.
"What is the meaning of this, Bakura!" Yami Yugi asked as he punched the table.
"As you can see, we are just going to play a little fun game, a practice one if you will," Yami Bakura still replied with his warm tone, but Yami Yugi could see the deep malice that lay beneath his eyes.
"You are not Bakura, are you!? You must be the dark spirit that was hiding in his Millennium Ring, taking over his body!" Yami Yugi said as he pointed his finger at Yami Bakura, but a part of him wondered why he would even come to such a conclusion.
"Smart," Yami Bakura smiled and nodded his head.
"Release my friends this instance!" Yami Yugi demanded.
"You know the rules." Yami Bakura showed his deck to Yami Yugi.
"Fine then! I will defeat you in this Shadow Game and regain the freedom of my friend Bakura!"
"DUEL!" X 2
[Yugi: 2000]
[Yami Bakura: 2000]
"I go first! Draw!" Yami Yugi declared and drew a card from his deck, which was Cyber Commander, the favourite card of Tristan. It was a good card to check the waters.
"I summon Cyber Commander in defence mode!"
[Cyber Commander DEF 700]
Tristan, dressed as a cyber commander, appeared on the field and looked around confused.
The last thing he remembered was them promising to play a fun, relaxing game of Duel Monsters to take the edge off the tournament.
Then he looked around and saw the giant Bakura in front of him, and when he looked back, there was also a giant Yugi behind him.
"Yugi? When did you and Bakura become giants?"
"Tristan!? How could that be?" Yami Yugi couldn't believe that there was a mini Tristan on the play table.
"What kind of tricks are you playing, evil spirit!?"
"What are you talking about? Haven't we already discussed the rules beforehand? Everyone would give their 'favourite' cards to the player and they would fight against the demon king 'together'" Yami Bakura smiled sinisterly.
"It can't be!"
"Yes, it can. Currently, the souls of all your friends are sealed inside their favourite cards."
"My turn! Draw!"
"I summon Ancient Brain in attack mode!"
Bakura summoned a monster that had greenish skin and a giant brain that made up its head. There was an orange beard on its face, a red horn on its forehead and pink feather wings behind its back.
It looked like a chimaera made up of countless different monsters, and even the air it gave off was unholy.
[Ancient Brain ATK 1000]
"Now, my slave, go and destroy Cyber Commander!" Yami Bakura declared as he laughed towards Yugi. This was not everything he had planned.
"Yugi! Do something!" Tristan said as he ran away from the monstrosity that was flying towards him, but there was nothing he could do but be destroyed.
"Tristan! No!" Yami Yugi screamed, but he recollected himself soon after. As long as he won this Shadow Duel, their souls would be safe and sound.
"Oh! I seem to have forgotten something to tell you. If the cards stay in the graveyard for too long, their souls will be taken by the reaper. So if you want to save your friends, you better be quick. Hahahahah!"
Yami Yugi's pupils constricted as he caught onto what Yami Bakura was saying.
Even if he won the duel, if he was not fast enough, all of his friends' souls might be taken away!
***
At the same time, Tristan woke up again in a weird cemetery.
This was certainly the weirdest dream he was having.
Maybe it had something to do with the mushrooms Bakura added to the dinner.
As he walked forward, one of the tombstones caught his eyes as he curiously walked towards it.
The tombstone read Tristan Taylor.
Tristan had goosebumps all over his body. This was definitely no dream but a nightmare.
*Clank*
As he heard the sound of chains behind him, Tristan turned back to see the Card Reaper, and he was relieved.
"Oh, it's only a card reaper... wait a minute! Currently I am dressed as Cyber Commander, so does that mean?"
The card reaper looked towards him and nodded.
If it could talk, it would say, yeah man this is happening. I have nothing against you, but it's my job.
***
"My turn! Draw!"
"I use the spell card Monster Reborn!"
[Monster Reborn] [SPELL]
[SPELL CARD]
[Target 1 monster in either GY; Special Summon it.]
Yami Yugi resummoned Tristan, who was running like grim reaper was chasing behind him... oh wait! It was!
"Tristan! Are you alright?" Yugi asked, worried.
"You don't believe what just happened, man! The Card Reaper was chasing after me!"
As Tristan fearfully recounted the events, Yami Yugi was certain that at least Bakura had not lied.
Because of this, Yami Yugi needed to change his battle plan. He couldn't just defeat Bakura; he also had to make sure his friends were safe, which made this duel way harder than before.
First, he needed to defeat Evil Spirit's monster, but as he looked at his hand, he could not help but frown.
Just like Tristan's favourite card, his hand also had Joey's Flame Swordsman, but if he summoned it, he also risked his life. It was better to keep it in his hand.
"I summon Celtic Guardian in attack mode!"
[Celtic Guardian ATK 1400]
An elf swordsman with war paint on his face took the field and drew his sword, aiming it at Yami Bakura's monster.
[Yami Bakura: 2000 → 1600]
*Clap* *Clap*
"Well done, you have managed to defeat my monster. It seems like you think keeping the cards of your friends in your hand will provide more safety." Yami Bakura clapped his hands and said towards Yami Yugi sarcastically.
"No matter what you do, you will not succeed, evil spirit! I will protect my friends!"
"We will see about that." Yami Bakura smiled sinisterly and started his turn.
"My turn! Draw!"
"I set one card down and end my turn."
Yami Yugi frowned. He didn't know why, but he suddenly had trepidation in his heart.
There was definitely something wrong with that card, but he didn't know just what it was.
"My turn! Draw!"
Yami Yugi frowned at the card he had drawn and started thinking.
The card was Dark Magician.
His favourite card.
Now, the question was just what would happen if he played it?
"I summon my most loyal servant! The Dark Magician!"
[Dark Magician] [DARK]
[LV: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ]
[SPELLCASTER / NORMAL]
[The ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense.]
[2500 ATK / 2100 DEF]
The next moment Yugi felt the world around him go dark.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on the board again, just like Tristan, but unlike him, he wore the get-up of Dark Magician.
He curiously turned back to see himself still holding the cards and looking towards the evil spirit that possessed Bakura.
"What? Two Yugis?" Tristan looked shocked as he looked between them. Man, those mushrooms were definitely something... maybe he could take back some home.
"No, Tristan, that is not me! Who are you!? Are you going to possess me just like that evil spirit possessed Bakura?" Yugi asked in fear.
"You know who I am, don't you? Yugi." Yami didn't look towards Yugi, as he had to observe his opponent.
He cracked his neck as he checked out Yami Bakura up and down.
This was the first time he felt completely like himself in the outside world after Yugi finished putting together the Millennium Puzzle.
"... I always knew. Whenever I duelled, or there was trouble, a voice inside me would help me calm down and guide me. You are that voice, aren't you?"
"You are correct." Yami nodded.
"Then, can you promise me to get my friends out of here safely?"
"You have my word," Yami nodded.
"It feels nice to be out after such a long time, doesn't it?" Yami Bakura said mockingly.
"This has nothing to do with you, evil spirit! Know that you will be crushed by my hands today for daring to go against me!" Yami said as a wave of dark power rushed out of him. He was like a monarch judging his subjects and declaring their punishment.
What he didn't say was that Yami Bakura was right.
It truly felt good to have his own body again without any distracting thoughts.
When using the Millennium Puzzle as a medium to possess Yugi's body, it was actually not a true possession.
It was actually the fusion of two spirits.
Even though Yami Yugi was more dominantly affected by Yami, it was only 60%.
Normally it wasn't even supposed to be 60%.
It was originally supposed to be a fifty-fifty equal fusion, each spirit combining to make up for each other's weakness and becoming a brand new entity, learning from each other and making the other one a better person in the process.
But because of Yugi Muto's innate timid personality, it became a fusion dominated by Yami.
Still, since Yami had felt that this was unfair, he didn't let himself be known to Yugi and instead just handed everything to him to control while he only watched from behind, acting only occasionally as a voice in his head.
Yugi never suspected anything; he used Yami's experiences and thought process as his own to get more confident and be a better person overall.
That way they would be able to have a true fifty-fifty fusion in the future, and he would not have to hide himself anymore.
Unfortunately, because of this evil spirit, his plans had been disrupted, so he could only direct his fury towards it.
Now that Yugi knew of his existence, he would get more and more timid again, eventually leaving control of the body entirely to him.
Which was not what he wanted!
He didn't know why, but he despised such an idea from the bottom of his heart. They should have been equals! Not superior and inferior!
But it was also true that he felt liberated right now.
He was finally not affected by Yugi's thought process and experiences.
This might be the last time he could truly be himself again, so he decided to savour it by completely crushing his opponent and scattering his ashes.
"Celtic Swordsman! Attack his face-down card!"
"Spirit of the puzzle, stop! There is something wrong with that set card!" Yugi tried to warn him, but Yami didn't care.
If even Yugi could see it, how could Yami not be aware of this? But they could not win this duel just by avoiding it.
"Hahaha, ruthless! I like it. I flip open my monster card, Morphing Jar! Its effect activates; both of us discard our hand and draw 5 new cards. Say goodbye to the friend in your hand!" Yami Bakura laughed, as he was amused seeing the ancient spirit and his container fighting.
"Joey! No!" Yugi sat down with tears running down from his eyes.
Joey was gone.
Gone!
"How could you!? You promised me!!" In anger Yugi turned towards Yami and screamed, but Yami was actually happy about this.
He wanted Yugi to show more of his wrath and anger.
That way, in the future, Yugi would not be swallowed by him.
"I activate the spell card from my hand, Pot of Greed, to draw two more cards!"
"Then I discard Swords of Revealing Light and Black Luster Ritual in my hand to activate Spell Reproduction!"
[Spell Reproduction] [SPELL]
[SPELL CARD]
[Send 2 Spells from your hand to the GY, then target 1 Spell in your GY; add it to your hand.]
"I add Monster Reborn to my hand and activate it. Reviving Joey's Flame Swordsman!"
[Flame Swordsman ATK 1800]
Yes, Yami might be a lot more cruel than Yugi, after all, as he had said, the purpose of the Millennium Puzzle was to make both souls a better person, so how could Yami be perfect?
But at least his thought was that a bit of cruelty was necessary to survive and even thrive in this world.
"Huh? Guys? What you doin in my dream? Where did that grim reaper like guy go? Woah a giant Yugi and Bakura!?"
As this was the first time he was summoned to the field, Joey was not sure what was going on.
"Joey! You are okay!" Yugi jumped and hugged his friend, who he had thought had almost gone away.
"Wow, such a touching reunion. I am guessing your turn is over. So here I go, draw!" Yami Bakura, however, was not touched by their emotional reunion and instead felt annoyed. Things were not going as he had planned.
"I summon Archfiend Soldier in attack mode!"
[Archfiend Soldier ATK 1900]
"Now, my vile fiend! Destroy his pathetic Flame Swordsman, watch in despair as your friends die Yugi!"
"Hey! Who you callin pathetic?" Joey was angry since he was insulted. In his anger he rushed towards the caped devil and fought with his awesome giant flame swords. This was just a dream anyway. And that was Joey's last thought before being sent to the graveyard for the second time.
[Yami: 2000 → 1900]
"Now what are you going to do?"
"I will kill you!" Yugi bit his lip so hard that it started to bleed. He never wanted to feel this way again. He had to do something!
"Yugi, stop!" Tristan tried to stop Yugi, but he had no intention of stopping. Yugi waved his staff to activate his signature move, Dark Magic Attack!
"I switch my Dark Magician to defence mode." After Yami drew the card for his turn, the first thing he did was change Yugi's battle mode.
If he did not, Yugi would have almost caused a hiccup in his plans.
Yugi could only watch helplessly as his body refused to move according to his wishes and knelt down.
"I also switch my Cyber Commander to attack mode. Cyber Commander attack his Soldier!"
"What? Are you sure about that? I mean, I know I am awesome but I am not that awesome" Tristan said, but his body helplessly opened fire towards the Archfiend Soldier, but as he was the weaker one, Tristan was inevitably destroyed just like Joey.
[Yami: 1900 → 850]
"Spirit of the puzzle! WHY!?" Yugi was hysterical.
"Yugi, feeling emotional is beneficial, as without them we would not be humans. But, you should never let your emotions cloud your judgement. Because of you we have already lost a great opportunity for counterattack," Yami said calmly. He felt that it was his duty to guide Yugi towards the right way.
"What are you talking about!? He is dead! Tristan is dead just like Joey!"
Seeing Yugi's response, Yami sighed to himself. It seemed like Yugi was consumed by anger right now, and it would be too much to expect any sort of rational thinking from him.
"I activate the spell card from my hand. Dark Factory of Mass Production to add Cyber Commander and Flame Swordsman to my hand!"
[Dark Factory of Mass Production] [SPELL]
[SPELL CARD]
[Target 2 Normal Monsters in your Graveyard; add those targets to your hand.]
Seeing the spell card played by Yami, Yugi's first thought was happiness, but his second one was doubt, as he didn't remember putting such a card into his deck. Now that he had thought about it, the same was also true for Spell Reproduction.
As he looked up, Yugi saw Yami hiding his mouth with the cards in his hands and discreetly making a 'shush' gesture.
This was also the moment Yugi understood his mistake.
If he was not so rash just now and waited for Yami. They would have been able to protect Tristan and Joey in his hand, while he would have been able to destroy the Archfiend Soldier afterwards, reducing the evil spirit's LP by 600.
"I am sorry." Yugi apologised.
"If you understand then, just watch the duel and try to learn. Do not always rely on me" Yami seriously said.
"Understood!" Yugi nodded seriously. His fighting spirit was reignited thinking of ways to defeat the opponent.
"Then get ready because I set down one monster card and one in my back row." Yami said as he warned Yugi beforehand. He didn't want him to flip out again after seeing which monster it was.
As he set down the card, a little brownish head peeked under it and crawled to get out.
"Yugi? Wait! Two Yugis? What's going on? Huh? Why am I dressed like this?" The voice belonged to Tea, who was dressed in the Magician of Faith's attire, including a staff in her hand.
Yugi at first wanted to question Yami's decision, but this time he decided to be calm.
When he calmly thought about it, there was actually no danger to Tea being on the field.
If the evil spirit decided to attack her, thanks to the flip effect Yami would be able to recover Monster Reborn and revive her again.
But if the evil spirit doesn't attack her, Yami could make a play around her effect and win the duel using a powerful spell twice.
So he was calm now.
There was no need to get emotional, just like what Yami said.
"Don't worry, Tea. I will protect you," Yugi said as he patted his chest.
Tea thought Yugi looked cute like this, dressed in the Dark Magician's attire and acting all serious.
"Okay... but you haven't answered my question."
"Ah... sorry... the one opposite us is an evil spirit that possessed Bakura. The one behind us is the spirit of the puzzle. He always helps me whenever I am in trouble, just like now. Our souls are sealed into our favourite cards, and if we lose, we will all..."
"We will all what?"
"We will all be sent to the shadow realm."
"... and where is that?"
"Just know that it is a very bad place."
"Okay," Tea replied and sat cross-legged on top of her card with her staff on her knees.
She didn't know anything about duelling, but due to what happened to Yugi's Grandpa, she had some understanding that this game sometimes involved supernatural elements.
So, she decided to leave the matter to the professionals.
If she made a wrong move, it would be disastrous.
But this didn't mean she wanted to feel useless.
So thinking their bond of friendship might also count as something supernatural, she focused her thoughts and sent them towards the Big Yugi, hoping it might help somehow.
That was the moment Tea's, Yugi's and Yami's hands started to glow in white.
Seeing that Yami smiled.
This was not his intention when he had set her on the field, but it was certainly not a bad thing.
"Your turn, evil spirit! Just know that it will be your last." Yami declared confidently.
If Yuta was at the field right now, he would have freaked out right about now, as the words that Yami uttered were usually ones that belonged to a villain.
But he would have forgotten one thing, and that was that this world's protagonist was Yami Yugi, so he was allowed to be as much of a villain as he wanted.
"Hilarious! You? You think you have what it takes to defeat me? It seems like you have gotten cocky just because I was taking it easy."
"I play the spell card Raigeki! Even if you can revive one of them thanks to the effect of Magician of Faith, what are you going to do when both of them die?"
[Raigeki] [SPELL]
[SPELL CARD]
[Destroy all monsters your opponent controls.]
"Hah, you know nothing about duelling, do you? This game is not just made up of monsters and spells. It also has something called trap cards, which you seem to be ignoring. I activate my set card! Anti-Raigeki!"
[Anti-Raigeki] [TRAP]
[TRAP CARD]
[When your opponent activates "Raigeki": Negate its effect, and if you do, destroy all monsters your opponent controls.]
As the sky got darker and lightning was about to fall onto them, suddenly, a lightning rod rose from the ground and protected them from Raigeki's destructive effect.
Then the stored Raigeki was shot towards the Archfiend Soldier on the other end of the field, destroying it.
Yugi's mouth twitched. He could guess that Yami was cheating, but was it really okay to make it this obvious?
Was this what Yami wanted him to learn?
How to cheat undetected?
However, contrary to Yugi's worries, the evil spirit didn't suspect anything.
He thought it was only natural that Yami possessed a card that perfectly countered his, down to the name.
What Yugi didn't know was that Yami Bakura's first opponent in the world was Yami, so since his first opponent was Yami, he had thought every duel was supposed to go like this.
He would play a monster; the opponent would play an even stronger one.
He would play a spell, and the opponent would activate a trap card that would perfectly counter it.
He would activate a trap card, and the opponent's monster would have an effect that would make it immune to trap cards.
In fact, his views were so distorted by Yami that Yami Bakura thought any duellist that could not do this was not a duellist at all but just a pretender.
Even though he was an evil spirit, he had never even thought that Yami would be cheating because of this.
That's why childhood education was so important.
If they were not taught correctly as a child, they would only think being beaten by the world was the norm rather than the exception.
"Tch! I set down one monster and end my turn!"
Yami Bakura could have destroyed Tea, but he had felt there was a trap involved in this, and he could also see that even if he destroyed it, she would just be revived next turn. So it was better to consolidate his defences this turn instead.
"My turn!" As Yami was about to use the ability of the Millennium Puzzle once again, he noticed he was not able to and stopped. The card was giving him feedback, so he decided to draw normally.
The card he drew was a blank card, which puzzled him. Usually, he was able to inscribe whatever effect he wanted onto such cards without trouble, but this card instead rejected him.
That was when time seemed to stop and Yami found himself in a pure white realm.
In front of him stood a woman dressed in a magician's attire, and in her hands was a khakkhara that seemed to shake and give off a melodious ring whenever she moved.
"Who are you!?" Yami immediately took a defensive position.
"That's of no concern to you. In fact, just being held by another person than him is already disgusting enough, so I will keep it short. Play me and you will win this turn, but in exchange you will lose any memories regarding me and what happened. You will think you defeated that evil spirit naturally. Deal?"
"But I ca-"
"Deal or not, nameless one! I am not one to be known for her patience."
As he looked into her eyes that were as red as blood, Yami felt apprehensive. His instincts warned him that this woman could indeed kill him within a moment's notice.
"...Deal. What do I call you?"
"Just call me... The Sorceress."
***
In the real world, the Millennium Ring on Bakura started to tremble violently before it flew out as if someone just yanked it out with great force. Then the ring flew towards one of the sleeping bodies and stopped moving as if it had found a new home.
Shadi, who was meditating somewhere in Egypt, felt the change in ownership of the Millennium Ring and frowned.
Someone had stolen a millennium item, which should have been impossible.
He continued meditating and projected his spirit to the source of disturbance he felt and found a group of teenagers sleeping soundly on the ground.
He could feel that a shadow game had taken place here, so it was safe to assume that the Millennium Ring changed ownership legally.
But as the guardian of the seven millennium items, how could Shadi leave this place without even checking the new owner?
He tried to use his Millennium Key to get inside Yuta's mind and understand what kind of a person he was and whether he was worthy of wielding such power.
But that was when the Millennium Ring started to shake violently and gave off a yellow light.
He could hear a voice in his head telling him to leave.
However, Shadi's pride didn't allow him to leave. No matter what, he had to find out what kind of a person this new owner was!
The Millennium Ring lost its yellow lustre as if saying it had warned him.
As soon as he managed to get inside Yuta's mind, Shadi's spirit was obliterated by a violet light.
As he woke up from his astral projection, Shadi was sweating bullets.
Just what kind of an existence was that?
Even remembering it was enough to make him tremble.
No!
This was taboo knowledge he should not have known.
Shadi used his Millennium Key on himself and sealed his own memory regarding the event, just leaving himself a note that said the ring was obtained through a shadow duel and the new owner was worthy.
He also warned himself to never ever unlock this memory.