As soon as Yugi blasted the Stranger with Mind Crush, the false shell of the Pharoah had evaporated. The Stranger had tried to disappear in time, but hadn't been fast enough. Once the charade was broken, he could feel the Pharoah at his side, with a hand on the Puzzle next to his. Had he been there the entire time? The world seemed to vibrate, and Yugi's sense of balance felt off. He put a hand out to grab hold of the Pharoah's waist as the Stranger fought back.
Then he began to feel Pegasus diverting power toward him. He couldn't exactly tell why he knew it was Pegasus that was assisting him. There was something about the feel of the power, the determination and joy that came from it that told him it was Pegasus. In the corner of his eye he saw the Necklace gleam around Ishizu's neck. She was hazy and hard to see very well, but the Necklace was bright and vibrant against the haze. The vibration that he felt in his legs was somehow also affecting everything else as well. The only things he could see clearly were the Pharoah, the Puzzle, and the black smudge that made up the Stranger. It was engulfed in a golden glow now, and he could hear its scream. It didn't register in his ears, but deep in his own mind, as though he didn't have the ability to hear it without the Item at his fingertips.
Then the Rod began to glow. Kaiba held it out as though knighting someone. Yugi could feel the stability of it, the resilience. It felt like a rock amid the shaking world around him and he clung to the feeling. It steadied his vision and he could see clearer; he used his newfound strength to take a tighter grip on the shadow that was barely visible now amid the glow of the Millennium Items. Then it audibly screamed; Yugi could not only hear it, but he also felt it in his teeth and in his skull, like a migraine that bounced back and forth between his temples and shot down his spinal cord. The energy from his friends wavered. They must have been in pain too, but Yugi didn't release his hold.
This strange, spiritual entity had fooled them all. All that time Yugi and the Pharoah had thought they were moving toward a conclusion that they felt had been preordained in the ancient Egyptian tablets that the Pharoah had known in his youth. Now, though, Yugi realized that even those mystical people couldn't have possibly seen this far into the future. They had no idea what to do with the Items that had been gifted to them, any more than Yugi and the others knew what to do with them. There was no fatal destination for the Pharoah, no doorway that would lead him to another life. He was bound, perhaps forever, to the Millennium Puzzle, but it was more than that. He wasn't just here to learn more about his own past. He was here to protect the world from magical threats. He was needed here, and this arrogant, manipulative spirit had tried to kill him.
No, not just kill him. It would have destroyed him, drained him of his power. Yugi gritted his teeth. His fury which had felt so elusive from him for years now came back in full force. The Puzzle around his throat that he and the Pharoah both held shone even brighter, and the shadow screamed again. Then it started to move.
The Pharoah laughed. "Where is it trying to go? It can't escape us! Especially not with our combined strength."
Yugi felt his anger recede slightly at the Pharoah's cocky response. It was moving away from them, and toward both Ryou and the Thief. The Thief! He was still trapped in that other world, dying inside of it. The Stranger wasn't just fighting them, it was distracting them. It's target was still the Thief because even with all their combined energies, the Stranger was still not destroyed. If Yugi said anything, the others might try to help him. Their strength would be divided, and it could possibly still elude them. They couldn't keep up this rate of power forever, and the Stranger knew it. They needed the power of the Ring to assist them, and perhaps that was the Stranger's plan all along. It didn't need to destroy all of them, just one. For all Yugi knew it was already done.
He locked eyes with the Pharoah, then glanced deliberately to the Thief. All of their years dueling side by side, strategizing together, working together to take down the most vicious enemies meant that they knew each other so well, they could almost predict each other. Still, the Pharoah was clearly not pleased with the idea. Yugi gave him a small, reassuring smile.
With a worried nod, the Pharoah pulled more energy from the Puzzle. Yugi stopped his own assault, and turned to the Thief. The man was motionless now, and Ryou was no longer stretched over him. Instead he had a hand on the Ring around the Thief's neck, but he seemed to be fighting something else off. The Thief, much to Yugi's horror, was absolutely still. His mouth hung open and his eyes were closed. His translucent body no longer had the look of tension, but was eerily still and limp. The window that Pegasus had opened around the Ring was still visible, though barely. It too was translucent and Yugi had to move his head back and forth to be able to see where it was. As he got closer, he could make out the black strands that had grown now to completely cover the view of the world within like overgrown weeds.
Yugi reached a hand in. It felt like he was dipping it into a bathtub of cold water. He shivered, but grabbed hold of the strands that were clumped around the opening. They felt like cold, wet grass that had been floating too long in a pond. He had to tug harder than he expected to break them free, and as he pulled a clump loose, the ends wiggled in his hand like worms trying to reach the edges of the window again. They weren't just there to obstruct his view, they were living things whose sole purpose was to prevent him from getting in. He threw them aside, and kept digging. The second handful was easier, and the more he dug, the easier they came. Slowly he could see more of the scene within.
It looked like the same world they were in. He could spot himself, the Pharoah and Kaiba. Others came into view as he pulled out the last few strands. He began to panic though when he didn't see the Thief. Then he saw the enormous, golden pyramid, and realized that someone was trapped inside.
