Inside the palace of Egypt, Aknamkanon stood in the doorway of his son's bedroom, shocked at what he saw. Atem was lying on the bed, with Marik and Malik sitting next to him, and all of them had expressions that would make you think someone had died.
"Atem?" Aknamkanon asked as he came into the room, picking up the pace as his son turned his dead looking eyes to him. "Oh, my son. What's wrong?"
"Dartz… has… done something… terrible." Atem chocked out as he rubbed his eyes, cluing Aknamkanon that he had been crying.
"There, there, there, my child." Aknamkanon sat on the bed next to Atem and pulled him into a hug, thanking the gods that Selene had sent him here. "We'll set it right. Now, tell me everything that happened."
Back in the Cave of Wonders, Yugi was lying unconscious on top of Ryou, while Joey, in his human form, shook his friend's shoulder. Joey was starting to get worried; it had been over four hours.
"Yugi?" Joeys whispered softly. "Wake up. Yugi."
A soft moan caught Joey's attention, so Ryou slowly rose up, lifting Yugi as he came to.
"Oh, my head." Yugi held the bump he had received in the tumble as he looked to the top of the cave, entrance sealed. "We're trapped. That two faced son-of-a-jackal! Whoever he was, he's long gone with that lamp."
"Aha!" Joey smirked as he pulled the lamp out of his ragged shirt.
"Why, you little thief!" Yugi chuckled as he took the lamp from his friend and examined it. "Looks like such a beat-up, worthless piece of junk. Hey, I think there's something written here, but it's hard to make out."
"What's it say?" Joey asked as he looked over Yugi's shoulder.
"I'm not sure." Yugi replied as he started to rub the lamp.
Needless to say, they weren't expecting what happened next. Smoke, fireworks, expelled from the lamp spout, and the lamp itself began to shake and glow.
Ryou scooped up Joey and hid behind a rock, while Yugi held on to the lamp like it was a life line as a man with semi-spikey white hair, dark colored eyes, tan skin, grey pants that came to his knees and a long red robe that looked like it belonged on someone of higher class, and large bronze bands around his wrists came out of the smoke.
"OY!" the man yelled as he rubbed his neck. "Ten months will give ya such a crick in the neck! Hold on a second."
Yugi yelped as he found himself hanging from his pants on an invisible nail. He squirmed around embarrassedly as the man grabbed his neck and cricked it in all different directions, causing multiply pops. Thankfully, Ryou zoomed up and lifted Yugi down.
"Whoa man!" the man yelled. "Does it feel good to be outta there! Now where are my knives? I want to torture someone!"
"Torture?" the word slid out of Joey's mouth, making the lamp dude turn to look at them.
"And I have my victims." he grinned until Ryou popped up in front of Yugi and Joey, waving his tassels.
"Ryou?" the man's eyes widened as the carpet wrapped itself around him snuggly. "You're here."
"I'm lost." Yugi shook his head as he looked at Joey.
"Me too." Joey agreed.
"Well," the man sighed, "since Ryou doesn't want you two tortured, I guess you get to keep your bodies in tack."
"Thanks." Joey replied as he and Yugi edged away. "You got a name?"
"You don't know who I am!" the man shouted. "Ten months and people forget about the Thief King! How nice is that?"
"You're the Thief King, Bakura?" Yugi gasped. "It's said you died in a tomb cave-in."
"A tomb cave-in?" Bakura asked with a laugh. "Ha! As if. Just enchanted. What's your name shrimp?"
"Uh," Yugi stuttered. "Yu-uh-Yugi."
"I like shrimp better." Bakura snickered and looked to Joey. "And you?"
"Joey." Joey said shortly.
"Okay Jo-Jo." Bakura replied with a smirk before getting smacked upside the head by Ryou's tassels.
"I must have hit my head harder than I thought." Yugi shook his head.
"But you're really short kid." Bakura commented. "How old is my new master, anyway?"
"Sixteen." Yugi replied dazed before it set in. "Wait a minute! I'm… your master?"
"Unfortunately." Bakura nodded. "My enchantment made me a genie, so I need to fulfill your wishes."
"Whoa!" Yugi blinked as he tried to wrap his head around it. "Wish fulfillment?"
"Three wishes to be exact." Bakura nodded once. "And no-no on the wishing for more wishes. That's it. Three. No substitutions, exchanges or refunds."
"Now I know I'm dreaming." Yugi muttered to Joey, who nodded in agreement.
"I don't think you quite realize what you've got here!" Bakura exclaimed as he used his magic to sit Yugi and Joey down. "So why don't you relax, whilst I illuminate the possibilities."
Song music floated past out of nowhere as did some thieves while Bakura began singing.
Well the Thief King had scorns of thieves
Scheherazadie had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeve
You got a brand of magic never fails!
As the thieves surround Yugi and Joey with swords, Bakura appears on their side, and boxes the thieves into submission. Next he made a bunch of fireworks that went off as he got to the next part of his song.
You got some power in your corner now
Some heavy ammunition in your camp
You got some punch, pizzazz, yahoo and how
See all you gotta do is rub that lamp
Bakura put himself inside lamp, grabbed Yugi's hand, and rubs lamp with it before producing a table and chairs, then writes down things on a note pad, like a waiter.
And I'll say Mr. Shrimp-Yugi sir
What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, jot it down
You ain't never had a friend like me
Bakura served a plate of chicken to Yugi and Joey, but made it disappear before they could eat any. Leaning down next to Yugi, Bakura whispered in his ear.
Life is your restaurant
And I'm your maitre'd!
C'mon whisper what it is you want
You ain't never had a friend like me.
The hard restaurant chair Yugi was in changed to a barbershop chair as multiple Bakura's gave him a shave, haircut and manicure. Magic rushing past again as a Yugi found himself on a large comphy king sized chair, surrounded by the treasure, and being fanned by Joey and Ryou.
Yes sir, we pride ourselves on service
You're the boss, the king, the shah!
Say what you wish, it's yours! True dish
How about a little more Baklava?
Yugi leaned forward to try some baklava, but Bakura had enchanted it to make many multiples very quickly, so he just about drowned from the sheer amount. Shaking his head, Yugi noticed he was on top of a column of food with a giant A on top, and jumped to another column with a B on top.
Try some of column 'A'
Try all of column 'B'
I'm in the mood to help you dude
You ain't never had a friend like me
Falling off the second column, Yugi was caught by a cushion next to Bakura. Flopping back, all Yugi could do was watch as Bakura did a small magic act before getting yanked back into whatever was happening.
Can your friends do this?
Do your friends do that?
Do your friends pull this out their little hat?
Bakura pulled off his head, duplicates it, and then juggles them. He tosses them to Yugi, who juggles with one hand and spins one of the heads on his fingertip like a basketball. Yugi tosses the heads back Bakura, who proceeds to try and pull a white rabbit out of a hat. The rabbit Bakura transformed into a dragon.
Can your friends go poof!
Well looky here
Can your friends go Abracadabra, let 'er rip
And then make the sucker disappear?
The dragon breathes fire, which turns into three harem girls who dance around Yugi. Yugi felt very uncomfortable with and couldn't stop his sigh of relief when they vanished.
So don't you sit there slack jawed, buggy eyed
I'm here to answer all your midday prayers
You got me bona fide, certified
You got a genie for charged affairs!
Bakura pulled out a certificate for Yugi to see that he was a true genie, much to his displeasure, and wrapped it around Yugi before whirling him out.
I got a powerful urge to help you out
So what you wish I really want to know
You got a wish that's three miles long, no doubt
So all you gotta do is rub like so, and oh!
Bakura shocked Yugi as he pulled a list out of his ear, and proceeded to rub his behind like drying off after a shower before snapping it and making the harem girls reappear, which annoys Yugi as they lean in to kiss him.
Mister Shrimp-Yugi, sir, have a wish or two or three
I'm on the job, you big nabob
The harem girls turn into a smirking Bakura, who zaps four dancing elephants into existence, and in the other direction, zaps in four dancing camels.
You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend
You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend
You ain't never...had a... friend... like...me!
Yugi was tossed into the air and caught by the elephant, who repeated the process. Joey was trying to stuff as much gold as he could into his pockets. And Bakura decided to wrap things up in a cyclone and zaps it away leaving them back in the cave
You ain't never had a friend like me!
A flashing neon sign read "APPLAUSE", so Ryou and Yugi applauded softly as Joey turned his pockets inside out and saw they were empty. Much to his displeasure.
"So what'll it be, shrimp?" Bakura asked.
"You grant me any three wishes I want?" Yugi asked, making sure he understood.
"Ah, almost." Bakura rubbed the back of his neck. "There are a few provisos, a couple of quid pro quos."
"Limitations?" Yugi asked. "Like?"
"Ah, rule number one: I can't kill anybody." Bakura sliced his head off with his finger. "So don't ask. Big let down."
"Yeah." Yugi said. "A let down. What's next?"
"Rule two: I can't make anyone fall in love with anyone else." Bakura had a heart with a no sign flash above Yugi's head. "That includes making you fall in love with someone."
"Not that'd I'd want that." Yugi shrugged.
"Rule three: I can't bring people back from the dead." Bakura lay rigidly flat and transformed into a zombie. "It's not a pretty picture, but man do I want to do it! Other than that, you got it."
Yugi tapped his finger to his chin while Bakura changed back to normal. Getting a plan, he looked over at Joey, who changed back in to his monkey form while nodding his approval.
"Ah, provisos? Limitations? On wishes?" Yugi looked back to Joey as he snickered, ignoring Ryou's gesturing to stop. "Some all powerful genie… he can't even bring people back from the dead. I don't know, Joey… he probably can't even get us out of this cave. Looks like we're gonna have to find a way out of here."
Joey hopped on to Yugi's shoulder and they start to leave, but Bakura stomps down in front of them, and boy was he mad.
"Excuse me? Are you lookin' at me?" Bakura asked as he got madder and matter, not noticing the look Yugi and Joey shared. "Did you rub my lamp? Did you wake me up? Did you bring me here? And all of a sudden, you're walking out on me? I don't think so, not right now. You're gettin' your wishes, so sit down!"
Jumping back at the roar, Yugi landed on Ryou. Bakura sat down next to him, assuming the role of an airplane steward.
"In case of emergency, the exits are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, anywhere!" Bakura pointed over the edge of Ryou with multiple arms. "Keep your hands and arms inside the carpet. Weeee'rrrrrreee… outta here!"
Using his magic, Bakura blasted a hole in the ceiling, allowing them to fly out of what was left of the Cave of Wonders, and into the desert, free.