The next day arrived quickly for Ryou. He spoke to his yami the entire morning, but had still received no reply. And he wasted absolutely no time in driving to the game shop. When he arrived, Yami Yugi and Shadi were already waiting for him.
"How soon can we begin?" Ryou asked the moment he burst through the door.
"Come upstairs to Yugi's room. You can lay down on his bed." The pharaoh replied. "And we can begin immediately."
He followed Yami Yugi's instructions, and watched Shadi as he took the ankh from around his neck. The strange man, still not having spoke a word, pressed his millennium item against Ryou's forehead. For Ryou, everything suddenly went black.
For Yami Yugi, however, the world around him reconfigured as a thin stone corridor. It was the inside of Ryou's mind.
Much like his own mind, it resembled the inside of an ancient pyramid. But it was much darker. He could hardly see the hand in front of his face. The only light came from a series of torches against the wall. He presumed they were probably of Ryou's creation. The row of fire led to a strange metal door, kept tightly shut.
The pharaoh bent down. Not a single speck of light escaped from underneath the door, and he couldn't see anything. But the chill in the air assured him that this room belonged to Bakura. He took a torch off the wall, and through the power of his millennium puzzle, he pushed the door open.
"Tomb robber?" Yami Yugi shouted into the immense darkness. His words echoed back at him. "Are you in here?"
There was no reply.
"I can feel you in here somewhere, Bakura… where are you?"
Again, all he heard was his own echo.
He moved the torch along the walls. This truly was the inside of a massive tomb. Piles of gold and other treasures lined the floor, no doubt pieces of the thief king's previous life. The air reeked of blood and must.
"Where are you?" Yami Yugi continued to call out. "Are you all right?"
Still no answer.
"Bakura… Ryou is worried about you." The pharaoh attempted to catch the other spirit's attention. "He wants to know why you won't speak to him. Will you at least talk to me?"
Yami Yugi listened. In the distance, he heard the familiar sound of the millennium ring's spikes striking against each other. The item had picked up on his puzzle, and had moved of its own accord. He also heard someone immediately try and muffle it.
"So you are here, tomb robber!" Yami Yugi pointed the torch in the direction of the jangling metal. "Why don't you stop this foolish game and come find me? You obviously know where I am."
"…I can't…" came a raspy voice. It was Bakura at last.
"Yes, you can…" Yami Yugi replied, still walking in the direction of the voice. In the distance, he could just make out the faint outline of a humanoid shadow against a stone staircase. "And you can come out of this dark soul room… Whatever problem you have with Ryou can't continue like this. He's worried about you…"
"No, idiot…" Bakura finally spoke again. "I mean I can't."
The voice was growing louder. Yami Yugi lowered the torch.
There, lying against the side of a staircase, was Bakura. His striped shirt was nothing but strips. His white hair was a tangled mess. His arms were crossed over his waist, but they couldn't hide the fact that his skin was literally covered with scratches and slowly healing wounds. Dried blood was everywhere. It was obvious that he was in pain.
Bakura's eyes followed the pharaoh's movement, but he didn't move. He tried weakly to shuffle his weight with his arms, but that was it.
"Bakura…"
"There… You've seen me…" he answered curtly. "And you can tell Ryou… I won't come out… because I can't."
By this point, Yami Yugi was getting quite annoyed with his nemesis.
"Whatever happened in the shadow realm did nothing to your item's power." The pharaoh rolled his eyes. "You can come and go as you please. Now, I don't like being in here probably just as much as you don't like me being here. But I'm doing this as a favor for your hikari. He's worried to death about you! And I am not going to leave until you stop wallowing in some form of useless self-pity! At least mindlink with him, and we can all go on with our lives!"
Bakura leaned forward, lunging at the pharaoh's neck. He couldn't reach it, and he fell back against the stairs.
"Is that what you think, pharaoh?" Bakura growled. "You want to see what happened to me in the shadow realm! Fine!"
Yami Yugi stood back up. He waited for Bakura to stand, but he didn't move.
"Get out of Ryou's mind and back into the real world. I'll take control of his body." He sneered again. "Then you'll get it through your thick skull why coming out of here would be a waste of everyone's time!"
The pharaoh froze for a moment.
"Well? What are you waiting on? Get out!"
Yami Yugi nodded, and disappeared.