Original Yu-Gi-Oh Series
Parallel
Chapter 057
Originally Written: Thursday, April 28, 2022 1100AM to 1115AM; 900PM to 934PM
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A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks for reading!
Bakura pinched the bridge of his nose. He stood in the game shop right next to Solomon Muto's corpse. He removed it from under the rubble, hoping he wasn't as screwed as he thought he was. Solomon's body was eerily still. A calm death, compared to his brethren from Kul Elna.
'She won't win.' Yugi Moto said.
Bakura didn't like looking at him. Yugi's soul was standing, but a leg, arm, and a chunk of his torso was covered in shadow, missing from the rest of him. He didn't like looking at Zorc eating Yugi Moto's corpse either. He didn't know what the man was, but he sure as hell didn't want it attacking him.
"Bakura?" Yami Marik looked around the game shop. "I don't know what these seals mean."
"She pushed me in front, Yugi." Bakura folded his arms. "She took too much from me. I can't force her back in control."
'...I'm sorry for you then.' Yugi spun on his feet. 'Seto can grab your soul from the shadow realm when we're done here.'
Bakura didn't doubt Seto could. That wasn't the problem here.
Yami Marik stared. He pressed his hands against Bakura's shoulders. "She...We can win." He looked at Yugi's soul. "We just have to get past this barrier." He looked at the shimmering wall that blocked them from getting to the basement of the game shop, where Yugi's puzzle was.
The barrier surrounded the basement in a three dimensional plane. Digging around it did not work. Machine King and the other Duel Monsters Amane controlled just slammed into it, and disintegrated, sent back to the depths of the Shadow Realm.
Bakura shook his head. "There was no need to kill Solomon, Zorc."
"Hm?" Zorc stood, leaving his meal on the plate he set it on.
"All you had to do was push Solomon through. He needed to be alive." Bakura's voice raised as he spoke. "But I'm surrounded by fucking savages who never ever use their fucking brains, and I'm the one who pays for it!" Shadow magic swirled around him.
Yami Marik touched the ring around Amane's neck. He tried to lift it up from around Amane's neck. It wouldn't budge.
Bakura's frame shook as he breathed heavily. He stared at the sunset ending another day. "I guarantee Yugi spent his time laughing as you killed him."
Zorc looked at Yugi's soul. The light of a guaranteed victory danced in Yugi's eyes. Zorc's silence told Bakura all he needed to know.
"We can still find Joseph Wheeler." Zorc taunted.
'Joey's too far by now. The game will have ended by the time you bring him back here.' Yugi sang.
"What does Joey have to do with this?" Yami Marik asked. "I don't understand. He has no connection to the Millennium Puzzle."
'Even if he can't remember how, Pharaoh controls who can touch the puzzle or not, Yami Marik. When you took control of Joey, and I put the Puzzle around his neck, Pharaoh let him in.' Yugi did a little spin, laughing as though he didn't have a care in the world. 'Remember, you called me an idiot?'
"That was your plan..." Yami Marik looked at him. "If I defeated you, did you plan for him-"
'-You never would have gotten through to me, Marik. Joey wouldn't have let you. You pushed him too far. He would have gladly died, if it meant he'd at least knock some sense into you.' Yugi did a little movement with his arms as though they were ocean waves. 'And if he had died, I would have just killed you on the spot in a shadow game of my own. Drunk off your victory, you'd be too full of adrenaline to see you'd be too weak for another game. Easy victory.'
Bakura sat next to Ryou's corpse, and ran a hand through his blood soaked hair. He folded his legs, lost in thought. "What have I done?" Amane's voice sounded strange mixed with his own solemn voice.
Yami Marik frowned, as he came to understand. And yet, "You haven't done anything wrong, Thief King Bakura."
Bakura smiled a small smile. "No, I suppose not." He rose to his feet, and fixed Amane's dress. He nodded as though he reached some kind of conclusion. "I'm off now."
He walked to the exit of the game shop.
"Where are you going?" Yami Marik stopped him by the door.
With his hand on what was left of the wall, he looked back at Yami Marik. "I'm going to die. There's nothing I can do in the time Amane has left. She's finally gotten rid of me as she's wanted."
"But isn't she doing all this for you?" Yami Marik rushed over to him.
"If she can't have me, no one can. And I don't want her." Bakura chuckled. "Who I want is dead." He shook his head. "There is something you can help me with, though."
"Anything." Yami Marik nearly pleaded.
"Bring him back, Zorc." Bakura looked at the man who fell into an intellectual conversation with Yugi's soul. "Bring Joey Wheeler back, or there won't be a planet for even you to live on. Though, I can't help but wonder if that isn't what you want." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I can't stop you."
"It will be done." Zorc didn't look at him.
Bakura left the Kame Game Shop for the last time. Yami Marik followed him as though he were Bakura's shadow.
A/N: A few chapters ago, I said I would explain Joey Wheeler's importance in this shadow game. As Yugi explained, Pharaoh subconsciously allowed Joey to become a wielder of his Millennium Puzzle, or at least someone who can take possession of it. This means that Joey can potentially get past Solomon's barrier. If he does and touches the puzzle before they do, then they have to get it from Joey potentially through another shadow game. There's no chance of Amane winning the shadow game, but they can keep him from touching the puzzle.
To explain another detail, Amane forced Thief King Bakura in control similar to how Marik pushed Yami Marik's soul out of the way when he realized they were going to lose against Joey. What Amane and Marik are doing is the same thing Yugi did when Yami Yugi lost against Raphael in the Orichalcos arc of canon Yu-Gi-Oh.