History Section of App
Apr. 19th, 2015 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puzzlemasters(I draw primarily on the manga for the boys’ backgrounds and the exact sequences of events, but I do also mix in some anime events and such, including the odd dub-only detail [the existence of the Shadow Realm, for example]. The differences between manga and anime are not great enough to consider them separate canons. Not for anything wholly outside of YGO-only fandom and fanfiction, anyway.)
Fifteen-year-old Mutou Yugi was the poster child for the shy, sweet-natured, oft-bullied “weirdo” loner with his head in the clouds all through school, until one day when an upperclassman decided to try to help (well…”help”). The hall monitor Ushio witnessed two of Yugi’s classmates harassing him, trying to “toughen him up” as one – Jonouchi Katsuya – called it. Ushio pulled Yugi aside after classes later that day to show him something. That “something” was Jonouchi and his buddy Honda Hiroto, whom Ushio had beaten into a pair of bloody piles. Ushio offered for Yugi to take his revenge on them, to beat them as much as he liked, and when Yugi refused, moved in to do so himself. Upset, Yugi tried to defend them, even claiming them as his friends, and as a result, took a good pounding himself. In spite of this, Ushio had declared himself Yugi’s bodyguard . . . which, of course, came with bodyguard fees – far more than the grandson of a simple curio game shop could afford. And a promise with a wicked knife if he failed to bring it to school the next day.
At home that night, fretting over how he’d come up with the money to pay Ushio, Yugi pulled out a puzzle to play with. But not any puzzle. The gold-plated box full of solid gold pieces (which somehow were not as heavy as they should have been – one would assume because of the magic inherent in them) had been a gift from his grandfather which the man had brought back from a trip to Egypt back in his younger days. Despite his natural prowess with games and puzzles of all kinds, Yugi had never managed to solve the puzzle in the eight years he’d had it. That night, however . . . one piece after another finally matched up for him, and suddenly he had a beautiful inverted pyramid with a ring on the top and a magnificent golden eye on the front.
And he knew no more that night.
The next day at school, Yugi along with the rest of the staff and students found that something strange had befallen Ushio – he’d lost his mind, flailing in a pile of trash and autumn leaves, convinced he was rich beyond his wildest imaginings.
As for Jonouchi and Honda - Yugi standing up for him and his best friend had a significant impact on Jonouchi, who through a short series of further actions not only dropped the tough-guy delinquent persona but would quickly become Yugi’s closest friend.
Yugi, Jonouchi, Yugi’s childhood friend (and longtime secret crush) Mazaki Anzu, and later Honda quickly grew closer and closer, dealing with problems both normal and dangerous over time, from street gangs to fake psychics to corrupt teachers to escaped criminals. As often as not, however, they found their problems and the people who threatened them dealt with for them by some unseen force, the targets mysteriously falling victim to accidents, deaths, or unexplained insanities. Unbeknownst to his friends – to whom he was terrified to confess for fear of losing their friendships – Yugi suffered from frequent blackouts which all too often coincided with these events.
Jonouchi and Anzu finally got to see the reason for these blackouts firsthand. A rich gaming mogul by the name of Kaiba Seto had targeted Yugi and his friends after being defeated at “his own game” a few months ago, a then-new trading card game called Duel Monsters, with alarming results – being trapped in a hallucination from which he’d finally managed to break himself free. (Yugi had one of his blackouts during that confrontation when he tried to retrieve the rare card of his grandfather’s that Kaiba had stolen.) Using Yugi’s grandfather as bait, Kaiba drew Yugi and his friends as the "lucky" first guests into a new amusement park that he had built, the roaring audience never knowing that the games and traps were, in fact, quite real and quite lethal. After thinking they’d lost Honda, Jou and Anzu watched Yugi strain with some kind of inner struggle. Yugi finally revealed the fear of someone else that seemed to be living inside of him, the one who did terrible things to people. This alter-ego was trying to take him over again! It was Jonouchi, the now former delinquent and gang-banger who used to taunt him to “toughen up”, who restored Yugi’s faith in himself, even some dark, alter-ego of himself. Yugi was Yugi, no matter what, and both Jou and Anzu had his back, whatever happened. Reassured, Yugi relented . . . and Jou and Anzu watched, in open-mouthed shock, as their sweet, kind Yugi suddenly took on a powerful air of confidence, capability . . . and anger, vengeance darkening his eyes as he went to face – and once again defeat - Kaiba in the final challenge, leaving him catatonic. The audience thought it was just shellshock from being defeated, but "Yugi" revealed the truth to Kaiba's younger brother. As penalty for losing their game, Kaiba's heart had been shattered. "Yugi" hadn't done it out of spite, however. Kaiba's heart had been wounded and twisted by his past. Now, the pre-abuse little boy within had the chance to pick up the pieces, restoring his heart to a state of his own choosing, unadulterated by outside forces.
The box that Yugi's "treasure" – the inverted gold pyramid that he'd taken to wearing everywhere since finally solving it – had come in a matching gold-plated box with two inscriptions on it. One, which Yugi's grandfather had translated for him, read "Something that can be seen, yet cannot be seen." It was a riddle that would prove telling time and time again, frequently hinting at the solution to a given situation or predicament. The other, however, Grandpa would never quite reveal . . . because he knew not only what it said, but what it meant.
"The one who solves me will gain the powers and knowledge of darkness."
The entity that had been awakened the night Yugi solved the puzzle at last – known as the Millennium Puzzle - was the true answer to that second riddle. It knew everything Yugi knew, never missing a beat when it took over regarding people, surroundings, or the wrongs that need righting. Yugi had become aware of the entity, this seeming dark aspect of himself, but the entity was longer in coming around, both to itself – himself – and to Yugi as a separate, if closely bound, soul. It would take a new threat for that, a wielder of another Millennium Item . . . who as a result also was a possessor of "two souls". When Yugi and his friends went to the home of a classmate of theirs, they didn't realize they were dealing with his darker soul until their souls were transferred into the lead miniatures of the tabletop RPG they were playing. But only Yugi's original soul was taken, leaving the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle to face the spirit of the Millennium Ring and win back everyone's souls, including the original soul of Bakura Ryo, the Ring's owner. This too was the first time that Yugi and "his dark self" saw one another face to face.
Their new friend Bakura was actually not the first other possessor of a Millennium Item that Yugi had met (that had been an Egyptian named Shadi, who carried the Key and the Scales), nor was he the last by any means. Soon after, Yugi's grandfather's soul was stolen by the millionaire creator of the wildly popular Duel Monsters Trading Card Game, Pegasus J. Crawford. Pegasus too was an Item wielder, the Eye embedded grotesquely in his skull. Wanting to claim the "greatest of the Millennium Items" for himself, he forced Yugi to participate in a game competition for the chance to Duel him and win his grandfather's soul back.
Duelist Kingdom was a grueling three-day event on a remote island where hopefuls battled each other, gambling to gather "star chips", the proof of their wins. Ten star chips granted one entry into the castle and a place in the Finals, with the winner getting a sizeable cash prize and the chance to face Pegasus himself. By this point, Yugi and the spirit had learned to communicate with one another, the spirit finally really coming into his own with that. They worked together – the spirit taking over for the Duels and Yugi handling everything else. At least they weren't alone, though – Honda, Anzu, and Bakura were there for moral support. Jonouchi was there too, but in a very different capacity. He was a fellow Duelist, having entered to both prove to himself that he could do it and win the prize money. His younger sister had been born with a degenerative eye condition that was slowly robbing her of her sight. The prize money was the only way their family would be able to afford the operation that could restore it.
Yugi, Jou, and their friends made plenty of new friends (and new enemies) over the course of the competition, but none was more surprising than the one unofficial battle that Yugi and the spirit were forced into late on the second day. It had been six months by that point since the spirit had left Kaiba Seto in a mystically-induced catatonic state. Incredibly, he managed to wake up, heart once more intact – the trigger had been when one of the competition's Eliminators, a ventriloquist with a Kaiba dummy that supposedly housed Kaiba's soul, Dueled the spirit with Kaiba's own (stolen) Deck and drew his beloved Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Now, Kaiba had come to Duelist Kingdom to recover everything else that had been stolen from him in his absence – his company and his little brother Mokuba.
On the steps of Pegasus's castle, Kaiba once more demanded a rematch with Yugi and the spirit accepted, seeing that more than just revenge and a wounded ego fueled him. But once more, the spirit proved the more powerful Duelist, fighting as he was to get Yugi's grandfather's soul back (blaming himself for losing it in the first place). But Kaiba refused to be beaten this time, putting his very life on the line. "Yugi" (actually the spirit) could either forfeit the game, or he could call the final attack and risk the resulting blow knocking Kaiba off the wall of the castle to the valley floor far below. Not knowing what it was that Kaiba was truly fighting for, the spirit was infuriated that his otherwise worthy rival (the only one he'd really ever met) would resort to such a low tactic and moved to call his bluff, ordering the attack. Yugi, however, wasn't willing to take the risk. Horrified at what the spirit was about to do – what he was willing to do – Yugi wrested control of his body back from the spirit and called off the attack, forfeiting the game and ignoring Kaiba's gloating, left on hands and knees, shaking with fear, a fear even greater than when he'd finally confessed about "his other self" to Jou and Anzu. Later that evening, Yugi and the spirit would talk about that, the spirit apologizing – not so much for what he'd done, he thought he was doing the right thing, but for frightening Yugi like that and damaging the boy's trust in him. He promised he'd never do such a thing again.
The gang made it into the castle shortly after, both Yugi and Jonouchi as finalists, just in time to witness the Duel between Pegasus and Kaiba, and they realized why Kaiba had been fighting so hard . . . especially when they saw that Pegasus had done the same to Mokuba that he'd done to Yugi's grandfather Sugoroku – stolen his soul. Unfortunately, Kaiba never had a chance against Pegasus. As he'd done to the spirit before taking Sugoroku's soul, Pegasus could read Kaiba's mind thanks to the Millennium Eye, knowing ahead of time what Kaiba's strategies were and able to counter them. When Pegasus defeated Kaiba and took his soul, Yugi and the spirit's resolves only grew harder. They HAD to stop this man!
But they had to get through the Semi-Finals first. Unfortunately, the spirit was so focused on getting to Pegasus that his mind wasn't where it needed to be and he nearly lost his round. Thankfully, it was against one of their new friends and a powerful Duelist in her own right, Kujaku Mai. She'd been looking forward to taking on the powerful new Duelist and her new friend, and it pissed her off that he wasn't taking her seriously, challenging him to get his head back in their game and give her his best or just forfeit here and now. The jolt got the spirit's attention, realizing the mistake he'd been making, and he came back from a nearly impossible position and managed to defeat her. She left disappointed but satisfied.
Jonouchi won his match as well, equally hard-fought, which left him to face Yugi. Jou realized that they needed to fight Pegasus and get everyone's souls back, and that he wasn't strong enough to do it. Only Other-Yugi, the spirit of the Puzzle, had that kind of power. Pegasus too wanted to just get on with things and declared Yugi the winner, stepping out to face Yugi himself. (The Yugi/Jou Duel in the anime was just filler, it didn't happen in the manga.)
As a wielder of a Millennium Item, Pegasus had the ability to turn any normal game or situation into a Shadow Game, a powerful sort of summoning that put the souls of those involved on the line, judging their hearts and allowing the winner to inflict a Penalty Game of his choosing on the loser. The spirit of the Puzzle had the same ability – it was how he used to judge and punish those who threatened Yugi and his friends – but he'd only instigated a Shadow Game on very rare occasion since discovering that there was another soul sharing this body with him. Shadow Games were incredibly dangerous, and he was not willing to risk an innocent soul along with his own. Now, however . . . he had no choice. It helped that Yugi was all for it, not caring about the danger to himself if it meant saving everyone else. And his participation proved invaluable to the spirit, who alone had no defense against Pegasus reading his mind and countering his moves almost before he could make them. He and Yugi "mind-shuffled", with Yugi coming forward to choose and play a card, laying it facedown and dropping back again before Pegasus could read his mind. It was the ultimate test of trust between the two souls, as the Puzzle-spirit had to simply have faith when he turned each card over that it was something that would help - something that was tricky at best for someone who relied so heavily on complex strategies. Unfortunately, the Shadows took a great deal of energy and fortitude to withstand, and Yugi was playing in a game between two practiced Shadow Masters, the level of the Shadow Game set at the highest possible. Pegasus was just amused and more or less fell to biding his time, knowing that Yugi would succumb to the strain sooner or later. The spirit knew it too, afraid he'd lose his soul completely to the Shadows (a very real danger), but Yugi persisted . . . until he just couldn't anymore, his consciousness failing and going insensate. And the spirit was left defenseless once more.
From the outside, the Duel looked like any other, but still Jou, Honda, Anzu, and Bakura could tell that something was wrong and desperately wanted to help. Though they would only be partially aware of doing so, the spirits of the four would find themselves within the Game, within the Puzzle-spirit's mind, supporting Yugi's soul and blocking Pegasus from reading the Puzzle-spirit for his cards. With their help, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle was finally able to defeat Pegasus. True to his word, Pegasus freed the souls of Kaiba, Mokuba, and Sugoroku and even awarded the prize money, which Yugi gave over to Jonouchi for his sister's operation. Pegasus told them his story, why he was doing all of this – it came down to trying to bring back his deceased fiancé, which he'd been told the Millennium Items had the power to do. The spirit didn't think so, but then . . . he realized just how little he actually knew of the Items, even the Puzzle. Or about himself.
"Using my Millennium Eye," Pegasus told him, "I have seen the minds of all kinds of people . . . but never a person with two souls. So that is the power of the Millennium Puzzle."
"Who knows?" the spirit replied. "Even I do not know the full power of the Millennium Puzzle. But I feel some kind of force – some will - brought me and my other self together."
"You don't know about the evil power hidden in the Millennium Items? Not just an evil power – an evil intelligence."
No, the spirit did not, but he could sense the truth of Pegasus's words, and it made him wonder . . .
He didn't have long to wonder, however, as a new rival quickly made himself known. A brand-new, state-of-the-art game shop, the Black Clown, opened right across the street from Sugoroku's little family-owned store, the Kame, carrying all the latest and greatest, things that Yugi's grandfather couldn't afford to stock, and the old man worried about being put out of business. As it turned out, that was the least of his worries. The owner was an old acquaintance of Sugoroku's. When Yugi and his friends visited the Black Clown, Otogi Sr. slipped merchandise into Yugi's pocket when he was separated from the others, then called security on him for attempted shoplifting. Yugi was dragged into the back of the store, but instead of an office or storage room, he found himself in a gaming room. Otogi Sr. took the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi and told him he had to win it back, facing the demented man's son and one of Yugi's new classmates, Otogi Ryuuji. Like Yugi, Otogi had grown up with games and puzzles and had even created a game of his own, called Dungeon Dice Monsters. Unlike Yugi, however, he'd been told all his life that he'd had only one reason for being born – to help his father take revenge on Sugoroku, which they intended to do through Sugoroku's grandson. If Otogi won the game, he would be the new master of the Millennium Puzzle, claiming its power for his father.
Without Yugi's direct contact with the Puzzle, the spirit couldn’t take over to help, leaving Yugi to face this challenge alone. But he was a master gamer in his own right, quickly able to learn the rules, to start catching on to the nuances, and to play it at Otogi's level. This only enraged Otogi Sr. who smashed the Puzzle and dropped the pieces in Otogi's lap, telling him to solve it. But Otogi couldn't do it – something kept pushing him away, keeping his mind from focusing on the pieces. Yugi meanwhile was devastated – it had taken him EIGHT YEARS to put that Puzzle together! Was it going to take him another eight? And what of the spirit? Yugi could no longer hear his voice or feel his presence. He despaired and couldn't continue the DDM game . . . until a very unlikely ally showed up. The spirit of Bakura's Millennium Ring – far from banished as they'd thought way back at the end of that tabletop game – had sensed the trouble and tracked the Millennium Puzzle and Yugi down. He had his own agenda, of course, but that didn't keep Yugi from heeding his words of encouragement – such as they were – and continuing the game. Yugi was the rightful wielder of the Millennium Puzzle, it would accept no one else, and the only way to save Otogi from it was to defeat him at DDM. Which Yugi did. Moved by Yugi's game prowess and by his integrity, Otogi admitted to his father that he couldn't hate Yugi.
Otogi Sr. pretended to apologize to Yugi as well, putting the chain of the Puzzle back around Yugi's neck . . . only to use it to drag him into another room where he intended to face Yugi at the same game, the Devil's Board Game, that he had faced Sugoroku in so many years ago and lost to him, cursing himself with disfigurement. Before starting the game, however, Otogi Sr. attempted to solve the Puzzle himself, but the Puzzle fought back, threatening to punish him by dragging his soul into unfathomable depths within and between the pieces. Otogi Sr. reacted, flailing back and knocking over candles that had been set up around the demonic board game and accidentally setting the room on fire.
Otogi managed to break the door down by then and helped his father out, but Yugi wouldn't leave. Otogi Sr. had nailed the main piece of the Puzzle to the table and Yugi couldn't get it out. All he could do was solve the Puzzle in time to apologize to his other heart. Miraculously, he put the Puzzle together in minutes this time, even as the heating pieces were burning his fingers. Jonouchi, who'd been looking for Yugi since they were separated, broke into the room just as Yugi finished the Puzzle and lost consciousness. Jou used a hooked piece of the Devil's Board to lever the nail from the table, freeing the Puzzle and allowing him to get it and Yugi out of the burning building. Yugi was taken to the hospital to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
It's while in the hospital that Yugi finally asked the questions that the spirit had been dreading since Duelist Kingdom – who was he and where had he come from? The truth was . . . the spirit had no idea. He had no memories of his own. He didn't even know his own name. Yugi thought that incredibly sad and offered to share his memories, all of them. The spirit appreciated that and said that if he never found out who he was, it was all right. Being with Yugi was enough. He hoped to be able to be with Yugi always. Yugi hoped so too.
The boys will find themselves in Nautilus shortly after this, before the events leading up to Battle City take place.
Fifteen-year-old Mutou Yugi was the poster child for the shy, sweet-natured, oft-bullied “weirdo” loner with his head in the clouds all through school, until one day when an upperclassman decided to try to help (well…”help”). The hall monitor Ushio witnessed two of Yugi’s classmates harassing him, trying to “toughen him up” as one – Jonouchi Katsuya – called it. Ushio pulled Yugi aside after classes later that day to show him something. That “something” was Jonouchi and his buddy Honda Hiroto, whom Ushio had beaten into a pair of bloody piles. Ushio offered for Yugi to take his revenge on them, to beat them as much as he liked, and when Yugi refused, moved in to do so himself. Upset, Yugi tried to defend them, even claiming them as his friends, and as a result, took a good pounding himself. In spite of this, Ushio had declared himself Yugi’s bodyguard . . . which, of course, came with bodyguard fees – far more than the grandson of a simple curio game shop could afford. And a promise with a wicked knife if he failed to bring it to school the next day.
At home that night, fretting over how he’d come up with the money to pay Ushio, Yugi pulled out a puzzle to play with. But not any puzzle. The gold-plated box full of solid gold pieces (which somehow were not as heavy as they should have been – one would assume because of the magic inherent in them) had been a gift from his grandfather which the man had brought back from a trip to Egypt back in his younger days. Despite his natural prowess with games and puzzles of all kinds, Yugi had never managed to solve the puzzle in the eight years he’d had it. That night, however . . . one piece after another finally matched up for him, and suddenly he had a beautiful inverted pyramid with a ring on the top and a magnificent golden eye on the front.
And he knew no more that night.
The next day at school, Yugi along with the rest of the staff and students found that something strange had befallen Ushio – he’d lost his mind, flailing in a pile of trash and autumn leaves, convinced he was rich beyond his wildest imaginings.
As for Jonouchi and Honda - Yugi standing up for him and his best friend had a significant impact on Jonouchi, who through a short series of further actions not only dropped the tough-guy delinquent persona but would quickly become Yugi’s closest friend.
Yugi, Jonouchi, Yugi’s childhood friend (and longtime secret crush) Mazaki Anzu, and later Honda quickly grew closer and closer, dealing with problems both normal and dangerous over time, from street gangs to fake psychics to corrupt teachers to escaped criminals. As often as not, however, they found their problems and the people who threatened them dealt with for them by some unseen force, the targets mysteriously falling victim to accidents, deaths, or unexplained insanities. Unbeknownst to his friends – to whom he was terrified to confess for fear of losing their friendships – Yugi suffered from frequent blackouts which all too often coincided with these events.
Jonouchi and Anzu finally got to see the reason for these blackouts firsthand. A rich gaming mogul by the name of Kaiba Seto had targeted Yugi and his friends after being defeated at “his own game” a few months ago, a then-new trading card game called Duel Monsters, with alarming results – being trapped in a hallucination from which he’d finally managed to break himself free. (Yugi had one of his blackouts during that confrontation when he tried to retrieve the rare card of his grandfather’s that Kaiba had stolen.) Using Yugi’s grandfather as bait, Kaiba drew Yugi and his friends as the "lucky" first guests into a new amusement park that he had built, the roaring audience never knowing that the games and traps were, in fact, quite real and quite lethal. After thinking they’d lost Honda, Jou and Anzu watched Yugi strain with some kind of inner struggle. Yugi finally revealed the fear of someone else that seemed to be living inside of him, the one who did terrible things to people. This alter-ego was trying to take him over again! It was Jonouchi, the now former delinquent and gang-banger who used to taunt him to “toughen up”, who restored Yugi’s faith in himself, even some dark, alter-ego of himself. Yugi was Yugi, no matter what, and both Jou and Anzu had his back, whatever happened. Reassured, Yugi relented . . . and Jou and Anzu watched, in open-mouthed shock, as their sweet, kind Yugi suddenly took on a powerful air of confidence, capability . . . and anger, vengeance darkening his eyes as he went to face – and once again defeat - Kaiba in the final challenge, leaving him catatonic. The audience thought it was just shellshock from being defeated, but "Yugi" revealed the truth to Kaiba's younger brother. As penalty for losing their game, Kaiba's heart had been shattered. "Yugi" hadn't done it out of spite, however. Kaiba's heart had been wounded and twisted by his past. Now, the pre-abuse little boy within had the chance to pick up the pieces, restoring his heart to a state of his own choosing, unadulterated by outside forces.
The box that Yugi's "treasure" – the inverted gold pyramid that he'd taken to wearing everywhere since finally solving it – had come in a matching gold-plated box with two inscriptions on it. One, which Yugi's grandfather had translated for him, read "Something that can be seen, yet cannot be seen." It was a riddle that would prove telling time and time again, frequently hinting at the solution to a given situation or predicament. The other, however, Grandpa would never quite reveal . . . because he knew not only what it said, but what it meant.
"The one who solves me will gain the powers and knowledge of darkness."
The entity that had been awakened the night Yugi solved the puzzle at last – known as the Millennium Puzzle - was the true answer to that second riddle. It knew everything Yugi knew, never missing a beat when it took over regarding people, surroundings, or the wrongs that need righting. Yugi had become aware of the entity, this seeming dark aspect of himself, but the entity was longer in coming around, both to itself – himself – and to Yugi as a separate, if closely bound, soul. It would take a new threat for that, a wielder of another Millennium Item . . . who as a result also was a possessor of "two souls". When Yugi and his friends went to the home of a classmate of theirs, they didn't realize they were dealing with his darker soul until their souls were transferred into the lead miniatures of the tabletop RPG they were playing. But only Yugi's original soul was taken, leaving the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle to face the spirit of the Millennium Ring and win back everyone's souls, including the original soul of Bakura Ryo, the Ring's owner. This too was the first time that Yugi and "his dark self" saw one another face to face.
Their new friend Bakura was actually not the first other possessor of a Millennium Item that Yugi had met (that had been an Egyptian named Shadi, who carried the Key and the Scales), nor was he the last by any means. Soon after, Yugi's grandfather's soul was stolen by the millionaire creator of the wildly popular Duel Monsters Trading Card Game, Pegasus J. Crawford. Pegasus too was an Item wielder, the Eye embedded grotesquely in his skull. Wanting to claim the "greatest of the Millennium Items" for himself, he forced Yugi to participate in a game competition for the chance to Duel him and win his grandfather's soul back.
Duelist Kingdom was a grueling three-day event on a remote island where hopefuls battled each other, gambling to gather "star chips", the proof of their wins. Ten star chips granted one entry into the castle and a place in the Finals, with the winner getting a sizeable cash prize and the chance to face Pegasus himself. By this point, Yugi and the spirit had learned to communicate with one another, the spirit finally really coming into his own with that. They worked together – the spirit taking over for the Duels and Yugi handling everything else. At least they weren't alone, though – Honda, Anzu, and Bakura were there for moral support. Jonouchi was there too, but in a very different capacity. He was a fellow Duelist, having entered to both prove to himself that he could do it and win the prize money. His younger sister had been born with a degenerative eye condition that was slowly robbing her of her sight. The prize money was the only way their family would be able to afford the operation that could restore it.
Yugi, Jou, and their friends made plenty of new friends (and new enemies) over the course of the competition, but none was more surprising than the one unofficial battle that Yugi and the spirit were forced into late on the second day. It had been six months by that point since the spirit had left Kaiba Seto in a mystically-induced catatonic state. Incredibly, he managed to wake up, heart once more intact – the trigger had been when one of the competition's Eliminators, a ventriloquist with a Kaiba dummy that supposedly housed Kaiba's soul, Dueled the spirit with Kaiba's own (stolen) Deck and drew his beloved Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Now, Kaiba had come to Duelist Kingdom to recover everything else that had been stolen from him in his absence – his company and his little brother Mokuba.
On the steps of Pegasus's castle, Kaiba once more demanded a rematch with Yugi and the spirit accepted, seeing that more than just revenge and a wounded ego fueled him. But once more, the spirit proved the more powerful Duelist, fighting as he was to get Yugi's grandfather's soul back (blaming himself for losing it in the first place). But Kaiba refused to be beaten this time, putting his very life on the line. "Yugi" (actually the spirit) could either forfeit the game, or he could call the final attack and risk the resulting blow knocking Kaiba off the wall of the castle to the valley floor far below. Not knowing what it was that Kaiba was truly fighting for, the spirit was infuriated that his otherwise worthy rival (the only one he'd really ever met) would resort to such a low tactic and moved to call his bluff, ordering the attack. Yugi, however, wasn't willing to take the risk. Horrified at what the spirit was about to do – what he was willing to do – Yugi wrested control of his body back from the spirit and called off the attack, forfeiting the game and ignoring Kaiba's gloating, left on hands and knees, shaking with fear, a fear even greater than when he'd finally confessed about "his other self" to Jou and Anzu. Later that evening, Yugi and the spirit would talk about that, the spirit apologizing – not so much for what he'd done, he thought he was doing the right thing, but for frightening Yugi like that and damaging the boy's trust in him. He promised he'd never do such a thing again.
The gang made it into the castle shortly after, both Yugi and Jonouchi as finalists, just in time to witness the Duel between Pegasus and Kaiba, and they realized why Kaiba had been fighting so hard . . . especially when they saw that Pegasus had done the same to Mokuba that he'd done to Yugi's grandfather Sugoroku – stolen his soul. Unfortunately, Kaiba never had a chance against Pegasus. As he'd done to the spirit before taking Sugoroku's soul, Pegasus could read Kaiba's mind thanks to the Millennium Eye, knowing ahead of time what Kaiba's strategies were and able to counter them. When Pegasus defeated Kaiba and took his soul, Yugi and the spirit's resolves only grew harder. They HAD to stop this man!
But they had to get through the Semi-Finals first. Unfortunately, the spirit was so focused on getting to Pegasus that his mind wasn't where it needed to be and he nearly lost his round. Thankfully, it was against one of their new friends and a powerful Duelist in her own right, Kujaku Mai. She'd been looking forward to taking on the powerful new Duelist and her new friend, and it pissed her off that he wasn't taking her seriously, challenging him to get his head back in their game and give her his best or just forfeit here and now. The jolt got the spirit's attention, realizing the mistake he'd been making, and he came back from a nearly impossible position and managed to defeat her. She left disappointed but satisfied.
Jonouchi won his match as well, equally hard-fought, which left him to face Yugi. Jou realized that they needed to fight Pegasus and get everyone's souls back, and that he wasn't strong enough to do it. Only Other-Yugi, the spirit of the Puzzle, had that kind of power. Pegasus too wanted to just get on with things and declared Yugi the winner, stepping out to face Yugi himself. (The Yugi/Jou Duel in the anime was just filler, it didn't happen in the manga.)
As a wielder of a Millennium Item, Pegasus had the ability to turn any normal game or situation into a Shadow Game, a powerful sort of summoning that put the souls of those involved on the line, judging their hearts and allowing the winner to inflict a Penalty Game of his choosing on the loser. The spirit of the Puzzle had the same ability – it was how he used to judge and punish those who threatened Yugi and his friends – but he'd only instigated a Shadow Game on very rare occasion since discovering that there was another soul sharing this body with him. Shadow Games were incredibly dangerous, and he was not willing to risk an innocent soul along with his own. Now, however . . . he had no choice. It helped that Yugi was all for it, not caring about the danger to himself if it meant saving everyone else. And his participation proved invaluable to the spirit, who alone had no defense against Pegasus reading his mind and countering his moves almost before he could make them. He and Yugi "mind-shuffled", with Yugi coming forward to choose and play a card, laying it facedown and dropping back again before Pegasus could read his mind. It was the ultimate test of trust between the two souls, as the Puzzle-spirit had to simply have faith when he turned each card over that it was something that would help - something that was tricky at best for someone who relied so heavily on complex strategies. Unfortunately, the Shadows took a great deal of energy and fortitude to withstand, and Yugi was playing in a game between two practiced Shadow Masters, the level of the Shadow Game set at the highest possible. Pegasus was just amused and more or less fell to biding his time, knowing that Yugi would succumb to the strain sooner or later. The spirit knew it too, afraid he'd lose his soul completely to the Shadows (a very real danger), but Yugi persisted . . . until he just couldn't anymore, his consciousness failing and going insensate. And the spirit was left defenseless once more.
From the outside, the Duel looked like any other, but still Jou, Honda, Anzu, and Bakura could tell that something was wrong and desperately wanted to help. Though they would only be partially aware of doing so, the spirits of the four would find themselves within the Game, within the Puzzle-spirit's mind, supporting Yugi's soul and blocking Pegasus from reading the Puzzle-spirit for his cards. With their help, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle was finally able to defeat Pegasus. True to his word, Pegasus freed the souls of Kaiba, Mokuba, and Sugoroku and even awarded the prize money, which Yugi gave over to Jonouchi for his sister's operation. Pegasus told them his story, why he was doing all of this – it came down to trying to bring back his deceased fiancé, which he'd been told the Millennium Items had the power to do. The spirit didn't think so, but then . . . he realized just how little he actually knew of the Items, even the Puzzle. Or about himself.
"Using my Millennium Eye," Pegasus told him, "I have seen the minds of all kinds of people . . . but never a person with two souls. So that is the power of the Millennium Puzzle."
"Who knows?" the spirit replied. "Even I do not know the full power of the Millennium Puzzle. But I feel some kind of force – some will - brought me and my other self together."
"You don't know about the evil power hidden in the Millennium Items? Not just an evil power – an evil intelligence."
No, the spirit did not, but he could sense the truth of Pegasus's words, and it made him wonder . . .
He didn't have long to wonder, however, as a new rival quickly made himself known. A brand-new, state-of-the-art game shop, the Black Clown, opened right across the street from Sugoroku's little family-owned store, the Kame, carrying all the latest and greatest, things that Yugi's grandfather couldn't afford to stock, and the old man worried about being put out of business. As it turned out, that was the least of his worries. The owner was an old acquaintance of Sugoroku's. When Yugi and his friends visited the Black Clown, Otogi Sr. slipped merchandise into Yugi's pocket when he was separated from the others, then called security on him for attempted shoplifting. Yugi was dragged into the back of the store, but instead of an office or storage room, he found himself in a gaming room. Otogi Sr. took the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi and told him he had to win it back, facing the demented man's son and one of Yugi's new classmates, Otogi Ryuuji. Like Yugi, Otogi had grown up with games and puzzles and had even created a game of his own, called Dungeon Dice Monsters. Unlike Yugi, however, he'd been told all his life that he'd had only one reason for being born – to help his father take revenge on Sugoroku, which they intended to do through Sugoroku's grandson. If Otogi won the game, he would be the new master of the Millennium Puzzle, claiming its power for his father.
Without Yugi's direct contact with the Puzzle, the spirit couldn’t take over to help, leaving Yugi to face this challenge alone. But he was a master gamer in his own right, quickly able to learn the rules, to start catching on to the nuances, and to play it at Otogi's level. This only enraged Otogi Sr. who smashed the Puzzle and dropped the pieces in Otogi's lap, telling him to solve it. But Otogi couldn't do it – something kept pushing him away, keeping his mind from focusing on the pieces. Yugi meanwhile was devastated – it had taken him EIGHT YEARS to put that Puzzle together! Was it going to take him another eight? And what of the spirit? Yugi could no longer hear his voice or feel his presence. He despaired and couldn't continue the DDM game . . . until a very unlikely ally showed up. The spirit of Bakura's Millennium Ring – far from banished as they'd thought way back at the end of that tabletop game – had sensed the trouble and tracked the Millennium Puzzle and Yugi down. He had his own agenda, of course, but that didn't keep Yugi from heeding his words of encouragement – such as they were – and continuing the game. Yugi was the rightful wielder of the Millennium Puzzle, it would accept no one else, and the only way to save Otogi from it was to defeat him at DDM. Which Yugi did. Moved by Yugi's game prowess and by his integrity, Otogi admitted to his father that he couldn't hate Yugi.
Otogi Sr. pretended to apologize to Yugi as well, putting the chain of the Puzzle back around Yugi's neck . . . only to use it to drag him into another room where he intended to face Yugi at the same game, the Devil's Board Game, that he had faced Sugoroku in so many years ago and lost to him, cursing himself with disfigurement. Before starting the game, however, Otogi Sr. attempted to solve the Puzzle himself, but the Puzzle fought back, threatening to punish him by dragging his soul into unfathomable depths within and between the pieces. Otogi Sr. reacted, flailing back and knocking over candles that had been set up around the demonic board game and accidentally setting the room on fire.
Otogi managed to break the door down by then and helped his father out, but Yugi wouldn't leave. Otogi Sr. had nailed the main piece of the Puzzle to the table and Yugi couldn't get it out. All he could do was solve the Puzzle in time to apologize to his other heart. Miraculously, he put the Puzzle together in minutes this time, even as the heating pieces were burning his fingers. Jonouchi, who'd been looking for Yugi since they were separated, broke into the room just as Yugi finished the Puzzle and lost consciousness. Jou used a hooked piece of the Devil's Board to lever the nail from the table, freeing the Puzzle and allowing him to get it and Yugi out of the burning building. Yugi was taken to the hospital to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
It's while in the hospital that Yugi finally asked the questions that the spirit had been dreading since Duelist Kingdom – who was he and where had he come from? The truth was . . . the spirit had no idea. He had no memories of his own. He didn't even know his own name. Yugi thought that incredibly sad and offered to share his memories, all of them. The spirit appreciated that and said that if he never found out who he was, it was all right. Being with Yugi was enough. He hoped to be able to be with Yugi always. Yugi hoped so too.
The boys will find themselves in Nautilus shortly after this, before the events leading up to Battle City take place.
