"How can that be?" Bakura could not believe that the Millennium Ring that he had worn for almost a decade would now reject his touch, but a part of him was also relieved.
Still, he also felt guilty that he was relieved the Millennium Ring rejected his touch, so Bakura tried once again, and the result was the same.
Yutaka was dumbfounded.
His mind could not comprehend that Yami Bakura, who was supposed to be the final boss of the original anime, could not touch his prized Millennium Ring.
"Let me try it!" As Yuta was in a daze, he didn't respond to Joey, who came to try and take off the Millennium Ring.
"Ouch!" But the result was the same. Joey was also repelled by the same blackish-yellow light emanating from the ring.
"It seems like aside from Yuta, no one can touch the ring," Yugi said guiltily as he looked at Yuta, who seemed as if he had lost his whole world.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Tea asked as she worriedly looked at Yuta. No one would be thrilled to learn that their friend could be possessed by an evil spirit at any moment.
"I don't know, but once we rescue Grandpa, we can ask him. He was the one who gave me the Millennium Puzzle, so he should know something," Yugi said as he looked away.
Hearing that, Yutaka got up and walked towards the woods.
Tristan tried to follow him, but he was stopped by Yugi.
"Just let him go... he might need some time alone."
Normally, Yugi would not say this and would try everything in his power to help his friends, but this time he did not know what to do. Most importantly, he felt guilty.
He felt like this happened to Yutaka because he was with them, and he didn't do a good job of protecting him.
***
As Yutaka was strolling in the dark, he found himself a rock to sit on and looked towards the sky.
He didn't know what to feel at this moment.
He was supposed to be excited, as he had completed most of his goals for the Duellist Kingdom arc.
He had gotten Red-Eyes before Joey could get his hands on it.
He had managed to print Meteor Black Dragon in the fight against the ghost, proving to himself that he had the ability to print cards just like the natives.
He had managed to print and update Black Metal Dragon so that it was not just a useless beat stick, also proving that as long as he could make a reasonable claim, he could add effects to the monsters that he had printed.
He was supposed to be at the top of the world, as he could finally unearth the true potential of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
But the higher you were, the more the fall hurt.
He got wrapped up in the Shadow Duel between Yami Bakura and Yugi.
Even though he did not know why, this accursed Millennium Ring was stuck to his body, and he couldn't take it off.
As the host of the final boss, he could lose control of his body at any second.
Thankfully, he remembered that at the end of the anime, despite being Zorc's host, Bakura was still safe and sound, so that was just one positive point.
Now that he thought about it, he also looked similar to Yami Bakura.
White hair, a white-red shirt and a black trenchcoat, not to mention the Millennium Ring on his chest.
Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing.
Even though he was the host of the final boss, it should also mean that, aside from the protagonist Yugi, no one should be able to defeat him.
Thinking about it, he did not remember Yami Bakura duelling anyone else aside from Yugi, so maybe he was not that bad of a duellist?
There was also Red-Eyes...
*ROAR*
Hearing the roar of the Red-Eyes, Yuta's expression changed, and he pulled out his deck again.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, without any text, was sitting on top of the deck, and his black dragon was right under it.
He looked at the card suspiciously, and just from touching it, a cold feeling enveloped his body.
"You are not just saying that to comfort me, are you?" Yuta asked the Red-Eyes Black Dragon he was holding in his hand.
*ROAR*
Red-Eyes confirmed once again, and a smile crept onto Yuta's face.
He had complete trust in his Duel Spirit, his eternal partner.
So he started to feel happy.
Turns out, the Millennium Ring was not as dangerous as he had thought.
In fact, if what Red-Eyes said was true, it was an unimaginable boon to him.
Because Yami Bakura was sealed inside Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon instead of the ring!
"Ahhhh!"
Yuta heard the scream of a woman coming from deep into the forest.
That was when memories appeared in his mind regarding this episode.
Yuta looked towards the ring.
He didn't remember every function of the Millennium Items, but he could recall most of them.
Pegasus' Millennium Eye could see the soul of the deceased and the Duel Spirits; it could also seal souls in a blank card and, most importantly, read minds.
Marik Ishtar's Millennium Rod could control the minds of others from a distance.
Ishizu Ishtar's Millennium Necklace could gaze into the fragments of the past and the future.
Shadi's Millennium Key could open a person's mind and gaze into their souls and memories. If you changed the inside of the mind, you could even control them like a puppet without the person being aware of it.
The Millennium Scale was ownerless in modern times, protected by Shadi. In ancient Egypt it could fuse monsters, and according to GX it could also judge a person's heart, kind of like the scales of Ma'at in the Egyptian myths, where Ma'at would weigh a person's heart against a feather and lead them into heaven if it was lighter than it.
Yami Bakura, or rather Yuta's Millennium Ring, was a compass, leading the wearer to whatever they desired. Just like the compass of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Lastly, the Millennium Puzzle, the most broken item amongst them. In the anime, according to the legend, it granted its owner the mastery of games. It was such a vague description, but according to some people in the fandom, its true ability was Quantum Probability Adjustment. In simpler terms, as long as you didn't see what card it was, the card could literally be anything.
I.e., Yugi sets down a trap card.
What Yugi set down was Mirror Force.
The opponent plays Raigeki.
Yugi reveals his trap card to be Anti-Raigeki and reflects it.
That was how he could draw whatever he wanted once he mastered this power.
It was kind of similar to the double-slit experiment held in his previous world, which proved the quantum observer effect theory.
In a room full of scientists, they fired off electrons to discover if electrons acted as a wave or particle, the result of the experiment was the electrons hit the two pieces of paper with a slightly different times, proving that they were indeed particles.
But they also conducted the experiment with a computer from far away without anyone observing them; the result was the electrons hit the papers at the same time, also proving that they acted as waves.
So this proved that just the fact that one was observing something could change its outcome.
The same theory also applied to Yugi's puzzle.
As long as no one observed his unknown card, it could be anything.
The only thing that could counter it was Pegasus' eye, which read his mind during the duel, sealing his ability to change cards mid-duel, but it could not affect Yugi's ability to change the top card of his deck.
So, it could only be called a semi-counter rather than a full-on counter.
Then again, since Yami was just released from the puzzle, his ability to control it was still in its initial stages, so that was enough to seal this ability. That was why Pegasus was so dominant throughout the duel until Yami Yugi figured out he could separate into Yami and Yugi so that they could separate their minds. That way, sealing Pegasus' ability to read minds, as he could only read one of their minds at a time.
TL;DR Yugi was the biggest cheater in this world, as he could change and print cards on the spot as long as you didn't know his cards.
Yuta looked at his ring again, and its prongs started to move and point in a certain direction in the forest.
He didn't know how he activated it, but this proved that he could control it. This would definitely help him greatly in the future.
After a quick run following the direction his ring pointed to, Yuta arrived in a clearing where he saw Mai getting down from the duel arena, all devastated.
"You are here," Mai said complicatedly. She had lost all her Star Chips, so she was about to be kicked out of the tournament.
"I am."
"Huhahahaha, Yutaka Minami, one of the people on the island closest to gathering the Star Chips required to advance following Yugi Muto. Wonderful."
"You have to escape, Yuta. PaniK is one of the strongest people on the island, hired by Pegasus to specifically go after duellists with high Star Chips to make it harder for them to advance."
"Huhahahaha, that's right! I am one of this island's eliminators, and I challenge you to a duel, Yutaka Minami!"
"No! Yuta, you cannot accept! You are going to lose all your Star Chips like me!" Mai tried to warn Yuta.
"What makes you think that I am as weak as you?" Yuta replied to Mai, which doused her feelings.
Right.
This was a completely hateful guy.
It was her fault for getting emotional.
Why did she get worried about him in the first place?
In fact, right now, she wanted to create a banner with PaniK's name to cheer him on.
That way, once Yuta lost, they could get booted off the island together, and she could make fun of him.
"Wonderful! We will have a duel for all of your Star Chips!"
"How many Star Chips did you lose?"
".... Eight" Mai replied unwillingly. She had tried so hard to gather those eight Star Chips, but now they were gone.
"Okay, PaniK! I challenge you to a duel for Mai's Star Chips!" Yuta said as he pointed towards PaniK.
He remembered this episode when he had heard Mai's scream, and he needed to do this for Mai to make it into the finals.
He also purposely came here to abuse PaniK because he wanted to vent his feelings.
Today was such a roller coaster, so he needed a punching bag like him to relax.
"Acceptable."