( a_facility ) ≠ application
**NOTE** For the purposes of this app, Yami no Bakura will be referred to as "Bakura", and Bakura Ryou will be referred to as "Ryou". Although these aren't the titles proper to the original canon (they're more fanon-based), I'm trying to cut down on the amount of redundancy the mods need to read.
OOC Information:
Name: Li
Age: 26
AIM: shotgunlovely
E-MAIL: shotgunnery [at] gmail
Are you new? If not, list your current characters: Yes
IC Information:
Name: Yami no Bakura (Dark Bakura)
Fandom: Yuugiou: Duel Monsters (anime verse primarily)
Timeline: Post series (after the Memory Game)
Age: Unknown, but looks late teens
Appearance: Bakura's current appearance is largely a mimic of Bakura Ryou's form, a slender teenager with brown eyes and white hair that falls into large spikes halfway down his back. He shares Ryou's physical attributes, which put him at 5'7-5'8 tall (176cm), and is on the very lean side at only 115lbs (52kg). There are subtle differences between the two, as Bakura's eyes are darker and a more mahogany colour, and his hair is spikier. (Yes, they really do look like bat wings.) Since Bakura is used to playing the part of Ryou, his method of dress is usually casual -- jeans and a t-shirt, though he's been known to add a black trench coat to suit his needs. Unlike his Ancient Egyptian self, Bakura isn't dark skinned and does not bear the facial scar of the Thief King.
Personality:
The entity known as Yami no Bakura is a culmination of many events in both the Ancient Egyptian past and the modern world three thousand years later. It is important to remember that he is a fundamentally damaged personality because of this fracture, and also because of the things he's seen and done. He is a sadist and a masochist, though he trends more towards the latter. Unlike Yami no Malik, Bakura uses pain and injury to serve a purpose as opposed to just blindly causing those things. He isn't afraid of pain or injury to himself, although he verbally acknowledges that he is aware of his current body's (Ryou's) limitations. A good example is when he stabs himself in the arm during Battle City, it has a twofold purpose: to prove the strength of his intent in partnering with Malik, and also to provide Malik an excuse to get close to the Battle City finalists under the guise of Namu.
This kind of thinking is evident in pretty much every one of Bakura's plot arcs: he never does anything without planning the gains it will bring him. If you take into account Season 0, he manipulates Ryou into becoming friends with Yuugi-tachi in order to draw them into visiting, which allows him to spring the Monster World RPG. Sometimes these actions seem to act contrary to his role as a villan, such as in Duelist Kingdom when he saves Honda and Mokuba from Pegasus' guards. (Although he did have a bit of cruel fun with them, letting his Man-Eater Bug eat them to Honda's mental trauma.) Likewise he stopped Haga and Ryuuzaki from stealing the God Cards and the Sennen Items by stealing their souls, only to promptly give both back to Yuugi with the exception of the Ring, saying that his and Yuugi's goals were alike. He has basically no friendships, only working partnerships (unequal ones, of course) with various characters throughout the series, allowing him to from time to time tread the line between villain and anti-hero.
Although Bakura possesses Ryou's body against the boy's will, he shows no overt desire to harm Ryou unduly. He merely wants complete obedience and the access to Yuugi's group of friends that Ryou provides him. In one instance, he even bargains with Ryou for the souls of the boy's friends and it is offhandedly mentioned that the bullies which had originally given Ryou grief at school had all disappeared; Bakura chooses to protect his host (yadonushi/"landlord") because Ryou's state serves his own interests.
Even Bakura himself is not immune to his own plotting, and he orchestrates the possession of his own past self (Thief King Bakura) to participate in the Memory World. He offers his past self as a pawn to Zorc Necrophades believing that Zorc will allow him to complete his quest of destroying the Sennen Items. This leaves the Thief King to be casually destroyed and resurrected, illustrating how Bakura considers nothing too personal to compromise his goals.
He's an excellent strategist, on par with Yuugi and Kaiba, and holds his own in duels against both of them. Bakura always has plans, and backup plans, and fail-safes and is very manipulative as well. He's able to predict with reliability duel moves in advance, and is always leaving himself options such as when he was banished from possessing Ryou and instead concealed himself within the Sennen Puzzle, waiting for his opportunity. While he can come off as brash and impulsive, the truth is that he's deliberate and patient, and not easily discouraged by (multiple) failures -- which he sees only as setbacks, which could actually be considered a personality strength.
His loyalties are obscure and seem conflicted: he despises the Sennen Items yet uses their effects with alacrity, he is (was, in the past) even patriotic to Egypt itself but loathes the Pharaoh's bloodline for their acts. He is passionate about his own Ka, Diabound, and yet lets the creature be possessed by Zorc and destroys it. He is intimately familiar with the spirits of Kuru Eruna village but professes neither desire nor anticipation for Amenti, the Egyptian afterlife.
These sort of traits make Bakura a complex character, beyond the perception that he is merely a villain who wants to beat the Pharaoh.
Abilities:
The following abilities were primarily due to Bakura's possession of the Sennen Ring, most of which he does not have in-game.
Since being sealed in the Ring, Bakura has perfected several techniques for dealing with his opponents: sending their souls or physical bodies into the Shadow Realm, wiping their memories of certain events, or summoning monsters onto the physical plane to attack people. Obviously he will not be able to do these things without the Ring. However he has also stored up a lot of knowledge of arcane and occult magic, and he does have some effect on the surroundings even without a physical form or access to the Ring. A canon example of this would be when he was trying to repossess Ryou and was able to make all the church windows blow out. He is capable of using tarot cards (presumably actual ones in addition to Duel Monsters). His past self also possessed an incredibly powerful Ka named Diabound -- a physical manifestation of his soul which had a multitude of abilities, although this was destroyed by Zorc and it's unlikely to make another appearance.
However magical abilities are not the only ones Bakura has at his disposal. He is an accomplished thief with skills ranging from pickpocketing to other forms of larceny and all the way up to being a tomb robber. He is a strong physical fighter, taking on opponents that either outnumber or outweigh him (which is nearly everyone, with as thin as his form is presently). His greatest assets are his agility and speed rather than strength. Bakura is skilled with small weapons such as knives and also at unarmed combat and does not shy away from pain or injury, giving him an advantage over some opponents -- particularly now that he doesn't have to worry about keeping his host's body in safe condition. Yet despite his physical prowess however, he is not invincible -- he can be overpowered by sheer brute force.
History:
(I've broken Bakura's impact on the plot into the different season arcs; this is by no means a complete history of the series itself.)
Duelist Kingdom:
Bakura Ryou originally appears as a very minor character, trailing along on the ship to Pegasus' island and "accidentally" meeting up with Yuugi's group where it's revealed that he's in possession of the Sennen Ring. Ryou shares its seemingly innocent origins that it was sent to him by his father. However during a friendly duel, Yami no Bakura suddenly takes over, trapping Yuugi and his friends in the roles of their favourite Duel Monsters. We then discover that the Ring, like the Puzzle, also holds an ancient spirit and that unlike Yami Yuugi, this one is malevolent. The Shadow Duel is largely in Bakura's favour until an upset leads he and Ryou's places to be switched -- trapping Bakura in the role of the Change of Heart card and Ryou in the role of the player. This allows Yami Yuugi to win the duel, sending Yami no Bakura to the Shadow Realm.
Once Yuugi and the others make their way to Pegasus' castle, Bakura overhears Honda's plan to search for Mokuba's soulless body. Intrigued by the plan and, having been recently overthrown by his host, considers the possibility of transfering his soul to Mokuba's body so that he can possess a form without having its original owner to fight back. They're cornered by Pegasus' guards, prompting Bakura to summon the Man-Eater Bug which quickly dispatches the guards and even going to far as to save their lives from very nearly going off the edge of a cliff. (In the manga, he convinces Ryou to wear the ring again in order to escape the
After Yami Yuugi wins against Pegasus, Bakura confronts and challenges the millionaire to a duel for ownership of the Sennen Eye. Bakura wins it easily, having far outclassed Pegasus (who demands to know what he is) and then Bakura rips the eye out and licks it.
Dungeon Dice Monsters:
Although Bakura plays no direct involvement in this arc, Yami Bakura senses the Sennen Puzzle nearby while Yami Yuugi is dueling Bandit Keith who is being controlled by Malik Ishtar. (In the manga, he is dueling Otogi.) When the Puzzle is shattered in order to free it, Bakura seals a portion of his soul into one of the pieces before returning it to Yuugi.
Battle City:
Bakura plays a much larger role in this arc, beginning when he senses the Sennen Rod arriving in Japan with Malik Ishtar, proposing an alliance if Malik promises to give him the Sennen Rod should Bakura win the Saint Dragon of Osiris god card. Malik agrees and to demonstrate his willingness, Bakura stabs himself in the upper arm before withdrawing, leaving a wounded Ryou to be helped by Malik under the guise of a new duelist named Namu.
Later that night, Bakura repossesses Ryou in order to leave the hospital. Sugoroku tries to stop him but Bakura knocks him out and steals the Duel Disk and locator cards of a passing duelist, before encountering Ghost Kotsuzuka (Bonz) and two of his lackeys in a nearby cemetery, where they've been spooking other duelists out of their locator cards using cheap scare tactics. Bakura easily dismisses these tricks and challenges them to a duel, putting up his single locator card against their accumulated five so that the winner can go to the finals immediately. They agree, but the duel is short and Bakura wins easily, leaving them all in the Shadow Realm permanently.
His first duel is against Yami Yuugi in the quarter finals, as Bakura allows most of his lifepoints to be taken. Through a connection forged with the Sennen Rod, Bakura and Malik are able to talk (argue) about the best way to proceed with the duel, and Bakura eventually withdraws once more to leave an injured and confused Ryou in control. However when it appears that Yugi will attack anyway, Bakura retakes possession and demands the attack be carried out with him in control instead, so as not to further injure his host. Yami Yuugi uses Osiris and in the brief backsplash, Bakura can be seen shielding Ryou's form with his own while laughing rather manically. The Ring is then picked up by Anzu under Malik's control.
Bakura's second BC duel is against the darker personality of Malik, Yami Malik, who has taken over the teen's body. This is a straight Shadow Game, with the two of them both vying for the Items they possess. Although Bakura managed to take the Winged Dragon of Ra from Yami Malik, it was rendered useless and he sacrificed it, only to have it revived on his opponent's field at full strength. Bakura took the full attack and is supposedly killed, although in truth he merely drew himself into the Sennen Puzzle through the link he had created by sealing a piece of his soul into the Puzzle's piece. He is then free to explore the labyrinth of Yami Yuugi's mind, searching for answers which come into play in the next arc.
Memory World:
In preparation for the Memory RPG, Bakura once again repossesses an unwilling Ryou who thought that the spirit had been sent away for good. Bakura shows significant power and the depth of the link with his host when he's able to take over the teen's body without having the Ring in his possession. Shortly thereafter when the Egyptian God Cards are stolen from Yuugi, the two thieves are ambushed and dealt with by Bakura. When Yuugi arrives, Bakura surprises him by returning the God Cards and the Items, less the Ring which he claims is still his. He states that Yuugi will need these to take with him to Egypt, and that their goals (and themselves) are more similar than they might think. At that point, Yami Yuugi takes over and challenges Bakura, but Bakura is uninterested in a confrontation and leaves, though taunts Yami Yuugi that he knows their entangled past.
He goes to KaibaCorp and lures Seto into a duel by knocking out Mokuba. The begin the duel and Bakura quickly uses the Shadow Realm to stimulate Kaiba's buried memories of Ancient Egypt. This is also the first time we see him put into play the card Diabound Carnel, the Duel Monsters' equivalent of his Ka beast. The duel between them is evenly matched, but Bakura cuts it short as the sun rises, saying that he has other things to attend. However he throws Kaiba a surprise: the Sennen Eye, which has been missing since he stole it from Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom. Bakura tells Kaiba to come to Egypt for answers about the visions.
Bakura's origins are revealed as one of the original denizens of the Kuru Eruna village, a small settlement in Ancient Egypt which was rumoured to be a village of thieves and cutthroats. In truth it was a village originally settled by tomb builders who, as was common to those days, often turned to thievery once the project they worked on was completed. Akunadin, the brother of the current Pharaoh Aknamkanon (Atemu's father) ordered that the villagers be rounded up and killed so that their bodies could be used as material to create the Sennen Items, as was instructed by the Sennen Tome. The tablet with the molds for the Items was already located in a cavern deep beneath the village, so it's unknown whether Kuru Eruna was built in this place on purpose or if it was just bad luck. Still a child, Bakura remained hidden but witnessed the slaughter of the other villages, an event which created and solidified a lifelong hatred for the Pharaoh.
There's nothing stated canonically to cover the interim years between that childhood trauma and when Bakura, now using the moniker of the "Thief King" and apparently having accumulated a reputation, but it can be deduced that he began stealing and gradually moved into robbing tombs of the wealthy. In one manga panel, he's shown celebrating in a tavern.
This is where things get confusing, and basically caught in a temporal loop. Yami no Bakura returns to the past through the Memory Game triggered by Atemu to possess his past self, who strikes a deal with the demon Zorc. He steals Aknamkanon's body and attacks the palace with Diabound, although he's driven off by the Priests. Mahaado, the original wielder of the Ring, later corners him in a tomb and the two battle. In order to kill Bakura, Mahaado fuses himself with his Ka and becomes the Black Magician, losing his human form in the process and collapsing the cavern around them. However, Bakura survives and escapes, returning to Kuru Eruna to seek guidance from the ghostly spirits there.
During this whole thing, Bakura is also playing a Shadow Game, which Yami Yuugi awakens to and realizes that not only are they battling in the past but also in the present as part of the Memory RPG. In a series of escalating attacks, Atemu is attacked but protected by Hassan, who in turn is defeated by Obelisk and Diabound, who is eventually merged into Zorc himself and is able to defeat the Egyptian God Cards and begin rampaging across the city to destroy it. The final attack is to summon Horakhty, the Creator God of Light and finally defeat Zorc, destroying Bakura's spirit for good.
Sample - Log:
This is too bright to be the belly of Ammut, Bakura thought hazily, staring up at the fluorescent lights above him. Unbidden, a mental image of the crocodile-headed creature floated to the surface of his memory and then evaporated again. With a groan he struggled to roll over, swallowing to try and rid the taste of dry cotton from his mouth. None of his senses registered anything he recognized: unfamiliar sounds, scents, the feeling of too-starched sheets.
"Where..." he began, but his words were slurred. The long tube light blurred and sharpened again, and finally Bakura was able to sit up. The room was sparse to the point of sterile, with only a bed and a sink, but what startled him most was that it was modern -- something he had not expected to ever see again, not that he had expected to see anything again.
I am dead. I lost Diabound, to Zorc, the tablet destroyed...
But the steady thump of the heartbeat in his chest (elevating slightly with his rising trepidation at the situation) told him he was not dead. More alarmingly, subtle differences told him that he was not inhabited the body of his landlord -- but a body of his own crafting, insomuch as he could ever have a hand in it.
It appeared he was neither dead, nor bound to his host's body any longer, nor even in Egypt or the past. Nothing was as he expected it to be and it was entirely disconcerting, but if he was alive then he needed to make something of his predicament. Bakura's legs nearly buckled under his weight when he stood, causing him to grunt in annoyance and reevaluate the length of time he must have been recumbent on the bed. But his motions were firm when he banged on the door, causing long metallic echoes.
"Open this door, or by Sobek's teeth I swear I shall tear it down," he warned, listening for any answers.
Sample - Journal:
What need do I have to keep paper records? This is something my host would do, not I! I'm no scribe and unlike my former landlord, do not pretend to will any pleasant thoughts to the dead, nor converse with the living. Even if I had such an inclination, there is no one to receive it. At best it can be used as a means to record details about this place.
Perhaps there are others here who, like me, are also supposed to be dead. Whatever magics these overseers have used, it defies even Anubis' domain. What other breaches have been committed here?
Extra
This game includes horrible mental and physical torture of your character. After reading the rules/faq for clarification, how do you expect your character to handle this and continue to function?
Yami no Bakura is no stranger to the darkest aspects of the psyche and indeed even revels in many of them. He's witnessed a massacre, killed many people through physical and magical means, inflicted pain and suffering to achieve his own ends. He has literally made a deal with the devil at the cost of his own soul. He manipulates people, but he's also capable of being manipulated. I think that being put into the premise of this game will give him a new challenge of being out of his depth -- Bakura is, despite his grandiose schemes, a private sort of person. Being unable to hide behind his magic and the mask of being Ryou will be something new.
Questions? Comments? Crazed and creative statements? Those go here.
Just something of note, Bakura will probably curse more and use more Egyptian flavoured language now that there's no need for him to pretend to be Ryou. While there's no canon example of this directly, I will try to keep it both in-character and as authentic as possible.
OOC Information:
Name: Li
Age: 26
AIM: shotgunlovely
E-MAIL: shotgunnery [at] gmail
Are you new? If not, list your current characters: Yes
IC Information:
Name: Yami no Bakura (Dark Bakura)
Fandom: Yuugiou: Duel Monsters (anime verse primarily)
Timeline: Post series (after the Memory Game)
Age: Unknown, but looks late teens
Appearance: Bakura's current appearance is largely a mimic of Bakura Ryou's form, a slender teenager with brown eyes and white hair that falls into large spikes halfway down his back. He shares Ryou's physical attributes, which put him at 5'7-5'8 tall (176cm), and is on the very lean side at only 115lbs (52kg). There are subtle differences between the two, as Bakura's eyes are darker and a more mahogany colour, and his hair is spikier. (Yes, they really do look like bat wings.) Since Bakura is used to playing the part of Ryou, his method of dress is usually casual -- jeans and a t-shirt, though he's been known to add a black trench coat to suit his needs. Unlike his Ancient Egyptian self, Bakura isn't dark skinned and does not bear the facial scar of the Thief King.
Personality:
The entity known as Yami no Bakura is a culmination of many events in both the Ancient Egyptian past and the modern world three thousand years later. It is important to remember that he is a fundamentally damaged personality because of this fracture, and also because of the things he's seen and done. He is a sadist and a masochist, though he trends more towards the latter. Unlike Yami no Malik, Bakura uses pain and injury to serve a purpose as opposed to just blindly causing those things. He isn't afraid of pain or injury to himself, although he verbally acknowledges that he is aware of his current body's (Ryou's) limitations. A good example is when he stabs himself in the arm during Battle City, it has a twofold purpose: to prove the strength of his intent in partnering with Malik, and also to provide Malik an excuse to get close to the Battle City finalists under the guise of Namu.
This kind of thinking is evident in pretty much every one of Bakura's plot arcs: he never does anything without planning the gains it will bring him. If you take into account Season 0, he manipulates Ryou into becoming friends with Yuugi-tachi in order to draw them into visiting, which allows him to spring the Monster World RPG. Sometimes these actions seem to act contrary to his role as a villan, such as in Duelist Kingdom when he saves Honda and Mokuba from Pegasus' guards. (Although he did have a bit of cruel fun with them, letting his Man-Eater Bug eat them to Honda's mental trauma.) Likewise he stopped Haga and Ryuuzaki from stealing the God Cards and the Sennen Items by stealing their souls, only to promptly give both back to Yuugi with the exception of the Ring, saying that his and Yuugi's goals were alike. He has basically no friendships, only working partnerships (unequal ones, of course) with various characters throughout the series, allowing him to from time to time tread the line between villain and anti-hero.
Although Bakura possesses Ryou's body against the boy's will, he shows no overt desire to harm Ryou unduly. He merely wants complete obedience and the access to Yuugi's group of friends that Ryou provides him. In one instance, he even bargains with Ryou for the souls of the boy's friends and it is offhandedly mentioned that the bullies which had originally given Ryou grief at school had all disappeared; Bakura chooses to protect his host (yadonushi/"landlord") because Ryou's state serves his own interests.
Even Bakura himself is not immune to his own plotting, and he orchestrates the possession of his own past self (Thief King Bakura) to participate in the Memory World. He offers his past self as a pawn to Zorc Necrophades believing that Zorc will allow him to complete his quest of destroying the Sennen Items. This leaves the Thief King to be casually destroyed and resurrected, illustrating how Bakura considers nothing too personal to compromise his goals.
He's an excellent strategist, on par with Yuugi and Kaiba, and holds his own in duels against both of them. Bakura always has plans, and backup plans, and fail-safes and is very manipulative as well. He's able to predict with reliability duel moves in advance, and is always leaving himself options such as when he was banished from possessing Ryou and instead concealed himself within the Sennen Puzzle, waiting for his opportunity. While he can come off as brash and impulsive, the truth is that he's deliberate and patient, and not easily discouraged by (multiple) failures -- which he sees only as setbacks, which could actually be considered a personality strength.
His loyalties are obscure and seem conflicted: he despises the Sennen Items yet uses their effects with alacrity, he is (was, in the past) even patriotic to Egypt itself but loathes the Pharaoh's bloodline for their acts. He is passionate about his own Ka, Diabound, and yet lets the creature be possessed by Zorc and destroys it. He is intimately familiar with the spirits of Kuru Eruna village but professes neither desire nor anticipation for Amenti, the Egyptian afterlife.
These sort of traits make Bakura a complex character, beyond the perception that he is merely a villain who wants to beat the Pharaoh.
Abilities:
The following abilities were primarily due to Bakura's possession of the Sennen Ring, most of which he does not have in-game.
Since being sealed in the Ring, Bakura has perfected several techniques for dealing with his opponents: sending their souls or physical bodies into the Shadow Realm, wiping their memories of certain events, or summoning monsters onto the physical plane to attack people. Obviously he will not be able to do these things without the Ring. However he has also stored up a lot of knowledge of arcane and occult magic, and he does have some effect on the surroundings even without a physical form or access to the Ring. A canon example of this would be when he was trying to repossess Ryou and was able to make all the church windows blow out. He is capable of using tarot cards (presumably actual ones in addition to Duel Monsters). His past self also possessed an incredibly powerful Ka named Diabound -- a physical manifestation of his soul which had a multitude of abilities, although this was destroyed by Zorc and it's unlikely to make another appearance.
However magical abilities are not the only ones Bakura has at his disposal. He is an accomplished thief with skills ranging from pickpocketing to other forms of larceny and all the way up to being a tomb robber. He is a strong physical fighter, taking on opponents that either outnumber or outweigh him (which is nearly everyone, with as thin as his form is presently). His greatest assets are his agility and speed rather than strength. Bakura is skilled with small weapons such as knives and also at unarmed combat and does not shy away from pain or injury, giving him an advantage over some opponents -- particularly now that he doesn't have to worry about keeping his host's body in safe condition. Yet despite his physical prowess however, he is not invincible -- he can be overpowered by sheer brute force.
History:
(I've broken Bakura's impact on the plot into the different season arcs; this is by no means a complete history of the series itself.)
Duelist Kingdom:
Bakura Ryou originally appears as a very minor character, trailing along on the ship to Pegasus' island and "accidentally" meeting up with Yuugi's group where it's revealed that he's in possession of the Sennen Ring. Ryou shares its seemingly innocent origins that it was sent to him by his father. However during a friendly duel, Yami no Bakura suddenly takes over, trapping Yuugi and his friends in the roles of their favourite Duel Monsters. We then discover that the Ring, like the Puzzle, also holds an ancient spirit and that unlike Yami Yuugi, this one is malevolent. The Shadow Duel is largely in Bakura's favour until an upset leads he and Ryou's places to be switched -- trapping Bakura in the role of the Change of Heart card and Ryou in the role of the player. This allows Yami Yuugi to win the duel, sending Yami no Bakura to the Shadow Realm.
Once Yuugi and the others make their way to Pegasus' castle, Bakura overhears Honda's plan to search for Mokuba's soulless body. Intrigued by the plan and, having been recently overthrown by his host, considers the possibility of transfering his soul to Mokuba's body so that he can possess a form without having its original owner to fight back. They're cornered by Pegasus' guards, prompting Bakura to summon the Man-Eater Bug which quickly dispatches the guards and even going to far as to save their lives from very nearly going off the edge of a cliff. (In the manga, he convinces Ryou to wear the ring again in order to escape the
After Yami Yuugi wins against Pegasus, Bakura confronts and challenges the millionaire to a duel for ownership of the Sennen Eye. Bakura wins it easily, having far outclassed Pegasus (who demands to know what he is) and then Bakura rips the eye out and licks it.
Dungeon Dice Monsters:
Although Bakura plays no direct involvement in this arc, Yami Bakura senses the Sennen Puzzle nearby while Yami Yuugi is dueling Bandit Keith who is being controlled by Malik Ishtar. (In the manga, he is dueling Otogi.) When the Puzzle is shattered in order to free it, Bakura seals a portion of his soul into one of the pieces before returning it to Yuugi.
Battle City:
Bakura plays a much larger role in this arc, beginning when he senses the Sennen Rod arriving in Japan with Malik Ishtar, proposing an alliance if Malik promises to give him the Sennen Rod should Bakura win the Saint Dragon of Osiris god card. Malik agrees and to demonstrate his willingness, Bakura stabs himself in the upper arm before withdrawing, leaving a wounded Ryou to be helped by Malik under the guise of a new duelist named Namu.
Later that night, Bakura repossesses Ryou in order to leave the hospital. Sugoroku tries to stop him but Bakura knocks him out and steals the Duel Disk and locator cards of a passing duelist, before encountering Ghost Kotsuzuka (Bonz) and two of his lackeys in a nearby cemetery, where they've been spooking other duelists out of their locator cards using cheap scare tactics. Bakura easily dismisses these tricks and challenges them to a duel, putting up his single locator card against their accumulated five so that the winner can go to the finals immediately. They agree, but the duel is short and Bakura wins easily, leaving them all in the Shadow Realm permanently.
His first duel is against Yami Yuugi in the quarter finals, as Bakura allows most of his lifepoints to be taken. Through a connection forged with the Sennen Rod, Bakura and Malik are able to talk (argue) about the best way to proceed with the duel, and Bakura eventually withdraws once more to leave an injured and confused Ryou in control. However when it appears that Yugi will attack anyway, Bakura retakes possession and demands the attack be carried out with him in control instead, so as not to further injure his host. Yami Yuugi uses Osiris and in the brief backsplash, Bakura can be seen shielding Ryou's form with his own while laughing rather manically. The Ring is then picked up by Anzu under Malik's control.
Bakura's second BC duel is against the darker personality of Malik, Yami Malik, who has taken over the teen's body. This is a straight Shadow Game, with the two of them both vying for the Items they possess. Although Bakura managed to take the Winged Dragon of Ra from Yami Malik, it was rendered useless and he sacrificed it, only to have it revived on his opponent's field at full strength. Bakura took the full attack and is supposedly killed, although in truth he merely drew himself into the Sennen Puzzle through the link he had created by sealing a piece of his soul into the Puzzle's piece. He is then free to explore the labyrinth of Yami Yuugi's mind, searching for answers which come into play in the next arc.
Memory World:
In preparation for the Memory RPG, Bakura once again repossesses an unwilling Ryou who thought that the spirit had been sent away for good. Bakura shows significant power and the depth of the link with his host when he's able to take over the teen's body without having the Ring in his possession. Shortly thereafter when the Egyptian God Cards are stolen from Yuugi, the two thieves are ambushed and dealt with by Bakura. When Yuugi arrives, Bakura surprises him by returning the God Cards and the Items, less the Ring which he claims is still his. He states that Yuugi will need these to take with him to Egypt, and that their goals (and themselves) are more similar than they might think. At that point, Yami Yuugi takes over and challenges Bakura, but Bakura is uninterested in a confrontation and leaves, though taunts Yami Yuugi that he knows their entangled past.
He goes to KaibaCorp and lures Seto into a duel by knocking out Mokuba. The begin the duel and Bakura quickly uses the Shadow Realm to stimulate Kaiba's buried memories of Ancient Egypt. This is also the first time we see him put into play the card Diabound Carnel, the Duel Monsters' equivalent of his Ka beast. The duel between them is evenly matched, but Bakura cuts it short as the sun rises, saying that he has other things to attend. However he throws Kaiba a surprise: the Sennen Eye, which has been missing since he stole it from Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom. Bakura tells Kaiba to come to Egypt for answers about the visions.
Bakura's origins are revealed as one of the original denizens of the Kuru Eruna village, a small settlement in Ancient Egypt which was rumoured to be a village of thieves and cutthroats. In truth it was a village originally settled by tomb builders who, as was common to those days, often turned to thievery once the project they worked on was completed. Akunadin, the brother of the current Pharaoh Aknamkanon (Atemu's father) ordered that the villagers be rounded up and killed so that their bodies could be used as material to create the Sennen Items, as was instructed by the Sennen Tome. The tablet with the molds for the Items was already located in a cavern deep beneath the village, so it's unknown whether Kuru Eruna was built in this place on purpose or if it was just bad luck. Still a child, Bakura remained hidden but witnessed the slaughter of the other villages, an event which created and solidified a lifelong hatred for the Pharaoh.
There's nothing stated canonically to cover the interim years between that childhood trauma and when Bakura, now using the moniker of the "Thief King" and apparently having accumulated a reputation, but it can be deduced that he began stealing and gradually moved into robbing tombs of the wealthy. In one manga panel, he's shown celebrating in a tavern.
This is where things get confusing, and basically caught in a temporal loop. Yami no Bakura returns to the past through the Memory Game triggered by Atemu to possess his past self, who strikes a deal with the demon Zorc. He steals Aknamkanon's body and attacks the palace with Diabound, although he's driven off by the Priests. Mahaado, the original wielder of the Ring, later corners him in a tomb and the two battle. In order to kill Bakura, Mahaado fuses himself with his Ka and becomes the Black Magician, losing his human form in the process and collapsing the cavern around them. However, Bakura survives and escapes, returning to Kuru Eruna to seek guidance from the ghostly spirits there.
During this whole thing, Bakura is also playing a Shadow Game, which Yami Yuugi awakens to and realizes that not only are they battling in the past but also in the present as part of the Memory RPG. In a series of escalating attacks, Atemu is attacked but protected by Hassan, who in turn is defeated by Obelisk and Diabound, who is eventually merged into Zorc himself and is able to defeat the Egyptian God Cards and begin rampaging across the city to destroy it. The final attack is to summon Horakhty, the Creator God of Light and finally defeat Zorc, destroying Bakura's spirit for good.
Sample - Log:
This is too bright to be the belly of Ammut, Bakura thought hazily, staring up at the fluorescent lights above him. Unbidden, a mental image of the crocodile-headed creature floated to the surface of his memory and then evaporated again. With a groan he struggled to roll over, swallowing to try and rid the taste of dry cotton from his mouth. None of his senses registered anything he recognized: unfamiliar sounds, scents, the feeling of too-starched sheets.
"Where..." he began, but his words were slurred. The long tube light blurred and sharpened again, and finally Bakura was able to sit up. The room was sparse to the point of sterile, with only a bed and a sink, but what startled him most was that it was modern -- something he had not expected to ever see again, not that he had expected to see anything again.
I am dead. I lost Diabound, to Zorc, the tablet destroyed...
But the steady thump of the heartbeat in his chest (elevating slightly with his rising trepidation at the situation) told him he was not dead. More alarmingly, subtle differences told him that he was not inhabited the body of his landlord -- but a body of his own crafting, insomuch as he could ever have a hand in it.
It appeared he was neither dead, nor bound to his host's body any longer, nor even in Egypt or the past. Nothing was as he expected it to be and it was entirely disconcerting, but if he was alive then he needed to make something of his predicament. Bakura's legs nearly buckled under his weight when he stood, causing him to grunt in annoyance and reevaluate the length of time he must have been recumbent on the bed. But his motions were firm when he banged on the door, causing long metallic echoes.
"Open this door, or by Sobek's teeth I swear I shall tear it down," he warned, listening for any answers.
Sample - Journal:
What need do I have to keep paper records? This is something my host would do, not I! I'm no scribe and unlike my former landlord, do not pretend to will any pleasant thoughts to the dead, nor converse with the living. Even if I had such an inclination, there is no one to receive it. At best it can be used as a means to record details about this place.
Perhaps there are others here who, like me, are also supposed to be dead. Whatever magics these overseers have used, it defies even Anubis' domain. What other breaches have been committed here?
Extra
This game includes horrible mental and physical torture of your character. After reading the rules/faq for clarification, how do you expect your character to handle this and continue to function?
Yami no Bakura is no stranger to the darkest aspects of the psyche and indeed even revels in many of them. He's witnessed a massacre, killed many people through physical and magical means, inflicted pain and suffering to achieve his own ends. He has literally made a deal with the devil at the cost of his own soul. He manipulates people, but he's also capable of being manipulated. I think that being put into the premise of this game will give him a new challenge of being out of his depth -- Bakura is, despite his grandiose schemes, a private sort of person. Being unable to hide behind his magic and the mask of being Ryou will be something new.
Questions? Comments? Crazed and creative statements? Those go here.
Just something of note, Bakura will probably curse more and use more Egyptian flavoured language now that there's no need for him to pretend to be Ryou. While there's no canon example of this directly, I will try to keep it both in-character and as authentic as possible.