OOC: History
(A note about this AU: apart from its most glaring difference, this particular universe is based on anime interpretations in parts, manga interpretations in others, and a mix of the two in still other parts.)
Three thousand years ago, there was a young man named Seth (or at least, for the sake of semi-clarity, this is the translation being used here) who lived in Egypt. He only had vague recollections of his father, who had left when he was very little. But he still managed to get an education and eventually rose to power as one of the six high priests that served Pharaoh Atem, wielding the Millennium Rod.
Egypt soon came under attack by a mysterious thief named Bakura who had access to an extraordinarily powerful 'ka' - a monster formed from strong feelings in a human's heart, later known as a duel spirit - known as Diabound which could absorb the ability of any opponent it fought. Seth, therefore, went out into the city and sought criminals that held 'ka' with potential that could be tapped in order to combat Bakura.
Instead of a criminal, however, he found Kisara, a foreign girl whose soul housed a powerful white dragon, and saved her from the crowd that was stoning her because they believed that she was the cause of the problems they were suffering. Of course, the dragon would only appear when she was asleep, and she was unaware of her own potential.
The battle against Bakura, as well as the evil manipulator known as Zorc Necrophades, led to various fights where Seth fought by Atem's side. It also led to various revelations, including that another priest, Akhenaden, the wielder of the Millennium Eye, was not only his father, but the twin of the previous Pharaoh, Akhenamkhanen. This, of course, made Seth Atem's cousin, as well as a possible contender for the throne.
Which was why Akhenaden became so obsessed that he was willing to sell his very being to the darkness, kill an innocent girl (in essence, making Kisara sleep forever so that the White Dragon would become Seth's), seal the White Dragon's power in a tablet, and possess his own son, all in order to make it happen.
Yes, Seth got possessed by his own father after Kisara's murder. When Atem came to make sure he was all right, Akhenaden forced him to attack the Pharaoh with the White Dragon, whose power overcame even that of Mahaado, the Black Magician.
But Kisara, eternally grateful to Seth for saving her life, entered his mind and drove Akhenaden's essence out. And then, after Kisara's body was properly taken care of, Seth fought alongside Atem against Zorc. The only way to win was for Atem to seal himself and Zorc away inside the Millennium Puzzle, using his own name as the key.
Because Atem was now gone, Seth became the Pharaoh, and he ruled the land of Egypt wisely, Kisara's power at his side. In order to make sure no one accidentally released the seal on Zorc, he erased all traces of Atem's name from monuments, though he still remembered the previous Pharaoh until the end of his own days, when he himself died and was mummified.
Now, having read this, you are probably asking what the heck any of this has to do with anything here. Well, in this particular universe, when Seth's spirit was reincarnated, it essentially split in half. One half of it grew up to be Kaiba Seto, esteemed mutli-millionaire child genius.
The other half grew up as Jounouchi Katsuya.
Jounouchi grew up with a father who suffered from severe drinking and gambling problems. Eventually, his mother grew so sick of his behavior that she divorced him and left, taking Jounouchi's younger sister Shizuka with her. Jounouchi was then forced to fend for himself, spending his free time earning enough money to pay off his father's various debts. As a desperate attempt to get attention, he got into the habit of sometimes bullying weaker kids than him. This eventually included stealing a piece of Mutou Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and throwing it into the school's pool.
Of course, Yugi would change his life, because when Ushio Tetsu, a hall monitor with a bit of a god complex, decided to beat up Jounouchi and his friend Honda Hiroto as part of a 'paid bully protection program', Yugi defended him, even though he had been so rude.
That night, he snuck into the school's pool and retrieved the piece of the puzzle, returning it anonymously to Yugi by way of his grandfather. The next day, he announced to Yugi that from then on, the two of them would be friends.
And from that point on, Yugi and Jounouchi did everything together along with Honda and Yugi's friend Mazaki Anzu, from going to the museum to see an exhibit on Ancient Egypt (and having close brushes with death when a mysterious man named Shadi challenged Yugi to a game and sent the museum's curator chasing after Jounouchi like a maddened zombie) to participating in the Death-T event run by the Kaiba brothers (Jounouchi nearly died from poisoned food near the beginning, and that was only the first life-or-death scenario) to playing a tabletop role-playing game with a new classmate named Bakura Ryou (in which the players' souls were sealed inside the playing pieces). It was during these various events that the group became aware that there was another side to Yugi, another him, that shared his body thanks to the puzzle.
Jounouchi eventually received a video message from Shizuka. As it turned out, she was going blind. There was one surgical procedure that could save her eyes, but it was too expensive for their mother to afford, and their father was still steeped in debt regardless of what Jounouchi had earned. However, a possible solution came when Yugi was invited (well, more or less forced) to participate in a Duel Monsters tournament - Duelist Kingdom. The prize money, three million yen, would just about cover the surgery if Jounouchi could win it.
(Not that that was the main reason for their participation - Yugi's grandfather's soul had been stolen by the person running the tournament, one Pegasus J. Crawford, and the only way to retrieve it was to win the tournament and duel him. But it was certainly an important bonus.)
And therefore, Jounouchi took part in the Duelist Kingdom tournament. His first opponent was Kujaku Mai, whose strategy was to confuse her opponents with (fake) extra-sensory perception while she focused on boosting her Harpy Lady. He saw through her tricks, however, and managed to win.
His second duel was against Dinosaur Ryuzaki, a champion duelist who fought with dinosaur and dragon monsters. Using the Time Wizard that Yugi had given him, Jounouchi managed to defeat Ryuzaki's strongest monster, the Red Eyes Black Dragon, and because of the bet that Ryuzaki had made, the dragon became Jounouchi's.
In the preliminary rounds, Jounouchi also faced off against "Ghost" Kotsuzuka and entered a tag-team battle with Yugi against the Meikyu brothers. He won all of his battles (except for one that didn't count against Kaiba), however, and was able to secure a spot in the finals, where he faced off against "Bandit Keith" Howard (and won, even though Keith attempted to cheat). Yugi then went on to battle (and win against) Pegasus, while Jounouchi accepted the prize money and used it to pay for his sister's operation.
When the new school year started, a new student named Otogi Ryuuji transferred into the class. His father held a massive grudge against Yugi's grandfather, and so he used his son to attempt to steal Yugi's puzzle as revenge (Otogi even went so far as to attempt to enslave Jounouchi for a week, though Yugi pointed out that the game he used was unfair, so it didn't happen). He didn't manage to get his hands on it, but the puzzle was smashed and a fire broke out in the room. Yugi insisted on putting the puzzle back together so that the other him would survive, so Jounouchi stood by his side until it was complete, even as the building burned around them, and when it was finished, he pried its chain loose from where it had been nailed onto the table and carried Yugi out of the fire.
Pretty soon, a new exhibit of artifacts from Egypt, sponsored by one Ishizu Ishtar, arrived at the local museum. Kaiba was, of course, invited to a special, private viewing of the artifacts, and this was where he learned (though he chose not to accept it at the time) that he was connected to an ancient Egyptian priest.
Jounouchi was not so lucky, did not see the artifact at that time, and did not find out about his role just yet. However, the night after Ishizu showed Kaiba the tablet that depicted the Priest and the Pharaoh battling, Jounouchi began having somewhat strange dreams. At first he could hardly remember them, only knowing that what he had dreamed was something rather odd.
Then, of course, Kaiba decided to hold the Battle City tournament all over Domino, complete with a rule that the loser of each duel would have to give up their rarest card to the winner. Yugi was specially invited, and of course Jounouchi joined as well.
The night before his sister's surgery was to occur, however, he got jumped by mysterious duelists known only as Ghouls. They dueled him, gave him a rather crushing defeat, and stole his Red Eyes Black Dragon. But eventually (after a bit of a stern talking to from Honda) Jounouchi managed to make it to the hospital in time to give his sister some words of courage, and her operation was successful.
Yugi won back the Red Eyes card in the first round of the tournament from the man who had stolen it. He offered it back to Jounouchi, but he declined, saying that he would win it back one day when he was a true duelist.
In the Battle City tournament, Jounouchi fought three opponents of note. The first was Esper Roba, who pretended to be psychic by having his little brothers report what cards his opponents held in their hands over a wireless earphone, and from whom he won the card Psycho Shocker. The second was Insector Haga, whose Insect Queen he won. His third opponent was Kajiki Ryota, and when he won, he promised to treasure the Legendary Fisherman that he won, the card that reminded Kajiki of his father.
With his qualifying cards, one would think that Jounouchi would then have easily just made his way over to the stadium where the finalists were meeting, and things would have continued uneventfully. But unfortunately, there appeared a young man who called himself Namu. He attempted to befriend Jounouchi and Anzu (who was following his actions for a little while), and though something in the back of his mind told Jounouchi that something was weird about this guy, Anzu seemed to get along with him fine, so he didn't say anything.
He would regret not saying anything about an hour later, however, when they were traveling to the site of the finals together and were suddenly attacked by more Ghouls. Jounouchi fought valiantly in everyone's defense, but eventually he was knocked out.
When he next came to, Jounouchi found himself tied to a chair in an anonymous warehouse by the port, a man who claimed to be called Malik Ishtar standing over him. He only had a few brief moments of consciousness, however, before he felt something invading his head, his mind, his very being.
And for a moment, he had the clearest vision, from the first person perspective, of himself holding a golden rod - the name Millennium Rod came to mind - and using it to punish a criminal.
Just as he lost consciousness once again, he could swear that the same source of the power used in the vision was there… except behind him, not in front.
As it would then turn out, Malik had used the aforementioned rod to take control of Jounouchi's mind, as well as Anzu's. And because of this, Jounouchi was forced to force Yugi to duel him on the pier chained to an anchor that would fall, dragging the loser to the bottom of the sea. And if Yugi didn't agree, Anzu would be forced to swallow a pill of poison, which would kill her. And, of course, if Kaiba (who happened to come along) intervened, the Ghouls would slash his younger brother Mokuba's throat.
As the duel progressed, however, and as Yugi summoned the Red Eyes Black Dragon to his side of the field, Jounouchi began to wake up. Only a little at first, hardly enough to make any significant fight against Malik's influence, but a little. Eventually, Yugi placed the Millennium Puzzle around Jounouchi's neck, hoping to bring back more memories of their friendship in that way. And that worked…
…though not only as expected. Yes, it helped to wake Jounouchi up and fight Malik's influence, but it also awoke dormant other memories, of a past life. The dreams that he had been having ever since Ishizu came to Japan appeared before his eyes, of the life of an Egyptian priest, especially the part of it concerning the death of a woman with white hair and blue eyes and what happened afterwards.
And some scenes were even in the third person point of view, so he got to see exactly who he was seeing through the eyes of - and this person looked almost exactly like Kaiba Seto.
Though confused by the visions, however, Jounouchi did manage to break completely free of Malik's control just after being forced to play Death Meteor, a spell that would deal the killing blow to Yugi. Its magic was contained momentarily in Yugi's Spirit Mirror, but it was only to buy a little more time to say their goodbyes before Yugi finally turned the magic loose on himself, purposefully losing the duel and opening the box to Jounouchi's key.
Not thinking of anything but Yugi's safety, however, Jounouchi begged the Red Eyes Black Dragon to attack him, and it obliged. As soon as Yugi's box was opened, Jounouchi grabbed hold of the chain connecting him to the anchor and swung across the opening in the dock, grabbing Yugi's key just as the anchor fell. He unlocked Yugi's chain, but discovered that the key wouldn't work on his own lock as well.
Lucky for him that Kaiba was in a generous mood and dropped his key into the water for him, no?
After getting out of the water, apologizing to Yugi for everything that had happened, and finding that Shizuka (escorted by Honda, Otogi, and Mai) had found where they were, and after Shizuka removed the bandages from around her eyes, the group made their way to the stadium, where they met up with the other finalists. Apart from Yugi, Jounouchi, Kaiba, and Mai, Namu was one of the finalists (Jounouchi got even worse feelings from him the second time they met, though he still didn't say anything because Anzu seemed to get along with him so well), as well as the mysterious man who called himself Malik (though Jounouchi was having doubts about that, thanks to what had happened in the warehouse). The seventh contestant was, surprisingly, Bakura, who was supposed to be in the hospital but somehow had managed to come anyway. The eighth finalist didn't reveal their identity just yet, but that was hardly important.
The Battle Ship, the blimp that Kaiba had designed for the semi-finals that would take them to the stage of the final round, then took off. The first battle was between Yugi and Bakura, which Yugi won. The second was between Jounouchi and the man who claimed to be Malik, though about half-way through the match, Jounouchi made it clear that he didn't believe - and had never believed - that this man was actually Malik. And attempting to convince everyone that he was by activating (a fake copy of) the Winged Dragon of Ra only served to prove Jounouchi correct. Lightning bolts shot down from the sky, hitting both of the duelists in their wrath, and the judgment was made that the first one to stand up would win the match.
Jounouchi was the one who went on to the next round - it was the support that he knew he had from his friends that helped him to get up. The other man was revealed to actually be one Rishid Ishtar, Malik's adopted brother/guardian. And, as Jounouchi's instincts had suspected, Namu was hardly the angel he appeared to be - he was actually Malik. And as Rishid fell into unconsciousness, it was revealed that Malik had split personality disorder, and his evil, more insane half had been unleashed.
Malik, of course, then faced Mai and won, trapping her mind in an hourglass - if not freed, she would die within twenty-four hours. Jounouchi then swore to defeat Malik himself and free Mai.
Kaiba then went on to face the eighth finalist, who was none other than Ishizu Ishtar herself, wielder of the Millennium Tauk. Ishizu had been granted a vision of her victory, but the Millennium Rod, though still in Malik's hands, decided to show Kaiba a vision of the past before he made a fatal error. And, because he and Kaiba essentially shared a soul, Jounouchi saw the vision as well - the same vision he'd been having in his dreams.
During the remaining time it would take to get to the site of the finals, Ishizu explained her family's history to the group and gave the Tauk to Yugi. Before she left, however, she pulled Jounouchi aside, having noticed that he had clutched his head at around the same time Kaiba had. And upon extracting the information about his recurring visions from him, Ishizu told him about the tablet in the museum, the ancient priest, and the connection with Kaiba.
Jounouchi didn't have much time to dwell on this, however, as the finals began. The order was determined through a Battle Royale, in which Jounouchi made certain that his and Malik's life points fell to zero at close to the same time so that they would duel each other. After all, visions or no visions, he had several bones to pick with the guy.
And so they dueled. It was a Shadow Game, in which the player would feel all of the pain inflicted upon their monsters. Jounouchi did quite well against Malik, even continuing to stand when his monsters were all destroyed by Ra, albeit just barely.
He had just summoned Gearfried the Iron Knight to the field, and was one unblocked attack away from winning too. But unfortunately, Econtra has a habit of calling at the worst of times…