victory_road | ANOMALY DETECTED

To...

[Ryou thinks about what happened. He'd run in and stopped to check on his downed father first. His father had asked him to go get the Ring. Ryou had grabbed it.

Shadi made no effort to collect the Ring before Ryou could grab it.]

...What was wrong with him? [There it is, Ryou finally expressing something besides that self sacrificing misplaced guilt over what happened.] He knew what would probably happen - there were kids there watching!

Exactly!

[This! This is it that he wanted to spark inside his host again! It might be counter-productive, but Bakura doesn't like seeing his host - somebody who is strongly associated with him - roll over and be a stepping stone for anyone else.]

He knew all this, and he still went ahead with it! He never cared! Neither for you, nor for anybody else!!

He just wanted to find someone who could withstand wearing it! He forced items on people!

[Yes, he remembers Pegasus' story of how he got the Eye. Or rather, how the Eye was forced on Pegasus.]

That bastard never cared what happened to the people who were tested!

[Even Banshee looks shocked at Ryou's outburst, head whipping up as her normally polite trainer calls Shadi a bastard.]

That he did~ He knew that the Items would corrupt those who could actually withstand wearing them, too.

[His voice is back to low and smooth, purring poisonous truths into his host's ears. Bakura isn't lying. But Ryou has buttons, and Bakura is there to push them.]

Now, tell me - how many people were there when you were just called 'evil' and turned away? Surely enough that at least one could have stayed behind long enough to explain your circumstances to Bobasa?

Also, we're talking about the Pharaoh they were worried about here: the guy who goes toe-to-toe against me, Marik, Kaiba and the likes and still always comes out looking the better for it! Does it really make sense that they thought he wouldn't be able to hold his own for a few more minutes? That he needed all of them to safe his royal ass?

Or were they just thoughtless of you and your feelings?

[Them abandoning Ryou like that had played fabulously into Bakura's hands, but he's a greedy bastard. He'll be vengeful on his host's behalf just because he can be, because any reason to hate the Pharaoh and his cheerleaders any more is good enough to him.]

They- [Ryou's anger finally overrides his need to excuse his friends for letting him be left behind, the spirit's words hammering home just how thoughtless the group was to let him be declared evil and let him go.]

They knew I wasn't evil like Bobasa said, why didn't they defend me? I'm sure they would have been all insisting the Scales were wrong if it was Honda or Anzu or Yugi, so why not me?

[Why did they just stand back and watch him run off, then go on without him? Did they think they could go help Atem without him? Did they think he would just get possessed again since he was wearing the Ring at the time?

Then another, harsher thought hits.]

They didn't even bring Otogi! [Granted, Ryou hadn't thought to include Otogi either, but he's upset and realizing a lot of things really fast.]

Of course they didn't! And why? Because it served them, that's why!

[He spreads his arms, not even trying to hide how much fun tearing his host's walls down is for him.]

You having the Ring and getting possessed again was a risk, wasn't it? So why not just remove you as a whole from the equation and problem solved? You're friends after all, I'm sure they trusted that they can just apologize to you later and you'll ~understand~

Didn't Otogi stand against the Pharaoh once, too? Seems like only the chosen inner circle of 'trusted friends' got to go in the end! Oh, and Bobasa. Can't leave out the random stranger claiming he came to help while looking extra-suspicious about it, right?

[Ryou knows he shouldn't trust the spirit, shouldn't let him get under his skin like this, but he's hurt, and enraged, and letting a lot of things come to the surface all at once, making it easy for the spirit to prod his buttons and push him further into that anger.]

They couldn't even try asking me to just take the Ring off if they were concerned about that! No Ring, no possession, right?! But no, they let me be excluded and completely left out Otogi, even though we were friends!

[Certainly they'd known that the Ring had to be worn for him to be possessed, they'd tried to keep it away from him after Battle City. Ryou had just claimed it back, but they had to know how it worked.]

They just took Bobasa at his word! We didn't know who he was, but they just chose to trust the guy who walked in with two Millennium Items and said he was there to help! Even after all we've been though because of Millennium Item holders like Pegasus and Marik!

[There's a lot of yelling about a guy Bakura doesn't care about that leaves him wondering what that person is to his host, but besides that this is going swimmingly. Bakura is absolutely delighted to have brought that side of Ryou out, because it has been about damn time that his landlord started standing up for himself. At least towards the Pharaoh!]

Right. They know what it means to you and tried to just take it away and keep it from you too, didn't they? That on the blimp wasn't the first time they tried!

[Not that it was any use against the cursed Item, all their attempts did was to cradle them in a false sense of safety until Bakura decided to let them know about his presence again. But this is about the principle, and by friends' laws they'd stolen from his host!

Now, for the killing strike~ ]

Did they ever tell you who Bobasa actually was?

[Ryou remembers how his friends had looked at him every time he pulled the Ring out throughout Duelist Kingdom, how they'd tried to keep it away from him when they could. And granted, Ryou can hardly blame them for it even in his anger, considering how often he got possessed. What he takes more issue with is that moment after Battle City, when Honda tried to whisper to Yugi when Ryou asked where the Ring was. You know how he gets, he'd said, thinking Ryou wouldn't hear that whisper.]

Did they ever trust me? I know I kept that Ring when I shouldn't have, but did they never think to just tell me what the problem was instead of just taking the Ring and leaving me to wonder where it went?

[Ryou's head whips up at the mention of Bobasa, wondering what the spirit means.]

No, who was he? [They'd told him about the important bits, but not who Bobasa was.] Who was he?

[Bakura's lips pull back in what could be a smirk or just a cruel baring of his teeth. He isn't going to answer that question. It's like a barb, and like a barb it will dig and stab deeper the longer his host is going to deal with it on his own.

The second question, though....

He nearly licks his lips as he leaves his place once more and saunters up to Ryou. Slowly, deliberate, making sure the other knows that he's coming. No signs of aggression from the thief this time, either.

Bakura holds up his hands to show that he isn't having anything in them before he places them on Ryou's shoulders and almost gently turns him around. Towards the painting. Leaning in close, Bakura whispers into his ear.]

Yes, who? You could ask them, but I don't think they'll tell you, so I will. The man who declared you evil and sent you away was the "pharaoh's master key", Bobasa.

....alias Hassan, allias ...

....Shadi.

[Ryou steps back as the spirit approaches him, still wary of him, with Banshee growling beside him -

- but all the spirit does is spin Ryou around to face the Shadi painting and tell him exactly who he was.]

He- [He stares wide eyed at the painting, his initial shock giving way to rage.] -He had the nerve to let me get the Ring, then just walk back in years later and call me evil?! That ass knew I had the Ring!

[One hand clenches a Pokéball, but he doesn't do anything. Not yet. But Ryou is enraged, not thinking clearly, and wants some sort of vent.]

Edited 2022-12-08 22:24 (UTC)

Of course he did!

[Backing off, Bakura snickers joylessly.]

Welcome to the world of the Pharaoh and his servants, landlord! Where good is always them and 'evil' whoever suits them to be! Oh, I don't doubt that our precious little Pharaoh had no clue about the game Shadi played with you! But.... Did any of them feel the need to tell you, later on? Or was that another 'unimportant' little 'detail' that they left out from their summary of things?!

[Ryou doesn't respond, too busy staring up at the painting of Shadi with that enraged look in his eyes. Eventually he takes the Pokéball he's been clenching and raises it in a sudden jerk, calling out a Staravia.]

Roc, use Aerial Ace on that painting. [His voice is cold as he points up at the painting of Shadi, but Roc doesn't hesitate to launch up and attack the painting, cutting a slash into its surface.

Banshee, for her part, looks shocked that Ryou would use a different Pokémon to take out his grudge, and calls out in frustration. Isn't she the vengeful spirit of the team?]

Don't worry Banshee, it's your turn. Use Swift. [She doesn't hesitate to do so, the attack cutting more gouges into the painting. Ryou watches with some satisfaction, though still angered at how Shadi had ruined his life.]

A bit overly dramatic, but I'll take it. That second attack after he was already down was a nice touch.

[Zoroark is sticking close to him again, touching his master by the back of his legs in a silent sign that the ghost type is there and ready to fight for him, should it be desired. Bakura tolerates the pokemon's touchiness with a patience that he usually reserved for his lost ka beast, Diabound.]

Feeling better?

[Ryou doesn't want to admit it did feel good to take out his frustrations, but...]

...I guess. I just...how could he do that, come back and do the whole test with the Scales and say only I couldn't go because I was 'evil'?

[Was he still upset about being killed by the spirit? Was Shadi taking it out on Ryou, like how Aigami did?

Meanwhile, Roc lands beside Ryou and presses against his side, watching the spirit. Ryou barely gets a moment to pat the bird's head before he abruptly bursts into the light associated with evolution.]

Whoa! [Roc grows, becoming noticeably larger, before the light dies down to reveal a somewhat surprised Staraptor.]

Is it supposed to be doing that?

[Bakura has been taking half a step back, but his Zoroark doesn't look worried so he decides to stay as well.

He gives the new monster a curious look.]

Whose soul is that? Anyway, Shadi is about as passionate as a deep-frozen dead fish. Whatever his purpose was for singling you out, it mustn't have been personal. To him, destroying you was most likely just the next logical move to further the agenda of the Pharaoh.

[Besides, it was Bakura he ought to be mad at, not his host. But Shadi wouldn't pick a fight with him directly. They both know that the thief is stronger than him. If the whole thing stood no chance against a newly awakened Bakura, then a mere shadow would be useless. The really strange thing is that he really played into Bakura's hands by making sure that Ryou couldn't cause a repeat of the first Dark RPG they played.

.....

Huh. Was there another thread that Bakura had missed and just unintentionally snuffed in the bud during the Memory Game?]

Yeah, they're supposed to do that when they get stronger. Banshee could evolve into a Zoroark like yours when she gets strong enough. [Ryou has managed a bit of a smile for Roc, though he's still very noticeably upset and can't hold the smile for long.]

...So he was just protecting Atem and decided I was a threat because the Scales said so. And no one else fought it.

[Somehow, that just makes it worse, that it probably wasn't personal on Shadi's side.]

[Did he just say "destroy you"? That was a slip of the tongue out of habit, but fortunately his host doesn't seem to have caught on to it. Still, now that Bakura has reached his goal of riling his host up against the Pharaoh and his companions, he is a bit at a loss of what to do next (besides being damn pleased with himself.)

Which is why he is finding himself giving Ryou's words some serious consideration against his better knowledge. His tone is very much that of a GM puzzling over how to overcome a flaw in an already started campaign when he finally speaks.]

He might have wanted to get rid of you, period, since you are one of the very rare people who can use the Ring. You also knew about the tomb keepers and where they kept the rest of the Items, or at least that's what he must have assumed. [He hums thoughtfully while he absentmindedly compares the differences between Banshee and Zoroark. Banshee is definitely less clingy.] .....Do you have any real proof that that's really what the Scales said?

[Ryou recognizes that tone, being familiar with DMing himself. He doesn't like hearing it come out of the spirit, considering his track record with tabletop gaming, but he recognizes it.]

Maybe. I didn't remember what happened when I got the Ring at the time, but he probably didn't know that.

[Wait. Did the Scales actually say that?]

Shadi - uh, Bobasa said they would only tilt if you had evil or deception in your heart. They stayed still for everyone else, but tilted when he held them to me.

[Hold on a second.]

Maybe it wasn't truly evil, but deception. I wasn't exactly telling anyone I was wearing the Ring again, but I think they probably knew anyways.

[Or it could have just been picking up on the spirit's presence in the Ring. That too.]

[Ryou's only got himself to blame for that one. GM'ing is definitely something that Bakura picked up from him.]

When I saw them being used on somebody, they'd usually shake at first, before tilting one side or the other. Well, with me-

[He trails off, a strange look crossing his face. Bakura just realized something that has him almost cackle again.]

- with me, they just kept swinging back and forth endlessly. That's when the priests started claiming that the 'evil' inside of me must've just been too big to measure, and that they could 'feel' the darkness inside of me. That was enough for them to try to rip out my soul and seal a part of it away so that they could use my Ka Beast as they pleased.

Now consider this: the owner of one of the items can influence the way it acts to a certain degree. We can use the Ring to find things. That's simple and straight-forward. But by what measures do the Scales measure things? What is 'good' and what is 'evil' to them?

What if they simply react to the sense of good and bad of the one who wields them? You're the bearer of the Ring. The Ring is 'evil' to Shadi. So doesn't that mean that the one chosen by it would have to be 'evil' as well?

That might make more sense than a simply choice of not telling about something that you know would upset others. You didn't plan to harm them with the Ring in any way, after all! If a single white lie by omission makes one evil, then I doubt that there'd be very many 'good' people left in the world. Definitely not Yuugi, Jounouchi or Honda!

[Ryou frowns at the spirit's description of how the Scales acted, surprised that they didn't act similarly between when the spirit saw it used and when Ryou saw it used. But then the spirit goes on, and Ryou can't help but admit that there's some sense there in how exactly the Scales detected good and evil in a person.]

So it detected everyone else as good because Shadi expected the friends of Atem to be good and trustworthy, but the fact that I had the Ring overrode that and got me labeled 'evil', because Shadi didn't think whoever had the Ring could possibly be a good person.

[A thought strikes him, based on something the spirit said earlier about the Items corrupting their bearers.]

Did he think the Ring would have corrupted its bearer, so even if they were originally good, they would eventually end up evil to match what he thought of the Ring?

[Did the Ring corrupt him in the time he had it? He was ten when he got it, young and potentially easy to corrupt.]

[Bakura is actually just spouting theories as they cross their minds. It's nice to actually have somebody to ramble them against for once, especially since he doesn't doubt that his host would point out any obvious flaws without holding back.

The way he is crossing his arms, tapping his foot and relaxing again while his head is propped against his hand in thought are all remnants of something that was once very much human.]

That's possible.

[He huffs.]

It's also utter bullshit because the Items are neither good nor bad by themselves. They corrupt their owners as much as their owners corrupt them.

But who the knows what he thought? The high priests always had the weirdest ideas about them.

Hmm. That makes sense.

[But then again...]

Not too long ago there were these two guys named Aigami and Mani. They survived your attempt to kill the kids after I first got the Ring, and blamed me for what happened.

Mani had recovered the Ring from where it was left and it...it influenced him. He wanted to kill me with its powers and had to fight to resist being influenced. Then Aigami got it later and something similar happened where he also fell under its influence.

[He kind of wants to hear the spirit's input on that, despite still not trusting him too much.]

Oh? I only remember killing Shadi. [But then again, his consciousness had been very spotty back then. He very well could have decided that wiping out the whole clan was the best way to go. Or Zorc could have.]

All they did was to have the Ring?

You definitely tried to kill the kids as well after Shadi died. [He knows what he saw. Or what Aigami forced him to remember in this case.]

As far as I know. They had weird powers of their own - Aigami had a cube that let him send people to other dimensions - but as far as I know they started being influenced almost immediately after getting the Ring. Aigami even said Mani was being controlled by the Ring when he showed up to kill me.

Edited 2022-12-11 21:53 (UTC)

ANOMALY DETECTED

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