Predictions and Observations:
Special Edition-- Supersensory Shakedown - Clash of the Dragons II

Episodes Made Available Officially:
This Post Posted:

As I watch the opening of the first episode, I'll finally candidly admit that it hurt to be cut out for six episodes. I felt as though my characters, my world, went where I couldn't follow, and even if those episodes didn't technically exist in my canon-- I wished I didn't talk to people online, because then I wouldn't have known what I'd missed or lost, and it made it that much harder for me to think my canon was just as good as theirs.

Okay, some organizational stuff. I'm going to organize topics that span episodes at the top, then handle minutiae specific to each after that.

Okay, so *Supersensory* is the first of the Earthbound Immortals/Unite to Duel episodes.

THE DARK SIGNERS SECTION
We now know the names of five Dark Signers (possibly six) and backgrounds of three (or four) of those. Let's just recap all our known info for a sec here.
Kalin Kessler wields a deck of Infernalty monsters, the dark synchro monster One Hundred Eye Dragon, and the Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu, the giant. He and his Immortal wear blue, and the marking on his face is a Satellite special, that is, similar to Yusei’s, and runs past his eye up his forehead as well. He used to be the fourth of a team that included Yusei, Jack, and crow as well, and these four best friends took over the Satellite from the nasty gangs that overran it until then. Kalin took things too far by challenging Security, and Yusei, feeling that Kalin had indeed crossed a line, helped Security arrest him. Sometime after that, Kalin became a Dark Signer, still bent on revenge toward the friend who turned on him.
Carly Carmine’s deck is similar to the one she used before she became a Dark Signer, but much more powerful. Her cute little fortune fairies have ‘grown up’, as has she, and she also makes use of the devastating field spell Future Vision, which sends any normal-summoned monster one turn into the future immediately upon its summoning. Of the difference between her two selves, I think the most telling quote is, “why report on the past when I can dictate the future?” (more on that later) She wears orange, as does her Earthbound Immortal, the hummingbird Ascilla Pisku, and the marking on her face is the kind I’ve started describing as an eye triangle, that is, a little triangle on the corner of one’s eye, similar to Rally’s mark. She became a Dark Signer after being blasted out of a window by Sayr after she read top-secret files at the Arcadia Movement’s headquarters, and the Dark Signers “gave her a soft landing”, saving her to become one of them. She immediately took her revenge on Sayr, but still has some unfinished business left. Considering her broken heart over Jack, I do believe the Dark Signers have the best minion they could have hoped for, because Jack is trying to save her and he can’t afford to any more than Yusei can afford to worry about Kalin.
Misty Treadwell duels with reptiles, including the lizard Earthbound Immortal, Koka Riah. She’s after Akiza, after her brother met the Black Rose at a street duel, was inspired to check out the Arcadia Movement, and subsequently vanished and was never heard from again. We aren’t sure how long she’s been a Dark Signer, or if her prophecy from earlier stands on its own (more on that later). She, like her Immortal, wears green, and the marking on her face is a thick, forking line on each cheekbone.
Roman is the Dark Signer that Kalin spoke to in Digging Deeper I, with regard to Yusei’s self-doubt being his worst enemy. Roman apparently wears red, and I think he might be the leader. He’s the one with the spider Sign. His face marks are a thick, vertical line down each cheek from his eyes, with two little spikes or thorns, pointing outward, on each.
Deevac (I’ve also seen it spelled with only one E) is the Dark Signer Greiger spoke to. He wears yellow. The only known card of his is the Axe of Despair equip spell he threw to cut Greiger’s chains. His markings are similar to Roman’s, but without the little thorns.

Dark Signers all have marks on their faces similar to Facility dye. Since these particular forces of darkness haven’t been seen in thousands of years, it seems a longshot to think for a moment that the Facility uses these marks to single out ‘bad guys’ because they originally distinguished, and now do again, far *worse* guys, but I guess I’ll put it out there. Since it’s probably not the other way around, are the Facility’s marks inspired by the markings found on the faces of the Dark Signers? Or is it all just a big coincidence? Kind of a strange coincidence, and I’m of the opinion that the writers do nothing in vain. They could have done *anything*; why give the Dark Signers a similar appearance to that of Domino City’s criminals?

Only 2 tributes, plus assorted souls? Seems a bit cheap. The Earthbound Immortals are ten-star monsters; it should take at least three. The Egyptian Gods, heck, even one of the Sacred Beasts, was tougher to summon in terms of actual dueling.

So we’ve found out that people who become Dark Signers are those about to die, with something bad and revengey incomplete in their life. The power of the Earthbound Immortals saves them from death, and allows them to *stick around* and complete whatever they “needed to say or do”, in a revengey, dark, world-ending fashion. Yes, I know that “revengey” isn’t a word. According to Misty (actually all of this is according to Misty), they’re still in this world, but no longer a part of it; detached. I recall what I wrote earlier, for The Signs of Time, about those who are unable to lose being as detached from the world as though they were immortal. I get the sense that I was right. But the Dark Signers do still have things that attach them to the world, I argue: you always hurt the one you love, so to speak. If they didn’t care, if they were *that* detached, they wouldn’t want revenge. So I argue that there’s still humanity left in them on the very premise that they are out for blood, along with the premise that Carly reverted to her human self, with normal eyes and everything. No longer needing revenge might restore them; what would happen if Misty’s brother returned to her, if Jack swallowed his pride long enough to notice Carly? But, I remind myself, we’ve already seen *that* fail, too. Yusei spoke to Kalin as a friend who was worried sick about him; but also, I suppose, as the other side of that disagreement: Yusei thought Kalin went too far, and Kalin thought Yusei was too soft. I get the sense that Yusei was forced to choose between his conscience and his friend, and made that choice as best he could. Heck, I don’t know yet. I want to think that despite all this, the Dark Signers can be redeemed. What happened to Kalin and Carly each were tragedies, and the power of the Dark Signers took advantage of people who were easy to prey upon. We’ve seen even the Signers have moments like the ones that condemned these enemies-- recently, and many of them. They fight the same fight the Dark Signers lost before their times, the same fight we all fight, just with the highest stakes imaginable: the fight to live, to get out of bed every day sometimes not knowing what will happen before you return to it, to face your fears and to grow, to do what you think is right, to accept the past and to face the future.

*Ghosts* are people with unfinished business, suspended between life and death, was a thought that occurred to me. Depending on who you ask, of course, like with most fantastical things. But still.

As a one-liner, it would appear that we must beware of alliteration: Kalin Kessler, Carly Carmine…

And finally, Dark Signer color symbolism. Based on what we’ve seen so far in 5D’s: orange and yellow for noncombatants, blue and green for friends, purple for bad guys and red for Signers (except Lezar.) Do the Dark Signers follow that, without all having just purple as their color scheme? *Is* there a purple Dark Signer, ‘cause if so, hello trouble. What colors are left? Brown, white, black (hello trouble), grey, um, um, a darker blue or indigo, pink, or perhaps different shades of any of the colors already spoken for.
I’ll be interested to learn more about Roman, the Dark Signer in the red, because red is the universal symbol for “look at me, I’m important”, mostly reserved for the Signers around this series.
Carly continues her color scheme of orange/yellow, which in addition to representing those sidelined in the bigger apocalyptic fight, perhaps signifying that Carly herself has some doubts about all this, also tends to mean verve and vitality. In this whole mess, I think Carly is learning a lot about herself, and really living.
As for Deevac, the fellow in the yellow, we only catch a glimpse of him here and there. I think his yellow is more consistent with my pattern, unless we find out *he* has a personal grudge against a Signer, too.
Misty, the lady in the green, matches her reptile cards. The green gives her a continued sense of grace and so forth. She breaks the pattern. The other major greens around here are worn by Yusei’s pals (Nervin’s vest) or are associated with the twins and the Spirit World. Although, I’d say, she wears green and black which is the polar opposite color scheme of Akiza, who wears reds, pinks, and white, with a little black. That might be why. In that vein, Carly’s orange is also the chromatic opposite of Jack’s purple.
Kalin, in light blue just like Rally, Blitz, or not long ago Jack, strikes close to Yusei’s heart. I’d call the light blue fitting in that he was Yusei’s friend, and that’s why this hurts.

Okay, for what it’s worth, I’d like to write a paragraph each about the new decks and duelists we’ve just seen here. This is Sayr’s paragraph. I have friends on blogs who were laughing their heads off at me when I tried to predict Sayr’s deck in the most roundabout and convoluted way possible, by thinking of his place in the plot in terms of his seeming similarity and contrast as a foil to Goodwin. I neglected to state the obvious. Of *course* his monsters are psychic. I think the card of his that reminds me most of him is Psychic Commander, the leader of a psychic army.
And as a final note: Thought Ruler *ARCHFIEND*?! The only other *Archfiends* we know of are Jack’s. What the deck?

Next up: Misty’s Cards. I’d predicted that Misty’s cards and strategies would be sleek and powerful, as the most powerful design is that which says the most with the least. Misty, the pinnacle of fashion and reading others’ faces, is the embodiment of that. However, I missed the flip side; even when I wrote on The Signs of Time, I never guessed that Misty was a Dark Signer until I saw it. Without that piece of the puzzle, my prediction was far wide of the mark; Gorgons are perfect for her, because they’re beautiful *and* monstrous.

I’m rather disappointed with how much I was able to predict Sayr’s and Lezar’s decks. So how *does* one predict a character’s deck? I think of who this character is in the plot; are they a main character whom we’ll see duel a lot of times? A good guy? A bad guy? Who else do they remind us of? What do they duel for? Love? Revenge? A paycheck? How do they win at life? Deception? Intimidation? Friendship? What is the story of this duelist’s life, from their perspective? I realize from this little experience that I also need to take into account what’s right in front of my face—what is this character’s ‘claim to fame’, so to speak, what are they known for? What can be assumed by glancing at them? If someone were to say ‘that guy with the…’ what would it be? There’s some wisdom that goes “it’s not a loss if you learn something” (Battle With the Black Rose), but I’m a bit disappointed with myself; I’ve been doing this for five years, you’d think I know everything by now. But it just isn’t so; I confess myself as floored if not more so as the day I first discovered Yu-Gi-Oh! It seems sometimes that I give people little reason to read me, and because I insist on a code of sticking to the dub canon almost anyone already knows what I put so much effort into gleaning. But hey, this canon has a certain thing for people who stick to their code and stick to their guns, and I defy any of them to match me on my own turf. So until then I remain a spunky little blogger gal… not unlike the lady with the hummingbird.

Supersensory Shakedown

"Now, we find that Dark Signer and make him pay!" Crow isn't *that* different from Jack...

"Everyone knows that boys duel better than girls do! It’s actually a scientific fact." Statistically boys duel *more* than girls do, with an average season-to-season ratio of six male duelists to one female one. Duel Monsters is thought of as a game for boys who like to fight, and indeed any lady in the canon who duels, especially at the pro level, is usually strong-willed and independent, staking her place in something that is typically the office of men. But this is a shallow interpretation of a pastime that, in the Yu-Gi-Ohverse, has become synonymous with the power to stand up for yourself, to express yourself, which is also something thought of as more of a manly thing. It doesn’t mean girls don’t, only that we aren’t really thought of that way yet because historically things were different, and change is slow. But, Leo, *better*? I’d say considering the statistics that there are most likely more powerful male duelists than female ones, but on a case-by-case basis, it still all comes down to a deck. However, as another point, we have not yet met a female turbo-duelist. And by the way, how on Earth *would* they scientifically prove that? There are too many uncontrolled variables.

Luna was dreaming about the ancient battle *again*? That's two nights in a row, if you're keeping track.

"Superheroes are always supposed to stick together!" Another sort of over-generalization on Leo’s part, but I like this one. And it’s very interesting that he would over-generalize this way rather than say that heroes must stand alone, which would be more commonly thought, it seems to me.

I. Love. Martha. I will start by saying that. She tells Yusei the important stuff. Not only does she point out the foolishness of trying to do this alone, she then goes on to advise him to make up with Jack already. Yusei also, I think, underestimates just how much people look up to him, how much he inspires people, and Martha reminded him of that; he’s important to people, and he risks more than just his own safety by putting himself in danger. I remind myself that Yusei would rather only risk himself—remember the stakes he set for the On Your Mark and Lockdown duels, when he put himself at greater risk to let others off the hook entirely—but it doesn’t work that way. Remember Alex, who was so inspired by *Yusei* that he ended up on the line as well? Good thing Yusei accepted the help of the other inmates, good thing he wasn’t doing this alone. Yusei is inspiring and people want to help him. The more he takes responsibility for that, and sooner, the better. Good to know our heroes have places left to grow, and Martha is good at pointing them out.

"And when you were ready to throw away your future, who was it that saved you?" She was about to burn her deck... another piece of the 'future' theme. Wow, I’m just really struck by the poignancy of her almost burning her deck. Truly throwing away her future; by burning her deck, she declares herself beyond hope.

To start with, I notice that Sayr sacrifices lifepoints early-on to support his later strategies, similar to Greiger in his duel with Leo. Leo learned from his opponent, and learned to be unafraid of sacrificing points to put together a strategy by the end of that duel. Similar scenario, is all I wanted to mention.
Second—both players synchro-summoned. Now that we know that Dark Signers decidedly *don’t* synchro-summon, they do the opposite, I notice it whenever a character we don’t like that much synchro-summons; Armstrong did, for one, and now Sayr. It goes to show that there are shades of grey; nasty pieces of work like Armstrong and Sayr still synchro-summon, still play the same game by the same rules that heroes do, and are still on our side against the Dark Signers and the end of the world. And Leo, of course, shows off and improves his chops as an ally of the Signers— an endeavor that, as Crow and Lezar kinda represented this week, facing off to say who was a real good guy— is just as admirable. The Signers have the power to fight this and it’s their responsibility, but guys like Leo and Crow just join in when they probably haven’t got a prayer because those they care about are fighting and they don’t want to let them do it alone. It’s like Joey joining in against Marik in Battle City; he had no Egyptian God, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him.
And finally? Anyone recognize that music at the end? I do, specifically from GX’s Tough Love (though there are other instances), in which Syrus had the incredible nerve to challenge his brother Zane, then just turned the pro league’s favorite psychopath, to a cuff duel and wound up fainting at the end, just like Leo did, and needing a serious trip to the nurse’s office. And the episode ended with Syrus fainting and Jaden calling for help, just like this one ended with Leo passing out and Luna freaking out. Hence, I wrote as a note for this, “I do believe we’ve just been ‘Tough-Loved’.”

New Cards
[Monster’s Name atk/def/level/attribute] – other info
Leo— Power Tool Dragon [2300/2500/7stars/earth] – synchro, allows the duelist to play one randomly-chosen equip spell from his or her deck
Sayr— Krebons [1200///] – can be spared from being destroyed in battle by paying 800 of one’s lifepoints
Leo— Morphtronic Radion [1000/900/4stars/light?] – when in attack mode, powers up all Morphtronics on the field by 800 atk, including itself
Sayr— Psychic Snail [1900///]
Leo— Morphtronic Remotin [1300///] – tuner
Leo— Junk Box, spell – allows one to special-summon a Morphtronic from the graveyard (may be less specific, but was used for this purpose without much explanation)
Leo— Double Tool C & D, equip spell – powers up targeted monster by 1000 atk, and negates the activation of all the opponent’s special abilities, and can be destroyed in lieu of its equipped monster
Sayr—Psi Station, spell – when the duelist summons a psychic-type monster, he/she can choose to pay 500 lp in exchange for powering that monster up 300 atk.
Sayr—Psychic Commander [1400//L3/] – tuner
Sayr—Thought Ruler Archfiend [2700//L7?/] - synchro
Sayr—Battle Teleportation, spell – allows the duelist to bypass an opponent’s monsters and attack directly.

Digging Deeper I

"The paparazzi? No thanks." That WAS cold. I can understand Jack telling Carly to leave all this alone because it's dangerous, but he can be so *thoughtless* sometimes, so oblivious; he didn't have to call her that when she's been a friend to him, even at the expense of being a reporter. And, it’s quite definitively official at this point that Carly's head-over-heels.

"Why didn't you finish Yusei off when you had the chance?" Good question. As a matter of fact, I had the same one, and answered-- because Kalin wants to draw it out, because he wants to twist the knife, and because it would cheapen his vengeance to simply finish Yusei off while he was defenseless. Because he knows that this means Yusei has to force himself to come back for more. But, like those who give Yugi time to recover, Kalin may come to regret it. He thinks he's fighting a Yusei who's still determined to fly solo. He's reckoning without Martha's conversation with Yusei, or Jack's hard-hitting words and punches.
"Self-doubt is a duelist's worst enemy" Couldn't agree more.

Charging systems, you say, Mina? I'd call that half a point for electric-powered runners, or hybrid. In hybrid cars, you need only ever refill the gas, because the electric motor charges from the rotation of the wheels. The pitfall with having something be *all* electric is you *would* need to charge it because you'd expend more energy than it would get back by charging the motor from the momentum.
Phoenix Whirlwind. The name phoenix is understandable since this runner is reborn from fire, the fire of Yusei's final attack, and Jack, too, is improved and reborn by facing defeat. I note that, in the same episode, Carly falls into fire and is then "reborn" in the next episode as a Dark Signer. Jack has unwittingly also symbolically named this runner for her, when requested to by-- get this-- Mina. As a final thing to say about this, Jack's naming this runner, when before it had no name, symbolizes that it's truly his now; for two years it was the runner he stole from Yusei, one reason they could never be friends again. Now they've faced each other, and it's not official that they're friends again yet, but neither bears ill will. I wonder if any other runners have names?
Since it did such a number on Jack's runner, is the damage Yusei's runner retained from TFCF why his engine blew? I'd say Yusei's runner had certainly taken a beating; my money would actually be on the air drop and the wear and tear from the Dark Signs duel itself (all the fire and donuts and all). But TFCF was probably part of it.

Brief note: I noticed a few sort of echoes of Martha’s telling Yusei that his life is “too important to ride solo”. They are:
"You can surround yourself with *things*, but if you're not surrounded by people you love, it all seems kinda empty." -- Misty
"Judging from the look on your face, I'm guessing you're flying solo." – Sayr, to Carly

Who is Regulus? All we know about him is his name, and that he's a servant of Ancient Fairy Dragon. For anyone who awaited the last Harry Potter book, this question seems familiar, when everyone was asking about the mysterious R.A.B., whose name was indeed Regulus. So, from a site that is for Harry Potter what my little operation would be for Yu-Gi-Oh!, in my wildest daydreams, I borrow with gratitude the meaning of the name Regulus: "Regulus = Latin for 'the little king;' the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Regulus was also the family name of Marcus Atilius Regulus, a Roman naval commander who was legendary for his heroic self- sacrifice" (From the Harry Potter Lexicon page on Regulus Arcturus Black: "http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/regulus.html") Dang, with such a parallel, I was wondering if the name Regulus had some meaning to it indicative of mysterious good guys. Anyway, I think this servant of Ancient Fairy Dragon was named for the brightest star in the constellation Leo; makes sense.
I looked it up, and the star Regulus is also known as Rex in other parts of the world-- a connection to Goodwin? Regulus is also an obscure bird genus, a Latin word for basilisk, the metallic form of antimony, a type of thoroughbred racehorse, and so on, but most importantly, it’s a star in the constellation Leo. The only other named star in Leo is Denebola, which is not the same as the bright, bright Deneb, only named similarly. Does that mean that this Regulus is similar to, or part of, Luna’s brother, too?
This has made me realize that both of the twins have celestial names; Luna is the Latin name for the moon, and Leo is a constellation and sign of the Zodiac. I looked up the sign Leo, just for fun, and Leo sure is a Leo; straightforward, impetuous, energetic, and a formidable advocate for a cause. Leo himself may not be a Signer, but he’ll sure come in handy as some unequivocal support for those who are, because he believes in all of them. As a final point, Leos’ special heavenly body is the sun. As for Luna… moon symbolism is so widespread that there’s no one convention to it. I’ll start by saying that we’ve been seeing the moon in the 5D’s canon shining down on events that concern Yusei and Jack’s history in the Satellite. Other than that, the moon is a source of light in the dark of night, bright, white, and pure. The ancient Greeks personified the moon as the goddess Artemis, the chaste huntress and twin sister of Apollo, who was sometimes the sun god (such as in the myth of Phaethon, who tried to drive the sun chariot). In that sense, we can think of Leo and Luna symbolistically as sun and moon, harmonious opposites, two sides of one coin. Each excels where the other fails, balancing and supporting each other.

What if the Arcadia Movement went for Misty’s brother because they wanted her? Just like Sayr was planning to do to Luna?

In the same episode we keep seeing that billboard of Misty, through her apartment window and later when Carly falls past it, Akiza calls Sayr’s plan to make her the public face of the Arcadia Movement ‘turning her into some billboard’. It caught my attention, but heck if I know why they did it, if not perhaps to draw us a parallel between Akiza and Misty.

"Rex Goodwin lives a life of utter lies, all stemming from his--" Come on, you know you wanna finish that sentence with something like, oh... "utter cowardice"... "thing for using people"... But in all seriousness...
Goodwin's from the SATELLITE?! How? It doesn't work chronologically, either! ... No... the Stranger from the legend?? I looked at two pictures side-by-side; same jawline, nose, and broad shoulders. I think it is. I'm losing my mind. No. Way. And BTW, now the Dark Signers have that dirt too, since Sayr told Carly and Carly's one of them... But Misty also warned us in no uncertain terms that *nothing* the Arcadians say, not even when they have you at the edge of a skyscraper, can be trusted. Then again, I think we're pretty sure that Dark Signers can't really be trusted, *either*.
What if Goodwin *is* the Stranger, though? That would be interesting. Since we all know Goodwin, this calls into question whether the Stranger's motives were really as idealistic and inspiring as Crow told it: "Dreaming...of what no one else dared: making a difference..." Or whether there was some other reason he tried to build a bridge from the Satellite out of trash. Since he was originally from somewhere else, possibly the City, was the Stranger simply there to stir things up, as it were? Was the whole thing staged? Or, when the Stranger reached the City after that fateful jump off the end of the bridge, which is what must have happened, how did he become Goodwin, with Goodwin's well-established bias that satellites are inferior? Crow said that "Many were arrested, but most simply gave up, their dreams fading away like the hope for a future with freedom." Did Goodwin become disillusioned about the satellites' passion for freedom, write them off, because they gave up? After all that, they didn't interfere, even though Security would have locked him up forever and he could easily have not survived that jump; they didn't care enough to try and save him. Is he taking revenge? As Domino's favorite politician, he could easily build the bridge, as Yusei well knew last week (Surely You Jest II), but he hasn't, which argues that he no longer wants what he did then. Why, we do not yet know.

Sayr keeps comparing Carly to a mouse; I'm reminded of Lezar's calling Crow a rat.

Only in the Yu-Gi-Ohverse-- Sayr even gives Carly a sporting chance when he has to silence her. Even villains show some good sportsmanship here; either that, or they're just way too cocky than is ever wise.

Carly drew Swee and Chee earlier, didn’t she? Were they foretelling a mere lousy day, or this duel’s approach?

New Cards Section
Sayr—Telekinetic Shocker [1700/700/4stars/dark] – “If your psychic-type monster is about to be destroyed, you can pay five hundred lifepoints and destroy Telekinetic Shocker in its place.”
Carly—Fortune Fairy Swee [0///] – cannot attack on the turn it was summoned
Carly—Unacceptable Results, spell – when the duelist summons a Fortune Fairy, this card allows him/her to play a second one.
Carly—Fortune Fairy Chee [0///] – cannot attack on the turn it was summoned
Carly—unnamed spell that allows her to summon another Fortune Fairy if it’s not as powerful as her other two.
Carly—Fortune Fairy Hoo [0///] – cannot attack on the turn it was summoned
Carly—Miracle Stone – For every Fortune Fairy on the field, powers up every Fortune Fairy on the field by 1000 atk
Sayr—Emergency Teleport – allows the summoning of a second psychic-type monster, in the same turn as a normal-summon, from the duelist’s hand or deck
Sayr—Psychokinesis, spell – in exchange for 1000 lp, destroys one card on the field

Digging Deeper II

Burning Cards— in seeing Carly’s cards smolder like that in the unnatural purple fire/mist, I’m reminded of how, when Akiza was ready to “throw away her future”, she was about to burn her deck.

Alright, this is the part where I discuss, in detail, the rebirth of Carly as a Dark Signer. This is the one ‘case’ that we’ve followed completely; we knew what Kalin was before but not when the Immortals approached him, we know when the Immortals approached Misty but not what she was before then or when. But we’ve seen Carly change; we’ve seen her deck on both sides of the looking glass, so to speak, and we’ve even seen her briefly revert to her humanity and panic.
First of all, Misty’s prophecy. Was she a Dark Signer even then, recognizing a future ally, or did her prophecy stand alone as a cryptic glimpse into the future? She said that Carly’s path led into a darkness, which it did, and then she said that when Carly chose to take this path, accepted the offer to escape death and become a Dark Signer, she would know herself better than she ever had before. I think that if Carly survives all this and comes back to our side, becomes just human again or whatever, she will be a very different person. She has ‘died’ as she was before, and her new self is already more self-assured, her potential blossoming even if it’s evil. The Carly we knew reported on the past and worried for the future, as represented by her consultation of her fortune deck, which may have foretold its own destruction. But now, as she said herself, “Why report on the past when you can dictate the future?” I believe the scariest, wackiest, most terrifying thing that no one else can help you with is the act of actually growing up.
Now I'm going to talk about her two decks. With the Fortune Fairies, she is at the mercy of fate; by drawing a card she is told that she's doomed. The Fortune Fairies are cute and innocent, to the point of naivete, much like Carly, the 'little mouse' that Sayr cornered. Her confidence is a fragile shield, as easily shattered as her Miracle Stone spell was. Carly has been very much at the mercy of her surroundings and circumstances, hounded by her boss, ignored by Jack, teased by Angela, "Carly Carmine is comin' atcha full-speed"-- if her car doesn't run out of gas. In abrupt contrast, Dark Signer Carly's cards stay with the theme of fortune and destiny, but with the stronger outlook that says she can predict the future *and* make her predictions come true. However, by needing that certainty about the future, Carly reveals that she still has that weakness, the same one she plays on in her opponents; fear of the future, of the unknown.
I thought we had finally found a fortuneteller who was a good guy. Why are fortunetellers *always* evil?? I wrote when we first met Carly (A Web of Deceit I post) that for the most part fortunetellers duel by playing on their opponents' doubts and fears about the future. Right now I think Carly is no exception to that; she'll probably go after Jack, and that's going to be an interesting conflict because Jack is firmly of the belief that he's in charge; remember how adamantly he rejected that the Crimson Dragon had guided him to this point, when Goodwin said so in "The Signs of Time"? Carly's style is one of inevitable destiny; in predicting the future, she dictates it. To play on her battlefield, Jack would have to accept that which is inevitable and work it to his advantage, which for him is no small task. He can't let it throw him off that someone else is trying to dictate his fate, or he's going to lose.

I literally *just happened* to stop my recording on a group picture of the Dark Signers during the opening, and I was going to say, as a one-liner that it looked like the hummingbird Signer was a lady duelist. But this... OMG.

We've been building up how powerful Sayr is, in his duels with Leo and Carly... but Dark Signer Carly's going to crush him like a bug, and it is not going to be pretty, was one of my early notions.

It’s a tradition with any card that sends things ‘into the future’, I have to say it: Run! It's a croquet hammer with wings!

What the *deck* is that about, using the word deck like that! I’m not complaining very loudly, but it kinda makes me wanna deck them one; ‘deck’ is not a curse word. Decks are good things. We like decks.

“I’m not gonna let some Dark Signer push me around in my own place!” Akiza’s ‘place’, in contrast to Misty’s, which we saw earlier and discovered was lonely, is nothing *but* people she cares about.

“Wielding a powerful beast like that is a testament to why you were chosen to be a Signer.” Wait. Circular argument. Begging the question here. Black Rose Dragon, being one of the *five* dragons that fought the Army of Shadows, is wielded by a Signer, by definition. Therefore, Akiza wields Black Rose Dragon because she is a Signer. But Misty’s saying the opposite: Akiza is a Signer because she wields such a powerful monster. To say both is to say that Akiza’s being a Signer is one in the same with her wielding Black Rose Dragon, they’re logically interchangeable because one cannot be true without the other being true also.

I want to especially notice a few of Misty’s cards here; Savage Coliseum and Attack Pheromone. Savage Coliseum reminds me of something. We’ve had a few other coliseums, and indeed Clash in the Coliseum, Legendary Heroes II, and Duel Distractions come readily to mind; but even more I’m thinking of instances of people or things being forced to fight each other. No Pain, No Game comes to mind, as does Best of Friends, Best of Duelists (“Yugi and Joey are like brothers! They shouldn’t be forced to *fight* each other like this!”), Flight of Fear, Fighting For a Friend I-IV, and Grappling With a Guardian. Of both sides being equally trapped; not even something like the Seal of Orichalcos or a shadow duel with a Dark Signer. The Fortune Cup Finale just came to mind, because Yusei and Jack had to keep dueling, even though the damage was real, if they ever wanted to return to earth. In the end, will it come down to Akiza wishing she could show Misty mercy, but her hand being forced by Misty’s own field spell? Trapping someone else into a fight with you is only a good idea if you win. Now, Attack Pheromone. Reminds me of Shadow of Eyes, another alluring card, or one of Missy’s pheromones.

In early Greek myth, a gorgon (from the Gk. Gorgos, meaning terrible or loud-roaring) was a protective deity, sometimes a monster, with such power that any who looked upon her would be turned to stone. People put images of gorgons on many things as a way of protecting themselves from such a beast. [3] In the best-known myth, the gorgons were three sisters with hair made of living snakes. The most famous, Medusa (name means ‘queen’, [1]), was mortal, unlike her sisters Stheno (‘strength’ [1]) and Euryale (‘wide-leaping’ [1]). According to some sources, Medusa used to be human, until she irritated Athena and had her beauty jealously smited down. Some depict Medusa as hideous, while others envision her as beautiful but still deadly to look upon with a headful of snakes. When Perseus cut off her head, the myths go, from her dead body sprang her children by the sea god Poseidon. One was Chrysaor, who became a king in the Spain area; and the other was the winged horse Pegasus, whose legends are cautionary tales about those who get too big for their britches, such as Bellerophon, who was bucked right off when he tried to ride Pegasus to the top of Mt. Olympus and become a god.
I hate formal bibliographies, but since I had several sources, I’ll make it informally clear what they were:
[1] The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, Anness Publishing Limited, 2002
[2] Mythology: Myths, Legends, and Fantasies; Global Book Publishing, 2006
[3] Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
So, what does all this have to do with Misty’s cards? Someone enticingly beautiful is cursed to become something terrifying and deadly? But Misty chose; she made a deal with the shadows. Cursed in the sense that she has a revenge story I suppose, and in that sense cursed by another woman, in Medusa’s case Athena. That would be comparing Akiza to Athena, who was the goddess of warriors, crafts, and wisdom. Remembering what I was saying about girl duelists, having a *goddess* of warriors is interesting and pretty darn cool of the ancient Greeks. Akiza, as a female warrior, would certainly have some similarities to Athena. Back to Misty, though. A beauty with the power of a supernatural reptile behind her— that’s what we’re up against, and a gorgon is exactly that.
As a final note, Pegasus played a ‘gorgon’ card to turn Yugi’s monsters to stone during Match of the Millennium, a continuous trap or spell called Gorgon’s Eye, and the effect was similar; it made them into sitting ducks for an attack, unable to attack, change mode, or defend Yugi. Pegasus used it to corner Yugi to the point that he couldn’t play anything in attack mode *or* defense mode; Yugi outmaneuvered him by hiding Dark Magician with Magical Hats, and then pulled a comeback with the Living Arrow, everybody’s favorite Duelist-Kingdom-only-wacky-plot-device-deal-with-it card.

New Cards Section
Sayr—Mind Protector [/2200//] – tuner?
Sayr—Magical Android [2400///] – synchro, in the end phase of the duelist’s turn, increases duelist’s lifepoints by 600 for every psychic monster on the field.
Carly—Future Vision, field spell – when a monster is normal-summoned, sends that monster into the future by one turn.
Carly—Fortune Lady Light [ ] – when she leaves the field, she allows the duelist to summon another Fortune Lady from his or her deck.
Carly—Fortune Lady Fire [//L2/] – one opponent’s monster is destroyed automatically when she is summoned to the field, and the value of that monster’s atk strikes that opponent as damage
Akiza—Twilight Rose Knight [1000/1000/L3/dark] – tuner, allows one to summon a L4-or-below plant monster from hand
Akiza—Lord Poison [1500/1000/L4/water]
Misty—Savage Coliseum, field spell – as long as this spell is active on the field, every monster in attack mode *must* attack, and the duelist controlling this card gets 300 lp every time a battle takes place
Misty—Field Barrier, spell – prevents a field spell from being destroyed. Any effect that would destroy the field spell destroys this instead.
Misty—Reptile Gorgon [1400/1400/L3/dark] – after it attacks a monster, that monster is turned to stone; its attack points go to zero, and its mode is frozen
Misty—Attack Pheromone, equip spell – forces any monster attacked by the equipped monster to switch into attack mode
Misty—Molting Escape, equip spell – prevents the equipped monster from being destroyed in battle once per turn, and increases that monster’s attack points by 100 every time it does. May be exclusive to reptile-type monsters.

Digging Deeper III

Akiza’s moves were reminding me of Yusei during her comeback; we saw her play two cards we’d only ever seen from Yusei before: Synchro Spirits and Urgent Tuning, the latter of which Crow, too, has played since, in Surely You Jest.

Akiza didn’t even remember Misty’s brother; Jack didn’t even notice that he had hurt Carly so deeply. On one hand, you can argue that since it wasn’t intentional, Jack and Akiza aren’t at fault, but that isn’t so. They aren’t bad people, and it’s not like they were trying to hurt anyone on purpose, unlike the Dark Signers might I add, but they have been thoughtless, untrue to the impact they have on the world. They are powerful duelists, and they are Signers; people look up to them, and people take what they say and do more seriously than either of them appreciate. By the way, I’m talking about Yusei, too, and connecting this to what Martha said to him earlier: people look up to him, and his life is too important to ride solo. He hurts those who care about him by putting himself in danger. Powerful people like these impact their surroundings; they have the power to save the world, and the power to change it. They’ve become their own worst enemies, in the form of Misty and Carly, by not taking responsibility for their own influence. It causes one to reflect, who would *my* Dark Signers be? Who have I hurt without realizing the impact I have on the world? Who have I known for weeks without ever bothering to learn their name? Who have I known for years without ever managing to make friends? Who have I pushed away, and who have I ignored? Who have I overgeneralized into part of a stereotyped group? To whom have I said the same thing that I say to everyone, and moved on without looking back? It’s a sobering thought. Things like that turn violent in real life, too.

What to say about the two brand-new Earthbound Immortals? Spelling is wild and crazy. Right now, I’m saying Koka Riah for the lizard and Ascilla Pisku for the hummingbird. Incidentally, I had a brief sort of inspiration and realized that a basilisk is a giant lizard, and another name for a basilisk, folks, is Regulus. Other than that, wow. So scary that this is going to be one heck of a battle. This is great.

How did Luna do that? The bubble of protection. That’s pretty handy. I guess the Signs do what they will; I doubt Luna could make it do the same thing consciously.

"If I can hold out for one more round..." Talk about the kiss of death. The moment someone says that, they’re toast.

Carly's unfinished business. Two guesses. Jack, and Jack’s breaking her heart. I think the Dark Signers will find that immensely useful, don’t you?

New Card Section
Akiza—Dimension Reversion, trap – returns every monster the duelist has removed from play to his/her deck
Misty—Earthbound Immortal Koka Riah [2800//L10?/dark]
Sayr—Teleport, spell – when duelist’s field is empty and opponent has monsters, can sacrifice 800 lp to special-summon a psychic monster from hand
Sayr—Storm Caller [2300/2000/L6/wind] – “With Storm Caller, when your psychic-type monster destroys your opponent’s monster in battle, you can put the destroyed monster on top of your opponent’s deck.”
Carly—Earthbound Immortal Ascilla Pisku [2500/2500/L10/dark] – when it leaves the field, it takes all of the opponent’s monsters with it, and the opponent loses 800 lp for each one.
Carly—Slip of Fortune – removes the target of an attack and negates the attack

Clash of the Dragons I-II

120 people and ten blocks? Impressive. Can we take that to indicate that each Immortal absorbs approximately sixty souls in order to appear? Or possibly that each Sign is maybe about four blocks long (rough estimation)?

Another fact about the odd Government of New Domino— now we know it has a senate.

Sayr knew the true Akiza? Not even.

This project Akiza’s dad was working on at the time was the *first* Ener-D Reactor? Then if all this was happening that long before Zero Reverse (it has a name! Yay!), then that makes Akiza *several* years older than Yusei, whose parents went missing during Zero Reverse before he was subsequently shipped to an orphanage in the Satellite *as a baby*. She doesn’t seem as though she is, but chronological logic places her even ten years older because after the New Domino Senate funded this, they still had to build it. Akiza’s Sign showed when her dad got a cell phone call that was probably about Zero Reverse; pretty much as it was happening, Akiza’s Sign appeared. Coincidence?

Another of the brains behind the Ener-D Reactor... are we going to find out at some point that the *twins’* parents funded it, or that Jack’s family, native to the Satellite, was part of the construction crew?

Answering a cell phone during a duel... you and Aster Phoenix, Senator.

*Is* the Black Rose a separate personality from Akiza? When she got mad at her dad for trying to leave in the middle of the duel, she said that “Akiza is gone”; did she just go a little bit Marik on us, or was that a never-before-never-again kind of deal? We should watch out for that, even if Yusei *can* stand up to Akiza at her worst.

Sayr advised Akiza to forget the past and look to the future; sound familiar?

OMG, just when I thought I couldn't possibly be more amazed by Martha. Did you see that completely priceless look on Yusei’s face when she said he might take Akiza on a date after this was over?

Anyone else get some weird déjà vu when we found out that Yusei alone could wake Akiza? Maybe it’s just because my last theater production was Sleeping Beauty. The pattern also holds for Snow White. Nobody have a heart attack, I’m not calling Akiza a Disney princess, but the situation is similar. I read somewhere, I don’t remember where, that the whole falling-asleep-and-only-being-awoken-by-true-love is actually a coming-of-age metaphor, an initiation thing. Similar to Carly, actually, Akiza’s old life ends with a fall; in Akiza’s case, Sayr’s. In confusion and paralysis, Akiza stays asleep, unable to face her new life in which she has this power but no longer the peace of mind of having Sayr nearby. But the Signers are meant to stand together; every one of these four is afraid of doing this alone, bar none, and show that in different ways. Yusei actually tried it, and ended up afraid to duel, just as Akiza was afraid to live; until both realized in this duel that they didn’t have to attempt it alone. Jack showed his fear of facing this alone when he beat up Yusei; he knew that Yusei was what was keeping the Signers together, and was scared to death to see them begin to fall apart. Luna told Leo straight-out that she was more afraid than ever, and she needed him there with them to support her. My point is, aside from the obvious implication of Yusei’s being the only one who could wake her up (“I’m just saying, if you two had some sort of *connection*…”), that Akiza has entered a new chapter of her life with this, has grown up a bit more.

Hardly a familiar card in sight from Akiza, plus killing Stardust by inches. No need to read into the card symbolism here; it’s all quite up-front. In addition, Akiza used an equip spell, her first, right after she dueled Misty, who played two of ‘em in her first turn alone. Yusei also beat her with an equip spell, Silver Wing, and its destruction. Iron Resolve reminds me of Syrus’ Life Force; sacrificing lifepoints to save lifepoints.

Yusei said that Akiza was lucky to have a real family; probably because he doesn’t. Still, he is very lucky in his friends, and especially lucky to have Martha, and I think he knows that, too.

What a way to lose your fear of dueling. I think the moral of the story is, the best cure for fear of dueling is to shut up and duel.

"You think you can run off, live a normal life, and have Yusei fight all your battles for you? Very romantic. But your place will always be here." (The quote’s from Supersensory Shakedown, but I decided to consolidate it all into one paragraph, and that properly belongs in this episode’s section.) Well, it’s official that Akiza’s got a crush on Yusei. I think it’s sweet, and I think that he’s a good pick for her, not only because he’s Yusei and we all know by now he’s awesome, but also because he isn’t afraid of her, even when she’s at her worst. Speaking as a girl around the same age, I feel that it gives her the freedom to be herself and not hold back, even when that self is a complete terror; and if I ever find a guy, he’ll be someone who can stand up to me, too. That being said, Sayr had a point. Because Akiza’s parents were so afraid of her, she’s grown up afraid; she couldn’t control her powers and neither could the authorities she counted on to protect her from the big scary world until she had the maturity and confidence to handle it. Despairing, she looked for someone to lean on, someone who could offer her that comfort and security, and Sayr, proving himself unafraid of her powers even when she blasted him during that entrance exam, was that anchor for her. It’s no surprise that, bereft of that surety, Akiza was afraid to face the world to the point that she was. It seemed to be betraying Sayr to trust Yusei, and by hanging onto his advice to be wary of outsiders like Yusei, she hung on to all that was left of that comfort. Yusei has once again proven that he isn’t afraid of her at her worst, and I think a lot of the trust she placed in Sayr is now transferred to Yusei. Last week (Surely You Jest I), Jack could see that the other Signers, Akiza especially, would fall apart if Yusei did.

New Cards Section
Yusei—Half Shut, spell – lowers the attack points of one monster by half, but prevents that monster from being destroyed by battle; wears off after a turn.
Yusei—Silver Wing, equip spell
Yusei—Release Restraint Wave, spell – in exchange for destroying one equip spell on the duelist’s field, destroys every spell and trap in play
Yusei—Iron Resolve, trap – if the duelist halves his or her lifepoints, he or she can negate one attack’s battle damage
Yusei—Realize Defense, trap – if a monster in attack mode has more defense than attack points, it is switched to defense mode
Yusei—Reinforce Troop, trap – in exchange for skipping the duelist’s battle phase, allows the duelist to special-summon a monster with less than 1000 attack points
Yusei—Synchro Ring, trap – if a synchro monster fails to destroy a monster in battle, this trap doubles its attack points and allows it to attack again right away
Akiza—Evil Thorn [100/300/L1/dark]
Akiza—Hedge Guard [ ] – can be discarded to prevent one monster from being destroyed
Akiza—Closed Plant Gate, spell – with two plant-type monsters on one’s field, prevents all incoming attacks for one turn
Akiza—Thorn of Malice, equip spell – increases the attack points of the equipped monster by 500; while equipped with this card, a monster cannot destroy anything by battle.
Akiza—Wonder Clover, spell – in exchange for sending one L4 monster from the duelist’s hand to the graveyard, allows one of the duelist’s monsters to attack twice in one turn.
Akiza—Doom Petal Countdown, continuous trap – in exchange for removing one plant-type monster in the graveyard from play, strikes the opponent with 300 points of damage. Can be used once per turn.

Well! This has been quite a project. My laptop has been in the shop over the past week, right on top of two months’ worth of writing in two weeks. I’ve been glued to the family desktop computer whenever I was home, and the other day I had so many insights and ideas to write down that I kept a pen in my hair at all times and my left hand looked like an experiment in tattooing. My ability to transcribe from *anything* has improved. And now this is gone. I’m proud of myself, and relieved to go back to thinking in terms of only one time-frame at once. ‘Til the Mark of the Spider I post is done, signing off. -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF SUPERSENSORY SHAKEDOWN

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF DIGGING DEEPER I

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF DIGGING DEEPER II

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF DIGGING DEEPER III

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF CLASH OF THE DRAGONS I

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF CLASH OF THE DRAGONS II