Predictions and Observations:
A Whale of a Ride III
and A Score to Settle I

Episodes Made Available Officially:
This Post Posted:

I've missed this so much. So, so much. At the most mundane things, the most silly, "When the shadows are devoured by even darker shadows," I get this silly grin on my face.

So, it would appear we're in season 2 now, for reals, as of this episode. They haven't split up a duel into two different seasons since Dungeon Dice Monsters!

Merry Christmas to you, too, 4Kids!!

A WHALE OF A DUEL III

Apparently there are rules for falling off your runner. I'll do my best to spell out what they are, drawing on this example in addition to Yusei's falling off in Dark Signs IV.
1. When a duelist falls off of his or her runner, it is called an interrupt unless the duelist gets up and continues. (This is why Yusei wasn't sent to the netherworld after his first match with Kalin; that tells us that this was considered an interrupted duel, not a forfeit.)
2. If anyone interferes, the duelist can no longer re-enter the match.
3. If the duelist is able and their runner still works, they can get up and keep dueling.

One of the two cards in Greiger's flashback was Angel Baton, a speed spell we've only ever seen Crow play. The other one is an old-school trap called "Respect Play" that's never been played in the anime and requires each player to show their opponent their hand during their turn. Both cards, I'd say, that represent this duel. Angel Baton was played earlier-on in this same duel.

More bruises, I suppose. Crow would've probably skinned something at the very least, he just flew off his runner and skidded along the road after all. I suppose 4Kids draws the line at blood, but since when is a scratch worth editing out? We do see little hints of the damage, on Crow's clothes. Oh, well. It's all good, really, except Crow's clothes present a continuity problem.
Crow seems to have recovered in a hurry for Yusei vs. Kalin. Shouldn't he lie down or something at least? Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if Yusei packed some first aid, or if there was some in the jeep, considering what the Signers were signing up for today (pun intended, har har).

Way to go with the two facedowns, Crow! That other one that Greiger destroyed by accident was Fake Feather. That's the same card Crow bluffed out Lezar with in his last duel. Being candid when you're known to bluff is a good bluff; Crow's play here reminds me of when Joey told Bandit Keith, "Oh, and it's a trap, so don't bother attackin'."

My sister was the one to point out that the lights from Blackwing Backslash might represent each of Crow's nestlings. They do kinda match up, and match the Blackwings, too, of course. Symbolism, symbolism. He had to have five in his grave to activate that card and there are five nestlings. I wish we'd ever learned the nestlings' names; I have half a mind to name them myself so I can refer to them easier. Maybe I will, and I'll go back and be more accurate with all the scenes they're in by referring to them by name. I'll let people know if I figure out anything interesting by doing this.

Flattop really just brought back Skyfire again, I notice. It wasn't a new level of anything.

Contaminated Earth. It required two level-five-or-above monsters in Greiger's grave, so a dark tuner and dark synchro monster in his grave would have not counted at all because their levels are negative. Doesn't sound very Dark-Signer-y to *me*. The Contaminated Earth trap contained the souls of his village, though, right? Because it created that big rock and that's where the souls came from? Huh.

E.I. what-now? Chakwichalua? Chakuchalua, Chaquichalua, Chaquchalua, Chaku Chalua, Chaqu Chalua, and on and one. For now I'll go with Chaquchalua. I won't look it up on Wikia because I'm worried I'd learn too much that I'm not supposed to know yet about the overall plot.

How does Chaquchalua's special ability correspond to anything else? That it hits for 800 lp when in defense mode? Perhaps that it strikes when you don't expect it to, like Greiger did by turning into a Dark Signer all of a sudden?

Does Chaquchalua have another ability that keeps Silverwind from attacking? That keeps it "on the sidelines"? We never heard why.

Crow forgot for a moment that he'd already laid the groundwork for a winning play? Was that some sort of Dark-Signer-whammy or something? A mental hobbling of some kind?

Greiger's own card allowed Crow to do what Greiger tried to; end the duel without anyone getting hurt.

I think the most important thing we learned here is that a Dark Signer *can* come back, can revert to who they used to be, and then they just become one of the taken, it would seem. Piece by piece, the scariest parts of this fight are being overcome: Deevac's defeat showed us that they *can*, in fact, lose. Greiger's demonstrated that there's still something left in them to be redeemed.

Greiger and Crow had never met, never even knew each other existed, before this duel, and Greiger saved his life. Greiger did for Crow what Yusei did for him at the Fortune Cup, more or less.

What happened to Greiger's runner? Buried under the debris, I guess. Will we ever see it again, or is this the end of the gigantic runner that crushes all other runners like bugs?

So an EI's final demise releases those who were consumed by it, is my apprehension here, from Cusci Lu's and Chaquchalua's downfalls. I guess Rally's destruction of Uru didn't count, 'cause Roman didn't get taken out with it. This means that people who were standing around the streets of New Domino will find themselves back home when Ascilla Pisku and Koka Riah fall, about 120 total of them; Ccapac Apu's fall will, quite aptly, return most satellites who were taken early-on to their homes, and Uru, the ultimate prize, contains Martha and the rest of the Satellite that got sucked up by the fog, which includes Rally, Blitz, Tank, Nervin, and Crow's nestlings as well.

The one thing Greiger advised is that the Signers must stick together. I'd take that deeply, deeply to heart, because this is the first person to defect from the other side and chances are he knows something we don't.

The falling star. It's pretty, and it's symbolism. Greiger's sibs see it and remind us that Greiger and his family used to watch the stars together; Greiger lamented during the Fortune Cup that there's so much smog above Domino City that you can't see them. We *can* see *this* star, though, because it's so bright. Perhaps that signifies that there's still a bond between them, still a speck of brightness that can be seen in the skies of Domino that reaches all that distance. But also, Greiger can't see that star, or at least, we can't see him see it. The people who can are the ones he enjoined to carry on in his stead: Yusei, and Crow. Greiger's sibs don't know it, but that connects *them* to Yusei and Crow too. Why it appeared, in terms of cause-and-effect, no idea. It probably has something to do with the end of the duel.

Where one falls, another may ri-ise... who's up next? Got any more stooges in storage, Roman, or will you just have to wait? By the way, I saw the most interesting commercial back in November. It contained Stardust Dragon fighting an Earthbound Immortal, a bird that was not Ascilla Pisku. It was glowing pink. I think the rumors I read somewhere about a Condor sign may have some truth to them. If so, we've got to start thinking about who would wield it. I wrote this back then: "Moving more into wild speculation, thematically I predict that the new Dark Signer will be someone we already associate with the color pink, probably a lady (though don't rule out anyone), and someone who was not available to become a Dark Signer before Greiger was. Otherwise why make Greiger a Dark Signer instead of her? That means it's unlikely we'll see another old friend like Kalin, who became, shall we say, viable, as a Dark Signer a few years ago after that incident with Yusei and Sector Security. The Dark Signers need a fresh grudge, a good deal of anger and/or pain. It's also likely, given the pattern, that it's someone we know. So far, we've had almost all the Dark Signers have a personal connection to at least one of the Signers; Deevac is the only exception. Though it's quite possible that it's someone we don't realize is connected to the Signers as of yet. Actually, my most likely guess at this point is miss Angela Reins. She's associated with pinks and reds; we've met her but she seems extraneous to the main plot, like Carly and Misty did; we already know she has a connection to *Goodwin*, at least, of the Signers; she's a lady; and she's similar to Carly, who wields the other EI bird, but different. But what's about to happen to break Angela's heart? And what pits her against Yusei of all people? Yusei's already spoken for, by three out of five Dark Signers, whoever gets to him first and, EGs forbid, wins. What I'm saying is, the other Signers are going to get bored if Yusei's the only target here. Is Condor going to step all over Kalin's vendetta too, like Greiger tried to? I can just imagine Kalin standing over at the Giant star, tapping his foot; what if the Dark Signers end up turning on each other over who gets a piece of Yusei first? This will also mean that there will be more lady Dark Signers than there are men, which is statistically weird." May I also note at this point that the last time we saw Angela it was when Goodwin essentially blackmailed her into trying to calm the crowd back in New Domino.

Written 10-4-09:
"All of the Blackwings are named after winds. I can't believe it took me this long, and I can't believe that this big revelation came mere hours after I vacuum-sealed my post. Curses.
Anyway, this is the part where I get down to some research and say specifically which winds. Sirocco is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara. This is its Italian name; it's also known in Arabic as ghibli (this is the origin of the name of the Studio, Miyazaki fans), Greek as Sirokos, Jugo in Croatian, the Canary Islands (Spanish-owned) as la calima, and many other names. It's often a hot, dry, and dusty wind, and some ill health in southern Europe gets blamed on the presence of Sirocco. For more info, check out the Wiki article I found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirocco.
Mistral, for which Silver Shield is named, is a wind in mainland France that blows out toward the Mediterranean coast. Its presence usually clears the skies and dries the air, and it's responsible for the lovely weather in Provence. It's considered a bringer of good health. It's also known as Maestro.
Bora, from which name is derived that of the Spear, derives *its* name from the Greek Mythological figure Boreas, the North Wind. It's felt in the Adriatic Sea, Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey. It's known as either the "light bora" or the "dark bora" depending on the presence of clouds in the sky. It's typically a cold wind that's most common in winter.
And as for Vayu, the Emblem of Honor takes his name from the Hindu lord of the winds, who is also the god of life because one's breath is essential to being alive. Colors associated with him are white and purple, the chromatic opposites of Crow's yellow and black.
Shurra and Elfen (the Blue Flame and Raven), I cannot find online as winds or wind-related things. Then again, I don't know how to spell them, so it's hit-and-miss what I *do* find. There are many other names for winds, and we may see many other Blackwings."

Now, I'll also look up the Blackwings from this episode.
A 'fane' is a sacred place, and it used to also mean a weather vane. I looked up the card, and that's the right spelling. Huh. Well, weather vane.
"Silverwind" is fairly self-explanatory, and I'm sure it reminds some of us of a Pokemon move (bug-type), but I'm wondering what the correlation is. Namely, why do we call winds silver sometimes? Logically, a wind can be moving so fast that it appears less than completely transparent to us because of what it's carrying. In a cartoon, say, it needs to be drawn as white, or yes, silver, or grey if you want people to know it's there. Or you can draw people's clothes and hair blowing around, but that's usually more of a breeze.
I also looked up the *right* spelling for Shura the Blue Flame and Elphin the Raven, and all I got is a town somewhere in Ireland (I think) and an Arabic word that means a body of people who provide counsel to a leader. Oh, well.

A SCORE TO SETTLE I

Okay, as a heads-up, this is how I organized this section of the post. First I talked about the episode title, then I moved on to all things relating to the flashbacks in this episode, then I moved on to the rest of the episode.

Another episode that's named almost the same thing as another one. Not to be confused with "Settling the Score", which is Kaiba vs. Lector (sometimes spelled Leichter) in Noah's Virtual World, in which we learn how Seto took over Kaibacorp from his stepfather Gozaburo, a tale of deceit, cunning, and betrayal on all sides-- I call it the Fifty-One Percent story.

Okay, lemme make sure I've got this straight. A Complete History of the Enforcers. In the Satellite a few years ago-- more than two but not by too much-- Yusei, Crow, Kalin, and Jack formed a gang called the Enforcers, with the goal of making it safe to walk the streets of this rowdy town, which was already populated by other gangs of bullies and thugs. Crow had known Yusei and Jack, at least, since they were little kids; how and when Kalin came into the picture is a mystery that remains.
Kalin became their de-facto leader because he was persuasive, ambitious, inspiring, and nobody could beat him in a duel. He led them into battle against the likes of the Magicians, the Ambulators, and the Bishops, battle by battle, district by district, trapping them into duels that destroyed the loser's duel disk. At least two (Yusei, and we saw that Kalin was with his sabotage in this episode) were good at hacking and re-wiring duel disks; we know already that Yusei is one of the best engineers in City or Satellite today, and he liked to tinker with duel disks then, too. The four became like brothers, and their teamwork, nerve, and probably superior technology allowed them to take the Satellite by storm.
When there were no more gangs left, Yusei, Jack, and Crow were content to enjoy a Satellite worth living in, though they joked about having to fight each other now. But Kalin had loved the constant battles, the action, and the competition; he wasn't satisfied with it being over, so he found them a new quest-- keep the duel gangs from re-forming by destroying every duel disk in the Satellite. However, when that meant bullying a little kid just because the kid had a duel disk, Crow decided that enough was enough. After a fight, Crow left the Enforcers, and Jack did, also. We don't know what Jack's reason was specifically, but it was probably more or less the same one: he didn't sign up to be a bully. Yusei agreed with them, but wouldn't leave Kalin with no one at all.
Sometime after that was when Sector Security first got duel runners for use in the Satellite. They were as fearsome as any bullying duel gang, chasing down young duelists by night and pounding them into submission. And so, one day Kalin proposed that the Enforcers get back together and go after Security. Yusei was quite alarmed at such a dangerous and foolhardy plan, and refused to help Kalin, thinking that Kalin would never try it on his own. But being alone only forced Kalin to get sneakier and more vicious. He doctored a bunch of duel disks with electronic pulse charges and had them confiscated and brought into the main Security headquarters, then detonated them. In addition to creating a light show, they completely deep-sixed Security's computer system. In the original version this was probably an actual bombing, but hey. Live and let live. Well, Kalin provoked Security good and well, and they came after him in force. As soon as Yusei heard about it, he knew it was Kalin's doing; he sent out messengers for Crow and Jack and went after Kalin. The scene was unearthly; late night and heavy rain, lit only by flashes of lightning and headlights of Security vehicles racing here and there as Yusei, Jack, and Crow ran searching through the Satellite, each alone, screaming into the storm, trying to find his friends before Security did. Finally Security had Kalin cornered in the second story of an old building, and Kalin was preparing for his last stand, when Yusei, Jack, and Crow burst in. They wanted to end this before anyone got hurt or sent to the Facility. Kalin thought, with the other Enforcers at his back, now he could take 'em. He shouted out an arrogant challenge to Security. Behind him, unobserved, Yusei realized that there was something he could do to end this. Whatever he did, and whatever he meant to do, the night ended with Kalin being arrested, and finding out that Yusei had been in league with Security. Kalin drew the obvious conclusion that Yusei betrayed him and sold him out to Security.

So Yusei reached out across the battle lines to Sector Security, to find some sort of truce or compromise. And Kalin ended up getting arrested. I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of Yusei's plan. Yusei said he had been naïve, and I'm quite sure he wouldn't get Kalin arrested on purpose; if he'd wanted to do *that*, he could've just stayed home that night and never told Crow or Jack.

It reminds me of that saying, "Friends don't let friends do stupid things... alone." Yusei, Crow, and Jack were there for their friend Kalin when he needed them, no matter what stupid trouble he'd gotten himself into.

Jack. Yeah, Jack. He doesn't say *anything* in these flashbacks except "Yusei!! KALIN!!!" and "Listen, Kalin. We’re not here to fight, we’re here to try and *end* this." He says a lot without speaking. And we all thought Jack was the one who loves the sound of his own voice. And he says a lot of *important* stuff without speaking. He walks away without speaking a word.

We learn more about who Kalin is and was: he craved and needed the competition, and once he declared war on something or someone, there was no changing his mind until he'd won.

Go out and destroy every duel disk we can find. That quest bugged me from the start. In this canon, a duel disk and deck is the power to stand up for yourself and what you care about, to fight back when someone else tries to silence you and keep you down. The logic makes sense-- if no one but them has duel disks, duel gangs are unlikely to form-- but only to a point. People have a will to be free; if the Enforcers had actually succeeded, people might've found other ways to fight back without them. I needn't point out that they became the bad guys; Crow already did that.

"I knew what it was like to be alone. And no one ever deserves that pain." To what is Yusei referring? To me it seems Crow, also, would know that pain; we found out about that in A Whale of a Duel II, but what's Yusei's story, besides being an orphan of the Satellite?

Who's the guy with the silly mustache, and could he possibly be related to the Kaibadome MC? I think we might actually get to know this character. He's the guy who patted Yusei on the shoulder there, the other person in this conflict between Yusei and Kalin. If Yusei got played, like I think he did, this would be the creep who played him.

"I thought I was doing the right thing, Kalin, I swear it." That line is so poignant. I can't explain it, but that line was really moving to me. It makes me want to write a poem about all this. Maybe once we find out the rest of the story, I will.

Kalin doctored duel disks, too; we already knew that Yusei could re-wire duel disks, but apparently he taught his friends, or at least he taught Kalin, or Kalin learned.

Kalin was most dangerous when his friends had all left. Yusei had been the last card in his "hand". That's when he found a way to thrive on loneliness and scorn the friends he once depended on.

But, hang on. There's a difference between being someone's friend and condoning their actions. And I guess we're seeing that here, too. Yusei, Jack, and Crow showed up in the end because Kalin's their friend, not because they'd changed their minds about following his lead.

We've seen that old theater before! But I want to say this; we saw the throne on the stage from an angle, from downstage left, in the Big Flashback. Here we get a powerful image from straight-on, and I want to take this opportunity to explain something I learned in Directing class about sets. Jack's lair in the theater lets me apply some of my theater know-how, and I have in fact worked out stage blocking for performing the Big Flashback. The very center of the stage is a very powerful location. Any chair placed in the center of the stage assumes some connotation of a throne. Jack's choosing this as his lair would foreshadow perhaps the fact that, aside from being an Enforcer, he craves the spotlight. Later on, in the Big Flashback, Lezar points out that Jack has the chance to "sit on a *real throne*, as the king of the turbo-duels," and gives us clear symbolism and connection from the plot to the throne. Seeing it here and now suggests to me that Jack has already begun to take his own path away from his friends, even Yusei, and the Big Flashback will happen someday not far from now.

Also on the 'sets' front: Why the table? In the scene where Yusei walks away from Kalin, the table they're sitting at in that scene seems staged and unnecessary. But I take the series as it is, so I've got to ask myself if there's something about having a table in that scene that I'm missing. Well, it's something big and obvious that's standing between Yusei and Kalin, like the absence of their other two friends or Kalin's reckless aggression. I look at the things that are done to and with the table. Kalin leans on his elbows on the table, comfortable, and Yusei could do the same, but stands at the beginning of the scene instead, staying farther away from the table, recoiling from it. If we take the table as the symbol I said earlier, as that which stands between them, Kalin's comfortable being alienated from his friends and Yusei's the one who's worried about him being reckless and getting himself in trouble. Yusei slams his hands down on the table, getting closer and making contact with the table and its connotation, for the sake of pulling Kalin out of his comfort with it, and even grabs him by the shirt and pulls him up from just sitting at the table comfortably. But once Yusei has pulled Kalin up by the shirt, the table leaves him nowhere to go, just as he feels that Kalin won't listen to whatever he says. Unless he had walked around the table, told the truth that he thought Crow and Jack were right to leave him, told the truth that not only isn't Kalin thinking clearly, but it seems he would rather have a good fight than friends or a heart. It's hard to say that to a friend, and Yusei did start to, in saying that Kalin wasn't thinking clearly anymore. But trying to scare Kalin out of such a plan by refusing to help, was just another way to try and get by without telling the truth. I've also been suggested that the table creates the impression that it's a place where they often and intentionally hang out, not just a random location.
There's a point to the table, I guess, but the table was still sort of out-of-place, and you find yourself wondering things like, how did it get there? If it's been up there already, why does it look that good and unweathered, and why hasn't anyone bothered to steal it and hock it at the uptown markets yet? Did they really bother to lug it all the way up there? And if so, why bother, if they had nothing to put on top of it? Where in the Satellite did they find two matching chairs for it? And on and on.

More questions still unanswered about Satellite history:
- Where do Rally and the gang come into the picture?
- When were Rally and Yusei at the Reeducation Center together?
- How is it that Rally has prison dye so young?
- How is it that Crow had prison dye (and has more by now) so young?
- What happened after this to Yusei, Crow, and Jack?
- When and why did Yusei start working on building a duel runner, if it wasn't before the Enforcers broke up?
- Why wasn't Security sent after Crow like it was after Yusei during OYM? Why was Yusei considered Jack's only link to the Satellite?
- Where was Martha during all this?
- Did this have to do with the "falling-out" between Jack and Yusei?
- Was Trudge part of this action?
- How long ago did this happen?
- Where is the guy with the pointy mustache now?
- Did Kalin actually go to the Facility? Where's his dye, if it's not now under his Dark Signer mark?
- Was possession of duel runners and carrying cards illegal in the Satellite at this point in time?
- When did they become illegal?
- How long ago was the Daedalus Bridge built?
- How long ago in years was Zero Reverse?

Wow, check out that red sunset... for a moment I thought that might be foretelling the storm that night, but actually conventional weather-wisdom tells us the opposite: Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailor's delight. Then again, who said this conversation happened at sunset, not sunrise? I looked up the scientific basis; this saying is actually true, because a red sky will show one where the moisture is in the sky, and whether it's approaching or moving away. Thanks again to "phrases.org.uk" for teaching me something *else* new!

This means that Yusei hadn’t attempted to build a runner yet, and does it mean that Sector Security just got them? Yusei develops one sometime not too long after this; is Sector Security in an arms race with the cleverer satellites including Yusei, and is that one of the reasons he becomes a fugitive?

This means that Yusei and Jack, Crow, and Kalin each ended up as turbo-duelists individually. We say in anthropology that what people have in common they might once have shared; so much for that theory, I guess, when it comes to turbo-dueling. Still, the four best duelists in the Satellite are now the four best turbo-duelists in the Satellite, and they never ended up collaborating, the four of them, when it came to runners, though Yusei and Jack might have.

I'll just put it out there: Did Yusei build a runner to get some of his own back after the fellow with the pointy mustache broke whatever deal they made and arrested Kalin?

The guy-with-the-bandanna scene in the flashback is so interesting, it’s almost out-of-place. What does it have to show us or tell us, besides the fact that Security bullies people pretty much as badly as any duel gang, chasing down random duelists at all hours? Will we learn later why the scene is important? That duelist reminded me of Blitz, because of his bandanna; a relation?

"But living like this is *already* a prison sentence!" What the deck is that supposed to mean?

We're seeing a lot of Crow these episodes. First he has a big duel and we learn more about his own history, including roughly when he met Yusei and Jack, and now he's the one who picks a fight with Kalin when the Enforcers start going after little kids. And after knowing more of Crow's own history, we can clearly understand why.

"Information is power... and without it you're nothing!" What a line. It also reminded me of another line: "Friends are the most important thing a guy can have. Without them, you're nothing." (The Take Back I)

That climactic night seems like such an important one, and since we know that Akiza's Sign first appeared at the same time Zero Reverse was happening, I have to wonder whether, on this night, something important was happening in terms of the Signers. Was this the night Akiza tried to run home and ended up shattering every window in her house with a spell card? Was this when Luna heard Leo calling out to her and started running from the Spirit World as fast as she could? In other words, since the Signers are connected, was this event mirrored in the other Signers' lives at the same time? Was this just a bad night for the Enforcers, a confluence of tragic misfortune, or was something bigger going on?

This is 5Ds' *only* instance of rain. This is our precedent. I expect the next time we see rain in 5D's, it'll be bad, 'cause this is what it gets compared to right off the bat.

"And bullies never learn, unless you stand up to them." I was thinking about that quote, because the Enforcers *do* become bullies, and Crow stands up to Kalin for the sake of the kids, and Sector Security are also bullying duelists and Kalin stands up to *them*, but, but... we blur the line, here, on the matter of who's a bully. Yusei didn't walk away from Kalin because taking on Sector Security was the act of a bully, unlike why Jack and Crow walked away. Yusei was worried that Kalin would get himself arrested and shipped off to the Facility, that he would incur Security's wrath. The question remains for me: could the Enforcers have taken the Security team that was sent after Kalin? *Could* they have won? After all, at their peak they took on a gang of maybe thirty or more nasty downtown red-vests. The Enforcers have a history of being outnumbered; they took out every duel gang in Satellite, just the four of them. I also see that it would've been close, and someone could easily have gotten hurt, either a Security trooper or one of them. I can understand that Yusei wanted to end it for everyone's good. I can also understand Yusei, Jack, and Crow wanting to put a stop to this because Kalin's forcing everyone into it. He started out by essentially planting a bomb in their headquarters. He didn't come out and say that they're bullying innocent satellites and if they aren't going to play nice they'll have to deal with the same thing everyone else who gets rough in Satellite has to. The Enforcers stand for keeping Satellite safe; if Kalin had spoken of challenging Security duelist-to-duelist, it would've been a challenge but the Enforcers *can* outduel Security and they're clever enough to keep Security from cheating and arresting them. Kalin was just itching for a fight; he wasn't interested in keeping people safe anymore, not even his best friends.

"Sometimes friends... do some stupid things, huh?" My gosh, if there was ever anyone who knew what he was talking about when he said that...

"You guys think that Yusei's scared?" My goodness, what an interesting question, you perceptive little angel. I'd be willing to bet that if Yusei's ever scared, he's scared now. He's ready to face that fear, but I'd imagine that not only does he know darn well (bruises most likely still healing) that he's risking life, soul, and limb; not only does he know that this duel's for the future of the Satellite, the safety of his friends, and the fate of the world, but he knows that this is going to hurt. High stakes aside, the person on the other runner was once as close to him as a brother, and I think Yusei knows that he can win; but can he finish it? And can he get through to the person Kalin used to be, can he make amends with his friend at last and can they both be free of that terrible night? Is there any way this duel can have a happy ending? Yusei always sees a possibility, however slim, for a happy ending in any situation, and he stakes his whole being on that. If anyone can do this, he's the one. I'm not worried.

I noticed the little game of chicken there, and how Kalin forced Yusei to stop short. Yusei was the one who braked first, because he's the sane one, but Kalin sees it as weakness and fear.

Kalin just crossed the line to out-and-out cheating, if he hadn’t yet, with the sideswipe on the going first. I'd say most damage you take in a duel like this is par for the course, but this would be like flipping a double-headed coin to see who goes first.

Satellite geography based on facing of the mark. Lesee, so Crow, Trudge, and the twins are watching from that highway to the right of the mark (if I consider the end with the eyes to be the head), and seeing how they got there, they probably came from above its head. Jack sees the mark from beyond the bottom of its feet, so let's figure out which way it's facing. Unfortunately the missing link is where Crow v. Greiger happened and how much Yusei and the twins detoured. I'd say it's more likely they came from the north, assuming Mina's map in "Mark of the Monkey I" is oriented N-S, toward the monkey tower, unless they cut wide around the giant tower and hoped Kalin didn't see them. However, since we know Jack is somewhere to the northwest, between Martha's house and the hummingbird tower, that actually orients us with the head of the giant pointing southeast, which means that's where Crow vs. Greiger happened and that's where they came from. I'm also noticing in the aerial view of the mark that there appears to be a body of water crossing through part of it. *That* could be an exciting jump or two.

Who voices Kalin? I would like to shake that guy's hand. Seriously, it takes some amazing talent to make your voice sound that way, and even more to have it live to tell the tale.

Like Greiger and Crow did, Yusei and Kalin agreed that the first one around the corner would get the first move. *Unlike* Greiger or Crow, Kalin wasn't honorable about it and instead sideswiped Yusei into the fire. This duel's off to a friendly start.

Max Warrior is stronger when it's the one attacking, but that ultimately weakens it-- kind of like Kalin in our flashbacks this episode. No coincidence that Yusei has changed up his game such that his cards remind us of the Kalin he remembers. Yusei may have exactly the same deck as before, but we can tell that his intention is entirely driven by the memory of his best friend Kalin, the friend he tried and failed to save even when he went too far and endangered all of them; and his cards reflect it. Yusei knows why he's here, why he chose to ride out there and face Kalin and not put it off another minute.

Max Warrior's special ability is like Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger's. In addition, the camera shot of the card says it has eight stars, but it was summoned without an advance-summon and when its level was halved it went down to 2 stars. Is that just a little slip of the pen there?

BTW, we’ve seen Kalin’s hand more times than we’ve seen Yusei’s in this match, and we’ve seen this strategy from him before while Max Warrior is new and parallels Kalin and his folly rather closely. Yusei has something up his sleeve we don’t know about yet, I’d bet anything. He’s the only one who knows why he’s no traitor, what he said to the guy with the mustache, how he got played, and what really happened.

Yusei seems to have changed up his game, while Kalin's has stayed the same since the last time Yusei tangled with him. Yusei sees his handless combo coming a mile away, while we've never seen Max Warrior before, ever. *Now* who's being predictable, Kalin?

Infernity or Infernalty? Continuity glitch, misspeak, whatever. I'll look it up and figure out which duel has it right, I guess, and annotate my transcripts. "The Infernity, known as Infernalty in the English anime..." Okay, Yugioh Wikia, I hear you loud and clear. Everyone messes up. Remember, they only get to release these episodes once.

"I know deep down that the only way to get through to Kalin, is to come at him with everything I’ve got!" Very "Fighting For a Friend", was my reaction. By the way, over the long wait, I re-watched the fourth season of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I even dared myself into watching Fate of the Pharaoh for the second time, and the first time since I was thirteen. But back to the point, what Joey's duel with Valon taught him, the reason he challenged Mai, was because dueling with everything you have, your whole *heart*, brings out the best in both opponents. Makes incredible things happen. I agree with Yusei's believing that the best thing he can do for his friend is raise the bar as high as he can and make this no ordinary duel, make this a duel that not just any heartless thug can keep up with.

"You always were the *clever one*, weren't you!" Well, Kalin would know. He was the best duelist, but I guess Yusei was the clever strategist.

Infernity *Archfiend*? Jack's known for Archfiend cards, but Sayr also surprised us with Thought Ruler Archfiend and Jack also plays monsters like Exploder Dragonwing. Jack doesn't have a monopoly on archfiends, even in this series alone (Titan...), but I think it's worth noting that Kalin was the one to remind us of Jack with one of his moves, not Yusei.

Yusei sacrifices and revives with Revival Ticket and Card of Sacrifice
I noticed some instances of that theme of sacrifice and revival in Yusei's cards; a card called Card of Sacrifice, and the effect (and name) of Revival Ticket. Stardust isn't on the field yet, but Yusei's cards are foreshadowing its arrival like crazy, and emulating it in the meantime.

Ghost Gardna? It's been a while. Ghost Gardna was only played once, in A Blast From the Past. What now? Counterattack Beacon? Or would that be too much. Yusei just played two facedowns, and he knew before he activated his Card of Sacrifice trap that he could survive leaving his weak monsters in attack mode through the turn. Or did he just longshot that? In any case, Kalin just attacked Ghost Gardna and that means OHED loses points until the end of the turn. We know for a fact that Yusei just drew Ghost Gardna with the effect of Card of Sacrifice, because we saw his hand earlier and it was all traps. It's possible that Yusei just got lucky and drew a monster, moreover a monster that could defend his other monsters, but will-based draws are a well-proven phenomenon. In any case, I predict that since Kalin just attacked Ghost Gardna, we're about to see Yusei launch a counterattack before the end of Kalin's turn. If he does that, he'll probably destroy OHED, and I predict that brings out Ccapac Apu hard on its heels; that's the pattern; and that'd happen fairly early next episode.

OMG. Greiger realized it all and was about to surrender, then he got possessed. If Kalin wakes up, the same thing might happen, and Yusei might end up having to betray him all over again to do the right thing for his friend.

Will we see this end so very soon? It seems too easy... I hope the duel will at least be three parts though I kinda want to see how it ends sooner than that...

Well, there we are. This has been kind of a weird week. I'd been putting all this off because of the holiday, going straight for the second episode because of all the juicy flashbacks and kind of leaving the first one to languish, getting back into the swing of this after having been spending a lot of time in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series to pass the time. I think we may be seeing a shift to getting our episodes every Monday morning instead of every Saturday morning for a while, if they're going to be streamed. I'll keep a careful eye out and try to get my post out before the next episode becomes available; that is my goal, always, because I want to predict things *before* they actually happen or I can't call it predictions. Anyway, welcome back to New Domino, everybody! I know I'm glad to be back here again, even if it *is* the beginning of the end of the world! Our next episode for sure is A Score To Settle II-- after that, who knows! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF A WHALE OF A DUEL III HERE

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF A SCORE TO SETTLE I HERE

December 25th, 2009:

Dear Groups, Site, and Post,

Merry Christmas, Happy Everything Else, and Happy New Episodes! I found them Wednesday morning, and I've been working on them inbetween last-minute shopping and celebrating with my family. But they won't be done by my usual deadline, Friday night, and I want to give an all-around heads-up on that. If we do get another new episode, or a few, on Saturday, I'll do a joint post of however many I end up with, similar to how I handled the six episodes uploaded at once back in August.

For now, I predict that Yusei still has more to reveal about this. He had a plan to end this, and I don't think it included Kalin getting shipped off to the Facility. What went wrong? What deal did Yusei try to make with Security, and did he get played?
We've seen Greiger's eyes turn normal, when the premise under which he was pursuing vengeance was completely turned on its head; could Kalin revert back to normal if he finds out that Yusei was the one who got betrayed?

I also have many points of history to piece together, some more chronology questions, a whole symbology around Yusei's Max Warrior, and much much more. But in the meantime, I'll candidly say that I'll take it easy, move my deadline forward and deal with what happens next, and enjoy the holidays with my family. This evening, after I finished wrapping the last of my presents, my youngest sister and my brother (and my brother's not so interested in YGO) watched the first part of the Final Duel with me and ate cookies, since I happen to have the original 2005 run still saved on my DVR, and then we played video games together and my whole family got owned at Disney Trivia by my younger sister and my mom. This is what it's all about.
This poem isn't done, yet, but now's the time to share it. I hope you all like it, and accept it as my holiday gift to all of my friends online who read my posts...

'Twas the night before Christmas; throughout Domino,
Not a creature was stirring, wherever you'd go.
Every part of the City, from Narrows to Tops,
Were snug in their beds, their penthouses, their flops.
The twins slumbered cozily in their pajamas,
Free from their usual troubles and dramas;
Leo did snore like a passing steam engine,
Dreaming of going pro-- Action! Attention!
While Luna, in all her dreams, frolicked and twirled
With all of her friends in the Duel Spirit World.
The most watchful and nosy weren't even awake;
Angela Reins dreamed of stories to break.
And Lezar, special deputy (that means head stooge),
Snoozed with a gleefulness not unlike Scrooge,
And up where a passing red-eyed airplane flies,
Director Rex Goodwin dreamed glibly of lies.
And out in the Satellite, safe from the weather,
Crow, the master of birds of a feather,
Had tucked in his nestlings in blankets secure,
And drifted off wond'ring what sugarplums were.
And in the park Martha dreamed hearts to be mended,
And Schmidt, in the guest room, of bruises untended,
And Taka, he dreamed that Security'd accept him,
And Trudge, well, he dreamed of policemen's redemption,
And down in a tunnel that once was a station,
Still home of the Satellite's best transportation,
Our Yusei, his dreams were all cards and inventions,
Of breathtaking battles and hope-filled intentions.
And elsewhere in Satellite, that bug-filled lair,
The Dark Signers' dreams were of bringing despair,
But just now and then, with a sigh, and a smile,
Perhaps those closed lids hid bright eyes for a while.

Merry Christmas. I wish all of you cards in your stockings and plenty of fun with your friends and family at this special time of year. It is special-- just not the best time for a rushed two-episode post!
- Clio