Predictions and Observations:
A Score to Settle II and
Destiny's Will I and II

Episodes Made Available Officially:
This Post Posted:

Before I post this, I will have already told everyone this, but in light of the uncertainty about when episodes will be released, I'm changing my own rules to preserve my sanity. Customarily, when we get new episodes on Saturday, I post my commentary on them before the next episodes show, meaning my post usually goes out on Friday. Off that time frame, I've gotten pretty good at pacing myself. But when I get three brand-new episodes and I don't know how long I'll have to write about them, I'm glad to have new episodes but it's also very stressful. Kind of ironic that I'm studying the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution right now in U.S. History for Intersession. Recognizing the necessity of writing down one's system of rules and establishing it, on this, nearly the fifth anniversary of this post's beginnings, I'm going to write here and now a declaration that spells out the purpose and declares my policy around this post.

CHARTER FOR MY POST

Why I write this post
I write this post for others to read in order to assert and communicate my views on the episode, whatever worth they may possess or lack; to share my fandom with other fans; to share my happiness, dedication, and what insight I possess with anyone who reads it; to provide an indirect resource to any who wish to recall what happened when; to bring the wisdom and struggle expressed in the episode to addressing philosophical and practical conflicts in everyday life such that perhaps the world *can* become a bit more like the egalitarian, combative, and nonviolent dueling world; and to assert my claim to expertise in a field that I hold to be as valid and useful as any academic realm of study.
I write this post for myself to create mastery of the episode in my own consciousness such that I comprehend and accept it as part of the entire YGO canon; to understand myself better as a human being; to allow myself a place and format in which I express myself and my views; and to record, as a primary-source account, what it's like to not know how the story ends. In this work, I see the possibility of envisioning a future for myself that I don't yet fathom; I see the possibility of establishing a new way of understanding information that invents new approaches to education by studying how and why it is that I learn episode names, duels, and scripts of entire episodes more easily than names, dates, vocabulary terms, scientific formulae, or theatrical lines.

How I will structure this post
I will open a new post when I see a new episode. This post will be regarding any number of episodes made available within the same day. All posts will remain open for a minimum of five days per included episode, after the day they are made available on TV or on the official 4Kids streaming site. An open post is defined as a post in the process of being written.
Once a post has been published online, or declared closed, it is closed. A closed post does not get altered under any circumstances. Any revisions necessary will be included in later posts.
Each post will contain a new card section, containing the names of new cards, their canonly known stats and effects, who played them, and if necessary, in which duel.

Lastly, I want to state unequivocally that you, my readers, have my word on this. I guarantee everything I declared above, and if I ever revise or amend this declaration, I'll do so the way I revise a post: I'll state it in the subsequent posts, like I'm stating this now.
- Clio

A SCORE TO SETTLE II

I find that duels, in 5D's in particular, seem to happen in distinct waves, levels. I've already discussed the pattern that when a dark synchro monster goes down, its counterpart Earthbound will appear within the next turn. However, the Dark Signers aren't the only duelists with patterns; or rather, the pattern of their strategies creates a mirroring pattern in their opponents' strategies. Whatever monster takes down the dark synchro monster, it alone will not be enough to destroy the ensuing Earthbound Immortal, and will almost certainly be outmatched not long after its nemesis dark synchro monster is. If a Signer summons their dragon anytime before we see their opponent's Earthbound Immortal, we know that either they're going to fall short of victory, or we're about to see something like Majestic Star Dragon, an even higher level. For instance, last time, Dark Signs, Yusei managed to take out One Hundred Eye Dragon with Stardust, and then was overwhelmed, blindsided, by Ccapac Apu. This time, though, even though Junk Warrior ultimately destroyed One Hundred Eye Dragon, it did so standing on the shoulders of Max Warrior, which was Yusei's most important card in the duel up until O.H.E.D's destruction, so I argue that Max Warrior was the 'nemesis' of O.H.E.D. in this duel, and that it signals Yusei made up for brute power with profound intention and sincere dedication to the person he was there to save; Max Warrior's aggression-based special ability reminds me metaphorically of the Enforcer Kalin, whose downfall was his need for competition.

Hey look, in the flashback there Kalin played Vorse Raider! And here I was starting to blame the Vorse Raider we saw earlier on some continuity glitch! And thus the beginning of this arc, when Kalin confronted Yusei and Crow that night, and threw the Vorse Raider card and clipped Crow's shoulder, is reasserted with its completion. "Crow, I know that card!", Yusei said then (Dark Signs I). Not Crow knew it, or that they both did. Yusei's the only one who can tell us the part of the story in which we see Kalin summon Vorse Raider.

So, *what* happened there? Quick Recap. From where we left them before, Yusei, Jack, and Crow put down their duel disks, and repeated to Kalin that they weren't here to fight. Kalin was trying to talk them into it, and failing, when Security started blowing chunks out of the building, trying to scare them out.
The Enforcers ran out the back way, dodged some Security goons, and made a clean getaway, Crow said, but Kalin couldn't leave well enough alone. He ended up getting separated from the others, I guess? They split up to be harder to track? It would've been tricky already; four intelligent kids who knew the entire Satellite like the backs of their hands, running around in the rain? They could've led those officers a very miserable marathon chase, and Security would've never actually found them; I wonder if anyone framed it for Kalin like that-- that if they ran and got away like they knew they could, Security would have to hunt them through every alley and gutter, all night long, in the pouring rain, and probably never even find them, if they weren't careless.
But anyway, Kalin ended up cornered down an alleyway by a Security guy on a runner, and he fought back with Vorse Raider; the Security guy came back with Montage Dragon, destroyed Kalin's monster, and rode straight at him. Kalin thought quick and jumped onto the back of the runner, probably trying to steal it right out from under the guy-- then the Enforcers would have their own runner. They careened through a wall, and the Security guy was injured; Kalin was about to do worse when Yusei intercepted him and tackled him to the ground.
After that, Yusei, Jack, and Crow hid in a building, keeping Kalin with them, but they knew Security would find them soon. Yusei told them to wait, and walked out into the street, surrendering and claiming he was the leader of the Enforcers. However, as soon as he left, Security must've burst in on Jack, Crow, and Kalin and found them. They already knew they were after Kalin specifically, not Yusei. However, the leader of the force sarcastically congratulated Yusei on being duped, clapping him patronizingly on the shoulder. Kalin, in the process of being hustled into a prison van, saw this and interpreted it as Yusei being in cahoots with Security.
Kalin did go to the Facility, and spent his time there isolated and miserable. It's unclear whether this was especially bad treatment for him because of the balance of power in the Facility or even because he was there for attacking a Security officer, or whether, out of mistrust of friendship born of the conditions of his arrest, he isolated himself. He sorely missed his deck, and the ability to duel. It looks like he was there for a little while at least; tracking dye seems to fade a bit, to more of a yellow than a brown, within about a month. But his misery and anger toward the friend whom he thought had betrayed him intensified if anything; when the dark shadows spoke to him, he didn't hesitate to become a Dark Signer, all to get revenge against a single person...

I note that, in the absence of trusting Kalin as their leader, Jack and Crow deferred to Yusei.

"Our 'big moment' is never *comin'*, Kalin." What did Jack mean by that? He's had some 'big moments' since then; why so negative?

Looking straight up into the rain. There's one precedent, only one, for a shot like that in all of YGO, unless I'm much mistaken, and that's the flashback in My Freaky Valentine I, when Mai meets Valon. No, I'm wrong, it's also in Steppin' Out. What does a shot like that convey? Why do it? It's just a little, momentary thing; why include it?

Yusei tried to sacrifice himself, like Stardust, to take one for the team-- but it didn't work, and in fact that wasn't the way. Majestic Star Dragon absorbs the abilities of the opponent's monster; it defeated Ccapac Apu by profoundly understanding it, by accepting the Giant's strengths and faults as its own.

Wouldn't the cards have gotten wet? Not long ago, I wrote that one of the reasons rain is rare in YGO is because "rain gets the cards wet". It makes it drastically less likely that anyone will duel outside. Thus, rain as a motif in YGO tends to create and depict a harsher reality, one in which disputes *can't* be solved with a duel. But we *did* see a duel in the rain in this episode, Vorse Raider vs. Montage Dragon. But it wasn't really a formal duel, just a couple of summoned monsters.

I had wondered, you'll recall, about the scene in a flashback in A Score to Settle I, when Mustache cornered a random anonymous satellite duelist down an alleyway on his runner; the random guy, I think I recognized Tony Salerno's voice on him, summoned Skull Knight #2, and Mustache overwhelmed him with Assault Dog. Now I understand. That guy was made an example of; in this episode we saw Kalin in the exact same position, in the role of that victim, when that Security guy cornered him and they played Vorse Raider and Montage Dragon.

A word about officers riding their runners right at people who have nowhere to run; police brutality much? We've never seen another turbo-duelist do something like that, and indeed most of the other turbo-duelists we know would never contemplate such a move. The Security officers on runners don't even turbo-duel at this point; no duelist in the Satellite has a duel runner yet. They use duel runners to bully better and more effectively.

"Man, I can't *imagine* what they did to you in there!" What's Crow talking about?Yusei's been to the Facility, too, and Crow's been there at least twice, probably more like three or four times. They both endured having their dueling decks confiscated. It occurs to me at this juncture that that means Security would undoubtedly have a complete deck list on file for each criminal to pass through the Facility, as of when they did, and also because of that, satellite duelists may well consider it a good practice to restructure their decks as soon as they get home from the Facility, even with their limited collections of cards, which overall would foster exceptional versatility among duelists of the Satellite. We've seen Yusei survive the Facility, and we know that Kalin's a strong duelist; the Facility shouldn't have been that bad to him, for all he wouldn't have been one to make friends and for all he spent his time there both missing and hating his friends. Crow would know, if anyone, what the Facility is and was like, and he could probably tell us a fairly accurate history of the Facility over the last three or more years; who was in power, how prisoners were treated, what people get certain marks for, and so on. Crow would know if Kalin would've gotten worse treatment than your average prisoner; possibly because he got there by harming Security officers. Is there a place worse than the Hive, and is that where they sent Kalin? Was Kalin in the infamous Lockdown? Or, here's a theory: we know that Kalin loves and needs competition; it's not that far-fetched that, lacking cards, he'd start fights in the Facility just to have something to fight, and people get thrown in the Hive and worse for things like that. Alex got thrown in the Hive for a food fight. I wonder if Tanner, Yanagi, or Alex ever met Kalin in the Facility?

My other question: how long was Kalin in the Facility? We can figure out a ballpark estimate from his faded tracking dye and the fact that Crow never wound up visiting him by getting one of the marks he's acquired between the Enforcers days and now. Or if Crow *was* in the Facility at the same time, we know that Kalin was isolated and even Crow couldn't get where he was.

In a way, Kalin *did* do to Yusei what he himself had endured; he took away Yusei's ability to duel, briefly. For a duelist like Yusei, or, apparently, Kalin, nothing cuts deeper than to be unable to duel. Just look at Yugi during "Shining Friendship", when he had vowed never to duel again. Look at Jaden after the "A New Breed of Hero" duel, when his cards were wiped blank. For someone who loves the game, being afraid to duel or unable to is a miserable condition.

Near death experiences of the Dark Signers. This is the part where I observe how Kalin kinda slumped over at the end of the flashback in the Facility cell. We know Carly and Greiger both suffered tremendous falls into unnatural mists, and Roman weathered Zero Reverse, and Misty was approached by Koka Riah when she was on a hospital gurney of some sort: "I knew I had one reason to stay alive. I had to find my brother, and take revenge on those who took him from me!" (Digging Deeper II). Now we see Kalin kinda slump over there. "When the life you once knew was taken away, you had unfinished business. Something you needed to say or do. The Immortals gave you their power so you could, well, stick around... We’re still in this world, but we’re not part of it anymore", is how Misty put it in "Digging Deeper III". So is dying or nearly dying a definitely a mandatory part of becoming a Dark Signer?

Before I return to the present, I want to note that there's still a big huge question mark in our history of the Satellite, or a few. We still have a missing piece, regarding when Rally, Blitz, Tank, and Nervin entered the picture, and when and why Yusei started building duel runners. I realized recently that we *do* have one small piece of evidence in this matter. RBTN talk about Kalin in Dark Signs IV, when they find out whom Yusei is dueling:
"Tank: As in 'let's take over Satellite' Kalin?
Nervin: I thought they locked *him* up and threw away the key.
Blitz: Looks like they didn't throw it far *enough.*"
I get the sense that they know *of* Kalin, but don't know him well. Tank might've actually met him. He's the one who says, "Y'know, I never liked him..." The one thing Kalin says about Yusei's friends, "It sounds to me like you have a couple of loyal friends out there watching the duel. I just hope for *your* sake that you never have to feel the stinging pain of their betrayal!" suggests that he doesn't know who these are specifically, just generally.

What were Ccapac Apu's abilities? Since Yusei was able to change the target of its attack *to* a monster, I'm going to guess that Ccapac Apu *can* declare an attack against a duelist directly, similar to Uru. In addition to that, it's got a Flame Wingman ability, dealing the atk of the opponent's destroyed monster as battle damage to the opponent.

Angel Baton is becoming a common card. Crow has played it, we saw Greiger with it in a flashback in A Whale of a Duel somewhere, and now Yusei has also played it. This card's effect reminds me of a milder Graceful Charity; draw two cards and discard one instead of draw three and discard two.

Yusei played a card called "Limiter Breaker" in the first half of this duel, and a card called "Limiter Break" during Second Round Showdown; are they the same card?

What's a shaolog and how do you spell it? Okay, this one I actually did look up, thank you Yu-Gi-Oh Wikia, and it's spelled Xiaolong. I translated the chinese characters given for the card on this site, figuring the word "xiaolong" was Chinese and wanting to know what it actually meant, and it translated (via an automatic online translator) to "Star dust dragonet".

Okay, so Crow and Jack have both been warning Yusei to give it up, to stop trying to save Kalin ("...you're here to defeat 'im, *not* to save 'im. You've already tried doin' that before, way back then..." (Crow, this episode) ; "I know Kalin was our friend; but that was then, and this is now, and *yes*, it's *that simple*!" (Jack, "Surely, You Jest I") but Yusei still didn't give up. I'm trying to put my finger on how Yusei changed his approach from the one that nearly got him smashed, crushed, and netherworlded *last* time he faced Kalin. Might just be that he was ready for it. It's a lot to take in, that your best friend's trying to smash, crush, and netherworld you.

"I made the wrong call, Kalin! I thought I could help you, I thought, 'maybe if I take the heat Kalin'll turn himself around!' But I *get it* now! You and I are friends! I should've found a way for us to fix things *together*! I should've stood by you!" We thought there were two options: save Kalin or let him deal with the consequences alone-- and that there was no right answer to the dilemma the Enforcers faced back then. But Kalin asks why Yusei even tried to surrender, to take one for the team, when they could have teamed up and made it through without *any* of them taking the heat alone, and he has a good point, and Yusei realizes that. The Enforcers allowed their differences to divide them. Crow, Jack, and even Yusei walked away one by one, not because they refused to be friends anymore, but because they were hoping that their absence would keep their friends from being able to do anything too stupid. But Yusei observes as early as last episode, "I thought if I left there was no way you'd go after Sector Security on your own; but I should've known better...and that's when I knew I should've stayed, and tried to reason with you!" A lonely duelist is dangerous, and Kalin was getting lonelier and lonelier. I guess the moral of the story is that, no matter what you're going through, it doesn't work to shun the people closest to you, because they see things you don't and they can help you. That works both ways; Kalin shut out his friends by attacking Security when they tried to keep him from doing something he'd regret, and Yusei shut out his friends when he tried to get Security to arrest only him.

Over New Years, I amused myself by altering Misty's crucial quote from Digging Deeper III: "...You have to figure out—what *is* your unfinished business, and how can it *be traced back to* (originally "benefit") the Dark Signers!" 'Cause that's what snapped Greiger out of it, right? When he realized that the Dark Signers, not Goodwin, did whatever happened there to his village?
But Kalin's fate *wasn't* a setup by the Dark Signers... Was it? We may never know, or we may find out the same way we found out that Dartz framed Valon for his first crime at the age of nine, dressed up as Gozaburo Kaiba and sent tanks into Alister's hometown, and led Rafael's cruise ship into that storm.

We've been referring to the other side of this conflict as 'the Dark Signers'. But we've been seeing for a while, and have been seeing even more with the fall of the supposed leader Roman, that the Dark Signers themselves are the most tragic victims of this mess, chosen to be used and corrupted specifically because they are in pain, confused, afraid, and despondent. To say that the Dark Signers did that to Kalin is erroneous, because Kalin *is* one of the Dark Signers, except to the extent that Kalin destroyed *himself*; so I ask, who they? What or who is the badness behind the Dark Signers, the badness behind the first of them Roman, who could in theory have brought everyone else onto the team the way he pushed Greiger into the Reactor.

"They came to you when you were afraid and hurt. They took advantage of your pain..." Well put. Exceptionally put. That could be a new slogan for the Dark Signers, once they finally get tired of 'When the shadows are devoured by even darker shadows..'
"...They twisted you so that they could use you as their pawn! They won't get away with it! I won't let these Dark Signers win!!" Another vow of revenge from Yusei. To quote Leo, "You know, you really freak me out when you talk like that!" Good guys don't duel for revenge, unless they're cruisin' for a bruisin'. Then again, one thing I'm noticing, especially with 5Ds' take on the whole determinism chestnut (more on that later), is that 5D's has a new take on a lot of the things that we, as old hands at YGO, sort of assume about, such as the determinism chestnut. Jaden had an anti-destiny stance too, but Yusei states unequivocally that he believes there's no such thing as destiny, and hammers the argument home. Another strong theme in the YGO canon that 5D's has a different take on is friendship; Yusei himself stands with Yugi and Jaden on the importance of it, but the scenarios seriously test that; what about what happened between Yusei and Jack, or Yusei and Kalin? What about Blister and Arrow? What about Roman, Goodwin, and Professor Fudo? 5D's is putting YGO's traditional stand on friendship to the test. Perhaps dueling for revenge, too, is seeing grey areas it hasn't before. Still, though; revenge is retribution, dueling because of the past, not for the sake of the future, and usually means big trouble.

DESTINY'S WILL I and II

Now they know the taken come back. We've known that since the end of the twins' duel, when we saw the duel spirits come back, and we also saw Greiger's village come back after the fall of Chaquchalua, but come to think of it, this is when they find out.

Martial law?! New Domino's in a state of *martial* *law*? That is to say, rule by the military, the military is occupying the town to keep all heck from breaking loose, which generally means normal laws are suspended, people stay in their homes, don't gather in large groups, and keep quiet until things calm down. OMG. Martial law. If it happened in America, people would lose it, cry suspension of the Bill of Rights. Martial law is no joke, and again I ask about New Domino's political, social, and economic structure, as well as its justice system.

Geoglyphs. I looked up the term, it's obscure, and found it on Wikipedia. A good example of a geoglyph is, guess what, the Nazca Lines; a geoglyph is a huge work of art constructed on the ground. Angela must have been referring to the outlines on the clouds. What about the ones that destroyed ten city blocks, Angela? They weren't *just* in the sky...

"Perhaps thousands"? Don't be dramatic, Angela, a few days ago (in your time, goodness knows not mine), you were saying ballpark 120. ...Seriously, thousands? New Domino *has* that many people? Akiza said there were "eighty thousand people" in the Kaibadome during the Fortune Cup. How many does a normal city or stadium have? My home city of Santa Cruz, CA was recorded with a population of 253,137 as of July, 2008, and I'd imagine New Domino to be about the same size or a bit bigger. So it *could* be thousands and still have people there, I guess. Still, though. In addition, since between Roman and Kalin we lost most of the Satellite to the Immortals, assuming that they all eat about the same number of souls, which we can't, we can make estimates about the population of the Satellite. I looked up a couple of different stadiums, and eighty thousand is a bit bigger than our current sports stadiums, but certainly not entirely beyond the pale.

How *is* Angela Reins these days? Why are we hearing from her right now? I'm recalling the commercial glimpses we've gotten of a pink E.I. bird as-yet unclaimed by a Dark Signer, and her as my most likely candidate for it. Did she manage to calm the crowd? Is she ticked at Goodwin for extorting the crowd-calming from her like that?

"The meddling masses and the noisy media, they're always wanting to *know* things. It is so *annoying*." Ladies and gentlemen, Special Deputy Lezar on freedom of the press.

Goodwin can't just dismiss his Security squad. Hey look, everybody, it's something the Director-General can't control!

Guns. Ah, guns. Pretty rare in this version of YGO. I understand we've had some guns airbrushed out over the years, but these weren't. Why guns here? Why all the guns in these two episodes, used by Goodwin's security squad, the suits who backed Roman in taking over the Reactor project, and then by Roman himself to persuade Rex to take the tank and run.

The term "Pandora's box" is based on an ancient Greek myth. As I understand it, after Prometheus stole fire from the gods and brought it to human beings, the gods decided to get back at him by sending his brother, Epimetheus, the first woman as a bride; Hephaestus himself made her out of clay, she was beautiful, and her name was Pandora. She also bore a gift from the gods, to show there were no hard feelings (yuk yuk)-- a box, that she had been warned never to open. But Pandora was just too curious, and she opened the box. Only then did she realize that the box contained all the world's ills and evils-- sickness, war, famine, anger, jealousy, heartbreak, woe-- on and on they poured out of the box, into the world. But someone managed to close the box, and one thing, the only thing left in the box, humanity kept: hope. The name Pandora means "all gifts"-- good and bad.
In common usage, opening a Pandora's box is starting down a slippery slope. I first learned the phrase when my second-grade teacher said that she would "open a Pandora's box" by allowing me to have a privilege no one else had; even if there was no problem with letting me, everyone else would want to do the same thing if she let me.
In this sense, I think that Roman's terming his action "open(ing) Pandora's box" is appropriate both in the common sense of it, and also quite literally. However, the argument could be made, in both cases, that if the person who ended up opening the Pandora's box hadn't done it, someone else would have. And maybe then, hope would've escaped us.

Each of the Goodwin brothers listed the role he has played in this conflict. If we frame it as Signer-vs.-Dark, they should be frothing enemies. That they aren't suggests we must frame this conflict another way to understand the roles they have assigned themselves. Goodwin says that he did what Roman asked him to: "I stayed in contact with Iliaster. I've watched the stars. I brought the Signers together." More about Iliaster later; the magic glue is looking sinister. What was Goodwin watching the stars for? A red one? Something else? Did the stars have to be right for this whole thing to go down? And, he brought the Signers together. Why would/did Roman tell him to do that, if he's a Dark Signer? I also note that Roman states that his role was dictated by destiny; but Goodwin says that he did what his big brother told him to do.
Roman also said the "netherworld is calling out for" him, and indeed those weird purple patches probably tell us something or other. Is it because he's been a Dark Signer for seventeen years and technically dead? Ooh, what about this; with the other Dark Signers, their drive for revenge is sorta that which maintains them; Roman didn't choose to become a Dark Signer for revenge, so for him it's a matter of willpower? He said they "must do everything (they) can to bring the great spirits together!" Which? How? My guess right now: they want some big epic battle between this king of the netherworld and the Crimson Dragon? Why? Which side do they want to have win it, or does it matter?

What's Goodwin's alternative outcome? I'm actually really curious about Goodwin's thinking in all this. On one hand, Goodwin was the younger brother and just-a-research-assistant; he readily admits himself that Roman was the genius. However, Goodwin's actions and thinking have directly shaped where we find ourselves now, whether he knew what he was doing or not. We've scratched the surface; we begin to understand more the conditions that have formed Goodwin's convoluted and at times almost contradictory motives. He's come by this whole situation somewhat secondhand; Fudo and Roman were the two people who knew what was going on, who knew what was unfolding, but both of them asked Goodwin to carry on in their stead, and he's done so, trying to understand what they wanted him to do. In their conversation, Roman corrected Goodwin's interpretation of the concept of destiny as he understands it, which signals to me that Goodwin has come to think of all this in his own way that doesn't necessarily mesh with what Roman or Fudo would do.

Wow, Goodwin's arm is a built-in duel disk?! This is the part where I note yet again that a duelist's gear is increasingly important and personal in 5D's. In GX, remember, we'd have someone carry a pair of duel disks stashed in a backpack, just in case. In 5D's, not only are there more custom models of duel disks, but gear is no longer as interchangeable. All duel runners are not created equal; Yusei's is a symbol of friendship, Jack's has a name, and Crow's has wings. I cite also how Yusei modified Leo's and Luna's duel disks to fit their arms. And now we've got this. Goodwin's arm is a duel disk. He *is* his gear. Dueling truly is a part of him... for all we have yet to see him *duel*...

Speaking of which, we-e-ell-l-l? Did they duel? Who won? What did it all mean?

Why *did* Goodwin visit Roman? What happened there? For all I've just tried to understand it, this gets chalked up to 'cryptic' for now. I think that Goodwin *did* want a chance to say goodbye to Roman, knowing that, no matter what happened in this duel, Roman didn't have much longer. He wants Roman to know that he did what he was supposed to; maybe he wants Roman to be proud of him.

"Think every disaster movie you've ever seen. Roll it all into one, then multiply that times ten. Here's hoping that nothing like that happens *today*." Trudge, it occurs to me, would have been a little kid, probably a good few years younger than the twins, at the time of Zero Reverse. He probably would've seen it on the news.

"Let the record show Leo's courage lasted a whole two seconds." Right here keeping the record, Luna, but I count *three*, lol.

The Public Security Bureau; that's Lezar's department. Is Sector Security under the Public Security Bureau? How does that hierarchy work? Well, it appears to be the City's police force/standing army.

Wow, what a foreboding place to fight a duel. What could possibly go wrong?

People seem to be having a lot of trouble telling the difference between Speed Warrior and Junk Warrior. I've been recording a rather unprecedented (in my transcribing, which isn't remotely complete) number of misspeaks, especially people calling Junk Warrior Speed Warrior instead. What gives?

We saw little streams of shadows flowing into Uru's shell thingy. Ccapac Apu didn't absorb any more souls when it was summoned the second time; the little shadowy streams there suggest that Uru might have.

Roman mentioned that, because he had Spider Web on the field, Uru could attack directly. I mentioned before, circa Mark of the Monkey IV, that Immortals' powers seem to be somewhat tied to field spells, since destroying Closed Forest hampered Cusci Lu. I'd say we're just about certain that's true; with Roman's remark and Cusci Lu's defeat, not to mention the fact that all of the non-turbo-dueling Dark Signers have or have had a strategy centered around a specific field spell: Spider Web, Closed Forest, Future Vision, and Savage Coliseum. Okay, according to "Mark of the Monkey IV", uprooting Closed Forest negated all of Cusci Lu's abilities. So, does that pattern hold true for all Immortals, that their substantially terrifying special abilities, which seem often to include being able to attack directly regardless of monsters, are null and void without a field spell in play?

Yusei said the Jadenism! Okay, to recap, back during GX when I was writing this post, I noted that Jaden has this habit of saying profound little sound bites of duel wisdom. I started calling these "Jadenisms", just for the heck of it, and the one that was said most often was "A duel isn't over until the last card's played", so I call that one *the* Jadenism.

Crow's the one who's seen Lezar and now Goodwin in the vicinity of the Old Reactor. I'd imagine Yusei would want to know about this.

Goodwin knows Crow's name? Is it just because Crow has a Security dossier "a thousand gigs deep"? Is it because Crow was an Enforcer, or because he's close to Yusei and therefore of importance? How did Goodwin already know Crow's name? Have they met before? How Crow knew Goodwin's name is easier; I'd recognize the President or the Governor if I ran into him.

We know that Yusei dreams of connecting the City and the Satellite, but this is the first time we've heard Crow declare that he, too, dreams of doing this.

"Goodwin: Yes, of course, and then you're going to change society and stop crime and cure diseases. (not sarcastic) You know, I might be able to make that dream a reality. But *first* I need you to pass along a message to Yusei for me.
Crow: Huh?
Goodwin: If he defeats my brother, tell him I'll be waiting."
Waiting where? Waiting for what? We already think that Goodwin's the Stranger, creating a nice bit of irony in this scene, but he answers Crow's dream with cynicism (the top line). I'd been wondering and asking why, if Goodwin is the Stranger, he had to be practically blackmailed into building the bridge by Yusei, who refused to fight the Dark Signers unless Goodwin agreed to build the bridge if our side won. My guess is that Goodwin's turned cynical, he's given up on that dream. He'd know better than anyone what citizens think of satellites, and perhaps he, like Blister, thinks it'll take a lot more than dreams.

Twenty years and seventeen years. All these mentions. Yes, I nearly sang. If you read this regularly you know how over-the-moon I get about references to specific numbers of years. So. Roman says, twice, that Professor Fudo first discovered planetary particles twenty years ago. Lezar cites that his mysterious contact has waited "twenty years; what's a few hours more?" Roman says that seventeen years ago, he "had the courage to open Pandora's box!" and observes the irony that, "after seventeen years", the Signer who confronts him is Fudo's son.
Therefore, I postulate with more certainty than usual, that the Reactor Project began about twenty years ago, and Zero Reverse happened seventeen years ago, three years after that.
Depending on the age of that baby, I'd say no more than two, this would place Yusei's age in the vicinity of eighteen or nineteen.
This would also mean that Professor Fudo was starting his family right smack in the middle of the Reactor Project; Yusei was definitely born after the discovery of planetary particles. This may also explain Fudo's caution; he had a lot to live for, and a lot to protect.
This also means that the Satellite has only been the Satellite, canonly now, for a mere seventeen years. Historically speaking, that's an extremely tiny length of time for such a heavy social system to be so firmly in place. But that's another story.

In philosophy, I studied theories of metaphysics, and the definition of planetary particles reminds me of them. Many philosophers have argued, in one way or another, for the existence of a spirit world, an immaterial world, that affects ours. They've argued this for different reasons; some have sought to prove the existence of the soul, existence of the mind (not just the brain), the existence of a certain divine being, and so on. But they all run up against the same little snag: Substance Dualism. An immaterial world is defined as not occupying space and time ("nowhere, no-when"), and containing things like divine beings, minds, and souls. Things you can't point to and say "there it is". A material one, on the other hand, is physical, tangible, occupies space and time, is objective, obeys the laws of physics, and so on. Now, the problem: how are two mutually exclusive substances such as these to interact? They can't. They don't operate within the same context or the same laws. How can they affect each other? One person theorized that the pituitary gland was the missing link (they couldn't figure out what it was supposed to do; we now know it regulates hormones, not connects the mind to the brain). If planetary particles existed, they would be that which can connect the material and the immaterial-- which would be, come to think of it, what would be necessary to connect and convert duel energy to usable electricity. By discovering planetary particles, Fudo would also have caused several of the dueling world's metaphysical philosophers' heads to explode. Assuming they hadn't already found something like this before, which we can't.

So Professor Fudo and his team called it Ener-D, too? Where did Zigzix get his duel-energy-reactor knowhow anyway? Would he have met Professor Fudo or had any contact with that project?

I'd imagined Yusei's dad as being more *serious*; he smiles a lot more than Yusei does, despite the fact that he's a highly-repected quantum physicist in charge of this big a project. Fudo's so *young*, too; thirty tops. In that photo, compared to the tall Goodwin brothers, he looks like a kid. That he's able to keep on the lighter side in such a serious profession, and that he's in such a lofty position so young, suggests to me that he's very good at what he does and truly loves it. Or did, back then, I should be speaking in the past tense. We've seen more glimpses of Professor Fudo in Yusei's soft side, in how we see him quietly pat his runner after he tests the roar of the engine with the Skyline chip in the first episode; in how he interacts with Rally; anytime we actually get to see him smile, really. But Roman also told us that Yusei inherited his father's stubbornness. I suppose he was fairly stubborn in standing his ground on shutting down the project, even to the point of grabbing the cards and running.

What I said before, though, still stands. One precaution Fudo didn't take was, since they were playing with powerful and cataclysmic forces, imagine that these forces would attempt to influence those he worked with. In addition, why not instead use the project's resources to discover what was causing the danger, and work past that hazard, make it safer? Could they? Was there anything that could have made such a reactor safer? Did they try?

"We can't knowingly put the city in danger in the name of progress." I contrast this with Goodwin's line regarding this Reactor: "But to create a better future, we had to take risks in the past." (Goodwin, Fight or Flight)

I noticed that Roman's mark was on his *left* arm, not right. All the other Signers' and Dark Signers' marks are on their right arms, and so is Roman's spider mark, and I can say that with certainty because all of them are clearly visible while the person is dueling, and they wear their duel disks on their left arms. This reminds me of a discussion I got into over the long break about the connotation of left vs. right in the canon. It's also established here that Roman's mark had been visible since we was born; Akiza's showed when she was five, Luna's possibly younger, Jack's mark showed sometime between the Enforcers days (now that I think of it) and the beginning of Creepy Crawlies, and as we know Yusei's didn't show until he first came to the City.

Okay, hold on. As we discover this story, I'm increasingly aware that the line between good guys and bad guys is blurring here. Roman *was* the fifth Signer, and also a Dark Signer. He's both. He actually chose to become the first Dark Signer, knowing that he would one day put the future of the world at risk, and his own brother would have to come back and destroy him for the sake of humanity. Talk about heavy; you've gotta start feeling kinda sorry for Goodwin here: 'Run! Go! Save the world from me! And me and my remaining arm that's about to get increasingly weirder will be staying right here and blowing up half the city and causing twenty years of social ruination.' Yeesh, Roman, thanks a lot. What is it about the Goodwin brothers?
But then why did Roman put himself in that position? Why precipitate Zero Reverse or the creation of any Dark Signers to begin with, if he didn't have to? What in the name of the Crimson Dragon did the light *say* to him? That this was *destined* to occur? Was that really enough? If I found out something bad was destined to happen, I might try and fail to stop it, but I certainly wouldn't actively cause it just because it's destined. Unless... unless Roman did this because he knew it had to happen eventually and he wanted to precipitate it while there were people to oppose it that he trusted; Fudo, and Goodwin. Get it over with while he knows the end of the world can be stopped, that there's a good chance.

Or, another theory of mine: we're all getting played for chumps, Signer and Dark Signer alike. Someone wanted this to happen, someone to whom both Signers and Dark Signers are just pawns. My money's on Iliaster; the magic glue's looking pretty sinister at the moment. But Iliaster is an organization dedicated to Light, and it seems to me that breaking the seals on the Immortals shifts the balance a lot more in the Dark direction; why would they do it? I answer myself, because if they know the Signers are destined to win, that's a net gain for the side of Light. *Are* we dealing with a fries-and-ketchup balance here? Will our next battles be to curtail an overexcess of Light? And is that why the *light* of the Reactor told him to do this? Are we talking about the Light of Destruction here, or another kind of light?

"...And in a twist of fate, it was built by Yusei's father!" '...And me, and my brother; and both of them kind of left me to clean up the mess.' Is the part Goodwin left out of that. Why put all the blame on Fudo, even at this point, Goodwin? Are *you* trying to get Yusei upset by dragging his dad into this, too?

So, who or what is this 'king of the netherworld' we've been hearing about? I have a feeling that we'll find out soon enough, one way or another.

Starlight Road or Stardust Road? The episode said both. I looked it up. It's Starlight.

"*Nothing* is over until I say it is!" There's that declaration again. Remember, Yusei said the same thing to Kalin in Dark Signs III?

Brilliant Shrine Art was played by both Roman and Kalin, I note.

Yusei played a trap called Shooting Star. He himself has also been called that.

"This is destiny's hour, Yusei! But don't be *too* discouraged; you've done what you were supposed to. You played a very difficult/typical/pivotal role in this incredible story." I keep mishearing that word. Any of those three words could be the right one, and they say different things. Yusei's our Yugi or Jaden, so his role *would be* kind of typical. Roman invokes the viewers, just a little bit; because who can deny that they already knew that Yusei would eventually defeat Roman and save the world? We already knew that. The only question was how. Yusei's role is also one of the most difficult; we knew he would win, we knew he would save everyone, but he didn't, and doesn't, and he just has to hang in there against all odds. I have more respect for Yusei than I can even articulate. If everyone's role is destined, then someone up there is toying with him. This conflict has pushed Yusei to the limit; threatened or harmed everything he holds dear and forced the worst of that to be by his own hand (Kalin, and somewhat Rally). But all this also could not have happened without Yusei; he is incredibly pivotal, as anyone in this difficult and typical role must be. The Signers have rallied around Yusei; he's the one willing to make the unrealistic promises that keep them from succumbing to despair, who gives them hope for the future; he's been hurt most deeply by the Dark Signers, and he's still standing. The role of the hero of the story is incredibly difficult and pivotal to play, and every YGO story must have one. And that's why I love Yusei, Yugi, Atem, and Jaden.

We're seeing multiple Stardust Dragons. This is the first time we've seen any other monster that remotely resembles Stardust. Stardust Xiaolong is adorable, a sort of baby Stardust; it shows up right after Stardust does, and that's right after Ccapac Apu makes the scene. As always, I love to read into the symbolism, especially with a card like Stardust. If anything, I'd see Stardust Xiaolong as representing the younger Yusei, the one who made that mistake; it, too, is important in summoning Majestic Star Dragon, and by accepting that he messed up, by accepting that that younger self is part of who he is, he grows stronger. That weakness has become what truly makes him strong in this duel. And Majestic Star... wow. That's not only Yusei at his best, but beyond, when he draws on the strength of the other four Signers. That is really freakin' awesome. And finally, I want to talk about the Battle Waltz spell-- Yusei's first non-speed spell of the second season-- and how it created *two* Stardust Dragons. What it reminds me of is-- Yusei isn't the first Fudo to stand against Roman, and he fights this fight with the strength of his dad behind him as well, who took Stardust and the other dragons from Roman and thus preserved the world's last hope.

Speaking of which, there were only four control cards, and only four stars of destiny. Where's the fifth *dragon*? I'm starting to think that this four-Signer destiny *isn't* eighty-percent; but then why are there five Signs, and what's the role of the fifth one and its dragon?

Well, I'd say that's the biggest whack the Yu-Gi-Oh! canon has *ever* taken at the whole 'determinism' chestnut. I'm still reeling.
To begin with, the theme and discussion of predestination is hardly unprecedented. In the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, we very much believe in destiny; the only one who doesn't is Kaiba, who wouldn't admit the existence of destiny if it walked up and slapped him in the face, which it does ("Give Up the Ghost", "A Duel With Destiny II"), several times ("Showdown in the Shadows I", "Clash in the Coliseum III", "Deja Duel II"), very hard (the entirety of Millennium World). Marik, by defying his destiny as a tombkeeper, to the point of rebellion, turns on those who love him, utterly destroys Mai psychologically and hurts Yugi and his friends, and nearly destroys the world. But one thing I've found increasingly interesting in light of the present, as I've re-watched Battle City as I introduce it to a friend of mine, is that at the outset, Marik only wanted freedom, the ability to control his own destiny. Since when are we opposed to that? Or, rather, since when are we no longer opposed to that, because we aren't anymore as of 5D's; I could quote Marik and it would sound like any satellite duelist.
Jaden, however, doesn't believe in destiny as much, which sets him apart from Aster and Sartorius during Year 2. However, the verdict there is not that destiny doesn't exist, but that some individuals have the power to change it, and "some things in life just can't be predicted!" (Future Changes). Therefore, it's not that destiny doesn't exist, but that power bends the rules. That's more of a middleground, and actually there's also evidence for that take on it in The Final Duel, when they find out that Atem, and possibly Yugi as well, is manipulating his draws with sheer willpower, and the Heart of the Cards is actually a magical phenomenon, not a philosophy.
Now, we have Yusei here, taking a free-will stance every bit as strong as Kaiba's: *There is no such thing as destiny*, completely and unequivocally. I wonder, though, how much this is a backlash against Roman; most of Yusei's argument against destiny is how Roman is using the 'destiny did it' excuse to absolve himself of blame unfairly: "You do terrible things, then you say that it's all just *destiny's will*." Yusei nods that some things in life, some "chain reactions", he has no control over, even with free will-- he can't change that planetary particles made Zero Reverse possible, and therefore left his friends in the satellite orphaned and alone. Yusei's willing to accept that it happened because of an inevitable chain reaction, because of human fallibility and corruption, but not because it was preordained. He won't accept that his friends were doomed to suffer, and I don't think it's because it's easier to blame Roman, though I think that's part of it.
In psychology, we talk about locus of control, inner vs. outer. Someone with an outer locus of control believes that they are at the mercy of circumstances and their life is determined by forces outside themselves, and an inner locus of control means that someone believes more in their ability to influence the world and control their own destiny.
All throughout these episodes, I notice that destiny is personified-- it has a *will*, it *wanted* them to play certain parts, it favors certain people, it toys with people, "Destiny has you in its grasp", it handpicks people, it uses instruments, it picks people, and it plays games. Not only does it have a will, it has hands and even uses tools. How fiendishly smart is this destiny? How-- human? And yet at the same time destiny is referred to as static, impersonal, ruthless, as incontrovertible a property of the universe as gravity. If this were the case, it would be just another cause-and-effect. Seems to me this often happens talking about destiny. We ought to make up our minds: ruthless presence or impersonal force? This question is assuming, of course, that our concept of "destiny" is distinct from that of, say, God.
I also want to note another concept of destiny, as something to possess or be entitled to. Jack became very possessive of the destiny associated with the Crimson Dragon leading up to the Fortune Cup Finale; "I am a Signer, Yusei Fudo, and this is my destiny! Goodwin told me that the power of the Crimson Dragon will help me save this world!" "There's a reason I'm the champ; Jack Atlas is destined for great things, while *you're* just destined for defeat!" He confronted Greiger before the semifinal round specifically to tell him to stay away from his destiny and don't even think about beating Yusei. The Professor also invoked destiny with regard to his conquering the Spirit World. Destiny has, similarly, been spoken of as a burden, something people are powerless to choose: "But in addition to his genius my brother was burdened with a great destiny!", and of course the ever-popular notion that "you can't hide from destiny".
The conclusion of this particular iteration of the destiny argument, though, is not that there is no destiny; it's that it doesn't matter whether there's destiny or not. Crow argues that "Good things lead to bad things leading, to more good things-- and that's just life!"; Zero Reverse also led to their becoming friends. Yusei states that, "All that really matters is that we listen to ourselves, and that we do what we think is right!"

From the outset, Goodwin states that "everyone has been given a role in life. Those of the Satellite exist so that the chosen may prosper" (Creepy Crawlies), which is essentially saying that satellites are doomed to suffer, and he believes destiny has ordained matters other than the mystical apocalyptic ones. The kind of destiny Yusei lashed out at in this big monologue of his is the kind of destiny that connotes that satellites are inherently unworthy, or that some people are just doomed.

"Jack: Well, since Goodwin seems to know *so* much about destiny, He must know how this whole thing is gonna turn out, right?
Mina: It doesn't work like that. He doesn't know the *future*. There's no telling what will happen." --Mark of the Monkey I
We've stared talking about the nature of destiny before, when I picked this quote out earlier. "It suggests that there's a distinction, a difference, between knowing destiny and knowing the future," I wrote at the time, and perhaps that suggests to us that Yusei is misinterpreting the kind of destiny Roman's talking about. We're not saying that people aren't responsible and powerful in their own lives, nor that their suffering is or was inevitable. We're not saying we know the future or we saw that coming. We're saying that if there are Signers and Dark Signers they will end up in conflict with each other. We're saying that this battle will have certain properties, certain circumstances, that will make it distinctly pertaining to the Signs, such as the Four Stars, and the Reactor. It's going to mimic what happened a long time ago, 'cause that's just how it goes. We're saying there's a reason Yusei wields Stardust Dragon that goes right to the heart and essence of what he is and has always been.

Historically, destiny- and fortunetelling-themed strategies have played on the opponent's fears about the future; that nagging voice, 'What if I'm doomed to fail before I even begin? What if, no matter what I do, there's no way I can succeed? What does my future hold?' And then this opponent says that *they* know the answer to that question. It's hard not to believe them. For instance, Roman's Destiny Activator spell card causes an opponent to fear the future by fearing what they're going to draw next. Carly's Future Vision operates the same way with regard to summoning a monster; makes someone think twice about it. Ultimately, though, the person who duels claiming they can predict the future, also seeks to do so to quench their own insecurity about what the future holds.

In this current conflict, I'm becoming increasingly of the opinion that it's *all about* destiny and its nature, going hand in hand with our theme of the future. I think a very important question to explore is who believes in destiny; how, when, and why do they; who changes their mind; and who doesn't.
Well, we just found out what Yusei thinks of destiny, and what Crow thinks. Jack trusts Goodwin a bit more, so he believes in destiny, especially during the Fortune Cup, but dislikes the idea that he isn't in control of his own life ("The Signs of Time"). What Goodwin's notions of destiny are are a lengthy discussion for another paragraph, so please see below. I also discuss Carly separately. We have yet to hear much from Akiza or the twins on the subject, though they've tentatively accepted that their being Signers and saving the world is their destiny. Actually, we do know something about Kalin's take on destiny, because Jack stated that, "Kalin inspired us. He taught us ... that we could control our own destinies..."

As a seasoned YGO veteran, I even find myself thinking of a conflict like this in terms of two sides competing as they are meant to do. It seems to me that Yusei appeals directly to us, especially we jaded experts, to take his side against this approach and believe that this is not business as usual. I'm game, Yusei. Lead on.

The boards are buzzing with news of a movie coming out in Japan that contains Yugi, jaden, and Yusei *all in the same place at the same time*. If we trusted 4Kids to be serious about this even if it ever got dubbed, this might be something I'd look for our heroes to disagree on, something that sets them apart even when we think of Yugi, Jaden, and Yusei interchangeably as *the* main character, the one who, within his series, duels often and almost never loses. Indeed, coming back from a long break I had to re-train myself to type "Yusei" instead of "Yugi", and whenever I type "Yugi" now, usually I need to stop myself from typing "Yusei" by accident. But the stance Yusei takes here on determinism reminds me most strongly of Kaiba in Clash in the Coliseum! If Yugi, Jaden, and Yusei were ever to meet, Jaden and Yusei both have a similar, strong anti-determinism stance, but Yugi, by contrast, believes in destiny very strongly indeed, and has been trying to get Kaiba to notice its verity for years.

I want to take a moment or several to talk about Goodwin. Throughout the series, Goodwin, being charged with so much of the exposition pertaining to the Crimson Dragon and the Reactor, is probably the character who's mentioned destiny the most.
First, I want to fully appreciate the position he's ended up in. I really felt sorry for Goodwin, seeing how his loyalty was somewhat divided between Fudo and Roman. He's the one of the three of them who doesn't have much of a clue what's going on, and he goes to each of them, trying to help them in this catastrophe, and both times, instead is handed a strange object and told to take it, run for his life, and save the world. I'd wager he's spent these seventeen years trying to do right by them, and trying to figure out, bereft of support and the only people I can imagine him looking up to, what they wanted him to do. With Roman as his brother, it's unsurprising that Goodwin harbors a deep belief in destiny, but he also empirically tested destiny, when he threw the three dragon cards to the wind. Perhaps Fudo wouldn't have taken such a risk; but testing something with an experiment is something any scientist would do. No wonder Goodwin's such a confusing character; I'd imagine that he's pretty confused himself.
But along with trying to interpret the intentions of his fallen mentors, Goodwin's also made some interpretations of his own. He's got some fight in him, you have to give him that, and even accepting the existence of destiny, we see him declare at the end of this episode that he will fight it. Perhaps I can forgive him for sending the Signers off to a battle that is, in theory, unwinnable, without doing anything himself, if this "changing the rules" of his is really the challenge to the inevitability of Fate that it appears right now.

And finally, speaking of the whole "determinism" chestnut, how's Carly doing...? We're about to see a duel with her real darn soon, before sunset even, I'll venture to say. How apt. Will our having just come from this duel go hand-in-hand with Carly's invocations of destiny?

In the flashback during Yusei's big impressive anti-destiny monologue, we saw Jack as a little kid leaning all alone against a tree in a park, watching a family of four play together on the playground. But that park looks way too nice to be in the Satellite. By the looks of him, this is around the time Yusei, Crow, and Jack first became friends, meaning either this *must* have been in the Satellite, or Jack must've lived in the City for part of his childhood and had just gotten to the Satellite when he met Crow along with Yusei, despite Jack's being native to the Satellite.

Crow discovered the history Yusei heard from Roman, and said he knows for sure that Roman is wrong; does he know something we don't?

Ominous silhouetted associates of the Goodwins. We now know of a couple. There's the fellow on the screen in "A Web of Deceit II" who voiced the opinion that "The Dark Signers may present a problem", to which Goodwin responded (cryptically, of course), "Yes, but it's nothing we can't handle, my old friend. If they want to fight me, well-- they'll get more than a battle, they'll get a *war*!" Now we have the guy Lezar spoke to earlier: "Calm down, my friend. You've waited twenty years; what's a few hours more?" and the fellow from Iliaster Roman spoke to, who nudged him into listening to the Reactor talking to him. Are all of these shadowy characters from Iliaster? I believe it likely that Lezar's was, but I doubt more that the guy in "A Web" was from Iliaster; if he's realizing just now that the Dark Signers-- whose existence Iliaster precipitated-- might be a problem, wouldn't he tell that to someone other than Goodwin? The guy who spoke to Lezar gave us the impression that Iliaster had invested time and power in the Goodwin brothers' carrying off this whole mess, and will be displeased to see it go to waste.

So does this mean Rally, Martha, Blitz, Tank, Nervin, and the nestlings, among others, are back from the netherworld? I do believe it does. Just in time for Yusei to fall into the Reactor. That really really bites. But they're back.

This is the part where I talk about the fact that Yusei just *fell into the Reactor*. Not good. Or *is* it? My first question: how the heck do we catch him and get him out of there before he gets hurt? Crow, this would be a good time to grab a grapple chain and do what Kalin did at the end of the Battle of Downtown. Looking at it, though, I think the distance might be too far.
So, what now? Was this Roman's aim all along, to dump Yusei into the Reactor even if Roman himself lost the duel? He'd already said his minutes were numbered, and that he was going to destroy Yusei like he did Professor Fudo. We've seen someone fall into the nasty light before, and Greiger did not do so hot. Will the same thing happen to Yusei? Can/will Yusei fight it somehow? Will Yusei react differently to this energy than Greiger did? Or, *Roman* was both Signer and Dark Signer; is it remotely possible that Yusei reacts the *same* way to this energy that Greiger did?
What's down there? The Reactor has been spoken of as a "gate to the netherworld"; is Yusei about to fall through that gate and enter the netherworld *without* losing a shadow duel? Roman talked about the light talking to him; will it talk to Yusei? What will it say?
When Luna first saw the light of the Reactor, she called it "beautiful", not scary or threatening. Luna is perceptive and her intuition for things like this is very good. I'm inclined to trust her opinion.
What about this: if the Signers are on the side of Light, and we take this as a fries-vs.-ketchup thing, then the light of the Reactor would like Yusei and not hurt him... right? Then again, look what the Reactor's light did to Roman, Greiger, and the entire Satellite.
I find myself asking ultimately, what is the nature of the substance swirling around in the Reactor that Yusei's about to fall into? What we know is that falling into it was a sufficient near-death experience to turn Greiger into a Dark Signer. We know that when the Reactor spun in reverse, Zero Reverse was the result. It can't be spinning in reverse right now, because Zero Reverse isn't getting an encore, but would Roman turn it on spinning the right way? That's what Goodwin asked that the Signers do, "Then, if you’re able, activate it in reverse. Hopefully this will create a surge of positive energy, and imprison the Shadow Army again!" Wait... in reverse as is *in reverse*, not as in the opposite of the way it was spinning before? Well, we'll see. In the meantime, we know that the light of the Reactor is duel energy, electricity, something inbetween, or something related. Its being partially composed of duel energy could explain Luna's reaction; certain of my theories about duel spirits contend that duel energy, when present in quantity, allows duel spirits to exist in the human world. Perhaps Ener-D is not synonymous with duel energy per se, but rather is the intermediate step between duel energy and electricity.

Goodwin's changing the rules? Um, quack? Fair enough, we were all thinking the speed requirement on a speed spell makes every turbo-duelist on the track entirely too trap-happy, go right ahead. I jest, but seriously, what the deck is the inscrutable Goodwin up to now? Okay, so what game does he think destiny's playing, by what rules, and how does he plan to alter them considering that-- as far as we know-- he's not destiny, and its destiny's game, not his?

I had always just assumed that Roman would be the last to fall. What now?

So we need to finish off the battle by sunset? What time is it now?
I just realized, three out of four of the remaining Signers and Dark Signers left to battle are female! That's a pretty extreme ratio, we all know. Why concentrate them all at once? The only other lady duelist to fight today has been Luna.
We've still got Akiza vs. Misty and Jack vs. Carly left to go; not to mention the fact that where one falls, another may rise and three just fell.
So are we about to see either of these two duels next, or something else?

New Card Section
A Whale of a Ride III
Crow-- Blackwing Fane the Steel Chain [500/800/L2/dark] - when this monster attacks and doesn't destroy its target, the target is switched to defense mode
Crow-- Blackwing Silverwind the Ascendent, synchro [2800/2000/L8/dark] - When this monster doesn't attack on its player's turn, it can destroy up to two monsters on the field whose defense points are less than its attack points.
Crow-- Blackwing Backslash, trap - requires at least five Blackwings to be in the graveyard. Destroys all monsters on the opponent's field.
Crow-- Explosion Guard, trap - negates the activation of a monster's special effect and deals 500 points of damage to the opponent.
Crow-- Parasite Mind, trap - transfers control of a trap card on the opponent's field to the player's field.
Greiger-- Earthbound Immortal Chaquchalua [2900/1600//] - when this monster is in defense mode, it hits the opponent for damage equal to half of its own defense points. Can also prevent a monster from attacking (this is somewhat unclear)
Greiger-- Contaminated Earth, trap - requires two level-five-or-above monsters to be in the controller's graveyard. Summons an Earthbound Immortal.
Greiger-- Bosura, trap - when the controller of this card releases a monster, they can destroy an opponent's monster whose level is higher.
A Score to Settle
Yusei-- Max Warrior [1800/800/L8/wind] - When this monster attacks, it gains 400 attack points. After the attack is over, it loses half of its original attack points and half its level until the controller's next turn.
Yusei-- Stardust Xiaolong [100/100/L1/light] - when this card is in the graveyard and Stardust Dragon is on the field, this monster is summoned back to the field.
Yusei-- Majestic Dragon [0///L1], tuner
Yusei-- Majestic Star Dragon [3800/3000/L10/wind] - copies the special abilities of the opponent's monster as its own
Yusei-- Revival Ticket, trap - requires the controller to destroy one card on his/her own field. In exchange, raises that duelist's lifepoints for each monster destroyed in battle, then brings those monsters back to the field.
Yusei-- Limiter Breaker, trap - when destroyed, allows its controller to summon a monster.
Yusei-- Card of Sacrifice, trap - when the total attack points of the monsters on the controller's field add up to less than those of an opponent's monster, allows the controller to draw two cards. Restricts the controller from summoning or changing any of his/her monsters' battle modes on the turn it's played.
Yusei-- Slip Summon, trap - when an opponent summons a monster, allows the controller to summon one level-four-or-below monster from his or her hand in defense mode.
Yusei-- Synchro Striker Unit, trap - raises one monster's attack points by 1000 until the end phase of this turn.
Yusei-- Baton of the Hero, trap - the player of this card can change the target of an opponent's attack
Yusei-- Burst Synchro Summon, trap - negates the damage from an attack, then allows the controller to summon a synchro monster with the same number of attack points as the damage negated.
Yusei-- Superior Protector, trap - the person who activates this trap declares a monster, and can only take battle damage if it's against that designated monster.
Kalin-- Infernalty/Infernity Necromancer [/2000//] - when the controller has no cards in his/her hand, can summon a monster from the deck.
Kalin-- Infernalty/Infernity Archfiend [1800///]
Kalin-- Lament Impulse, trap - in exchange for sending two cards from the controller's hand to the graveyard, summons two "soul tokens" to the controller's field
Kalin-- Infernity Force, trap - when the person who activates this trap has no cards in his/her hand, this card negates an opponent's attack, destroys the attacking monster, and allows the player to summon a weaker monster from the graveyard.
Kalin-- Brilliant Shrine Art, trap - changes a declared attack's target to an Earthbound Immortal.
Kalin-- Wicked Trample, trap - when the opponent takes damage from something other than a direct attack, the damage is doubled
Destiny's Will
Yusei-- Quickdraw Synchron [700/1400/L5/wind], tuner - randomly choose a tuner monster from the controller's deck. This monster gains the abilities of that tuner monster.
Yusei-- Level Eater [600/0/L1/dark] - this card can be special-summoned from the graveyard in exchange for reducing the level of another monster on the player's field by one.
Yusei-- Zero Gardna [0/0/L4/earth] - "If you chose to sacrifice the monster card Zero Gardna, you will take zero damage for the rest of this turn."
Yusei-- Battle Waltz, spell - creates a "Waltz Token", which duplicates another monster on the player's field.
Yusei-- Synchro Barrier, trap - in exchange for sacrificing a synchro monster, negates an attack.
Yusei-- Spirit Force, trap - negates an attack against the player, and allows the duelist to return one monster from the graveyard to his/her hand.
Yusei-- Starlight Road, trap; also called "Stardust Road" in this episode, incorrectly. Can be activated when two of the controller's cards are about to be destroyed. Negates the effect of a spell card, and allows the player to summon a synchro monster.
Yusei-- Shooting Star, trap - with Stardust Dragon on the field, destroys one card on the field.
Yusei-- Stardust Flash, trap - If Stardust Dragon has been willingly released this turn, it is summoned back from the graveyard.
Roman-- Destiny Activator, spell - the activator of this card draws the top card of his or her deck, and sends it to the graveyard. From this point forward, every time the opponent draws a card of that type, his or her lifepoints are halved.
Roman-- Earthbound Whirlwind, spell - requires an Earthbound Immortal to be on the field, and destroys every trap or spell on the opponent's field
Roman-- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, trap - when the player is hit with a direct attack, allows the player to special-summon two low-level monsters.
Roman-- Roar of the Earthbound, trap - destroys an attacking monster, and damages its owner for half the destroyed monster's attack points
Roman-- Earthbound Wave, trap - negates the activation and effect of one trap card
Roman-- Anti-Emptiness, trap - in exchange for reducing the attack points of one monster the player controls to zero for the duration of the turn, negates the effect of a trap.

Random tangent. In my history course for Intersession (a short session of classes at my college that crams an entire semester into the month of January), I'm studying, among other things, how women's place in society changed after the Revolutionary War. During the war, women were active politically and were mostly in charge of the boycotts of British goods; however, after the war, society made it their political role to raise their sons to be good citizens. Discussing all this, I asked myself what the equivalent is; since not many ladies duel but dueling is central to the culture, we'd logically see them playing some other role besides being duelists themselves. It occurs to me, just thinking about it, that we actually don't see all that many girls, dueling or not, in the dueling world. True, we see only a select part of it most of the time, but still, why not more girls walking the streets or sitting in the stands? Could it be that the statistics I keep that place the ratio of male to female duelists in any given time period at an average of six to one, are simply because there are proportionally fewer girls in the population as a whole?

Aww, 4Kids, I can't believe you remembered my birthday... no, seriously. You're creeping me out here. I turned nineteen on the seventeenth. The only pattern I've yet been able to discern is that 4Kids is apparently giving me presents. Perhaps the next episodes will show up in time for the fifth anniversary of this post's beginning, on January 29th. Or perhaps they're giving us episodes for Valentine's Day, or perhaps Duel Monsters Spirit Day, in early March. Speaking of which-- anyone dressing up? I'm pulling out my facepaints, though I still haven't decided yet what I'll paint. Hold on-- after showing four episodes, they waited twenty days, which is exactly how long I would have allotted to write about them had I adopted this system one post earlier. Wouldn't it be absolutely wild if we both adopted the same system at the same time, five days per episode? I think that would creep me out even more than 4Kids remembering my birthday.

Yusei's demand that Goodwin build the bridge if they win made this battle about more than preserving the status quo. Man, now I'm studying the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation (my final is the morning after I send out this post), and... yeah. Today I heard that emancipation, even though it was a thorny issue, gave people hope for the future, made it so that they were fighting for, not just keeping their home the way it was, but making it better. A lot of the people in the north who didn't favor equality, still felt that slavery was wrong and it was a stain on the honor of the country that allowed it; by signing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln freed them, in a certain way, too. It reminded me of Yu-Gi-Oh, for all everything does that. It seemed like a small thing-- the world might be destroyed and Yusei's worrying about social change-- but he and the rest of them are fighting for something a lot brighter than just returning things to the way they were. They have more to gain in this battle, even if things will change.

So, I don't know when our next episodes are or when we'll get them. We're most likely to get them from the 4Kids streaming site at 4kidstv.com. I will announce everywhere I post this post as soon as I see the new episode(s), and when the post will be out. Thanks for reading, everyone! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF A SCORE TO SETTLE II HERE

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF DESTINY'S WILL I HERE

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF DESTINY'S WILL II HERE