Predictions and Observations:
Field of Screams III

Sorry it took so long, we got back late.

To be quite honest, after such a buildup, I was rather disappointed. So far Jaden’s been the only keykeeper to actually win a duel and protect his key. Not only that, but for these past few episodes he hasn’t even been able to walk or stand on his own, and he *still* did better than Zane or Crowler! Moreover, it was not mentioned even once during the duel that shadow games are as much a battle of endurance as skill and Jaden might not last because he’s spent the past two days or whatever unable to win a fight with a sheet, except for Chazz’s comment that Jaden’s off his game. That other half of the medallion must also restore Jaden’s strength. Either that, or I noticed that since Crowler was awake when he returned while Zane was unconscious, it works by time: after a certain recovery period, pretty much the same for everyone, you recover from being Sealed. Then there’s also the fact that Crowler’s doll was making remarks, meaning that for him it took only one night to wake up, so to speak, which means Zane’ll be back to normal before the day’s out. Same thing with Jaden and Atticus: Jaden got strong enough to fight and Atticus woke up at around the same time.

I do believe we’ve now seen the leader of the Shadow Riders, who is apparently on speaking terms with Sheppard. Camula also spoke of him: “Dark shadow power was coursing through his veins”, referring to the one who found her, gave her the shadow charm, and brought her to become a Shadow Rider. I’m reminded a bit, to tell the truth, of the Soul Collectors, and their narratives telling what happened to them and how they met Dartz (Rafael’s was in Fate of the Pharaoh I, and maybe partially in Grappling with a Guardian III; Alister’s was sort of spread between Déjà Duel II and Flight of Fear I and II; Valon’s was in Fighting for a Friend I; and Mai’s in My Freaky Valentine I and II); each one was a flashback to horrible events in their past, that turned them against the rest of cruel humanity, and then at the end of each one, they meet Dartz (or in Mai’s case, Valon) and join him to get revenge and take souls. Now, the bonus question: now that Atticus is awake, what will have happened to *him?*

So we have seven keykeepers back again, but only five maintain custody of their keys, as far as we can see. So what part of the plot will Zane and Crowler occupy now that they’re no longer in danger of further challenges? Will they still be part of the team? Will they fade into the background? Will they receive their keys back because in order for the Shadow Riders to win, one of them must defeat all seven keykeepers (in other words, will the spirit gate reset)? Who knows?

Syrus insists that Banner is a Shadow Games expert, reinforcing what I’ve been thinking all along- so the usual questions: how did he become one? Does he know personally the main shadow-game players this side of five thousand years, that is to say Yugi and his pals? Has he ever played a shadow game before? It’s possible that if he played a really nasty one, or lost a friend to the shadow realm or something, that he wouldn’t want to go anywhere near the Shadow Riders and any repeat experiences. But then why did he accept to guard his key? Possibly not to be seen as running scared, and Banner tends to acquiesce (remember all the hot sauce Chumley’s dad forced on him?). I notice during the school year, Banner’s lessons have been pretty boring and tame, the silly Duel Alchemy for over half the year…

I noticed that both Jaden and Zane played their strongest known monster the first turn.

Atticus said, “you cannot defeat her like the others”. Does that mean that no other SR has the power Camula’s shadow charm grants her, that of seizing and manipulating souls outside the duel? How will they pose a threat after that? I mean, sure they’ll put the duelist’s own soul on the line, but we all know perfectly well that had it not been for Camula’s threatening Syrus, Zane would have won that duel easily!

I noticed that Elemental Hero Tempest was actually trying to refuse to attack Jaden. This *is* a shadow game, the monsters *are* pretty much real, and Jaden has such a strong bond with his cards that I’m not really surprised.

Camula already told them she was spying on them during Crowler’s duel- weren’t they listening?!

I have a feeling we’ll learn a lot more about near-shadow-realmming experiences in GX, because all of the keykeepers, except perhaps for Banner, are so green when it comes to shadow games. We know, from the events of Match of the Millennium IV, that if one isn’t used to that drain, it quickly takes a toll. Each one of these protectors of the world is just as inexperienced as Yugi was then. I have a feeling that after fighting a couple (the Shadow Duelist…), Jaden’s starting to build up some stamina with it, because during the duel with Camula, he didn’t seem to be getting very tired at all. Crowler was really the only one who showed fatigue fighting Camula, probably, for one, because their duel, I believe, was quite a bit longer-lived. But Zane didn’t seem to tire; he was probably long since used to the pain from realistic duel disks that it would take longer to wear him down. Crowler hadn’t dueled much in ages, and what endurance he had probably faded. Jaden hasn’t been dueling quite as long as Zane has, so he’s not as used to it. Not sure if that made sense or not.
I also wanted to express the theory that Jaden regained strength in time to duel due to the same property that let Joey wake up from a critical condition feeling perfectly fine. Same sort of condition, that’s the only real precedent for this. So you saw how mad Jaden was following Zane’s duel. It’s quite possible that his will to recover, to save his friends, speeded up his recovery tenfold, just like Joey woke up because Yugi was in trouble.

So we had Alexis’ brother, a vampire…who’s next? An alien?

Chazz has *got* to work on that attitude- he’s almost worse than Syrus was! “Might as well hand over our spirit keys now,” indeed!

What will they do with Camula’s shadow charm?

Why did Camula show particular interest in Zane, if she meant to sacrifice his soul to resurrect vampires, and why did she reject Crowler? Way I see it, she knew just from his demeanor that Zane was a strong duelist, and we know from past experience how powerful their souls are, very coveted for this sort of thing. Crowler, though, I can’t understand why she refused to even use his soul, considering that while his skills had gone a bit to seed, the spirit, what really makes a duelist great, we saw (to my surprise and delight) was still there. Maybe she just liked Zane…

Okay, that’s all for this post! Some time today or at worst (and I do mean worst), tomorrow, I *will* get the Saturday Post on Village of Vengeance V up! Feel the burn- I’m trying to do about two or three days’ casual work in one day! Anyway, the next GX is another ambiguous ‘the,’ (The) Fear Factor, a one-parter. Will the Shadow Riders try some intimidation tactics on our heroes? Something else entirely? We’ll know in (sorry about this) a bit over 24 hours! ‘Til I finish the huge posts, that’s all folks! -Clio