Predictions and Observations:
A Reason To Win

For the record, this is the second time we’ve seen Alexis duel and the first time we’ve seen her win! Go, Alexis!

I couldn’t help but notice the similarity and difference between Alexis’ flashback in this episode, and Syrus’ in Duel and Unusual Punishment, about playing a card rather than simply using it. And the contrast between Zane and Atticus.

Okay, this blows the whole Abandoned Dorm thing wide open- wonder if we’ll hear from Gerard again anytime soon?

Brainwashing in the Shadow Realm- it’s happened before. Wonder if it was anything like Mai’s Battle City experience (*shudder*).

Shadow-fiends: a new term to know, meaning the goopy gray things that swarm all over people at the Abandoned Dorm.

The darkness was a repeat of what happened to Yugi in Panik Attack- I kept wondering if she’d happen to have a Swords of Revealing Light handy.

I was right! It *was* the Shadow Duelist! I can’t believe it! And now we know that his name is Titan (Titon?).

Will they call Banner out on this? Probably. What will happen when they do? No clue here. Will Banner deny it? Will he explain a good reason why? I like Banner; I don’t want Banner to be evil, what can I say?

This actually connects a lot of dots: Banner was the one who told Jaden, Syrus and Chumley about the Abandoned Dorm, and practically dared them to go there. Banner was the one who led them to the ruins and got Jaden into that duel with the Gravekeeper Chief. He’s the school’s apparent expert on the Shadows, but yet whenever confronted with a shadow game or really any danger, he’s scared. Much as I hate to admit it, it’s true that we’ve seen that Banner tends to acquiesce, to cave to what other people tell him to do. I observed that most plainly when Chumley’s dad kept forcing hot sauce on him. Such people would be easy for the bad guys to control, so even if Banner were not evil himself, he might very well be taking orders from someone who is. Another theory is that there’s a good reason for these dangers. I just went and took a look at the intro to Grave Risk I, and this, as far as I can remember, is what happened:
Syrus wakes up in the night, and walks out of their dorm room, looking for the restroom and moaning that that’s the last time he mixes chili sauce with ice cream. He blearily opens a door, and discovers that it’s the wrong one. Oops, he says cheerfully, this isn’t the bathroom! But the room’s occupant doesn’t notice him; the room’s only light is the glow of a computer screen, at which Banner sits, staring as if hypnotized. You are not here to ask why, a voice on the screen tells him, you are here to obey! But Jaden is one of our best students, Banner objects, he could be buried alive! If the tomb is to be the end of Jaden Yuki, the voice replies, then so be it. But his true potential must be tested! Syrus backs away and closes the door, afraid. A test, in a tomb?, he repeats, terrified, where Jaden could be buried alive?! Something tells me this test isn’t midterms! On a sidenote, Pharaoh is not with Banner at the time, but resting under the Slifer Dorm’s stairs.
Therefore, I can argue that he wasn’t exactly a willing accomplice, because he was arguing against risking Jaden, but it’s possible that he sent students on these tests because if they won, then it would show that they’re what the world apparently seriously needs: duelists who can take on the Shadows. Why Yugi and pals don’t seem to be enough, I suppose we’ll never know, but the Shadows are clearly still in full swing. However, as the school’s resident expert, Banner would know about these “dueling tests.” It’s even possible that he was told it would be a test of their ability, and assumed that they could handle it since they were apparently some of the school’s top duelists, but it was really a test of the ability to last in the Shadow Realm, at which for some reason they failed, though to me it seems that Atticus would have been a good candidate. After all, in a Shadow Game, what matters even more than skill is strength of will, mind, and heart, and Atticus was the one who taught Alexis that the most important thing is the reasons why you duel. It looked like the shadow fiends just ambushed them, but it’s possible that if they had been the duelists that Banner and the shadow-tests were looking for, they would have somehow been able to fight back.

Alexis is accumulating the largest quantity of nicknames I believe any one Yu-Gi-Oh! character has ever had. So far, I believe that all of the ones we’ve seen have been “Lex” (the most common), and today’s episode added “Lexi” and at one point “Skort,” both affectionate names Atticus calls her. I also wanted to note that a ‘skort’ is also a pair of shorts that looks like a skirt, which is probably what Alexis usually seems to wear, but also it’s an appropriate nickname for her because female duelists seem to be a bit rare, making her, one could say, in some sense a bit boyish, making a blend of skirt and shorts a fitting nickname. That was so random, but it’s an interesting meaning I noticed.

For some reason, in a few shots Atticus bore some similarities in appearance to Jaden: similar eyes, hair color, and I think I was detecting shape of the eyes. Huh.

How did the Shadow Duelist get the authority or even power to be able to offer Alexis Atticus’ memories? And why didn’t he just challenge her straight out? She probably wouldn’t have refused. Is it some sort of plan of the leader of the Shadow Riders, to break the keykeepers’ spirits along with defeating them? After all, he specifically attempted to drive the point home that a reason to win isn’t strong enough, to directly contradict what Atticus taught Alexis, and to make it so that if she lost, she wouldn’t only have been defeated and no longer an obstacle, she would have let down someone she loved in her one chance to save him. Therefore, I have to wonder if the leader of the Shadow Riders has some other motive? Was that him, who gave the Shadow Duelist his Shadow Charm? If so, that is one *weird* accent, probably so we’d recognize him anywhere. I’m going to go check back in—what was it?—Field of Screams III if possible, and see if I can compare the accents. I’m not sure if I have it recorded at the moment, but I hope so! Darn it, nothing! Oh well. When I do, I’ll compare it. Man, that accent was *really* weird. And the guy had some sort of long white beard, apparently.

Both people who were trapped in the Shadow Realm, Atticus and Titan, were given masks. I wonder why? And why was Titan swamped with shadow-fiends while only Atticus’ mask was captured and he was spared?

What’s that big, cloth-draped thing that’s been sitting outside the Slifer dorm for a while now? It’s staring to bug me- I wonder when we’ll find out!

All of them are worried about Alexis, waking up in the middle of the night—even Crowler, even CHAZZ! I was rather surprised, he didn’t seem all that friendly towards anyone, but I guess he really does look out for his fellow keykeepers, the few people who really know him and spend time with him other than the Ojama brothers, and one could argue that this was also shown when he left lookouts for each of their keys when he knew something was up. I noticed that Bastion wasn’t awake, probably not from lack of caring but because he has no duel spirit or key to let him know and no one had time to stop by the Ra dorm and wake him up, being too busy looking for Alexis, and none of the other keykeepers or supporting-keykeepers (that does it, I’m making up a term for the former keykeepers, Chumley, and Syrus, because they’re usually part of the group!) live there. Banner, however, had a key and lives at the Slifer dorm, so I found his absence a tad conspicuous. Why didn’t Jaden, Syrus, Chumley, or Chazz wake him up? Why didn’t his key, and if it did, why didn’t he come? Pharaoh also might have sensed the Shadows, for all we know.

What was that piece of wood blowing around outside the Abandoned Dorm? That’s pretty random, but it looked like possibly a severed swing, torn away by the wind. But we haven’t seen any swings at Duel Academy yet. And if not, what was it?

Yes, Titan really was a “charlatan of the Shadows”, charlatan meaning a fake, or “A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud.” (dictionary.com) By the way, ‘voluble’ is a recent vocab word in my English class by freak coincidence and it means that the person just keeps on talking and talking. The dork. He fits that description quite well.

Risa noticed that Atticus was still wearing an Obelisk uniform, even though he had been gone, as opposed to Chazz, who was demoted. We decided that since Atticus was technically, according to those records Gerard dug up during Duel Off II, “away on a special sabbatical”, he retained his rank because no one else knew what had happened to him. Whereas Chazz dropped out, and was actually no longer in the school legally, so therefore he was demoted on his return.

Has anyone else noticed that Alexis’ voice is a bit different from how it originally was? Is it just me?

I noticed specifically that Alexis and Titan only spoke of Alexis’ dueling for Atticus before Alexis’ friends showed up. I had half-wondered if they would be at a loss as to why she had accepted such a challenge with no better reason than to defend her key. Zane, however, stated that she was fighting for Atticus even though I’m pretty sure there was no way he could have known. Maybe I missed it, but I guess Zane’s just like that. Probably saw that look she gave Atticus right before the duel began.

Titan stated specifically that Alexis was bait, but how could he have known that Jaden would go after her? He didn’t know them. As far as I can remember, I thought it had just been a lucky kidnapping, rather than an intentional bait to draw Jaden in.

Titan’s mask shines when he says that the darkness doesn’t obstruct his vision; I wonder if that’s the mask’s ability?

Come to think of it, Jaden has the necklace, glove, eye, and circlet from the shadow riders, but Atticus’ was Sealed and Titan’s we don’t know about. They’re shadow charms, too, but apparently not part of Jaden’s collection. Still wondering what the deal is with them, because I’m sure it’ll work in somehow.

I noticed that when Titan played Dark Arena, the background music suddenly halted for a little while.—I just wanted to comment that that’s a very good way of conveying tension, because music, any music, is more comforting than no music. It’s a common technique.

Why was Jaden’s medallion glowing during the duel? I don’t believe any remarkable activity has occurred during any of the other shadow games, they’ve never mentioned it before.

Titan was wearing the same shape mask, without the Millennium symbol on it, before he became a Shadow Rider. Weird coincidence? Maybe, but I find that kinda creepy.

It’s true—very true—that more important than the strategy itself is the reason why you duel and the heart that goes into it. On a personal note, that’s what made me fall for Yu-Gi-Oh! in the first place. Atticus was absolutely right, and so is Alexis—you tell ‘em, Lex!!!

Despite lack of memories, Atticus remembered Camula, and Titan, and also remembered Alexis. He also seemed to somehow know that Alexis was in trouble, when he kept reaching out to the dark dueling field. However, he seems to have been mostly nonverbal, perhaps because he didn’t remember many words? He also seems to have been a bit weak on his feet until he got his memories back, maybe because they took some motor skills with them? To me it seemed like he had some afflictions not related to simple amnesia. But I guess it was more than that.

In addition to will to win for a cause, there was something else that Alexis could have used in this duel, that she didn’t have in as great quantities as Jaden, Chazz, or any of the big-league duelists, and that is pride, and the will to win just for the sake of not being defeated. Jaden would never allow anyone to keep him off his feet for long if he had anything to say about it, no matter what it is he’s fighting for. Same with Joey, or Kaiba, or Chazz, or even Mai. Interestingly enough, assessing *Yugi’s* flat-out drive to claim victory, I see that he, too, enjoys dueling and is competitive, but not, how should I say, proud. In a friendly duel with no wager, just simply for the fun of it, he would not seek to win because he wants to be the winner and be the best, he would seek to win simply because that’s the game and it’s what makes it fun, to give it your all. Although Jaden possesses that quality of pride, he also is similar to Yugi in that he would seek to win, in part, for the same reason. I didn’t realize it until now, but that’s a unique quality that the two of them, Jaden and Yugi, share, that I don’t believe any other character does, with the possible exception of Leon and/or Zane. To get back to my point, however, Alexis, while she has a reason to strive, lacks the extra fire, so far, that is having fun just playing the game, and considering striving to win as part of that fun, and lacks the outright “I won’t let this creep get the best of me” drive that fuels Chazz, Kaiba, Joey, Crowler, and in part, Jaden.

What made the shadow-fiends congregate at the Abandoned Dorm, at the end of the duel or when Atticus was captured? The only other place I’ve seen anything like them in Yu-Gi-Oh! was when Yami Bakura dueled Bonz in the graveyard in Shadow of a Duel. So what makes them gather? Are they invisible and as ever-present as air in the Shadow Realm? Is there some sort of portal at the Abandoned Dorm through which they seep and prey on students like Atticus and his pals? Did someone call them there?

I noticed that both duels we’ve had so far at the Abandoned Dorm were at the same time of day: they lasted through the night and finished at dawn. Speaking of which, remembering what happened after the last one, Jaden gave Alexis that picture he found of Atticus; if Atticus lived in the Obelisk dorm, why would Jaden have found that picture of him just lying around?

Six Shadow Riders down, one to go. I have a feeling that this last one’s going to be a tricky one. It is, after all, the Shadow Riders’ last chance to unlock the Sacred Beasts, and right now with four keys left and no defeats since Bastion vs. Tanya, we’re not too worried, and that’s going to change before the end, because it just wouldn’t be Yu-Gi-Oh! if it didn’t. Of course, if Banner is discovered to be evil, make that three keys left and one Duel Academy teacher turned evil who knows not only their styles but also how to get to them emotionally, having known Jaden, Chazz, Alexis, and the supporting-keykeepers for a bit less than a whole school year now. Getting tenser…but still not there yet.

Tomorrow’s episode is…(survey says…) Duel Monsters Spirit Day. At my school and every school I’ve been to, a Spirit Day is a day when you show your school spirit by dressing up to fit the theme of the day. My official favorite, considering my preferred fashion, is Neon Day, but there’s also Black-and-White Day, Twin Day is common (Dimitri would *love* that…), um, Sports Day (when you wear your favorite sports jersey or whatever), Blue-and-Gold Day (our school colors), Pajama Day is popular, you get the idea. So “Duel Monsters Spirit Day” might be about a Spirit Day at Duel Academy (I could think of some fun ones for a duel school, lol), or it might have to do with Duel Spirits. I tend to believe the latter. So what are Winged Kuriboh and the Ojamas up to now? Or does this have to do with Banner, the school’s expert on Duel Spirits (he was the guy who taught the class about them, that inspired those three idiot Obelisks to summon the spirit of Jinzo back in A Spirit Summoned)?

Well, that’s about it. Sorry it took so long (It’s only quarter after midnight); I was under the weather and decided not to fight it when I drifted into a nap, and my little sister’s birthday is tomorrow (technically today, she’s turning six) and I was up late decorating. Anyway, hope I didn’t cause too much inconvenience or anything. No new Yu-Gi-Oh! yet, but I’m keeping an eye out. As I said, tomorrow’s GX is Duel Monsters Spirit Day, good night! -Clio