Predictions and Observations:
Schooling the Master

Is it any coincidence that Syrus was sitting near the lighthouse worrying about Zane? I doubt it—remember, back when Zane was a student, he could almost always be found at the lighthouse, thinking or often chatting with Alexis.

Come on, Jaden, you know Zane—it’s been a while, but do you really think he’d try some crazy stunt like that?

Did anyone else notice Shroud’s hair? It kinda reminded me of Sartorius’ hair, actually. Could it be more than a coincidence? Of course it could!

Hope springs eternal; I still have to wonder why the good pro duelists that we know—like Yugi, Joey, or Kaiba-- aren’t stepping in and cutting Zane down to size. We know they could, and considering that people are getting hurt, you’d think one of them would try to put a stop to it all.

Sheppard—I confess that I never saw this coming, though I did keep wondering because it seemed to me that he was a conspicuously vaguely-understood character. There seemed to be something more about him that we didn’t know. One thing that I *did* get about Sheppard is that he loves a good, action-packed duel and he believes in his students’ own potential as duelists. On a couple of occasions, Sheppard allowed Jaden the choice of taking on a match that would be unfair, such as when he and Sy dueled the Paradox Brothers; Jaden and Syrus could have turned down the match without penalty, because it was extremely unfair, but Sheppard gave them the choice of whether to do so or not. He also overlooked plenty of problematic situations on campus, I hypothesized at one point last year, because getting into and out of scrapes is part of their education. Let’s see…what else… (refers to several of last year’s Predictions posts):
-- Welcome to Duel Academy: I think so far that Sheppard is being very distant. He gave his welcoming address by video, for cryin’ out loud. When our heroes finally do see him in person I believe it will be because of an important occasion.
-- A Duel in Love: I have to wonder about this school hierarchy; this organization of students by proficiency really bugs me…For this I wonder about Chancellor Sheppard. He seems like a nice guy, he’s not a flunky-hater like Crowler or he wouldn’t have been concerned that Crowler give everyone their shot. Then again he could be waiting for a wonder-kid to show up, as a lot of the greatest duelists just came out of the blue. Yugi would have seemed far too much of a pushover, far too gentle, to really be considered a good duelist until he defeated Kaiba and later Pegasus. Joey, as we all know, was awful before Duelist Kingdom, and by the end he was able to give Yugi an amazing match. He learned from the tournament’s pressure and Yugi’s help, but no academy would have given him the chance to possibly learn through the pressure there. Gems are found in the most unlikely of places, a fact I have a feeling Sheppard knows well. Anyway, Sheppard seems to be a pretty okay guy. So what’s the deal? Could he report to yet another person who *is* an elitist snob? I note that he wears red. This could be some subtle symbolism or foreshadowing.
-- Making the Grade/Raring to Go: Crowler seems to be hinting to Sheppard about how in-over-his-head Jaden is. Something about that indicates to me that there’s been a lot of argument on this subject between the two of them. I’m not really sure what the relationship is between Crowler and Sheppard, because it seemed at first that Sheppard was Crowler’s superior, calling to ensure that Crowler gave everyone their chance, and Crowler being forced to go along, calling Sheppard as soon as he hangs up, “furry-chinned windbag!” However, during exams, Sheppard either can’t or doesn’t want to overrule Crowler on pairing a Slifer with an Obelisk, even though it’s unfair. Now that brings up an interesting point: what if Sheppard didn’t want to stop Crowler? Could Sheppard have just decided to give Jaden the chance? During the match, both Crowler and Sheppard seem to be watching only Jaden v. Chazz, and the way they act implies that this will settle their argument once and for all. But then that would imply that Crowler has debated this with Sheppard as a fellow teacher rather than Crowler doesn’t like it but he has to listen to Sheppard and do what he’s told. I’ve probably been even more confusing than this situation is, so please forgive me. In brief, I’m not sure where the different teachers fit into the school’s hierarchy, and the interaction between Crowler and Sheppard was only slightly helpful in this matter.
-- Tag Team Trial I: Sheppard: friend or foe? A timeless question. He thinks this is unfair, but he seems enchanted by the Paradox Brothers’ performance. In my opinion, Sheppard knows that students have their own adventures when left to their own devices, and that’s really part of their learning experience. He has shown on repeated occasions that he trusts students to make their own decisions and to be more than they appear. This is most evident when he makes doubly sure Crowler gives every applicant his chance, and now when he leaves the choice of whether to duel the Paradox Brothers up to Jaden. And he is, quite obviously, a fan of a good, suspenseful duel.
-- Duel Off I: …I also noted that the proctors were wearing purple, which as a mixture between the school’s two extremes, fits nicely as they don’t belong to a single Dorm. However, Sheppard does not wear this neutral color; I think it may reveal something crucial about the character, and I have said this before, that he wears red… Chancellor Sheppard seems to trust Zane’s advice. Then again, Zane was there, quite apparently, because Sheppard wanted to give him a say, considering that he was their official representative.
-- Doomsday Duel I: The most pressing subject I wanted to address was Sheppard’s choice in keykeepers. The seven people chosen to guard the keys were: Jaden, Zane, Alexis, Bastion, Chazz, Crowler, and Banner… But even with the keys under Duel Academy’s protection, why give the keys to these seven duelists in particular? This indicates that Sheppard considers them the best duelists and the trustworthiest candidates in whose hands to place the fate of the world. Why isn’t Sheppard, as the head of this dueling school, guarding one?
-- Doomsday Duel II: (on Sheppard’s worrying about the keykeepers) Speaking of which, I think that Sheppard’s feelings and misgivings in this episode are very understandable and let us know that he really does care.
-- Field of Screams III: I do believe we’ve now seen the leader of the Shadow Riders, who is apparently on speaking terms with Sheppard.
-- Rise of the Sacred Beasts II: For one thing, as far as we know Sheppard can’t duel worth beans, otherwise why isn’t he teaching and otherwise (I had thought before but now I get it) why wouldn’t he have guarded a spirit key himself? So how will he protect the cards? Will he just keep them in his desk, unguarded and away from duels, because it’s really duel action that unlocks their power? That would be my guess.
-- Graduation Match II: Wow, Sheppard! Those are some major props! And quite true, too! “You see, Jaden is a great duelist not because of his book smarts, but because he duels with his heart, his soul!” “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not to count Jaden out until his lifepoints’re out!” Very perceptive, and I’d say that Sheppard has quite a good idea what his students are about, more so than Crowler, but Crowler also understands a thing or two Sheppard doesn’t, as we saw in Magna Chum Laude. I still say that they make a pretty good team.
-- Back to Duel: So, where’s Sheppard? Off to parts unknown to learn how to actually duel? Just off to parts unknown? Did something untoward perhaps happen to him, to cover all the bases? Was there a reason Kaiba chose to make this switcharound (you’d think *he’d* know the advantages of having a team that rarely agrees and covers each other’s shortcomings by now), either related to the running of the school or to some other facet of everything?
This does explain (Duel Off I quote) why Sheppard trusts Zane’s opinion; he’s known Zane for about half, if not more, of his life (Zane was nine in that flashback, and as a recent high school graduate, he’d be about eighteen or nineteen now). And we thought Sheppard couldn’t duel! Ha! He almost beat Zane—he would have, if Zane had been himself!

The Deck of the Underworld, probably named for either its monsters (creepy) or their power (if you thought not being able to walk was bad…).

Ya know, if people who lose some of these duels end up not being able to walk for weeks, wouldn’t that be a good time to suggest that the duel disks get toned down a bit? Kaiba meant for duels to be realistic, not for them to half kill people. He probably wouldn’t mind too terribly much, come to think of it, if only because it doesn’t directly affect him at the moment (that we know of), but I think he *would* fix this problem, if only because the problem could easily come right to his front door if it escalates, which it quite apparently will.

In the flashback to when Zane was nine, they were using Battle City duel disks. That means that Zane was at the most about eight or seven when Battle City happened; during the tournament, only competitors used them, and it wasn’t until a bit later that they became widely popular so even nine-year-old duelists might have one.

How could the Cyber Legacy have been an “ancient birthright” when they didn’t have any computers or robots back in ancient times? Maybe that’s what made these duel spirits so incredible and so revered? Could be true, I guess. Moreover, the birthright couldn’t have been hereditary; otherwise, Zane couldn’t have been the only one because he has a brother. It’s probably a more random, mystical kind of birthright. The Millennium Items, for instance, don’t always (if ever) choose the descendants of their former wielders.

Zane keeps threatening Sheppard with continuing the duel—don’t you think that Sheppard knows that Zane’s last opponent won’t walk for months? Wouldn’t that be one of the copious related reasons why Sheppard called him there? Sheppard’s there to change that, and he’s not backing down! If he would have, he wouldn’t have been there!

Toward the end of the duel, Sheppard played a card that revealed all of Zane’s cards to him, much in the same way Chazz intentionally revealed his cards to Alexis.

Okay, so it’s obvious that the original Kaibadome was located in Kaibaland USA, the one KCGC took place at. It seems that more Blue-Eyes-shaped arenas have been constructed since—that wasn’t the exterior of the Kaibadome we knew.

Shroud promised revenge—I have a feeling that we’ll find out just what kind somewhere down the road.

Zane said of Sheppard’s stepping down at Duel Academy, “Everyone said you were crazy to walk away from that job.” However, earlier on, Champion or Chazz-Been? to be specific, Crowler and Bonaparte said the following:
“ --There’s a *reason* they promoted *me* to Chancellor.
--Yeah—‘cause everyone else turned the job down!”
If everyone said Sheppard was crazy to give it up, why was it such an unappealing post?

What changed? When Zane read Sheppard’s note in the car there, he said, “ All right, Cyber End Dragon, we’re going to ride this all the way to the top.” Not “I’ll”; *we’ll* ride this all the way to the top. What changed during the duel, or what did he mean by that that wasn’t quite as friendly as it seemed? It seemed to me that he wanted to prove to Sheppard that he wasn’t who he had been, which in a twisted kind of way makes sense, and what better way to do that? But if he had cared about his dragon at all, then he *couldn’t* have done that, any more than Yugi could turn on his Dark Magician, Kaiba on his Blue-Eyes, Jaden on Winged Kuriboh… well, actually, it’s happened; Kaiba was forced to attack his own Blue-Eyes in Champion vs. Creator, one of the many ways Pegasus waged psychological warfare. Yugi had to destroy Dark Magician as part of the Final Duel, and then there was the duel at Death Valley, in Fate of the Pharaoh. Jaden’s never had to attack Winged Kuriboh, but it’s early in the series yet; and Chazz and his Ojamas aren’t exactly tight at the moment. Still, it’s evidence as to how strong this particular change-of-person is that he didn’t even blink. The Society of Light’s hold, Chazz shows, is just as strong, resisting both his bond with the Ojamas and to some extent his feelings for Alexis; neither grip will be easy to shatter.

For some reason, the blow seems to be softened, this time. After No Pain, No Game, I was borderline inconsolable, but this time there are a couple other things that eased it; one was seeing a time when Zane *was* a true duelist, and was first learning what that meant; another was discovering that Zane also has a duel spirit. The third, strangely enough, was hearing that there was a tournament coming up. Maybe it’s nostalgia, I’m not sure, but tournaments mean that old dueling friends from halfway across the world might meet up again; they give a reason for duelists to congregate. Will Chazz meet up with his old buddies at North Academy again? Will Foster come to cheer his students and say hi to his old friend Sheppard? Will Zane take the bait and run into Jaden, Syrus, and the Duel Academy folks (because we all KNOW that’s Sheppard’s aim—he even said so!)? Will Chumley take some time off Industrial Illusions and meet up with his old chums again? What about Blair and her Maiden in Love? Or the Admiral? Or Pierre “the Gambler”? Kagemaru? Will we see Missy vs. Weevil or Hassleberry vs. Rex? Will any familiar faces from the Original put in an appearance? One thing that saddens me, though, is that before I saw next week’s episode’s title, I had thought this would be sometime in the near future, but not right away, and had hoped that everyone might be back to normal by then. Considering the next episode’s title, I have a feeling that the DA crowd aren’t the only ones in for a rude awakening in discovering that Zane’s new “act” isn’t an act at all—what about Zane and Alexis’ friendship? What about the North Academy kids and their admiration of Chazz? Will Foster be able to remind Chazz about what the Ojamas used to mean to him? What I love about tournaments, I hadn’t realized how much it seems to be wired in, is that anything can happen, they could arrive and anyone, even Yugi himself, could be there, and everyone has a reason to win, some more pressing than others. There’s fanfares, excitement, history made, magic in the air. What duel fan could ask for more?

For the record, from the flashbacks we now know that Sheppard does, in fact, know about duel spirits!

Generation neXt is the title of the next episode. The way it’s written makes it seem to me that it’s an extended abbreviation. A couple people have asked me what the “GX” stands for, but I’ve always hesitated to give the only explanation there’s been, in the theme, because it seems like there should be a better reason than that, one that ties in more with the plot itself. Here it is, if I’m right in my guess: the medal Sheppard gave Zane, his ticket into this grand tournament, says “GX” on it. Could the title of the show center somehow around this tournament? If so, it MUST be big! The last year and a half, if I’m right, has been leading up to this!

Attack From the Deep and Everything’s Relative—no time for much of this this week, and it’s all off the top of my head. It’s been pretty crazy around here, what with renovations, people getting sick, and production for both of my shows in full swing, trying to get that last bit of rehearsal in before winter break. At least all of my homework’s already done. Anyway, there was something I wanted to say about Mokuba that I forgot entirely that I might post at some later date. It was important, I think, and I can’t remember it! I also tried, and failed, to guess which Big Five was which; I get the feeling that they weren’t really expected to become characters at this point. I seem to recall that they were more easily distinguishable from one another in Legendary Heroes I. We never do get to see what that card was Kaiba gave to Mokuba before he left; I’m dying to know what Mokuba’s favorite card is! I also noticed something I hadn’t before; something clicked between Yugi and Mako—Mako was the first duelist they came across who was also fighting for a loved one. Something clicked, when each realized why the other couldn’t let him win.

That’s all for now, folks. Next weekend, naturally—Duel With a Ghoul (yay, montage!), Give Up the Ghost (Kaiba shows off his superhuman hacker talents and destroys the impostor’s Blue-Eyes with his *mind*!), and Generation neXt!!!