Predictions and Observations:
Tough Love

I get it- if he’s good enough without Power Bond, then with it he’ll be better than good enough. I’m reminded of Sad But Truesdale, when he gave it to Jaden for his match against Missy. Now, he needs to do the same thing again, or try to, by showing himself that he’s strong enough and brave enough to take on Zane, even without his power card. The problem would have been that I’m not sure, no matter how good he got, that Syrus would ever have thought himself equal to Zane. Therefore, it’s rather fortunate for this plan of his that Jaden helped nudge him into actually challenging Zane.
This is cut-and-pasted from the Sad But Truesdale commentary: “Power Bond again, with a new meaning. Like Jaden said, Syrus can keep it as a souvenir of his bravery, rather than what it was before, which was basically a souvenir of not being good enough. Now that he’s made his own way as a duelist, he can play it with pride. Especially now that he apparently has his own sort of equivalent: Vehicroid Connection Zone.”

That duel Syrus was in to begin with, with the anonymous Obelisk guy, was by the shore, just like the Duel and Unusual Punishment duel. Coincidence? I think not.

Nothing changed, Sy said. What did he mean, when change is what he’s going for? Does he mean that he isn’t there yet? Jaden replied that of course something changed; Sy’s fighting for something now. I couldn’t agree more; Syrus was improving as a duelist, but from the confidence and actual pleasure he showed in that beginning duel, I know that Sy is a force to be reckoned with if he gets a good reason to be!

When Hassleberry said that Zane and Aster bumped shoulders, I essentially shouted, “oh, crud! We’re in for it now!” It had actually occurred to me that sooner or later they’d run into each other again, and considering their last meeting, the sparks were sure to fly, but for some reason I forgot that thought until now.

Sy’s been working hard since he decided to duel Zane. Should’ve guessed that he’d take some time to prepare, while I kept asking what on Earth he’s waiting for after he fumed his intent to take Zane DOWN in The Darkness Within.

Sy was wearing his blazer unbuttoned during that first duel, I notice. I think that in addition to becoming more skilled, Sy’s also relaxing more, which is really somewhat one-in-the-same with that.

Syrus had friends back there; otherwise Zane might have gotten to him, like Shroud got to him.

“resorted to scaring your opponents into defeat”—ooh, slam! Neither would know that that was a comparison to Panik, but if they did, that insult would sting even more!

Aster said that he’d been talking trash for ten minutes with no effect- remember last time they met?? Aster’s trash-talking then was seriously getting under Zane’s skin; as a matter of fact, that’s one of the first things I noticed. I think that what he went through may be the key to bringing him back since he seems to have built up specific resistance to those things. For instance, he kept losing, so as a coping mechanism, so to speak, all he cares about now is victory—not pride, nor honor, nor respect, nor any recognition; those got him where he was before he turned bad.

Why was Aster goading Zane? Why did Aster want a duel? He wasn’t just aimlessly talking trash; he specifically offered Zane a rematch. What could Aster have had to gain from dueling Zane? Or, as another option, if he really had been at it for a while, why did Aster want to determine what it is Zane is after, if not getting his glory back?

Whose side was Aster on here? It’s kinda funny, but even after knowing him for half the year, I can’t really think of any reason why he would take sides in many of these matters. His only known bias is against Sartorius. I’m reminded of when he spoke to Bastion in Magnetic Personality; he kept a careful eye on him, but didn’t exactly say anything straight-out or try to stop him. He told Jaden what had happened, but he didn’t say anything to Bastion other than ‘why are you “just going for a jog” with your duel disk?’ And is it just me, but was Aster the one helping put on Zane’s cuffs while Jaden and Hassleberry helped Syrus? It’s so strange, the almost entirely neutral role Aster plays in some of these situations. If I had to guess right now, I’d say that he’s trying to figure out what makes our heroes tick. When something’s going down, he can be found there; he was goading Zane and it seemed to me as if he wanted to see how Zane would react now; he was watching Bastion carefully in Magnetic Personality but didn’t really quite try to stop him. I think that the reason Aster confuses me so much is that he’s such an integral part of the action, but not only is he unsure which side he’s on in any of this, but he’s observing others’ actions and motives while revealing little of his own, perhaps trying to figure it out. I suppose that highly-strung expert duelists would most commonly act that way; if something or someone’s off-balancing you (quite a year he’s had…), then treat it with caution and learn about it while not letting it learn about you. He has little connection to ANYone in the group, except that of respect with Jaden (I think Jaden’s shown himself to be Aster’s equal, if not better, and Aster knows it), passing acquaintance with past opponents like Zane, and whatever mixed-up painful thing is going on between him and Sartorius, which is not only almost entirely unknown itself, but both of its parties are equally shrouded. Not much chance to figure it out at this point, but I think once we know a bit more about that things might become clearer all around. They will eventually; before the year is out one or both of the chosen ones will have to confront Sartorius themselves. It’s a law of the Yugiohverse.

Victory is pain, and pain is victory, Zane essentially said. Not only creepy and reminiscent of unpleasant disorders you learn about in Health class, but very telling if I could figure out what it’s telling. I’m reminded of what I said a couple paragraphs ago about coping mechanisms; what happened wired Zane differently, so to speak. But the suddenness of it made it seem like there has to be something untowardly magical about this. Part of that, anyway, was that he lost time after time, but then when he finally won it was in the underground duel, which was extremely painful. Therefore, pain is victory, and the more he hurts, the more he wins. Hang on! That’s why hurting those he cared about doesn’t matter to him! Hurting them would have hurt him too, if he had shown it, but he didn’t because he’s been rewired to see pain, physical or emotional, as what he wants more than anything, which, after such crushing defeats, is victory.

Hang on hang on—in the Society, you want your friends to join the Society too, so you duel them into joining, not realizing that by doing so you’re hurting them. Therefore, doing something bad to them is seen as good by you in that state, just like Zane’s affliction. Interesting. The key similarity between these two is that the usual mind-control remedies don’t work because the mind is tricked far more than it’s controlled or corrupted. So what’s the solution? After Chazz and Alexis, I should be able to figure it out. I’d say one probable cure would be to defeat Zane or Bastion in a duel. Another, Chazz was an interesting case because he was already beginning to question the Society’s sway on his own, and then by chance he was shown proof that Jaden and the Ojamas were telling him the truth (the stain on his jacket), which rocked the Society’s grip loose. So therefore, let’s watch really carefully for any signs of uncertainty in Zane or Bastion. As for Sartorius, his situation is a bit more confusing and so on, but I’d say that if anyone has a chance for the second road, it would be Aster, who knows him best, and who was once his friend.

“These make the duel more electrifying…every lifepoint lost is a shock to the system.” Direct quotes from No Pain, No Game. I remember them well.

“Not only will I meet you there, but I’ll bring you back!” Didn’t Atticus already try that? Both of them tried entering Zane’s world to bring him back, but I think that it’s being shown that that’s a bad idea. How, though, would anyone get Zane to step into the light, so to speak? There’s nothing he wants from anyone, except their cries of agony and defeat. Any challenger would have to play on Zane’s terms, because Zane has no reason to accept theirs.

The cuffs. No use asking where Zane got them. Has Sy been the only opponent whom Zane has dueled with them? I doubt it, though you’d think something like that would be in the tournament gossip and around the island like lightning. May I also note the incredible shock value of those things, no pun intended. I know I flinched at the very *least*.

Of course Sy’s been keeping an eye on Zane’s duels! What did you expect?

I’m reminded of The Darkness Returns I-IV and Fighting for a Friend I-IV; every point lost causes physical pain beyond whatever the duel disks do. It’s a battle of endurance and even more one of heart than usual.

That Life Force card—it stuck out at me that Sy was depleting his own points, actually zapping himself, to prevent Zane from being able to do so for a lot more damage. Somehow that seems extremely significant; he wouldn’t let Zane’s monsters do damage to him, because he damaged himself instead.

Zane doesn’t seem to feel the first attack, but he flinches on the second one; could this show whether Sy’s getting through? When Zane starts feeling pain or emotion again?

“Some may call that a coincidence, but *I* call it *fate!*” That’s right; Zane and Sy both drew Pot of Greed in the same turn! Amazing how often that happens; I still think that some prankster, maybe even a mischievous duel spirit, dashes around stacking duelists’ decks so that they draw the same card at the same time. Like the Heart, at the end of GX, we’ll discover that this is not a plot device, but a magical property. Lol. But more seriously, that also happened in Zane and Aster’s duel.

Power Bond chose Sy. That seems very important. Power Bond is the card Zane gave him, and it chose him, according to Jaden. Since characters rarely say much like that in this show without reason, I must interpret this as Sy showing himself to be Zane’s equal, even though he lost. Come to think of it, it did on several occasions when he wasn’t “fit” to use it, such as his duel with the bully and his duel with Jaden in Duel and Unusual Punishment.

Power Wall seems to be Zane’s new signature card, along with the Cyber Dark things. It’s about the most effective way to show disrespect for your cards that *I* can think of.

The title: Zane wants Syrus to “learn” what he learned in No Pain, No Game; tough love indeed…

I don’t think Zane even managed to land a single attack until the end-of-the-duel final attack. Nope, he didn’t. All of the damage Sy took was self-inflicted, until the last.

This is quoted directly from the No Pain, No Game post: “…now that Zane is clawing (almost literally) his way to the top once more, he’s going to want that rematch to prove once and for all that he is the best. When that happens, I’ll bet Jaden can duel some sense into him. After all, Zane dueled a very similar kind of sense into Jaden at the Grad Match; Jaden got too bent on winning, and lost what makes him such a formidable duelist. Zane doesn’t realize it, but in desperation he’s fallen into the same trap, ten times over. However, even as Jaden remedies this, I have a feeling that Syrus will be in about as much distress as he was—is—, with Jaden missing, if not more. But, what if Jaden’s not the one who duels? After all, the parallels suggest that but what if Syrus himself challenges Zane? What if it reaches that point? If this continues, Syrus might just care enough, might just have the guts, might just be upset enough with what has happened to the older brother he so idolized, that he might just step up and challenge Zane and remind him what dueling’s all about himself.”

The Big Question: Is Syrus okay?!?! I sure hope so, and probably so, because it’s not often they decide to kill off a main character. Will he need some recovery time? Quite possibly. I can’t help but remember Jaden when they fought Camula. But I wonder—will the fact that he failed to get through to Zane hamper his recovery? Will he do something even more drastic? Syrus was raring to go right until he passed out, saying that Zane can’t go away yet, Sy hasn’t gotten through to him. It also occurs to me that I had wondered after No Pain, No Game if there were something more than just electricity in those cuffs, if there were shadow-magic or something. If there is and Sy’s been getting zapped with that too, all bets are off except that when you faint and shadow-magic is part of the equation, your mind would be entirely vulnerable, right? Several instances of this in the original come to mind, mostly in the Battle City Finals but also in Match of the Millennium; Yugi’s mind would have gotten shredded because its strength was depleted and it couldn’t protect itself. Nasty. Poor Sy, I hope I’m wrong about that at least.
What could have caused Jaden to call for a doctor so suddenly? Plenty of people are exhausted by duels; Jaden’s fainted on the field in his day (Doomsday Duel wasn’t much fun, but he didn’t have any adverse effects from this until the end of the duel). I wonder if those cuffs would have left any sort of mark, or if Sy broke a limb like that one guy Zane was dueling in Schooling the Master managed to? Speaking of which, incidentally, there couldn’t have been cuffs in *that* match; how did anyone end up breaking a leg? What kind of effect would a serious attack like that one have had on Sy that would cause a reaction like that?

The Other Big Question: Who can stop Zane now?! Three guesses, and I’d say they’re Jaden, Jaden, and Jaden. Seriously, I was saying Syrus, but if it’s not him, this looks like a job for the Hero of the Story. Either that, or call in another pro who *does* know the value of honor and respect. Yugi, Kaiba, or Joey would fit the bill nicely, and any of them could quite probably stand up to the cuffs’ power. However, I still thought that Syrus was one of the most likely candidates for the simple reason that he had the most reason to win. It seems clear to me that Syrus looked up to Zane from a very young age; the Power Bond card that Zane entrusted to him he treasured, and he was very hurt when Zane stopped that duel with the bully. Throughout his freshman year, Zane’s disapproval, and the feeling of being stuck in his shadow, sapped Syrus’ confidence, and once Zane graduated and Syrus was on his own, he blossomed amazingly as a duelist. If Zane were in his right mind, and if, when in his right mind, he cares about his little brother at all, which we know he does (*cough*Field of Screams II*cough*cough*), I think he would be speechlessly proud of Sy right now. When he *does* get back to normal, these two brothers who once stayed distant because of a harsh difference in skill, experience, and somewhat belief, will be able to give each other the match of their lives.
This is quoted directly from the No Pain, No Game post: “…now that Zane is clawing (almost literally) his way to the top once more, he’s going to want that rematch to prove once and for all that he is the best. When that happens, I’ll bet Jaden can duel some sense into him. After all, Zane dueled a very similar kind of sense into Jaden at the Grad Match; Jaden got too bent on winning, and lost what makes him such a formidable duelist. Zane doesn’t realize it, but in desperation he’s fallen into the same trap, ten times over. However, even as Jaden remedies this, I have a feeling that Syrus will be in about as much distress as he was—is—, with Jaden missing, if not more. But, what if Jaden’s not the one who duels? After all, the parallels suggest that but what if Syrus himself challenges Zane? What if it reaches that point? If this continues, Syrus might just care enough, might just have the guts, might just be upset enough with what has happened to the older brother he so idolized, that he might just step up and challenge Zane and remind him what dueling’s all about himself.”

Well, that’s about it. Sorry this took so long and all, folks, but I wanted to do it justice and spend a bit more time and energy on it, and since I had the time to since it was a weekend before the next showed, I did. Tomorrow (Monday) is It’s All Relative, and Tuesday is The Dark Light. Talk about your oxymorons, but since one villain was dark in this adventure and the other was light, it had occurred to me before now to let the two of them go at it and make it a wash. But no, seriously. Also, “It’s All Relative” reminds me of the Duelist Kingdom episode “Everything’s Relative” (how I’ll ever keep them straight…), and it had occurred to me a time or two that it was called that because the Kaiba brothers’ situation is discovered to be a pretty bad one, and Yugi and his friends’ adventures through the sunlit fields and forests of Duelist Kingdom seem pretty cheery in comparison, even though they have important things to fight for as well. Syrus’ condition seems to be a similar thing, in a way; Jaden has the tournament and worries about Sartorius to trouble him, but Syrus is really in bad shape, and I don’t think any known character, with the possible exception of Zane himself, is in worse shape right now. I guess we’ll find out, but it seems likely to me, especially after Syrus lost, both the duel, and his best chance to bring his brother back. Come to think of it, that’s another similarity; both Syrus and Mokuba were dueling for the same thing. Well, I’ll quit rattling. Good night. Face Off post on the way, but I’m being lazy in honor of the three-day weekend. -Clio