Predictions and Observations:
Ultimate Destiny

*Are* Crowler and Bonaparte in Sheppard’s bad books, or is that just in their heads? Seems to me that he’s feeling just fine towards them, what happened in Duel For Hire was a mishap because despite what their good points may be, not being annoying is not one of them.

I still don’t get it. For some reason, Aster’s plotline continues to boggle my mind. I’m now going to try to piece this together, and any help would be most welcome. Ten years ago, when Aster was young (I’d say five or six, which fits with my guesses of his age now, which in any case must be under seventeen or eighteen, lol), his dad, a card designer of Industrial Illusions, was working on the Destiny Heroes, a powerful bunch of cards. But the most powerful of all, Destiny Hero Plasma, he thought up right when the latest wave of Light hit the Earth, causing the future card to be infused with evil energy. Aster’s dad knew this somehow, and he kept trying to stop himself from finishing it, but the magic was too strong for him. However, he also made a card that could defeat the monstrosity he was forced to unleash, and bequeathed it to Aster. Around this time or after the card was finished, young Aster was walking around town with a drawing of D-H Plasma (probably showing it off to his friends or some such; these are some rockin’ heroes to him!), and chanced to run into The D (speaking of which, that name he gave Aster in last episode’s flashback could well have been false; I’ll keep calling him The D), a random guy who’s down on his luck. The D, realizing the card’s power, broke into Aster’s dad’s study to steal it. Aster’s dad (when will we learn the guy’s name?!) caught him at it, and tried to stop him, to no avail. As soon as The D had the card, its power took him over, and what happened next is somewhat vague but not hard to guess; The D got away with it, Aster’s dad was done away with somehow (the Light…), and little Aster discovered the scene they left behind: an open window (for the robbery) and the Destiny Hero cards scattered all over the floor in the commotion. He thought that his dad had been kidnapped, not entirely a bad conclusion. A couple months later, Aster met The D again, not recognizing him (probably that snazzy new suit), and The D claimed to be a friend of his father’s, and adopted him to throw the authorities off his trail (I’m noticing a pattern with step-parents in this show; first Gozaburo, now this guy…?). So Aster grew up with The D, never suspecting him (though he seems oddly distant toward him, just like everyone else), and The D taught him to duel. They were Pro League champs together. Some short time after Aster’s dad disappeared, The D gave Aster a card that his dad had wanted him to have: Dark Angel, the deadly Plasma’s weakness.
If Sarina gave any sort of date, I never made a note of it, but sometime after, The D came to Sartorius one evening, and asked him to read his fortune with D-H Plasma as the payment. Did Sartorius know if its power the way The D did when he stole it from Aster’s dad, or did he just somehow get whammied into accepting a duel card, albeit a rather rare one, as payment? Why did The D give up the card, and why to Sartorius? I find it hard to believe that this was random, “oh, I think I’ll pay this fortune-teller with the most powerful card in the world”, rather than planned, but planned by The D, or planned by the Light? One way or another, he did, and the card changed hands. What did he read as The D’s fortune, I wonder? Anyway, Sarina noticed a change in Sartorius almost immediately; she said that his soul split in half, and we’ve seen that. We’ve also, digressingly, seen The D’s two halves. Did both want to steal that card? It would seem so, because the card hadn’t split them yet. Therefore, did either ever care about Aster at all? So, Sartorius fell under the Light’s control, and apparently became its main, home-base host-vessel-person. Why it didn’t use D is anybody’s guess. Before or after, no idea which, Sartorius met Aster, and vice-versa. Not much is known about that, whether Sartorius was always Aster’s dueling manager or what, but Sartorius said, in Heart of Ice I, that they used to be friends, and he trusts Aster even though Aster can’t trust him. At sometime between when Sartorius fell to the Light and the present, The D got the card back from Sartorius but Sartorius remained the vessel-person. Still no clue why. That’s on the question list. However, The D still has a split personality, which we observed before his duel with Dr. Collector.
So, my list of burning questions:
- What is Aster’s dad’s actual name? (because I’m getting very tired of calling him “Aster’s dad”)
- What is The D’s true name?
- What does the “D” in “The D” stand for?
- How long has Aster known Sartorius?
- More, in general, about the history of Aster and Sartorius
- How did The D get D-H Plasma back from Sartorius?
- Why is Sartorius the main vessel-guy?
- How are cards “officialized” when they’re finished so duel disks and so on accept them as legal? (It’s another Golden Castle, folks…)
- What fortune did Sartorius read when he read for The D and was paid with D-H Plasma?
- Is it pure coincidence that everyone in Aster’s life that he was ever close to is involved in this mess, or does the Light have it in for him? Since he’s one of the chosen ones, it’s actually possible that it *does*.
- Did Sartorius get D-H Plasma before or after he met Aster?
- How do folks know that the card is powerful without having ever seen it played or seen it at all before?
- If Aster defeats/whathaveyou Sartorius and the Light, will his dad return?
- Did Aster end up having to destroy his dad’s soul just there, or was that Mirror-Knightish, too?

Nope- only seven card-named episodes…

It’s a Mirror Knight conflict… remember, in A Duel With Dartz, when four of Dartz’s monsters took on the appearance and contained the souls of Yugi, Joey, Mai, and Pegasus? By destroying Plasma there, did Aster destroy these souls or are they somehow okay and The D was just trying to psych Aster out or something? Aster’s dad was proud of him for attacking, but he would have been just as proud if Aster had done the right thing by destroying him, because it would be hard to do but it would be the right thing to do.

Well, that’s about all I can think of, if only because my mind is still boggling a bit. It’s true what they say about too much exposition (though it’s not as bad as bad subject matter, say, or possibly a bad title…). Anyway, tomorrow’s episode is The Key Factor, and Friday’s is The Phoenix Has Landed I. ‘Til then, good night, everybody! -Clio