Predictions: The State of Syrus

Predictions and Observations:
The State of Syrus

First of all, a summary:
The episode opens with Syrus and Jaden, dueling back at the Academy. After losing spectacularly to Jaden, Syrus mentions that this seems sort of strange, like déjà vu. He starts to cry, and doesn't know why; he's happy right now, isn't he? Jaden suddenly vanishes, along with the scene, leaving Syrus alone.
He wakes up, having curled up in a dripping cave to rest; he *is* alone, and Jaden is long gone. Syrus laments how Jaden seemed to be protecting them, until his reckless dueling started to endanger them, and he didn't seem to care. And now, with the Doubt rune glowing in his cheek, Sy wonders if he'll ever see the old Jaden again. Just then, he hears a scream; Ojama Yellow is drowning in a nearby river. Syrus rescues him, and Ojama Yellow tells how he got there; Syrus hadn't known about Chazz's fate. This only strengthens his feelings about Jaden, and he resolves to strike out on his own. He tells Ojama Yellow never to mention Jaden again, that they aren't friends anymore. From now on, Syrus only cares about himself! He tells Ojama Yellow to get lost, and sets out to begin life anew—a life without Jaden! But the more he tries not to think about Jaden, the more he does, remembering all Jaden's ever said about friendship and believing in people. Syrus cries rebelliously to the sky that Jaden abandoned *him*, not the other way around, and, determined to leave Jaden behind, renounces dueling and throws his duel disk deep into the wilds of the forest.
Later, he hears a crashing disturbance and turns to see a huge insect monster rearing out of the forest, having found some shrilly screaming prey. Forgetting his harsh words, Syrus once again intervenes and tries to rescue Ojama Yellow; he's about to summon a monster, when he realizes that he no longer has a duel disk. Reminded of how he lost it, Syrus decides to turn his back. Just then, he hears another scream. The Doom Dozer has chased Ojama Yellow into a small crevice in the side of a cliff, and has him cornered when a rock hits the Dozer's head; Syrus is back! Syrus tells Ojama Yellow to make a break for it and throws another rock, goading it to chase him. Just when it's run Syrus down and is about to eat him, something else hits the creature in the head: an electricity cuff, like the ones in No Pain, No Game and Tough Love. The monster retreats, hurt. A cloaked figure on the cliff above pulls out an activated duel disk. As Syrus looks on in wonder, the stranger summons Cyber End Dragon, and faces off with the huge Doom Dozer. That can only mean one thing, Syrus realizes; it's his brother!
Cyber End Dragon dispatches its foe, and the blast slams Syrus hard against a tree. Suddenly Zane falls to his knees in pain, clutching his pounding chest. He gets over it just as Syrus comes to and stares up at him, bemused; what's Zane doing there? Ojama Yellow floats over, clinging to Sy's face and praising his bravery. Syrus suddenly feels woozy again, and falls over in a faint. Ojama Yellow starts to freak out when Zane approaches, and assures the duel spirit that Syrus is fine. Ojama Yellow apologizes for his overemotion, and starts rambling that he already saw Chazz get vaporized today, and he can't take much more. Zane is surprised to hear this, and has Ojama Yellow tell what's been going on from the beginning.
By the time Yellow is done recounting recent events, Zane has set up a campfire. Yellow finishes by mentioning Syrus' declaration that he and Jaden are no longer friends. At the mention of Jaden, Zane comments "that kid needs to grow up." Just then, Syrus stirs in his sleep and murmurs, "buddy?" Zane knows that it isn't him that Syrus is dreaming about.
In Syrus' dream, he and Jaden talk about Syrus' confrontation with Zane, the Tough Love duel. All Syrus can think of is that he lost, and there's nothing he can do to help Zane, but Jaden praises how much guts it took to stand up to his big brother; he gave that duel his *everything*! Syrus asks Jaden what he would do, if someone he cared about started acting like Zane? Jaden replies that he would still stand by them, especially if it were Syrus. After all, Syrus would sure do the same for him!
Syrus awakens to find himself staring at Zane across the fire. "You know what dreams are, little brother?" Zane tells him quietly, "They're how we tell ourselves things. Things we don't want to hear. You know what you have to do, Sy—you have to set things straight with Jaden!" Syrus asks how. Zane, too, reminds him of their duel a year ago, and tells him that he'll have to do the same thing to get Jaden back. Syrus is dubious; Zane asks why Syrus would fight for *him*, but not for his own best friend, and adds nastily that maybe Syrus is just better off *without* Jaden! Zane turns to leave. Syrus asks, what if Jaden is like Zane, and doesn't want to come back? Zane replies that Syrus will figure something out. Syrus asks his brother to wait, begs him to let him come with him; Zane tells him firmly that he can do this, on his own, and walks away. Syrus begins to cry, then realizes with surprise that Zane retrieved his duel disk, and left it beside the fire.
Aster waits in a nearby clearing, and, when Zane returns, asks if he had any success. Zane replies, we'll see. Aster asks if Zane's just going to leave Syrus out there on his own, but Zane is already walking away. He knows that he is running out of time from the pain in his heart, and there's still one thing he has to do! Aster can barely catch up.
Syrus returns to the river with Ojama Yellow in tow, standing tall. Just like Jaden is looking for Jesse, now Syrus is looking for *him!* Just like the course of the comet above, Syrus' path is clear. This world is scary, Syrus declares, but not as scary as the loss of his best friend…

I think I have a new favorite episode. Seriously, I mean it. It's definitely in my top ten. This is the moment we Truesdale fans have been waiting for—one and half years! I don't usually play favorites, but something about Zane and Syrus has really struck me; maybe it's that I can profoundly relate to both of them. I am cheering out loud, bouncing off the walls, and memorizing half the episode in less than 36 hours. Get comfy, grab a big bowl of popcorn and your fuzzy slippers; I promise you that this will get lengthy!

"That's why they call it a comeback." Just like Jaden can make a comeback from this, is the point, I think.

Jaden kept saying that if Syrus wasn't feeling like everything was quite right, he must be hungry. It reminds me of the snack break in the middle of the Grad Match, which also has to do with Zane.

Syrus mentioned, in the dream that opened the episode, that it felt like they'd done this before. One of the things I'm debating with myself is whether the events of these dreams are memories or if Syrus' subconscious made them up. They seem entirely plausible, and yet oddly specific. The second one is most strange, since they specifically refer to events that Syrus might not necessarily be relating to this situation (even though Zane makes the connection; I wonder if, perhaps, there was a part of Syrus going, "not again!"), that happened about a year ago. It seems to me as if this conversation *would* have actually happened and Syrus was fortuitously remembering it when it most applied, except for one thing: Syrus was in the infirmary after Zane got through with him, and the dialogue implied that this conversation was right after Syrus lost to Zane. And also, that little comment reminded me of So Close Yet So Far, when everyone starts reliving the rest of Battle City and getting wicked déjà vu; Joey asks then, when he finds himself in the passenger seat of Mai's car, "Don'tcha feel like we've taken this ride before?"

Syrus noted that originally Jaden was trying to protect his friends, when he wouldn't let any of them duel Scarr, until he started endangering them, like when he slipped away for a reckoning with Zure. So, I ask, what shifted? The fact is that Jaden's intentions remained the same; he had been guilt-tripping himself, and trying to handle this on his own, and leave his friends somewhere safe. But he underestimated their will to support him, and didn't count on them coming along, and therefore couldn't do much to keep them safe. The intention to protect them was *always* there, is my point; Jaden needs to get over his guilt about Jesse and start working as a team *with* his friends again, instead of avoiding them and letting them get into trouble without him to support them.

"You know what dreams are, little brother? They're how we tell ourselves things. Things we don't want to hear." I'm trying to think if other canon dreams follow that pattern. I remember Syrus' chili sauce nightmare (Grave Risk I); that Jaden tends to dream in attack mode; Jaden's nightmares after he fought Camula (The Fear Factor); the little daydream sequence in For the Sake of Syrus, in which Syrus and Jaden get creamed by Zane and a tag partner, and it's all Sy's fault; Of course! The dreams Jaden has earlier this year about Yubel, sand, and his friends turning to stone; the hallucinations in Going Bananas seem to follow that pattern very well ("Ya don't get it, *do* ya, slacker! You're losing your mind!"); the daydream in Blinded By the Light I ("What'm I *saying?* Sartorius must have messed with my head…") seems to follow that statement. That's all the dreams I can think of in GX, let me know if anyone can think of any others. In the original, Joey dreams of gigantic donuts, Blue-Eyes, and dog suits in Duelist Kingdom; during the Battle City Finals, he has a lot of dreams about Mai; Joey dreams when he gets struck by lightning in Awakening of Evil IV that his friends help him stand up; and during Clash in the Coliseum that he's dueling in an entirely different tournament; Tea has a dream in The Past is Prologue in which Atem leaves her behind to encounter his destiny on his own; Yugi has that dream/vision in The Night Before, in which grandpa, Kaiba, and Mokuba warn him to trust the Puzzle; Tea has a dream in virtual world in which Yugi tells her she'll need Dark Magician Girl soon (and they go see DMG the Musical on Broadway); Bakura's dreams are the site of Yami Bakura and Marik's plotting in Shadow of a Duel (needless to say, Bakura isn't sleeping very peacefully); the virtual technology creates some weird fantasies in So Close Yet So Far, but these are repeats of previous situations and they know it ("What's going on?!" "Don'tcha feel like we've taken this ride before?"), which actually seem to be what Syrus' dreams are—flashbacks; Atem and Mana wake up in Makings of a Magician, having dreamed that Mahad was in trouble, and calling out to them; Bakura causes Akhnadon to relive the events around the creation of the Millennium Items in a dream in Village of Lost Souls; Atem suddenly recalls Akhnonkannan in a dream/vision in In Search of a King. There are actually a good number of dream sequences, but I think that mainly they reflect a character's anxieties, or they're prophetic or expository. Syrus' dreams here mostly resembled Joey's, actually. I wouldn't say that they necessarily told him things that he didn't want to hear, but neither did Syrus', quite. In Syrus' dreams, Jaden was there and okay, like he usually was, and the two of them had conversations that were pertinent to this situation and, apparently, actually happened. Syrus got advice and comfort from Jaden in his dreams, what he was sadly missing when he was awake. He missed it, even though he wouldn't say it and didn't want to hear it. And dream Jaden told Syrus that "a friend is a friend, no matter what" and that he'd do for Syrus what Syrus didn't want to do for him. Anyway, Joey's dreams often did the same thing in Battle City; they were how he got back up after he should have been knocked down for good, they included useful advice (which ended up also finding its way from him to Yugi when he needed it, if I recall), they reflected what he missed that was important to him (Mai).

I hadn't expected Ojama Yellow and Syrus to team up. I always thought Ojama Yellow was a one-duelist spirit, so to speak. Is Syrus Ojama Yellow's new best friend, or is Yellow just waiting until Chazz gets back and not getting eaten or drowning in the meantime? It's odd that he should turn to Syrus as a protector; that's not a role Sy often plays. May I be so bold as to say that Yellow is a foil, he adds to our impression that Syrus is stepping up, by occupying Sy's usual scaredy-cat role and causing us to compare. Syrus *has,* in a way, become the hero of the story—he even has his own sidekick, which makes him no longer "the sidekick" that he's stated himself to be in the past.

Ojama Yellow is such a wonderful companion for Chazz simply because the Ojamas accept and adore Chazz for exactly who he is, like a family, which is something Chazz has in short supply. This carries over to Ojama Yellow's companionship with Syrus, who's also very lonely at this point. I think that much like the Neo-Spacians emanate duel energy and the Crystal Beasts radiate beauty, Ojama Yellow embodies unconditional friendship and affection, (Ojama Yellow said it himself, in this episode: "I'm nothing without affection!") which is indeed something that Chazz has a bit of a love-hate relationship with because he needs it but he's decidedly independent. Syrus decided to try and be even more independent in this episode and as part of that he abandoned Ojama Yellow, but the moment he wasn't actively resisting it, he came right back, which is also the course his decision to forget Jaden took. This actually, come to think, creates a metaphor for Syrus' attachment to Jaden: as in, Syrus is to Jaden as Ojama Yellow is to Chazz, Syrus, or any other lonely duelist.

"It was so awful. Chazz was so angry at Jaden." I'm curious as to whether the Ojamas were affected by the anger rune, or whether they knew something strange was going on. I tend to favor the latter, which has me interpreting this statement to be upset that Chazz was in such a state, and being so hard on someone he's so close to, like Jaden. I'm reminded of The New Chazz and I've Seen the Light, in which we see how much Jaden means to Chazz. Ojama Yellow would have known that Chazz was under some kind of whammy, and that's what vaporized him; that makes it worse, almost.

"Axel and that guy with the crocodile." Wonder why Ojama Yellow knew Axel's name but not Jim's? Axel's usually the quiet one of the two, so you'd think less people would remember him, but he makes a lasting impression through presence and action alone. Still, it's interesting, because Ojama Yellow would probably reflect Chazz's experience very closely, which means that Chazz knows Axel a lot better than he knows Jim.

The Jadenism: "A duel isn't over until the last card's played!" How long has it been…? I can't even count it! Actually, I just did. It was last said in Primal Instinct. Seems like it's been forever.

Syrus narrated himself as "our hero", when he was planning to strike off on his own. It reminded me of the recurring theme of Syrus wanting to be the hero—in the beginning of the episode he says it but doesn't mean it, but by the end of the episode, it's there and no one has to say it.

Of course, one of the big questions this week: why did Zane do this? Aster's questions about "success" imply that Zane's trying to psych Syrus into doing something, or that that's what Aster thinks. What ulterior motive could Zane and Aster have for getting Jaden back to normal, or for having Syrus try it? It is kinda dangerous, but I don't think that's what Zane was after; he could have starstruck Syrus himself this episode, or even just let him get eaten. Zane commented that Jaden "needs to grow up," but by his standards, Jaden just *has* in turning his back on friendship, honor, and dueling for fun. And in the past, Zane seemed to have a very high opinion of Jaden. The next question, rather ongoing, is *are* there two Zanes, or only one? I revive this question out of noticing the split into red and blue after he fought the Dozer. Was he conflicted over whether to help Syrus? Are his two sides battling it out, or is his one side just having a really rough time? There apparently is still a part of Zane that cares about Syrus; but how can it coexist with the one that sent him to the hospital last year? Inquiring minds yearn to know. The biggest question of all of these—what else does Zane need to do, and what happens when he runs out of time?! I feel like Joey, because I too said, "Running out of time? It can't be!" I get the sinking feeling that something bad is about to happen, and the only possible explanation I've got is: "I probably don't need to tell you this (no, Sheppard, we already knew, lol), but if Zane goes too far, the dark powers of the Underworld Deck will consume him entirely!"

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and it will bug me forever: There is something crucially important that we do not know about the history of the Truesdale brothers.

"Ah, Jaden. That kid needs to grow up." I don't get it. Come to think of it, a lot of the plot surrounding Zane and Syrus has also included Jaden, though. Some part of Zane is glad to know that Syrus has a close friend like Jaden to support him: "I think Sy chose good friends, Alexis." In Year 1, Zane had a very high opinion of Jaden, even going to the point of calling him "The only one worthy" of being in his Grad Match. The only comment of his regarding Jaden that year that reminds me of the comment in this episode is one that puzzled me at the time: "I like your dorm, by the way. It's a good fit for you kids." From that same episode, as it turns out. So maybe Zane thought that Jaden was great for where he was, but he'd grow out of it and improve, and he never did? But even then, Zane thought Jaden worthy of the responsibility of filling his shoes after he left; if Jaden was still `just a kid' to Zane, why would there be so much trust there even then?

"You go dark, I'm *still* lookin' out for you!" Is that the terminology? I'm callin' this canon terminology: Zane `went dark.' What exactly that means, emotion or magic or both, we're still workin' on it. But that's the term.

"Just like you're better off without *me.*" How does Zane figure? Does this have to do with Sy's dueling improving once Zane graduated? It did, and it was partially because he was no longer in Zane's shadow and really flying on his own, but when it really improved was when Zane came back; Sy had something to fight for, and kicked it into high gear as only those who duel with heart can. Syrus had some time flying solo, he's proved himself, but it's not like he's going to be pathetic once he gets Zane back. It'll be a whole new relationship, because Sy's stepped up to Zane's level and they both know it. They can be friendly rivals, like Yugi and Joey (who technically aren't brothers, but they've been compared to them). I hesitate to say that Zane'll get to be proud of Syrus and Syrus will have a brother who's proud of him, because that's already somewhat true; there's just a whole lot standing between them still that doesn't have to be there. It's no fun. Or maybe Zane meant something else; another thought that occurred to me on this was that Zane grew to understand that he was important to Syrus, but Sy was truly lost without *Jaden*, not him: "Yeah, but… he said `buddy.' So he's not asking for *me*." But why does this have to be a tradeoff situation? Or did Zane actually have a good reason why it had to be, and when it came down to it he chose to give Jaden back to Syrus instead of himself, because Syrus needs Jaden more? Or does Zane know that he's some sort of danger to Syrus? There's the time-runs-out thing, and the Underworld Deck, and what happened the last time they dueled.

"What if he's like you, Zane? What if—he doesn't *wanna* change?" Why doesn't he, and how does Syrus know? This implies that Zane chose to turn his back on Syrus and his other friends, and that Syrus already knows and accepts that. This line always makes me cry a little. Zane was frightened into giving up what he believed in, but he no longer seems to be afraid or pressured, so why does he still choose to be dark on his own?

When Syrus throws away his duel disk, he means to throw away dueling along with it, and Jaden's essence is dueling. However, soon after he does, he finds that he's unable to defend himself, and puts himself in danger. Just like he's having trouble getting along without Jaden. Having a duel disk makes a lot of things possible, like challenging an opponent, protecting oneself, or even the kind of reckoning Syrus is on course to have with Jaden. For some arcane reason, I remembered the last time Syrus' duel disk got lost, when Hassleberry was bullying him and stole it; Jaden got it back for Syrus then, championing him as a friend. It struck me that a duel disk represents the power to fight, to stand up for what you believe in, in this canon at least, and that's also what Zane gave to Syrus in this episode.

What about Sy's *deck*? Apparently it stayed in his pocket this whole time, because it wasn't in his duel disk when he threw it away, or got it back. So if he was giving up dueling, why throw his duel disk away but not his deck?

"Oh no, not water again! Y'know I can't swim!" Neither can Syrus, come to think.

What about the rune? The Doubt rune? Does Syrus still have it? Did Zane somehow make it go away? Will it be back? Will Jaden be looking for Syrus because apparently the rune means that he'd be able to summon the Superpolymerization card if he starstrikes Syrus? Will Syrus start doubting again as soon as he starts his journey?

Nice costumes. There's probably no point in asking how Zane and Aster *got* such cool costumes (though the question stands), but the main thing I noticed about them is that they create the impression that, while the main group and their duel blazers stick out like sore thumbs, Zane and Aster appear to belong. Literally, it's probably representative of their intelligence as duelists, not to attract undue attention, but beyond that, it implies that they're at ease here, they *belong* in scary world, or that they might not be coming back.

It's been occurring to me that Cyber End Dragon really truly has symbolized respect and honor; everything that defined the Duel Academy Zane. During Year 2, this continued, as Cyber End Dragon was mocked (The Demon), burned (Schooling the Master), and used to hurt (Tough Love). Ergo, here is a way to try and figure out just what is going on with Zane. In A Dimensional Duel, Zane also played Cyber Dragon, and Jesse was in quite a bind, facing down both it and Chimaeratech Overdragon. I was puzzled, because Zane did seem sincere about helping them. Since that duel contained Cyber End Dragon, on its own rather than manipulated by anything (Tough Love doesn't count) *and* Cyber Dark Dragon, I'm guessing that perhaps it *was* representing that Zane's strange inner demons had come to some sort of truce or agreement over this. Now in this episode, it would appear that the old Zane is winning out, but at the same time is already defeated; Cyber End Dragon saved Syrus' life, and Zane seemed almost like his old self, except that he seems to already be in too deep for any hope of redemption.

In talking about the future around something entirely unrelated, I realized that one of the things that happened in this episode was a shift in futures: Syrus began the episode unable to see a clear path, deciding only that his future would not include Jaden. It seems to me that Zane saw how important Jaden was to Syrus ("Yeah, but, he said `buddy', so he's not asking for *me.*") and, as the one thing he told Syrus before vanishing again, told him to get Jaden back, and how to go about it. I get the sense, from Zane's foreshadowing, that they may not meet again ("I'm running out of time! And I still have one thing I need to do!"); Zane seems somewhat resigned to his own future, but went out of his way to give Syrus the power to make things go the way he actually wants them to, to give *him* a future. At the end of the episode, Syrus faces the same dark road that he did at the beginning, and rather than hiding in the dark, he stands boldly and faces it. Interestingly enough, at the end, the only thing he's deciding about his future is that it *will* include Jaden. It seemed to me almost like a handoff, and, come to think of it, reminds me, a bit, of Field of Screams II; Zane sacrificed himself for Syrus' sake and in that same action told Syrus something important that helped him face the world: "…But since then, you proved me wrong; you *do* belong here…I love you, Syrus. Never forget it." Even now, with Zane dark and all, it seems to me that he sees potential in Syrus greater than his own and wants him to succeed. So that begs the question, what sort of crazy, convoluted game is he playing? Why, even before he turned dark, has he spent so much time pretending he doesn't care? In this episode, I perceive it as intentional, because he placed the power in Syrus' hands (with both the advice and the return of Sy's duel disk) but would not help Syrus accomplish what he set out to do. On the other hand, that could be time constraint (as in "I'm running out of time"), but still, it almost makes me wonder if this entire time Zane has been playing games with all of us in his ultimate goal of drawing Syrus out and challenging him to be what Zane can see he's capable of.

The Big Question: Who Will Win, Syrus or Jaden? Jaden's game has left the country, Syrus is totally revved (think "Zane, I'm gonna *duel* you—and I'm gonna *win*!!!!"). As long as that Doubt rune doesn't throw Syrus off, I think that Syrus is gearing up to kick Jaden's tushy across Dark World and back, personally. Jaden may have Syrus beat on Skill, though Syrus is a pretty good duelist, and also (depending on what the deal is with the Supreme King and the weird eyes) perhaps Power, but Syrus definitely wins the Heart category and Plot is really anyone's guess but we haven't seen the last of the old Jaden yet!

In distant retrospect, I realized something interesting about the people who ended up going through the dimensional portal in All For One. This is incredibly hilarious, and I'm such a nerd, but it's kinda cool. Five people—Chazz, Hassleberry, Alexis, Jim, and Axel—insisted right off on coming with Jaden; Three people—Atticus, Syrus, and Bastion—reluctantly joined in; Two people—Zane and Aster; One—Echo;
One—Crowler. That's right. It's the Fibonacci sequence in reverse! Okay, laugh. The Fibonacci sequence goes: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 14… and is based on addition: 1 + 1 = 2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, and so on. It's just one of those random little patterns I notice for no reason now and then, lol.

That's all for now. Next week, it looks like we get to find out what the comet has to do with Jim, and it's called "The Darkness is Revealed". Oh, boy. We've got another episode-name-confusion on our hands. To be completely clear, it's not "The Dark Spirit Revealed" (Battle City Finals first round, Yugi vs. Bakura) or "The Darkness Returns" (Battle City Semifinals, Joey vs. Marik). `Til then, that's all, everybody! -Clio