Predictions and Observations:
The Darkness is Revealed

Summary:
In search of Jaden, Jim and Axel encounter travelers and join them traveling to the last standing human village, which has only one duelist left, a man named Burgundy. Jim and Axel learn more of the situation: the Supreme King's legions of fiends round up and capture duelists, and bring them to the Supreme King, who duels them, sends them to the stars, and uses their energy to summon the most powerful card there is. While there, Jim dreams of his first day at the Academy, when he found Shirley behind the Slifer Dorm with Jaden, Syrus, and Hassleberry. Jim warned Jaden that Shirley didn't take kindly to strangers, but Jaden still hoped to make friends with her, and offered her food without getting bit. Jim reflects that everyone seems to connect easily with Jaden; he's everybody's friend. Though they're reluctant to leave the village defenseless, and Burgundy warns that no one has faced the Supreme King and lived to tell of it, Jim and Axel set off for the lair of the Supreme King, knowing that Jaden would go straight to the source for his vengeance. They walk into the first cavern, filled with bubbling pits of lava full of duel disks; the walkways between them are covered with fallen cards. The owners of these cards and duel disks don't need them anymore; they're the victims of the Supreme King and his minions. A fiend doorman challenges them, and when queried, informs them that there are no duelists there that haven't been starstruck; Jaden is long gone. The Supreme King is currently away on a military campaign against the village. Jim and Axel are aghast—those people are defenseless! Jim accepts this challenge, and refuses to let Axel take it; this is personal! He defeats the fiend within a few turns, and as he and Axel prepare to return to the village and try to save it, they see the war procession returning; they're too late. They hide from the forces, and assess the situation. A large plume of smoke in the distance and the procession's triumphant return says that the village did not survive; Burgundy limps up the road behind the procession, and, weakened, vanishes to the stars right there. For Jim, it's too much—he reveals himself and challenges the Supreme King! The Supreme King accepts, and raises his visor; Jim and Axel realize with horror that Jaden is the Supreme King…

More cloaks—wonder if it's worth asking where they all come from? Why one gray and one black? I thought they were Aster and Zane!

Captures duelists, huh? That actually explains a lot, like the question I had before about going after the strong, and isolating them in large groups, instead of the weak, which, unless you need them for a specific purpose, makes little sense and is really kinda asking for it. Apparently they don't have to worry about the duelists banding together and breaking out (which, you know, if you get enough real duelists together, anything is possible), because they don't stick around long enough in very large groups. And apparently if you're not a warrior you don't have duel energy? Or you just don't have enough of it to bother with? Actually, it's canon that they must have some, because people have mentioned non-duelists, civilians if you will, getting sent to the stars, and that getting starstruck has to do with duel energy: "My energy will be absorbed and sent to the stars…" So how did this occur? Were they challenged to duel and lost really really easily because they aren't duelists? Do they even have duel disks or decks? Were the fiends able to just send them to the stars because they couldn't duel for their energy? But then they still would have been worth energy either way so why isn't the Supreme King interested in non-duelists?

I noticed that Jim and Axel didn't state who they were looking for until at least the second half or so of the episode. I was wondering between Syrus, Jaden, or even Jesse. I thought it was most likely to be Syrus, though, because they turned their backs on Jaden to follow Syrus when he took off. Maybe they had a similar change of heart. It's not really clear at this point what they think of Jaden, or how long it's been, but they do seem to be going after him. Jim's dream seemed to be about how friendly and kind Jaden is, about what makes Jaden Jaden.

Is it just me, or was Shirley covered with bandages at the beginning of the episode and then suddenly not? Maybe they were *her* cloak.

More flashback dreams. I wonder if it's a property of Dark World, that people have flashback dreams about that which is bugging them most?

That lady in the village looked just like Spirit of the Harp. She's a human? Really?

"He must be. Why else would they fight a losing battle?" The subtle irony of this statement kinda struck me: why *are* Jim and Axel going after Jaden? So it would appear from here, they'd feel as betrayed as the rest of Jaden's friends; they walked away from him just like Syrus did. If anything, they'd be trying to find Jesse themselves and put a stop to this insanity, find a way to get Chazz, Hassleberry, Alexis, and/or Atticus back, or going after Syrus and keeping him from getting himself eaten by a giant bug or something. It's clear, however, that their loyalties are conflicted; in this episode Jim remembered Jaden when they first met, and remembered why they became friends in the first place. They spend the episode looking for Jaden, only to find that he has become their most deadly foe.

"-You and me, against a world of monsters.
-Those're the kinda odds I like!"
Jim and Axel have really become a team. It would be fun to have a tag-match where they get to team up. I'm rooting for it.

"Forget it, Axel! This one's personal!" How so? Why personal? Jaden's been on Jim's mind, for one. Maybe that's what he means. The fiend just told them that Jaden's already starstruck.

This episode has been drawing our attention to the relationship between Jim and Shirley. It'll be important in this duel; count on it.

It's contagious! What on Earth is Jim playing at? Jaden's downfall was in that sort of reckless challenges and vengeance. It's almost like the same thing that just inexplicably happened to Jaden is now afflicting Jim, too. The pattern suggests that it is a whammy of some kind, which is actually kinda comforting.

The term "hero" was used in this episode with a similar connotation to "warrior". Maybe it's a regional thing, or maybe "hero" is a type of warrior.

The YGO creators like their motorcycles; there are many instances in the canon. I noticed that some of the wheels in this episode were reminiscent of them.

Let's try and stay in perspective here. Hearing about the Supreme King again reminded me of what else we know: the red-winged duelist from Tania's world told Jaden that the Supreme King was the one responsible for this, the one pulling the strings. He told Jaden to become king in the Supreme King's place…I don't think this is what he had in mind. But if it is, maybe it'll all work out even now. Anyway, the main question I was asking at the time was, what if the Supreme King was responsible not only for the oppression of some species of monster by others, but also the vilification of the "oppressing" monsters that otherwise would have been perfectly friendly? Jaden and company have taken one side or another this whole time: against the winged beasts and then against the fiends. What if their fighting against what seems to be bad actually plays right into his hands because he intends that they think it's bad?

So the other big question of the week is what on Earth has Jaden been up to that he now *is* the Supreme King? Is he under the control or influence of the Supreme King, or did he betray and dethrone him?

Jim vs. Jaden "Supreme King" Yuki: The Big Question…On the one hand, Jaden always wins. On the other hand, Jaden is currently evil and evil doesn't pay. Skill, Power, Plot, and the Heart. Skill would have to go to Jaden (re: Jaden always wins), as does Power because challenging evil tends to be betting against the house. The Heart is, by similar definition (good guys only) Jim's. Plot, as always, is tricky. To begin with, this is our first glimpse of what the bad guy can do, which suggests that things are going to get ugly (think Champion vs. Creator, Mind Game, Deck of Armor, Child's Play, and I've Seen the Light); on the other hand, that would leave, on our side, Syrus with his quest to find and cream Jaden back to normal; Axel, who is definitely smart enough to manage but probably can't do this alone; and possibly Zane and Aster. Not likin' those odds, but that's the way it's supposed to be. Things already looked pretty bad without Jaden. On the other hand, we don't really know the stakes. Sure, loser gets sent to the stars, but other than that? What happens if Jaden gets sent to the stars—is it really him, or the Supreme King, or what's whammying him, or what? We could be talking a Nightshroud `realmming (i.e. the evilness that controls the person gets `realmmed instead of the person) in which case, awesome. If Jim loses, it's fairly predictable what would happen, but that eye of his may change things…

So, next episode is A Sight Unseen I. `Til then! -Clio