Predictions and Observations:
Village of Vengeance V

The parallels between past and present continue (whether that’s our present and their past, which is to say Dawn of the Duel as opposed to before; or their past and our present, which is to say present-day or Ancient Egypt): To begin with, we recently saw that Shadi, Shada’s apparent modern twin, owns both the Millennium Key and the Millennium Scale, representing the event of the past when Karim lent his last strength to Shada. Not only that, but we’ve seen that both the Millennium Rod and now the Millennium Eye have shown Kaiba visions of the past; in Battle City, it was clear that Kaiba had a connection with the Millennium Rod because it was Seto’s 5,000 years ago. Now, as Seto falls under the Millennium Eye’s thrall and leans to become Yami Bakura’s pawn, the same Item, 5,000 years later, leads Kaiba to not only arrive in the past, but to be Yami Bakura’s tool (however briefly) by resurrecting his former pawn, Bakura.

So Kaiba and Kisara *did* run into each other; So Kaiba *was* a ghost; So Kisara *could* see him; so Kaiba *wasn’t* entirely drained and destroyed…

What does Bakura mean, they’ll never see what’s inside? What’s Tristan going to do, fight off all three of them and push them into the Pit of Shadows? They have him outnumbered, and Joey’s about as strong as Tristan is. Then again, Yami Bakura’s pawns, like I also say below, have power to spare, so I suppose he’d shadow-magic ‘em. Yikes. Then again, when Dr. Moto came there, the Tomb and what spirit lay within protected him from treachery as well. I doubt he’ll succeed, if only because it’s not nice to kill off a main character or three.

If they sense fear? Huh. That guide, the scarred one, didn’t seem too scared, more “there’s a shiny golden box guarded by very weird and logically impossible traps, all of which I’ve just cleared thanks to that moron dangling off the walkway, and now said shiny golden box, no doubt full of treasure worth such bizarre traps, is all mine!” He wasn’t scared at all, he was too busy being greedy! And if anyone would have been scared, it would have been Dr. Moto, who was dangling off the ledge. But if what Yugi says can in part be believed (after all, he only got to hear the story once, whereas the rest of us are a bit luckier), it was because Dr. Moto showed no fear, perhaps, in navigating the traps and even when faced with falling off, that showed that he was the right person. That cool head, the attitude that it was a game. If that’s so, I’d say we may’ve been wrong in thinking that perhaps he over-exaggerated his own bravery in the face of such peril, because it was that courage that brought him to the Millennium Puzzle. However, to refute this, it said specifically (quoted): “Ye shall now be judged by the creatures of the stone. Only the pure of heart are permitted to pass. All others will lose their souls to the darkness.” If that was so, how did Tristan make it across when Bakura’s the one who’s really in charge and it’s established fact that his heart is a bottomless Diabound-hole? I was sure they were going to run into some trouble there, but they didn’t. Then again, maybe their sensing fear and sensing impurity of the heart are two sides of the same coin: they sense that a person isn’t supposed to be there, which means that they are, deep down, afraid of being caught somewhere they are violating, and also that they’re crooked to be there for ill. Dr. Moto was compelled by fate to come there, to inherit the Millennium Puzzle and pass it on to Yugi. Yugi, too, is driven to be there, to help the Pharaoh and save the world, and Joey and Tea are determined to be there for Yugi. Tristan’s the one who really still has me baffled.
On the other hand, I really liked Yugi’s ability to show no fear; he really has come a long way since Duelist Kingdom, like he said in Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh.

So are the folks in the Game now in a vision? Or were they actually transported back to the streets? Will they wake up and find themselves back staring down Bakura and Diabound?

A big question: How did Akhnadon do that? I’m gonna go with “the seven Millennium Items are in the stone, every grain of sand dropping into that hourglass of Yami Bakura’s brings Zorc’s arrival closer, all of Yami Bakura’s pieces currently have *power* *to* *burn*!”

Where are Seto and Akhnadon? Another big question. I’d guess in some vision or time-fold or whatever that will show Seto memories or future events (which would only happen if the future turns out the way they say it will, by the way) that will sway him toward Akhnadon’s side, without the other Court there to interrupt or argue otherwise.

What will Kaiba do now? Will he go after Kisara and try to help her? I’d say it’s possible, even probable, considering that we’ve already seen on several occasions that Seto was predisposed to protect and take care of her before he even really met her or knew anything about her. It’s quite likely that Kaiba would be inexplicably wired the same way.

Of course Yami should call the Court his friends. After all, even since he became Pharaoh (since he arrived, that is) they’ve been through plenty together. The guardians have always done their honest best to help him and keep him safe, and asked for very little, if anything, in return. Even in the present, though transformed, Seto, Isis, Shada, Karim, Shimon, Mahad, and Mana were all still watching over him, helping him in his quest. Besides, whether they could technically be called his “friends” or not, the fact of the matter is that he will not let Bakura manipulate, hurt, and destroy them, so he might as well call them his friends because he knows that they would have done the same for him.

I think that Yami took the same thing from Yami Bakura’s taunts that I did: if it’s still a question of Yami’s not being able to remember, then he hasn’t lost yet. Otherwise Yami Bakura wouldn’t be mocking that he can’t remember his past, because at that point it wouldn’t matter.

I give up- what ARE the properties of Diabound’s existence? First it needs a tablet, then it doesn’t!

So where is the Pharaoh going? I mean, how does he know where Seto is, how he can get him back? For some reason, I keep coming back to thinking of the duel in the past, with Seto fighting for the world’s destruction and the Pharaoh to save it. How does it reach that point? If Seto does manage to lose himself to the shadows, that will quite likely be the case, though it would probably be reminiscent of, say, Friends ‘til the End or, oh, the second part of Fighting for a Friend, where the Pharaoh tries to duel some sense into him. What I don’t understand, though, is how Seto was swayed so easily. Sure, he most likely shares Kaiba’s ambition, and we all know how he can get, but he expressed rather solidly when Yami was missing that he felt security and rightness-in-the-world with Yami on the throne, how loyal he was, even when confronted with the ability to grasp that power. This is quoted from my summary of the incident I’m mostly referring to, directly following when Blue-Eyes emerged in In Search of a King: “We already *have* a Pharaoh, Seto retorts adamantly, eyes widening, and I intend to find him, not replace him! Akhnadon takes one of Seto’s hands in both of his, to Seto’s surprise, telling Seto not to bother; rumor has it that the Pharaoh lost his soul to the pit of shadows. Egypt cannot survive without a king, so Seto must do what’s right for his country and take the throne! Enough, Seto exclaims, pulling his hand out of Akhnadon’s, I refuse to hear another word of this! Akhnadon has disgraced the Pharaoh and Seto refuses to be a part of it! Seto insists that his place is beside the throne, not upon it, and once he finds the Pharaoh that is where he shall be! Now, he says with a hint of a bow to Akhnadon, if you’ll excuse me. Seto walks out, ignoring Akhnadon’s shouts to come back.” Moreover, it’s also canon that Seto, while the Pharaoh’s rival, was also his friend. Then there’s the fact that when the Sacred Court were trying to help him in this episode, Seto only snapped out of it when the Pharaoh called to him.

There are getting to be so many separate plotlines I feel like naming them or color-coding them or something: there’s the game-masters; the Pharaoh; the rest of the Court; Yugi and his pals; Kisara; Kaiba; Seto and Akhnadon; Bakura; and whatever’s happening in the Present, including Marik, Ishizu, Odion, good Bakura (who seemed to be stirring), and Mokuba (is he shadow-realmmed or *not?!* we’re still waiting for them to tell us!).

Okay, I’d better send this off, though I’m positive, as always, that I’ve forgotten something. Well, I’ll have time to say it if I did, because there’s no new Yu-Gi-Oh! next Saturday. In fact, there’s no Yu-Gi-Oh! of any sort next Saturday, not even reruns. As always, I’ll keep folks posted when there’s new episodes! The next episode I’ll be writing on is The Fear Factor (the sources finally agree: that ‘the’ is unanimous!), in GX on Monday. ‘Til then, that’s all, folks! -Clio