Predictions and Observations:
Child's Play and Down in Flames I

Okay, so I'll make predictions anyway. They are as follows: I see on the chart that the winners of Rebecca's and Leon's matches will face each other, and whoever wins Joey vs. Zigfried will face the duelist who wins the match between Balfry and McGregor, because they are only characters in the remotest sense. For anyone who’s interested, Balfry beat Jafar Shin to make it to the next round, which we never saw, and Abe the Monkey Man somehow defeated Totani Ialos. Ethan Shark eliminated Sergei Ivanoff.

As for who will win, I’m pretty sure that there’s Rebecca vs. Leon coming up in the third round (unless you really think that Rebecca’s no match for Abe’s monkey). Balfry v. MacGregor, like I said, I could care less, except I’m slightly hoping Balfry will if Joey beats Zigfried, because his strategy sounds incredibly predictable (“The master of magic cards”…borrow Rebecca’s Imperial Order and slaughter this clown!). Anyway, Zigfried v. Joey is the hardest to predict, because one could say that Zigfried’s just waiting for his Valkyries to finish Joey off, and once he draws it, it’s over. However, I doubt that the card is as invincible as it first appears. For one, there are plenty of ways to destroy a magic card. For another, the duel in Child’s Play where Zigfried toasts Weevil and Rex in a typhoon of rose petals reminded me of another duel, the one in Deck of Armor. It was short, and the tag team of familiar characters summoned a powerful monster (or in this case two) in fairly short order, amazing everyone that the duel was going so smoothly. Then, the one bad guy takes his turn, not worried in the slightest. He pulls out his signature secret weapon card and slaughters both duelists before they –or we- know what’s hit them. We don’t discover anything more about said secret weapon until the next time the bad guy duels, and are ankle-deep in suspense at its apparent invincibility. I have the feeling that the Valkyrie card has its limitations. It could be that it turned Weevil’s and Rex’s own monsters strength back on them, as does Mai’s Harpy’s Phoenix Formation (though in this case you might say doubled because neither monster had over 4000 attack points!). Maybe it detracts the attack points of all monsters removed from the field from both of their lifepoints, like that stunt Johnson pulled with Clear the Courtroom back in Merger of the Big 5 II. However, this theory could be shot down by the fact that he told Kaiba silently he had a special show planned for him with this match, making it arguable that he was going to sic the Valkyries on Weevil and Rex whether they played strong monsters or not. It could have a bunch of special effects like Valon’s armor cards, because if you recall, it worked so that he automatically destroyed Duke and Rebecca’s Luster Dragon and targeted their lifepoints directly to win. Anyway, my point is that the Valkyries, Joey might be able to contend with. Nobody knows. I'm actually more concerned that to advance the plot, Zigfried will win. He's the bad guy; if he's not in the next round, he's not much of a threat. On the other hand, it will give him more free time to wreak havoc with Kaiba's computers. However, it would mean that we've seen near the last of him, and that's not very exciting or worrying. However, I can't believe that a duelist as great as Joey, considered one of the three best in the world by the Legendary Dragons, would be knocked out of the tournament this easily. Therefore, I'm rooting for Joey, but if I had to guess, I'd bet on Zigfried.

Now, I find it surprising that the tournament is moving so quickly. It's already down to the final eight, and all four of those duels are going on right now and will end next week. Then it'll be down to four more duels in the whole tournament! It'll be over by October! Unless there's something seriously strange about these next four matches. To tell the truth, after Battle City, I expected the tournament to be more eventful than it has been.

About Leon- something doesn't fit. He said in Unwanted Guest II that he had been hoping to duel against Yugi since Duelist Kingdom. I suppose that it's okay to feel scared, but still, he shouldn't be too worried; if you think about it, he'll be an opponent to be reckoned with. He knows Yugi's style as well as we do. He's a good duelist in his own right, because he's announced as an undefeated child prodigy aside from the fact that he handed Goat a pretty decisive defeat from what we saw, and even looked a bit surprised with himself at the conclusion of the duel. He even has his own group of cheering friends that we met in Unwanted Guest I. As I've said before (I hope), he reminds me of Yugi in several ways. I think that the only thing he lacks is confidence in this regard.

Several characters seem to have changed almost unrecognizably. I was actually very surprised at Yugi's outburst in Down in Flames I. It doesn't seem in-character. He seemed just fine in Rise of the Great Beast II, and this seems especially strange after remembering his parting words (or thoughts, rather): “We may have stopped Dartz, but the Pharaoh’s not done yet. Now he has to pick up where he left off before all this craziness started. ‘Cause the biggest adventure of all is still ahead, and it won’t be over until the Pharaoh unlocks the secrets of his past. He needs to learn who he really is, and why he was sent back here. Maybe then, his spirit’ll finally be able to rest. Well, no matter what happens, one thing’s for sure: whatever he finds out there, and whatever he needs to face, he won’t have to do it alone!” Yugi may have been through a lot, but still, those words said to me that he can and will handle it, no problem. Therefore, what he said to Mokuba, Tristan, Téa, and Duke came as a large surprise to me. I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of this issue. Another character who has changed quite a huge amount is Téa. What is the deal with her? I think her new catchphrase (as it were), “I need some female friends!” sums it up nicely. Téa used to just about live for those guys. Everyone was always telling her to be quiet about the power of friendship. Now she only seems to diss her friends. All in good fun, yes (like her joking with Tristan about how Joey’ll need their help if he plans on taking on Zigfried, which he will), but at times not in character for Téa and especially not in character if it is, as it’s been, in excess. What’s going on? Could the four’s unshatterable friendship be coming apart? Tristan, on the other hand, seems to have become a more interesting, stronger, and more supportive and vocal character. Before I always thought he wasn’t too interesting, but now he seems to be shining more, reminding us that he’s Joey’s other best friend, also a member of the group, and has some good things to say. Duke seems to be about as we’ve always known him. Rebecca has changed, of course, hugely since we first met her (“She traded in her teddy bear for glasses…”), and is becoming more mature and has turned into one heck of a duelist as well. Joey, don’t even get me started. Too late. WHAT HAPPENED?! I’ve known Joey to be ten times the duelist he’s being right now. No offense, of course, but still. I think that it’s because, as Yugi put it so rightly in Dungeon Dice Monsters I, that Joey was fighting for his sister in Duelist Kingdom, and for it to fit this situation for Mai most of Battle City and Yugi for all of it, and for Mai and Yugi once again in Waking the Dragons. In Dungeon Dice Monsters I, when he dueled against Duke, he was only dueling for pride and to get Duke to close the game shop, and he lost. Now it’s that sort of situation again; he’s not dueling for anything but pride, and maybe sometimes for fun. He keeps talking about getting some respect for a change (and who could deny that everyone underestimates him). This is very worrisome. With this attitude he’ll never stand a chance against Zigfried. Mokuba has taken a greater role in this tournament, and has become a much more kick-butt character. If Battle City was Kaiba’s tournament, then this one’s Mokuba’s. You can tell that he’s devoted to it and is having fun, despite the strain he shows from all of the security problems. He does seem slightly worried about his brother, and who can blame him, considering that so am I, because he has changed the most of all.

As for Vivian- I have several ideas of what evil idea she got from overhearing Mokuba, Yugi, Téa, Tristan, and Duke in the hallway. She somewhat declared revenge on Yugi and Rebecca, and perhaps seeks to drive a wedge between them. She could also be out to ruin Rebecca’s chances of winning, or to even ruin the tournament, who knows? She overheard information that Mokuba said if it got out it could ruin KaibaCorp and KCGC for good! She overheard that Yugi is getting weary of his role as the hero, which is definitely not something that she can’t use for mischief. She knows that Yugi is going to watch Joey’s duel instead of Rebecca’s, and though Rebecca was fine with it, Vivian can easily use this fact, along with a few outright tales, to try and break them up. Whatever it is, she’s up to something.

So, we know where Zigfried knows Kaiba from (the party) but how Kaiba easily forgot Zigfried, so that’s that mystery solved. We don’t know why Zigfried is after revenge still. We pray that Kaiba is onto Zigfried by now, and wonder whether he’ll boot him out of KCGC (this isn’t Battle City; if he finds the culprit, he has no reason to keep him there).

Finally, I would like to note that at last we have found a dueling monkey.

That’s all I can think of for now. If anyone else has opinions on this stuff, let me know. -Clio