Predictions and Observations:
A Brawl in a Small Town II - One Step Ahead I

One must wonder during that scene where Viv forces Yugi to duel her whether she’s gone ‘round the bend, she seems to be a little loopy. I would also like to note that some martial artist she is if she ever ends up on her knees like when she announced that this was the real GC. She was entirely off-balance. It’s very annoying.

Don’t you think Leon’s Thorn Princess looks ever-so-slightly like Dartz? Maybe it’s just the hair.

Kaiba also set up to duel by plugging his duel disk into a slot on the dueling panel when he dueled against “Pegasus” in Déjà Duel I. I’m not sure if Zigfried sets aside the duel disk and uses the stadium’s duel interface because he doesn’t know how to plug it in or because he would rather play the cards flat on the panel. I suspect the latter, because Zigfried would probably prefer the panel because of his dueling style. He duels as more of a battle directed from afar than, as duelists like Kaiba, as more of a fight where the duelist is part of the action. I think that the duel disk suits Kaiba, Yugi, Joey, and several other duelists (like Valon- how on Earth would his cards have worked in an arena? Answer me that!), but not Zigfried and not, to name another, Pegasus. They would prefer the more haughty and powerful-feeling duel arena, where they command the action but are separate from it. Just a theory.

May I simply note how funny it is to spell-check what I write every weekend—to give some idea: “Zigfried plays Ride of the Bakeries!”

I still don’t get why Zigfried’s valkyries stuck around. Maybe it’s some nifty loophole like “The valkyries disappear at the end of the turn in which they’re summoned.” That would mean that if Zigfried- no, wait, they would still disappear. Maybe it’s more like “The valkyries disappear at the beginning of the turn after which they were summoned.” Therefore, since Kaiba’s turn after Zigfried’s valkyries were summoned was skipped, it never began, so the Valkyries never disappeared, and it was Zigfried’s turn—but it’s still a turn, so they would have still gone away. I give up! I’m no duelist, so maybe someone else can figure this one out.

I guess Kaiba’s fusion there counted as a removal from the game, because the story is that the monsters fuse together to form a new monster, so the individual monsters would be out of the game because they’re not the individual monsters anymore, they’re part of the fusion.

Okay, now for the real predictions, rather than just commentary:

Kaiba vs. Zigfried- who will win?
Are you kidding me? Kaiba’s going to kick his butt! Zigfried may have the upper hand, but Kaiba’s no pushover! Zigfried was able to play Ride of the Valkyries in his first turn, just like he did with Weevil and Rex, and Kaiba dispatched it easily, to give you some idea of how much tougher an opponent Zigfried’s up against. As for Joey, everyone has off days, and I have a feeling that was one of his. But Kaiba is going to cream Zigfried, out of the tournament, and out of our lives for good!

On the other hand, you have to consider what the situation would be depending on the outcome.
If Kaiba wins: Zigfried leaves KaibaLand in disgrace. Leon then faces Yugi in the final match. Everyone’s happy (except, of course, Zigfried).
If Zigfried wins: Kaiba is publicly disgraced at his own tournament, *again.* If Zigfried can beat Kaiba then Leon will probably also be no match for him. Zigfried will then have beaten most of the kick-butt duelists we know: First Weevil and Rex (who do NOT kick butt, but they’re another example), then Joey, then Kaiba, then Leon, and we’ll really be wondering if Yugi’s any match for this creep. It will be suspenseful. It will be nasty. Joey and Kaiba will for once loathe a common foe more than they dislike each other. If Joey took losing to this freak badly, it will be nothing to how Kaiba takes it.

The second sounds a bit more likely, based on the Powers Who Write Yu-Gi-Oh! needing to create a real story. But man, this will make history if Kaiba loses to this clown. If it’s a matter of skill and spirit, Kaiba’s got it in the bag. If it’s a matter of the Heart (of the Cards, of course), Kaiba’s still got it in the bag, because those fighting for revenge never win.

I do have a few questions, though: Why did Kaiba promise himself that he wouldn’t duel in this tournament? What purpose would that serve? It sounded like it wasn’t for any important reason, because he said he’d promised *himself*, so it sounds more like he wanted to but he’s holding himself off of it. Why?

We finally discovered why Zigfried wants revenge: because KaibaCorp outstripped his company, SchroederCorp, as a gaming corporation, and Kaiba came up with the idea for holographic duel monsters right before he did (either that or Kaiba stole Zigfried’s idea, which I highly doubt because Kaiba has enough talent of his own and he’s too proud to take someone else’s idea over his own). I note with amusement that Kaiba and Pegasus, in Zigfried’s flashback, are shaking hands- for the first and LAST time!!! In this same flashback, I see, Kaiba looks quite similar to how we first met him before Duelist Kingdom, down to the same outfit. This was pre-The Heart of the Cards, back a bit after, perhaps, Bandit Keith’s famous defeat at Pegasus’ (and Sam’s) hands, because during said defeat, Pegasus talks to Kaiba: “I do hope you’re enjoying the tournament so far. Oh, it must seem so crude to you; not at all like the holographic dueling stations your company is developing, eh, Kaiba?” I just had to put that in because I’ve been working on chronology, like when everything took place and how old everyone was. It’s very fun, actually, if you like math and guesswork.

Anyway, Leon seems to have mellowed out about the upcoming duel with Yugi; he says without a trace of worry that he hopes Kaiba will win. He seems darn ready to face Yugi like he’s always wanted to now.

The scene in the Chinese restaurant where Téa explodes at Vivian and tells her to get it through her head that Yugi doesn’t like her and never will is so funny, not to mention, if you haven’t figured out that Téa *likes* Yami and is protective of Yugi, then you never will. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s how Téa is at the moment, I could be wrong but that’s my guess of her feelings, and whatever they are we know they’re strong.

Wonder if that’s the last we’ve seen of Vivian? Who knows? If anyone out there does, don’t answer that; it’s rhetorical!

For some reason I noticed that Kaiba, like Joey, also insulted Zigfried’s shoes for being unreasonably snooty. That’s kind of interesting. Since we met Legendary Knights Hermos and Critias, who seem to be a pair and sometimes finish each other’s sentences in contrast to their duelists, who are outright foes, I had been looking for reasons for this considering that the Legendary Knights seem to be underlined parallels to the duelists. I just noticed that and it stuck out at me.

I note that Zigfried goads Kaiba into challenging him. He calls Kaiba a coward for disqualifying him on a technicality. One must wonder what he has up his sleeve that’s so very “devastating,” ‘cause I’m betting it’s not Ride of the Valkyries or even Rainbow Bridge Bifrost.

I’d like to note that this is, I believe, the only occasion when someone has determined who will begin the duel through flipping a coin. Let me know if I’m wrong.

Wow, I never realized how much I missed Kaiba being an active part of the plot. I think everyone’s glad that he’s back. Seems to be back to normal now, too.

We still don’t know what the connection was to Politician #13! Gaaaah! We may never know!

I’m just saying random things now because there’s less to predict when the entire focus is just on one duel. I’ll stop now. Write back and argue with me, please! Let me know if there’s anything I missed! -Clio