Predictions and Observations:
Fighting For a Friend III-IV

Since we don't have new episodes, let's speculate on what will happen next.

The first, and most obvious question is, Can Joey beat Mai?

The second would be, what then? Would Mai be captured by the Orichalcos? Would Joey?

The third would be, will Kaiba reach Dartz? Will something stop him? Can he beat Dartz alone? Will he get captured?

Another could be, Will Rebecca, Duke, or Hawkins do anything or just move the RV to safety? This question is especially pertinent to Rebecca I think.

Another could be, will Yami, Tristan, and Tea reach the duel before it ends, or right after, or will something stop them?

What will Rafael do? He was clearly upset when Dartz showed him what happened to Alister, and he tried to stop Valon from riding off to duel Joey.

What will happen? Will something else entirely happen? Please, debate with me! It's fun!

My predictions are:
If it's a matter of dueling skill and heart, Joey's got Mai beat no problem. However, as always, the outcome of duels is subject to the overall plot, so there's really no way to predict based on how good a given character is at dueling.

I'm not sure about how it would end, though. If I had to say, Mai would be taken by the Orichalcos, but she would at least be back to her normal self first. One way or another, I can tell Joey's going to get through to her.

The title of the next set of episodes (yes, I peeked, sorry) is 'Grappling with a Guardian.' I think, that translates to either Kaiba or Yami or both even will end up in a duel with Rafael and his *Guardian* cards!

As for whether Kaiba can tackle Dartz alone, I doubt it. The three dragons work best together, and the Leviathan is getting pretty strong. I would say that Kaiba's proud enough to try and take on Dartz alone, *if* he gets there. I am, however, surprised that Mokuba's coming along too, when Dartz would think nothing of capturing two souls for the price of one. I suppose though with Orichalcos soldiers roaming the streets nowhere's safe.

I have long thought that Rebecca might do something reckless. She might even try to tag along and end up dueling Orichalcos soldiers.

They'll probably catch the very last turns, as Mai did, unless something stops them. See above. However, I doubt Joey can walk anymore, so even if he wins he'll probably just stay there easy prey for some Orichalcos soldier unless his friends arrive.

This is sort of what I would predict to happen, but you can bet that the actual will have some things thrown in that no one can predict. I will let everyone know as soon as the time of the new ones, "Fighting for a Friend V" and "Grappling with a Guardian I" is known. I hope someone else'll offer a prediction, too, and as always questions of clarification or detail are welcome. --Clio