Predictions and Observations:
Rise of the Great Beast II

I just found out about the new season! They're calling it "Grand Championship." It's premiering on September 17th, and they're showing two new episodes a week, like last Fall. The first episode is called "Unwanted Guest" and it's a part one of a duel, so I would have to guess that "Unwanted Guest I and II" are showing September 17th. There's even a preview video on the WB website! (www.KidsWB.com). Here's what I think (I copied this from where I was writing somewhere else):

I shall summarize in excruciating detail, because that is what I do.

In a building resembling a Blue-Eyes, or perhaps, if my memory is correct, a Blue-Eyes, Tyrant Dragon (the fusion of Critias, Kaiba's Tyrant Wing trap card, and Blue-Eyes- with both Critias and Blue-Eyes, it would fit), a duel is about to begin. It will take place in an arena, the large dueling stages with their own holographic projectors that were the norm before Duel Disks. The inside of the building looks pretty sparse, like a warehouse, and there's nothing else around. A computer voice announces that it is initiating gameplay. On the sidelines, I recognized immediately Tea, Duke, Tristan, Mokuba, and Joey, with someone out of sight behind Duke. There are other spectators, including a clump of people consistently hiding behind the WB logo in the lower right-hand corner (man, I HATE that thing!), but
if I had to guess, I'd say that this duelist has a fan club, too. Other random people mill around further away. A kid we don't know, standing on the near dueling podium, calls out a friendly challenge to his opponent. The computer announces that it's commencing the duel, and the lights go out. Joey jokes that it looks like the Kaibas forgot to pay their electricity bill. Rebecca (one of the hidden people, but there's no mistaking that voice) adds, either that, or there's still some kinks in the system. Mokuba runs forward and starts tinkering with the side of the arena, saying that that's impossible, and insisting that they've worked out every possible bug. Duke replies that apparently he didn't, one bug must have somehow slipped through the cracks. Mokuba picks up a small phone built into the side of the arena, dialing a number on the side of the arena. Mokuba tells everyone to stay calm, promising to figure this out. The power then returns, as mysteriously as it left, lighting up the arena. Spectators cheer and chatter. Just then the exits all shutter closed, trapping everyone inside. Joey turns, just as one closes, and exclaims that they're trapped. The arena starts to glow brighter than before, and a different computer voice announces that it's now altering the original
duel sequence. Mokuba tells them it's not responding- he's lost control! Rebecca tells Mokuba to step aside, hooking her laptop up to the control panel. After a moment's typing, Rebecca announces that it's just as she suspected. Mokuba asks what the deal is. Rebecca replies that according to her analysis, his computerized card-shark is being controlled by an outside party. But this isn't any ordinary hacker, she continues, this is a high-end job! Mokuba asks, upset, who would do this; it's pointless. This is just an amusement-park attraction! Why would anyone want to break into it? Rebecca replies that her guess is that they're using it to get something they want from him. Now we get a clear view of their group: Duke and Tristan stand in the back, Joey on the side, Yugi and Tea in the middle, with Tea bending over to get a better look at the computer screen, Mokuba and Rebecca in the front. Mokuba asks, angry, what makes them think it's gonna work. Rebecca replies that they got his attention, didn't they? Joey suggests that they tear the scrap heap to shreds. Tristan agrees, but Duke stops him, arguing that if they destroy the arena, they might never get out of there. Tristan asks, then what are they supposed to do? Rebecca turns to them, and replies that the only way to get out of there is to beat the computer in a duel! So what she's saying, Tea clarifies nervously, is that their fate is in the hands of that kid up there. The new computer voice announces that it's time to duel. Yugi and Tea look up, and Yugi exclaims, Oh no! The kid on the arena platform is calling out panickedly that he can't do this alone!

So there we are. Exciting, huh? I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait! Also, reading between the lines, this episode tells several more things than, "There's suspense, you can't wait, you can't wait, you can't wait!" For one, it tells us that this is probably KaibaLand. My evidence for this would be that Joey says that maybe the Kaiba Brothers forgot to pay their electric bill, implying that this is the Kaibas' arena. The design of the building also indicates that it is Kaiba's, considering that it's a Blue-Eyes. My second piece of information to support this is that Mokuba says that it's just an amusement park attraction, implying that this is an amusement park. Therefore, it can be guessed that this is KaibaLand, meaning that either the whole "Construction isn't set to begin for four years" thing (Kaiba, Merger of the Big Five II) just fell away, which could be possible, especially after what Mokuba said in The Creator Returns, which was that Kaiba had vowed not to duel until they had opened KaibaLand all around the world, which makes it likely that they had decided to scrap the 'four years' thing. The missing link to this, of course, is One For The Road, which I haven't seen for just under a year and can't wait to see again. However, a building in the design of a Blue-Eyes, Tyrant, if my guess is right (never thought I'd wish I had Flight of Fear II on hand...), would take some time, especially going off Kaiba's and Mokuba's memories, because now that Critias is gone, there would have been no way to show architects what they were looking for, and it couldn't have been started until Waking the Dragons ended and they went home. Another theory, though QUITE unlikely, was that four years passed. More likely, it's a mixture of the two, and we can say that more or less a summer has passed, just like in the real world. I had the same issue about Mai turning evil back during Waking the Dragons, that if A New Evil I immediately or by a few days followed One for the Road and Looking Back and Moving Ahead, Mai would have had to have gone, "Ding! I'm evil now!" instead of her big adventure on the road, dueling moron after moron in tournaments, and never really improving, and getting lonelier and
lonelier, starting to have nightmares about life in the Shadow Realm... I digress. So, that was only one thing. Another, I could imagine how Rebecca could know that it's a high-end job: for one, Kaiba, I daresay, knows computer trick or two, considering that he designed the duel disks' holographic technology on his own, no mean feat, and he hacked into Duelist Kingdom (Duel with a Ghoul -> Give up the Ghost). On top of that, Rebecca, nevertheless, was able to hack into KaibaCorp to assist Yami and Kaiba breaking in in Paradise Found, and suggested gloatingly that after this is over, Kaiba let her upgrade his security (lol). I would imagine that if she did, and someone still got through, she would know that that's one high-end hacking job! It's only a theory, and rather inconsequential anyway. As for why they broke in, I have no trouble coming up with reasons someone would: this, if my guess is correct, is KaibaLand, and it would definitely not be a good thing for KaibaCorp if something were to *happen* to a bunch of KaibaLand patrons. Secondly, Mokuba's in there. All in all, I would say that this hacker currently exerts quite a bit of hostage-style control over Kaiba, and he has quite a few enemies, whether he was actually the one who's made them enemies or not (remember Alister?). I read something about a guy with an interesting pink hairdo as being a candidate to seriously mess up KaibaCorp. I would also imagine that we'll come to know that kid who's about to duel quite well as a new character. I wonder what'll happen, though. I don't think it would be possible to make it a double duel, with only a single podium, but it seems pretty obvious that our heroes are going to somehow help the kid. That's all that's known or guessed for now. -Clio