The wind whips around Kaiba, showing he means serious business. The whole group recognizes him, of course, and Jonouchi automatically concludes that Kaiba's standing there to block them from entering the castle. I might have said under any other circumstances that he was jumping to conclusions, but seeing as that is EXACTLY what Kaiba is doing...
Honda wonders out loud if Kaiba switched to Pegasus's side, and Jonouchi is fully on board with this theory, claiming that Kaiba is rotten to the core and will sell out to anyone. Now that IS jumping to conclusions, and stupid ones at that. Kaiba just stares down the staircase at Yami, and Yami suggests they get their scrawny asses up the staircase even though Kaiba's trying to be intimidating, because where the hell else are they going to go? In the back entrance?
Actually, considering how obvious that exit to the caves was, I wouldn't be surprised if anyone could walk around the castle and find an unguarded and unlocked back door.
Jonouchi asks Kaiba what he's doing blocking the door, threatening to throw him down the stairs if he doesn't get out of the fucking way. I totally want Jonouchi to ACTUALLY do this. Yami, however, doesn't share my desires, and holds out an arm in front of Jonouchi as he says he'll handle it. He calmly tells Kaiba to let them into the castle. Oh yeah, that'll make him step aside. You're handling this SO HARD right now, Yami. *eyeroll*
Kaiba says he knew Yami would beat the duelists on the island and earn ten star chips no matter how difficult, and that's why he LET Yami do so.
Fuck he's the biggest drama queen...
Yami barks out Kaiba's name and seems concerned that Kaiba's still baring his fangs at him. Did you figure he would cower instead? Anzu urges Kaiba to stop picking fights with Yami already, and everyone has to hold back Jonouchi because he's ready to launch himself at Kaiba and knock his lights out. SERIOUSLY GUYS, LET JONOUCHI DO IT. Kaiba had my feels in the last chapter, but he is always such an insufferable piece of shit that he NEEDS to get his ass kicked. Maybe having his nose broken will instill a little fucking HUMILITY in the boy.
Kaiba observes Jonouchi's glove and the ten star chips in the wrist with a hum, then smirks and expresses his disbelief that the loser managed to get ten chips too. He decrees that Jonouchi is hereby promoted from loser to deadbeat, and holy shit I will go in there and smack Kaiba around myself if I have to!
Jonouchi fumes, furious at being called a deadbeat, while Kaiba talks about what a freaking miracle this is. He says he searched the darkness for an answer as to why he lost in Death-T and how Yami summoned up such a miracle, and he thinks he may have found an answer, but trails off before he can say what that answer is out loud. He wonders if someone can get stronger if they're shouldering the weight of protecting someone, but he doesn't think he'll be able to determine the answer to that question without a duel. He thrusts a thumb at himself and tells Yami that he'll have to go through him to get into the castle in a duel of FATE.
Bakura warns Yami that he shouldn't risk it, and Anzu tells him it's pointless because he's already earned ten chips. Someone else steps forward to protest this logic, insisting that Yami can't run from this. It's Vlad the Hair Impaler, saying that either Yami or Kaiba can enter the castle, and NOT both. Jonouchi calls Kaiba a traitor who's working for Pegasus, referring to how it looks for Kaiba to be defended by Vlad. Kaiba shouts that this conclusion is insulting, because he's not fighting for scum like Vlad the Hair Impaler.
Instead of explaining what it is he's REALLY fighting for, he pushes the notion that his and Yami's duelist blood brought them together once more. Yami silently repeats the phrase "duelist blood", and I'm hoping it's because he realizes how much bullshit it is. Unfortunately, he accepts the duel, because he's gullible and isn't interested in the real reason Kaiba is challenging him. Yami says he'll defeat Kaiba, but Kaiba just whips around and tells Yami to follow him to where they'll be dueling. He just wants to get this shit over with, apparently.
At the main gate, someone is handing over their ten star chips to get into the castle. It's Bandit Keith, who clearly took the scenic route to the castle after beating the star chips out of his stooges, because he's only just NOW arriving. The Secret Service Servant who is guarding the door and observing the wrist of Keith's glove confirms all ten chips are there and permits him to enter the castle. He moseys on into the courtyard, chuckling about being the first to get in despite how slow he is, and is distracted by seeing something off to his left. It's a pair of connected parapets upon which are two figures he recognizes, Yami and Kaiba from Kaiba Corp. Keith smirks about how Yami and company managed to get out of the caves, and decides he'd better watch whatever interesting thing is going on up there on the parapets before going inside the castle.
Yami holds the other Duel Disk gingerly, mentally marveling at it and its high-tech abilities to produce all those Solid Vision holograms. Kaiba alerts Yami that he's switched the system to "expert" mode so that the duel will be more up to their speed rather than Jonouchi's deadbeat match before. He coaches Yami to shuffle his deck and insert it into the deck holder on his left arm. The digital counter atop the deck holder reads 2000 life points.
Jonouchi reminds Yami that he's already beat Kaiba twice before, and so encourages him to beat Kaiba's ass a third time. Kaiba asks Yami if he's ready, and Yami confirms he is.
Kaiba announces that he'll start them off, attacking with his main monster, Ryu-Kishin. Of course, since it isn't as strong as Yami's dragon, he attacks one of Yami's other cards instead. Yami is surprised that with this device you can attack cards directly, though I don't know how that's different from attacking a face down card in the box. Kaiba states the obvious fact that there's a risk in attacking these cards because it might be a monster with higher attack points, but he praises his own instincts for being dead on and able to get rid of one of Yami's weaker monsters.
Turns out that weaker monster is Feral Imp. Yami's points go down to 1700 as he contemplates the fact that all his face-down cards are in attack and will affect his life points if they're targeted. He thinks he's figured out that this advanced mode makes one rely on strategy and intuition, and he'll have to guess which cards Kaiba has face-down too. He's getting super pumped about this prospect, and yells at Kaiba that they'll settle this rivalry of theirs once and for all.
Yeah, we wish.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Once again, the word "strategy" is thrown around without any regard for what it actually means. It seems like EVERY SINGLE LITTLE modification made to a duel is said to increase the strategy of the game, and I'm honestly getting a bit sick of it. Stop TELLING me that this enhances strategic elements and SHOW it, KT. Otherwise, I'm just going to assume you have no idea what the words you use actually mean.
Because what WAS the modification to the game this time around? I can't rightly say. What has been talked about in this chapter as modifying the game in an advanced way (attacking cards directly/showing the face down cards in a hand formation around the players) have been in the game ALL ALONG. The only thing I can think has changed is that the player has to play all of their cards at once and their "hand" is eliminated, because both players here don't show they have cards in their hands when they start playing. That WOULD be quite a difference in game play, but it's never mentioned, so I don't know if it's actually a thing.
Seriously, can all of these characters just STOP TALKING and let me come to my own conclusions? All they manage to do is state the obvious or create a convoluted idea of what should be a very simple image. Yami, Kaiba, Jonouchi, EVERYONE - SHUT YOUR MOUTHS.
It seems like the modification is that Kaiba can attack cards in Yugi's hand, which normally wouldn't be considered part of the field. That wasn't the case in the anime, as I recall, which just kept traditional Duelist Kingdom rules here.
ReplyDeleteGood move on the anime's part in this case, because attacking cards that haven't even been played doesn't make a lot of sense, especially when there's no way of knowing if the card is a monster, trap, or spell. It's one thing to attack a card in a defensive position that is clearly a monster, even if it's face down and you don't know what it is, but attacking just any old random card in someone's hand? Not much sense to be made out of that.
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