Not to sound sadistic or anything, but would anyone ELSE like to read that AU? I think Ishizu could manage it, because she's a badass, but it might be a bit TOO intense, and perhaps a little much as well. I don't know.
I'm not the only one, but Marik's situation is a little more... delicate. He does that split-face thing he does so well, where the normal one pushes the the other one to the right so they're sharing an eye in the middle, and he can look in desperation at his big sister. Other!Marik isn't long in shoving the regular one back down, though, demanding he stay out of this because there's no need for him to come out. He seems pretty pissed off that their sister showed up.
Ishizu looks down at him from her perch on the platform and promises that she'll save him from the Ishtars' cursed fate. Again, why she passed up what I see as a better shot earlier and what her dueling Kaiba has to do with this goal is a bit obscure. She's got some 'splainin' to do by my estimation.
After a spiffy title page, Anzu points accusingly and asks Yami if that isn't the same woman they met at the museum that one time. It's news to Jonouchi that they know Ishizu, because he was left out of that particular adventure. Yami confirms that yes, they did meet her once, and admits to himself that in hindsight, it was Ishizu's words that led to him entering Battle City in the first place. He recalls what she said about about protecting a piece of the king's memories for a thousand years, which is a pretty impressive claim, but he brushes past it to remember her telling him that he was about to face an enemy that possesses the last Millennium Item. She said THAT battle would be a battle for his memory.
Quite the pain to go through getting something that was yours to begin with, no doubt. Yami contemplates the ancient tablet, his memories, and Marik who not-so-mysteriously has the same family name as Ishizu. He likens Battle City to a puzzle that's coming together one piece at a time. An old, janky puzzle with water damage.
Meanwhile, Ishizu begins informing Kaiba that her Millennium necklace, through its gift of allowing her to see into the future, has told her that he's going to lose his duel with her and he can't escape that fate.
Below the platform, Jonouchi has been set off. He shakes his fist at Kaiba the creep for working with this mysterious Ishizu woman to orchestrate the whole tournament. Yami keeps his focus on Ishizu's confidence, though, noting how she out-and-out declared Kaiba can't win. He wonders if this is because of her Millennium Item and what her real objective is.
Well SOMEONE had to show up to be the eighth duelist.
Kaiba tells Ishizu that on no uncertain terms that her superstitions don't scare him and he doesn't give a shit about her occult paraphernalia. He suggests she can throw them in a dustbin of failed ideas for all he cares. She just concentrates on putting her cards in her Duel Disk, not honoring his teasing with a response. He's not discouraged, though, and vows to deal her an ironic twist of fate with the Obelisk SHE gave him.
Kaiba declares it's his turn, because it's HIS precious tournament and he's been waiting long enough to duel in the semi-finals dammit! That was an extrapolation; I don't actually know how they determine who's going first in these matches. Anyway, Kaiba plays Vorse Raider, which he describes as blood-thirsty, which I don't doubt from the look of its exposed skeletal teeth clenched like it's taking every ounce of will to keep from clamping them around someone's neck instead. Ishizu isn't paying attention to that, though, at least not anymore. Her eyes are closed and she's a step ahead, predicting Kaiba will place a card face down before he announces it with gusto and ends his turn. She opens her eyes, already knowing EVERYTHING.
Oooooh, spooky.
She says it's her turn, but pauses to allow some commentary from the peanut gallery. What other reason does she have? She doesn't need to consider her next move for already knowing what it is and how it will go. Anzu turns to Yami and asks if Kaiba really can't win if Ishizu's necklace can tell the future. Jonouchi considers this possibility in terms of himself; he REALLY wants to see Kaiba get his ass beat, but he also doesn't want Ishizu to take the possibility of him doing it himself. It is a chin-stroking problem, for sure. Yami's just thinking that if he were Kaiba, he wouldn't give up, and urges Kaiba to surpass his fate. Boy, do I NOT like that word right now. I feel like there's something off about the use of it here and I just can't put my finger on it. Anyway, Mokuba is in the room he was talking to Kaiba from in the previous chapter, clicking and clacking on a keyboard in front of him and sparing an encouraging thought to his brother. That's nice.
Kaiba has a glare trained on Ishizu as she bows her head, closes her eyes to consult that oracle of hers, and begins to reveal her first card.
Ishizu tells him to show her his hand authoritatively, and he looks almost sheepish as he turns his fanned cards out toward her to inspect, presuming she can do so from such a distance. He promises not to forget this humiliation, but he'll misattribute it all day long to someone else. Don't blame Ishizu for your embarrassment, Kaiba, you're doing a bang-up job creating it all by your lonesome. Ishizu tells Kaiba to discard both Polymerization and Kaiser Glider from his hand and he growls as he pulls them from his hand, though he admits to himself that it could have been worse, since the cards she wanted him to get rid of weren't of much use at the beginning of a duel anyway. Perhaps the point is preventing you from using them later?
Kaiba grows a smirk at his intention of not holding back - making her discard her very BEST cards. That's right, honey, you just keep thinking that she's just being nice to you by picking the cards you didn't think were that important. She just LIKES you, like that waitress at the titty bar. After Kaiba sees Ishizu's cards, he instructs her to get rid of the second and fourth starting from his right. She's just about as blase about fulfilling his wishes as she can get, but he giggles like he's getting away with something anyway.
Ishizu hold up the cards Revival Magic and Monster Reborn to confirm that she's putting them in her graveyard now, and afterwards instructs Kaiba to return the remaining cards in his hand to his deck and shuffle to redraw the same amount of cards as in the beginning, ending her turn on this note. Kaiba glares at her over his new hand, speechless, while Yami asks himself what Ishizu is planning. Other!Marik knows the strategy, calling it scary and in a small amount of disbelief that she's using it. I say small amount, because no part of his expression indicates that he's shocked by it. Still, he admits to himself that hers is a tough deck that's she's used to beat even the normal Marik. He was there watching the whole time from inside Marik's heart, and he's pretty sure that he's the only one who can beat this strategy.
Sister Ishizu looks down at other!Marik, correcting herself when she thinks of him as Marik proper, because other!Marik isn't her brother, but rather an evil something that dwells inside him. She's got quite a glare of her own for him, having waited for him to come out again after the tragedy he brought to their family. He glares right back, asking himself when the first time he met her was, and answering in turn that it must have been at their father's death. No ambiguity there. Ishizu thinks that this tournament is the last chance she has to destroy other!Marik, and vows to do so, even if it means that they have to play those bloody shadow games from 1,000 years before. She seems to project her intention and will to save her brother at other!Marik, but other!Marik just smirks at her, asking if she really sees a future where she beats him or just despair. I guess they're communicating by Millennium Item now or something? Probably the same means that Marik and Rishid were before, because they're definitely having an actual conversation now, complete with a hardened expression from Ishizu in response to other!Marik at his question.
Other!Marik is willing to put his money where his mouth is, though, gesturing behind him to where he's somehow showing Ishizu an image of Marik proper in a glass pyramid much like Mai's hourglass. This is what other!Marik calls the "weak Marik" confined deep inside him, trapped in his own misery and longing for revenge. But Marik doesn't really look like he's feeling either of those things, at least not more than blinding desperation and terror as he presses his hands on the glass and looks out at Ishizu.
Ishizu doubles over, guarding her face with an arm from light dust or something. Kaiba chuckles at her and advises that she look at the enemy right in front of her before looking into the future. Again, I don't really feel like YOU'RE one to criticize, Kaiba, but whatever makes you feel superior. Ishizu isn't too upset by Kaiba, though, because all she can think about is her brother and her reiterated promise to save him. She silently asks him to wait for her, because right now, defeating Kaiba is her first priority.
He's over there, smirking up a storm, but she's got to remind him mentally that she KNEW he would destroy Keldo, because she knows EVERYTHING, dammit! In his own head, Kaiba promises to teach Ishizu a lesson. NOW who's the "card professor", hmmm? Kaiba looks at the card at the forefront of his hand, Shrink, which he can use to cut his Vorse's attack points in half. Why would he want to do THAT? Because he's planning on using it to activate his Crush virus card, which he places face down in order to destroy Ishizu's deck. Assuming, of course, that she's based her strategy around monsters worth 1500 attack points or higher.
I feel like Kaiba has absolutely NO REASON to extrapolate that right now, what with the only monster Ishizu having played thus far being but 1200 attack points strong, soooooooo...
Stupid? Stupid.
Kaiba restates to Ishizu with a clenched fist that she should listen to him when he says her visions of the future don't scare him one tiny little bit.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I was laughing through a good majority of it, and it's a breath of fresh air from the emotional gut-punches that were the last three duels. I'm loving the dynamic between Ishizu and Kaiba; a kind of older person tolerating the incessant babbling of a cocky child interplay. When Ishizu isn't distracted by the mental combative stance she has to take with other!Marik, she looks like she's fighting the urge to roll her eyes at Kaiba's grandstanding, and I love it. Clearly, she's seen this all happen so many times that she's kind of sick of Kaiba's quips, even if this is the first time he's ACTUALLY mouthed off to her. It's hilarious. I needed this humor.
And I think I'm beginning to understand Ishizu just a tad more through some subtle hints throughout the chapter, which is what I was hoping to get out of the chapter anyway. She gives the impression that she didn't try to stop other!Marik coming out through trying to save Rishid because she NEEDED him to be out to defeat him. Other!Marik brought tragedy to the family, I'm sure by killing their father, otherwise being buried so deep within Marik proper that he can't be reached. They're two distinct people now, and the only way to defeat other!Marik is face-to-face, so to speak.
But Ishizu also seems to NOT know for sure if their confrontation is going to end with a shadow game. This brings into question how much she's actually getting from the Millennium Necklace, and, perhaps more importantly, how the necklace actually works. Ishizu says it shows her "fate", but that implies the events are predetermined by a higher power. No matter what Kaiba does, he isn't going to be able to change them. And yet, it doesn't take someone who has seen or read this series before to predict that he IS going to do something to change "fate" in this case. It's just obvious he has to make it into the next round.
But if fate can be changed, is it really fate? If actions are taken by mere mortals to shape it, then can it be predetermined at all? Say I went to Ikea and got a bookcase, some assembly required, to put together in my living room. Once it's all finished, can I stand back and say that it was fate this piece of furniture is in my living room? Or did I have INSTRUCTIONS to produce a certain result?
That's why I question what it is the necklace actually DOES, because in my eyes, there's a possibility it is showing Ishizu what is most likely to happen in all the infinite variables, and what she needs to do to get the result she wants. What's even MORE possible, again in my eyes, is that the necklace may be MISLEADING Ishizu in a way, for its and the other Millennium Items' ends. These are shifty magical artifacts that need to be in a certain place at a certain time, and now that they're all coming together, the necklace and rod maybe be pulling some strings of those who were meant to serve their purposes in the first place in order to further those plans.
Or perhaps I'm thinking too hard about it and KT doesn't HAVE a definition for the word "fate". Occam's Razor and everything.
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