Chapter 13: Hiyori the Cunning
The ninth day of the tournament had arrived. With the qualifying round almost over, Jaden knew that he needed to find an opponent to face quickly. Otherwise he could not make it to the finals and stop Tamao. As Jaden walked the grounds of Lilum looking for an opponent to face, he ran across a familiar face, a Lilum student with light-blue hair he knew as Hitomi. Deciding that he could spare a few minutes, Jaden went over to Hitomi to see how she was doing.
“Hey there.” Jaden called to Hitomi, getting her attention.
“Oh, Jaden Yuki.” Hitomi said with a look of surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I was hoping to find an opponent but I’ve had no luck.” Jaden answered as he rubbed the back of his hair.
“That’s not surprising.” Hitomi told him. “The only student from Lilum who’s still in the tournament that I know of is President Chikaru. I’m sure she’d duel you if you challenged her though.”
“Actually, Chikaru and I already agreed not to duel each other until we made it to the finals.” Jaden explained. “I guess I’ll try Spica again. So how are you and Saki doing?”
“We’re doing pretty well.” Hitomi answered. “Saki’s doing a lot better since she transferred to Lilum. She’s tired but more like her old self. I was actually on my way to see her.”
“Mind if I tag along?” Jaden asked.
“Not at all, I’m sure she’d like seeing you again.” Hitomi replied.
After a few short minutes of walking, Jaden and Hitomi found Saki sitting against a tree asleep. Guardian Eatos and Maiden of the Moonlight were there in spirit form standing near her, though they were only visible to Jaden. Jaden guessed that the two Duel Monsters were watching over Saki. As Hitomi and Jaden approached the two monsters vanished. Jaden stopped a few feet away from the tree, but Hitomi continued her approach. When she got close enough, Hitomi bent over Saki and kissed her on the forehead. Saki soon stirred and opened her eyes.
“Hello my love.” Hitomi whispered.
“Hi.” Saki said before wrapping an arm around Hitomi and kissing her on the lips.
After a moment Saki got to her feet. Right away Jaden could notice a change in Saki. She looked far more rested than the last time Jaden saw her. Saki soon noticed that Jaden was standing near by. After Saki put her arm around Hitomi’s shoulder the couple approached him.
“I didn’t expect to see you today.” Saki told Jaden.
“I was just around looking for someone to duel and thought I’d see how you were doing.” Jaden explained. “That Lilum uniform looks good on you.”
“Thank you. To tell you the truth I’m still getting used to it.” Saki admitted. “Actually I’m still getting used to the fact that I even transferred to Lilum. But what matters is I’m a lot closer to Hitomi now.”
“I’m glad to see you and Hitomi are doing well.” Jaden told her. “Well, I better find another opponent if I want to make it into the finals. See you two later.”
With that, Jaden began to walk away. But as he did, Saki’s expression became more serious.
“Jaden wait!” Saki called, causing the wandering duelist to stop and turn back around. “Please… stop Tamao and the Four Witches. You might be the only one who can.”
Jaden nodded and continued on his way. Saki and Hitomi went their own way after a moment. As they walked, all three of them were unaware that Hiyori was watching them.
* * *
A few minutes later, Jaden had moved onto the grounds of Spica. He was still having no luck finding an opponent. Yubel appeared next to Jaden as he walked.
“You know you could challenge one of the Four Witches.” Yubel suggested. “I’m sure beating one of them would get you into the finals easily.”
“I don’t want to start a fight with them if I don’t have to.” Jaden told her.
“True, but we are running out of time to get into the finals.” Yubel pointed out. “Plus most of the people still in the tournament are afraid to face you because they know what you’re capable of. But the Four Witches have been gunning for you ever since you beat Mika. I don’t think you really have a choice anymore.”
“I guess you’re right.” Jaden agreed as he thought about what Yubel had told him.
As he continued to walk, a large rock was suddenly thrown in his path. Jaden immediately stopped and looked around to see if he could spot who threw the rock. He found no one. Jaden then picked up the rock and found there was a piece of paper wrapped around it. He removed the paper from the rock and found there was a note written on it.
‘If you want to see the two Lilum student you were talking to earlier alive and well again, you will come to the lake as soon as you finish reading this. You have twenty minutes to get here.’
Jaden doubted very much that the note was a prank. It seemed very clear that Saki and Hitomi were in danger. As fast as Jaden’s legs could carry him, he immediately ran off towards the lake. After what seemed like a sixteen minute run, Jaden finally arrived at the lake. As he stood and caught his breath, a figure stepped out from behind a tree. She was a Miator student with dark-green hair ending just above the shoulders wearing glasses. Right away Jaden recognized the girl as one of the Four Witches.
“You arrived as quickly as I expected.” The girl told Jaden. “I should introduce myself. I am Hiyori Sonoda, a member of Miator’s student council, which I believe is more colorfully referred to by most as the Four Witches.”
“Where’re Saki and Hitomi?” Jaden demanded.
“Back at the dorms I assume.” Hiyori calmly replied. “The note I sent you was a rouse to lure you here.”
“If you wanted to challenge me you should’ve just told me instead of playing games!” Jaden angrily told her.
“I wasn’t entirely sure if you’d except.” Hiyori coldly explained. “It seemed logical that you’d wish to avoid a duel with myself and my colleagues if possible.”
“I have no choice but to face you and Tamao if I want to stop all of you from destroying the world!” Jaden pointed out.
“I see, so you actually know something of Lady Tamao’s plans.” Hiyori said with a slight look of surprise. “In that case I should’ve been more direct. Of course this means that you’re an even bigger threat than we first thought. In any case, both you and I have sixty points. The combined total would be more than enough for one of us to enter the finals. Since you’ve revealed that you are trying to stop Lady Tamao, I assume you’ll accept my challenge.”
“Game on!” Jaden replied, and with that the two of them activated their duel disks.
“I shall go first.” Hiyori announced as she drew her first card. “I summon Big Shield Guardna in Defense Mode!”
Appearing on the field in front of Hiyori was a muscular tan warrior with long black hair hiding behind a giant purple and gold shield.
“I set two more cards on the field and end my turn!” Hiyori announced.
Jaden drew his first card and looked carefully at his hand. His hand already contained Wildheart and Bladedge, so he was already set up for a Fusion summon. Unfortunately he did not have Polymerization. The rest of his hand consisted of Fake Hero, Elemental Burstinatrix, and Elemental Hero Sparkman. Of course even if he could combine Wildheart and Bladedge, Jaden knew that it would be enough to penetrate Big Shield Guardna’s 2600 DEF points. But Jaden saw that the card he had drawn might be just what he needed.
“First I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman in Attack Mode!” Jaden announced. The blue and gold armored electrical hero appeared on the field. “Next I equip Sparkman with Spark Blaster!”
A large dark-blue pistol-like weapon appeared in Sparkman’s right hand. Several wires popped out from the hero’s forearm and connected to the blaster.
“Now I activate the effect of Spark Blaster!” Jaden announced. “Spark Blaster lets me change the battle position of an opponent’s monster up to three times. So now I switch Big Shield Guardna to Attack Mode!”
Sparkman raised his gun and fired a bullet of electrical energy at Hiyori’s monster. Big Shield Guardna suddenly stood up and placed his shield at his side.
“Your Guardna may have 2600 DEF, but his ATK is only 100!” Jaden pointed out. “Which means Sparkman is more than a match for him!”
“Activate Trap, Gravity Bind!” Hiyori suddenly announced. “Now monsters of level four or above can attack.”
A wave of green energy quickly spread over the field. Suddenly Sparkman fell to his knees and looked as if he couldn’t lift up his arms. Big Shield Guardna also fell to his knees and look as if he was unable to move. Jaden could see that it wasn’t going to be as easy to get through Hiyori’s defenses as he thought.
“I end my turn!” Jaden announced once he realized there wasn’t anything more he could do. Hiyori drew her next card.
“I activate Orichalcos Ritual!” Hiyori announced. “I sacrifice my Big Shield Guardna and your Elemental Hero Sparkman to summon Wicked Tree of the East in Defense Mode!”
The mystic circle of the Orichalcos Ritual appeared on the ground. Lightning shot up from the circle and slowly deconstructed both monsters bit by bit. When both monsters were finally out of their misery, a pillar of black flames erupted into the air. The fire soon cleared and revealed what looked to be a gnarled old willow tree with leafless branches. Two holes that looked like eyes and a third that looked like an evil grin were in the front of the trunk. Meanwhile, Hiyori’s eyes began glowing red.
“Your tree can’t attack with your Gravity Bind on the field.” Jaden pointed out.
“Attacking isn’t the only way to win a duel.” Hiyori told him. “My Wicked Tree of the East has an ATK of 2100, which can defeat most low level monsters. But its DEF is 2900, which makes it a better defensive monster. Furthermore, Wicked Tree has an ability that is far more valuable for defensive monsters, as you shall soon see. For my next move I summon Mystical Elf in Defense Mode!”
Appearing on the field next to the tree was a female elf with blue skin and long blond hair. But the elf’s body suddenly twisted and changed, becoming a tree with a twisted version of the elf’s face on the front of the trunk.
“What just happened?” Jaden asked with an expression of disgust on his face.
“Wicked Tree of the East turns all my monsters into plants, but that is unimportant.” Hiyori explained. “You should turn your attention to the branches of the Wicked Tree.”
Jaden did as Hiyori suggested and saw what looked like a round purple fruit with a face twisted in agony grow on one of the branches.
“What is that thing?” Jaden asked.
“That is a Wicked Fruit Counter.” Hiyori explained. “The Wicked Tree grows one each time one of us summons a monster. Furthermore, all of my monsters gain 300 DEF points for each counter that has grown. So as of now my Wicked Tree has 3200 DEF, and my Mystical Elf has 2300 DEF.”
“I’m guessing there’s more to it than that though.” Jaden assumed.
“Correct Mr. Yuki.” Hiyori replied. “During my Main Phase I can tribute Wicked Tree and deal damage to my opponent equal to its current DEF.”
“So you’re going to let those weird counters grow until your tree has over 4000 DEF points and then activate its effect.” Jaden realized.
“Correct once again.” Hiyori replied. “And you will soon find that there is no way to prevent my strategy from succeeding. I set one card on the field and end my turn!”
Jaden drew his next card hoping for some way around Hiyori’s defense. He knew if he didn’t find one soon he would be finished. Jaden looked at the card he drew and smiled when he saw that it might be just what he needed.
“I summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole!” Jaden announced.
Appearing on the field was a large brown mole with shoulder pads that looked to be made from a split drill. As soon as Jaden summoned the monster, another fruit grew on the Wicked Tree.
“As of now, Wicked Tree of the East has 3500 DEF, and Mystical Elf has 2600 DEF.” Hiyori pointed out.
“That won’t matter in a minute!” Jaden told her. “When Grand Mole attacks a monster, he can return both that monster and himself to the hand without applying damage. Plus Grand Mole is level three, so he’s not effected by Gravity Bind. Grand Mole attack Wicked Tree with…”
“Activate Trap, Shadow Spell!” Hiyori interrupted. “This card prevents your mole from attacking and lowers its ATK by 700 points!”
Black chains suddenly shot up from the ground and wrapped around Grand Mole. A look of frustration appeared on Jaden’s face.
“I studied your previous duels from both this tournament and before.” Hiyori told Jaden. “As a result I have prepared my deck to combat your strongest cards. Grand Mole is one card that could’ve ruined my strategy. But as you can see I was prepared, and now it is no longer a threat. The most logical course for you now would be to surrender.”
“There’s no way I’m doing that!” Jaden declared.
“That is your decision, but you would only be prolonging your suffering.” Hiyori said coldly. “You cannot attack, and each monster you summon will only bring you closer to defeat. Doing nothing would only prolong things even more, as I can just summon monsters until my Wicked Tree grows enough counters to inflict the proper amount of damage. You may be denying it now, but you shall soon see that victory is mine.”
