Chapter 19: Clashing Wills
The finals of the Astraea Star Cup had kicked off with a duel between Jaden and Tomoyo. Already Tomoyo had destroyed most of Jaden’s deck. However, Jaden managed to turn things around a little by combining The Fang of Critias with Mirror Gate to create Trick Mirror Dragon. Things still seemed pretty one-sided though, as Tomoyo had not lost a single life point. But Jaden did have the advantage at the moment, and as he drew his next card he hoped he could make a comeback.
“I activate the effect of Elemental Hero Necroshade in my Graveyard and summon Elemental Hero Neos from my hand!” Jaden announced. The white hero from space appeared on the field. “Neos, attack Tomoyo directly with Wrath of Neos!”
Neos lunged at Tomoyo with his fist raised. At that moment Tomoyo reacted.
“I activate my Trap, Mirror Force!” Tomoyo announced. “Now all of your monsters in Attack Mode are destroyed!”
Neos’s fist came in contact with an invisible barrier. The impact caused a huge explosion that left Jaden’s side of the battlefield completely bare.
“I end my turn!” Jaden announced. Tomoyo drew her next card. “Hey Tomoyo, since we’re here like this, I want to know why you’re helping Tamao. Why do you two and the other members of the Four Witches want to destroy the world?”
Tomoyo paused for a moment and looked directly in Jaden’s eyes.
“Since we are dueling I suppose I’ll answer your question.” Tomoyo finally replied. “And the answer is I do not care what about what Lady Tamao’s goals for the world are. I only serve her because there is something I want to protect, and to do that I must eliminate you.”
“I see…” Jaden responded. “Well I have to protect the world from Tamao, and I’ll do that even if I have to take you down!”
“Then take me down if you think you can!” Tomoyo dared. “I summon Neo the Magic Swordsman in Attack Mode!”
The same blond knight in armor that Tomoyo had used in her last duel with Jaden appeared on the field.
“Neo, attack Jaden directly!” Tomoyo commanded. “Magic Sword Slash!”
The knight charged and slashed Jaden across the chest with his blade. The attack had reduced Jaden’s life points to 1900.
“Now I activate my Trap, Robbin’ Zombie!” Tomoyo announced. “Now each time one of my monsters inflicts battle damage, my opponent has to send a card from the top of their deck to the Graveyard!”
Once again Jaden placed another card from his deck in his Graveyard. Meanwhile down on the sidelines, Jessie and the others were becoming more worried.
“Jaden’s deck is just getting murdered!” Striker exclaimed. “If he can’t draw any more cards he’ll lose automatically.”
“I end my turn!” Tomoyo announced back in the duel.
As Jaden drew his next card he thought about using The Eye of Timaeus. But he remembered that Timaeus told him to wait until the right card was drawn, and it seemed that he had yet to do that. Jaden decided to try and but a little more time.
“I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman in Defense Mode!” Jaden announced. The blue and gold armored electrical hero appeared on the field in a crouched position. “That ends my turn!”
“I activate the Spell card, Orichalcos Ritual!” Tomoyo announced after drawing her next card. “I sacrifice my Neo the Magic Swordsman and your Elemental Hero Sparkman to summon Swift Goblin of the South!”
The magic circle of the Orichalcos Ritual appeared on the ground. Lightning began to shoot up from the circle and slowly deconstruct the two monsters, causing them to cry out in pain. When they were both consumed by the energy, a pillar of black flames erupted from the center and quickly vanished to reveal the Swift Goblin of the South.
“Since I cannot attack the same turn I use the Orichalcos Ritual I end my turn!” Tomoyo announced. Jaden drew his next card.
“I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!” Jaden announced. The stone armored hero appeared on the field in a crouched position. “That ends my turn!”
“I equip Swift Goblin of the South with Big Bang Shot!” Tomoyo announced. “This card increases his ATK to 3400 and gives him the ability to inflict piercing damage. Swift Goblin, destroy Clayman with Shadow Blade!”
The goblin charged forward and sliced Clayman in half. The attack had dropped Jaden’s life points to 500.
“Now due to the effect of Swift Goblin of the South you must send fourteen cards from your deck to the Graveyard.” Tomoyo told him. “Plus one more card due to the effect of Robbin’ Zombie.”
Jaden sent the fifteen cards to his Graveyard slot. Back down on the sidelines his friends were becoming more worried.
“I’ve lost count. How many cards does Jaden have left in his deck?” Clive asked.
“About three I think.” Chikaru answered. “There’s something odd though. It feels like Jaden is holding back”
“Holding back what?” Jessie asked.
“I’m note sure.” Chikaru replied. “But at the beginning of the duel it looked like he drew a really good card. You could see it on the expression on his face. And yet he hasn’t once used it.”
“Maybe it wasn’t as good a card as he thought it was.” Clive assumed.
“I don’t think that’s the case.” Chikaru told him. “It’s like Jaden has been waiting for something to happen.”
“Well whatever he’s waiting for better happen soon.” Clive cut in. “Otherwise Jaden is toast.”
Back in the duel Jaden was about to draw his next card. When he touched the card on top of his deck he heard a familiar sound. Jaden suddenly realized the card that he and Timaeus had been waiting for was near.
“I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards!” Jaden announced after playing the card he had just drawn.
“Is he crazy?” Striker exclaimed back down on the sidelines. “This means his deck will be out of cards!”
“It could be the Fusion Master is going to try and end it all on this turn.” Clive assumed. “It’s a bold gamble, and I know a little something about that.”
“Now I summon the card that’s been waiting at the bottom of my deck, Winged Kuriboh!” Jaden announced.
The brown fury puffball with white wings appeared on the field. Many of the audience members were murmuring amongst themselves. Meanwhile Tomoyo’s normally emotionless expression showed irritation for the first time.
“I thought you were taking this duel seriously.” Tomoyo said calmly.
“I am.” Jaden told her. “Winged Kuriboh is one of my best cards, and it’s the card that’s going to win me this duel. Because now I play the card I’ve been saving this whole game, The Eye of Timaeus!”
With a huge gust of wind Timaeus appeared onto the field with a roar. Many of the audience members were quite shocked, as were Jaden’s friends down on the sidelines.
“I don’t get it, why wait to use Timaeus with Winged Kuriboh?” Striker asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You’d be surprised what J. can do with Winged Kuriboh.” Jessie told him.
“I now combine Timaeus with Winged Kuriboh!” Jaden announced. “Say hello to Dragon Winged Kuriboh!”
Timaeus then turned into a green energy that went into Winged Kuriboh’s right eye. The little puffball’s wings grew to four times their size and wrapped around him. In a burst of white light, Winged Kuriboh had grown to twice his size and his once white-feathered wings had become green dragon wings. On his body he wore a large version of the helmet Timaeus normally wore in his knight form.
“Dragon Winged Kuriboh’s ATK is only 300, but he gains 300 more ATK points for every card in my Graveyard!” Jaden explained. “Right now there are thirty nine cards in my Graveyard, which means his ATK is now 12000!”
Tomoyo’s expression changed to one of utter shock, and she was not the only one. All were watching the duel was blown away by the unbelievably high amount of ATK points Jaden’s monster had.
“Dragon Winged Kuriboh, attack Swift Goblin!” Jaden commanded. “Dragon Wingbeat Storm!”
With that, Dragon Winged Kuriboh began flapping his massive wings at incredible speed. A huge twister then began to form on the field. The tornado then headed at Swift Goblin and hurled him into the air. When the goblin hit the ceiling he shattered into triangles of gold light. The twister kept coming until it hit Tomoyo, and the force of it was so strong that it blew her off the stage. Once Tomoyo’s life points hit zero Dragon Winged Kuriboh vanished. Everyone who had been watching the duel was completely shocked by Jaden’s finishing move.
Jaden meanwhile rushed over to the other side of the stage to see if Tomoyo was hurt. He saw Tomoyo slowly get back to her feet and look back at him. Her expression was once again cold and emotionless, but eyes were filled with sadness. She then began limping back over to Tamao and the other members of the Four Witches.
“Uh, okay then. I guess we have our winner.” Amane announced into her microphone after getting over the shock. “The first duel of the finals goes to Jaden Yuki!”
Everyone in the audience cheered loudly for Jaden. Meanwhile Jaden found that he felt bad about defeating Tomoyo.
“You did what you had to do.” Yubel told Jaden as she appeared next to him.
“I know.” Jaden replied. “It’s just that Tomoyo seems so different from Tamao and the rest of the Four Witches. I wonder what she’s trying to protect?”
“Maybe it’s not a what but a who.” Yubel theorized. “In any case you can’t afford to worry about it now.”
“You’re right. I may have to face Tamao in the next round.” Jaden agreed. “So I better be ready.”
