Chapter 24: Eye, Fang, and Claw
The duel between Jaden and Jane of the Four Witches had begun. Already Jane had summoned the Wraith King of the North and used its effect to capture Jaden’s Rampart Blaster. And afterward Jane had revealed her tragic past and her reasons for helping Tamao. Jaden drew his next card to begin his turn. He wanted to somehow show Jane that not all people are liars like her former friends and ex-girlfriend, but first he had to do something about Jane’s monster.
“First I lay down a facedown! Then I play The Fang of Critias!” Jaden announced. Critias roared onto the field in his dragon form. “Now I combine Critias with the Soul Union card I just played facedown to create Heroic Soul Dragon!”
The large representation of Jaden’s Trap entered Critias and triggered a transformation. The wings on the dragon’s back became feathered and looked similar to those of Elemental Hero Avian. His scales had become green to match Avian’s costume, and a mask similar to Avian’s appeared on Critias’s face.
“Now I activate the effect of Heroic Soul Dragon and remove Darkbright in my Graveyard from play!” Jaden announced. A ghostly version of Darkbright appeared on the field and entered Heroic Soul Dragon, causing it to glow with a reddish aura. “This will add Darkbright’s ATK to Heroic Soul Dragon’s, making Heroic Soul Dragon’s ATK 4100!”
“Jaden just summoned a monster that’s stronger than Wraith King of the North!” Tsubomi exclaimed enthusiastically down on the sidelines.
“Heroic Soul Dragon, attack Wraith King of the North with…” Jaden began to command.
“I activate my Trap, Nightmare Wheel!” Jane announced. “This prevents your dragon from attacking!”
A gigantic torture wheel appeared on the field behind Heroic Soul Dragon and snared it with four chains. The chains pulled the dragon in and bound it to the wheel.
“I guess I’ll lay down a facedown and end my turn!” Jaden announced. Jane drew her next card.
“Because I’m beginning my turn, my Nightmare Wheel now inflicts 500 points of damage to my opponent.” Jane announced. The giant torture wheel started to turn, stretching the bound Heroic Soul Dragon and causing it to roar in pain. Jaden’s life points dropped to 2200 as a result. “Now Rampart Blaster attacks directly, Rampart Shot!”
“I activate my Trap, Draining Shield!” Jaden announced as the corrupted Rampart Blaster fired her energy cannon. “This not only blocks the attack, but increases my life points by an amount equal the damage I would’ve taken!”
A silver shield appeared over Jaden’s duel disk. He raised the shield up, causing the energy blast to hit it. The shield vanished and Jaden’s life points rose to 3200.
“I end my turn.” Jane announced coldly. Jaden drew his next card.
“Because I have no cards on the field I Special Summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in Defense Mode!” Jaden announced. A caped hero in blue armor with water tanks on his back appeared on the field in a crouched position. “Now because I summoned Bubbleman with his effect I can draw two extra cards!”
Jaden drew his two extra cards hoping for a miracle. And that was exactly what he got.
“I activate the effect of Necroshade in my Graveyard and summon from my hand, Elemental Hero Neos!” Jaden announced. The white suited hero of space appeared on the field. “Now I play The Eye of Timaeus and combine him with Neos!”
Timaeus roared onto the field in his dragon form. Neos then jumped high into the air, and Timaeus flew after him. The two monsters kept going higher and higher until they were both out of sight. A moment later Neos returned to the field in a new form. His bodysuit has turned from white to green. The symbol of a white dragon surrounded the dark-blue gemstone on Neos’s chest. Parts of Neos’s mask changed to resemble the head of a dragon.
“Say hello to Dragonic Neos!” Jaden announced.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your monster’s ATK is still 2500.” Jane pointed out.
“You’re right about that, but that’s not gonna stop me from attacking!” Jaden told her. “Neos, attack Wraith King of the North with Dragonic Wrath!”
Neos charged at the Wraith King. The Wraith King responded by drawing his sword and swinging it at Neos to cut him in half. But Neos caught the sword blade in his hands, causing the grim specter’s eyes to widen in surprise.
“What’s going on?” Jane demanded to know.
“Dragonic Neos can’t be destroyed in battle, and I don’t take any damage if he fights a monster with higher ATK.” Jaden explained. “But that’s not all, when Dragonic Neos battles a monster with higher ATK, that monster loses 1000 ATK points at the end of the battle!”
As if on cue, Neos broke the blade of the Wraith King’s sword in half. He then hit the Wraith King in the gut with his fist. Neos then finished the attack with a roundhouse kick to the specter’s head, knocking him to the ground. The Wraith King’s ATK had fallen to 2800.
“Awesome, one more attack and Neos will be stronger than the Wraith King!” Yaya pointed out down on the sidelines.
“I end my turn!” Jaden announced.
“My Nightmare Wheel now inflicts 500 more points of damage.” Jane pointed out after drawing her card. On cue the wheel turned, causing the dragon to roar in pain again. Jaden’s life points dropped to 2700. “I will admit that your last move was quite good, but you’ve also left yourself wide open. Wraith King of the North! Attack Bubbleman with Sword of Malice!”
The malevolent entity got back up, and faster than anyone could see charged over and stabbed Bubbleman through the chest with what remained of his sword. Bubbleman’s body slumped onto the field and faded away. Jaden’s life points dropped to 1100.
“Rampart Blaster, attack Jaden directly!” Jane commanded. “Rampart Shot!”
The corrupted armored hero fired a blast from her cannon that knocked Jaden to the ground. His life points fell to 100.
“I end my turn!” Jane announced as Jaden got back to his feet. “And because of that, Wraith King of the North’s effect activates. So now I summon Bubbleman to my side of the field in Defense Mode!”
Bubbleman reappeared on the other side of the battlefield in a crouched position. His armor had become dull grey and his cape had become tattered. Bubbleman’s eyes had turned bright red, and the part of his face that was visible had become chalk white and gave off an eerie glow.
“Enjoy your next turn to its fullest, for it will be your last.” Jane told Jaden coldly.
“Wait, if Jaden doesn’t find a way to win on this next turn, Jane’s Nightmare Wheel will finish him off.” Shion realized down on the sidelines.
“Don’t worry, J. will pull it off.” Jessie assured her. Meanwhile Jaden drew his next card.
“I play The Claw of Hermos!” Jaden announced. Upon playing the card he just drew, Hermos roared onto the field in his dragon form. “I now combine Hermos with Heroic Soul Dragon to create Sword of a Hero’s Legacy!”
The two dragons merged into each other, creating a massive explosion of white light. When the light finally cleared, an ancient looking sword was sticking out of the ground in place of where Heroic Soul Dragon.
“Next I equip Sword of a Hero’s Legacy to Neos!” Jaden announced. Neos walked over and drew the sword from the ground. “Now I activate the effect of Sword of a Hero’s Legacy and remove Prisma from the Graveyard to give Neos Prisma’s ATK, making it 4200!”
A ghostly version of Elemental Hero Prisma appeared and flew into the blade of Neos’s sword. Neos began to glow with a golden aura.
“Impressive, Jaden Yuki has found a way to combine the power of all three Legendary Dragon’s.” Tamao commented on the sidelines to the other three members of the Four Witches. “I’m afraid that this duel will end just like I predicted it would.”
“Neos, finish off the Wraith King of the North!” Jaden commanded. “Heroic Soul Blade!”
Neos Charged forward and impaled the Wraith King through the chest with his sword. Jane’s life points dropped to 2600, yet the Wraith King remained on the field.
“Another good move, but I’m afraid you’ve activated another effect of my Wraith King of the North.” Jane explained. “When Wraith King is destroyed, it takes all other cards on the field with it!”
The Wraith King of the North suddenly began to implode. The sound of air being let out of a balloon could be heard from the dying specter. Suddenly the Wraith King exploded in a mass of blue flames. It seemed like everything on the battlefield had been destroyed, but when the smoke cleared, Neos was standing on the field in his original form. The white hero of space was still glowing with a gold aura.
“What’s… going on?” Jane asked with an expression of shock on her face.
“When Dragonic Neos is destroyed, I can summon the original Neos back to the field.” Jaden explained. “Not only that, but since Sword of a Hero’s Legacy was destroyed, I can increase the ATK of one of my monsters on the field by 1000 points. Which means Neos’s ATK is now 3500!”
“As I said, this duel has ended just as I predicted it would.” Tamao commented on the sidelines. Meanwhile Tomoyo was looking on with a concerned expression.
“Let’s end this Neos!” Jaden commanded. “Attack Jane directly with Wrath of Neos!”
Neos charged at Jane and raised his fist to attack. Just as he started to deliver the punch, Tomoyo suddenly leapt up in front of Jane and took the attack. This resulted in both Tomoyo and Jane being knocked to the ground. Despite Tomoyo’s interference, Jane’s life points dropped to zero and the duel ended. The audience remained silent.
“Um… the winner of this duel is Jaden Yuki!” Amane declared after a moment, causing the audience to cheer. Meanwhile Jane was cradling Tomoyo in her arms. It seemed the attack of Neos had cause her real damage.
“Why did jump in the way like that?” a confused Jane asked.
“Because I swore that I would protect you.” Tomoyo replied.
“But why? I still don’t understand!” Jane told her. “What reason would you have to risk your life for me?”
“Because… I love you Jane.” Tomoyo admitted, catching Jane completely off guard.
“You’re… actually in love with me?” Jane asked in disbelief.
“I think that’d be pretty obvious by what you just saw.” Jaden said to Jane as he walked up to the two girls. “The people of this world aren’t all heartless liars who only care about themselves. There are a lot of people out there who care about others way more than themselves. You know I just couldn’t figure out why Tomoyo was helping Tamao. I asked her once when the finals began, and she told me there was something she was trying to protect, and I guess that something was you. Anyway, I think a lot of time a person shows who they really are though their actions, and if that’s true Tomoyo has just shown you that she really cares about you.”
With that, Jaden turned and began walking off the stage. Yubel appeared next to him as he did so.
“You handled that pretty well.” Yubel told him.
“You think I got through to Jane?” Jaden asked.
“If you didn’t, Tomoyo certainly did.” Yubel replied.
“Well, I guess now we have to worry about facing Tamao.” Jaden responded.
