Heart of the Cards

It's a slow day in the Idol Research club, but luckily Maki has taken it upon herself to show everyone a new fad that's taken the nation by storm. The game, Duel Monsters, is a simple children's card game, but its hidden intricacies and complex strategy is instantly appealing, and the heir of Nishikino was kind enough to bring several decks for Muse to play.

However, Maki's ulterior motives are soon revealed as her superior game knowledge and custom-built deck defeated the other idols one after the other. Each victory only serves to fan the red head's ego, and she now sits comfortably in the winner's seat with a cocky grin and mad trash spouting out of her mouth. Only Nozomi has yet to play. She had drawn cards indicating good luck this morning, and, out of consideration for Maki and the rest of Muse, had decided not to play. However, with the desperate hopes and pleas of everyone else now resting upon her shoulders, Nozomi has no choice but to defeat the composer's tyrannical reign once and for all.

Eli slumps back in her seat as Maki's Little D attacks her directly, wiping out the last of her life points. Even though she's played the game with Arisa before, her expertise is no match against the wealth of knowledge Maki possesses.

"Hahahaha! Weak! Is this all the challenge you can offer?" scoffs Maki.

Eli grits her teeth and turns to Nozomi, who was watching from behind the blonde's shoulder. "Nozomi, I've failed. I wanted to teach that girl, Maki, a lesson about the heart of the cards, but I lost." The quarter-Russian collects her cards and offers them to the shrine maiden. "Nozomi, here: take this. These are the cards that all seven of us have picked based on our experience. Take them, and teach her respect. Teach Maki respect for the heart of the cards, Nozomi."

Nozomi nods once grimly, and accepts the deck. "Ok Eli, I'll do it."

"Take her, Nozomi!" growls Nico in the background.

"Teach that rich, spoiled brat what a real duel's all about nya!"

"Kick Maki's butt!"

Nozomi nods, pumped up by the encouragement from her friends. She shuffles the deck and looks Maki squarely in the eyes. Said red head smirks and replies:

"Are you ready to play?"

"Playtime is over, Maki." Autismo-Vision® engages, and golden light pours out from a rectangular pyramid pendant wrapped around Nozomi's neck. The current champion is forced to avert her eyes as the light becomes blinding. Once the light dies down, several levels of spinning summoning circles engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphics converge on Nozomi's location, which is now obscured by a powerful blue beam of light. Slowly, the cobalt ray of photons fade away, revealing the spiritual girl standing in a spotlight, the shadows cast by the natural contours of her body raising her coolness levels by 300%.

Nozomi's eyes snap open, and Maki backs off slightly due to the intimidating aura surrounding her opponent.

"Now, Maki, prepare yourself, because it's time to duel!"

"Hmph, no matter. As the reigning victor, I'll go first." The pianist draws a card from the top of her deck, and places it on the table before them. "I summon the mighty Hitotsu-me Giant!"

Autismo-Vision® engages, and a massive aquamarine Cyclops materializes over the card.

"My turn," announces Nozomi as she draws a card. "You fight for power alone, but it cannot beat my faith in these cards! Now, I call up on the winged dragon, Guardian of the Fortress!" In the world of Autismo-Vision®, a diminutive blue dragon appears.

"Aren't these two taking their roleplaying a bit too far?" Asks Nico as everyone else watches the duel intently.

"Fireball attack!" commands the purplenette. Maki's Giant is destroyed in a conflagration of orange flame, to the cheers of Muse.

Maki flinches as though struck, but is quick to recover. She draws another card and regains her smug countenance once more. "Heh, well played Nozomi, for a beginner. But how will you deal with this?" The red haired musician places a monster card on the field.

"Lord of D? But it only has 1200 attack points!"

"True, your winged dragon's attack is higher, but if I combine my Lord of D with this card…." Maki's voice trails off as she slaps a magic card onto her monster.

"Ah! A magic card!"

"Yes, my Flute of Summoning Dragon allows me to summon two extra monsters, provided they are Dragon types. And—you guessed it—I'm going to summon my unstoppable BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGONS!"

Viridescent light envelopes Autismo-Vision® as two blue-scaled dragons rise onto the field.

"Now, my Blue Eyes, destroy her Guardian with White Lightning Attack!"

Sparkling electricity vaporizes Nozomi's dragon, and inflicts TONS OF DAMAGE on her lifepoints, bringing her from full to nearly dead.

"Ha! Your Guardian is destroyed!" Crows Maki. "Faith of no faith, you will fall before my superior monsters. In your entire deck, there's not a single card that can stand up to my Blue Eyes White Dragons."

She's right. Thinks Nozomi as she desperately reviews the cards in her hands. Three of them are weak looking arms and legs, with fewer than 700 attack points between them, and the rest are barely any stronger. What do I do? I can't figure out what to do with these cards! They're just pieces! How can I use them to defeat an expert like Maki?

For someone who claims to have faith you're giving up too easily, Nozomi. The disembodied voice of Eli floats through her mind, and the purple haired idol turns around, coming face to face with an Autismo-Vision® version of Eli in cold, blue colors. Listen. Sometimes, the cards are like a puzzle. You have to place the different pieces in their proper place. Each piece helps build a greater entity. Autismo-Eli begins to fade, and Nozomi reaches out to grab the illusion, since she has not yet grasped the meaning of the cryptic message.

"Eli!"

Like the pieces of a puzzle, Nozomi! Remember!

"Hey! No back-seat dueling allowed!" yells Maki crossly as she points accusingly at the now-whistling Student Council president. So apparently that inner dialogue wasn't an Autismo-Vision® only deal.

"Now quit stalling, Nozomi, or you will forfeit the match!"

"I never give up, Maki!" counters the busty female. Her next card is a magic card, which she promptly activates. "My Swords of Revealing Light traps your monsters for three turns, rendering them unable to attack!" Glowing crosses of sickly green light fall from the heavens and ensnare the dragons, keeping them in place.

"How desperate," sneers Maki. "What good will a three turn delay do you?"

"Just you wait, Maki!" Despite her brave words, Nozomi is out of ideas. Her next draw does not help, as it's only another leg. Wait…what did Eli say about pieces?

Like the pieces of a puzzle!

Autismo-Vision® surges as Nozomi is hit with a flashback.

She's in the classroom. Eli is telling her about this new fad of Duel Monsters.

In all of duel monsters, there is only one unstoppable monster: Exodia. But he can only be summoned by drawing five special cards. A feat that, to this day, no one has ever accomplished.

That's it!

"Hey! What did I say about back-seat dueling! One more time and Nozomi will lose this duel!"

"Your only concern here is me, Maki! I set this monster in a defense mode and end my turn!"

These monsters in defense mode won't help me defeat the Blues Eyes's, but they will help defend me until I can draw the last piece of Exodia! Heart of the cards, please be with me!

The next two turns pass in much the same way: Maki being unable to act and Nozomi summoning monsters in defense mode without drawing the final piece of Exodia.

Finally, with the Swords of Revealing Light's out of the way, Maki makes a move.

"You talk a lot about faith, but where are the results? Why don't you put some weight behind your words, like me? Now, I sacrifice my Lord of D to summon my third Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

"Hey, that's a level 8 monster! You can't just summon it off of one sacrifice; that's against the rules!"

"SCREW THE RULES! I HAVE MONEY!" Autismo-Vision® flares up as Maki slams her final Blue Eyes onto the table, summoning a third dragon to the field. "Wipe out her monsters with White Lightning Attack!"

Nozomi grunts and shields her face as the Blue Eyes's send her defensive monsters to the graveyard.

"So tell me, Nozomi, how's your faith now? On my next turn, all three Blue Eyes White Dragons will attack you directly! This duel's over no matter what card you draw. You can't possibly stand against my three Blue Eyes White Dragons! It's over, Nozomi! You were never a match against me!"

This is bad! My only chance now is to assemble all the pieces of Exodia! The odds are against me! I don't think I can do this!

In the view of Autismo-Vision®, the cards begin to recede into the distance, away from Nozomi's outstretched hand. The deck! It senses my doubt!

The shrine maiden's already unstable mental condition finally separate into split personalities. One of them embodies her more mature, confident side. The other represents her childish, insecure one.

"Don't lose focus, Nozomi; don't lose faith!" admonishes the more masculine side. "Concentrate!"

The world of Autismo® intensifies as the other 8 members of Muses (interestingly, Maki included) appear around the deck of cards and place their hands over the pile.

"Nozomi, we're right here with you!" says Honoka with conviction.

"Nozomi, you've got to believe in yourself!" cheers Kotori.

"You can do it. Just kick Maki's butt!" grits out Nico.

The group's words of encouragement instantly boost the purple haired girl's spirit.

"They're right. I've got to believe in the cards the way my friends believe in me!"

Taking a deep breath, Nozomi picks up the card at the top of the deck.

"Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this, Nozomi!"

"My friends' deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba! But if does contain—" Nozomi raises the top card and flips it towards Maki without even looking at which card it is. "—the unstoppable Exodia!"

Maki falls out of her chair in shock. "Ahh! Impossible!"

"I've assembled all five special cards, all five pieces of the puzzle!"

A spectral green pentagram appears out of the air in Autismo-Vision®. The sigil opens a portal, from which dual chained arms thrust out. They grip the edges of the portal and yank out the monster to which they belong to: an ochre juggernaut crafted of sun-baked clay. Its gargantuan frame towers over even the mighty Blue Eyes's.

"Exodia! It's not possible!" Maki's eyes are practically bulging out of their sockets with how hard she's staring at the Forbidden One. "No one's ever been able to call him!"

"Exodia! Obliterate!" The commanded monster forms a sphere of golden energy in its hands. After a short delay, it launches the ball at the opposing dragons. The ball expands into a massive beam, rushing over the dragons and shattering them to pieces. But it doesn't stop there. The beam continues past the field, washing over Maki and drawing out a pained moan from the musician. The red head thrusts out one hand as if trying to protect herself while the other arm attempts to cover her eyes, but her efforts are futile as her lifepoints are completely obliterated.

"You did it!" cheers Hanayo. "Nozomi, you won!"

"You play only for power, Maki," rebukes the victorious girl. "That is why you lost. But if you put your heart in the game, there is nothing you can't do."

Her words fall on deaf ears, however. Maki grips the table hard enough to turn her knuckles white, and pupils are dilated with vehemence. "But how? How could I have lost to her?"

"Maki! If you truly wish to know, open your mind!" Nozomi thrusts out her palm, and Autismo-Vision® reaches levels that shouldn't even be possible. All colors turn negative, and the still frame of Maki's mouth hanging open in shock shatters into pieces. In the real world, Maki sinks to her knees in defeat.

"There, Maki. Maybe now you will begin to see."

The remaining Muses doggypile the new champion in celebration.

"Ms. Kira, ma'am. Nishikino Maki, our uncontested champion, he's been defeated in a duel, ma'am, by someone named…Nozomi."

"Hmm…."