"What's the heart of the cards?" little Yusei asked, tilting his head a little.
"Wait, you don't know what that is?" Ryan said in shock. "How do you not know?!"
"This is the future, dude," James mentioned. "I don't think anyone would know what that phrase means in this time."
"It's basically having faith in your cards, Yusei," Keiza explained. "No matter what, your cards will always be there to help you." At her explanation, the evil man laughed hard.
"How can you expect to win a battle just by relying on mere faith?" he exclaimed.
"You can't," William admitted. "You need faith and strategy for a game like this. But that's usually not my style. I wouldn't think about it for a second. I'd just do it, and you can ask my friends if I do that all the time. However...I can't do that anymore. When it comes to people I care about, I can't hesitate or let them down. I have to fight for them!" The blue aura surrounding his disk grew brighter as his hands felt that power run through his fingertips. The man noticed and said,
"You...you are a magician as well!"
"Yup!" William grinned. "There's three of us: me, Lizzy, and Melody. But Melody is somewhere else right now. Well there's Keiza but she's a different magic user."
"I'm an elemental magic user," Keiza explained. "If that's what people call it.."
"Is that why we see you play with water a lot?" little Crow said.
"Yes, Crow."
"But besides that," William began, "I am a magician and I will fight for my friends!"
"Heh," the evil man scoffed. "Go ahead and try! You can never defeat Tragoedia."
"I bet I can! And I'm putting all my hopes on the card I draw." William drew the card and smiled. "I summon Flare Resonator in Defense mode and saw two cards facedown to end my turn."
"Ha! That's all you're going you do to save yourself?! Fine then, it's my turn and I'll finish you off with your own card! Phantom Beast, attack Flare Resonator!" The man felt very secure about his win so he didn't play any other cards.
"Yup, now he's dead!" Ryan said.
"Don't say that," Aaliyah said with her hands on her hips. "He's got two facedown cards. He should be fine...or at least I hope so."
"Come on, Will!" Keiza exclaimed. William had a calm composure when beast was about to attack. The man was laughing maniacally until his opponent exclaimed,
"I wouldn't do that if I were you! I play a Trap: Magical Arm Shield. This allows me to take control of a monster on your side of the field except for the attacking monster, and your monster attacks the monster I chose instead. I choose your monster: Lyla, the Lightsworn Sorceress. So Phantom Beast attacks Lyla!" The two monsters attacked and they disappear to the player's graveyard. The evil man gritted his teeth, realizing that Lyla and the Phantom Beast had the same attack points, which allows both monsters go to the graveyard and no players lose life points.
"So what if you take out my monster?" the man said with a grin. "I still have my Tragoedia and it will attack your monster next!"
"No!" Keiza exclaimed, hiding her face on James' shoulder to not see the effects of the battle. The group was fearful, knowing that William tried but failed to block the attack.
"Wait, he's smiling!" little Crow said. "Why is Will smiling?"
"Because I planned this ever since I drew my lucky card!" William exclaimed. "I activate my second Trap card: Blast Held By A Tribute!"
"WHAT?!" the evil man gasped. "But how? How did you draw that card at the moment you needed it?"
"It's called the heart of the cards, buddy! I'm sure I don't have to explain the card to you but I will anyway: when my opponent declares an attack with a monster that was tribute summoned, I can destroy all of your monster that are faced up in Attack position and you take 1000 points in damage!" As soon as William said that, all of the evil man's monsters were destroyed and he was left with 300 life points. The man couldn't do anything except end his turn because all he had was monsters and spells that couldn't be used unless there was a monster on the field. William drew a card and exclaimed, "Now you'll pay for what you did to my friends! I play a Spell card: Stray Lambs. Now I can special summon 2 Lamb Tokens, which are practically monsters, to the field. With my monster tokens and Flare Resonator, I'm gonna give these monsters a bit of a tuning job! I hope you enjoy it!" The three monsters were whisked into the air and combined with a mystic circle encircling each monster until they were one. "I Synchro Summon one of my friends: the Horned White Beast!" A bright blue light appeared before William and brought out a ram-like monster with golden horns and a couple swords and axes for its tail. "All right buddy, it's time! I attack with Horned White Beast directly!" The monster obeyed its master and attacked the evil man, who let out a yell and collapsed to the ground.
"Yeah!" James exclaimed. "Now that's how you do it!"
"Yay!" little Crow yelled, running up to Will and hugging him. "I knew you can do it!"
"Thanks, little man," William smiled. The force field that was around little Jack finally disappeared and James picked him up from the ground.
"Okay, let's go," he announced to the group. "That man might have a few tricks up his sleeve even after a duel."
"I'll get Lizzy," William said, picking her up off the ground. Little Yusei looks at the two unconscious people and didn't say anything. His face was placid, showing no emotion whatsoever.
"Yusei, are you okay?" Aaliyah asked with some concern. The little boy turned to her and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I'm okay...will Jack and Lizzy be okay?"
"Totally! They'll be up and walking before you know it."
"O-Okay. I just want to make sure they're okay."
"All right, buddy!" Little Yusei smiled a little bit and went with the group away from the opponent, who was still on the ground. He walked close to James and William, looking at his friends curiously. He seemed a bit uneasy because of what just happened and tried to keep himself from being sad. Little Crow noticed and walked next to his brother and said,
"At least that guy won't come after us anymore, right?"
"Yeah," little Yusei said. He turned around and saw that the evil man was gone. There was no trace of him leaving the area. The boy gulped and turned forward quickly, hoping that he and his friends won't encounter him again, and began to think of what the man said about before the battle. "Why did that guy say that he can change the present and future?" he thought. "And who's the Crimson Dragon?" He glanced at everyone around him and asked very quietly, "What secrets are you keeping from us?"