Back with the police, Joey and Tristen had been joined by Yugi's grandfather, who came to the farm as soon as he heard what happened.
"The situation looks bleak, Mr. Moto," said Timmons. "There is no telling how long your grandson or Torina was in the water and judging by its temperature, neither could have stayed in for long. But even if she managed to get the two of them out, they wouldn't be able to last long in this cold with soaked clothes." Grandpa looked at the sergeant and shook his head.
"My grandson saved Torina's life," Grandpa said. "And not only does she feel as though she owes him for that, but there seems to be a sort of... family bond between the two of them, almost a sibling bond. So, as long as she feels he might be in trouble, he is the safest person on earth- she won't let anything happen to him." Timmons gave a weak smile, but nodded.
"I hope you're right, sir. But either way, it'd be better if we found them and did it soon."
"Then let's get going!" said Joey. "Me and Tristen'll start looking on the sides of the river- anythin' to get them back."
"I'll go with you, Joey," said Grandpa. Timmons nodded.
"Good idea, but each of you take on of these." He handed each boy a walkie-talkie. "Radio us if... when you find them, and we'll get there as fast as we can." Joey and Tristen nodded and started off, each taking a different side of the river.
"I'm comin' Tori-girl," Joey thought. "You just hang on."
Torina had been outside finding as much wood as she could so she could start a fire, tying the pieces together with her sash. Thanks to the bad feeling she had this morning, matches were another thing she had thrown into her backpack, along with some notebook paper to get a fire started. If worst came to worst, she could always burn her Duel Monsters deck- Yugi's life, her brother's life, was more than worth that. But, she had managed to find a small fallen tree. It wasn't much, but it was a start- even the smallest fire would help Yugi get warm. She grabbed the tree, a few more pieces of wood and headed back to the cave.
Hikaru was worried beyond all possible belief. She knew Tori had put on the Millennia Diamond before leaving for school this morning, but she couldn't contact her aibou, nor could she leave the Millennia Diamond- why couldn't she reach Torina? She remembered that her Hikari was with Yami and Yugi... maybe she could get through to one of them. She doubted it, though. Her bond with Yami was a strong one, but so was her bond with Torina- unless there was something wrong with the girl... There was only one way to find out. Hikaru closed her eyes and started to teleport into Yugi's mind.
"Yami? Yami, where are you?" Hikaru searched desperately around the corridors of Yugi's mind, trying to find her husband. Suddenly, she felt something land on her shoulder, causing her to jump and spin around- Yami was standing behind her, a sly smile on his face. "I hate it when you do that!" she exclaimed. Yami began to chuckle.
"I'm sorry, love," he replied. "What's the trouble? Can you not reach your Hikari either?" Hikaru shook her head.
"No, I can't and I'm really worried about her- I mean the last time she and I couldn't communicate, I almost lost her for good..." Yami took his wife into his arms and kissed the top of her head.
"Don't worry, love- we'll get to her. I promise."
The fire had finally been started and Tori was drying off Yugi's clothes. Her own had just about frozen to her body, but she was so numb that she didn't really notice... well, she did notice that it stung a bit when she started to warm up, but that was about it. Yugi was still unconscious, and it was worrying Tori out of her mind. He could have a concussion, or worse...
"Oh my God!" Tori hastily dropped Yugi's clothes away from the fire and ran over to check his pulse. Suddenly, before she could do anything, Yugi began to stir, causing Torina to gasp. A moment later, he opened his eyes and looked around until his eyes rested upon her.
"Tori?" he asked, kind of groggily. "Tori, where are we?" She let out a sigh as a soft smile covered her face.
"You're all right!" That was it; her exhaustion mixed in with her relief was just a little more than Torina could take- she collapsed right at Yugi's feet, much to the young boy's surprise.
"Tori!" He put his hand to her neck- she still had a pulse, but she was ice cold. He then got a good look at what he was wearing- her Wingweaver jacket, no socks or shoes, and wrapped in a blanket. What was going on?
//Yami! Yami, help!// Yami heard the request and instantly entered the outside world, without even a word of explanation to Hikaru. When he came through the link, Yami saw Yugi taking off the jacket and trying to put it on something.
"Aibou!" he exclaimed. "What's going on? Where have you been- I've been trying to..." That when he noticed who Yugi was trying to put the jacket on: Torina. Her complexion was colored blue and her only sign of life was her constant shivering. "What happened?" Yugi shook his head.
"I-I don't know," Yugi replied. "I woke up a few minutes ago and she was kneeling in front of me. I asked her where we were and then she muttered something about me being all right... and she collapsed."
That's when everything came back to him: Joey had been fighting with that Mick kid and accidentally knocked Mick into him. He had fallen off the bridge, most likely into the water. He felt Torina's sweatshirt- it was mostly frozen, but parts of it were still damp. He shook his head; Tori must have dived in after him. Not only had she pulled him out of the water, but she made sure he was warm, rather than taking care of herself. Yami looked confused.
"Yugi?" he asked. "What is it?" Yugi looked at his aibou, then told him all he had remembered along with his theory on why she had fainted.
"She risked her life for me, Yami," he said. "She could freeze to death right here and if she does... it'll be my fault." Yami put his hand on Yugi's shoulder.
"Don't think like that, Yugi," he told him. "Torina is strong- almost stronger than anyone I've ever known. She will pull through this." Yugi was about to reply, when he heard voices calling him from outside the cave.
"Yugi! Torina! Guys, where are you?" Seconds later, the second voice called out.
"Yugi! Answer me, please!" Yugi would know those voices anywhere.
"Joey!" he yelled, as he slipped on his jacket. "Grandpa, we're in here!" Joey and Grandpa rushed into the cave as Yugi was putting on his socks and shoes. The first thing Joey noticed was Torina's body lying on the ground. He took a deep breath.
"What happened?" he asked, calmly as possible. Yugi explained everything to Joey as quickly as possible- every second they wasted could mean seconds off of Torina's life.
"We've got to get her to a hospital!" said Grandpa. Joey nodded his agreement and lifted Tori off the ground. They all took note of how she snuggled in close to him- it was as if she knew who was holding her in their arms. That just made Joey hold her tighter.
At the hospital, Tori was put into the ICU, hooked up to a respirator and was kept as warm as possible. The doctors couldn't believe Torina was back in their care, let alone how it happened.
"Who does this girl think she is?" asked one nurse. "Wonder Woman?" That comment made Yugi more than just a little angry.
"Listen!" he said. "This, this girl as you choose to call her, has more heart than you'll ever have! She dived in the water after me, with no thought to herself! She could have at least used her jacket to keep warm, but she gave it to me." He looked through the window at Tori- he had never seen her look so... helpless. "She may die right here," he continued. "And you're complaining about the courage she has!" The nurse was taken aback- she hadn't anticipated her remark striking such a cord in the young boy. She didn't mean anything by it- only that the girl seemed careless... but if she did what she did for the reasons this boy said, then it wasn't carelessness. It was something more than that.
"I am sorry," she said. That was it- with that she turned and walked away. Yugi felt bad for blowing up at the nurse like that, but not bad enough to apologize. He looked at his companions and his grandfather.
"Who's going to tell Teá?" Everyone had forgotten about Teá- as Torina's best friend, she'd be the hardest person to tell... even harder than Joey. They all looked at each other, then at Yugi. "All right," he said. "I'll tell her." He was about to head towards the phones when he saw someone rushing towards him. "Teá?!" Sure enough, Teá was running towards them, dressed in a pair of blue pajama pants and a red sweatshirt.
"Teá," cried Joey. "What are you doing here?" Teá skidded to a stop in front of her friends.
"One of the teachers called me," she said. "And told me Tori was here- what's wrong with her? Why didn't you guys call me?"
"I was about to, Teá," said Yugi. He then told her about the incident on the field trip. Teá was disgusted.
"How could someone try that on Tori?" she asked, tears of anger falling down her face. "She's... she's just a.... a kid! If you really look inside of her, she's just a kid!"
The tears were flowing freely now as Teá kept muttering "she's just a kid" over and over again. And as she said that... Joey realized she was right. Tori acted as though she was a confidant young woman, but on the inside she was really a kid; fun-loving, cunning, highly sensitive... and he loved every single thing.
"Can I go see her?" Teá's voice brought Joey back to reality. Actually going into the room hadn't really crossed his mind- especially since just looking in the window broke his heart. But Grandpa nodded.
"Hearing a voice may help her now," he said. "Your voice may be the best one for the job." Teá nodded and rushed into the room.
"Torina?" she asked, standing in the doorway. "Tori, can you hear me?" Tori's face was frighteningly pale as she laid on the hospital bed. Like Yugi had noted before, she was hooked up to a respirator- tubes were coming out of her nose and mouth and there was an I.V. in her arm. Her eyes were closed. Teá had never seen a person that was once so full of life... look so dead.
Teá took a deep breath as she walked over to the chair next to Tori's bed and sat down. She just sat there- at the moment, she didn't know what to say. Her own words continued to echo through her head: "She's just a kid." She shook her head.
"Oh, Tori," she said. "How could anyone ever think of harming you like that?"
"No one knows Tori like you do," said a voice. "It would be easy for someone who knew nothing about her to try something like that." Teá turned around to see Hikaru standing behind her and instantly became angry.
"Why didn't you help her?" she demanded. "You're supposed to be her guardian or whatever! She could have died- she could still die! Why?!" Hikaru frowned.
"You think I didn't try?" she asked, her tone matching Teá's perfectly. "I couldn't reach Torina no matter what I did and I was scared beyond belief." Her gaze softened as she looked at the young girl. "There are times when Torina accidentally blocks me without even noticing it- she becomes so transfixed on something that her focus is on nothing but the problem at hand. Today, she was so focused on saving Yugi, she did not think of herself. When she gets like that, it makes it hard for me contact her, no matter what I try. But she doesn't need for us to be arguing right now- she needs to hear whatever you rushed over here in your pajamas to tell her."
With that, Hikaru was gone, leaving Teá to wonder just what she had came to say. She bit her lip, in a Tori-induced gesture, but only for a moment. Then, her hand went to the front pocket on her sweatshirt and she pulled out a closed fist.
"If you can hear me, Tori," she said. "I bought these a couple days ago- I was gonna wait until your birthday... not that I know when that is, but anyway I thought now would be a better time." She opened her fist to reveal two necklaces. On each chain was a small winged-heart pendant. "This one's mine," Teá continued as she put the necklace around her neck. "See, on the front it says "Use your wings to fly." And on yours it says "You will reach the sky-" I thought that was cool, because you favorite card is the Wingweaver and all... but the back's are what's really important. The back of mine says "Best" and yours says "Friends.""
As Teá carefully put the necklace around Tori's neck, she continued to talk.
"I got them, because that's what we are. I've never had a friend like you before, Tori- sure, Yugi, Tristen and Joey are really great guys, but they're, well... guys. I've always been close to them and I always will be- but that doesn't mean I'm not glad to finally have a girl for a friend, especially one like you..." Teá tried to hold back her tears as she put her hand on the railing of Tori's bed. "Don't leave me, Tori- please don't go..."
Suddenly, Teá heard a soft groan come from Tori's bed. Seconds later, Teá felt a hand rest on top of her own, followed by a light squeeze. She looked over to see Torina, her eyes barely open and smiling at Teá. She looked like she was still tired, but managed to say what was on her mind.
"Thank you... Ami." As Torina fell back asleep, Teá smiled- Ami, Japanese for friend. Tori was definitely sticking around for a while- her comment assured Teá of that. Teá shook her head and walked out the door- Joey and the others would want to see Tori now.