Aww, you know I wouldn't leave y'all in the lurch. I'm actually surprised that people have figured it out already, it took them on another place I posted this until the very end of the story. Anyway, if you haven't figured it out, don't read any of the reviews. But I have to say, even those who THINK they know what's going on, there's still one little detail left…
PART IV
Raia grinned. "You're absolutely right, Yugi. The Heart of the Cards will decide this match, and I have a good feeling it will end in my favor."
Yugi nodded. "Then for now, I lay this face down and end my turn."
Raia drew her next card. Paralyzing Potion! This is exactly what I need! "I play another monster, on the defense. And I add this card, face down."
"My turn. I'll use it to attack with Summoned Skull!" Yugi said.
Raia watched her Dark Witch dissolve away.
It's getting down to the wire, she thought. If I can't draw that in the next few turns... She drew her card. "All right! I play the Wingweaver!"
"The whaaat?" Joey asked.
"The Wingweaver," Téa answered. "It's the strongest fairy in the whole game!"
"Oh, sure, that's something I would know about..." Joey retorted sarcastically. "But there's no way a fairy can beat the Summoned Skull."
"A fairy with an attack of 2750 could do it very easily," Raia said.
"2750? Impossible!" Joey argued.
"Oh, yeah? Watch. Wingweaver, destroy the Summoned Skull!"
"Oh, no!" Joey cried.
"Not so fast, Raia," Yugi said. "Remember my facedown card?"
"You are so joking..." Raia said in disbelief.
"This is no joke," Yugi replied. "It's the Spell-Binding Circle!"
"Nooooo!!" Raia wailed. "Not again!"
"Oh, yes. With the Wingweaver unable to attack, and seven hundred points weaker, the advantage is mine. Attack!" Yugi ordered.
The great explosion that resulted forced Raia to shield her eyes. She looked back at the field. That's another 450 points! There's no way I can win now! She saw her facedown card. The only hope I have left is to draw a card stronger than the Summoned Skull, and the chances of that are slim. Her face hardened again in resolve. No, I have to trust in the heart of the cards... she thought as she drew her next card.
Her eyes widened in dismay. This card is totally useless. "Your turn, Yugi."
I hate to finish her off like this, but I have to win to save my grandpa. "Summoned Skull, Lightning Strike!"
Raia's Mystical Elf vanished in a shimmer of light.
This is it, she thought. The last play I have. She was near tears. But I have to have faith. I can win this, I just need one card. Please... let me save my brothers...
She drew the card. Her jaw nearly dropped.
"THIS IS IT!!" she cried. "Prepare yourself, Yugi, to come face to face with the Heart of the Cards!" She threw the card on the field with all her might.
"Huh?" Yugi asked, totally bewildered. The object that appeared was a small, white heart that radiated a brilliant white light.
"What is 'is? Some kinda joke?" Joey called.
"No. This is the Heart of the Cards. One of the most powerful and rarest cards in the entire game," Yugi responded.
"Most powerful?" Joey asked. "But it doesn't have any attack points..."
"The magic of this card allows me to change it to any other monster. Whatever represents what lies at the heart of my cards," Raia explained.
"You mean any other cards from this duel, right?" Joey said.
"No," Raia retorted. "ANY other monster. In the entire game."
"Wow," Tristan breathed. "That is powerful."
"If what my grampa told me is true, there are only two of these cards in the whole world!" Yugi said.
"That's right. Now, Yugi, you are about to face the very power of the heart itself! Go, Heart of the Cards! Let the heart of MY cards be REVEALED!!!!!" Raia commanded.
The small heart's light increased in intensity ten-fold, blanketing the entire room with whiteness. Yugi and his friends all had to shield their eyes against its brilliance. The room shook with the power of the card's transformation, and through the rumbling, Yugi and company heard a tremendous, and VERY familiar, roar.
The light dimmed, and Yugi looked back at the field. When he saw the creature that had taken the place of the heart, he was absolutely dumbstruck. Never in his life had he been faced with such an amazing power. Raia watched in pure satisfaction as Yugi's face went from disbelief to utter amazement, to awe, to fear, and finally to horror without a single sound from his lips, or anyone else's, for what seemed like hours.
"Oh, my..." Bakura whispered in astonishment.
"It can't be..." Tristan murmured.
"How is that possible...?" Téa asked.
"No way..." Joey breathed.
The great beast that stood before them was in fact, THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON!!!!
"WHITE LIGHTNING ATTACK!!!!" Raia cried victoriously. The room was once again filled with blinding brilliance and the Summoned Skull disappeared from the field.
Yugi watched, completely thunderstruck. Somewhere in the distance, the computer sounded, lowering his life points to 900.
"If she made the Blue-Eyes...from the heart a' the cards..." Joey murmured.
Téa continued, "...that means...she's dueling..."
"...for Seto Kaiba," Yugi finished in a breath barely audible, even to himself.
Raia nodded. "Seto Kaiba has been the closest thing I've had to a family for many years. I'm not about to let some greedy suits take him away and ruin everything he's ever worked for. I'm here on a rescue mission, Yugi, and no one, not you, and not Pegasus, is going to stop me from getting him and Mokuba back." Her face showed nothing but defiance and determination. Her icy blue eyes stared straight at Yugi, and pierced right through to his soul. Her look was so transfixing; Yugi couldn't tear his eyes from her, or stop the intense beating of his heart. It thundered in his ears, caused by a mix of fear, awe, and...something else he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Wow," Téa said. "I've never seen anyone this determined before. She's bent on getting Kaiba back."
"Trust me, Raia, I know what you're feeling," Yugi responded.
"How could you possibly know what it's like?" Raia asked.
"Because Pegasus has taken the soul of my grandpa, too," Yugi answered.
Raia looked at him, speechless. The old man... she thought. He planned to rescue him and Seto and Mokuba all along... Yugi looked back at her from across the arena, and they knew, in silent understanding, that it didn't matter now who won the match.
"This doesn't mean that I'm not going to try to win," Raia said.
"And I will do everything in my power to do the same," Yugi called back.
"Well, better put a plan together fast, Yugi. It's your move."
"And for it, I play Celtic Guardian in defense mode." he announced. He looked down at the cards on the field, and noticed that he still had one card face down, from near the beginning of the match. But what is it...? I can't remember.
"White lightning attack!" Raia broke into his thoughts. The Celtic Guardian was destroyed. "Yugi, you're demise is moments away," she said.
Yugi drew a card. "I still have my Kuriboh on the field, and even if you attack, they'll multiply right back. So make your move."
"You put far too much trust into those little fuzzballs," Raia called. "Paralyzing Potion!"
"Oh, no!" Yugi cried.
"Yes. The paralyzing effects of my magic card end your Kuriboh's multiplication. Sorry, Yugi. White Lightning attack!!"
Yugi took a quick look at the facedown card on the field. What have I got to lose?
"I play this trap card," he said, as he flipped it over.
"A trap card?" Raia asked in surprise.
"It's been on the field since the beginning, but now is the time!" He flipped it over. "Drag Net!"
"What the..." Raia began.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!!" Joey cried.
"What now?" Téa asked.
"I was gettin' frustrated learnin' alla HER cards, and now YUGI pulls out a new one?!"
"Geez, Joey, calm down," Tristan said.
"What does that do?" Raia asked.
"Drag Net subtracts the attack points of my opponents monster directly from their life points!"
"WHAT?! NOOOOOO!!!" Raia cried.
The computers beeped wildly as their life points both lowered to zero.