Chapter 1: Prologue: The Life of Gin Clow
(by drake, added on 2007-08-07 07:02:49 AEST) [Discussion Topic]
Great Britan, 1785 (roughly)
A young, blue-haired boy with large round glasses eagerly carries his belt-wrapped books with him as he strolls through the marketplace. With one hand, he holds one of his books open to read, occasionally flipping through the pages. He appears very deep into complex reading, far beyond that of his mere twelve years. As several horse-drawn carriages trod through the street, he keeps wary of them, despite not having to look up at all, with almost an unearthly clairvoyance for the outside world. Still without looking up, he enters a random door of a house along the streets.
“I’m home, father,” the boy calls out.
Out from behind a corner, a distinguished, long and dark-blue-haired adult peeks his head out. “Ah yes, jolly good, son. Welcome home,” he says before retiring behind the corner, where the boy follows his father around the corner.
“Is mum back yet?” the boy asks as he rounds the corner.
The boy’s father holds a small watering can over a bonsai tree, watering the tiny tree-looking plant. “Now, now, Reed. Be patient. Global travel may seem hard now, but…” Reed’s father continues on in a whimsical tone before turning back to his son. “Well, you’ll see,” he finishes.
Reed slouches, disappointed. “Aww, but I finished my project I made during free time at school, and I was looking so forward to showing her…” he mopes.
Reed’s father nods his head back and forth. “Reed, you just can’t be doing magic in school. It’s not fair to the other kids to use your magic to further your studies. And to top it off, you could be seen. Remember, the outside world isn’t quite ready for our kind,” Reed’s father warns.
Reed looks down towards the floor, slightly moping. “Well, I did all the stuff mum showed me about keeping the Yin and Yang in proper balance and all… I’m doing it safe, by-the-book, just like mum does.”
Reed’s father turns back towards him, with a teacup in hand. “And you’ve made?” he inquires.
Reed unbuckles the belt around his book to reveal a sheet of drawing paper folded in half. He hands it proudly to his father with a smile on his face. “I did it, dad. I made my first magic cards,” he boasts as his father takes the paper from his hands and unfolds it.
Looking at the two cards lovingly wrapped up safely by the paper, he sees two picture portraits on the cards. The cards bear the look of two identical women, one with white hair and a white gown, and the other with black hair and a black gown, as if they were photo-negatives of each other. At the bottom of the cards, their titles are written: “The Light” and “The Dark”. Reed’s father nods his head in acknowledgement of Reed’s handiwork before folding the wrapping back over the cards and handing them back to his son. “Jolly good, son. Your mum would be proud of you. The magical world had better watch out for you. You’re going to make the name of Clow famous one day, just you wait,” he encourages.
Reed blushes lightly as he takes his two cards back. “Thanks, dad,” he responds.
Reed’s father takes a sip of his tea before setting the teacup down and returning to watering and tending for the bonsai tree behind him. “So, I take it that you’re putting in a lot more thought to this than your brother, I’d hope,” he comments.
“Gin?” Reed asks, as he scratches his chin. “Well, I’m really not sure what he’s doing, but-”
A large explosion down the hallway interrupts Reed, as smoke bellows out of one of the rooms. A young boy can be heard coughing from inside the room. Reed rushes ahead of his father as he storms into the room with the smoke rolling out the door, who follows close behind, but pauses as a chill runs down his spine.
“Gin!” Reed screams as he rushes into the room.
In the middle of the room, a ten-year old boy with silver hair and a short ponytail kneels in front of a pile of black dust, coughing heavily and waving away the smoke. “Guess I should watch out for that incantation…” Gin mutters to himself as he stands to his feet.
After confirming his brother’s safety, Reed glances around the very dimly lit room, lined with papers all over the wall. One particular picture, labeled “The Creature” features an unusual composite beast with a set of wings, one of a bat and one of a bird, a snakelike head, and the tail of a scorpion. Another picture, labeled “The Harvest” features a clean, gleaming scythe overlaying a background of baskets overflowing with bread and fruits.
“Wow…” Reed whispers in awe.
“You like?” Gin asks Reed. “I heard you and dad. About you making your very first magical cards,” Gin adds with an envious tone. He stands up and dusts himself off. “Pfft. “The Light”? “The Dark”? And dad says you’ll make the Clow name famous? If I want light, I’ll light a candle. If I want Dark, I’ll cover the windows. You can make your wimpy little pathetic cards with as much emotion as you want, but in the end I’ll be the one changing the world with what mum and dad teach me about magic. You’ll just be that stupid git brother of mine.”
Reed cracks a goofy grin and, in an attempt to break the tension of the moment he pats Gin on the back. “You mean history will remember “Gobbo” Gin Clow?” Reed teases. “With his little sticky goblin fingers, in his dank little goblin cave, and his pointy little goblin ears and-”
“Quit calling me that!” Gin responds furiously. “You just don’t get it, do you? Well I guess I’d best show you what real use of Clow power looks like…” he goes on as he reaches towards his wall of pictures and takes down a particular parchment and he shows it to Reed.
The picture is labeled “The Life”. It depicts a beautiful young girl with angel-like wings, silky white robes, short and slightly curled hair, big pretty eyes, and an adorable smile. Despite the fact that it was only a black-and-white picture, Reed couldn’t help but blush at it, or her, to be more accurate.
“Like her already, I see?” Gin asks. “She’s called The Life. You can play around with your piddly little illumination cards, but this is magic at its best. With the use of this card, it eliminates disease, sickness, poisons, and ill feelings of all kinds. When used, people will cease to die. People will become… immortal…” Gin goes on in a mystic tone, basking in the sheer euphoria of the good that his creation could do.
Reed takes a step back and raises his eyebrows in disbelief. “Immortality? But mum told us that life was a precious thing. It’s far too precious to just tamper with using magic. Terrible things can happen to those who muck around with life. Don’t you listen to anything mum told you?” Reed asks with skepticism, the greater good of Gin’s plan apparently missing him by miles.
Gin hangs his head. “Don’t you ever think? You’re a Clow. I’m a Clow. Dad’s a Clow. Mum is a Clow and a Li too! We’re the most powerful magical beings ever! I think we can handle bending a few rules here and there, if it makes people’s lives better,” Gin boasts confidently.
Reed’s eyes are drawn back to the enchantingly beautiful girl from Gin’s picture. He shakes his head, trying to steady himself in his convictions. “This isn’t going to work, you know,” he warns.
Gin frowns as he goes to put the picture of The Life back on his wall, among the many other pictures he has around. “Should’ve known you were too much of a straight arrow to listen to reason…” Gin mutters. “I hope history remembers what a stupid git you are, Reed. We could’ve made history together. But if you’re so tied down by what mum and dad say, I’ll just have to do this myself!” he snaps at Reed.
Reed backs out of Gin’s room, to be confronted by his father. “Dad!” he stammers in shock, his father getting the surprise on him.
Reed’s father turns his eyes towards Gin as he steps away from the wall. Reed’s father’s eyes are also drawn to the picture of The Life that Gin hung up in his room. He scrutinizes the picture from outside Gin’s room as he pulls Reed aside. “Son, it’s time I tell you about the nature of time,” he begins, dragging Reed behind him. Reed’s father then takes a seat in front of his bonsai tree, which he then studies thoroughly. He pulls up a stool beside him. “Come,” he calls to Reed.
Reed obliges, sitting on the stool his father pulled up. “What is it?” Reed asks.
Reed’s father stares blankly at the bonsai tree for a few moments before responding. “One of the most important lessons that you will ever learn is that nothing ever happens by coincidence. Coincidental events are merely illusions, for all things are predetermined beforehand. Which is how individuals, like yourself, your mother, and your brother Gin, have such a great sense of the world beyond merely what we see,” he goes on.
Reed tilts his head, puzzled by what his father is telling him. “So… what is it that causes everything?” Reed asks inquisitively.
“Hitzusen,” his father repeats back to him. “In this world, there are no coincidences. There is only Hitzusen.”
Reed remains perplexed, having had a new word thrust squarely into his vocabulary without as much as even a formal definition. “Why are you telling me this, dad?” Reed asks.
“The girl that Gin drew,” Reed’s father responds. “Remember the lesson of Hitzusen, son. Lives beyond our own will depend on it.”
Reed ponders the thought for a moment, until he lets his jaw drop, almost landing on the table. “You don’t mean…?” he whispers, fright-filled.
Reed’s father smiles a corny smile back at Reed. “Do not be afraid, son. Don’t be afraid. There is another lesson that you must know.”
“Which is?” Reed asks.
Reed’s father stares intensely at the bonsai tree again. “There’s a Japanese expression that your mother will tell to me whenever I’m feeling down, and it’s a very good saying because it’s very true. Zettai daijobu. It means that everything will be alright. If you know of these two things, you will never need to worry.”
“Ze-zu… Zitta… Zet…” Reed says, struggling to pronounce the expression his father told him. “Zet…tai… dai…jo...bu…” Reed quotes at last. “No matter what, everything will be alright?” Reed asks his father.
“If you believe, then yes,” Reed’s father responds, placing a comforting hand on his shaken son's shoulder.
*-*-*
*-*-*
A/N: The first thing that people tell me is that the naming conventions are wrong. Yes, it should be "Clow and Gin Reed", not "Reed and Gin Clow". I've noticed. Personally, I forgot why it was that I changed it in the first place (I think it was because "Kaos Reed" didn't sound right...), but it's a part of the fic now, so I can't really take it back. However, it gets much easier to distinguish stuff later if I just stick with this naming convention. Pretend it's canon. Also, mind you, I wrote this in January. It's been a long time coming on this fic, so take note that as corny as these earlier chapters may seem, it does get better. I'll post incrementally at first. (Italcizing everything by hand in this format is a nightmare!) It'll also give you a chance to absorb all this. I'll still post Chapter 1, as the Prologue is a real snore-fest for now.
Chapter 2: The Elixir of Fire
(by drake, added on 2007-08-07 07:46:05 AEST) [Discussion Topic]
Tomoeda, Japan, 1996
A tall, brown-haired man with glasses and a clipboard paces down a quiet, tall marble hallway. Each side of the hallway contains many glass-encased pieces of pottery, ancient artworks, suits of knight armor, and other archaic tidbits of times long past. The man wears a badge over his white dress shirt, reading (in kanji) “Kinomoto Fujitaka, Assistant Curator”. Following behind him are two girls, one with long black hair carrying a camcorder, and another with short auburn hair carrying a notepad.
Fujitaka turns back to the two girls. “Are you getting a lot of interesting information for your summer assignments?” he asks.
Sakura, the short-haired girl, nods enthusiastically. “Thanks for opening this exhibit early, dad!” she responds gratefully.
Tomoyo, the latter girl, lowers her camcorder. “Kinomoto-sensei, was this stuff all donated recently to the Tomoeda museum?” she asks.
Fujitaka continues to lead the girls down the hallway. “Well, not exactly. This tour of European artifacts goes all over the world, and will leave Tomoeda in about a month’s time from the opening day,” he explains.
Tomoyo again raises her camera, taking extra care to make sure she gets the entire exhibit on video. “Well if these things are going to be leaving soon, do you have any particular favorite pieces that you recommend?” she asks.
Fujitaka perks up and leads the two girls around the corner. “Now that you mention it, follow me. I found this particular piece rather interesting,” he says as he leads the two girls into a dark, inner corridor of the museum.
This inner corridor is decorated with many famous European artworks, including the Mona Lisa and Starry Night. The walls are black marble, and the carpets are soft black. The little illumination in the hallway comes from lights pointed at the ceiling.
Sakura looks around at all the artwork in amazement. “Wow… these are amazing! You’d think the museum would put them in a little more light than they do so people can enjoy the pictures,” she comments.
Fujitaka turns back to Sakura. “Well I suppose that’s true, but too much light can damage the pictures. These older artworks are photo-sensitive, meaning that shining direct light on them can actually damage them because they’re so old. That’s why they’re in here. If they were placed in an outer wing of the museum with more windows, the sunlight could dull the colors on the pictures. It’s a similar principle to blank film, only less extreme,” he explains. As he glances around the hallway, he leads Sakura and Tomoyo towards the exhibit he was looking for.
Tomoyo readies her camcorder as they approach the exhibit, when Fujitaka puts his hand on Tomoyo’s camera and points it down.
“I’m sorry, Tomoyo-san, but by specific orders of the donators of this particular set of artifacts, we’re not allowing visitors to photograph them,” Fujitaka explains.
“But why not?” Sakura asks curiously as she approaches the exhibit.
This particular exhibit features a cubic hollow in the wall, covered by thick glass and locked up by a sophisticated locking device with a touchpad. Above the glass is a large label reading “The Kaos”. To the side is a small description of the exhibit engraved onto a plaque. Inside are eight large card-looking parchments, stood up on stands and arranged in four rows. The first row contains two cards, and the second and third rows contain three cards each. The fourth row has a single stand on it, larger than the ones used to hold up the cards, but this fourth stand bears a small bottle. It appears to be made of a bright-orange-colored glass. The bottle itself is shaped like the skull of a bird, with a crooked beak-shaped lid in the top. The whole bottle has a loop of string attached to it, as if it was intended to be worn as a lanyard.
At studying the art on the cards more carefully, Sakura’s jaw drops. “Hoee...” she moans as she hunches her back in disbelief. “You’re kidding me…” she adds.
Each card is identical on all of their backs, bearing a grey background with black fringes. On the center of each card is a large oval that takes up most of the back of the card. This oval is a dark red and highly intricate geometric pattern. The first circle contains within it a second circle. Between the two circles are several zigzagging lines, like triangles coming out of the inner oval. Within the center oval is a large seven-pointed star with thin points, bearing resemblances to a pentagram. Within the nonagon in the center of this design is another, much broader-pointed seven-pointed star with another, smaller yet geometrically similar seven-pointed star in the exact center of the design, positioned in the same position but is only smaller than the former. The very center star is a deviation to the dark red of the rest of this symbol, as the center polygon is all black.
Sakura takes a step back away from the exhibit, unable to tear her eyes away from this item.
Fujitaka notices Sakura’s nervousness at seeing the exhibit and kneels down next to her. “So, what do you think?” he asks casually?
Sakura breaks her nervous shell and shakes her head back and forth. “Oh, no, it’s nothing. I’m okay. Just a little déjà vu, I guess,” she says with a naively lying tone.
Fujitaka returns his gaze up to the cards. “So you think it looks familiar too? I thought they looked like something I’ve seen before. They remind me of a book I once found at an antique shop in Osaka,” he explains, as Sakura begins to sweatdrop nervously. “It was this chained-up diary-looking book that had a winged lion on the cover. It had a similar-looking circle on the back of it, though much less intricate. Its cover read ‘The Clow’. I would’ve submitted it to the museum myself, but it went missing about a year ago and I never found it. Weird…” Fujitaka continues, as Sakura continues to nervously sweat much more profusely.
Tomoyo reads the information plaque next to the display case before turning to Fujitaka and Sakura. “Fujitaka-sensei, this plaque says something about an Elixir of Fire. What’s that?” she asks, breaking Fujitaka’s concentration and allowing Sakura to breathe a deep sigh of relief.
Fujitaka stands to his feet and looks towards the orange bird-skull-shaped object placed behind the cards. “Oh, that. That little vase was quite the chore to put in there. Half of the technicians got burned trying to place it back there. Unusual how something so old could still be hot enough to burn someone’s hand today. The scientific community wants to buy it off of us, smash it open and figure out what keeps it going, claiming that if we can figure out how it was done, we could develop a zero-emission heat source for energy. Of course, however, such artifacts as the Elixir of Fire must be protected first and foremost. After all, to forget our own history is what dooms us to repeat it,” Fujitaka states.
Tomoyo returns to read the information plaque for the exhibit. “It doesn’t say how that thing got the name ‘Elixir of Fire’ though. Who called it that?” Tomoyo inquires.
“Funny you should ask that, Tomoyo-san,” Fujitaka begins. “This collection was originally donated to us by a Chinese family, and included a small and old book that tells us about the items. It was this that we learned that these papers were called ‘Kaos Cards’, and were believed to be magical. And the Elixir of Fire was in this record too, only the record ends early. The author of that guide doesn’t mention what the Elixir of Fire does, but only mentions it by name. Weirder still, the family that donated it requested that the pamphlet be returned to them, as it was a family heirloom, so we were unable to translate everything written in it.”
“Kaos Cards, eh?” Sakura inquires, taking notes on the clipboard she carries with her. Below her notes, she attempts to make a quick and very rough sketch of the circle that appears on the back of the Kaos Cards.
“Who donated these things to the museum?” Tomoyo asks Fujitaka.
Fujitaka smiles at Tomoyo. “A Chinese family generously donated this particular group of artifacts and then insisted that we display them. They say it belonged to a distant English relative of theirs. The Li family,” he concludes.
“L-Li-kun?!” Sakura exclaims in shock, dropping her clipboard on the floor and blushing slightly.
Fujitaka turns around and picks up Sakura’s clipboard. “Now that I think about it, you had a classmate by that name, didn’t you, Sakura-san? I remember after giving a speech on archaeology, he came up to me and asked me a lot of good questions. It seems like he has a rich archaeological background from growing up in such a historically fascinating family.”
Sakura stands rigidly before grabbing her clipboard. “Y-yeah, a historically fascinating family. I guess you could say that…” she stutters.
*-*-*
Sakura’s room
Sakura and Tomoyo both storm into Sakura’s room, with clipboard and video camera in hand. Seeing Kero fast asleep on a pillow next to the still-running video game console that he apparently forgot to turn off before his nap, Sakura picks up Kero by the tail.
“Kero-chan, why didn’t you tell me about the other cards?!” Sakura shouts angrily at Kero, dangling him upside down by his tail. Kero, in response, continues to sleep like a rock.
”KERO-CHAN!” she shouts, finally waking Kero up.
Kero begins to flutter around and shake his tail free of Sakura’s grip. He rubs his eyes with his stubby paw-like hands. “Wha, wha, wha… I’m up already. Sheesh, being the unquestionable Master of the Clow Cards must get to her head pretty quick…” he mutters, still drowsy.
Allowing no reprieve, she holds up her clipboard, showing her sloppy rendition of the magic circle on the back of the cards in the museum. “Kero-chan, this is important! Have you ever seen any magic circle like this before?” she interrogates.
Finishing rubbing his eyes, he levitates over to take a closer look at the circle that Sakura sketched out. “Alright, alright, let’s see what the fuss is about…” he says before staring at the circle with his paw on his chin. “Hmm… hmmm… maybe... no, wait… it could be…” Kero mutters, pondering deeply.
“You don’t know, do you?” Tomoyo asks innocently.
“PAH!” Kero scoffs, striking a heroic pose. “I’m the Guardian Beast of the Clow Cards! There’s nothing about magic that I don’t know!” he boasts, and then returns to pondering the circle. “Hmm. Although Clow Reed wasn’t the only person to ever use magic circles before. It was a pretty popular practice. It was like inventing your own personal signature. Hard to remember them all, but this looks like a comparatively simple design. It’s probably a really early one. Not Clow’s, I can tell that for sure. He may have been a quack, but he definitely wasn’t evil,” he deduces.
“Evil?” Sakura and Tomoyo ask in unison.
“Where did you find this pattern, and what color was it?” Kero inquires.
Sakura flips through other pages on her clipboard. “Well, dad opened up an exhibit on European History. There were eight cards with this pattern in an exhibit. And the circle was dark red,” Sakura answers, referring to her notes. “Oh, and it was donated by Li-kun’s family,” she adds off the top of her head.
“The kozo’s folks?” Kero comments, now intrigued. He scratches his head. “It must be related to Clow if the Li family had it. And a dark red magic circle. Now that you mention about it possibly being tied to the kozo, I do remember vaguely a circle like that, but it wasn’t dark red. It was more of a silver-color.”
Sakura sets her notepad aside. “So who created it, and why am I just figuring this out now? Why didn’t you tell me about these new cards when I was collecting the Clow Cards? And what do you mean by evil?”
Kero flutters over to Sakura’s bed, where she haphazardly tossed her sketchbook. He takes another good long stare at the magic circle that Sakura sketched, particularly staring at the center broad seven-pointed star that Sakura had doodled in particularly darker than the rest of the circle. “The center star was darker than the rest of the circle, wasn’t it? This was a particular no-no of designing one’s own magic circle. The most central body is supposed to be the brightest part of it. If the center part is dark, then the cards will derive their powers from the darkest essences of their creator. But this is an elementary mistake. No magician in their right mind would design a circle like this deliberately. The circle was probably designed properly first, and then fell apart as the sorcerer delved into darker and darker magic,” he explains.
“So, the sorcerer that made this circle started good and ended up bad?” Tomoyo deduces.
“Looks like it,” Kero answers, nodding his head back and forth at the sight of the circle. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a shame. It’s so hard to find a good, pure sorcerer nowadays. A lot of these older guys went corrupt when learning of the magic they were capable of. Sure, it starts as innocently as wanting to do good by one’s fellow man. But then they lose their sense of restraint, then their control, and their sanity. They become addicted to their own power, and will create more and more of it, until it consumes them completely, and the magic itself dies…” Kero drones on, not realizing how close an attention Tomoyo and Sakura are paying.
“The magic… dies?” Sakura asks softly, beginning to shiver.
“What happens when magic dies?” Tomoyo asks Kero.
Kero turns back to Tomoyo with an ominous look in his eye. “It becomes a ghost,” Kero answers grimly.
“HOEEEEE!” Sakura screams, shrinking away from the conversation and curling up into a ball on the floor. “Kero-chan, why did you have to use the G-word? You know I can’t stand ghosts!” she whimpers.
“Sakura-chan…” Tomoyo begins, reaching toward Sakura and placing a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay to be afraid,” Kero responds. “…because unlike the nearly powerless ghost of a human, the ghost of a magic card is a terrible thing to behold,” he continues as he points toward Sakura’s desk. One of the drawers cracks open slightly and a Clow Card flies out of the drawer. Kero turns the card around and shows it to Tomoyo and Sakura, who slowly regains her confidence and returns her attention to Kero.
“Windy?” Sakura asks quizzically.
Kero takes hold of the card and stares at it. “Windy, for example, is a very gentle card. She’s soothing, compassionate, graceful, the epitome of good will and good magic. However, if Windy were to turn into a ghost card, she would abandon all of these traits and resort to the naturally capricious state of all magic. Her daily activities would be creating menacing tornadoes, whipping up monstrously destructive hurricanes, destroying crops, crashing airplanes, capsizing ships, and all manner of unspeakable nastiness attributable to flowing air. She would descend into utter chaos,” Kero explains reverently. “And that is what your job is as the new Master of the Cards, Sakura. Your job is to keep the Clow Cards from falling like this,” he explains.
“And my job is to make sure you look fashionably stylish while doing so!” Tomoyo adds, pointing her camera at Sakura, attempting to lighten the mood.
Sakura ponders Kero’s previous statement to herself. “Chaos… Chaos… Wait a second…” she mutters before grabbing her clipboard and reading the notes she had made. “The Kaos!” she reads. “I knew I saw that somewhere before. Kero-chan, I think they’re called the Kaos Cards! Have you ever heard of anything like Kaos Cards before?” she asks Kero frantically.
“Kaos Cards?!” Kero responds in disbelief. He punches his palm as he nods in disbelief and turns away from Sakura and Tomoyo. “Kaos…” he broods, among multiple ominous “hmm”s and “umm”s.
“KERO-CHAN!” Sakura shouts. “Just what are we dealing with here that’s worth raising such a fit?!”
Kero shakes all over with frustration and fear. “The Kaos Cards… They were never supposed to get out!” he says as he takes hold of the Windy Card and hands it over to Sakura. “I told you about the kinds of things that ghost cards are capable of. Kaos was the first ever Card Captor in history, before Clow Reed showed the world his incredible magic. Kaos died in a tragic incident, while creating his own cards. And with his life went the lives of all his own cards. They all turned into ghost cards in one fell swoop, and are embodied with the power of Kaos’s fury and anger at the time of his death, making them the most powerful magic cards in the world, each one capable of unimaginable destruction. Even with Clow’s great magical powers, he couldn’t fully defeat the Kaos Cards in their entirety, so he sealed them away, never to be released again. Those cards overcame Clow Reed, as great as a magician as he was, and were almost his undoing. And to think Clow arranged for people to put those hideous things in a museum to be gawked at by tourists, who will never be told the full-scale of destruction caused by the Kaos Cards. It’s enough to turn your stomach on end,” Kero monologues.
Sakura takes the Windy card from Kero and hugs it close to herself. “So… what are we supposed to do now that those Kaos Cards are out?” she asks, still in stunned disbelief.
“Leave,” Kero says to Sakura. “I couldn’t in good conscience ask you, the world’s youngest Card Captor, to deal with the world’s most dangerous Card Captor. If you try to fight them, you, and everyone you hold dear, will not survive. Those cards will do anything they can to anyone around you in order to defeat and even kill you. If you leave now, there’s a small chance that the Kaos Cards won’t have noticed that you are the Card Captor of the Clow Cards, and they won’t chase you. I’m not advising you, Sakura. I’m begging you. I’ve been at the death-bed of one master already in my lifetime, and I’m not anxious to be at the death-bed of another.”
Sakura ponders the offer for a moment, but then smiles comically back at Kero. “I’ll do it!” she declares. “If those things get out, who knows what they could do to Tomoeda, and even the world. But they won’t. Because I’m going to stop them right here and right now! I’m the world’s only Card Captor, and it looks like I’ve got one more task ahead of me. Those cards won’t even know what hit ‘em. Zettai daijobu!” she boasts confidently.
Tomoyo places a hand on Sakura’s shoulder in support of her friend. “And I’ll be right there beside you, making sure that you go into battle with full style and maximum cuteness!” she adds.
Sakura hangs her head at Tomoyo’s overjoyed display of exuberance. “How did I know that was coming?” she asks herself rhetorically.
Kero sighs deeply at the girls’ naïve enthusiasm. “Sakura, I want you to know first of all that I do not support this foolish decision of yours. But if you honestly believe that you can get the job done, and will go out there and do it regardless, just know that I’ll be right there by your side, lending my help in any way I can,” he encourages. “It’s time for Card Captor Sakura to go for one more adventure!”
“And time for a new battle pose,” Tomoyo adds, pointing her camera at Sakura like a giddy schoolgirl.
“Hoee!” Sakura whimpers.
*-*-*
The Museum, late that night
Tomoyo’s van is parked right outside the museum, with Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero inside, fervently planning for the most dangerous adventure of their lives.
Tomoyo rummages through the racks of specially designed clothes, as if looking for a particular pattern. “Sakura-chan, I made another outfit just for this very occasion that I wanted you to wear on your first adventure battling the Kaos Cards. Now where did I put that thing? I just made it this evening…” she goes on.
Sakura puts her hands up defensively. “Well technically, I’m not facing them, and I hope that I never have to. But…” she pauses, trailing off into deep thought and attracting Kero’s and Tomoyo’s attention.
“Sakura, you’re not rethinking this already, are you?” Kero asks, flying up into her face.
Sakura stares on blankly for a moment. “It’s just that… those cards. They’re my dad’s favorite part of the exhibit. And he really wanted to put the Clow Cards on display too. It seems like I’m always taking things away from him…” she laments.
Kero toughens up his voice. “The Clow Cards were fated to fall into your control, just like you’re fated to go after those Kaos Cards. And Kaos Cards aren’t going to be as forgiving to the lives of civilians as the Clow Cards were. Could you imagine what those Kaos Cards could do to the tourists that come to see them? Don’t psyche yourself out. Those Kaos Cards could end your life without a second thought. Don’t make it any easier for ‘em by not bringing your game face. C’mon, zettai…?”
“…daijobu, I know, I know,” Sakura finishes after a moment, rubbing her eyes.
“Aha, I found it!” Tomoyo announces, pulling out a set of clothes on a hangar for Sakura and Kero to see.
“Hoee, this is gonna’ be a long night…” Sakura whimpers.
*-*-*
A few minutes later…
“AAAAAAA, it’s adorable!” Tomoyo squeals, admiring her handiwork with her camcorder in hand and an enormous grin on her face.
Sakura poses outside the van, wearing Tomoyo’s latest battle costume. The costume has a very strong leopard theme to it, with long, leopard-spotted gloves, equally long leopard spotted boots, a black short-sleeved shirt with a leopard vest, a hair band with round leopard-like ears, and even a short leopard-spotted skirt with a leopard tail trailing out the back.
“Don’t tell me: leopard camouflage?” Sakura asks unenthusiastically.
Tomoyo lowers her camera for a moment. “Of course, Sakura-chan. What better way to sneak into a heavily-guarded museum than dressed as a stealthy leopard? And a cute one at that?”
“But don’t you think cute sort of defeats the purpose of stealth? The only people there to see me are you, Kero-chan, and the guards, and if the guards see us, it’s all over…” Sakura argues desperately.
Tomoyo puts a finger on her chin. “You make a good point there, Sakura-chan,” she comments before climbing back into the van.
“Uh… what are you doing?” Sakura asks nervously, though not really wanting to hear the answer.
“I’m getting leopard makeup to make you a super cute leopard!” Tomoyo answers back from inside the van.
“Hoee! Can’t we just get this over with?” Sakura whimpers pathetically.
*-*-*
A few more minutes later…
Sakura stands outside the locked gate to the museum with her key in star pendant form in hand and goofy spots-and-whiskers patterns of makeup on her cheeks.
Kero flutters beside Sakura. “Okay, here’s the plan. First, find the Kaos Cards. Then, quickly hit ‘em with the Fiery card. If you can destroy ‘em without incident, that’s the best-case-scenario,” Kero whispers to Sakura.
“That sounds too easy to me. Will it work?” Sakura whispers back skeptically.
Kero puts a paw on his chin. “Probably not, but if it does, we can’t afford not to try it. The worst thing that could happen is that it won’t work. But there’s a chance that it might work because the Kaos Cards have been without a living master for over two centuries, so their powers, like those of the Clow Cards when you first found them, may be a little on the rusty side, so there’s a chance you could get rid of ‘em before they notice you’re there if you’re quick about it,” he clarifies.
“But first we have to immobilize those guards. The Sleep card should do the trick,” Sakura adds, as she holds out her star pendant.
“Key hiding the powers of the Darkness, reveal your true form before me. I, Sakura, command you under our contract: release!” Sakura commands, as the key grows into a wand with a pink-nosed bird head and materializes in her hand. Sakura twirls the wand for a couple of rotations, still thinking over the dilemma of destroying the Kaos Cards before pulling out one of her Clow Cards from a pocket in her vest. “Afflict all the security guards within with a deep rest. Sleep!” she commands, flicking the card out and touching the tip of her wand to the card.
After summoning the card, a bluish-white sparkling dust rains over the entire museum.
Sakura pauses and takes a deep breath before reaching for another card in her bag and pulling out the Float card. Momentarily, Sakura, Tomoyo and Kero are levitating over the tall metal gate of the museum, careful to not make a sound. The Float card slowly sets the three intruders on the ground before dissipating.
Kero flutters next to Sakura and begins whispering in her ear. “Psst, Sakura, be careful! That was your second card already and we haven’t even walked into the museum yet. Make sure to conserve your magic, just in case things get a little wild in there. You have no idea how badly those Kaos Cards would want to take a cheap shot at you if you run out of magic, so don’t give them that chance,” he advises quietly, as Sakura replies with a quick nod.
“Sakura-chan, also watch out for security cameras and silent alarms,” Tomoyo adds with a whisper. “A place like this is going to be heavily guarded with the most state-of-the-art anti-theft devices,” she adds.
Sakura turns back to Tomoyo with an innocent grin. “Well, technically I’m not a thief…” she whispers in response.
“And that’s because technically, you’re about to be a vandal,” Kero replies, patting Sakura on the shoulder.
Sakura lowers her head. “Thanks Kero-chan, that makes me feel soooo much better about this…” she responds sarcastically before reaching into her vest for another two Clow Cards as she holds them up. “Loop, cycle through the security camera’s footage. Through, allow us to pass through the walls. Loop! Through!” Sakura declares strongly, yet still with a low volume.
Upon activation, the Loop card heads straight for a nearby window of the museum, presumably going after the nearest surveillance camera. Through, however, forms a barrier around Sakura, Tomoyo and Kero. The three then quietly tiptoe through the empty outdoor patch around the museum’s perimeter before tiptoeing straight through the solid outer wall of the museum.
Penetrating the inside wall, the magic bubble created by the Through card dissipates.
“Good idea with using Loop and Through, Sakura-chan,” Tomoyo encourages.
“No, bad idea!” Kero responds sternly, getting Sakura to turn towards him.
“Huh? What for? Did I do something wrong?” Sakura asks, puzzled and confused, holding up the now rematerialized Through card in hand.
Kero sighs before turning to Sakura again. “I told you to be careful about using too many Clow Cards at once. Your magic isn’t strong enough to use too many of them, and you’re going to need everything you’ve got to beat the Kaos Cards. And to make matters worse, the more of Clow’s magic you use, the more likely the Kaos Cards are to wake up,” he responds in a nagging tone.
Sakura pulls a large handful of the Clow Cards out from her vest pocket. “I’m sorry, Kero-chan, but it’s this whole being the new master of the Clow Cards thing. This is the first time I’ve had all of the Clow Cards at my disposal at once, so I have a lot of different kinds of magic to keep us from getting caught, and it seems wasteful not to use them all,” she responds defensively, staring at a deck full of the remainder of unused Clow Cards. “It wouldn’t make sense to preserve my magic at the expense of getting caught by…” she mutters, hugging the Clow Cards close to her chest.
Tomoyo lowers her camera, catching the drift of Sakura’s feelings. “Sakura-chan… You don’t want your dad to find out that you’re trying to destroy his favorite exhibit. Is that it? …Sakura-chan?” she asks, rhetorically.
After a lengthy pause, Sakura begins to tear up and sniffle, her hands slightly trembling. “When catching the Clow Cards… I’ve had to do a lot of things behind dad’s back that hurt him. When catching Sleep, I broke his laptop and ruined weeks of research. Against Cloud, I got really sick and pulled him away from a huge dig he was looking forward to going to. And when I first opened the Clow Book up, I’ve never been straight with him about taking the Clow Book out of his library in the first place. He thought a burglar took it. He was going to put it in this museum too. It would’ve made him very happy. And now… to keep the Kaos Cards from running amok…” she goes on, gripping the Clow Cards tighter and wiping tears out of her eyes with the sleeves of her leopard gloves. “…I thought I was done. I just don’t want to hurt dad anymore…” she cries.
Kero notices Sakura’s tears dropping to the floor. “Sakura, to remind you, I disapproved of this from the start. You were the one who talked me into it. If you’re having any second thoughts about this, we should just leave now. Who knows? The Li family sent these things. Maybe they’ll have some way to deal with them too. And as much as I hate giving that kozo credit for finishing what Clow Reed started, it’s not worth putting you in this kind of danger without you being on your toes,” Kero suggests.
“No!” Sakura snaps back stubbornly, still fighting back her tears. “If I leave the Kaos Cards here, they’ll attack dad and everyone who comes to see them. I’m the world’s only Cardcaptor, so this is my job, and my duty. But if I just leave now without confronting the Kaos Cards, what happens to everyone because of them will be something even harder to live with than lying to dad,” Sakura reasons, wiping the last of her tears away. “Let’s finish what we came here to do!” Sakura adds with renewed confidence.
After tiptoeing down several hallways and corridors and bypassing several soundly-sleeping security guards, Sakura, Tomoyo and Kero make their way into the inner wing of the museum, where Tomoyo and Sakura had seen the Kaos Cards earlier that day. As the three approach the case, they stare at the Kaos Cards in unison. The Kaos Cards, in response, are just as they were earlier that day, with the slight orange glow of the Elixir of Fire in the back casting a wicked corona of energy on the lesser Kaos Cards, which is considerably more visible at night with the few lights in the inner wing turned off.
“So here they are, after all these years. Ultimate destruction is just beyond this glass window…” Kero whispers reverently.
Sakura grips her wand tightly, pulling out the Firey card from her vest. “And they’re not getting out if I have anything to say about it…” Sakura begins, preparing to call on Fiery.
“Sakura-chan, wait!” Tomoyo beckons with an urgent whisper, interrupting Sakura and pointing to a small caption under the glass window, reading “Kevlar-reinforced glass”. “It’s fireproof,” Tomoyo reads.
Sakura lowers her wand as well as the Fiery card as she begins to groan in the tediousness of the task. “Hoee… This just keeps getting more and more challenging…” she whimpers.
Tomoyo scrutinizes the bulky, high-tech locking device on the right side of the window. The device itself has a small, self-illuminating LCD screen over a glow-in-the-dark numerical touchpad. The LCD screen itself reads “Please type in the 3-digit code to unlock:”.
Kero also notices the locking device. “Don’t try to bust the glass with a Clow Card. You’ll set off a silent alarm, or worse, wake the Kaos Cards. You’ve got one good cast left that the Kaos Cards don’t seem to have noticed, so save Fiery for that when you get the case open,” Kero instructs.
Tomoyo looks back away from the locking device and towards Kero. “But a three-digit combo lock has one thousand different combinations possible. While we could open all of them, these kinds of devices tend to set off alarms if you type in the wrong code too many times, so we’ll have to be lucky guessers right now,” she comments.
Sakura fixes her eyes on the Kaos Cards, as well as the Elixir of Fire that illuminates them. “We won’t have to guess. I think I know the pass code,” she comments monotonously as she reaches towards the keypad, much to Tomoyo’s and Kero’s shock. Sakura slowly types in the three digit combination of 5-2-0, causing three asterisks to appear on the LCD screen, before she finally presses a defined enter key.
Kero and Tomoyo stand back in anticipation, keeping their fingers crossed that the combination unlocks the case. The LCD screen reads “Processing…” before momentarily displaying “Password Accepted!” and the lock pops open, allowing Kero and Tomoyo to breathe in a sigh of relief.
“Dad really did love this exhibit,” Sakura comments, not showing any surprise to the code working on the first guess.
“How could you figure out that code in just one try?” Kero inquires, as if it was by some magic that Sakura knew.
Sakura takes a moment to wipe her eyes again with the back of her hand. “5-2-0,” she explains, “…it meant May 20th. That was my mom’s birthday. It was a predictable pass code, coming from dad. He probably wished that mom could be around to see the defining moment of his archaeological career. And evil cards or not, I wish she could’ve seen dad succeed too…” she states, holding her tears back as she reaches to swing the door open.
As soon as Sakura budges the door open, the orange glow of the Elixir of Fire flares out brightly, enveloping all the other Kaos Cards in a blinding red glow, forcing Sakura, Kero and Tomoyo to cover their eyes.
“What’s happening?” Sakura asks Kero loudly.
“It’s started! Looks like the Kaos Cards knew you were Clow’s selected Cardcaptor all along and were just playing us for a bunch of chumps, those sneaky little devils!” Kero responds.
From inside the case, the Kaos Cards all begin to slightly vibrate before dissipating into red flickers of energy as they shoot out of the case through the tiny opening. The Elixir of Fire remains, and the glow from it subsides to its more typical weak orange.
As Sakura, Tomoyo and Kero turn back to the now nearly empty display case, they notice that all the Kaos Cards have vanished, and the Elixir of Fire has returned to a normal orange glow, or at least as normal an orange glow as it can emit.
“Hoee! They got out!” Sakura exclaims.
“Did we fail?” Tomoyo asks Kero.
Kero flutters around, frantically trying to figure out where the Kaos Cards went to. “For right now we did, but we can take care of the Kaos Cards later. Right now, we need to get out of here as soon as we can. Now that the Kaos Cards are active, they’ll come after us, particularly Sakura. And after four casts already, Sakura needs to conserve her magic more than ever now,” Kero explains before turning towards Sakura. “But first, Sakura, get that Elixir of Fire. If that’s the source of the Kaos Cards’ magic, then by destroying that, we can wait out the Kaos Cards as their magic expires,” he instructs.
Sakura nods before reaching into the display case and quickly grabbing the bird-skull-shaped orange vial tightly in her hand before recoiling in shock. “OW! The stupid thing burned me!” she exclaims.
Kero sighs deeply. “Maybe that’s why it was put it on a string, y’think?” he suggests snidely. “Look Sakura, if we get the Elixir of Fire out of here, then we can worry about the rest of the Kaos Cards when you’ve got more of your magic back. If we can’t fight the Kaos Cards now, let’s at least not leave empty-handed!” he orders.
Sakura reaches into the display case again, grabbing the string tied to the beak of the container before yanking it out of the case and examining it. In response, the eyes of the structure flicker a dark red glow. “Kero-chan, what does the Elixir of Fire do exactly?” she asks, oblivious of the Elixir of Fire’s fluctuation.
“Not sure off the top of my head, now let’s just get out of here before the guards wake up!” Kero instructs frantically.
Sakura balls up a fist as the Elixir’s glow flickers. “Wow, you’re really useful when dealing with magical artifacts, aren’t you? Don’t you know anything?!” she shouts at Kero angrily.
“Hey, I do my best!” Kero growls back at Sakura, getting in her face.
“Cut it out, you two!” Tomoyo begs, trying to get in between the two fuming individuals and yanking the Elixir of Fire’s lanyard out of Sakura’s hands.
As the Elixir of Fire is forced from her grip by Tomoyo, Sakura’s concentration breaks instantaneously, causing her to hold her forehead. “Ohh… what was that?” she asks weakly.
“Never mind that. I told you not to use so many cards at once. Looks like the pressure is starting to get to you,” Kero notices.
The three make their way quickly into the outer wing hallway of the museum. Tomoyo checks around the corners quickly with her camcorder before the three make a break for a nearby window. Kero floats behind Tomoyo quickly, as Sakura picks up the rear while still rubbing her forehead.
“Sakura-chan, pick up the pace,” Tomoyo whispers forcefully at Sakura as she and Kero have reached a window leading outside.
Sakura tries to jog over to the window to join Kero and Tomoyo, but is interrupted in her dash in the middle of the corridor by the sound of metal in contact with stone. “Hoee?” she squeaks minutely as she darts glances all around her. The sounds continue, causing Sakura to freeze in place and shiver. “W-w-what’s that sound?” she asks frantically.
Clanking sounds continue to echo throughout the hallways, originating from a darker end of the corridor. Soon, the source of the sound steps in front of another open window down the hallway. The loud metallic sounds come from a suit of medieval knight armor, standing under its own power and carrying a large and heavy sword. The age-dulled armor shines softly in the moonlight from the window it slowly shuffles past as it approaches Sakura.
“HOEE! A GHOST!” Sakura screams.
Kero notices the self-standing suit of armor as well. “No, it’s not quite a ghost. It’s a ghost of a magical card. Sakura, it’s a Kaos Card!” he declares.
Sakura darts toward Tomoyo and desperately grasps onto her. “A Kaos Card! Hoee, that’s worse! Let’s just get out of here!”
“There’s a window over here,” Tomoyo indicates, placing her hand on the metal bars over the window, attempting to budge the bars.
As Tomoyo grabs onto the metal bars covering the window, the metal of the bars bends out of shape and quickly wraps around Tomoyo’s wrists, binding her up.
“Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo shouts out in shock.
Sakura in response begins swinging her staff at the misshapen portions of the metal bars. “Hey, let go of her! Let go! Let go now!” she orders, swinging her staff harder and harder at the metal, all the while the knight armor slowly makes its way to where Tomoyo, Sakura and Kero are.
Glancing back between the bent bars and the knight armor, Kero quickly turns towards Sakura. “Industry! This is the Industry card!” he declares. “That’s how it can levitate that armor and bend the metal around Tomoyo’s wrists. If you seal it, the metal will return to its original shape,” Kero instructs.
The knight armor now looms over the three. It raises its sword high into the air, preparing to strike down.
Sakura stands in between the immobile Tomoyo and the ominous knight armor. “Oh no you don’t!” she declares, pulling out a Clow Card from her vest. “Shield!” she declares, as a translucent wing-shaped shield appears in between Sakura and the knight’s sword just in the nick of time, blocking the attack. Breathing a sigh of relief, she turns her head towards Kero for a split second. “Kero-chan, is it safe to assume that I have to get the Industry card to show it’s true form, just like the other Clow Cards, before I can seal it?” she asks.
“Basically,” Kero responds. “But as Kaos Cards are undead magic cards, sealing them off could prove a little tricky. Also, considering the caliber of sorcerer that created them, they were powerful in their own right before falling. And I really don’t want to find out how dieing influences the power of a magical card,” he adds.
The knight withdraws its sword away from the shield as the shield dissipates, and the knight takes a few steps back, preparing to charge.
“Wood!” Sakura commands, tapping her wand to the end of another Clow Card. Vines erupt from that card and intercept the armored behemoth in the middle of the charge, but its sword slices straight through the vines, causing the severed weeds to shrivel up and vanish into sparkling dust.
“Sakura, you can’t beat metal with Wood!” Kero warns.
The knight armor tediously backpedals away again and raises its sword high.
“Then I’ll fight it head-on,” Sakura boasts as she pulls out yet another Clow Card. “Sword!” she declares, tapping her wand against the next Clow Card, causing her wand to dissolve and rematerialize as a brass blade with a jewel-encrusted sharp tip. She swings the new sword at the knight, but the blade simply bounces off the knight’s breastplate, showing no damage at all. In response, the armor raises a high knee, knocking Sakura across the floor.
Sakura slowly climbs to her feet as the moving suit of armor approaches yet again, while she herself shows far more frailty than the suit of armor opposite her. “Maybe the Mist card can erode it away…” she struggles to say, fighting to pull out another card from her vest.
“Don’t count on it,” Kero responds. “If Sword bounced straight off of its armor like that, Mist probably won’t do much good here either. We need to get away somehow,” he tells Sakura.
“Sakura, use Dash!” Tomoyo advises, her hands still being bound to the bars on the window.
Sakura turns to her restrained friend. “No, I’m not leaving you here!” Sakura insists. “If Industry wants a piece of me, I’m right here…” she continues, holding her staff tightly.
“But Sakura-chan, if you stay here, it’ll take as many pieces of you as it wants to,” Tomoyo warns. “I’ll be fine, just get out of here!” she insists as the suit of armor takes more and more strides towards Sakura’s position.
In between a flash of epiphany and a flash of madness, Kero quickly takes the Elixir of Fire that Tomoyo held by the lanyard and swings it towards Sakura. “Sakura, take the Elixir of Fire and run! It seems to be drawn to its source of power, so if you have that, it’ll follow you. Now go!” Kero orders.
Without thinking, Sakura grabs the Elixir of Fire out of the air, but she grabs it by the bottle. “OW! Wrong end, wrong end, wrong end!” she frantically reminds herself. Flinching in pain from the burning heat of the bottle and shaking her burnt hand around, Sakura fumbles with the bottle as it plummets to the floor.
As the Elixir of Fire’s container hits into the floor with a sound like a glass bottle against a rock, Sakura, Tomoyo and Kero stare frozen at the bottle, which seems miraculously untarnished. All three breathe a brief sigh of relief, but the beaked end of the bottle opens, causing the orange substance inside to shoot out of the bottle and form a circle around Sakura. After completing the circle, a pattern forms on the circle, which is identical to the pattern seen on the back of the Kaos Cards. Sakura stands perfectly still, seemingly frozen in time, as this circle is drawn under her by the emptied contents of the Elixir of Fire. After the completion of this pattern, the entire circle shoots up a pillar of fire, enveloping Sakura and causing her to scream out loudly. These events keep Tomoyo’s and Kero’s attention with a magnetic grip.
“Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo screams to Sakura.
“A selection?!” Kero notices, as he is clearly shocked by the Elixir of Fire’s unbound powers.
The cylinder of fire dies down, condensing around Sakura. As the flames clear more and more away, Kero and Tomoyo notice the flaming energy penetrating straight into Sakura’s chest, causing Sakura to shoot bright orange light energy out her eyes and mouth. As the remainder of the energy completely permeates Sakura’s body, she stands motionless, with her head hung and her entire body smoldering, though not physically burned. After a momentary pause, Sakura raises her head, revealing a bright orange glow in her eyes. She then raises her staff and lets it go, and flames from her palm consume the staff as it levitates in the air. She then mutters a mystic incantation in a deep voice, clearly not her own.
“Key of the powers of the Inferno, there is one seeking contract with you. Her name is Sakura…” she mutters before finally grabbing the staff out of the fire. The fire then plunges into the tip of the staff and cause it to change into the skull of a bird with a cruel, hooked beak, similar to her former Key of Clow, but with more of a zombie theme.
Seeing this causes the knight armor to back away, as if it were in fear.
“Kero-chan, what’s a selection?” Tomoyo asks, unable to look away from the disturbing events that literally surrounded her friend.
Kero is no more able to break his stare than Tomoyo. “A selection is when the key of the former magician selects a new Card Captor. This allows the individual to use and seal cards from that particular sorcerer away. And the Elixir of Fire has apparently selected Sakura,” he explains.
“So Sakura can seal away the Industry card easier, right?” Tomoyo asks.
“Well we’re about to find out…” Sakura says confidently, though not in her typical childlike tone. She lifts up her new staff as she pulls out the Fiery card. She tosses it out in front of her as she prepares to swing down onto it. “Fiery, consume the… hey!” she begins, but is interrupted as the Fiery card levitates over to Kero. “Worthless scrap of paper... it deserted me!” she shouts at Kero, trying to reach at Kero to retrieve the Fiery card.
Kero holds up the Fiery card, handing it back to Sakura again, but Fiery slips out of Sakura’s hands again and floats back to Kero again.
“Kero-chan! Make the stupid card come to me! It’s an attack card, and I’m ordering it to attack!” Sakura shouts at Kero.
Kero stares at the card and feels its surface with his paw. “It’s afraid of you, Sakura,” Kero explains.
“Darn right it’s afraid of me. I’m the master, and the card is the slave. I called the card out, and the card disobeyed my order!” Sakura shouts, snagging Fiery away from Kero and stuffing it into her vest pocket.
“Sakura-chan, you’re not yourself…” Tomoyo whispers in fear, barely recognizing Sakura after being infused with the Elixir of Fire.
The suit of armor begins pacing towards the group again, noticing Sakura’s inability to activate the Fiery card.
Tomoyo begins struggling against the bent bars again, getting Sakura’s attention. “Ugh, do I have to do everything around here?” Sakura groans as she kneels down next to Tomoyo and grabs the metal bars that wrap around her hands. Sakura’s very touch against the bars causes them to smolder and turn red as Sakura bends the bars back into their normal position by hand, freeing Tomoyo’s wrists. “Ironic how this knight in shining armor is the one putting the damsel into distress in the first place. Get a boyfriend, Tomoyo. Maybe he’ll tolerate you dressing him up like a clown. Write him some freaking emo music while you’re at it…” she grunts heartlessly and with deep frustration before taking up her transfigured staff once more and facing the walking suit of armor. In defiance, Sakura wipes the kiddy makeup off her cheeks, preparing to confront the armor suit with all seriousness.
The suit of armor raises its sword high and approaches Sakura before stopping. It swings its large sword, but Sakura quickly deflects the sword with a mere backhand, swatting it out of the knight’s grip with minimal effort, causing Tomoyo and Kero to drop their jaws in shock.
The knight’s glove was still gripped around the sword as the glove was knocked away. Revealed is a long, thin metal coil, appearing like a wire, but considerably thicker, protruding from the missing limb of the armor.
“Sakura, that coil is the Industry’s true form! If you can get the armor off it, you can seal it away,” Kero instructs, pointing at the cable hanging out from the armor suit.
“Gee, like I haven’t figured that out myself,” Sakura remarks, rolling her eyes at the obviousness of Kero’s statement. She grabs the opposite glove of the knight’s armor before tearing it off with her bare hands, revealing another metal cable under the armor. She then quickly takes her staff and swings it at the backsides of the knees of the knight armor, tearing away the leg pieces and tossing them back down the corridor. More of the cables are revealed, but they shrink back into the breastplate of the knight’s armor, falling to the floor before Sakura. With a swift kick, Sakura knocks off the helmet of the knight armor, revealing a giant wad of cables holed up where the knight helmet was. “And I heard that Kaos Cards were tough. Pathetic little coward,” she demeans before raising her staff and the circle from the Kaos Cards appearing under her feet once again. The ball of cables attempts to squirm away, but it falls out limply like mechanical spaghetti. “Return to your true form, Kaos Card!” Sakura commands, smashing the hooked beak against the balled up wad of cables. In a burst of flames and orange light, the Industry card emits a mechanical shriek. It finally succumbs to the sealing spell and conforms to a different shape, the Kaos Card that it was. The card floats towards Sakura, who grabs it forcefully out of the air, almost crumpling it.
“One down, seven to go,” Sakura concludes ominously before glaring back at Tomoyo and Kero, who flinch away.
*-*-*
Momentarily…
Tomoyo, Kero, and a still-possessed Sakura stand outside a big, gaping hole blasted in the outermost wall of the museum.
Sakura leans back on the wall and folds her arms smugly. “Well, all’s well that ends well. I’ve been selected as the new Cardcaptor of the Kaos, I sealed off the Industry card, and the Elixir of Fire has decided to bestow its awesome powers on me. A great night, despite having to put up with you two losers,” she reflects, glaring meanly at Tomoyo and Kero, holding up the Industry card, as well as her brand new key.
“Sakura, would you just listen to yourself for once?!” Kero snaps back. “That Elixir of Fire is getting to your head, and we’re gonna’ get it out of you if it kills us!” he declares. “Right, Tomoyo-chan?”
Tomoyo turns her head away from Sakura, ignoring Kero altogether. “Sakura-chan… You really think I’m useless?” she mutters.
“Speak up, field mouse. I can’t quite hear you over the crickets,” Sakura jabs with a wicked smirk.
“Sakura, apologize to your friend!” Kero orders.
Sakura turns away from Kero. “Sure thing, mommy, right after I do my nails,” she replies sarcastically.
Kero frowns. “Funny you mention your mother. What do you think she would say if she were alive right now?” he asks, trying to jar a reaction.
Sakura stares up. “Oh, I don’t know. Probably something like ‘help, help, get me out of here, this box doesn’t have any air holes’, or something like that,” Sakura responds stoically.
Kero grits his teeth, preparing another response, when he is interrupted by the sound of Sakura’s recorded voice, her normal voice, in the background. Turning back towards Tomoyo, Kero notices her balled up on the ground, looking at the display window of her camera, watching footage she had recorded few minutes ago, showing Sakura confessing that she doesn’t want to hurt her dad’s feelings.
Tomoyo cries, as she watches the footage play back. As footage of Sakura striking a cheesy grin rolls past, Tomoyo freezes the playback and stares deeply at the screen. “Sakura-chan… what happened to you?” she asks the Sakura on the display screen, clutching her camera close to her chest.
Kero keeps turned towards Tomoyo. “Sakura, when I thought that facing the Kaos Cards was going to kill you, and you said you’d be alright, it looks like we were both right. You walked out of that museum with ten fingers, ten toes, two arms, two legs, and a head on your shoulders. But the Sakura I knew… the Sakura that I selected… her heart died in that museum tonight. You aren’t my master anymore…” he says before fluttering over to Tomoyo’s shoulder and perches there, watching the last shot footage of the old Sakura.
“Well if I’m not Sakura anymore, can I go home now?” Sakura asks before trotting off down the dark street.
Kero breaks his glare at the girl formerly known as Sakura before returning his attention to Tomoyo’s video camera. The scene of Sakura’s transformation is about to play again, and Tomoyo reaches for the rewind button. “No, wait, let it play,” Kero tells Tomoyo, stopping her from rewinding the footage.
Tomoyo turns her head to see Kero perched on her shoulder. “Kero-chan? You want to see the footage of Sakura turning into a monster?” Tomoyo asks weakly.
“What was THAT?!?!” a booming voice sounds from down the street.
“There might be some clue as to how to reverse the effects of the Elixir of Fire,” Kero explains as the footage rolls. “Play it at half speed, so we don’t miss anything,” he suggests.
Tomoyo turns a small dial controlling the playback speed of the video she captured.
“I sure hope nobody up there suggested what I thought they did!” the possessed Sakura’s voice booms, signaling her approaching.
Tomoyo and Kero are now viewing the scene in which Sakura is fumbling with the Elixir of Fire right before she drops it on the ground. The two stare intensively at the pixilated representation of the Elixir of Fire as it heads for the ground.
“Pause, now!” Kero tells Tomoyo, who complies. The video had frozen on the exact second when the Elixir of Fire hit the ground. “Now zoom in on it,” Kero continues, and Tomoyo continues to follow his instructions.
With the magnified image on display, Kero and Tomoyo see the Elixir of Fire landing beak-first on the marble floor, and the beak caving in slightly.
“So it’s like a soda bottle. Push in the beak, and the Elixir comes out…” Tomoyo notices as she fishes around in her pockets for something.
The enraged Sakura approaches Kero and Tomoyo, with the mutilated key and the Industry card in hand. “Heads will roll, you two. Nobody and I mean nobody calls Kinomoto Sakura a monster!” she bellows deeply.
Tomoyo pulls her hand out of her pocket and pulls out the empty glass case for the Elixir of Fire. “I knew this would come in handy!” she exclaims as she attempts to tap the nose of the bottle against the concrete sidewalk outside the museum. Despite her attempts though, the bottle doesn’t open. “It’s not working!” Tomoyo notices.
Sakura stops at point blank range in front of Tomoyo and Kero. She holds out her staff as the magic circle of the Kaos Cards appears on the ground below her feet. “Industry, silence these two weaklings for good,” Sakura orders.
Kero frantically grabs the Elixir of Fire’s container from Tomoyo and flies it at Sakura. “This better work!” he exclaims, rushing the bottle at Sakura’s chest. Crashing into Sakura, the nose of the bottle buckles in slightly, causing the eyes of the bottle to glow a bright red, and depletes the orange glow from the magic circle below Sakura’s feet. Sakura reels slightly with the opening of the bottle, dropping her key and the Industry card on the ground, with the key reverting back into the small star key form. Reddish orange energy pours out of Sakura’s eyes and mouth in a torrent of flaming power. The energy flowing out of Sakura is sucked right into the bottle, filling it quickly. As the last of the energy flows out of Sakura’s mouth and eyes, the bottle in Kero’s arms seals up and the eyes glow dark red. Without the elixir’s power flowing through Sakura, she falls limply toward the ground, when Kero and Tomoyo catch her. Kero is careful this time to not let the Elixir hit the ground.
“Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo calls out, catching Sakura quickly. “Is she alright, Kero-chan?” she asks Kero.
Sakura begins to show signs of life, rubbing her eyes. “…uhhh… hoee… wait… Yukito-san…” she mutters in her unconsciousness while blushing a bright pink in the cheeks.
Kero and Tomoyo stare at each other. “If that doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what does…” Kero responds.
*-*-*
*-*-*
A/N: Pictures of the battle costume from this chapter (done by Nasdreks / Clowprincess, not me) can be found here:
Sakura's Leopard Costume
Chapters 2 and 3 also have pictures that go with them (also done by Nasdreks).
Again, you may notice some literary / artistic liberties with the fact that the Key of the Star's incantation didn't change, and Sakura didn't need to transform any of the Clow Cards she used. Consider this though: Sakura could use Windy against Yue without transforming Windy first, so I figured the incantations were still good. Don't worry, I plan to patch this little plot-hole up MUCH later. (In fact, C3S was written to answer just that: why Sakura could use Windy against Yue. I'm a little pedantic...)
Chapter 2 will come up later, like in a few days or so. Let Chapter 1 sink in first. (Hint: non-spam reviews make me go faster...)
Chapter 3: Perchance to Dream
(by drake, added on 2007-08-08 12:10:17 AEST) [Discussion Topic]
Chapter 2: Perchance to Dream
The sun rises on Tomoeda as the small town begins showing its first signs of life of the day. But in one particular household, not all had gotten a restful night of sleep…
***
Sakura’s room
The alarm clock on Sakura’s nightstand rings and vibrates around furiously, but Sakura remains asleep, her head buried under layers of sheets, showing no signs of waking up anytime soon.
Over on Sakura’s desk lay the materials from last night: the leopard-ear hair band from her battle costume, her star key, the Clow Cards resting in the Clow Book, and one single Kaos Card, The Industry. The Industry lays on the table, next to the standing, sealed and filled Elixir of Fire, emitting an eerie pulsating orange glow.
Kero sits on the windowsill in a meditative stance, watching the sunrise. ‘Why, Clow?’ he asks in thought. ‘You’re the only sorcerer who could’ve orchestrated something like what happened last night. And you almost lost your successor in the process. I know you can hear my thoughts. Even though you passed away close to two centuries ago, your presence still inhabits this world. Answer me… Clow Gin…’
The morning wind whips up and patters fall leaves against the window, as if to answer Kero.
‘Your anger taints this world, Gin. I’ll testify that my former master may have been a bit of a screwball. But he wasn’t a psychopath,’ Kero thinks, turning his head towards the Elixir of Fire and The Industry card. “The nobler the path, the deeper the madness,” Kero whispers proverbially before levitating over to Sakura’s nightstand and shutting off her alarm.
As Kero shuts off Sakura’s alarm, he notices the lump under Sakura’s covers, taking this as an indicator that his new master hasn’t woken up yet after such a rough night. Approaching the lump that he perceives to be Sakura, Kero gently pokes at her from above the covers. Sakura responds by quickly snapping awake and throwing her covers over top of Kero.
Sakura wakes up with a scream before darting glances around her, realizing that she was asleep in her room. She reaches for her chest to control her heavy breathing when she notices that she is still wearing the same long gloves, vest, boots, and in fact her entire battle costume from the previous night, minus the ears and plus a serious case of bed-head. Even some of the makeup from the corners of her cheeks remains, as Sakura notices by removing a glove and wiping a finger across her cheeks. Staring at the makeup, Sakura tries to make sense of her current position, feeling detached from her surroundings. Her vision wanders to her desk, where the Elixir of Fire lay next to The Industry card.
Kero manages to squirm out from under a wad of Sakura’s bed sheets that he had been buried under as he gasps for air. After catching his breath, he notices Sakura sitting up with a perplexed expression on her face. “Sakura… are you okay?” he asks nervously, not sure about Sakura’s mental condition.
Sakura casts off her other long glove as she slowly rubs her eyes and steps out of her bed, drowsily pacing to her desk and leaning onto it. “I-I can’t believe… that all… really happened,” she whispers with ephemeral disbelief, reaching towards the Elixir of Fire’s lanyard and lifting it up.
The Elixir twirls around in slow, rotational motions within the bottle. The bottle’s eyes glisten wickedly back at Sakura.
Sakura responds by placing the Elixir around her neck. “I am under your contract…” she says to the bottle, as the Elixir of Fire itself responds with a deep, lion-like growl.
Not standing idly by, Kero quickly flies over to the dazed Sakura and gets in her face. “Sakura, put it down. You’re stronger than that Elixir of Fire gunk. Resist its control!” he insists frantically. At Sakura’s lack of compliance, he flies down to the Elixir of Fire, now hanging around Sakura’s neck, as he grabs it with his whole body. In response, the heat of the bottle causes Kero to recoil in pain.
The Elixir of Fire growls again as the beak of the vial descends into the bottle, allowing the Elixir of Fire to pour out and form the Circle of Kaos below Sakura’s feet. Repeating what happened in the museum the previous night, the Elixir of Fire pours straight into Sakura’s heart as orange light pours out her eyes and mouth. As this light dies down, the Elixir’s empty bottle closes up and the circle of energy disappears.
Now glowing in the evil energies of the Elixir of Fire, Sakura cracks a wicked grin. “Don’t worry, Kero-chan. I’m still here, and feeling better, and more powerful than ever,” she says to Kero, once again bearing the evil undertone that slowly merges into her normal voice. She reaches towards the Clow Book and grasps it firmly off the desk, closing it firmly and holding it shut, causing Kero to look on in worry.
“Sakura…” he mutters. “Sakura! Snap out of it!” he shouts, completely losing his cool and flying towards Sakura’s wrist to bite her. Opening his mouth, he attempts to snap his meager jaws shut, but finds his bite is impeded by something on Sakura’s skin.
Sakura grabs Kero firmly, straight out of the air, holding him to her face. “And I also have the power to not be bitten by teddy bears. Don’t you remember the fight I had with the Industry? With the Elixir of Fire, I am invulnerable,” she informs Kero before setting the Clow Book down and wrapping both her hands around a struggling Kero’s torso. “…and with the Elixir of Fire protecting me and giving me strength, I have no need for a guardian…” she begins as she closes a vice-like grip on Kero.
Now released, the Clow Book throws itself open, allowing the Clow Cards to throw themselves out of the book and form a ring around Sakura, though keeping at arms length from their possessed master.
Sakura glances around as the Clow Cards surround her. “Don’t worry, your Guardian Beast will only suffer momentarily,” she chides sarcastically to the Clow Cards.
In response to Sakura, one of the cards begins horizontally spinning around, being surrounded by a small circle of Clow. Activating on its own, the rest of the Clow Cards back away, which allows for a giant mirror to appear behind Sakura. A girl with long green hair and a pale kimono looks on from the opposite side of the mirror, horrified at the emotionally-deformed remnants of her master before levitating through the surface of the mirror. As she emerges, she assumes Sakura’s form.
Intrigued by the Mirror Card activating by itself, Sakura tosses Kero into a corner as she turns to face her mirror image. “What’s the matter? Feeling a little insubordinate?” Sakura mocks, placing her hands on her hips.
Mirror begins shivering slightly at the frightening glare of her master until, with confident nerve, she grabs Sakura by the wrist. “Master Sakura, the Elixir of Fire is making you say and do things you don’t mean,” she insists, though coming out more of a weak plea.
“Who says I don’t mean what I say?” Sakura responds, shaking her hand free from Mirror’s pathetically light grip. “The Elixir of Fire doesn’t force me to say anything, but merely allows me to voice the feelings that I’ve held deep in my heart this whole time. So how about I just keep the power of the Elixir of Fire? How about you and your friends just get out of my room,” she begins, reaching towards her desk and picking up the Industry card and waving it in Mirror’s face. “…because with this, I don’t need Clow Reed or his pathetic magical misfits to baby-sit me. I’m feeling better and more powerful now than I’ve ever felt in my life,” she continues before shoving Mirror across the room forcefully, where the other Clow Cards levitate behind her and catch her. “Take your friends and go play Fifty-Two Pickup over Tomoeda. Sucker someone else into putting up with you!” she yells.
Mirror slowly regains her balance before standing up to Sakura again. She is about to say something, but Sakura’s fingers quickly grasp around her neck, causing her to choke. Mirror tries to fight off Sakura’s iron-strong grip from crushing her windpipe. As her eyes begin to glass over, her struggling grows weaker and weaker.
Sakura grins sickly. “Ever since I got conned into rounding you cards up, I’ve always wondered something: Is it physically possible to kill a Clow Card? Now I’m not quite sure at the moment, but I bet we’ll have a lot of fun finding out…” she tells Mirror as she lifts her off the ground by her neck. Seeing Mirror’s eyes roll back into her head, she holds out her opposite hand to grab a long wooden pole. Attached to the end of this pole is a hideous, crooked, blood-stained scythe. Grabbing hold of this new weapon, Sakura raises it up, preparing to cleave Mirror in half. Sakura swings the scythe at Mirror.
***
Sakura’s room
Sakura wakes up with a scream, flailing about frantically. Tossing off her covers, she instinctively snatches her alarm clock off her nightstand before shutting it off. Rubbing her eyes, she takes a look around the room, seeing nothing out of place.
“A… a dream?” she mutters.
From inside Sakura’s desk, the bottom right-hand drawer cracks itself open, allowing Kero to fly out. “Morning, Sakura,” he says to her, as if nothing was wrong.
Further scrutinizing her surroundings, Sakura looks at the backs of her hands, realizing that she is wearing her usual pink pajamas. “Kero-chan… what happened last night exactly?” Sakura asks Kero quizzically before climbing out of bed.
Kero flutters over to the window to crack it open and let the cool morning breeze in. “Nothing much. You did your report on European artwork after your dad took you to the museum. You and Tomoyo reviewed your notes. Why? Did you have a bad dream or something?” he responds typically.
Sakura takes a deep breath before sighing emphatically. “So it was all just a dream…” she sighs with relief as she climbs out of bed and sets her feet down. But upon setting her feet down, she notices that she is wearing a pair of leopard-spotted boots. “What? Those boots. They’re from… hoee!!” Sakura shouts, as the next thing she realizes, she is wearing her battle costume from when she thought she and Tomoyo broke into the museum. Sakura looks at her gloved hands and realizes that, in one of her hands rests the Elixir of Fire. “I’m going insane! Kero-chan, what is this?!?!” Sakura cries out in frantic disbelief, showing Kero the Elixir of Fire.
To further encourage panic to Sakura, her bedroom door swings open and Fujitaka, her dad, peeks in. Sakura quickly hides the Elixir of Fire behind her back in response, still in shocked disbelief and wearing an expression on her face to match.
“Good morning, Sakura-san, Kero-chan. How was your sleep?” Fujitaka asks both Kero and Sakura.
Kero flies over from the windowsill towards Fujitaka. “It was great. I feel all rested and rejuvenated after that break-in last night. But Sakura doesn’t seem to be doing so well,” he responds.
At hearing Kero’s reply, Fujitaka walks through the doorway and paces towards Sakura. “Sakura-san, are you okay?” he begins as he kneels down to eye level with Sakura.
Sakura shakes her head nervously back and forth, keeping her hands behind her back in a pathetic attempt to hide the Elixir of Fire. “N-no, it’s not what you think, dad! I didn’t mean to! It just sorta’ happened! I never wanted to hurt you!” Sakura insists in a frantic panic.
Fujitaka grabs Sakura’s hands from behind her back, but Sakura fights back, doing her best to conceal the Elixir of Fire.
Kero floats over to Fujitaka’s shoulder to offer a friendly yet unnerving smile in Sakura’s direction. “C’mon, Sakura. Show your dad the Elixir of Fire you stole from the museum last night. He just wants to help,” he says matter-of-factly.
“Why don’t you trust me?!?!” Sakura screams. Breaking Fujitaka’s grip on her wrists, she pulls her hands out from behind her back, revealing a giant scythe, similar to the one from her dream. Without thinking, Sakura takes the scythe and lunges at Fujitaka with it.
***
Sakura’s room
Once again, Sakura wakes up with a jolt, grabbing her alarm clock and turning it off. After stopping her alarm, she grabs at her chest, feeling her own thunderously heavy heartbeats through the button-up shirt of her pink pajamas. When her breathing regularizes and she surveys the seemingly normal surroundings of her room, she puts on a frustrated expression. “Okay, this is getting really annoying…” she growls.
“So you noticed it too?” Kero’s voice responds. Kero flies up to Sakura’s shoulder. “It’s one thing to be nearly crushed to death by a possessed master, but that last one was just cheesy. And what was with that first one? Am I a poet all of a sudden or something?”
Sakura turns towards Kero as she quickly jumps out of bed. “So you’re saying you remembered my dreams?” Sakura answers, surprised and feeling slightly relieved that her situation is no longer completely hopeless and confusing.
Kero puts a paw on his chin as he thinks. “It doesn’t affect me because I’m a Guardian Beast with loyalty to Clow Reed. Which means that there’s only one thing that this can be: a Kaos Card,” he deduces.
“Hoee, so they’re real?!” Sakura screeches, backing away from Kero and balling up her hands in front of her face.
“Unfortunately,” Kero responds grimly. “And based on that scythe that appeared in both of your previous dreams, this card has to be the Nightmare Card,” he responds. “The Nightmare Card is extremely frustrating. It starts out by making you dream about your greatest outward fear, then delves deeper into your heart to uncover more subtle fears. First, you dreamt that you attacked me and the Clow Cards because you were possessed by the Elixir of Fire. Then you dreamt that you attacked your dad because you were afraid he’d be ashamed of you if he found out what you did. These will only get more intense and intimate as you go on. If you don’t seal this card away, it’ll reveal horrors that you didn’t even know existed. And if the Nightmare Card ever decides to let you wake up, there won’t be anything left of your mind but a cold, scarred shadow,” Kero explains.
“So I’m still dreaming?” Sakura asks hopelessly. “And if I keep dreaming, the Kaos Card will force me to attack Tomoyo-chan and Yukito-san too. How can I possibly wake up and know that I’m really awake?” she asks.
Kero folds his arms. “That’s not a Kaos Card. That’s just life. When you’re awake, you never really know if you’re dreaming or not. You can’t know. It’s impossible. All you can do is believe that the reality that you’re in is real,” Kero answers. “But as for defeating the Kaos Card, that’s possible, yet difficult. You can only beat the Kaos Card by living up to your deepest fears and facing them head-on. Then, the Nightmare won’t be able to turn your fears against you and you won’t go insane. To seal it away, you have to trust that you yourself have the power to seal it away. In this world, your subconscious is the ultimate deciding factor, and your will is your ultimate strength.”
Sakura tilts her head curiously. “So… you’re saying that anything I think of in this dream world will become real?” she asks, becoming intrigued.
“Yep, that’s pretty much how dreams work,” Kero nods.
Sakura then folds her legs, crosses her arms and sits with deep, deep concentration until a knocking sound comes from the other side of her bedroom door.
“Sakura-chan, breakfast is ready. Come on down and eat, and then I’ll walk you to school,” the voice, clearly Yukito’s, says from the other side of the door.
“It worked!” Sakura exclaims as she balls up her fists in front of her face to hide the blushes on her cheeks. She giggles childishly, but Kero interrupts her by walloping her over the head with his paw.
“Cut that out! You’ve got work to do!” Kero scolds. “And besides, the Nightmare Card is out to make you miserable by manipulating your dreams. At least don’t give it any fodder,” Kero warns.
“Oh, let a girl live a little!” Sakura insists as she happily prances towards her bedroom door to open it. But as she eagerly swings her door open, an unconscious Yue falls face-first onto the floor.
Sakura quickly sidesteps the falling guardian. “Hoee! It’s Yue-san!” she shrieks.
“Yue!” Kero shouts as he flies towards his lunar counterpart. Kero attempts to place a paw on Yue, to see whether he is still alive, only for Yue to vanish into sparkling silver dust, much to Kero’s and Sakura’s shock.
“Did the Nightmare Card do this to Yue-san? Is he in this dream too? What about Yukito-san? Is he okay?” Sakura asks frantically.
“Calm down!” Kero yells as he points out Sakura’s open door. “It’s still just a dream. Nightmare was just trying to psyche you out because you’re getting closer to it. Look out there for your proof,” Kero instructs.
Sakura peers out the open doorway to see, not the usual corridor outside her room, but a dark, dank subway station. “What’s that doing there? I didn’t imagine that!” she protests. “That must mean the Nightmare Card is on the other side of this door…” she deduces, looking around.
“Hurry then! If you take too long, you’ll wake up again before you confront the Nightmare Card’s true form,” Kero advises.
Sakura nods, and then holds out her palm, in which her magic key materializes in her hands. “If this is a dream, then I should have all my Clow Cards to work with. So if the Nightmare Card is over there, I’ll be ready,” she begins. “Key hiding the powers of the Darkness, reveal your true form before me. I, Sakura, command you under our contract: release!” she commands, as the small key in her hands grows into a full-sized wand. At this moment, Sakura plunges fearlessly through the mysterious portal at her doorway, with Kero right behind her.
Arriving in the dark, dank subway station, Sakura and Kero look around. The area is completely deserted, with debris like paper cups and old newspapers littering the ground and blowing through the windy station. Large concrete pillars are scattered about the wide area. The station, however looking like a normal subway station, is completely devoid of any identifying marks. Street signs and maps on the walls are completely blank. The suspended fluorescent lights, or the few that work anyway, flicker on and off. Even the subway tunnels themselves show no sign of oncoming trains.
“K-kero-chan… where did we go?” Sakura asks, shivering in both the cold wind and fear.
“Stay focused,” Kero instructs. “Whenever you freaked out in your previous dreams, you woke up. But we’re too close to the Nightmare now. The only way to truly wake up is to seal it off.”
The wind from the subway tunnels begins whipping up violently, as if a train was coming. All the sound-cues that a train was arriving, the screeching of the tracks, the violent winds, they were all there. But the train itself was not. Sakura looks for the train frantically, her knees trembling.
“That’s it, I’m outta’ here!” Sakura insists, turning back towards where the door was, but only sees a tattered door frame sitting in the middle of nowhere.
“HOEE!” Sakura whimpers, throwing her hands over her head.
“Keep going!” Kero insists.
“But I forgot my Clow Cards in the room, and now I’m stuck here!” Sakura whimpers.
“Weakling…” a young, friendly, yet obnoxious voice echoes throughout the station.
“That voice…” Sakura whispers, snapping out of her fear.
“Oh great…” Kero moans, sinking in the air with an utter lack of enthusiasm.
Dressed up in full battle costume, Syaoran storms down the concrete stairwell. He swings his sword and launches lightning blasts as he retreats from… something up the stairwell. Heading straight for the security gates, Syaoran bounds over the barricades completely with a mid-air flip before meeting Sakura right in the center of the arena-like station.
“Li-kun?!” Sakura notices in shock.
“Kozo…” Kero mutters under his breath.
Syaoran turns towards the opening to the subway station and faces it with his sword extended. “Pie-day Sore-eyes!” he commands, blasting the doorway with a massive lightning bolt, collapsing the opening and sealing the last exit shut.
“Pie-day? Sore-eyes? That doesn’t sound right…” Sakura inquires to Kero, hardly believing her ears.
“Since you haven’t memorized how to pronounce the kozo’s incantations properly, your mind is just imagining the closest pronunciation to the correct one,” Kero answers, before noticing the new predicament. “Hey, wait a sec… That kozo entombed us! We’re stuck in here!” he notices angrily.
“But that thing is in here too…” Syaoran adds grimly.
“Uh… thing? That thing wouldn’t happen to be a giant sickle, would it?” Sakura asks while nervously sweat-dropping.
Syaoran lowers his sword and stands straight, but then remains perfectly still, turned away from Sakura. “I can’t seal it off. Only you can. Sakura…” he mutters in a humble and low tone.
“Do you mean the Nightmare Card?” Sakura asks.
Syaoran’s shadow, cast from one of the working fluorescent lights, stretches long across the floor before rising off the ground under its own power. It takes the shape of an oversized model of the bottle that contains the Elixir of Fire, but with the beak pointing down, and the entire thing is a black shadow and not its usual pulsating orange. It points at Sakura, Syaoran and Kero.
“So, you are the one selected by that fool, Reed,” the apparition bellows out in a multi-voiced, deep cacophony.
Sakura darts behind Syaoran and peeks over his shoulder nervously, as she knew the being was addressing her.
Finally showing signs of life, Syaoran tightens his grip on his sword and raises his arms up protectively. “Leave her alone. I’m the one you want. You know it and I know it,” he bravely tells the floating shadow being.
The figure emits a deep cackle. “You broke your contract, Xiao Lang. You have no power over me anymore. Then again, I should have expected that you would turn on us, just as that coward Reed had done.” The beak of the being opens, allowing for a long wooden pole to protrude from its mouth. Attached to the latter end of the pole is a curved blade. It was the same exact scythe as before.
Syaoran braces himself, grabbing his sword double-handedly. “Do your worst…” Syaoran beckons, egging the thing on.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… you shall never live long enough to do…” the shadowy apparition continues. The scythe raises itself up over Syaoran’s head before hurtling down.
”SWORD!” Sakura announces. Her staff transforms into the image of the Sword card as she intercepts the swinging of the scythe, blocking for Syaoran at the last second. The impact forces Sakura to grab onto the Sword with both hands, but eventually the pressure brings her down to one knee. “Get out of my head, Kaos Card!” Sakura orders.
“And you would be wrong in that assumption, Kinomoto Sakura-san,” the shaded figure responds with a defiantly rumbling voice. “The scythe you guard against is the true form of the Nightmare, a Kaos Card, like you envisioned. I, on the other hand, am not a Kaos Card. I am but a spectator wishing to see what the Chosen of Clow Reed is capable of, and whether you are worthy of my master’s attentions. If you are truly the Chosen of Clow Reed, dispel this dream and seal the Kaos Card away,” it offers.
The Nightmare lets up the pressure on Sakura, allowing her to stand up as the scythe returns to the side of the shadowy being. The shadow’s beak opens once again, allowing two items to fly out and land at Sakura’s feet: the Industry Card and the Elixir of Fire.
Sakura notices the two items given to her by the creature, staring deeply at them. She nods her head back and forth, resisting the pulsating, tempting glow of the Elixir of Fire. “No, no I won’t give in. I won’t play your games!” Sakura insists. “Kero-chan, who or what is this thing?” she asks before turning behind her to notice that Kero had vanished.
Syaoran had not completely vanished, but instead lay motionless on a distant set of railroad tracks, unconscious, battered, and not moving.
Sakura drops the Sword and runs over to the edge of the platform and kneels down. “LI-KUN!” Sakura desperately calls out to Syaoran from the platform, reaching out to him.
“Your test begins. Pick up the implements you have been given and defeat the Nightmare Card… if you are capable…” the shadow taunts.
Sakura grits her teeth as she approaches the shadowy being. “Get out of my head, demon!” she shouts at the shadow.
“If you are capable of defeating the Nightmare Card, you have nothing to fear from me,” the being calls out.
“And you are?” Sakura demands to know.
The shadow spurts out a stream of shadowy vapor behind it, which slowly takes the form of a four-footed giant animal. The shadowy bird skull connects with the face of the being, causing the foggy mess to take shape. It reveals its true self as a giant beast with the wings of a bat, fur made of serrated dark blue barbs, a mace-like tail, a spiky exposed spine, and a mask made of bone. The size of the beast consumes most of the available space in the now cramped-looking subway station. “I am called Lycan. I am the Guardian Beast of the Kaos, and the selector of my master’s successor. In the museum, you unlocked me when you first opened the Elixir of Fire’s vial. At that moment, as none before you had shown the inner anger to unlock the vial, I have been called forth by my master to test whether you are worthy of his intentions.”
Sakura nods her head back and forth, not even knowing where to begin. “No. No, you’ve got the wrong girl. You don’t understand! The only reason the Elixir of Fire cracked open was because I dropped it! It’s true!” she protests.
Lycan stares down at the insect-sized Sakura at his front paws. “Oh really? You claim the Elixir of Fire was an accident. The magic, on the other hand would beg to differ. You are much darker than you would attempt to be, Kinomoto Sakura. You hide behind your name, attempting to live up to being an innocent ‘cherry blossom’. But you hide so much. You are infuriated when your brother calls you a monster… because you know that it is true. You fail to appreciate the hard work of a close friend… because you care more about how you appear. You ignorantly reject the open compassion of those around you… choosing rather to fantasize your feelings away.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know me, Lycan!” Sakura insists, shaking her fist in opposition.
Lycan cackles deeply. “We shall let the Elixir of Fire decide. If indeed your heart holds goodness and purity, as you claim, you will never be able to harness the power you need to end this nightmare. But, if I am right and your heart is dark, then you will defeat the Nightmare Card with the power of your hatred. Nightmare Card, test this girl’s heart…” Lycan drones.
The Elixir of Fire comes alive and rises off the ground. The beaked lid on the jar sinks, allowing the energy hidden to fly out. Sakura tries to run from this energy, but turns around and realizes that she cannot run from it, lest she fall on the railroad tracks below. Completely trapped, the Elixir entombs Sakura in a flaming whirlwind of magical energy. Sakura screams out loudly when the flaming cyclone is drawn into her heart. As the last of the fire permeates Sakura’s smoking husk, Sakura raises her head to reveal an orange glow in her eyes.
“You don’t know the first thing about me, Lycan. I’m more powerful than you or your master could ever be. And when I seal the Nightmare Card to do my bidding, I’ll see to it that you and your master are next. Nobody makes a pawn out of me…” Sakura threatens ominously as she kneels and picks up the Sword Card off the ground. Reverting back into the staff, then the key, Sakura raises up her hand, all under Lycan’s curious watch.
“Key hiding the powers of the Inferno, reveal your true form before me. I, Sakura, command you under our contract: release!” Sakura commands. The key levitates in her hand before flames consume it. It extends itself into a full wand, with the tip being replaced with a bird skull.
Taking its cue, the Nightmare snaps out of its motionless state at Lycan’s side. It then lunges violently at Sakura. It attempts to slash at Sakura’s shoulder, but the blade only manages to cut through the shoulder-part of Sakura’s pajamas, stopping abruptly at her skin.
Sakura grabs the bladed scythe, lifting it off her shoulders before tossing it across the room. “What part of ‘invulnerable’ do you not get? Stupid card…” She raises her free hand high into the air, causing the Industry card to shoot into her hand.
The Nightmare lifts itself off the ground slowly, as if injured, before raising itself as high as the ceiling allows, preparing to lunge at Sakura again.
Sakura grins wickedly as she tosses the Industry Card out before her and the flaming magical circle appears below her feet. “Industry Card, I command you to bind up the Nightmare in live wires!” she commands, hitting the card with the end of her corrupted staff.
Complying with its master’s orders, the Industry appears as a ball of cables before splitting up and penetrating effortlessly into the wall. As the Industry’s true form completely vanishes into the concrete around her, the subway station begins to rumble furiously before the concrete walls rip apart, revealing tons of wires, crackling with electricity. The wires quickly ensnare the Nightmare in a spider-web of wires springing up from all directions. The fluorescent lights of the station simultaneously go dim and out as the Nightmare is ensnared in the live wires, causing it to glow bright blue with the electric current of the subway station flows through its being. Sakura doesn’t even as much as squint away as the Nightmare is electrocuted, while Lycan continues to watch impassively.
The Nightmare falls at Sakura’s feet, still smoking from being electrocuted, and not moving at all.
“And this makes two,” Sakura says as she raises her staff above her head. “Now get out of my dreams and return to your original form: Kaos Card!” Sakura commands, swinging her wand down.
At Sakura’s incantation, the Nightmare begins to evaporate into a shady vapor that flows into the form of a card at the end of Sakura’s staff.
Having seen enough, Lycan begins to fade away, slowly vanishing into thin air. “My master will be pleased…” Lycan mutters as he disappears.
Nightmare’s scythe form completely evaporates and is sucked into the glowing orange card form at the end of Sakura’s staff. Completing the sealing process, the Nightmare Card ceases its glow and floats into Sakura’s hand. Sakura looks at the newest acquisition to her collection of magical cards, and it showed the picture of the scythe that had haunted her dreams up until now.
“You did it!” Kero shouts, jumping right in Sakura’s face and nearly causing her to lose her balance and fall on the railroad tracks behind her.
“And where exactly did you go, you coward?!” Sakura shouts at Kero as she regains her balance.
“Calm down, Sakura. Now that the Nightmare has been sealed, this dream world will disappear and you’ll wake up good as new,” Kero says as he begins to glow with a bright white corona.
The Elixir of Fire blasts out of Sakura’s mouth and eyes, returning to the bottle on the floor, allowing a clearly weaker Sakura to gaze around weakly at her surroundings, but she quickly regains her composure as the entire station around her begins to glow with a soft white light.
“Hoee? What’s happening? Kero-chan, are you okay?” Sakura asks, falling weakly to her knees and dropping her reverted key on the ground.
Kero floats down to eye-level with Sakura. “Don’t worry, you’re just waking up. Now that the Nightmare Card has been sealed, you’re free of this dream,” he explains.
Sakura looks back towards the railroad tracks, looking for where Syaoran was, but sees no one before turning back towards Kero. “Kero-chan, will you know about this stuff when you wake up, because I have soooo[/i[ many questions about what happened in this dream!” Sakura asks.
Kero dissolves into white sparkling dust, his voice now coming from all directions. “Zettai daijobu, Sakura. To tell you the truth, I never really [i]was Keroberos. I was just a figment of your imagination, the part of your consciousness that trusts in your abilities. Everything you managed to do in this dream, you did on your own. You should be very proud of yourself,” Kero’s voice echoes.
“But what about Yue-san?” Sakura asks, standing up and shouting into the glowing white sky. “And is Li-kun going to be okay? Why did he appear? And what about Lycan? Was Lycan real, or just a dream too?” Sakura shouts towards the glowing white sky.
“All the answers are in your heart…” Kero’s voice says softly.
***
Outside Sakura’s house
Sunlight breaks over the horizon overlooking Sakura’s house. Tomoyo sits on the front porch, grabbing Sakura’s shoulders and shaking, and Kero floats over Sakura as he tugs at her cheeks.
“Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Please wake up!” Tomoyo pleads worriedly, shaking a comatose Sakura by the shoulders.
Kero releases Sakura’s swollen cheeks, beginning to give up. “It’s no use. She’s not waking up, and we’ve been at this for over an hour!”
“Do you think this is because of the Elixir of Fire?” Tomoyo asks.
“No, it’s not,” Kero responds quickly. “Sakura is just exhausted. Before using the Elixir of Fire, she used a ton of Clow Cards, one right after the other. She wasted a lot of magic that way, and now she’s just tired. But I don’t know how she could be this tired,” he explains.
Beginning to show signs of life, Sakura’s closed eyelids begin to t\/\/itch about as Sakura slowly opens her eyes. “…uhh …hoee…” she moans sleepily.
“Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo shouts thankfully as she tightly hugs Sakura.
“Ow! Tomoyo-chan, let go, please, you’re crushing me!” Sakura asks, short of breath.
Tomoyo quickly releases Sakura, allowing Sakura to rub her sore head.
Sakura looks at her still gloved hands as she t\/\/itches her fingers slowly. “I… remember…” she says weakly.
Suddenly, a soft orange glow appears in her hands, taking the form of a card. The Nightmare Card is dropped into her hands, already engraved with Sakura’s name.
Kero looks over Sakura’s shoulder at the card that materialized before her. “So, the Nightmare Card was responsible. That would explain why you didn’t wake up.”
“The Nightmare Card?” Tomoyo asks quizzically.
“The dream…” Sakura mutters. “I remember the dream. In the dream, I attacked Kero-chan and the Clow Cards. The Elixir of Fire made me do it. Then, I attacked dad. And then… it was so dark and cold. …and Li-kun… was there too…” she drones on, with Kero and Tomoyo listening attentively.
“The kozo attacked you?” Kero asks quickly, jumping to conclusions.
“No,” Sakura answers softly. “There was something else there. It wasn’t Li-kun, but it wasn’t the Nightmare Card either. It was… huge,” she continues. “It said it was a Guardian Beast, like Kero-chan. But he kept saying these horrible lies. It told me that I was evil. That my evil is what opened the Elixir of Fire.”
“Another Guardian Beast?” Kero asks with fearful intrigue. “What was it called? What did it look like? Did it have any identifying marks?”
“It was called… Lycan…” Sakura answers, trembling. She pulls her knees up to her face and rocks back and forth. “I’m not evil. I’m not!” Sakura insists weakly.
Tomoyo places her hands on Sakura’s shoulders. “Of course you’re not,” Tomoyo insists.
Kero continues to flutter about in the air as he turns away from Sakura and Tomoyo. ‘Lycan. That sounds so familiar. Where have I heard that name before?’ he thinks to himself as he stares at the last few visible stars of the morning sky.
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A/N: This is a chapter that a lot of previous readers seemed to really like, yet sadly very few actually got to. I don't know how the Prologue could confuse people so much that they never get past it... But anyway, this chapter introduces one of my favorite original characters: Lycan. You can find fanart of Lycan here. FYI, Nasdreks, the same artist who does Card Captor Torika... is not me. I do some of my own fanart, but only the Kaos Cards themselves. Nasdreks draws the people way better than I do.
Also, for some reason, the chapter editor doesn't let me use the word "t\/\/it" (I can't even spell it out!), even though the word I tried to spell was "T-\/\/-I-T-C-H". I spelled the w by placing out the backslash, slash, backslash, and slash keys, to look like the letter \/\/.
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