BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!
The alarm clock cut through Sakura's mind like a knife. She jumped out of bed and looked at the clock. Her sight was still blurry from sleep, but she could see the position of the hands all too well. "Aaah!" she yelled, "I'm late for school again!"
She dressed at the speed of light, ran to the kitchen and half-choked on her breakfast, went back to her room and got her bookbag, complete with Kero-chan, and ran to the door. She grabbed her roller blades and skated at top speed out of the house and towards school. Toya had already left; a sure sign that she was going to be super-late. "Oh man, I'm so in detention," she fretted aloud. Concentrating on completing her panicked journey in record time, it took a moment to wipe fears of detention from her mind once she approached the school. Everyone was standing outside, staring. Sakura looked around, and saw Syaoran and Tomoyo talking to each other. "Syaoran-kun! Tomoyo-chan!" she called, skating over, "What's going on?"
Tomoyo opened her mouth to reply, but Syaoran spoke instead. "It's a Clow card! I can sense it! And here's the weird thing: it's like these are different cards...but Clow cards all the same!"
"What does that have to do with the school?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Actually, it has nothing to do with the school, we're all just locked out, I think," Tomoyo said.
Syaoran stated, "I think that school will be canceled today. In any case, we should go check out this weird Clow Card presence that I'm sensing."
Sakura and Tomoyo agreed. They went away from the crowd, behind a few trees. Sakura pulled out the Cards, stashed safely in her backpack with Kero-chan, and activated first the Key and then the Fly card.
"Hop on!" she told Syaoran and Tomoyo.
"Wait, we have to get my camera first!" Tomoyo cried.
"No time!" Syaoran said.
"I'll go and get it," Kero-chan offered. "I'll be right back!"
"Thank you so much, Kero-chan!" Tomoyo beamed. As he flew away, Tomoyo started and said uncertainly "Do you think he'll be able to find it and find us again in time?"
"He might be able to," Syaoran said, "It seems that it's a pretty long way to the card."
They flew on in an awkward silence, which Tomoyo broke saying "Sakura-chan, I happen to have a new outfit for you in my bag! It's a newer version of one of your older ones, the one you wore when you caught the Jump card! Now, instead of pompoms hanging off the bow on your shirt and shoes, it's little tassels! I can't wait for you to try it on," she gushed.
Syaoran frowned at this, considering Sakura's routine dress-up a waste of time, but Sakura smiled. Over the time that she had spent chasing Clow Cards, with her and Kero-chan, then additionally with Syaoran, posing in a real-life action series for Tomoyo's camera, Sakura had grown to enjoy her burden. It was as though a great game of make believe among friends, except that it was real—and so was the danger—but then, so were the thrills, and the memories.
The silence returned, and this time Syaoran broke it. "Kero-chan is coming, and we're here," he said, no trace of emotion at all in his voice.
In the distance, the small yellow bear-like creature was flying erratically towards them, carrying a bag well over three times his size. Sakura turned to meet him, grabbing the bag from his sweating hands before he was overwhelmed by the burden. A small grove of trees were sought out; the party landed, and Sakura went under the cover of leaves to assume her latest Cardcaptor uniform. A wave of compliments awaited her return, issuing proudly from Tomoyo, and broken only by Syaoran's unemotional urge to continue.
"Now that Sakura-chan's changed," Tomoyo announced, "we are ready to hunt down the source of the mysterious presence!"