Author's Notes: Here is all of season 2, with the last eight chapters written. Enjoy.
Disclaimers: Card Captors belong to CLAMP, Phyrexians, non-Clow cards that are still represented as spells and other stuff belong to Wizards of the Coast. Don't sue. I only own Strider.
Enter Tsabo
Chapter 1
"Great. The three of us against a highly experienced Phyrexian general. This just keeps getting better and better," muttered Kero. Sakura glared at the Guardian beast. "We can't just roll over and let the Phyrexians take over!! A lot of people are depending on us to get life back to normal!"
Li turned to face Strider. "Won't these troops be forced to go back when the plague hits their homeworld?" The entity shook his head. "The plague probably cannot infect any Phyrexian native. It is engineered to fizzle inside their physiology. The only real damage I can do is to the science department. They constantly use lab rats to conduct experiments. Once the plague hits them, they will be released into the afterlife. Thanks to their arrogance and overconfidence of interdimensional domination, the Phyrexians never bothered to make an antidote."
The general stood up and started to bark orders to the troops. "Ghoul Units 101 to 140, locate the communications personnel. Broodling Units 452 to 467, locate any people that were unaffected by the Stakes and bring them here."
Belbe took out an Astrolabe and started to tinker with it. While he was tinkering, he spotted a shadow out of the corner of his eye. 'We have company.' He slipped away to inform the general.
"Li, your sword is going to be useless against Tsabo since it is a legendary sword. I will give you the Runesword. Hopefully, it will be adequate. Return to thy true form, Sword of the Chosen! Runesword, release!!" Strider made the exchange while Kero reported some disturbing news.
"I think Belbe may be on to us. He spotted my shadow. This wouldn't have happened if a certain someone let me go on top of her head!" The Clow mistress sighed. "There was a chance of you getting caught. It's unusual for a yellow toy to be lying around on a crate."
Strider gave a cold glare, signaling for everybody to be quiet. "In any case, we better make our move. I'll weaken Tsabo with summon creatures and keep Belbe busy. You keep attacking and when his health is about 1000 life points, you capture him. Got it?" Sakura waved her hands frantically. "Wait a minute...are you saying all the Phyrexians are capable of being captured like a normal Clow card?"
"They are composed of Death magic. What other explanation do I need? Tsabo has traits of Death and Fire magic so that makes him much more dangerous than normal Death magic creatures." They heard a clapping from behind. There, Tsabo Tavoc applauded them for their efforts. "Always the analytical one, eh? I often wonder, if you know so much about me, then how come I always slip away from your grasp?"
Chapter 2
The general was not an amazing sight to behold. He is tall but highly scrawny. Although he appears to be that way, his strength and even take down a Thorn Elemental. What was more astonishing was that he appeared to be completely organic. He has an extremely long ponytail, starting from the top of his head. (something like Genie from Disney's Aladdin) His face twisted into a gruesome smile.
"Are these the Champions of this world? They are nothing but children however it is said the smallest one can often bring about the downfall of great evil." He chuckled before snapping his fingers and summoning two Phyrexian Ghouls and two Phyrexian Broodlings. "The Ghouls have got to be an amazing masterpiece. Feed these guys a useless member of our society and their strength doubles for 24 hours!"
"You could say we waste nothing. Our food chain is a spiraling cycle. Here is another wonderful creation by our most promising scientist, Kerrick! Yes, there is a mana cost but by feeding these creatures, they get a little stronger and no, it's not temporary. Let me see what these shrimps can do." Tsabo nodded his head to his soldiers and they began to charge.
"Sleep card, send these creatures to an eternal slumber! Release and dispel!!!" Tsabo activated the Shiv's Embrace spell and flew to safety. The zombies began to eat the minions. The Sleep spell missed and Sakura is wide open to attack. Li held up the Runesword. "Let's see how this sword handles. Force, know my plight. Release the light! LIGHTNING!!!" Several lightning bolts flew at the zombies but they were too fast.
"Kerberus, you go after Tsabo and I'll take care of Belbe!" Kero turned to Strider. "What about the kid and Sakura? We can't leave them here with these freaks!!"
"We have to put faith in Sakura and Li to do this on their own. This is the only way to test their courage, their bond, their love..." Kero's jaw nearly dropped. "The Chinese brat and Sakura?! No way!!"
The entity chuckled. "I've seen over five thousand dimensions where Li and Sakura get together. They're soul mates throughout space and time." He thought back to his previous life in the village. This was where a new life was forged from the heavens on to Sakura and Li. 'I'm living proof that they will get together. I was their new life after the disaster...'
"Freeze card, hold them fast in your icy prison!!" Li hit the card and the zombies became immobilized. The Clow mistress gave a sigh of relief. "That was some quick thinking there. Nice job." He gave a small smile back. "Hey, you forced them to reduce the squad to half. That made things a lot easier."
Tsabo watched from the distance. "Well, well. I'll have to counter those Clow cards somehow. Let's see if Belbe can pull something out of his bag of tricks." He silently made his escape and summoned the remaining forces to find a new base of operations.
"They did it!!! I hate to admit it but you may be right about that super bond thing." Strider gave a reassuring nod while Kero went over to congratulate the two Cardcaptors. 'If I know Belbe, he'll find a way to construct a Null Brooch. This means I will have to step in with summon spells... perhaps the two can pass Yue's test in this dimension. I remember the dire consequences of not erasing the Clow cards memories of their mistress after she failed the test. She always told me about it. I will not let my parents' dopplegangers repeat that mistake...'
Chapter 3
"Penny for your thoughts?" Tsabo Tavoc snapped out of his trance and turned to where Belbe's voice came from. "Later. How is the recovery operation going?" The Phyrexian engineer looked at the status report. "About 58% of the original equipment has been destroyed. We are working around the clock to salvage what we can."
The general grunted in satisfaction before turning to the Death magic card that lay on his desk. "I wonder why you don't use that card. After all, it is much more useful than Shiv's Embrace considering the lives you took over the past thousand worlds."
"Shiv's Embrace combines the top three powers from the land into one Fire magic card. An increase in attack and defensive strength, flight and the Firebreathing spell, where by channeling fire mana into the enchant creature you are bonded with, it increases your attack power. The other card is a bit disturbing."
Belbe raised his eyebrow. "In what way?" Tsabo picked up the card and showed the image of the card to Belbe. "The powers of the cards usually have a price. I paid the price when I first landed on Shiv by allowing the flame to scar my physical appearance. Personally, the price commanded by this card is a bit too expensive for my taste."
"That's how the card is, mimicking the original beings who possessed these powers. Requiring expensive items and extreme luxury. I say the only members of their clan who don't enjoy those pleasures are the minions themselves." Tsabo chuckled. "They were nothing but simple results from Volrath's experiments. He was a fool, letting those creatures roam around. He learned his lesson in the end at the hands of the Ascendant Evincar."
"You mean the new Crovax? I am surprised that he still survived." The general nodded in agreement. "Crovax unleashed the full demon and survived. It has grown and built up ever since he was cursed at Volrath's Stronghold."
He activated a communications console. "I need assassin unit 802 to come up to my office." Belbe shook his head. "I always did prefer the Royal Assassin. Now he was a guy who knew how to kill with class." Tsabo tossed a cold glare in his direction. "My assassin is just as efficient as the Royal Assassin."
The doors of the office opened and a creature stepped in. He bowed before his master. "You require my services, master?" Tsabo nodded. "I need you to dispense of two humans who are unaffected by the Juntu Stakes. They possess some level of magic so some precaution is advisable."
The assassin bowed once more before becoming a part of the scenery itself. "Those two Cardcaptors won't be using their magic. The Null Brooches are ready to go." Belbe turned to the general. "Now the fun can begin," murmured Tsabo with a maniacal grin plastered on his face.
Chapter 4
"Let's see what I can do for you guys...normally, I would summon up some Light magic spells but Serra had an emergency and some of the good Light cards have left for her plane. The only thing I can do now is change your class type." Sakura had a confused look on her face. "What are you talking about, Strider?"
"Tsabo might attack you two with one of his personal assassins or something else. I will change your character classes frequently to confuse him but your physical appearance will remain the same. Tidal Visionary, do your stuff! Release!!" The merfolk mage blew some powder into Sakura and Li's faces, changing their class type to knight. "A knight from the Fire variety. That should keep Tsabo scratching his head for a while. Hmmmmm...your partial Death magic protection has entirely dissipated so you have to be extra careful."
The group had recollected themselves at Sakura's house to come up with a new strategy to battle Tsabo Tavoc. The only thing they could do at the moment while their brains search tirelessly for ideas is wait and prepare. Strider had been using whatever magic he had up his sleeve in order to protect the Cardcaptors.
From changing creature class to altering magic type to...who knows what. "With Tsabo's assassin, it tends to target creature types which is most common. Like human. As long as I keep altering your creature class, you should be safe." Kero scratched his head with his paw. "But what is with the constant changing of magic type?"
"Each creature has a magic type they are aligned with. The most fearsome dragons come from the Fire type. Shapeshifters from the Water type. Undead creatures from Death type. Powerful creatures that can easily trample over you from the Nature type and creatures of purity from Light type. Since you two are pure and powerful, you are a balance of Light and Nature type."
"Target is within two kilometres...the signal...what the hell is happening to their signal?!?" The frustrated cry of the assassin could be picked up by Strider. "Well that confirms how much Tsabo is getting pissed right now."
The group quietly left the house, making sure that Tsabo was too preoccupied to notice them right now. The assassin then appeared out of nowhere and attacked. "Damn!! He's a good one!!"
He snarled. "I'm no weak assassin who depends primarily on the creature class to destroy. I can still do so with other means." He held up a Reckless Spite. "Death is such an exquisite sensation." The group turned to see the Phyrexian general watching from above.
"Don't mind me! I'm just here to watch the game and enjoy myself. By the way, Strider...no helping or else I get to play!" The entity growled softly. "What are you, insane? Are you just going to keep toying with them until you deliver the final blow?"
Tsabo gave a maniacal laugh before he leapt to the ground. "You've grown quite attached to them! You know, I never realized how much the girl's eyes look so much like...that mother. The one who worried over her son for so long after he left. I never knew that emerald coloured eyes could be so juicy!!"
"You killed them..." The general waved a finger. "No. You did. You killed their child when you became who you are today. It was natural for their grief to eat at them for so long that life just stops. I wonder how you will take it when these two die."
Chapter 5
The assassin gave a menacing grin as he held up the Reckless Spite spell. "I'm so going to enjoy this." He was about to cast the spell when Tsabo raised his hand, signaling him to stop. "No magic allowed! After all, the Null Brooches will counter anything the children throw out so I say we play fairly and not use any magic at all." He threw an evil glare at the assassin just to make sure the message is clear. The assassin took a quick glance before tossing the card away.
"No big deal. I can kill them without magic." He took out a dagger and charged. The two Cardcaptors dodged the attack. Li attempted to slice off their opponent's head but it was blocked. 'Kerberus!! Can you hear me?' The Guardian beast turned away from the fight. 'I hear ya, Strider.'
'Those two are dealing with a professional killer. They may not be able to make it. I suggest that you sneak away and locate where Belbe keeps the Null Brooches. Once you attach these microchips to the artifacts, I can transform them into cards.' Several microchips appeared on Kero's neck, like a necklace.
Kero floated silently away from the area, being careful as to alarm nobody. As soon as he got out of range, he took off as fast as his little wings can take him. 'Let's see if I can catch a whiff of that Phyrexian engineer's scent...there, it is!! Man, haven't these guys heard of deodorant?'
'Li!! When I tell you to, activate the Time card!!' The Chinese boy blocked another blow. 'Why not now?' The entity showed Li a picture of the Null Brooch. 'Belbe has been able to successfully construct one of these. They will counter any non-creature spell. This means the Clow cards are useless at the moment.'
The assassin viciously attacked Li. "AAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!" There was a gash on Li's right side. Grinning savagely, the assassin was about to go for a final blow when Sakura used her baton to knock him away from Li.
"Li, are you alright?" He grit his teeth in pain. "I'll survive. Just help me get up." Sakura shook her head. "You're in no condition to fight, Li. I'll take it from here."
"You can't fight!" She gave him a quick smile. "I got the Fight card, remember? Fight card, release and dispel!!" A blue beam shot out at the Fight card, rendering it useless. "What just happened?"
Strider gave Tsabo a cold glare. "She only has her Clow cards. At least let her use the Fight card so she can defend herself!" The general pouted. "You're no fun at all. Fine...Belbe, reverse the Null Brooch effect on the Fight card and only the Fight card."
Sakura got into a defensive stance. The assassin smirked and tried a high fast roundhouse kick. The Clow mistress ducked and counterattacked with a punch to the head. She connected right in the jaw. 'Dammit, Kerberus. We need those Null Brooches off our backs!'
Chapter 6
'I know, I know!! If I can find that stupid engineer...hello!!!' The Guardian beast located Belbe and the Null Brooches. 'There may be sensors along here. I need a distraction!!'
Strider nodded. He was hoping to seal all of the Null Brooches into a card form but the circumstances proved otherwise. Silently and swiftly, he summoned an Uktabi Orangutan to destroy a Null Brooch.
"Dammit!!! Locate the vandal who did this!! Seal those doors. I want to know who destroyed that Null Brooch!!!" Amidst the chaos, Kero silently floated along the Null Brooches and began to attach the microchips into hidden sections of the artifact.
Amazingly, Sakura was keeping up with the assassin. You could say this fight is similar to the fight between Piccolo and Android 17. (From the past two episodes of DBZ, which is owned by Akira Toriyama. Don't sue!!!) Sakura dashed at the assassin. He tried to strike her but she flipped over and kicked him. He quickly recovered and blocked another kick. Grabbing her leg, he threw her over to where Li was watching.
'Strider!! The microchips are in place!!' The entity smiled to himself as he watched the fight. "Tsabo, one of the Null Brooches have been destroyed!!"
"WHAT?!!? Tell me what happened, Belbe!!" The Phyrexian engineer gulped nervously. "Apparently, a creature spell has been cast and destroyed a Null Brooch in the process." The general snarled at the entity. "You did this!! My assassin, destroy those two by whatever means necessary!!!" Activating the Shiv's Embrace, Tsabo flew back to the base.
"Null Brooch, return to thy true form!!!!" Several artifact cards were formed thanks to the microchips. Soon, Strider had a pile of cards in front of him. "Li, activate the Time card!!"
"Strider, wait!!! I want to finish this fight to the end!!" Sakura flipped away from the assassin's attack. Strider sighed. "Great. Now she's acting like a Saiyan."
She threw a punch into the assassin's stomach and followed it with a punch to the face. 'I must be getting exhausted. I know...I'll use a Soul Burn spell.' The assassin threw up a card. "Soul Burn, drain all the life energy out of this child!!"
"I will Rewind that. There is to be no magic of any kind." The entity couldn't help but grin. Screaming in frustration, the assassin threw a punch at Sakura which she easily blocked. She then threw him over her shoulder and slammed him on the ground. As soon as he got up, she kicked him, sending him straight into the tree.
"Not bad. I better capture this assassin before you beat him up too badly. Tsabo's Assassin, return to thy true form!!!" After generating four Death mana, he sealed the card. Sakura was ecstatic.
"I did it!!! I won the fight!!" Kero flew up behind Strider. "So did I miss anything?" Li gave a small grin before answering the question. "You missed the fight. In the end, Sakura won...with a little help from me and the Fight card." The entity turned to Li. "We'll have to get those looked at. Let's go inside."
"That's it!!! I'll show those Cardcaptors some real magic!!" The general was pacing around the front desk. "How can I beat them? I have to focus on their character class. No...they are responsible for the citizens of this world. That means, I can still use it." He activated a Death magic card and wrote 'humans' as the general target.
Chapter 7
Belbe peeked into Tsabo's study. He saw the general, looking over a document. "Humans..." He stood up and smiled in satisfaction. "The decree is ready. Now to unleash it upon the world. Ah, Belbe! What news do you have?"
The engineer gave his report. "All the units are standing at their posts. You should be able to generate enough mana for your decree to destroy the humans of this world." Tsabo's smile widened. "This is glorious indeed!! This world will be cleansed of all human life and the Phyrexians will come to shape this into the paradise I dreamed of!!"
The decree spell went to work on the people of Readington. "Breathe deep, Readington. Breathe deep and die." Belbe looked at his superior officer. Tsabo Tavoc has truly become the embodiment of evil.
The Defender's senses perked up as the decree was released. "Something on your mind, Strider?" He kept tuning in to the high source of energy traveling to all parts of the city. "The energy is closing in on the city..." Kero raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"It's Tsabo's Decree. He chooses a character class and the decree covers the assigned area and slowly destroys every single being of that particular class. In this case, it's human." Sakura and Li could sense the black mist covering the sections of the town.
"Pull off a counterspell or something!!" The entity glared at Kero. "The spell has already taken effect. It is too late to counter it. I may have a way to fizzle the spell but it will require a lot of effort coming from everybody." The Clow mistress stepped forward. "I'm sure everybody is willing to give all they got!" Li and Kero nodded along.
"Good. We will have to go to the top of the highest building and set up the Parallax Waves there." The rest of the group had a huge question mark above their heads. "I didn't tell you? They are Light spells which transport people to a nether void for a period of time. Their major drawback is the fact that they have a limited amount of time to work. In other words, they fade away. Luckily, the Monk Idealist will be able to constantly return them to me so I can cast them again. Once they leave, the people they transported will be right back to where they were without any harm done to them. It's highly useful in saving the people you want to save from harm and giving the enemies a time out."
"So this is how this Parallax Wave works!!" Kero positioned his paws on the controller and waited for the mist. He pressed a button and a fade counter was removed from the enchantment. The person on his viewscreen vanished and the black mist passed by harmlessly.
"This is pure genius!! Where did you find this anyway?" Strider recast the Parallax Wave that Sakura had finished using up. "A powerful mage named Parallax created several enchantments to remove things temporarily. They were invaluable if they could be constantly recycled." A scream from Sakura's side was heard. They whirled around and saw her, struggling to hold on to the ledge with a Phyrexian Zombie dragging her down.
Chapter 8
"Force, know my plight! Release the light!! LIGHTNING!!!!" The thunderbolts from Li's Runesword forced the Zombie to let go. "Tsabo already knows our location!!" Kero looked to the left. "No kidding. Look!!" They could see all of Tsabo's troops charging towards them.
"We can't fight them off and save the people from Tsabo's Decree at the same time!!" Strider took out some Light magic cards. "This is going to be close but hopefully, this should work." He cast the Parapet spell, giving extra defensive status to the general population. "What is that cheap enchantment going to do? We're all gonna die!!!"
The entity ignored Kero's panicking and concentrated on the Light card he held in his hand. "Wave of Reckoning!!!" The attack power of each being in the world suddenly vanished. The same amount of defense vanished as well. With the Parapet spell in place, the world population would survive the Wave of Reckoning and Tsabo's troops...well, they weren't so lucky. You could say they self-destructed.
"That was weird...the mist!!!!" Everybody scrambled back to their posts to continue their work. Eventually, the decree passed with minimum casualties. Belbe observed this and knew instantly that Tsabo would be one very angry general.
If it wasn't for the Endoskeletons that Belbe had constructed, the Phyrexian force on this world would have been erased. Although the forces had not been totally destroyed, only Tsabo and himself remained of the original 3,000 soldiers.
He reluctantly headed into Tsabo's study where the general had finished reading a transmission from Phyrexia. "I have some unfortunate news, sir. The forces have been totally wiped from Strider's spell." Belbe looked at the general and noticed that he had not even twitched a muscle. Instead, he gave an eerie smile towards Belbe. "Do not despair. We are being sent 5,000 Shivan Zombies."
"Excuse me? We actually stoop so low as to give Barbarians the blessing of the undead?" Tsabo chuckled. "Barbarians long for a glorious death in battle. And we were eager to grant that wish. The takeover of this world has become top priority. Phyrexia is on the verge of collapse and we have lost many worlds thanks to Strider's cure for the plague."
"Will the Shivan Zombies prove to be actually effective against the Defender?" "Belbe, you worry too much. I do have a plan. I intend to perform the Living Death ritual so we can get all of our lost soldiers and cleanse this world at the same time. We will use the Erratic Portal to step out of this world temporarily before the spell takes full effect."
The general picked up a folder and handed it to Belbe. "If this doesn't actually work, there is always our master plan. Imagine the amount of work the scientists put into this type of fusion! The powers of the dead, united as one..."
Belbe opened the folder and studied the status report of the weapon. It was almost complete and soon it will rise to give triumph to the Empire. Tsabo's words were still ringing in his head. 'The powers of the dead, united as one...'
Chapter 9
The window to the museum smashed open. A bony hand went inside to open the lock. Alarms began to ring but no security was there to meet the intruder. "At least the plague still has some use. We won't have to worry about humans for the moment." Tsabo Tavoc stepped inside the building followed by Belbe. "What about the Defender and his allies?"
"The Shivan Zombies will either take care of them or get destroyed in the process. Regardless of the outcome, they will buy enough time to prepare the ritual. If they lose, our ultimate creation will only get stronger." Tsabo smashed open a case to gently take one of the fragile artifacts to perform the ritual.
"Without our forces, how can you generate enough mana for the spell?" The general found the textbook he was looking for. "Simple. I have a Lotus Petal. Enough to generate one mana of any colour. I will use that mana to perform a Dark Ritual. It will generate three Death mana. Another Dark Ritual will be performed using a Death mana produced from the first ritual to give me a total of five Death mana. After that is accomplished, we can proceed with the Living Death ritual."
"Something troubles me..." Tsabo rolled his eyes. "There's always something troubling you, Belbe. What is it?" The Phyrexian engineer raised his head. "That Lotus Petal is your only mana source. That means we only have one shot at this."
"I am aware of that. We always have our master plan. It will certainly crush the Defender and his friends." Belbe had a grim look on his face. "If all fails..." The general shot an evil glare at the engineer. "I will deal with it when the time arises. That's all the materials we can find here." The alarms of the museum continued to ring, even if there was no one to hear it.
Strider felt the disturbance in the air. 'So the Phyrexians were able to fuse Fire and Death magic to create an Ultima creature...impressive.' He looked at the tired party, who were all sleeping after a meal.
It has been two hours since the Decree fizzled. Until the Cardcaptors were ready to fight, the party had to play defensively. Knowing Tsabo, he would come up with another plan. Phyrexians never needed any of the essentials, such as food, water and rest. All they wanted was control and domination.
"Unnnggghhh!!" Li sat straight up and stared at Sakura. She was still sleeping comfortably. "Something on your mind?" The Chinese boy turned to see Strider levitating in a cross-legged position. "I had a dream. I'm not sure if it's prophetic or just me."
"It could be due to the amount of battles you have been fighting over the past few days. The invasion forces of Phyrexia are formidable opponents." Li tried to shake off the feeling but it wouldn't leave him. "I guess. Maybe you should know about the dream. It could be a vision." Strider moved closer to hear Li's story.
Chapter 10
"There was this castle, kind of like a haunted castle with demons lurking around. It was like we were waiting for something but I'm not sure what. I saw you, mumbling about how to break the link. Kero was watching silently and he looked like he was praying for something. The last thing I remember was the front doors opening and a girl stepping out. She pointed a finger at us and then all sorts of bats and demons were flying at us. Kero shed a small tear and you bowed your head in sorrow and said, 'The Baron has won.' Then I woke up."
Strider's mind started racing. 'So Tsabo decided to give Sakura their power and their curse as well. Prophetic dreams usually come true...I'll have to be careful.' "Li, some dreams can predict the future and this one certainly has given me a better view of a possible future. But the future is not set in stone." Li's senses perked up. "I sense some sort of magic. Tsabo is probably on the move again..."
After waking Sakura and Kero, the group went outside to see thousands of Shivan Zombies, marching towards them and destroying everything in their path. "Let's see what we have here...combination of Fire and Death magic, resistance against Light magic, attack and defense power fairly large."
"Whatever!! Lemme at them!!" Kero transformed and charged towards the barbarian zombies. "Kerberus, no!!" The rest of the group activated their weapons and chased after the Guardian beast.
Strider captured as many creatures he could but the numbers were too much for the group. 'Come on, my faithful library. Give me the card I need!!' A Water magic card appeared. It wasn't the one Strider wanted but he could still put it to good use. He also had another card he could use to pull off his trick. "Sakura, Li, Kerberus!! To the skies!!" Sakura activated the Fly card and carried her and Li up into the air followed by a beat-up (and embarrassed) Kero.
"Mystical Tutor, search for the card I require!! Release!!" The Water spell gave Strider an overview of the cards that would have eventually come to him. He quickly grabbed a Fire magic card. Strong and effective.
"Fireball, burn the bodies of the undead into ashes! Release!!" The spell started zapping each one of the zombies until all of their defense was gone. Soon there was a huge pile of dead bodies on the road. Sakura closed her eyes. "Ewwwwwwww...."
"You are afraid of ghosts and dead bodies make you feel sick. Hard to believe that you are a cardcaptor," snorted Li. Sakura stuck out her tongue at him. Strider saw the dead bodies vanish. They were probably headed towards the graveyard, the place where all destroyed creatures and used magic spells go to. Strider and Shadow had developed techniques to constantly keep recycling the magic spells they used.
Strider turned to where the Juntu Stakes were placed. 'Until everything is set right, this city may have to remain in a frozen state. If things go worse than I anticipated, then the world will have to be placed in a frozen state. Tsabo...what are you up to?'
Tsabo Tavoc set the last candle in its position. There were other candles around. All the candles formed a skull, the symbol of Death magic. Belbe sat, cross-legged in one eye socket while Tsabo sat down in the other. "Let us begin the cleansing of this world." Belbe nodded silently as Tsabo started murmuring the first chant of the Dark Ritual.
Chapter 11
Tsabo Tavoc took out five small seals and placed them in a circle. In the centre of the circle was a small black pot with the Death icon printed on it. The general picked up the Seal of Removal and cracked it. "I am the unraveler, the loosened thread that will not hold." The power of the Seal of Removal poured itself into the pot.
The Seal of Fire was next to be broken. "I am the romancer, the passion that consumes the flesh." Belbe listened to the chants with curiosity. Those were the inscriptions on the seals...
"I am the feeder, the morsel that revives the starving." The power of the Seal of Strength flowed through Tsabo's body before entering the pot. "I am the purifier, the light that clears all shadows." The Seal of Cleansing displayed its power for a brief moment by destroying Belbe's Astrolabe. He grumbled in annoyance.
Tsabo Tavoc picked up the last seal, the Seal of Doom. "I am the banisher, the ill will that snuffs the final candle." The dark power transported itself into the pot. The pot began to glow a black aura. The general smiled. "It's ready."
Belbe glared at him. "What is? How will this pot help?" Tsabo held up the pot carefully. "The powers of the seals are in this pot. We will release those powers to every one of our fallen troops after we finish the Living Death ritual. That way, Strider and his allies will have little chance of victory. This pot will also grant those powers to our ultimate weapon. If things go for the worse, then I will use these powers myself."
The Phyrexian engineer snorted. "This is almost as foolish as the Memory Jar incident seven months ago." Tsabo channeled the powers of the pot on to five different sections of the skull he created from the candles around him.
Belbe could feel the magic power growing stronger and stronger. It won't be long now until Strider and his friends detect the large amounts of magic and come to their location to finish them off. He hoped that the general can pull it off before it is too late. Tsabo Tavoc started to chant again.
"Eye of twilight, give us sight.
Take our offer, give us might.
Make our power tears of night."
The powers from the sections of the skull came together in the centre and shot a beam straight upwards, opening a rift between this dimension and the world of the dead. Moans of dead soldiers could be heard through the vortex. Tsabo and Belbe stood up and headed for the Erratic Portal.
"The spell is still in the early stage so we will have to be careful. Strider should have detected something by now." The general had a grim look on his face. "Let no soldier be without a sword. We will all fight, for if we all fail, we will certainly all die."
Chapter 12
"What do we have here?" The Defender looked around the remains of the museum. "Apparently someone had to do a little shopping. Kerberus, Sakura, Li, spread out and cover a section of the museum. We have to know what Tsabo stole so that we may have some insight of his plans."
An hour later, the entire museum had been covered. "As far as I'm concerned, he took five seals...what do they mean?" Kero had a frustrated look on his face. Strider turned to him anxiously. "Those seals...would they happen to be the Seal of Fire, the Seal of Removal, the Seal of Strength, the Seal of Cleansing and the Seal of Doom?"
The Guardian beast scratched his head. "Yeah...something like that." The entity stroked his chin. "Tsabo would probably combine all these abilities for it to be used on one person or an army. We destroyed every soldier of that army."
"What exactly can Tsabo do? We do outnumber him and Belbe. The only thing he could do is have some sort of Death magic spell to perform a miracle like killing all of humanity or getting back his entire army," stated Li. Those words clicked together in Strider's mind. "Or do both with Living Death..."
"Excuse me?" The entity understood it all. "It's the Living Death ritual!! We have to find Tsabo and stop him before he completes it or else we could be in deep trouble!!"
Sakura blinked. "Living Death? What type of spell is that and what does it do?" Strider had already taken off into the air. The rest of the group reluctantly did the same.
"Just to let you know, Living Death is a powerful Death magic spell. It kills everything that exists in the present and brings back everything that has died in the past forty-eight hours. He could wipe out humanity and bring back his army in no time!"
"I sense some magic!! Its a few kilometres west of here!!" The group made a left turn and headed towards the source of the magic. The location was near an abandoned church. "Creepy place..." Sakura slightly shivered before following Li inside the building.
"Hello..." Strider located a trap door inside one of the confession booths. What they found next was most disturbing. The vortex between the living and the dead is opening wider. In fact, they could see some soldiers popping out, alive and fresh as a daisy. The Erratic Portal was nowhere to be seen.
"Dammit!!!! The spell has already been cast!!!" The group looked to see some human souls go inside the vortex to replace the soldiers. "Meilin!!! Wei!!!" The souls of the Chinese boy's companions were swept inside the vortex along with the souls of Madison, Chelsea, Nikki, Zachary, Rita, Tori and Julian.
The cardcaptors were about to follow them when Strider stopped them. "We have to wait until the spell is finished. For now, we have to step out." Sakura looked at the Defender. "We can't just leave our friends in this state!!"
"As long as we exist, there is still hope for this world. After the spell is over, we can track it inside the dimension of the dead, capture its magic and reuse it to set things straight but now is not the time." Sakura knew that Strider is right. Using a Parallax Wave, they moved themselves out of the Living Death's range and watched as Tsabo Tavoc's vision shaped itself into reality.
Chapter 13
If the population of Readington were not paralyzed by the Juntu Stakes, they would be paralyzed with fear. Thousands of Phyrexian soldiers were assembling by the zoo thanks to Tsabo Tavoc's spell.
"How much longer is this going to last?" Kero was pacing around in the haven that Strider has been able to provide through the Parallax Wave. Strider looked at Kero with an annoyed look. "We have to wait until the spell dissolves in the dimension of the dead before we can act. Patience is a virtue."
The vortex grew larger to increase its power. Soon the entire population of the world became lost souls and the world belonged to the Phyrexians. Tsabo stepped out of the Erratic Portal with Belbe. "Excellent!! This world will be suitable for our needs. We must contact the homeworld and tell them of the good news."
Belbe shook his head. "Most of our communication technology has been destroyed by the Defender during the time when the Plaguelord was here. We will have to use the technology of this world." He gave a small shudder. "It is so inferior that we will require several weeks to update it and send a signal."
Tsabo smirked. "My dear Belbe. Now that this world is under our control, we will have enough time. I will keep the Defender and his allies busy while you work on creating a signal." The general walked away with victory on his face.
Strider returned the Parallax Wave into his rather extensive deck. The only problem was to locate the Living Death spell. "We're going in the dimension of the dead. I need all of you to keep yourself together. This means you, Sakura." She gulped nervously. The entity gave an exhausted sigh. 'How can she be afraid of ghosts?'
The dimension was filled with lost souls. Sakura had to grip on to Li's arm for support. Kero looked around the large amounts of dead people. "So many lost souls. Are they aware of our presence?"
"Yes and no. They are aware of us being here but if we can set things straight, the next time they wake up, it will all be a big dream to them." The entity stretched out his senses. "Dammit!! There is too much Death magic in this place!! It's hard to get a precise reading on the location of the Living Death spell."
Kero sighed. "We may have to ask some of the local population." Sakura went pale at that thought. "W-we have to ask g-g-ghosts where to find the s-spell?" Li was certain that he had lost the feeling in his left arm entirely. "I have to agree with Kero. It's the only way to find the spell for certain."
Strider came across two girls. "Excuse me, have you seen a weird energy wave around here?" The girls were about to answer when the rest of the group caught up. "LI!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT....GIRL?!?!?" The other girl's eyes began to twinkle. "You two look so adorable together!!! I could see it now..." Li, Sakura and Kero all gasped in shock. "Madison?! Meilin?!!?"
Chapter 14
"All this was happening and you didn't tell me?! I could have taped this!! This has to be the greatest adventure of all time and I can't even tape it!!!" Madison gave a huge groan. The group explained the basic story to the others.
"So what's the story between you two?" Meilin started to give icy glares towards Sakura. "Meilin, the only reason she is holding on to me is that she wouldn't get lost. This is a huge place." Sakura gave a small smile of relief. The last thing they needed was Meilin ranting about how Sakura is trying to steal Li.
"So can you help us track this thing down?" Madison nodded. "Follow me. I'll show you where I saw the thing you're looking for and then you have to find it on your own." Kero gave an understanding nod.
"We'll have to be careful. We can't run into any familiar faces or else we have a lot of explaining to do. I want this us to be in and out. Understood?" Everybody agreed with Strider as they started to track down the spell.
A few minutes later, Madison showed them the spot where she encountered the energy wave. Strider stretched out his senses. "I feel a bit of it a few hundred metres to the left." When they found the spell, they also found a few difficulties.
"Nether Shadows and Nether Spirits...why is it that the Phyrexians frequently forget to return them to their ranks?" Several thousand Nether Shadows and Nether Spirits blocked the way to get to the Living Death spell.
"What do you mean return to the ranks?" Strider took out his weapon. "These guys have the ability to be resummoned if certain conditions are right. In the case of the Phyrexians, those conditions are frequent. I could use a spell to erase them all out of existence but it would erase the entire population of the world too. We will have to fight our way through."
Kero grinned as he transformed. "Just the way I like it." Li and Sakura summoned their weapons as well. Strider summoned several Two-Headed Dragons to fight the spirits. Slowly, the Nether Shadows and Nether Spirits began to be sealed by Strider.
"That was tiring." Li and Sakura had finished weakening the last batch of Nether Spirits while Strider sealed them. "That was only the icing. Take a look at the cake."
They saw the huge spell in an unstable state. Strider summoned some energy and started to seal the card. "Living Death, return to thy true form!!!!" The Death card went into Strider's hand. "Now we have to set things straight."
Tsabo started to sense familiar magic. "Not again...Belbe, activate the Erratic Portal!!" The two stepped inside the vortex as the Living Death spell swept the world, sending the Phyrexian troops back to their dead and the population of the world in a state of stasis but alive.
"Just as I thought." Tsabo stepped out of the Erratic Portal. "Strider would use the Living Death spell to reverse my work. No matter. Our master plan is complete. Belbe, place the final piece on our new friend!!"
Belbe placed the Diplomatic Immunity card on to the creature. It immediately absorbed it. "Yes...not even Strider can destroy this creature. Phyrexia will be restored to power!!" The huge creature stood up and headed toward the heart of the city.
Chapter 15
"Everything is back to where it should be. Now we have one more thing to attend to." The rest of the group nodded grimly. This is going to be the moment in which they finally face Tsabo Tavoc. Strider won't be able to do much against the general since he can't be hurt by anything that is legendary.
"Did Tsabo create the anti-legend forcefield just for you?" Strider shot a glare at Kero. "That anti-legend forcefield is how he was able to avoid total destruction from the Ur-Dragon, the Predator, not even Autumn Willow could touch him!"
"Who?" The entity mentally reminded himself that his allies do not know everything he knows. "She is an adequately powerful legend. Her special ability is the anti-spell forcefield. She cannot be targeted by spells or abilities of another creature, sorcerer or mage. What is more amazing is that if she wants to be targeted by some spell to improve her own abilities, she targets the source and then she is targetable to that source only for a moment."
"Talk about handy...I've seen an old acquaintance of Clow with the anti-spell forcefield but now he can't even target himself for certain spells that can benefit the person being affected." Li looked up. "Wait...that guy is someone from Tolaria...Isaac."
Kero raised an eyebrow. "You know about Isaac?" Li smirked. "Isaac was the Water mage who concentrated on creating anti-spell forcefields. He had to make a deal with Zephid in order to get some of the necessary elements of anti-spell forcefields. I had to learn all this history from my grandmother."
"The flaw with anti-spell forcefields is that they can be destroyed. The forcefield can protect the person but not itself." The entity closed his eyes in thought. "Isaac had to work with a team of spellshapers to create the Diplomatic Immunity."
"Spellshapers? Diplomatic Immunity?" Sakura wasn't able to grasp all this information. Li noticed her confusion. 'Damn...she looks cute when she's confused...' He turned slightly red as Strider gave an explanation. "Spellshapers are mages that can duplicate certain spells. The way they work is that you have to pay a certain mana cost and then give them one magic card of any type. Clow card, Fire card, Ultimate card and so on. Diplomatic Immunity is another one of Isaac's anti-spell forcefields. Not only did it protect the user, it protected itself as well."
"That must be a strong anti-spell forcefield. I bet that makes the user invincible!" Strider snorted. "Please...all you need is a spell that can destroy all types of that card. Diplomatic Immunity is classified as an enchant creature card. Use a card that destroys all enchantments."
The ground began to shake. "Whoa, what's that?" Sakura felt the huge power as well as Li and Strider. "Whatever it is, it's powerful!!" Strider narrowed his eyes in concentration. "This thing is a fusion of several magic cards!!" They looked to the right and saw a huge creature in the distance heading towards the heart of the city.
Chapter 16
The creature's appearance is truly bizarre. Its body is composed of other dead bodies. It had thorns around its body. "A fusion?! What are you talking about?" Strider concentrated on the cards that were fused. "Clever, Tsabo. That combination would indeed produce a powerful creature...listen up, everybody. We have to make sure that the creature doesn't get a hold of anybody."
"Well duh!! It's most likely to eat them or something." Strider shot an icy glare at Kero. "It's more complicated than that. The cards fused are Zombie Mob and Thran Golem. The Zombie Mob's attack and defense powers depend on the amount of dead bodies in its own body. If it eats anyone, that person will die and his or her body will increase the attack and defensive powers of the creature!! The Thran Golem is powerful only when it is enchanted with an enchant creature card. Once the enchant creature card is on the Golem, the attack and defense powers of the creature will increase dramatically and it will be gain all the basic abilities. Flying, first strike during combat and combat damage division or trample. With trample, if it can kill the defending creature, it can either deal all of its damage to the creature or deal enough to kill the creature and deal the rest to the controller."
"Talk about lethal..." The entity nodded in agreement. "We also have another problem, Kerberus. The creature is enchanted with a Diplomatic Immunity." "WHAT???!?!?!?!?!?!?!" screeched Sakura, Li and Kero simultaneously.
"Here's the plan. Buy me enough time to separate the cards and seal them individually. Okay?" Sakura rolled her eyes. "Easier said than done." The group prepared themselves for battle.
As they approached the creature, they saw that it already set itself a dinner set, with dishes and all. (I'm basing the battle scenario and some details of the battle from the final boss battle on Power Stone 2, made by Capcom for the Dreamcast) "Now, element!! Fire!!!" Li's spell had little effect on the giant.
"Freeze card, hold this beast in your icy prison!!!" The card temporarily froze the beast before it broke free. The creature then shot out some majorly bad breath, suffocating the group.
"Hasn't this guy ever heard of breathmints?" Strider searching the Nature section of his deck for a general enchantment destruction spell. "Keep the creature busy!! If I can destroy the Diplomatic Immunity, then the creature will be severely weakened!"
The creature took a fork and started to stab around, trying to catch something. "Dash card, lend me your speed!!" Li dashed away while Sakura used the Jump card. Kero attacked the creature's head and it became paralyzed.
"What happened?" Strider kept on searching. "The creature's weak point is the head. It should be temporarily paralyzed if you hit it. As for how long of a reprieve you get, who knows?"
Suddenly, the creature awoke and with amazing speed, it grabbed Li. "Crap!!!!!!" Li struggled to get out of the creature's grasp but it was no use. The next thing he knew, he was being introduced to the creature's digestive system.
"Li!!!" The group watched in horror as the creature spread its wings and took off in the air, searching for more people to feast on.
Chapter 17
"Come on...I need a Tranquility, a Calming Verse, anything to destroy all enchantments!!" Strider leafed through his deck but was coming up with nothing so far. Sakura and Kero were having little success in distracting the creature. In fact, the creature was gathering up bodies to bring back to its dinner table.
"Hello!!! This should fetch what I need. And the fact that Tsabo has no more sources of mana to stop me...Rhystic Tutor, release!!" The spell allowed Strider to view his entire deck and find the spell he required. "Tranquility, cleanse this world of enchantments!!"
The creature lost its flying ability and tumbled heavily on to the ground. "All right!! Strider pulled through!" Kero landed just a few hundred metres away from the creature. "We should be able to hold it here until we can get Li back."
"The two of you should be safe with the Black Ward spells I'm placing on you. As soon as I can find the focal point of the creature, then I can separate the Golem." Strider noticed that the creature started to get up.
Undaunted, the entity pulled out a Light card. "Muzzle, hold this beast!!" The enchant creature card prevented all the combat damage that would be dealt by the creature. The Defender found the remains of the Diplomatic Immunity and sealed it.
"I believe I found the focal point," murmured the entity. Using his staff, he jabbed at a point of the beast. It howled in agony as the Golem segment of its structure became visible. "Thran Golem, return to thy true form!!" The Golem became an Artifact card. Now the Zombie Mob was left. "Strider, if you seal the Zombie Mob, what will happen to Li?"
The entity gave a grim look. "It may not be good for Li. In the long run, we still have to seal the card. It's still a danger to the town..." The Clow mistress gave an understanding nod and silently prayed that Li will make it out alive.
"Zombie Mob, return to thy true form!!!!!" Slowly, the parts of the creature's body began to transform itself as part of the card until the Death magic card was in Strider's hands and a smelly Li on Kero's back.
The guardian beast gave a huge groan. "For the love of God, can't Strider carry the kid? He's an entity!! It won't be much of an effort for him!!!" Sakura scolded Kero for being selfish before they all flew off to her house to clean the Chinese boy.
Chapter 18
"You are not joking, right?" Belbe nodded nervously at the strangely calm general. Tsabo leaned back in his chair. "In the end, Strider has managed to outrace the griffin." The engineer blinked. "Excuse me, sir?"
"It's an expression in the Kipamu dialect. It means 'to do the impossible'. We may have to conquer another world and use it as a temporary base. Perhaps even make it permanent." The general sighed in depression. How it has come to this...retreating from a war. At least the Phyrexian empire is still alive, regardless of its condition.
Belbe boldly took a step forward. "Perhaps we should rebuild our army out of something simple before we perform any experiments. We could go with Armodons. Much stronger than any elephant we have observed during our interdimensional travels."
Tsabo stared blankly at the ceiling. "Stick with something simple? Why not round up some Carnophages? They're a pain but they're cheap and adequately strong. Even Erg Raiders can do just as fine."
The communication device began to ring. "This is the invasion force. State your business." The general didn't bother to listen to the young soldier's report about Phyrexia. It wasn't until the end when he heard those dreaded words.
"Phyrexia has collapsed."
"WHAT?!?!?" The soldier shrank back in fear. "The scientists and engineers have been evacuated to Earth 823. The military forces have just arrived at Earth 409. The civilians have all died." Tsabo Tavoc gave a small choke. He has failed Phyrexia...when they needed him the most.
The video screen shut off, leaving silence for a full twenty minutes. Finally, Tsabo started to give orders. "Belbe, go to Earth 823 and help out with any projects there. They will require your skills more than I do."
The engineer did not answer. The shock of losing their homeworld was still inside his mind. He finally shook himself out of his trance. "Pardon me, sir?" The general shot an angry glare at Belbe. "I said go to Earth 823 to assist the scientists and engineers," snapped Tsabo.
"We have to abandon our cause? We are of Phyrexia!! We conquer and destroy!!" Tsabo smiled. "Of course we do...I would rather give up my life than abandon our cause. I still have one more trick up my sleeve."
"You do? What is it? A weapon of mass destruction?" Tsabo held up a Fire card. Belbe could only stare in awe as he finally understood Tsabo's final plan for the planet.
"How can you generate the mana for this spell?" Tsabo held up a pair of artifacts. "Phyrexian Lens...Phyrexia's final project before its collapse. They can generate any type of mana. I will use these to cast a Channel. The Channel has got to be the only useful Nature card. Then I will use my own life energy to cast my trump card."
Belbe gave an understanding nod. "It has been an honour to serve the Empire with you." Tsabo gave a grim smile. "You forget that honour has no meaning in Phyrexia."
The engineer gave a small laugh before he entered the portal. Tsabo was left alone in the room. He has been through so much...the battles against the citizens of Dominaria. At that time, the plague had just been perfected. Dominaria was robbed of all but its dreams. Amazing how it still pulled through.
He got up to take one last look at the sleeping town of Readington. 'Phyrexia has been destroyed thanks to you, Defender. To commemorate Phyrexia and its beauty, I shall see to it personally that a funeral pyre will be made of this world.'
Chapter 19
Li looked around his surroundings. A castle...Strider...the stuffed animal...where is Sakura? The doors to the castle began to open and Li could hear the evil laugh of a man as Sakura stepped out. She looked like a seventeen year old rather than a normal eleven. She pointed a finger directly at the rest of the group and demons began to fly out. Strider bowed his head in sorrow. "The Baron has won."
The next thing he knew, he was awake in the guest room. Sakura was nearby, sleeping as well. Kero and Strider were arguing downstairs about who knows what. "Li...?" The boy turned to see the Clow mistress sitting up in her chair.
"What happened? The last thing I remember was the creature holding me prisoner." Sakura gave a small smile before replying. "It doesn't matter anymore. We got out of that jam. After a bit more rest we go after Tsabo." Li grinned. "Sounds like a plan."
The two went downstairs where they could hear shouting from Kero and Strider. "I keep telling you, Diplomatic Immunity is the ultimate anti-spell forcefield!!" Strider sighed. "There are ways to get around it, Kerberus. The only true anti-spell forcefield that works is if it's natural in your system such as Autumn Willow and Zephid."
The two Cardcaptors just sighed in embarrassment. "Hey, kid. How are ya feeling?" Li gave a little yawn. "I feel a little sleepy but otherwise I'm fine. What's with that mini back massager?"
"You could stand to lose a bit of weight, kid. I almost broke my back carrying you here." Strider gave Kero a small slap on the head. "Don't be rude." The Chinese boy took out the Runesword. "This is it...the battle against the big cheese himself."
"Remember, I won't be of much help. I can use enchantment spells to boost your magical abilities and that's it." The rest of the group gave an understanding nod before departing the house.
The base where they found Tsabo performing the Living Death spell was abandoned. There were some old sheets and plans around but nothing to give any clue as to the general's whereabouts.
Strider noticed traces of caltron particles, the lingering effects of interdimensional travel. "Apparently, he left this dimension...I think." His senses started to scream out like crazy. It was a magic spell...a Channel to be precise.
"Do you feel that?" The group flew out to where the source of the spell is located. There they found the general, using his life energy to cast his final spell: Obliterate. "An Obliterate...this is bad."
"What are you saying?" Strider turned to Li with a worried look. "The Obliterate is a panic button, destroying everything. What's worse is that it can't be countered."
Chapter 20
"Yes...I'm ready to burn this planet!!" Tsabo had a maniacal look on his face. "Time card, freeze the moment!!!" Li hit the card and everything was frozen except for the group.
"I got the card!! Funeral Charm, force the Obliterate to be discarded into oblivion!!" The Obliterate disappeared from Tsabo's hands and went into Strider's. Li deactivated the Time card. Its power has severely weakened him.
"No!!! I only wanted to make a funeral pyre!! Is that so much to ask?" Sakura helped Li get to a bench so he could rest. Strider used several cards to make sure she is ready for the final fight. For Tsabo, he was drained from the Channel spell. Like all good generals, he would not give up.
"Kero, you watch over Li. I should be strong enough to handle Tsabo." The guardian beast nodded as Sakura squared off against the general. Strider gave one last shout. "Sakura, I have given you enough mana to seal Tsabo as a card!!" Tsabo snarled before attacking. Sakura blocked his knee strike easily. He attempted an elbow strike from above but she blocked it.
She tried a head stomp but he dodged it. Undaunted she dashed to deliver a punch in the face. The general realized that he could not win. He fingered the charm in his belt. At least he would do one more favour for some old friends of his by delivering another victim.
Still, she has to be in a bit of a weakened state. He started attacking with all his might. She felt the strain but she was able to keep up and occasionally deliver a blow to Tsabo, both to his face and his ego.
She grabbed her baton and was preparing to seal Tsabo. He growled. "You may have defeated me but in the end, I shall have the last laugh!!" As Sakura brought down the baton, Tsabo threw the charm. "Tsabo Tavoc, return to your power confined!!!"
Tsabo was immediately sucked up into a card format. Sakura felt really dizzy after the capture. She surrendered herself to sleep and the mysterious charm began to do its work. "Oh no...Li's prophetic dream is coming true!!" Strider rushed to Sakura as well as everyone else.
The rest of the group watched as Sakura's body grew to the body of a seventeen year old teenager. Her clothes morphed to a gothic costume, revealing her midriff. Strips of black cloth covered some parts of her body while the rest was a see through cloth. A ripped black skirt appeared on her waist. She wore an interesting necklace and there were some tattoos just near the top of her breasts. (look at it this way. Britney Spears' costume from the music video 'Stronger', the final sequence where she walks on the bridge) Li started blushing madly. Her skin started to fade and soon she was pale.
"If Sakura saw what happened to herself, she'll freak out," muttered Kero. "I recognize this spell. It's the Vampiric Embrace card, carved from the very magic of the Sengir clan. It can't be easily destroyed...the magic is part of her." Strider could only stare in awe. Sakura's baton was absorbed into her body as well as all of her Clow cards.
Strider looked up at the portal that appeared above them. "There is a curse that also came with the power. Whoever is enchanted by the Vampiric Embrace will be taken to Castle Sengir and there that person will decide whether to become a vampire and join the clan or die like a mortal."
END SEASON 2
Finally!! Please review and tell me what I should throw into the next season!! Until next time!!
Next season: "Song of Blood" The Sengir clan takes Sakura back to Castle Sengir with Strider, Kero and Li in hot pursuit...
Disclaimers: Card Captors belong to CLAMP, Phyrexians, non-Clow cards that are still represented as spells and other stuff belong to Wizards of the Coast. Don't sue. I only own Strider.
Enter Tsabo
Chapter 1
"Great. The three of us against a highly experienced Phyrexian general. This just keeps getting better and better," muttered Kero. Sakura glared at the Guardian beast. "We can't just roll over and let the Phyrexians take over!! A lot of people are depending on us to get life back to normal!"
Li turned to face Strider. "Won't these troops be forced to go back when the plague hits their homeworld?" The entity shook his head. "The plague probably cannot infect any Phyrexian native. It is engineered to fizzle inside their physiology. The only real damage I can do is to the science department. They constantly use lab rats to conduct experiments. Once the plague hits them, they will be released into the afterlife. Thanks to their arrogance and overconfidence of interdimensional domination, the Phyrexians never bothered to make an antidote."
The general stood up and started to bark orders to the troops. "Ghoul Units 101 to 140, locate the communications personnel. Broodling Units 452 to 467, locate any people that were unaffected by the Stakes and bring them here."
Belbe took out an Astrolabe and started to tinker with it. While he was tinkering, he spotted a shadow out of the corner of his eye. 'We have company.' He slipped away to inform the general.
"Li, your sword is going to be useless against Tsabo since it is a legendary sword. I will give you the Runesword. Hopefully, it will be adequate. Return to thy true form, Sword of the Chosen! Runesword, release!!" Strider made the exchange while Kero reported some disturbing news.
"I think Belbe may be on to us. He spotted my shadow. This wouldn't have happened if a certain someone let me go on top of her head!" The Clow mistress sighed. "There was a chance of you getting caught. It's unusual for a yellow toy to be lying around on a crate."
Strider gave a cold glare, signaling for everybody to be quiet. "In any case, we better make our move. I'll weaken Tsabo with summon creatures and keep Belbe busy. You keep attacking and when his health is about 1000 life points, you capture him. Got it?" Sakura waved her hands frantically. "Wait a minute...are you saying all the Phyrexians are capable of being captured like a normal Clow card?"
"They are composed of Death magic. What other explanation do I need? Tsabo has traits of Death and Fire magic so that makes him much more dangerous than normal Death magic creatures." They heard a clapping from behind. There, Tsabo Tavoc applauded them for their efforts. "Always the analytical one, eh? I often wonder, if you know so much about me, then how come I always slip away from your grasp?"
Chapter 2
The general was not an amazing sight to behold. He is tall but highly scrawny. Although he appears to be that way, his strength and even take down a Thorn Elemental. What was more astonishing was that he appeared to be completely organic. He has an extremely long ponytail, starting from the top of his head. (something like Genie from Disney's Aladdin) His face twisted into a gruesome smile.
"Are these the Champions of this world? They are nothing but children however it is said the smallest one can often bring about the downfall of great evil." He chuckled before snapping his fingers and summoning two Phyrexian Ghouls and two Phyrexian Broodlings. "The Ghouls have got to be an amazing masterpiece. Feed these guys a useless member of our society and their strength doubles for 24 hours!"
"You could say we waste nothing. Our food chain is a spiraling cycle. Here is another wonderful creation by our most promising scientist, Kerrick! Yes, there is a mana cost but by feeding these creatures, they get a little stronger and no, it's not temporary. Let me see what these shrimps can do." Tsabo nodded his head to his soldiers and they began to charge.
"Sleep card, send these creatures to an eternal slumber! Release and dispel!!!" Tsabo activated the Shiv's Embrace spell and flew to safety. The zombies began to eat the minions. The Sleep spell missed and Sakura is wide open to attack. Li held up the Runesword. "Let's see how this sword handles. Force, know my plight. Release the light! LIGHTNING!!!" Several lightning bolts flew at the zombies but they were too fast.
"Kerberus, you go after Tsabo and I'll take care of Belbe!" Kero turned to Strider. "What about the kid and Sakura? We can't leave them here with these freaks!!"
"We have to put faith in Sakura and Li to do this on their own. This is the only way to test their courage, their bond, their love..." Kero's jaw nearly dropped. "The Chinese brat and Sakura?! No way!!"
The entity chuckled. "I've seen over five thousand dimensions where Li and Sakura get together. They're soul mates throughout space and time." He thought back to his previous life in the village. This was where a new life was forged from the heavens on to Sakura and Li. 'I'm living proof that they will get together. I was their new life after the disaster...'
"Freeze card, hold them fast in your icy prison!!" Li hit the card and the zombies became immobilized. The Clow mistress gave a sigh of relief. "That was some quick thinking there. Nice job." He gave a small smile back. "Hey, you forced them to reduce the squad to half. That made things a lot easier."
Tsabo watched from the distance. "Well, well. I'll have to counter those Clow cards somehow. Let's see if Belbe can pull something out of his bag of tricks." He silently made his escape and summoned the remaining forces to find a new base of operations.
"They did it!!! I hate to admit it but you may be right about that super bond thing." Strider gave a reassuring nod while Kero went over to congratulate the two Cardcaptors. 'If I know Belbe, he'll find a way to construct a Null Brooch. This means I will have to step in with summon spells... perhaps the two can pass Yue's test in this dimension. I remember the dire consequences of not erasing the Clow cards memories of their mistress after she failed the test. She always told me about it. I will not let my parents' dopplegangers repeat that mistake...'
Chapter 3
"Penny for your thoughts?" Tsabo Tavoc snapped out of his trance and turned to where Belbe's voice came from. "Later. How is the recovery operation going?" The Phyrexian engineer looked at the status report. "About 58% of the original equipment has been destroyed. We are working around the clock to salvage what we can."
The general grunted in satisfaction before turning to the Death magic card that lay on his desk. "I wonder why you don't use that card. After all, it is much more useful than Shiv's Embrace considering the lives you took over the past thousand worlds."
"Shiv's Embrace combines the top three powers from the land into one Fire magic card. An increase in attack and defensive strength, flight and the Firebreathing spell, where by channeling fire mana into the enchant creature you are bonded with, it increases your attack power. The other card is a bit disturbing."
Belbe raised his eyebrow. "In what way?" Tsabo picked up the card and showed the image of the card to Belbe. "The powers of the cards usually have a price. I paid the price when I first landed on Shiv by allowing the flame to scar my physical appearance. Personally, the price commanded by this card is a bit too expensive for my taste."
"That's how the card is, mimicking the original beings who possessed these powers. Requiring expensive items and extreme luxury. I say the only members of their clan who don't enjoy those pleasures are the minions themselves." Tsabo chuckled. "They were nothing but simple results from Volrath's experiments. He was a fool, letting those creatures roam around. He learned his lesson in the end at the hands of the Ascendant Evincar."
"You mean the new Crovax? I am surprised that he still survived." The general nodded in agreement. "Crovax unleashed the full demon and survived. It has grown and built up ever since he was cursed at Volrath's Stronghold."
He activated a communications console. "I need assassin unit 802 to come up to my office." Belbe shook his head. "I always did prefer the Royal Assassin. Now he was a guy who knew how to kill with class." Tsabo tossed a cold glare in his direction. "My assassin is just as efficient as the Royal Assassin."
The doors of the office opened and a creature stepped in. He bowed before his master. "You require my services, master?" Tsabo nodded. "I need you to dispense of two humans who are unaffected by the Juntu Stakes. They possess some level of magic so some precaution is advisable."
The assassin bowed once more before becoming a part of the scenery itself. "Those two Cardcaptors won't be using their magic. The Null Brooches are ready to go." Belbe turned to the general. "Now the fun can begin," murmured Tsabo with a maniacal grin plastered on his face.
Chapter 4
"Let's see what I can do for you guys...normally, I would summon up some Light magic spells but Serra had an emergency and some of the good Light cards have left for her plane. The only thing I can do now is change your class type." Sakura had a confused look on her face. "What are you talking about, Strider?"
"Tsabo might attack you two with one of his personal assassins or something else. I will change your character classes frequently to confuse him but your physical appearance will remain the same. Tidal Visionary, do your stuff! Release!!" The merfolk mage blew some powder into Sakura and Li's faces, changing their class type to knight. "A knight from the Fire variety. That should keep Tsabo scratching his head for a while. Hmmmmm...your partial Death magic protection has entirely dissipated so you have to be extra careful."
The group had recollected themselves at Sakura's house to come up with a new strategy to battle Tsabo Tavoc. The only thing they could do at the moment while their brains search tirelessly for ideas is wait and prepare. Strider had been using whatever magic he had up his sleeve in order to protect the Cardcaptors.
From changing creature class to altering magic type to...who knows what. "With Tsabo's assassin, it tends to target creature types which is most common. Like human. As long as I keep altering your creature class, you should be safe." Kero scratched his head with his paw. "But what is with the constant changing of magic type?"
"Each creature has a magic type they are aligned with. The most fearsome dragons come from the Fire type. Shapeshifters from the Water type. Undead creatures from Death type. Powerful creatures that can easily trample over you from the Nature type and creatures of purity from Light type. Since you two are pure and powerful, you are a balance of Light and Nature type."
"Target is within two kilometres...the signal...what the hell is happening to their signal?!?" The frustrated cry of the assassin could be picked up by Strider. "Well that confirms how much Tsabo is getting pissed right now."
The group quietly left the house, making sure that Tsabo was too preoccupied to notice them right now. The assassin then appeared out of nowhere and attacked. "Damn!! He's a good one!!"
He snarled. "I'm no weak assassin who depends primarily on the creature class to destroy. I can still do so with other means." He held up a Reckless Spite. "Death is such an exquisite sensation." The group turned to see the Phyrexian general watching from above.
"Don't mind me! I'm just here to watch the game and enjoy myself. By the way, Strider...no helping or else I get to play!" The entity growled softly. "What are you, insane? Are you just going to keep toying with them until you deliver the final blow?"
Tsabo gave a maniacal laugh before he leapt to the ground. "You've grown quite attached to them! You know, I never realized how much the girl's eyes look so much like...that mother. The one who worried over her son for so long after he left. I never knew that emerald coloured eyes could be so juicy!!"
"You killed them..." The general waved a finger. "No. You did. You killed their child when you became who you are today. It was natural for their grief to eat at them for so long that life just stops. I wonder how you will take it when these two die."
Chapter 5
The assassin gave a menacing grin as he held up the Reckless Spite spell. "I'm so going to enjoy this." He was about to cast the spell when Tsabo raised his hand, signaling him to stop. "No magic allowed! After all, the Null Brooches will counter anything the children throw out so I say we play fairly and not use any magic at all." He threw an evil glare at the assassin just to make sure the message is clear. The assassin took a quick glance before tossing the card away.
"No big deal. I can kill them without magic." He took out a dagger and charged. The two Cardcaptors dodged the attack. Li attempted to slice off their opponent's head but it was blocked. 'Kerberus!! Can you hear me?' The Guardian beast turned away from the fight. 'I hear ya, Strider.'
'Those two are dealing with a professional killer. They may not be able to make it. I suggest that you sneak away and locate where Belbe keeps the Null Brooches. Once you attach these microchips to the artifacts, I can transform them into cards.' Several microchips appeared on Kero's neck, like a necklace.
Kero floated silently away from the area, being careful as to alarm nobody. As soon as he got out of range, he took off as fast as his little wings can take him. 'Let's see if I can catch a whiff of that Phyrexian engineer's scent...there, it is!! Man, haven't these guys heard of deodorant?'
'Li!! When I tell you to, activate the Time card!!' The Chinese boy blocked another blow. 'Why not now?' The entity showed Li a picture of the Null Brooch. 'Belbe has been able to successfully construct one of these. They will counter any non-creature spell. This means the Clow cards are useless at the moment.'
The assassin viciously attacked Li. "AAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!" There was a gash on Li's right side. Grinning savagely, the assassin was about to go for a final blow when Sakura used her baton to knock him away from Li.
"Li, are you alright?" He grit his teeth in pain. "I'll survive. Just help me get up." Sakura shook her head. "You're in no condition to fight, Li. I'll take it from here."
"You can't fight!" She gave him a quick smile. "I got the Fight card, remember? Fight card, release and dispel!!" A blue beam shot out at the Fight card, rendering it useless. "What just happened?"
Strider gave Tsabo a cold glare. "She only has her Clow cards. At least let her use the Fight card so she can defend herself!" The general pouted. "You're no fun at all. Fine...Belbe, reverse the Null Brooch effect on the Fight card and only the Fight card."
Sakura got into a defensive stance. The assassin smirked and tried a high fast roundhouse kick. The Clow mistress ducked and counterattacked with a punch to the head. She connected right in the jaw. 'Dammit, Kerberus. We need those Null Brooches off our backs!'
Chapter 6
'I know, I know!! If I can find that stupid engineer...hello!!!' The Guardian beast located Belbe and the Null Brooches. 'There may be sensors along here. I need a distraction!!'
Strider nodded. He was hoping to seal all of the Null Brooches into a card form but the circumstances proved otherwise. Silently and swiftly, he summoned an Uktabi Orangutan to destroy a Null Brooch.
"Dammit!!! Locate the vandal who did this!! Seal those doors. I want to know who destroyed that Null Brooch!!!" Amidst the chaos, Kero silently floated along the Null Brooches and began to attach the microchips into hidden sections of the artifact.
Amazingly, Sakura was keeping up with the assassin. You could say this fight is similar to the fight between Piccolo and Android 17. (From the past two episodes of DBZ, which is owned by Akira Toriyama. Don't sue!!!) Sakura dashed at the assassin. He tried to strike her but she flipped over and kicked him. He quickly recovered and blocked another kick. Grabbing her leg, he threw her over to where Li was watching.
'Strider!! The microchips are in place!!' The entity smiled to himself as he watched the fight. "Tsabo, one of the Null Brooches have been destroyed!!"
"WHAT?!!? Tell me what happened, Belbe!!" The Phyrexian engineer gulped nervously. "Apparently, a creature spell has been cast and destroyed a Null Brooch in the process." The general snarled at the entity. "You did this!! My assassin, destroy those two by whatever means necessary!!!" Activating the Shiv's Embrace, Tsabo flew back to the base.
"Null Brooch, return to thy true form!!!!" Several artifact cards were formed thanks to the microchips. Soon, Strider had a pile of cards in front of him. "Li, activate the Time card!!"
"Strider, wait!!! I want to finish this fight to the end!!" Sakura flipped away from the assassin's attack. Strider sighed. "Great. Now she's acting like a Saiyan."
She threw a punch into the assassin's stomach and followed it with a punch to the face. 'I must be getting exhausted. I know...I'll use a Soul Burn spell.' The assassin threw up a card. "Soul Burn, drain all the life energy out of this child!!"
"I will Rewind that. There is to be no magic of any kind." The entity couldn't help but grin. Screaming in frustration, the assassin threw a punch at Sakura which she easily blocked. She then threw him over her shoulder and slammed him on the ground. As soon as he got up, she kicked him, sending him straight into the tree.
"Not bad. I better capture this assassin before you beat him up too badly. Tsabo's Assassin, return to thy true form!!!" After generating four Death mana, he sealed the card. Sakura was ecstatic.
"I did it!!! I won the fight!!" Kero flew up behind Strider. "So did I miss anything?" Li gave a small grin before answering the question. "You missed the fight. In the end, Sakura won...with a little help from me and the Fight card." The entity turned to Li. "We'll have to get those looked at. Let's go inside."
"That's it!!! I'll show those Cardcaptors some real magic!!" The general was pacing around the front desk. "How can I beat them? I have to focus on their character class. No...they are responsible for the citizens of this world. That means, I can still use it." He activated a Death magic card and wrote 'humans' as the general target.
Chapter 7
Belbe peeked into Tsabo's study. He saw the general, looking over a document. "Humans..." He stood up and smiled in satisfaction. "The decree is ready. Now to unleash it upon the world. Ah, Belbe! What news do you have?"
The engineer gave his report. "All the units are standing at their posts. You should be able to generate enough mana for your decree to destroy the humans of this world." Tsabo's smile widened. "This is glorious indeed!! This world will be cleansed of all human life and the Phyrexians will come to shape this into the paradise I dreamed of!!"
The decree spell went to work on the people of Readington. "Breathe deep, Readington. Breathe deep and die." Belbe looked at his superior officer. Tsabo Tavoc has truly become the embodiment of evil.
The Defender's senses perked up as the decree was released. "Something on your mind, Strider?" He kept tuning in to the high source of energy traveling to all parts of the city. "The energy is closing in on the city..." Kero raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"It's Tsabo's Decree. He chooses a character class and the decree covers the assigned area and slowly destroys every single being of that particular class. In this case, it's human." Sakura and Li could sense the black mist covering the sections of the town.
"Pull off a counterspell or something!!" The entity glared at Kero. "The spell has already taken effect. It is too late to counter it. I may have a way to fizzle the spell but it will require a lot of effort coming from everybody." The Clow mistress stepped forward. "I'm sure everybody is willing to give all they got!" Li and Kero nodded along.
"Good. We will have to go to the top of the highest building and set up the Parallax Waves there." The rest of the group had a huge question mark above their heads. "I didn't tell you? They are Light spells which transport people to a nether void for a period of time. Their major drawback is the fact that they have a limited amount of time to work. In other words, they fade away. Luckily, the Monk Idealist will be able to constantly return them to me so I can cast them again. Once they leave, the people they transported will be right back to where they were without any harm done to them. It's highly useful in saving the people you want to save from harm and giving the enemies a time out."
"So this is how this Parallax Wave works!!" Kero positioned his paws on the controller and waited for the mist. He pressed a button and a fade counter was removed from the enchantment. The person on his viewscreen vanished and the black mist passed by harmlessly.
"This is pure genius!! Where did you find this anyway?" Strider recast the Parallax Wave that Sakura had finished using up. "A powerful mage named Parallax created several enchantments to remove things temporarily. They were invaluable if they could be constantly recycled." A scream from Sakura's side was heard. They whirled around and saw her, struggling to hold on to the ledge with a Phyrexian Zombie dragging her down.
Chapter 8
"Force, know my plight! Release the light!! LIGHTNING!!!!" The thunderbolts from Li's Runesword forced the Zombie to let go. "Tsabo already knows our location!!" Kero looked to the left. "No kidding. Look!!" They could see all of Tsabo's troops charging towards them.
"We can't fight them off and save the people from Tsabo's Decree at the same time!!" Strider took out some Light magic cards. "This is going to be close but hopefully, this should work." He cast the Parapet spell, giving extra defensive status to the general population. "What is that cheap enchantment going to do? We're all gonna die!!!"
The entity ignored Kero's panicking and concentrated on the Light card he held in his hand. "Wave of Reckoning!!!" The attack power of each being in the world suddenly vanished. The same amount of defense vanished as well. With the Parapet spell in place, the world population would survive the Wave of Reckoning and Tsabo's troops...well, they weren't so lucky. You could say they self-destructed.
"That was weird...the mist!!!!" Everybody scrambled back to their posts to continue their work. Eventually, the decree passed with minimum casualties. Belbe observed this and knew instantly that Tsabo would be one very angry general.
If it wasn't for the Endoskeletons that Belbe had constructed, the Phyrexian force on this world would have been erased. Although the forces had not been totally destroyed, only Tsabo and himself remained of the original 3,000 soldiers.
He reluctantly headed into Tsabo's study where the general had finished reading a transmission from Phyrexia. "I have some unfortunate news, sir. The forces have been totally wiped from Strider's spell." Belbe looked at the general and noticed that he had not even twitched a muscle. Instead, he gave an eerie smile towards Belbe. "Do not despair. We are being sent 5,000 Shivan Zombies."
"Excuse me? We actually stoop so low as to give Barbarians the blessing of the undead?" Tsabo chuckled. "Barbarians long for a glorious death in battle. And we were eager to grant that wish. The takeover of this world has become top priority. Phyrexia is on the verge of collapse and we have lost many worlds thanks to Strider's cure for the plague."
"Will the Shivan Zombies prove to be actually effective against the Defender?" "Belbe, you worry too much. I do have a plan. I intend to perform the Living Death ritual so we can get all of our lost soldiers and cleanse this world at the same time. We will use the Erratic Portal to step out of this world temporarily before the spell takes full effect."
The general picked up a folder and handed it to Belbe. "If this doesn't actually work, there is always our master plan. Imagine the amount of work the scientists put into this type of fusion! The powers of the dead, united as one..."
Belbe opened the folder and studied the status report of the weapon. It was almost complete and soon it will rise to give triumph to the Empire. Tsabo's words were still ringing in his head. 'The powers of the dead, united as one...'
Chapter 9
The window to the museum smashed open. A bony hand went inside to open the lock. Alarms began to ring but no security was there to meet the intruder. "At least the plague still has some use. We won't have to worry about humans for the moment." Tsabo Tavoc stepped inside the building followed by Belbe. "What about the Defender and his allies?"
"The Shivan Zombies will either take care of them or get destroyed in the process. Regardless of the outcome, they will buy enough time to prepare the ritual. If they lose, our ultimate creation will only get stronger." Tsabo smashed open a case to gently take one of the fragile artifacts to perform the ritual.
"Without our forces, how can you generate enough mana for the spell?" The general found the textbook he was looking for. "Simple. I have a Lotus Petal. Enough to generate one mana of any colour. I will use that mana to perform a Dark Ritual. It will generate three Death mana. Another Dark Ritual will be performed using a Death mana produced from the first ritual to give me a total of five Death mana. After that is accomplished, we can proceed with the Living Death ritual."
"Something troubles me..." Tsabo rolled his eyes. "There's always something troubling you, Belbe. What is it?" The Phyrexian engineer raised his head. "That Lotus Petal is your only mana source. That means we only have one shot at this."
"I am aware of that. We always have our master plan. It will certainly crush the Defender and his friends." Belbe had a grim look on his face. "If all fails..." The general shot an evil glare at the engineer. "I will deal with it when the time arises. That's all the materials we can find here." The alarms of the museum continued to ring, even if there was no one to hear it.
Strider felt the disturbance in the air. 'So the Phyrexians were able to fuse Fire and Death magic to create an Ultima creature...impressive.' He looked at the tired party, who were all sleeping after a meal.
It has been two hours since the Decree fizzled. Until the Cardcaptors were ready to fight, the party had to play defensively. Knowing Tsabo, he would come up with another plan. Phyrexians never needed any of the essentials, such as food, water and rest. All they wanted was control and domination.
"Unnnggghhh!!" Li sat straight up and stared at Sakura. She was still sleeping comfortably. "Something on your mind?" The Chinese boy turned to see Strider levitating in a cross-legged position. "I had a dream. I'm not sure if it's prophetic or just me."
"It could be due to the amount of battles you have been fighting over the past few days. The invasion forces of Phyrexia are formidable opponents." Li tried to shake off the feeling but it wouldn't leave him. "I guess. Maybe you should know about the dream. It could be a vision." Strider moved closer to hear Li's story.
Chapter 10
"There was this castle, kind of like a haunted castle with demons lurking around. It was like we were waiting for something but I'm not sure what. I saw you, mumbling about how to break the link. Kero was watching silently and he looked like he was praying for something. The last thing I remember was the front doors opening and a girl stepping out. She pointed a finger at us and then all sorts of bats and demons were flying at us. Kero shed a small tear and you bowed your head in sorrow and said, 'The Baron has won.' Then I woke up."
Strider's mind started racing. 'So Tsabo decided to give Sakura their power and their curse as well. Prophetic dreams usually come true...I'll have to be careful.' "Li, some dreams can predict the future and this one certainly has given me a better view of a possible future. But the future is not set in stone." Li's senses perked up. "I sense some sort of magic. Tsabo is probably on the move again..."
After waking Sakura and Kero, the group went outside to see thousands of Shivan Zombies, marching towards them and destroying everything in their path. "Let's see what we have here...combination of Fire and Death magic, resistance against Light magic, attack and defense power fairly large."
"Whatever!! Lemme at them!!" Kero transformed and charged towards the barbarian zombies. "Kerberus, no!!" The rest of the group activated their weapons and chased after the Guardian beast.
Strider captured as many creatures he could but the numbers were too much for the group. 'Come on, my faithful library. Give me the card I need!!' A Water magic card appeared. It wasn't the one Strider wanted but he could still put it to good use. He also had another card he could use to pull off his trick. "Sakura, Li, Kerberus!! To the skies!!" Sakura activated the Fly card and carried her and Li up into the air followed by a beat-up (and embarrassed) Kero.
"Mystical Tutor, search for the card I require!! Release!!" The Water spell gave Strider an overview of the cards that would have eventually come to him. He quickly grabbed a Fire magic card. Strong and effective.
"Fireball, burn the bodies of the undead into ashes! Release!!" The spell started zapping each one of the zombies until all of their defense was gone. Soon there was a huge pile of dead bodies on the road. Sakura closed her eyes. "Ewwwwwwww...."
"You are afraid of ghosts and dead bodies make you feel sick. Hard to believe that you are a cardcaptor," snorted Li. Sakura stuck out her tongue at him. Strider saw the dead bodies vanish. They were probably headed towards the graveyard, the place where all destroyed creatures and used magic spells go to. Strider and Shadow had developed techniques to constantly keep recycling the magic spells they used.
Strider turned to where the Juntu Stakes were placed. 'Until everything is set right, this city may have to remain in a frozen state. If things go worse than I anticipated, then the world will have to be placed in a frozen state. Tsabo...what are you up to?'
Tsabo Tavoc set the last candle in its position. There were other candles around. All the candles formed a skull, the symbol of Death magic. Belbe sat, cross-legged in one eye socket while Tsabo sat down in the other. "Let us begin the cleansing of this world." Belbe nodded silently as Tsabo started murmuring the first chant of the Dark Ritual.
Chapter 11
Tsabo Tavoc took out five small seals and placed them in a circle. In the centre of the circle was a small black pot with the Death icon printed on it. The general picked up the Seal of Removal and cracked it. "I am the unraveler, the loosened thread that will not hold." The power of the Seal of Removal poured itself into the pot.
The Seal of Fire was next to be broken. "I am the romancer, the passion that consumes the flesh." Belbe listened to the chants with curiosity. Those were the inscriptions on the seals...
"I am the feeder, the morsel that revives the starving." The power of the Seal of Strength flowed through Tsabo's body before entering the pot. "I am the purifier, the light that clears all shadows." The Seal of Cleansing displayed its power for a brief moment by destroying Belbe's Astrolabe. He grumbled in annoyance.
Tsabo Tavoc picked up the last seal, the Seal of Doom. "I am the banisher, the ill will that snuffs the final candle." The dark power transported itself into the pot. The pot began to glow a black aura. The general smiled. "It's ready."
Belbe glared at him. "What is? How will this pot help?" Tsabo held up the pot carefully. "The powers of the seals are in this pot. We will release those powers to every one of our fallen troops after we finish the Living Death ritual. That way, Strider and his allies will have little chance of victory. This pot will also grant those powers to our ultimate weapon. If things go for the worse, then I will use these powers myself."
The Phyrexian engineer snorted. "This is almost as foolish as the Memory Jar incident seven months ago." Tsabo channeled the powers of the pot on to five different sections of the skull he created from the candles around him.
Belbe could feel the magic power growing stronger and stronger. It won't be long now until Strider and his friends detect the large amounts of magic and come to their location to finish them off. He hoped that the general can pull it off before it is too late. Tsabo Tavoc started to chant again.
"Eye of twilight, give us sight.
Take our offer, give us might.
Make our power tears of night."
The powers from the sections of the skull came together in the centre and shot a beam straight upwards, opening a rift between this dimension and the world of the dead. Moans of dead soldiers could be heard through the vortex. Tsabo and Belbe stood up and headed for the Erratic Portal.
"The spell is still in the early stage so we will have to be careful. Strider should have detected something by now." The general had a grim look on his face. "Let no soldier be without a sword. We will all fight, for if we all fail, we will certainly all die."
Chapter 12
"What do we have here?" The Defender looked around the remains of the museum. "Apparently someone had to do a little shopping. Kerberus, Sakura, Li, spread out and cover a section of the museum. We have to know what Tsabo stole so that we may have some insight of his plans."
An hour later, the entire museum had been covered. "As far as I'm concerned, he took five seals...what do they mean?" Kero had a frustrated look on his face. Strider turned to him anxiously. "Those seals...would they happen to be the Seal of Fire, the Seal of Removal, the Seal of Strength, the Seal of Cleansing and the Seal of Doom?"
The Guardian beast scratched his head. "Yeah...something like that." The entity stroked his chin. "Tsabo would probably combine all these abilities for it to be used on one person or an army. We destroyed every soldier of that army."
"What exactly can Tsabo do? We do outnumber him and Belbe. The only thing he could do is have some sort of Death magic spell to perform a miracle like killing all of humanity or getting back his entire army," stated Li. Those words clicked together in Strider's mind. "Or do both with Living Death..."
"Excuse me?" The entity understood it all. "It's the Living Death ritual!! We have to find Tsabo and stop him before he completes it or else we could be in deep trouble!!"
Sakura blinked. "Living Death? What type of spell is that and what does it do?" Strider had already taken off into the air. The rest of the group reluctantly did the same.
"Just to let you know, Living Death is a powerful Death magic spell. It kills everything that exists in the present and brings back everything that has died in the past forty-eight hours. He could wipe out humanity and bring back his army in no time!"
"I sense some magic!! Its a few kilometres west of here!!" The group made a left turn and headed towards the source of the magic. The location was near an abandoned church. "Creepy place..." Sakura slightly shivered before following Li inside the building.
"Hello..." Strider located a trap door inside one of the confession booths. What they found next was most disturbing. The vortex between the living and the dead is opening wider. In fact, they could see some soldiers popping out, alive and fresh as a daisy. The Erratic Portal was nowhere to be seen.
"Dammit!!!! The spell has already been cast!!!" The group looked to see some human souls go inside the vortex to replace the soldiers. "Meilin!!! Wei!!!" The souls of the Chinese boy's companions were swept inside the vortex along with the souls of Madison, Chelsea, Nikki, Zachary, Rita, Tori and Julian.
The cardcaptors were about to follow them when Strider stopped them. "We have to wait until the spell is finished. For now, we have to step out." Sakura looked at the Defender. "We can't just leave our friends in this state!!"
"As long as we exist, there is still hope for this world. After the spell is over, we can track it inside the dimension of the dead, capture its magic and reuse it to set things straight but now is not the time." Sakura knew that Strider is right. Using a Parallax Wave, they moved themselves out of the Living Death's range and watched as Tsabo Tavoc's vision shaped itself into reality.
Chapter 13
If the population of Readington were not paralyzed by the Juntu Stakes, they would be paralyzed with fear. Thousands of Phyrexian soldiers were assembling by the zoo thanks to Tsabo Tavoc's spell.
"How much longer is this going to last?" Kero was pacing around in the haven that Strider has been able to provide through the Parallax Wave. Strider looked at Kero with an annoyed look. "We have to wait until the spell dissolves in the dimension of the dead before we can act. Patience is a virtue."
The vortex grew larger to increase its power. Soon the entire population of the world became lost souls and the world belonged to the Phyrexians. Tsabo stepped out of the Erratic Portal with Belbe. "Excellent!! This world will be suitable for our needs. We must contact the homeworld and tell them of the good news."
Belbe shook his head. "Most of our communication technology has been destroyed by the Defender during the time when the Plaguelord was here. We will have to use the technology of this world." He gave a small shudder. "It is so inferior that we will require several weeks to update it and send a signal."
Tsabo smirked. "My dear Belbe. Now that this world is under our control, we will have enough time. I will keep the Defender and his allies busy while you work on creating a signal." The general walked away with victory on his face.
Strider returned the Parallax Wave into his rather extensive deck. The only problem was to locate the Living Death spell. "We're going in the dimension of the dead. I need all of you to keep yourself together. This means you, Sakura." She gulped nervously. The entity gave an exhausted sigh. 'How can she be afraid of ghosts?'
The dimension was filled with lost souls. Sakura had to grip on to Li's arm for support. Kero looked around the large amounts of dead people. "So many lost souls. Are they aware of our presence?"
"Yes and no. They are aware of us being here but if we can set things straight, the next time they wake up, it will all be a big dream to them." The entity stretched out his senses. "Dammit!! There is too much Death magic in this place!! It's hard to get a precise reading on the location of the Living Death spell."
Kero sighed. "We may have to ask some of the local population." Sakura went pale at that thought. "W-we have to ask g-g-ghosts where to find the s-spell?" Li was certain that he had lost the feeling in his left arm entirely. "I have to agree with Kero. It's the only way to find the spell for certain."
Strider came across two girls. "Excuse me, have you seen a weird energy wave around here?" The girls were about to answer when the rest of the group caught up. "LI!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT....GIRL?!?!?" The other girl's eyes began to twinkle. "You two look so adorable together!!! I could see it now..." Li, Sakura and Kero all gasped in shock. "Madison?! Meilin?!!?"
Chapter 14
"All this was happening and you didn't tell me?! I could have taped this!! This has to be the greatest adventure of all time and I can't even tape it!!!" Madison gave a huge groan. The group explained the basic story to the others.
"So what's the story between you two?" Meilin started to give icy glares towards Sakura. "Meilin, the only reason she is holding on to me is that she wouldn't get lost. This is a huge place." Sakura gave a small smile of relief. The last thing they needed was Meilin ranting about how Sakura is trying to steal Li.
"So can you help us track this thing down?" Madison nodded. "Follow me. I'll show you where I saw the thing you're looking for and then you have to find it on your own." Kero gave an understanding nod.
"We'll have to be careful. We can't run into any familiar faces or else we have a lot of explaining to do. I want this us to be in and out. Understood?" Everybody agreed with Strider as they started to track down the spell.
A few minutes later, Madison showed them the spot where she encountered the energy wave. Strider stretched out his senses. "I feel a bit of it a few hundred metres to the left." When they found the spell, they also found a few difficulties.
"Nether Shadows and Nether Spirits...why is it that the Phyrexians frequently forget to return them to their ranks?" Several thousand Nether Shadows and Nether Spirits blocked the way to get to the Living Death spell.
"What do you mean return to the ranks?" Strider took out his weapon. "These guys have the ability to be resummoned if certain conditions are right. In the case of the Phyrexians, those conditions are frequent. I could use a spell to erase them all out of existence but it would erase the entire population of the world too. We will have to fight our way through."
Kero grinned as he transformed. "Just the way I like it." Li and Sakura summoned their weapons as well. Strider summoned several Two-Headed Dragons to fight the spirits. Slowly, the Nether Shadows and Nether Spirits began to be sealed by Strider.
"That was tiring." Li and Sakura had finished weakening the last batch of Nether Spirits while Strider sealed them. "That was only the icing. Take a look at the cake."
They saw the huge spell in an unstable state. Strider summoned some energy and started to seal the card. "Living Death, return to thy true form!!!!" The Death card went into Strider's hand. "Now we have to set things straight."
Tsabo started to sense familiar magic. "Not again...Belbe, activate the Erratic Portal!!" The two stepped inside the vortex as the Living Death spell swept the world, sending the Phyrexian troops back to their dead and the population of the world in a state of stasis but alive.
"Just as I thought." Tsabo stepped out of the Erratic Portal. "Strider would use the Living Death spell to reverse my work. No matter. Our master plan is complete. Belbe, place the final piece on our new friend!!"
Belbe placed the Diplomatic Immunity card on to the creature. It immediately absorbed it. "Yes...not even Strider can destroy this creature. Phyrexia will be restored to power!!" The huge creature stood up and headed toward the heart of the city.
Chapter 15
"Everything is back to where it should be. Now we have one more thing to attend to." The rest of the group nodded grimly. This is going to be the moment in which they finally face Tsabo Tavoc. Strider won't be able to do much against the general since he can't be hurt by anything that is legendary.
"Did Tsabo create the anti-legend forcefield just for you?" Strider shot a glare at Kero. "That anti-legend forcefield is how he was able to avoid total destruction from the Ur-Dragon, the Predator, not even Autumn Willow could touch him!"
"Who?" The entity mentally reminded himself that his allies do not know everything he knows. "She is an adequately powerful legend. Her special ability is the anti-spell forcefield. She cannot be targeted by spells or abilities of another creature, sorcerer or mage. What is more amazing is that if she wants to be targeted by some spell to improve her own abilities, she targets the source and then she is targetable to that source only for a moment."
"Talk about handy...I've seen an old acquaintance of Clow with the anti-spell forcefield but now he can't even target himself for certain spells that can benefit the person being affected." Li looked up. "Wait...that guy is someone from Tolaria...Isaac."
Kero raised an eyebrow. "You know about Isaac?" Li smirked. "Isaac was the Water mage who concentrated on creating anti-spell forcefields. He had to make a deal with Zephid in order to get some of the necessary elements of anti-spell forcefields. I had to learn all this history from my grandmother."
"The flaw with anti-spell forcefields is that they can be destroyed. The forcefield can protect the person but not itself." The entity closed his eyes in thought. "Isaac had to work with a team of spellshapers to create the Diplomatic Immunity."
"Spellshapers? Diplomatic Immunity?" Sakura wasn't able to grasp all this information. Li noticed her confusion. 'Damn...she looks cute when she's confused...' He turned slightly red as Strider gave an explanation. "Spellshapers are mages that can duplicate certain spells. The way they work is that you have to pay a certain mana cost and then give them one magic card of any type. Clow card, Fire card, Ultimate card and so on. Diplomatic Immunity is another one of Isaac's anti-spell forcefields. Not only did it protect the user, it protected itself as well."
"That must be a strong anti-spell forcefield. I bet that makes the user invincible!" Strider snorted. "Please...all you need is a spell that can destroy all types of that card. Diplomatic Immunity is classified as an enchant creature card. Use a card that destroys all enchantments."
The ground began to shake. "Whoa, what's that?" Sakura felt the huge power as well as Li and Strider. "Whatever it is, it's powerful!!" Strider narrowed his eyes in concentration. "This thing is a fusion of several magic cards!!" They looked to the right and saw a huge creature in the distance heading towards the heart of the city.
Chapter 16
The creature's appearance is truly bizarre. Its body is composed of other dead bodies. It had thorns around its body. "A fusion?! What are you talking about?" Strider concentrated on the cards that were fused. "Clever, Tsabo. That combination would indeed produce a powerful creature...listen up, everybody. We have to make sure that the creature doesn't get a hold of anybody."
"Well duh!! It's most likely to eat them or something." Strider shot an icy glare at Kero. "It's more complicated than that. The cards fused are Zombie Mob and Thran Golem. The Zombie Mob's attack and defense powers depend on the amount of dead bodies in its own body. If it eats anyone, that person will die and his or her body will increase the attack and defensive powers of the creature!! The Thran Golem is powerful only when it is enchanted with an enchant creature card. Once the enchant creature card is on the Golem, the attack and defense powers of the creature will increase dramatically and it will be gain all the basic abilities. Flying, first strike during combat and combat damage division or trample. With trample, if it can kill the defending creature, it can either deal all of its damage to the creature or deal enough to kill the creature and deal the rest to the controller."
"Talk about lethal..." The entity nodded in agreement. "We also have another problem, Kerberus. The creature is enchanted with a Diplomatic Immunity." "WHAT???!?!?!?!?!?!?!" screeched Sakura, Li and Kero simultaneously.
"Here's the plan. Buy me enough time to separate the cards and seal them individually. Okay?" Sakura rolled her eyes. "Easier said than done." The group prepared themselves for battle.
As they approached the creature, they saw that it already set itself a dinner set, with dishes and all. (I'm basing the battle scenario and some details of the battle from the final boss battle on Power Stone 2, made by Capcom for the Dreamcast) "Now, element!! Fire!!!" Li's spell had little effect on the giant.
"Freeze card, hold this beast in your icy prison!!!" The card temporarily froze the beast before it broke free. The creature then shot out some majorly bad breath, suffocating the group.
"Hasn't this guy ever heard of breathmints?" Strider searching the Nature section of his deck for a general enchantment destruction spell. "Keep the creature busy!! If I can destroy the Diplomatic Immunity, then the creature will be severely weakened!"
The creature took a fork and started to stab around, trying to catch something. "Dash card, lend me your speed!!" Li dashed away while Sakura used the Jump card. Kero attacked the creature's head and it became paralyzed.
"What happened?" Strider kept on searching. "The creature's weak point is the head. It should be temporarily paralyzed if you hit it. As for how long of a reprieve you get, who knows?"
Suddenly, the creature awoke and with amazing speed, it grabbed Li. "Crap!!!!!!" Li struggled to get out of the creature's grasp but it was no use. The next thing he knew, he was being introduced to the creature's digestive system.
"Li!!!" The group watched in horror as the creature spread its wings and took off in the air, searching for more people to feast on.
Chapter 17
"Come on...I need a Tranquility, a Calming Verse, anything to destroy all enchantments!!" Strider leafed through his deck but was coming up with nothing so far. Sakura and Kero were having little success in distracting the creature. In fact, the creature was gathering up bodies to bring back to its dinner table.
"Hello!!! This should fetch what I need. And the fact that Tsabo has no more sources of mana to stop me...Rhystic Tutor, release!!" The spell allowed Strider to view his entire deck and find the spell he required. "Tranquility, cleanse this world of enchantments!!"
The creature lost its flying ability and tumbled heavily on to the ground. "All right!! Strider pulled through!" Kero landed just a few hundred metres away from the creature. "We should be able to hold it here until we can get Li back."
"The two of you should be safe with the Black Ward spells I'm placing on you. As soon as I can find the focal point of the creature, then I can separate the Golem." Strider noticed that the creature started to get up.
Undaunted, the entity pulled out a Light card. "Muzzle, hold this beast!!" The enchant creature card prevented all the combat damage that would be dealt by the creature. The Defender found the remains of the Diplomatic Immunity and sealed it.
"I believe I found the focal point," murmured the entity. Using his staff, he jabbed at a point of the beast. It howled in agony as the Golem segment of its structure became visible. "Thran Golem, return to thy true form!!" The Golem became an Artifact card. Now the Zombie Mob was left. "Strider, if you seal the Zombie Mob, what will happen to Li?"
The entity gave a grim look. "It may not be good for Li. In the long run, we still have to seal the card. It's still a danger to the town..." The Clow mistress gave an understanding nod and silently prayed that Li will make it out alive.
"Zombie Mob, return to thy true form!!!!!" Slowly, the parts of the creature's body began to transform itself as part of the card until the Death magic card was in Strider's hands and a smelly Li on Kero's back.
The guardian beast gave a huge groan. "For the love of God, can't Strider carry the kid? He's an entity!! It won't be much of an effort for him!!!" Sakura scolded Kero for being selfish before they all flew off to her house to clean the Chinese boy.
Chapter 18
"You are not joking, right?" Belbe nodded nervously at the strangely calm general. Tsabo leaned back in his chair. "In the end, Strider has managed to outrace the griffin." The engineer blinked. "Excuse me, sir?"
"It's an expression in the Kipamu dialect. It means 'to do the impossible'. We may have to conquer another world and use it as a temporary base. Perhaps even make it permanent." The general sighed in depression. How it has come to this...retreating from a war. At least the Phyrexian empire is still alive, regardless of its condition.
Belbe boldly took a step forward. "Perhaps we should rebuild our army out of something simple before we perform any experiments. We could go with Armodons. Much stronger than any elephant we have observed during our interdimensional travels."
Tsabo stared blankly at the ceiling. "Stick with something simple? Why not round up some Carnophages? They're a pain but they're cheap and adequately strong. Even Erg Raiders can do just as fine."
The communication device began to ring. "This is the invasion force. State your business." The general didn't bother to listen to the young soldier's report about Phyrexia. It wasn't until the end when he heard those dreaded words.
"Phyrexia has collapsed."
"WHAT?!?!?" The soldier shrank back in fear. "The scientists and engineers have been evacuated to Earth 823. The military forces have just arrived at Earth 409. The civilians have all died." Tsabo Tavoc gave a small choke. He has failed Phyrexia...when they needed him the most.
The video screen shut off, leaving silence for a full twenty minutes. Finally, Tsabo started to give orders. "Belbe, go to Earth 823 and help out with any projects there. They will require your skills more than I do."
The engineer did not answer. The shock of losing their homeworld was still inside his mind. He finally shook himself out of his trance. "Pardon me, sir?" The general shot an angry glare at Belbe. "I said go to Earth 823 to assist the scientists and engineers," snapped Tsabo.
"We have to abandon our cause? We are of Phyrexia!! We conquer and destroy!!" Tsabo smiled. "Of course we do...I would rather give up my life than abandon our cause. I still have one more trick up my sleeve."
"You do? What is it? A weapon of mass destruction?" Tsabo held up a Fire card. Belbe could only stare in awe as he finally understood Tsabo's final plan for the planet.
"How can you generate the mana for this spell?" Tsabo held up a pair of artifacts. "Phyrexian Lens...Phyrexia's final project before its collapse. They can generate any type of mana. I will use these to cast a Channel. The Channel has got to be the only useful Nature card. Then I will use my own life energy to cast my trump card."
Belbe gave an understanding nod. "It has been an honour to serve the Empire with you." Tsabo gave a grim smile. "You forget that honour has no meaning in Phyrexia."
The engineer gave a small laugh before he entered the portal. Tsabo was left alone in the room. He has been through so much...the battles against the citizens of Dominaria. At that time, the plague had just been perfected. Dominaria was robbed of all but its dreams. Amazing how it still pulled through.
He got up to take one last look at the sleeping town of Readington. 'Phyrexia has been destroyed thanks to you, Defender. To commemorate Phyrexia and its beauty, I shall see to it personally that a funeral pyre will be made of this world.'
Chapter 19
Li looked around his surroundings. A castle...Strider...the stuffed animal...where is Sakura? The doors to the castle began to open and Li could hear the evil laugh of a man as Sakura stepped out. She looked like a seventeen year old rather than a normal eleven. She pointed a finger directly at the rest of the group and demons began to fly out. Strider bowed his head in sorrow. "The Baron has won."
The next thing he knew, he was awake in the guest room. Sakura was nearby, sleeping as well. Kero and Strider were arguing downstairs about who knows what. "Li...?" The boy turned to see the Clow mistress sitting up in her chair.
"What happened? The last thing I remember was the creature holding me prisoner." Sakura gave a small smile before replying. "It doesn't matter anymore. We got out of that jam. After a bit more rest we go after Tsabo." Li grinned. "Sounds like a plan."
The two went downstairs where they could hear shouting from Kero and Strider. "I keep telling you, Diplomatic Immunity is the ultimate anti-spell forcefield!!" Strider sighed. "There are ways to get around it, Kerberus. The only true anti-spell forcefield that works is if it's natural in your system such as Autumn Willow and Zephid."
The two Cardcaptors just sighed in embarrassment. "Hey, kid. How are ya feeling?" Li gave a little yawn. "I feel a little sleepy but otherwise I'm fine. What's with that mini back massager?"
"You could stand to lose a bit of weight, kid. I almost broke my back carrying you here." Strider gave Kero a small slap on the head. "Don't be rude." The Chinese boy took out the Runesword. "This is it...the battle against the big cheese himself."
"Remember, I won't be of much help. I can use enchantment spells to boost your magical abilities and that's it." The rest of the group gave an understanding nod before departing the house.
The base where they found Tsabo performing the Living Death spell was abandoned. There were some old sheets and plans around but nothing to give any clue as to the general's whereabouts.
Strider noticed traces of caltron particles, the lingering effects of interdimensional travel. "Apparently, he left this dimension...I think." His senses started to scream out like crazy. It was a magic spell...a Channel to be precise.
"Do you feel that?" The group flew out to where the source of the spell is located. There they found the general, using his life energy to cast his final spell: Obliterate. "An Obliterate...this is bad."
"What are you saying?" Strider turned to Li with a worried look. "The Obliterate is a panic button, destroying everything. What's worse is that it can't be countered."
Chapter 20
"Yes...I'm ready to burn this planet!!" Tsabo had a maniacal look on his face. "Time card, freeze the moment!!!" Li hit the card and everything was frozen except for the group.
"I got the card!! Funeral Charm, force the Obliterate to be discarded into oblivion!!" The Obliterate disappeared from Tsabo's hands and went into Strider's. Li deactivated the Time card. Its power has severely weakened him.
"No!!! I only wanted to make a funeral pyre!! Is that so much to ask?" Sakura helped Li get to a bench so he could rest. Strider used several cards to make sure she is ready for the final fight. For Tsabo, he was drained from the Channel spell. Like all good generals, he would not give up.
"Kero, you watch over Li. I should be strong enough to handle Tsabo." The guardian beast nodded as Sakura squared off against the general. Strider gave one last shout. "Sakura, I have given you enough mana to seal Tsabo as a card!!" Tsabo snarled before attacking. Sakura blocked his knee strike easily. He attempted an elbow strike from above but she blocked it.
She tried a head stomp but he dodged it. Undaunted she dashed to deliver a punch in the face. The general realized that he could not win. He fingered the charm in his belt. At least he would do one more favour for some old friends of his by delivering another victim.
Still, she has to be in a bit of a weakened state. He started attacking with all his might. She felt the strain but she was able to keep up and occasionally deliver a blow to Tsabo, both to his face and his ego.
She grabbed her baton and was preparing to seal Tsabo. He growled. "You may have defeated me but in the end, I shall have the last laugh!!" As Sakura brought down the baton, Tsabo threw the charm. "Tsabo Tavoc, return to your power confined!!!"
Tsabo was immediately sucked up into a card format. Sakura felt really dizzy after the capture. She surrendered herself to sleep and the mysterious charm began to do its work. "Oh no...Li's prophetic dream is coming true!!" Strider rushed to Sakura as well as everyone else.
The rest of the group watched as Sakura's body grew to the body of a seventeen year old teenager. Her clothes morphed to a gothic costume, revealing her midriff. Strips of black cloth covered some parts of her body while the rest was a see through cloth. A ripped black skirt appeared on her waist. She wore an interesting necklace and there were some tattoos just near the top of her breasts. (look at it this way. Britney Spears' costume from the music video 'Stronger', the final sequence where she walks on the bridge) Li started blushing madly. Her skin started to fade and soon she was pale.
"If Sakura saw what happened to herself, she'll freak out," muttered Kero. "I recognize this spell. It's the Vampiric Embrace card, carved from the very magic of the Sengir clan. It can't be easily destroyed...the magic is part of her." Strider could only stare in awe. Sakura's baton was absorbed into her body as well as all of her Clow cards.
Strider looked up at the portal that appeared above them. "There is a curse that also came with the power. Whoever is enchanted by the Vampiric Embrace will be taken to Castle Sengir and there that person will decide whether to become a vampire and join the clan or die like a mortal."
END SEASON 2
Finally!! Please review and tell me what I should throw into the next season!! Until next time!!
Next season: "Song of Blood" The Sengir clan takes Sakura back to Castle Sengir with Strider, Kero and Li in hot pursuit...