Author's Note:
I know that it's extremely rude to a third remastery of a fic, but pardon for the things that have been happening, I have been trying to make my own style of writing that can understood by the majority of the readers of this category.
I have made this fic under the circumstance that 'Tsubasa Chronicle', another production made by CLAMP and also starring some of the canon characters of CCS, had ended sadly. Also this fic, like the productions its based upon, may show some touches of the productions noted above so please pardon any OOC interactions and such.
Cardcaptor Sakura: The Second Shuffle
Prologue: At Night, at Day and what's Behind…
Tokyo Bayside, Warehouse 13, 22:30 H, 10:30 PM Local Time.
Shadows descend on the surprisingly heavily guarded warehouse, shadows in the form of people wearing blacked-out suits, body armor, face masks and wielding guns- all hallmarks of a special forces unit. One by one, each armed guard was taken down silently and efficiently, until none were left standing. As soon was each of the outside guards were taken out- alive or dead, three people emerged from the darkness, and in clothing rather contrasting the atmosphere, white coats resembling those worn by who had escaped the matrix for starters. A man in his forties, a guy in his early twenties and a girl of the same age range, by the looks of things, they seemed to be the superiors.
"Okay, secure the perimeter. I don't want any blind spots…" The man, who had short, straight brown hair and crystal-blue eyes spoke; in a somewhat low yet commanding voice. "Team one with me, team two, you know where."
The two younger superiors, one male with ruffled, short brown hair and the same toned crystal-blue eyes and one female with blondish-brown, almost golden brown thigh length hair tied into a simple ponytail and clear green eyes, instantly vanished into the night. These two reappear at the back door of the warehouse, along with a group of soldiers.
"We're ready over here…" the blue-eyed boy then spoke into his mic, which was coincidentally a pair of nightvision goggles as well.
"Okay… enter when ready…" the man on the other line responded.
And quickly and cleanly executed like the specialists that they were, they stormed into the warehouse and found not a soul but instead winding corridors- it seemed that the once spacious warehouse was transformed into a makeshift building with three floors. Room after room was searched and turned up nothing, eventually making the two teams meet at the centre of the first floor.
"Nothing from my end sir…" the one who led the back force replied.
"It's supposed to be here." The "superior" (since he was older) then spoke and then turned to his other "subordinate" (since they were younger). "Where is it?"
"I lost track of it when we entered… I'm sorry sir."
The commander then knelt down and felt the floor with his hand, as if using it as a sensor. After some time, he stopped.
"Found it, clear the area." He then spoke, prompting the two subordinate superiors and the soldiers to move back.
Then the commander stood up and took out what seemed to be a flashlight from his coat, but with a minor jerk it became something else, a sword with a crystalline blue blade. Then on his feet, a somewhat familiar circular seal appeared, but in the lines of the moon. He then began to chant in a mysterious tongue which for the benefit of the non-magical public, be translated.
"By the power vested to me by the canon, weaken thy restraint… Break!"
Upon saying the last word, the floor broke up, the hole swallowing him, much to the minor worry of his two subordinates.
"Commander!" the two subordinates jointly spoke and then jumped into the hole that was created, followed shortly by the soldiers along descent ropes.
At the bottom of the hole, the two subordinates find their commander standing, and landed near him, aided by the jet packs they wore. Moments later, the descent ropes appeared and the soldiers descended, forming a circle surrounding them, with laser sights switched on.
"Be wary people… we don't know what is inside here…" the superior then spoke, looking abound them and motioning to keep watch. "But this place is filled with a dark force that feels familiar…"
"I can feel it too sir… this is pure evil…" the male subordinate replied. "What is this force?"
"I'm not yet sure yet… but nonetheless…"
"Yes sir…"
And so the group again splits into two, both heading in opposite directions. Moments pass and then, the female subordinate commander feels something.
"Andrei, I feel something approaching…"
"I can feel it too Yvonne…" the male subordinate commander also replied and signaled his group to stop and assume a defensive formation.
Andrei then takes out from the folds of his inner shirt a gold and ruby pendulum-shaped pendant. He then holds it like a dousing pendulum, extended at arm's length and allowed to swing freely. After a few moments, he once again wears the pendant and takes out a sort of flashlight device from his hip holster, prompting Yvonne to take out her similar device. They both power up, revealing to be lightsabers common to Sci-fi fanatic. Then it begins- the laser sights of each of the soldiers accompanying the two subordinates began to vanish one by one, prompting the two to stay in their place, backs against each other. And then the next scene seemed like one that came out of a sci-fi movie, since the only things visible were the pair of light swords- blue and green respectively, swinging against the darkness and occasionally adding sparks- something was being hit by those blades of light. And then, it was all over, the two light edges remained while sparks were going off on the floor.
"This isn't good…" Andrei can only say. "Sir, are you okay? We just got attacked by who knows what…"
At the superior's end, he was somewhat the only lighted entity, with his glow lighting some distance around him, showing fallen robot soldiers (though earlier they could be mistaken for people), spewing oil and some damaged black figures with single eyes, wide shoulders and a strange crest on their bodies- a crest that made him cringe.
"That crest… it couldn't be…" he thought as he began to reply on the line. "I'm okay… but I think this is not good…"
"What do you mean not good sir?"
He could not answer his subordinate's question as another illuminated figure caught his eye, wearing a black coat, an immense aura of evil reaching out to him.
"You…" the superior could only say. "I should have not doubted that this is your handiwork…"
"Well, well, well…" the black figure spoke. "If it isn't the 'student'… fancy meeting you here- it's been what, 30, 50 years ago?"
"You're the unneeded disturbance during the Kageyama affair… I remember that as well as our first meeting all those years ago. But now is the time for your ways to end…" the superior could only say as he charged towards him, sword on hand. "Once and for all time and dimensions!"
"I wouldn't say that…" the black one began to counter his rival's words. "If I were you!!!"
The superior's charged was blocked by the black one's sword, an ornate example but with a black blade, making the superior hint at what it was.
"A saiga huh? You must have stolen it from another world and reformed it to suit your needs… what next, a clone to wield your dark copy of the staff?"
"Hmm… that may not be such a bad idea…"
"You'll be having tea with Enma first!" the superior in white could only grunt his reply as he tried to push his foe away.
"I have no time with you…" the black one could only say as he pushed his white foe away. "I have bigger fish to fry…"
With one sweep of his sword, the black being whipped up a storm of flashes, allowing him to escape and finally illuminating the dark room, revealing the superior, the two subordinates and several remains of droid soldiers and the black machine fighters. Finally, the true horror of the room dawned on them all- glass cylinders were its walls, filled with a liquid and an occupant, all of them despite their faces and visually sensitive parts covered, girls.
"Homunculi… I didn't expect that he'll go to such lengths…" the white officer then spoke as he sheathed his sword, looking at each cylinder. "And each from a different plane, and each with a quality that makes 'her' up…"
"I suggest we destroy this sir…" Andrei then spoke, while his partner held his arm, somewhat shaking. "Yvonne will be sleepless unless we…"
"I know…" the superior then spoke, opening a channel. "Requesting an IS-10 on my mark… low yield please…"
"Roger that sir… the blast sphere will only encompass the warehouse only… you have five minutes." The other line replied.
"Isn't antimatter a bit too much?" Andrei could only ask as the exited the structure, three minutes left.
"Antimatter is the only mundane weapon powerful enough that can cut mystic eneriges- and those 'things' were full of it. If we used any other device, the force penned up inside will wreck the entire port area- even the entire city if the force wave rebounds Tokyo's mystic barrier…"
Three minutes later, a lone line of light streaked above said warehouse, dropping what seemed to be a small point of light- it was in fact, a small antimatter bomb. The light found its mark and instantly consumed the building, leaving a perfect round crater in its place.
"Time for extreme measures…" the white subordinate could only think as they left the area as the police came to the site of the former Warehouse 13.
Tomoeda City, 15 Wagarashi St., 07:00 H, 7 AM Local Time.
We tune our sights to one of the bedrooms of this house, the one with the window facing the street- well the window of the lower arm of the L-shaped house. And then, the silence of the morning was broken by the one thing that was made just for breaking that sacred silence- an alarm clock, placed on the ledge of the headboard of the bed that was in that room beside what seemed to be a stuffed handmade doll of a girl wearing a pink dress.
And then, a hand rose from under the sheets of the bed and promptly groped the ledge for the infernal contraption. And said hand managed to grab hold of the device and took it under the sheets, promptly silencing it. But then, some plans were not foolproof- as said alarm clock was placed at the open edge of the bed, thus making the person in the bed fall if that ploy to silence was used.
"Auu…" a groan, surprisingly from a female, came from the floor near the bed. "What time is it?"
Then, from a nearby desk table drawer, a being that could be mistaken for a stuffed toy came out on its own. And said being floated towards the figure that was still slumped on the floor, still covered in a blanket. A closer inspection of this being from another angle reveals that he is none other than…
"Kero… be quiet… what time is it anyway?" a familiar, yet mature female voice came from under the blanket.
"I don't know… but you set that thing to 7 in the morning…"
"7AM?!!" the still covered figure suddenly became sober and awake, thus removing the covering blanket- this late sleeper is none other than…
"Sakura, your breakfast is ready…" a male voice came in from downstairs.
"Coming father…" she could only reply, standing up and fixing her bed.
After doing bed maintenance, she began to fix herself. Now sixteen, the only things that have changed with age is her age (of course) and vital statistics, leaving only her face to be almost the same when she was still in elementary, though she left the hair ribbons a long time ago (to be honest, she looks like her TRC incarnation), now opting for simple, combed hair.
"Why did you set your clock that ear-uhmmph!" Kero asked, before being hit by Sakura's PJ top and then the bottom.
"Tomoyo and I have to pick someone up at the airport…" she said somewhat shyly. "Tomoyo's going to pick me up so I have to hurry so as to not impose on her…"
"And who is this you have to pick up?" Kero asked, somewhat suspecting some things.
"Just someone…"
Then just outside of the house, a car parks beside the house and honks once.
"That must be Tomoyo now…" Sakura could only say as she finished her preparation and went down.
Somewhere, same time.
It was a purely dark space, devoid of any colour, shape or logic and full of evil energies. Amidst this overwhelming blanket of negativity, shadows were moving and then, a sudden lull in the monotony of the space came in.
"He's getting more precise with my locations of activity…" the figure in black of the night past, now features obscured by the color spoke. "And to top it all off, he became the very thing I dreaded. My second attempt must not be hindered once again- I have waited long and hard for this opportunity, using all the skills I have taken just to stay whole… the already weak potency of the stone in my hands is almost gone- thanks to that blasted alchemist Dante. But no matter…"
Then, from the shadows, another figure came into view, unrecognizable, until it spoke.
"I have assembled enough of them… We are ready on your command."
"Good… the power of wishes that I have waited for so long to reacquire… the power that the Wing Princess has will be mine… no more mistakes, no more miscalculations, and heck no more imperfect clones… Go!"