Princess Mononoke and Cardcaptor Sakura

Chapter 7: A Defeat

Deep in the forest a rhythm of metallic clangs could be heard, the unmistakable sound of two swords being repeatedly struck together. A sword fight was not unheard of in this area but this particular one was unique. Unlike most which involved two or more foes wishing to kill each other, it contained two loved ones who would normally never consider harming each other.

Ashitaka and Kaya unwillingly exchanged attacks as they duelled, both hating every moment of the battle. "Ashitaka, please just go before you get seriously wounded," Kaya yelled desperately.

"Kaya I thought you'd know me well enough to guess I would never abandon you," he said, as he narrowly avoided another one of her strikes. "Anyway, you would just follow me. No matter what I did, we would only end up in this situation again."

Panic started to well up inside Kaya as she began to realise what Ashitaka might be getting at.

"Well then… then you have to kill me," she cried. Ashitaka shook his head, before abruptly raising his sword to parry hers.

"I will not harm you sister."

"Do you want to die and force me to live with the guilt of being the one responsible for my big brother's death?"

"What I want is a way for us both to get out of this alive," he replied.

"Well the writer just wants this story to get one good review, but neither's going to happen," Kaya sarcastically pointed out. "Anyway, I couldn't live with myself if I caused you to die. I'd hang myself before the day is over."

"I'd do the same if I killed you," he said, "You shouldn't blame yourself anyway. You don't have a choice."

They continued to move around each other, fighting in perfect sync. They were evenly matched in terms of skill, Ashitaka was stronger, but Kaya was faster which made them equals.

"You don't have a choice either, one of us has to die," Kaya protested. Only after the words escaped her mouth did she realise the mistake she'd made.

"You're right," replied her brother as he brought his blade crashing into Kaya's causing her to stumble back, and for a moment she thought he was taking her advice. But to her despair she saw him toss his sword to the ground. "And it'll be me," he said, finishing his statement.

"Oh no, Ashitaka don't, please I beg you," Kaya cried. She fought the spell that controlled her with all her might, but it was no use, she slowly moved towards Ashitaka raising her sword in the process.

"If I had to pick one of us to survive this, I'd choose you."

With a scowl, Kaya yelled, "You're so selfish!" moving closer to Ashitaka with every second.

"And you're still making jokes," said Ashitaka with a small, sad laugh.

By this point the Emishi princess had her sword above her head and was poised to kill. 'This can't be happening,' she thought, closing her eyes. Ashitaka did the same, and waited for the steel to cut into his flesh. There was the sound of the blade moving through the air, but then nothing, no pain, no sound. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Kaya sobbing, her eyes still tightly shut, and the blade was only about an inch from his neck.

He didn't understand for a moment, but then realised that Kaya was unaware she hadn't actually killed him. "Sister," he breathed gently. Her eyes snapped open and gasped. She dropped her sword and they embraced, so thankful that neither of them was hurt.

The two could have stayed there all day; however they both remembered something and drew apart. "The others," they said as one.

Ashitaka's relief that Kaya was back to normal had briefly caused him to forget the grim look of the situation. "How do we find them, they could be anywhere." He was also aware that it was unlikely they could do anything to help, even if they located them in time.

"Well, I… I think," Kaya began, listening carefully.

"Kaya," Cress whispered into her ear. He had been watching since Thiazzi brought them there, but still no one had the ability to see him. "Head to your right and you'll come across your friends very soon."

"That way," Kaya pointed to her right. The siblings swiftly began to make their way through the forest to rescue the others.


Syaoran dodged one of Thiazzi swipes and then blocked another, while San darted around him, ducking to avoid his blade and kicked him in the side. The sorcerer stumbled and fell, dropping his sword as well. Although he had once been very skilled, he had been using he magical powers for so long it would seem his physical fighting abilities were starting to become rusty.

"Perhaps you'd better stick to your magic," said San.

"Very well," muttered Thiazzi, his double edged blade flying back into his hand and reverting to a staff. San quickly tried to stab him, but just before her sword could make contact he vanished, then reappeared a few metres away. A ball of blue energy shot from his hand and sent San crashing into a nearby tree.

"God of thunder, come to my aid," Syaoran yelled, firing lightning from an element card. Thiazzi, quite literally, caught the attack and sent it flying back at Syaoran. He landed next to San a moment later.

"I probably should have seen that coming," said Syaoran under his breath as he used his sword to help himself get back to his feet.

"You cheated," San hissed at Thiazzi, getting back to her feet. "You said no magic."

"I lied," laughed Thiazzi, "And there's not much you can do about it."

A yell came from above them and a second later Sakura came crashing through the branches of the trees. She hit the ground, letting out a groan of pain, her white wings disappeared and her sword fell out of her hand, changing back to her staff.

Cargo slowly descended from the sky until he was standing next to Sakura. "With or without magic there isn't a child alive that can stand against me," he sniggered.

Sakura tried to grab her staff, but Cargo kicked it out of reach. "You're finished little girl," the assassin jeered. He began to raise his blade, but didn't stab down immediately; he was enjoying the look of terror on the girl's face.

"Sakura!" gasped Syaoran, and ran towards her, completely forgetting about Thiazzi.

"Have a fun trip to the spirit world," he smiled and threw a ball of magic slightly larger than the last one. It was aimed right at the boy's neck and would have killed him had the attack been pulled off successfully. Thankfully, San ran in front of him at the last possible moment, saving him from a painful death.

Cargo brought his blade towards the helpless Sakura, but Syaoran's sword intercepted it just in time. "You interfering little, son of a…"

"God of thunder," said Syaoran, holding up a card.

"Oh no," shouted Cargo, his eyes widening.

"Come to my aid!" The lightning hit Cargo dead on. He was sent hurtling into the tree behind him, then slumped to the ground motionless. "Now I'll finish you for good," Syaoran yelled, his anger at Cargo for trying to harm Sakura was stopping him from thinking straight. "God of fire, come to…"

"Syaoran look out!" screamed Sakura. Syaoran snapped out of his angry state, but by then there was nothing he could do. A red beam of magic struck him in the shoulder, which sent him sprawling on the ground and he blacked out. Sakura watched this in horror, before rapidly looking over at San, who, to her relief, was still breathing. The princess of the wolves was taller than Syaoran, so the magic ball had not hit her in the neck and so was only strong enough to knock her out.

"I'm afraid that stopping my son isn't going to be that simple," smiled Thiazzi, lowering his raised hand.

Sakura glanced back at Cargo and found that he was already back on his feet, the lightning attack seemed to have had virtually no effect on him. He looked as if he would stab her, but then appeared to reconsider and instead placed his foot on the side of her face. Slowly he started to turn her head until the strain on her neck became so painful that she screamed in agony. "Come on, I want to hear your bones crack," laughed the mad assassin. And he would have done if a voice hadn't distracted him at that very moment.

"Master!"

Cargo and Thiazzi looked to their left and saw that it was Kaya who had spoken. Cargo took his foot off Sakura and turned to face the Emishi princess. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to inform you that I killed Ashitaka like you ordered," she replied.

"Oh yeah," muttered Cargo, then his hand shot up and grabbed the arrow that was about to penetrate his skull. It was so close it was actually touching his green hair. "You really think I'm stupid enough to fall for that old trick? Come on out Ashitaka, don't be shy," he called towards where the arrow had come from.

"What? How? That's impossible!" Thiazzi stuttered, while looking at Kaya as Ashitaka jumped down from the tree he'd been hiding in. "You… you can't have broken free from my spell!"

"Well it seems you're wrong," Kaya scoffed, moving to stand next to her brother.

"How did you know I was there?" asked Ashitaka glaring at Cargo.

"Nothing goes unnoticed by me," he smiled, "and anyway, your sister could control her speech last time I saw her, so I knew it was an act when she called me 'master'.

"Even my son isn't immune to my spells," spat Thiazzi, "what makes her so special."

"Your plan was never going to work," Cress sighed. "No matter what anyone does to her she would never hurt Ashitaka."

"It doesn't matter," said Cargo, oblivious to Cress's statement, "She may have escaped your hypnosis but I'll always be there in her nightmares." His eyes briefly shone purple, which caused Kaya to go pale and take a few steps back. "Oh I'm sorry. Did I scare you?"

"Fu-"

"Kaya relax," breathed Ashitaka looking into her eyes, "you can't face him when you're this scared and angry."

"It makes no differences," cackled Cargo. "You see Ashitaka, when I battled with you and that Mononoke girl two months ago, I was, in fact, only using about a tenth of my true skill."

"What?" exclaimed Ashitaka, while Kaya's mouth dropped open. "How were you able to become this strong?"

"Anything's possible when your father can give you strength and fighting abilities beyond any normal creature with the help of magic," said Thiazzi.

"Yes," agreed Cargo, "My father gave me my power, and I will now use half of it to take you down." He then darted at them, and the three began to duel.

Well, duel would be the technical word for it, but as Cargo was easily dominating and toying with Ashitaka and Kaya, I think it would have been better described as a comedy routine. He took a few steps to the right then the left. It was a very simple manoeuvre, yet very affective. It a caused the siblings to get in the other's way, waste energy moving around each other and made it difficult for them to fight together. To add insult to the situation, although Cargo said he would use "half" of his potential, he was, in reality, only needing about a quarter to control the battle.

Sakura watched as her friends were kicked and struck by Cargo, while he took no damage at all. She glanced at Thiazzi who seemed to be focusing his attention on the battle. Without getting up she quietly began to edge towards her staff.

"Unless you want to have your spine snapped in two, I suggest you stop," said Thiazzi, without even looking at her. Sakura immediately came to a halt.

'Come on Syaoran, wake up,' Sakura thought, looking at her boyfriend, who was still out cold.

A moment later Cargo knocked Ashitaka out by bringing the handle of his sword down onto his head, then hit Kaya's face with the back of his hand. Thanks to the armour he was wearing she was knocked out too.

"I win," laughed Cargo. "It's over; I have defeated all of you!"

To Be Continued…