Chapter 13

Syaoran ran full-speed towards the Penguin Park, Tomoyo and Eriol close behind. They came to a halt at the entrance and spotted a figure lying motionless on the ground.

"Sakura!" Syaoran shouted in horror. Tomoyo clapped her hands to her mouth. Syaoran sprinted to the girl and fell to his knees. He shook her shoulders slightly.

"Sakura…wake up…Sakura…"

There was a groan and emerald green eyes opened slowly. Syaoran sighed with relief.

"Are you alright? What happened?" he asked urgently.

Sakura blinked. "Syaoran…?" she asked.

"What happened? Where's Chris?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know…I can't remember…"

Syaoran frowned. "You can't remember?"

"Wait…something happened…let me think for a bit…" Sakura said, narrowing her eyes in concentration.

Then she gasped. "My star key!"

Confused, Syaoran said, "What about it?"

Her eyes widened. "He…" she looked at them helplessly. "He stole it…"

Silence followed these words.

"But…can't you just make another one…?" said Tomoyo worriedly.

"I could…but he did something to me…he took away my powers…he's a sorcerer of some sort, he hid his powers from us so we didn't know, that night, he lost to Syaoran on purpose so we wouldn't suspect anything –

"Oh Sakura, I thought I told you to keep it a secret?" interrupted a voice.

They spun around to see a cloaked figure watching them with gleaming red eyes, a smirk on his face.

"Give it back!" Syaoran shouted, standing up.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Give what?"

"You know what."

"Oh, you mean that pathetic little wand of hers?"

"Just give it back."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then you'll have me to deal with."

"Oh I'm so scared!" Chris cried in mock terror. Then he smirked. "Here, catch." And he threw a small key up into the air. Syaoran readied himself to jump and catch it. Suddenly, the key exploded into a thousand pieces, leaving only a few wisps of smoke.

Syaoran stared at the smoke, his mouth opened in surprise and shock.

"Oh, my bad. I was aiming for that tree over there, see. Must learn to aim better next time eh?" Smirked Chris.

Syaoran growled in anger and drew his sword.

"Syaoran!" shouted Eriol. "Calm down! He's too strong for you…!"

But the chestnut haired boy didn't hear him. He lunged towards the sorcerer, his sword aiming for his heart.

Chris smiled calmly and raised a hand as if to wave goodbye, and Syaoran was flung into the air. He stayed in mid-air for almost 5 seconds then came tumbling down into the ground below.

Sakura screamed.

"Wind!" commanded Eriol and Syaoran was cushioned from his fall.

Syaoran lay on his back, stunned.

"Syaoran! Daijoubu desu ka?"

"Uh…hai…" he mumbled, sitting up.

Sakura sighed with relief. "Don't ever do that again." She said firmly.

There was a slight chuckle, interrupting their conversation.

"Honestly Li, I knew you were weak, but not that weak." Chris sneered.

"Why you…" Syaoran threw him the worst swear word he could think of.

Chris's face twisted in rage. "I should teach you some manners wolf boy." He said coolly.

He raised his hands once more and a bolt of electricity shot from his fingertips.

"Oh no you don't…!" roared Eriol and he raised his staff, muttering ancient spells under his breath. A jet of dark blue light shot from his staff and collided with the electricity, causing a gigantic explosion. Eriol aimed another surge of blue light towards Chris, but he dodged, rising up into the air.

"Ah, Clow Reed's reincarnation." Chris nodded thoughtfully. "I remember…he was powerful…but not powerful enough!"

And flame erupted in front of Eriol.

"What the…!" yelped Eriol and he was thrown backwards, hitting the trees.

"Eriol!" screamed Tomoyo

"No! Stop!" cried Sakura. "Leave them alone!"

"Hmm…yes…I've had enough fun for one night…but the little wolf still needs some punishment…the punishment of death."

As soon as Chris said this, a jet of green light exploded from his palm, shooting across the night towards Syaoran.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. He had gone temporarily deaf, he couldn't hear anything; the world was silent. He stared helplessly at the green light hurtling towards him; he had no time to react. He was going to be hit; he was going to be killed –

A dark shape flung itself onto him. Sakura Kinomoto's eyes widened as she felt the force hit her.

She collapsed.

Aha...thats that...Oh yes, I forgot to say, one of my reviewers (Oh I thank you very much for reviewing, thanx a lot!) asked if Syaoran could fight better (as in, better than Sakura and Eriol) later on in the story. Well my answer is that, Syaoran does fight better than Sakura, it's just the fact that she took him by surprise in that chapter when he was teaching her. As for Eriol, I'll try to add in something, although you must remember he is Clow Reed's reincarnation and he could jump into trees much more skillfully than Syaoran, so I had assumed that his fighting techniques would be better. Anyway, arigatoo for your reviews! (and to all the other great people who RR as well of course!)