Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the latest chapter of "The Tezuka Tournament!"
I know, I know, I humbly apologize for the lengthy delay in this chapter coming out. I was suffering from some writer's block mixed with frequent exhaustion from work. This year has been very exhausting for me, and especially these last few months. But the point is, I'm back and I have the next battle of the tournament here for you to enjoy.
This battle is going to be quite interesting: Cardcaptor Sakura vs. Sailor Moon! Yep, arguable the two most famous stars of the magical girl genre are going head-to-head to see who comes out on top. Will it be the successor to Clow Reed go onto the quarter finals? Or will it be the Pretty Guardian of Love and Kindness? There's only one way to find out.
Wit that said, lets get to reading!
Chapter 8: Cardcaptor Sakura vs. Sailor Moon
"Ladies and gentlemen," Tezuka addressed the crowd, "we are now half way through the preliminary rounds and four of our champions have already progressed to the next quarter finals! But we still have four more amazing fights to get through first, so lets not waste time and keep this excitement moving!"
The crowd cheered again like they were merely sheep to be guided along, and they did not have to be kept waiting long as Shota stood up to address them.
"My people," she said, "your princess is particularly excited for this next battle, and it is a duel between two of my personal favorite champions in this tournament! For our first combatant, we have a young woman who was once an ordinary, though cheerful grade schooler in Tomoeda, Japan, living with a father, an older brother, and who had a best friend and a crush. But her life changed forever when she was ten years old and wandered into her family's basement where she discovered a stranger book that once belonged to a powerful sorcerer named Clow Reed. By opening the book, she unleashed a set of fifty-three cards into the world, each possessing their own magical ability and were able to assume an alternate, animated embodiment form. The girl was then approached by the guardian of the cards, the beast Cerberus, informed her that only a person with inherent magical ability could have opened the book and appointed her as the captor to retrieve the missing cards. With the aid of her friends and allies and a powerful magical key that could turn into her trusted wand, this girl was able to seal all of the cards away and upon passing a test by the cards second guardian, the being Yue, she proved herself worthy of owning he cards and became their new master."
Naruto listened to the story intently and couldn't help but think of one thing: 'Sounds like the kind of story that Hanami would enjoy watching...'
"After this," Shota continued, "a reincarnation of Clow Reed himself appeared and caused a series of disturbances with two guardian-like cards of his own. The girl found herself unable to use the cards and so she transformed her wand to begin a process to convert them into her own personal Sakura Cards. This was all revealed to be a plan by Reed's reincarnation to motivate her into doing so in order for the cards not to loose their magic. Her quest completed, the girl found one more thing as well: her love for her friend and companion, Clow Reed's own descendant, Syaoran Li."
Naruto already knew the fighter that Shota was introducing for the audience, and that mention of romance, coupled with the coincidence of her name, could not help but cause an uncomfortable pain in his stomach as he was reminded of the woman he had left behind back home... The woman he had sworn that he would return to...
"Following another skirmish during her junior high school years," Shota continued, "in which she, Syaoran and their friends confronted a crisis in which all of her cards turned clear and lost their power, she was ultimately able to learn of a plan by her own lover to remove the cards form her possession out of fear of her magical abilities growing out of control, while creating a new set of Clear Cards that she could retain possession of instead. However, the girl was able to prove herself and regain control of her cards and defeat a emerging threat with her new and much stronger mystical dream key. She would ultimately settle down, start a family, and pass on her magical knowledge to a new generation."
Smiling, Shota finally introduced the combatant. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the cardcaptor herself...Sakura Kinomoto Li!"
The crowd applauded as Sakura walking out and towards the ring. She seemed rather humbled by all of the attention, yet nevertheless took it all with humility and gratitude, even bowing to the audience as she entered the ring.
'Syaoran... Touya... Dad... Kero... Tomoyo... Everyone... Just you wait, I'm going to win this one for you all!'
After that, Shota took her seat and her brother stood up to speak next.
"And now," Shonen began, "let me introduce our second combatant. This young woman comes from a universe where the galaxy, the solar system, the planet, and the moon all exist as an essential piece in a cosmic balance, and each is trusted with it's own super protector, it's Sailor Guardian. In this universe all living things are born from a crystallized life force called a 'star seed,' and the star seeds of these Sailor Guardians are particularly powerful, an embodiment of their own planet called a Sailor Crystal, which grants them each superhuman powers. In ancient times, from a distant galaxy called to ours came the good and wise Queen Serenity, whom was bestowed by the divine the Legendary Silver Crystal, from which the Savior of the Universe would one day be born. The Queen then traveled to the Sol System and created the great Silver Millennium centered around her own Moon Kingdom. From the Moon, the Queen looked down upon the development of humanity on Earth and raised the child born from the Silver Crystal as her own daughter. That child was the fair and powerful Princess Serenity. However, tragedy struck when the primordial nothingness known as Chaos spread itself across the cosmos out of hatred for existence. One of Chaos's agents, the evil Queen Metalia and her Dark Kingdom, destroyed the Moon kingdom and murdered the Princess. To save her daughter's life and the cosmos, the Queen chose to reincarnate her, her fellow Sailor Guardians, and the Princess's true love on Earth."
Naruto and the others listened intently as, frankly, a lot of this cosmic hierarchy, star seed magic crystal and reincarnation stuff was already going over many of their heads.
"Generations later," he continued, "Princess Serenity was indeed reincarnated as an ordinary, lazy, dimwitted school girl in Juban, Japan. That is, until one day when she was approached by a talking cat named Luna, the Queen's former advisor, who revealed her true destiny and gave her a magical brooch with which she could transform into one of the Sailor Guardians, their leader in fact, the embodiment of love and goodness. While she was very, very slow to come into that role, the girl's heroism shined through and made her a cosmic legend as she discovered and befriended the reincarnations of the other Sailor Guardians, and fought beside them as their leader...err, technically at least. Together, the Guardians fought and defeated many powerful cosmic threats, from Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom, to the evil Wiseman and the Black Moon Kingdom, to the Death Busters and the entity Pharaoh 90, to Queen Nehelenia and the Dean Moon Circus, until facing their final battle against the false Sailor Guardians called the Shadow Galactica, led by the evil and immensely powerful Sailor Galaxia. It would be this final battle that saw the girl's ultimate victory after many hard battles and tragic defeats, and the final defeat of Chaos."
Shonen, paused before speaking once more. "My friends, this champion's victories are truly cosmic in scale and her status as a heroic legend is inarguable. Her adventures span not only the vastness of space, but of time itself as well, both past and future. And now she comes here to prove herself amongst her fellow champions. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Usagi Tsukino, or as her universe has come to know her...Sailor Moon!"
The Guardian of Love and Kindness herself stepped out, but strangely, she did so not in her Sailor Guardian form, but rather as her normal, mortal form.
"Hey!" Deku shouted in realization. "How comes she's not in her Sailor form anymore? Why did she change back before the fight?"
"Oh I saw it earlier," Astro said. "One of the Daimyō's messengers told her that he wanted her to transform after she entered the ring, before the fight started."
"Why?" Jotaro asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Yusuke asked sarcastically. "Because Tezuka wants to give all the perverts in the audience and good show and let them see her change into that short skirted outfit of hers, that's why."
"You really think these people are that shallow?" Ichigo retorted.
"Remember what happened when Ryūko transformed?"
"...Good point."
Back in the ring, Usagi's mind wasn't on any of that. Rather, it was on why and how her powers were in the forms they currently were in spite of all that had happened on her heroic journey.
'I don't understand. How could they have been restored, after all that has happened...? Whatever. As long as I win this thing and return to Mamoru, Chibiusa and the others, that's all that matters...'
Tezuza rose form his seat and raised his hand in the air. "Combatants ready...Set! ...FIGHT!"
A small object appeared in front of Sakura, resembling a pendant with a white, six-pointed star with smaller 5-pointed stars on each tip inside a circle with a spike in each side of the star, and big feathered wings below the circle.
Beneath her feet, a strange circular design appeared on the ground. It looked like some sort of seal, or summoning symbol as it appeared to Naruto as he watched from the fighters box. The circle was actually two, an inner circle and an outer circle, and the center was comprised of a twelve-pointed star with six five-pointed stars on every other point. Two elements were situated on either side of the circle, between the aforementioned sun and moon circles, with the order of the elements in the outer circle going clockwise being Sun, Fire, Wind, Moon, Earth, and Water. The inner circle was blue while the stars seen within were a lighter blue, while the outer circle that housed the five-pointed stars, element, sun and moon symbols were a light pink-purple color.
"Key which hides the forces of dreams," she said, "reveal your true form before me. Release!"
The pendant floating in from of Sakura transformed in a flash of magical light. In it's place was now a long, staff-like magic wand that was white in color, had a six-pointed star with smaller 5-pointed stars on each tip inside a circle with a spike in each side of the star, and big feathered wings below the circle.
With the wand now in hand, Sakura took a fighting stance as her opponent underwent her own transformation.
Usagi raised her hand in the air and shouted to the sky. "Moon Cosmic Power, Make Up!"
A heart-shaped brooch that Usagi wore on her chest was opened in a shining pink light as she waved her hand in front of it, revealing a pink heart-shaped crystal as Usagi's nails turned light pink. After the light faded, Usagi form fitting, seemingly nude silhouette, turned green and then sparkling multi-colored as it stood in the middle of a light blue heart. Pink ribbons wrapped around her body, transforming into her signature white leotard with blue collar and front red bow to which the brooch was attached. She then, stretched out her arms to the sky as more pink ribbon wraps around them to form her white gloves. After this she leaned far backwards to raise her right foot upwards and still more pink ribbons wraps around her foot to form her red boots. The light blue heart spinning around Usagi the formed her blue skirt and back red bow. As she elegantly moved in an almost dance-like manner to her transformation, the world around her was a shining mix of many colors. Her crescent moon earrings appeared on her ears, as did a crescent moon symbol upon her forehead, followed by her red odango covers to highlight her famous "meatball" style head buns, and her two feather barrettes. Finally, her iconic golden tiara with it's red gem appeared upon her brow where the crescent symbol one was, followed by her red choker with gold crescent moon clip, completing the transformation. The dazzling young woman then spun around and posed with her leg spread out and her left arm on her hip and her right up against her brow, her thumb, index and middle fingers outstretched in a victory pose, all as a crescent moon with red roses appeared behind her.
...Of course, that was what the Daimyō, his children, and the audience all saw take place. Up in the fighter's box, Naruto and the other combatants were all confused, as all they saw was a simple flight of light and Usagi miraculously appearing in her Sailor Moon form.
'That's it?' Naruto thought, confused by the cat calls coming from the audience. 'All she did was magically change her clothes. What was so pervy about that?'
"I'm sorry about this," Sakura said, her wand at the ready.
Sailor Moon clenched her fist. "I am too, but if I must...' She then made a series of broad gestures. "Prepare yourself! I'm the pretty Sailor Guardian who fights love and for justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Sakura stood there confused by the awkward display before finally speaking. "Umm...okay."
Sailor Moon raised her tiara above her head as it glowed and changed shape into a glowing disk of white energy and flung it at her opponent. "Moon Tiara Action!"
Quickly, Sakura flicked out a set of clear glass cards with elegant and intricate designs upon them, and used her wand to awaken one of them. "Shield!"
A spirit appeared and formed a barrier that deflected the attack...barely.
'Woah! She's pretty tough,' Sakura thought to herself.
Sailor Moon braced herself. This was going to be harder than she was hoping for.
Sakura quickly summoned another card. "Arrow!" The spirit shot a volley of arrows at its opponent, but the Sailor Guardian was so fast that she was able to dodge the assault with relative ease...even if she awkwardly stumbled and panicked as she did so.
"All right! That does it!" Sailor Moon summoned a magical item of her own to come to her aid. In her case, it was a rod with a long pink handle, a red and gold heart at it's top, and golden ribbons outstretching at it's side. This was her once lost Spiral Heart Moon Rod.
Raising the rod above her head, the rod shone a bright light before she twirled it around multiple times before she posed with the rod stretched behinds her and her other arm outstretched to her side, crossing her body.
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" She spun around many times at a rapid speed before falling to her knees rising with the rod held up in the air as it released a barrage of pink hearts at her opponent, followed by a massive one.
Sakura rapidly summoned yet another card. '"Move!" The spirit appeared and teleported the attacking hearts up out of the arena, creating a colorful light show that entranced the audience.
"Hey!" Sailor Moon protested. "How are you doing that?"
"My Clear Cards are designed to counter anything," Sakura said. "There's nothing you can throw at me that I cannot defend against."
Not giving her opponent another chance to attack, Sakura now chose to go on the offensive and summoned three cards at once. "Dash! Power! Fight!"
Sakura gained enhanced speed that caught Sailor Moon off guard as she suddenly displayed impressive marital arts moves with enhanced strength that laid cracks in the ring as her opponent stayed out of range of the assaults.
"Sailor Moon Kick!" The Sailor Guardian launched a melee kick strong enough that crack the ground herself. But Sakura, with her years as a gymnast behind her, was too agile for the attack to land.
"Is that all you've got?" Sakura asked coyly.
Sailor Moon got flustered and kicked her sped into overdrive. Sakura was able to dodge most of the blows until she slipped up and a kick actually did land into her stomach. Clutching herself, she struggled to dive back in, swinging her wand like a weapon, which Sailor Moon blocked with her rod.
"You're strong," Sailor Moon commented.
"So are you," Sakura replied. "But I'm not going down without a fight!"
Backing away, she pulled out yet another card. "Wood! Bind her!" The docile spirit appeared and caused branches and vines to burst out from beneath the ring.
"Ahhhhhh, nooo waahhh" cried Usagi as she panicked and dodged and darted around the ring to flee the vines. But they eventually caught her off guard and entrapped the Sailor Guardian. As her opponent struggled against the tightening binds, Sakura summoned her next card. "Freeze!"
The icy spirit loomed over Sailor Mon before encasing her in a block of sub-zero temperature that left her entrapped in a block of solid ice. Sakura took that as her opportunity for an opening. "It's time to finish this."
Drawing her next card, Sakura summoned it with her wand. "Shot! Take aim and fire!"
The relentless spirit locked it's frozen target in its sights and charged a ball of energy in it's hands, before releasing it at the incapacitated superheroine.
'What do I do?' Sailor Moon wondered as the attack approached. 'I need to escape from this...somehow...'
Flashes of all her loved ones flashed through her mind yet again. Hr lover... Her daughter... Her friends... She would not fail them, never...
A blinding flash of light erupted from the Spiral Heart Moon Rod, releasing a heart attack powerful enough to shatter the icy prison and the attacking card spirit that had entrapped her.
"H-How?! How is that possible?!"
Sailor Moon was quick to answer to the cardcaptor's question. The power of love and justice overcomes all! And now I'll prove it!"
She raised her rod in the air and summoned an attack from the previous incarnation of her weapon, now more powerful thanks to it's currently form. "Moon…Princess…Halation!"
A barrage of heart-shaped projectiles came from her wand. However, Sakura recognized the thread and reacted quickly. "Mirror!"
Another card spirit appeared and reflected the attack directly back at Sailor Moon, who jumped around the ring as she dodged her own technique. Sure, her Sailor Guardian speed were quite impressive, but that did stop her from looking rather goofy as she did so, even at her mature age.
Sakura sweat dropped at her opponent for a moment before refocusing and coming up with a new strategy. "Interesting...Does she need to speak in order to use her spells? Maybe...? I've got it!"
She pulled out yet another card. "Silence!" From the card appeared a pale woman in dark attire and with a simple movement the entire arena, including the stands and the privates boxes, became completely silent. silent. That silence was absolute, save for an empty groaning that kept the now muted Moon Princess on her guard.
The two women glared at each other, each one daring he other to make the next move as they could no longer exchange words. That is, until...
Sakura opened her mouth and from it came her next card that she had summoned in secret. It was the Song, one of he only kinds of magic that could break the effects of the Silent. What came from the cardcaptor's mouth was a beautiful melody, that of a shy songstress singing the tune of the itself world coming into existence from the empty silence.
"Shadow!" Sakura sang next, as out came a dark hooded figure, who loomed over like a specter over it's till muted opponent. "Bind her!"
The Shadow was poised to strike, loomed over Sailor Moon. The pretty guardian seemed terrified by the figure before her. Even in spite of all of her growth and maturity, that did not mean that she was not immune to moments of intense fear and panic, especially without her fellow Sailor Guardians at her side. That is why she briefly lost herself and let out a deafening scream.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Her panicked scream was so loud and powerful that it reverberated through the air destroying the silence, amplified by her hairpieces. The noise was so powerful in fact that it caused the Silent to flee is terror as the entire arena shook from the sound. Sakura was forced to cover her ears and use her natural endurance to keep her balance, while the Shadow hovered, confused by this whole affair.
"What was that?" Sakura asked in bewilderment.
"Getting her bearings around her, Sailor Moon looked around before blushing and scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I get that way sometimes."
Everyone, including the Daimyō and his children, sweat dropped at the meatball head's goofiness.
For his part, Naruto found his own more mature self thinking back to his youth is embarrassed bewilderment. 'Is that how stupid the thought I was when I was a kid?'
"When you were a kit?" Kurama replied in a sarcastic tone. "Most of your human friends still think you're an idiot now. They just respect you too much to say it to your face anymore."
'...I can always count on you to make me feel valued, eh Kurama?'
"Of course..."
Meanwhile, inside of his private box, Tezuka had decided that it was about time to spice things up to keep this battle going. And so, wordlessly, he began waving his hand and caused something suspicious to occur...
"Shadow!" Sakura called out to her still active card which promptly pursued Sailor Moon once again.
As she was dodging the card's pursuit, something happened. Sailor Moon's brooch morphed out of nowhere and took on a new form. It was now a brooch shaped like a heart, with pink crystal within forming the base shape while encased on the outside with a golden shell. The golden shell had a pair of golden wings protruding from it and a another golden shell circle within it, with the bottom portion of the golden circle thicker than the upper part.
"This...This is..." Sailor Moon could not believe it. First her former brooch returned to her for no apparent reason after all this time, and now it just suddenly turned into it's successor just as mysteriously. There was only one possible explanation for this, as she was tempted to turn her head towards the observing Daimyō...
But there was no time for that, as the shadow card was fast approaching. Steeling her resolve, Sailor Moon took hold of her brooch and called out: "Moon Crisis, Make Up!"
The Crisis Moon Compact opened to reveal the pink crystal inside. The crystal flashed it's entrancing light and Sailor Moon appeared in the same colored silhouette as her previous transformation, with her arms outstretched and the compact affixed to her chest. Her form rotated as translucent pink ribbons appeared around her to reform her leotard. She then turned with her back to the right side profile as her skirt, boots, and gloves formed, while her other accessories and tiara appeared.
However, this time her outfit was drastically different. She now had two wing-like barrettes in her hair, her earrings were no longer dangling moons, but simply crescent moons affixed to her ears. Her choker had turned yellow with a red heart in the center. The stripes on her collar changed from white to yellow and her shoulder pads were now translucent and more wing-like in shape. The back waist bow become long, white and billowy with a yellow belt around her waist. But the most obvious change of all was her skirt, which was now white with a yellow and blue border at the bottom.
Sailor Moon was gone, and the far more powerful Super Sailor Moon had appeared in her place.
With her transformation complete, she assumed her victory pose, right before raising her hand to her tiara and could feel the light of Fanom's moons reflecting off it. She aimed it directly at the Shadow.
"Moon Twilight Flash!" A silvery moonlight came from her tiara, and it was so intense that it burned away the Shadow whom retreated back to its captor.
"W-What kind of magic is this?" Sakura asked.
"The kind that will defeat you once and for all!" Sailor Moon declared profoundly.
She readied her Spiral Heart Moon Rod for it's next attack, raising it above her head and then she flipped it around her body until taking a pose, then she spun around again and re-hold the rod upward.
"Rainbow Moon Heartache!"
Several ribbons with hearts upon them were sent out, forcing Sakura to summon "Jump!" to leap out of the way.
With that, the Moon Princess's weapon then upgraded, and unlike her brooch, this time she did not hesitate to put it to use. It was now a long pink rod with a duel, heart-shaped handle, a pair of wings outstretched to the sides, and a crown at the base of the shaft. The Moon Kaleido Scope was in Sailor Moon's hand as she wielded it like a sword, posing like a samurai with the rod across her brow and she crouched down.
"Moon Gorgeous Meditation!"
A literal kaleidoscope of rainbow color shined from the use of the rod, followed by a barrage of energy bursts shaped like shattered glass.
Sakura hoping to gain a quick mobility advantage, summoned her next card. "Through." It turned the cardcaptor intangible as the blast of rainbow energy passed right through her.
After this, Sakura decided that it was time to get serious and called on one of her most destructive spells. "Fiery!"
The fire spirit that emerged quickly started shooting blasts of heat and fire across the ring. Sailor Moon held her arm to her eyes, blinded by the sudden smoke and heat. But Sakura still wasn't done.
"Earth!" The next elemental spirit caused an earthquake to tremor beneath the Pretty Guardian's feet entrapping her in the ground.
"Watery!" The water spirit rained down a tidal wave at it's opponent.
"Give up or you'll drown!" Sakura demanded. "Please...don't make me do this..."
Sailor Moon struggled to get free but with a blast of energy from her rod, she finally managed it, quickly swimming to the surface of the water to avoid drowning.
"Windy!"
The last of the four elemental cards was summoned then, and it was quick to wrap it's opponent up in a vortex that left her suffocating for air. Sailor Moon could feel the air leaving her lungs as she was about ready to pass out.
"Surrender..." Sakura was on the verge of crying now. "Please surrender... Please..."
Inside the vortex, Usagi mind was overwhelmed not only with her impending defeat, but her possible death as well.
Sighing, Sakura steeled herself and summoned one of her most powerful cards. "Dark!"
The dark spirit enveloped her opponent in a space of pitch darkness that, to her at lest, seemed to span for an eternity, even if the barriers the Daimyō put in place meant that this was not necessarily the case of the audience.
Time stood still in the void. There was nothing but Super Sailor Moon herself, and besides that, her thoughts.
'What do I do...? I can feel my life leaving me... Mamoru... Chibiusa... Luna... Ami... Rei... Mikoto... Minako... Everyone... I...I failed... Even after all this time, I still can't do anything without you...'
...
...
...
'You are such an idiot meatballhead!'
Usagi gasped as she heard that voice. 'R-Rei?'
'Haven't you learned anything?! We're always with you! Always have been, always will be!'
'M-Mikoto?'
'Where's our Eternal Princess who saves the world from the Dark Kingdom? From the Black Moon Kingdom? From the Death Busters? From the Dean Moon Circus? Where's the champion who saved our universe and purified Galaxia before defeating Chaos itself? And now you're telling us that this woman with a wand and some magic cards is too much for you?!'
'M-Minako?'
'Usagi...You've already save the world so many times, and you'll save the world again.'
'A-Ami?'
'Usagi...my love... You have to find you're strength. You have to come home to us.'
Usagi was crying by this point. 'M-M-Mamoru...'
'Mommy...please win... We all miss you...'
'Chibiusa...'
Their faces shined through mind, one after another. She could se herself back with her loved ones, back in their Kingdom, back home. And that, that was not something she was prepared to let go of without a fight.
'You're right! I won't give up! I saved our universe before, and nothing will stop me from coming back home to it!'
...
...
...
Usagi, Super Sailor Moon, could feel the energies, the star seeds of her fellow Sailor Guardians flowing through her. No, she could feel the Lambda Power flowing through her! Somehow, someway even across the multiverse itself, their bond of love and friendship was strong enough for their combined power to reach her... Or could it have been more intervention from Lord Tezuka perhaps...?
However it was happening, she could feel them, all of them: Hotaru, Sailor Saturn, Planet of Ruin, Guardian of Silence... Setsuna, Sailor Pluto, Planet of Heavens, Guardian of Space-Time... Michiru, Sailor Neptune, Planet of Oceans, Guardian of Deep Sea... Haruka, Sailor Uranus, Planet of Wind, Guardian of Heavens... Minako, Sailor Venus, Planet of Beauty, Guardian of Love... Minoko, Sailor Jupiter, Planet of Thunder, Guardian of Protection... Rei, Sailor Mars, Planet of Fire, Guardian of War... Ami, Sailor Mercury, Planet of Water, Guardian of Wisdom...
All of their power flowed through her, enhancing her, just like it used to, awakening her to what once was and was always meant to be...
Her brooch transformed once again, as the planetary symbols of the eight planets flew into it. This time as a jeweled golden heart with white wings. The brooch opened up to reveal a star-shaped red crystal surrounded by gold decor on the white base of he inner brooch, with a red circle at the bottom. By waving her hand over it, a bright pink light appeared and the gold decor turned into a rainbow of color.
"Moon Eternal, Make Up!"
A swirl of feather appeared as Sailor Moon suddenly grew a pair of angelic wings to accentuate her colorful silhouette appeared again. Her golden moon symbol glowed on her forehead and Eternal Moon Article glowed pink as it affixed to her chest. Outstretching her arms and spinning her body, she quickly assumed her truest form and sruck her pose.
The difference in appearance with this new form were striking. She now had a gold crescent moon on her forehead in place of her tiara, and her earrings had a star at the bottom of each crescent moon. Her choker became red with a dark yellowish-orange heart and a gold crescent moon under it while wearing the same white wing barrettes in her hair. The collar itself was like her old one but now it was dark blue with two gold stripes and in place of her shoulder pads were short solid pink bubble-like sleeves with a red band at the end. Her front bow was now replaced with a gold heart with a crescent moon at the bottom, with what looked like four angelic wings coming out of it. Her gloves were the same as before, but now with a red v-shape border along with a golden star. Her skirt was attached to her top in a red v-shape with a crescent in the center of the v along with three layers on it; the top layer was yellow, the middle layer was red, and the bottom layer was blue. Her back bow was also gone, replaced with a huge set of angel wings and two very long, thin red ribbons trailing down from them. Finally, her boots were now knee length with v-shape borders with a crescent moon on them.
Sakura, as well as everyone else watching, found themselves in awe at the beauty and majesty of the Eternal Sailor Moon. Even some of he most knuckleheaded of the combatants such as Goku and Luffy had to admit that found themselves gazing upon her, if not for her beauty, then for the tremendous power.
Shota was all smiles as the combatant that she was personally rooting for the most had finally assumed her ultimate for. If she had to guess, then she wagered that this battle would not go on much longer.
For his own part, Tezuka smirked. yet another one of the most promising fighters has broken out of their shell, so to speak. Yes...things were all going splendidly so far...
Sakura was momentarily stunned at her opponents new form. 'That...That magic, it's... No! I won't give up, not even against something like that!'
But Sailor Moon herself was not the only one to receive an upgrade. The Moon Kaleido Scope also transformed a final time. First glowing white, it then morphed in a display of white sparkles into a white rod with a bit of red in the middle that had white circles with a Silver Moon Crystal on top of a red sphere, and around the sphere was a gold ring and below it were red wing-shaped decorations.
The Eternal Tiare appeared with a flash of pink light before producing streams of rainbow-colored light from the crystal at it's top. It began to spin fast as she appeared behind it, hands outstretched to guide the spinning Tiare above her head as feathers flew by, and then in front of herself once more. She then grabbed hold of the Tiare with her right hand and light flashed.
"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"
She spun around, holding the Tiare above her head, and finally raised it high in the air with both hands. Pink light flared at the peak of the Tiare and streamed toward her opponent in multiple waves.
"Beautiful...' Sakura muttered before summoning two of her strongest defense cards to protect her. The beams struck so fast that it just barely managed to save her in time.
"Mirror and Shield!" The attack reflected through the mirror and back at Sailor Moon, who yelled in surprise and dodged.
But Sakura was as resolute as oak, and called down her card "Thunder" who caused the lightning to flow away from Sakura. The spirit appeared in the form of a wolf who approached Sailor Moon with a snarl, sparkling with electricity.
But Sailor moon would not be deterred. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!"
Borrowing her friend Sailor Jupiter's attack, she created a ball of lightning in her palms and threw it at Lightning, which caught it in it's mouth.
Sakura was taken aback at first, but she was quick to summon another card. "Fiery!"
The fire spirit appeared again, and this time Sailor Moon was ready for it. "Burning Mandala!"
She used Mars's attack to create several mystical fire discs that she fired in pattern which were strong enough to even counter Fiery's own flames.
Sakura would not go down without a fight though. "Wave!"
A tidal wave appeared to wash over Sailor Moon, who this time called upon one of Mercury's spells. "Shine Snow Illusion!"
A water storm was formed that was of a sub-zero temperature, freezing the tidal wave into a massive block of ice in the middle of the ring.
It was at this point that, Sakura, the clear strategist of the two, was beginning to realize a futility to the path this fight was going. 'What is this magic? She seems to have a counter to everything the cards can do now..."
"Venus Love-Me Chain!" Sailor Moon created a golden chain which grappled SAkura at her knee and flung her around the stage several times, before she collided with the ice wall. The blow was quite hard, making her struggle to stand back up.
"I'm sorry," Sailor Mon said, "but I'm afraid I need to end this soon."
"So do I..." Sakura was able to see the energy of the Lambda coursing in her opponents aura and decided to take a big risk to end this fight for good.
Pulling out another card, she shouted, "Return to the form you once came from!" and targeted her wand at the Lambda Power itself.
There was a sickening shaking as the entire planet of Fanom was reeling from the impact! It was almost as if the universe was going through a cataclysm!
Sailor Moon could somehow feel the Cosmos Crystal, the primordial source of the Lambda Power, appear before her and begin being sucked inside of Sakura's card. But she pulled against this with all her might but Sakura pulled her back, her cards adding their strength to help pull this untamable force in.
As they pulled against each other, Sailor Moon could slowly feel herself being pulled closer and closer, and the Cosmos Crystal was ringing in horror and shock as it's very power was being drained. But Sakura could feel the power of the whole multiverse channeled through her fifty-two spirits and continued...
...
...
...
And then, something, unexpected happened. In their struggle, three of Sakura's cards fell to the floor. And the three that fell did so face up. Sakura noticed this and glanced at what they were: The Song...The Voice...and The Shadow.
Sakura had been a magic user or a long time. She had fully mastered the use of her cards, and so strong was her bond to them that she could tell when they were trying to tell her something...
Her min was reeling. Song, Voice and Shadow. What could that mean? ...And then she thought about this entire tournament, about the man who brought them here...and about what they have seen happen to those who have already lost in this competition.
...And that when it happened. The young woman gasped in horror at the reality of what was happening! The cards had told her what was this was really all about!
The pull was suddenly broken, and Sailor Moon was almost blown backwards. Gathering her bearings, she seemed confused at first at what was happening.
Sakura reached for one more card, closing her eyes and trusting in faith to give her the right one to tell her what to do. She drew her final card...and smiled warmly.
'Forgive me Sayoran, everyone...'
Sakura threw the card down at her opponent's feet, leaving her confused. But Sakura merely smiled with sincerity as she looked up to the Daimyō's private box and said, "I give up."
Everybody, both the audience and he other fighters, were stunned by what they'd just heard! Never did anybody expect one of the fighters in this tournament to ever surrender a fight, especially with the personal stakes all of them were fighting for!
For his part, Lord Tezuka was not pleased! He had been denied the show that he'd been hoping for, and that smile that she was sending him was not to his liking. Nevertheless, he gave the signal to his son to make the call.
Shonen stood up from his seat and addressed he crowd. "You heard her ladies and gentlemen! Combatant Sakura Kinomoto Li has forfeited the match! Therefore, the winner is Sailor Moon!"
As the crowd cheered her for her victory, the confused but much more so visibly worried Moon Princess looked upon her content-seeming former opponent with worry and pity. "W-Why?"
Sakura only smiled some more as she pointed to the card she had thrown at her feet. Sailor Moon picked card up and saw that it was a very particular card: The Hope.
"Keep that safe," Sakura told her, "and make sure the others see that also. It's up to at least one of us to set this right."
"But...But what do you mean?"
"You'll find out. I'm counting on all of you..."
That was the last thing Sakura got to say before she flickered and disappeared like the defeated fighters before her. She continued to smile with her eyes closed, seemingly accepting her fate in confidence as she did so.
Sailor Moon was at a loss for words, not sure whether to bow her head in respect at her fallen opponent or to shed a tear at her fate. All she knew for certain was that she had no right to celebrate, not with the last few words that Sakura had left her with and with the rest of this tournament still left to go.
She looked down once more at the card that she had left her with before disappearing. Sakura was right, it was up to them all to get through this, whatever was really going on here...
Up in the fighter's box, Naruto was looking at eh entire scene, not sure what to make of any of this. Sakura was the first person in the tournament to willingly throw her fight. Why? Did she know something that the rest of them didn't?
'I wish Shikamaru was here, he would have put all of this together as soon as it happened.'
"You ask me kit," Kurama interrupted, "you're best bet right now is the stay focused on the tournament. Don't forget who's going to fight next."
Naruto's eyes widened in remembrance. He turned his head to his side as a certain orange clad warrior stood up and pumped his fist enthusiastically. "Hya! Now it's my turn to fight!"
At the same time, another fighter stood up as well, a young man in a green jumpsuit. "All Might, Ochaco, Kaachan, everyone, this next one is for you!"
And there you have it folks! That wraps another bout in the Tezuka Tournament. Sakura forfeits the match as Sailor will be going on to fight in the quarter finals.
Now, before I start talking about any references in this chapter I need to confess to something: this chapter is not entirely my own. Some of he beats you saw in this chapter were actually "borrowed" from a blogger and anime fan named Friendly Neighborhood Imp. He has made a series of posts on blogspot, including his own predictions for episodes of Death Battle, one of which was a fight between Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. I found his blog during my research and I was really impressed, (and really grateful) for all of he hard work he put into the subject. Honestly, I do not consider myself an expert on either of these two characters, so he did do a lot of the hard work here.
As such, some of the beats of this battle are directly adapted from the battle he wrote but I still made some substantial changes to make it my own as well. I want to make this absolutely clear that this was NOT done as an act of theft or plagiarism but rather as a respectful homage to Imp's original post and as a tribute to his devoted research to this metaphorical battle. It was never my intention to rip him off in any way. If I had intended to do so, I would not be speaking at length about him right now or be giving him any credit at all. The truth, however, is exactly the opposite.
So, Friendly Neighborhood Imp, if by some unlikely chance you are reading this, please do not take this the wrong way. I meant this chapter as a tribute to your hard work and to help attract more attention to your blog. Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this subject.
If you want to read Imp's version of the battle for yourself, you can find it at 2017/07/death-prediction-sailor-moon-vs_ .
Now then, as for the fight itself, I did go in even before finding Imp's blog during my research with the decision that Sailor Moon was going to win this one. It really came down to feats and levels of power. Sailor Moon defeated Sailor Galaxia, a cosmic destroyer who's power is comparable to Beerus from Dragon Ball. That is impressive in and of itself, but Sailor Moon also once fired an attack that lit up the entire universe in only about four seconds (thank you Death Battle for teaching me that)! Sakura's cards are amazing and with them all together she is prepared for pretty much anything, but it just becomes really hard to imagine them being enough to stand up to Eternal Sailor Moon's level of cosmic power... And no, there was no possible way I could have utilized EVERY single one of Sakura's full deck of fifty-two cards in this chapter!
But besides that, as Imp point out in his blog, Sailor Moon, despite how much of a crybaby and pacifist she can be, is much more of a fighter than Sakura, who is more of a strategist and puzzle solver. In other words, Sakura can come up with masterful strategies to win using the correct combination of her Sakura cards, but that means she uses her cards to do the bulk of her fighting, whereas Sailor Moon actually gets her hands dirty and faces her enemies herself...with a lot of help.
Yeah, that's the flip side of this match up: While Sailor Moon usually has her loyal and, lets face it, generally much more competent team of Sailor Guardians at her back during her battles, Sakura is often on her won, sometimes with help form friends like Li, but more often just with her cards.
But that brings me back to something that I have already set up in previous chapters: that Lord Tezuka is clearly a hypocrite willing to bend his own rules for the sake of a good show for the tournament or, perhaps, for some ulterior motif that he has not yet revealed. This, perhaps, explains how Usagi was able to hear the voices of her friends even while within The Dark. Sakura seems to have caught onto what's been going on, befitting her role as a strategist, and may have had a reason for throwing the fight. We'll have to wait and see.
Beyond that, I can tell you that I was not able to resist writing out full transformation sequences for Sailor Moon. Yes, I know that they are pretty much fanservice (I straight out call them out as such for the sake of a joke), and that in universe the transformation is really happening in the blink of an eye to those there to witness it. But come on! There are just too iconic and visually dazzling to ignore! And in terms of description, I tried to create a blend of both the original transformation scenes from the classic 90s anime and the more elaborate ones seen in Sailor Moon Crystal, particularly in the first transformation.
I might as well say that it was a challenge to find a balance between the classic dimwitted teenage Usagi that we all remember and my personal assumption of a more confident and competent woman that I would imagine her as years after the series. Naruto is a similar challenge: you want him to be smarter and more strategic as an adult, but if none of that classic stupidity remains at all, then he risks not coming across as the same character.
I think that's all I have to say for this chapter, that you all for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all back again for the next one. And again, an extra special thank you to Friendly Neighborhood Imp for providing me with the inspiration for this chapter, and I hope it helps direct attention to your page.
Next time, it's a fight I've been looking forward to: Son Goku from Dragon Ball vs. Izuku "Deku" Midoria from My Hero Academia!
Until next time, see ya!