The night blushed with the cold chills of an icy ridge as Lee sat at ready in a high branch in the
trees. He stared into the blackness of the night, the only gleam of florescence being the
streetlights surrounding the park. In his mind, Lee replayed Misho's angry look in his mind. That
jerk! He couldn't have Sakura! He didn't deserve her!
A rustling noise in the bushes below roused Lee's suspicion. Yelling, he leapt into the bushes,
attacking whatever laid there in hiding.
"Oww!! Lee!!" screamed Meilin as Lee looked at who he was lying on. He was on top of that
annoying girl. He moved to his feet and brushed himself off.
Meilin stood up next to him. He glanced angrily at her, then turned away. "What were you doing
here?!" he asked in an irritated voice.
"I came here to look for the card," she replied.
"Did you hear me talking to Sakura?" he said, angered at her invasion of privacy.
"Yeah. I was passing by in the hallway. So sue me."
A flashlight shined in the two arguing card captors' faces as Madison and Sakura walked up,
following by Kero. "Aww, look at the cute couple," smiled Madison smugly. Lee and Meilin
grunted and turned away from each other.
Sakura walked up. "Okay, Lee, so where's this new card?"
"I'm not sure yet. You guys probably scared it off," he replied.
"Then use your magic thingy to find it," shouted Sakura.
Lee set his mystical tool on the ground, hoping it would help him find the card. After all the
necessary chanting, they waited. Nothing.
"Great job, kid," said Kero.
"Oh, shut up."
At that instant, the light burst forth as if on a command, sending Lee sprawling in the grass and
the girls backing away in fear. The beam of thin blue light shot straight up into the sky.
"What? How could the card be up there?" wondered Lee.
"Hmm.... this is very strange," noted Kero.
Slowly, the wind began to pick up. The clouds, silent and still, began to grow covering up the
stars. The wind blew with unkempt fury as it pitched leaves and even branches across the grass.
Lee held onto his hat. Sakura held her dress down. Kero struggled to keep from blowing away.
"What going on?!" shouted Lee against the wind. Suddenly, a blaze of blue light darted toward
the card captors, smacking Lee backwards and flying into the bushes as it left the card captor
lying in the grass. He rubbed his head as Meilin ran up to him, followed by Sakura and Madison,
who's camera was taping the whole thing.
"Lee! Lee! Are you okay?!" cried Meilin as she cradled his head in her arms. He opened his eyes,
looking at her smiling face. She cried out in joy and hugged him.
"Can't-- breath--" Lee squeezed out.
Sakura stared into the dark sky. There was an irregular moon. As she looked closer, the moon
changed shape and sprang to the earth. Madison screamed and dropped to the ground, her
camera falling a few feet away.
The shape darted and jumped across the grass, slicing through branches and making small
craters where it landed, until it came to rest on the ground about a hundred feet away. Sakura
tensed. What was this thing? It was so fast, and able to change its form, even fly! What kind of a
card was it? Sakura wasn't sure what to do.
"Kero!"
"I don't know, Sakura. This card is definitely not normal," Kero responded in a confused
manner.
Sakura approached the form with a stiffened gaze. She wouldn't have admitted it, but she was
scared out of her mind. The form shifted to the left an inch. Sakura screamed and fell onto her
butt.
Lee ran past her. "Let a real card captor handle this!!" he yelled as he charged at the creature. It
raised its head, its harsh, blue retinas stringing a look of death through its gaze. Lee's eyes
opened wide right before the card sprung directly into the card captor's chest, knocking him to
the ground senseless.
Sakura rose to her feet. This card was too big of a threat to allow out of this park. She raised her
wand as the card rushed toward her with a menacing expression. As it prepared to grab her, she
brought the wand down on it.
"Return to your power confined!!" she screamed.
An incredible explosion racked the park. Sakura was blown backward, onto the grass next to the
terrified Madison. Meilin sat next to the unconscious Lee, while Kero stared anxiously toward
the center of the explosion.
As the smoke cleared, Kero looked where a card should have lain, now returned to its original
form. But instead the beast remained. No, it wasn't the creature, but something different. This
was something new. this 'new card' was no longer a solid blue enemy, but a human-like
character, a young man, draped in a brown cloak and wearing an evil smile. His complexion was
the color of flesh, and he had hair of deep red.
"Greetings, card captors," said the monster as it rose from the crater.
Sakura and Madison gasped. The cards couldn't talk! What was going on? "Kero!! What's
happening?!" shouted Sakura as the new card approached her.
"No... it shouldn't be here... it shouldn't..." stammered Kero as he stared transfixed at the man in
the cloak.
The card turned his head. "Ah, Kero! Protector of the Clow cards! I'm willing to bet you never
thought you'd see me again."
Kero hesitated. Sakura shouted to him. "Kero, what is this card?!"
Kero ignored Sakura's question, instead focusing on the man fast approaching. "You can't be
here. Clow Reid burnt your card long ago."
The man laughed. "You think that fire is where I fall? Never could I be constricted so easily. I
think that Clow Reid may have burnt the wrong card."
Sakura picked up her wand and looked at it. How could it have failed to capture the card? What
card was it? There wasn't time to think about it anymore. Kero needed help. Sakura rushed
toward the guardian and the card, hopping on her wand as it grew wings and sent her straight
toward the card at an even faster speed.
The card spun around to face Sakura as she sped at him. He smiled evilly. "So you want to have
some fun? That's exactly what I was hoping for."
The card darted into the air, in a direct line up. Sakura pulled the head of the wand up, following
the Clow card in hot pursuit. It was not that easy, though. The card darted across buildings,
leading Sakura on a wild chase through the city. he dove down into the mall parkade. Sakura
burst after him. She sorted through her cards. The shadow card. She stopped in the empty upper
lot and hopped off her stick, tossing the card into the air and releasing its powers.
A dark, hooded figure floated in front of her. She pointed at the man, now seated across the
room. "Get him."
The shadow card charged at Sakura's command. It raced toward the human Clow card at an
inhuman speed, blasting him into the wall with its dark energy. The shadow card wrapped itself
around the man, trapping him in its skin. As Sakura ran up to capture the Clow, the shadow card
unraveled and exploded into the floor like it had been hit by a cannon. the man stood unfazed,
his hand extended and a strange burning glaze encompassing the tips of his fingers. Sakura
gasped. The card had defeated shadow!
"Trust me, Sakura, I doubt any of your cards have enough power to stop me," said the man as he
walked slowly toward her.
Lee and the others ran into the building. As the others stood there panting, Lee dashed forward,
bringing his sword down onto the man's left arm, slicing it clean off. The man didn't flinch at
the least. Blood dripped down from the disengaged socket. The limb lay motionlessly on the
ground.
Lee stared at the blood with a stern face. Sakura had to hold her hands over her mouth to keep
from screaming. The man smiled and turned to Lee. His eyes opened wide in a display of
absolute fear. The man picked him up by the shirt collar.
"Very good, Lee."
He dropped the captor to the cement floor of the parkade, as gusts of wind satiated the area. As
Sakura stared, the winds covered up the form of the Clow card, until he disappeared from vision.
Sakura wobbly rose to her feet and stumbled over to Lee, helping him up. He rubbed his head.
Kero approached The two. Lee looked at him with eyes that held a secret. "Sakura," started
Kero, gazing at the innocent girl, "we need to have a talk."