Summary: Last time, we looked at the first time Madison learned about the Clow Cards. That's not all, though. Today we look at the hunt for Shadow and all the things that helped make Sakura the Cardcaptor we all know and love.


Key:

"~* Thoughts *~" = Thought

"[NAME:]" = Character voiceover


Episode 5- Recalling The Shadow Card


Sakura practically stumbled back into Madison's room. She hadn't eaten so much in a long time. She plopped down on Madison's beanbag chair and stared up at the ceiling until the rest of her friends came back in.

"Ah-hem!"

Sakura sweatdropped. She reached for an extra meatball she had left over and stuffed it in her pocket. Even Kero had to eat. Then Li and Madison came in soon after. Giggling, Madison fell onto her bed.

Li smiled and sat down next to Sakura. "So…who's telling the rest of the story?"

Madison sat up. "Let me tell him, Sakura. I love this part!"

"That…makes one of us," Sakura sighed. "Ok, Madison. Go ahead."

Madison moved up to the edge of her bed, lying on her stomach, excited to be able to tell the rest of this story. "All right, after spending hours practicing Sakura's new trademark pose, it was finally ShowTime. That night, Sakura and Kero got to the school, but I got there a little later. Because I had a little something for the new Cardcaptor…"


Flashback: Reedington Elementary at night

P.O.V.: Madison Taylor

Madison looked outside the car window. She was getting closer to the school. And she couldn't wait to get there.

~* Wait 'til you see this, Sakura. You're going to love it! Besides, you're a magical girl now. Somebody has to help you look like one. *~

Finally, Madison could see Reedington Elementary. The car and the van behind her came to a halt and Madison came out…accompanied by her four bodyguards. Sakura just stared at Madison inquisitively.

"Oh…I guess I should make a few introductions," Madison said sheepishly. "These four ladies are my four bodyguards." She turned to her bodyguards. "Ok, you four can take a break. I'll call you later."

The four bodyguards shrugged and headed back to the black car. Once they were in, they drove off. Sakura still had her inquisitive stare.

"Isn't it kind of rare for a grade school girl to have bodyguards?" Sakura asked.

"Isn't it kind of rare for a grade school girl to have magical powers?" Madison shot back.

Sakura sweatdropped. "Touché." She sighed and looked towards the school. "Well…I guess we should get this over with."

Madison grinned. "Not…yet. I have a little something else for you."

~* You're going to love this! *~

Madison dragged Sakura towards her yellow van. Madison dragged the door open to reveal a whole wardrobe of very unusual costumes.

Sakura looked on with confusion. "Madison, what's all this?"

Madison smiled proudly. "These are a whole bunch of battle costumes I made for you. I figure that every time you do something special, like capture Clow Cards, you should wear something special. Something fit for a magical girl like you."

Sakura blinked. "Is all this…?"

"Hey, that's pretty smart," Kero piped up. "These costumes will help prepare you for a mental battle with the Clow Cards."

"But…?"

"You see?" Madison squealed. "It works out perfectly." She shoved Sakura into the van. "Now you can pick any of them, but you can pick only one."

"But Madison…?"

Madison didn't give Sakura a chance to get another word in. She slammed the van door shut. A few minutes later, Sakura began to knock. So Madison opened the van door to see Sakura dressed in one of Madison's red costumes.

"Wow! You look sharp!" Madison giggled.

Sakura sighed and sweatdropped. "This is so embarrassing."

"Ok, we're all ready," Kero said. "Let's go."

~* Oh, no we're not! *~

"Wait, Kero!" Madison chimed in. "Hold still. I want you and Sakura to match, so…"

Madison grabbed Kero and tied a red bow around him. When Madison saw Sakura and Kero with their respective red outfits, she couldn't resist getting it on film. Kero was a little curious as to how he looked, so Madison held up a mirror.

"Hey! I kinda like it!" Kero said cheerfully. "I think this is a good look for me."

Sakura didn't exactly feel the same way about her ensemble. "Can we get this over with now?"

Conceding, the trio headed inside the school.

~----------~

[Madison: Needless to say, Sakura wasn't used to my taste in costumes.]

[Sakura: I'm still not used to it. Some of the costumes you made for me were just…weird.]

[Madison: They were not! I think they looked very cute.]

[Li: Um…bad taste aside, what happened after you walked in?]

[Madison: Well, it didn't take us too long to find what we were looking for…]


Flashback: Inside Reedington Elementary at night

P.O.V.: Madison Taylor

The three cautiously made their way through the school. For the few minutes, there wasn't a sign of anything.

~* Ok, maybe this won't be as easy as I thought. *~

Then Madison heard Sakura gasp. She and Kero turned around and Madison followed their lead. Then she saw it. It was a statue, and it was heading right for them. They let out a scream and moved out of the statue's path. The statue landed, but then began to float in the air.

~* It's just hovering there. But what's picking it up? There's nothing there. *~

Then Madison noticed something. "Sakura…there's shadow down there."

Sakura and Kero looked down to see a shadow lying on the ground right under the statue.

"But…" Madison continued, "there's nothing making that shadow."

The statue began moving again. The three screamed and ran out of the moving object's way. The statue crashed on the ground.

Kero suddenly realized something. "This looks like the work of the Shadow Card."

As if on cue, hundreds of shadows were coming out from throughout the school. Madison knew one thing. This definitely wouldn't be as easy as she thought.

~* That's a lot of shadows. Can Sakura really handle this? My Sakura? *~

Sakura bravely stepped out. "Kero! Watch over Madison!"

Kero flew right next to Madison as Sakura pulled out her key. This would be a great shot. So Madison took out her video camera and began rolling. Sakura began reciting her incantation.

"Key of Clow. Power of magic. Power of light. Surrender the wand. The force, ignite. Release!"

This was a sight to behold. To watch the circle of symbols light up at Sakura's feet and the wand form out of a small key. Madison couldn't believe she was actually catching all this on film. And the action was just beginning.

Sakura took out one of her cards. "Windy! Release and dispel!"

The card called Windy came out and it was a sight like no other Madison had ever seen. It came out to fend off the shadows, but it was doing no good. It was only passing through the shadows.

~* That's probably not supposed to happen. Oh, Sakura… *~

Sakura was quickly finding herself surrounded. She tried to defend herself by swinging her wand around.

Then Kero added something. "Sakura! Use Fly!"

Sakura nodded nervously. "Fly! Release!"

Just like at school the day before, a pair of wings formed on Sakura's wand. Sakura flew up into the air. The shadows, though, continued lunging at her.

~* No! She'll never be able to hold them off forever! *~

"Kero, is there anything I can do?" Madison asked desperately.

Kero shook his head. "Shadow must've spent the whole day getting shadows off every student. If there was light, then we could remove every shadow except the main one. But since this is the middle of the night, there's no light anywhere."

~* Light? Hey…that gives me an idea! *~

"Come on, Kero!" Madison said. "Maybe there is a way!"

Madison ran out from behind the bush. She watched as the shadows tried hurling objects at Sakura. They were starting to get closer as Madison rushed into the school with Kero in tow. She rushed into a nearby classroom and found her target. It was the switch for the floodlights on the playground. Without hesitation, Madison threw the switch, illuminating the outside of the school with bright lights.

It couldn't have come a moment too soon. Sakura was being pulled down by one of the shadows, but the lights had saved her. When Sakura peered into the classroom, Madison and Kero waved cheerfully. Then they ran out of the classroom to meet Sakura just as she landed.

"That was great, Madison!" Sakura said happily.

Madison giggled. "Maybe I can't make the sun rise, but I can still turn on a light switch."

"Uh…it's not over!" Kero chimed in. "Shadow's right over there!"

The two girls turned their heads to see a hooded figure that looked a lot like the Grim Reaper. Sakura knew what to do.

"Windy! Release and dispel!"

Windy came out again, but this time had a target. It tied Shadow up until it couldn't move. That was Sakura's chance.

"Shadow Card! Return to your power confined! Shadow!"

Madison captured the big card capture on tape. She was so thrilled. It was such a rush to watch her best friend be so brave. Sakura had the Shadow Card in her hand and sighed. Then she turned to Madison, who had a wide grin on her face.

"Come on, Sakura. You know what I'm waiting for."

~----------~

[Li: What were you waiting for?]

[Madison: I'll get to that. So I got to tape my first card capture, and it got addicting really fast. The next day, I pleaded to Sakura to call me every time she was about to make a card capture…]


Flashback: Reedington Elementary (the next day)

P.O.V.: Madison Taylor

Madison examined her tape in the audio-visual room. She still couldn't believe it. If anyone ever saw this tape, they'd swear Madison was filming a science-fiction movie. She watched again as Sakura sealed the Shadow Card.

~* My Sakura…has magical powers. This'll take a lot of time to get used to. This is actually pretty cool. I feel like a plucky sidekick. *~

"Y-Y-You got…everything?"

Madison turned around to see Sakura standing right behind her. Her little Cardcaptor was looking at the video nervously.

"It's all here," Madison smiled. "Sakura, you know that I just have to get your bravery on tape. I can't miss a moment. That's why I want you to call me every time you go after a Clow Card so I can get everything on tape. I'll have an entire collection in no time. Oh, and don't you worry, Sakura. I'll have a costume ready in time for every card capture. Only next time, I'll make sure to add some more frills and ribbons."

Sakura sighed. She didn't know what to say. "Well…if you really want…"

"Wait!" Madison cut her off. She squealed in glee. "Here it comes!"

It was the moment Madison had been waiting for. Sakura had just sealed the Shadow Card and…she gave her new trademark two-finger pose as she winked into the camera.

~* That is so CUTE! I'll have to make scans! *~


Madison held up the scan of Sakura's first pose. "And that's…how we ended up with this picture. I knew it would be perfect for Sakura's scrapbook. So I made sure to make a few scans."

"A few scans?" Li asked. "Where are the other ones?"

Madison grinned. "I'm glad you asked."

She reached under her bed and pulled out a photo album. She opened to a page in the middle. Li looked on in amazement at that page. When Sakura saw it, she fell anime-style. It was literally an entire PAGE of that one picture of Sakura's first pose.

"Of course, you never got carried away," Kero muttered. "Oh, no. Not you, Madison."

"That's nothing," Madison laughed. "There would be plenty of times for me to get carried away."

"And most of those times came after I arrived," Li added. Then he looked out the window. "Of course, that's probably a story for another day. It's getting pretty late."

Sakura got to her feet. "I really like sharing these memories. So we'll be back around…Sunday?"

Madison sighed. "You guys know where to find me." She put her fake beard on again. "I'll be the lonely hermit, shut away from the outside world."

Sakura smiled as she headed out the door. "Bye Madison."

She walked out the door and thought back to those days long ago. Madison had always been her best friend. But it wasn't until she became a Cardcaptor that their friendship actually grew stronger. Somehow, she couldn't believe that.


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