Disclaimer: If I own the series Card Captor Sakura, Harry Potter, Fushigi Yuugi, etc... I would not have to go school because I would have enough money to support my whole life already. But since I'm not their owner, so now I still have to prepare for the new school year and do the essays, yuck!
Now entering October, Sakura, her friends and her fellow 1st years had more or less gotten used to the life in the academy. Homework was almost as bad as (if not worse) than those in their elementary education in both the amount and difficulty department. But they also quickly discovered that as long as they didn't do it before the day they were supposed to hand it in, they can (somehow) survive.
This morning, the Nereus 1st years were having their study period at the Nereus Plateau. Most of these students were busy burying themselves in their History of European Magic essay when another student groaned at his newspaper. This caused everyone in the attic-turned-common-room to look at him.
"Sorry, but, well! Hasn't everyone read their paper yet?" The 3rd year boy, Bu Shunkaku, asked.
"Not yet, the delivery owls were late this morning. What's up, anyway?" Sierra replied from across the room. Then Shunkaku decided to pass his newspaper around and explained.
"My dad worked for the Mahora Post. So me and my bro get the special deliveries instead of the student subscription the school had set up. Anyway, they've reported another two escaped Death Eaters were sighted in China!"
A sudden, but not exactly unexpected, uproar had erupted instantly at the news. Many students who were familiar with the topic began to discuss among themselves, leaving the Muggle-born 1st years confused. Shunkaku's twin, Koutoku, send his brother a look before addressing the junior students. "You guys know about You-Know-Who, right?" He paused for a moment until they nodded in confirmative. "He was defeated roughly a year ago alright. But the Death Eaters, that is, his followers were still at large. Most of them were in Europe. But the authority believed that some of them had escaped to Asia. They reckon a couple of them are trying to come to this island."
"But why?" Meiling questioned. "This place is not that big. Whoever is responsible for the mess would have a better chance in capturing them if they came to this isolated island. They should know that, right?"
"About that, I've heard a rumor. During the war, a couple of Death Eaters were almost arrested because their kid had rattled their secrets to the Aurors. And that kid was said to be at Mahora. Maybe they wanted revenge?" Shunkaku explained.
Outside the building, the tropical sun continued to shine despite of the spreading dark atmosphere in the Mahora International Academy of Magic.
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The Continuing Legend: Shadowed Destiny
Chapter 7
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After the not-so-pleasant study period, Sakura and her friends left the House area for their first lesson of the day (Charms). As they walked along the corridors of the Indigo Block, they saw one of their new friends was putting something like a poster onto the walls.
"Hello, Kohaku-kun." Tomoyo greeted. "Don't you have lessons to go?"
Kohaku was a Gaia 1st year who was a bit smaller than boys of his age. He scratched the back of his head and grinned before answering the question. "'Sis had switched lessons with the 5th years for some unknown reasons. But instead of taking a nice nap that I deserved, I was being enslaved by Madam Kaede, the Caretaker of Doom."
"In other words, you got detention. I wonder why...Oh! Maybe because you've 'forgotten' another essay and got punished by your sister dear Prof. Hirono?" Meiling grinned back and Kohaku stuck out his tongue at her remarks.
"What were the posters about, anyway?" Eriol wondered aloud and looked at the moving pictures.
"The annual Halloween Cosplay Party of course! Sure the school feast is good. But after all the food we can go down to Nirvana Lane for games and dance! The only catch is that everyone must have a costume, let it be the traditional vampire look or Anime characters." Kohaku explained.
"Sounds fun!" Sakura exclaimed and Meiling nodded in agreement. Even Syaoran looked interested.
"I will take care of everyone's costume, don't worry!" Tomoyo announced happily. "What are you going to dress as, Kohaku-kun?"
"A demon exterminator. 'Sis always said that our ancestors were these exterminators before human and demons started the Coexist Agreement. I've read some books about them and they were bloody cool!" He exclaimed animatedly and the others just chuckled. They soon left the corridor for their class and left the boy to continue his detention.
"What are we going to dress as? Any ideas? We still have 3 weeks until Halloween and I want to start on the costumes now." Tomoyo asked her friends. Eriol winked playfully at her before he replied.
"I'm thinking about going as Clow Reed. Even I'm not him, but I think playing dress up is an okay. As far as I know, Ruby goes as herself every year."
"That's smart." Meiling commented. "I will have to think about it. But if I really can't think of an idea, I would just wear my training robes. Daidouji-san can concentrate on designing a paired costume for Syaoran and Kinomoto-san."
Sakura turned red, but surprisingly, Syaoran only blushed faintly instead of turning into a red light bulb.
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For the whole day, as well as the following weeks, the most heated topics at school were none other than the Death Eaters news and the coming up Halloween party. Eventually, discussions on the former news died down since no more related articles had appeared on the newspaper again. Excited students were trying to finish both their costumes and ever-growing amount of homework on time. As the 31st October nearing, even the professors were in festival mood and became slightly less strict on the students.
On the weekend before Halloween, many students went down to the Nirvana Lane for some last minute preparation. For the senior students, they had also bought no small amount of candies as they decided to carry out the Muggle "Trick or Treat" tradition.
For the Card Captors Gang, Tomoyo, true to her words, had been making different costumes. Eriol's Clow Reed style robes had gained the enthusiastic approval of the whole group, plus Nakuru's who happened to hover by when Tomoyo showed them her work. Meiling, after a week of prodding, finally decided to dress as a Shinsengumi warrior. She even got two fake swords with the help of Kaito, Eriol's friend who ran a joke shop in Nirvana Lane. For Sakura and Syaoran, the camera girl took Meiling's advice and dug back the costumes when the two captured the Void card last year. Tomoyo herself was going as the Celestial Maiden Ceres.
Finally on the evening of Halloween, every student went down to the large Quidditch stadium for the school's Halloween feast. Upon entering the stadium, they saw a large number of pumpkin lanterns were floating in the air, courtesy of Prof. Clef Cielo, the Charms professor. There were even some bats flying around or perched on the lanterns. Hundreds of round tables for twelve were arranged neatly on the grassland and many of them were already occupied by the students. At the opposite end from the entrance, several large tables with what seemed like limitless food, drinks and dessert were already crowded with students AND professors, despite the fact that it was still half an hour away from the actually time for buffet.
Sakura, her friends along with 75 of the whole school population were already in their costumes since many of them decided to go down to the Halloween Party in the Nirvana Lane as soon as they were done with the feast. Most of them were dressing as beings from various stories, legends and myths. Like Sakura's roommate Umi and her friends, they were dressing as three Magic Knights who had saved the ancient Cephiro from the brink of collapse. Their Viento friends, however, opted a Japanese Edo Era theme.
"It was all Natsumi's fault." Miyuki complained as she tugged at her costume. "She said unless we can design and make our own costume, we're stuck with these."
"And sadly, we can't." Yoriko finished.
Even some of the professors were having fun.
"Did I just see Prof. Li and Prof. Ou walked by, dressing in some Chinese style costumes?" Meiling gaped. "Maybe I should get my eyesight check."
"Don't worry, Ms. Li. I can assure you that there's nothing wrong with your eyes."
The Chinese girl eeped as the two aforementioned professors greeted the group. Prof. Li, the transfiguration professor, was dressed in what they assumed a traveling monk costume, completed with the straw hat, the stole and the Buddhist staff, which he had transfigured from a broom. Prof. Ou Doukun, who taught Astrology, was dressing as an scholar from ancient China.
"It was quite a pain to make these clothes, but it's worth all the trouble!" The young professor announced excitedly.
After the conversation, they joined a table with their fellow year mate. They all ate heartedly and chatted at the same time. At around eight, many students started to leave the school for the Party. Since curfew started at eleven, they had to go a little earlier if they wanted to have fun.
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Nirvana Lane in Halloween theme was indeed an interesting sight. There were the bats and pumpkin lanterns like the school. But many shops and restaurants in the lane had decorated their buildings in Muggle haunted house style with lots of spider webs, bats and illusionary ghost fire. The shop owners also had little Halloween specialties: Ms. Haruka and the helpers in robe shop were giving out free fake fangs for those who were dressing as vampire or beasts, Kaito was selling a new brand of joke wands where a bloody hand or eyeballs would appear when you pulled on it, Sena, the owner of the inn "Zapper", was also giving out chocolate to students who came for some post-dinner snacks. She had also hinted the main party area was at the Anpatos Plaza, which was located in the central part of the lane.
The circular plaza was now filled with students, who were dancing to the wild music. On the fringe, there were game stores and fortune telling stands, except for the eastern end, where a large stage with something which looked suspiciously like a Karaoke system placed on it. From the conversations they had overheard, people can go up onto the stage and sing after 9pm. Boy, they almost choked on their pumpkin juice when they saw Nakuru waving the mic on the stage.
"Great, we'll have to listen to Akizuki's singing for the whole night." A 4th year who dressed as the Spinarak-man mumbled.
"Why's that?" Meiling asked while tried not to squeak at the spider-like costume.
"I doubt anyone could snatch the mic from her. It happens almost every year."
"The 7th year Tsujimoto might have a chance though," his companion who was in a purple theme monster costume commented. "It's the best entertainment to see them have a mic-fight."
Anymore conversations were effectively cut off by the guardian's singing of the song Seikuu Shoukan, followed by Hitorijime and Koi wa Voltage Infinity. Just when she finished the last song, the aforementioned Natsumi stormed up to the stage and fought Nakuru for mic (literally) single-handily as she had to keep a firm grip on Miyuki's clothes to keep her from escaping. After Nakuru reluctantly left the stage, the two sang 3 duets (Calling, Bokutou Love Stories and Matasete, Gomen ne) until a redhead they had never seen before came up to the stage. She raised her eyebrows at Natsumi and made some gestures toward the mics. Natsumi sent her a dirty look, but she put down the mics and dragged her friend/classmate off the stage. She was halfway through the song November Rain when Sakura whispered to Syaoran.
"Syaoran-kun, do you want to try?" Sakura asked innocently and Syaoran jumped in surprise. His face was once again turned into a fantastic shade of red.
"Er, I..."
"C'mon!" The Japanese girl didn't bother to wait for the reply and dragged him through the thick crowd. Tomoyo taped the moment and Meiling was whistling.
The redhead left the stage almost too quickly when her song end and spot the 1st years coming towards the stage. Sakura handed the mics to Syaoran and browsed through the song list to find a good song for their initial appearance. When the music began, the crowd became much more excited as it was some new students performance.
Syaoran: I'm aching for something
Because I just realized it
Sakura: In a town where everyone rushes about
I tried walking a little slower
Syaoran: The wish I can't tell, I want to make it come true with you
Sakura: Sometimes when I want to cry, I close my eyes and think TRY
Both:
But you're here, and I wish for love
At any time, I want your heart to be by my side
That's why I'm here, I'm looking for love
If we're together, we'll change tears into kindness
The dream will surely come true
The crowd broke into a loud applaud as the song ended and Sakura bowed shyly. The two were about to leave the stage when they heard some distanced howling. The younger students looked around anxiously while the adult and senior students held out their wands in case of any attack.
"Wha, what was that? Werewolves?!"
"I hope not. But today IS the full moon..."
"What should we do?! We can't go back to the school right now!"
"Everyone!" A loud voice boomed out of the stereo set on the stage. All the students turned and saw the Prefects of the four Houses. Nakuru, who was the one who addressed the crowd, continued, "Please, try not to panic. Now, we have to hide until we can find out if there's any beast around the area. Please follow the local's instruction and stay inside the shops! Remember, this is not a joke or a drill! Be quick!"
But it was too late. Before the students were ready to move, some creatures were already dashing towards the Plaza from all directions. They were pure dark, canine-like beasts. But as some students tried to bat them away with their Cosplay tools, they just went through the beasts. Nakuru was, for once, glad that she was in her real form and started to blast lightning at the beasts.
(A/N: I haven't watched the original CCS for a long time except for the movies so I can't remember how Ruby Moon attacks. If I'm wrong please inform me. Gomen nasai!!)
On the other side, the Card Captor Gang also tried to escape from the crowd since they cannot summon their staff or sword in the public. But things were not working in their favor as one of those beasts jumped high from behind, more than ready to bite Sakura into pieces. Syaoran felt the attack and tried to shield the Card Mistress from it......
Ah, cliff hanger and memories! I've done something similar in the PWD some years ago...I mean the Karaoke thing. So I guess I'll have to post up the song list again:
Ah! My Goddess: Seikuu Shoukan by Urd
Card Captor Sakura: Hitorijime
GateKeepers (PS Game): Koi wa Voltage Infinity by Konoe Kaoru
You're Under Arrest: Calling, Bokutou Love Stories & Matasete, Gomen ne by Tokyo Policewoman Duo
Ranma 1/2: November Rain by Female Ranma
Love Hina: Be For You, Be For Me by Narusegawa Naru, Urashima Kanako or Urashima Keitarou Narusegawa Naru depended on the version. In this fic, it was the duet version.
I don't really feel like writing recently. Not just because I only received, like, 2 reviews per chapter, but I have too many assignments and find it difficult to keep up the process. I don't really like the threats like "no update until there's reviews." But if this can raise the number of them, I may adopt them. But I'm sure no one really cares.
Also in response to Yume Li's review......This question is rather difficult to answer since almost 20 series were involved in this fic. So I'll only list out those pairings that would actually appear and influence the plot:
Card Captor Sakura: Syaoran x Sakura (duh), Eriol x Tomoyo
You're Under Arrest: Toukairin x Natsumi, Nakajima x Miyuki
Magic Knight Rayearth: Hikaru x Lantis, Umi x Ascot, Fuu x Ferio. Although I'm not 100 sure if they would appear in Shadowed Destiny, but maybe in the later series......
Mind you, there will NOT be many CCS Shippy moments for now. It's kinda hard to write romance scenes of a couple of 12-year-olds you know......Also, any suggestion on what should I do to Meiling ((evil grin))?
Star Wish: Either Dumbledore can't think of that idea, or he was just too hypocrite to implement it. About translations, go onto the search engine and search for Keishichou Network (You're Under Arrest) or AEGIS Files (GateKeepers). Some summaries are not completed, but they should give you enough idea of the series.
Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcomed. Flames will be used to make s'more! Yummy!!