Chapter 7: The Battle Begins

Sakura opened her eyes and saw that she and Kero was inside the Maze card. It was a large maze with green walls and there seemed to be no end. Kero looked around. It was safe.

Kero said, "It's like what we did before. I miss those days." Kero smiled at Sakura. "Let's go Card Captor Sakura!"

Sakura smiled and said, "We'll look for cards in this maze, right?"

Kero nodded. "Then, lets go!"

Syaoran and Yue were in the Maze card too. Yue and Syaoran were silent to each other. Yue looked at Syaoran with an underestimating look. Syaoran knew this and looked back at him questionably.

Then, Yue said, "We'll be looking for cards as we go through this maze. We'll battle with the Maze later on once you get all the cards. Except for the Light and Dark card of course." Syaoran nodded and they started walking.

"You really do love her, don't you?" Yue asked Syaoran. Syaoran looked at Yue but instead of seeing Yue, he saw Yukito. He was startled for he wasn't expecting to see Yukito.

"Yes, I really do love her." Syaoran said. Syaoran looked at him seriously but not madly.

Yukito smiled. "I want you to take care of her. Don't ever make her cry. I don't want to see her hurt." Syaoran nodded and smiled back. Then, Yukito felt a presence of a card.

"Get ready, Li." He said, "Your first card is nearby."

Syaoran took out his sword and prepared for an attack. Then, they saw the first card they're going to capture – the Flower.

Tomoyo and Spinel were together inside the Maze card in Eriol's book but it looked different, though. Its walls were blue and they were all covered with black roses.

Spinel explained, "Eriol's Maze card is different from Sakura's. The card itself doesn't look like a maze. It has a picture of a woman covered with black roses and her clothes has strange markings all over."

Tomoyo asked, "How come it's a Maze card then? The way you describe it, it looks like a Flower card or something."

Spinel smiled. "You're good. How did you know it was the Flower card?"

Tomoyo said intelligently, "For one thing, I think Sakura's cards are the same as the Eriol cards only that it has a different color and symbol. So that means, if Sakura's Flower card is pink and has a large flower on the middle, Eriol's must be a woman with a black dress and covered in black roses."

Spinel's smile even widens. "I think you just captured your first card." A tall woman in black appeared before her and she was holding a black rose. She smiled and turned back into a card.

"Wow." Tomoyo said. "That was a bit easy." She placed the card in her pocket.

"Be ready for anything, Tomoyo." Spinel warned. "A powerful card may attack."

Tomoyo just nodded and walked on. Then, suddenly, they saw bubbles along the way.

"Tomoyo, it's the Bubbles card."

Tomoyo smiled. "I know how Sakura had beaten this card – talking nicely to it."

Spinel warned her again, "It might be different from Sakura's Bubbles card so be careful."

Tomoyo nodded and looked at the little girl sitting on a rock with a dark blue tail of a fish. "Bubbles card, I'm Tomoyo. Please help me. I need to capture all of the cards but I have no magical capabilities. Please surrender now."

The card looked at Tomoyo. Then, the card moved toward Tomoyo and turned into a card. Tomoyo smiled and jumped at her victory. Spinel just smiled and sweat-dropped.

Eriol and Ruby Moon were in the maze and they were already fighting the Arrow card. The card shot a lot of arrows at them and Ruby Moon shot them all back. Ruby Moon attacked because her master was in danger which was allowed.

"Stop it, Arrow." Eriol said. "You are out numbered here." Seeing that she, the Arrow, was really out-numbered, so she just gave in and turned into a card.

"Thank you, Arrow." Eriol said and walked on.

As they were walking, Ruby Moon looked at Eriol. 'He looks so determined.' She thought as they stumbled on two other cards – the Watery and the Wave.

The Watery card attacked with a large wave that almost knocked over Eriol if Ruby Moon didn't rescue him.

"I don't have the Freeze card to freeze them. What'll I do?" Eriol said to Ruby Moon.

Ruby Moon suddenly had an idea. "Eriol, just stand there okay?" Eriol nodded.

The Watery and the Wave card was about to attack Eriol when Ruby Moon used her powers to freeze them since it was attacking Eriol.

Eriol said, "Thank you, Ruby Moon." And the cards came flying toward Eriol.

Sakura and Kero had captured four cards in a row. The Sweet card didn't fight at all. The Little card is too shy and small to battle. The Glow card even helped them to locate the Windy card by making little orbs that glow that led them toward the other card. The Windy didn't fight too. Even though the card is strong, she was a friend of the card captor so she surrendered herself.

"That was really easy, Sakura." Kero exclaimed. "I hope the rest are like that."

"I hope so too." Sakura said and it started to rain.

"Uh-oh. It's the Through card." Kero said. The Through card looked like a Chinese woman that goes through a circle. The woman playfully ran around.

"Windy." Sakura said. "Follow the Through card."

The Windy card followed the Through card fast. The card was able to capture the other card and tied her down.

"Through card," Sakura said. "Return to your card form."

The Through card obeyed and obediently returned to its true form.

Syaoran and Yue didn't have any difficulty capturing the Flower card. All they did was ask it to return to its true form.

"That was pointless." Syaoran said bluntly.

Yue sweat-dropped and said, "At least that's one card, 51 more to go."

Syaoran and Yue kept on walking until they bumped into the Bubbles card. Syaoran thought, 'How come the only cards that I can capture here are weak ones?' He sweat-dropped. He walked in front of the card and suddenly it changed back into its card form.

"That was also pointless." Yue said and sweat-dropped. "Well, that's two down, 50 to go."

They saw the Sweet card and the Power card. The Sweet card was making chocolate bars for the Power card to eat. The cards looked at Yue and Syaoran. The Sweet card smiled. The Power card pouted.

"I guess Power card doesn't like you." Yue said.

Syaoran nodded and looked at the Sweet card. 'All this card can do is to make something too sweet or too sour.' Syaoran thought. He smiled at the Sweet card and it turned back into a card.

"I guess she got a clue." Yue and Syaoran laughed.

The Power card, however, was getting angrier by the minute. It ripped off a wall and threw it toward Syaoran.

Yue shouted, "Look out."

Yue made a force field for both of them. 'That was close.' Yue thought. The card tried to rip off one more wall but the Power can't even remove it. The card tried and tried until it gave up and turned into a card.

"That's four and forty-eight to go." Yue said.

"At least that wasn't that pointless." Syaoran said. And Yue sweat-dropped.

Tomoyo, on the other maze, didn't have that much difficulty with the cards. She talked with them and now, she has ten cards namely, the Bubbles, Sweet, Rain, Flower, Glow, Sleep, Mirror, Song, Voice, and the Cloud card. Spinel just smiled there at Tomoyo's victories.

"Tomoyo, you can't do this to other cards you know. What will you do then?" Spinel asked.

Tomoyo smiled, "I think by that time, I'll have a lot of cards. And I'll be battling cards then." Spinel sweat-dropped.

They walked until they saw a woman that went through the wall. "The Through card!" Both of them exclaimed. They chased it but seemed couldn't keep up with it.

"Sleep card." Tomoyo said, "Make Through card sleep."

The Sleep card turned into a black fairy with a wand of the moon. She chased the Through card and put her to sleep with caused the Through card to go back into its true form.

"Another victory!" Tomoyo jumped and shouted.

Spinel sweat-dropped. 'That was an easy one.'

Eriol, as the master of the cards, unsurprisingly captured half of the cards in his book. He had some of the powerful cards too like the Fiery, Windy, and the Watery. All he needs now is the Maze, Dark, Light, Earthy and a few more cards. He was really tired of fighting his own cards.

Ruby Moon suggested, "Why don't you rest for a while. I'll look for the Earthy card."

Eriol nodded and sat in the ground. He worries about Tomoyo a lot. He thought, 'I just hoped that she's okay.'

Ruby Moon found the Earthy card and tried talking to her. She looked like a very strict woman with a green crown on her head. She looks like she wont listen but Ruby Moon didn't care less.

"Please, Earthy, surrender to Eriol. He loves this woman and I don't want to see him sad. Please, Earthy."

The Earthy spoke, "You love him don't you? That's why you want him to destroy the book so that he could destroy you without knowing as well."

Ruby Moon was surprised yet she admittedly nodded. "It's my selfishness that took over me that day. When I saw them kiss, it hurts too much."

The Earthy shouted, "You know that he just created us and we really don't exist. You know you can't feel anything. You don't have feelings."

Ruby Moon started to cry. "I know that. I know that my love for him is a lie. But I'm also alive and we breathe the same air. Doesn't that make me… any less human?"

The Earthy looked at her, but now kindly. "Nothing, not even magic, can make us any less human. Keep that in mind." With that as her last words, she turned into a card and headed for Ruby Moon.

Eriol already captured the Wood card when Ruby Moon came back. While Ruby Moon was away, he saw the Wood card and captured it with the Sword card. The Wood card is a tree with a woman inside it. He cut the Wood card's trunk, which turned it back into a card.

"You got her." Ruby Moon said.

"I did. Did you find the Earthy?" Eriol asked hopefully.

Ruby Moon gave him the card. "I just talked to her and she just turned into a card."

Eriol nodded and smiled at her as she handed the card. Inside, Ruby Moon was crying.

Sakura, just like Eriol, got half of the cards she needs. Mostly they surrender and don't want to hurt their master. Sakura was just happy that this was happening.

"This is a real easy one for you, Sakura." Kero said. "You should thank the cards later."

Sakura nodded but Kero can see she's in deep thought. 'Just like Clow Reed when he's worried.' Kero thought.

She was worried about her best friend and Syaoran. 'I just hope that they'll be okay.' She looked up in the horizon. But she can't see any clouds or light. It was just an empty space of darkness.

Then, she heard Kero scream. She ran as fast as she could when she saw a monster is holding Kero by the tail and it looked like he was going to swallow it.

"Kero," Sakura shouted. "I don't remember that I have a card like this…"

Kero tried to shout but Sakura can't hear him. 'I'll use the Big card.' Sakura thought and hurriedly said, "Big card."

In an instant, she got bigger, as big as the monster. She took Kero from the monster. He was gasping for air.

Kero said, "Thank you, Sakura. This is the Create card." Sakura now remembered. "What was the last time you wrote there?" Kero asked.

"I think I wrote there something about a monster." Sakura said and looked at the monster that just attacked Kero.

Sakura quickly fought with the monster. Sakura knocked over the monster with one push.

She shouted, "Create card, return to your true form."

The monster instantly became a card. Sakura also returned to her true size.

"Glad that was over." Kero sighed.