Introduction
A year has passed since Li fell prey to the Evil Card, and he's trying to cope with the effects. With his dark side closer to the surface, he can get angry very quickly – a fact that everyone notices.
Since he moved back to Readington, Sakura has been the rock in his life, the only person able to keep him balanced. But when an argument gets out of hand, Li makes a drastic decision…to walk out of her life forever.
Another year passes, and Sakura is once again under threat from evil forces. But without Li to protect her, is this the end for the 16 year old Card Mistress?
The scars of the past come back to haunt them…Chapter Six; First Fight
The group watched with bated breath as Li drew something out of his pocket. He flipped it into the air, and they watched as it floated in front of him.
"It looks like a card. But it's green." Madison said in confusion.
"I don't get it. The Clow Cards were red, the Star Cards are pink…so what's this?" Sakura frowned up at the mystery, wondering what it was. Yue and Kero exchanged glances, surprise showing in their eyes.
"Could it be…" Yue began.
"…That the Kid made his own set of cards?" finished Keroberos.
"Oh, well done. As always, so quick off the mark!" Li sneered, a confident smile hovering about his mouth.
"It's wonderful, isn't it? I like to call it a 'Li Card'. Has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?" The card flashed as Li laughed, as if the card was laughing along with him.
"But…how? He's not strong enough to make his own!" gasped Sakura.
"Don't forget, Sakura. Not only has he grown stronger whilst you were apart, he also draws his power from darkness now. And dark magic is always extremely powerful." Sakura looked at Kero with worried eyes, before turning to face Li again. She still couldn't get her head round the fact that this was him.
"What do you say to a little test, hmmm? Your pathetic powers against my new card…an interesting match." Li gestured, and the card twisted into a horizontal position. He held his hand over it palm downwards, and concentrated, only moving away when it began to glow.
At a nod from him, the other Dark Monarchs began to disappear, vanishing into the night one by one.
"This was only an introduction, dear little Cherry Blossom!" Vega, the younger looking one, called back at them.
"I look forward to knowing you better, my beauty." sniggered Kuro.
Yuri said nothing, just fading away into the night. Li, however, glanced back over his shoulder, a cruel smirk on his pale face.
"Oh! I almost forgot…hyeeeah!" He threw a ball of magic down at them, which struck Madison in the throat.
"Madison!" Sakura ran to her best friend's side, and smiled in relief as Madison patted her throat in puzzlement, obviously alright.
"Huh? But there's no wound…and I feel fine…" The raven-haired girl blinked at Sakura, not sure what to think.
"You'll see soon enough…" Everyone looked back up at the roof as Li began to blend into the darkness, vanishing from sight. But his cold voice remained, echoing around the playground.
"But until then…Li Card! Show your true form!" And then, even his voice was gone.
"Oh, man…I never thought he'd leave. He scared me…but at least it's over for now." Sakura buried her head in her hands, glad that it was over.
"Errrr…I wouldn't relax quite yet Sakura…" She twisted at Kero's voice, and noticed that both guardians were staring up towards the sky. She followed their gaze, and saw the green card Li had left behind. It glowed with a strange light, brighter and brighter, until it transformed into a shining form.
When the light faded away, a boy with silvery skin was watching them. At least, it looked like a boy. It was obviously a spirit. Sakura shrank back slightly as he turned his gaze on her. His golden eyes were full of fire, and when he laughed, it was a horrible, screeching sound.
"Ok, I've done stuff like this before." Sakura reassured herself. She took a firmer grasp on her staff and stepped forward.
"It doesn't even look that dangerous…" Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, the spirit looked at his hand. A ball of energy formed there, before changing into a cruel whip.
"Um, Sakura? We may have a problem." Madison said nervously.
"Aaaah!" Sakura jumped away as the spirit lunged forward, the whip narrowly missing her.
"Oh, why did it have to be an attack card!" she groaned as she struggled to buy herself enough time to summon a card.
"That doesn't matter, Sakura. Just seal it!" Keroberos roared, blasting the three whips that attacked him with a mind of their own. For a second they flickered out, before appearing yet again and striking out.
"Get ready to summon a card, Mistress! I'll try to hold it off!" Sakura glanced up at Yue as she jumped out the way of another attack. Just how the Moon Guardian was planning to do that, she had no idea – he was already trying to hold three whips of his own at bay.
"Sakura! Behind you!" Madison looked up from her video camera, yelling a warning. Sakura looked over her shoulder and gasped as she only just managed to avoid being struck. But just then a silver arrow sped down, striking the spirit and making it pull back for a moment.
A moment was all she needed. Sakura pulled a Star Card out, threw it into the air, and struck it with her staff.
"Arrow! Cut the whips that give the spirit strength! Release and dispel!" She watched as Arrow let loose it's arrows, every single one cleanly slicing through the whips.
It let out a shriek of despair, and dropped to the floor. Where it promptly began to struggle to it's feet, already conjuring more.
"Now Sakura! Before it creates more whips" Kero called.
"Right!" Full of confidence, Sakura turned to the spirit, and struck it with her staff.
"I command you to return to your power confined! Li Card!" Wow, haven't used that chant in a while. Finally giving up resistance, the spirit allowed itself to be sucked into a card, which then floated down into Sakura's waiting hands.
"The Whip…" Sakura gazed at Li's dark creation for a moment, before gasping as it disappeared.
"What! But I caught it!" She looked wildly around, before Yue glided up to her.
"As it's master isn't dead, like Clow Reed was when you sealed his cards, I suspect that it's gone back to Li."
"Does that mean he could attack us again with it?" Madison asked in confusion.
"He could…but he probably won't. Now that we know how to defeat it, there is no point in using it." Kero answered, looking at her reassuringly.
"It's all so confused now. I feel like I'm playing a new game where I don't know the rules…" Sakura murmured.
"Yeah. But with two differences." Kero said. As they all looked at him, he rose slightly into the air.
"One, you can't switch off if it's too difficult. And two…one mistake can get you killed."