DM: Hey all! Thanks so much for your reviews! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS
Curses!
Arc One: Clow Land
Chapter Twelve
Elemental
It was a lovely, sunny day. The group was lucky enough to be walking through a meadow that opened up in the woods, with a light breeze blowing in that smelled of the sea. Sakura flopped on the grass in the midday sun between two patches of orange daffodils, gazing up at the sky, where clouds piled up like marshmallows drifted by. Time for a break.
Syaoran set down their enormous pack, which Nakatsu still didn't believe held everything, and Nakatsu let Ruu go chase a butterfly. Kero sighed and sat down on a particularly sturdy-looking blade of grass.
"The sea must be really close by…" Sakura said happily. Syaoran smiled at her, and she smiled back, until Kero suddenly flew up and dashed into the bag.
"What's the deal with him?" Nakatsu asked. He received no answer, because Syaoran and Sakura were staring at the ground, blushing.
"Hey, I said, what's Kero doing?" Nakatsu asked a little louder, giving Syaoran a nuggy.
"Back off, jerk, if you know what's good for you!" Syaoran shouted, standing up and grabbing Nakatsu by the shirt.
"Oh really, well I'm sorry that you were trying to calm your wildly beating heart after such an exciting encounter with your beloved—"
"I'll stop your heart if you don't shut up, asshole!" Syaoran yelled, shaking Nakatsu furiously. The conversation would have continued, but Ruu suddenly let loose a terrible wail. Everyone turned to look, except Kero of course, who was still searching the bag.
"The butterfly!" Sakura shouted.
It had burst into flames.
As if it had been waiting until it had everyone's attention, the fire suddenly spread throughout the meadow.
"Great…just great…" Sakura sighed, as the others frantically tried to keep everything out of the fire's reach.
Sakura ran away from the group, and, as predicted, the fire followed her. Where the Hell was Kero?
"Oh well," Sakura whispered to herself, and released her wand, along with the Fly card. The ocean had to be around somewhere, right?
Wrong. As soon as Sakura entered the sky, she saw that there was no ocean anywhere near them. However, the next breeze that blew in brought the smell of salt water stronger than ever…and some leaves that were on fire.
"Ah! Hot!" She spun out of the way. Down on the ground, the group was surrounded and Ruu had begun to cry. Sakura quickly summoned Float and brought the group up to her level.
"Wha…where's the beach?" Nakatsu asked, looking around wildly. Syaoran sighed and shook the bag roughly.
"You stupid stuffed animal, we're under fire and you're hiding in the bag. Get out here now!"
Kero shot up so fast he hit Syaoran in the face. Nakatsu and Ruu laughed. Sakura would have too, had she not been busy dodging the fireballs coming at her from all directions.
"Shut up kid! I was just getting the map! It's not my fault there's so much stuff in there…" Kero whipped out the map and stared at it for a few moments, "Aha! I was right, there isn't a body of salt water for at least 80 kilometers!" Nakatsu sighed and Syaoran fell over in frustration.
He was quickly back on his feet, and grabbed Kero with both hands, shaking him furiously.
"Then why the hell can I smell the ocean, you stuffed rat! God damn it, a Pikachu would be more useful!" He tossed Kero aside and sat down on the glowing pink balloon beneath them.
"Because," Kero barked, "Clow Land is falling apart! There are some seriously unstable cards in the area!" he waved his stubby little arms frantically to help illustrate his point.
"Oh really," Nakatsu said, casually grabbing a squirming Kero and turning him to face the desperately flying Sakura, "You mean like that?" Kero's eyes popped out of his little head.
"How long has that been there?" He shouted frantically, flying out of Nakatsu's grip and to Sakura's side. The red-haired teenager scratched his head and shrugged.
"Sakura, this is the Firey card! Be careful!" he yelled. Sakura shot him an icy look as she rolled to evade an attack.
"What do you think I've been doing, stupid?" she shouted. Kero was taken aback. Sakura rarely called him names.
"Sakura, I…"
"Save it, Kero, just tell me how to beat this card!"
"Sakura, just use Watery!" Kero yelled.
Sakura stopped in midair and turned to stare at him.
"Who the frick is Watery? I don't have a card like that!" she yelled. She swatted him away, growling, "How dumb do you think I am? If I had a card like that, I wouldn't need you!"
Kero felt tears well up in his eyes. "Sakura, you jerk!" Kero shouted, and flew away.
Sakura suddenly realized her mistake and turned to apologize to Kero.
"Kero, wait! Kero, I didn't mean it, I—" While Sakura was shouting after him, a fireball blazed dangerously close. However, suddenly everything was very wet. Sakura turned around and saw something very interesting.
There was a hole in the sky.
And through that hole was an ocean.
Naturally, Sakura screamed.
"KYYAAA!?"
She, Kero, and the rest of the group were subsequently blow through the hole by a particularly large gust of wind.
They were now flying above a swirling ocean. The fire danced victoriously at the hole, not concerned enough to venture out above the water. Just as Sakura was catching her breath, a fresh danger appeared in the form of water. A huge column of it shot up out of the ocean, and she had to do a back flip in the spray.
"Sakura! Look out!" Syaoran shouted, as more water came her way.
"Augh…I got water up my nose…" Sakura groaned, rubbing her face.
"Sakura, now is not the time! This is the Watery card!" Kero yelled. A blast of ocean immediately swelled up between them.
This was good news, considering they couldn't get back into Clow Land without defeating the fire.
"I know! Freeze!" Sakura shouted.
I don't know about you, but the last time I tried to freeze an ocean, I pretty much failed. Such was the case with Sakura. However, she did manage to make Water pissed enough to show its true form, a hissing, spitting fish-girl thing.
"Try something different! You need to trap it to capture all of it!" Kero yelled. Sakura only nodded. Nakatsu and Ruu were doing a little cheerleading dance, while Syaoran watched her anxiously.
"Alright, Windy! Make a huge spiral to trap all of Watery!" Sakura shouted, readying Freeze on the side.
Watery did not look happy as it was swept up into the tornado above the ocean's surface. Without any more water to draw upon, it was practically helpless.
"Freeze! Trap Watery!" The Freeze dutifully froze up the column of water, and Sakura was finally able to capture the card.
"Thank goodness…" Syaoran sighed. Nakatsu and Ruu cheered.
The ocean calmed, and the fire at the hole began to look very agitated.
"Quick, Sakura, sign your name on it! We have to capture the Firey now, so we can get back in!" Kero called out to her, flying towards the hole into Clow Land.
"Right, now I can just use Watery!" Sakura yelled, releasing the card happily. Watery burst through the hole, taking Firey aback, and the group was able to make it back into Clow Land.
The two elemental cards duked it out above the ground, while everyone stepped into the now-charred meadow.
"It's not enough," Kero growled. Sakura looked worriedly up at the two cards. It seemed to be an even match.
"Watery needs help!" Sakura cried out, musing about which card to choose. Before she could come to any conclusions, a stray fireball came heading her way.
"Look out!" Syaoran shouted, pushing her down as the fireball rushed past.
"Syaoran! Are you ok?" Sakura said, looking up at Syaoran with wide eyes. He smelt of burnt hair and blood and dirt were now smeared along his temple. He only smiled and nodded.
"No time for sex, kids, Sakura needs to release another card!" Nakatsu's voice called out to them, clearly hiding his laughter as best he could.
They were off each other faster than the eye could see. Kero flew over as Firey and Watery clashed again.
"Sakura! You need to release Windy!" Sakura nodded and obeyed.
However, Windy and Watery weren't working together very well. Sakura looked at Kero desperately for help.
"Sakura you need to focus them on the same goal, that's the only way that they can work as one!" Kero said. Sakura's eyes widened. She looked over at Syaoran.
"That's what he means, Sakura! Please focus on the battle. Syaoran's not going anywhere!" Nakatsu called, snickering. Sakura turned bright red.
"Ha! As if I'd be worrying about him…" Sakura said casually. And, ignoring Syaoran's scoff, pointed her wand up and focused all her magical energy.
Work as one. Please, work as one, she prayed silently.
Sakura couldn't help but smile as Watery and Windy swirled together and trapped Firey. It was with particular satisfaction that she caught the card.
Of course, she then fell over from sheer exhaustion.
When she came to, about half an hour later, Syaoran was standing over her with his hand on her cheek.
"Syaoran…what are you doing?" She asked sleepily. Syaoran blushed and jumped, fumbling his hands together.
"I…uh… You had a scratch on your face," he finally said, turning away from her, "Just thought I'd take care of it for you."
"Oh, thanks, I guess…" Sakura said quietly, sitting up and looking around.
"Well, yea, I mean you can't really stand to be any uglier…" Syaoran said, smirking at her from over his shoulder.
He was promptly punched in the face.
"Jerk…" Sakura growled, standing up and dusting herself off. Nakatsu was making dinner, while Kero sat happily.
"Kero," Sakura said, getting on her knees and bowing, "I'm sorry that I spoke so cruelly to you earlier. I really do need you, Cerberos."
Kero smiled and patted her head. "Don't worry about it, Sakura."
Everyone then sat to dinner, feeling in a good mood.
"So, uh, Kero," Nakatsu said between mouthfuls of ramen, "You wanna tell us about that trans-dimensional warp thingy?"
"Well," Kero said, through a mouthful of ramen, "I rearry wroudn't carr it dat," he swallowed, "Think of Clow land as like this big balloon floating over the world, and when the Cards went out of control, the magical energy generated by them wears the balloon thin, and sometimes a hole is created. The presence of two elemental cards is definitely enough to open up a hole to the real world."
"So is that how I got here? A hole in the balloon?" Nakatsu asked, and then drained his bowl.
"I don't think so. It seems to me like you were just able to pass through the barrier, which tells me only one thing."
"What's that?" Sakura asked.
"We're running out of time," Kero said dramatically.
"What do you mean by that?" Syaoran said, angrily slamming his bowl down.
"I mean, you moron, that if we don't catch all the Clow cards soon, Clow land will disappear!"
"No!" Sakura shouted, "What about the people living here?"
"If you've noticed, they think they're still living wherever they were. I don't think the real world would surprise them too much….I hope…"
"You're talking as if the battle's already lost, stuffed animal. Way to have faith," Syaoran said. He stood up and walked away.
"Syaoran, wait!" Sakura called after him, and stood up too to chase him. Syaoran turned and let her catch up to him.
"Please don't walk away like that," Sakura said softly, looking at the ground.
"Sakura, how could I ever just leave you by yourself?" Syaoran said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"You really mean that?" Sakura said, looking into his eyes. He smiled.
"Of course. We are cursed after all."
He was then slapped…once again. Smooth, Syaoran, very smooth.
Sakura was about to walk away, when the earth began to shake.
"Sakura, watch out!" Syaoran said, pulling her away as a stalagmite burst up from the ground.
"Fly!" Sakura flew up and circled as Syaoran ran back to camp. Sakura watched as he ushered them towards the woods.
The woods…nothing's happening around the woods…
"That's it! Woody!" Sakura yelled. Slowly, the vines took root and calmed the trembling earth.
"Sakura, it's Earthy! Quickly, capture it!" Kero yelled.
"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Clow Card!" Sakura shouted, and struck her staff on the earth.
The Earthy card was all hers. She signed her name on it with great satisfaction.
Suddenly, Kero began to glow.
DM: Alrighty, so there's chapter 12! Sorry if it was a little confusing, but the whole trans-dimensional thing is a little difficult to explain. Thanks for all your reviews, guys, they really keep me going! Next chapter: If I Don't Sing, I'll Die!