AUTHOR'S NOTE: Oh, you guys are gonna hate me after reading this chapter. Read on and you'll see what I mean.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The battle between good and evil had devastated the city of Tomoeda as a path of destruction was paved for its two main combatants. Sakura continued to suffer the wrath of the Black Knight as he dragged her along several buildings, crumbling the foundations with her body.
Not too far away, Li and the rest of the Tokyo Knights continued their bout with the Demon Knights and their army of darkness as the media covered the entire event.
"Those damn reporters are only getting in the way!" Li griped as he hacked his way through a small group of winged beasts.
"We have no choice but to ignore them!" Eriol called back as he sealed off a part of the street with a tremor.
Meiling twirled around and found herself surrounded by a large group of redskins much to her horror. She backed away slowly and balled her fists, waiting for one of them to make the first move.
"C'mon!" She said. "Who wants to be first?"
Luckily for her, a stray gust of fire emanating from Cerberus' mouth incinerated the entire group, allowing her to sigh from relief.
"Oh, thank God…"
"Meiling! Run!" Tomoyo called as she ran past her.
"What?" Meiling turned and saw another group of demons heading her way and started to run after her friend. "Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm dealing with all of those!"
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"Fujitaka, look!" Sonomi pointed out to Sakura's beaten and tattered body as it flew into a nearby vehicle.
Kanaye's private chopper remained above the city as the destruction continued. Several news copters were there as well but not as close to the action as the businessman's was.
"Sakura!" Fujitaka called out, completely aware that his daughter couldn't hear him.
"She's getting beaten to a pulp." Kanaye pointed out much to her father's dismay.
"We have to do something!"
"Mr. Kinomoto, get a grip. Sakura may be getting beaten but that doesn't mean all hope is lost."
"But that's my daughter down there!"
"I understand how you feel, sir. But trust me when I say we are no safer down there than we are here."
"So what do you suggest we do?" An impatient Sonomi asked.
"Not to worry. One of my security teams should be arriving to assist them."
"Assist them? How?"
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A squad of men in flight suits, armed with various weapons systems, began to lay waste to the demon scourge as they flew above the city streets.
"Formation attack!" The lead pilot shouted as his squad swirled around and unleashed a set of various missiles and bullets towards the enemy.
Meanwhile, Spinel found himself going in circles as the Purple Knight swung the creature around by his tail.
"Hey, man! That's not cool!" The panther cried as he was sent crashing into a nearby billboard.
After a while, Spinel reverted back to his domestic form and wandered around the streets in a daze. The Purple Knight gripped his chain mace firmly and slowly approached the kitty cat with an deep cackle in his throat.
"Now, sun guardian…" He raised his weapon. "It's time to die!"
"Oh, crap-apples…" Suppi gulped.
Before the Knight could strike, he was tackled to the ground by a weakened Cerberus, who let out a mighty roar.
"Spinel!" He called out to his friend. "Initiate Plan B!"
"Plan B!?" The cat gasped. "Hey, can we talk about this?!"
"Now, damn it! Can't you see we're all getting our asses kicked!?"
Suppi looked around at all the destruction and could see Yue falling before the might of the Blue Knight and Ruby Moon struggling with the Red Knight's dark magic. With Cerberus dealing with both the Green and Purple Knights now, Suppi sighed and realized it was time to toughen up.
"Okay, guys. I read you loud and clear." The cat said as he took out a mysterious brown bag. "It's candy time!"
Suppi wasted no time at all and began stuffing his face with various candies, cakes and other sugary products. After everything in the bag was gone, he could feel his body beginning to jitter as his eyes twitched.
"Spinel!" Ruby cried. "Now's not the time for a candy break!"
"Trust me, Ruby!" Cerberus called out to her. "It's for the best."
In what appeared to be a scene straight out of Popeye, complete with the theme's fanfare, Spinel felt his biceps pumping and his spirits rising as he turned around and faced all four of the Demon Knights with a maniacal laugh.
"Ooh, you're all in trouble now!" He shouted.
The hyperactive cat then drilled his way through all of the demon warriors, in search of another goody bag of sweet treats. The Knights attempted to retaliate by charging into the small being but were pushed back by his sugar-powered energy beam.
"Candy!" He screeched as he grabbed hold of the Blue and Purple Knights and smashed their skulls together.
The Green and Red Knights looked at each other in confusion as the sun guardian took the opportunity to give them both an atomic wedgie and hang them by a set of nearby streetlights.
"Kill the cat!" The Blue Knight ordered as he regained his balance.
"Oh, what do we have here…" Spinel mumbled to himself very much like the cartoon sailor man as he saw the four coming straight for him.
"Whoa!" Suppi ducked their attacks and turned into a rapid funnel of sugar induced insanity, sucking them into his trap.
It was at this point when Ruby Moon, Yue and Kero, back in doll form, landed on the ground and stood around, watching Spinel beat the crap out of all four of the skeleton warriors. Afterwards, the jittery feline flew around his comrades and let out another high-pitched giggle.
"Suppi?" Ruby was now concerned. "Are you all right?"
"Of course I am!" He smiled as he began singing along to the last few verses of the Popeye theme. "And I'm feeling dandy when I eats my candy. I'm Suppi the hyper cat! Toot toot!"
After a long and awkward silence, Kero thought it best to slap his companion upside the head to shut him up and knock some sense back into him.
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"Oh, not again!" Sakura cried as she slammed into another vehicle.
Lorca's raspy voice could be heard chuckling from the distance as Sakura lifted the pickup truck and hurled it towards him.
"Fool!" The Knight growled as he sliced through the truck with ease.
"Earth!" Sakura shouted as a spike of rock shot upwards and knocked Lorca in the face.
Using the Jump, Sakura then leaped over to him and began pounding with an utter relentlessness. Her anger and frustration were beginning to take over as she continued beating the Demon Knight into the ground.
"Die, damn you! Die!" She shouted.
Lorca simply laughed at her efforts and smacked her away with the backend of the Gauntlet. Upon getting up, he noticed Sakura starting to crawl away in pain but stopped her in her tracks by stomping her head further into the concrete.
"Poor little Sakura…" He said as he lifted the girl with ease and noticed the large amount of blood running down her face. "You try so hard but it never seems to be enough. Allow me to put you out of your misery… For good."
Lorca was interrupted, however, by a lightning attack combined by the efforts of Li and Eriol. Tomoyo and Meiling used the distraction to help Sakura up and pull her away to safety.
"You dare interfere!?" The flaming skull growled.
Li held his sword tightly and raised it above his head, ready to charge into the creature. "You look bored. Why don't you play with me for a while?"
Lorca turned his head and noticed Tomoyo and Meiling attending to a very bloody Sakura and shrugged. "As you wish."
As the two engaged in battle, Eriol rushed over to the girls and helped wipe the blood from Sakura's face.
"Sakura, are you all right?" He asked her.
"Lorca…" She said as she tried to catch her breath. "…He's too strong."
"I don't get it, Eriol." Tomoyo said. "She shouldn't be taking this much damage if the Power card is fused with her."
"I know." He nodded. "How can this be possible? The Power card should be able to withstand any amount of blunt force trauma."
"I don't know…" Sakura said as she slowly got up. "But I have to stop him by any means necessary."
"Sakura, you know that's impossible."
"Maybe…" She noticed Li getting knocked down much to her horror. "But I have to try!"
Sakura quickly charged into the Demon Knight with the Fly card and sent an incredible amount of pressure against his body. Furious, Lorca grabbed Sakura by the neck and hurled her across several buildings, where she then suffered from a dislocated shoulder.
"Sakura!" Li immediately helped her up.
Trying to ignore the pain, Sakura quickly approached a nearby telephone pole and began slamming her arm against it. After a few tries, her bone finally snapped back into place but the pain eventually proved to be too much for her as she let out a sharp and agonizing cry.
"Aw, did that hurt?" Lorca teased.
Deciding it was now or never, Sakura slowly turned around and faced her opponent straight in the eye as her cards all began to surround her. Li, Eriol, Tomoyo and Meiling readied themselves but Sakura held her hand out, signaling them to back down.
"Sakura?" Li was baffled. "But what about--"
"This is my fight." She told him. "Only I can end this."
Eriol then stepped forward. "Sakura, don't be ridiculous. You're weakening. You need to wait until--"
"No!" She snapped. "I won't let him go any further!"
Having little choice, Sakura unleashed a wave of kinetic energy and pushed her loved ones aside as the cards began to glow. Li and the others found it practically impossible to move due to Sakura's magic spell and pleaded with her to back down.
Ignoring her friends, Sakura stepped forward and pointed at Lorca with a threatening stare. "I don't know why you did this or what you're trying to prove. But I can tell you that this madness ends now."
"Brave words from such a small creature." Lorca scoffed.
"Who are you calling small?"
Using all her might, Sakura gathered the magic energy from the cards and formed it into a concentrated ball of white light. Once it had reached an impasse, she shot the energy sphere towards Lorca, who caught it with the magic Gauntlet and struggled to keep it balanced.
Everyone in the city, media and bystanders alike, all stood in place and watched the magic energy surround the two opponents as the light grew brighter. The Black Knight could now feel the positive energy flowing through him but refused to back down. Sakura, using her last bit of energy, pushed herself forward and forced the sphere into the Gauntlet, where the effects began to kick in.
"No!" Lorca cried as the Gauntlet began to glow with the positive energy Sakura had bestowed upon him. The black gem shattered instantly, creating a chain reaction of events that soon followed. The other Demon Knights were cast away into nothingness as their power gems crumbled and the portal to the demon realm closed off entirely.
"She did it!" Eriol cheered.
"Impossible…" A defeated Lorca said as he fell to his knees and his body returned to its human form.
Just then, a swarm of police officers and army officials arrived on the scene and finished off the remaining demons wile Lorca was taken away into custody.
"Oh, now they show up!" An irritated Meiling said.
Just when things were starting to get better, they immediately took a turn for the worse. Everyone soon turned their attention to Sakura, who immediately fell to the floor after such a long and weary battle. Her wounds were still present and her heart was beating faster than ever as Li immediately came to her side. He helped sit her up as he noticed she was starting to breathe heavily from fatigue and loss of blood.
"Sakura, just relax." He held her close. "You're going to be okay."
"I… I did it…" Her voice strained.
"Yes. You did." The worry Li had for Sakura could now be heard in his voice as he cradled her softly.
Soon, Yue, Ruby, Kero and Spinel returned to the group and noticed everyone surrounding the couple. Fujitaka, Sonomi and Kanaye noticed the scene from above and ordered the pilot to descend.
"Sakura?" Kero started to tear up.
"Oh, dear God." Ruby placed a hand over her mouth. "What did he do to you?"
"Li…" Sakura whispered.
"Yes, Sakura?" Li was slowly breaking down in tears.
"I… want you to…" She coughed for a bit then continued. "… I want you to carry on without me."
"No." He shook his head. "Sakura, you're going to be all right."
"…Lead the team. They'll…need you."
"Sakura, don't talk like that." He was now breaking down for sure. "We're supposed to get married one day. You're… supposed to be my wife and I'm…"
"I love you…"
And with that, Sakura's eyes closed as she drew her final breath. Li held his beloved closely and let out a mournful cry as did her friends and adoring fans that watched from the sidelines.
"Sakura…" Li sobbed.
"No." Yue said in disbelief. "It cannot end this way."
What started out as a day of celebration for peace with fond memories to look back on, it suddenly turned into the darkest day the people of Tomoeda had ever witnessed. The day the kindest, most noble young girl they ever knew finally fell. For those who loved her, those who would be her buddy or pal, or those who simply looked up to her, they were now forced to say goodbye to her. For a city or perhaps the entire world to live, a young girl had given her all and more. This was the day Sakura Kinomoto died.