Well here it is! I present to you the ninth chapter of Cardcaptor Sari! Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers Animated and/or Cardcaptor Sakura! They belong to Hasbro and CLAMP respectfully.
Incompatibility
It had taken Blitzwing a moment to still himself from snickering for a nanoclick; it took another to coax Sari to come out of the bathroom. Sari stepped out glaring at the triple-changer, with a loathing, and at Kero. Blitzwing (still on Random) merely smiled at the fuming girl from the balcony, while the guardian couldn't lift his head to make eye contact with Sari as he floated in front of her.
"Okay, so obviously we went off with a great start," Sari finally said.
"Ja, jou could say zhat," said Blitzwing.
"So Kero, what does this card do?" Sari held up the recently sealed card.
The card looked like the rest of the other Clow Card. Golden borders, scarlet coloring and sun and moon and six-pointed star symbols. On the face was young girl with large, curly hair that trailed behind her and down melting into a stream of frothy bubbles. Wrapped around her hair, above her head, like some sort of head wear was a string of bubbles. It was hard to tell with the lack of colors if they were bubbles or pearls. Wrapped around her neck like a turtle neck collar was a ring of fluffy froth.
Set in the center was a round jewel, if Sari held the jewel in real life it would have been the same size of her AllSpark Key. Unlike the rest of the card, the jewel was cerulean blue. The girl in the card wore the top half of a two-piece swim suit. Around her wrists, like bracelets, were rings of the same fluffy foam. The girl's hands laid over each other as they rested on top of the front of her waist. Like Watery, the girl from the waist-down had the body of a fish. Though not as detailed as Watery's it had a set of small fins and ended towards the tailfins.
The card's appearance as a whole resembled a young mermaid child and would have made one think she was Watery's younger sister. Her face held a softer, innocent look than that of the more temperamental water card. Printed in black on the bottom, on top of the scroll-like background, was 'The Bubbles'. At the top, on top of the sun symbol, also printed in black was '泡'.
"Clow Reed would use the Bubbles Card to clean all sorts of things… like me…" Kero mumbled at the last part.
"Huh, that so?" said Sari as she inspected the card and looked at Kero with a look of mischief.
With Sealing Wand in hand Sari threw the card in front of her, where it stayed as if glued onto an invisible wall.
"Give Kero a bath, Bubbles!" Sari struck the card as streams of lake blue came forth from the card.
Kero let out a sigh as he simply let the card envelop him. Soon a swirling cocoon of blue replaced the guardian before bursting to reveal Kero hidden in a mass of white foamy bubbles. Blitzwing looked in amusement at the floating bubbly mass, Sari was awed.
"So you can take a bath just like that?" asked Sari.
"Not just baths, Clow used Bubble for all sorts of cleaning chores," Kero explained from within the foam.
"This is one special card," said Sari.
"That's not true!" snapped Kero.
"Huh?" Sari looked at the guardian as she scratched her head.
"Not only does Clow use Bubbles on me, but he uses it on the dishes, the laundry and even on the windows!" Kero exclaimed.
"So? It's more convenient zhat vay," said Blitzwing, not really understanding Kero's irritation.
"How does it make you feel to know that you're being bathed by the same substance that's used in doing household chores?! Clow really lacked sensitivity," said Kero as he shook himself.
Sari just rolled her eyes while Blitzwing giggled.
"Kero, how come you didn't tell us earlier the Bubbles Card was unsealed in my bathroom?" asked Sari.
"I was talking to Blitzwing," Kero pointed a foamy arm to the triple-changer. "I can get distracted too you know,"
Seconds passed and Bubbles retreated back to her card form, leaving a much cleaner Kero, his fur appeared more luxurious.
"Ah… that was great bath, I feel much more refreshed!" said Kero as he stretched, feeling the cool winds blow from the balcony. "Now then, since we're both here I would like to test your powers,"
Kero turned to look at the triple-changer.
"Vhy me?" asked Blitzwing.
"You just acquired your powers, I need to know how well you can use magic," said Kero before turning to Sari. "Sari, do you know any place that's big enough to be used as a training area?"
"Well, there's a large storage area where we keep all sorts of supplies and shipments in the tower. And because it's Saturday I'm sure nobody's working today and we're not expecting any deliveries, so I think it'll be ok," said Sari as she slipped the Bubbles Card into her pocket.
"Okay, I think that'll do," Kero nodded and turned to Blitzwing. "So… how are we going to get you from here to there?"
"My dad's lab has an elevator that leads down to the lower levels. It should be big enough for Blitzwing," said Sari.
"I am right next to jou," said Blitzwing as he returned back to Icy, a little irked that Sari wouldn't talk to him directly.
But it seemed that she either didn't hear him or chose not to as she walked out of her room. Blitzwing grumbled as he powered his thrusters and slowly flew away from the balcony. Flying around the tower he slowly made his way towards the large break on the side, exposed wires and cables hung limply from the ruined wall and broken metal beams. Blitzwing landed on concrete floor as Sari and Kero entered from the sliding metal doors.
"Ah I remember, zhis vas zhe very same place Megatron vas held," said Blitzwing as he inspected the ruined laboratory.
Getting no response the triple-changer turned to see Sari with her back to him. She was standing over a control pad, summoning the elevator from down below. Though he couldn't see her face, Blitzwing noticed that Sari's posture slouched. It hit his processor when he realized what was wrong. Her father (as Humans named them) was gone thanks to him and his comrades and she missed him terribly. Obviously coming to the lab resurfaced painful memories and reminders of what she lost.
An awkward silence fell over the three as Blitzwing looked worriedly at Sari. He felt uneasy with guilt, but he couldn't let the girl know that they were keeping her father captive with them. It would make her hate him even more. They haven't done anything yet and already things were getting complicated. For Spark's sake, if he hadn't found that pink organic none of this would happen and life would just go normally.
Blitzwing let out an imitated sigh, something the triple-changer picked up on his time on Earth.
"Sari, um… I'm sorry to bring zhat up," Blitzwing apologized, oh Primus that felt odd.
Sari turned to look at the triple-changer with a look of surprise and shock.
"Did you just actually apologize? A Decepticon saying 'sorry'?!" exclaimed Sari before picking her ear with her pinky, to make sure she heard the triple-changer correctly.
"Okay, let's not get crazy," Blitzwing rolled his optics. "Yes I apologized; I'm not zhat Sparkless,"
"It's okay, I just miss my dad that's all," Sari gave the triple-changer a soft smile.
A large stainless steel platform rose from behind Sari, stopping right on level with the rest of the lab. Sari waved to the triple-changer to come closer, Blitzwing walked across the room and stood in the middle. Kero flew, floating next to the triple-changer massive stabilizing servos. Sari pressed a button and hopped on the elevator platform as it rumbled downward. The walls slid upwards and the platform hummed as they went down the tower. Finally the walls abruptly ended, revealing a spacious area. Rows of boxes, cardboard and wood, stretched across the walls. Various automatons, built to transfer and organize heavy object, rested on the walls inactivated.
The elevator began to slow as Sari felt gravity push on her. The platform came to a shuddering stop as it clicked with the rest of the floor. Once stopped both Sari and Blitzwing stepped out, Kero went on ahead as he didn't need to use his feet.
"This is perfect! Okay let's get it started. You don't mind if I use some of these boxes, Sari?" asked Kero pointing towards a pile of discarded cardboard boxes.
Sari shook her head left to right, granting the guardian permission. Kero looked back at the boxes as soft golden light enveloped his silhouette. A similar golden light cloaked over nine different sized boxes. The cardboard boxes slowly levitated into the air before neatly stacking on top of one another next to each other, from largest to smallest. Standing in front of the trio were three stacks of boxes. The golden light faded from both the boxes and Kero, the guardian turned to Blitzwing.
"Okay Blitzwing, I want you use Watery and cast a spell at those boxes," said Kero.
"How do I do zhat?" asked the triple-changer as he took out the card from his sub-space container.
"Simply command the card what you wish it to do, state its name and with your hand strike it," instructed Kero.
"Zhat simple? I thought zhere vould haff been a more complicated procedure," said Blitzwing as he examined the Watery Card.
"Well since this would be your first time using magic, you could run into some difficulties when trying to coax the energies to cast a spell. That's why we're here to see how smoothly the magical energies are flowing through you. Okay, you ready?" said Kero.
Blitzwing nodded as he imitated what he observed Sari do. He threw the Watery Card into the air, where it stayed rather than fall, and raised his right servo.
"Wait a moment!" Kero shouted for the triple-changer to stop.
Blitzwing's feet staggered in mid-swing as Watery's card fell lamely to the floor.
"Vhat!?" growled Blitzwing, on Hothead.
"You forgot to sign your name on the card," Kero said simply.
"Vhy?" Blitzwing asked, switching back to Icy.
Like with Sari, Kero gave Blitzwing a lecture about the importance of writing ones name on the card. The triple-changer nodded as he took on this new information. It seems when dealing with magic everything had significance.
"Here, you can use this," Sari held a yellow pencil, topped with a pink rubbery eraser.
As delicately as he could Blitzwing held the eraser tip of the pencil with the ends of his thumb and index digit.
"Should I write it in English or Cybertronian?" asked the triple-changer to the guardian.
"I think it would be more preferred if you wrote in English since it's more connected to Earth than your language," said Kero.
With some difficulty Blitzwing bent down on the ground and managed to scrawl his name at the bottom of the card. Accessing the Internet he found how to write his name in English and slowly wrote each letter. Straightening himself, picking up the card, Blitzwing proudly inspected his handiwork. No letters were out of place, written smoothly on the surface of the card. Again Blitzwing threw the card in the air and brought his right servo down.
"Demonstrate jour powers, Vatery!" Blitzwing commanded as he struck the card with his index digit.
Chime bells rang from the card as light rippled forth. Sapphire blue water spewed from the card as Watery was summoned. Extending her clawed webbed hands like a lioness, Watery rushed towards the piled boxes as streams of water followed. With skilled precision Watery swiped at the boxes, ripping them into soggy ribbons of cardboard. The card pointed her index finger at the stack next to the one she just destroyed. A jet of water shot out of her finger, striking the stack with deadly accuracy. Finally she turned on the remaining stack, her form melted as water engulfed the stack in an orb of liquid. The orb began to shrink, Watery set on crushing the boxes. But then the sphere began to wobble violently before exploding.
With a yell of surprise; Sari, Kero and Blitzwing were all drenched in the deluge. Watery reformed, her features softened for a second as she gave the three an apologetic look before returning to her card form. The card flew and returned back to Blitzwing's dripping servo.
"And I just took a bath!" Kero screamed indignantly.
"What happened?" asked Sari as she wrung water out her pigtails and the hem of her dress.
Kero shook himself furiously, drizzling Sari and Blitzwing's stabilizing servo.
"It's just as I suspected," said Kero he turned to the triple-changer. "Your magic powers aren't developed well; this would make casting spells difficult and unstable. Though you do have Clow Reed's magic within you, it's not harmonizing with the properties of your body and soul,"
"Vhat do propose ve do to solve zhis problem?" asked Blitzwing as he shook the droplets from his arms and legs.
"Well I advise you to keep on using the cards more often, practice makes perfect as they always said. Just try to keep it to the simple spells, don't cast a powerful one you're not ready for that. Eventually the magic will flow more easily through you as your powers develop, but besides that you need practice and training right now," said Kero.
"Why vaist mein time to learn how to use magic vhen I can just use mein weapons? Zhis is too inconvenient," Blitzwing pointed to his magic servo.
Kero sighed as he explained to Blitzwing, like with Sari on their first day, that mundane objects were no use against the Clow Cards or magic. Technology can go so far to out beat weaker magic, but something as powerful as the Clow Cards required something of similar property, like fighting fire with fire.
"But how do jou explain zhe time at zhe docks?" asked Blitzwing, referring to how his ice beams manage to affect Watery.
"That's because Watery is made of water, so it's only logical that it would affect her. You wield weapons that manipulate the natural elements. But of course if any person other than you used the same tactics on Watery, it wouldn't have much of an affect. The magic energies inside have mingled in with your weaponry, that's why when you shot Watery you managed to catch her attention," explained Kero.
Blitzwing merely nodded as he accepted the guardian's answer. Then a mouse-like sneeze diverted their attention as they saw Sari rub her nose with her finger.
the triple-changer did a quick scan on the girl.
"Jour core temperature has dropped by a degree," said Blitzwing, Sari shivered a little.
"Ah… how thoughtless of me, sorry Sari. Let's hurry back up before you get a cold," said Kero.
"Here, let me help," offered Blitzwing as he kneeled down and transformed into his alt mode.
The jet thrusters were pointed towards the two as Sari and Kero looked at the triple-changer curiously. With a whistling hum Blitzwing slowly powered his thruster, comforting warm air blasted out of it. Sari smiled, her hair waving in the artificial wind, as she basked herself. In seconds her damp clothes, skin and hair dried from the extra moister. Kero's fur returned back to its fluffy quality, having short-length fur had its advantages of not tangling.
"Thanks Blitzwing," Sari expressed her gratitude to the triple-changer as he transformed back to his original form.
"Think nozzing of it, vouldn't vant jou to freeze on my first day," Random Blitzwing smiled at the girl and then turned to Kero, switching back to Icy. "So this training jou vere talking about…"
"It's simple; in order to effectively use the Clow Cards or any magical powers you need to establish a connection or relation between user and power,"
"Explain,"
"When you and Sari use the Clow Cards your magical energies are shared with them. How powerful the Clow Cards depends not only on their properties but also from their master. Having a large reserve of magic inside you will guarantee powerful spells. However if the flow of magic is obstructed or sluggish it can result in unstable or no spells at all," said Kero, Blitzwing listened attentively.
"Even though you and Watery have already established the connection between Card and master your magical energies are flowing inconsistently. This is why Watery lost control of her manipulation over water. So that's why you need some training and what better teacher than me?" said Kero as he placed a hand over his chest, sticking his thumb to himself, with a smug grin on his face.
"My audio receptors are on," said Blitzwing.
"Let's begin with something simple, have Watery make an orb of water," instructed Kero.
Blitzwing threw the card once more and summoned the elemental. Streams of blue water swirled and converged to make an orb of azure water, floating in the air.
"Okay, now concentrate. Try to establish a connection between you and Watery; focus on every detail you know about water from the sounds, the sight and feel of it. Once you reach a certain point your magic should be able to flow and keep the orb stable," said Kero.
Blitzwing closed his optics as he did as Kero instructed. The sound of trickling water, the sound of it lapping against a harbor, that was easy. The sights of how sunlight would reflect from it in glittering sparkles, how sometimes it would be pure as glass or thick with blue or green. Sights and sounds, it was all recorded in his processor. The feel… besides temperature what else was there, the pressure, the slight solidness to it? Blitzwing searched his processor… but found nothing when it came to the feel of water. The sound of splattering water interrupted him of his thoughts; he opened his optics to see nothing but a puddle of water on the floor, the concrete floor darkened where the liquid moistened the ground.
"Let's try it again; the first time's not always successful," said Kero.
Blitzwing again closed his optics in concentration as the orb reformed. Sari watched the two before her mobile phone rang. Another splash of water came and Blitzwing cursed, he tried a third time. Sari took out her phone and flipped it open.
"Hello?" Sari answered he cell.
"Yo, Sari!" answered the caller.
"Bumblebee, how's it going? Are you okay?" said Sari as she recognized the voice.
"I'm fine, sure I was a bit slagged yesterday but with your Key you've got nothing to worry about. Things are kinda busy here; apparently there's been an incident at a construction site,"
"So change of plans?" asked Sari, her mind perked upon hearing of an incident.
"Yea, sorry Sari. But hey I'll make it up tomorrow; we'll hang out and have fun," Bumblebee reassured the girl from the other end.
"Okay, thanks Bumblebee," said Sari.
"No problem, bye Sari," said Bumblebee.
"Bye," Sari snapped closed her phone, ending the connection.
The girl turned to see that the orb of water Blitzwing was concentrating on was still holding up.
"Great work Blitzwing, keep it up," Kero commented on the triple-changer.
"Zhis is so strange, I'm not feeling anyzing yet I am obviously doing somezing," Blitzwing mumbled.
"At first you might not feel the flow of magic around you like me, but as both of your powers increase you'll be more sensitive to magical auras and presences," said Kero. "You're making quite a progress,"
Just as the words left his mouth the orb exploded in small droplets, but fell short of the three. The puddles of water glowed a bright light before moving together to reform the Watery Card. The card levitated from the ground and back into Blitzwing's servo. As the triple-changer caught the card, Kero flew to Sari.
"Anything wrong?" asked the guardian.
"Something happened at a construction site, could be a Clow Card," said Sari.
One of Kero's ears twitched slightly at the mention of the cards.
"Do you know where it is?"
Sari shook her head.
"There's probably hundreds of construction sites in Detroit!" Sari moaned.
"Zhat is not a problem, I haff already pinpointed zhe possible location," said Blitzwing.
"How'd you find out so fast?" asked Sari.
"Zhe energy signatures of jour Autobot friends," said Blitzwing. "Zhey are south-east of here, not too far off,"
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go check it out," said Kero as he flew to the elevator.
Sari and Blitzwing followed, stepping on the steel platform. Sari activated the elevator as it hummed to life and brought them back to Professor Sumdac's lab.
"Need a ride?" Blitzwing offered to Sari.
"Nah, I've got my own," said Sari as she summoned out the Sealing Wand.
With a swing the girl called forth Fly; milky white feathery wings grew from her staff. Blitzwing couldn't help but chuckle as he turned to Random.
"How can a pair of flimsy organic vings out-fly a Decepticon?" Blitzwing teased.
"You wanna race on that?" asked Sari, a sly glint in her eyes.
"Is zhat a challenge I hear? Bring it on, Human!" said Blitzwing, merrily, as he transformed into a fighter jet.
Sari mounted on the staff as Kero held onto Sari's shoulder, preparing for one heck of a ride.
"Three…" Blitzwing started.
"Two…" Sari continued.
"Von…"
As if springs were built underneath them, the two cannoned out of the laboratory. The sudden rush of air left dust in their wake. Blitzwing paced himself as he flew over the city of Detroit, not wanting to overheat his thrusters. Followed closely behind him was Sari, the wings of her staff flapped in great arcs in a steady rhythm. The wind rushed through the girl's face as she tried to keep her eyes open to see in front of her, but it was difficult because her eyes became irritated from the gale. Bending her upper body down, to reduce air resistance, Sari slowly flew up next to the tip of Blitzwing's jet form.
Soon the construction site neared and the two turned to land at the nearest roof of a building. A foot away from the roof Blitzwing transformed in mid-air and slowly made his way down, he didn't want to break a hole or alert anyone of his presence. Sari slowed her decent, wings unfurled like a parachute to catch the air. They both landed gracefully on the roof.
"I von!" Hothead Blitzwing announced to the world in a smug tone.
"No way, I got here first!" Sari contradicted the triple-changer.
"I vas first!" Hothead bellowed down to the girl.
But Sari stood strong.
"No, I was," said Sari once again.
"I vas!"
"You two are acting like a bunch of kids," Kero sighed as he shook his head from side to side in disbelief. "Besides both of you landed at the same time, so it's a draw,"
"Draw?" asked Sari.
"Draw," Blitzwing agreed.
Sari, Blitzwing and Sari walked towards the edge of the roof to peer down, well due to Blitzwing's immense height he had to crawl on his chassis. Looking over the edge they watched as construction workers and the Autobots milled around a large pile of construction materials as high as Optimus. Someone obviously had much time on their hands or was very talented as every beam of metal, wheel barrow, tools and sacks of powdered concrete were piled on one another and balancing the pile from collapsing. If one were to take a piece out from the pile the whole thing would fall apart, endangering someone or somebot. Carefully, piece by piece the construction worker and Autobots took apart the pile and placed the materials on the ground.
"Yep, it's obviously the work of a Clow Card. A mischievous one at that," Kero muttered next to them.
Blitzwing and Sari glanced at the fluttering guardian before turning their gaze back the construction site.
"Vhen vill it strike again?" asked Blitzwing.
"It's hard to tell, I don't know the Card responsible. But my best guess is tonight," said Kero.
"Then we'll meet back here once thing's get quiet," said Sari.
Blitzwing nodded and transformed into his jet form and blasting away, making sure to create some distance from him and the Autobots before swerving and making his way to the forest.
---
When the Sun rises high above the sky, basking the Earth in its light, the city of Detroit bustles with activity. When darkness falls; the activity in Detroit increases, only concentrated in some areas as people come out to enjoy the nightlife. Fortunately the area around the construction site sees little people, making it ideal to capture a Clow Card. A streak of purple crossed the dark sky before diving down to descend. Blitzwing transformed mid way and slowly landed on the roof of the same building. He scanned the area, not seeing Sari he sat down and waited. Minutes passed, checking his internal clock he grumbled.
"Thirty cycles late, she had better haff a good reason to keep me vaiting," Icy said to himself before his face whirled and landed on Random.
"Now don't be such a sour-bot, jou obviously care for her just as much as I do," his crazier personality piped. "Jou just can't admit it,"
Blitzwing's face spun again and landed on Hothead.
"Maybe jou just need a little persuasion, how about I knock it through zhat thick processor of jours!?" Hothead offered some advice before returning back to Icy.
"I thought jou vere zhe von vith zhe thick-processor. Sari is just an organic, I feel nothing for her. I am only doing zhis because of Clow Veed," Blitzwing muttered to his two personas before Random took over again.
"You're in denial!" said Random in a melodious voice before breaking into laughter.
Icy took control, growling at himself. Then he heard the flapping of great wings as it beat the night air. Blitzwing turned to see Sari on her staff, nearing the building roof. She gracefully landed on her two feet and ran up to the triple-changer.
"You're late," said Blitzwing.
"Sorry but Kero over here wanted to stuff his face," Sari pointed behind her.
"What? The Beast of the Seal can't enjoy some time with his sweets?" Kero huffed.
Sari, Blitzwing and Kero once again peered over the edge of the building.
"Good, no one's here," said Kero.
The three of them flew from the roof, across the streets and past the chained gate that was the entrance to the construction site. They landed on the barren earth and looked warily around for the Clow Card.
"Zhere is nothing here, maybe it has moved on?" said Blitzwing.
Before either Sari or Kero could respond a chilling wind blew through the desolate area. It was light and soft but foreboding. Sari shivered slightly, the construction site seemed to grow darker. The various machines that sat silently around the construction site appeared monstrous in the dim light. The tall skeleton of the soon to be built skyscraper jutted from the ground like devilish spikes. Blitzwing looked at the girl curiously, not really understanding the reason for her reaction. She was shaking from explainable fear. Even though the triple-changer could not feel the eerie draft he noticed that the temperature around them dropped somewhat, maybe that was why the girl was shivering. Then a sensation washed over him, a feeling like something was following him, stalking him from the darkness. An entity that he had an inkling he was familiar with but was unable to acknowledge its presence, an being that had manage to follow the triple-changer since the start of his life-cycle by copying his every moves.
"Did jou just feel zhat?" asked Blitzwing, his voice almost laced with fear.
"That's the presence of a Clow Card," said Kero.
Blitzwing got into a fighting stance, knees bent and cannons pointed in front of him. The triple-changer scanned the construction site. They heard a clang of metal coming from one of the dark corner of the construction site. The trio turned to look and gasped in surprise. A beam of metal was gliding through the air, flipping occasionally before stopping (its tip poised towards the ground).
"Look out!" Kero warned as the beam of metal speared towards them.
With quick reflexes Blitzwing moved out of the way but looked back when he saw Sari, rooted to the spot from shock and fear her mouth gaped open.
"Move, Sari!" Blitzwing tried to bring the girl out of her daze, but it did little.
Blitzwing ran towards the girl, scooped her up in his servos and rolled out of the way. With a resounding crash and rumble the beam of metal struck the hard earth. Dust rose around it, clearing to reveal the tip of the metal beam stuck firmly in the ground. Blitzwing turned to look at the metal beam then at Sari; she was shaking like a leaf.
"Jou fool of a girl!" Hothead Blitzwing shouted.
Sari cowered from the triple-changer's harsh words. Blitzwing grumbled to himself before switching back to Icy.
"Just be more careful next time, okay?" said Icy in a calmer voice.
Sari looked at the triple-changer's ruby red optics before nodding. Blitzwing slowly put his servo down on the ground; Sari jumped off and looked at the imbedded metal beam. She gasped as the metal beam shook from side to side, dislodging itself from the earth and rose into the air.
"Sari look! Down zhere!" Blitzwing pointed to the metal beams silhouette.
From the artificial light casted by the street lamps behind them Sari could faintly make out the shadow of a human figure holding onto the beam of metal over its shoulder.
"There's nothing but a shadow," said Sari.
The shadow threw the metal beam at the two, without thinking twice Sari and Blitzwing ran and stood next to Kero as the beam of metal clanged and rattled as it landed.
"Kero, do you know what Clow Card this is?" asked Sari.
"This-" but the guardian was interrupted as something caught his eye.
The trio watched in shock as multiple shadows flowed from the dark recess of the construction site like water, all of them converging towards them.
"This is the work of the Shadow Card!" Kero finished his sentence.
"Kero, stay back, I'll handle this!" Sari said in a commanding voice as she ran towards the moving shadows.
The shades lost form as they melted and formed a sea of blackness. From her pockets Sari took out Windy's card and threw it in the air. Just as she did the shadows around her bulged and shot into the air, barricading any possible exits.
"Become a binding chain, Windy!" Sari struck the card as the spell was casted.
Wisps of yellow and green air flew out as the wind spirit rose from her card. Her form spread from Sari and curled around the shadows. Like cloth the shadows tightened where Windy grabbed hold, but then the shadows broke into smaller pieces like water. Where ever Windy touched, the shadows would simply bend and float aimlessly away from her grasp. The shreds of shadows soon sharpened in form as they dived towards Sari. Letting out a yelp of surprise the girl jumped back as a blob of liquid shadow struck the ground where she once stood before rebounding back into the air. She jumped to the side as another one attempted to hit the girl. Using the Sealing Wand like a bat she swung at another offending shadow, it splattered around her like ink.
"Sari, use Fly and try to escape!" Kero yelled out to the girl.
"Fly!" Sari rushed high into the air and looked down to see a large glop of living shadow under her.
"It looks like Shadow had collected the shadows of everyone who passed this place. It's impossible for Sari to fight so many," Kero muttered under his breath.
The sound of cracking wood came as Kero looked up to see boxes, tools and equipment being thrown at the girl from the half-made building. Looking closely there were more shadows holding up various objects.
Blitzwing ran forward, taking out both Water's card and the pendant Clow gave him from his subspace container.
Zhe Key which hides zhe power of Clow
Show jour true powers before me
I, Blitzving, command jou under our contract
VELEASE!
The pendant grew as it implanted into Blitzwing's right servo, transforming it. The triple-changer threw his card into the air.
"Attack zhe shadows, Vatery!" Blitzwing cried out as he struck the card.
Streams of sapphire blue water cascaded out of the card and beat against the shadows. But like Windy, Shadow simply melted, reformed and turned on the triple-changer. Blitzwing growled in frustration as tendrils of darkness wrapped around his frame.
"Jou think jou can beat me!?" Hothead Blitzwing shouted at Shadow. "How about I burn jou to see how jou like zhat!"
With his cannons lowered Blitzwing let out a stream of blistering flames. It seemed to work, for a moment, as Shadow shied away from the flames and the light it gave off.
"Vait… light…" Blitzwing thought as he returned to Icy and observed the card's reaction. "I've got it!"
Sari cried out from above, the triple-changer looked up to see that a large tentacle of shadow and wrapped itself around Sari's staff and was trying to pull the girl down.
"L-let go of me!" shouted Sari as she struggled to be released of the extra weight.
"Sari, I haff a plan, try to hold on!" shouted Blitzwing as he ran towards another part of the construction site.
"Hey wait a minute, where are you going?!" Sari shouted back in disbelief as she watched the triple-changer retreat.
Sari let out another scream as she felt her whole body being tugged towards the ground. She could feel herself and Fly straining against Shadow's unyielding hold as they were slowly pulled towards the mass of shadows. Then with a click and electrical crack, bright white light flooded the construction site as the lamps set on the fences were activated. One by one the lamps flicked on, adding more to the brilliance. The mass of shadows began to slowly fade as it lost solidness, becoming more and more transparent.
As the last of the lamps flickered on the shadows disappeared. The sudden release caused Sari to flip upward, screaming into the air. She soon found her balance as she steadied herself to look below, surprised to see not one trace of the rogue shadows.
"Sari!" the girl looked down to see Kero waving at her, behind him was Blitzwing standing next to a rumbling power generator.
Sari flew toward the two.
"The shadows disappeared," Sari told them.
"Everything but the main body of Shadow disappears when you shine light on it. You can thank Blitzwing for thinking so quickly," said Kero as he looked at the triple-changer.
"Um… thanks Blitzwing," Sari gave the triple-changer her thanks.
"It vas nothing," Blitzwing mumbled, he was not used to receiving this much praise.
Kero looked over Sari, noticing something.
"Sari! Don't let Shadow get away!" Kero cried out as he pointed behind the Cardcaptor.
Both Blitzwing and Sari looked to see a figure, donning an ebony black cloak and hood, walking towards the chained gates of the construction site. Together, Sari and Blitzwing ran after the fleeing card. Shadow stopped, hearing them approach, and turned to see the two charging after him. Shadow stepped back before thrusting the right side of his body forward. A stream of inky shadow burst from the folds of his cloak. Sari and Blitzwing dodged it with ease as they continued to run towards the card. Another stream of shadow bulleted towards Sari, but Blitzwing jumped in front of the girl and swiped it away with his right magic servo. Sari took out a card and threw it into the air.
"Become the chain that binds, Windy!" Sari struck the card as Windy flew forth.
Shadow looked on as Windy encircled around him before struggling as the spirit wrapped herself around the card. Sari dropped from the sky, bending her knees to soften the impact. She stood up, staff over her head.
Return to the guise you were meant to be in!
CLOW CARD!
Chime bells rang and soft blur light rippled from the staff. Shadow continued to struggle till he was levitated into the air. His form swirled and spiraled as he returned to his card form. As Sari lowered the Sealing Wand she watched as Shadow's card flew away from her and towards Blitzwing's servo.
"Another card for me, how vonderful!" said Random Blitzwing in delight, his red optics were curled into a pair upside-down 'u' as he expressed his joy.
"You won it, fair and square this time Blitzwing," said Sari as she found herself smiling from the triple-changer's cheerfulness.
"Vhat, no snappy comments?" said Blitzwing.
"No snappy comments," said Sari.
"You two were awesome!" Kero cheered as he flew between the pair. "Shadow's a difficult card to catch seeing that Shadow can touch us, but we can't touch him. But I never expected anything less from you two!"
Sari and Blitzwing grinned at Kero's appreciation as they turned back to examine the card. Like with all the other Clow Cards, Shadow's was no different in pattern and shape. At the center was Shadow wearing his overly large cloak. Shadow's true body and face was obscured in the shadow of his cloak. Printed in black, at the top of the card was '影'. At the bottom were 'The Shadow' printed on top of a golden scroll background.
"Vell it's has been an exciting evening, but I must go," said Blitzwing as he placed his newly acquired card in his sub-space container and gave the two a respectful bow.
Transforming on the spot Blitzwing sailed away through the sky.
"Y'know Kero, maybe you were right. Blitzwing's not all that bad," said Sari as he watched the triple-changer's retreating figure.
Dun dun da da daduuun dun dun dun!
Leave it to Kero!
"Hey-hey-hoo! How are all of you guys doing? Hope you're getting enough rest because sleep's important! Well let's not waste any more time and get this segment of Leave it to Kero started!" the background switches to a picture of an eerie subterranean base.
"This is obviously where Blitzwing lives, not a very homey place. I thought someone like Blitzwing would live in a place with a lot more flair, but I guess this is what floats his boat. As you can see the various purple lights that illuminate this place are not only dim but cast a very foreboding look. The cavernous halls and winding tunnels add more to that malevolent air. Once again it's time for a Kero's Check!" said Kero as the background switched to a picture of the Decepticon insignia.
"I've seen Blitzwing wear this on the center of his chest. I wonder what it stands for, maybe some sort of fashion sense or tattoo? I wish it would stop staring at me like that…" said Kero as he slowly backed away from the emblem.
"Well I hope you enjoyed this episode of Leave it to Kero as there will be even more after this! As long as I have materials to check and review there's always going to be a Leave it to Kero for you. Well, see ya!"
End of the ninth chapter!
Hope you guys enjoyed it and I'm terribly sorry to keep you all waiting! College and school has started and we're all awfully busy, but I won't falter!