Chapter 6.- Second Chance: Sorcerer Leed vs. Sorceress Cherry (or what's the same: Eriol vs. Sakura)

"Jump!" Sakura yelled and jumped high out of reach.

But Witch Mel wasn't going to give up that easily.

.---.

~Not far, in the same beach.~

Shaoran was deep in his thoughts when suddenly he felt something was wrong. He couldn't understand how, he just knew it, something was wrong and he had to do something about it.

"It may be again a trick of my mind." He thought as he started running. "But I can't take any chances."

And with that he ran to where Sorceress Cherry (Sakura) and the Witch Mel were fighting.

.---.

~In the fighting arena.~

Eriol was about to say something else to Violet (Tomoyo), when she suddenly turned around.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Eriol and Daeron asked at once.

"Something is wrong." Tomoyo said. "Something is just very wrong."

She raised her hands, letting the sun light reflect on the Moon Ring she was wearing. Eriol was amazed by it, mainly because he could feel there was something magical about it. But before he could ask anything the girl was already running out of the field.

"Come on Dae!" Tomoyo yelled. "S…Cherry needs our help!"

Eriol was wondering what could have happened, when he himself felt it, a dark energy and a light one, fighting. But just then Nakuru arrived and distracted him, so he never got to find out what was going on.

.---.

~Back to the beach.~

Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs when she received an attack fully in her left arm.

"I'll kill you, I swear I will." Witch Mel kept repeating.

She prepared another attack, Sakura was running out of ideas.

"Die!" Witch Mel yelled.

But just then a miracle happened…

"God of Thunder, come to my aid!" a male voice yelled.

A thunder impacted on Witch Mel and threw her back to some dunes.

"Are you okay?" Shaoran asked kneeling next to the injured sorceress.

She turned her head up and nodded, and then noticed his shocked expression.

"Sa…Sakura?!" he almost yelled.

It was just then when Sakura noticed her mask was lying on the sand, leaving her face uncovered.

"Oh no…" she murmured, as she mentally cursed.

"Return!!" Tomoyo yelled arriving.

The pouch were the Sakura's Cards were kept glowed a moment before everything looked like if it was being rewind.

Sakura founded herself again facing the sand.

"Are you okay?" she heard Shaoran asking her again.

"Yes, perfectly fine." She said, and just before raising her head she took the mask and put it on. "Thank you." She added looking at Shaoran.

He looked at her puzzled.

"Is everything okay?" she asked innocently.

"It's just that I have a sense of Deja vú." He explained. He then shook his head.

"I'll take revenge." Witch Mel said standing up. "On both of you!"

She made an attack, some kind of black darts flew to both sorcerers, before she disappeared.

"Sand wall!" a voice yelled.

Sakura and Shaoran turned around in time to see Tomoyo and Daeron standing behind them. The mage still holding the scepter high.

"Thank you Dae." Sakura said smiling at him.

Shaoran felt something strange, for some unknown reason he felt uncomfortable in all this situation.

"Your attention please Ladies and Gentlemen. The second round of the Magic Tournament will begin in five minutes. Competitors please return to your places. I repeat…"

"S…Cherry, we need to go." Tomoyo urged Sakura.

Sakura nodded.

"Thank you for your help Mr. Xiao." She said smiling at him.

'That smile…' Shaoran thought, then he mentally slapped himself. 'That's impossible, she's not here…' he sighed and asked himself: 'Then why do I have the feeling I just saw her?'

Sakura left, accompanied by Tomoyo and Daeron.

"You know that sooner or later he'll remember what he saw." Tomoyo commented once they were far away enough from Shaoran.

"I know." Sakura said arranging her hair. "And anyway, I'm sure he'll find out soon, with him remembering what happened here or not."

"You speak as if you know something we don't." Daeron stated.

But he never received an answer.

Tomoyo just walked in silence. She had other things in mind besides Sakura, and they all could be resumed in one word: Eriol.

"You sure you're okay?" Tomoyo asked for the up-tenth time.

"Yes Tomoyo, I'm perfectly fine." Sakura said patiently.

"That fight against that wicked woman was terrible." Tomoyo insisted. "I could feel it all the way to this place."

"I'm fine," Sakura insisted. "And besides I'm not gonna quit the competition just because of some bruises. I'm expecting this competition, and I believe Eriol is too."

"Has he said something?" Tomoyo asked.

"No, but I can feel in his aura the emotion." Sakura said.

Just then both Sorcerers were called to the arena.

"First duel of the Second Round, Sorcerer Leed, against Sorceress Cherry!" the presenter announced. "Competitors, your duel starts…Now!"

But neither Sakura nor Eriol moved from their places. They were both waiting for the first attack from the opponent.

"Fine with me." Sakura said, she raised both hands and attacked. "Watery!"

A water spiral was aimed right to Eriol. But he was ready.

"Freezing wind!" he counterattacked.

The water turned to ice, and headed back to Sakura. Who swiftly jumped out of the way.

"Rock prison!" Eriol attacked first this time.

And like he said, a wall of rocks sprung from the earth and quickly surrounded Sakura.

"I should have remembered his style." Sakura scolded herself.

.---.

~In the benches.~

"That Sorcerer Leed is too strong." Daeron murmured, afraid for Sakura's safety.

"Not really." Tomoyo replied calmly.

Daeron looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Not at all." Tomoyo said. "It's just that he likes to use the opponents weapons against themselves. Sakura must have forgotten that."

.---.

~Back to the fight.~

"But now I've remembered." Sakura murmured aloud. "I won't be defeated this easily! Teleport!!"

The magic of the Card teleported her out of the rock prison and right next to Eriol.

"Windy, Chains of Justice, Now!" Sakura summoned.

But Eriol could easily get away of that magic.

"Don't underestimate me miss." He told Sakura.

"The same goes to you." Sakura replied.

'Her style remembers me a lot of a certain someone.' Eriol thought.

Just then Eriol remembered another of his tricks, got rid of his staff, and made some threads appear.

Suddenly Sakura began moving against her will.

"I'm afraid this will be your end miss." Eriol said.

"No, it won't." Sakura said. "Firey!"

She was enveloped in fire, and the threads were burnt.

.---.

~In the benches, in the other side of Tomoyo and Daeron.~

"That's incredible." Meiling murmured amazed.

"How could she know what Master had done?" Rubymoon asked.

"I don't know." Spinel said. "Very little people know about the spells Master Eriol uses. And even less people are able to break them."

Again a name rang in Shaoran's mind: Sakura.

"You amaze me Sorceress Cherry." Eriol complimented her. "You really do. Very few people have been able to break that spell."

"Thank you." Sakura said with a grin. "I think that now you'll believe my words and stop playing. Fight."

"If that's your wish." Eriol said smiling as well. "I'll use a spell I wasn't planning on using, at least not yet."

"Do it." Sakura said, knowing exactly what Eriol was about to do. "I'll let you do it."

'Is she crazy?' Eriol asked himself. 'If she had even the slightest idea of what I'm about to do she would attack me right now. What is she thinking?'

.---.

~With Tomoyo and Daeron.~

"He's gonna do it." Tomoyo said confidentially.

"What?" Daeron asked.

"The darkness spell." Tomoyo answered.

Daeron looked at her, shocked. That was a very powerful spell, one only the best sorcerers could handle, and it was almost impossible to break.

"Sakura must attack now, before it is late." Daeron said worried.

"She won't." Tomoyo said. "She'll let him do the spell."

"But it is very dangerous." Daeron insisted. "Why would she do that?"

"To prove him who's the best Sorcerer." Tomoyo said calmly. "To prove him that these seven years haven't passed in vain."

Daeron looked a Tomoyo in silence. She was talking like if there was some kind of unfinished business with that man, but what was it? He wished to find out.

.---.

~With Shaoran, Meiling and Eriol´s guardians.~

"What is that girl trying to do letting Eriol finish that spell?" Meiling asked. "Is she insane or what?!"

"She probably doesn't know what Master Eriol is about to do." Ruby suggested.

"No." Shaoran said seriously.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"She knows exactly what Eriol is about to do." Shaoran assured. "But she'll let him do it."

"What for?" Spinel asked.

"Now I really think she's insane." Meiling insisted.

"She wants to prove something." Shaoran explained.

"How do you know?" Rubymoon asked.

"I don't know, I just do." Shaoran replied coldly.

.---.

Just then Eriol finished chanting the darkness spell. And a huge darkness spread from the tip of his staff to the sky and then everywhere.

The sun disappeared, and the sky turned a dark black.

Slowly, one by one, most of the guests began falling asleep.

Shaoran summoned a Shield to keep Meiling protected from the darkness. He, his mother, and Eriol's guardians could stay awake without it.

Tomoyo concentrated, her ring shone briefly and formed a light shield that protected her and Daeron.

Yukito and Kero too could feel the spell, but they stayed in the cabin, Sakura had told them to stay there unless they were called, and they couldn't disobey her. Anyway, they could feel she was perfectly fine.

.---.

~Back to the center of the fighting grounds.~

"Well, this is something I wasn't expecting." He said looking at his opponent fully awake.

"If you were expecting me to fall asleep the same as some of the guests here, I'm sorry to disappoint you." She said sarcastically.

"It's just that common wizards can't stay awake with this." Eriol explained.

"I though I had already left clear that I'm no common wizard." Sakura said a little annoyed.

If all she had done wasn't enough to prove her point to him what she was about to do would.

"Same trick won't work twice with me." She murmured in a low voice.

Eriol looked at her, puzzled, wondering what did she meant.

"Magic of my star, shine above this darkness." She chanted raising both hands and with her head to the dark sky. "Light!!"

This spell, stronger than the one she had used against Witch Mel in her first duel, sent a column of light right to the sky, and from there it expanded until it broke all the darkness.

Eriol looked at her, really shocked, and not able to hide it.

"This is my chance." Sakura murmured. "Shadow, trap him!"

Her shadow left her and got to Eriol.

Suddenly Eriol tried to move but couldn't.

"What's this?" he asked after he tried to use some spells to free himself.

"You'll never free yourself from that." Sakura said calmly.

.---.

~With Shaoran, Meiling and Eriol's guardians.~

"She's using her shadow to hold him." Shaoran noticed.

"Impressing." Yelan murmured from behind them.

.---.

~Back in the fight.~

And it was just then that Eriol noticed that, in fact, he couldn't move because his opponents shadow was holding his.

"Give up." Sakura told him.

"Never." Eriol replied, his pride above everything else.

"Give up." Sakura insisted. "I don't want to hurt you."

Eriol now was puzzled, she wanted him to give up so she didn't have to hurt him, what kind of fighter was her?

"There's no need to fight." She said. "I've won and even you know it."

But Eriol kept silence. Suddenly his body glowed, and Sakura's shadow disappeared.

"I warned you." Sakura said, she raised her hand and a wand appeared in it.

Eriol looked at her with expectation.

The rest of the guests, who had woken up already, were waiting to see her slash Eriol, or something like that.

But they would have never imagined what she did.

"Sleep!" she yelled with a flick of her wand.

There was a blue haze of light and Eriol couldn't stop himself from falling unconscious to the floor.

The place stood silent for a moment. They couldn't believe the way this fight had turned out.

Finally some of them started clapping and cheering.

"And the winner is Sorceress Cherry!" the announcer yelled.

.---.

~In the benches.~

Sakura was breathing heavy when she got a seat.

Tomoyo and Daeron couldn't stop congratulating her.

"That was awesome, really." Daeron was saying excitedly. "The best magic duel I have seen in my whole life."

"You did it. I knew you would." Tomoyo said.

Sakura smiled and nodded, she was tired, but she had won. She had finally demonstrated to herself, and others what seven years of training had done.

.---.

~In the other side of the benches.~

Spinel-sun left Eriol lying on a couple of chairs.

"How could this happen?" Rubymoon asked, really worried.

"It seemed impossible, and yet it is true." Shaoran said. "There's someone stronger than Hiiragizawa."

"That girl…" Meiling murmured turning to look at Cherry. "Who is she really?"

No one answered to that.

Hope you liked that, I had a lot of fun writting it!

In the next chapter another of our 'evil guys' will reveal himself, and in what way! You'll all soon realize that there's more than just a prize or a title in risk here! All in Chapter 7.- Danger...