A/N: this is the unbeta'ed version because I'm a little impatient and I just want to get this up before I lose my motivation to write some more. Besides my little brother is coming home for a visit so my weekend will be booked. ^_^; I'll replace this with the correct version once my Beta sends it back to me, a couple of days at most hopefully. Keep an eye out for the next chapter of Broken too, if all goes well, you'll be getting a new chapter pretty soon. ;) And now, enjoy the update. Don't forget to leave a review.

Touya was a little surprised when blue waves of magic rushed through their ship, causing the light pinkish glow of the view-screen to turn purple for a little while before it turned normal once more. He heard the ninja swear at the back along with the medic's worried exclamations. He had a vague idea of who might be responsible for that wave of magic that somehow froze up all the enemy ships in their vicinity yet left Mokona unharmed thanks to the defensive shields he had put up around the vessel as soon as they had left Infinity's atmosphere. Though he was irritated at having been caught off guard, he was a little grateful for the help as well. A chase would end up with them wasting far too much precious time that they could be using to rescue the brat instead.

His fingers danced across the control consol, watching as the commands caused distinct streaks of pink energy to dart towards the view-screen through the intricate carvings on the light silvery metallic walls of the vessel. The screen grew too bright for a fraction of a second, making him flinch and look away as the light grew in intensity before it shot out of the screen with a 'whoosh!' Ripples of magic escaped to the surrounding space in the form of concentric circles, causing the light coming in from the distant stars and galaxies flicker and almost vanish for a second. Then with a loud 'zhoop', the ship was travelling through hyper space for a short while before it all cleared and Clow showed up in the distance. The planet was nothing more than a big brown ball with patches of blue here and there, wispy tendrils of white floating above it surface but it was the place Touya had called home for nearly all his life. It was where he was born and where he grew up. It was the place he always returned to when searching for Sakura became a bit too much for him to handle with all the dead-ends turning up and Yukito would force him to take some time off.

Of course, now he had gotten his Kaijuu back and he had no plans of letting her go this time but then she just had to go and decide on helping rescue the brat. It wasn't the first time Touya wished he could have changed his sister's mind. Now they were all racing to their deaths. Clenching his jaw a little, Touya narrowed his eyes as a Patroller began materializing as a dark speck against the otherwise sandy horizon.

"I think our arrival won't be as quiet as we had hoped for," he let his companions know as he sent the ship into a corkscrew to avoid the shot that had been sent their way from the enemy ship, "one of the Patrollers on the other end must had alerted all base stations." Hissing a little as a second shot fizzled out against their shields, he dared a look over his shoulders. "Either of you know how to man a cannon?" receiving quick nods from both the medic and the ex-captain, Touya let his fingers dance away at the console. A soft hum emitted from the walls on both sides as the seats pushed away from the metal and then sunk into the floor just as Kurogane and Tomoyo unbuckled their seatbelts and got to their feet.

"We're ready." The medic informed him only half a minute later and he looked back to see them both strapped in front of the consoled that were rather similar to his own.

"I'm lowering the shields," he told them just as dozens of dark spots appeared against the sandy surface of the planet, growing larger every passing second. "Here they come."

Touya had never really trusted anyone but Yukito to watch his back for him in all his cycles working as a hunter but he was surprised to note that the medic and the ex-captain seemed to work together just as well. Within half a minute of lowering the defensive shields, Touya had relaxed enough to focus solely on avoiding the Patrollers and leave the part of taking care of their pursuer up to the pair manning Mokona's cannons. Unlike its sister ship, this Black Mokona had been equipped with state of the art defense system which Touya had no doubt had been custom ordered by Ryanban for his precious one of a kind ship.

"Heh," he heard Kurogane scoff as he narrowly avoided colliding with a Patroller that came out in front of them out of nowhere. Half a second later it was nothing but a ball of burning metal and gases as the red-eyed man shot it down, "These guys aren't as good as they were rumored to be."

"Don't get cocky," he warned, pulling Mokona up in a steep climb, before sending it in another corkscrew to lose their pursuer, veering sharply to the right and nose-diving to avoid colliding with a second Patroller before turning with a spin to avoid a third ship. "They might not be up to your usual standards but they make up for what they lack in talent with their numbers."

"We've faced worst than these guys." Tomoyo informed him honestly, "Space-pirates tend to be a lot worse."

"I suppose I'd have to agree with you on that." He found himself replying before turning his attention back to the horde of Patrollers that came to greet them from one of the docking-yards. He eyed one of Clow's moons in the distance. Reed it was called, the second moon being Fujitaka while the third moon had been named Nadeshiko. His mother had been named after the spirit of that moon. Reed was the moon with the smallest orbit, Nadeshiko and Fujitaka orbiting the planet in elliptics that roughly formed the halves of an eight.

There was a point in the day where all three moons came quite close to each other roughly forming a three petalled flower. At that instance, the magnetic fields of the three moons' mingled in such a manner that anything caught between them would short-out. The fields merged in a rather beautiful display of ghostly lights in hues of pale purples, blues and golds, arching and snaking like smoky tendrils reaching out to the stars. Wherever it was visible, people would stop their work to admire the beauty of nature, silently sending prayers to their gods for good luck and safety of their loved ones. There was legend prevalent in some factions of Clow that the spirits of Nadeshiko and Fujitaka reached out wanting to join each other but Reed would always get in between them, pushing them apart until they were forced to part and circle the planet, hoping to reach one another in the next cycle, only to be parted by Reed again.

The entire phenomenon lasted for roughly five minutes but it wasn't the duration of the phenomenon itself that had Touya grinning like a manic at that moment. No, it was the way Reed was approaching Nadeshiko and Fujitaka in the distance that had him grinning. If he timed it right, he'd be able to get rid of the entire party pursuing them, not only leaving them stranded in space but also leaving them with no means to contact the base-station on Clow. Sending a silent prayer to the spirits, Touya sped Mokona towards what would surely be the centre of the three-petalled flower in less than three minutes. Sure enough, even as he sped towards the moons, the tendril of wispy gold began to reach out from Fujitaka towards Nadeshiko before fizzling out midway. The distance between the moons was far too great. Nadeshiko reached out towards Fujitaka with a lavender arm but that too dissolved into nothing as the distance proved too much for it. Ignoring the dread that crept up inside his heart he pushed Mokona to go faster. They would get through.

-0-

Fai seemed to be really enjoying himself from what Sakura could tell as he zipped Mokona past the somewhat startled patrol ships stationed outside the asteroid belt surrounding the planet. The hyper-jump had been a bit of a new experience for Sakura who had never actually travelled that way before. She had always preferred the more conventional methods of travelling instead of creating wormholes in the very fabric of space that had a chance of collapsing any second. But time was a luxury they did not have for that particular mission so she had swallowed up her dislike for it when the blond had first brought up just how they were planning on getting to the opposite ends of the galaxy on such short notice. It wasn't as unpleasant as Sakura had imagined it to be but it wasn't something she'd have said she'd love to do again anytime in the near future.

They were past the blockade and already inside the asteroid belt by the time the pilots inside the Patrollers had gathered enough wits to follow after them. The blond had them zipping left and right, in and out of various space-rocks with a skill that almost made her feel envious. Once or twice a ship grew near enough to try and shoot at them but Fai made full use of the cover the asteroids provided them with, safely getting them through in under ten minutes. "Where to now, Yukito?" the blond asked as they neared the blue-green planet that was obscured in places by thick black clouds which Sakura knew were not rainclouds.

"Head for the Lower District in Sector 86." Was the hunter's answer. With a nod, the pilot veered the ship to the right, heading towards the dark half of the planet where Sakura could see brilliant globs of orange rising from giant furnaces at brief intervals, sending spirals of burning ashes and smoke into the sky. The closer they grew to the planet's surface, the clearer view she had of the monstrous industries erected where lush green forests once grew. It was evident to Sakura from the way Fei Wong had industrialized the planet that this was the Batlord's equivalent of Infinity. She remembered coming here as a child with her mother, her face glued to the viewing bay, eyes wide and mouth gaping open at the beauty of the planet but now as Fai navigated them through the ugly forest of steel and concrete she couldn't help but feel a surge of anger. Fei Wong Reed had robbed this world of its beauty just as he had robbed her and Syaoran and countless others of their youth and carefree childhoods.

"Fai," Chii's face showed up in a window at the view-screen, countless holo-screens with variables, strings of numbers and variables flashing across them as the blond pulled up program after program, "I have hacked into Fei's security network but I can't get you more than five minutes of invisibility from their security bots before they detect me."

"Get me the co-ordinates for the Lower District in Sector 86." Fai asked as he sent the ship into a nosedive pulling up at the last possible minute until Mokona was skimming a few feet above the surface of the planet.

"Here," the brown-eyed blonde said as a series of numbers flashed across the view-screen, "you've only got four more minutes Fai." She warned the pilot before her window vanished from the view-screen.

"Four minutes is more than enough." Sakura could almost see the grin forming on the blond's face as Mokona shot off in a burst of speed once more. As they zipped through the jungle of steel and concrete, Sakura tried to ignore the feeling of dread at being outnumbered that had sunk its claws in the pit of her stomach and thought back on what her employer had said to her before leaving.

"Reach your destination safely and you may get a lot more help than you expect."

She doubted Yuuko herself would step up to help them in this little mission of theirs. To do so would mean openly declaring war against the Batlord and as much as the older woman might have wanted to help her, the ruler of Infinity was in no position to do so. She did have the welfare of all other magical beings taking refuge on her planet to take into account. A war would do little to help them.

-0-

The purple tendril reached out, slowly bonding with the strand of light blue before sputtering and dying. Like a lazy snake waking up and rearing its head, a wisp of gold came into life, twisting across the space between the three moons, showing no signs of dying out.

"Shit." Touya hissed as his dread grew tenfold. He had made a slight miscalculation- a miscalculation would end up with them getting stuck in the magnetic field. Sadly, it was too late steer clear of the phenomenon altogether and if he pulled away right then, they'd never be able to lose the horde of Patrollers coming after them. Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he sent a silent prayer to the moon spirits to let them pass before setting Mokona to maximum thrust. Whether his prayers would be heard or not, they'd be finding out in less than three minutes.

"Touya," Tomoyo called in alarm, "the moons are generating their magnetic field."

"I know." He grit out.

"And you're heading straight for it." She decided to point out the obvious.

"I know." He repeated.

"We'll get caught in the magnetic storm." She warned.

"I know." He grunted, pushing the thrusters well beyond their limit.

"Pull up now." Kurogane ordered even as he blew up a Patroller behind them.

"No."

"Damn it," the ex-captain yelled in frustration, "pull up before get sucked in."

"No."

"Touya." It was Tomoyo this time.

"Will the two of you shut up?" he finally snarled, "I know what I'm doing!"

Thankfully the pair returned their focus to getting rid of as many Patrollers as they could before they would get pulled in by the magnetic storm and get stuck in space before the gravitational pull of one of the three moons grew strong enough to make them crash on its surface.

"Come on." Sweat was dotting Touya's brow as they passed Nadeshiko, a strand of purple energy coming to life in their wake. In the distance Fujitaka began creating wisps of its signature blue fields coaxing Reed to produce its own golden tendrils. Ignoring the waves of hot and cold spreading all over his body, the hunter wove Mokona in and out of each and every strand of energy. A direct hit or pass through one would be devastating for Mokona although as it was, the magnetic storm was already affecting the white vessel, the thrusters were slowing down and the engines were overheating. Gritting his teeth, Touya pushed it harder. They had to get through before the storm reached its full intensity. Behind them, flashes of blue, gold and lavender lit up the night sky as their pursuers started getting caught in one field or another. All around them, tendrils danced like the snakes on a gorgon's head.

Every pilot's worst nightmare came true for Touya just when they were three quarters of the way through the storm. Mokona's thrusters shut down with a hiss that echoed throughout the vessel. Swearing explosively, the hunter struggled to control the ship as Mokona lost its primary source of navigation.

"I'm powering off the cannons." He yelled, giving his companions only a second's chance to unbuckle from their seats before Mokona's mainframe pulled in the dual cannons and the sunken seats remerged from the walls just as Tomoyo and Kurogane were dumped unmercifully on the floor. The shields encased the ship in a pale pink bubble, preventing the systems from going offline completely as the magnetic storm hissed and sputtered outside the force-field. Unfortunately for the little rescue party, the worse of the damage had already been done as the gravitational pull of the three moons caused Mokona to slow down before coming to a complete halt.

Heaving a frustrated sigh, Touya slumped in his seat, ignoring the angry questions directed towards him by his companions.

They were stuck.

-0-

Sakura suppressed the urge to pull the hood of her cloak further over her face as they walked past a group of hunters. One of the men waved at Yukito as he walked by but thankfully he seemed to be in a hurry for he did not come their way.

"This way Sakura-chan," Yukito said quietly as he turned into a narrow alleyway and led them through the dark space before it opened up into a street of what appeared to be a somewhat cozy yet ominous looking residential area. It was cozy looking in the sense that the houses were all small with tiny gardens and the sloping roofs that seemed to be a norm here in Hong Kong. The gardens themselves were surrounded by neatly trimmed low hedges and fruit bearing trees. Sakura even spotted ponds in a couple of gardens. The windows were round with wooden frames and papery coverings and rectangular lamps with tiny fluttering lights hung from stands outside each of the houses. Sakura could hear the chirping of crick-ants in the grass in the late monsoon air. One would have thought it to be a normal, friendly neighborhood were it not for the fact that the people inhabiting it were far from friendly.

Yukito had, after landing, not given them much time to prepare or that much of an explanation before he had rushed them out of Mokona and pulled them across various winding streets before they had ended up in this colony. Fai had cleverly parked Mokona in a surprisingly old and abandoned factory like structure that stood out in the middle of the concrete forest so they had little to worry about it being discovered. Why no one had bothered to knock it down and build something different in its place escaped her but the blond had told her that not many knew of its existence. Only a select few could approach this place because it was hidden by magic. That in itself had been surprising for the information thief though the blond pilot had only laughed when she had pointed out why Fei had been oblivious to such blatant use of magic on the planet he considered to be the capital of his power.

"Of course Fei Wong doesn't know about this place, Sakura. It would beat the purpose of having it magically concealed in the first place, no?"

Yukito had nodded along, mentioning how he had heard rumors of the existence of such a place from some of his fellow hunters who had even gone so far so as to use sealed magicians to try and track it down on Fei's orders but it had been given up once no traces had been found. Fai had explained that the reason why only a select few could find the place was because of the nature of the spell itself and the concrete structures surrounding the building.

When asked to elaborate, Fai had questioned her about why, despite there having been an asteroid belt surrounding the planet, no space rocks ever bombarded the surface of the planet where it was populated and why only the rocks fell in places that were still unoccupied.

"There are shields protecting the various occupied districts here." Sakura had answered, "They obviously work on magic because were actually devised by one of the previous rulers, Li Han the Second, if I recall correctly."

"Ah," Fai had grinned at that, "but do you know where these shield generators are located?"

"Supposedly they're underground though obviously no details of the generators exist in the databases anywhere. Well except for perhaps the mainframes running the generators themselves."

"The mainframes and the generators used to produce the shields emit such a powerful magical aura that any other magic is easily cloaked in that place." He had explained.

"You mean to say…"

"That abandoned factory that we just left behind," his eyes had twinkled at that, "it's sitting right on top of one such generator so obviously no one can detect the magic cloaking it unless of course they know the nature of the spell used to cloak it and know the password spell to get it to show."

"Impressive." Yukito had nodded in approval.

Clouds rumbled in the distance though the sky was mercifully clear for now, littered in a few places with dimly lit stars and asteroids. Every few minutes, she would see a star or two shoot across the horizon though they disintegrated into nothing long before hitting the ground. Sakura suspected the protective shields had a hand in that phenomenon. Their purpose was not only to protect the colonies they covered but to also destroy the falling rocks before they could hit the ground.

Sakura heaved a sigh of relief as they walked past a group of hunters chattering hunters. When Sakura had asked Yukito about why they could not have disguised with themselves before moving out into the open, the hunter had informed her about the added security measures of District 86. A few cycles back, there had been an attempt at an uprising by a few of the sealed magicians though it had been quickly put down by Fei's hunters. It had all been hushed up so not many knew about it but Yukito mentioned having learnt about it from a contact he had in the upper echelons of the hunters' society. According to Yukito's contact, Fei Wong had taken a few additional measures to ensure his control over the captive magicians.

One of these measures had been the installation of alarms that detected the use of unauthorized magic anywhere in the hunter controlled districts. Thus was to ensure that magic could only be used if Fei or one of his trusted henchmen had given permission to the magicians. Severe punishments were to be handed out to any who were found using it otherwise. Sakura had nodded dejectedly upon hearing that. If they were to use magic, the aura would immediately be detected and the hunters would swarm them faster than they could breathe. Yukito had not stopped his explanation there though. He had gone on to explain how the installation of these alarms had not been enough for Fei for he had introduced a new concept in the hunter society after that uprising. A new rank had been established amongst the hunters.

"Handlers." Fai had hissed out unexpectedly. Of course they had not felt the need to elaborate further on that simply because all three knew what a handler was and what their purpose in the hunters was.

To put it simply, a handler was a high-ranking hunter that generally did not posses magic but was given an unruly magician to 'break' and turn into a mindless, obedient drone for Fei Wong's army. Each handler's charge- a free-spirited mage or witch- was given an additional seal on top of the one that limited their magic. This seal linked them directly to their handler and enabled the handler to punish them if the mage were to step out of line that is disobey orders. Handlers were the worst type of hunters for they were cruel and sadistic generally enjoying pain so much they sometimes punished their wards for no reason whatsoever. Their behavior was not frowned upon by what counted as the authority amongst the hunters for the sole reason that it broke the magicians much quicker.

Although Fai had not said anything about it himself, Sakura had seen the way Fai had been tormented by Kyle onboard Little Dragon before the pilot had sent her away to Infinity and she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the seal placed on Fai was something of a prototype for the seal used by the Handlers. It had been quite clear that despite his weaker magic, Kyle had some sort of power over Fai.

Yukito led them down various streets, sometimes nodding at a greeting sent their way by a hunter or two. "I'm a known face around here thanks to my contact." He had answered the unasked question as he had finally stopped walking outside a cozy-looking home that was not much different from the others surrounding it. "Who is not home right now." He frowned thoughtfully as he looked at the put out lamp hanging outside the door. "You guys wait here while I ask around. Don't talk to anyone and don't attract attention to yourself. Oh and don't use any magic. I'll be right back, okay?" he was gone before Sakura or Fai had a chance to respond.

Hardly three minutes would have gone by before a group of hunters turned around the corner at the far end of the street, opposite to the one Yukito had vanished at.

"I think it would be best if we stayed out of sight." Fai suggested quietly as he jumped over the hedge and crouched behind it before the hunters took notice of either of them. Sakura quickly followed suit. After all, it would be best to remain hidden if they were not to draw attention to themselves. Sakura held her breath as the hunters stopped right on the other side of the hedge talking about a thunderstorm that was expected to reach that sector the next morning. They mentioned something about the arrival of a new weapon at the palace and Sakura resisted the urge to jump out of the hedge and attack them, demanding to know where Syaoran was. It was somewhat unnerving how she had not seen or heard from him again after she had made up her mind to help it. It was almost as if he had been appearing to her on Infinity just to convince her to come rescue him.

Recalling all other little things that he had done so far, it did fit his character a little. Maybe he knew she was coming which was why he had stopped bothering her now. Probably his way of letting her know that he was waiting for her. It wouldn't surprise her much if that truly were the case. A pair of female hunters, a Handler and magician pair from the looks of the tattoos adorning one of the women's skin, approached the group, the Handler quickly dismissing the loitering hunters in frigid tones while her charge, already somewhat broken from the dejected look on her face, only stood by in complete silence.

The female handler waited until the group was completely out of sight before turning to her charge for a brief moment, snarling at her to get moving again as she herself turned around and entered the garden of the house Sakura and Fai were hiding in. Sakura was thankful for the shadows hiding the pair of them from sight because she was quite sure if this woman were to discover them, there was no way in hell, they would not have to use magic to get away. This handler exuded an aura of cold power. She silently prayed for Yukito to hurry back with his contact as she risked a glance back at the street just as the Handler and her charge reached the door of the tiny house and the handler worked to open the lock. Looking away was probably a stupid mistake on Sakura's part for the very next moment the air was filled with the sound whistling knives that were heading her way just as crimson streaks of magic lashed out at Fai.

Sakura paid for her momentary inattention in the way that she barely had a chance to dodge the knives from hitting her before she was pinned to the ground by a snarling Handler, her crimson eyes narrowed in anger as she glared at Sakura.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to come parading around my house?" Sakura found her eyes widening at the face that was looking down at her at that moment, vaguely aware of Fai trying to fend off the handler's charge without having to call on his own magic. "Did you really think I wouldn't pick up your auras?"

A/N: Trouble found both Sakura's group and Touya's group. Whatever will become of them now? How will Sakura and Fai get out of this situation without alerting Fei about their presence or bringing even more hunters upon them? And with Mokona out of commission, how will Touya and Co. get to Clow?

Oh just a little tidbit. Being an engineering student, I can assure you that as far as my knowledge of physics goes, the phenomenon with the moons mentioned in this chapter is not a possibility in real life. Though it'd be one beautiful sight to behold (at least the way I have imagined it in my head it would be. ^_^; )

Anyhow, care to take a guess about the identity of this mysterious contact of Yukito's?