Sakura and the Formation of the Kamen Mahou-Senshiis! Carter's date with Empousa.

Late Evening. Tomoeda Amusement Park.

"Urrrrrrrhhhh! Urrrrrrhhhhh!" A group of Ghouls stalked through the darkness, milling about the empty amusement park like a pack of ravenous wolves, searching for some unseen prey. Their stone bodies were lit only by the moon light hovering over head. It was then that one Ghoul decided to look up toward the black sky and there; standing upon the highest capsules of the Ferris-wheel and cast in the silvery light of the moon, stood four figures. The tallest of the four held up his right hand, revealing a ring with a gem colored a fiery red that emitted a brilliant light from within its surface.

"Minna…Showtime da!" He called confidently to his three companions.

"Ehm!"

"Hai!"

"Ah!"

Two of the three began to descend the Ferris wheel; jumping from one capsule down to the next, while the last drew a Card from the folds of her outfit and threw it into the air before passing her star tipped wand before it.

"Fly!" White wings spread from her back as she rose into the air, gliding down to the ground to join her friends facing the Ghouls. The tallest of the four smirked as he watched his younger companions head courageously to face their enemies. He flicked a switch on his hand print shaped belt prompting it to glow to life.

"Driver on! Shabadoobie Touch to Henshin!"

"Henshin!" He called as he leaped from the top of the Ferris-wheel.

"Flame, please! Bou-bou! Bou-bou-bou!"

A red, sigil filled magic circle appeared in his path as he dived straight through it, wrapping his body in flames that clung to him. He landed feet first before the horde of Ghouls, tossing the flames that clung to his body away and raising his ring hand in challenge to the Ghouls as Kamen Rider Wizard was revealed in his black, ruby encrusted armor.

The Phantom familiars didn't keep him waiting as they charged in, swords and pikes raised while the Kamen Rider strode in confidently. He back handed one Ghoul away as it came in with a straightforward thrust, then parried away the stab of a pike user as it followed up on him. The Rider showed no fear as he was being swarmed, skillfully ducking, dodging and countering the minion monsters clumsy, straight forward attacks. Just as two spear Ghouls flanked him at once, he flipped back, bouncing off the face of one Ghoul and coming back in with a somersault before landing a split scissor kick to the two who attacked him earlier. The fell back, crumbling to pieces in defeat as the Wizard tossed back his coat tails confidently.

"Seeeeeiiiiiya!" One of Wizard's companions called out a battle cry as she leaped into a lone pack of Ghouls with her fist pulled back to strike. She was a young woman with long black hair tied into a pair of twin pony tails and wearing a red thigh length cheongsam with white sleeves that ended as fingerless gloves and a prominent Yin/Yang symbol across her chest, she wore an orange butterfly eye mask that covered the top of her face leaving only her red eyes showing. The red clad woman brought her fist down upon the leader of the pack, sending it crumbling backwards into its comrades.

"Hmph!" Meilin smirked at the clueless Ghouls as they pressed forward despite how easily the first of their line fell. The young fighter bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for them to get closer.

"Ha!" She suddenly sprang forward, smashing the tip of her toes across the cheek of one Ghoul only to spin back around low in order to sweep the legs out from another, and even then they came. She leaped back up with her fist leading in an uppercut, sending another Ghoul sailing up. She realized she was wanting for space as the Ghouls began to flank her from all sides. She avoided their spears and swords gracefully, taking whatever openings she could in their attack to move in on an unlucky Ghoul and bash its head clean off.

"Raitei Shourai!" A line of the Ghouls surrounding Meilin were suddenly blasted to pieces by spears of lightning, courtesy of Syaoran, his Jian in hand.

"Arigato!" Meilin called to her cousin gratefully. Syaoran nodded before turning back to the Ghouls he had been focusing on earlier. The young sorcerer was clad in a green, knee length Tangzhuang, a black sash around his waist and white slacks. He wore a more simplistic black face mask, contrary to his cousin's more extravagant disguise.

The Ghouls came rushing for the young man with swords raised and he had his ready to meet theirs. He met the closest of the Ghouls instantly, clashing his sword against its thin saber. He easily over powered the monster; breaking their stale mate and slicing the beast's sword arm clean off before stabbing it through the chest so it would crumble in defeat. Syaoran easily parried each thrust or slash that came for him, using his broader weapon to repel the Ghouls' attacks and deal a finishing blow once they were defenseless. He finished off the last of the pack with a devastating overhead blow that cleaved the stone monster in two, leaving the Chinese teen surrounded by stone rubble.

"Haaaaaaap!" A spray of rubble zoomed past Syaoran as the very last Ghoul had crumbled in defeat, thanks to the heavy solar plexus blow delivered by Meilin. The two regrouped just as they felt it. The ground suddenly began to rumble.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Something very big and very fast was making a beeline straight for the pair, prompting Syaoran to cover Meilin with his sword raised in defense as they finally spotted the giant beast charging right for them.

It was a monster that stood over 30 feet tall; it stood up on two legs though it appeared as a reptilian beast. Its torso and face were covered in metallic plate armor, like that of a knight, exposing only its arms and legs. It had six arms, all but two wielding a different weapon: a medieval long sword, a crescent bladed axe, a diamond spear tipped pike and a Chinese trident. The giant Phantom raised both its spears over head, looking to skewer the two teens in a double thrust.

"Shield!" A dome of pink energy suddenly formed around Syaoran and Meilin, catching the twin thrust as it came down and stopping the beast in its tracks. Sakura; dressed in her full Piffle costume, hovered overhead with her wand poised ready as she channeled magic power into her Shield spell and was relieved to see it held.

Vroom!

A flash of silver whizzed behind the giant, causing a spray of sparks to explode from the backs of the creatures knees. Wizard chuckled to himself, resting his sword across his shoulder as he viewed the damage he dealt to the beast ankles in satisfaction. The giant Phantom groaned in pain as it was forced to slump forward to its knees as its legs had given out on it. Sakura had just dropped her barrier, allowing Meilin and Syaoran to rush out.

"Haaaa!"

"Eiiiii!"

The two gave war cries as they jumped as one. Syaoran sliced upward while Meilin kicked up her foot vertically. Both attacks smashed the Phantom's chin upwards, allowing it to look up just in time to see Sakura use her next card.

"Power!"

Sakura dismissed her wings and allowed herself to plummet straight down, her staff raised.

Crash!

Using both her momentum and the added strength of the Power Card, Sakura smashed the head of her Star Wand atop the Phantom's head, sending it crashing to the ground limply. Sakura flipped through the air and landed beside Syaoran and Meilin who readied themselves as the creature struggled to force its body back up. Wizard finally pulled his bike around to stand beside his comrades, taking the forward position as the Phantom finally rose back up to a knee. Wizard picked a ring from his chain and nodded back to Sakura and Syaoran who returned the nod as they pulled out the Fuda and Card they knew he needed.

"Firey!"

"Kashin Shourai!"

The Firey sprite arose from Sakura's card as a flaming depiction of the Chinese character for fire appeared in mid air over Syaoran. Both spells promptly became orbs of red light that flew to Wizards side, just as he passed his ring over the WizarDriver.

"Cho-ine! Kick Strike! Saikoooo!"

A red magic circle appeared beneath the Rider's feet as Wizard threw back his coat tails and set his foot back where it was cast in flames. The orbs of light then descended into Wizards magic circle, sending pulses of magical energy into the pentagram that focused around Wizard's foot. The flames on Wizard's boot suddenly began to envelop his entire leg and then even rose up to cover his entire body in red fire. Wizard breathed deeply, the flames not hurting him but instead filling him with even greater power.

"Finale!"

He cried as he broke away from his circle in a dash, sprang into a handstand and then somersaulted into the air, flipping until he was positioned to deliver a flying side kick on the recovering giant.

The Phantom looked upon the firey red arrow with fear in its eyes and reflexively held its weapons up across its body in defense. It would be futile in the end as Wizard's powered up Strike Wizard kick finisher blasted straight through the steel weapons and blew a hole straight through the Phantom's chest. The monster cried out before finally exploding in defeat.

Wizard hit the ground feet first as the flames dispersed from his body. "Fui!" He sighed in triumph as he turned back to his friends. Victorious music played in the back ground as the words The End appeared on screen above Wizard, who was giving the audience a triumphant thumbs-up.

(End of Video)

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Subarashi!" Tomoyo cried with stars in her eyes and her face alight with joy. "It looks even more amazing no matter how many times I watch it!" Tomoyo and her four favorite actors were all seated in chairs and couches in Syaoran's and Meilin's apartment, staring at the t.v. that had just finished playing Tomoyo's latest film masterpiece. Carter let himself in through a Connect portal to avoid prying eyes seeing a teacher visit a student's home.

"That was…very well done!" Meilin was still reeling from watching herself and the others feats on camera. She was simply awed by the masterful way Tomoyo had edited the footage they recorded.

"You never would have believed it was shot with a camcorder." Syaoran muttered in surprise.

"Tomoyo-chan doesn't hold back. There was even back ground music again." Sakura sweat dropped, even now still not used to hereccentric friend's skills at video editing.

"I must say…for my debut in a Tomoyo-chan directed work I'm quite proud of my performance." Carter bragged to himself, hand held under his chin as he grinned smugly.

"Everyone performed wonderfully! I am so glad you gave me this opportunity to film you all fighting together, even if it was staged." Tomoyo thanked her friends profusely; stars still alight in her eyes.

"Well, we can't exactly let Daidouji-san put herself in danger while trying to film us like in the old days." Meilin pointed out.

"I'm surprised we were able to create fake enemies like that though." Syaoran looked to Carter slightly discerned. "Should we be concerned about you being able to create Ghouls like a Phantom?"

"Nah!" Carter waved his friends worries away. "Ghoul creation is mid level alchemy, bread and butter of any decent wizard. Plus I can only create so many and they're a lot more brittle than the real things. Think of them as practice dummies, that's what I use them for."

"But what was truly impressive was the giant Phantom Sakura-chan and Yu-kun made together. It made the perfect antagonist for the film's finale." Tomoyo reminded them.

"Yu-kun thought up the concept for it, I just used Create to bring it to life." Sakura pointed out.

"Hekatonkheir, now he was a tough customer from my rookie days." Carter smiled nostalgically.

"Yu-kun used to fight alone back then, right? Sakura inquired. "Wasn't it hard fighting by yourself?"

"I wasn't always alone." Carter smiled as he took a sip of his tea. "I had my teachers to back me up when they found it necessary. As well as a buddy who had my back when I worked overseas before coming here."

"I really hope we get to meet them, these teachers of yours and your other comrade." Meilin wished with wonder in her eyes, imagining what the people who trained Carter were like.

"By the end of this battle you might. My Master won't likely ignore a Phantom incursion of this magnitude to go ignored for long."

"Who is this Master of yours anyway, and why didn't he come with you in the first place." Syaoran asked, albeit delicately as not to offer offense.

"My Master, Faust is the name he uses by the way, is a very private person." Carter explained. "He puts as much work researching new or ancient forms of Magic as much as he spends combating it. As to what he's like…" Carter took a moment to mull over a simple explanation and his eyes twinkled as he suddenly thought of one. "If I had to compare him to someone, it would be a powerful Wizard you four know well."

"Clow Reed." Syaoran was first to say what the four teens were thinking.

"Exactly." Carter grinned. "If Clow Reed was the presumed Master of Magic some hundred years ago. Then Faust, the Golden Wizard, definitely has rights to that title in this age."

"Hold it!" Kero had been quiet throughout the viewing, mainly because he was busy sulking from not getting to star in Tomoyo's movie and was given lookout duty in case anyone stumbled up their 'set'. Now he was hovering in Carter's face with a pissed off look in his eyes. "Being the former Familiar of Clow Reed and now current Familiar of the Mistress of the Cards, the girl who is truly entitled to being called Most Powerful Mage in the World, I find your claim utterly baseless!" Carter held his hands up in surrender as wisps of flame creeped from the corners of the little lions mouth.

"Kero-chan, calm down!" Sakura insisted urgently. "Yu-kun only wanted to brag about his teacher, I don't mind!"

"I meant no disrespect." Carter assured. "Sakura-chan is definitely a top runner for Strongest Magician in the World, what she lacks is the experience necessary to such a title, thus my opinion about my Master's standings. I must add however, my other teacher, Professor Ian, The Wiseman, is also in the running for that title for the same reasons."

"So where are you in that running then?" Meilin asked, expecting some bravado filled answer from their slightly arrogant teacher.

Carter chuckled as he placed a hand on Sakura's head. "I'm behind Sakura-chan of course. I've just about reached my peak, but our beloved Card Mistresss has plenty of time to soar higher than I ever could." Sakura blushed from the older Magician's praise as well as the concurring calls her four friends added in as well.

"Though I say I'm still tied with Hiragizawa and Syaoran-kun." Carter gloated tactlessly prompting an anger mark to form on Syaoran's brow as Meilin and Sakura had to try and hold him back from throttling their teacher with the upturned nose.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, as I was saying I'm about to close a huge deal for my company. This deal will net us millions and I'll probably be in line for a promotion." A clean cut man bragged to the woman sitting opposite him who quietly sipping her coffee and; by his observation, utterly enthralled with what whatever he was saying. "I could very well be set for life in no time at all, maybe even retire early once the white collar life bores me. So anyway, this string of good fortune really makes a man think about his life from this point on and how it might be time to consider finding a beautiful woman to spend the rest of my life with."

"Mhmm."

'Is he still talking?' Empousa groaned inwardly as she took another long sip from her mug. She had only humored the man's invitation to join him for coffee because she herself felt like taking a moment to relax at a nice café but didn't have; or really need, the money to order something for herself. She didn't expect to have to put up with the man's incredibly unsubtle style of flirting by only talking about himself.

"So…are you seeing anyone, Ms.-!" The poor sod suddenly caught himself making his initial blunder when attempting to hit on a woman, not even asking her name.

"Don't bother having a heart attack over not knowing my name, I wasn't planning on giving it had you asked in the first place anyway." Empousa finished her mug and signaled the waitress that she would like a refill. "And to answer your question, no I am not in a relationship with anyone."

"Oh…I see." The man ran a hand through his hair nervously but smiled. Apparently he missed the sharp retort about his new friend not wishing give her name and only understood that he was in the clear. "Well, as circumstances may have it, a lady friend of mine had to cancel on a date we had planned and I'm left with a dinner reservation at a fancy restaurant that I cannot cancel at this late of a juncture. If you're interested-."

'I'm not." Empousa replied flatly after downing her latest serving of coffee. "Thank you for the coffee invitation. It was… pleasant." The female Phantom lied as she got up to leave. Of course the proud fool was hard at taking 'NO' without an explanation.

"Hold on a moment, I hardly think you're being fair. I mean, how often does an offer like this come up in a person's life?" Empousa seriously wondered if he was talking about the dinner date to a fancy restaurant or if he was so arrogant as to consider him pitifully courting her being the rare chance.

"I have already declined the same offer from a man far more appealing than you. I should think it unfair to him if I accepted an invitation from a lesser man." With that, Empousa exited the café, leaving the stunned man sitting there with his mouth agape and his dignity in tatters.

"What a waste of time." Empousa huffed, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets as she marched annoyed down the street, passersby seemed to sense her foul mood and gave her room to walk by to steer clear of trouble.

A cool breeze suddenly blew Empousa's way, prompting her to pull her jacket more snuggly around her. Doing so caused her Cell Phone to fall out of her pocket, she turned back to pick it up when realization hit her, she still hadn't thrown the useless device away. She appreciated the magician for gifting her a new coat but his little "Call Me" joke did not amuse the proud sword fighter in the least

'Just leave it there.' She decided turning on her heel to walk away and leave the phone lying on the ground. She walked only about three feet when she stopped in her tracks. An uncertain grimace crossed her face.

'Why do I care about this thing?" Empousa wondered as she scooped the phone off the ground and deposited it back into her jacket pocket. She realized earlier she hadn't even wasted a breath in calling Carter that arrogant flirt's better, though she had to admit, he was.

Her past duels with the magician had been, in some ways, flirtatious. Years ago she would have considered it as if she was playing with her food, but every encounter with him revealed more and more about him to her and she just couldn't help but become interested. Interested in what else he could show her. And more importantly, help her understand what these unfamiliar feelings he caused to grow in her actually were.

" Your concern…makes me especially happy." Carter raised Empousa's hand to his face, planting a kiss on the top of her hand.

"So how about next time we meet, I take you out to dinner?"

Carter's offer still rang in her ear causing her to shake her head in frustration. 'He's your enemy, your rival. This is no time to act like a child. What would Fath-!' Empousa suddenly slapped herself on the side of the face. A line of thought she believed she had buried a long time ago had begun to rear its ugly head, that part of her life was over. The human part of her life.

She suddenly realized that she was now in an even fouler mood that before. Her less than adequate coffee break hadn't been what she desired and now her own musings have betrayed her. She needed something to distract her before she did anything completely uncouth like so many of her heartless comrades.

Her hands suddenly slipped into her pocket as she flipped open the cell phone to reveal its only programmed contact number. Without wasting a second she dialed the number.

Beep!

"Um…moshi-moshi?"

Empousa growled at the pitiful reply. "I have decided to take you up on your offer. Meet me at the park tomorrow afternoon. I'm giving you this one chance to pay me back, please try to entertain me." Empousa closed her phone with a beep and just before slipping it into her pocket again, she brought her hand to her fore head in grimaced in frustration.

"What did I just do?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You're going out with a Phantom!?" Meilin exclaimed in shock, loudly. Luckily the group had moved their meeting to the haven, away from anyone who might have heard such an outburst.

"Ha, I wish!" Carter practically giggled with glee at the prospect.

"This explains you're odd behavior all day, I suppose." Syaoran concluded. As it happened, Empousa had called Carter during Sakura and co.'s class. He had forgotten to turn off his cellphone before class and would have normally denied the call immediately, but the moment he saw the number he couldn't help but answer.

The entire class caught wind that something was off when they heard his nervous reply. They couldn't tell what was being said only that the person on the other line was talking very sternly and gave Carter no time to respond before hanging up.

What followed were a few awkward moments of silence with Carter taking in what he had been told and the class trying to guess what had happened. Once he himself had figured it out, the magician was not subtle about his feelings.

"As he had that creepy grin on his face all day?" Kero asked, thoroughly disturbed by the wide, closed mouth grin, and absolutely sunny disposition plastered on the older man's face.

"Ever since he got that call." Tomoyo explained, sweat dropping.

"Is it really a good idea to let him go?" Syaoran asked Sakura and Tomoyo. They had already explained the odd rivalry Carter shared with the eccentric female Phantom to Syaoran and Meilin, still… "This could be a trap."

"I've met Empousa-san and I don't think she's the type to try anything underhanded." Sakura explained. "She's always been very upfront with her desire to fight Yu-kun, she wouldn't go this far, I don't think."

"True, if she wanted to duel me she would have just said so, instead she says she wants to take me up on my offer for a date. Ha! If only I could accept." Carter sighed deeply, his sunny disposition dropping to one of disappointment.

"What?! Why not!?" Meilin exclaimed loudly again. Carter and the others had to check if they could still hear after that one.

"I promised Sakura-chan that I would protect this town from the Phantoms no matter what. That means always being on the lookout for the next Phantom attack." The mahousukai explained, holding up his hand for silence when it looked like Sakura and Tomoyo wanted to dissuade him. "I would want this to go more perfectly than even she does but I can't shirk by responsibilities as Kamen Rider Wizard. With exception to Phoenix, the other Phantoms were pretty quiet over the holidays so who knows what they might be up to. So that's it." Carter crossed his arms over his chest and gave the group of teens a resolute stare to mean he was serious. "Oh man she's going to so mad though!" Carter suddenly pitched forward with his head in his hands. "I can't just tell her over the phone; that would be the coward's way out. Then she'd be really pissed at me."

The four teens watched their older friend with perplexed expressions. He had just been talking about responsibility and showing his resolve a second ago and now it looked like he was pleading for some alternative.

"And I really wanted to go too."

Sakura, Syaoran, Meilin and Kero looked to each other and then down to the depressed magician sitting before them. They all knew what they had to do.

"Oi, why are you acting like it's the end of the world or that this town can only rely on you?!" Meilin seemed to slam her hands down on the coffee table in order to get Carter's attention.

"Didn't you say the other day that Sakura was a more capable mage than you?" Kero reminded.

"Aw, Kero-chan that's not exactly what he-."

"And didn't you also say that the kid was just about tied with you in ability?" Syaoran growled at being reminded of that annoying comment but kept quiet.

"We can handle Phantom lookout duty for at least one day while you enjoy yourself with your lady friend." Meilin assured him prompting the magician to look up at her and his other friends who nodded to him in agreement. The look on his face was uncertain.

"Team!" Carter gave a whistle and suddenly all four of the Pla-Monsters rushed into the room and huddled around their master who seemed to lean in and begin consulting them in a hushed tone. "What do you guys think, should I?"

The 3 scouting Pla-monsters called out as one, by the sounds they were making they seemed positive. "Golem?" Carter needed to hear the opinion of his oldest partner before he could make a decision. The tiny purple gorilla turned to look at the four teens. He looked at each of them and deduced their intentions were pure and their resolve firm. He looked the longest at Sakura whose eyes seemed to be pleading with him.

"Aroo!" The familiar leaped off the coffee table to Sakura who instinctively held out her hands to catch him. Golem gave another satisfied call and scrambled up to nestle on Sakura's shoulder.

"Golem-chan…" Sakura's eyes softened, Golem had finally decided to trust her.

"I guess that's a majority ruling." Carter clapped his hands together and stood up with a pleased grin on his face. "It looks like I won't have to cancel that date after all." The next thing they knew, Carter had broken out in his creepy grin again and suddenly began singing a catchy tune.

"Tonight, tonight! I'll see my love tonight! And for us, stars will stop where they are~!"

"Does anyone else think he may have planned that?" Meilin sweat dropped as did Sakura and Syaoran who couldn't offer a rebuttal to her question. Tomoyo only giggled to herself knowingly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"She's here." Phoenix snarled as Empousa strolled into the vast chamber. The teenage Phantom glared at the woman hatefully and she returned the glare with a daring smirk.

"Thank you Phoenix, you may leave now." The Phantom mistress ordered, prompting Phoenix to sit up from his position at the front of her bed and storm past Empousa, though making sure to bump his shoulder into her as he went by.

"You better watch your bac-!" Phoenix had to stop mid speech as a line of magenta fire suddenly flashed straight up the middle of his body.

"I'd say the same." Empousa quipped as she resheathed her blade in flame just as Phoenix's dead body tipped forward and exploded. Empousa continued her march toward her employer's bed with until she found that the mistresses other attendant now barred her path.

"Do you have the courage to use that blade against me, boy?" Empousa asked menacingly as Beelzebub stood between her and his Mistress, thin sword in hand but not raised. In his Phantom form he couldn't perspire but his trembling hands betrayed his fear.

"Stand down, Bell. It's alright." The young Mistress behind the bed curtain waved down her loyal attendant. Beelzebub did as she ordered and bowed as he backed away into the shadows. Empousa snickered as she stepped up and faced her hidden employer with hands on her hips.

"At least one of your dogs are well trained." Empousa stated as a flurry of sharp tipped vines exploded from within the bed and stopped just in front of her face. Empousa did not step back but only glared in warning as her sword was already in hand and prepared to strike out.

"Do. Not. Test me." The girlish voice warned. "Was that really necessary?"

"I did him a favor. If a stroke like that is all it takes to kill him he has clearly not died enough times." (Did I just write that in a CCS fanfic?!)

"Charmingly wicked." The Mistress complimented with a giggle as she retracted her vines. "You are just as I have heard. Now if only your work ethic matched your resume."

"It seems I've displeased you in some way, Ms…" Empousa had never learned the name of her employer, though she was only mildly curious.

"Please, just call me Kiddie-chan." The Mistress suggested sweetly.

"Ms…Kiddie." Empousa sighed exasperated. "What did you call me down here for?"

"Oh, I was just curious as to when you were going to fulfill your end of our bargain." Kiddie's childlike tone unnerved Empousa slightly.

"As I said, the Mahosukai will be dealt with-"

"At your own discretion. But as it stands, your way has left me with 3 mages now and one less minion almost every week." Kiddie pointed out. "It seems your skill doesn't match your arrogance."

Empousa glared dangerously at the woman behind the curtain. "Carter is my prey, mine alone. If he were to lose so easily to your peons he would not be worth my coming here."

"So you find my troops lacking? Reasonable, many of them have never faced a magician in their short lives as Phantoms." Empousa could make out the Phantom leader nodding her head in agreement behind the curtain. "But, just to put my 'heart' at ease, do inform me of when you become bored of your little game and finally fulfill your agreement."

Empousa snorted at the Phantom's joke. "The 'game' would most likely end once I become bored, Ms. Kiddie." With that, Empousa turned to take her leave of the stuffy cavern and its tiresome owner.

"Do enjoy your evening, Empousa." Kiddie called. Though it was for only an instant, the Phantom Mistress noticed a sudden catch in the proud warrior's breath before she exited the wide chamber.

"Why do you give that wild animal such free reign, my lady?" Beelzebub returned to his Mistress's side to voice his concern. "She has shown no loyalty to her own kind at all nor any regard for my lady's plans."

"The horse that run's free is the most majestic as well as the lioness who prowls un-collared is most vicious." Kiddie explained cryptically. "She would make a most desirable pawn but alas I fear attempting to control her would only dull her abilities as only she is master to hear incredible fighting skill." Beelzebub bowed in apology, mesmerized by his mistress's wisdom. "Besides, I am fond of eccentrics like her. Though I do pity her, poor dear. She still hasn't fully realized her situation. But enough of that, Bell, how goes are latest Gate hunt?"

"On schedule my lady." Beelzebub nodded. "I have already located a new Gate and have dispatched Sphinx to hunt them down.

"Excellent, tonight just may prove exceptionally entertaining."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Haven, 4:00 in the Afternoon.

"Tonight, tonight! Won't be just any night. Tonight, there will be no, morning star!~"

"Is he still at it?" Kero pulled his ears firmly close to his head to drown out the noise as he, Sakura, Syaoran, Meilin and Tomoyo filed into the Haven to hear Carter's joyfully pitched tones filtering all the way to the entrance.

"Aw right on time everyone. Nice!" Carter greeted his friends with a smile while adjusting his tie. He was wearing a jacket and slacks similar in style to his teaching attire, though this jacket was black and the undershirt beneath it was white. "I'll be leaving here shortly. Now… are you all sure you want to do this?" Carter had to make sure. "I can just have Garu and the others come get me should a need arise. You all don't have to stay here all night."

"Yu-kun we can handle this." Sakura assured him. "We even came up with an alibi for our parents. We were studying at Syaoran and Meilin's house and then I'll sleep over at Tomoyo's once things seem clear for the day."

"And Toya agreed with this?" Carter looked skeptical.

"He had work so he doesn't even know what he would object too." Kero snickered.

"Tsukishiro-kun couldn't make it for the same reasons I assume."

"But Yue will sense if I'm in grave danger." Sakura added assuredly.

"We have everything under control Yu-sensei go enjoy your date." Meilin began shoving the older man towards the door.

"Ok, ok!" Carter chuckled as he tried to stand his ground before Meilin completely shoved him out. "Two things first before I go." Carter gave a whistle, prompting Garuda to come flying in holding what appeared to be a dog whistle which he dropped in Carter's outstretched hand. "This whistle will call the Pla-mosnters, should you need them." Carter handed the whistle to Sakura.

"These shrimps are gonna help us?" Kero snickered skeptically, which rewarded him a shot of ink to the face courtesy of Kraken. "Why you!"

"They may be small but these guys are handy in a fight, in their own way." Carter assured them over the sound of Kero fighting with Kraken. "And second…" Carter went over to Golem's treasure box and retrieved what appeared to be a pair of thin gold bracelets with amber gems set into them and anklets with emeralds embedded into them. Carter handed the items to Meilin who looked at him in confusion. "Specially made by Golem, in case things get tough out there."

After making sure everything was in order and his friends were settled in for the afternoon, Carter opened his portal out and prepared to leave when one last thought came to him.

"Oh and one more thing." Carter turned back and pointed to Sakura and Syaoran in turn. "Hiragizawa didn't make this place to be a private getaway and I sure didn't give you the run of the place just so you two can hook up and sno-!" Carter had to duck as Syaoran's sword nearly chopped the top of his hair off.

"Just. Go." Syaoran was not interested in his pretending to be a responsible adult.

"Aye sir!" The magician practically leaped through his own portal before he set off the shorter male any further. Tomoyo and Meilin giggled as Sakura covered her face to hide her deep blush and Syaoran was in a middle area of seething and blushing himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"He's late." Empousa seethed as she stood in the middle of the park, arms crossed and foot tapping in an antagonized manner. She had arrived early, not entirely realizing she had made the date but not set the time so there was no established early or late, not that she would care. She didn't need to wait much longer as she heard the distant roar of an engine.

Carter parked his bike at the corner, removing his helmet to straighten out his hair. Empousa took his distracted state to come up behind him, jabbing her pointed hand into his back in order to make him jump.

"You're late." She repeated as the magician nervously turned to face her. "You're preening is unnecessary, I could hardly care how you look." Empousa made her point by slicing a hand quickly across the top of Carter's head to flatten and re-mess up his hair so it was in its usually messy state. "Let's go." Empousa took her spot on the back of Winger's seat while leaving room for Carter.

"Right-o!" Carter didn't miss a beat, immediately undoing his tie and retrieving his spare helmet which he handed to Empousa as he re-equipped his own. "Where does the lady wish to go?" He offered as he revved the engine.

"I don't care. You promised me dinner so drive us to whatever restaurant you want."

Carter did not move the bike an inch as he took a moment to process what he was told. "Hold up." Carter turned his motorcycle off and spun to sit sideways on his seat to look at Empousa questioningly. "You just want dinner, and you don't even want to choose the restaurant? Are all dates with you like this?"

"I hardly know what you are insinuating." Empousa replied irritably. "What did you expect this evening to be like?"

"I don't know, I was certainly looking forward to an Empousa mandated date."

"It's not like I know what to do on a date!" Empousa spat defensively, then quickly covered her mouth and turned away as Carter stared at her astonished.

"You've…so this…I'm…" Carter sputtered rapidly as his image of the worldly and experienced warrior, Empousa, started to crumble. "Hehheeehee!" A puckish smile crossed his face as he realized, sitting there next to him, face turned away embarrassed and cheeks, possibly flushed, was his first glimpse of Empousa, the young woman. "Alright, let me show you what you've been missing!" Carter suddenly gunned the engine, sending the bike roaring to life.

"What are you doing!?" Despite herself, Empousa had to grab a hold of Carter in order to keep from being flung off.

"Taking you on the first and best date of your life!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What is this?" Empousa demanded with barely controlled anger in her expression. Carter had driven them to the amusement park and immediately dragged her inside by the hand. He did little to explain, only said that they were there to have a good time. So as you would imagine, as she was being strapped into a swing suspended by 50 feet of rope, Empousa had to only ask, why?

"Hold on tight." Carter explained as he held onto Empousa's shoes, as was protocol with this ride. The Phantom woman suddenly heard the grinding of machinery coming to life as hers and every other swing began to move slowly around a circular base.

"Is this it?" Empousa asked unimpressed. She then felt the swing quickly pick up speed and her altitude slowly rise. "Wait. Wait! WAIT!"

Empousa's grip doubled on the two cords holding up her seat as she was flung through the air at angle. "Kyyyyyaaaaaaaaahhhh!"

Carter had to bite his hand to keep himself from bursting into laughter at the sight of Empousa screaming in terror while riding an amusement park ride that kids on the same ride were calling out in joy over.

From the corner of her eye, Empousa spotted Carter giggling to himself like an idiot. "I'll make him pay." She swore.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's simple; just hit the target to get points and enough points nets you the best prizes." Carter explained as he and Empousa armed themselves with water guns. Empousa noticed that the majority of the prizes were only plush toys.

"Why on Earth would I wan-! Look at the size of that thing!" Empousa's eyes widened once she saw the prize worth the most points.

"Have an eye for giant stuffed rabbits do you?" Carter snickered cheekily as he began pumping his water gun.

"U-urusai!" She spat as she too began pumping her weapon. Still her eyes wandered to that humongous plush rabbit.

"How about this: A competition, first one to get enough points for the rabbit keeps it." Carter challenged with an expectant look in his eyes.

"Are you challenging me Hughes?" Empousa leveled her weapon at one of the top row moving targets and pulled the trigger.

Ping!

'Bulls-eye." Empousa smirked, this game was all too easy.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Carter blew on the barrel of his gun arrogantly as he began pumping up again. "Any time you're ready, love."

"Why you!"

The shooting gallery worker had to duck under the table as his two latest customers rapidly began pelting the targets with shot after shot of pressurized water. It should have been impossible for them to use those toy guns in such a manner, these two were certainly not normal. Their time couldn't run out faster.

Ding-ding!

"Times up!" The gallery manager declared thankfully as he snatched the guns from Empousa and Carter's hands. His entire shop was soaked, including most of the prizes.

"Looks like I win." Carter pointed out the digital counter in front of them that showed their scores. Empousa: 99 bulls-eyes, Carter:100.

"Hmph!" Empousa scoffed and stalked away as Carter grabbed the soaked plushy from the rack. "I didn't want it anyway."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So where now?" Empousa was tired of being dragged to every place so she decided to let Carter lead her.

"Where indeed?" Carter pondered. They had gone on most of the adult oriented rides, leaving slim pickings.

"What about that one?" Empousa pointed to a ride that seemed to be a heart shaped tunnel where pairs of men and women rode in one boat into the tunnel. The pairs seemed excited to get on.

"Uh…that's the Tunnel of Love." Carter explained nervously. "That's a ride for couples on dates."

"Isn't that what we are? Come, it seems fun." Empousa was the one dragging Carter now. The magician looked down as his face flushed and steam streamed from his ears.

"Watch your step." The attendant warned as Empousa and Carter stepped into their boat. "You two have fun now."

"Thank you, we will." Empousa agreed as Carter just sat down next to her, sheepishly trying to put some distance between them in the tiny boat.

'Such a cute couple.' The attendant smiled as he watched the two go. 'Now to get to my night job.' The attendant grinned expectantly as he stepped toward the empty back lot behind the tunnel. Purple smoke started to stream off his body and his formed changed.

"Aw, such a lovely night for a hunt." Sphinx sighed contently. The humanoid phantom; adorned in a black robe equipped with shoulder pads and wearing a pharaoh's crown that had a cobra head adorning the front, stroked his braided beard expectantly. In his right hand was a ball-tipped cane and in his left was a photo, depicting his target. The picture depicted a young couple, the woman, represented by a red circle around her, was the gate to be targeted.

"Such a lovely night for love to meet with its estranged other, loss." Sphinx chuckled to himself gleefully and marched into the night to seek out his prey.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hmm?!" Carter's head snapped up suddenly. He just sensed the power of a Phantom nearby.

"This is so boring." Empousa growled irritably. She had expected some kind of fast moving ride through a twisting tunnel, but instead what she got was a slow moving ride down a gentle river with pink hearts and harp wielding cupids playing romantic music through speakers. Her irritability and disappointment were evident in her aura. Carter sweat dropped while flinching back, whatever presence he may have felt was smothered by the power the Phantom beside him was outputting.

"How long is this ride?" Empousa demanded. "I see absolutely no appeal to such an unstimulating experience."

"It's not supposed to be fast or exciting like the other rides." Carter pointed out. "The appeal is being alone with someone special for a short time."

"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Empousa looked to Carter for further explanation and he blanched in shock when he noticed how close she had gotten to his face. "Show me."

Carter could feel his heart beating against the very inside of his chest. If he didn't know any better, it was almost as if Empousa was…inviting him. In their last few encounters, it had always been she who had initiated anything that could be seen as intimate. Now here they were, alone and only inches separating their lips.

'This is my chance!' Carter cried in joy. 'No helmet to get in my way this time!' It was time to step up and be a man. (Facepalm!)

Carter's hand suddenly caressed the side of Empousa's cheek and ran down to her chin. Carter closed his eyes as he pulled Empousa's face closer to his own. Only a single inch remained!

Pow!

Just one tiny little inch, but that was plenty of time for the female Phantom to shift her palm under Carter's chin and snap his head upwards. Carter's head fell backwards, a dazed look in his eyes as he lay against the boat knocked nearly unconscious by the swift blow.

"Foolish oaf." Empousa scoffed disgusted. As if she would let him try such an act, privacy, special occasion or not. Still…Empousa touched the spot on her face that Carter had gently caressed, it was an unfamiliar warmth yet…oddly familiar. She realized she had felt such a hand on her cheek once before.

"…ia, my sweet child, this is where we say goodbye…I shall always love you, my dearest daughter."

'No! I don't want to remember!' Empousa shook her head as beads of sweet ran down her brow.

"Empousa-chan?" Carter awoke from his semi-coma and looked to his companion with concern in his eyes. Empousa's black eyes met Carter's blue ones and for the moment she could only blink, unable to answer his concern with a dismissive snap. Carter noticed this and nodded with a smile. "If it's something you want to talk about, I'm sure we can do so at dinner. It looks like out ride is over." Carter pointed to the tunnel's opening that was just up ahead. Empousa looked away from the magician, slightly ashamed.

'Why does he confuse me so?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Keep running Tsubaki!" A panicked young man with messy, dirty blonde hair dashed through the night, desperately pulling a young woman with black hair that was braided into twin pigtails by the hand.

"They're still chasing us Kyouta-kun!" Tsubaki called out in terror. They could still hear the pounding feet and growls of the horned monsters chasing after them.

"Just keep running, we'll find help, we just need to get over this bridge!" The young man's, Kyouta's, eyes were locked on to an upcoming bridge that would allow them to cross the deep river and make it to a more populated area of town where they could seek refuge.

"Unlikely." A cold voice stated matter of factly as a new monster appeared from the shadows to block their path. The robed being raised his cane in their direction, summoning a wall of flame to bar their way from the bridge.

"Damn!" Kyouta took a defensive position in front of Tsubaki, pushing her back towards the edge of the road and making sure to keep himself between the incoming monsters and her. "What do you want from us!?" He demanded, his anger at being threatened overlying his fear.

"My master gave explicit instructions, and unfortunately for the two of you, that girl must know despair." Sphinx pointed his cane threateningly at Tsubaki causing Kyouta to shove the rod away and completely block off his girlfriend from sight of the Phantom.

"If you lay one hand on her…" Kyota warned with a glare.

"Perish the thought! My orders were to make sure not to harm this girl." Sphinx crossed his arms behind his back and walked away from the human couple peacefully. "You on the other hand are another story." The Ghouls suddenly closed in. Two grabbed Kyota by the arms and threw him away from Tsubaki and too their waiting comrades. Kyouta cried out in pain as one Ghoul smashed a stone fist into his stomach, causing him to fall to his knees as he gasped for air. Another ghoul took the opportunity to kick him in the side, possibly breaking a rib.

"Yaaaah!" Tsubaki tried to break into the circle of beast to help her lover but they formed a close knit wall to keep her out while those inside continued to pummel the defenseless man.

"Tsubaki…run!" Kyouta coughed out as he was forced to his feet, his body bruised from the monsters' punishment.

"I think that's enough of that." Sphinx tutted tiredly, raising his staff in Kyouta's direction.

"Don't!" Tsubaki cried out in vain as a miniature explosion of flame blasted Kyouta back towards the river, sending him under the cold water. The water rippled for a moment after being disturbed, but alas it soon moved no longer, no movement whatsoever came from the river and no one seemed to be about to burst back to surface in a desperate plea for life.

"Kyouta…kun?" Tsubaki watched the water as tears welled up in her eyes. Kyouta wasn't coming back up. "Nooooooooooo!"

Crack!

Tsubaki sobbed sorrowfully, completely unaware of the purple fissures spreading over her body or the Phantom chuckling victoriously over her. "That was almost too easy." He stated pleased.

"Teme!" Sphinx had no time to dodge as a bolt of lightning suddenly flashed straight for him, catching him in the chest and knocking him off his feet.

"Who dares?!" The Phantom demanded in outrage. Three figures suddenly fell from the sky to face him.

"We are the Kamen Mahou Senshiis." The girl wearing the pink wing mask declared.

"And for your crimes against love, we will punish you!" The girl in the butterfly mask added, pointing an accusatory finger at the Phantom.

"Do we really have time for this?" The boy wearing a plain black eye mask asked as he looked to the Gate in concern.

"I've got her!" A yellow winged lion suddenly swooped down over the Ghouls surrounding the Gate and lifted the crying Tsubaki off the ground by her collar with his teeth.

"Tch! The mage brats who fight alongside the Kamen Rider. What do you children hope to do against me alone?" Sphinx suddenly snapped his fingers, prompting his Ghouls to rush to his side with weapons drawn. "Capture the Card Mistress, do what you will with the other two." He ordered as his familiars sprang forward as one.

"I don't think so!" Syaoran placed a hand on the face of his sword and pointed it toward the oncoming ghouls. "Fuuka Shourai!" A gale of green wind exploded from the mage's blade, sending the front-most lines of beasts flying back into each other and crumbling to rubble.

"I have more where those came from." Sphnix assured them as he lobbed black rocks toward the Mahou Senshiis. The rocks exploded in mid air as new ghouls fell around the trio, surrounding them with spears poised.

"Nothing we can't handle." Meilin cracked her knuckles confidently as she signaled the nearest Ghoul to attack her. The ghoul didn't need much coaxing as it stabbed at the teen fighter with its pike. Meilin easily sidestepped the attack, bringing her palm down on top of the spear to break it in half. "Gotcha!" Meilin stepped in against the unarmed ghoul, slamming her palm into its core. The Ghoul tumbled backwards slightly, but did not crumble as Meilin thought it would.

"Ittai!" Meilin suddenly grasped her hand in pain, her hand had gone numb from her own strike and it didn't even work!

"Looks like there really was a difference between those practice dummies and the real things." Syaoran warned as his realized his cousins situation. "Meilin fall back!"

Meilin looked to Syaoran and then the recovered Ghoul that was slowly advancing on her with claws reaching. She grimaced in anger at her own inability, when Sakura and Syaoran were collecting Clow Cards she always had to stand on the sidelines and she hadn't even been there to help during Sakura's creating of the Sakura Cards. (Des.-D: Though she did have one of the most epic moments of the series during that arc.) She didn't want to be a burden anymore.

"I want to fight too!" Meilin declared in defiance and struck out with her fist this time.

Smash!

The Ghoul's head was sent flying clean from its shoulders from Meilin's blow to its cheek. The young fighter blinked in confusion, what was different this time?

"Urr!" More ghouls were coming right for her. Instinctively, Meilin sliced to the side with her foot raised, the ghouls were cleaved in two from the waist as her kick completed its arc.

"Meilin-chan, your bracelets!" Sakura pointed out. Meilin looked down to her hands and feet. Sure enough, the items from Golem she wore glowed with a magic light, the yellow and green gems embedded on them humming with energy.

"Those bracelets must be using magic to increase her physical attributes like her punching and kicking power." Kero observed.

"Yosh!" Meilin slammed her fist into her open palm excitedly. The pain she felt in her hand had completely subsided. "This should even the odds. Let's see what these can do!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, as a first date, how would say I'd rank?" Carter grinned knowingly while asking his completely redundant question.

"Hmph!" Empousa ignored Carter's idiotic jest and continued to eat the Gratin she had ordered. As a Phantom, food wasn't entirely necessary as nourishment. Still, the taste of a warm meal was a familiar comfort that most Phantoms would agree to be a cherished commodity, if only for their act of seeming human.

"I hope the food is to your liking." Carter smiled pleased by his dates savoring of her meal. "This restaurant came highly recommended by an acquaintance of mine." Carter glanced to the corner to spy the familiar face of the elder Kinimoto sibling watching him from the front desk of the restaurant. Carter gave a friendly wave in greeting while Toya just stared at him suspiciously. The magician merely shrugged at the unfriendly response and went back to eating his Pasta dinner.

"The food is adequate." Empousa said slightly untruthfully as she dabbed at the edges of her mouth. The female Phantom washed down her food with a polite sip of the wine Carter ordered for them and sighed in satisfaction, which caused her companion to grin wider.

"You missed a piece." Carter chuckled reaching across the table to remove a piece of gratin from the corner of her lip. Empousa scowled as he childishly popped the speck of food into his own mouth.

"I honestly cannot fathom the way your warped little mind works, oaf." Empousa gave the magician a scrutinizing look. "You spend the day with a woman who has had you at her mercy on more than one occasion and now you sit there, tease her, and yet you do not fear for your life."

"Should I?" Carter responded unconcerned as he too finished up his plate. "You very well could have tried to kill me while we in the tunnel but you made no move to…until I tried making a move." The magician rubbed his still soar jaw, only reason he ordered spaghetti was because he was unsure of his ability to chew currently.

"You are far too trusting of me." Empousa sighed.

"I trust you because you are unlike any Phantom I've ever met. And because you are like no other person I've ever met that I'm so fond of you." Carter spoke his feelings honestly, causing the woman swordfighter to blink in confusion before shaking her head in disappointment.

"You can't possibly mean that. No matter how you feel, it cannot change our situation. You are a magician and I am a Phantom, we are opposite sides of one coin and shall forever be at odds, it is impossible for any kind…bond to form between us." Empousa knew of her rivals feelings all too well, but she also knew the day she had to nip them in the bud must also come and with her employer pressuring her so…it might be time to do just that.

"I am perfectly fine with our relationship remaining at its current standing." Carter took a sip of his own glass of wine before noticing Empousa's bewildered stare. "Being able to compete with you is a pleasure I did not expect to attain during this campaign but one I am grateful for all the same. I would not wish to force my feelings on you and possibly ruin that dynamic. As long as you remain as you are, I would see no greater honor then just remaining your rival for the rest of my life."

Empousa blinked rapidly while blushing. This was not the reaction she had expected. She had no idea of how deep his admiration of her went or how his affections for her stemmed from his respect for her strength and character.

"Shall we go then?" Carter signaled that he would like to see his bill and smiled when he saw Yukito bring it to him.

"Was everything to your liking?" The young waiter asked politely.

"Excellent! I'll definitely make plans to eat here again." Carter shook Yukito's hand in farewell after paying their bill. "Shall we?" As the two left the restaurant, Carter offered his arm in jest, causing Empousa to scowl again. The magician suddenly began to tip to the side. "Whu-oh!" He caught himself barely but it was clear his legs were shaky. "Sorry, I guess I've never been much of a good drinker." Carter smiled sheepishly revealing how flushed his face was from the little alcohol he took in.

Empousa rolled her eyes and took Carter by the arm in order to help him steady himself. "Oaf." She then added contemptuously. The two slowly made their way to Carters apartment because he was no longer in any shape to drive his motorcycle.

"Well this night just got better, a beautiful woman on my arm certainly livens up my spirits."

"Shut up or I'll hit you again and leave you here." Empousa warned.

"Hey. Empousa. Mind if I ask you something?" Carter inquired, groggily.

"You've never held back to speak your mind before what could stop you now."

"Am I your first?"

"That's it!" Empousa suddenly wrenched her arm away and pulled her fist back angrily.

"No, no! Not what I meant!" Carter held his arms up in defense. "I meant if you had any rivals other than me?!" Empousa suddenly held back her blow as she pondered his question.

"None worth mentioning, why do you ask?"

"I was just curious where I stand as an opponent. I always feel like you're holding back against me and I wonder if there has ever been anyone able to bring out your true strength."

"You think I've been holding back?" Empousa looked offended by Carter's claim. The magician flinched a little, expecting to be hit after all.

"It's only an assumption." Carter explained. "You were able to dispatch me in an instant when we first fought 6 years ago and I have improved enough to appear on par with you somewhat, but I can't possibly believe you have shown me the bottom of your well of abilities."

Empousa grimaced and gripped her right arm as if to hide it from view. "Do not concern yourself with that. My strength is sufficient to face any foe be it you or anyone else."

Carter smiled and nodded in agreement. "Of course, I should have known better than to ask. The Empousa I know is unstoppable no matter what level she fights at. But that's why I love fighting with you, and another reason I can't die in this battle."

"Or finish me off for that matter." Empousa added as the two started walking again, Carter seemed to sober somewhat, at least enough to walk by himself for now.

"Hmm?"

"Do you recall our last battle, and how you conveniently ran out of mana just as I was at your mercy? I found such a turn of events to be quite odd."

"You believe I was lying about that and only asked for a tie so I wouldn't have to kill you." Carter deduced her suspicions. "Well you are absolutely right." Empousa stopped in her tracks once more and cast a disappointed glare at Carter.

"The level of childishness you will sink to is astounding. You claim to be my rival yet you admit to not granting me the respect of a warrior that I desire, all for the sake of your juvenile fantasies." Empousa crossed her arms as she rebuked the adult man while he only stood there listening with his back turned to her. "I only hope that you will outgrow your childish tendencies soon."

"Is it childish to see a life worth preserving and want to protect it with everything I am?" Carter turned to face her finally and the Phantom woman was shocked to see the defiance in his eyes. "If you say that is childish then you are insulting everything I stand for."

"You consider my life worth preserving?" Empousa asked in confusion.

"Has everything I've said and done this night not implied that? You are someone who has become an integral part of my life, a bond I hold as dearly as I do with my friends and comrades." Carter placed a hand over his heart to emphasize his words. "So no Empousa-chan. I will never give up these childish tendencies, so long as I am a Kamen Rider who protects hope. For the sake of my own hope I will not kill you, nor can I allow myself to die by you."

"Carter…" Empousa was once again rendered speechless. This fire, this self righteousness was an entirely new side of her rival. She knew he had a chivalrous spirit behind all of his poor jokes and buffoonery, but this uncharacteristic defiance and confidence he showed in his eyes had her frozen in place and caused a pounding in her chest.

"Oi!" The two blinked in confusion when they heard a slurred call coming from further down the street. A disheveled man in a suit was shakily storming his way to Empousa. "I finally found you."

'Ugh, this welp.' Empousa rolled her eyes in disgust. The man suddenly grabbed Empousa by the wrist.

"Nobody talks down to me and comes out of it unscathed. I'm going to teach an uppity woman like you her place." The man was clearly drunk and furious over his wounded pride, but that was hardly warrant of mercy from a proud Phantom like her. Empousa set her eyes glaring on the unfortunate fool as she prepared to change. But then, her date decided to intervene.

"Oi, arsehole." Carter stepped between the two, forcing the drunkard's hand away from Empousa's wrist.

"H-how dare you!" The drunkard shoved Carter away as he backed up to a nearby alley. "You have no right to interfere with me, do you know the kind of insult she gave me after I was so generous to her."

"I don't give a damn! A worm like you has no right to lay their filthy hands on her like that." Carter's fists were clenched and his blue eyes were alight with rage.

"Y-you dare!? Fine, have it your way." The limy sod suddenly snapped his fingers, prompting a trio of roughly dressed men to step from the shadows. "I only wanted to scare that skank into apologizing but if you want to get hurt trying to defend her, I won't stop you." The thugs moved in with malicious grins while Carter popped his neck experimentally as he stood his ground.

"You pricks made the mistake of catching me in a really foul mood. Just, remember, you were the ones who asked for this."

Bam!

Thud!

Pow! (real creative aint I?)

Carter sighed in relief as he swiped the dirt from his shoes. "I think I finally worked all the alcohol from my system." The trio of thugs laid battered and bruised on the ground behind the magician, their boss had already passed out from fright as he saw how easily his hired goons were being dispatched. "Shall we go?" Carter asked Empousa who was strangely quiet throughout the entire brawl (which I was too lazy to write. Bring me your hate!). Empousa's expression was unreadable as her eyes were covered in shadow. She suddenly rushed to Carter's side and to his shock, took him by the hand and started leading him away at a quickening pace. "Where are we going?" He asked confused.

"I don't care." She stated as they were starting to break into a run. "But I will not accept this date to end without satisfying this urge. And I need you to help me do it." (Keep it to yourselves cus I know what I wrote.)

Carter's eyes widened in surprise before a small smile appeared on his face. "I understand." The two had finally broken into a run as they sought out the perfect stage for the night's grand finale.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turned out, Meilin's new bracelets had much to offer. Along with granting her greater punching and kicking power, they also granted her much higher speed and agility and also seemed to protect her arms and legs from pain and even damage. At one point during the fight, Meilin had to block a oncoming spear strike using her arms, to her relief and surprise, the spear had only bounced off her arm as if it would a wall of stone, not even leaving a scratch on her sleeve. With all these new abilities, the already highly skilled martial artist had becoming a Ghoul demolishing maelstrom of slicing kicks and shattering punches.

"Ha!" Meilin soared through the air with her foot pointed out like a spear as she kicked clean through the last of the pesky ghouls; all of the others had already been demolished into a miniature granite quarry beneath her feet. Meilin grinned as she wiped the dust from her hands, she then noticed that Sakura and her cousin had been keeping their Phantom enemy distracted while she cleaned up his peons.

"Jump!" Sakura summoned wings to the heels of her feet, allowing her to jump high into the air with the intention of coming back down to slice through the fiendish Sphinx with her wand changed to a sword. Sphinx however saw the obvious attack coming and raised his cane towards Sakura and prepared to blast the meddlesome magical girl out of the air with one of his fire balls, Syaoran would have none of that.

"Fuuka Shourai!" Syaoran let loose of blast of green wind from his sword, not enough to knock the Phantom back but enough to force him to guard against the wind and leave him defenseless against the strike coming for him.

Crash!

"Gwooah!" Sparks flew across the injured Phantom's left side, forcing him to fumble back and grasp his injuring defensively. Sakura and Syaoran stood side by side with their swords ready to finish off Sphinx, the crafty Phantom had other ideas.

"Time I take my leave it seems." Sphinx suddenly scraped his cane across the ground in front of him, summoning another wall of fire that stopped the two mages in their tracks.

"Suiryuu Shourai!" Syaoran doused the wall of fire with a jet of water from his sword, a heavy steam suddenly kicked up hiding the Phantom from view. "Damn! He got away." Syaoran cursed, realizing Sphinx played them for fools.

"We've got bigger issues." Kero interjected, finally landing now that the area was safe. "She's not gonna last much longer." Kero revealed the still dying Tsubaki on his back. The fissures had continued to spread over her, some of them growing larger still.

"Kyouta…kun." Tsubaki sobbed sadly, Sakura's eyes widened in remembrance.

"I almost forgot!" She cried and ran to the edge of the road to overlooks the river. She changed her sword back into a staff and slowly raised it high into the air. The water began to stir as the surface of a large pink bubble began to break open to the surface. The bubble carefully rose completely out of the water, revealing a, though injured and unconscious, still very much alive Kyouta.

Sakura and the others had arrived just as the older man was being pushed to the edge, Sakura reacted quickly and used the Bubble Card to soften the explosion that sent Kyouta back and encased him in an airtight sphere that would keep him safe under water till they finished Sphinx and his ghouls. The resourceful Card mistress gently brought the bubble to land and released it, carefully dropping Kyouta onto the soft grass.

"So what do we do now?" Meilin asked concerned, it was the first time she ever saw a Gate despair and even she could tell they didn't have much time.

"I don't know." Sakura gripped her staff tightly as her eyes betrayed her worry over the situation. She had just realized the fatal problem with not having Carter with them. Without Wizard and his Engage rings no one would be able to open a portal into the Gate's underworld.

"The flute!" Syaoran suddenly remembered the item Carter gave to Sakura. "Maybe Hughe's familiars can help."

"The Garu-chan-tachi, of course!" Sakura quickly rummaged through the folds of her costume till she found the tiny silver whistle she was looking for. She gave a long blow on the tiny whistle, letting out a high pitched, melodic seeming tweet! 'Please get here quickly she thought.'

"Aroo!" Sakura suddenly looked up and gasped before opening her hands to catch the hurtling little creature.

"Golem-chan!" Sakura cried in joy, both at the timely arrival and that the little gorilla came prepared with an Engage ring in his blocky fist. The other Pla-monsters followed right behind him, greeting the other kids as they came. Sakura quickly slipped the ring onto Tsubaki's finger but was disappointed to find nothing happening.

"Wizard usually activated the ring with his belt, it must take magic flowing into it to activate it." Kero theorized.

"Maybe…" Sakura looked at her Star Wand and at the sobbing young woman before her. She didn't have the time to think of another plan.

"Engage!" Sakura swung her Star Wand towards the ring on Tsubaki's finger and to the group's awe, the wings on the staff suddenly grew out and the star at the center began to rotate. The ring suddenly sparked to life, summoning a portal in the image of Sakura's magic circle over Tsubaki's prone form.

"You did it!" Meilin cheered and the teens stepped up to the portal.

"Kero-chan, stay with these two." Sakura commanded.

"It's gonna be rough in there I bet." Kero warned. "Sure you won't need me?" Unicorn, Garuda and Kraken suddenly began calling out frantically as they hovered around Sakura.

"I think they want to help." Syaoran guessed.

"But what can they do in such tiny forms?" Meilin asked.

"I think…I have another idea." Sakura assured them as she brought out a new card. With that, the Mahou Senshii's and three Pla-monsters leaped into the waiting portal, plunging into the world of Tsubaki's soul.

"You're not going?" Kero asked Golem who had remained where he was while his brethren volunteered to help the others. Golem only gave a tiny grunt before waddling off, unlike his brothers, he didn't fancy himself a combatant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sugoi…" Meilin stared awestruck by the cyclone of lights as she, Sakura and Syaoran fell through the cascading tunnel. Syaoran had to agree with his cousin's amazement, being new to such an experience himself. Sakura, having experienced this twice already, took the time spent falling to try the Card she brought out on the Pla-monsters who had floated around her.

"Grant these Familiars the size and power to fight alongside us, Big!" Sakura passed her wand over the Big card, summoning three Magic Circles to appear before the three familiars. The Pla-monsters squawked, neighed and squeaked expectantly as they flew through the Star centered circles. The tunnel had just then let out into Tsubaki's underworld.

"We're falling!" Meilin had just realized as the three were left in open sky. She suddenly felt a tugging at the back of her collar as her descent came to a sudden halt. "What the heck?!" Meilin stared awestruck at her savior, Garuda, who had spontaneously and tremendously grew in size. The red Familiar squawked proudly as he pulled the young fighter closer to his chest and then fastened his claws around her waist like a strap. Meilin now had a handy pair of wings of her own. "You guys will come in handy after all." Meilin stated confidently as Garuda brought her lower to hover over the rooftops of the city. It was then that she saw what had become of her friends.

"Meilin-chan!" Sakura called out, she and Syaoran both astride Unicorn's back, as he too had grown in size to be larger than the average horse, as well had Kraken though it was still to small to ride.

"Where's the inner Phantom we have to beat." Syaoran asked, searching the city streets and roofs and seeing nothing as large as the fake Hekatonkheir they fought.

"Follow the destruction." Sakura said anxiously as her eyes locked on the long, jagged slices in space that crisscrossed in the air down a narrow street. "I hope we aren't too late."

The trio and Pla-monsters traversed the roof tops of the empty city, still not seeing any signs of the Phantom, even once they finally reached the area where the destruction seemed freshest as they could no longer see any more cuts in space to follow.

"Did it get out!" Syaoran voiced concerned, fearing they had been too late. He got his answer when they were suddenly ambushed!

A net, woven from golden rope, fell over top of them, holding down the Pla-monsters on the street and rendering them unable to escape. The Phantom, or rather, Phantoms skulked finally from the shadows, appearing as a trio of tall, black robed figures with long grayish arms. One of the figures held onto the sides of the rope, while another seemed to still be in the process of spinning it form some endless supply of it held in one hand and a pair of knitting needles it held in the other, it dexterously spun an endless length of rope with the pair of needles in one hand. The last one clearly had to be responsible for the all the openings within the Under World, as grasped in its long bony hands were a terrifyingly huge pair of scissors, each blade was half as tall as it was. It raised its scissors menacingly as it advanced on the helpless Senshiis.

"They were hunting for us in the end." Syaoran stated while futilely attempting to cut through the thick gold net with his sword, but found it would not give way.

"This doesn't look good!" Meilin cried in terror as the Scissors were poised to stab down on top of them.

"I've got it!" Sakura finally freed the card she was looking for and passed her wand over it. "Erase, get rid of this net!" A burst of green smoke erupted from the surface of the card and a figure appearing as a woman in a yellow and white checker board patterned jesters outfit rose from the smoke. The Erase threw up a giant white cloth of its own and brought it down over top of the gold web. The Phantom trio surveyed the obstruction as it blocked them from seeing their prey. The harlequin suddenly pulled back its cloth, revealing the giant net to have completely disappeared, its captors had not.

Whoosh!

The needle/thread figure was suddenly tossed back through the air by a red blur that seemed to be dragging it up onto the nearby roof tops.

"Let's see how you do alone!" Meilin challenged as she and Garuda hovered over the Phantom who had just recovered.

Syaoran hopped off of Unicorn's back and raised his sword in challenge to the one still grasping onto what remained of the net, which it seemed to be twisting almost anxiously. "That net won't help you now." Syaoran warned. He then ducked in order to dodge a slicing swipe from the whip the tall figure had just crafted from its remaining rope. "Me and my big mouth." The Phantom was preparing to bring the whip back down again when a hail of black ink rained down upon it, forcing it to cover its head with its arms against the stinging rain. Syaoran looked up to see Kraken covering him from the air, the squid familiar sqeaked in challenge and Syaoran smiled as he stood side by side with his new partner.

That left Sakura and Unicorn to handle the scissor wielding figure. The robed Phantom raised its weapon to the side and swung at an arc toward Sakura, but the blade was met with Uni's indestructible horn as the blue familiar parried the slice.

"Shot!" Sakura took the initiative to counter attack, sending a trio of explosive bolts that impacted against the robed giant, sending it reeling back. "Uni-san!" Sakura called out and Unicorn nodded as its horn erupted from its head and became a spear that Sakura caught from midair. "Let's finish this!"

"Haaaaaaa!" Meilin pulled her magic empowered fist back as Garuda soared forward at a low angle, dodging the tendrils of gold thread that the needle/thread equipped Phantom shot from its endless supply with a twist of its needles. Garuda barrel rolled over and through the thread before finally breaking through to a range Meilin could hit from. "Kurai!" Meilin's fist sprang forward, creating a sudden blast of air pressure as it collided with the Phantoms abdomen and sent it flying backwards into a far wall. "Time to end this!"

Syaoran ducked and rolled away from the slicing whip while Kraken let loose bullet after bullet of stinging ink on their Phantom, still neither of them were able to get close to the thing to do any real damage.

The Phantom seemed to get sick of this monotonous exchange and suddenly ran a hand through the tight folds of its whip. The thick rope suddenly collapsed apart as a dozen thinner whips, the Phantom didn't expect to miss this time. The Phantom raised its whip high into the air, spreading the individual whips through the air and casting the ground in shadow.

"Kraken, get down!" Syaoran warned as he brought out one of his fudas. Kraken did as it was told and got low next to Syaoran just as the canopy of cutting ropes came down.

"Kashin Shourai!" Syaoran summoned an inferno from his sword that ignited and incinerated the now thinner whip. The Phantom watched on stunned as its weapon burned to a crisp in its hands. It tried to turn and run but found that after a heavy spray from Kraken, the place where it stood was completely covered in a cement like ink, holding it fast to its spot. "You won't get away!" Syaoran placed his open hand against the flat of his sword prompting jolts of blue electricity to spring from the sword. Garuda rose into the air and dive bombed the pinned Phantom with Meilin cracking her knuckles in anticipation of the final blow. Unicorn sprang into the air, positioning its fall directly over the scissor wielding Phantom, Sakura raised her bladed spear vertically.

"Finale!" They all called as one.

"Hyaa!" Unicorn crashed down as Sakura's downward slash bisected her foe into two halves that fell apart and exploded in defeat.

"Raitei…Shourai!" Syaoran channeled all of his strength into his spell and blasted his pinned opponent with a beam of cracking lightning that promptly struck and vaporized the robed monster in an instant.

"Seiya!" Garuda suddenly let go of Meilin as she somersaulted through the air and smashed her heel atop the Phantom's skull, flooring it and causing it such damage that it exploded in defeat as well.

Their individual foes bested the trio regrouped and watched in relief as the Underworld slowly shifted back to its normal state.

"We did it!" Meilin cried out in joy and hugged Garuda about the neck, to the familiars joy as it playfully picked at Meilin's hair.

"You guys did great, Yu-kun would be proud of you." Sakura thanked the Pla-monsters. Unicorn nudged her and whinnied as if to say: "You too."

"So what now?" Syaoran asked. "Do we just leave."

"Things usually fix themselves after the Phantom has been dealt with so the Gate should be fine." Sakura explained.

"Hey look!" Meilin pointed toward the end of the street, where the trio found that their battle had led them to a local Highschool. Near a deserted side of the school, the trio could see what appeared to be the Gate, Tsubaki, and her boy friend Kyouta sitting down next to a running faucet and Tsubaki taking what appeared to be a pair of styling scissors to Kyouta's then long hair.

"And…Perfection!" Tsubaki said pleased by her work, revealing Kyouta with the shorter, more stylish hair they saw him with earlier. Kyouta surveyed his new look uncertainly and looked at the girl with an air of distrust. "That hair really suits you. So cool!" Tsubaki complimented, putting her scissors away and retrieving her jacket.

To her surprise as well as the three onlookers, Kyouta suddenly placed his hand behind Tsubaki's head and pulled her face to his. Sakura and Meilin stared wide eyed while Syaoran merely coughed and looked away nervously from the tender moment.

"Getting my hair cut from a woman is a first for me, so I've decided to be the one to steal all of your first. See you tomorrow, Tsubaki." Kyouta chuckled and walked away, with a confident grin on his face while Tsubaki just stood there stunned. (Ugh! The things I write for my drama.)

"This guy's more arrogant than Hughes." Syaoran growled in disgust and walked away, Meilin giggling to herself at having to see such a romantic moment. Sakura slowly followed after them still looking back to the frozen Tsubaki.

'That must have been the first time those two met. Its seems like they didn't get along too well at first. Kind of like Syaoran and I.' Sakura smiled when she looked at the retreating back of her boyfriend. 'Things must've worked out for them the same they did for us. I'm happy for them. Thank you for letting me see such a wonderful thing once again, Yu-kun!' Sakura quickly ran to catch up with Syaoran and wrapped her arms around one of his. "C'mon, let's go home!" Sakura said with a smile and tiny flush on her cheeks.

The close proximity and Sakura smiling at him caused Syaoran to blush beet red, though he did not pull away and responded with a shy, "E-ehm!" Meilin chuckled to herself once more.

'Daidouji-san's gonna hate that she missed this.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Clash!

A fair way away from the battle going on near the river, another battle was being fought. A duel repeated many times but no less important to the two combatants.

"Don't tire out on me yet, Carter!"

"I have only begun to fight, Empousa-chan!"

The magician and Phantom, desiring to satisfy their love of competition had relocated to the only point in the city they could hope to be alone, and that was highest point of the city. Tokyo Tower.

Wizard Land Dragon Style leaped from scaffold to scaffold in chase of his swifter adversary who seemed to literally dance on the wind. The clever and spry swordfighter remained impeccably out of reach of Wizard's sword, and should he try to intercept her with his gun…

"Reverse Fang!" Empousa caught the silver missiles on the flat of her blade and flicked her sword arm up in order to send them soaring back as a spread shot that Wizard had to avoid by jumping back down to lower level, making her even harder to get too.

"Well I'm clearly at a disadvantage." Wizard sighed as he dusted off his coat tails. Having already used his Fire and Hurricane Dragon Styles in a previous fight with Empousa, Carter deemed it to a sound strategy to lead with his new, more powerful form. But it became clear to him that power and durability were all this form was good for. His speed and jumping power had become absolutely abysmal compared to his previous form. A wonder he could scale this tower at all.

"I thought you imagined yourself a gentlemen, oaf." Empousa called from her perch, legs crossed in a seated position on the upper reaches of the tower. "You wouldn't keep a girl waiting would you?"

"Oh, she has jokes now?" Carter chuckled, finding his rival's playful side to be kind of adorable. Carter reached for one his Hurricane rings when his fingers brushed against the Gravity spell ring. 'Hm…I've only used this to increase the gravity around a target so far. Maybe…'

"Cho-ine! Gravity! Saikooo!"

The yellow magic circle suddenly appeared over Carter's head and though it was only slight, Empousa noticed a sudden changed in her Rivals…posture? Stance?

"Yosh!" Carter bounced on the end of his toes as he unchained his trump card.

"Cho-ine! Special! Saikooo!"

The yellow after image of Dragon suddenly enveloped Wizard and his arms were immediately equipped with the Drag Hell Claws. Wizard bent his knees as if preparing to leap to the next scaffold. Empousa didn't move from her spot, having seen his previous attempts to climb she knew she had the speed and maneuverability advantage.

Wizard suddenly soared upward, stopping just short of Empousa's height. The Wizard didn't make a move to attack, only seemed to take satisfaction from the stunned silence of his opponent. He leaned his head in only slightly; "Mmwah!", and blew her a kiss from behind his helmet.

"Why you!" The proud woman did not take Carter's playful ploy well as she leaped from her own sitting position to clash her sword against Wizard's claws. The two fell back down to the tower's, thankfully empty, viewing platform where they broke apart and squared off once more.

Wizard sprang forward once again, with speed and agility he had not shown earlier. He took a wide swipe at the female phantom who had to block with her sword raised and found that against the bulky form's Earth given strength, she was outmatched and quickly forced to a knee.

"Hehe-whoa!" Carter was about to gloat over his sudden switch to advantage when he was suddenly began floating away from his pinned opponent, slowly being carried away by his renewed momentum and now gliding in mid air unable to stop himself. "Aw cmon! Blast you physics!"

Empousa sighed and covered her face in her hand, shaking her hand. The gravity reducing spell Carter had used on himself did indeed remove his agility disadvantage but its fatal flaw was clear as Carter's weightlessness and built up momentum kept him in the air and off the floor where he could actually stand his ground. (Bullcrap science I know, but you at least get what I'm trying to say right?)

Carter released his spell before he flew over the edge of the tower, causing him to plop onto the ground with a thud. "Oof! Now I remember why I wasn't a Physics major." In his stupor of embarrassment Wizard had let his guard down so he was not at all prepared once Empousa's foot smacked him across the side of the face. The Wizard rolled to the side, stopping just short of the opposite edge. Before he could recover fully from the blow, Empousa sprang onto him, pinning him while straddling him with her legs and her sword raised over his mask.

A moment of clarity came to her at that moment. She couldn't have asked for a better chance. Even with his denser armor, all she had to do was stab him through the weak lenses of his helmet…and that would finish it.

She suddenly recalled the pledge she had made when she had been conscripted to slay the magician for the Phantom Mistress.

"I will fight and kill the Wizard under my own discretion, that is all."

She could end his life, right here. No witnesses, no young Mages to interfere. And he was still reeling from the kick she landed on him. Plus, he was so trusting of her that he probably wouldn't have even expect the blow to come.

Do it.

She could almost hear the Phantom Mistress whispering in her ear, urging her to do her duty. She was a Phantom, he was Magician, this was their fate.

"As long as you remain who you are, I would see no greater honor than remaining your rival for the rest of my life."

"Foolish oaf." Empousa whispered.

"Liquid, please!"

Carter's body suddenly collapsed into mud and he slipped out of Empousa's pin to rematerialize behind her, his arms locking hers in place behind her back and out to the side.

"I'd say that's match, love." Carter quipped as he held her close to his body but otherwise left her no room to struggle free of his hold. Empousa seemed to sigh in relief as she released her grip of her sword so it would fall from her hand, only to appear in the hand Carter pinned to her back in a wisp of magenta flames.

"A tie then." Empousa agreed. With her sword now poised to his throat, Carter couldn't really argue. The two broke apart and Carter took a seated position next to Empousa as the two of them retook their human appearances and starred out at the brightly lit city of Tomoeda.

"Beautiful view isn't it?" Carter asked. Empousa nodded with a small smile. "Sakura-chan told me once that she has had some of the most important battles of her life on or near this tower. I get the appeal."

"You can almost see the entire city from here." Empousa stated hypnotized. "It's a wonderful place, and its nurtured such an incredible young Sorceress."

"Sakura-chan is amazing, that was one of the reasons I chose to help her protect this place and the good people in it."

"And you've done admirably I'd say."

"I haven't nearly fulfilled my duty yet." Carter sighed as he got back up to his feet. "There are still plenty of Phantoms here I have to defeat, like Phoenix and his boss."

"Do you think you can?" Empousa looked up to him for an answer. "Even I know little about the true depths of the Mistress's power, only that I should be wary of it."

"Well, to be honest I don't know. But, that doesn't mean I won't try. Your rival isn't the type to cower away from a fight."

"Good to hear." Empousa stood up as well and began to stretch tiredly, it had been a long date after all. "Time we go our separate ways. Thank you for an…enlightening first date." Empousa planted a kiss on Carter's cheek in thanks before turning to walk away. Carter stood there for a few seconds, his expression was unreadable as he stared out to the night.

"Empousa-chan." Carter suddenly grasped the female Phantom's hand to keep her from leaving. "I have no right to ask you this but the fact is despite everything I've said to you this night…I don't want this battle ending with the two of us on opposite sides." Empousa was silent and did not turn to meet his beseeching gaze. "I'm asking you, no begging you, cut your ties with the Phantom's here and retire from this battle."

"You ask that I surrender?" Empousa asked emotionlessly.

"I ask that you stop fighting on the same side as those monsters. You and I both know that you're not like them. That you're better than them."

"You don't know me as well as you think."

"I know that you're strong, courageous, proud, wise, honorable and also the most beautiful swordsman I could ever hope to meet. Even if I don't know everything about you I know that you are not like other Phantoms and that's why I want to know." Carter's eyes pleaded and his grip tightened around her hand.

'I can read his feelings through this hand.' Empousa realized. 'Everything he just said were his honest feelings for me.'

Empousa slowly pulled her hand out of Carter's but did not move from her spot beside him.

"I will think on this." She promised and then before Carter could stop her again, she vanished off the edge of the tower, a mighty gust blowing through as she went.

"Till next time." Carter promised, a satisfied smile on his face. "Fui."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Four figures stood upon a golden magic circle hovering within a black nexus, seemingly existing outside of the tangible plain. The four wore only black cloaks with the hoods covering their faces. They were only indistinguishable by their varying heights and the different colored rings they each wore on their fingers; red, blue, green and yellow. The four were staring intently into two mirrors that centered the magic circle. One showed Carter, tiredly making his way back to his apartment while also talking on his cellphone, his expression depicted slight anxiety. The other mirror showed Sakura, Syaoran, Meilin and Kero. Sakura was on her cellphone, most likely talking to Carter, and trying to calm him down as she explained the night's events.

"Their battles have concluded it seems." The shortest, blue ringed, figure stated.

"The Card Mistress and her friends have done well despite allowing the Phantom to escape." The yellow ringed figure added.

"On the other hand; this Wizard chose to spend the night gallivanting with the enemy. He is…nothing like our expectations." The figure wearing a green ring commented, their tone neutral and arms crossed.

"For now that doesn't matter." The tallest figure, who wore the red ring, interjected. "We were able to discern that he is indeed becoming stronger, as well as the allegiance of that anomalous Phantom. So long as she remains neutral, she is not an asset to the true enemy."

"Will they all be ready?" The blue figure inquired. "That time is almost upon them."

"They will have to be. Otherwise it will mean that fate is truly unavoidable." The red figure stated morbidly.

"Then it is time for us to act." The green figure stated and then marched away, disappearing into the shadows.

"Indeed, the First Tragedy will be upon them soon, it cannot come to be." The yellow ringed figure added and then walked off as well.

The blue and red figures remained for a few moments more, staring into the two mirrors at the players they had been assigned to observe and in time, protect. "For Her wish." The blue figure recited with a hand over their heart.

"For their future." The red one added, a fist placed over their chest. The blue figure nodded and followed their colleagues into the shadows.

The red figure turned to leave as well, stopping only to dismiss the images within the mirrors. They stopped momentarily on Carter's mirror, staring intently at the image of their most crucial but also most dangerous piece.

"Don't fail this time." The image went black.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hooboy, semester long hiatus and I bring you guys a real doozy huh? So, why is this one so long you may ask? Well, beyond me thinking I should put in some extra effort for taking so long with this, seriously I started this one in January and left it, I also decided to use this chapter as plot dump. Introducing character moment/backstory as well as plot important hints that I had either meant to put in early chapters but forgot to or stuff I'm throwing in early so I don't forget them. So, yeah, I never said I was pro like Chrome or Diddy so you should have known what you were getting into.

Secondly, I feel I should explain our Gate/victims for the evening as they were represented not as subtlely as I would've liked. They are in fact the main characters of a nice little romance manga called Kyou Koi wo Hajimemasu and the scene I showed was from the first chapter (trimmed down for length and detail.) If you are tired of the usual stupid pervy, stupid violent or just plain stupid stupid (I mean most comedies) I highly recommend this compelling School life/ Romance manga. Though I suggest you be atleast…15 or hopefully old/mature enough to watch most TV PG/14 sitcoms or dramas.

Aight? That's all.

I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura. I do not own Kamen Rider. I do not own the characters of KKWH.

Till next time.