It started in a dream. Sakura's standing on the roof of one of the business buildings. Kero is floating next to her. She is wearing the pick outfit with the billowing cape behind her and the wand in her hand. She is staring across at another building; the wind was blowing her hair and the cape all over the place. Cherry blossom petals are floating down, all over the city, all around her and Kero. 'The radio tower...' she says to herself, 'The figure in shadows...' The flower petals turn into Clow Cards. 'The Clow Cards...' She caught one of the falling Clow Cards in her hand as she cradled the wand between her arm and body. 'Ah... It disappeared.' she thought as the card vanished from her hand. She looks up and notices, 'All the Clow Cards have disappeared.' She continued looking at the building across from her, the radio tower. She looks at it and sees the silhouette of a female; long hair and a coat, blowing in the wind, just like Sakura's cape. 'Ah... What do you want? I know I know you. If only I could see you.' she thought, as she stepped onto the ledge of the building she was on. The two pairs of wings appeared on her shoes. 'What are you trying to tell me? And who...' Sakura opened her eyes. "Who are you?" she finished allowed, not noticing where she still was. "Who do you think I am?"
Sakura's head jerked up with a surprised, "Huh?" She was looking straight into Miss Macenzie's smiling face. The kids around her were giggling. "Miss Macenzie," Sakura said, standing up, "You're here!" Miss Macenzie straightened her back, placing her hands above her knees. "Yes," she said, "but you weren't." Sakura gave a short bow, "Sorry." Miss Macenzie stood straight up from where she was in front of Sakura's desk. "Welcome back to Math class, Sakura." The bell rings as soon as she says that. She looks around. She looked back at Sakura, and smiled, turning around and going back to her desk. "Class dismissed." The other children began packing up their things as Sakura sat back down with a disgruntled, "Ooh." Madison and Li look at her. Sakura is still looking at Miss Macenzie in the front of the room. "And don't forget--" Miss Macenzie says, "Drill Team tryouts are tomorrow." Sakura blinks and remembers the woman from her dream, while still looking a Miss Macenzie, and gasps.
Sakura and Madison are walking home from school. "But I cant talk to Kero about it." Sakura is saying, "Not yet. I have to understand this first." "But Miss Macenzie, Sakura?" Madison asks. "I know." Sakura replies. "And the Clow Cards disappearing." Madison adds, "That's never happened before, has it?" Sakura looks over at Madison and keeps on walking, "You see," she says, "I think it means I've almost collected all the Cards." "Really?" "I think the dream might be some kind of a test," she continued, "And if it is, I want to pass it all by myself." She holds up her fist triumphantly. Madison stops and turns to Sakura, covering her fist with both hands and bringing it back down. "Shouldn't you just talk to Kero?" she suggested. "Hmm... No way." Sakura replies, turning back around and rushing off ahead. "But Sakura..." Madison called after her as she stopped in front of a house with a wreath on the door. "On my own." Sakura states as Madison runs up to her. "That's cool." Madison comments, talking about the wreath. Sakura nodded. "But if you won't talk to Kero, what about Li?" Madison suggests again. "Li is Clow Reed's relative, so I wanna prove myself to both of them." Sakura explained. "You should talk to Nikki. She's been reading an interesting book on dreams." Sakura shook her head. "Mm-mm. No way. I can't. Forget it." Madison smiled. "Hmm. You'll figure it out, Sakura, I know you will."
It's the next day, at the Drill Team tryouts. A bell chimes in the distance. The class is sitting together outside, in their gym uniforms, with gloves on, since it was winter. "Good try." Mr. Terrada was saying, "So, who's next?" A boy steps up to the bar. He flips up, and over, but doesn't land properly. "Ow." he says. "Oh." Sakura gasps. The boy got up and walked back to his seat. "So, anybody going to the Winter Carnival?" Chelsea asks from behind Sakura. Rita shook her head, "We're going on vacation." "Yeah," Chelsea said, "We're not gonna be around here, either. Too bad. I always love the carnival." Zachary took his turn at the flip. He jumped up and made a perfect flip. Everyone cheered him on, and congratulated him. "If Zachary becomes Drill Team captain," Chelsea states, "We'll never hear the end of it." Zachary turned around and held one hand behind his head, and the other in the air, smiling at everyone.
Sakura was drawing a small spiral in the ground, when Madison said, "You're back at the dream, aren't you?" "I just had a horrible thought." Sakura whispered. "What is it, Sakura?" "I'm worried about what's going to happen to Kero when I've captured all the Clow Cards." "Kero?" Madison drawled out slowly. "Yeah." Sakura said sadly. "You mean, that he'll change?" Madison asked. "Mm-hmm." Sakura answered. Li was next. He gripped the bar and executed three full flips, then performed a somersault off, landing on his feet. Everyone gave him a wonderful cheer. Meilin stood up and clapped louder than the rest, "I knew you could do it, Li. Whoo! Fantastic." Madison pounded her fist into her open palm. "Hmm... I know someone who might be able to help." she said. "Yeah?" Sakura asked, looking at Madison skeptically.
Meilin was washing her hands at an outside faucet after the tryouts had finished. "My Li." she giggled, "Captain of the Drill Team. Oh, I love it." She turned off the faucet and had begun drying off her hands with a cloth just as Sakura and Madison came rushing up to her. "Meilin." Sakura called. "What?" Meilin answered in a way that sounded much like a snap. "Hi. Do you..." Sakura started. Meilin backed away. "Hey. What are you up to, Sakura?" she asked. "I need some advice." Sakura told her. They had changed back into their school uniforms and were now to the back of the school, on one of the benches. Madison was standing over Sakura from behind the bench, and Meilin was in front of both of them. "And you've been around Li and the Clow Cards a long time," Sakura was saying, "So I thought you might have some ideas." "Why don't you ask Kero?" Meilin asked, her arms crossed. "I was kind of hoping you could help me." Hmm." Meilin squeaked, smiling. "I need to figure this out on my own." Sakura said. Meilin turned her back to Sakura. "Hmm... Well, it could be that... or maybe it's the... again... I know! Ha-ha!" She giggled and turned back around to face Sakura, "Ask Li Showron." "Thanks." Sakura groaned, holding her head down.
It's night now, and Sakura is in her room, with Kero floating nearby. "Sakura, what is your problem?" Kero asked. Sakura stood up from her bed and moved away from it a couple steps. She turned back around and came back to it, sitting down. She looked down at the cell phone Madison had gave her, which was on the bed. "Pick up the phone. Put down the phone. Pick up the phone. Put down the phone." Kero pointed out. Sakura groaned and picked up the phone off of the bed, holding it in her hands. "Look, if you wanna ask Li to the Carnival, just ask him." Kero told her. "It's not that easy." Sakura retorted, looking at the phone in her hands. "Come on, what are you talking about?" Kero floated over to Sakura, next to the phone. "It's very easy, Sakura. All you gotta do is push a button!" Kero hit the button on Sakura's phone, and smiled widely when it started ringing. Sakura gasped and sweatdropped. "Um... I, uh..." she mumbled, putting the phone to her ear, a blush making it way across the bridge of her nose. The person on the other end picked up.
"Huh? Kero!" she exclaimed, "Sorry. What I meant to say is this is Sakura." She babbled on, "Li, I was talking to Meilin and she told me that you and her are going to the Winter Carnival. I've got to talk to you about something." Her current position, which was her on the bed, changed a various amount of times as she continued, "Wait. Is this Li?" She covered the mouth piece of the phone, and whispered to Kero, who was floating, on his back, with his hands behind his head, and his left leg crossed over the right, "You hit the wrong button. It's not Li. It's Julian." As Sakura turned back to the phone conversation and started rapidly apologizing, in the back, Kero was speaking to himself. "I myself would love to go to the Winter Carnival, but, of course, nobody thought to ask me." He rolled over and onto his side. "Ah, besides, I cannot stand that Li kid."
It's now the day of the Winter Carnival. Sakura ended up asking Julian to come with her. She rushed ahead of him., then stopped, gaping at the site ahead of her. "Wow. Look at this, Julian." she said. Julian came up beside her, his green suit going well with her red jacket and top, and her red shorts, which were not too short. "Yeah, it's great." he aid, "Now you needed to talk?" "Hey, Madison. Wait up." Kero said, as he and Madison trailed after Sakura and Julian, both wearing sunglasses, Madison's pair a lighter shade, so she could see through them to the lens in her video camera. She was wearing a yellow suit with a yellow cap and jacket. Her hair was pulled to the side in two pigtails, with yellow bows at the end of them. "Hurry." Madison said, taking the camera from her eye, "I missed a couple of Card captures lately. And if one's gonna show up today, Kero, I'm gonna get it on tape." Kero fixed his shades. "Ah, don't worry about it, kid. You're with me." he said confidently. Madison turned to face him.
She smiled, and said, "Yeah, but you've missed a couple yourself." Kero face vaulted in the air. "D-ohh!" Kero groaned. Madison giggled, neither one of the noticing the wreath, that was on the pole beside them, slowly catching on fire. Madison turned back around. "Hey, look." she said, pointing towards Sakura and Julian, "They're heading towards the main midway. Come on. We can't lose sight of them." Madison headed in the direction of Sakura and Julian. "Ahem." Kero said, straightening back up and fixing his shades again, "Just leave it to me. I don't miss a thing. As Kero was saying that, and as he slowly floated after Madison, the whole wreath just lit ablaze, and he didn't notice. Somewhere else, another wreath, on a pole, had caught on fire also, and was now extinguishing itself out. It sat there on the pole, all charred black, and still smoking.
Sakura and Julian were standing next to one of the bigger rides that were there. "To tell you the truth, Julian, this problem-- oh look!" Sakura waved over Meilin and Li, who had just arrived. "Oh." Meilin breathed. "Oh. Hi." Li said. "Hi." Julian answered back. They walked over. "I heard you got Drill Team Captain, Li." Sakura said, "Congratulations." "I can't believe you called Julian by mistake." Meilin whispered, "And now we have to hang out with him." They started heading out towards the main grounds, Li, who was walking like a colonel with a bad case of arthritis, and Julian were in the front, while Meilin and Sakura took up the rear. "And now you want me to hook you two up, so you can have a private chat about the Clow Cards?" Meilin asked, "Am I right?" Sakura nodded slowly, "Hm... Yeah." "Hah!" Meilin giggled, "I knew it." "You've gotta help me." Sakura pleaded, "It's important." "You'll owe me." Meilin taunted. Sakura nodded, then turned her attention to Li, and smiled. "Li's really into the Drill Team thing with that new walk of his." she pointed out. Both girls giggled at that.
*enter song*
The four of them went on many of the Carnival's rides together. The first one they went on, the girls were in the second set of seats, while the boys were in the front. THe girls enjoyed their ride, but the boys didn't seem to do the same. THey went on a "teacup" ride next. Sakura and Meilin sat on the left side of the small door to exit and enter, and Julian and Li sat on the right. The one after that was a roller coaster ride. This time, Sakura sat with Li. The two of them were in the front of the whole ride, followed by Meilin and Julian, who were still enjoying themselves. Sakura looked a little sick, and Li looked a little scared. Next they went on a little train ride. Meilin was first in the cart they were on, then Li, then Sakura, who was laughing with Julian, who was last. They stopped after that ride. They walked past a small cafe and stopped.
"Meilin, are you hungry?" Sakura asked as she passed behind Li. "Not really." she started, "Ow!" she added when Sakura pinched her when she passed behind her, "I mean, yes." "Me too." Sakura added. "Shall we try this place?" Julian suggested. "Uh, ok. Great." Meilin said. "Let's sit outside." Sakura said. Meilin nodded and the two ran off happily, leaving Julian and Li to catch up. Their waiter came up and set glasses filled with water down on the table, on little napkins. "So, this is an unexpected surprise." said a familiar male voice. "What?" Sakura said, looking up from her menu. "Huh?" both Julian and Meilin said, looking up from their menus also. "Tori?" Sakura asked with surprise, "Um, oh, hey. Another new job."
After they'd ordered, Tori brought them their food and Julian dug right in. Meilin, Sakura, and Li watched on, with sweatdrops. "I think Julian and Meilin will love to see the kitchen." Sakura told Tori, as he set down another plate. "Really? Could've fooled me, squirt." Tori said, "Looks to me like Julian is in lunch mode." Everything from Julian's plate that touched his fork, was put into his mouth, and gulped down, piece after piece. "Yeah, well, when he's done, of course." Sakura added. Li looked at her and blinked. "Whatever." Tori stated. Sakura smiled and Li blinked two more times, then his face softened, as if he understood.
"Oh, this is great," Madison laughed from behind some bushes. She was videotaping the group on her camera when Kero popped in front of her viewfinder. "No, it’s not. I’m starving." Kero declared, "I’m a growing beast, you know." Madison took the camera away from her face "Stick with me, and I’ll buy you a whole cake — a pudding cake." Madison told him. "Yeah, cake!" he exclaimed. "Uh-oh." He added, his shades slipping off the end of his nose. "I sense something." Back at the table, Sakura gasped then looked up at Li. Li nodded, "Uh-huh." Sakura stood up. Li was already standing. He took his stand a long time ago.
"Wow." Meilin exclaimed, as she, Julian, and Tori watched a rope start to catch on fire. "What kind of gimmick is that?" Julian asked. "That's no gimmick." Tori stated, "It's on fire." The whole rope then caught on fire. At other places, around the carnival grounds, other things were catching on fire. Tree branches, lamp posts, some grass and roots. Murmured gasps and questions like, "What's going on?" passed through as people stopped to watch and wonder. Madison had stopped taping, and was holding the camera in her hand, and just staring. "There's your Clow Card." Kero said. "A Clow Card." Both Sakura and Li said this. They looked at each other and nodded, then took off running.
"Hey," Tori shouted, "What are are you doing?" He ran after them, trying to catch them. Julian turned around in his chair and looked after them. Being quicker, Sakura and Li burst through the other side of some bushes, right where Madison and Kero were hiding. "Huh! Argh!" Li growled. He pulled out a card. "Time Card!" he yelled, hitting it with the point of the sword. From where he was, a light washed over everything and everyone, freezing them. Sakura stopped running. "Unh. Huh?" she breathed, turning back around. "Sakura. I've stopped time." Li told her, "Now use the Sleep Card." "But--" she began. "Quickly!" Li interrupted. "Right." she said, nodding.
She took out the key and held it up by the string, then let it go, the string disappearing. "O Key of Clow, Power of Magic, Power of Light, surrender the Wand, the force ignite. Release!" After completing the chant and the key gathered the needed power, she grabbed the wand that floated in front of her. She then continued on, "Sleep Card... release and dispel." The nose of the wand his the card, releasing the tiny, fairy girl, Sleep. Sleep swept past Tori, Julian, and Meilin. "Sleep." Kero declared as it passed by him. It traveled until she'd covered the whole grounds. Li then put away the Time Card and everyone fell to the ground from the position they were in. "Good move, Sakura." Kero stated as Madison fell to the ground behind him, "The Sleep Card'll buy ya some time."
"Li, what's wrong?" Sakura questioned sharply. Li was on one knee, leaning against his sword. "The Time Card can use a lot of a sorcerer's power," he groaned, "I need to rest." "You sure?" The branches behind her continued to burn. "Yes. You're gonna have to handle this one alone." he told her. Her grip on the wand became fierce as she pulled out another Card. "Windy Card." she said, twirling the wand, "Release and dispel." She hit the head of the wand against the card. As Windy flew about, she only increased the flames, also making them form a circle around Li and Sakura. Kero flew up and in front of her.
"Sakura. This is Fiery." he told her. "It's a special card." "Kero, where did you come from?" Sakura asked, a little surprised. "We can talk about that later." he said, waving her question off, "Right now, what you have to know, is that since Fiery is one of the 4 elements, it's power is incredibly strong." "You've only got Windy and Water, am I right?" Li asked. "Of the 4 basic elements?" she answered, "Yeah, and I'm guessing this is a problem." Sakura looked around at the fire wall. "It's used Windy to fan the flames." Kero pointed out. Just then, from a certain point in the fire wall, a flame rose higher and higher, taking shape of a young boy in front of them. "Oh, no. The visible form."
Slender body, his legs and other lower parts still being the fire's flame. Long, bright, orange wings emerged from his back. His hair was fire itself, and it fanned about wildly. It wasn't too long though. He had long, pointy ears and a red headgear of some kind on his forehead. Fiery's arms were crossed over it's chest and he wore a frown. "Sakura, you gotta act fast!" Kero yelled. "What about the Water Card?" Li suggested, "Use the Water Card." At Li's suggestion, Fiery tilted its head and smirked. "Time's running out, Sakura." "Hahh!" Sakura breathed, readying the Wand.
"Not so fast, Sakura. Listen up." Kero said, "If Fiery used Windy to spread the flames, it'll use water in the same way." Fiery uncrossed his arms and made a flicking motion. Fire flew between Sakura and Li as he dodged to the side and fell, while she ran, Kero coming after her. "Where are you going?" he asked. "We've gotta get help." "Hello, Sakura. We can use the Cards." "How?" she asked. "Listen," Li said, still straining on his sword, "You can't combine two Attack Cards." "Hey. Just because they haven't been allies, doesn't mean they can't be now." Kero told Li, then turned back to Sakura. "But it's risky, Sakura. You don't know what'll happen if you try."
Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and the images of, Tori, lying on the ground, still asleep, with the fire around him, came into her mind. Also the images of Meilin and Julian hanging over their chairs, and Madison, lying on the ground, her camera beside her, and other people lying around the grounds. "You've captured a lot of Cards. Maybe this is as far as you'll go." Kero said quietly. Sakura's eyes snapped open. "No!" she yelled. She skidded to a halt, then turned back around. "Not yet." she said, dodging more of Fiery's throws. "I'm a Cardcaptor, Kero, and I'm gonna finish what I set out to do." She stopped completely and held the Windy and Water Cards in her hands.
"My dream -- maybe this was the test I was expecting." She flipped up the two Cards and began. "Windy... Water... release and dispel." The Cards landed on top of each other as the head of the Wand came down on them. Windy came first, closely followed by Water. The two of them, back to back, flying together. "I don't believe it." Li said in disbelief, "It's working." Fiery saw this and made a giant ball of fire, aimed at the 2 elements, and fired it. It covered them. Sakura held the Wand tighter and glared up. Windy pushed the fire back, breaking through.
Fiery's mouth widened as Water and Windy circled around the base. Windy and Water worked their way up the flame and encircled Fiery, weakening him. As Water had made its way upwards, it had put out the flame that kept Fiery upright, and he started to fall. Halfway down, Kero shouted, "Now!" As Fiery hit the ground, Sakura rushed forward and held the Wand over her head. "Fiery Card. Return to your power confined." The empty card appeared under the nose of the wand and began to suck up Fiery. When Fiery was absorbed completely, the Clow Card, that now held it, fell to the ground.
"Wow." Li gasped, looking at the Card. Sakura bent and picked it up. All fires that were there were now gone. "We did it." Sakura said. "Way to go, Sakura." Kero congratulated. Sakura nodded. When Kero himself lit up with fire, Sakura gave a startled, "What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong." Kero said, now being outlined by a golden light, "The energy governing my being is the Sun. By capturing the Fiery Card, you have enabled me to begin my retransformation." "And you're still here. You haven't left me." Sakura exclaimed. "Is that what you were worried about?" Kero laughed, "Hmm. Sakura. I'm still the Keroberos you all know and love, just with some of my power back."
Li walked up to them. "You're still just a stuffed animal." he concluded. Sakura sweatdropped as Kero made a fuss, "Hey, kid, I dare you to say that again!" "Now come on you two." Sakura pleaded. "I'll take that dare." Li said. "Stuffed animal, stuffed animal, stuffed animal--" he began chanting, pointing his finger at Kero. "You know who I am, huh?" Kero said. "Come on," Li threatened, "I'm not afraid of you." While they continued to argue, Miss Mackenzie watched on from a nearby bridge, her long brown hair and coat, blowing in the wind. She was wearing shades and had a smile on her face. She was just like the woman in Sakura's dream.
It's now night, and everyone's forgotten about the earlier incident, and are enjoying themselves. Madison was standing by a wall, Kero on her shoulder. She was looking up at the huge ferris wheel. "I can't believe I missed taping another Card capture, Kero." she said. Kero flew off her shoulder. "Now where on Earth are you going?" she asked. "I gotta little business to attend to." he answered. "Oh." she sighed. Meilin and Li were in one of the cars for the ferris wheel. "No." Meilin cried softly, "One of the most important Cards and you're telling me I missed it?" "Mm-hmm" Li said, nodding. "What a drag." she sighed. Just then, the car that held Julian and Sakura moved in front of Li and Meilin's as the wheel turned. Both Li and Meilin looked over at them.
"Oh, I knew it." Meilin exclaimed, "I knew she was up to something. She planned this, didn't she?" While Meilin talked, a a blush made its way across Li's face as he watched Sakura. He shook his head, but the blush still remained. "So, you still haven't said what's on your mind." Julian was saying over in their car. "Want to chat? You need some advice about something." "Actually," Sakura said, "it's all kind of worked out." "That's good." Julian said, smiling. "Ahh..." Sakura gasped, standing up and putting her hands against the window of the car, looking outside. "Hey, it's snowing." Julian pointed out, "That's cool." "Yeah," sakura sighed, "Really cool."
Above them, Kero was flying around, spreading sparkles down below him. "The guardian beast of the Seal is about to make a comeback. Yoo-hoo!" he shouted, soaring higher. Madison was standing somewhere on the grounds and looking up at the sky, smiling. Tori, who was till working, had stopped and was also looking upwards. Li and Meilin, in the car, were looking down and beyond the sparkles. Meilin was grinning happily. The whole carnival ground was lit up by Kero's golden sparkles. Sakura was still looking out of the window. Her smile was exquisite. She blinked and raised her head a little, her green eyes sparkling.
This episode was kool. The battle was awesome and so was the carnival! Originally it wasn't drill team tryout, I think it was simply gym. Also, the symbol Sakura drew in the dirt was a japanese character. Hmm, wasn't Nelvana's original intention to keep kids from seeing japanese related things like words or characters? Hmmmm . . .
Ceaira's Rating
-*****
Faita's Rating
-
Kokkei's Rating
-****
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