Author’s Note (A/N): Chapter’s a little late. I had bunches of work this week, so I didn’t have much time. Enjoy!
Shadow meets with the rest of the rulers and they invade Altarrin’s mansion to rescue Sakrua! Yay! Sakura has some odd dream, and then she’s rescued and we leave them with Eriol carrying Sakura towards Shadow’s castle.
by Shadowpheonix
“Shadow! We need some help!” Sigma cried as he saw Shadow approach.
“Don’t worry about it!” Shadow yelled, taking out the Fly Card. “Fly!” Dark wings sprouted from his back as he took flight. “Keroberos! Yue! Sakura is with Eriol, go find him if you want to see her!”
Kero and Yue turned to see Shadow coming to them. The exchanged glances and flew off in Eriol’s direction, sensing his aura.
“ Altarrin!” Shadow cried as the watery cyclone disappeared.
“Shadow! How dare you attack me? You will pay!” Altarrin yelled flying at full speed towards Shadow.
Immediately, Shadow’s staff appeared in his hand along with one of his Cards. “Dark!” he yelled, infusing the card with Dark energy from his Realm.
Darkness enveloped Shadow, surrounding him and Altarrin. “You’re on my ground, Altarrin, you’ll play by my rules!”
“I’ve broken all rules known to man. Yours will be no different!” Altarrin shouted as a glowing aura surrounded him. Shadow disappeared into the dark, completely cloaked and unseen. “Where are you? Come out and fight!”
“Gladly!” Shadow yelled, suddenly behind Altarrin with a sword to his throat. Altarrin faded out of existence and reappeared three feet in front of Shadow.
“You can’t beat me like that!” Altarrin cried, lashing out with his whip. Shadow weaved around each of Altarrin’s strokes, making his way to Altarrin. He formed a dark sword again and swung it at Altarrin. The sword sliced through the air where Altarrin had been and Altarrin reappeared behind Shadow. “That’s it!” Altarrin yelled, disappearing again.
Shadow called Dark back into its card. He looked around, trying to find where Altarrin had gone.
“Shadow! Altarrin went inside!” Tyrell yelled, pointing to the mansion.
“Aaaahhh!” they heard Solana scream from inside. Suddenly, the mansion burst into flames and Solana, Candice, and Abner appeared, carrying with them the hostages.
“Are you ok?” Shadow asked as the three of them landed a few feet away from him.
“We’re fine,” Solana said, laying Meiling next to a tree and turning to help Li off Zephyr. “Did we get everyone out?”
“Yes, everyone’s safe. Now we can take down Altarrin,” Candice said. Magical auras surrounded each of the rulers, including Shadow. They formed a semicircle and pooled their energies again. The invisible pool of energy grew as each of the rulers added his or her energy to it.
“Let’s finish him!” Tyrell yelled, sucking energy from the pool and unleashing it at Altarrin’s burning mansion.
“Wait!” Shadow cried too late. The mansion crumbled to pieces as the energy hit, leaving nothing but a singed ring on the ground.
Everyone turned to look at Shadow, cutting off the flow of energy from their respective Spheres. “Why?” Solana asked.
Suddenly, Altarrin shot up from the ground, carrying in his hands an unconscious figure. Shadow smiled as Altarrin landed next to a dark stream and put Lloyd down. “Never mind. We have to take care of Altarrin now,” Shadow said, adding more Dark energy to the pool.
The other rulers did the same, grabbing as much energy as they could and adding it to the pool. Each ruler filled themselves with this mix of energy and prepared for Altarrin’s assault. “We’ll end this today!” Sigma cried as he turned to Altarrin.
Eriol laid Sakura down in Shadow’s castle. He started back over to his room, leaving Sakura sleeping peacefully by herself.
Suddenly, Sakura sat up in her bed and looked around. “Eriol? Where am I?”
“You’re safe now. We rescued you from Altarrin,” Eriol said as Kero and Yue appeared in the doorway.
“Sakura! Are you ok?” Kero yelled, landing on Sakura’s bed.
“I think so,” Sakura said, unable to remember exactly what had knocked her out. Let’s see… I was in the bathroom and… Altarrin appeared, yelling at me for being loud. Then… Then what? Oh! “Where’s Li?” Sakura asked frantically.
“I don’t know. We left after saving you, but Candice, the Fire ruler, Solana, the Wind ruler, and Abner, the Light ruler, went after them. They should be safe,” Eriol said in a calm inducing voice.
Sakura sighed, relieved. “But where’s Shadow? Where is everyone?”
“They’re still fighting Altarrin. They wanted to finish him off,” Eriol explained.
“You have to take me back to them!” Sakura said, staggering out of bed.
“Sakura, you can’t go! You don’t have enough strength!” Kero yelled, grabbing Sakura’s hand.
“No! I have to see them!” Sakura yelled, pulling her hand away from Kero and staggering to the door. A moment later, she fell to the ground, unable to remain standing.
“Kero’s right,” Yue said. “You need to rest. We’ll go back and bring them here.”
Eriol nodded when Sakura looked up at him. “Fine, I’ll rest. Promise me they’re ok.”
“They’ll be fine. I promise,” Eriol said, stepping through the door. “ Yue, you and Keroberos stay here to guard Sakura.”
Kero lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'> and Yue nodded, helping Sakura back to her bed.
Eriol lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'> walked away from Sakura and met Ruby and Spinel as he left the castle. “How’s Sakura?” they asked.
“She’s awake. I had Keroberos and Yue look after her. She wanted me to bring her friends to her. Let’s go get them,” Eriol said.
Ruby and Spinel followed their master as he walked back towards the battle, determined to reunite Sakura and her friends. Fifteen minutes later, they arrived and saw a heavily armored Altarrin floating in the air with a large barrier around him.
Li lay on the floor, leaning against a tree with Meiling and Tomoyo close by. Eriol quickly walked over to see if they were ok, and decided to help the group. “Ruby, you and Spinel set up some shields. I’ll see what I can do.”
“ Eriol!” Sigma cried, noticing Eriol.
“What can I do to help?” Eriol asked.
“Not much. Try adding some of your magic to this pool. Maybe it will help,” Sigma said, pulling an enormous amount of energy from the pool while adding to it. He hurled the mixture of energy at the ground in front of Altarrin, creating a large volcano spewing lava and hot soot at Altarrin.
“Fools! You cannot defeat me! I am all-powerful!” Altarrin cried, hovering in the smoke and soot.
Eriol stepped up to the invisible pool of energy and released his staff, trying to add his own magical powers to the pool.
“Stop!” Shadow cried as Eriol started channeling his magical powers into the pool. Immediately, Eriol stopped and stared at Shadow who landed a few feet from him. “We can’t mix these energies like this. If you want to help, strengthen my Cards for me, but you can’t add your power to ours, not like that, at least.”
Eriol nodded and surrounded Shadow’s Cards in Clow’s ancient magic, strengthening them as much as he could. “Good luck,” Eriol said as Shadow flew back into the sky to face Altarrin.
Shadow approached Altarrin, taking out three Cards as he did so. “Watery! Freeze! Windy!” he cried, infusing all three of them with a mixture of energy he pulled from the pool. The Cards sprang with devastating force towards Altarrin, creating a frozen cyclone of water around Altarrin and encaging him.
A moment later, Altarrin shattered the ice. “Extalidor!” he yelled. A large, black pegasus approached him. He mounted it and thrust out his hand, creating a large ball of energy in one hand and hurling it towards the sky.
The ball of energy exploded ten feet above Altarrin and created large, swirling clouds. From the center of the cloud, creatures of all shapes and sizes appeared, some landing on the ground, while others remained in the air. “You will fall against me!” Altarrin yelled from atop his pegasus.
The rulers gaped at the creatures appearing everywhere. Quickly, they poured more energy into their pool and pulled out large amounts of the mixed energy. They hurled their energy at the creatures, each creating different catastrophes to destroy them.
“You can’t win! I have an infinite amount of creatures!” Altarrin cried, forming a large sword in his hand. He reined his pegasus towards Shadow and slashed wildly in front of him, barely missing Shadow.
Shadow jumped out of the way and landed next to the other rulers. “We can’t just fight like this. There has to be a better way,” Shadow said. “Anyone have an idea?”
“I do,” Candice said with a fiery aura around her. “We stand and fight! Some of us aren’t cowards!”
“I’d rather be an intelligent coward and live than be a mindless hero and die. We can’t win. We have to regroup,” Shadow said.
“Shadow’s right, Candice,” Abner said from behind the two of them. “We can’t win against all of these. The best we can do is defend ourselves. We should try to get back to Shadow’s castle.”
Grudgingly, Candice nodded and let Abner lead her away. She shot a hateful look at Shadow and pulled her hand away from Abner. Shadow stared after her and motioned for the rest of the rulers to follow.
Eriol followed the seven rulers over to Li, Tomoyo, and Meiling. “Eriol, can I get Spinel to help carry Tomoyo?” Sigma asked, picking up Li. Eriol nodded and led Spinel over to Tomoyo. He gently lifted her onto Spinel and made sure she was safe. Abner walked over to Elaine and picked her up as Matriana helped Meiling.
“Alright, let’s go,” Shadow said. “Stick together. We have to keep this shield up.”
Hordes of monsters followed the quickly moving rulers. Suddenly, creatures began to appear in front of them. The rulers unleashed different stored up energies, causing the creatures to sink into the floor, burst into flame, be swept up in a gust of wind, or be struck by thunder. The party continued towards Shadow’s castle, running frantically to reach it in time.
The outline of Shadow’s castle loomed in the distance, barely distinguishable. Flying creatures circled it as land based creatures beat on the door. Shadow pulled a large amount of energy from the Dark Sphere, infusing his Cards with it. “Fiery!” he yelled.
Fiery sprang from its Card. It struck each of the creatures, disintegrating them on contact. “Let’s go!” Shadow cried as Fiery returned to its Card.
The ten of them, along with Li, Meiling, Elaine, and Tomoyo, darted through the opening double doors to the castle. As soon as everyone was inside, Shadow slammed the door shut and pulled more energy from his Power Sphere. “Lock!” he yelled. “There, that should keep them out.”
“Let’s get everybody settled. Then we can go to my library and do some research. Maybe there’s some way to defeat Altarrin.”
Every conscious person nodded grimly, feeling rather defeated. A moment later, Sakura came down the stairs. “What’s wrong? Isn’t everyone safe?”
“We need to find some way to defeat Altarrin. I’ll let Sigma explain to you the history of the Realms. In the meantime, I’m going to find everyone a room. Would any of you like something to eat or drink?” Shadow asked.
“I’ll have some tea,” Abner said, taking a seat. “Would anyone like to join me?”
Solana, Candice, Eriol, Sigma, Matriana and Tyrell all nodded, taking their seats and setting down the people they were carrying, if any. Shadow went to get some tea. He returned with a large teapot and thirteen teacups. “Sakura, are you going to have tea with us?”
“But, Shadow, what about Li? Aren’t you going to wake them up?” Sakura asked, motioning to her unconscious friends.
“They’ll wake up in a bit. Do you want some tea?”
“Sure. Thank you, Shadow,” Sakura said, sitting down at the table. Shadow poured nine cups of tea for the nine of them. A moment later, Li, Tomoyo, and Meiling woke up with a groan.
“ Wh-where am I?” Li asked, opening his eyes and still seeing very little. Shadow lit the candles in the room with a flicker of his hand and walked over to Li.
“You’re safe now. I’m Shadow, pleased to meet you,” Shadow said, offering Li his hand.
Li took Shadow’s hand and got up drowsily. “What happened? We were looking for your castle when… Tomoyo, are you ok?”
“I’m fine,” Tomoyo said, smiling cheerily as Eriol helped her up.
“Last thing I remember, your body was taken over by someone and you started attacking me and Elaine. After that, you called some name and a black flying horse appeared, knocking me out after I got on it.”
Tomoyo lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'> stared at Li for a while, not sure exactly what he was talking about. “I’m sorry, Li.”
“You didn’t mean it. Meiling!” Li cried, noticing his cousin waking up on the couch.
“Good morning, Li. What’s going on?”
“You were brainwashed by Altarrin and started attacking me,” Sigma said, coming into the room. “Then, you ran off and we found you held prisoner by Altarrin.”
“What? Where are we now?”
“We’re in Shadow’s castle, where we wanted to go,” Tomoyo said. “Don’t worry, my body was taken over too.”
Just then, Elaine woke up and stared at the strangers in the room. “What are you doing here? Where am I? Who are you?” she asked.
“Good to see you again, Elaine,” Abner said from behind her.
“ Aaaaahhh!” Elaine screamed, turning to her father. “H-how did you find me?”
“You were taken prisoner by Altarrin as well as these three. I assume you came here to run away from me,” Abner said.
“I-I’m sorry. I just didn’t want you to… to be disappointed in me, so I came here to test my strength. When I realized I wasn’t strong enough, I couldn’t find the Portal to return. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“I’m just glad you’re safe. Now, let’s have some tea.”
The four, newly awakened guests walked into the dining room and sat around the table, each with a cup of tea already poured for them. “We’ll give you a thorough explanation when we’ve all had something to eat,” Shadow said, going to the kitchen. “Are there any requests for dinner?”
Everyone shouted their requests at Shadow who carefully took mental notes of what each person wanted. “Make sure you don’t poison it!” Candice yelled as Shadow disappeared into the kitchen. A second later, the candles in the kitchen flickered on and the group could hear sounds of cooking.
“Well, while he’s cooking, let’s have a conversation,” Abner said.
The twelve of them talked cheerfully, breaking off into separate conversations. Sakura, Li, Tomoyo, Meiling, Sigma, and Elaine all talked together while the rest of them discussed plans of attack.
“I’m glad everyone is getting along,” Shadow said with a large tray in his hands. “But we really should start eating before the food gets cold.”
Everyone turned to look at Shadow. When they saw the beautifully prepared food he held, they smiled and made way for him. They each muttered a ‘thank you’ as what they ordered was set in front of them and began to eat.
“You made this?” Sigma asked after he took a bite. “This is absolutely incredible!”
“Thank you,” Shadow said as he finished serving everyone.
“Shadow, why did you give me your Anti-ring?” Sakura asked, having been told the Realms’ history before dinner.
“You needed it. Keep it until I ask for it again.”
“So, does anyone have any ideas about Altarrin?” Tyrell asked.
“We can check my library when we’ve finished eating. I’m sure there’s some information about the Summoner in there,” Shadow replied, finishing his meal and heading towards the kitchen to clean up. “When you’re done with your meal, put the dishes in the sink. I’ll be in the library. It’s near the entrance.”
After Shadow disappeared, everyone quickly finished their food. Sakura went over to Li and smile cheerfully. “I’m glad you’re okay. Let’s go help them.”
“S-sure,” Li said, blushing furiously.
Here we go again, lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'> Tomoyo thought, smiling. She quickly pulled out her camera and stayed behind Li and Sakura, hoping they wouldn’t notice.
“Tomoyo, you really should just leave them alone,” Meiling whispered from behind her.
“It’s more fun this way. Sakura will thank me for it later,” Tomoyo replied, quietly following Sakura.
The four of them walked into the library and found Shadow sitting at a table with a large book. “Hello, Sakura. Are you done eating?”
“I’m done. Thank you for the food, Shadow,” she said. “Is there any way we can help?”
“You can search through the books on the shelves if you’d like,” Shadow said, motioning to the many tall shelves in the library. “If you find anything, let me know.”
Sakura stared at the books for a while, unsure how to help. Li walked over to a shelf and took from it a small book entitled, The Days of Dread. He quickly scanned through the book and decided that it had nothing to do with the war.
“After you’ve looked at a book, put it in a pile somewhere and look at a different one,” Shadow instructed without looking up from his reading.
Sakura went over to help Li. She found a book called Powers at Play and searched through it for information. The only reference to the war in the book told her nothing that she did not already know. She set the book aside and took another from the shelf.
A few minutes later, the rest of the rulers walked in and started searching through books without a word. Eriol followed after them, along with Kero, Yue, Suppi, and Nakuru, in her false form for once. Elaine came in a while later and quietly whispered something to her father before leaving again.
“Ok, I think we can stop for today. It’s getting late,” Shadow said after a couple hours. A few large stacks of books covered the tables in the library. “Let’s put those books against the wall somewhere. We don’t want them to get mixed up with books we haven’t looked at yet.”
Everyone went over to the stacks and grabbed some books, placing them against the only bare wall in the library. When they were done, Shadow got up and led them all to their rooms.
Li and Eriol shared a room, while Sakura, Tomoyo, and Meiling shared a room across from them. Yue and Kero had a room next to Sakura’s and Eriol’s guardians shared a room across the hall. The rulers each had their own rooms in a different wing of the castle. After Shadow saw them all to their rooms, he walked downstairs and disappeared into a dark hallway.
“Sakura,” Meiling said. “Shadow never really hurt you, did he?”
“No, he never really hurt me. Sometimes he’ll get mad at me, but I never got too hurt. I think Shadow’s pretty nice.”
“That’s good. He’s a great cook. I hope we go home soon,” Meiling said, dozing off.
“Good night, Meiling. Good night, Tomoyo,” Sakura said as she let herself fall asleep.
“Good night, Sakura,” Tomoyo said, falling asleep as well.
The next morning the three of them woke up from a peaceful sleep. They found their way to the dimly lit dining room and met Shadow, preparing pancakes for everyone. “Good morning,” he said when they approached.
“Good morning,” they each replied.
“Why are you awake so early? You usually sleep in, Sakura.”
Sakura had no answer for him and so, kept quiet. “Is this our breakfast?” she asked after a while.
“It’s part of it. Bacon and eggs are on the way. You can start eating if you’re hungry,” Shadow said, disappearing into the kitchen.
Sakura, Tomoyo, and Meiling sat down at the table to start their breakfast. Partway through the first pancake, Li and Eriol arrived with Kero and Suppi. “Good morning, Li,” Sakura said. “Good morning, Eriol, Spinel, Kero.”
“Good morning, Sakura,” Kero replied, finding a plate of pancakes and pouring for himself a large amount of maple syrup.
Li sat down next to Sakura and poured some syrup on his pancakes. Soon, the rulers started coming into the kitchen. Sigma came first, grumbling about the Realm’s darkness, followed by Abner and Elaine. A little while afterwards, Candice and Matriana came, talking like old friends. At that time, Shadow came out with dishes of bacon and eggs and was greeted by a contemptuous look by Candice.
“Enjoy your breakfast,” he said, stepping into the darkness and disappearing from sight.
“I really don’t like him,” Candice said as Tyrell and Solana came in, discussing some plans they had thought up in the night.
“But you know that won’t work. There’s absolutely no way we can just attack him like that. I still say we lure him into a trap,” Tyrell said.
“That won’t work either! He’s too smart for that. I’m sure we can just attack him. After all, that’s what we did with the Spirits that he summoned, right?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t very old then,” Tyrell replied.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what we did,” Solana said insistently.
Sakura finished her breakfast and put her plates in the sink. Well, I guess I should head back to the library to help Shadow. I bet that’s where he went.
“Sakura,” Li said, coming into the kitchen.
“Yes?” Sakura asked, smiling at Li.
“I… You… umm…”
“What is it?” Sakura asked, a little concerned.
“I…”
“Hey, kid! Get out of the way!” Kero yelled with his dishes. “That was a good breakfast, wasn’t it?” he said to Sakura.
“Yes. We should go thank Shadow,” Sakura said smiling. “Let’s go see if he’s in the library. Do you want to come, Li?”
“Ok,” he said, following behind Sakura and Kero.
“Sakura, we need to find a way to get back home. We can’t just stay here forever.”
“But we can’t just leave. We should help Shadow and the other rulers beat Altarrin first. Besides, if we don’t beat Altarrin, we can’t get out of the castle anyways.”
“Fine, we can take some time to help them. Be careful though. Shadow has an odd aura around him. It seems familiar somehow.”
“I thought so too, but I think it might just be his weird Clow Cards. Kero, did you know there were other Clow Cards?”
“There aren’t other Clow Cards. I don’t know where he got them, but I know that Clow didn’t make them,” Kero replied. “Hey kid, do you have any idea where these other Cards are coming from?”
“No, I don’t. I’ve never heard anything about a different type of Clow Card. The only ones I have any knowledge of are the ones that Sakura has. It seems like Shadow has exactly the same thing, but a little different. And I agree, he does have an odd aura around him. I feel… I’m not sure exactly how. It’s not just familiar. It’s more like I know him very well. I don’t know how to explain it,” Li explained, suddenly deep in thought.
“Kero, when I asked him where he got his cards, he said that he got half of them the same way I got them, and the other half he got from me. Does that make any sense to you?”
“Have you ever met him before?” Kero asked suspiciously.
“No, I haven’t. But his aura does still feel very familiar. Is it possible that someone copied the Clow Cards and gave them to him?”
“I really don’t think so. The only person that could copy the Clow Cards would be Clow himself. You could probably make copies of the Sakura Cards that you have, but it would take a lot of magic, and I don’t think that you have enough to copy all of them,” Kero replied.
The three of them arrived at the library and stepped inside to find Shadow sitting at a table and searching through another large book. “Good morning, Keroberos,” Shadow greeted when they entered.
“Thank you for the meal,” Sakura said with a cheerful smile. “Can we help you search again?”
“Sure, go ahead. Just remember to put the books that you’ve looked through in the pile. If you find any that you think could help, just leave it on one of the tables.”
Sakura and Li walked over to a shelf and started looking through books. Meanwhile, Kero floated over to Shadow and stared at him for a while.
“What’s wrong, Keroberos? What do you feel from me?” Shadow asked in a quiet, low voice.
“Who are you?” Kero asked, not taking his eyes away from Shadow.
“I am Shadow, the ruler of this Realm. You know that by now, Keroberos.”
Kero continued to stare at Shadow for a while before floating out the door and back to his room. Shadow stared at him as he left and returned to his book, searching through it again for information on the Summoner.
Well, that’s this chapter. Things will be drawing to a close soon. Here’s something to think about.
Li’s back with Sakura! Well, that makes things more interesting and puts this back into the ‘romance’ category.
Remember that the castle is still under attack. If you’re wondering why they can’t just attack through it, remember what happened in the Lock Card episode. Meiling couldn’t break out through the window. Also, Shadow did strengthen Lock with his magic, so…
Hmm… I wonder what they will find in the books, if anything.
Why did Kero stare at Shadow like that? Where is he going now? How confusing…
Ok, that’s all for now. I hope someone solves my challenge. More is being revealed!
Challenge to the readers: Here is a challenge for all you mystery fans: What's up with Shadow? Why does he claim to care so much about Sakura, but show it in such an odd way? What's does he really want with Sakura? Be the first to email me the correct answer to this question, and I’ll post your name at the end of the fic.