Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Symbiote ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Symbiote

By Charles Xavier

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Chapter Three

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Kero screamed, devastated that he had only been an inch away from defeating the last level of ‘Maximum Carnage’. As ‘Game Over’ flashed on the screen, he couldn’t help but break down in tears. It had been a sad day for him indeed.

“I spent the whole afternoon trying to beat this game!” he whined. “Why does it have to be so hard and repetitive?”

“Never mind, Kero-chan. It’s only a game.” said Sakura, hiding her giggles. “You can try again tomorrow.”

Just then, the telephone rang.

“Who could be calling at this late hour?” said Kero.

“Hello?” Sakura picked up the phone, to receive no reply. “Hello…?”

“Sakura-chan!” came a frightened voice. “You have to help Meiling-chan! Something’s happened to her! She’s turned into something…”

The short conversation was cut off when a malicious hiss was heard.

“Tomoyo-chan?” Sakura cried.

“I’m sorry, Sakura.” the voice of Meiling answered. “I’m afraid Tomoyo-chan is not available to take your call right now. Would you like to leave a message?”

“What have you done to her?”

“She’s fine. She’s just ‘hanging around’, enjoying the lovely view we’re having here.” she sniggered mockingly. “Such a pretty place at this old tower…where if I recall, and if I’m not mistaken, you and Syaoran had a little tête-à-tête moment together!”

“Meiling…please let go of her.”

“Why not get her yourself? She’s waiting right here for you, desperately. And if you feel like it…why not bring Syaoran along? I’m sure we’ll have such a ball.” Meiling let out a terrifying cackle that sounded far from anything resembling human. “Bye, bye.”

She hung up the phone, leaving Sakura sweat dropping in distress. She knew that Tomoyo’s life was likely at stake. Without a minute to loose, she frantically dialed Syaoran’s phone, begging him to pick up immediately.

“Hello?”

“Syaoran! You have to help! Tomoyo-chan is in danger!”

XXX

The tower hadn’t been repaired much since the last incident. Regardless, Sakura and Syaroan were willing to risk life and limb to save their friend. Hearing Tomoyo’s cries, they rushed faster to her rescue.

“I don’t know what’s happened to Meiling.” said Syaoran. “But I know she’s going to do something bad if we don’t find her soon!”

“Hang on!” Sakura sped up the pace as they flew higher up to the enclosed top of the tower, where they were greeted by nothing but grimy cobwebs and a giant bell. “Tomoyo-chan!”

It was a spider’s nest, a dreadful vision extracted from an arachnophobic nightmare. Meiling was nowhere to be seen, but Sakura heard Tomoyo’s voice crying not far away.

“Tomoyo-chan!” Sakura found her with luck, unhurt. But she was trapped, mummified completely in webs and unable to lift a finger. “Stay still! We’ll get you out of here quickly!”

“Sakura-chan, you have to save Meiling-chan!” Tomoyo cried. “She’s not herself! I think something is controlling her!”

“What…?”

“I had that feeling too!” said Syaoran.

But they were disturbed when a blood-curdling shriek broke out of nowhere. Sakura gripped her staff, while Syaoran raised his sword. Silence fell upon them…but Syaoran couldn’t help notice the webs shaking at the corner of his eyes. Something was definitely lurking, and it didn’t sound afraid to pounce at any given second. Tomoyo shut her eyes tight, wishing that no one would get hurt…or even worse, killed.

“Syaoran, over there!” claimed Sakura, sure that she had seen something shift within the shadows. She could have sworn it wasn’t her mind playing cruel tricks.

Syaoran kept close guard, ready to take on whatever was drawing close. A small crust from the ceiling dropped to his shoulder…and just before he could lift his head, a pair of sharpened claws grappled his head. The black creature dropped down and carried Syaoran off his feet like prey. Sakura leapt fiercely to catch him…but failed.

“Let go of me!” Syaoran shouted, swinging his sword aimlessly while the creature openly grinned. Swinging its thread of web, it hurled Syaoran across the tower, smashing him against the wall without mercy.

“Sorry, Syaoran.” the creature spoke, unsympathetically. “But they always say. If you want something done right, you got to do it yourself.”

Sakura was shaking before the creature as it descended on its fours, crawling menacingly towards her.

“Meiling…?” she murmured, hoping it wasn’t true.

The creature grinned again. Its gruesome teeth craving to taste first blood. Its venomous eyes hungry for sweet revenge. Its head transformed…unveiling its true face that forced Sakura to shake her head in disbelief.

“Bingo!” Meiling winked. “Looks like the penguin girl’s finally figured it out!”

Sakura cowered back until she hit the wall.

“What’s the matter? Cat caught your tongue?” Meiling taunted her. “Are you going to cry and wet your panties now? Boo-hoo! Wouldn’t that be an embarrassing sight for Syaoran!” she continued, getting rapidly worse. “You’re kitty litter compared to him! You can’t even stand up to your friends because you have to be so soft and fragile. A goody little two shoes…right?”

“Stop it!” An aggravated Sakura shouted. “Stop it or else I’ll…”

“…or else you’ll hurt me? Bring it on, bitch.”

Sakura took out her Clow Card, ready to make her move and unleash its power. But as deceitful as Meiling had become, she offered her no chance. A slick shot of her web made Sakura lose concentration when it snatched her staff out of her hands. And before she realized, it was sweetly wrapped in Meiling’s claws.

Sakura was left virtually defenseless.

“Oops! Too slow!” laughed Meiling, her voice dropping deeper as her beastly side gradually swallowed her up. “Looks like I’m going to have some fun with you tonight!”

“Run, Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo screamed.

Sakura had no intention to. And unfortunately, she was webbed against the wall before she could avoid another attack. Meiling squeezed the staff firmly in her hands, overshadowing her victim. She knew that she was thoroughly going to enjoy beating Sakura to a pulp.

“Meiling! You don’t have to do this!” Sakura cried in tears.

But her sobbing only made Meiling chuckle with sheer ecstasy. “Oh, but I do. It makes me feel good.” her face disappeared beneath the darkness that had consumed her, morphing back into its hideous and wicked form.

Tomoyo shut her eyes again, unable to ignore the harrowing screams from Sakura, taking one punishment at a time. Syaroan was not deaf to hear her agony either. He took up his sword and rose to his feet…

“Oh! My spider sense is tingling!” Meiling remarked sadistically. She gripped Sakura’s jaw, spreading her drool across her face soaked with her snakelike tongue. “Do you feel it, Sakura? Do you feel how much pain you’ve made a girl suffer? You knew well enough Syaoran was truly destined to take my hand in marriage! But no…you had to tread all over it and break a girl’s heart, shattering everything she’d cherished her whole life! And that, I’m glad to say, is unforgivable.”

Hardly awake to take any more beatings, Sakura was about to accept her sorrowful defeat. But luck came her way, when Syaroan readied his sword behind Meiling.

“Huh?” Meiling sensed something fast. Her hand caught the blade before it could cut her. Syaoran struggled, but he was no match to her strong resistance. “Tsk, tsk, tsk! It’s not very nice to go backstabbing somebody like that, is it?”

Syaoran tried to attack again with a kick in her face to throw her off guard. Meiling, unimpressed by his feeble attempt, snatched the sword out of his hands. She swung her arm at him, making him fall back to knock the tower bell with a hard landing. The deafening sound echoed throughout the tower.

A devilish cry burst out from Meiling as she covered her ears.

Sakura took this chance to free herself from her webs. With her remaining strength, she ripped her way out of her gooey mess. Reclaiming her staff dropped by Meiling, she rushed to Tomoyo’s aid.

“Hold still, Tomoyo-chan!” Sakura cut through the thick webs, releasing her friend.

“Look!” Tomoyo pointed at Meiling, her head detaching from the evil creature that was solely bound to her. Syaoran was continuously striking the bell, having learned its significant weakness.

“Sakura, keep ringing the bell!” Syaoran ordered.

Sakura ran to help, standing opposite him and swinging the bell the other direction. The noise was vastly overwhelming. ‘It’ was painfully challenged to hold on, but no matter how determined it was, its tendrils on its host were starting to slip. Sakura and Syaoran struck the bell harder with extreme force, driving ‘it’ to slowly separate itself from Meiling’s exposed body. Hence, powerless to cling onto its precious friend any longer, ‘it’ ultimately let her go.

Meiling collapsed to the floor, out cold from a vicious fight.

Nobody was celebrating just yet, for ‘it’ was far from surrendering. ‘It’ suddenly grew itself, expanding to a monstrous size that made Sakura and Syaoran more overwhelmed. A motionless Sakura felt her heart beat faster as ‘it’ let open a vile hiss. She wasn’t quick enough to find one of its tendrils slithering up her leg…

“Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo shouted.

‘It’ hauled her to the ground ferociously, dragging her over to its gaping mouth to become its new friend. Sakura fought to shake away its pull on her, but it was useless. ‘It’ simply refused to let go.

“God of Fire! Answer my call!” Syaoran cast the magic incantation and a wave of fire engulfed ‘it’ at once. ‘It’ unleashed another blood-curdling shriek, releasing Sakura from its tendrils as it was set alight into a burst of flames. Everyone watched with alarm when ‘it’ slowly-very slowly- shriveled up, eventually shrinking smaller and smaller…until nothing remained.

Victorious at last, Syaoran fell back with utter relief. “What was that thing?”

Sakura watched Tomoyo nurse Meiling, covering a blanket over her shivering body. To be honest, she hadn’t the slightest clue to answer his question. All that mattered now was that ‘it’ had finally been beaten.

…

Author’s Note: Yes, I’m sure the original Venom could have put up with a much tougher fight. Though I wanted to be more simplistic here than in the comics, as this fanfic is not meant to be long. So my apologies to anyone who felt Venom was a little wimpy.

Please review, otherwise! Next chapter’s going to be the end!