Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ The Enemy Revealed ❯ Eye of the Storm ( Chapter 13 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Very, very special thanks to Silverlight for coming up with the title for this chapter :o)

The Enemy Revealed
Chapter 13: Eye of the Storm

"Yatta!" Tomoyo cried as the tornado completely disappeared, leaving no sign of the Master Cybers.

Beaming, Sakura turned to Syaoran. "We did it, Syaoran-kun!" she said happily. Before the Chinese magician could react, the Cardmistress grabbed both his hands and spun him around happily.

Brandon snickered at the sight of Syaoran's red face, but his moment of amusement was short-lived as Ready grabbed his hands and did the same thing to him.

"Kawaii!" Tomoyo smiled and filmed the whole scene. "Sakura-chan and her true love are doing the dance of happiness, and so are Ready-chan and Darque-kun." At her side, Meiling and Maya watched everything with smiles on their faces.

The fallen Guardians stirred. Kerberos lifted his head up from under Lupe. "Um, what did we miss?"

The muzzle on her snout gone, Lupe got off Kerberos. "Are you all right, Kerberos?" she asked.

Kerberos got up on all fours. "I'll live." He looked around. "When I get my paws on those stinkin' Masters..."

"Hey, no worries, Kerberos!" O.G. said as he approached the Sun Guardian. "The kids destroyed those jerks."

Yue, Spinel Sun, Ruby Moon, and Pegasus Uni picked themselves up and walked towards the other Guardians. "The kids destroyed the Masters?" Ruby Moon asked.

"That's what I said," O.G. said. "They gave them their most powerful attacks, and BOOM, no more Masters."

"Is my mistress all right?" Yue asked.

"See for yourself," O.G. said, pointing toward the dancing Sakura and Syaoran.

Kerberos bristled at the sight. "Gaki," he muttered.

Sakura spotted the Guardians heading her way and stopped spinning Syaoran. "Kerberos-san! Yue-san!" she shouted, waving at them. "Ruby-san! Spinel-san!"

Kerberos ran towards Sakura and purposely placed himself between her and Syaoran. "Hey, Sakura!"

"Ready!" Pegasus Uni shouted, galloping towards her mistress.

"Uni!" Ready released Brandon and ran towards the winged unicorn. Losing his balance, the Shadowwalker fell on his butt. Mistress and Guardian met, and Ready gave Pegasus Uni a big hug.

The rest of the Guardians joined Sakura-tachi. "Well, that takes care of those Masters," Ruby Moon said.

"I doubt that," Yue said.

"Always the optimistic one, aren't you, Yue?" Ruby Moon asked with a smile. "There's no sign of them."

"I have to agree with Yue," Spinel Sun said.

"As do I," Umbriel added.

"Oh!" Sakura went up to Umbriel. "I'm sorry about your sword."

"Do not worry, Cardmistress." Facing where the tornado once was, Umbriel raised his hand, and his sword flew out of the spot and into his hand. "My weapon always returns to me."

Sakura nodded in agreement, then froze. *That feeling...*

"Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked, noticing.

Syaoran also got the same feeling. "Hmmmmm...it's still here."

Ready turned to Sakura and Syaoran. "What's still here?"

Syaoran faced his fellow magicians. "Did you feel a strange aura as we fought the Cybers?"

"What strange aura?" Ready asked.

"To be honest, I haven't felt anything during the fight," Maya admitted.

"Oh, my gosh!" Ready exclaimed. She hurried over to her friend and held her arm. "Restoration!" she said, healing Maya's arm. She watched as the Ecomancer stretched and flexed the healed limb. "I almost forgot, Maya."

"Don't worry, Ready," Maya told her best friend. "We have bigger problems to deal with."

"Like this so-called aura?" Brandon looked at Syaoran. "Yeah, I felt something, Greenbean, but it was faint."

"Same here," Ready acknowledged.

"Syaoran-kun, didn't it feel familiar?" Sakura asked. "Like something we encountered in the past?"

Syaoran nodded. "Hai. It felt like..."

"Look!" Meiling shouted, pointing to the sky.

Sakura blinked. "Hoe?"

Three shapes descended to the ground at an incredible rate. They landed with a loud BOOM, and when the smoke cleared, everyone saw the crater the impact left behind.

Sakura-tachi ran to the crater. "There's no way they could've..." Brandon began to say.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Yue said as they reached the crater.

Everyone stood at the edge of the crater and looked in. "Oh, come on!" Kerberos growled.

At the bottom laid Psycho, Techno, and Cracker. All three Master Cybers were in their primary forms. Each Master was badly damaged with electricity crackling around them, but fortunately for them, all their limbs were intact.

Seeing the kids and the Guardians gathered above, Psycho snarled. "I...really...hate...humans!" the evil clown said.

"Ooooohhhhhhh," Techno groaned.

"Lucky shot," Cracker grumbled.

Brandon pointed at the three Masters. "These guys are really getting on my nerves." He charged his finger and fired a dark energy blast at them, only to have it hit a protective barrier.

Psycho laughed. "My, my, Cardmistress. Forgot to tell your little friends about our protective programs?"

Seething, Yue dove into the crater and grabbed Psycho by the neck. "Hmph," he said before tossing the clown out of the crater.

Psycho landed in front of Sakura-tachi, and the other two Masters landed next to him. "What's his problem?" Cracker remarked.

"Apparently your 'protective programs' are ineffective against physical attacks," Maya observed.

Yue jumped out of the crater and stood over Psycho. Grimacing, he grabbed the clown by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "Now, I have a few questions for you, clown."

"So do I." Syaoran walked up to Psycho, then pointed the tip of his sword at his chest. "Now tell me! Who sent you to kill Sakura? Why do you want Sakura's magical objects as well as ours?" Getting no response, he stabbed the clown. "Tell me!"

Psycho looked at Syaoran. "Kid, it's hard to talk when the Winged Wonder's squeezing my neck."

Yue answered by tightening his grip. "I suggest telling us all you know."

"As do I," Syaoran said, glaring at the clown.

"Syaoran really must care for you," Ready said to Sakura as the interrogation continued.

"He does," Sakura said. "He's my number one. He was always there for me." She recalled the moment when Syaoran comforted her after Yukito told her he was not the one she truly loved.

Ready sighed dreamily. "I wish I had someone like that."

"Maybe you will someday," Sakura said with a smile.

Listening in to the conversation, Brandon sighed and shook his head. The sound of movement brought him to a condition of red alert. "What the...?" he wondered as he scanned the area. His eyes rested on a pile of rubble, and he recalled previous events. "Oh boy..."

"Data Slash!" The pile of rubble exploded, and something shot out and descended on Sakura-tachi.

"Now what?" Bringing her fists out, Meiling got ready for another fight.

Sporting some damage, Hacker landed next to the other Master Cybers. The "X" scar on his chest was his most prominent wound, followed by a broken shoulder guard, various cracks around his body, and a torn cape.

"You took your sweet time," Cracker grumbled.

"Yeah," Techno added, giggling weakly.

Putting away his beam saber, Hacker studied the situation. "I see we have lost," he remarked dryly.

"Lost? Hardly!" Cracker got to his feet slowly. "Once my repair systems are done doing their thing, I'm gonna stomp these stinking kids and their pets!"

"Me, too!" Techno agreed, getting up as well.

Kerberos growled. "I'd like to see you try," he said, baring his teeth.

"That goes for all of us," Lupe joined in. Behind her, the other Guardians gathered, all ready for a fight.

Laughing, Psycho shoved Yue aside and rejoined his fellow Masters. "My, aren't you all anxious to die."

"Still talking tough without your big army?" Meiling said. "For your information, we outnumber you."

"She does have a point, Psycho," Hacker said. "Despite the large number of Servers you had, these humans managed to defeat them as well as you."

"At least I wasn't taken out of the fight early!" Psycho shot back.

"This operation is a failure and a waste of resources," Hacker said. "It would've been simpler if we didn't have an army and conducted all-out warfare on the whole city."

"Hey, it got Flower Girl here," Psycho said. "Nothing like endangering a few humans to get attention."

"And it's a lot more fun, too," Techno added.

"Besides, why should we care about these germs, anyway?" Cracker commented cruelly.

Sakura gathered her courage before she addressed the Master Cybers. "Why are you like this? Why do you hate humans so much?"

Psycho laughed. "Because it is according to the User's will. I'm sure he'd approve of everything we did here."

"And who is this User?" Syaoran demanded hotly, showing his fist. "Why does he want magical objects?"

"And where's Eriol?" Ready asked. "What did you do with him?"

"Yes! What did you do to Eriol-kun?" Sakura added.

"My, how inquisitive you all are."

Sakura-tachi looked around. "Who said that?" Sakura asked.

"I did." A white-robed figure appeared between the two opposing groups.

"Great, another robot," Kerberos said.

"Database," Hacker said, recognizing the new Cyber.

Psycho glared at the white robot as he hovered towards him and the other Masters. "Finally decided to do field work like your fellow Masters, Database?"

"Another Master?" Sakura said, gulping.

Database faced Psycho. "I'm here on behalf of the User to see if you completed your mission." He turned to Sakura and eyed the Star Wand. "Apparently, you don't have them. My misgivings concerning you as the leader of this operation have proven to be correct."

"Oh, please, Database," Psycho said with a wicked grin. "You can go tell the User we'll bring him the Sakura Cards and the Star Key after we waste these kids and their talking plushies."

"You can tell the User yourself," Database stated.

Psycho's eyes went wide. "What?"

Techno gulped as he trembled along with Cracker. "You...you mean...?"

"Exactly." Database gestured towards a spot in the sky behind him, and a purple light appeared there.

"Hoe?" Sakura exclaimed. Next to her, Tomoyo aimed her camcorder at the sky.

As everyone watched, the light expanded into a Gateway. Two shapes flew out and headed towards the ground. When they got closer, they were revealed to be two large discs. Hovering before the Masters, the discs shot out spiral-shapes bodies followed by tiny feet. Long arms with grasping claws swung out from underneath the discs' sides, and cylinder heads emerged from the tops. Long staffs with cylinder tips appeared in their claws, and they stood at attention before the assembled humans, Guardians, and Cybers.

"What are they doing?" Ruby Moon asked.

"Apparently they're waiting for something," Spinel Sun answered.

"Or someone," Umbriel said grimly.

"The User," Yue said knowingly.

Syaoran stared at the Gateway. "Sakura, can you feel it?"

Sakura nodded. "Hai, Syaoran-kun, and it feels...stronger." She looked at the Master Cybers. "It feels stronger that what I'm sensing from them."

Brandon looked at the Master Cybers. He noticed that while Database and Hacker were standing silently as they watched the Gateway, the other Masters were shaking and gulping. "Something's got these guys spooked," he remarked.

"Can you blame them?" Ready said. "Their leader's coming for a visit, and I don't think he's going to be happy with them."

Sakura almost jumped when a roar came from the Gateway. It was followed by a large winged creature flying towards the ground. As it got closer, everyone saw its three heads attached to long necks, claws, and bat-like wings.

"It's a dragon," Maya said. "A robot dragon."

"Sakura-chan, there's someone riding it," Tomoyo said.

As the dragon descended closer, Sakura saw the creature's rider. The person's outline struck her as being familiar. She gasped as she made out a crown and cape. "The User," she whispered.

The dragon landed behind the two guards sent ahead of it. Now Sakura could see more details of the beast. Its heads were connected to a purple body with a yellow belly and an egg-shaped design in its chest. From Sakura's left to right, the heads differed in shape and color. Colored blue, the first head resembled a bird, but with a beak horn, a head fin, sharp teeth, and yellow hair. The second head was of a robot dog and was colored red. The third head was gray and reptilian with a thin hornlike structure sticking out of its head and a cannon built into its nose. Roaring again, it lowered itself to allow its rider to dismount.

*The feeling I'm getting from him is getting stronger,* Syaoran thought as he looked at the newcomer. *It's...it's...no! It can't be! It's impossible!* He remembered his mother's words. *She was right. Whoever this User is, he's an abomination! Something that shouldn't exist!*

*I know this feeling,* Sakura wondered. *But how is it possible?*

With the guards preceding him and the dragon following him, the newcomer approached the Masters, who immediately showed their respect. While Psycho and Database bowed their heads, the others genuflected. "All hail the User, the Emperor of the Cyber World, Kaizer Cyberon!" they said in unison as the figure stood before them.

"Kaizer Cyberon?" Sakura stared at the person the Masters swore their allegiance to. He matched what she saw in her dream, but the daylight granted her more detail. She saw the armor he wore was dark purple with touches of red, and the three-pointed crown was part of a helmet with a mask that covered his eyes and nose. A red circle covered his real left eye and his right by a yellow triangular slit, and both shone brightly along with the two blue egg designs on his crown and chest. His cape sat atop two large shoulder guards, and his arms and legs were covered with black. The dark colors of his outfit made it easier to see the paleness of his lower face. After staring at him, Sakura realized what he was and gasped.

"Sakura-chan, he's..." Tomoyo began to whisper.

Sakura completed her friend's statement. "A kid. The User is a kid like us."