Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ The Enemy Revealed ❯ Last Stand ( Chapter 19 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Enemy Revealed
Chapter 19: Last Stand

Through the enhanced vision of his red eye, Kaizer Cyberon could make out the Cardmistress on the ground below. He smirked at her helplessness. "Soon, Miss Kinomoto, you and the rest of the human insects will be exterminated, and I will have your Cards and Key."

He heard two people landing behind him. Turning around, he found Database and Cyberus. Both looked damaged, but still emanated a sense of power.

"Well, what took you two so long?" the Kaizer asked.

"My apologies, Majesty," Database said, bowing his head. "We were rather thrown away by the organic filth."

"Well, you're both in time to witness the end of Tokyo," the Kaizer said. "In a few moments, Algol will unleash his full fury and obliterate every building and insect, including the Cardmistress and her little friends."

"But what about the Cards and Key?" Cyberus asked. "Won't Algol destroy them along with the city?"

"They'll be the only survivors," the Kaizer answered. "Their magic power will protect them from Algol's blast. A shame they won't be able to protect their mistress." He smiled at that thought. "Soon, I will be able to give this world what it deserves." He raised his fist in the air. "I will give it the beautiful night!"

The glow in Algol's eyes increased as if on cue. As he waited, Kaizer Cyberon returned to watching Sakura on the ground.

Sakura had all her Cards out and was looking for one that could stop Algol from destroying Tokyo. *I could use Big to grow, but Algol's too high up. I could use Time to freeze everything, but it takes too much power, and it might not work. Mirror broke last time against Psycho. Shield definitely won't work.* She looked upward and saw that Algol's eyes were brighter. *Hoeee! It'll fire soon, and I don't know what Card I can use against it!* She looked at Tomoyo, the fallen Guardians, and the newcomers. *I'm sorry, minna. So sorry...* Her eyes finally rested on Eriol and Syaoran. *Oh, Eriol-kun, I wish you could help me, but you're hurt because of me.* Her eyes lingered on Syaoran. *Syaoran-kun, I'm so sorry. I wish I could save you and everyone else, but I can't. I can't!* Unable to take it anymore, she broke down into tears.

Above the city, Kaizer Cyberon laughed. "That's it, Miss Kinomoto. Wallow in your pathetic self-pity. Soon, I'll have what I need to fulfill my ultimate dream."

Sakura looked skyward and saw Algol's eyes. She swore the light coming from them was brighter than before. *I can't do it!* her mind cried in frustration. * I need everyone now, and they're all unconscious. I just can't...!*

Then, her dream came back to her. "Hey, don't worry. We'll be there for you." She knew now that was Ready's voice. *But you're not able to help me now.* "Yeah, we can take this bozo on!" Recognizing Brandon's voice, she thought, *But I'm all alone.* "If we stick together, we cannot be beaten." Maya's assertion seemed impossible to Sakura with everyone lying on the ground around her. "You're not alone, Sakura."

Sakura froze at hearing Syaoran's voice in her head. She remembered how gentle it sounded in her dream. *Syaoran-kun's right. I'm not alone.* She looked at the Cards. *I still have you, my Sakura Cards.* Looking again at all her unconscious friends, she thought, *They did their best to protect me. I can't let them down! I won't!* She looked at Algol, with its eyes now near their brightest. "I won't!" she yelled.

"What's this?" the Kaizer asked, amused. "The little girl finally developed a backbone? Well, Algol, we'll just have to snap it in two. Prepare to fire!"

Sakura watched as Algol's eyes glowed. She knew she needed to act soon. "Please help me," she said to the Cards. "If any one of you can help me fight, please come out."

Hearing her plea, one Card floated out of the deck and into her free hand. Sakura looked at it closely. "Arigato," she told the Card softly. "Please do your best."

"Fire!"

The Kaizer's command echoed around the ruined city. Sakura readied her Wand and tossed the Card upward. "Light!" she cried, striking the Card.

Algol unleashed its powerful eye blast, and it sped towards where Sakura was standing. At the same time, a beam of intense light shot out from the Star Wand and flew out to meet it. Both beams collided in midair and illuminated the ruined city.

Behind his mask, the Kaizer's eyes widened. "What? How?"

Database analyzed the situation. "I believe this is the Light Card, Majesty. It is one of the strongest cards in her deck."

Kaizer Cyberon watched as the two beams fought for supremacy. "I don't recall Light having this power, Database."

"Apparently, it is trying its best to help her mistress stop us from destroying the city," Database conjectured. "Perhaps it has tapped into potential it never knew it had."

"Bah!" the Kaizer said. "She's just delaying the inevitable!"

Sakura gripped her Star Wand tightly as Light continued pushing against Algol's beam. "Light-san, ganbatte!" she yelled encouragingly. "I believe in you!"

Light heard its mistress, and increased its efforts. To Sakura's delight and the Kaizer's dismay, Light pushed harder and began to advance forward. Algol's beam was losing the struggle, and Light was shoving it back towards its origin.

"I'm afraid all this effort is for naught, Cardmistress!" Kaizer Cyberon held out his hand. "Shadow Dragon!"

The Shadow Dragon shot out of the Kaizer's hand and merged with Algol's beam, turning it black. His red eye glowing, the Kaizer increased the beams strength, and soon Light was on the losing side. Algol's increased power pushed the Sakura Card back, and soon the beam was heading back towards the ground.

Sakura fell to one knee and struggled to hold off the incoming beam. She felt the Star Wand heat up in her hands. "I can't give up!" she cried, straining to keep Light active. "For everyone I care about, I can't!"

The black beam got past the skyline and was about a few feet away from striking the ground. Light continued to push on, but it began to weaken as Algol's beam advanced.

Kaizer Cyberon increased his power further, and he smiled smugly as Sakura began to waver. "Just a little further," he said, "and this nest of insects will be nothing but a memory."

"Please, Light-san," Sakura told the Sakura Card. "Everyone is counting on you. You can't just give up."

"On the contrary, Cardmistress, that's what you should do!" the Kaizer declared from above. "With the power of my Shadow Dragon, Algol's beam is overpowering your puny Light Card. It's clear your light cannot defeat my darkness."

Sakura kept herself from falling under the pressure of the incoming dark beam. She did her best not to fully kneel before the onslaught. *I can't give up! Syaoran-kun, Tomoyo-chan, Eriol-kun, and everyone else is counting on me!* She saw the dark beam push even closer. *Oh, it's almost here!* She felt her arms tire, but she fought the need to rest. "Please," she addressed the Cards. "If there is another one who can help Light-san..."

"You don't have any Cards that can help you!" the Kaizer proclaimed. "You should have just given them to me when you had the chance. Instead, I will take them from what will be left of your pathetic corpse!"

Sakura felt the beam push harder. "I can't give up! I won't let Syaoran-kun and the others down." She struggled to her feet, and Light pushed the dark beam back slightly. "I possess the invincible spell."

Kaizer Cyberon snickered as Sakura stood straight up. "Fine, you can die on your feet!"

Sakura dug her feet into the ground and focused on the incoming dark beam. "I possess the invincible spell," she whispered. She remembered everyone who did their best to protect her. "I possess the invincible spell!"

As those words left her lips, a Sakura Card flew out of her deck and into her beam of light. Sakura recognized the Card before it joined with Light. "Hope?" she wondered.

"Hmph. One Card?" the Kaizer commented with a smirk. "That'll save the city."

Database surveyed the scene below. "Majesty, I'm detecting an increase in power from the Cardmistress!" he reported urgently.

"What?" The Kaizer glared down at Sakura. His red eye picked up the power surge. "That can't be!"

Sakura gasped as she began to glow, and Light became brighter. The Cardmistress' side of the beam surged forward, pushing away the darkness. Light pushed further, and the two beams now met halfway between the city and Algol. The sky alternated between light and dark.

"You miserable little insect!" the Kaizer yelled, increasing the power of the Shadow Dragon. "You can't defeat me! I am the Emperor of the Cyber World!"

The black beam pushed back against Light, and it seemed the enhanced Sakura Card would be driven down into the city. With the glow surrounding her increasing, Sakura stood her ground, and Light pushed even harder. The young Cardmistress fixed her eyes on the thing programmed to kill everyone, including those she held dear.

Atop of Eriol, Syaoran finally stirred after being used as a human dodgeball by the Kaizer. Seeing that he was on top of Eriol, he instinctively wretched and semi-jumped off the unconscious magician. Recovering from his ordeal of touching Eriol, Syaoran beheld a spectacular sight as he got to his feet. Two beams of light and dark met in a large bulge in the sky, with both trying to assert the fate of Tokyo. Above, he saw Algol emitting the dark beam. He followed its path into its lighter part, and he found a glowing Sakura holding her Star Wand up at the gigantic Cyber. He wanted to go over there and help her, even hold her hand, but a part of his brain told him to stay where he was. It told him not to distract her. *Ganbatte, Sakura,* he thought.

With a determined look on her face, Sakura held her Wand tightly at Algol, and Light began to push harder. She saw the faces of everyone who tried to help her. *Eriol-kun, Nakuru-san, Spinel-san...* Light inched forward. *Brighton-san, Darque-san, Torres-san...* The dark beam began to budge. *Umbriel-san and the other Guardians...* Light pushed harder. *Kero-chan, Yukito-san...* The dark beam moved back dramatically, and the Kaizer's eyes went wide behind his mask. *Tomoyo-chan...* Light shoved its way toward Algol, and the dark beam slowly retreated. The final face flashed before Sakura's eyes, and Syaoran watched as she yelled, "SYAORAN-KUN!"

Bolstered by new power, Light shoved harder into Algol's beam, and the latter was pushed back towards its origin. The darkness began to fade in the presence of the incoming light. Feeling the light crawl up through the Shadow Dragon, Kaizer Cyberon winced as he yanked his arm away. The beam, now dominated by Light, sped towards Algol and before the Kaizer could act, it rammed into Algol's chest, spreading a web of cracks and setting off a series of explosions around the Cyber.

"Impossible!" Kaizer Cyberon yelled as he shielded his eyes from the light and the explosions surrounding him. "Impossible!" Behind him, Database and Cyberus followed suit and tried to avoid being blinded by the light. Being three-headed, Cyberus had difficulty doing so with only two claws.

The Kaizer's voice was overwhelmed by the loud sounds of one explosion after another. On the ground, Sakura and Syaoran watched as Algol became more engulfed in explosions. Syaoran kept his eyes on it as he walked towards Sakura. Finally, the giant Cyber exploded under the strain, resulting in a bright flash that illuminated the sky. Both Sakura and Syaoran looked away and closed their eyes, and only when the light faded away did they look skyward. When they did, they saw no sign of Kaizer Cyberon or his minions.

Her eyes half-open, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Yatta," she whispered. She gave in to exhaustion and fell back. Expecting to feel the hard ground, she found herself landing in something soft. Sakura recognized the torn green fabric surrounding her and looked up. "Syaoran-kun," she whispered, looking into his brown eyes.

Syaoran smiled. "You did it, Sakura. You did it." He spotted two thin objects flying towards them, and he snatched them out of the sky as Sakura feebly reached for them. "These are yours," he told her softly as he handed them to her.

Sakura looked at the two Sakura Cards in her hand, then smiled. "Arigato, Light-san, Hope-san." She swore she saw the figures on both cards smile back at her.

Syaoran hugged Sakura close to him, and the young Cardmistress briefly saw green before tilting her head upward. Reaching around him, she hugged him back, holding Light and Hope tightly as she did. Both young magicians remained silent, already knowing how they felt in their hearts about each other. Around them, a devastated Tokyo continued to stand.