The Journey For the Sorceress Card
By:Corinne Price
Cameron’s eyes snapped open. “I must find it first…I must find it FIRST!!!!!!!!!!”
Shaoran-kun felt it. He dashed to Sakura’s door just as Sakura backed out of the room, her face filled with shock. Li looked into her room and his breath caught in his throat. He saw all the cards floating into the Clow Book, empty. Shock turned to anger. He rounded on Sakura. “You were changing the cards again, weren’t you?!”
“No! I didn’t do that! It was an accident!”
Li was not convinced. “Didn’t Eli tell you to STOP CHANGING THE CARDS WITHOUT OUR HELP?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
“I’m sorry, Li! I didn’t mean to! I was just meditating! They changed, and I didn’t even know it!’
Anger turned once again to puzzlement. Sakura had tears in her eyes. ‘She’s not lying,’ Li thought.
“Now what?” Sakura said.
“…I’m not sure…”
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Li?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you please leave for a moment?”
Li raised an eyebrow. “Oh, uhh…okay then,” and he stepped outside. Sakura stood there for a moment, then she turned around and grabbed the Clow Book and placed it on her bed. She walked to the closet and pulled out a backpack. She grabbed a few of her favorite shirts, shorts, and jeans and placed them in the backpack. Then, as an afterthought, grabbed the outfit Madison made for her on the day Li told her that he loved her. It was like the one she wore for the Final Trial, except yellow and white and the cap has a star on each side. ! She folded the outfit and placed it also in the backpack. She finally said, “I have much to do.” And with that, she put the backpack on and walked out the door.
Li walked into Sakura’s room and looked around, puzzled. ‘Where’s Sakura?’ He wondered. He saw her closet door open and her outfits were shuffled around. He walked over to the desk. The Clow Book was gone. So was the Crystal Staff. ‘Did she leave?” He dashed out to the window. There she was! Flying away towards Death Mountain using both the Fly and the Dash. “SAKURA!!!” Li screamed.
Sakura heard him scream. She didn’t care. She was on a mission, and nobody could help her. (suddenly she begins singing GodSmack – I Stand Alone - Scorpion King style! – go figure!!!)
She was flying as fast as she can. Since it was already late afternoon, she would probably only make it to the village. As she flew, she thought about what the Time Card had said. Then, and only then, would I actually become the TRUE Mistress. Then, when I capture the Sorcerer’s Card, I would become the SORCERESS of the Crystal Cards and the land of Clow Reed. Suddenly she realized someone was yelling at her. She looked down and saw Cody, waving. She stopped and floated down to the ground. “Hi Sakura,” he said, a strange look! on his face. “Hi,” Sakura replied, then added, “Is something wrong?”
“Actually, I was going to ask you a question.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have a sister?’
Sakura blinked. “Yeah, but…She died. Why?”
“Oh, nothing in particular.”
“Oh okay. Well, I’ve got to go. Got a new card to capture.”
“Really? Okay, bye then.”
He started walking to Raijvalon Star. Sakura continued on to Death Mountain, but now the sun had set, so she decided to stop at the village for the night.
“Sorina, are you ready to go?”
“Yes. Shall we fly?”
“No. Sakura would sense it. Let’s use the horses instead.”
“Oh okay. Let’s go, before the little brat comes.”
A nice family invited Sakura to spend the night at their home. A girl about Sakura’s age had seen Sakura walking alone in the darkness and told her mother. Then, realizing it was the Card Mistress, they quickly invited her in and served her dinner while Sakura explained what she was doing out this late. They made her a spare room to sleep in. The room reminded her of the dormitory where she once lived before getting involved in all of this again. She slept dreamlessly throughout that night, while Cameron and Sorina galloped closer and closer to the Sorcerer’s Card.
That morning the family served her a large breakfast, and they gave her sandwiches and apples and breads for later on. Sakura thanked them and was on her way.
Cameron and Sorina were sleeping at the foot of Death Mountain in a large cave. Suddenly their eyes snapped open. “Is that what I think it is?” Sorina cried breathlessly.
“It’s Sakura! Let’s go! If we go now, we can make it before she does!”
Sorina nodded and jumped on her horse.
Sakura saw people trotting up Death Mountain on horse. Something about them caught Sakura’s attention. She looked more closely and recognized Cameron. She didn’t have time to stop. She was growing a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she was in a great hurry to get to Death Mountain and to the Sorcerer’s Card. She flew straight up as fast as she could. She was remembering something that felt vaguely familiar to this. Wanting to leave and quickly get to something and remembered shooting Cameron for interfering. Could it be that he was doing the same thing again? No, it must be a coincidence. She turned and flew in a straight line. The cape of her outfit flowed behind her (she had changed into it before leaving). The mark on her forehead was glowing a bright blue. She reached the mouth of the volcano. She floated slowly over the bubbling surface. “Shield…Release!” She said, swinging the Staff up in the air. A whitish glow surrounded her. She looked down. She backed up a few feet, then dove down headfirst! into the lava full speed.
Her vision was completely red as she ‘flew’ through the lava. The mark on her head was glowing brighter every second until her vision was more bluish white than lava red. It was hot, too. If Sakura didn’t know better, she thought it wasn’t in the shape of a crescent moon. It was in the shape of an 8-pointed star. Suddenly, she began to feel very hot. The shield was weakening. She was only about halfway through the volcano to the cavern. “Watery…Give me your form. Release!” The Water enveloped Sakura and transformed her into itself (in other words, she became the Watery). “Shield…Return!” The shield around her disappeared and returned into the Staff to recuperate. Her watery form kept her from burning, but not for long. Her skin, in 5 minutes, began bubbling. “Duh!!!” Sakura screamed, slapping her head. “When water gets hot it boils and evaporates!!!” She then said an extremely rude word (you can’t blame her). “Okay, I’ve got an idea. Freeze…” She held the Staff in front of her, a ball of ice growing bigger and bigger. When it was about the size of a desk! , she said, “Release!” The huge ball shot through the lava freezing it into a ruby red crystal tube leading down into the cavern floor, miles away. “Dash…Release!” She flew as fast as her wings could take her. The ice wouldn’t last for long. Pretty soon, the lava would burn through the ice. She had cooled of and she wasn’t bubbling anymore, so if the ice broke before she could reach the card, she would be able to last in the lava for about 5 minutes longer.
Suddenly a deafening crack filled her ears. She looked behind her. The ice was already breaking. The point where the ice started had already caved in on itself and lava was rushing down the tube at breakneck speed. Her eyes widened, and she took of down faster than she had ever flown before. She could see the cavern floor, no more than a mile away. The lava was gaining. Fast. She was getting tired. Her Magic was weakening. Suddenly the most obvious thing to do popped into her head. It was so stupidly simple, she began laughing. Her Magic finally ran out, and her wings disappeared. Now she was falling, her regular human self.
Somehow she was still laughing, even as she (FINALLY!) fell into the cave. She landed hard, but not hurt. In the blink of an eye, the lava crashed into the door. She didn’t realize it had gotten that close. She waited for a moment, getting over the shock of it all, then slowly turned around. There it was. The gold altar and the purple sack. She walked over to it and picked up the bag. She pulled out the card. It was a picture of…SAKURA!!! And it said, ‘The Sorceress’ on the bottom. Was it already changed? Did it already know that she would capture it. It began glowing white. Sakura felt her Magic coming back. The Sorceress floated out of her hand and was now in front of her. Sakura understood. She brought the Staff over until it was touching the Card. Sakura closed her eyes. “Card of the Clow…As the new Sorceress, I command you to be released from your form and reborn again…” She raised the Staf! f over her head, “in the name of your new Master, and the Master of this land…SAKURA!” She brought the Staff down on the card. The Card suddenly was glowing such a brilliant white that it blinded Sakura for a moment. She realized that the light had surrounded her, then absorbed into the Staff. She felt strangely different. “She said “Mirror…Release!” A mirror image of herself materialized in front of her. She gasped.