Author's Notes: I have to repost all my stories because my first account has been removed. I am sorry for any trouble I might have caused.
Disclaimers: Cardcaptors belong to CLAMP, Phyrexians and any cards that represent spells but are not Clow Cards belong to Wizards of the Coast. Don't sue.
The Defender's Arrival
Prologue
The masked stranger lurked around the woods, waiting for a chance to escape. 'Come on, you carriers. Finish infecting the place and go already!' The Plaguelord looked around the destroyed village, checking if there were still any witnesses. Grunting in satisfaction, he summoned his troops to open the gateway for the next world.
'They're gone. About time.' The stranger activated a portal of his own, vowing that this village, his home for his childhood years, will thrive once again.
Chapter 1
"Aaauugghh!!!! It's so cold!" As usual, Meilin was wailing about the cold weather. Li grumbled in embarassment.
"Meilin...would you just stop crying about this so much?!" He shook his head, wondering why he had to be engaged to her. "We're here so will you please let go of my arm?"
"Hurry up, you two. You'll be late for class..." Mr. Terada started to feel dizzy. He shrugged it off and headed to class.
Li examined Mr. Terada strangely. 'I sense some magic from him but it is not any Clow card. I'll have to talk to Sakura about this.' The bell rang, reminding him that class is starting.
"You're sure? Maybe it's just a normal cold." Li just glared at her. 'Sometimes she can be so naive and adorable. That beautiful smile, those emerald eyes...what am I thinking?!' He shook off the thought.
"Sakura, can't you sense it? It's aura is as strong as a Clow Card but at the same time it disguises itself as something else." Sakura tried to sense it as well but her attempt failed. "I just can't feel it, Li. I'll ask Kero tonight."
"This may be something that is beyond what that stuffed animal knows." Sakura silently took a sip of her juice. They noticed Mr. Terada, walking to his car. "What's going on? Mr. Terada never leaves this early." He stumbled as he reached the parking lot.
"Mr. Terada!!" Sakura and Li rushed to him. He was coughing blood and dark streaks were on his hands and arms. "Li, we gotta do something!!" Li ran off to get Ms. Mackenzie while Mr. Terada continued coughing heavily.
Chapter 2
"So it has begun. A new place to infect and cleanse for the Empire." The Plaguelord grinned savagely. The operation had been going well over the years. Yes, he has lost many minions to infect the population. Thanks to the Lifeline Artifact his masters stole from the fool Urza, it does not matter anymore. They come back, willing to serve the Empire once more. He did find a flaw in the Lifeline and that it made sure everybody survived. No matter. The humans will be too weak from the plague to fight.
"Excellent work, unit 889. Go to your squad and wait for further orders." The carrier nodded and slinked to where its comrades were. "Return to thy true form, Phyrexian Denouncer!!" The carrier screamed in agony as it transformed into a card and flew into the hands of an unknown Cardcaptor.
"Unit 889, come in!! All units, intruder alert!!!" The stranger chuckled. When it came to losing those carriers, all hell breaks loose. 'Whoa...three thousand Phyrexian Denouncers in one week. A new record.' He placed two fingers on his forehead and teleported himself away from the base.
The Plaguelord had a small glimpse of the stranger befor he teleported away. "Strider, the Defender. Always likes to put a monkey wrench into our plans. He will pay for making a mockery of the Phyrexian Empire." He barked orders to the squad of Denouncers to increase their security. 'You may be the Defender and defend everybody from our invasion but you are helpless when it comes down to the plague. This world will be ours to control.'
Chapter 3
Madison's eyes widened. "Poor Mr. Terada." Sakura nodded. "No one knows how he got sick. The doctors are completely baffled." It has been three days since Mr. Terada collapsed at his automobile. The school has been closed for health inspectors to examine the areas in which Mr. Terada has been to.
"I told Kero about the magic Li sensed around Mr. Terada. He didn't have any idea about this new outbreak." Parents have been taking their children to the doctors, worried that they may be infected. Sakura was relieved when she heard that she and her other friends are healthy.
"I should ask Li to try his lasenboard. I'll do a vision spell with the Clow cards tonight." As Sakura and Madison parted, a strange sensation tingled in her mind. 'I can sense some magic. Nothing like the Clow cards.' Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she spotted someone. He was dressed similar to Li except it was black. A black mask covered his mouth and his nose. He wore boots (similar to Goku from Dragon Ball Z) and instead of a sword, a small stick hung by his side (size of a wooden stake). The wind gently blew his black ponytail. His dark eyes remained motionless. He took his stick and extended it to a staff.
'What in the world?' Sakura blinked and he was gone. 'Hallucinations. Maybe I'm sick with that plague...no, the doctors said I was fine.' She slowly walked the rest of the way home.
"WHOO HOO!!! Take that Galfro!!" Kero was rejoicing the fact that he had defeated the fourth sub-boss. "Yes, you are so mine Lalfrex." He didn't even notice Sakura walk in the room and pull out the Clow cards.
"Ancient Cards of Clow
Give me vision now
Show me if you may
Who is standing in my way."
The cards glowed for a brief moment. Kero floated over to the Clow mistress. "Trying to figure out what's happening?" She nodded and turned the top card over. "Sleep Card?"
Kero rubbed his chin. "Apparently the new force is attempting to weaken the general population with something that makes them go to sleep...." Sakura started thinking. 'That boy I thought I saw, is he behind this? Maybe this new plague is to weaken us...weaken us to the point where we could sleep and....better get all the information first.' She flipped the three cards in the middle.
"Shadow, Flower, Firey? Since this new force is not a Clow card, this is gonna be one tricky riddle." Sakura nodded in agreement and flipped over the bottom card of the deck. "Shield? Why would the force want a shield? This is confusing..."
"We'll figure it our later, Sakura. Right now, I'm in the mood for food!" He licked his lips in anticipation of his snack as he flew over to the kitchen.
Chapter 4
"The infection is taking longer than expected. I'll have to use the Debaser squadrons. All Debaser units, prepare for take-off!" The Plaguelord smiled, knowing that he will win either way. "Ah, Strider. Your attempts to stop us are commendable. You'll probably summon all those flyers and gigantic insects to stop the Debaser squad heading to Hong Kong. But what about this poor city? As you say, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This 'Readington' is not as populated as Hong Kong. You would probably try to save it but we all know you can't be in two places at the same time!"
The Debasers flew silently over the sleeping city and started to release the plague. It went to every house and infected everything, from the children to the adults to the family pets. 'Designing the virus for humans and animals was simply pure genius! You are fortunate that you have transcended your mortal origins, Strider or you would be dead. We will rectify that mistake and create your own special virus, one for powerful entities such as yourself.' The Plaguelord smiled in satisfaction. The Debaser units returned to the hangar, tired but glowing with pride, knowing that they have served the Phyrexian Empire well.
"That's the last of them!" Strider was just amazed at how many Debaser units that have been sent to Hong Kong. Two thousand units. 'The Plaguelord is getting a bit sloppy.' He returned his Cloud Spirits, Cloud Faeries and Spitting Spiders to their card form. "Nice work, guys. Now to...oh crap!! He was targeting Readington!" He teleported himself there to see nothing. "Too late. The innocent citizens have already been infected....unless those Cardcaptors were able to protect this city!"
He raced to Sakura's house and saw her, scratching herself like crazy. 'Infected. That other kid must be infected too.' He entered the house, carefully through the window. 'Maybe she can still do a bit of fighting before the third stage begins.' She woke up with a start. "Who are you? What do you want? Are you the one spreading the plague? I wasn't hallucinating!!" Kero awoke, thanks to the barrage of questions from Sakura.
"Sakura, go back to sleep. It's 2 a.m. and...WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU CHINESE BRAT!!! Wait...you look like the brat but you're not." Strider chuckled. "Our costumes are similar, Kerberus but the powers I possess are much stronger than his."
Kero gave a little sweatdrop. "Kerberus? No one called me that for a long time except when I was in my transformed state. By the way, it's Cerberus." Strider shook his head. "Cerberus is a three-headed dog who gives any sorcerer trouble. If it hates you, it will mutilate your head until there's nothing left but a skull...thrice. If it likes you, it will lick your head until you are soggy...thrice."
"I feel so..." Sakura collapsed into Strider's arms. "What's happening here?" Strider looked at Kero straight in the eye. "It's the Phyrexians. They are the ones spreading the plague. It was designed for humans and animals but you are not exactly an animal that they would expect so you're fine. As for your friend...she's entering the second stage of the illness. Unless we can destroy the Plaguelord and find an antidote, this world will be another victory for the Phyrexian Empire."
Chapter 5
Kero paced around nervously while Strider tended to Sakura. "Is there anything we can do to help her?" Strider shook his head. "No. She won't die but she will wish she did."
The Guardian of the Clow looked at Strider strangely. "I know what you're thinking. Why beg for death?" Strider stared coldly into Kero's eyes. "The true power of the plague comes from the Lifline Artifact stolen from a powerful artificer, Urza. The artifact allows eternal life for everybody. At first, the Phyrexians were alarmed but soon discovered that they can increas the power of their troops, not suffer any casualties and still conquer several alternate dimensions. The victims of the plague are too weak to fight back. They just lie there, suffering for all of eternity while the Phyrexians easily walk over them."
Kero's eyes widened. "Now I see what you mean. With death, it is a release of the soul but now, nobody can have that release. They will be shackled in the land of the living forever." Strider nodded. "Your friend did a vision spell with the Clow cards, right?" 'No way! How did he...?' The masked boy chuckled. "I have been to alternate dimensions very similar to yours. I know all about you and the Clow cards. What did your vision say?"
"From what I remember, the top card was the Sleep card. The three that were supposed to be related to the new force are Shadow, Flower and Firey. The objective of the enemy took on the form of Shield." Strider looked up. "The top card stood for weakness and fatigue for the city, similar to Sleep's qualities. Shadow referred to the figures of darkness that cannot stand the light. Phyrexians are undead creatures, fuelled by Death Magic. Flower meant posies and Firey was referred to as the source of the ashes. They were both linked to the nursery rhyme. The one that went 'Ring Around the Rosy...' That rhyme referred to the black plague, spread in England in the fifteenth century. Shield represented the Defender...me."
"They want you? Why? Is it because of your powers or something?" The boy was silent. "It is far beyond what you can comprehend, Kerberus." Kero snorted. "Try me."
"Over the multiverse, many sources of magic have been loose. They fall under seven categories. Fire, Water, Nature, Light, Death, Artifact and Ultimate. I can capture and wield the powers as I choose. In other words, I'm a Cardcaptor. Ultima level."
"WHAT?! The information of Ultima Level Cardcaptors never came to light. Even in the High Council, it was just a rumour. From what the rumours said, you Ultimas can channel an infinite amount of mana to generate the spells of the cards. Most of the instant destruction, sorceries, flight, speed, teleportation, hand-to-hand combat just come from a single thought..."
Strider lay out some cards. "The sorceries and instants as well as the other qualities you said are already integrated into my form. I can transform the instants and sorceries as well as my other qualities into cards, like so." The cards had funny numbers as well as different logos to represent the type of mana. A tree for Nature, the sun for Light, a skull for Death, a fireball for Fire and a water drop for Water. The cards with just numbers on them were brown bordered to represent artifacts and artifact creatures. The gold bordered had a combination of the colour logos and numbers. "Kero, what are those cards?" Both Kero and Strider turned simultaneously around. "Sakura!"
Chapter 6
The Clow mistress had her head up from the covers. She was deathly pale and her green eyes had lost their sparkle. Kero rushed to her. "Sakura, go back to sleep. You need to rest." She coughed a lot before replying.
"I will not stand back and allow the Phyrexians to trample over us. We have to fight..." Strider had placed a hand on her back and had rendered her unconscious. "An innocent flower with the spirit of a champion. A rare human indeed." Strider went to the window and lifted it up.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Strider looked at Kero. "Look after Sakura, I'l be right back." Kero raised an eyebrow. "You're going to their base or attempting to halt the Phyrexians in their tracks. I'm coming with you."
"You can't even transform. How can you help?" Kero looked at the ground in frustration. "I can't just stand here and do nothing. Sakura's right. We have to fight back. At least stay here until we have a suitable plan."
Strider stared at him for a moment and reluctantly closed the window. "Very well. What is your big plan?" Kero started to think. "We have to destroy the Lifeline Artifact. If you are an Ultima, you should have a trick up your sleeve to get rid of the Phyrexians."
"Kerberus, the Phyrexians have made several copies of the Lifeline Artifact. I will require a huge amount of time to power up the Splinter spell and destroy 2, 763, 234 Lifeline Artifacts. Besides, each Lifeline Artifact is guarded by a hell of a lot of Phyrexian Denouncers, twice as much Phyrexian Debasers, thrice as much Phyrexian Defilers as well as a lower level Plaguelord who possesses a Recurring Nightmare spell!"
"Piece of cake. I'll distract them while you go for the artifact. If I can have your speed and teleportation, I might be able to pull it off." Strider pondered the plan. "Well, it's a start. I will also give you the Sun, Water and Earth cards, should you run into an emergency and require your transformation."
"WHAT?! YOU HAD THE CARDS TO MAKE ME TRANSFORM?!" Strider chuckled. "As you say, expect the unexpected. If this doesn't work, I have one more trick."
"We're all dying of curiosity, Strider." Strider held up a strange looking disk. "What in the world is that?"
"You could say, it's a panic button. I will not allow the Phyrexians to take over more worlds. We have to stop them, here and now. You could say, once I activate this...it will be the beginning of the end."
Chapter 7
"Strider! Slow down, will ya?" The entity ignored Kero's pleas and continued his flight. "This is as slow as I can go without having the wind blow you away."
"Why don't I just transform and keep up with you?" Strider snorted. "Even if you did transform, you would slow us down even further. Besides, you need to save your energy reserves if you wish to proceed with the attack plan."
"So...where did you come from? What was life before you became what you are now?" The only reply Kero got was silence. "Come on...I know you can't just be born this way." Strider turned his head slightly. "How is that you know?" Kero gave his trademark know-it-all smirk. "Instinct, pal. Instinct."
"The life I had before my ascension ended several eons ago. This discussion is now terminated." Strider started concentrating on the pool of Death magic gathered near the sewage area.
"Tell me about the Phyrexian ranks or something." At this point, Strider started to regret bringing the Guardian of the Clow along. "Why?"
"Know thy enemy. Besides, I'm bored. I can't sense the Death magic since the magic is something beyond the Clow cards."
"...Very well. There are several divisions in the Phyrexian army. The Plaguelord and his carriers are one division. Other divisions include zombies, minions. One specific division was created specifically to combat Serra. That unit-"
"Whoa, whoa. Who's Serra?" Strider took out a Light card and gave it to Kero. His tiny eyes bulged. "Whoa! Her attack and defensive powers are so high!"
Strider chuckled. "Yeah. Her high casting cost is easily compensated. Not only is she strong, she can attack and still stick around for defense. As a matter of fact, that's only one of her angels that make up her army."
"YA GOTTA BE KIDDING!!!" This made Strider laugh even more. "Just wait until you see the Serra Avatar in the flesh. It's one powerful dude." He gently took back the card. "Serra is a planeswalker. I met her after my mission to stop the Yawgmoth Priests. It took me a while to learn the secrets of Light magic but it paid off."
"Yawgmoth Priests? Who or what are these priests? From your voice tone, they must be pretty despicable." Strider nodded. "It's hard to tell who's worse. The Phyrexians or these guys." He sensed something and made a stop.
"What the...?" Strider covered Kero's mouth. Up ahead a few metres, thousands of metallic skeletons were traveling in rows. Strider gave a small snarl. "Phyrexian Defilers..."
Chapter 8
"They're bigger than I thought," murmured Kero. The Defilers were 8 feet tall with powerful scythes as hands. They were made out of metal but they resembled a skeleton in a way. The rib cage is covered by a metal plate. The shoulder blades have widened and bent in order to accommodate the giant green capsule on their backs. There was a small faceplate just underneath the capsule in the centre.
"They might be heading towards the Lifeline Artifact. Let's follow them." Strider took out a Light card and silently chanted.
"The truthful will stand in the gaze of death and escape unharmed."
A small glow surrounded Strider and Kero. "What did you do?" Strider replaced the card back in his robe. "The Obsidian Acolyte is a Light card, capable of protecting anything from Death magic. At the moment, we will require its blessing in order to infiltrate the Phyrexian base successfully."
The duo flew ahead silently to the front of the row. Suddenly, green plasma shots rang out. "Damn, we've been spotted!" "Your powers of deduction never cease to amaze me, Kerberus. Split up!"
Kero gave a small growl. "It's been too long since I fought. Let's hope all the practice from Zylon Warriors helped. TRANSFORM!" Instantly, Kero morphed into the fearsome beast that was placed upon the Clow many years ago. He gave a toothy grin before attacking savagely.
Strider was teleporting the Defilers to an ocean. 'If you can't beat them, toss them somewhere where they can't bug you for a while.' He took out a Nature card. "Verdant Force, come to my aid! Release!" The gigantic elemental started to produce little Saprolings. Quickly, they swarmed the rest of the Defilers. "Kerberus, let's move!" A loud groan was heard, followed by a belch. Kero had transformed back into his small self and was looking very satisfied. "That was a nice snack. I never knew Phyrexians were so delicious."
Strider just shook his head and headed to the Defilers' destination. When they opened the door, there was nothing except a console. "What a rip!!!" Kero couldn't believe all that energy was wasted on a console. Strider began to tap into the system. "Excellent! Now I can see who and what is here on this world!"
A list appeared revealing thousands of Denouncers, Debasers, Defilers and some Plaguelords. The unit numbers were all there as well as technical statistics of the base. "The Defilers must have been checking in. I'll save them the trouble..." Strider mumbled as he confirmed the presence of the Defilers. After memorizing the layout of the base, he was about to log out when he recognized a familiar unit number. "What is it?" "A Phyrexian Infiltrator. Probably here as a scout."
An video message showed up on the communications unit on all frequencies. The lower class Plaguelord began to read the orders. "All units are to remain at their posts until interrogation of the two prisoners is complete. An investigation is being conducted as to how these two survived the plague when it was..." Cries of 'stop those two!' rang out. The last thing Kero and Strider saw was an image of Sakura and Li escaping from the base, plasma shots being fired and then...a fuzzy screen.
Chapter 9
"Hoo-hoo!!!! Those wackos are creating chaos in the base!! This is the golden opportunity here! Let's blow up that place!!" Strider gave Kero a look of disbelief. "You don't sense Sakura or Li in that place?" The Guardian Beast raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
Strider pointed to the monitor. "Those two are Sakura and Li. I know it." Kero shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned, Sakura and that Chinese brat don't grow sharp teeth and black scales. Okay, maybe the brat but not Sakura." Suddenly the truth dawned upon Strider. "The Phyrexian Infiltrators! Now it makes sense!"
"Huh?" The entity pulled up profiles of Phyrexian Infiltrators from the database. "They aren't strong but they can switch bodies with anybody. The only way to be safe is to have protection from the ability or to be completely untargetable. They must have generated the Water mana from the Phyrexian Lens Artifact!"
"Wait a minute!!! Back up! You're saying that Sakura and this Infiltrator switched bodies?" Strider nodded. "I knew something was amiss when Sakura woke up. I automatically assumed that the Death magic she displayed was due to the plague. It distorted her aura so I wasn't sure of anything. When I saw the Infiltrators trying to escape in the message, I felt a small bit of her aura. You should have been able to pick it up as well, Kerberus. After all, you are more familiar with it."
"Great! What do we do?" The masked warrior took out his staff. "We'll capture the Defiler army we ran into earlier...except the ones you ate. Maybe I can tap into their minds and get some answers. Then we make sure those Infiltrators don't go anywhere. Not until we get the real Sakura and Li back."
"This is insane!! Who are these wackos and what am I doing in this heavy body?" Li snorted. "Sakura, you should be able to handle this but I see you haven't done too much training with weights. If it wasn't for me, you would be one dead duck."
The two Cardcaptors ducked into a dark part of the base. The Denouncers ran past them, still convinced they were on the run. Sakura looked at her reflection in the puddle. She gasped in horror at her new body. The green cat-like eyes were beside the top corners of her mouth. Her teeth were sharper than a lion's and she had a weird tube running from the left side of her snout to the top of her head. More tubes were on her back, letting smoke leave her body. She had legs on both sides, making her appear like a spider.
"What happened to us, Li?" The descendent of Clow Reed could not come up with an adequate answer. "The masked boy you saw, maybe he has the answers! We have to find him!"
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "Hold on, Sakura!!!" They stepped out and started to move until a huge shadow towered over them. They turned and saw the face of the Plaguelord himself. He gave a sinister smile. "Peek-a-boo. I see you..."
Chapter 10
Li put his front two legs together. "Force know my plight, release the Light! Lightning!!" (I have gone to a new low, rewriting those corny magic incantations that Nelvana wrote. It's not that bad but it's so corny) The flash blinded the Plaguelord for a moment.
Sakura and Li used this opportunity to scuttle as fast as their little legs can carry them out of here. The Plaguelord started to give chase. "You can never get away from me!! This is my domain!!"
"This (pant) is getting (pant) out of control. We (pant) need our Clow (pant) cards!!" They stopped to rest, hoping that they had lost the Plaguelord. They were just about to take off when the Plaguelord stepped in front of them with an army of Defilers. "Going somewhere?"
All hope appeared to be lost until a huge blast shattered the ceiling. Everyone looked up to see a mysterious ship lurking overhead. "Kero, activate the tractor beam and get them outta here!!" "Aye, Captain Strider!!" The beam lifted Sakura and Li to safety.
"Welcome aboard the Predator. Please take your seats and fasten your safety belts!" Sakura was overjoyed to see Kero that she hugged him to death. "Sakura, I'm glad to see you too but now is not the time!!" Strider steered the Predator to the right and headed straight for Sakura's house.
"Do I have excellent timing or what?" Li waddled up to Strider with a angry look on his face. "Who are you? What's happening to Readington?" "Wait...before I answer questions, let's get you back to your real bodies. You were lucky that I captured three thousand Defilers or I wouldn't be able to home in on your signal."
'Sakura' and 'Li' were unconscious by the front porch of the house. "They were about to return to base with their report on me. It was lucky that they don't know enough about Clow cards or they would have reached the base easily." Strider channeled the mana requirements into Sakura and Li. In no time, they were back in their proper bodies and Strider became the proud owner of two new Phyrexian Infilitrator cards.
"Thanks, Strider for all your help." Sakura gave him a peck on the cheek. Li, slightly seething with jealousy, gave Strider a handshake. "You're all right."
"Now we can plan on how to stop the Plaguelord from taking over this world." Sakura's eyes lit up. "And that would be it?" Strider shook his head. "There would be more units coming. It could take a while before the Phyrexians are defeated." Li snorted. "From what you told us about them, it would take eons to defeat them."
Strider looked down in guilt. "Actually, I placed a safeguard in each world. Once the Phyrexians settle in, I activate the safeguard." Kero floated up to him. "What type of safeguard?"
"Let's just say they're different variations of the panic button I showed you, Kerberus. I've detonated them in several different worlds, destroying the Phyrexian units and the innocents there...including the ones close to me in my previous life." Sakura started to get nervous. "Did you place one here too?" Strider nodded. "And if necessary, I will detonate it and destroy this world..."
Chapter 11
The Monitor stood silently in front of the machine while the Plaguelord was having a discussion with some of the engineers on who would be a suitable target for the Phyrexian Splicer.
"Our adversary Strider has protected himself from everything. He is untargetable as the legendary illusion Zephid! We considered the one Strider called 'Kerberus'. His powers are rather limited since he needs specific requirements in order to use them. The girl's powers are all intertwined with the Clow cards and they will not give them up without a fight. The only logical choice is the boy. His magic is based on his inner strength and a simple Chinese sword. The ability to activate Clow cards is an added bonus."
"Excellent work, engineer 92. Activate the Splicer. Monitor 57B, are you ready?" The minion simply nodded. "One more thing, engineer 92. Does the power of the magic change with the type of sword the user wields?"
"I have not considered the factor. After the powers are stolen from the Chinese boy, we must test them with the Sword of the Chosen." The Plaguelord grunted in satisfaction. 'That legendary artifact better be worth the trouble I went through in order to steal it from the Ur-Dragon.'
Sakura could only stare helplessly as her father and brother struggle to fight the plague. "Isn't there anything we can do? Shouldn't there be some antibodies that Li and I made as soon as the plague infected us?" Strider shook his head. "Your magic from the Clow gave you some protection from the Phyrexian plague. Your body never got the chance to produce any type of antibodies. The plague was designed to elude all types of defense that the body can put up."
Kero quickly flew into the room as fast as his little wings could carry him. "There's something wrong with Li! I can't feel his magic aura!"
Strider snorted. "I never knew you cared about him." Kero growled. "If we're to stop the Phyrexians here in this world and prevent you from activating your panic button, we'll need all the help we can get!!" They rushed over to where Li was resting on the couch. "This is bad. The Phyrexians stole Li's powers temporarily." Li gasped. "WHAT?!"
Strider rose and pulled up a holographic projection of the Phyrexian Splicer. "The Splicer steals magical abilities from any magician for a day. I thought I destroyed the Splicers, the blueprints and the engineers who made them. Apparently, one engineer escaped...engineer 92 I believe. He was the one missing when I attacked the Splicer HQ."
He closed his eyes for a moment. "Sakura, you're coming on a mission with me. Li, I'll need your Clow cards. It's too risky to have you keep them since you can't activate them. At least they'll be out of the Phyrexians' reach." Li grumbled and reluctantly handed over the cards.
"Oh, Key of Clow
Power of Magic
Power of Light
Surrender the Wand
The force ignite
RELEASE!!"
"You better activate Dash and Fly if you want to keep up with me." Strider flew out of the house into the night. "Hey wait up!!" The Clow mistress followed in hot pursuit. Kero and Li were about to go back into the house when a mysterious figure approached from behind. The Guardian Beast immediately recognized the aura. "So you're the one with Li's powers..."
Chapter 12
The Monitor got into battle stance. "All right, kid. I'll show you what this stuffed animal can really do. TRANSFORM!!!" The element cards lent Kero their power as he morphed into the fearsome beast.
"Force know my plight, release the light! LIGHTNING!!!" The Monitor's sword shot out five balls of lightning. 'Damn, he's good!!' The beast barely dodged when the Monitor released another attack. "Now, element! Fire!!" The intense flame shot at Kero. He drew in the water magic and fired a water blast to neutralize the fire.
"My turn..." The beast shot out an enormous fireball which roasted the Monitor. It appeared that the battle was won until the Monitor regenerated itself.
'What do I have to do in order to blow this piece of junk up?!' The Monitor gave an evil grin. "Now, element! Wind!!" A hurricane started forming as Kero and Li struggled to keep themselves on the ground. The Monitor used this opportunity to attack Kero.
"Kero!!" Li saw the Monitor charge once more in order to finish the battle. Gathering all his strength, he tackled the Monitor and pinned it down. "I got him!! Finish it with your Disintegrate spell!!"
"What about you?" Li ground his teeth together as the Monitor struggled to get free. "I'll be his personal escort to Hell if I have to." The Beast was speechless for a moment.
"Regardless of how much I want to roast you, Sakura would never forgive me and...we need you." Strider's voice rang through Kero's head. 'Just do it already!! I'll cover Li!!' "Two against one. Here goes!!" Kero unleashed a devasting attack which removed the Monitor from existence but hardly touched Li at all.
"How...?" A glow surrounded Li and instantly reverted to a card form. "Red Ward?" The card instantly flew away to Strider's location. "Thanks, kid. For willing to give up your life for the world." Li smiled. "You gave me a lot of help and restored some respect for you." He looked and saw the Sword of the Chosen. Kero transformed back into his normal body. "That sword has a lot of power. I wonder who it belongs to..."
Strider and Sakura had successfully infiltrated the Laboratory. "What are we doing here again?" Strider sighed. "We are here to collect data. A quick job. Go over there and see what you can find."
While Sakura searched the desks, Strider started to go through the folders lying around the Laboratory. He was about to go to another folder when something caught his eye. "I couldn't find anything, Strider." The entity gave a small chuckle as he held up the design folder for the plague. "Sakura, I think we hit jackpot."
Chapter 13
Strider leafed through the folder, containing the list of compounds and elements used to create the Phyrexian plague. Sakura looked over his shoulder. "What can we do with this information?" The entity is amazed at how the plague was engineered. "First, we study the plague itself and then we find a cure for it. It's as simple as that."
"Yeah, for scientists with degrees in diseases and stuff." "Microbiology and immunity to be exact. It's really not that tough. Heck, you will start learning about this stuff if you take biology in high school." Strider checked the cabinets for a sample of the virus. Luckily, there was one test tube with the virus still intact.
He took a small amount and administered a small drop onto a laboratory mouse. (No animals were harmed in the writing of this fic. Just so you know) After the mouse was exhibiting signs of the disease, he analyzed the immune system's reaction using a nanobot and a computer monitor. "Unbelievable. The Phyrexians have successfully blended science and sorcery together in order to deal with the immune system without too much trouble."
The Clow mistress gave Strider a funny look. He sighed and started to explain about his observations. "There are two types of organisms that cause disease: bacteria and viruses. If bacteria is the pathogen, then antibiotics should be able to stop them. The body would do everything it can to make living conditions unbearable for the bacteria. Such as raising temperature to more than 100oF. With viruses, lymphocytes produce antibodies in order to deal with the problem. The plague however uses sorcery to paralyze the lymphocytes and any other natural defenses."
Sakura had a look of horror. "You mean there's nothing to stop it?" "Well the virus does have certain traces of elements here in your world such as mercury, hydrogen and bits of the noble gases. There are also some elements from other worlds such as thalakorium, skyshroudium, llanowarium, kyrenium, saprazzanium and so on. The Phyrexians use elements that the world they plan to invade, is weak against."
"Let's find a cure so you won't have to activate that panic button of yours." "Even if we find a cure, the effect on the population could be disastrous. Who knows if their bodies can survive the elements that can counter the elements of the virus. Heck, some of these elements are unknown in your world. If the cure is found and is easily accepted by the population, we have to destroy the Lifeline Artifacts in each dimension simultaneously before the Phyrexians have the chance to redesign the plague and reinfect this world." Strider gave Sakura a grim look before examining the laboratory specimen once more.
Chapter 14
"This is some weapon." Li tested the Sword of the Chosen out. It was absolutely perfect. In design, weight, strength and craftsmanship. "Hey! Watch where you swing that thing!"
Li smirked. "Right, Kero....I was wondering if Strider had captured a lot of Phyrexian Monitors." Kero scratched his chin. "He told me about his inventory 'borrowed' from the Phyrexian army. A lot of Denouncers, Debasers, Defilers, low-level Plaguelords, Monitors...heck even all of the Dreadnoughts. He also said he kept a few Splicers just in case of an emergency."
The Chinese boy raised an eyebrow. "Dreadnoughts?" "Yeah, they were really cheap to cast and they were powerful too but he had to sacrifice enough creatures for their total attack power to match the Dreadnought's." Kero shook his head. "I thought they would have been tough to capture but he said that the time with the Phyrexian Processor was much worse. They were practically pumping out creatures with a high amount of attack and defense power at an amazing rate."
A deep rumbling was heard. Suddenly a huge artifact creature appeared out of nowhere and started to charge. Li barely dodged the attack. "It's a good thing Strider showed me the different points of the Phyrexian empire. I think that is a Phyrexian Colossus..."
"...Now, element! Wind!!" Li's hurricane attack slowed down the artifact creature but it slowly came forward. "Damn!!! TRANSFORM!!!" Kero transformed and charged the Colossus who easily batted him away like a stuffed animal.
'Strider, if you're watching over us, we can use a little help here!!' Li felt the heat of the Colossus' breath. Suddenly a card appeared in Li's hands. A note was on it saying, 'Use the Mox Diamond as well as the Fire Diamond in order to cast the Shatter spell.'
"Now, element!! Fire!!!" The heat forced the artifact creature to retreat out of the flaming Chinese magic slip. Li cradled the two diamonds in his hand. 'Come on...work damn you!!' The diamond began to channel energy into the Shatter card making it glow and ready to be used.
"Kid, a little help here!!" The Guardian beast was forced in a corner and the Colossus is approaching slowly. "Shatter!! Release and Dispel!!" The Sword of the Chosen hit the card, magnifying the effect and destroying the Colossus. "Let's see if I can capture it. Return to your power confined! Phyrexian Colossus!!!" The tip of the sword stuck the beast, morphing it into a card. The Shatter, Mox Diamond and Fire Diamond all returned to their card forms as well. The four cards flew away to where the laboratory is.
Kero gave a groan as he transformed back to himself. "Damn, I hope that cure is ready so we can go along with the plan." Li gave a grim nod.
"WHAT?!" The Plaguelord was not pleased at all. The Monitor had the Sword and Li's powers and yet he lost. The Colossus has been captured and the Sword is now possessed by Li. He attempted to look at the bright side. At least now the kid will have to be one to face the wrath of the Ur-Dragon...
Chapter 15
"Sakura, hand me that sample of mercadium over there. The one in the blue jar." Strider put a little of it into his beaker. After smoking for a while the compound seemed to settle down.
"Anything?" The entity took a needle, filled it with the liquid and injected it into the mouse. 'Come on...work!!!' The mouse's vital signs began to stabilize. "YES!!! Ha, ha!! I knew that would work!!! Now all we have to do is check for long term side effects..." (REMEMBER: NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS EPISODE)
Sakura gave him a hopeful look. "Is it working?" Strider continued to analyze the mouse. "So far, yes. By implementing the Obsidian Acolyte's ability, I've been able to create a countermeasure. Such as a White Knight being created in order to stop the Black Knight." She gave a smile of relief. "How long do we wait until we know if this is the right cure?"
"I am analyzing all the effects, short term, long term and possibilities of the body rejecting the cure. So far, so good. I'll need about a half hour to confirm anything." Suddenly, the video monitor inside the laboratory started to beep. "Sakura, is it a general transmission or is it directed specifically at us?"
The Clow mistress gave a confused look at the screen. She pressed what she thought is the receive button. Luckily for her, it is. The face of the Plaguelord appeared. "Damn, he saw us!!!" Strider cursed at his bad luck. He could feel that this was the cure.
"To all personnel..." The duo gave a huge sigh of relief. "...I'm pleased to announce that the construction of the Phyrexian Tower is complete. With it operational, we can infect the world much quicker. The plague will be launched in all countries in one hour to guarantee victory. This means we must prepare to depart to the next world in two hours."
The Plaguelord paused. "The transportation site will be at Readington Elementary. All communication personnel must remain at their posts until the main forces come in." The Plaguelord pressed a button and the video screen went black.
"This is bad..." Sakura turned to Strider. "We have a golden opportunity here to stop those Phyrexians. We can't let it slip away!!" The entity chuckled. "I know that. I've already put a plan into action."
After twenty minutes, Strider gave a triumphant laugh. "I finally got it!!" He concentrated his thoughts to Kero and Li. 'Guys, I need you to get to the Phyrexian Tower. Remove all the barrels and put in a vial of the cure I'm sending to you. Hold your position there. Sakura and I will meet you there in fifteen minutes.'
The vial containing the precious cure for the deadly disease teleported to Kero and Li. "What are you going to do at the tower?" The entity narrowed his eyes. "Set the coordinates so that all infected worlds can receive the cure and revolt against the empire."
Chapter 16
"You heard Strider! Let's move!!" Kero transformed and threw Li on his back. "I'll do the driving, you watch our backs!" Li nodded and gripped on to the guardian beast as he flew into the night sky.
Some Debaser units began to chase them. "Force, know my plight. Release the light! LIGHTNING!!" Thunderbolts came from the sky and channeled into Li's sword. The sword then fired simultaneous thunderbolts at the Debasers. (Think Aries, God of War from Hercules and Xena)
"We need more speed!!" The Beast gave a toothy grin. "All right. I'm gonna warn you though that you better have a tight grip." Kero shot off like a rocket to the Tower.
"That's a lot of security!" Li smirked. "Afraid to take them on?" Kero growled. "I'll show you!! CHARGE!!!" The ground troops didn't have time to react as Kero quickly gave them a tour of his digestive system.
"Geez, Kero. How can you stand eating those troops?" The Beast belched. "Simple. I was hungry and you weren't much of a meal." The Chinese sorcerer just shook his head as the two entered the tower.
"Now, element! Fire!!!" The remaining scientists were roasted out of existence. "Give me a hand with the barrels, kid."
After clearing all those barrels, the cure was ready to be released. "Damn, where's...?" Strider and Sakura arrived on cue. "Sorry about the lateness but the evidence had to be destroyed."
The Clow mistress gave him an angry glare. "You could have waited until the mouse was released back into the wild!!" He raised his arms in defense. "Don't worry. I put him in your home room as a class pet. Satisfied?"
He went over to the console and started typing in the command for the cure to be released over Readington. "There...your city will be clean of the plague as well as ten thousand other worlds." He attached a device on to the console.
"Okay...initiating sequence. The cure has been released. Phase One of the plan is complete. Li, take Kerberus and Sakura with you and search the tower and see if the Lifeline Artifact is in here. I'll set up the plague to be transported into the heart of the Phyrexian homeworld. If we can't find anything, we destroy the tower."
The two cardcaptors left the room with the Guardian Beast following them. As Strider worked on his task, he saw an image of the village from his childhood, having a future to actually look forward to. He smiled inwardly and went back to work.
The search trio came back. "This was the only thing relating to the Lifeline Artifact." Sakura handed Strider a booklet. He quickly leafed through it and nodded in satisfaction.
"Despoil, release!!!" The black spell destroyed the tower instantly. Black energy was sent through the dimensional rift to deal damage to the Phyrexian world. "The Plaguelord is gonna be one pissed customer." Kero laughed at that thought. "So the Lifeline Artifact is here?" Li whistled in amazement. Who would have guessed to look at the core of the planet?
Chapter 17
The group walked deeper and deeper into the centre of the planet. "Hot...so hot..." Kero could barely flap his wings so he had to ride on Sakura's shoulder.
The entity ordered them to be quiet. The Phyrexians were in firing range. Li gripped his sword tightly. "I'll take them out." Strider gave a nod of approval. "Freeze, deliver an icy prison to those who serve darkness!" The tip of the sword hit the card, activating the Freeze card. All the forces were immediately frozen.
"Hmmmm...I only see Denouncer units." Strider looked around, stretching his senses for traces of the troops guarding the relic. The party looked around before entering the chamber. "Looks like we can destroy the artifact before the Phyrexians get back." Before they could move close enough to the Lifeline Artifact, the troops came out from all corners with their weapons ready.
"I knew it was too good to be true." Strider took out his staff, Kero transformed and Sakura spoke the chant to transform the key.
"Oh, Key of Clow.
Power of Magic
Power of Light
Surrender the Wand
The force ignite.
RELEASE!!"
Her baton stood ready by her side as the party prepared for battle. "Now, element!! Fire!!" Li gave a small smirk but it quickly vanished when nothing came out. "Strider!! What's happening?" "Li, help!!" Five Defilers were closing in on the Clow mistress. He ran over and grabbed Sakura before they could attack. "Thanks..." The Chinese boy gave a quick smile. "We better cover each other. Strider and Kero can look after themselves."
Strider looked around while he blocked the strike of a Defiler. "Damn!! Looks like there are Defense Grids and Spheres of Resistance to make the lives of magic users more difficult!!" All the colour drained out of Kero's face. "That's it. We're all gonna die."
"You know, you remind me of a certain robotic vermin who constantly says that," grumbled Strider as he slashed a Defiler open. (That's one helluva staff!!) The Debasers swooped in to attack. Strider leapt into the air and fired the Special Beam Cannon (Trademark move of Dragon Ball Z. Don't sue me, Akira Toriyama!!!) destroying sixty percent of the Debaser unit.
"There!! I gathered enough mana for the spell. Stupid Defense Grids and Spheres...Splinter, release!!!" Strider struck the Splinter card, destroying all the Spheres of Resistance. At least this weakens the Phyrexian troops here and gives some relief to the party. If it wasn't for the energon shield generator and the lower level Plaguelord, the Lifeline Artifact would be long gone.
Kero was stomping on a Defiler when a Debaser tackled him from behind. "I'll show you how to fly, you metal head!!" He charged the Debaser, squishing it into the wall. He fired an attack, destroying some of the forces attacking the Cardcaptor duo. "Uunnngghh!!" The beast lost the remainder of its strength and collapsed right into the local Plaguelord's iron grip. "It's time for you to be exterminated."
Chapter 18
"Kero!!" Sakura and Li had finished the last Defiler on their side while Strider destroyed the remaining Debasers. "I have the stuffed animal now so surrender now." In the blink of an eye, the guardian beast was teleported out of the Plaguelord's hand and onto the ground near the Artifact.
"Let's finish this scumbag. All the defense mechanisms for magic users have been destroyed. Sakura, Li, take care of the sub-boss while I destroy the energon generator."
"Windy, Water, release and dispel!!" The two attack cards charged the Plaguelord but he easily dodged the attack. He shot an attack at Strider, who attempted to fiddle around with the energon generator. "No touching, that's very fragile. My superiors would have my head if it was destroyed."
"That tickled. Li, use the Time card!!" Li threw the card in the air. "Time! Freeze the..." A force field surrounded the Time card, making it useless for the remainder of the battle. The Plaguelord grinned and then attacked Strider. He jumped and kicked the Plaguelord. "Huh?! Where's the generator?!" They all saw the Plaguelord swallow the artifact. "You will have to defeat me to get to the Lifeline Artifact."
"No sweat." Strider fired a ki blast at the Plaguelord but it simply bounced off. "Ah, crud. We can't destroy the buttmonkey with direct damage!!"
"I beg to differ..." Li charged with his sword. The Plaguelord used a finger to block every attack. He kicked Li over to the very hot core. "Li!!! Move card, move Li to a safe place!! Release and dispel!!" The Move card acted quickly and transported Li to safety.
"There's still one way to beat you. Swords..." The Plaguelord's eyes widened in horror. The card that erases creatures from existence. He tried to escape but it was no use. The mana cost has been paid. "...to Plowshares!! Release!!" The card was hit by the staff and began to erase the Plaguelord from existence. "AAAAUUUUGGHHHHH!!!!!!" The final scream of the Plaguelord echoed throughout the core of the planet.
"That was a close one. Wait a minute...I should have used the Erase card in the first place!!!" Strider shook his head. "The Erase card can only have an effect to natural inanimate objects and organisms on this world. It wouldn't have worked on the Phyrexians."
Li and Kero regained consciousness and were in a world of pain. While Sakura tended to their injuries with the healing magic that Strider gave her, the entity prepared to cast Splinter once more. "Splinter, release!!" The Lifeline Artifact erased itself out of existence. Strider was thankful that he transformed the original Lifeline Artifact into a card so he could make a copy using Copy Artifact and give it back to Urza.
"Li and Kero have major headaches but they'll make it." Strider nodded. "Good because now we can complete Phase Three and finish the Phyrexians here once and for all!!"
Chapter 19
The party had to reorganize themselves back at Sakura's house. Luckily, Sakura's father and brother were still asleep. "We still got some time before normal activities resume in the city so we have to stop the Plaguelord and the rest of the troops at the school," stated the entity.
"We better move fast. The sun will be up in an hour." This is it. The final battle to determine the fate of this world as well as others. "Let's move." The rest of the group silently followed Strider into the air, Li and Sakura on the baton and Kero in his transformed state.
The streaks of the sun rising were barely seen. It was apparent that the start of a new day would come as well as the start of a more happy life without the Phyrexians. The nightmare would soon be over and the oppression the Phyrexians displayed would cease thanks to the heroes of this world.
They stopped when they got to the top of the clock tower. They could see an angry Plaguelord who had received news of the battle that occurred in the core. The remaining carriers were patiently waiting for orders. Their numbers were still fairly large. A thousand Defilers, Denouncers and Debasers making a total of three thousand carriers, without the Plaguelord.
Strider felt as giddy as a child in a candy store. He took out the trump card that would finish the Phyrexians here in this world. He would see to it personally that the Phyrexians stay busy with their own problems on their world to take over others.
The Plaguelord saw a tiny shadow as the sun rose and looked up to see the party standing on the clock tower. Strider raised a card that read 'Extinction'. The Plaguelord gasped. This was the same card, the same spell that stopped the Slivers from overtaking the Weatherlight, the same spell that forced the Sliver Queen to surrender to Strider and transformed her and all her subjects into cards.
"Extinction, release!! CARRIERS!!!!" The type of species was chosen. The Plaguelord and all of the troops were fading into thin air. "NO!! THIS CANNOT BE THE END!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Strider opened up a vortex in the sky above the fading troops. They were instantly sucked in and transformed into cards to complete the collection of the Phyrexian Plague Army.
"That's it?! Man, that was intense..." Strider chuckled. "An acquaintance of mine said this, 'The day is young. The battle is done.' This is indeed a new day for us all. The group nodded in agreement as they saw the sun rise majestically from the east.
"Hey! Let's see if everyone's all right!" Sakura activated the Fly card and flew home with Strider, Kero and Li close behind her. When she got home, she shook her father. "Hey dad!! Don't you have work today?" Her father didn't respond. Did the cure work and produce side effects or did it fail?
Chapter 20
"Strider!! You said that the cure worked!!!" Strider didn't hear her. He looked like as if he sensed something came into this world. Something evil. "I detected a dimensional portal opening up into this world."
"I thought that was it!!" The entity closed his eyes for a moment to think. "Of course!! The main force would come after the plague troops finish here! They didn't call off the main force!!" Sakura started shaking him like crazy. "What about the cure?!"
Li had to restrain her from doing anything rash. "Calm down, Sakura. There should be a logical explanation for this, right?" Strider started to sense some magic near the heart of the city.
"The main force must have activated some sort of magic to keep everyone who were supposedly affected by the plague in stasis. I think they used an artifact for that...Juntu Stakes. Creature with weak attack powers are paralyzed as long as the Stakes are implanted on the surface. That is what is affecting everyone!!"
"What are we waiting for?!" Sakura stood up in preparation for battle. "We still have Phyrexians to finish so let's move!!" The other three gulped simultaneously. "Yes, madam!!!"
"The source of the disturbance is over there, by the zoo." The group flew over to the zoo to see a huge pit of stakes implanted in the ground. All sorts of zombies and minions stood around the artifact.
"Whoa. An all you can eat buffet!!" Kero gave a grin. "Kerberus, is there ever a time when you're not hungry?" The guardian beast ignored the sarcastic remark.
"What are they anyway? Machines or what? They kind of look like a freakier version of the Borg," said Li. (the Borg is a registered trademark of Paramount. Don't sue!!!) "They are part machine and dead organic matter." Strider moved in a little closer to get a better look.
"Dammit!! Where is the communication personnel?!" An angry figure was pacing around the area. "Belbe, if you don't calm down, I'll have to hurt you." He muttered an apology before he left to pester some of the zombies.
Sakura saw a figure heading towards the zombies. "Who's that?" "That is Belbe, the head of the Phyrexian Engineering Department...Wait a minute, if Belbe is here then..." Strider's eyes widened in horror. "This is very bad."
"What? Is there something wrong?" The Clow mistress had never seen Strider so agitated before. "Yes, there is. If Belbe is here then so is the greatest, most ruthless Phyrexian general of all time...Tsabo Tavoc."
"Say what? Couldn't you destroy this Tsabo easily?" The entity shook his head. "It is not as easy as that Kerberus. Tsabo has the ability to stop legends in their tracks. He cannot be hurt by legends and he could destroy legends. I am a legend in several different worlds so I will not be able to hurt him nor him me. His attack and defense powers are about five hundred thousand times that of the local Plaguelord."
"What does this mean, Strider?" He gave them a worried look. "This means the only ones who could stop him from taking over this world are the three of you."
END SEASON 1
I am considering finishing up all of the second season first. Then I will post it up as a huge package for season 2. Then season 3 will start with individual episodes.
Disclaimers: Cardcaptors belong to CLAMP, Phyrexians and any cards that represent spells but are not Clow Cards belong to Wizards of the Coast. Don't sue.
The Defender's Arrival
Prologue
The masked stranger lurked around the woods, waiting for a chance to escape. 'Come on, you carriers. Finish infecting the place and go already!' The Plaguelord looked around the destroyed village, checking if there were still any witnesses. Grunting in satisfaction, he summoned his troops to open the gateway for the next world.
'They're gone. About time.' The stranger activated a portal of his own, vowing that this village, his home for his childhood years, will thrive once again.
Chapter 1
"Aaauugghh!!!! It's so cold!" As usual, Meilin was wailing about the cold weather. Li grumbled in embarassment.
"Meilin...would you just stop crying about this so much?!" He shook his head, wondering why he had to be engaged to her. "We're here so will you please let go of my arm?"
"Hurry up, you two. You'll be late for class..." Mr. Terada started to feel dizzy. He shrugged it off and headed to class.
Li examined Mr. Terada strangely. 'I sense some magic from him but it is not any Clow card. I'll have to talk to Sakura about this.' The bell rang, reminding him that class is starting.
"You're sure? Maybe it's just a normal cold." Li just glared at her. 'Sometimes she can be so naive and adorable. That beautiful smile, those emerald eyes...what am I thinking?!' He shook off the thought.
"Sakura, can't you sense it? It's aura is as strong as a Clow Card but at the same time it disguises itself as something else." Sakura tried to sense it as well but her attempt failed. "I just can't feel it, Li. I'll ask Kero tonight."
"This may be something that is beyond what that stuffed animal knows." Sakura silently took a sip of her juice. They noticed Mr. Terada, walking to his car. "What's going on? Mr. Terada never leaves this early." He stumbled as he reached the parking lot.
"Mr. Terada!!" Sakura and Li rushed to him. He was coughing blood and dark streaks were on his hands and arms. "Li, we gotta do something!!" Li ran off to get Ms. Mackenzie while Mr. Terada continued coughing heavily.
Chapter 2
"So it has begun. A new place to infect and cleanse for the Empire." The Plaguelord grinned savagely. The operation had been going well over the years. Yes, he has lost many minions to infect the population. Thanks to the Lifeline Artifact his masters stole from the fool Urza, it does not matter anymore. They come back, willing to serve the Empire once more. He did find a flaw in the Lifeline and that it made sure everybody survived. No matter. The humans will be too weak from the plague to fight.
"Excellent work, unit 889. Go to your squad and wait for further orders." The carrier nodded and slinked to where its comrades were. "Return to thy true form, Phyrexian Denouncer!!" The carrier screamed in agony as it transformed into a card and flew into the hands of an unknown Cardcaptor.
"Unit 889, come in!! All units, intruder alert!!!" The stranger chuckled. When it came to losing those carriers, all hell breaks loose. 'Whoa...three thousand Phyrexian Denouncers in one week. A new record.' He placed two fingers on his forehead and teleported himself away from the base.
The Plaguelord had a small glimpse of the stranger befor he teleported away. "Strider, the Defender. Always likes to put a monkey wrench into our plans. He will pay for making a mockery of the Phyrexian Empire." He barked orders to the squad of Denouncers to increase their security. 'You may be the Defender and defend everybody from our invasion but you are helpless when it comes down to the plague. This world will be ours to control.'
Chapter 3
Madison's eyes widened. "Poor Mr. Terada." Sakura nodded. "No one knows how he got sick. The doctors are completely baffled." It has been three days since Mr. Terada collapsed at his automobile. The school has been closed for health inspectors to examine the areas in which Mr. Terada has been to.
"I told Kero about the magic Li sensed around Mr. Terada. He didn't have any idea about this new outbreak." Parents have been taking their children to the doctors, worried that they may be infected. Sakura was relieved when she heard that she and her other friends are healthy.
"I should ask Li to try his lasenboard. I'll do a vision spell with the Clow cards tonight." As Sakura and Madison parted, a strange sensation tingled in her mind. 'I can sense some magic. Nothing like the Clow cards.' Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she spotted someone. He was dressed similar to Li except it was black. A black mask covered his mouth and his nose. He wore boots (similar to Goku from Dragon Ball Z) and instead of a sword, a small stick hung by his side (size of a wooden stake). The wind gently blew his black ponytail. His dark eyes remained motionless. He took his stick and extended it to a staff.
'What in the world?' Sakura blinked and he was gone. 'Hallucinations. Maybe I'm sick with that plague...no, the doctors said I was fine.' She slowly walked the rest of the way home.
"WHOO HOO!!! Take that Galfro!!" Kero was rejoicing the fact that he had defeated the fourth sub-boss. "Yes, you are so mine Lalfrex." He didn't even notice Sakura walk in the room and pull out the Clow cards.
"Ancient Cards of Clow
Give me vision now
Show me if you may
Who is standing in my way."
The cards glowed for a brief moment. Kero floated over to the Clow mistress. "Trying to figure out what's happening?" She nodded and turned the top card over. "Sleep Card?"
Kero rubbed his chin. "Apparently the new force is attempting to weaken the general population with something that makes them go to sleep...." Sakura started thinking. 'That boy I thought I saw, is he behind this? Maybe this new plague is to weaken us...weaken us to the point where we could sleep and....better get all the information first.' She flipped the three cards in the middle.
"Shadow, Flower, Firey? Since this new force is not a Clow card, this is gonna be one tricky riddle." Sakura nodded in agreement and flipped over the bottom card of the deck. "Shield? Why would the force want a shield? This is confusing..."
"We'll figure it our later, Sakura. Right now, I'm in the mood for food!" He licked his lips in anticipation of his snack as he flew over to the kitchen.
Chapter 4
"The infection is taking longer than expected. I'll have to use the Debaser squadrons. All Debaser units, prepare for take-off!" The Plaguelord smiled, knowing that he will win either way. "Ah, Strider. Your attempts to stop us are commendable. You'll probably summon all those flyers and gigantic insects to stop the Debaser squad heading to Hong Kong. But what about this poor city? As you say, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This 'Readington' is not as populated as Hong Kong. You would probably try to save it but we all know you can't be in two places at the same time!"
The Debasers flew silently over the sleeping city and started to release the plague. It went to every house and infected everything, from the children to the adults to the family pets. 'Designing the virus for humans and animals was simply pure genius! You are fortunate that you have transcended your mortal origins, Strider or you would be dead. We will rectify that mistake and create your own special virus, one for powerful entities such as yourself.' The Plaguelord smiled in satisfaction. The Debaser units returned to the hangar, tired but glowing with pride, knowing that they have served the Phyrexian Empire well.
"That's the last of them!" Strider was just amazed at how many Debaser units that have been sent to Hong Kong. Two thousand units. 'The Plaguelord is getting a bit sloppy.' He returned his Cloud Spirits, Cloud Faeries and Spitting Spiders to their card form. "Nice work, guys. Now to...oh crap!! He was targeting Readington!" He teleported himself there to see nothing. "Too late. The innocent citizens have already been infected....unless those Cardcaptors were able to protect this city!"
He raced to Sakura's house and saw her, scratching herself like crazy. 'Infected. That other kid must be infected too.' He entered the house, carefully through the window. 'Maybe she can still do a bit of fighting before the third stage begins.' She woke up with a start. "Who are you? What do you want? Are you the one spreading the plague? I wasn't hallucinating!!" Kero awoke, thanks to the barrage of questions from Sakura.
"Sakura, go back to sleep. It's 2 a.m. and...WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU CHINESE BRAT!!! Wait...you look like the brat but you're not." Strider chuckled. "Our costumes are similar, Kerberus but the powers I possess are much stronger than his."
Kero gave a little sweatdrop. "Kerberus? No one called me that for a long time except when I was in my transformed state. By the way, it's Cerberus." Strider shook his head. "Cerberus is a three-headed dog who gives any sorcerer trouble. If it hates you, it will mutilate your head until there's nothing left but a skull...thrice. If it likes you, it will lick your head until you are soggy...thrice."
"I feel so..." Sakura collapsed into Strider's arms. "What's happening here?" Strider looked at Kero straight in the eye. "It's the Phyrexians. They are the ones spreading the plague. It was designed for humans and animals but you are not exactly an animal that they would expect so you're fine. As for your friend...she's entering the second stage of the illness. Unless we can destroy the Plaguelord and find an antidote, this world will be another victory for the Phyrexian Empire."
Chapter 5
Kero paced around nervously while Strider tended to Sakura. "Is there anything we can do to help her?" Strider shook his head. "No. She won't die but she will wish she did."
The Guardian of the Clow looked at Strider strangely. "I know what you're thinking. Why beg for death?" Strider stared coldly into Kero's eyes. "The true power of the plague comes from the Lifline Artifact stolen from a powerful artificer, Urza. The artifact allows eternal life for everybody. At first, the Phyrexians were alarmed but soon discovered that they can increas the power of their troops, not suffer any casualties and still conquer several alternate dimensions. The victims of the plague are too weak to fight back. They just lie there, suffering for all of eternity while the Phyrexians easily walk over them."
Kero's eyes widened. "Now I see what you mean. With death, it is a release of the soul but now, nobody can have that release. They will be shackled in the land of the living forever." Strider nodded. "Your friend did a vision spell with the Clow cards, right?" 'No way! How did he...?' The masked boy chuckled. "I have been to alternate dimensions very similar to yours. I know all about you and the Clow cards. What did your vision say?"
"From what I remember, the top card was the Sleep card. The three that were supposed to be related to the new force are Shadow, Flower and Firey. The objective of the enemy took on the form of Shield." Strider looked up. "The top card stood for weakness and fatigue for the city, similar to Sleep's qualities. Shadow referred to the figures of darkness that cannot stand the light. Phyrexians are undead creatures, fuelled by Death Magic. Flower meant posies and Firey was referred to as the source of the ashes. They were both linked to the nursery rhyme. The one that went 'Ring Around the Rosy...' That rhyme referred to the black plague, spread in England in the fifteenth century. Shield represented the Defender...me."
"They want you? Why? Is it because of your powers or something?" The boy was silent. "It is far beyond what you can comprehend, Kerberus." Kero snorted. "Try me."
"Over the multiverse, many sources of magic have been loose. They fall under seven categories. Fire, Water, Nature, Light, Death, Artifact and Ultimate. I can capture and wield the powers as I choose. In other words, I'm a Cardcaptor. Ultima level."
"WHAT?! The information of Ultima Level Cardcaptors never came to light. Even in the High Council, it was just a rumour. From what the rumours said, you Ultimas can channel an infinite amount of mana to generate the spells of the cards. Most of the instant destruction, sorceries, flight, speed, teleportation, hand-to-hand combat just come from a single thought..."
Strider lay out some cards. "The sorceries and instants as well as the other qualities you said are already integrated into my form. I can transform the instants and sorceries as well as my other qualities into cards, like so." The cards had funny numbers as well as different logos to represent the type of mana. A tree for Nature, the sun for Light, a skull for Death, a fireball for Fire and a water drop for Water. The cards with just numbers on them were brown bordered to represent artifacts and artifact creatures. The gold bordered had a combination of the colour logos and numbers. "Kero, what are those cards?" Both Kero and Strider turned simultaneously around. "Sakura!"
Chapter 6
The Clow mistress had her head up from the covers. She was deathly pale and her green eyes had lost their sparkle. Kero rushed to her. "Sakura, go back to sleep. You need to rest." She coughed a lot before replying.
"I will not stand back and allow the Phyrexians to trample over us. We have to fight..." Strider had placed a hand on her back and had rendered her unconscious. "An innocent flower with the spirit of a champion. A rare human indeed." Strider went to the window and lifted it up.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Strider looked at Kero. "Look after Sakura, I'l be right back." Kero raised an eyebrow. "You're going to their base or attempting to halt the Phyrexians in their tracks. I'm coming with you."
"You can't even transform. How can you help?" Kero looked at the ground in frustration. "I can't just stand here and do nothing. Sakura's right. We have to fight back. At least stay here until we have a suitable plan."
Strider stared at him for a moment and reluctantly closed the window. "Very well. What is your big plan?" Kero started to think. "We have to destroy the Lifeline Artifact. If you are an Ultima, you should have a trick up your sleeve to get rid of the Phyrexians."
"Kerberus, the Phyrexians have made several copies of the Lifeline Artifact. I will require a huge amount of time to power up the Splinter spell and destroy 2, 763, 234 Lifeline Artifacts. Besides, each Lifeline Artifact is guarded by a hell of a lot of Phyrexian Denouncers, twice as much Phyrexian Debasers, thrice as much Phyrexian Defilers as well as a lower level Plaguelord who possesses a Recurring Nightmare spell!"
"Piece of cake. I'll distract them while you go for the artifact. If I can have your speed and teleportation, I might be able to pull it off." Strider pondered the plan. "Well, it's a start. I will also give you the Sun, Water and Earth cards, should you run into an emergency and require your transformation."
"WHAT?! YOU HAD THE CARDS TO MAKE ME TRANSFORM?!" Strider chuckled. "As you say, expect the unexpected. If this doesn't work, I have one more trick."
"We're all dying of curiosity, Strider." Strider held up a strange looking disk. "What in the world is that?"
"You could say, it's a panic button. I will not allow the Phyrexians to take over more worlds. We have to stop them, here and now. You could say, once I activate this...it will be the beginning of the end."
Chapter 7
"Strider! Slow down, will ya?" The entity ignored Kero's pleas and continued his flight. "This is as slow as I can go without having the wind blow you away."
"Why don't I just transform and keep up with you?" Strider snorted. "Even if you did transform, you would slow us down even further. Besides, you need to save your energy reserves if you wish to proceed with the attack plan."
"So...where did you come from? What was life before you became what you are now?" The only reply Kero got was silence. "Come on...I know you can't just be born this way." Strider turned his head slightly. "How is that you know?" Kero gave his trademark know-it-all smirk. "Instinct, pal. Instinct."
"The life I had before my ascension ended several eons ago. This discussion is now terminated." Strider started concentrating on the pool of Death magic gathered near the sewage area.
"Tell me about the Phyrexian ranks or something." At this point, Strider started to regret bringing the Guardian of the Clow along. "Why?"
"Know thy enemy. Besides, I'm bored. I can't sense the Death magic since the magic is something beyond the Clow cards."
"...Very well. There are several divisions in the Phyrexian army. The Plaguelord and his carriers are one division. Other divisions include zombies, minions. One specific division was created specifically to combat Serra. That unit-"
"Whoa, whoa. Who's Serra?" Strider took out a Light card and gave it to Kero. His tiny eyes bulged. "Whoa! Her attack and defensive powers are so high!"
Strider chuckled. "Yeah. Her high casting cost is easily compensated. Not only is she strong, she can attack and still stick around for defense. As a matter of fact, that's only one of her angels that make up her army."
"YA GOTTA BE KIDDING!!!" This made Strider laugh even more. "Just wait until you see the Serra Avatar in the flesh. It's one powerful dude." He gently took back the card. "Serra is a planeswalker. I met her after my mission to stop the Yawgmoth Priests. It took me a while to learn the secrets of Light magic but it paid off."
"Yawgmoth Priests? Who or what are these priests? From your voice tone, they must be pretty despicable." Strider nodded. "It's hard to tell who's worse. The Phyrexians or these guys." He sensed something and made a stop.
"What the...?" Strider covered Kero's mouth. Up ahead a few metres, thousands of metallic skeletons were traveling in rows. Strider gave a small snarl. "Phyrexian Defilers..."
Chapter 8
"They're bigger than I thought," murmured Kero. The Defilers were 8 feet tall with powerful scythes as hands. They were made out of metal but they resembled a skeleton in a way. The rib cage is covered by a metal plate. The shoulder blades have widened and bent in order to accommodate the giant green capsule on their backs. There was a small faceplate just underneath the capsule in the centre.
"They might be heading towards the Lifeline Artifact. Let's follow them." Strider took out a Light card and silently chanted.
"The truthful will stand in the gaze of death and escape unharmed."
A small glow surrounded Strider and Kero. "What did you do?" Strider replaced the card back in his robe. "The Obsidian Acolyte is a Light card, capable of protecting anything from Death magic. At the moment, we will require its blessing in order to infiltrate the Phyrexian base successfully."
The duo flew ahead silently to the front of the row. Suddenly, green plasma shots rang out. "Damn, we've been spotted!" "Your powers of deduction never cease to amaze me, Kerberus. Split up!"
Kero gave a small growl. "It's been too long since I fought. Let's hope all the practice from Zylon Warriors helped. TRANSFORM!" Instantly, Kero morphed into the fearsome beast that was placed upon the Clow many years ago. He gave a toothy grin before attacking savagely.
Strider was teleporting the Defilers to an ocean. 'If you can't beat them, toss them somewhere where they can't bug you for a while.' He took out a Nature card. "Verdant Force, come to my aid! Release!" The gigantic elemental started to produce little Saprolings. Quickly, they swarmed the rest of the Defilers. "Kerberus, let's move!" A loud groan was heard, followed by a belch. Kero had transformed back into his small self and was looking very satisfied. "That was a nice snack. I never knew Phyrexians were so delicious."
Strider just shook his head and headed to the Defilers' destination. When they opened the door, there was nothing except a console. "What a rip!!!" Kero couldn't believe all that energy was wasted on a console. Strider began to tap into the system. "Excellent! Now I can see who and what is here on this world!"
A list appeared revealing thousands of Denouncers, Debasers, Defilers and some Plaguelords. The unit numbers were all there as well as technical statistics of the base. "The Defilers must have been checking in. I'll save them the trouble..." Strider mumbled as he confirmed the presence of the Defilers. After memorizing the layout of the base, he was about to log out when he recognized a familiar unit number. "What is it?" "A Phyrexian Infiltrator. Probably here as a scout."
An video message showed up on the communications unit on all frequencies. The lower class Plaguelord began to read the orders. "All units are to remain at their posts until interrogation of the two prisoners is complete. An investigation is being conducted as to how these two survived the plague when it was..." Cries of 'stop those two!' rang out. The last thing Kero and Strider saw was an image of Sakura and Li escaping from the base, plasma shots being fired and then...a fuzzy screen.
Chapter 9
"Hoo-hoo!!!! Those wackos are creating chaos in the base!! This is the golden opportunity here! Let's blow up that place!!" Strider gave Kero a look of disbelief. "You don't sense Sakura or Li in that place?" The Guardian Beast raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
Strider pointed to the monitor. "Those two are Sakura and Li. I know it." Kero shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned, Sakura and that Chinese brat don't grow sharp teeth and black scales. Okay, maybe the brat but not Sakura." Suddenly the truth dawned upon Strider. "The Phyrexian Infiltrators! Now it makes sense!"
"Huh?" The entity pulled up profiles of Phyrexian Infiltrators from the database. "They aren't strong but they can switch bodies with anybody. The only way to be safe is to have protection from the ability or to be completely untargetable. They must have generated the Water mana from the Phyrexian Lens Artifact!"
"Wait a minute!!! Back up! You're saying that Sakura and this Infiltrator switched bodies?" Strider nodded. "I knew something was amiss when Sakura woke up. I automatically assumed that the Death magic she displayed was due to the plague. It distorted her aura so I wasn't sure of anything. When I saw the Infiltrators trying to escape in the message, I felt a small bit of her aura. You should have been able to pick it up as well, Kerberus. After all, you are more familiar with it."
"Great! What do we do?" The masked warrior took out his staff. "We'll capture the Defiler army we ran into earlier...except the ones you ate. Maybe I can tap into their minds and get some answers. Then we make sure those Infiltrators don't go anywhere. Not until we get the real Sakura and Li back."
"This is insane!! Who are these wackos and what am I doing in this heavy body?" Li snorted. "Sakura, you should be able to handle this but I see you haven't done too much training with weights. If it wasn't for me, you would be one dead duck."
The two Cardcaptors ducked into a dark part of the base. The Denouncers ran past them, still convinced they were on the run. Sakura looked at her reflection in the puddle. She gasped in horror at her new body. The green cat-like eyes were beside the top corners of her mouth. Her teeth were sharper than a lion's and she had a weird tube running from the left side of her snout to the top of her head. More tubes were on her back, letting smoke leave her body. She had legs on both sides, making her appear like a spider.
"What happened to us, Li?" The descendent of Clow Reed could not come up with an adequate answer. "The masked boy you saw, maybe he has the answers! We have to find him!"
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "Hold on, Sakura!!!" They stepped out and started to move until a huge shadow towered over them. They turned and saw the face of the Plaguelord himself. He gave a sinister smile. "Peek-a-boo. I see you..."
Chapter 10
Li put his front two legs together. "Force know my plight, release the Light! Lightning!!" (I have gone to a new low, rewriting those corny magic incantations that Nelvana wrote. It's not that bad but it's so corny) The flash blinded the Plaguelord for a moment.
Sakura and Li used this opportunity to scuttle as fast as their little legs can carry them out of here. The Plaguelord started to give chase. "You can never get away from me!! This is my domain!!"
"This (pant) is getting (pant) out of control. We (pant) need our Clow (pant) cards!!" They stopped to rest, hoping that they had lost the Plaguelord. They were just about to take off when the Plaguelord stepped in front of them with an army of Defilers. "Going somewhere?"
All hope appeared to be lost until a huge blast shattered the ceiling. Everyone looked up to see a mysterious ship lurking overhead. "Kero, activate the tractor beam and get them outta here!!" "Aye, Captain Strider!!" The beam lifted Sakura and Li to safety.
"Welcome aboard the Predator. Please take your seats and fasten your safety belts!" Sakura was overjoyed to see Kero that she hugged him to death. "Sakura, I'm glad to see you too but now is not the time!!" Strider steered the Predator to the right and headed straight for Sakura's house.
"Do I have excellent timing or what?" Li waddled up to Strider with a angry look on his face. "Who are you? What's happening to Readington?" "Wait...before I answer questions, let's get you back to your real bodies. You were lucky that I captured three thousand Defilers or I wouldn't be able to home in on your signal."
'Sakura' and 'Li' were unconscious by the front porch of the house. "They were about to return to base with their report on me. It was lucky that they don't know enough about Clow cards or they would have reached the base easily." Strider channeled the mana requirements into Sakura and Li. In no time, they were back in their proper bodies and Strider became the proud owner of two new Phyrexian Infilitrator cards.
"Thanks, Strider for all your help." Sakura gave him a peck on the cheek. Li, slightly seething with jealousy, gave Strider a handshake. "You're all right."
"Now we can plan on how to stop the Plaguelord from taking over this world." Sakura's eyes lit up. "And that would be it?" Strider shook his head. "There would be more units coming. It could take a while before the Phyrexians are defeated." Li snorted. "From what you told us about them, it would take eons to defeat them."
Strider looked down in guilt. "Actually, I placed a safeguard in each world. Once the Phyrexians settle in, I activate the safeguard." Kero floated up to him. "What type of safeguard?"
"Let's just say they're different variations of the panic button I showed you, Kerberus. I've detonated them in several different worlds, destroying the Phyrexian units and the innocents there...including the ones close to me in my previous life." Sakura started to get nervous. "Did you place one here too?" Strider nodded. "And if necessary, I will detonate it and destroy this world..."
Chapter 11
The Monitor stood silently in front of the machine while the Plaguelord was having a discussion with some of the engineers on who would be a suitable target for the Phyrexian Splicer.
"Our adversary Strider has protected himself from everything. He is untargetable as the legendary illusion Zephid! We considered the one Strider called 'Kerberus'. His powers are rather limited since he needs specific requirements in order to use them. The girl's powers are all intertwined with the Clow cards and they will not give them up without a fight. The only logical choice is the boy. His magic is based on his inner strength and a simple Chinese sword. The ability to activate Clow cards is an added bonus."
"Excellent work, engineer 92. Activate the Splicer. Monitor 57B, are you ready?" The minion simply nodded. "One more thing, engineer 92. Does the power of the magic change with the type of sword the user wields?"
"I have not considered the factor. After the powers are stolen from the Chinese boy, we must test them with the Sword of the Chosen." The Plaguelord grunted in satisfaction. 'That legendary artifact better be worth the trouble I went through in order to steal it from the Ur-Dragon.'
Sakura could only stare helplessly as her father and brother struggle to fight the plague. "Isn't there anything we can do? Shouldn't there be some antibodies that Li and I made as soon as the plague infected us?" Strider shook his head. "Your magic from the Clow gave you some protection from the Phyrexian plague. Your body never got the chance to produce any type of antibodies. The plague was designed to elude all types of defense that the body can put up."
Kero quickly flew into the room as fast as his little wings could carry him. "There's something wrong with Li! I can't feel his magic aura!"
Strider snorted. "I never knew you cared about him." Kero growled. "If we're to stop the Phyrexians here in this world and prevent you from activating your panic button, we'll need all the help we can get!!" They rushed over to where Li was resting on the couch. "This is bad. The Phyrexians stole Li's powers temporarily." Li gasped. "WHAT?!"
Strider rose and pulled up a holographic projection of the Phyrexian Splicer. "The Splicer steals magical abilities from any magician for a day. I thought I destroyed the Splicers, the blueprints and the engineers who made them. Apparently, one engineer escaped...engineer 92 I believe. He was the one missing when I attacked the Splicer HQ."
He closed his eyes for a moment. "Sakura, you're coming on a mission with me. Li, I'll need your Clow cards. It's too risky to have you keep them since you can't activate them. At least they'll be out of the Phyrexians' reach." Li grumbled and reluctantly handed over the cards.
"Oh, Key of Clow
Power of Magic
Power of Light
Surrender the Wand
The force ignite
RELEASE!!"
"You better activate Dash and Fly if you want to keep up with me." Strider flew out of the house into the night. "Hey wait up!!" The Clow mistress followed in hot pursuit. Kero and Li were about to go back into the house when a mysterious figure approached from behind. The Guardian Beast immediately recognized the aura. "So you're the one with Li's powers..."
Chapter 12
The Monitor got into battle stance. "All right, kid. I'll show you what this stuffed animal can really do. TRANSFORM!!!" The element cards lent Kero their power as he morphed into the fearsome beast.
"Force know my plight, release the light! LIGHTNING!!!" The Monitor's sword shot out five balls of lightning. 'Damn, he's good!!' The beast barely dodged when the Monitor released another attack. "Now, element! Fire!!" The intense flame shot at Kero. He drew in the water magic and fired a water blast to neutralize the fire.
"My turn..." The beast shot out an enormous fireball which roasted the Monitor. It appeared that the battle was won until the Monitor regenerated itself.
'What do I have to do in order to blow this piece of junk up?!' The Monitor gave an evil grin. "Now, element! Wind!!" A hurricane started forming as Kero and Li struggled to keep themselves on the ground. The Monitor used this opportunity to attack Kero.
"Kero!!" Li saw the Monitor charge once more in order to finish the battle. Gathering all his strength, he tackled the Monitor and pinned it down. "I got him!! Finish it with your Disintegrate spell!!"
"What about you?" Li ground his teeth together as the Monitor struggled to get free. "I'll be his personal escort to Hell if I have to." The Beast was speechless for a moment.
"Regardless of how much I want to roast you, Sakura would never forgive me and...we need you." Strider's voice rang through Kero's head. 'Just do it already!! I'll cover Li!!' "Two against one. Here goes!!" Kero unleashed a devasting attack which removed the Monitor from existence but hardly touched Li at all.
"How...?" A glow surrounded Li and instantly reverted to a card form. "Red Ward?" The card instantly flew away to Strider's location. "Thanks, kid. For willing to give up your life for the world." Li smiled. "You gave me a lot of help and restored some respect for you." He looked and saw the Sword of the Chosen. Kero transformed back into his normal body. "That sword has a lot of power. I wonder who it belongs to..."
Strider and Sakura had successfully infiltrated the Laboratory. "What are we doing here again?" Strider sighed. "We are here to collect data. A quick job. Go over there and see what you can find."
While Sakura searched the desks, Strider started to go through the folders lying around the Laboratory. He was about to go to another folder when something caught his eye. "I couldn't find anything, Strider." The entity gave a small chuckle as he held up the design folder for the plague. "Sakura, I think we hit jackpot."
Chapter 13
Strider leafed through the folder, containing the list of compounds and elements used to create the Phyrexian plague. Sakura looked over his shoulder. "What can we do with this information?" The entity is amazed at how the plague was engineered. "First, we study the plague itself and then we find a cure for it. It's as simple as that."
"Yeah, for scientists with degrees in diseases and stuff." "Microbiology and immunity to be exact. It's really not that tough. Heck, you will start learning about this stuff if you take biology in high school." Strider checked the cabinets for a sample of the virus. Luckily, there was one test tube with the virus still intact.
He took a small amount and administered a small drop onto a laboratory mouse. (No animals were harmed in the writing of this fic. Just so you know) After the mouse was exhibiting signs of the disease, he analyzed the immune system's reaction using a nanobot and a computer monitor. "Unbelievable. The Phyrexians have successfully blended science and sorcery together in order to deal with the immune system without too much trouble."
The Clow mistress gave Strider a funny look. He sighed and started to explain about his observations. "There are two types of organisms that cause disease: bacteria and viruses. If bacteria is the pathogen, then antibiotics should be able to stop them. The body would do everything it can to make living conditions unbearable for the bacteria. Such as raising temperature to more than 100oF. With viruses, lymphocytes produce antibodies in order to deal with the problem. The plague however uses sorcery to paralyze the lymphocytes and any other natural defenses."
Sakura had a look of horror. "You mean there's nothing to stop it?" "Well the virus does have certain traces of elements here in your world such as mercury, hydrogen and bits of the noble gases. There are also some elements from other worlds such as thalakorium, skyshroudium, llanowarium, kyrenium, saprazzanium and so on. The Phyrexians use elements that the world they plan to invade, is weak against."
"Let's find a cure so you won't have to activate that panic button of yours." "Even if we find a cure, the effect on the population could be disastrous. Who knows if their bodies can survive the elements that can counter the elements of the virus. Heck, some of these elements are unknown in your world. If the cure is found and is easily accepted by the population, we have to destroy the Lifeline Artifacts in each dimension simultaneously before the Phyrexians have the chance to redesign the plague and reinfect this world." Strider gave Sakura a grim look before examining the laboratory specimen once more.
Chapter 14
"This is some weapon." Li tested the Sword of the Chosen out. It was absolutely perfect. In design, weight, strength and craftsmanship. "Hey! Watch where you swing that thing!"
Li smirked. "Right, Kero....I was wondering if Strider had captured a lot of Phyrexian Monitors." Kero scratched his chin. "He told me about his inventory 'borrowed' from the Phyrexian army. A lot of Denouncers, Debasers, Defilers, low-level Plaguelords, Monitors...heck even all of the Dreadnoughts. He also said he kept a few Splicers just in case of an emergency."
The Chinese boy raised an eyebrow. "Dreadnoughts?" "Yeah, they were really cheap to cast and they were powerful too but he had to sacrifice enough creatures for their total attack power to match the Dreadnought's." Kero shook his head. "I thought they would have been tough to capture but he said that the time with the Phyrexian Processor was much worse. They were practically pumping out creatures with a high amount of attack and defense power at an amazing rate."
A deep rumbling was heard. Suddenly a huge artifact creature appeared out of nowhere and started to charge. Li barely dodged the attack. "It's a good thing Strider showed me the different points of the Phyrexian empire. I think that is a Phyrexian Colossus..."
"...Now, element! Wind!!" Li's hurricane attack slowed down the artifact creature but it slowly came forward. "Damn!!! TRANSFORM!!!" Kero transformed and charged the Colossus who easily batted him away like a stuffed animal.
'Strider, if you're watching over us, we can use a little help here!!' Li felt the heat of the Colossus' breath. Suddenly a card appeared in Li's hands. A note was on it saying, 'Use the Mox Diamond as well as the Fire Diamond in order to cast the Shatter spell.'
"Now, element!! Fire!!!" The heat forced the artifact creature to retreat out of the flaming Chinese magic slip. Li cradled the two diamonds in his hand. 'Come on...work damn you!!' The diamond began to channel energy into the Shatter card making it glow and ready to be used.
"Kid, a little help here!!" The Guardian beast was forced in a corner and the Colossus is approaching slowly. "Shatter!! Release and Dispel!!" The Sword of the Chosen hit the card, magnifying the effect and destroying the Colossus. "Let's see if I can capture it. Return to your power confined! Phyrexian Colossus!!!" The tip of the sword stuck the beast, morphing it into a card. The Shatter, Mox Diamond and Fire Diamond all returned to their card forms as well. The four cards flew away to where the laboratory is.
Kero gave a groan as he transformed back to himself. "Damn, I hope that cure is ready so we can go along with the plan." Li gave a grim nod.
"WHAT?!" The Plaguelord was not pleased at all. The Monitor had the Sword and Li's powers and yet he lost. The Colossus has been captured and the Sword is now possessed by Li. He attempted to look at the bright side. At least now the kid will have to be one to face the wrath of the Ur-Dragon...
Chapter 15
"Sakura, hand me that sample of mercadium over there. The one in the blue jar." Strider put a little of it into his beaker. After smoking for a while the compound seemed to settle down.
"Anything?" The entity took a needle, filled it with the liquid and injected it into the mouse. 'Come on...work!!!' The mouse's vital signs began to stabilize. "YES!!! Ha, ha!! I knew that would work!!! Now all we have to do is check for long term side effects..." (REMEMBER: NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS EPISODE)
Sakura gave him a hopeful look. "Is it working?" Strider continued to analyze the mouse. "So far, yes. By implementing the Obsidian Acolyte's ability, I've been able to create a countermeasure. Such as a White Knight being created in order to stop the Black Knight." She gave a smile of relief. "How long do we wait until we know if this is the right cure?"
"I am analyzing all the effects, short term, long term and possibilities of the body rejecting the cure. So far, so good. I'll need about a half hour to confirm anything." Suddenly, the video monitor inside the laboratory started to beep. "Sakura, is it a general transmission or is it directed specifically at us?"
The Clow mistress gave a confused look at the screen. She pressed what she thought is the receive button. Luckily for her, it is. The face of the Plaguelord appeared. "Damn, he saw us!!!" Strider cursed at his bad luck. He could feel that this was the cure.
"To all personnel..." The duo gave a huge sigh of relief. "...I'm pleased to announce that the construction of the Phyrexian Tower is complete. With it operational, we can infect the world much quicker. The plague will be launched in all countries in one hour to guarantee victory. This means we must prepare to depart to the next world in two hours."
The Plaguelord paused. "The transportation site will be at Readington Elementary. All communication personnel must remain at their posts until the main forces come in." The Plaguelord pressed a button and the video screen went black.
"This is bad..." Sakura turned to Strider. "We have a golden opportunity here to stop those Phyrexians. We can't let it slip away!!" The entity chuckled. "I know that. I've already put a plan into action."
After twenty minutes, Strider gave a triumphant laugh. "I finally got it!!" He concentrated his thoughts to Kero and Li. 'Guys, I need you to get to the Phyrexian Tower. Remove all the barrels and put in a vial of the cure I'm sending to you. Hold your position there. Sakura and I will meet you there in fifteen minutes.'
The vial containing the precious cure for the deadly disease teleported to Kero and Li. "What are you going to do at the tower?" The entity narrowed his eyes. "Set the coordinates so that all infected worlds can receive the cure and revolt against the empire."
Chapter 16
"You heard Strider! Let's move!!" Kero transformed and threw Li on his back. "I'll do the driving, you watch our backs!" Li nodded and gripped on to the guardian beast as he flew into the night sky.
Some Debaser units began to chase them. "Force, know my plight. Release the light! LIGHTNING!!" Thunderbolts came from the sky and channeled into Li's sword. The sword then fired simultaneous thunderbolts at the Debasers. (Think Aries, God of War from Hercules and Xena)
"We need more speed!!" The Beast gave a toothy grin. "All right. I'm gonna warn you though that you better have a tight grip." Kero shot off like a rocket to the Tower.
"That's a lot of security!" Li smirked. "Afraid to take them on?" Kero growled. "I'll show you!! CHARGE!!!" The ground troops didn't have time to react as Kero quickly gave them a tour of his digestive system.
"Geez, Kero. How can you stand eating those troops?" The Beast belched. "Simple. I was hungry and you weren't much of a meal." The Chinese sorcerer just shook his head as the two entered the tower.
"Now, element! Fire!!!" The remaining scientists were roasted out of existence. "Give me a hand with the barrels, kid."
After clearing all those barrels, the cure was ready to be released. "Damn, where's...?" Strider and Sakura arrived on cue. "Sorry about the lateness but the evidence had to be destroyed."
The Clow mistress gave him an angry glare. "You could have waited until the mouse was released back into the wild!!" He raised his arms in defense. "Don't worry. I put him in your home room as a class pet. Satisfied?"
He went over to the console and started typing in the command for the cure to be released over Readington. "There...your city will be clean of the plague as well as ten thousand other worlds." He attached a device on to the console.
"Okay...initiating sequence. The cure has been released. Phase One of the plan is complete. Li, take Kerberus and Sakura with you and search the tower and see if the Lifeline Artifact is in here. I'll set up the plague to be transported into the heart of the Phyrexian homeworld. If we can't find anything, we destroy the tower."
The two cardcaptors left the room with the Guardian Beast following them. As Strider worked on his task, he saw an image of the village from his childhood, having a future to actually look forward to. He smiled inwardly and went back to work.
The search trio came back. "This was the only thing relating to the Lifeline Artifact." Sakura handed Strider a booklet. He quickly leafed through it and nodded in satisfaction.
"Despoil, release!!!" The black spell destroyed the tower instantly. Black energy was sent through the dimensional rift to deal damage to the Phyrexian world. "The Plaguelord is gonna be one pissed customer." Kero laughed at that thought. "So the Lifeline Artifact is here?" Li whistled in amazement. Who would have guessed to look at the core of the planet?
Chapter 17
The group walked deeper and deeper into the centre of the planet. "Hot...so hot..." Kero could barely flap his wings so he had to ride on Sakura's shoulder.
The entity ordered them to be quiet. The Phyrexians were in firing range. Li gripped his sword tightly. "I'll take them out." Strider gave a nod of approval. "Freeze, deliver an icy prison to those who serve darkness!" The tip of the sword hit the card, activating the Freeze card. All the forces were immediately frozen.
"Hmmmm...I only see Denouncer units." Strider looked around, stretching his senses for traces of the troops guarding the relic. The party looked around before entering the chamber. "Looks like we can destroy the artifact before the Phyrexians get back." Before they could move close enough to the Lifeline Artifact, the troops came out from all corners with their weapons ready.
"I knew it was too good to be true." Strider took out his staff, Kero transformed and Sakura spoke the chant to transform the key.
"Oh, Key of Clow.
Power of Magic
Power of Light
Surrender the Wand
The force ignite.
RELEASE!!"
Her baton stood ready by her side as the party prepared for battle. "Now, element!! Fire!!" Li gave a small smirk but it quickly vanished when nothing came out. "Strider!! What's happening?" "Li, help!!" Five Defilers were closing in on the Clow mistress. He ran over and grabbed Sakura before they could attack. "Thanks..." The Chinese boy gave a quick smile. "We better cover each other. Strider and Kero can look after themselves."
Strider looked around while he blocked the strike of a Defiler. "Damn!! Looks like there are Defense Grids and Spheres of Resistance to make the lives of magic users more difficult!!" All the colour drained out of Kero's face. "That's it. We're all gonna die."
"You know, you remind me of a certain robotic vermin who constantly says that," grumbled Strider as he slashed a Defiler open. (That's one helluva staff!!) The Debasers swooped in to attack. Strider leapt into the air and fired the Special Beam Cannon (Trademark move of Dragon Ball Z. Don't sue me, Akira Toriyama!!!) destroying sixty percent of the Debaser unit.
"There!! I gathered enough mana for the spell. Stupid Defense Grids and Spheres...Splinter, release!!!" Strider struck the Splinter card, destroying all the Spheres of Resistance. At least this weakens the Phyrexian troops here and gives some relief to the party. If it wasn't for the energon shield generator and the lower level Plaguelord, the Lifeline Artifact would be long gone.
Kero was stomping on a Defiler when a Debaser tackled him from behind. "I'll show you how to fly, you metal head!!" He charged the Debaser, squishing it into the wall. He fired an attack, destroying some of the forces attacking the Cardcaptor duo. "Uunnngghh!!" The beast lost the remainder of its strength and collapsed right into the local Plaguelord's iron grip. "It's time for you to be exterminated."
Chapter 18
"Kero!!" Sakura and Li had finished the last Defiler on their side while Strider destroyed the remaining Debasers. "I have the stuffed animal now so surrender now." In the blink of an eye, the guardian beast was teleported out of the Plaguelord's hand and onto the ground near the Artifact.
"Let's finish this scumbag. All the defense mechanisms for magic users have been destroyed. Sakura, Li, take care of the sub-boss while I destroy the energon generator."
"Windy, Water, release and dispel!!" The two attack cards charged the Plaguelord but he easily dodged the attack. He shot an attack at Strider, who attempted to fiddle around with the energon generator. "No touching, that's very fragile. My superiors would have my head if it was destroyed."
"That tickled. Li, use the Time card!!" Li threw the card in the air. "Time! Freeze the..." A force field surrounded the Time card, making it useless for the remainder of the battle. The Plaguelord grinned and then attacked Strider. He jumped and kicked the Plaguelord. "Huh?! Where's the generator?!" They all saw the Plaguelord swallow the artifact. "You will have to defeat me to get to the Lifeline Artifact."
"No sweat." Strider fired a ki blast at the Plaguelord but it simply bounced off. "Ah, crud. We can't destroy the buttmonkey with direct damage!!"
"I beg to differ..." Li charged with his sword. The Plaguelord used a finger to block every attack. He kicked Li over to the very hot core. "Li!!! Move card, move Li to a safe place!! Release and dispel!!" The Move card acted quickly and transported Li to safety.
"There's still one way to beat you. Swords..." The Plaguelord's eyes widened in horror. The card that erases creatures from existence. He tried to escape but it was no use. The mana cost has been paid. "...to Plowshares!! Release!!" The card was hit by the staff and began to erase the Plaguelord from existence. "AAAAUUUUGGHHHHH!!!!!!" The final scream of the Plaguelord echoed throughout the core of the planet.
"That was a close one. Wait a minute...I should have used the Erase card in the first place!!!" Strider shook his head. "The Erase card can only have an effect to natural inanimate objects and organisms on this world. It wouldn't have worked on the Phyrexians."
Li and Kero regained consciousness and were in a world of pain. While Sakura tended to their injuries with the healing magic that Strider gave her, the entity prepared to cast Splinter once more. "Splinter, release!!" The Lifeline Artifact erased itself out of existence. Strider was thankful that he transformed the original Lifeline Artifact into a card so he could make a copy using Copy Artifact and give it back to Urza.
"Li and Kero have major headaches but they'll make it." Strider nodded. "Good because now we can complete Phase Three and finish the Phyrexians here once and for all!!"
Chapter 19
The party had to reorganize themselves back at Sakura's house. Luckily, Sakura's father and brother were still asleep. "We still got some time before normal activities resume in the city so we have to stop the Plaguelord and the rest of the troops at the school," stated the entity.
"We better move fast. The sun will be up in an hour." This is it. The final battle to determine the fate of this world as well as others. "Let's move." The rest of the group silently followed Strider into the air, Li and Sakura on the baton and Kero in his transformed state.
The streaks of the sun rising were barely seen. It was apparent that the start of a new day would come as well as the start of a more happy life without the Phyrexians. The nightmare would soon be over and the oppression the Phyrexians displayed would cease thanks to the heroes of this world.
They stopped when they got to the top of the clock tower. They could see an angry Plaguelord who had received news of the battle that occurred in the core. The remaining carriers were patiently waiting for orders. Their numbers were still fairly large. A thousand Defilers, Denouncers and Debasers making a total of three thousand carriers, without the Plaguelord.
Strider felt as giddy as a child in a candy store. He took out the trump card that would finish the Phyrexians here in this world. He would see to it personally that the Phyrexians stay busy with their own problems on their world to take over others.
The Plaguelord saw a tiny shadow as the sun rose and looked up to see the party standing on the clock tower. Strider raised a card that read 'Extinction'. The Plaguelord gasped. This was the same card, the same spell that stopped the Slivers from overtaking the Weatherlight, the same spell that forced the Sliver Queen to surrender to Strider and transformed her and all her subjects into cards.
"Extinction, release!! CARRIERS!!!!" The type of species was chosen. The Plaguelord and all of the troops were fading into thin air. "NO!! THIS CANNOT BE THE END!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Strider opened up a vortex in the sky above the fading troops. They were instantly sucked in and transformed into cards to complete the collection of the Phyrexian Plague Army.
"That's it?! Man, that was intense..." Strider chuckled. "An acquaintance of mine said this, 'The day is young. The battle is done.' This is indeed a new day for us all. The group nodded in agreement as they saw the sun rise majestically from the east.
"Hey! Let's see if everyone's all right!" Sakura activated the Fly card and flew home with Strider, Kero and Li close behind her. When she got home, she shook her father. "Hey dad!! Don't you have work today?" Her father didn't respond. Did the cure work and produce side effects or did it fail?
Chapter 20
"Strider!! You said that the cure worked!!!" Strider didn't hear her. He looked like as if he sensed something came into this world. Something evil. "I detected a dimensional portal opening up into this world."
"I thought that was it!!" The entity closed his eyes for a moment to think. "Of course!! The main force would come after the plague troops finish here! They didn't call off the main force!!" Sakura started shaking him like crazy. "What about the cure?!"
Li had to restrain her from doing anything rash. "Calm down, Sakura. There should be a logical explanation for this, right?" Strider started to sense some magic near the heart of the city.
"The main force must have activated some sort of magic to keep everyone who were supposedly affected by the plague in stasis. I think they used an artifact for that...Juntu Stakes. Creature with weak attack powers are paralyzed as long as the Stakes are implanted on the surface. That is what is affecting everyone!!"
"What are we waiting for?!" Sakura stood up in preparation for battle. "We still have Phyrexians to finish so let's move!!" The other three gulped simultaneously. "Yes, madam!!!"
"The source of the disturbance is over there, by the zoo." The group flew over to the zoo to see a huge pit of stakes implanted in the ground. All sorts of zombies and minions stood around the artifact.
"Whoa. An all you can eat buffet!!" Kero gave a grin. "Kerberus, is there ever a time when you're not hungry?" The guardian beast ignored the sarcastic remark.
"What are they anyway? Machines or what? They kind of look like a freakier version of the Borg," said Li. (the Borg is a registered trademark of Paramount. Don't sue!!!) "They are part machine and dead organic matter." Strider moved in a little closer to get a better look.
"Dammit!! Where is the communication personnel?!" An angry figure was pacing around the area. "Belbe, if you don't calm down, I'll have to hurt you." He muttered an apology before he left to pester some of the zombies.
Sakura saw a figure heading towards the zombies. "Who's that?" "That is Belbe, the head of the Phyrexian Engineering Department...Wait a minute, if Belbe is here then..." Strider's eyes widened in horror. "This is very bad."
"What? Is there something wrong?" The Clow mistress had never seen Strider so agitated before. "Yes, there is. If Belbe is here then so is the greatest, most ruthless Phyrexian general of all time...Tsabo Tavoc."
"Say what? Couldn't you destroy this Tsabo easily?" The entity shook his head. "It is not as easy as that Kerberus. Tsabo has the ability to stop legends in their tracks. He cannot be hurt by legends and he could destroy legends. I am a legend in several different worlds so I will not be able to hurt him nor him me. His attack and defense powers are about five hundred thousand times that of the local Plaguelord."
"What does this mean, Strider?" He gave them a worried look. "This means the only ones who could stop him from taking over this world are the three of you."
END SEASON 1
I am considering finishing up all of the second season first. Then I will post it up as a huge package for season 2. Then season 3 will start with individual episodes.