Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Card Captor Sakura: The Next Quest ❯ Sakura and a Mountain of Trouble ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: Sakura and a Mountain of Trouble

~~~~~Tokyo, Japan~~~~~

Sakura woke the next morning to find herself in a room that was not her own room at home. She seemed to be still dressed in her same clothes she was wearing the day before and was holding a jean jacket she recognized as the one Heero placed on her shoulders the night before. She also realized that she wasn't alone and turned her head slowly to try to determine who the other person with her was. When she got her head to the right position to see, she noticed her head was in the lap of Mizuno Ami, one of her new roommates. She remembered feeling comfortable with Ami earlier which might explain why she still felt so comfortable in the company her new roommate. As she was turning her head she roused Ami from her sleep and Sakura watched as Ami's eyelids slowly opened allowing Sakura to see her pretty blue eyes. As Ami awoke from feeling Sakura stir in her lap she opened her eyes to see Sakura's captivating emerald green orbs staring up at her. At seeing Ami come to full consciousness, Sakura gave her a bright smile and then sat up. Once sitting up, she got a better view of the girl sitting with her. Sakura blushed slightly at Ami's appearance since she could partially see through her nightgown and noticed that she was not wearing much underneath it. Despite that Sakura also felt that Ami looked very beautiful in her light blue sleepwear, although she figured she must be a little cold as she was sitting atop the blankets on her bed. Sakura offered Ami to get under the covers of her bed with her, and her new roommate gratefully agreed. "Good morning. What happened?" asked Sakura.

"Good morning Sakura-san. I'm glad to see that you seem to be looking well once again," replied Ami with a smile of her own. "What do you remember from last night?"

Sakura took a moment to think before she answered. "I remember walking in the woods with Heero and then I felt umm --," Sakura stopped speaking and gave Ami a curious look.

Ami wasn't quite sure why Sakura stopped talking at first but assumed it was probably because she wasn't sure if she should tell her about her magical powers and the Clow Cards. "It's okay Sakura-san. Li-kun told me all about the Clow Cards and you being the Clow Mistress."

"Really? He is usually so close mouthed about anything having to do with the Clow Cards. Well, in any case, as I was saying before, when I was in the woods with Heero, I suddenly felt a magical presence. At first I was confused because it felt a lot like there was a Clow Card nearby; however, I was under the impression that we had captured all the cards. After that I remember the presence showed itself and attacked us. I remember getting hit and when that happened it almost felt like my energy was being drained from my body. After that, I don't remember much. Do you know if anyone figured out what the presence was?"

"You mean you don't remember anything after you got attacked?" Sakura shook her head indicating that she didn't. "Well, I would suggest you check your pocket then."

Sakura checked the pocket of her skirt and was startled to find a card in it. Sakura took the card out to examine it and was startled to see that it was indeed a Clow Card. Ami looked over Sakura's shoulder, very excited to see the Clow Card since it would be the first one she saw. Sakura noticed Ami looking at the card as well and assumed that it must have been Ami's first time seeing a Clow Card since all the other cards were in her possession. She studied the card and discovered it to look almost exactly like the Power Card. The only two changes were that instead of saying `Power' on the card, it said `Drain' and the back of the card was black, not brown, and it didn't have the design on the back that the original Clow Cards had. "How did I get this? I didn't capture it, did I?"

"Well, from what I understand of the situation, Yuy was able to disable the card, but you were conscious enough to do the actual sealing of the card. I guess you must have been so low on energy that you don't remember changing the card from magical form into Clow Card form." Ami took the card as Sakura offered her a closer look. Surprising to her, as she took hold of the mystical Clow Card she could feel the magical energy coming from the card. It was a little confusing to her because she could never sense magical energy in anything else before, especially not in her normal form, but when holding this Clow Card she could swear that she felt something.

Sakura noticed the perplexed look on her new friend's face. "What's wrong Ami-chan?"

"Huh?" Ami looked away from the card and at Sakura. "Oh, it's just that I've never really been able to sense magical energy before, but for some reason I know I can feel the magical force coming from this card."

"Really!?" exclaimed Sakura with a bit of surprise in her voice. "That's great. That means you have magical abilities too!"

Ami was a little shocked that Sakura didn't already know that she had magical power. Then she realized that she had only told Syaoran about being Sailor Mercury, so there wasn't any reason why Sakura should know that she had magical energy. "Well, yeah, I do. Have you ever heard of the Sailor Senshi?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "I think I remember reading about the Sailor Senshi in one of Syaoran's magic research books. The leader is Sailor Moon, right? And she, along with the rest of the Senshi, is supposed to have great magical power. But I thought Syaoran-kun said they were a myth?"

Ami actually laughed at that statement. "No, the Sailor Senshi are quite real. In fact, you now know two of them."

Ami giggled at seeing Sakura in deep thought attempting to figure out who the two Senshi could be. As soon as she heard Ami giggle, Sakura blushed a little realizing that she had slipped into one of her clueless states. "You and Minako-san? You are Sailor Senshi?"

Ami nodded an affirmative. "According to Li-kun, I am not as strong as you are in a magical sense, however, Sailor Moon might be pretty close to your strength."

"So which Sailor Senshi are you?" asked a now very curious Sakura.

"I can transform into Sailor Mercury, and Minako can transform into Sailor Venus. Our other friends we were telling you about earlier are the other Senshi. Rei is Mars, Makoto is Jupiter, and Usagi is Sailor Moon." Ami gave slight pause to let Sakura digest all the new information. "Sakura-chan?" asked Ami. "I was wondering if I could see the other Clow Cards."

"Of course. How about I show you them over breakfast? It's still early so I doubt anyone else is awake yet, but the two of us can go get some food and then I can show you the cards."

"Good idea. We should probably get cleaned up a little first though."

"You're right. You can use my robe if you like, since I assume you would rather not have someone see you dressed as you are if one of the other girls do happen to be awake." Ami blushed a little at Sakura's mention of her rather flimsy clothing. "Although you really don't have to be embarrassed. You look quite beautiful as you are, and I really mean that. It makes me feel a little jealous to tell you the truth. I wish I had a body like yours."

Ami was shocked that Sakura said she felt jealous about her body. "Why would you say that? You are one of the most beautiful girls I have ever met, Sakura. If anything, I am jealous of your body."

"Arigato Ami-chan. That really means a lot coming from you," said Sakura with a smile. "Let's get ready and go eat."

"Hai. I'll meet you out in the living room in a few minutes," replied Ami while she got out of Sakura's bed. "And arigato for letting me borrow your robe. Even if you do think I have a nice body, I still feel a little uncomfortable with others seeing me dressed like this." Sakura smiled back at Ami as she got out of bed herself. Ami put on Sakura's robe and left her room to go get cleaned up and dressed. As expected, Ami found none of the other girls awake when she left Sakura's room. She inwardly sighed graciously that nobody else would see her dressed in her sleepwear.

Fifteen minutes later, both Sakura and Ami exited their respective rooms after each taking a quick shower and changing. Sakura was now dressed in white pants and a cute yellow turtleneck sweater. Her hair had no ribbon in it allowing it to fall naturally along the sides of her face bringing out the natural sparkle in her beautiful green eyes. Ami was dressed almost the same as Sakura, only her sweater was light blue instead of yellow. When the two saw each other they both giggled a little when they noticed they were both dressed almost the same. "So where do you want to eat Ami-chan?"

"Well, I remember seeing a place a few blocks away from here that said they serve pancakes for breakfast. How about we go there?" suggested Ami.

"Sounds good. Kero-chan will be happy if I bring some pancakes back with me. That reminds me, where is he anyway? You guys all met him yesterday while I was sleeping, right?"

"Hai. We met him last night. He's quite nice and he cares for you a great deal. You should have seen how he treated Yuy-kun when he walked in with you lying unconscious in his arms," Ami giggled. "Anyway, Kero decided to stay with Hiiragizawa-kun last night so they could try and figure out what that new Clow Card was and how it was created. I'm sure he'll come see you as soon he wakes up."

Ami and Sakura left the room and headed down the stairs towards the front door. As they passed the workout area they noticed two people sparring inside. Deciding to take a closer look at who might be up at this hour of the morning, they were surprised to see that it was Syaoran and Heero who were practicing with each other. Staying quiet, the two girls sat down near the door of the training room and watched the two guys go at it. Once they were close enough, both girls let out a small gasp. Both guys were only wearing workout pants with no shirts, and the girls could easily see they had perfectly formed bodies. They each had a layer of perspiration on their upper-bodies and sweat was dripping from their damp hair. The girls assumed they must have been working out for quite a while already since it looked like they were going at full speed. The guys didn't look like they noticed their new audience and continued their match. Heero and Syaoran were doing hand to hand sparring and similar to the night before they were about evenly matched. There was a distinct difference between their match last night and their fight at the moment. Previously, neither one was able to land a single decisive blow in their match, however; now, both were landing clean shots every now and then since the two had figured out ways around each other's natural defense tactics. Eventually, the two stopped fighting and appeared to be getting ready to leave when they noticed the onlookers. "Sakura-san? Mizuno-san?" queried Syaoran. "How long have you two been sitting there?"

"Just for a few minutes," answered Ami. "You two are really great. How long have you been down here?"

"We've been here for an hour or so," replied Syaoran.

"How are you feeling Kinomoto-san?" asked Heero in very slightly concerned sounding voice.

"I'm feeling fine now, thanks to you. Arigato for saving me last night, Heero." Heero nodded, disappointing Sakura a little who was hoping for a smile from the usually emotionless boy. "We were about to go out for some breakfast and talk about the Clow Cards a bit. Would you two like to join us?" invited Sakura with a smile.

"Sure, sounds good," agreed Syaoran. Ami and Sakura looked to Heero, and he nodded an affirmative to the invitation. "Give us a minute to get cleaned up and we'll be right back." The two went into the locker room and ten minutes later they both emerged showered and dressed. Ami and Sakura both started laughing when they saw Syaoran and Heero come out of the locker room. The reason they were laughing at the two was because, similar to them, Syaoran and Heero were dressed almost exactly the same. Both were wearing black pants, a T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. The only difference in their appearance was that Heero's shirt was red and Syaoran's was dark green. Neither of the two guys seemed to notice or care that the girls were laughing at them and continued to walk out the door with the two giggling girls behind them. A few steps out the door, the girls got over their giggles and hurried to catch up to the guys. When they caught up to the guys, Sakura took stride with Heero and thanked him again for helping her capture the Drain Card.

"By the way, Syaoran-kun, did you guys figure out what this Drain Card is?" asked Sakura.

"Well, Hiiragizawa came up with a theory. Basically, his theory is that when Clow Reed was creating the original Clow Cards, there was a lot of extra magical energy that was lost in the process. Clow Reed could never figure out where that energy went, but one theory was that it was accumulated into making a sort of second deck of Clow Cards. Let's wait till we can sit down and I'll explain it in more detail." Sakura nodded that she agreed that was the best idea.

"Why were you two up so early this morning anyway?" asked Ami.

"I always wake up around dawn to train," answered Syaoran. "I was trained to wake up that early since I was a kid, so every morning I do a workout when I wake up."

"What about you, Heero?" asked Sakura. "Why were you up so early?"

"I only sleep a few hours each night," stated Heero in a monotone voice. He offered no explanation as to why he only slept a few hours each night and nobody wanted to intrude and ask.

"So how was the sparring match?" asked Ami. "From what I could tell you two seemed pretty evenly matched."

"Yuy is quite an excellent fighter. Our fighting styles are extremely different, but I haven't had such an exhilarating sparring partner since I left Hong Kong." As the four walked to the restaurant they continued to talk to pass the time. When they arrived they found that they were the only ones there since it was still only six in the morning. The group ordered a large stack of pancakes with maple syrup to split between the four of them, plus having some extra to bring back to Kero.

Once the food arrived, they all began eating at a casual pace and Sakura brought out her book with the deck of the now changed Clow Cards and the new Drain Card she had found in her pocket that morning. She gave the deck of Sakura Cards, minus the Power Card to Ami to look at, and gave the Power Card and Drain Card to Syaoran to study. As Heero looked over the shoulder of Syaoran at the Power and Drain Cards, he commented, "These two cards look almost the same. This is the card we captured last night, correct?" Sakura nodded, indicating that Heero was correct.

"They do look the same," agreed Syaoran. "Well, this fits into Hiiragizawa's theory I suppose. He said that each new card was probably created from the excess energy from creating one of the Clow Cards, and therefore would be made of similar magic. This Drain Card was probably made from the extra energy from the creation of the Power Card."

After hearing Syaoran's explanation of the existence of the new deck of Clow Cards, Sakura turned her attention to Ami who was splitting her attention between Syaoran's explanation and her own task of shuffling through the original deck of Clow Cards. After Syaoran was finished explaining about the Drain Card, Ami focused more attention on the cards in her hand. Sakura noticed that Ami had a startled look on her face. "What's wrong Ami-chan?"

"It's strange, Sakura. I can feel the energy coming from each one of these cards. It wasn't just some fluke with that new card; I can actually feel the energy from each of these cards as well. I can even feel which ones of these have stronger magic than the others. Amazingly enough, I think that a lot of these cards feel like they have stronger magical power than that new Drain Card. Especially these two cards," Ami said as she pulled two out from the deck. "These. The Light Card and the Dark Card. These feel extremely powerful."

"Impressive, Mizuno-san," complimented Syaoran. "Light and Dark are the two most powerful cards in the deck. I can see that you do make use of your magical power, even in your normal form."

Heero was a little confused at what was going on, although he didn't show it. He didn't understand why Ami could feel the magical energy of the cards or what Syaoran meant by her normal form. Not liking to be unaware of what was going on, Heero spoke up. "What does he mean your normal form?"

"Huh?" asked Ami, since she forgot that Heero didn't know about her being a Sailor Senshi. "Right. I forgot we didn't discuss this with you before, Yuy-kun. I apologize. What Li-kun was talking about when he refers to my normal form is how I am now. I also have the ability to transform into Sailor Mercury. Minako is Sailor Venus and together along with our other friends we are the Sailor Senshi. If you have never heard of us, it's no big deal, because most people haven't. Anyway, when we transform we gain much magical and physical power. When we get back, I can show you my transformation and maybe what I am saying will make more sense." Heero nodded an ok.

After looking through the deck of Clow Cards, Ami gave them back to Sakura who offered them to Heero to see if he wanted to look at them. Heero took the cards from Sakura as he was a little curious to what these Clow Cards really were. Ami and Syaoran looked at Heero as Sakura gave him the Clow Cards to study, and were very surprised to see his usually emotionless face have a different look to it. It looked like Heero was confused. This was not unnoticed by Sakura either who was also surprised to see an expression on Heero's face. "Is something wrong, Heero?" asked Sakura.

Heero was silent for a moment as the look on his face slowly vanished. "It's strange. When I'm concentrating on one of these cards, I can feel something. I don't know what this feeling is, but I can feel something coming from these cards. I can also feel what Mizuno-san was describing earlier. Some of these cards leave me with a clearer feeling than the others."

The others were shocked. Heero could sense magic too? "Do you mind if I check to see how much magical potential you have Yuy?" asked Syaoran who wanted to satisfy his curiosity. Heero just shrugged and told Syaoran to do what he needed to do. Syaoran closed his eyes and transfixed his magical senses towards Heero's aura. When he opened his eyes again the other three were all looking at him awaiting him to tell them how powerful Heero might be magically. "It's strange," commented Syaoran. "I've never come across anything like this before. Your magical energy is fluctuating. One moment you feel like you have the exact same amount of magical strength as Sakura, and then the next you feel like you have almost none. Everyone else I know has a set amount of magical potential, yet you don't. I don't know how to explain it."

"I suppose this is another thing to ask Eriol or Kero about," added Sakura. "Anyway, do you guys happen to have any idea of what type of power this Drain Card possesses?"

"Well," said Syaoran thoughtfully. "The Power Card adds physical strength to whomever the spell is cast on, so perhaps the Drain Card does the opposite? Maybe it takes away strength from an enemy?"

"That would make sense!" responded Ami. "Sakura said that when she got hit by the Drain Card it felt like all her energy was leaving her. Perhaps what looked like a simple punch was merely a tool for draining the energy out of Sakura."

"That might also explain the glow that surrounded Kinomoto-san when she got hit," offered Heero.

"That would make sense. The glow was probably an extension of the Drain Card's magical aura, which was used as a tool to drain the energy out of Sakura."

"That sounds like it could be a really dangerous card to use," said Sakura with concern in her voice. "If it was overused, it might drain too much energy from someone and cause serious harm. For that matter, do you think I can even use the powers of these new cards?"

"That's a good question. I'm not sure if you can control these cards, since they aren't bound by the Seal on the Book of Clow. You might not be Mistress of these cards like you are of the original deck of Clow Cards. I guess that is another question to ask Hiiragizawa." The conversation in the group degraded from serious to a fun conversation to raise each of their spirits. Eventually they all finished eating and decided to tour their new campus.

After stopping by the guys' suite to drop off the leftover pancakes for Kero when he decided to get up, Sakura, Heero, Syaoran, and Ami started their walk around the campus. They checked out a number of the buildings where they would be having lectures and science labs and then went to see the Recreation Center and University Administration Building. After a few hours of walking around the group found a place where they bought some picnic food and a blanket and went to the open field in the middle of the campus. While they were eating and relaxing, Syaoran asked Ami and Heero if they wanted to learn some basics in making use of their magic power.

"Sure!" exclaimed a very excited Ami. "That would be great! Can you try too, Yuy-kun? So I don't feel like I'm being put on the spot." Heero just shrugged his shoulders and said sure.

"Alright," began Syaoran. "This exercise is to allow you to get familiar with using magical energy. The basic point of this doing this is to help you learn to enhance your concentration on your magical energy. The first step is to relax your body and clear your mind. When you reach a certain level of meditation, your magical energy should naturally manifest itself inside your mind. The easiest way to feel your own magical energy is to close your eyes, relax, and feel for your aura. When you perfect control of your aura when you are in this meditation state, you can begin to practice tapping into your magical potential without using your full concentration. Once you have mastered control of your energies, then you can learn to use the magical power and turn it into a physical manifestation." Ami and Heero both closed their eyes and relaxed their bodies and minds. Syaoran was concentrating most of his attention on Ami, while Sakura was entranced by Heero. "We'll try to help you focus on your magical power by focusing our own energy towards you." Syaoran and Sakura both closed their eyes and channeled their own magical energy in an attempt to help show their new friends the correct path.

Suddenly, Heero opened his eyes and his head snapped around towards his right. "What's wrong, Heero?" asked Sakura who was helping Heero focus his magical energy.

"There is something out there. In that direction," Heero said while pointing. "I can't explain it, but I can feel something out there."

At hearing what Heero said, Syaoran and Ami stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Syaoran then tried to focus his own abilities in the direction Heero indicated. It took a while, but Syaoran did get a brief feeling of the energy that Heero had felt. "How did you sense that? I've been practicing my magical sensing skills since I was only a kid and I can hardly feel that energy even when totally focused."

"I have no explanation of how I can sense it. All I know is that the feeling is extremely clear and it feels very similar to the feeling I got when I was holding those Clow Cards."

"Sakura, see if you can sense what he's sensing," suggested Syaoran. "The feeling is too weak for me to determine if it is a Clow Card. Maybe you can tell."

"Alright, I'll give it a try." Sakura closed her eyes and focused all her energy into sensing for a Clow Card in the direction Heero said he felt the energy. "I think Heero's right. The feeling is a little weak, but it does feel like a Clow Card. I'm amazed you could feel that power without any training."

"We'll worry about that later," said Syaoran who was standing up. "We have to go capture that card. If it is anything like the original Clow Cards then we have to make sure it doesn't have a chance to cause any trouble."

"You're right. Can you two come along in case we need your help, Heero-kun and Ami-chan?" asked Sakura.

"Of course, Sakura-chan," replied Ami. Heero nodded and stood up, indicating that he would go as well. The four then started running in the direction of the Clow Card, hoping to catch it before it could cause any mischief or harm. As they got closer to the source of the power, Syaoran began to feel the magic from the Clow Card a lot more clearly. Shortly after Syaoran had determined for himself that Sakura and Heero were correct in assuming it was a Clow Card, Ami began to feel the presence of the card. The feeling was very similar to the feeling that she got from the other Clow Cards and after concentrating a little harder on the energy, she began to be able to determine the strength of the card. "It feels like this card has a lot of power!" Ami yelled as she ran along with the others.

"I feel it too," confirmed Sakura. "This card feels even more powerful than almost all of the cards we have captured! And we don't know what types of powers it might have!"

"We'll just have to deal with that when we get there," said Syaoran as he picked up speed. The power of the card was starting to worry him, but his training wouldn't allow his concern to show on his face or in his voice.

The four arrived at a clearing between two large buildings filled with lecture halls on their school campus. As soon as the four caught sight of the source of the magical energy they all skidded to a stop. Sakura and Ami placed their hands on their knees and bent over, gasping for air since they had been running full speed for quite a long distance. The source of the magical source was very easy to pinpoint once it was within seeing distance. Fifty feet in front of the group stood an extremely large figure that looked to be made completely of molten lava. It stood at least eight feet tall and as thick around as a large tree. Even from the fairly large distance away, all four could feel the heat radiating from the magical entity. Wasting no time, Syaoran took hold of his pendant and released his sword. "God of Wind, Come Forth!" Syaoran's incantation resulted in a strong gust of wind directed directly at the new Clow Card. Unfortunately, the attack only served to get the attention of the magical creature. "Sakura! This Card seems to be fire based. I have nothing that is very effective against fire so it's up to you!"

"Right!" responded Sakura. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" Sakura's wand appeared in her hand and she immediately pulled out a Clow Card from her deck. "Freeze!" Sakura struck the levitating card directly in the center and in a blaze of light the Freeze card released and was ready to do the bidding of its Mistress. "Freeze Card, freeze the new Clow Card! Attack!" The Freeze Card attacked immediately and for a brief instant the heat from the molten creature was completely neutralized by the cold from the attack. Unfortunately, the attack from the Freeze Card turned out to be just as fruitless as Syaoran's wind incantation. Completely drained of its magical power, the Freeze Card reverted back to its card form and floated to Sakura's palm. "This Card is really powerful! The Freeze Card didn't even faze it!"

After the two unsuccessful attacks made in its direction, it was clear the molten creature had taken notice of the presence of the four heroes. Its gaze seemed to settle directly on Sakura, probably because similar to the other Cards, this new one could sense that she was the Card Mistress. The group watched and they also felt the entity gather power to strike back. The ground began to rumble beneath their feet as the four watched the monster raise its arms and create a ball of molten magma in each hand. The creature then hurled the two balls at the group, with one seemingly aimed at Sakura and the other in the direction of Ami. Sakura stood in shock at the ball of scorching lava came streaking at her. Her first thought was to raise the Shield Card to protect herself, but was hesitant because she was unsure if the card would even be powerful enough to stop the attack. Ami was just as stunned as Sakura, not used to being in the position of being attacked before she had transformed into Sailor Mercury. Luckily for the two stunned girls, both guys were quick to react to the attack. The attack in Ami's direction wasn't quite on target, allowing Syaoran just enough room to pull Ami out of the way and onto the ground, breaking her fall with his own body. Heero, however, didn't have the same option for protecting Sakura. His only options were either to let the attack hit Sakura, or block it with his own body. Of course, Heero chose to get in front of Sakura and protect her by putting his own body in harm's way. When Heero stepped in front of Sakura and took her into his arms to protect her from the attack, something unexpected happened; both Sakura and Heero's auras began to show themselves. Syaoran was quite surprised that Heero's aura was manifesting itself, since he wasn't using any magical powers. Not only was Heero's aura visible, but it was different than any other aura Syaoran had ever seen. While every other aura Syaoran had ever seen had been some color or another, like how Sakura's aura was pink and his own was green, Heero's had no trace of color at all. At that moment, the orb of fire impacted Heero and exploded, surrounding Heero and Sakura in a ball of flames.

"Sakura! Heero!" screamed Ami from Syaoran's arms. Ami buried her head in Syaoran's shoulder to hide her eyes from the horrifying sight in front of her.

"Mizuno-san, look," said Syaoran to the beautiful girl with her head buried his chest. Ami brought her head up and out of Syaoran's chest to look where Heero and Sakura were attacked and gasped in surprise. Standing in the same spot as before were Heero and Sakura. Both Ami and Syaoran were astonished that the two could still be standing after being struck with such a powerful attack. Their happiness soon disappeared when they got a better look at the pair after the smoke had cleared. While Sakura looked to completely unharmed, Heero wasn't so lucky. The entire back of his shirt and jacket was gone, and severe burns were clear on Heero's back. While Syaoran was inwardly concerned about Sakura and his new roommate and sparring partner, he was more amazed at the auras around the pair. From the look of it, Heero's aura had thinned itself out around him, and moved to protect Sakura. Sakura had her own pink aura surrounding her as she was using some of her magical powers to try to protect herself from the attack; however, as she feared it wasn't going to be enough to save her. Strangely though, Heero's aura had moved from surrounding him to wrap itself around her, doubling her aura protection shield. The end result was Sakura had an inner layer of pink aura, surrounded by an outer layer of white. Syaoran didn't know how it had happened. He had never seen anyone's aura extend itself off of the person creating it. It looked as though Heero's aura had given Sakura enough strength to keep her from getting hurt in the attack, but it left him unprotected. Suddenly, the portion of Heero's aura that was still surrounding him faded away, and Ami and Syaoran could only stand by and watch as he collapsed onto Sakura, who laid him down on the ground as gently as she could manage. While Heero's aura had faded from around himself, the extended portion of his aura that was surrounding Sakura remained.

After laying Heero down on the ground as he fell into unconsciousness, Sakura turned her attention to the Card. Ami could see that something had changed in Sakura. Her eyes no longer shone with their normal happiness behind them, but instead were burning with anger. Sakura was angrier than she had ever been in her life. Her new friend, who had protected her from an extremely powerful attack, was lying unconscious at her feet, and the source of his pain was right in front of her. "You are going to pay for what you did!" screamed Sakura. All Ami and Syaoran could do was watch as Sakura stood and faced the menace. Syaoran could feel Sakura drawing upon more and more magical energy, more than she had ever used before. Apparently the card felt Sakura dipping into her powers and was concerned, because it quickly generated another ball of fire and hurled it directly at Sakura. Unable to reach her in time to get her out of the way of the attack, Syaoran and Ami could only yell for her to move. Unfortunately, Sakura didn't seem to hear them as she stayed in the same spot and simply allowed the ball of flames to engulf her.

"Sakura!" Syaoran and Ami shouted in unison. The two were about to run over to try to help her, when all of a sudden the fire that was where Sakura had been a minute ago began to swirl around and soon flew up into the air and dissipated. Still standing in the same spot, not looking like she moved an inch was Sakura. However, Ami and Syaoran could see that her aura shield which had previously been pink inside and white outside, had been replaced by a giant silver aura which seemed to be still expanding. Seeing the Card Mistress deflect its attack so easily, the giant lava creature began to take a step backwards in fright.

"You're not going anywhere!" yelled Sakura. "Watery!" In a flash of light, the Watery Card was released from its confines and hovered next to its mistress. While under normal circumstances, Sakura would have simply ordered the card to attack on its own, this time Sakura used her magic to change the Watery Card into a ball of liquid energy which she controlled between her hands. "This is what you get for hurting Heero!" Sakura screamed as she let loose the newly formed ball of liquid. The ball transformed into a beam of liquid energy and streaked towards the fire creature with amazing speed. As the liquid impacted with the molten lava, steam began to rise from the creature. The beam went straight through the center of the creature, splitting it into two halves. Sakura continued her relentless attack, with her beam of liquid being directed straight at the larger of the two pieces of the creature, slowly turning it into a solid.

Ami watched in amazement as Sakura attacked. She could feel the power from Sakura's blast, and the strength of it sent a shiver up her spine. "Who would have thought it was possible for one person to control so much raw energy?" Ami asked to herself. The amount of power Sakura was emitting was like nothing Ami had ever felt before, and if it had been anyone other than Sakura who was in control of the power, she would have turned and run in fear. Her amazement was kept in check when she noticed the smaller piece of the creature begin to reform itself and ready itself to attack the Card Mistress who was busy controlling the larger piece. Not wanting Sakura to get hurt by a surprise attack from the little creature, Ami acted quickly. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!" Ami chanted. In a burst of light, Ami transformed into Sailor Mercury, standing in a ready position as she prepared to attack. "Mercury Aqua…" As she chanted her incantation for her most powerful attack, an electrified ball of water appeared in Ami's hand. "…Mirage!" Ami threw the sphere of water and lighting at the now fully aware smaller creature. The ball split upon impact with the magical being and turned into ribbons of water that completely surrounded the creature. Finally, the water dissipated and all that was left was a large mound of black rock. Ami then looked back to Sakura who had finished disabling the larger creature and was waiting for her to finish before sealing the card.

"I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" The two mounds of hardened magma turned into white light and flew towards Sakura, stopping just in front of her and transforming into a new Clow Card. However, while Sakura would usually pick up the card and study it and feel proud at her achievement, this time she quickly put the card in her pocket without even looking at it and ran over to Heero. Sakura then recalled her wand and kneeled by his side. Once sitting next to Heero, Sakura's silver aura changed back to the pink outlined by white and slowly, the white outer layer disappeared from around her and reemerged as Heero's aura once again. Once Heero had his aura back around him, returning his magical strength, he regained consciousness. "Are you alright, Heero?" asked a very worried Sakura.

Heero sat up for a second to clear his head before standing. Once back on his feet he looked at Sakura and nodded. "Yuy-kun, Sakura-chan. Are you two alright?" asked Ami as she ran over to the pair, followed by Syaoran.

"Somehow, I'm completely fine, Ami-chan," replied Sakura as she looked herself over to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Heero looks hurt though."

"It's just a few burns," stated Heero in a monotone voice. "I'll be fine. Is this your Sailor Mercury form, Mizuno-san?"

"Hai. I transformed to help Sakura out since Sailor Mercury's element is water. Let me take a look at those burns on your back. My mother is a doctor so I might be able to help." Heero turned to allow Ami to look at his injury. "These burns are pretty bad. I'm surprised you can even stand. Most people would probably be unconscious from an injury like this. We should get you to the infirmary quickly."

Heero merely shrugged at the mention of medical care. "I've been hurt worse than this before. I'll be fine. Anyway, what exactly happened? I could feel Kinomoto-san's power increase, then I felt Mizuno-san's power go way up too, and soon after, I felt the Clow Card's energy disappear."

"You could feel the energies while you were unconscious?" asked Syaoran. Heero just nodded an affirmative. "Quite impressive. You have some really strange power, Yuy. I'm not sure if you know, but you probably passed out in the first place because your aura moved from your magical center to protect Sakura. I've never seen something like that before. I've seen people use spells that use their own magical power to create a shield around someone, but never have I seen an aura literally move from its host to protect another. Well, to answer your question, it looked like Sakura's power increased so much because her own aura combined with yours. Mizuno-san's power jump I assume came from her transformation and with the two of them working together the card was quickly and easily beaten. By the way, Sakura, what card is it?"

"Huh? Oh! I forgot to look," said Sakura with a shrug. She took the new card out of her pocket to take a look at it. Similar to the Drain Card, the back of new card was completely black. When Sakura turned it over, she was a little surprised. Instead of having a single picture of a magical entity on the front, this card was split in two parts. The top left corner held the same picture as the Firey Card, and the lower right side had the Earthy Card. The bottom of the card had the name `Magma' engraved on it. "It looks like this is called the Magma Card. I don't understand why it has two pictures though. I thought you and Eriol said these new cards were made from the excess energy from making one Clow Card," said Sakura as she handed the card over to Syaoran.

"Well, these two pictures are the Earthy and Firey Cards. Perhaps, this Magma Card was made with a mix of both the Earthy and Firey powers. That would explain why this card was so powerful, since Earthy and Firey are both elemental Clow Cards and if the combined power from both of them are in this card, then it would have to have amazing power."

"I think this can wait," interrupted Ami. "I really think Yuy-kun needs some medical treatment. No matter how tough you are, these burns on your back are very serious and should be treated."

"Ami-chan is right," added Sakura. "We should get your wounds cleaned up."

"I think the school infirmary was over there," said Ami as she pointed toward a group of buildings. The group started walking towards the infirmary, with Ami and Syaoran in front and Heero and Sakura behind them.

"Heero-kun?" said Sakura in a soft voice. Heero looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Umm, I wanted to say arigato for saving me. I really appreciate it and I'm very sorry that you got hurt." Sakura's eyes started to water from the feeling of guilt that Heero got hurt protecting her. Her sadness vanished, however, when Heero surprised her by wiping away her tears with his finger.

"Don't cry. I just couldn't stand by and let you get hurt. And it looks like it turned out for the best anyway. I've been hurt much more seriously than this before, so there is no need to worry."

"Arigato Heero-kun." Sakura stepped in a little closer to Heero and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked. Heero looked down at the innocent girl resting on his shoulder and while she wasn't looking, gave her a slight, very gentle, smile. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but wonder how such a beautiful and kind hearted girl could have gotten mixed up in this strange and dangerous mission of capturing Clow Cards.

"By the way, Mizuno-san," said Heero. "Don't you want to change back into your normal state? You might get some funny looks if we come across any people while you are dressed like that."

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Ami. "I totally forgot I was still in Sailor Mercury form. Arigato." Ami then proceeded to transform back into her normal clothing.

"So, where exactly do your normal clothes go, Ami-chan?" questioned Sakura who thought that it would be a neat trick to learn if she could.

"You know, I have never thought about it Sakura-chan," replied Ami with a shrug. "I have no idea what happens to my normal clothing when I transform. They just seem to disappear and come back when I transform back." Sakura dropped her head and sighed, seeing her hopes of learning to change into a costume so easily vanish. At seeing Sakura's obvious disappointment that Ami didn't know how to make her clothing disappear and reappear, Heero had to stifle a laugh at how cute she looked. As she was pouting, Sakura could have sworn she heard the beginnings of a laugh coming from Heero, but when she looked up to see if she was right, his face still looked the same. Sakura's studying gaze was not missed by Heero, who saw her emerald eyes that were so full of wonder out of the corner of his eye. At that moment he decided to do something way out of character. He shifted his head very slightly towards Sakura and gave her a wink and a grin. Sakura became ecstatic at seeing Heero wink and grin directly to her and she giggled and grabbed hold of his arm once again and rested her head against his shoulder. Heero and Sakura's entire interaction was missed by Syaoran and Ami who were talking with each other about what Ami's different magical powers are when she is Sailor Mercury.

It didn't take long for the group to reach the infirmary, but to their disappointment, there was a sign on the door that read `The University Health Center will be closed until the first day of classes'. Still worried about the burns on Heero's back, Ami suggested, despite her uncomfortable feeling from doing so, that they try to break in and take a few supplies they would need to help Heero's burns.

"Try using the Lock Card, Sakura," suggested Syaoran.

"Good idea," agreed Sakura as she reached for her pendant.

"Don't waste your energy," countered Heero. Everyone looked at him questioningly as he walked up to the door and proceeded to pick the lock in a matter of seconds.

"How did you do that, Heero?" asked Sakura.

"I was taught all sorts of things when I was younger. Lock picking was one of them." Nobody got a chance to ask Heero why he had been taught to pick locks as he walked into the building to make sure there wasn't an alarm system he had to disarm. "There's no alarm system," Heero stated to the rest of the group. "Mizuno-san, you can come and get what you need now."

The other three went into the University Health Center to join Heero. Ami quickly searched through the cabinets until she found the correct treatments for Heero's burns. Heero removed his ruined jacket and shirt and threw them in the garbage as Ami treated and bandaged his burned back. After she was finished Syaoran gave Heero his jacket to wear for the time being since his own clothes got destroyed. Heero nodded to Syaoran for the jacket and thanked Ami for the medical care and the group then went back to the area where they had left their picnic stuff, not sure if it was still going to be there.