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 Meets ZERO ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 9: Sakura Meets ZERO

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

"Do you know what happened to Yuy and Maxwell?" asked Eriol as he, Ranma and Syaoran walked into the girls' suite.

Minako shrugged before answering Eriol's question. "Duo-kun said he and Yuy-kun had something to do and would be back later tonight. They said for you guys to go to soccer practice without them." The guys all looked strangely at Minako as they wondered what happened to their teammates, but soon just shrugged it off and left for practice.

~~~~~Uninhabited Forest Somewhere in Japan~~~~~

"Are you sure it's a good idea to do this?" asked Duo as he and Heero arrived at their destination.

"I just have a feeling that sooner or later the rest will figure out about our Gundams and these modifications will probably come in handy."

"I assume you already have figured out how to fit the extra seat in each of our suits, right?"

Heero just nodded as he stepped out of the truck he had rented with all the parts they would need and looked up at the gigantic figure of Wing ZERO. "Let's get to work." Heero and Duo then proceeded to unpack all the mechanical equipment and parts they had brought with them and started the difficult task of installing a second seat into the already cramped cockpits of Wing ZERO and Deathscythe.

As Heero was coming close to finishing the installation of the auxiliary seat in his Gundam, he got a call on his cell phone from Sakura. "Heero-kun. Where did you and Duo-kun go?" she asked in her sweet and carefree voice.

"We had something to take care of," Heero stated as vaguely as he could but at the same time trying not to make Sakura overly suspicious. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope," she answered, still in the happy voice showing that she didn't think anything suspicious was going on. "I was just wondering what you two were up to. The rest of us are going to the library to do some homework, so if you guys get back and nobody is around, that is probably where we will be."

Heero couldn't help but smile into the phone at Sakura's cute innocence. "Ok, Sakura-san. I'll see you later tonight then."

"Hai! Bye, Heero-kun."

"Bye," Heero answered as he hung up the phone. "You finished yet, Duo?"

"Just have to finish attaching this last bolt," answered Duo as he finished securing the seat in the cockpit of his Gundam. "All finished. Ready to test them?"

"Let's go," Heero stated as he took his place in the pilot seat of Wing ZERO. In a flash, Heero's hand floated over the numerous controls, bringing the giant mobile suit to life. A yellow glow surrounded Heero as the ZERO system started up and from the outside it could be seen that the head of the giant robot raised and the green eyes lit up. As Heero pulled back on the throttle, the large, beautifully white wings of the Gundam raised up and spread out, ready to take flight.

At the same time, Duo was also starting up his Deathscythe. The jet black Gundam's wings unwrapped themselves from around the body of the suit, and like Wing ZERO, the head of Deathscythe raised slightly and the green eyes lit up. "Alright buddy," said Duo to his Gundam. "Let's do it!" At the same moment, both Heero and Duo pushed their machines to full power and they both took off in a flash of light and a gust of wind. The two pilots made sure to go at full speed with as much extreme maneuvering as they could manage to make sure that the auxiliary chairs wouldn't come loose. Satisfied with the results, the two pilots flew back to where they had decided was the best hiding place they could find for their mobile suits and finished cleaning up the site and headed back towards Tokyo.

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

"So where have the two of you been hiding yourselves?" joked Minako when she saw Heero and Duo walk into the library where everyone else was studying.

"Very funny, Minako-chan," replied Duo as he walked over and gave his girlfriend a kiss.

Heero followed a couple steps behind Duo and walked to the empty seat next to Sakura, making sure to place a gentle hand on her shoulder before sitting down. "What have you been working on?" Heero asked quietly.

Heero saw Sakura furrow her brow while looking down at her papers before answering. "I'm trying to do the math, but it is so hard! All I can see are numbers floating around inside my head," she whined. Heero very carefully placed his hand on Sakura's face, cupping her cheek in his palm. Sakura closed her eyes and brought her own hand up to cover Heero's, holding it close to her face and relaxing at the comfortable feeling she got from feeling Heero touching her.

"How about you take a break and we go for a short walk," suggested Heero thoughtfully. "It will help clear your head." Sakura looked up at Heero with her green eyes wide and a sweet smile on her face. She nodded as she got up from her seat and asked her friends to watch over her things for a few minutes.

The couple walked hand in hand out the front doors of the library into the cool night air. As soon as she was outside, Sakura immediately wished she was wearing her jacket instead of leaving it back with the rest of her friends. She didn't realize that she was unconsciously moving closer to Heero to try to warm herself up with his body warmth. On the other hand, Heero did take notice of Sakura's unconscious movement and saw that Sakura looked cold when he glanced down at the girl's shivering form. Being the gentleman that he was, Heero took off his jacket and draped it over Sakura's shoulders to keep her warm. "Arigato, Heero-kun," said Sakura sweetly as she pulled Heero's jacket tightly around herself and rested against her boyfriend's side.

The two were walking slowly along a path that made a large loop around the library building, and the scenery surrounding the couple was beautiful. High in the night sky there were a number of stars shining brightly against the cloudless dark blue void. Among the stars was a perfect crescent moon. The sliver was just enough to make the entire area glow very faintly; creating an atmosphere that was a mix of beauty and mystery. The paved path ran through a forest of high trees and colorful flowers. Every now and again, Sakura would stop briefly and bend down to take a closer look at the pretty violet, blue, yellow, and red flowers that were dotted along the side of the path. Every time Sakura would stop to smell the beautiful and fragrant flowers, Heero couldn't help but smile at the cuteness of the girl. After a short while, the couple came to a small open area that had a great view of the twinkling stars up in the night sky.

When Heero saw that nobody else was around, he stopped with Sakura and in a quick, gentle motion, pulled her into a close embrace and captured her soft pink lips with his own. Sakura was initially surprised by Heero's quick action, but was quickly able to regain her wits and return Heero's kiss since she had discovered a while ago that Heero would often kiss her suddenly whenever they happened to enter some type of romantic setting. Heero took a moment to savor the deliciously sweet taste of Sakura's lips and to inhale the faint scent of cherry blossoms that came from her hair. Heero had first noticed the pleasant fragrance when he kissed Sakura at the dance a few weeks ago and at the time he had been curious as to why he had never noticed it before but quickly brushed it aside as unimportant. Sakura too was savoring the embrace. She thought Heero was an excellent kisser. His kisses were always strong and passionate, but they still managed to be gentle at the same time. She also enjoyed running her fingers through Heero's always slightly ruffled, yet strangely soft, brown hair.

The couple continued to kiss each other in the passionate embrace until they heard a loud "Cute!" from behind them. Both of their heads snapped around just in time to see Tomoyo standing next to a bush with her ever present video camera in hand, and with Ranma next to her apparently about to pull her back into their hiding place in the bushes. Knowing she had unconsciously squealed a little too loud and had effectively blown her cover, Tomoyo decided to just say exactly what she was thinking about the couple. "You two looked so perfect kissing under the stars! I got the best shot ever with the two of you holding each other tightly under the night sky in this beautiful forest with the moonlight casting a romantic glow about the whole area. I can't wait to show it to everyone!"

"T-Tomoyo-chan," stuttered Sakura to her best friend. "How long have you been following us?"

"Since you left the library," Tomoyo answered with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. "I got a whole bunch of cute shots of you on video."

Heero had a slight face of annoyance at the interruption of his time alone with Sakura, but had learned a long time ago about how obsessed Tomoyo was with her best friend and so he didn't take the interruption by the girl to seriously. "I guess we should head back to the library then," said Heero. "I'll help you with that math you are having trouble with."

"Arigato, Heero-kun." Heero and Sakura walked back to the library slowly with Sakura resting her head on Heero's shoulder. Behind them, Tomoyo was also walking arm in arm with her boyfriend, but she made sure to keep her camera up so that she could capture more of Sakura's cute moments with Heero.

~~~~~Tokyo, Japan Three Weeks Later~~~~~

"Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" shouted Sakura as the large body of water in front of her turned into bright energy before flying toward the Card Mistress in its new Tsunami Clow Card form. "No fair," she whined after returning her wand to its normal form. "I'm all wet."

Tomoyo walked up to the soaked Card Captor with her camera in hand like always. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo soothed while the frowning Sakura was busily trying to dry herself off. "We are at the beach. You were going to get wet sooner or later anyway."

"I know, but I was waiting for Heero-kun to get here before going into the water."

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with the sun high in the sky and a light cool breeze keeping the air temperature to a comfortable level. The good weather was a rarity for the time of year as winter was quickly approaching. The gang had decided to take the opportunity for one last trip to the beach before it got too cold. At the moment, there were only six of them present. All five girls were there, as well as Ranma.

"I don't know why you are complaining so much, Sakura-san," said a girl's voice from behind Sakura. "All of us got wet, but at least you don't have side effects when you get wet."

When Sakura heard the voice she turned around slowly, a little confused at who was talking to her. "Oh! Ranma-kun," exclaimed Sakura when she saw Ranma's girl form in front of her. "I'm sorry. I totally forgot about what happens to you when you get wet."

"Don't worry, Sakura-san," replied Ranma kindly when he saw that Sakura seemed to be blaming herself for his changing into a girl. "I was expecting to be in my girl form for the majority of the day, considering we are at the beach."

"Arigato, Ranma-kun," said Sakura. She felt a little better after Ranma's comments, but she still felt bad for complaining when she was only wet and he had changed form. "By the way, thank you for the help with the Clow Card."

"Anytime, Sakura-san."

"Your guys' assistance was really helpful too, Minako-san, Ami-chan. Arigato."

"We couldn't just sit by and watch you fight alone," responded Minako who was drenched, but still in her Sailor Venus outfit.

"Minako's right," added Ami who was also equally soaked as Sailor Mercury. "Whenever you have to fight, we'll be right by your side."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to do much of anything to help," said Ukyo from next to Tomoyo.

"Hey," responded Tomoyo. "It's not your fault you don't have magic. Besides, if it wasn't for you pulling me out of the way of that huge wave, my camera would have been ruined." Ukyo smiled at Tomoyo's kind words. She liked Tomoyo a lot, but still thought her obsession with her video camera was a little strange.

"You two might want to change out of your Senshi costumes soon," said Ranma to Minako and Ami. "The other guys will probably be here pretty soon."

"Good idea." Ami and Minako both concentrated for a brief second before their Sailor Senshi costumes disappeared and they were once again wearing their bathing suits.

"Hey!" exclaimed Sakura after the two girls were back to normal. "How come you aren't wet anymore?"

Ami and Minako looked at each other before Ami answered. "When we change back, we always return to the exact same physical state as we were before we transformed. Since we didn't get wet until we were in Senshi form, we are still dry."

"No fair," whined Sakura as she plopped down in the sand feeling sorry for herself again. Sakura was so busy thinking about how it wasn't fair that Ami and Minako were dry and she was still soaking wet that she almost didn't hear Heero telepathically laughing inside her head. "Heero-kun?" asked Sakura inside her head.

"Hai."

"What are you laughing at?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Hai. You are still worried about being wet. It's cute."

Sakura blushed from Heero's comment, but luckily for her nobody could see since her face was pointed down at the ground. "Are you guys on your way here?"

"Hai. We left a few minutes ago. Practice ran a little long."

"Ok. See you soon then." With that last telepathic thought, Sakura got up from where she was sitting in the sand to join in the conversation with the others. Talking with Heero made her happier, just like always. "Ranma-kun," said Sakura. "Why aren't you with the rest of the guys at practice anyway?"

"That's a good question," added Ukyo. "Why aren't you playing soccer with the rest, Ranchan?"

"You guys all saw the game two days ago, right?" All the girls nodded their heads except Tomoyo who already knew why he didn't have to go to practice since she had asked during the ride over. "You remember how we won four to zero? And that I was the one who scored all four goals?" Again, all the girls nodded. "Well, coach gave me a day off from practice because of it."

"That makes sense," said Ami. Since six of them were going to the beach early, but only Tomoyo and Minako had cars, Syaoran had let Ami drive herself and Sakura in his car saying he could catch a ride with Heero.

"Umm, guys," said Ukyo. "Is it just me, or does it seem to be getting dark out?"

The other four girls and Ranma stopped talking when Ukyo spoke up and started looking around. They all noticed Ukyo was correct, and it was quickly getting prematurely dark out. Sakura was the first to think to look toward the sun, and saw that a large black circle was slowly crossing in front of the sun's path. "Look everyone. It's a solar eclipse."

The other five looked up at the sun and everyone, except for Ami, voiced their excitement since solar eclipses were rare and quite neat to look at. Ami, on the other hand was a little skeptical. She knew for a fact that there was not supposed to be a solar eclipse anytime soon. "Something isn't right," she finally said. "This isn't a normal solar eclipse." Everyone turned to Ami for some type of explanation. "First of all, look at the radius of the object blocking the sun. There is almost no curvature, suggesting the object is way too big to be the moon. Second, I know for certain that there isn't supposed to be an eclipse today."

"Then what's going on?" queried Tomoyo.

"I have no idea. This goes against all scientific predictions."

"Could it be magic?" asked Ukyo.

"Like maybe it's another Clow Card," added Ranma.

"I guess it is possible," said Sakura. "But I can't feel any Clow Cards nearby."

"Maybe it is one of our old enemies," suggested Minako to Ami.

"I doubt that," answered Ami. "Luna and Artemis seemed pretty convinced we had finished securing the Moon Kingdom future."

At that moment, the girls saw Heero's Ferrari and Eriol's Jaguar turn the corner and stop next to Tomoyo, Minako, and Syaoran's cars in the parking lot. When they reached the girls, it was obvious they had already noticed something was amiss. "What is up with this funky darkness?" asked Duo as he stood by Minako.

"We've been trying to figure that out," answered Sakura. "Ami-chan says its definitely not a natural solar eclipse, so we think it must be magic."

"That's a pretty good bet," said Eriol. "I can't sense the presence of anything magical, but I have a feeling that someone or something with an enormous amount of power is responsible for this."

"But if we can't sense it, how do we stop it?" asked Sakura. Not even Eriol had an answer for that question, so all ten stood in silence and watched as the sun was slowly covered, until it was completely gone from sight.

Syaoran, like all the others, was watching the planet's source of light slowly fade from view until it looked just like night out. When the sun was gone, Syaoran tilted his head slightly and gazed up at the sky where a number of stars had become visible. Syaoran lost himself deep in thought while gazing at the few small twinkles up in the vast darkness. It took a while, but eventually a single sparkling star caught Syaoran's eye. He watched in fascination as the small source of light suddenly flared slightly, emitting a beautiful silver color around the speck before changing back to normal. The silver flare gave Syaoran an idea though. It had reminded him of what Sakura and Heero would become every time they combined their powers. Syaoran took a moment to think his plan through before voicing it to the others. "I have an idea," he finally said, quickly getting everyone's attention. "It's a long shot, but I think if Yuy and Sakura-san combine their power, they might have enough energy to sense the magic presence. If that is really what it is anyway."

Everyone looked to Heero and Sakura, and Heero and Sakura looked at each other. "I guess we'll give it a try," said Sakura as she nodded her head. Heero nodded as well as he walked behind the Card Mistress and gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. Sakura clasped her hands on top of Heero's around her waist and the couple closed their eyes and began concentrating their magical energies. The others all looked on in amazement as both Heero and Sakura's auras manifested themselves. Sakura's aura didn't look very large, but was very rich in color, while Heero's white aura extended out until it was covering both teens. It was clear from looking at the couple that Heero was sharing his power with Sakura, making her magical energy extra strong. In a flash of light that was so bright that everyone had to turn their heads and shield their eyes, Sakura's pink aura, which had been outlined by Heero's white aura, suddenly changed into a bright shimmering silver. The combined silver aura was exceptionally strong around Sakura with only a thin outline around Heero. After a few moments, both Heero and Sakura simultaneously opened their eyes but left their combined aura intact.

"I can feel the presence, and I think it is a Clow Card," said Sakura. This surprised both Syaoran and Eriol, who hadn't expected it to be a Clow Card since they were normally very easy to detect. "But I can't be certain and I can't pinpoint a location. We still don't have enough energy."

When Sakura said she needed more energy, Syaoran, Eriol, Ami, and Minako all looked at each other and nodded. They all walked over to Sakura and Heero and both Ami and Minako placed a hand on each of Heero's shoulders. Syaoran and Eriol followed suit, Syaoran placing a hand on top of Ami's and Eriol placing one on top of Minako's. Sakura looked back and gave a smile to all four of them before closing her eyes again and melting back into Heero's embrace. A second after Sakura closed her eyes, so did Heero, and a moment later the other four magicians did the same. Ranma, Tomoyo, with her camera of course, Ukyo, and Duo all looked on as Ami, Syaoran, Minako, and Eriol's auras all began to reveal themselves. Minako and Eriol's auras were surprisingly similar in color. Minako's aura was a bright yellow and Eriol's was a magnificent gold. While both auras were close to the same color, it was clear that they didn't mingle together at all. They both maintained a distinct separation from each other as they reached out to lend a small amount of power to Sakura.

As Syaoran and Ami began channeling their magical energies, something unexpected happened. Ami's light blue aura and Syaoran's green aura both appeared as they normally did, but instead of keeping a clean separation like Eriol's and Minako's, Ami and Syaoran's auras began to swirl together. The four observers were surprised when this happened, but were even more surprised when in a flash of light; the two colors had been replaced by a single aura. The new combined aura was an enchanting aqua-marine color; a perfect blend of blue and green. The new magical aura was substantially more powerful than the power of the two separated energies. This did not go unnoticed by Heero, who almost momentarily lost his concentration when the flood of energy was suddenly channeled through him. He had been expecting a much larger burst of energy from Ami and Syaoran than from Minako and Eriol, but not to the same extent. He knew Eriol didn't have as much magical power as either Sakura or Syaoran, or even the two Senshi. He did understand magic more thoroughly than anyone else, and that allowed him to lend more power than one would think possible based only on his magic energy level. Heero had also discovered that at least when in regular form, Ami had more magic than Minako. When in Senshi form, their power levels were pretty much the same, but in normal form there was a substantial difference. What Heero didn't know was that Ami appeared to have more power because of the nature of each Senshi. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury each held the same amount of total magical potential, but Mercury was the only type of power that was controllable. Sailor Mercury's powers can be consciously controlled up to their full potential, but Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and even Sailor Moon were all grounded by emotion. Sailor Moon could reach her full potential from various numbers of different emotions, but Mars, Venus, and Jupiter can only release their full magical potential as pure raw energy and only when certain emotions were in control of their minds. In the case of Mars, Rei would only be able to use her full power when anger and aggression, which were the qualities of Mars, dominated her mental state. Makoto was limited to the power of Sailor Jupiter, so was only able to release her full potential when the need to protect someone or something was foremost in her mind. Sailor Venus was governed by her feelings of love and passion. Therefore, Minako was only able to reach her full potential when it concerned someone she loved or felt extra strong about. Syaoran's case was similar to Eriol's. He didn't have as much magic potential as either Sakura or Heero, but he did have almost as much as each of the Senshi. His extensive training in magical arts did, however, allow him to use his power more efficiently, making it seem like he had more energy than Eriol, Ami, and Minako.

It didn't take long, especially with the extra boost of energy given by Ami and Syaoran's mingling auras, for Sakura to determine where the magical presence was coming from. Once she had figured it out, she stopped channeling all her energy, inducing a chain reaction that sent everyone's aura back to normal. "It's definitely a Clow Card," said Sakura after everyone got relaxed again after the magical stress. "And it is far away, which I guess is why it took so much energy to find it."

"What direction is it?" asked Duo.

Sakura just took her arm and pointed straight up in the air. "It's above us. Really high above us."

"I guess it's up to you and me then," said Heero since only Sakura and himself had the ability to fly. "By the way," Heero added as he turned to face Ami and Syaoran. "Did you two know that your auras combined?"

The surprised looks that appeared on t Ami and Syaoran's faces when Heero told them the news showed they obviously had no idea. "What do you mean by combined?" asked Syaoran. "Like yours and Sakura-san's?"

"Hai!" answered Tomoyo before Heero had a chance. "I got it all on tape."

"Heero-kun, Sakura-chan," said Ami. "You two better go get that Clow Card before people start wondering about why there was an unscheduled eclipse. We'll worry about why my aura combined with Syaoran-kun's."

"You're right, Ami-chan," answered Sakura before turning to face Heero. "Ready?"

"Let's go."

"Key that Hides the Power of the Stars/Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I Sakura/Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!"

"Fly!"

"Wing!"

At the command of their masters, the Fly and Wing Cards released and Sakura and Heero each found themselves with wings on their backs. The couple looked at one another and nodded before both taking flight. Once airborne, Sakura decided to amuse herself by flying in circles around Heero as they ascended through the night sky. Seeing Sakura having so much fun twisting around the sky, Heero decided to play along. The couple participated in a dance of spiraling around one another until Heero swept in and gently grabbed Sakura into a close embrace and captured her lips with his own as they continued to twirl while heading upwards.

After about a half an hour of continuous flying, Heero and Sakura both stopped ascending so they could talk with each other. "We have been flying for half an hour and we still aren't even close enough to feel the Clow Card's presence," said Sakura.

"Should we head back down and think of a new strategy?"

"I don't think we really have much choice."

"I think you're right," agreed Heero.

The couple then resumed their aerial dance as they began the long trip back down to the ground.

"So what happened up there?" asked Duo once Heero and Sakura landed back down on the ground. "You two were gone an awfully long time."

"The Card is too high up," said Sakura. "We couldn't reach it."

"I guess that explains why we can't sense it," commented Eriol.

"Let's head back to the dorms," said Syaoran. "If we can't get up to it, we'll just have to find some way to make it come down to us." Everyone agreed with Syaoran and Eriol and they all got into their cars and went back home.

~~~~~Tokyo, Japan One Week Later~~~~~

"How is Eriol-kun doing?" asked Ami as she, Minako, Tomoyo, and Sakura walked through the door to the guys' suite.

"He says he'll be fine," answered Ranma. "He says he just used too much magic. Ucchan is with him."

Almost a week had passed since that day at the beach when the sky had all of a sudden grown dark. Apparently the Clow Card's power was great enough to cover the entirety of Japan in darkness. The Japanese government had deemed the unnatural darkness as dangerous and therefore had ordered the majority of businesses and public institutions to close temporarily. Even airports were closed down, since the Clow Card's magic also seemed to dampen the effect of radar, making it extremely dangerous to fly anywhere in Japanese airspace. Eriol had been researching and spell casting almost continuously since that day, refusing to sleep until Ukyo threatened to stay up with him until Eriol went to sleep. She had even stayed in the same bed as him to make sure he didn't get back up to do more research.

"So I guess he hasn't been able to come up with anything," stated Sakura sadly. She was answered by a bunch of heads slowly shaking from side to side.

After sitting in silence, Duo finally decided he'd had enough. "Heero," he stated, making his comrade look up from staring at the top of Sakura's head. Sakura was sitting on Heero's lap with her head against his chest. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

It was very rare that Duo ever talked in a completely serious tone of voice, so Heero knew it must be important. The two went to Heero's room so they could momentarily talk in private. "What did you want to talk to me about, Duo?"

"I think we should tell them about the Gundams," Duo stated matter-of-factly. Heero raised an eyebrow indicating he wanted Duo to explain himself. "You know as well as I do that wherever this Clow Card is, our Gundams will be able to reach it. I know we agreed it was best not to tell our new roommates about the Gundams, but even you yourself came up with the idea of installing the extra seat in each cockpit. If this situation isn't serious enough to tell them about the Gundams, I don't think there will ever be a situation that is."

Heero thought briefly about Duo's statements. In truth, Heero had been debating with himself about that very same issue, but had inwardly hoped Eriol was going to be able to find some type of spell that would solve the problem so he wouldn't have to worry about it. "You're right, Duo. We can't keep hiding forever." Duo nodded and they both stood up and walked back through the door into the common room.

When the two Gundam pilots entered the common room, everyone, including Ukyo and Eriol, who had apparently woken up sometime during Duo and Heero's conversation, turned to face them. "We have a way to get to the Clow Card."

Everyone was surprised at that. "How?" asked Syaoran.

"Come with us and we'll show you," said Duo. "It's a while away, so we have to drive."

Everyone looked to one another before looking back at Duo and Heero. When they saw the seriousness of the two guys they all nodded and stood up. Duo and Heero led them out of the building and to the cars in complete silence. As Heero stepped into the driver's seat of his car, he turned to everyone else and finally broke the silence. "Follow me closely. We are heading to a very remote area. If you get lost, it may be difficult to find your way." The other four who would be driving nodded and then the group got under way, with Heero and Sakura in the lead, followed by Syaoran and Ami, Tomoyo and Ranma, Eriol and Ukyo, and finally, Minako and Duo.

"Umm, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura timidly once they were alone in Heero's car. Heero looked at Sakura and smiled gently to relieve some of her anxiety. He knew he was acting extra serious and he wanted to make sure he wasn't frightening her. Sakura relaxed a little as a result of Heero's smile before continuing. "What's going on exactly?"

Heero's smile faded once he heard Sakura's question. "I'm about to show you an important part of my life that I am in no way proud of."

Sakura was taken aback at Heero's answer. "I don't understand."

"I'm sure you have wondered what happened in my life before moving to the Sanc Kingdom, as well as why I have a number of skills that very few other people posses." Sakura just nodded. She had often wondered what type of life Heero could have led that turned him into the guy he was now. "When we reach our destination, a number of those questions will probably be answered, but even more will probably come up at the same time."

"I still don't understand, Heero-kun," responded Sakura.

"You will," said Heero softly. "Just please don't think less of me when you do."

Sakura still didn't understand what Heero was trying to say, but in her heart, she knew that whatever secrets Heero's past may hold; she still didn't want to loose him.

~~~~~Uninhabited Forest Somewhere in Japan~~~~~

"What are we doing way out here?" asked Ami as she got out of Syaoran's car. Heero had parked in a large open area that was surrounded by high trees which were so full at the top that they almost covered the entire area, creating a gigantic dome.

"Wait here," stated Heero. "We'll be back in a minute." Then he and Duo walked into one section of the trees and disappeared.

"Minako-san," said Sakura when Heero and Duo disappeared from sight. "Did Duo-kun tell you anything on the drive over?"

"He was really vague," answered Minako. "He said something about understanding why he and Heero kept it a secret when we see."

At that moment, all eight heard and felt something very large approaching on the ground from the direction where Heero and Duo had disappeared to. Out of habit, Syaoran called his sword and Eriol called his staff when they heard the noises and felt the ground tremble. Ami and Minako both transformed to Senshi mode, and Ranma and Ukyo got into fighting stances in front of Tomoyo for her protection. The only one who didn't look worried was Sakura. Somehow, she knew it was Heero who was approaching and therefore wasn't frightened. The ground continued to shake, until two gigantic machines stepped out from between the trees. They both stopped in front of the group and bent down on one knee. From this position, the group could see that both machines had intense glowing green eyes. Just as soon as they were in position, the light from the eyes suddenly disappeared and the chest plate in each machine opened up and a single person stepped out of each.

"Everyone," said Duo as he jumped the short distance to the ground from Deathscythe's cockpit. "I would like to introduce you to Deathscythe and Wing ZERO." All eight were speechless. Never in their lives had they seen anything even remotely similar to the two daunting machines. Even Tomoyo was so surprised that she completely forgot about her camera, and didn't even think to get the giant mobile suits on video. "I would also like to say that both Heero and myself apologize for not telling you about these earlier," continued Duo when he saw that everyone was frozen with shock. "But I think you guys can understand why we didn't."

"Wh-what are those?" managed to stutter Minako.

"They are called Gundams," answered Duo. "There are a total of seven existing mobile suits, the most advanced of which are the Gundams. These are two of five existing Gundams on the planet. They are the most powerful, most advanced military technology ever created."

"How come you guys have them then?" asked Ami who, along with Eriol and Syaoran, had finally recovered from the shock of seeing the monstrous machines. "Shouldn't they be in the care of some type of military organization?"

Duo sighed before answering. "It is a really long story, but I'll try to summarize it for you. I'm sure you have all noticed that Heero and myself know a few things that aren't common knowledge for the majority of the public. This is because we received special training ever since we were really young. This training was specifically so that we could pilot these Gundams and be perfect soldiers. We were both trained separately and our Gundams were built by different engineers, but the original designs were all done together. Our missions with the Gundams were basically solving problems in areas of the world where war was ruining people's lives. The plan was good originally, but after a time, a group of aristocrats, called the Romefeller Foundation, began to exploit us and the engineers that gave us the Gundams ordered us to stop following the orders of the Foundation and to fight on our own. That is when we moved to the Sanc Kingdom. We all went there to protect Princess Relena. Now we have decided that the Gundams are completely unnecessary in this world, so we keep them here where they will stay out of the hands of those who might wish to cause trouble with them."

By the time Duo had finished his story, everyone had regained their wits about the situation, and both Eriol and Syaoran returned their weapons to their normal form. "I've heard of the Romefeller Foundation," said Syaoran. "They have been trying to get the Li Clan to join them for some time now, but my mother and the elders always refuse the offer. I guess they all knew that it was an evil organization to be associated with. So where are the other suits?"

"The other three Gundams are in the care of each of their pilots," answered Duo. "I believe you three," continued Duo as he looked at Ami, Sakura, and Syaoran, "met Trowa Barton a while ago at the circus. If you remember him, he is the pilot of the Gundam Heavy-Arms. We also told you about Quatre Raberba-Winner and Chang Wu-Fei. Quatre is the pilot of the Gundam Sandrock, and Wu-Fei pilots the Nataku Gundam. While Trowa's Gundam moves all over the world with him and the circus, Quatre and his Gundam are at the headquarters of the Winner Foundation and Wu-Fei is probably somewhere in China. The other two existing mobile suits are the Tallgeese and the Taurus. Both these suits are in the Sanc Kingdom. The Tallgeese is piloted by Princess Relena's older brother, Milliardo Peacecraft. Not many people know he's alive and he goes by the name Zechs Merquise when in public. The Taurus is piloted by Milliardo's wife, Lucrezia Noin. Noin is also the official Captain of the Sanc Kingdom's Royal Guard."

"You said that these would be able to get to the Clow Card," said Eriol. "How?"

"Among other things, these suits are capable of planetary takeoff as well as orbital reentry."

"But even if you do get up there, how can you capture the Clow Card if you have to pilot the two suits?"

"That is where Heero comes in," stated Duo. "A while back, Heero had us install auxiliary chairs behind the pilot seats inside the cockpits. It will be a little cramped, but each of us can take a single passenger into space to find and capture the Clow Card."

"I call one of the seats!" shouted Minako, surprising everyone.

"What do you mean, Minako-chan?" asked Duo.

"I'm saying that I want to be the one who gets to ride with you and go into space," Minako answered. Everyone was so surprised that she processed the news of Duo and Heero's Gundams so quickly and was so quick to state that she wanted to see space, that nobody really knew what to say.

"I guess Sakura-san has to be the other one," said Eriol in a composed tone of voice. "Since only Yuy and Sakura-san have the ability to capture the Clow Cards, and Yuy has to pilot one of those things, Sakura is going to have to handle the capturing."

At the mention of Sakura's name, everyone turned to look at the auburn haired girl, and were startled to see that she didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation at all. Instead she was just staring blankly at Heero. In much the same way, Heero didn't look like he noticed that anyone besides Sakura was present either. It looked almost as if the couple were talking to one another without saying a single word.

"Why didn't you tell me, Heero-kun?"

"I wasn't sure what your reaction would be and I didn't want to risk loosing you."

"Do you really not trust me that much?"

"I trust you with all my heart. I just don't trust myself or my past."

"I wouldn't have abandoned you just because of things you had to do in the past."

"I'm sorry, Sakura-san. I should have had more faith in you."

"So when you said earlier that you weren't proud of your past, what types of things did you have to do?"

"I have been the cause of a number of tragedies across the planet. We were sent to clean up military messes around the world, but the result of our actions caused a number of people to loose their lives. I just don't want to be responsible for terminating the lives of any more people than I already have."

"There wasn't some other way to fix the situations that wouldn't have resulted in the loss of life?"

"Ever since I was young, I was trained to be an emotionless perfect soldier. I was taught everything from battle tactics to exercises to increase my physical abilities. I was also put through psychological training to make my mind devoid of any type of human kindness and caring about the loss of life of others."

"I know you seem serious at times, but I have never seen you come to a point where you would be willing to kill people."

"I am a different person now than I used to be. The training had a flaw somewhere in its design. They were unable to completely rid my heart of the feelings of kindness. They only managed to bottle them up. However, while I was fighting out on the battlefield, the training did suffice. I killed numerous soldiers and terrorists without a second thought. It wasn't until I made a grave mistake that my feelings began to show themselves."

"What went wrong?"

"I screwed up a mission. I miscalculated my attack and was responsible for the loss of innocent bystanders. Normally this probably wouldn't have affected me in the way that it did, but before the mission I met this little girl and her puppy. She was happy and care-free despite the fact that she lived in a war ridden nation. Later that night, when I undertook my mission, I made a miscalculation with the explosives and was responsible for killing the little girl, her puppy, and all the others living in the civilian apartment building. I was retrained after that incident, and continued to act in the way I was supposed to. It wasn't until I met you that my psychological training has finally failed in its entirety. You reminded me of the little girl who's life I unintentionally stole, and I promised myself that I would do whatever was necessary to protect you."

"I can't even begin to imagine what type's of hardships you must have gone through in your life, Heero-kun. But I promise you, I won't leave anytime soon." With that final thought, Sakura walked over to where Heero was standing, unaware that all the others were watching the two of them, and pulled him into a tight embrace and a long passionate kiss. When the couple ended their kiss, Sakura finally took notice of the fact that everyone else's eyes were glued onto her. This made her blush and she buried her head in Heero's chest to escape the embarrassment. It wasn't that the others had never seen them kiss before, but Sakura and Heero also seemed to make it a point not to kiss very often in public where other could see them. The fact that Sakura had just walked up and given a long kiss to Heero without even thinking of hiding it, made her embarrassed to no end.

Everyone laughed a little at the sight of the uncomfortable Sakura hiding in Heero's arms, thankful that the situation had lightened a little. Although the mood was nowhere as serious as it had been previously, the group did decide that it was time to get down to business. "So Sakura-san," started Eriol. "As we were saying earlier, we think it is best if you and Aino-san go with Yuy and Maxwell to go capture the Card."

"How?" asked Sakura who hadn't been paying attention to the previous conversation and therefore didn't know about the auxiliary seats in the cockpits.

Eriol sighed when he realized that Sakura hadn't been listening at all earlier. "Each of those Gundam things have a second seat in the cockpit so that Yuy and Maxwell can each take a single extra passenger. Aino-san already said that she wants to go with Maxwell, and since Yuy needs to pilot his suit, you have to go with him to do the actual capture." Sakura nodded in understanding now that she was fully briefed on the entire situation.

"I have a question," said Ami. "If the Clow Card is as high as I think it is, there won't be any oxygen in the air up there. Do your Gundams have some type of oxygen storage and breathing system?"

"They do," said Heero. "But when we are in space we always wear spacesuits in the cockpit just in case something goes wrong. Duo and I each have our own suits, but if Aino-san and Sakura-san are coming along, then we'll need to make some new ones."

"I don't think we have time to make them the traditional way," said Syaoran. "It's probably best if you just make a couple with the Create Card, Sakura."

"Here's a suit to base the design on," said Duo as he jumped up to Deathscythe's cockpit and pulled out his suit.

"I want to help!" exclaimed Tomoyo. "Can I design your suits, Sakura-chan? Please?" Sakura had already figured that Tomoyo would say something like that and just smiled and nodded to her best friend. Tomoyo's eyes lit up when Sakura said ok to her request. "Arigato, Sakura-chan!"

"Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" When Sakura's wand released from its pendant form, she also pulled out a single Sakura Card. "Create!" When the Create Card released, Sakura ordered it to follow the instructions of Tomoyo for creating a spacesuit. The Card waited momentarily for Tomoyo to do some quick, but very skilled, sketches of what she wanted the two spacesuits to look like.

When Tomoyo was finally finished giving the Create Card all of her very detailed instructions, two new spacesuits appeared in front of the group and the Create Card returned to card form. Both suits were almost identical to the one Duo had pulled out of his Gundam in basic design, but Tomoyo had added a few personal touches to each. Minako's suit was yellow instead of the black of Duo's suit. It was trimmed in a pretty orange color and had a few small red roses adorning the helmet and along one of the arms. Sakura's suit was pink, of course. Tomoyo had always thought pink looked best on Sakura so she had made her suit pink. It turned out that Heero's suit was white, so the pink made a good companion to it. Sakura's suit was pretty much the same as Minako's but instead of the orange trim, hers was white and instead of the roses on her suit, Sakura had cherry blossoms. Overall, Tomoyo was impressed with the skill of the Create Card, and all the others were impressed that Tomoyo had been able to think of the design of the suits in such detail in such a short amount of time.

After Sakura and Minako managed to get into their new spacesuits, Heero jumped up into the cockpit of Wing ZERO. He was about to release the cable to allow Sakura an easy trip up to the cockpit when he noticed her following his example and jumping from the foot to the leg of the mobile suit, before doing a flip and landing smoothly right in front of the startled Gundam pilot. Sakura noticed Heero's amazement and giggled before grabbing him around the neck for a good luck hug before finding her way to the auxiliary chair inside Wing ZERO.

Similar to Sakura, Minako followed Duo's lead and jumped into the cockpit of Deathscythe. Duo wasn't nearly as surprised that Minako made the jump to the cockpit as Heero had been that Sakura made it, since Minako was still in Senshi form. He knew from watching Ami and Minako fight that when in Senshi form they had far superior physical skills than they did when in normal form. "You're lucky you aren't going with Heero," said Duo once Minako got herself positioned and buckled into her chair.

"Why is that?"

"Wing ZERO has this messed up cockpit system. It screws with your head. He's learned to control it, but I hope he warns Sakura-san before starting up the system."

After helping Sakura get as comfortably seated as possible in the cramped second seat of Wing ZERO, Heero knelt down and looked her straight in the eyes. "Sakura-san," he began. "I have to warn you about this suit." Sakura was a little confused at what Heero was talking about and it showed in her facial expression. "This suit utilizes a cockpit system called the ZERO System. It connects the mobile suit directly to the mind of the pilot. It helps with the control and reaction time of the pilot, but it isn't perfectly designed. There is a flaw. It has a tendency to mess with the head of the pilot, making them act out of character to an extent. I have mastered using this system so it doesn't effect me any longer, but I want to warn you before we leave so you can try to fight anything it might try to do to you. I promised that I would protect you, and I plan to do the same when it comes to this system. I have never had two people in the cockpit at once, so I'm not sure how it will react to a second mind, but I promise you that I will protect you from anything it makes you feel."

Sakura was a little worried about the ZERO System after Heero's statements. She knew he wouldn't have mentioned it unless it was important, but she also had faith that he would find a way to keep her out of any type of trouble. "I trust in you, Heero-kun." Heero gave Sakura a smile and kissed her quickly before settling himself into the pilot seat.

"ZERO," said Heero very softly under his breath. "Please take care of her." His request made to his Gundam, Heero let his hands fly over the numerous numbers of controls, closing the door to the cockpit and starting up the giant machine. The cockpit lit up in a yellow glow, signaling the starting up of all the systems, including the ZERO System. From outside, the rest of the group could only watch in awe as the two mobile suits stood up to their full height and stretched out their wings. The white wings of Wing ZERO spread out extremely wide to the sides and the black wings of Deathscythe unwrapped themselves from around the suit and locked into place behind it. Right before powering up their engines, the six on the ground could see the eyes of each mobile suite turn a bright green. "Are you ready, Sakura-san?"

"Hai."

"Here we go." Heero pulled back on the throttle of the suit, causing the engines under each wing to jump to full power, creating a gust of wind and dust outside. Heero then pulled on the controls and the gigantic wings flapped once and the mobile suite lifted off into the sky, doing a number of twists and turns before righting itself and hovering in the air waiting for Duo. A moment after Heero took off, Duo did the same. Putting the engine mounted on the back of the suit to full power, Deathscythe took off in a flash and shot straight up in the sky heading towards Heero's position. The other six just stared up from the ground in awe. They figured the mobile suits must be advanced, but had just been unable to picture the speed and agility the giant machines showed.

"Wow!" exclaimed Sakura when Wing ZERO stopped to a hover after the acrobatic takeoff. "That was great! This is so much fun."

Heero couldn't help but chuckle at the cuteness of the amused Sakura sitting behind him. "You haven't seen anything yet," said Heero with a laugh. Before Sakura could either protest or question, Heero took Wing ZERO to the max. Powering up the suit to full speed and using all his reflexes and piloting skills, Heero sent Wing ZERO into a series of almost physically impossible stunts, exciting screams, laughs, and cheers out of Sakura. He didn't spend too much time using ZERO to entertain his girlfriend however, and soon stopped flying tricks in the sky and stopped his suit next to where Duo was hovering in the sky. "Ready to get down to business everyone?" Heero asked to Sakura and to Duo and Minako over the intercom.

"Let's get this show on the road," came Duo's answer through the speakers in Heero's cockpit. In a flash, the engines mounted on the back of each suit both powered up fully and the two suits flew through the night sky.

With the speed of the Wing ZERO and Deathscythe, it wasn't long before Heero and Sakura began to feel the presence of the Clow Card. The two Gundams shot through the sky, eventually flying through the Earth's atmosphere and out of the layer of magically controlled darkness. On several occasions Duo had asked Heero and Sakura if they were sure they hadn't passed where they wanted to go. Based on the distance they had traveled, Heero and Sakura could understand why Duo thought they had gone too far. However, the higher they got, both magicians could clearly feel the power getting stronger and closer.

The entire flight, Sakura was filled with many conflicting emotions. She was feeling a mixture of intrigue, worry, and caring with regards to Heero and his troubled past. Surprisingly, she wasn't frightened of what Heero had done in his past, nor of what he was obviously capable of doing again in the future. She was more worried that Heero was going to close up emotionally again, and try to distance himself from her. She could tell Heero was still uncomfortable that she now knew about his past, and was worried that he felt the best way to protect her would be to leave. She also had mixed feelings about the mission they were currently undertaking. Sakura was genuinely excited and mesmerized by the fact that she was actually in space. Her attention was always shifting from the many visual monitors surrounding her, that allowed her to see the beautiful site of Earth and space, and the ever increasing power of the Clow Card. The strength of the Clow Card was beginning to scare the cute teen card captor. When she and Heero had first picked up the feeling of the Clow Card, it had already been almost as powerful as the four elemental cards, and as they kept getting closer, the power just kept increasing.

When the two Gundams finally stopped their ascent into space, they were high enough to allow a gorgeous breathtaking view of the entire planet. They had stopped when Heero and Sakura had felt the new Clow Card's energy finally reach its peak. The power was almost twice as powerful as the Light and Dark Cards, and that fact frightened Sakura immensely and even had Heero a little worried. Heero, Sakura, and especially Minako, who hadn't trained much in enhancing her magical skills, were having a little trouble pinpointing the exact location of the Clow Card because the amount of power it was emanating was so great.

It took some effort, and a lot of concentration, but Heero and Sakura had finally managed to narrow the location of the Clow Card down to a small area and all four passengers of the two mighty Gundams were looking carefully at the numerous displays in each cockpit for any sign of the Clow Card. It turned out that they didn't need to look very carefully, for when the Clow Card did decide to show itself, it was impossible to miss. In a flash of light and a surge of power that was so bright and strong that Ami, Syaoran, Eriol, Tomoyo, Ukyo, and Ranma all saw and felt it back on Earth, the Clow Card's physical form appeared before them.

The Clow Card was of humanoid shape, and floated, with its arms crossed, in front of the two Gundams. Although it was dwarfed in size by the two giant machines, the figure looked no less daunting. It was wearing a long cloak that was a kind of mix between the cloak worn by the Shadow Card and a long trench coat. The cloak was not one single color however, but was instead split into two distinct halves. One half was jet black and the other half a gleaming white. Under the hood, where normally a face would be visible, was pure blackness with a few randomly placed white sparkles. The entire figure was surrounded by a white aura. Not the same pure white aura as Heero's, but one that was slightly darker, giving and eerie ghostly feel to the Card. The sight both inspired awe and induced fear in the hearts of the four teens who witnessed its appearance.

Before the group even had time to finish coping with the sheer audacity of the Clow Card, it attacked. From each gloved hand, the Clow Card created a single ball of energy. It hurled the white ball of energy at the Deathscythe and the black one at Wing ZERO. Since Heero had the ZERO System in his Gundam, his reaction time was just fast enough to manage to dodge the energy ball. Unfortunately, Duo did not have the ZERO System and so his reactions were just a split second slower. This split second turned out to be the difference, as the high-speed energy ball impacted Deathscythe and completely destroyed the entire left wing of the suit.

"Shit!" cursed Duo as his suit was hurdled off balance from the impact of the blow.

"Keep your distance Duo," said Heero over the intercom. "Your suit is in no shape to battle something that can move so fast and is obviously so powerful."

Duo didn't respond to Heero's warning, instead he swore under his breath, knowing Heero was right, but still not liking to admit to his helplessness at the situation. "Minako-chan," Duo said over his shoulder while he attempted to get his Deathscythe back under control. "Are you alright?" Duo was answered by an unexpected silence. "Minako-chan?" he asked again, beginning to worry. When he still got no answer, he turned around to see Minako slumped in her chair with her head leaning against the side of the cockpit and her eyes closed. "Oh no," he gasped as he quickly unbuckled himself to reach back and check her vital signs. He sighed a small sigh of relief when he felt that she had a pulse and was breathing. Her pulse was weak, and her breathing a little erratic, but she didn't seem to be in a life threatening state. Duo also noticed a trickle of blood running down the side of her face, and assumed she had probably gotten a concussion from hitting her head when the Clow Card's attack impacted the Gundam. "Heero," said Duo into the radio as he reseated himself. "You guys are on your own. Minako's hurt, I have to get her back to the Earth."

"Is it bad?" Duo heard Sakura ask worriedly through the intercom.

"It looks like she hit her head. She's unconscious, but I don't think her life is in any immediate danger. But I should get her to a doctor as quick as possible."

"Just take care of Aino-san," said Heero. "We'll handle everything here."

Duo nodded, although neither Heero nor Sakura could see it, and then powered up the Deathscythe's engines and began the trip back down to the planet. He silently prayed that his destroyed wing wouldn't make reentry too difficult.

"Hold on tight Sakura," said Heero when he saw the Clow Card ignoring Duo's retreating Gundam and creating two new energy balls. "This may get a little intense." Heero had no idea how intense it was really going to get. The Clow Card released its two energy attacks and they both flew side by side, straight at Wing ZERO. As Heero prepared to dodge the quickly incoming balls of energy, his job suddenly got exponentially more difficult. Moments after being released from the hands of the Clow Card, both energy balls erupted into ten smaller energy balls. Each new attack was also directed in the direction of Wing ZERO, but this time they were coming from a number of different angles and at slightly different speeds. With a little assistance from the ZERO System, Heero did manage to dodge the majority of the incoming attacks with a series of intense aerial maneuvers that made Sakura a little dizzy and had her holding onto her chair for dear life. Unfortunately it was just not possible to dodge every single one of the small energy attacks, and two managed to impact on the giant form of Wing ZERO. The main section of the right wing got hit pretty good, limiting Heero's maneuverability a fraction, and the second attack grazed the upper area of the left arm, but didn't do any serious damage. Only diverting his attention for just long enough to make sure Sakura was okay, Heero prepared for the next attack. He fired a few rounds with his shoulder mounted machine guns at the Clow Card, but was disappointed when the bullets simply passed straight through the cloaked figure without causing any damage. Since the machine guns didn't seem to have any effect, Heero took out one of his beam sabers. He was about to attack when he saw the aura of the Clow Card flare up, creating a blinding white light. The light was so incredibly bright that both Heero and Sakura had to turn their heads and shield their eyes. When the light finally faded away, allowing Heero and Sakura to look back at the opponent, they found that the Clow Card had changed from being slightly larger than the size of a person to being a little over three-fourths the size of Wing ZERO. The new size didn't worry Heero; in fact he had been fearing earlier that the Clow Card was going to be too small to fight properly. What had both Heero and Sakura really worried, was that the power of the Clow Card had grown just as much as its size.

"Heero-kun," said Sakura nervously. "Please tell me I'm wrong, but did the Clow Card's magical energy just jump even higher."

"Unfortunately you're not wrong. This is unbelievable."

"How do we stop something so powerful?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to try." After getting Sakura's agreement and telling her to hold on, Heero flew Wing ZERO straight at the Clow Card and proceeded to attack. Unfortunately, Heero's attack with his beam saber turned out to be just as fruitless as his earlier attack with his machine guns. The Clow Card didn't even bother to move as Heero's energy weapon sliced straight through the magical figure, but didn't cause any type of damage. "I don't think conventional weapons will work against this thing," said Heero after a couple more attempts to harm the Clow Card using the various elements of Wing ZERO's arsenal. "We'll have to try magic."

Sakura nodded her head and pulled out her Star Pendant. When Sakura closed her eyes and started to concentrate her magical energies, her pink aura and her magic circle both appeared beneath her, just like always. However, this time a couple other things happened as well. When Sakura began her own magical practices, it also caused Heero's aura to manifest itself, even though Heero wasn't concentrating his magical energy, and it also caused Heero's magic circle to appear. Another unusual effect of Sakura's concentration of her magical energy was that a white glow began to show around the entire form of Wing ZERO. Neither Sakura nor Heero actually noticed any of this happening, as Sakura's eyes were closed and Heero was a little busy attempting to dodge the new wave of energy attacks being sent in his direction by the Clow Card. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" The moment Sakura was finished with her incantation, her eyes shot open. The reason for her surprise was that instead of feeling her Key of Star turn into the Star Wand, she had felt the Key completely disappear. At the same moment, Heero also got slightly distracted from his task of piloting the Gundam when he felt his Key disappear from the chain around his neck. "Heero-kun," said Sakura urgently. "My Key didn't transform. It just disappeared."

"I know," responded Heero. "Mine did the same." At that moment they both saw a large ball of black energy streaking straight at Wing ZERO at a speed that was so fast that it wouldn't allow Heero enough time to dodge the attack. Sakura was about to scream in fear for her life when the ball suddenly impacted against some type of invisible barrier in front of the Gundam and exploded. Had they been paying more attention to their surroundings, Heero and Sakura would have both noticed that their auras had combined together, even without them trying to make them do so. Not only was the pure white aura surrounding the entire cockpit of Wing ZERO, but it had also manifested itself around the body of the mobile suit as well. The Clow Card halted its relentless attack when it saw its energy ball impact against the aura shield. The aura continued to build around the Gundam, and when it had successfully surrounded the entire machine, it flashed an intense white light. When the light subsided, there were a number of changes in the form of Wing ZERO. The most obvious was that the white metal wings that outstretched from the back of the mobile suit were now made up of pure energy. The previous damage to the wings and the arm of the mobile suit had now vanished and the entire suit had a faint white glow surrounding it. The other main change was that the beam saber that was in the hand of Wing ZERO had been replaced by a new weapon. The new weapon obviously contained some magical power since it too had the white aura of Sakura and Heero's combined power surrounding it. The weapon looked like a mix between Sakura's wand and Heero's sword. It was mainly a sword, of fencing style, like Heero's Clow weapon, but the base now had a star just like Sakura's wand.

Normally, Sakura and Heero would have been very confused by what had just happened, but for some reason they knew exactly what had happened. Apparently the ZERO System overloaded when Sakura began releasing her magical energy, and it had combined it with the magical energy of Heero. Having never had two different minds in the cockpit to deal with, or ever having encountered magic before, the system didn't really know how to deal with the situation. What ended up happening was the system took the combined magical power of Heero and Sakura and had transferred it directly into Wing ZERO. Heero assumed that he knew this had happened because of the interface with the ZERO System. The ZERO System had also somehow linked Heero and Sakura's minds together, so no communication was necessary between the couple before action was taken. Heero piloted Wing ZERO straight at the Clow Card and attacked with the new sword it now held. This time the Clow Card did move when Heero attacked. It obviously felt the power being emanated from the Gundam and knew it now had the ability to damage it. The Clow Card dodged Heero's sword attacks, moving much faster than Heero had anticipated it would be able to.

Despite the superior agility of the Clow Card, Heero's relentless attack eventually allowed the new mystical sword of Wing ZERO to make contact with its target. The aura around the Clow Card grew slightly larger when the sword pierced the shoulder of the cloaked figure, and the Clow Card suddenly disappeared and reappeared approximately a hundred yards away. With a little space and time to get prepared, the Clow Card created two energy weapons of its own. Both weapons looked like energy short swords, with one being white and the other black. Sakura and Heero figured they may need a shield against the newly armed foe to make sure it was unable to strike the Gundam. In their shared mind they decided to release the Wall Card and the Shield Card. As soon as the thought happened, both cards floated away from their respective masters and released. The physical forms of the two Clow Cards never appeared; instead they both combined and created a magical shield that was mounted on the left forearm of Wing ZERO.

"You ready?" Heero asked Sakura although he already knew the answer.

"Let's do this," she answered seriously. It didn't occur to her, but she sounded quite a lot like Heero normally did. Apparently the link between Heero and Sakura's mind had caused a few changes in each of their personalities.

Wing ZERO shot forward at its opponent at a speed that was close to ten times that of its normal operating capabilities. The dual sword armed Clow Card also charged at the incoming Gundam, and the resulting battle was one of great magnificence. As the magical weapons of both figures clashed together, great beams of energy were sent in every direction. The Clow Card's fighting abilities and Heero's piloting skills were evenly matched and neither Wing ZERO nor the Clow Card was able to get a good strike in. Time and time again, Heero would attack, only to have his strikes blocked by one or both of the Clow Card's blades, and then have to defend when the Clow Card went on the offensive.

As the fight wore on, it became clear that the Clow Card was gaining an advantage. Heero was finding himself on the defensive more and more often and the Clow Card's strikes were getting closer to finding a target. From somewhere in their shared consciousness, Heero and Sakura remembered one of the new Clow Cards they had previously captured. They remembered the Replicate Card and thought they could probably use its power right now, but the only problem was that it wasn't changed into a Heero Card yet, and Heero was too busy dodging the twin blades of this newest Clow Card to change it. This didn't bother Sakura, who called the Replicate Card to her hand and attempted to change it with their combined power. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Sakura; Your New Mistress." The Replicate Card Sakura was holding in her hands lit up and began to change. Sakura had somehow known that when she tried to change the card it would work, but was surprised to see that even though she did the spell, the new Clow Card had changed into a Heero Card. The card now had the white back and borders of the rest of the Heero Cards, as well as Heero's name engraved on the bottom. The picture on the Replicate Card was now a blue figure in the center, with two faint copies of itself on each side and slightly behind it. Sakura released the Replicate Card as soon as it was changed and the card unleashed its power and created two copies of the giant figure of Wing ZERO. It was obvious which one of the figures was the real Wing ZERO however. The real Wing ZERO still had the white aura surrounding it, as well as the energy wings and the shield on its arm. The two copies were copies of the original Wing ZERO, so they didn't have most of the magical powers that had been instated in the real Wing ZERO.

The three Wing ZEROs all attacked the Clow Card simultaneously. This time it was Heero and Sakura that had the advantage over the Clow Card, and it was quickly pushed into a purely defensive stand. Wing ZERO and its two replications continued their relentless assault on the Clow Card, eventually causing enough damage to allow for its capture. "I Sakura/Heero, Mistress/Master of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" In another flash of blinding white light, the cloaked Clow Card returned to its normal size before changing into energy and reforming as a Clow Card. Once the Clow Card was captured, the aura from around Wing ZERO disappeared, the wings turned back to normal, and the Clow sword Wing ZERO was holding changed back into Heero and Sakura's pendants.

After making sure Sakura's helmet was properly set, Heero opened the cockpit of Wing ZERO and took Sakura's hand in his own, helping her out of the giant mobile suit and into the blackness of space. "Wow!" Sakura gasped. "This is amazing."

Heero just smiled at the girl who's hand he was holding. "Look at this." Heero then pulled Sakura to his body and held her around the waist from behind. The then turned the two of them around so that they were facing directly at the giant blue sphere in front of them.

"It's beautiful up here," she said quietly as she stared in awe at the view of Earth from space.

"It certainly is," answered Heero, although unknown to her, Heero was looking down at Sakura and not at the view of the Earth. As the couple was silently watching the beautiful sight of the blue Earth below them, the new Clow Card slowly floated in front of them. They grasped the card simultaneously and looked at it.

"The Night Card," said Heero. "I guess that makes sense."

"It's made from both Light and Dark," added Sakura. "No wonder it was so powerful."

"I was never worried. It's nothing the two of us couldn't handle," Heero joked, enticing a giggle from the Card Mistress. At that moment, Sakura wished she wasn't wearing a spacesuit so that she could kiss her boyfriend for his cuteness. However, since she couldn't kiss Heero at the moment, she had to be content to lean her head against Heero's chest and pull his arms around her a little tighter.

"We should head back home," Sakura sighed while taking a last look at the Earth. "We are going to have quite the story to tell once we get back."

"Okay, Sakura-san," responded Heero. He knew Sakura was enjoying the view from up in space, as well as the peace and quiet it provided, and didn't really want to go back, but all their friends would be wondering what happened. "Don't worry. We can come back up here any time you want. I can even teach you to pilot Wing ZERO if you wish."

Sakura's eyes lit up at the prospect. "Arigato, Heero-kun!" she exclaimed with a smile. Heero smiled back at his girlfriend and helped her back into Wing ZERO's cockpit. He then started up the giant machine again, and the couple began the descent back down to the Earth.