Chapter 2: Partners In Crime!: A Battle With A Shadow!

It was early the next morning when me and Sakura were woken up by a strange voice. "Sakura, Zachary, wake up!" The unfamiliar voice said. "Just a few more minutes," Sakura said while still half asleep. "Rise and shine, its seven o'clock, time to wake up!" the mysterious unfamiliar voice said.

After a few seconds of tossing and turning, both Sakura and I sat up in our beds. "What a weird voice" I thought out loud to myself.

It was then that both Sakura and I turned to the T.V. to see if it was on, but if was off. We both then said "Then, that must mean…" in a somewhat frightened tone of voice. "Finally, your both up!" the somewhat now familiar voice said.

Both me and Sakura then turned to our left, and when we spotted Kero, we both then got freaked out and yelled.

"Was it something I said?" Kero asked, still stunned from when Sakura and I yelled.

"A flying squirrel?" I asked.

"Aw man, you two are still half asleep, Come on Sakura and Zachary, wake up!" Kero said as he tapped the tops of our heads.

After a few seconds of trying to remember what happened last night, me and Sakura finally broke the silence. "You're the creature from the Clow Book," Sakura said, finally remembering.

"Now you two are making sense," Kero said.

"I'm Keroberos, Guardian Beast!" Kero said.

"From the Clow Book?" Kero said, trying to help me and Sakura remember what happened last night.

"You know the one you two opened?" Kero said, still trying to help us remember.

"Ringing any bells here?" Kero asked.

After a few seconds of taking in everything Kero had said, I finally said. "Oh yea… all of the cards escaped from the book".

"Yea, Bingo!" Kero said, as he turned and looked out the window.

"Its another beautiful day, am I right Cardcaptor Sakura and Zachary?" Kero asked.

"Kero, we already told you, we can't be Cardcaptors!" Sakura said. "Sure you can," Kero said, as the Clow Book floated towards him and the Fly Card floated out of the book.

"You two captured the Fly Card, didn't you?" Kero said. Me and Sakura stared at Kero in shock.

"See what I mean?" Kero said while smiling.

"That's only one Kero," I said.

"Sakura, Zachary, breakfast!" Tori yelled from downstairs.

And with that, we both went downstairs.

"Morning Tori," me and Sakura said in unison.

"Wow, I only had to call you two once, must be a full moon," Tori teased.

"Someone woke us both up for you information!" Sakura said.

"Hmm?" Tori said sounding a little intrigued.

"Uh…never mind," I said.

A few second later, me and Sakura went back upstairs to our room and closed the door behind us.

"Ah, your both back," Kero said.

"We brought you some cookies," I said, handing the cookies to Kero.

"Well, we'd better get going," Sakura said as we got dressed into our school uniforms.

"Tori and Dad will be leaving for the University in a little while, so you can turn on the T.V when they leave," I said to Kero.

It was then that both me and Sakura looked at the clock.

"Oh man, were going to be late, were supposed to meet Madison, Bye!" Sakura said as we ran out of the room.

A few minutes later, me and Sakura were rollerblading down the street towards the school.

"Why did we agree to meet in the morning, better take a shortcut," I said to Sakura who only needed to nod in response as we took the shortcut on our way to the school.

A few minutes later, both me and Sakura arrived at the school. "Made it," Sakura said.

As we made it to our classroom, we were surprised to see that we were the first ones there. A few seconds later, the door to the classroom slid open, and Madison walked in.

"Hey Sakura, hey Zachary," Madison said as she entered the classroom.

"I see you both made it here early," Madison said with a smile.

"Yep, bright and early," Sakura said. "So do u have any ideas for our project?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, I do, but there is something else that I want to show both of you first," Madison said as she took out a video camera and placed it on the desk in front of her. "A video?" I asked.

"That's right, I got some really nice shots last night," Madison said while pressing the Play button.

Both me and Sakura had to fight to not show any emotion as we saw ourselves, flying across the sky, doubling back, laughing at something, and Kero flying between us.

"What is that?" Sakura asked in an embarrassed sounding voice. Madison was grinning, "This is an enlargement."

The video started again and both me and Sakura now knew that there was no way that we were going to be able to talk ourselves out of this, as it was clearly both of us on our respective winged staffs, a terrified yelp then escaped both of us.

"What's wrong Zachary, what's wrong Sakura?" Kero said after he exploded out of my school bag.

"What's happened? Is it a Clow Card?" Kero stopped and stared at Madison, who looked at the video and then at the flying bear.

"My, a striking resemblance," Madison said as she looked at Kero. I then realized that this was about to open up a whole new world of problem for both me and Sakura. I only hoped that there was going to be some way that a solution could be found.

A few minutes after Madison had shown me and Sakura the video, Madison, Kero, me, and Sakura went outside to the courtyard. Madison was still looking at Kero as we came to a bench in the courtyard and sat down. "

Sakura, Zachary, if its alright with the both of you, could you introduce me to your friend?" Madison said while looking at Kero.

"His name is Keroberos, but we've been calling him Kero," I said as Kero accepted it.

"Don't call me like I'm some frog! I'm Keroberos, the Beast of the Seal who guards the Clow Cards!" Kero protested before taking a bite and grinning.

"Clow Cards?" Madison asked.

And so, as Madison ate her lunch, me and Sakura began explaining to Madison about the Clow Cards and about how both of us became Cardcaptors.

And once Sakura and I were done explaining, Madison then said "Two Cardcaptors that protect the city from the catastrophes of the Clow Cards and both of them helping each other every step of the way…that's so awesome! If you don't mind, can you both show me how you use your magic?" Madison asked.

"Yeah, yeah, show her!" Kero cheered at us both. "It's all right, there's no problems. Nobody's watching!" Kero continued.

And with that, both me and Sakura stood up from the bench and removed our keys from our pockets.

"Oh key of clow, power of magic, power of light, surrender the wand, the force ignite, RELEASE!" me and Sakura chanted in unison.

Madison then watched as the circle lit up below both of us, the wind forming of its own accord and blowing though both myself and Sakura's hair as both keys became staffs in a burst of white light. And with a final flash of light, both me and Sakura stood side by side with our staffs clenched in our hands.

"So those staffs give both of you magical powers?" Madison asked.

"Well, we also need the cards," I said to Madison.

"Like this one," Kero said, pulling the Fly Card out of Sakura's school bag.

"Kero, how did you…." but Sakura's sentence was soon cut off, "Oh, you have got to let me film both of you," Madison said, making both me and Sakura sweatdrop.

The next day, when me and Sakura arrived at the school, we both noticed that a lot of students were gathered near the entrance to the school. Without hesitating, both me and Sakura roller bladed up to the crowd of students.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Sakura, hey Zachary," one of the girls said.

"Come look," said another girl, taking both me and Sakura through the crowd of students.

When Sakura and I got through the crowd, we were astonished at what we saw, most of the schools chairs, desks, and other school equipment were stacked up into a pile that looked like it was three stories tall.

"What happened?" Sakura asked with an astonished tone in her voice.

"No one knows, it was like this when we got here," the girl that had pulled us through the crowd said.

A few minutes later, me and Sakura, along with some other students from our class ran down the hall towards our classroom, and when we slid the classroom door open, both Sakura and I were stunned. The chairs and desks in the classroom were all stacked in one huge messy pile. While Sakura and I, as well as some of the students who came with us into the classroom started to try and move some of the chairs and desks out of the pile, Madison walked in. She too had the same expression that me and Sakura had when we saw the classroom in a mess.

"Oh hey Madison," I said.

"Someone sure made a mess of the classroom last night, but, why would anyone do this?" Madison said.

"Do you two think it could be one of those Clow Cards?" Madison whispered to the both of us.

After the school day ended and me and Sakura, along with Madison got home to our house, the three of us went upstairs and told Kero what had happened at the school.

"Yep, it's a Clow Card alright," Kero said after me and Sakura finished explaining.

"I knew it!" Madison said. "Great, it makes a mess, and then, we get to clean up after it," I said in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least we got out of class," Madison said.

"Yea, I guess that was pretty cool," Sakura said.

"But what kind of Clow Card would do that to a school?" I said, turning to Kero.

"I don't know. But, what I do know is that you two are going to find out!" Kero said, pointing to me and Sakura.

"But, why us?" Sakura asked. "If it is a Clow Card, then you two have to capture it!" Kero said.

"And what if we don't want to?" I asked.

"Who was it that let the cards escape?" Kero asked. No response came from either me or Sakura.

"So, we will go back to the school tonight!" Kero said.

"HUH, Tonight!?" Sakura said in an surprised tone of voice.

"There is no way, not at night!" I said.

"We don't have a choice, some Clow Cards only come out at night," Kero said.

"You know the school can be very dangerous at night," Madison said.

"She's right," Sakura said.

"And that's why I'm coming with you two, I can't wait to video tape another card capture," Madison said.

"Then it's settled, we go tonight," Kero said

"Ugh" I said in a depressed tone.

Later that night, me and Sakura were waiting at the entrance to the school for Madison to show up.

"Kero, I don't like this," I said.

"Awe don't sweat it Sakura and Zachary, you two will be just fine," Kero said, trying to comfort me and Sakura. Just then me and Sakura heard a car horn, we turned to our left and saw a black colored car and a gray colored van pull up next to us, one of the doors opened, and Madison came out to greet us.

"Sorry I'm late Sakura, sorry I'm late Zachary," Madison said.

"That's okay, we just got here," I said to Madison.

And as soon as I finished my sentence, four females, each of them wearing a black suit and black glasses came out of the car.

"Let me introduce you, these four ladies are my bodyguards," Madison said. All four of them bowed to both Sakura and I. Both Sakura and I bowed back a few seconds later.

"You're the only one in school that we've both seen that has her own bodyguards," I said.

"Well you're the only two kids I've ever met that have magical powers," Madison said, grabbing our hands and pulling both of us towards the gray van.

"Walla!" Madison said as she opened the back door of the van. Both me and Sakura gasped in amazement, on both sides of the inside of the van were rows and rows of costumes.

"What is all this?" Sakura asked, still shocked.

"Alright you two, time to get changed," Madison said.

"What do u mean?" I asked.

"You two are going to capture a Clow Card, am I right?" Madison said.

"Yea?" Sakura said.

"Well, special occasions call for special outfits," Madison said, as both me and Sakura gasped.

"She's right," Kero said, popping out of my backpack.

"The Clow Cards are more likely to take you both seriously if you both look like you mean business," Kero said.

"You and I are going to get along great," Madison said, turning to Kero.

"Go get changed you two," Kero said to me and Sakura. Both Sakura and I were still stunned from being told to change into our battle costumes.

"Quit stalling you two," Madison said, pushing both of us into the back of the van.

"Hey, wait a minute," Sakura said in protest.

After both me and Sakura got changed into our battle costumes, Madison began recording us in our new outfits. Sakura was dressed in red and white sneakers, she wore a cape on her back with two straps that had brass gold buckles on the ends, and the cape was fastened around her chest with a big red bow, the hat that Sakura wore on her head was red colored and had a black band around it.

I meanwhile, was dressed up in an outfit that was nearly identical to Sakura's in every way, the only difference was that the bow, sneakers and hat were blue instead of red.

"They fit both of you perfectly!" Madison said.

"You both look amazing," Madison said.

"This is so embarrassing," me and Sakura groaned.

"Oh, I almost forgot I made something for you too," Madison said, turning to Kero.

A few seconds later, Kero was wearing a big red bow with a red jewel in the center.

"There, now you, Sakura and Zachary match each other," Madison said.

"We didn't sign up for this," I said to myself.

Just then me and Sakura heard a loud noise. Both Sakura and I turned around, but there was nothing there.

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" Sakura asked.

"Did we hear what?" Kero asked.

Just then me and Sakura saw dozens of dark shapeless shadows emerging from the dark parts of the area.

"The Shadow Card is behind this!" Kero yelled out.

"Kero, take Madison someplace safe," I said.

"Sure thing!" Kero said. And with that, me and Sakura pulled out our respective keys.

"Oh key of clow, power of magic, power of light, surrender the wand, the force ignite, RELEASE!" Sakura and I chanted in unison.

With our staffs now in hand, we pulled out the Windy Card, raised our staffs.

"Windy Card, break the shadows apart, RELEASE AND DISPEL!" me and Sakura said as we tapped the card at the same time.

A few seconds later the Windy Card appeared and shot up towards the shadows that were about to attack me and Sakura, but, even though the shadows got hit directly, the shadows regenerated and continued their attack on me and Sakura.

"Sakura, Zachary, use the Fly Card and get out of there!" Kero yelled.

And so, without hesitating I pulled out the Fly Card, me and Sakura then raised our staffs.

"FLY!" me and Sakura yelled in unison, and almost instantly both of our staffs grew wings, and a few seconds later, both Sakura and I took off into the sky and away from the Shadows.

"Oh this doesn't look good, the Shadow Card has collected all the shadows of the students in the school, there's no way that Sakura and Zachary can possibly defeat that many shadows at once!" Kero said in a frightened tone.

"But, isn't there some other way?" Madison asked.

"Well, if the students shadows were struck by light, then they would disappear, and then Sakura and Zachary would use there magic to seal the shadow card alone, but it won't be light out for hours," Kero said.

"That's what you think, leave it to me," Madison said.

Meanwhile, me and Sakura were in the air dodging desks that were being thrown at us from the school windows by the student's shadows.

"We'll never be able to stop all of them!" Sakura said.

"So what are we going do?" I said/asked in a depressed tone.

Just then, the Shadows that had tried to attack me and Sakura earlier, shot up from the ground and grabbed hold of our staffs.

"Hey, LET US GO!" Sakura shouted while trying to break free from the shadow's grip.

"Somebody help us!" I yelled out.

Just then, the courtyard lights came on, as well as all of the lights in the school, causing the student's shadows to disappear.

"The shadows, their gone?" Sakura said.

"Sakura, Zachary, over here," Kero said. Both me and Sakura then flew down to the window that Madison and Kero were at.

"What happened to the shadows?" me and Sakura asked.

"All of the students shadows vanished when all of the lights were turned on," Kero explained.

"Fantastic job Madison!" I said.

"Sakura, Zachary, It's the Shadow Spirit!" Kero said looking towards the courtyard.

Both me and Sakura turned around and saw a dark cloaked figure.

"Here goes nothing!" Sakura said as we flew towards the cloaked figure.

It was then that the cloaked figure turned around and attacked us, both of us dodged the attack just in time.

"Now is you chance Sakura and Zachary!" Madison said.

"Show that Clow Card who's boss!" Kero yelled.

"Right!" I replied.

And with that I pulled out the Windy Card.

"Windy Card, become a chain and tie Shadow up, RELEASE AND DISPEL!" me and Sakura chanted in unison as we tapped the card at the same time with our staffs.

A few seconds later the Windy Card appeared and began circling the Shadow Card, and a few seconds after that, the Shadow card was tied up. It was then that Sakura and I raised our staffs.

"We command you to return to you power confined, SHADOW CARD!" me and Sakura chanted in unison as we swung our staffs down.

And a few seconds later, the Shadow Spirit was split in half, and both halves got sucked into each of our card halves. And with that, the Shadow Card was captured. The then card fluttered to the ground and I went over and picked it up.

Woohoo, way to go Sakura and Zachary!" Kero cheered.

"What a great shot!" Madison added in.

The next morning, when me and Sakura arrived at the school, we noticed that Madison wasn't in the classroom, it was then that Chelsea walked by.

"Chelsea, have you seen Madison?" I asked.

"I sure have, I just saw her in the video room," Chelsea replied.

"Thanks Chelsea," Sakura said as we left the classroom and headed for the video room.

"Thanks for helping us out last night Madison," I said.

"We brought you a…What the!?" Sakura said in a shocked voice as we saw Madison in the video room watching a video of me and Sakura capturing the Shadow Card from last night.

"I can't believe how well this came out," Madison said with a smile.

"So… you taped everything last night?" I asked in a somewhat shocked voice.

"Of course, I didn't miss a single second of both of you working together to capture the Shadow Card," Madison said.

"Promise me that both of you will take me with you whenever you capture cards, okay?" Madison asked.

"Huh!?" Sakura said, a little confused.

"This is the most exciting footage I've ever videotaped." Madison said.

"Sure Madison," I said.

"And from now on, I'll be in charge of both of your costumes too, wait 'till you see the outfits that I've designed for you next capture," Madison said while smiling at me and Sakura.

It was then that on the video that Madison was watching that me and Sakura, looked directly at the camera and gave the peace sign.