___ ___ <__< BLOSSOMS IN THE SPRING <__< A crossover Improfanfic started by The Eternal Lost Lurker Street Fighter and all related trademarks belong to Capcom. Cardcaptor Sakura and all related trademarks belong to CLAMP, Kodansha. Used without permission. Chapter 11: Sakura and her Rivals _-=^=-_ Sakura Kasugano... neophyte Street Fighter... Card Captor... and, unfortunately, model dummy for her friend Tomoyo's *unique* sense of fashion. Of course, sometimes, Tomoyo came up with some actual gems. Such as the insulated suit she wore to fight against Blanka and the Thunder, that was a good one. The outfit she wore today was also strangely appropriate... a skintight blue and yellow jumpsuit, with a like-colored jester's cap. It was appropriate because Sakura would have been MORE embarrassed to face this particular opponent in a *normal* outfit. Corded muscles offset by a pot-belly. His own skintight outfit, of yellow and a disquieting shade of green. Orange streamers at seemingly every joint. Oh, and don't ignore the mask - it was supposed to emulate an eagle, but looked more like a chicken to Sakura. (Kero was of the opinion that someone was trying for a 'Griffin' look, but really screwed up the colors. Tomoyo, apparently, got inspired by it. Sakura was dreading the next outfit...) He was called the Grapple-Meister. And he was possessed by the Lock card. Unfortunately, the Lock didn't seem to be able to override Grapple-Meister's innate need to grandstand... "...and nobody... NOBODY... get loose when Grapple- Meister get his hands on him!" Which probably would sound much more impressive if Grapple-Meister were able to speak Japanese better. The truly sad part was that this had been going on for ten minutes now, and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. Sakura risked a glance back toward her friend and her 'Guardian,' and was dismayed to note that they had apparently stopped watching some time ago and were now playing cards. Sakura glanced back at her opponent... "I the BESTEST!!" followed by a really silly pose for the non-existent crowd... ...And briefly considered joining them. If this kept up, Sakura and Tomoyo would be late for school. Fortunately for the safety and sanity of everyone involved, Grapple-Meister only took three more minutes to finish up his spiel. "You ready? After Grapple-Meister crush you... I never be captured! I be free, always!" said Grapple- Meister/Lock as he finally took a fighting stance. Sakura declined to comment. That would have meant addressing him, and he would probably take the opportunity to talk more. Rather, she just assumed her own ready stance, the Key Staff strapped to her back. Behind her, Tomoyo put down her playing cards and got her video-camera out. In a sudden burst of speed, Grapple-Meister rushed at Sakura, his arms glowing as the Lock prepared to activate... Sakura felt a tingle in the back of her mind, a sense of something not... right, something else intruding... then saw a glowing white line about ankle-high in Grapple-Meister's path... Which Grapple-Meister promptly tripped over, stumbled, and latched onto a light pole, linking his hands around it. He then began struggling as he found he couldn't UNLOCK his hands... Tomoyo slowly brought the camera down. If this had been an anime show, Tomoyo was sure this would be the point a large bead of sweat would appear on all their heads... "Um... well, that was easy... I guess. Don't you think so, Sakura?" She looked at her friend, only to find that she and Kero were scanning the surrounding area. "You saw that, Sakura?" Kero asked. "I did. I felt... something, as well. I'm not sure what." She answered. Curious, Tomoyo asked, "What's going on?" "Someone else was here... and whoever it was used magic to trip up the Lock," Kero replied, then addressed Sakura, "although, it is good to know that your ability to sense magic is coming back." "Could it have been Li?" Tomoyo asked. The miniature Guardian Beast shook his head. "No. I would recognize his magic. This was... someone else." Sakura sighed. "Well, it's a mystery for another time." She turned and looked at the Grapple-Meister who looked like he was trying to crush the light pole. The pole in question was stubbornly refusing to crumple. "I guess I should take care of this..." she said as she drew the Key Staff. "Return to your true form, Clow Card!" A good distance away from there, other eyes watched as Sakura sealed the Lock card. "That girl gets into a whole lot of trouble." said Toya Kinomoto. He quickly left before his presence could be discovered, returning to the local grocery where he worked. "Hey! Toya! You don't gotta break now! Run off again, and your canned! Got me?!" His boss was, without a doubt, ticked. Still, Toya thought that it had been worth it... _-=^=-_ Only a couple miles away, another confrontation between Captor and Card was occurring, although this one was much more serious in nature. Within the darkness of an abandoned theater, Li Shoran followed the light of his Derivitor, a glowing ofuda held in his other hand. The light was illuminating a girl about his age, wearing a form- fitting black jumpsuit, black boots, and red gloves. Her blond hair was tied into a pair of pigtails that fell to her waist, and she wore a black featureless mask over her face... one with rather disturbing red eyes... "Hmmm." the girl was also obviously a conversationalist. She seemed fascinated by the Derivitor. Li ignored this. "I've come for you, Clow Card." She actually reacted to this. "Clow Card?" Her voice was thick with an accent Li couldn't place. Rather than answer her, Li just grabbed an ofuda and sent a blast of lightning toward the girl... who simply side-stepped the attack. "Enemy." With that, the masked girl performed a flying kick which Li in turn dodged. He was not able to dodge when the girl grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Li rolled away from her before getting up. The girl rushed him, and Li had to block several attacks. Then he retaliated with a powerful double- swing with his sword. His opponent was knocked away, but quickly jumped to her feet and attacked again. This time, she leapt at him curled into a tight ball. Rather than wait and see what kind of technique THIS was, Li retaliated with an leaping uppercut with his sword. She recovered mid-air, and struck back with a diving kick that knocked the breath from him. They traded a few more blows... but Li was confidant that he was coming out ahead. The girl was fast, and didn't seem to register pain, but she wasn't able to ignore the effects of the blows he had used against her. While he was rather banged up, himself, he was confident that he could come out on top. This time, however, the girl just hopped away from him. Li prepared for anything she could throw at him... but wasn't ready when the shadows all around the theater came alive and started attacking him. He cursed himself as he fought the encroaching pieces of shadow. In the heat of the fight, he had forgotten he was dealing with a Clow Card, not just a human opponent. Li fought valiantly, but was quickly overwhelmed by the Shadows. Li tried to stand as the girl walked over to him, but his abused body couldn't rise. He couldn't stop her as she took the Derivitor. The masked girl looked at him, and then said, "Interfere again... and die." Then she walked away, fading into the shadows as she did so. _-=^=-_ While Sakura was not an honor roll student, she was not a poor student by any length. (Much to Tomoyo's private consternation. If Sakura couldn't be a proper Magic Girl with poor grades, than she should at least be the token genius. Thankfully for Sakura's peace of mind, Tomoyo kept this observation to herself.) However, after getting up much too early to chase down a Clow Card... which then in turn was more successful in boring her to death than beating her up, resulted in one rather tired Sakura trying to listen to a lecture from one of the dullest teachers in the school. It was no surprise that Sakura drifted off to sleep. What WAS surprising was that Sakura immediately noticed she was asleep. But suddenly shifting from a school desk to sitting at a balcony table at what appeared to be a European cafe, tends to indicate that one has passed from waking to sleeping. Before Sakura could wonder what was going on, a new figure sat down across from her. She wore an elaborate red dress, over some sort of purple body suit. A long, yellow shawl wrapped around her shoulders and down her arms. She had a long, oval face, with soulful brown eyes and long, dark purple hair that was put in one of the most elaborate hair styles Sakura had ever seen... and Sakura had seen some pretty weird hair styles while fighting. But the most interesting thing was that every few seconds, the lady would be replaced by another figure - this one with long, wavy golden hair, an even more elaborate white dress, and the symbol of the sun upon her breast. Frankly, it was rather dizzying to try and focus on the figure. The, the first vision spoke. "Sakura Kasugano, I presume? Or do you prefer Kinomoto?" The weirdness index of this dream shot up. "Um... Kasugano." She forcefully shook herself out of a daze, "Sakura Kinomoto died." The woman in red smiled. "Of course. I am Rose. And the other you see is that which you know as the Light card." Sakura's first instinct was to go for the Key Staff... only to find that it wasn't around her neck like it should be. "Wha...?" Rose sipped some tea that appeared before her. "This is a dream, Kasugano. Even if you had your staff, you could not capture the card here and now." "Oh... I guess I forgot." "Yes. That will need to change if you continue the path of magic. Not all confrontations will be in the real world, and if you forget the rules of the realm you are in, then you have lost already." Sakura tried to make sense of that, but gave up after a moment. She'd figure it out later. "What do you want with me." Rose set down the cup, and took on a serious look. "I am here to deliver a warning." Sakura scowled, "Your warning me against trying to capture the Light?" "No," Rose responded. "In fact, Light would be more than happy to go with you... if you can capture her. No, the warning I give is not about myself... rather, it is about my other." The look on Sakura's face told Rose that she didn't understand. Rose sighed. "I'm sorry, I forgot that you are, although very talented, still quite new to the ways of Magic. And I do not have the time to explain it all. Simply put: one of the most evil men in the world today, or ever, knows about the cards of Clow. In fact, he is possessed by, or rather has taken control of, the Dark card. And he strives to capture the other cards in his own way. You must gather your allies - whether friend, rival, or enemy - if you hope to succeed in capturing all the cards, and stop him before he takes the power for himself." Sakura shuddered. She did not like the sound of this... "Oh... and I feel I should remind you. There is no such thing as chance or happenstance. Everything that happens in life, happens for a distinct reason." Rose looked Sakura right in the eyes, "even the death of Sakura Kinomoto." "Wha... what is THAT supposed to mean?" Rose gave a small smile. "I'd tell you, but we are out of time." "Huh?" *SLAM* Sakura shot awake, and nearly punched her teacher - who had slammed a book shut in front of her to wake her up - in the head. The teacher nervously backed up a step before going on. "It's nice of you to join us, Ms. Kasugano." The teacher pointed to a corner near the door as the class giggled. Shame-faced, Sakura walked to the stool in the indicated corner, put on the pointed hat the read, "Fell Asleep," and sat down facing the class. Somehow, after dealing with some of Tomoyo's outfits, this wasn't so much of a punishment anymore... _-=^=-_ The Dodon gym might not be a five-star facility, but any fighter that wanted to something more than what they could get at the local chain dojo knew about it. Whether to learn something beyond chop-punch-kick, or to spar with someone of a different style, or just to mingle with like minded individuals, the Dodon gym was the place to go, at least in this area. To Sakura, it was her primary training facility. It was here that she first learned how to throw a proper punch, and where she refined the knowledge she gained from watching her idol, Ryu. It wasn't QUITE Shotokan, but it worked. At least, it worked well enough that several big names on the fighting circuits knew of her, and were interested in her progress. Today, her goal was not to spar, or to work on anything new. Today she just wanted to push her limits in basic exercise. Leaving the designated Girl's changing room, several of the guys whistled or gave catcalls. Not to mention Tomoyo going for a close-up pan. Tomoyo had talked Sakura into wearing a new work-out outfit that she had designed. Sakura knew she should have asked to SEE the outfit before she agreed to wear it. A red and white halter top, and red shorts. And that was it. Sakura glared at her friend. "I swear, 'Yuriko,' I will find some way to get back at you for this." Tomoyo just giggled. Sakura sighed... there was no reason to let it get to her. So saying, she started toward the area of the gym that held a mish-mash of exercise equipment, most of which had been donated from previous instructors or students. On her way there, she realized the lack of someone... "Oi, Haruto! Where's Dan-sensei?" The blond-haired senior student turned from his workout to address Sakura. "Dan-sensei is out for the day. Blanka is going back to Brazil this evening, and Dan wanted to spend the day with him." Sakura nodded. She could understand that... Tomoyo was originally disappointed that Sakura wasn't going to be doing anything flashy today... but strangely stopped complaining around the time she began to work up a sweat. Sakura decided not to think too hard about that. Sakura was just feeling like she was pushing herself when the doors to the Dodon gym burst open. And then came a sound that caused Sakura to groan. "OOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" All action at the gym stopped, as everyone stared at the new-comer. Well-styled curly blond hair, the red school uniform, and all the attitude. Karin Kanzuki had entered the building. "What do you want now, Karin?" Sakura complained as she moved toward the annoying rich girl. "It is time to put to an end the slander you committed against me!" Karin called out in a voice that demanded attention. "I mean... the letters, and now this! This is practically stalking you know." "To think, that you - a lower class nobody - would DARE to even strike one such as myself, much less think you can defeat me!" "All because I won one fight!" "No, the time has come to reclaim my honor!" "And it was really close, to. It could have gone either way!" "To erase the transgression you inflicted upon myself, my family, and the whole Kanzuki Zaibatsu!" "..." "Now I shall crush you with my fists and skill!" "You're not listening to me, are you?" "And it is *I* that shall stand triumphant over your bruised and broken body!" "...no, I guess not..." "Sakura Kasugano, I challenge you to a fight, right here, right now!" Sakura stared at the girl that had hounded her since she managed to win one fight. "I refuse." That threw Karin for a loop. "You DARE?! You... you plebeian! You should be honored that I even CONSIDERED challenging you!" "No Karin. I'm not honored. I'm annoyed. You've taken every opportunity since the last time we fought to throw trouble my way. Frankly, it's not worth the trouble it would cause me. If I lost, you would spend years rubbing it in my face... and if I won, you would redouble your efforts and make my life even MORE miserable. You want to fight me again, Karin? Grow up!" With that Sakura turned and began walking back toward her friend. "Interesting choice of outfits, Sakura. Did you bother with the dressing room, or did you just give all these boys a good show, first?" Karin taunted. Sakura ignored her. "Hmph. That's right, Sakura! Run back to your little dog of a friend!" NOW Sakura stopped. "What?" "Go on! Go back to your little pale pet. You know that the little pervert's only obsessed with you because she knows she doesn't have a chance of getting a MAN in bed. Quite like yourself, actually." Sakura looked at Tomoyo, who looked ready to burst into tears at Karin's hash words, and felt a burning anger, and then a wave of ice. She turned back to Karin. "You want a fight? You just got one." Hastily, the people that had been sparring in the gym's ring got out as Sakura and Karin climbed in. Sakura went over what she remembered about Karin's fighting style. The rich girl relied on a large variety of rushing attacks and a couple decent counter moves. The last time they had fought, it had come down to the simple fact that, for all Karin's technical skill, she didn't have near the conditioning Sakura did. And when fighting someone who is faster, stronger, tougher, AND can project ki, skill can only go so far. Nonetheless, it had ended up a very close fight, and if Karin hadn't missed with a rush at the end, allowing Sakura to hit her with a powerful Sho-o-ken, the other girl probably would have won. Of course, at the time, it had just been another fight to Sakura. Now, it was something more... personal. Haruto, as the most senior student available, called the start, "Begin!" And then leapt from the ring before he could become roadkill. Karin, as Sakura expected, began one of her rushing combos. Sakura blocked them all, and then struck back with a Shun-pu-kyaku, scoring three hits as her leaping, spinning kick came down. To Sakura's dismay, Karin shrugged the blows, and continued attacking - obviously, she had been strengthening herself since the last time they had fought. Of course, Sakura had also been training too, but this wasn't going to be any easy match by any means. The match went back and forth for a while. Karin's rushes kept her on the offensive mostly. Sakura struck back when she could, but so far, it looked like Karin, despite everything, was coming out ahead. A fact which Karin also recognized. Karin connected with a sweep kick, knocking Sakura to the ground. Then she decided to add insult to injury, and started laughing. Her laugh wasn't the glass- shattering and teeth-rattling cackle of several famous anime characters... but it sure came close. Sakura slowly got to her feet while her opponent laughed. She wasn't in that good of shape, but she was getting MAD. She wasn't going to lose! Not now! Not to a spoiled little rich witch who couldn't get over herself long enough to get a clue! She cupped her hands together and concentrated through the pain. "Shinkuu..." Strangely, it felt different from the last time she used this attack... like she was drawing power from another place... Karin saw what Sakura was doing and hopped back from her. She knew that Sakura's hadoken was pathetically weak when compared to a REAL ki projectile. Even this - her most powerful blast - would be mostly gone by the time it reached her at the other side of the ring. "HADOKEN!" and Sakura thrust her palms forward... The attack the left her hands was not her standard super-sized hadoken attack. Rather, it looked just like her standard small, long-ranged hadoken. Except, it was faster. And when it hit Karin, even though the heir to the Kanzuki Zaibatsu was blocking, it did so with enough force to blast her THROUGH the ropes and into the surrounding crowd. Karin did not get back up, laying amidst a pile of spectators in a daze. Haruto just stared at the devastation and whispered, "Oh, my God..." Sakura walked over to see what she had done. "Oh, my..." This wasn't at ALL normal. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew she must have been responsible. "Oh, Karin... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that..." Karin, still dazed, heard that, and seethed... Tomoyo climbed into the ring and hugged Sakura. "Come on, Sakura, let's go." "Sure, Yuriko." So saying Sakura began to walk away. Three steps later, she suddenly felt exhausted, and dizzy, and then, nothing. _-=^=-_ Later, at Sakura's home, she lay on her bed, a bag of ice held to her head. And she was consulting with Kero. "I just don't get it. I've never thrown a hadoken that powerful before. Heck, I don't think RYU has done that. And then I passed out." "Hmm..." the little living plush toy was deep in thought as he floated before his charge. "Tell me, did you feel anything... different when you threw that hadoken? A feeling like, um, like you were pulling power directly from the sun or moon?" "Umm... actually, I would have said the stars, but now that you mention it, yeah, I did feel something like that." Kero smiled at that. "Yes! You magic really IS reawakening! You must have added some magical punch to your attack!" Sakura blinked. "But how is that possible?" Kero crossed his little arms. "Well, Spirit energy, or Ki, or whatever you want to call it, and Magic are not the same thing. But, they are not opposing powers, either. And the methods used to call up either one are in fact, very similar. So, it is not that much of a stretch that you would accidentally add both to an attack. In fact, you'll probably start seeing more magic turn up when you start focusing you spirit energy..." Sakura groaned. "Great... I've been trying to perfect these moves for so long, to make them powerful. Now I've got too much power, and am going to have to re- learn everything before I accidentally kill someone in a fight!" "Oh, it's not that bad. You should quickly learn to recognize the signs that you are channeling magic. If you don't want it, don't use it. And it'll be there when you need it." "And why did I pass out?" "You probably pulled too much magic. You're not used to channeling it yet, and if you draw too much at once, it can really take a lot out of you. But, with time and practice, you'll be able to start channeling magic almost constantly without being too drained by the effort. Clow Reed was like that." Sakura put the ice back on her face and was quite for a moment. Then she remembered something. "Oh, yeah! Kero, something else happened today that I wanted to talk to you about..." "Sakura!" Her mother called from downstairs. "Your friend Yuriko is here!" Sakura blinked, her train of thought derailed. "Huh?" The Tomoyo burst into the room. She looked worried and harried, not at all like her usually well-groomed self. She quickly grabbed Sakura's arm and tried to drag her out of the room. "Tomoyo, what's going on?" "I...it's Li. He's was hurt again, Sakura." Tomoyo replied. "So what does that have to do with Sakura?" Kero asked. As far as he was concerned, Li deserved some bad things happening to him. "Grrrr, KERO!" Tomoyo yelled at the plush guardian. "Whatever you may think of him, Li is a decent person. And back... before all this... he and Sakura would easily put aside their differences to work TOGETHER to defeat the Cards. And considering that there are a lot of powerful cards left, and that they will probably have powerful hosts besides, it would be best for both of them to work together again!" Tomoyo paused to catch her breath. Kero looked reluctant, but nodded. "Yeah, I suppose your right. If nothing else, we could keep an eye on him before he does something really stupid." Sakura nodded, and followed. Besides, she wanted to finally properly meet this Li Shoran. _-=^=-_ Li was in a bad mood. This was not going at ALL like he had hoped. Since he came on the mission to capture the Clow Cards, he had not succeeded in capturing one, he had been sent to the hospital, knocked out by flowers, the Derivitor was stolen, and now had been beaten up again. Thanks to some healing magic he knew, he would be just fine within a day or so... but that didn't erase the sting of defeat. How could this day get any worse? He heard a knock at the apartment door, and his servant answered it. Then Tomoyo came into the room, and he brightened. But she was followed by another girl... one he could sense much magic from. And he saw the Key of Clow around her neck. This must be the one that usurped the position of Card Captor. And then he noticed how close Tomoyo stood to the other girl... and the she was holding her hand... Li's mood darkened again, and he scowled at the other girl. No, things were not at all going his way here... "Li!" Tomoyo called, and embraced him briefly. "I was worried when I was told you were hurt again." "Th-thanks, Tomoyo." Despite his words, he kept glaring at Sakura. Sakura felt rather nervous under that glare. If looks could kill, she would already be in the morgue. "Li, I would like you to meet Sakura Kasugano. She's the Card Captor, so I thought it was about time you to met face to face." Tomoyo continued, missing the by-play. Li managed a fake smile. "Really, Tomoyo? Thanks." Then he turned toward Sakura, "Ms. Kasugano, would you mind leaving a moment, I would like to talk to Tomoyo in private." Sakura was actually relieved to step out of the room. She considered the glare he gave her the entire time. "Somehow," she said to herself, "I don't think the two of us will be working together in the near future." _-=^=-_ Karin was raging in her private gym. That... that... she couldn't come up with a euphemism sufficiently vile enough to explain her feelings for Sakura at the moment. There she was, on the verge of triumph, and Sakura goes and uses a new attack to win! It just wasn't fair! It wasn't right that some little girl that taught herself most of her moves and techniques should manage to defeat HER superior skill not once, but twice! And then she had the gall to APOLOGIZE! As though she was just playing with her, and could have ended it at any time! If only there was a way to take away Sakura's one glaring advantage... the ability to use a ki- projectile. To date, all of Karin's attempts to learn one had failed, most teachers she had contacted outright refusing to teach her! Well, she'd show them! If Sakura could figure it out on her own, than Karin Kanzuki should manage it within a day! Then, something on the edge of her senses alerted her to danger. She had a brief vision of what appeared to be a young boy in an elf costume with long, wild hair, and then she was being... invaded for lack of a better term! Something else was inside, with her, trying to take HER body for its own. Well she wasn't going to put up with that! She was Karin Kanzuki! Heir to the Kanzuki Zaibatsu! Not two years ago, she killed a LION bare-handed to prove herself worthy of the name Kanzuki! She would not let some two-bit spirit take away her body! She wouldn't be denied her vengeance against Sakura! Then the feeling of an attack lessened, and a query of sorts came to her. The spirit didn't use words to convey its question, but feelings... feeling against Sakura... "Yes! Yes, I want to defeat her! I want to break her, to demonstrate my superiority, to erase the embarrassment she has caused me, TWICE! I WILL DEFEAT HER!!" And the struggle stopped. The spirit was still there, but now it was willing to just be along for the ride, and lend her its power... And what a wonderful power it was... With a wave of her hand, an orb flew through the air and shattered one of the training dummies. "My, what a wonderful Shot that was..." _-=^=-_ Somewhere in Thailand, a figure sits in a room of darkness. Once, he was merely interested in the strange energy that had been detected from Japan. But now... Now, he knew what that energy was. Something had tried to possess him... but he proved to be stronger. And from that captured entity, he learned what was going on. Forget Ryu... all the power Bison needed was held in a deck of cards... A figure dressed in black approached him through the shadows. "What do you have for me, Decapre?" The masked girl walked up and knelt to her master, then set the Derivitor down. Bison smiled. It looked like he had guessed correctly - while his dolls might not have much of a personality, their deeply ingrained desire to serve him remained even after being possessed. Bison picked up the offered board, and studied it for a while. Then a beam of light shot out, first touching him, then Decapre, then pointing off toward the east, and Japan... "Excellent. Decapre, gather your sisters, and the Killer Bee..." Bison missed the twitch that Decapre developed at the mention of the prototype for the Dolls, "I have a mission for all of you." Decapre saluted. "Yes, sir." Then she left to complete her task. And deep within, Dark wailed, and struggled once again against the bonds that chained her to the mad dictator... _-=^=-_ -----======----- LEAVE IT TO YURI! -----======----- Yuri Sakazaki appears, and opens her mouth. Then a two ton anvil drops down and smashes her. The cleaning staff quickly removes the mess as Kero flies in. -----======----- LEAVE IT TO KERO! -----======----- "Hello, Everybody!" (I know, it's supposed to be a cute, Japanese phrase there. And it's supposed to be 'Leave it to Kero- CHAN. But the author hates gratuitous Japanese, and so avoids using any Japanese whenever possible. So blame HIM!) "Anyway, today I'm not here to do a little, useless funny scene. Today, I actually have something IMPORTANT to tell you. "Hey, wait! Come back! It's not THAT bad! This will explain a lot! Honest! "Okay. "Now, anybody with more than a passing knowledge of Cardcaptor Sakura is probably a bit confused as to why Rose is possessed by Light, but Bison has Dark, since those two cards are basically inseparable. Well, it has to do with a concept that, for being central to the Street Fighter world, is strangely little known... the Immortal Souls. "In Street Fighter, certain people have Immortal Souls. They live for a long time normally (we are talking centuries here, folks), and even when they die, their souls don't pass on, they just move to the next host with most, if not all, memories intact. While there are many important figures that have been suspected of being Immortal Souls, very few have been confirmed. "Now, as you can guess, both Rose and Bison are confirmed to possess Immortal Souls. The real trick here is that, SOMEHOW, the two possess the SAME Immortal Soul. This is why Rose and Bison's destiny's are intertwined, and why the Light and Dark have separated... because they didn't realize they were possessing two different people until it was too late. "Now, see. Doesn't that clear things up a bit? "No? "Hmmm... "Well then, just forget about it. Meanwhile, lets take a closer look at Rose's outfit. See how the bodysuit she wears beneath her red dress defines every single contour, and how the clasps for the cape are a nice gold... wait a second..." Kero belatedly realized that he wasn't examining Rose, but a super-deformed M. Bison. "Uh, oh..." "Psycho-CRUSSHHHAAA!" It was perhaps the cutest psycho-crusher ever seen, as it blasted Kero off into the distance. Quickly, a super-deformed Shadoloo Cammy pulled in a new sign. -----======----- LEAVE IT TO THE SHADOLOO! -----======----- "Ha, ha, ha! Now, I SD Bison, have taken over this segment! Don't I rule ALL?" "Yes, sir." Answered SD Cammy with a salute. "And now, I shall reveal part of my nefarious nature! Cower before me!" SD Bison laughed again. "Yes, sir." "Many of you are probably wondering who Decapre is, and who her sisters could be, aren't you?" "Yes, sir." "Ha! Well, shows what YOU know! Decapre is one of my Dolls - twelve young girls I had kidnapped, genetically altered to make them stronger, faster, and tougher than normal, and programmed to be my willing and devoted SLAVES! Isn't that EVIL?" "Yes, sir." "And the Killer Bee? The prototype for all my Dolls? Why, that is none other than Cammy, here!" "Yes, sir." "Yes, she was the first, and one of the most powerful She also may or may not be a clone of me... I'm not too sure on that part, myself. But hey, when you're as EVIL as I am, all your dastardly plans tend to get mixed up, don't you know." "Yes, sir." "Decapre might not have been a playable character from Street Fighter Alpha 3 like the other Dolls Juli and Juni were, but seeing as she resembles Cammy to an incredible degree, and with that mask, the author couldn't resist making her the host of the SHADOW card." "Yes, sir." "That's all for this time. Next time, I will show you all how to properly grovel before my GREAT EVIL!! Isn't that right, Cammy?" "Yes, sir." Answered SD Cammy with a salute. _-=^=^=-_ Hi! Wow... it's done. Now some, select few of you are probably wondering: "What happened? Where's the ERASE card? I thought this was going to be another Rival Schools Crossover?" Well, the answer to that is: Smlee. You see, Smlee contacted the other authors of Blossoms in the Spring and asked us to get together in the chat room. And so we did... well, most of us, anyway. And lo, we did come up with many ideas for where BitS should go... so much so that I had to drop my original idea just to set some situations up. And I haven't regretted it since. And now, to recap so future authors don't need to search the entire chapter again for this or that plot point: -Sakura captured the LOCK. -Toya helped out, without being seen. -Li Shoran faces off against Decapre, a Shadoloo Doll possessed by SHADOW. -Li loses, and Decapre steals the Derivitor. -Rose contacted Sakura in a dream. -Rose is possessed by LIGHT. -Sakura fights Karin, and barely pulls off a surprising win. -Sakura is beginning to channel Magic along with her Ki. -Li is not happy. -Li thinks that there is something more going on between Sakura and Tomoyo than there is, and is even less happy. -Karin gets possessed by SHOT, but they come to an agreement. -Decapre gives Bison the Derivitor. -Bison controls DARK. Lets see... anything else? Umm... Kudos to everyone who caught the walk-on cameo... (Who's rights are owned by Bandai, I believe.) And I intend to shortly write a more thorough FAQ explaining the Shadoloo Dolls. But, if you can't wait, go check out http://cammyfan.com, and get the whole deal right away. Thanks to Richard Beaubien, Rift, and Smlee for Pre- reading, and to Stephen99 for his CammyFan site, without which I would never have been able to use the Doll. Caio, all. Jason Who also goes by Jryu, but has absolutely no relation to jasonred, thankyouverymuch. "I'm not a fast writer, and I'm not a slow... wait... yes, yes I AM a slow writer!" -Paraphrased from Robert Asprin.