Rose thrashed around on her bed, seemingly gripped in a nightmare that she could not wake from. In reality, this wasn't far from the truth. Two sides of her soul were struggling for dominance of her body, just as the two Clow Cards, Light and Dark were. The only problem was, she only held the lighter half of her soul in the first place. Where this darker side came from, Rose couldn't determine. All she knew about it right now, was that it was tearing her apart. Then all of a sudden, it stopped. Everything stopped. Light and Dark, good and evil. Time itself. Only Rose, the true Rose, remained active. Then a girl no more than 16 walked inside the room. There was really nothing special about her, other than the fact that Rose could feel an intense magical aura surrounding her. "Who are you?" Rose managed to whisper. With a flourish, the girl bowed. "My name is Hitomi Hoshino. Or Constellita. It doesn't really matter what you wish to call me at this point. I've come to deliver an important message to you." Rose could only wonder at what that message was. It wasn't every day that she met someone with this much magic inside them. "What." "Do I want to tell you? Simple. You know too much. And as such, you must be kept away from Sakura until the time is right." Rose was confused now. What was it she knew that Sakura needed? In fact, how was it that this girl knew about Sakura at all? Then again, it wasn't like Sakura was working very hard at keeping her other career a secret. "Now, I have other pressing matters to attend to, so I'm just going to stick you into stasis now. Don't try to fight it. You won't win. And don't worry about Light and Dark either. Their time will come." Magical energies flared up around Hitomi, and she chanted a spell. Rose could only think of Sakura's fate as she blacked out. ********** <__< 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. Part 16: A DASHing performance, round two! By Smlee ********** Sakura was wet. Again. "Better luck next time Sakura! Two days left!" taunted Rena, the current host of Dash. Then she dashed off. Tomoyo reached her hand down to help Sakura out of the lake where she had somehow fallen. "Tough luck Sakura! You'll get Dash next time though! I can feel it!" "But Tomoyo, my plan was flawless! The Illusion should have worked." Sakura complained. "But it didn't. Maybe you should consider getting help now?" Tomoyo innocently stated. Sakura could only glare at the other girl for that remark. It was seeming more and more like she wouldn't be able to catch Dash on her own. Kero hadn't even accompanied her tonight because he had collapsed from exhaustion. But wait...why was it morning all of a sudden? Sakura sat up and looked around. She was in her room. It was morning. "Was it all a dream?" Sakura mused out loud. "Was what a dream?" A voice from behind said. Sakura jumped nearly to the ceiling out of shock. Hitomi was standing next to her bed, holding a feather. Obviously, she had been planning on waking her up again. "Was what a dream?" Hitomi queried once more. "Nothing...nothing." "Well, seeing as how you're up anyways, can I treat you to breakfast? Then maybe tomorrow, you'll feel like being polite enough to let me wake you. I've still got a bag of tricks left." An evil grin grew on Hitomi's face. Sakura sweatdropped. ********** "It's not like you should blame them. They just want you at your peak for the competition. They will be letting you get a few days of rest. Just three more days of hard training." Sakura quickly learned that Hitomi was a chatterbox. No matter what, she'd be the one doing the talking for the both of them. Right now, she was talking on and on about the track team. As if Sakura didn't have enough of them already. "Sakura? Are you paying attention?" Sakura nodded sleepily. "This is important. You shouldn't trust the eyes. They can deceive you. Always look within. They really are doing it for your own good." Sakura nodded once again. Her head was slowly making it down to the table. "Sakura? What's wrong? Are you tired?" Sakura nodded again. Her head reached the table. Hitomi frowned for a minute, then perked right up. She called the waiter over and whispered something into his ear. Minutes later, he was back with a mug of coffee which Hitomi poured onto Sakura. That perked Sakura right up. "What the heck are you doing!" She yelled. "Coffee is good for people who are sleepy." Hitomi grinned. "Hey, and I got to wake you up today too! Bonus!" Sakura was out of her seat and out the restaurant by the time Hitomi finished her sentence. ********** Sakura walked quietly down the street. After all, she didn't really want to draw attention to herself with the coffee stained clothes and all. But then again, who was awake at this time of the morning? The closest place where she'd be able to get a change of clothes was down at Dan's dojo. Sakura really didn't feel up to walking the extra distance to her house, and she sure as heck didn't want to walk to Tomoyo's. Who knew what she'd make Sakura wear. Dan's dojo was unusually crowded today. Especially for early morning. What was going on? Sakura then noticed fights break out at two points down the street. 'Must be another tournament going on,' Sakura observed. Sakura pushed her way through the throng of fighters, to the entrance of the gym. Inside it was even worse. Sakura was sure that this may people in one place had to break a fire code somewhere. Sakura pushed her way into the girl's change rooms. She grabbed some fresh clothes she stashed there, and quickly changed. She found the way out much easier than the way in, because the room had strangely cleared up. Maybe there was a limit as to how many fighters could sign up? "Sakura!" Dan yelled from across the room. Sakura pretended not to hear him. Dan rolled close. "I'm on a roll Sakura! Look!" And he held out a black sash. "So now you accessorize your gi with a black sash?" Sakura had to admit, anything would make his clothing look better. Dan just looked at her strangely. "No, this is the symbol of the tournament! I've collected one! ...So far." Dan was quick to add. Sakura STARED at Dan. He had won a match? But then Sakura was quick to remember that Dan was better than most fighters she had come up against in her fighting career. Sometimes. Dan produced another sash from within his gi and presented it to Sakura. "This one is yours." "Hoee?" "I saw you walk in. I assumed you wanted to participate. So I signed you up. It's not like you've been doing anything lately anyways." Sakura ground her teeth. A tournament? And this stupid Clow Card she'd been chasing around for days? This was getting to be too much. "Um...so when is it this tournament officially starts?" Sakura asked. Perhaps it wouldn't start until later this week. Hopefully by then, she'd have that darned card in her possession. What she didn't realize was how stupid her question really was. Dan looked at his watch. Then he ran some calculations on his fingers. "Well, if I'm not mistaken, the tournaments starts...now!" Sakura's eyes widened as she took the full brunt of a Gadoken to the chest. Sakura stumbled backwards from the shock of the blow. Dan followed up with a cross-punch combination which Sakura barely blocked. Dan kept the pressure on, not allowing Sakura to recover fully. Then Dan made his first mistake. He took time out to give a thumbs up to the small audience of students that had gathered. Sakura punched him in the back of the head, sending him sprawling to the floor. Dan bounced back almost immediately, Sakura unable to keep the advantage due to her fatigue. Dan whipped out a stiff roundhouse that clipped Sakura's side, causing her much pain. Sakura gasped for air as Dan rolled around the perimeter of the crowd. Sakura followed Dan with her eyes, but lost interest in him as soon as she was able to latch onto another face in the crowd. The one belonging to Karin Kanzuki. Karin studied Sakura's face as she glared at her. There was a tiredness, a fatigue not normally associated with the girl. Something was happening to Sakura, keeping her up to late hours, draining her energy. And to think. Karin had entered this tournament only because she had been sure the Sakura would be involved. Now she was being beaten by Dan. Although Karin much preferred that it would be her beating Sakura right now, having Dan beat her was humiliation enough. So Karin was content to watch. Dan walked in confidently, not realizing that he had given more than enough time in which Sakura could recover. Sakura herself was playing possum, drawing Dan in closer. Just another second...and she'd have him. Dan stepped into range and launched into his version of the Dragon Punch. Sakura unfortunately stepped into it with her own version of the Dragon Punch. Dan's hit first, knocking Sakura into the air. And down she came on the floor. She didn't get up. Dan celebrated his second victory of the day by rolling into a wall. He'd meant to do it. Really. ********** Karin leaned over Sakura and tied her black sash around her waist. It was a good thing that Dan hadn't taken it before knocking himself out. Now Sakura was still in the tournament. Karin would be able to challenge her later if she chose to. "I'm coming for you Sakura. Sooner or later, I will have my revenge. The Kanzuki name will be avenged." Karin launched into a laugh. "OHHOHOHOHOH!" Needless to say, it drew the attention of a few people. Karin took a look at the man with the black sash heading her way. It looked as if he was going to challenge her to a match. Karin welcomed the opportunity. ********** It was some time later when Sakura woke up. It wasn't like she wanted too, but Hitomi had put a spider on her face. "Sakura, you're going to be late for the track practice!" Hitomi tugged on Sakura's sleeve in an attempt to get her out of her bed. Which she had somehow ended up in. Sakura didn't know what was worse. Dan beating her, waking up to find she still had that sash that made her part of the tournament, being woken up by Hitomi, or the thought of going to capture Dash later. Which reminded her. "Hitomi? Could you leave? I promise I'll be out in a few minutes. I just need to do something before I go." Hitomi checked her watch. "I can give you five minutes Sakura. Any more, and I'll be up here to wake you again." With that, Hitomi left the room, and Sakura could see her exit the house a half minute later. "Kero!" Sakura hissed as soon as she was sure that they were alone. "Yeah?" Kero yawned. "What?" "I had a dream Kero." Kero's interest perked up at the mention of a dream. The old Sakura had pre-cognitive dreams. Perhaps this one did too. "I dreamt that the plan I came up with for tonight didn't work." This was odd. The old Sakura never got a clear picture of anything in her dreams. Usually, dreams have to be interpreted. "What do you mean, Sakura?" The now businesslike Kero asked. "I dreamt that I ended up in the lake again. That's what I mean." "Bah. It was probably just a dream brought on by your past experiences." Kero stated. "But Kero! It felt real. As if it was really happening. Or going to happen." Sakura trailed off at the end. Then she coolly stated, "Kero. We need a new plan." Kero got a serious look one his face. He stared into Sakura's eyes. Sakura stared back. Sakura seemed in deep though. So did Kero. "Well, you come up with it. I've got track practice." Sakura abruptly spoke. Kero fell down. ********** Sakura ran towards the track, followed closely by Hitomi. Even though Yukari was theoretically her enemy, she still had to follow her orders durring school. It was bad enough she was late. Being even later would be really bad. "Sakura! Hitomi! You're late! Get changed and meet back here on the field in two minutes!" Yukari bellowed. Sakura and Hitomi sprinted off to the change room. Sakura glanced back to Hitomi. "This is all your fault, I hope you realize." Hitomi grinned and pointed to something in front of Sakura. Sakura turned her head back just in time to see Tomoyo's face as she crashed into her. They went sprawling to the floor in a tangled heap. "Ow ow ow. Sakura? Why did you run into me? Not that I mind of course." It took a few moments for Tomoyo's comment to sink into Sakura's sleep deprived brain. She quickly detangled herself and stood up. Sakura looked around for Hitomi, but couldn't see her. She had probably gone ahead. A cry from Tomoyo drew Sakura's attention back to her though. "My camera! It's broken!" Tomoyo emphasized the point by shoving said broken equipment near Sakura's face. Sakura rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to formulate the appropriate apology. "Sorry Tomoyo, I really should have been watching where I was going. I'll pay to replace the camera." "Oh? You really have enough? This camera cost me around $1000 American." Sakura didn't quite know what to say to that. "You...you...you spent $1000 just to film me?" "Nothing's too good for my Sakura!" Sakura sweatdropped. "Sakura! Quit wasting time and get changed!" Hitomi yelled as she ran past them back to the field. Sakura ran to the change room. ********** It was time. Rena and Sakura were stretching the kinks out of their legs, warming up for what, at least Sakura hoped, was their last race. Sakura had been here for a few hours already, making sure that everything was in place. There was no way she'd lose this time. She had started off by casting an Illusion over the park like her plan had first called for. It had been no small feat and it drained Sakura of much power. But she still had enough for what she had to do. Sakura glanced around. Kero was in position. Tomoyo was too. Although it had taken some convincing to get Tomoyo to go with the plan, since her spot didn't give her a clear shot of Sakura. How had she managed to buy a new camera anyways? According to her, they were expensive... There was no time to think about it though. It was time to concentrate on the task at hand. Capturing Dash. "Ready Sakura?" Rena asked. "As ready as I'll ever be." Sakura answered gruffly. Yukari stepped forwards with a starter pistol. "On your marks, get set, go!" The gun fired. Rena was the first to move, running down what looked to be the path. Sakura knew better, but followed anyways. They wouldn't be getting to the lake for another minute or so. It's not like Rena knew where the lake was anyways. She had made the lake look just like the track. The image of the lake itself was moved down to where the track really was. As they neared what Sakura knew to be the lake, she slowed down. Rena kept speeding ahead though. All was going to plan. A slight whisper on the wind was the only warning Rena got to use Dash. Dash increased her speed to the point where she was running on the water. Going to fast to fall in, she made it to the other side with no problem. What was on the other side was the problem though. Rena slipped on some flower petals, and due to her momentum became buried deep in a large pile of more petals. These hadn't been here the other day. It must have been Sakura's doing. Meanwhile, on the other side of the lake, Tomoyo hopped down from the tree she'd been in, and gave Sakura her wand. Kero leapt from the other and held out Fly. Sakura touched her staff to it, and with a quick invocation, took flight to the other side of the lake, letting the Illusion dispel. From her height, she could see Rena struggling to free herself from the mound of petals. She could see Yukari, Chiharu, and Miyuki running towards Rena too. It was not possible for them to reach Rena before she did. Victory was finally hers. "You can do it Sakura!" Tomoyo stated from right behind her. Sakura nearly jumped right off her wand with that. "Tomoyo? How'd you get up here?" Tomoyo bapped Sakura lightly in the head. "I climbed on while you were dramatically posing before liftoff. You really shouldn't have wasted so much time. By the way, aren't you wasting time just hovering here?" Sakura glanced down at Rena's fast approaching teammates and knew Tomoyo was right. No time to argue with her now. Sakura commanded Fly to take them down to Rena. Tomoyo set up quickly to tape the capture as Sakura raised her wand high over her head and began the chant to seal the card. Rena just looked up in horror. Why, Sakura could not know. She brought the beak of the wand down, but Rena was no longer there. Sakura looked around for her target and spotted her a few meters away. Rena pulled off a relay with Miyuki. Sakura just blinked. How had that happened? Sakura was angry. Her plan had somehow been foiled. ********** Toya walked down the street whistling the theme song to his favorite show. He twirled the keys to his house in his hands, and tossed them in the air. He was truly bored. A sudden burst of movement from the side caught his eye though. Toya turned his attention that way and bore witness to the final minute of a fight that had broken out. One man was dressed in a generic fighting gi, looking every bit the rookie. The other though...there was no way he could be mistaken for a rookie. Especially when Toya felt the aura of magic flare up around him. Toya watched intently as the man was seemingly able to stretch his arms out to three times normal length, and rammed his fists into the gut of his opponent. As his opponent keeled over, the man grabbed a black sash from his waist. He drew it in and attached it to his belt, where he already seemed to have many of them. The man looked up, and around, then directly at Toya. Toya felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny. It was as if the man was trying to gain access to Toya's soul. With the magic this man possessed, it was possible. But for some reason, Toya trusted this man. He wasn't getting the same sort of feeling from him that he'd gotten from other disreputable characters before. So Toya opened his soul to the man. The man stared deep into Toya's eyes. Inside, he found the usual struggles of man against himself. Not too interesting. What he did find of interest though, was the magic he could sense within. Not too often had the man come across anyone who could wield ancient magiks. The man knew that he could not challenge Toya to a fight though. He wasn't wearing the black sash that made him a part of this tournament. So it was time to leave. Toya blinked when the man simply vanished in a glare of light. "What was that all about?" He wondered aloud. "You have a good soul. I would like to challenge you someday." The man unexpectedly said. Toya jumped into the air, then turned around. Sure enough, the man was floating in the air, sitting in a meditative position. 'This guy just gets weirder by the second...' was the fist thought in Toya's mind. "I must go now, for other challenges await. Just know that when you are ready, I will be back." With that, the man floated down the street towards the school. Toya followed, not knowing what else to do. Besides, this was a much better mystery to solve then what to do that night. ********** Sakura chased Yukari down the track. This was getting annoying. Following Dash's jump into Miyuki, it had successfully jumped into Chiharu, and now Yukari. Sakura was fast running out of options. If only she could figure out how Rena had gotten away from her! It was driving her insane! Yukari stopped suddenly. "Hey, Sakura! You've been at it for a long time now. Do you want to call it a night?" Yukari taunted. Sakura glared at Yukari. No way she'd call it quits now. Even if her plans hadn't worked out the way they were supposed to...Sakura took the little break that Yukari had given her to look around. There was Rena, up ahead, and Chiharu, off there to the side. But where exactly was Miyuki? There was no time to wonder though, because a magical aura flared up around Yukari again. She was about to start. Sakura tensed up ready to spring out as soon as she did. But then she sensed another magic aura flare up...in Chiharu's direction! Sakura spun to look at Chiharu, managing to fall flat on her rump. Chiharu was just standing there innocently, giggling at the fact Sakura had fallen. But the aura was still there. Yukari was off and running already, and didn't notice Sakura wasn't following till she looked back a few seconds later, and noticed she wasn't there. So Yukari stopped. Sakura walked towards Chiharu. Chiharu looked at Sakura with mild interest, still giggling at Sakura's fall. She neither noticed when Sakura lifted her staff into the air, not when she mumbled the incantation below her breath. Sakura brought the beak of the staff down on Chiharu's head. Immediately, a card came out of the Chiharu and formed in Sakura's hands. Chiharu fell backwards, unconscious. Sakura waited for the last of the magical energies to resolve into a card before letting out a mighty, "Hoee?" The card she held in her hands now read The Jump. Not Dash. Sakura was mightily confused. And that's why when the attack came, she never saw it. The same man who Toya had met earlier now flew into Sakura with a Drill Kick. He quickly followed it up by grabbing Sakura and pounding her head with his fist a few times then threw her out onto the track. Toya arrived just moments behind the man, and watched as he attacked Sakura without provocation. Well, he wasn't going to stand by and let that happen. Besides, now that he had found Sakura, he could ask her out on another date. Providing that she wasn't unconscious by the time he got to her. ********** Tomoyo and Kero sat off to the side, Tomoyo recording every second of Sakura. Kero sat thoughtfully. "Tomoyo, do you know what just happened?" Kero asked. "Sakura got attacked by a weird looking meanie?" Tomoyo responded innocently, never once removing her attention from Sakura. "No. I meant the card." "What a great capture! And to think! I caught it all on video!" Tomoyo took a short time out to sigh and blush. "No not the capture. The card. She got Jump. But she'd been after Dash, you see?" "Yeah that is a bit strange. But who cares! Sakura finally caught another card!" "But why was it Jump? And how in the world did she know Chiharu had it in the first place? It wasn't active..." Kero mumbled. "Who cares? Sakura's the greatest!" Tomoyo enthused. Kero was too deep in thought to care. ********** Yukari reached the prone body of Chiharu first, but Rena and Miyuki didn't take much longer. They all looked down. "How could she have known about Chiharu's card?" Yukari asked. Miyuki shrugged. "Wasn't the plan for her to catch Dash first?" Rena inquired. "Um...yes?" Yukari didn't really know how to answer that. "Guess she knows our plans. She probably knows about all our cards too. But how could she? Chiharu's wasn't even active at the time!" Rena seemed a bit agitated. "Well...I don't know." Yukari stated. "I guess we have to give up our cards now." Miyuki was less than ecstatic. The three girls left looked at each other. They knew what they had to do. The three carried Chiharu over to where Tomoyo was standing, and placed her near. "Take care of Chiharu for us!" Yukari yelled as they ran off in Sakura's direction. ********** It could have been over by now, but no. Sakura had to get up. The man had made a grab for her sash when he had thought her down, but Sakura dodged out of the way. Now that she was close enough, she could identify the magical aura she had felt as this man's. So the card had just been a fluke. How was she supposed to explain that one to Kero? Then something odd happened. The man's foot stretched out and tripped her. Sakura landed flat on her back. The man brought the same foot down for a final strike, but Sakura managed to roll at the last second. She leapt to her feet and launched into a Shinpu Kyaku. The man defended, and retaliated. With a fireball. That came out of his mouth... Sakura was back on the ground quickly, rolling to put out the fire in her clothing. Obviously, the clothing she had on currently weren't designed to be fireproof. A sudden gust picked up and the flames blew out. Sakura looked up to see Yukari running in, closely flanked by Miyuki and Rena. Sakura could only guess at their intentions. While Sakura was distracted, the man reached down to pull away Sakura's sash. He easily pulled it out from under Sakura. "Your heart was not in this fight." The man scolded her. "Thus you lost the battle. Next time we meet, I hope you will be able to focus on our match." Then the man floated into the air. Sakura looked up at him. She had to admit that his flying technique was impressive. "Who are you?" Sakura asked. "My name is Dhalsim." With a flare of magical energies, he teleported out of sight. Yukari looked down at Sakura. "Well...that was sure...anticlimactic." Yukari extended a hand to Sakura. Sakura looked warily at the hand before grasping it, and allowing Yukari to help her to her feet. "Well, I guess you've figured everything out, with capturing Jump and all. I'd like to be the first to say good job." Sakura gaped at Yukari. What was she talking about? She'd been chasing them around for over a week already, and now she's offering congratulations? Even without meeting their requirements. Catch Dash, they said. She hadn't done that yet. Which one of them held Dash now anyways? "The cards are ready to return to you now." Yukari continued. "They've been waiting for you to finish your training." What the heck was she talking about? Training? The card had been training her? That was just...wrong. "Well?" Yukari looked as if she expected something. Tomoyo chose this opportunity to get a close up shot. Very close. "Sakura! Are you alright! Are you hurt!" Tomoyo was prodding at every possible point on Sakura's body. Sakura put on her best reassuring tone as she pushed Tomoyo out of the way. "I'm fine To...er...Yuriko. It's just a minor burn. It'll heal." "Well?" Yukari repeated again. Sakura glanced at Yukari. She still had no idea what she was talking about. She slowly circled the three girls, getting a good look at them. Which one held Dash? Maybe it was like Hitomi had tried to tell her earlier. She needed to look within. Sakura closed her eyes, and concentrated on Dash. She had felt it's energy before, quite a few times. All she had to do was concentrate. Sakura stood still for a minute, so still that the four girls near her thought she had fallen asleep on her feet. Sakura's eyes snapped open suddenly, and she walked around to Rena. Rena fidgeted nervously, as Sakura raised her staff high, chanted the incantation, and brought her staff down. It took mere seconds for Dash to appear in her hands. Sakura held the card up and posed for Tomoyo. She'd done it! "Um...Are you going to finish?" Yukari asked. Sakura stumbled. "What?" "You know, capture the rest?" Yukari pointed at Miyuki, then herself. "The rest?" Sakura repeated. "You were the one who found out we all had cards. That's why you went after Jump. Right?" Yukari looked hopeful. Sakura rubbed the back of her neck, embarassed that she hadn't realized it earlier. The all had their own cards! That's why they had been able to pull off the Dash 'host changes'. They had just used their cards to facilitate their travels. Sakura raised her wand high, chanted again, and brought it down. Nothing happened. Except for the fact that Yukari crumpled to the floor. The four girls still standing looked around. The card had not shown up. "That shouldn't have happened." Rena obviously stated. Sakura felt the distant magic before any outward signs in the area. A gale-force wind picked up suddenly as Windy shot out of the body of Yukari, flying high and towards the magic's source. When everyone had collected themselves, Sakura was the first to speak. "Um...what happened?" The other girls just shrugged. "Right, then. I can't worry about it now. Last card!" Sakura raised her wand high, chanted, and brought it down on Miyuki. Unfortunately, the head of the wand ended up on the other side of the park. Miyuki was just as surprised as Sakura. "I didn't do that...Loop doesn't want to go just yet. It thinks that you didn't really pass the test. Sorry." "Loop?" Perfect. Just perfect. Four cards, and two get away. From what Kero had been teaching her, Loop's true form could only be revealed by cutting it at it's source. And that would require the use of the Sword card. Maybe there was another way, but Sakura was really too tired to think it up. Sakura shouldn't have remembered she was tired, as this time she really did fall asleep on her feet. ********** Constellita stood in front of Li's house. For the past one and a half weeks, she'd been operating here, blocking Li from getting at these particular cards. She'd enjoyed her time thoroughly, but she'd have to erase Li's memories of this. Fortunately, that was easy enough. She had the Erase card in her possession for just that task. Windy arrived right on schedule, and landed in Constellita's hands. ********** ***************** LEAVE IT TO TOYA! ***************** Toya: "Well, I guess you are all wondering where I went. I WAS going to help out Sakura, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Let's put up the title again." ***************** LEAVE IT TO TOYA! ***************** Toya: "Yes! That's real power there!" Something is murmured from off to the side. Toya: "Fine. I'm supposed to shut up about the power now, and tell you all about today's episode." Toya pulls out a pointer. Toya: "Now, if you'll all recall, Rose was put into stasis at the beginning of the episode. Why? I have no idea. It seemed like a good idea at the time." Toya points at something else. Toya: "Here we see Sakura's initial dream sequence. Why is it here? I don't know! Maybe it adds to the story or something. Or maybe it just gave Sakura the idea to modify her first plan. Who cares!" Toya points at himself. Toya: "As to why I'm in this story...it's a complete mystery to me!" Toya pulls Constellita out of nowhere. Toya: "As to why she's here...well, she's almost like a reset button. When something doesn't work, kick it out of the story!" Constellita: "That's not why I'm here." Toya: "Oh? You think you know more then me?" Constellita: "I SHOULD know what I'm doing in this story." Toya: "Well, yeah. I guess that would make sense. Ok then. You tell them what you do." Constellita: "Well, that is...a secret." Toya: "..." ********** Author Notes: Well, this is my second, and last BitS piece for now. I've got schoolwork to concentrate on. After that though...BitS better still be running. There is no way I'd pass on the opportunity to write again. It's really a lot of fun. I'm really disappointed that I managed to cause four consecutive skips with my last part. Thirteen must really be an unlucky number. I'm sure that it wouldn't have happened with a re-write, but obviously nobody thought it needed one, seeing as how nobody even bothered to review. Here's hoping I get some for this outing. I'm also really saddened by the sudden drop-off in interest. It really is a good fic. Give it a chance. Now it's back on track, and there's no Bison. Woo hoo! I really like Karin. I just never really come up with a good story to use her in. She made an appearance in this episode, but only to mock Sakura after her loss to Dan. After Dan lost to Sakura in my last part, I thought it was only fair that he'd win. I couldn't resist the opportunity. When Sze tired out Sakura very badly, I knew this was going to happen. Then I expanded the idea into a mini SF tournament. Dhalsim was somewhat of a surprise for me too. I don't know why I wanted to write him. I guess it was just his connection to mysticism. When I came up with the concept of Sakura and Toya enhancing their fighting prowess with magic, I only had to assume that it extended to other beings in the universe too. So Li will probably start using his magic in the same way, and Dhalsim was certainly using his magic in this episode. Finally, even though I was the one who suggested that Rose come in to BitS (to offset Bison. I really should have discouraged Bison from the start.), she just didn't fit anymore. Eventually, someone would have tried to give Sakura Light and Dark. I just don't think Sakura's ready for them yet. Same thing with Windy. Sakura's just not ready for it. Although that's just my opinion. Nobody has to go along with it. I'd just like to take one more paragraph out to thank Yonjuuni and Lirazel for pre-reading at the last minute. Ardweden gets a thank you for the extension. I really needed it. And once again, I have to thank you, the reader. Hopefully, nobody'll think these notes are much too long and not give me a review cause of that. Just remember. REVIEW. How can I improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong? This one is my third impro part! Third time's the charm. Wednesday, March 6, 2002