Sakura Kinomoto grabbed the cards and slid them into her pocket.
"Sakura, this is dangerous, you can't go out!"
"Kero-chan, relax, I'll be fine. I'm just checking the card. If I need it, I'll call for help. I know half the magical girls in the city."
"You don't have your magic!"
"No, I don't, but the clow cards don't really care about that, do they? Besides, if it's a nice one, maybe I can talk it down." She slid her coat on.
"But you're not feeling good, either!"
"I feel a lot better!"
"You wouldn't even be out of bed if--"
"Kero-chan, don't worry," she said, grabbing him and smiling, before hugging him. "I know if it comes to it, you'll protect me. Okay? So... don't worry. I have friends. And I still have the cards, okay?"
She then walked to the window, leaped to the tree outside and quickly slid down it, before running off, Kero in close pursuit.
As Sakura Kinomoto leaves and heads to the south, from the north... another Sakura walks down the street, missing the real one entirely. As the new Sakura, wearing a dark black dress looks up at the window, a tear into the Dusk Zone opens and Takashi steps out.
"She's not... home." The Black Sakura says as Takashi tosses her the key. "But the book might be." She leaps up and reaches the window with one jump, crawling inside.
Inside Sakura's room, the Black Sakura finds the book and opens it with her key, only to reveal it's empty insides. She makes a very upset noise, leaving the book there as she jumps back to Takashi.
"No cards." Takashi notes before the other Sakura can even answer, and she nods. "Well, so much for doing this the nice way. Kinomoto must have them. Let's find her and fix that."
Black Sakura nods, after throwing the key back to Takashi, and she runs off on foot while Takashi jumps back into the Dusk Zone.
Sakura Kinomoto raced through the city and... eventually... came to what looked like some kind of sand trap, with a sand antlion o nthe bottom. Minus the antlion. "That's... a lot of sand."
"It must be the sand card!" Kero said.
Sakura just starrrrrrred at Kero.
"What?"
"... Anyway. So! Is it an aggressive card?"
"Very aggressive, use the earthy to... Oh. Right. Call for back up!"
"On it!" She said, pulling out her phone and... screaming when the ground gave out from under her. The sand suddenly formed a pit under her, drawing her in and making her lose her grip of her phone. It went flying and... Kero grabbed her, barely hauling her out in time. "My phone!" she screamed.
Black Sakura leans out from behind a tree on the roadside, watching her more brightly-dressed counterpart narrowly escape the literal Sand Trap. She's quickly joined by Takashi exiting a portal, looking at her. "Hmph. Does she have the cards with her?"
Black Sakura nods. As the shadows swirl around him, granting him a ward of Dark Energy, a mask of that same energy forms over his face, glowing green eyes and an accented red mouth to show facial expressions, much as used to accompany his Riventon henshin.
But this isn't that henshin. This is something different. "I'll get her attention, you snatch them and get to work." Takashi notes before leaping towards Sakura, landing between her and Sand's manifestation.
"Children shouldn't be out so late. And you certainly shouldn't be getting involved in magics that you're not capable of handling. Like these cards."
Takashi raises his hand until it's level with his masked face, hawk-like key hanging from its chain.
"O great key which is created from the power of Darkness! Reveal your true power before me! I command you to honor your creator! RELEASE!" And the same magical circle that would open under Sakura when she uttered similar words to her key forms under the masked Takashi, and his key morphs into a dark blue staff just like hers, though it bleeds negative energy.
And while this is going on, the other Sakura is moving into position behind Sakura and Kero.
Kero... stared. Dropping Sakura. Sakura landed, her legs splayed out, on her knees. And the two just... stared. "He... how did he... I-I thought you... you said there was just one key!"
"T-there's only one key!" Kero said quickly, shaking his head. "It's a fake, it has to be! Lots of people can use magic. But there's no way that can seal the cards! Sakura's the only one who can seal the cards, the key of sealing is the only way to do it and she's the only one who could use it! Get out of here, dummy, you're just going to get in our way!"
"Ummm... Kero-chan... I... I think he's trying to... help," she said softly. "I mean, that other girl was mean too, but she helped! So ummm... T-thanks mister!" Sakura said as she slowly got to her feet, unaware about the mirror Sakura coming up behind her. Both her and KEro just staring.
Takashi turned and the red swatch on his mask turned into an overdrawn grin. "Please, by all means, don't let me stand in the way of you drowning in the sand. You were doing an excellent job. But if you actually want to capture a card you need talent..."
And then from behind the Sakura in the black dress tackled Sakura Kinomoto, and her hands went right for the cards, grabbing most of them! "...or a good plan." Takashi finishes as she takes the cards and makes a massive leap backwards near the alley between two buildings. From that alley, another figure, one in a jester's outfit, walks out. The other Sakura throws the cards into the air - and as the jester takes catches them, one by one, her thumb wipes over the space where Sakura's written her name, erasing her name from the cards!
"You're so far out of your league that you don't even know what game you're playing. Or for how long the game's been going..."
Sakura Kinomoto shrieked, falling forward. "Owwww... W-what... HEY! Give my friends back!" she yelled, turning and getting to her feet! She ran at them... Then was yanked back by kero.
"Sakura, stop! That's the erase card!"
"W-what? My signatures!" Her eyes went wide and she stared, taking a step back. "H-how is he..."
"Sakura, you need to get out of here!"
"But they took some of the cards!"
"And if you don't run they'll take the rest! We'll get them back, GO!" he parted his hands and... The ground suddenly lifted up. Rocks started pelting the two of them! Very small rocks but like, some of them were sharp! Or could hit in the eye! Sakura whimpered, then fled, running down the street and away from them, kero flying behind her.
"Looks like they're going to be my friends now. But you shouldn't break them up you know. Why don't you give us the rest?" Takashi asks - but then Sand decides it's tired of being ignored and becomes a more pressing issue. "Bring those over here!" Takashi shouted to the Sakura in black, and she dashed over to the mage. Looking over the cards, and at Sand.
Drawing one from the set, as Takashi held it between his fingers and channeled energy into it, the back of the card shifted from red to black. "Thunder..." he mused. The sneering smirk was visible even in the mask. "How amusing."
"THUNDER!" Takashi called out a second time, throwing the card in front of him and striking it with his wand. "Strike with fury!" The black-and-yellow torrent of energy burst from the card with a furious roar, rising into the air and then slamming down into Sand with such force that the entity suddenly becomes a blast of brittle glass.
"I command you to return to your guise!" Another swing of the wand, and the crystalized Sand is torn through the air, returning to its Clow Card form and snatched by Takashi. He turns to the Black Sakura. "We should go before we get unwanted company. Heroes have a way of crawling out of the woodwork. Seems like our plan's worked, we can get the rest later."
Sakura Kinomoto ran for a while, until she was a few blocks away, before turning. "K-Kero-chan? What was that? Who was that?" Then stopped. Why was... Kero... on the ground?
The guardian was on the ground, standing there, panting as sweat formed on him. What was this... taint, in him?
"Kero-chan?"
"N-nothing. I... I hit a bird," he lied. "Come on, let's get out of here. It's time to call for backup."
She nodded, moving up besides him and gently scooping him up, holding him. "You should watch where you fly."
"Yeah yeah..." he muttered.