Chapter 3: Renewing Old Friendships / Blast From the Past

Blast from the past: Takashi and Chiharu are my favourite anime pairing on the grounds that they are so adorable and there is very little conflict to cause too much strife for the couple. Yes Chiharu does get short tempered with Takashi's tall tales but at the end of the day they are extremely loyal to one another. Re-reading this chapter was extra sweet and it gave me the opportunity to switch out the 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' with '-san' along with switching 'Mom and Dad' with Okaa-san and Otou-san'. It was also fun for me to write about a "seductive" character, which was out of my mush and fluff wheelhouse. I really loved how Takashi stepped up to the plate.

The New Trials connection: It was my love for Takashi and Chiharu that led me to New Trials in the first place. I didn't start New Trials from the Prologue like the majority of fans. I scoured the Internet to the best of my ability to collect any T&C fanart (I still remember my favourite one) and read every fanfic. When I read Chiharu and Takashi Special Story: Sincerity I was amazed with how the author was able to explore beyond the tropes and really flesh out these characters' backstories. It didn't take long before falling in love with the fic all together! In return, Wish-chan  embraced my enthusiasm and inserted the sweetest T&C snippet about missing beads. I then asked my friend Dragurok to illustrate it. Another connection that that in Arc 4 of NT, Wish-chan starts to introduce the Emotions such as the Pride, the Despair and the Jealousy. These cards have an influence on emotions, just like how the Seduce had an influence on Chiharu's behaviour.

Reading the relaunch: I was very curious to see how Jeremy (KID-Z4P) would treat my OTP. I liked the way that he didn't have Chiharu live in Tokyo because that sounded rather cliché. I made the change in my own fic to have her live in Odaiba as well. I asked Jeremy which fanart he would like to see and he said Eriol linking his arm with Syaoran before running as it was really funny. His brand new aftermath scene when Syaoran commented on Eriol's weirdness increasing with age was a great addition. Another new scene was when Takashi dances with Chiharu after she asked if she wanted a good time. Oh my goodness!! Yes, that's hands down my definition of a good time. Out of everything that was done in the revamp so far, that had been my favourite part!!!

Review spotlight: Past me would have been very surprised that present me is sharing this review. I received my first bit of constructive criticism from my friend John in college, but I reacted to it as if it was a flame. Nonetheless it did make me realize that I did not have to excessively fall back the same tropes that my generation of fanfic writers got too used to. It was the wake-up call I needed!

um... this chapter was rather... suggestive...

I would think that a card named Seduce would be a little bit less... direct...

Nice chapter, but referring to the people by the colour of their eyes and hair (ex. the amber eyed girl replied) is getting to be a little tiresome for me.. I can see a little bit of you in the speech and actions of all the characters cept that of the Seduce... if that too was representative of a part of your personality, things would be much more... odd...

Art: Since the Rendez-vous came out younger than I anticipated, I really wanted to make The Seduce look older and more sophisticated. I'm very pleased with the outcome! Her hairstyle came off as a bit silly but nobody can argue that it doesn't look complicated, which is what I was going for.

Up next: You will see what was my idea of the perfect date back when I was a teenager in Chapter 4: A Night to Remember.

Chapter 2: A Chance / The Perfect Chance

Blast from the past: According to my fic, Tomoyo distrusts Eriol for *years* and only comes around because of one act of chivalry. Yup, that tracks with teenage me. When I was 13, I developed a huge high school crush that ended up turing into a friendship that went all the way to university on a boy because we were going through the same door and he held open behind him since he noticed that I was there.

The cuddling scene was a real pleasure of me to write that's mostly what naïve little me daydreamed about doing with whoever I would end up dating (the first guy I did that to compared me to a cat and I think my affection confused him).

At the end when E&T are together, Tomoyo made a comment about how now she would no longer be pitying herself for not having a boyfriend. Yikes! Needless to say that line got scrubbed out of version 2.0 and I'm glad that I'm at a place in my life where I understand that a woman does not need a man to thrive.

The New Trials connection: Wish-chan was reluctant at making an E&T pairing so I'm glad that the both of us didn't make the decision to couple them up automatically. Another connection I'd like to point out is that Nina and the Cuddle Card have similar descriptions with both of them being roughly the same age and having curly hair.

Reading the relaunch: KID-Z4P had Tomoyo give Eriol the nickname "Eri" and I found that absolutely adorable. I was a tad bit disappointed that the cuddling scene got cut considering that it was the point of the card.

Review spotlight: This review was posted by Mabel on November 28th, 2002 who happens to be one of my best friends for over twenty years. She was the runner-up for the last review spotlight because she said, "this is the kind of story that I'm always looking for but I can never find it". She was just as addicted to reading my story as I was writing it so it was really incredible to have live and immediate feedback.

Wow! That was a great chapter. I can't wait for the next one to be posted! Or maybe you can tell me at school. I think you are my favorite author now. I really like the story. Continue the good work. 

Your fan 

Mabel

Art: Eyes may be the windows to the soul but the eyes that I drew for The Cuddle looks like actual windows. It's time to start checking out tutorials. I'm glad that wings came out better this time around and I'm not too mad that the hair kind of looks like macaroni.

Up next: Who is this friend of the past and what old feelings will stir with her presence? Find out in Chapter 3: Renewing Old Friendships!

Chapter 1: A New Beginning / Starting Over

Blast from the past: The main reason why it took me so long to revisit Destined Love other than the fact that I've been re-reading and summarizing New Trials for a number of years was because I wasn't prepared to face the cringe. Much like watching old home videos, it's hard to come to terms with your past self. I finally bit the bullet and though I can not deny the amount of embarrassment I've faced from diving into the past, even my critical self can't deny that my story is so cute.

The New Trials connection: I created Destined Love in 2002 and I discovered New Trials in 2003. I was always fond of the fact that Wish-chan and I named our principal OC "Kai", and how we also share the premise of Syaoran coming back to Japan to catch a new set of cards, but I thought the similarities ended there. I titled my first chapter "A New Beginning" while she chose "The New Beginning". My whole premise of Sakura and Syaoran creating cards out of love was pretty much the origin of the Heal Card in NT. When Sakura does the firework display, I was basically describing The Explosion from NT. Finally, Sakura read the Li books, which is how New Trials begins as well!

Reading the relaunch: Chapter 1 is titled Starting Over. With CCS ending with Syaoran going back to China and then returning, it's natural that so many fics started off that way. I liked KID-Z4P's decision to make them Clear Card age. I loved the way he had Eriol return from England. In my fic he came off as a creep who was pining after a girl who was not interested in him for years. While it's actually very fitting for the New Trials version of Clow Reed (except he tried to bring back his girl in another form), that part of my fic did not age well. I never thought of a reality where Sakura was weighed down with the pressure of keeping her magic a secret. While she seemed to have a handle on it in the show, it's clear that she would never have achieved as much as she did without Tomoyo in on the secret. I thought the poem being on paper rather than being recited was a great touch and it works better for them to have their clue written down versus committing a poem to memory after hearing it once.

Review spotlight: Destined Love was fortunate enough to garner 117 reviews and I'll be spotlighting nine of them. This review was posted by my college friend Sarah on November 16th, 2002. She was the one to encourage me to post the fic on fanfiction.net in the first place so she's the one to thank for this journey today. 

Hemlata, that was amazing!

Great story line, it's going to be a great story

I love the fact that they are creating new cards it makes it extremly interesting and makes me want to read more.

Keep on writing!

I'm so glad that i'm the first one to review your work. Don't stop working on these stories i want to know how it's going to turn out!

I'll talk to you more at school on monday

Chow, Sarah

Art: If I'm going to blog about my journey, there is absolutely no way that I could post without featuring a fanart. I was really impressed with the amount of detail that I gave to my new spirits so it's only fair to draw them. The Rendezvous turned out a lot younger than I wanted, but there's lots of room for improvement as I continue drawing. I really loved the way her hair turned out and I decided to not obsess over drawing symmetrical wings.

Up next: Will Tomoyo ever change her opinion about Eriol? Find out in Chapter 2: A Chance!

Destined Love Revisted & CardCaptor Chronicles

Happy New Year 2020!

The last time I updated this blog was in mid-August when I just wrapped up Chapter 70: Eye of the Dragon. I was busily drawing my submissions for the 30 Days of New Trials 2019 fanart extravaganza and I was eagerly hoping for a chapter update to celebrate 20 years of New Trials. What happened instead was the threat of our Yahoo Group's history being lost forever and the gallant acts of kindness from some very special members who banded together to save it all. By the time the dust settled and we recovered from the experience, I thought it would be fun to pass the time with a 25 Days of NT Christmas fanart challenge.

Now that we're in the month of January, instead of picking up my NT re-read, I'm fulfilling a promise that I made over a year ago. Back in December 2018, KID-Z4P favourited my Takashi and Chiharu skit fanart. Hoping that this dA member was a fellow NT fan, I hopped onto his profile and was bowled over to see that he was actually my fan! He took my 2002 fanfic Destined Love to remastered it for deviantArt and repackaged it as CardCaptor Chronicles. I did say that I was going to re-read his version, but there was no way that I could do it without re-working my own. Destined Love v. 2.0 is being released on ArchiveOfOurOwn and I'm taking the time to clean up editing errors, getting rid of the overused trope of describing a character by their eye colour and aligning it more with canon by removing some of my more creative (wacky) ideas.

Fanart Spotlight: KID-Z4P is not only a writer but an artist too! The Star Alliance features all of my characters featured in the Destined Love series, including Kai, who I invented before discovering Mizuki Kai. His name was a literal mash-up of Ken and Tai from Digimon. This fanart makes me excited to see where KID-Z4P will be taking gang who I've written about in three fanfics 17 years ago as a 17 year old.

Chapter 70: Eye of the Dragon, Part 2 (The Dragon Isles)

Release date: June 16th, 2014

Word count: (32,135 out of 69,887 words total)

Click for summary

Thoughts: We really didn't know much about Nadeshiko's arc. In the flashback we learn that she and Ryuuren are fighting against Ryouta but Reiji is on their side. I also remember that the five descendants couldn't be there at the last fight because Leon backed out. He was younger than everyone and was on his own. 

Sakura and Syaoran's reunion was so beautiful and heartfelt. It's so rare for them to be physically affectionate so when it does happen it's such a treat. 

It's crazy that Ryuuren and Leiyun were put in mortal peril to find the diamond while Syaoran just had to empty his bank account because it was something pretty that caught Sakura's attention. Even the Kaitou Magician had a better chance when he was robbing jewelry stores. It definitely is an item that can only be found if it wants to. 

The crystal breaking was anything but unceremonious whatever the White Dragon thinks.

When Tsubasa came out, Wish-chan was wary because she didn't want to be influenced by CLAMP's work. Eventually she felt comfortable enough with New Trials' trajectory to give it a chance. I never got in to it, but I'm sure there are plenty of Tsubasa Easter eggs.

Syaoran didn't mean to bring Sakura to the Cavern of Reservoir the same way that he didn't mean to bring his first dog (Eagle? Vega?) to his Chosen One quest. Let's be thankful that Sakura had a much better outcome than the poor pup. 

Sakura told Celes that it was thanks to Clow Reed that the reincarnation of Clow Reed didn't realize the clone. I wonder what Sakura did. I'm going to guess it's creating the Scent. 

I forgot that Clow had an aversion to Sakura's clone plan. Interestingly enough he wasn't more open to her until after she caught the Scent. He was the one who told her how to mimic the soul by using her eye. He said a living soul thought for itself while an empty one was a puppet. With the clone actively sacrificing herself Sakura created the former and was lucky that it didn't go rogue... 

Chapter 70: Eye of the Dragon, Part 1 (A Midnight Toll)

Release date: April 21st, 2014

Word count: (37,752 out of 69,887 words total)

Click for summary

Thoughts: I debated whether to make one entry for Chapter 70 or split it in two. I read Wish-chan's blog post about this chapter's release and she was the one who posted the two halves on different dates in the first place. So I'll respect the FF design, which also allows me to spotlight two fanarts instead of one. 

Part 1 is called "A Midnight Toll". I don't remember much about this chapter other than the Alliance being in shock that Sakura died, us learning the truth and Syaoran's test to become Great Elder (gosh, there's something so hilarious about a 17-year-old Great Elder).

Eron was ready to do anything to bring Sakura back. He literally said, "Whatever it takes". Avengers fans may remember that was the slogan for Endgame! And it was also the catchphrase of Degrassi, a beloved Canadian teen soaps that was around since the 80s to 2016. 

It's quite convenient that Fujitaka was out of town during all of this. And that it happened in the middle of spring break so the classmates are none the wiser either. While it's easy to whisk Fujitaka away, it must have taken so much planning on Wish-chan's part to not only bring them to this point of time physically but mentally as well. 

There was a random new report about how cherry blossom season was late. I probably didn't think much about it at the time, but I love the reason why Wish-chan delayed it in this chapter other than the fact that the Insect was being a major pest. 

Chapter 69: The Betrayal

Chapter 69: The Betrayal

Release date: August 3rd, 2013

Word count: 44,945 words

Click for summary

Thoughts: After the Arc 3 finale where Syaoran abandoned Sakura at the harbour in Hong Kong, no one could have predicted that they would be returning to the same place one year later!

Syaoran appearing from the fog in this chapter after he disappeared in the fog in Yesterday's Letter was a wonderful parallel. 

We have our last update from Arima and Asuma. Arima said that she wanted to take a break from acting and learn English to enter Hollywood. I wondered how she would pay the bills until I remembered that she also modelled!

Yue's conversation with Sakura about the reincarnation of Clow's soul was fascinating. Fellow NT fan Melanie once read my husband Aleks' palm and described his past life. When Aleks told his father, my father-in-law said that he was describing his father's life (my father-in-law's dad). Aleks' grandfather died before he was born so I can totally believe in reincarnation. If you ever want your palm read or Tarot Cards read, contact Melanie via the FB group! We've used her three times and she's always right on the nose.

It's so ironic that both Kai and Sakura are distrustful of the Li Clan but their one true love happens to be Meilin and Syaoran.

Erika learns that Jinyu is an orphan and this is the first time she felt any connection with him. I'm really rooting for these two!

The Meilin and Kai scenes when they're not at each other's throats and are just sharing a tender moment are so good! They're such an perfect fit for each other.