Chaos Cardcaptor Sakura

""These Kaos Cards bring out the worst in all of us, don't they?""

- Tomoyo Daidouji, Chapter 6.0: A Duality of Despair

Chaos Card Captor Sakura is a Cardcaptor Sakura fanfiction written by Drake The Duelist. In Tomoeda, between Seasons 2 and 3, a mysterious set of "Kaos Cards" from Clow Reed's past reappear and begin terrorizing Tomoeda. Leading them are two Guardians: Lycan and Damien, who have differing opinions regarding how best to reach their goals. Sakura and Syaoran both wind up involved in the effort to capture all eight Kaos Cards, but Sakura is aided by a mysterious substance called the Elixir of Fire, a potion capable of empowering the user with superhuman resilience to everything, as well as a few... personality quirks. After a few captures, infighting begins to break out between the Guardians of Kaos, as well as between the Card Captors themselves.

It hasn't been updated in quite a while, to the annoyance of the very few fans the series actually has. Though it gets out into the mainstream very little, good things have been spoken of it, so it can't be that bad... Though not finished, rumors have been swirling about a pair of successive sequels, the first being Chaos Card Captor Torika and the second being Science and Sorcery. (And the latter of which is rumored to have its own sequel entitled The Next Day.)

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As of April 17, 2011, Drake The Duelist declared Chaos Card Captor Sakura to officially be a Dead Fic, partially for reasons of the pressing demands of Real Life, and partially to avoid any Unfortunate Implications that the fic’s supposed ending would result in. And to make things even crazier, he mentions that he might someday pick it back up again.

Character Sheet
Kinomoto Sakura / Orchid:


 * Badass Lolita
 * Broken Bird
 * Facing the Bullets One-Liner:
 * Foot Focus: Subverted. Sakura has spent every moment since the close of Chapter 7 barefoot. Because of how little emphasis the author gives outfits, you wouldn't notice it unless you went back to the end of Chapter 7 and looked it up.
 * Gambit Roulette: At some point, Depending on when this all began, Orchid is either schizophrenic, clumsy, or the world's greatest chess master.
 * An Ice Person: Sakura’s own natural kaos manifests like this. Lampshaded at the end of Chapter 7, it was originally played as I'm Cold... So Cold.... More explicitly stated by
 * Limited Wardrobe: Played with. Sakura only wears one 'civilian' outfit, her other two outfits being school uniforms (both fall and, when the fall uniform was, spring). There are two costumes in the story, a leopard-themed battle costume and a cowgirl costume, though .)
 * Not Brainwashed: An Insistent Terminology, especially when accused of being the exact opposite.
 * Transformation Sequence: Sakura absorbing the Elixir of Fire’s magic through her heart, and later expelling it out her eyes and mouth. An unusual instance in that it is described in prose.
 * Unwilling Suspension: In chapter 8.5, Sakura is bound up by a pair of chains, so that . Also to
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Played with early on, as Sakura must balance her responsibilities of being a Card Captor with her mundane responsibilities and ethics. Partially subverted as the story takes place during Sakura's summer break.
 * Weapon of Choice: Nightmare, used first and foremost in pretty much every encounter Orchid is involved in.
 * What You Are in the Dark: She also shows slight traces of Super-Powered Evil Side, only without such clear-cut alignment delineation.

Syaoran Li:
 * Big Damn Heroes: Syaoran is on various sides of this throughout the fic. Early on, he is the one coming to Sakura’s aid (and in a larger sense that was the entire premise of Chapter 3), while later on Sakura / Orchid will come to his aid.
 * Blood Oath: The Inferno Crossbow is fastened to Syaoran's arm by using his blood as an adhesive.
 * Cannot Spit It Out, Contractual Immortality: In as much as Season 3's continuity has to be preserved.
 * Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: When Syaoran acquires the Inferno Crossbow, he learns a new way to use his ofuda: the Rites of Kaos.
 * Uncanny Family Resemblance: To . Used as a plot device so that and  could both be played up for angst.

Tomoyo Daidouji:
 * Ms. Exposition: Tomoyo is generally the one who asks questions about whatever magical powers Sakura / Orchid and Syaoran are using.
 * Muggles: Tomoyo has a hidden inferiority complex about this.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Her outgoing Kawaiiko personality is just a front to cover up her unhappiness at.
 * Ten-Minute Retirement: In Chapter 7. In the previous chapter, Lycan found a chink in Tomoyo’s plot armor by insinuating that . Thinking about it for a minute, Tomoyo deems that she can’t continue to follow Sakura and Syaoran in their magical adventures.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: To the American exchange student Tobias Erikson, according to bonus background material.
 * What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Tomoyo bemoans her uselessness at helping her friends. A lot of it has to do with Lycan’s gall to break Tomoyo’s Plot Armor, as seen above.
 * Subverted later on when
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Lampshaded by Damien in Chapter 5, as well as that.

Kero / Keroberos:
 * Big Eater: Justified, in spite of being a Guardian. Clow got Kero addicted to food early in his creation, presumably as a joke (similar to how Eriol deliberately screwed up Spinel). Turns out that
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Kero does this a lot with Clow Reed, even despite Clow being long gone. Yue thinks more idealistically of Clow on account of, but Kero knows better.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Apparently Kero takes more after Clow than he would care to admit…
 * Immortal Immaturity: More of a Really Two Hundred Years Old Immaturity.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Kero’s full name, in proper English pronunciation, is “Kerberus”. (The author went with this so as to avoid confusion with the encryption protocol, Kerberos.)

Yue:
 * Alternate Character Interpretation: Though he will still defend her, Yue still doesn’t think that highly of Sakura as his master. Justified in light that this fic is not only set right after Yue getting stomped in the Final Judgment, but right as.
 * Can't Get Away with Nuthin': No matter what Yue does, Damien always says it’s his fault. Always. And when Damien lets Yue off the hook, you just ‘’know’’ something bad is about to happen...
 * Deadpan Snarker: Particularly when he goes to chew out Damien without ever skipping a beat.
 * An Ice Person: As a Foil to Damien, and vice versa.
 * Kick the Dog: Even some readers found to be a bit extreme!
 * Not So Different: Yue and Damien. It is implied that Damien is dying because of Yue siphoning off his magical sustenance. In actuality, Cue Season 3, when Yue encounters similar difficulties for similar reasons…
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Yue is simultaneously the most human-looking of the Guardians, but the least human-acting.

Lycan / :
 * Appropriated Appellation: Lycan derives his name from the scared, huddled masses that called him such.
 * As the Good Book Says...: While stalking Orchid, Lycan quotes one of pop culture’s more memorable bible verses: “Be sober. Be vigilant. For your adversary the Devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (This being the predominantly Shinto Japan, the reference is a bit lost on Orchid, though this does nothing to diminish the return fire.)
 * Attack Its Weak Point: While attacking the rest of Lycan’s body is often utterly useless, his mask is solid, and thus can be hit. After a few fights, everybody picks up on this.
 * Beware the Nice Ones:
 * Breath Weapon: How Lycan uses the Fade Card. He gets his own breath weapon later on in the form of
 * Cursed with Awesome: When ’s idea of a curse is to turn you into a magic hyperspace dragon wolf, What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Embarrassing Nickname: Lycie-chan (given by Orchid). Gained rapid popularity in the fanbase.
 * Eye Scream: Being largely intangible, Lycan subverted this with ease when Yue shoots him in the eye with a magic arrow. He later plays it straight when Syaoran shoots him in the eye with the Inferno Crossbow Lycan’s reaction: “Do you have any idea how much that stings?!”
 * Fighting a Shadow: What makes fighting Lycan so difficult.
 * Final Exam Boss: Every Kaos Card was either put to use against Lycan at some point during the final fight.
 * Mind Rape: Lycan's favorite pastime.
 * One-Winged Angel: After he.
 * The Reveal: How this works has yet to be revealed.
 * It turns out that
 * To the Pain: Lycan not only screws with your head, but explains what you've done to deserve said screwage, from Orchid to Naoko.
 * You Cannot Grasp the True Form: The most obvious way that Our Werewolves Are Different. You physically cannot shine a light on Lycan’s body such that you can get a clear look at him. Also, any projectile attacks directed at him merely sink into his skin, like shooting at a wormhole. In fact, Lycan uses this power as a Mind Screw in its own right.
 * According to Word of God, light actually ‘’does’’ harm him in large enough quantities. The reason that is because

Damien:
 * Almost-Dead Guy: For the entire story, he believed that Clow Reed created Yue as his replacement and that Yue was siphoning off his magical sustenance and killing him.
 * Ambiguously Brown: Damien is heavily bronzed, either as part of his decay, or as a contrast to Yue’s pasty pale skin tone. Possibly both.
 * Badass Grandpa: He’s as old as Keroberos, yet he can still be just as powerful as he was in his prime. His powers occasionally stall out at incredibly inconvenient intervals, though.
 * Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: Damien is a member of the species.
 * Clipped-Wing Angel: He’s already in this form at the start of the fic, hence his fading, depleted powers, corrupted human form, and incessant lamenting (mostly at Yue) about how he used to be a lot stronger than he is now.
 * Determinator: He has his moments of unbridled implacability.
 * Do Not Go Gentle
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Later becomes a Bald of Awesome.
 * Five Rounds Rapid: Tomoyo’s bodyguard tries this against Damien. Apparently, this is the same kind of greeting he always gets. Is it any wonder why Damien hates humans?
 * Flaming Sharp Things: Damien can summon various kinds of flaming bladed weapons, most commonly knives and javelins. One time he summoned a massive halberd, but Yue cut him off at the pass before he could use it.
 * Gaia's Vengeance: Damien's raison d'etre, or at least why he wants to Kill All Humans.
 * Glass Cannon: Though he looks to be built more like a Mighty Glacier, this is his actual handicap in combat. The glass part comes up a lot.
 * Grumpy Old Man
 * Hot-Blooded: Literally. Especially after
 * Jerkass Dissonance: Damien is the common favorite of the two Kaos Guardians, even though he's a Jerkass. Apparently, when compared to the Eldritch Abomination, Magnificent Bastard, Omnicidal Maniac, Made of Evil Complete Monster that is Lycan, merely calling Damien a "Jerkass" makes him a saint.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: Damien doesn't think a lot of his combat ethos out. Also
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Damien makes it very clear why he hates Yue.
 * Never Hurt an Innocent: He’d beat Yue half to death if he ever got the chance, but he won’t lay a finger on Tomoyo.
 * Nonhuman Humanoid Hybrid: He’s a dragon from the waist and elbows down.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Nobody knows exactly how old Damien is, given that . He's at least a fair bit older than Yue.

The Kaos Cards:
 * Absolute Xenophobe: Other Kaos Cards seem to come off this way (which figures, given that Damien presided over half of them), but Mirage is far more obvious and explicit about it, not caring for people, guardians, Clow Cards, or anybody else who isn't a Kaos Card.
 * Alien Geometries: The seven-pointed star on the back of each of the Kaos Cards.
 * Awesome but Impractical: The Nightmare, being a scythe, is horrendously unwieldy. So much that it even seems to cause Orchid some problems when using it against, well, anybody really.
 * BFS: The Nightmare Card. In this case, Big Fancy Scythe. That can fly.
 * Brown Note: The Life Card's portrait, to those with magical foresight, can act as a very small version of this.
 * Chekhov's Card: The Life Card.
 * Combat Tentacles: Though none of them do anything particularly naughty (well, at least not officially), tentacles, tendrils, and various other binds appear.
 * This is essentially how the Industry functions while in its visible form. What’s especially shocking is when combining the tendril traits of its visible form with the fact that it can conduct electricity.
 * The Dominion Card can also function as a binding mass of threads, though its primary function is what it does to the victim’s heart. Don’t worry, the possibility of Lycan’s mind being in the gutter is the last thing the victim has to worry about.
 * Ghost in the Machine: Industry’s primary power, which can affect and manipulate any forged, inanimate materials like suits of armor, electrical wires or even . A bit useless in a forest, though.
 * Involuntary Shapeshifting: Though independently sentient, Mirage explicitly states that she cannot control her own transformations without the consent of her master, usually keeping her stuck in one form for a long stretch of time.
 * Seven Deadly Sins: Subverted. The fact that there are only seven Kaos Cards is more of an eight-minus-one thing, rather than a reference to this trope.
 * Toxic Phlebotinum: The Fade Card gets weaker and weaker the more it consumes, and yet it’s a glutton.
 * Tsundere: Oh Mirage, always acting so tough, especially when Syaoran is around.
 * Voice for The Voiceless: Mirage. All other Kaos Cards are more bestial.
 * Wave Motion Gun:
 * We Want Our Beloved To Be Happy: All the Kaos Cards are very attached to their master, though are willing to accept their presiding guardian as a suitable surrogate.

General Tropes:

 * Apocalypse How: An implied Class X-4, when
 * Armor-Piercing Question: One of the few things that can truly get to somebody filled with the Power of Kaos is one of these. While often given by Tomoyo, Orchid and Lycan will use them to jab at each other (which often proves rather foolish...).
 * Because Destiny Says So: When Syaoran finally, he learns that fate and free will . How can such a thing be achieved? Because . Keep in mind, Cardcaptor Sakura was essentially a kid’s show...
 * Berserk Button: Insult Clow Reed with Yue in earshot. Not even gets away with that!
 * Big Damn Heroes: This is usually how the less-involved characters from each chapter get into the main body of the plot.
 * Syaoran in Chapter 2, even though...
 * Syaoran in Chapter 3, thereby introducing him for the first (real) time.
 * Yue and Damien in Chapter 6.5
 * Orchid (yes, by herself) in Chapter 7
 * Keroberos, Yue, and Damien in Chapter 8.0
 * A Big Damn Villains for Orchid (yes, by herself... again) in 8.5, presaged with Sarcastic Clapping.
 * Bolivian Army Ending: The end of Chapter 6.0. Syaoran is beaten, battered, and practically defeated. Yet he still gets back up. Thank you, Tomoyo.
 * Had the publication ended just one fragment earlier, the entire fanfiction would've ended with, the ultimate Despair Event Horizon.
 * Break the Cutie: Pick a character, any character.
 * Or, more subtly, Corrupt the Cutie, depending on the cutie in question.
 * Chekhov's Gun: In Chapter 8.0, you aren’t led to believe that the  do anything... until
 * Close to Home: Chapter 4’s title.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Most fights are very short (if you don’t count all the incessant yammering) and don’t involve more than just a few swings.
 * Probably one of the most egregious of these so-called “battles” is when.
 * Curse Cut Short: Once to Damien (by Tomoyo), and once to Touya (by Sakura).
 * The author figured out very quickly that restrictive ratings kill readership.
 * Darker and Edgier: This might as well be the author’s mission statement.
 * Deal with the Devil: To use the Kaos Cards, you need to harness a “key that hides the powers of the Inferno”. (And by the Inferno, you can pretty safely bet that this means Hell.) And the Card Captor in question has to make a “contract” with this key.
 * Gin Clow makes a deal with to get his own kaos power. Later on, Orchid
 * Despair Event Horizon: It’s practically axiomatic for this to appear at some point or another. And it does: Orchid thinks of  at the very thought of it all.
 * Also see Apocalypse How.
 * Development Hell: Starting Date: January 2006 (including early drafts). Current status: Dead Fic (as of April 2011).
 * Chapter 6 was rotting so deeply in Development Hell that the author split it into two separate chapters, Chapter 6.0 and Chapter 6.5.
 * A trend that the author appears to intend to repeat with the currently in-progress Chapter 8.0 and 8.5.
 * The author had been releasing occasional “chapter fragments” of as far as Chapter 8.5, up until the supposed death of the fic.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Did Orchid just
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Pleas for Sakura to not use the Elixir of Fire make it sound like a drug addiction. A bit Anvilicious at first, but goes away later on as the Elixir is flanderized.
 * Drama Bomb Finale: Chapter 8.0 was about the climactic battle, while Chapter 8.5 and the epilogue mostly deal with the repercussions of everything that happened previously.
 * Early Installment Weirdness: The end of Chapter 1, and parts of Chapter 2 are the only times Sakura's crush on Yukito are even mentioned. By the time Yukito shows up again for a bit part in Chapter 6, this crush seems to be completely swept under the rug.
 * Epileptic Trees: Being a Fix Fic, Chaos Card Captor Sakura makes some educated guesses as to some unanswered questions about the series, some of which are quite dark.
 * Tomoyo is straight for Syaoran, has an entire corps of bodyguard at her disposal, was once bullied by her cheerleader classmates, and her father abandoned her. And through it all, she ‘’still’’ remains a Wide-Eyed Idealist! Silly Tomoyo, Idealism is For Ki- ...oh wait.
 * The Clow Cards are apparently only about 200 years old, which is peanuts compared to other really old stuff in anime and manga.
 * Expospeak: Much of the dialog in Chapter 8.5, particularly ’s dialog.
 * Expy: Gin Clow is this for Kurtis, a vindictive, heavily accented character from the far less successful Hive Fleet Akyron.
 * It's also strongly suggested that the old Life Card picture was an Expy of Sakura.
 * Face Heel Turn: Sakura, as she turns into Orchid.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Anybody hit by the Fade magic will progressively lose their five senses, one right after the other, all while you go insane. While non-fatal in and of itself, how horrific would it be to live the rest of your life with no cognitive senses? And what happens to the is more like
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: Kaos (barring, but ‘’particularly’’ Damien’s) is constantly shown with fire and other flaming imagery and colors. Orchid shows an affinity for ice-based kaos power later on. And Syaoran sticks with his canonic affinity for his lightning ofuda.
 * First-Name Basis: In an attempt to fire back at Lycan, Orchid accidentally calls Syaoran by his first name, albeit as part of a quote. She catches herself afterwards, but the Relationship Upgrade still stands.
 * Lycan has a rather interesting take on this. No character ever refers to Lycan with an honorific (except for Orchid calling him “Lycie-chan”). Similarly, Lycan only once refers to Sakura with a “-san” honorific, but drops this later on, more often referring to her as “Kinomoto Sakura”. According to Word of God, Lycan does this as a derisive reference to the fact that he’s a predator, and pretty much everybody else is his prey, something like a slaughterer calling a cow by its zoologically-correct binomial nomenclature. No one else refers to Lycan with honorifics because they’re just not quite sure what to make of him / it.
 * Fix Fic: Kind of. What originally started as an attempt to explain why Sakura could use the Clow Cards with a Star Wand, this fic poked more holes in the plot than it mended. Granted, some holes needed poking, while others were exercises of unnecessary cruelty.
 * Fun with Acronyms: The author is quite fond of these, having given every one of his previous major fanfictions (which did not exist) a three-character acronym. Didn’t work too well with ‘’Chaos Card Captor Sakura’’, given that getting the acronym to three characters would result in “CCS”, an acronym most commonly associated with the parent series. What’s an author to do? Answer: Chaos Card Captor Sakura -> CCCS. Shortening that down even further, there are three C’s, allowing the acronym to be shortened to “C (x) 3 (+) S”. Hence, "C 3 S".
 * Fur Against Fang: Damien is a half-human with monstrous fangs and bat wings. Lycan is a hyperspace wolf lizard. Much Fantastic Racism abounds.
 * Gambit Roulette: Lycan's, concluding in Chapter 8.0. Yeah, so he’s the supposed head honcho bad guy, and he really means for Sakura, his chosen Card Captor, to wind up with the Kaos Cards in the end. Normally a surprise, but given the source material, it’s not much of a surprise. The roulette comes in when But even this is a ploy, as
 * Lycan’s plan plays Gambit Roulette a bit more realistically, considering that
 * Good Is Not Nice: Gin Clow himself.
 * Gratuitous English: Used as a literary language barrier against the language in which the fanfiction is written. Damien is supposed to speak mostly English and a little Japanese. Everybody else (except maybe Kero and Lycan) is supposed to speak mostly Japanese. The result: when Damien breaks out into Gratuitous English ("Little Wolf"), the rest of the cast hears this within their own accent ("Riteru Wurufu").
 * Used as a plot device when Damien doesn't realize that "the Cherry Blossom" (heard as "Chari Burosomu") is actually "Sakura", and then freaks out at seeing her in person.
 * Heroic BSOD: If you talk to Lycan for long enough, you will get one. Even if you're Tomoyo.
 * Ho Yay: Damien and Yue, and their rivalry doesn't even seem to matter. (If anything, it makes it worse!)
 * Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: Of course it's a scary place. Lycan lives there.
 * Impossibly Cool Weapon: The Inferno Crossbow.
 * Informed Ability: Apparently, Syaoran is a biology whiz. Justified, considering he's been studying it.
 * In-Series Nickname: A lot of characters have in-universe nicknames, either given by others, or self-assigned:
 * Sakura = Orchid
 * = Lycan
 * Lycan = Lycie-chan
 * Reed Clow = Clow Reed
 * = Kaos Encarnate
 * Insult Backfire: Lycan revels in how horrific everybody thinks he is. What's even more disturbing is that he enjoys it when you tell him how hurt you are.
 * Let Us Never Speak of This Again: One of the reasons why no character in season 3 of Cardcaptor Sakura will refer to events that occurred in Chaos Card Captor Sakura.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: The other reason.
 * Lotus Eater Machine: Chapter 2 starts out as this, but It Got Worse. Quickly.
 * MacGuffin: The summer project.
 * Made of Evil: The Elixir of Fire.
 * Gets flanderized later on. Whereas at first it’s an artifact so dangerous that one would have to cross the Godzilla Threshold to even consider using it, the Elixir of Fire is, in more recent chapters, as Bottled Heroic Resolve which is broken out repeatedly, deliberately, and seemingly without thought.
 * Meaningful Echo: “Zettai Daijobu”, which Syaoran stews over throughout the entire fic.
 * Lycan: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… you shall not live long enough to do.” Sadly, this echo was rather obvious because this incredibly narmtastic line, echoed in Chapter 7, was first written back in Chapter 2, long before Lycan’s character was fully established, or even before the writing got all that good.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * Orchid: If you've ever seen an Orchid before, they're actually quite pale. This contrasts sharply with the Cherry Blossom (i.e. "Sakura") flower. Orchid actually chooses this name.
 * Gin: The Japanese word for "silver", which is the only thing that can kill werewolves, according to their most common depictions. (Of course, Our Werewolves Are Different.) Silver is also a very contrasting color to black, which in Japanese is "Kuro", which sounds very similar to the Japanese pronunciation of "Clow".
 * Lycan: Keeping in mind that Our Werewolves Are Different, Lycan claims that this was the name people devised to label him. He then took it and ran with it. Sort of the in-series version of a Fan Nickname. (Not to be confused with that nickname...)
 * Damien: Named after an excommunicated Catholic missionary.
 * Meanwhile Back At The: One of the few consistent formatting decisions in the entire fic, a scene change will always be signified with the same pattern: *-*-*. Word of God on this is that the keystrokes are (shift) 8 (un-shift) dash (shift) 8 (un-shift) dash (shift) 8 (un-shift). These keystrokes prevent auto-formatting on a line of straight dashes or asterisks that can potentially mess up the format when posting. The stated purpose for these abrupt scene changes are to make the fic read more like an anime and less like a book, harkening to the fic’s anime basis.
 * Monster of the Week: The Kaos Cards tend to this for a while. The first four chapters are reminiscent of the majority of the Cardcaptor Sakura series in that they involve the basic Find-Identify-Counter-Defeat pattern.
 * Most Writers Are Male: Evident in the amount of comparative attention (particularly in the internal thought processes department) that Syaoran gets, compared to Sakura.
 * Motive Rant: As a prose fic with Alternate Character Interpretations galore, most character development is done with this. Basically, if a character spends more than three straight sentences talking without interruption, you can bet you’re reading one of these.
 * Chapter 8.5, full stop.
 * My Death Is Just the Beginning:
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Lycan, Damien, and a number of the Kaos Cards (most blatantly with the ) all qualify. But by far the name to run away from the fastest is, mentioned only once, with the only implication being that.
 * Neck Lift: Shown by Orchid (with her foot, no less!), to demonstrate how imposing she actually is.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: There is a bunch of crazy-speak in Chapter 8.5, especially one line repeated over and over again (right as ) that would be otherwise indecipherable to the characters who hear it. Hint: . Translated, the repeated message is
 * Order Versus Kaos
 * OT 3: Tomoyo apparently  . A Take That to those that interpret a 10-year-old's relationships as more than just friends on no further grounds than Ho Yay Fetish Fuel.
 * Punctuated for Emphasis: Only instead of abusing capitalization, the author abuses italics. All! The! TIME!!!!! If you’re seeing capital letters, it’s because people are SHOUTING! PARTICULARLY! LOUD!!!
 * Purple Prose: Pretty much everything after Chapter 4, though compared to other fanfictions, this could have been the case from as early as Chapter 1. The later chapters are just ridiculous. And the Shards of Kaos? Whoo boy!
 * Put on a Bus: Meilin. Justified in the fact that she wasn't physically there at the time, but the author bypassed any opportunity to cameo her in somewhere,.
 * Rage Against the Heavens: Chapter 8.5. does this a lot.
 * Mind Rape Is A Special Kind Of Evil: If CLAMP works have one ubiquitous trait, besides Ho Yay of course, it would have to be that the spiritual / emotional consequences always trump the physical consequences. Following that logic, this ought to make a fair amount of sense.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Lycan. Rather than blinking with organic eyeballs, his eyes flicker red to signify blinking.
 * The glimmer of kaos energy in the eyes of anyone possessing an unnaturally massive amount of kaos, such as the Elixir of Fire. See Sakura / Orchid and.
 * Refuge in Audacity: Sakura’s supposed in Chapter 6.0.
 * Sadly Mythtaken: The Li family has a legend that tells an apocryphal story about Clow Reed defeating the forces of Kaos, including Lycan. (This story likely had an Unreliable Narrator, having been presumably written by the Li clan.) Aside from the basics (there really are Kaos Cards), just about nothing else in this story is accurate. (For instance, the Kaos Cards are not nocturnal. Chimera was only specifically handwaved to take on the characteristics of diurnal animals.) Cue Syaoran’s Heroic BSOD when he realizes all too late that Sakura had been fighting forces far beyond her abilities, at least thus far, by herself.
 * Save the Villain: Pretty much the entire point of Chapter 8.5. But... who is the villain?
 * Schrodinger's Butterfly: Chapter 2.
 * Sequel Hook:
 * Lycan: “Let’s just say that some things in this world that transcend even Kaos.”
 * One of the previous Card Captors of Kaos was mentioned to be.
 * Lycan calls Damien.
 * Another hint at the sequel crossing into Cardcaptor Torika:
 * Shout-Out: Numerous in source and breadth:
 * "Broken", the title for Chapter 5, is from the Seether / Amy Lee song of the same name.
 * Ironically, the early scenes of Chapter 5 are indicative of Matchbox 20's "Unwell".
 * Lycan: “What did you mortals hope to accomplish by coming here?” A shout-out to The Maledict from Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil. The Maledict says a very similar line right before you begin the final showdown.
 * Keroberos’ comment,, diminutively suggesting that
 * Of all things, to Dawn of War. See how many you can find...
 * Kaos. Though that ought to be a given.
 * When Yue and Damien go at it, expect to hear a lot of “heretic”, “heathen”, and the all-purposed “scum” thrown around. While pretty scathing and out of place in your average Cardcaptor Sakura fanfiction, these are all ubiquitous catch-all terms for everything from cartoonish super-villainy to mild misdemeanors in the 40k universe.
 * Destruction and Despair, the two alignments of the Kaos Cards, are also two out of the three fires lit by in the Legend of Zelda: Oracle games. (The third fire, Sorrow, is basically Despair Lite when you think about it.)
 * Orchid seems to be rather skilled at twirling around a scythe...
 * See Ominous Latin Chanting.
 * : “Oh yes, witch. I am Lycan. And I have seen everything.”
 * Shown Their Work: All the way back in Chapter 1, the numeric combination that held the Kaos Cards in the museum was “520”, referencing May 20th, Nadeshiko’s birthday.
 * Spin-Off: Shards of Kaos. Depending on the ‘shard’, they can be prequels, sequels, expositional additions, focusing on tertiary characters, or other means of exposition that would otherwise deviate too far from the main plot. Word of God describes these as being analogous to Stories From the Sakura Book for Cardcaptor Torika.
 * Tailor-Made Prison:  in Chapter 8.5.
 * Transformation Sequence: The "unfolding" of the Inferno Crossbow is described more briefly each time. You should know how it works by now.
 * The use of a Transformation Sequence is also averted on occasion when a character's Meaningful Name cropping up, signifying a transformation, sometimes because the actual transformation was either extremely subtle or off-screen. For example, suddenly referring to Sakura as "Orchid" signifies her change from one disposition to another, and calling Kero by "Keroberos" refers to him in "Big Kero" form (the latter of which isn't widely recognized as canon).
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Didactic?: Word of God’s explanation for the aforementioned Purple Prose is that Chaos Card Captor Sakura'' is an intentional and deliberate parody of this trope.
 * Xtreme Kool Letterz: Though the title is Chaos Card Captor Sakura, the titular magic is never stated to be “chaos”, but “kaos”. This is, in part, to differentiate between the magic (kaos),, and the state of disorder (chaos)]], in part to make the obvious reference a little less obvious, and in part as a Japanese Funetik Aksent.
 * You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Lycan. You physically cannot shine a light on his body such that you can get a clear look at him. Also, any projectile attacks directed at him merely sink into his skin, like shooting at a wormhole. In fact, Lycan uses this power as a Mind Screw in its own right.
 * Mirage. She tends towards looking like Sakura in order to allow people to see her.
 * The Life Card,.
 * You Should Know This Already: None of the canon characters die. Also, neither Syaoran nor Sakura manage to confess their love without the threat of a Reset Button. There still has to be a Season 3.
 * "Sakura" means "Cherry Blossom", and "Syaoran" (also "Xiaolang") means "Little Wolf". If you didn't know this before, then the Gratuitous English will largely be lost on you.
 * In fact, you might want to go through the entire series at least once before reading, in the author’s hopes of increasing instances of Fridge Brilliance.
 * "Sakura" means "Cherry Blossom", and "Syaoran" (also "Xiaolang") means "Little Wolf". If you didn't know this before, then the Gratuitous English will largely be lost on you.
 * In fact, you might want to go through the entire series at least once before reading, in the author’s hopes of increasing instances of Fridge Brilliance.

Tropes present in the Shards of Kaos:

 * Anachronic Order: The first shard was entitled I am Kinomoto Sakura. The second posted shard was entitled I am Daidouji Tomoyo (using a short-lived episodic format of "I am [Name]"), and it even dovetails off the previously posted shard, but was released as shard three. (Word of God referenced a 'second' shard involving Keroberos and Damien back in the past.) Card Captor Nadeshiko breaks this mold.
 * Canon Immigrant: Tobias Erikson, who is far more subdued and mundane than he is in Science And Sorcery. And if you know anything about Science and Sorcery, Tobias doubles up as a living Chekhov's Gun.
 * Fanon: Galore. Amongst others, the Kinomotos previously lived in Shinjuku, and.
 * Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Poor Chiharu, getting mixed up with the wrong crowd...
 * Prequel: Card Captor Nadeshiko. Though we only see the tail end of the Final Judgment, there is an entire implied series around it. (The author just didn’t want to press his luck...)
 * Power Trio:
 * Nadeshiko: Hot Mom, Ill Girl, Magical Girlfriend
 * Sonomi: The Unlucky Childhood Friend, Clingy Jealous Schoolgirl Lesbian, and probably an Expy for her daughter.
 * Fujitaka: Alternate Character Interpretation sets him up as more of a fiercely passionate romantic (who isn’t above swearing) who mellowed out after the “catastrophe” of Nadeshiko losing the Judgment.
 * Keroberos is conspicuously absent…
 * Written by the Winners: The implication behind the inconsistencies between the official Cardcaptor Sakura canon and the fanon of Chaos Card Captor Sakura (and beyond) is that the characters only remember a rosy version of the past, rather than the actual gritty truth of what really happened.