Saturday July 29 12:00pm Hong Kong Time.
Tomoyo wasn't used to pulling Earth energy and was concentrating very hard instead of just letting it flow, so it wasn't surprising that she was exhausting herself. Then the more tired she got, the harder it was to concentrate on her Earth energy and keep feeding her Fly card. The fact that she was giving it much more energy than it needed didn't help either. Two hours later she reached the coast of China. "I have a really bad feeling about this."
"Shadow! Follow me down!" And so she found a place to rest some more and think. "The next land this way should be Japan, but I don't have any idea just how far that is over water. I wish I had a map! Actually, I wish I had an airplane. Or just had Return in my hand. This is so crazy! Flying to Hong Kong just so I can fly back to Japan!"
After resting as best she could for an hour she took off and followed Shadow and Fiery out over the water. She was flying much lower now since there was no one to hide from. so it was warmer than high up, but the powerful wind blast was still chilling her. After four more hours of flying Tomoyo was again exhausted, but there was no land in sight. "It feels like I've been following that stupid Card for several days now!" she complained to herself. "I just have to keep going until I get to land. Japan isn't that far from China. I should be almost there." This would have been true if she had left from Shanghai, due west of Japan, but at the angle she was flying it was 720 miles (1159 kilometers) to Japan.
She managed to struggle on for two more hours, but then she found the sea getting closer and closer. "I can't make it! I'm coming down into the sea. But I can't fail! Think!" And as she struggled with her tired brain she remembered something. "I have Magic. I have Sakura's Cards, or some of them. Float could keep me up, but I don't have Float. And the water keeps getting closer. Water!"
"Watery! Can you make the surface of the sea solid to hold me up and keep me dry!"
"It is done." Watery replied. Sure enough there was now a circle of very flat water sticking up above the rolling swells. She landed on it, and when she fell, she was happy to find it was soft, like a mattress. It felt dry, but it was icy cold.
"Fiery! Can you please warm this surface a little?" Fiery grumbled a little but the surface did get a bit warmer. "A little warmer please?" Now it actually felt warm to the touch. "Okay, hold it right there." "Thank you Watery! Thank you Fiery! Keep this surface firm till I fly again."
"I will do as you ask." Watery replied while Fiery just ignored her.
She laid there, limp, far out at sea, but more comfortable than she had been in what seemed like days. She woke up in a little more than an hour this time as her body was getting better at using her Magic to restore her energy level. Return was close now, she was sure, though she still couldn't actually feel the Card with her Magic. So on she went, and in a little while she could see the lights of land again.
Sun July 30 12:30am Tokyo time
She knew her geography well enough to know she was over Japan, but she took a low pass over a town to check the signs on the buildings anyway. Her hunch was coming true. But it was nearly six more hours before she could see Tokyo tower above the buildings. The sunrise had been beautiful, but she was too tired to enjoy it. Not long after that she wasn't surprised when Shadow led her right to Sakura's house. She landed on the sidewalk in front of the house and fell again. This time on the concrete. Her legs were so stiff she could hardly move them. Her knees and hip hurt where she hit but the leather protected her skin from abrasion at least. She could clearly feel Return now. "No one should be home now so it doesn't matter what we do. This is all going to be erased anyway."
"Earthy! Break the door. Time! Go talk to Return and bring it out here to me."
"I really need some rest now. So why don't I just go home? No reason not to. None of this matters anyway. But maybe I could just rest here a little before I do."
A minute or so later, Time came out with a misty spiral.
"So that's what Return looks like. No wonder the Cards call Return "it" instead of he or she."
Tomoyo wasn't paying any attention to the cars driving by but the people on their way to work were nearly all staring at the strange sight along the otherwise average street. There was a girl in purple suit with insect wings coming out of her back laying on the sidewalk, and if that wasn't odd enough, there were some really strange things around her, including one who appeared to be on fire. All but one of the people just looked away and kept driving. The brave, or maybe stupid, guy stopped. When Tomoyo saw him get out she took off without even standing, since by now her wings were stronger than her legs.
"Return! Stay close to me, please. Everyone else, just follow us."
So off they went; a parade of card sprites with her and Return leading. It was only a couple of miles to her house but it seemed much further.