Okay, no more guesses made, and the other writers need to know the answer for their own writing. I guess I'm better at mysteries. I won my last Clue[do] game by determining that Mr. Boddy was in fact still alive, as the person shuffling the cards had put in two rooms and no murder weapons. Oops. Sometimes you need lateral thinking.
So therefore, I will declare that the mysterious passenger was Sakura Kinomoto using The Return card in the gondola.
There was actually one clue in another story too -- Nadeshiko looks oddly familiar to Akari because she looked so much like her last passenger. The bigger clue would have been in the previous story which is still unfinished, where Sakura uses the Return card to create an effect in the present.
So therefore, I will declare that the mysterious passenger was Sakura Kinomoto using The Return card in the gondola.
There was actually one clue in another story too -- Nadeshiko looks oddly familiar to Akari because she looked so much like her last passenger. The bigger clue would have been in the previous story which is still unfinished, where Sakura uses the Return card to create an effect in the present.
Quote:She called out to Watery again, sending out more power as she did. The spirit surged in front of her, and flowed towards the house in front of her, cutting back the flames. This worked for all of five seconds. Cinder Fall let loose another barrage of flame toward Sakura, instantly turning half of Watery's back into a cloud of steam.
"Is this all you can do, little girl?" She sent forth another burst of flame, and this one she felt the blistering heat from inside the shell of her shield card.
Sakura was holding out against the Fall Maiden, just so. So close to an ocean, and there was just not enough water. Not enough to tackle the conflagration, or the living magical inferno creating it. The thing that disturbed Sakura the most is that these were people's homes being destroyed, every object that they held dear being destroyed by this woman's blind wrath.
She needed more water, and needed it fast. The Wave would probably hurt more than it helped -- nobody needed a tsunami in the middle of town. She was running out of options.
She wished that this neighborhood still had canals, like it used to in the old days. That would be enough to fight the conflagration, for sure. Coincidentally, Alicia had told her all about that today, how Venice had filled in its oldest canals for these streets. But the past would stay in the past... or maybe not, she thought?
"It's almost a shame to lose a promising young magician like you to the fire. Almost."
"No way. I'm going to stop you, and your fire!" the cardcaptor declared, knowing that everything was going to be all right.
"You wish." Cinder shot another blast towards Sakura, wreathing the force field around her in flames.
In the center of the inferno, Sakura held two cards in front of her, and invested all her hope in them. "Make my wish come true! Return these streets to their original form," she turned them face forward and shouted their names: "EARTHY, RETURN!"
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto