Card Captors-- ??? (yet to be titled)
Chapter 1- Kaita
I wasn't sure exactly where I was. All I know is that I was floating in mid-air surrounded by stars.
No, wait… they weren't stars; they were cards. They were purple on the back, with gold crescent moons depicted on them. On the front side, they were all different; they showed pictures of girls and animals. They were all named, and I knew every one of them. I had created them, even though I wasn't sure how.
I waved my hand, sending another card spinning into the sky. The final blank card appeared in front of me; all it needed was its power and name. I touched my finger to the card and its picture appeared: a girl with long hair and a fancy dress.
"You will be called The Crystal," I said, waving it away. The card glowed, and the words "The Crystal" appeared on the bottom. Then, I raised my arms in front of me, creating a wave of white energy between my hands. When the light cleared, a gold and violet book floated before me. The name "Kaita" was written on the front. My name.
"It is complete," I said to myself. "The Book of Aurora."
I reached out to claim my book. But before I could do anything else, my surroundings began to fade. I was fading too, but I didn't realize it until it was too late…
When I woke up, I was back in my room. It had all been a dream… a dream I knew all too well. For a week now, I had been having a recurring dream in which I was creating a set of magical cards, much like the Clow Cards that I had been studying all my life. But this was the first time I had ever seen the book… did this mean that my dream was finally over?
I turned over to go back to sleep… to see if I had been right about the dream. I moved my arm, and felt something hard on the other side of the bed.
"What the…?" I mumbled, bringing it over for a closer look. I looked at it… and gasped.
It was the Aurora Book.
I stared at it for a moment. This had to be a dream… I couldn't create a whole book of cards! I didn't have that kind of magic. And even if I did, it couldn't have been completed in so little time. Clow Reed had worked for years to develop the Clow Cards; someone like me couldn't create that kind of force in only a week.
Just to be sure, I opened the book. I half expected all the cards to be inside, but they weren't. The book was totally empty. This was only a dream…
Suddenly, something shot past my face. I looked up to see the cards scattered around my room. In a spurt of shock, I reached up to take one, but they all went crazy. My window shot open on its own, and the entire set of cards flew out into the night.
"Wait! Come back!" I called, running to the window. But it was too late; all of the cards had escaped.
I sighed, and went back to my bed, picking up the Aurora Book. If these cards were anything like the Clow Cards, then the planet was in trouble. Without a controller, the cards would run wild, destroying everything in their path. This was all they knew…
I was seven years old, living happily with my mother. She and I had stayed up late again, reading some of Clow Reed's personal diaries.
"I want to have my own set of cards, Mommy," I said, pointing at a rough sketch of the Windy card done by Clow himself.
"Your magic isn't that strong, Kaita," she told me. "Wait a few years, and maybe…"
"Do you really think I could do that?"
"Kaita dear, you can do anything you want to do. The world of magic is ours for the taking," she said, closing the book. "If you want your own set of cards, you will have them."
I woke up again, but this time it was morning. The sun shone through my window, illuminating the whole room. I was ready to get up and go downstairs to eat, but then I remembered the book. It was still next to me on my bed.
"What am I going to do with this?" I asked myself, picking up the book. "If I knew how, I could find someone to be my Card Captor, but I don't know…"
"You don't need to find a card captor," said a new voice from somewhere in my room. "You have one already."
I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. "Where are you?" I called. "And what are you?"
"Right here," said the mysterious voice. There was a single card, floating across from me. It was The Crystal.
"Crystal?" I asked. With that, the card began to glow a brilliant pink, and the true form of the card appeared. Her long hair was light neon blue, and she wore a violet dress with pink and white decoration.
"Ah, thank you," she said, shaking the sleep out of her eyes. "Being confined in that wretched card becomes tedious after a while."
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I have returned to help you, Kaita," she said, stepping closer to my bed.
"Okay,
what are you talking about?" I asked angrily. "Help me with what?"
"You see, Kaita, the cards
that you saw last night are yours," Crystal
said. "And it is your responsibility to seal them."
"You mean they've escaped already?" I questioned.
"Of course," Crystal replied. "They cannot defend themselves out in the open if they remain in their card form. You may not know it, but these cards are smarter than you think."
"So, what can I do? If I couldn't contain them in the first place, what makes you think I can handle them now?" I asked, feeling a little bit angry that all of this was being placed in my hands.
"This wasn't your fault," Crystal told me. "The dream ended before you could get the cards into the book. But you are the only one with the powers to seal them."
"I'm not a card captor," I said. "What about the Clow's card captor?"
"She only possesses Clow magic," she said. "The powers of your own soul created the Aurora cards, and only your powers can seal them again."
"All right, I'll do it," I agreed. "Where do I start?"
"Right here," Crystal said, lifting one palm in the air. A strange ball of rainbow energy formed above her hand, and floated down to me. I caught it to see that it was a blue and gold key.
"That is the Crystal Key," she informed. "This is what you will use to capture the Aurora cards."
"I can feel its power," I sighed, holding the key in front of me. Somehow, the energy of the key gave me the knowledge I needed.
"Key of Crystal," I recited. "By the power of the Book of Aurora, I command you to surrender your strength! Release!"
Everything was silent for a split second. Then, the key seemed to explode in a burst of white light. I shielded my eyes from the light as the key expanded into a staff. The main body was dark blue, and it had a golden moon and star on the tip. I reached forward and took it into my grasp.
"Now, use that to seal me," Crystal requested.
"Okay," I agreed. I lifted the staff and pointed the golden end at Crystal. "Return to the form that you were meant to be! Crystal card!"
With a bright flash of light, the Crystal broke down into tiny bits of energy and took its card form. It was exactly like it had been in the dream.
"Thank you," I said, staring at the card. "You're going to help me a lot."
Suddenly, the card began to glow again. It flashed bright violet, and Crystal took her physical form again. Sort of…
"What happened?" asked the little girl who was sitting on my bed.
"I don't know," I returned. "What happened to you?"
Crystal looked down at herself. "I'm not sure. Why am I so small?"
"Maybe you used most of your energy when you created that key for me," I suggested.
"I guess," she said. "I don't think I can stay contained in my card form for very long."
"Then stay with me," I offered. "You can help me capture the cards."
She stared blankly at me; she looked a bit skeptical. "Are you serious?" she asked.
"Well, I might need your help with something," I told her.
"You don't need me. You know everything about the cards," she said. "I can just hang back until the book is completed again…"
Before Crystal could say another word, I raised my staff above her head. "No way," I said. "Even though you're just a card, I know you can help me out. In the name of the Aurora Book, I name you the first guardian of the Aurora cards."
The staff glowed, emitting sparks of light that rained down on the chibi Crystal card. She emerged from the brilliance looking no different, but feeling much stronger.
"What was that all about?" she asked me, jumping on my lap and glaring at me.
"Well… I just thought that I didn't have a guardian like the Clow Book does," I explained. "So I figured I needed one."
"I can't… I'm just a card!" Crystal complained. "There's no way!"
I picked up Crystal by the collar and held her at eye level. "Yes, you can," I said. "If I didn't think you could do this, I would not have appointed you. And remember, I am your creator, so I know what's best."
"Okay, I'll try," she agreed, jumping off of my lap. I picked her up again and cradled her in my arms.
My own magic, I thought. It's a dream come true.
"Would we be able to get something to eat?" Crystal asked, looking up at me.
I smiled. "Sure." And with that word, I carried Crystal out of my room and down the stairs, lightly slamming the door behind me.
*************************
That night, I was lying awake in my room, staring at the Aurora Book. Ever since I had appointed Crystal my guardian, the design on the book had changed. Now, in between the moon and the ribbon that read my name, there was a sparkling violet diamond embedded on the cover.
Crystal was lounging around on a blue, fluffy pillow that she had found while exploring my attic. "Why do you constantly stare at the book?" she asked.
I sighed. "I'm not sure," I said. "I guess I'm just paranoid. I wish I hadn't got stuck doing this."
"Well, bad news," she said, suddenly jumping up to my windowsill. "It looks like we have a card to capture."
"What?" I yelped, jolting out of bed. "It's, like, eleven o'clock! We can't go out there!"
"Sure we can," Crystal said. "We have to get to this card before its power gets too strong."
"All right… can you sense what card it is?" I asked, grabbing my coat off of my door and slipping it on.
"Sorry," Crystal sighed. "Its power is too low. I'm not getting any accurate readings."
"That's fine," I returned. "We'll just have to find it. Let's move."
I took Crystal into my arms and held her in my coat. She complained that it was too hot, but I reminded her that we were going outside into an extremely cold, rainy night. I zipped up my coat and held Crystal close as I ventured out into the wind.
"Oh! It's freezing!" she complained, hiding her face under my coat.
"Told you," I said with a smirk. I thought I heard her growl at me, but I wasn't sure.
After an unsuccessful five minutes of searching, I sat down on a soaking wet park bench. "This is impossible," I complained. "How are we supposed to find one little creature in this huge city?"
"It's very close," Crystal informed me. "I'm guessing, probably, right below us."
"Uh?" I said, confused, bending down to look under the bench. A brown blur raced out from underneath me, dashing into a group of nearby bushes.
"Okay, there's our card," Crystal said. "Couldn't see it, though."
"Evolve," I said suddenly. "It was the Evolve card."
"What the…?" Crystal questioned. "How did you know?"
"I could sense it," I replied. "This card doesn't do anything unless it has another card to give its energy to. It will be an easy capture."
Something in the bushes shook with fear; I could sense the emotion in its soul. I walked up to the bush and looked through the leaves. The tiny black and brown fox stared back at me with huge, innocent eyes. It was most definitely Evolve.
"Now, are we going to make this easy?" I asked, reaching out my hand to the card. With lightning fast reflexes, the fox bolted again, this time hiding behind the trunk of a tree.
"Guess not," I mumbled. "Crystal, wanna give this a go?"
"Let's do it!" she said, jumping into my arms. She glowed, and became sealed in her card form again.
"Now," I said, raising the Key. "Key of Crystal! By the power of the Book of Aurora, I command you to surrender your strength! Release!" I chanted. Soon after, I was holding the sparkling blue wand.
"Crystal Card," I said, raising the card in front of my face. "Seal the Evolve card in a box of stone." With these words, I tapped the card with the tip of the staff, releasing the energy of the card toward the tree. Even though the Crystal card still remained in its tiny form, I could see a transparent image of the full-grown Crystal card surrounding her like a living aura.
Evolve began to tremble; I think somehow it knew it had been beat. With a final effort, it released a beam of light into the air before it was sealed inside the cube of diamond.
I stepped up to the box; I could see the tiny fox-like creature inside, trying to escape. "I'll get you out," I said mischievously, raising the staff. "Return to the form that you were meant to be! Evolve card!"
Once again, a bright flash completely lit the area. It cleared away after a few seconds, and the card floated up to my face. I grabbed it out of the air and admired it; The Evolve.
With a dim burst of blue, Crystal appeared at my side. She looked very tired and worn out.
"Are you all right?" I asked, picking her up and shielding her from the wind once again.
"I think so," she said, rubbing her tiny, tender forehead. "That was wild…"
"You shouldn't strain yourself like that too often," I said. "I'll capture some other cards soon, so you don't have to work yourself too hard."
"I should be fine for now," she said. "I can help you capture the cards…" But at that, she fell asleep in my arms.
"Crystal," I sighed, rocking the tiny girl back and forth. I could feel the warmth of my magic surging through my arms, and somehow I knew that I had to finish this. It would be a long, hard struggle, but eventually the Aurora magic would be at my control again. Little did I know that there was something else coming my way… something that I could not possibly prepare for.
***********************
Well... so far so good. Yeah, this was just chapter one. There are many more to come… don't ask, I don't know how many we're gonna write. I just hope you're patient 'cuz it's gonna be long!
Disclaimer: Well, I really haven't used anything from the Card Captors series yet, except for the basic storyline. Ya know, the book 'n cards 'n all. So, this was not my idea and I cannot take credit for it. Okay? So don't hurt me. ^_^