Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC Nikki
6 Dipper vs. Manliness
I'm sitting on a stool next to Grunkle Stan behind the counter in the giftshop, with Stitch sitting on the barrel next to the counter, we were watching Tyler Cutebiker looking around at the souvenirs in the shop.
"I like to get my Christmas shopping done early. Do you have anything that's in the spirit of the season?" Tyler asked as he turned around and walked up to the counter.
"Uh, how about these crystals?" Grunkle Stan asked as he picked up a bowl off the counter and showed it to Tyler.
"Ha ha! Looks like broken glass." Said Tyler.
"What are you, a cop?" Grunkle Stan asked as he put the bowl back on the counter.
"Ohh! What is that new thing?" Tyler asked as he ran back over to the shelves.
I hear the bell over the door and I look over to see Dipper and Mabel walk in and come toward the counter.
"Grunkle Stan?" asked Dipper.
"Can we go to the diner? We're huuuungry." Said Mabel.
"Huuuuungry." Dipper said as he and Mabel started hitting their stomachs together causing me to laugh.
"I'm hungry too, can we please go Grunkle Stan?" I asked as I looked up at him, tugging on his sleeve as Stitch nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, sure. Soon as this yahoo makes up his mind." Grunkle Stan said as he pointed towards Tyler.
"Do you have this in another animal?" Tyler asked as he pointed at the Fur Trout mounted on the wall.
"I'm fine locking him inside if you are." Grunkle Stan said and we all nodded.
We snuck out the door and Grunkle Stan used a plank of wood to keep the door closed, then we ran to the car, got in, and drove to Greasy's Diner.
We walk in and past some of the other townsfolk that were there, there was Old Man McGucket with multiple mugs around him and he chanted "Coffee! Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!", we passed by Wendy and her dad who was eating a giant turkey leg, and Sherriff Blubs and Deputy Durland, Blubs was eating a stack of pancakes very fast with Durland standing next to him, holding a Radar Detector and chanting "Go! Go! Go! Go!"
We got into a booth and looked at the menu's on the table, Dipper and I on one side, and Mabel and Grunkle Stan on the other with Mabel and I in the window seats, Stitch had managed to sneak in behind us and was hiding under the table at my feet.
"Lazy Susan! There's my little ray of sunshine! Where were you yesterday?" Grunkle Stan asked the waitress, who had one eye shut for some reason, that walked up to our table.
"I got hit by a bus!" said Lazy Susan.
"Hilarious!" Grunkle Stan said as he laughed.
"Thank you." Lazy Susan said as she laughed as well.
"You do split plates, right?" asked Grunkle Stan.
"Maybe…wink!" Lazy Susan said as she used her hand to open her closed eye and close it again in a wink.
"Great! We'll all split a one-fourth of the number seven, plus a free salad dressing for the lady, and a small plate of ketchup for the boy, and for the little one-" Grunkle Stan said as he pointed to Mabel, then Dipper, then me before I interrupted.
"Can't I have a biscuit Grunkle Stan?" I asked.
"Kid-" Grunkle Stan started to say before I interrupted him again.
"Please?" I asked, unknowingly making puppy-dog eyes.
"Fine. And one biscuit for the squirt." Grunkle Stan said as he lifted his fez to Lazy Susan as she walked away and I cheered.
"But Grunkle Stan, I want pancakes!" said Mabel.
"With the fancy flour they use these days? What am I, made of money?...tap tap." Grunkle Stan said as he taps down a piece of money that had slipped out of his sleeve.
"Awww…" said Mabel.
"Don't worry guys, pancakes are on me. I'm gonna win some by beating that manliness tester." Dipper said as he pointed towards the game at the other end of the diner.
"Manliness Tester?" asked Grunkle Stan.
"Beating?" Mabel asked before she and Grunkle Stan burst out laughing.
"He says he's…he says he…" Grunkle Stan said between laughs as I glared at the two, that's not very nice of them to be laughing at Dipper.
"What? What's so funny?" asked Dipper.
"Oh, no offence Dipper, but you're not exactly 'Manly Manington'." Mabel said before she started laughing again.
"Hey, I am too 'Manly…Manny' or whatever it is you said." Said Dipper.
"Look, face the music, kid. You got no muscles, you smell like baby wipes, and let's not forget last Tuesday's…incident." Said Grunkle Stan.
"You were listening to girly Icelandic pop sensation 'BABBA'?" asked Mabel.
"No. Heh heh, I wasn't. It's not important. Look, come on guys, I'm plenty masculine. You see this chest hair?" Dipper asked as he pulled down his shirt collar and Mabel and Grunkle Stan shield their eyes.
"Put it away, put it away!" screamed Mabel.
"So smooth! My eyes!" Grunkle Stan screamed as he covered his eyes.
I rolled my eyes…really?
"Aw man…" Dipper said as he let go of his shirt and Mabel and Grunkle Stan burst out laughing again. "Fine, family of little faith. Get ready to eat your words. And a plate of delicious pancakes." Dipper said as he got out of the booth.
"You can do it Dipper! I believe in you!" I said, and he turned to me and nodded with a smile before walking towards the game, I slid to the end of the booth to watch him as I saw Stitch peek out from under the table out of the corner of my eye.
As he walked toward the game, other people in the diner turned to watch him.
When he got to the game, he stopped and mumbled to himself.
"Quit stallin'!" Grunkle Stan yelled at him.
"Grunkle Stan!" I whispered at him and he shrugged at me.
Dipper pulled the lever and the lights on the game started lighting up one by one before going out again and stopping at the light on the bottom and beeping, a card slid out the bottom and Dipper took it and looked at it for a second before putting it in his vest and turning to the rest of the diner.
"This thing must be broken. It's totally broken, guys. It's like a million years old, probably ran out of steam power or-" Dipper said before Manly Dan walked up and pushed him out of the way and turned towards the machine, cracking his knuckles, Dipper walked up to him and said "It's rickety man, you shouldn't even-" before Manly Dan nudged the lever with his pinky, and the lights go all the way to the top and the machine explodes, a piece of it hits the edge of the plate holding the pancakes, causing it to flip into the air and the pancakes went flying and landed on everyone's plates in the diner.
"Yes! Pancakes for everyone!" Manly Dan yelled as everyone but Dipper, Stitch, and I cheered. A pancake landed on Dipper's head and Mabel and Grunkle Stan laughed at him as I glared at the two of them.
"I need to get some chest hair and fast." Dipper said as he started running to the door, halfway there he gets tripped by a beaver that was sticking up from the floor, he got up saying "I'm fine! Heh heh! Everything's fine!" before running out the door.
"Yeesh! How am I related to that?" Grunkle Stan asked as he turned back around, only to see me glaring hard at him, his eyes widened and looked like he was about to say something to me, but I just shook my head before looking down and started cutting the pancake in half to give half of it to Stitch.
"Come on, Grunkle Stan. I'm sure deep down you have a soft side too." Said Mabel.
"Ha! Nothing in here but a cold, dark, empty soul." Grunkle Stan said as Lazy Susan came and sat down a tray on our table.
"Food!" Lazy Susan said as she gestured towards the tray.
"Thanks there, sugar pot. I-I mean, I mean uh honey wasp, kitten baby, b-baby cow." Grunkle Stan said, stuttering.
"Ha ha! Silly! Silly man…" Lazy Susan said as she walked away.
"What was that about?" asked Mabel.
"Nothing. I don't wanna talk about it. Talk about what? Why is this table wet?" asked Grunkle Stan.
"Wait just a second. I think I have an idea happening here. You…" said Mabel.
"No!" said Grunkle Stan.
"And her…" said Mabel.
"Stop it!" said Grunkle Stan.
"Mabel…" I said, knowing what was about to happen.
"AAAHH!" Mabel screamed.
"Oh boy." Said Grunkle Stan.
"Here we go again." I said, putting my head in my hands as I felt Stitch pat my knee.
"You have a thing for Lazy Susan! You do have a soft side!" Mabel said before Grunkle Stan puts a finger over her mouth.
"Keep it down, will ya?! Alright. I admit it, okay? It would be nice if she liked me. But I've been out of the game for so long I wouldn't know where to start. I mean, look at her. She's so classy." Grunkle Stan said as I look over the seat behind me to see Lazy Susan on a tall stepladder, hitting the top of the pie trolley.
"Spin, ya dumb pies, spin!" Lazy Susan yells.
"Grunkle Stan, you are a cranky, gross, weird old man. But we will get Lazy Susan to like you because nothing is stronger than the power of-" Mabel said as she squished her face against Grunkle Stan's.
"Love?" asked Grunkle Stan.
"Mabel." Said Mabel.
"Oh boy, here we go." I said tiredly, leaning my head against my hand and sighing as I handed Stitch half of the pancake and half of the buttered biscuit.
"To victory!" Mabel said before drinking her salad dressing.
We eventually finished our food and got back to the Shack, Mabel was in a different room somewhere, Grunkle Stan was sitting at the table, shuffling a deck of cards, while I was over in the armchair with Stitch, I was tuning my violin to practice while Stitch held the songbook open for me. Mabel walked in and over to Grunkle Stan, a camera around her neck.
"Okay, Grunkle Stan. Welcome to the first day of whatever is left of your life! First, a before picture." Mabel said as she lifted up the camera and took a picture of Grunkle Stan.
"Ahh!" Grunkle Stan screamed.
"I never miss a scrapbookertunity! Deedly dum, memories. Bleep." Mabel said as she put the picture into her scrapbook, then turned to me and asked "Nikki, you gonna help out with this?"
"Uh…no. Grunkle Stan doesn't need to change who he is, Lazy Susan will like him for him." I said.
"Well I say he needs a Mabel makeover!" Mabel said as she threw glitter into the air.
"I don't think so, although, I will say that you both need to change in sensitivity when regarding family." I said, thinking about how they treated Dipper in the diner. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Grunkle Stan wince at my statement while Mabel just shook her head and turned back around to him as I turned my attention to the songbook and started playing the song that was on the page on my violin.
"Let's start out with some roleplaying. Soos will play Lazy Susan." Said Mabel.
"I'm soft, like a woman." I hear Soos' voice say, I glance up to see that Soos and Wendy had walked into the room, I look back at my songbook before doing a doubletake at Soos and screamed at how he was dressed, he was wearing a dress that looked like Lazy Susan's, he even had the same makeup on as her, in my shock I had made a loud screeching noise on my violin, causing everyone to wince and cover their ears.
"OKAY! NOPE! Nope nope nope! I'm out of here!" I said as I quickly put my violin in its case and got up from the chair and started walking fast out of the room, Stitch at my heels.
"Oh, come on Nikki!" said Mabel.
"Nope, you guys have fun with your makeover, I don't want anything to do with this mess, I'm outta here!" I said as I ran up the stairs, put my violin away, and ran out the door as fast as I could, I stood in the yard, panting as Stitch rubbed my back "I need to go out and clear my head." I said as I turned to look back at the Shack before turning to Stitch and asking "Wanna go into town?"
"Ih." Stitch said, nodding.
"Okay, let's go." I said.
We walked down the path leading away from the Shack and eventually walked into town. We walked around, looking around at everything and wondering what to do. I heard a crumpling sound and felt something under my shoe, I looked down.
"Hey look!" I said as I stooped down and picked up what I had stepped on "A $20 bill!"
"Ooh, Nikki lucky!" said Stitch.
"Yeah, I guess…" I said before trailing off and looking over to a store that had somehow caught my attention, it was an antique store called 'Turn Back Time Antiques'.
"Nikki?" Stitch asked as he tugged on my sleeve.
"C'mon Stitch, let's go in there." I said distractedly as I started walking to the door and going in, I glanced around at the different things before going deeper into the aisles, it was like something was calling me back there.
We eventually came to an aisle in the back that was full of books, I went down the aisle till one book caught my attention, I pulled it out and looked at it, it was red, it had gold on the corners like the Journal did, but these had red gems on them, and it had a clasp holding it shut, on the cover was a winged lion with a sun, and at the top of the cover in a ribbon design, it said 'THE CLOW'. I felt something tugging on my arm, and heard someone calling my name, but I ignored it as I reached for the clasp to open the book…
"Can I help you?" a voice asked behind me that suddenly had me snapping back to attention, I looked to where Stitch was holding my arm, then turned around to see a man standing behind me.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I was just looking, and…" I trailed off as I wasn't sure exactly what happened as the man came closer and kneeled down.
"That catch your interest?" he asked as he gestured to the book I was still holding.
"Yeah, I…I don't know, it just felt like something…" I trailed off, not sure how to explain it.
"…Like something was calling you?" the man asked.
"…Yeah, I think so." I said in thought.
The man looked at me with a curious expression in his eyes before he nodded to himself and stood up.
"Is anything else calling for your attention?" he asked.
"Um…I don't-" I started to say.
"It's alright, I know it sounds strange, but just feel for anything that was similar to what called you to that book." Said the man.
I looked at him for a moment before nodding and concentrating, feeling a few more calls, and I started following them to where they were leading me.
I eventually ended up back at the counter, with several items, one being the first book I had picked up, as well as the other things I found, being a cook book that was titled 'The Bliss Cookery Booke', another red book titled 'So You Want to Be a Wizard', a gold box that had hieroglyphics on it with an eye on the front while the inside was filled with golden puzzle pieces, a big green leather book that had a strange symbol on the cover that I think was called a triquetra, a box that had four stuffed animals in it, the box saying that they were called the Night Pride, the four animals being a lion, a panther, and two tigers, one of them being a white tiger, three golden molds that you make chocolate in, one had a moon design, another had a sun design, and the last had a star design, and they came with three journals that looked like they had recipes in them, another book that had candy recipes in it, and lastly four small toys, one was a clay turtle, one a pull-string propeller, one was a wooden figure that looked like a cross between a pig and a monkey, and the fourth was a wooden hand drum that had a red and orange swirl design.
When he saw the gold box, he picked it up and asked "You know what this is?"
"No, but it looks like it's from Egypt." I said.
"Correct, it is called the Millennium Puzzle, they say that the one who solves it will have their wish granted, you think you can solve it?" he asked.
"I don't know, but I can try." I said after a moment of thought.
The man nodded with a smile saying "That's what I like to hear." And set the box back down, looked over the items and nodded before saying "Very good, though there are some things I would like to show you." He said before walking through the door behind the counter, Stitch and I looked at each other before looking back up as he came back with a box and came around the counter and kneeled down beside us and setting down the box and gesturing for us to look in.
Inside was a choker necklace that had four beads on it, one had the design of a circle with wings coming out of it and a pyramid inside the circle, another had a cloud with a lightning bold coming out of it, another had two branches connected in a circle, and the fourth had a wolf's head, the other items in the box was a satchel that, on the side, had the same four symbols that the beads had, a small pouch that had fur on it, and what looked like a wallet that was covered in fur. Stitch and I looked up at the man in confusion and he chuckled.
"I know it's a little strange, but go on, it's fine." He said as he gestured towards the box again, I shrugged before reaching in and picking up the strange looking wallet, which I quickly dropped and stepped back a little as it suddenly shook and made a noise that sounded like a purr, the man waved me back and said "No, no it's alright." As he reached in and carefully grabbed the wallet by the corner, as he did, it started to make a loud growling sound, he put it in my hand, where it started making the purring noise again, it unfolded itself and opened, the opening was lined with what looked like fangs.
"What is…?" I started to ask.
"It's fine, it's not going to hurt you, I know it's a little weird but trust me it's normal, and it will make sure no one tries to steal your money…just don't show it to anybody…anyway." He said as he gestured towards the box again, I put the wallet on the counter, then reached in and grabbed the pouch, the man said "That will only open for you, and it can hold a lot more things than it size shows it can, you can even store things in there that are bigger than the pouch itself." I looked at him for a moment and he gestured for me to try, I grabbed one of the journals that I had found and opened the pouch and put the corner of the journal in, and amazingly it went into the pouch, I reached in and pulled the journal back out.
"Ooh." Stitch said with wide eyes.
"Wow." I said, my eyes wide as well.
The man nodded and gestured to the last two items and I picked them up after putting the pouch on the counter.
"Now, put the necklace down over there and concentrate on it." He said and I shrugged and did as he said, and it suddenly changed into a trunk that had the four designs that were on the beads on the lid, he turned to me and said "Open it."
I walked over to the trunk, wide eyed and opened it, finding stairs that lead down.
"What is all this?" I asked in wonder.
"It's magic." The man said as he led Stitch and I down the stairs into what looked like an apartment, though the kitchen had a lot more appliances than a normal apartment would have and had a walk in freezer, where next to it, hanging on a hook, was a small key that was shaped like a whisk, and there was a door that lead to a library, the man led us back up the stairs to the shop "It will also add rooms when you need them, and if you think about it when the trunk is closed, it will have a regular trunk compartment when you open it, the same for when you want to go back into the apartment, that satchel is also connected to it, whenever you want something from inside the trunk, or want to put something into it, even when it's a choker, all you have to do is think it, and it will be done. It will also happen the other way with the trunk compartment, if you want something from the apartment side or send something there, and when something is sent to the apartment side, the items will organize themselves to where they are supposed to be, any books you send will go to the library room for example." He said.
"Why are you showing me all this?" I asked.
"…I can't tell you, all I can say is you are very special and are destined for great things. Now, if you would kindly change this into the trunk compartment, we can get all of your things into there." He said, I did so and he put all of the items except for the wallet, pouch, and satchel into the trunk, before he stood up suddenly and said "Ah yes, one last thing to check." Before walking back behind the counter and grabbing something from behind it and putting a small stone box on the counter, he opened it, grabbed whatever was inside it, and came back around and kneeled in front of me and held out his hand, in his palm was a small silver dragon figurine "This is very special and if it likes you, you can keep it." He said and I gently picked up the figure and held it in my right hand like he did, nothing happened for a moment when suddenly the dragon figure came to life and climbed around my hand to my finger where it wrapped its tail around my finger and became a dragon shaped ring, I looked up at the man and he was smiling "Excellent." He said as he stood back up and went back through the door and came out with two more book, both looked pretty old, both had metal at the corners and clasps holding them closed, the smaller one had a piece of metal on the cover that almost looked like a flower, and the bigger one had golden designs on the cover, he put them in the trunk and shut it "Now, change it back into a necklace." He said, I concentrated and it changed back into a choker, he picked it up and put it on my neck gently, he picked up the satchel and put it on my shoulder, picked up the pouch and put the string on it over my head where it settled around my neck where the pouch hung near my moon necklace, and he handed me the wallet, he walked back behind the counter and I looked up at him.
"This is all nice but…surely all this has to be very expensive considering what these things can do, not to mention how much those other items probably cost…I don't think I can afford all this." I said as I started to take the satchel off before he stopped me.
"Well, let's see, how much do you have?" he asked.
I reached into my pocket, pulled out what was there and said "$20…but I don't think-" before he gently took the money from my hand.
"That's more than enough." He said as he rang up the register.
I watched him when there was a sudden noise from the back room that caused the man to freeze for a second before he looked back at the door then came around and put the change in my hand and started to gently push us to the front door.
"It was very nice to meet you, and I would love to talk more, but it seems something's come up, I hope you both have a good day." The man said before he gently pushed us out the door and locked it and putting the open sign to closed and went into the door behind the counter and closing it.
Stitch and I looked at each other.
"Well…that was certainly an experience." I said as I looked down at the change in my hand, my eyes widened as I saw "$19! He only charged me $1 for all of this!?" I asked as I glanced back at the store before Stitch and I looked at each other wide-eyed, I sighed and said "This is such a weird day." As I pulled out the wallet and put the money in there as well as, after a moment of thought, the adoption papers from the animal shelter that I got Stitch from that I still had in my inside pocket, where I now put the wallet as I took the ring off, put it in the pouch, and put the pouch under my shirt, and adjusted the satchel where it would be on my left side while the strap wrapped around me and hung off my right shoulder "Let's get back to the Shack, hopefully they're done with their madness." I said as we started walking back through town to get back home.
As we were walking through the forest, I suddenly got that feeling again, and pulled my attention to the satchel and reached in where, after concentrating, pulled out the book that had started this whole mess.
I look at it for a moment before reaching for the clasp and opening it, when I opened the cover, inside the book, instead of pages, there was a hole in the middle, inside the whole was a deck of cards. I picked up the first three cards off the top and looked at them curiously.
"Windy." I said, reading the first of the three cards in my hand, the card suddenly started glowing before some kind of symbol appeared underneath me and what felt like a tornado started blowing around me, the cards that were still inside the book were caught by the wind and suddenly started to blow away into the air and out of sight, I felt the wind try to take the three cards that were still in my hand, but I held on tightly to them so they wouldn't be blown away.
The wind slowly came to a stop, the symbol disappearing as the wind stopped, I fell to my knees, the book dropping next to me, and Stitch ran up to my side, having been outside the tornado unable to get close.
"What was that?" I asked tiredly before the book started glowing, and out of where the lion was on the cover, a small form came out, the lion disappearing as it did, it looked like a small yellow-orange plush toy with big ears, small white wings, and a long tail that ended in a puff ball. He seemed to float in the air without flapping his wings.
He looked up at me, his eyes opening, and said "Hi there, thank you so much for waking me up, little girl, I have been stuck in that book for like ever."
"In the book…oh you were the lion on the cover!" I said in realization.
"Yep, that's me." He said, nodding proudly "I am Keroberos, Guardian Beast of the Seal of the Clow Book."
"You're a Guardian Beast?" I asked in wonder.
"Yep, you can call me Kero, I keep the Clow Cards from getting into trouble, see." Kero said as he gestured to the empty Clow Book, he looked and, seeing that the cards were gone, panicked "My Clow Cards! Where are my cards!? My precious cards!" he said as he started crying.
"Are these what you're looking for?" I asked as I held out the three that were still in my hand, he looked over and got excited, taking the cards.
"The Windy, Mirror, and Dash cards! That's them! Thank you! So, where are the rest?" Kero asked, and I got nervous.
"Well…when I read the word Windy…" I said.
"Yeah?" Kero said, nodding.
"This huge wind started blowing." I said.
"Yeah, yeah?" said Kero.
"And they…blew away." I said, wincing as I leaned back, preparing myself for the outburst.
"They blew away." Kero said before he started laughing, after a moment, what I said finally registered with him and he stopped laughing "WHAT!?"
"What are the Clow Cards?" I asked.
"Dangerous forces. Now that the seals been broken, there's no telling what they'll do. The Cards were created by a very powerful magician named Clow Reed. Each Clow Card has its own character and special powers. They were designed to be free, but the cards grew so strong and willful, they couldn't be controlled. So Clow created a book to keep the cards in, and put a protective seal on the cover." Said Kero.
"They sound dangerous." I said.
"Yeah, and that's why I gotta get them back. And you're gonna help me." Kero said as he pointed at me.
"Me?...Well, okay, I guess it was my fault they got loose, so I'll help the best I can. What do I do?" I asked.
"Well, if you were able to open the Clow Book seal, you must have very strong magical powers. What's your name?" asked Kero.
"I'm Nikki Pines, and this is Stitch." I said as I gestured to Stitch.
"Okay Nikki, go stand over there." Kero said, gesturing to a little ways away, I looked at him curiously before walking over to said spot, Kero suddenly started glowing a little as the symbol from before appeared under me "Key to the seal, this girl will carry out the sacred promise." Kero said as a ball of light appeared from the clasp from the book and started floating towards me "Her name is Nikki, I command you to bestow her with your magical powers. RELEASE THE POWER!" he yelled as the ball of light grew brighter, making me shield my eyes "Nikki, take the staff." I heard Kero say, I looked and saw a pink staff in the light, it had a birds head at the top with ruby eyes and beak, as well as another ruby at the other end of the staff, and white wings around the eyes, I walked to it and grabbed it as the symbol underneath me grew brighter "Alright! I Keroberos name Nikki Cardcaptor!" Kero said as the light and symbol went away.
"Woah, what is this?" I asked as I looked at the staff.
"That's the Sealing Wand, you use it to capture the Clow Cards." Kero said as he floated closer to me, Stitch walking next to him.
I was about to ask something when we suddenly heard a scream in the distance.
"That sounded like Manly Dan." I said as we ran, or in Kero's case flew, in that direction, scooping up the book and cards in my free hand along the way and putting them in my satchel for now.
"Who's Manly Dan?" Kero asked.
"He's the dad of my friend Wendy, he's the toughest guy in Gravity Falls, he's kinda scary when he gets mad too." I said as we got closer.
When we got to the clearing we heard the scream from, we found Manly Dan…being attacked and held in the air by vines.
"What are those things?" I asked.
"It's the Wood Card! Look!" Kero said as he gestured over to a small green woman who had leaves for hair, with her were two others, one was a woman wearing long flowing robes who looked elegant, and a woman who had on a pink dress with corkscrew pigtails.
"Who are the other two?" I asked.
"Those are the Earthy and Flower cards, now go and capture them!" Kero said as he pointed towards them.
"What! Kero, if they can do that to Manly Dan, what are you think they'll do to me!?" I asked in panicked fear.
"You'll do fine, just go over there and fight!" said Kero.
"FIGHT!?...Well…okay, I-I'll try." I said hesitantly before walking slowly over to the three women, I gulped as I stopped near them, I didn't want to fight, so I'll try something else, I walked over to the Earthy Card, who seemed to be the one in charge, I tugged lightly on her robe asking "E-Excuse me?" the Earthy Card snapped her eyes in my direction, causing me to jump back a little in fright, I saw the other two turn their attention towards me, though Wood kept Manly Dan in the vines without even looking in his direction, I saw them glance at the Sealing Wand and I hid it behind my back before stuttering out "U-Uh, can you p-please put him down? I-I know he can be scary, a-and you probably don't l-like him cutting down the trees," I said the last part to Wood "b-but can you please let him down? H-He's the dad of one of m-my friends and s-she'd be really sad if he got hurt, so can you let him down? P-Please?" I looked up at them and they stared at me and after a moment, without looking, Wood put Manly Dan down and the vines disappeared, Manly Dan took off running, I watched him go and turned back to the cards and started "Thank yo-" before suddenly being picked up and found myself being hugged tightly by the Flower Card who was rubbing her cheek against my hair, I looked up at her curiously, before noticing Wood next to her, using a vine to stand on and get a closer look at me, a curious look in her eyes.
I looked over Flower's shoulder and saw Earthy standing there, staring at me with a calculating look in her eyes, after a moment the look softened and she gave me a small smile before walking over and giving me a gentle pat on the head.
The three cards looked at each other, seeming to communicate, before nodding, Flower set me down on the ground gently, and the stood in front of me, before they all gave light bows.
I looked at them, wide eyed, before realizing what they were doing and nodded as the Clow symbol appeared underneath me.
"Clow Cards, I command you to return to your powers confine Earthy Card, Wood Card, Flower Card!" I said and slammed the staff down through the air, before it stopped itself and three rectangular shapes appeared underneath the beak, the three cards absorbed into the shapes and when they disappeared the glowing shapes turned into the Cards that were absorbed into them, then the symbol disappeared as the cards floated into my hand.
"Woah! Nice job Nikki!" I heard Kero's voice behind me, I look and see him and Stitch coming towards me "Three cards at once! How'd ya do it!? That must have been some fight!"
"I didn't fight." I said with a smile as I put the now six cards into the Clow Book.
"WHAT!? How did you catch them by not fighting!?" Kero asked in surprise.
"I just asked them nicely to put Manly Dan down and they decided to come with me." I said.
"Heh, guess I picked a pretty good Cardcaptor if the cards don't have to be fought in order to be sealed! I think this is the start of a good friendship!" Kero said as he held out his paw to me, I smiled at the thought of making a new friend and held out my hand, before we shook hands, Kero glanced at my hand and his eyes widened, I stopped and hid my hands behind my back, looking down at the ground "…You have six fingers!" Kero said in surprise.
"Yeah, so?" I mumbled, preparing for the taunts.
"Hey, nothing wrong with that, I think that's pretty neat!" I hear Kero say and I look up in surprise.
"Really?" I ask.
"Yeah! I've never seen that before, you must be really special!" Kero said as he floated circles around my head while I smiled shyly "…You have a moon on your neck?" Kero asked as he stopped behind me.
"Yeah, it's my birthmark." I said as he floated back in front of me.
"Could you be…" Kero said quietly to himself, seeming to be in thought.
"Could I be what?" I asked.
"…Never mind." Kero said after a moment, I looked at him in confusion for a moment before shrugging, this has been to weird a day, I'll try to figure it out later, I started walking in the direction of the Shack with Kero and Stitch following me, I looked at the Sealing Wand curiously.
"How am I supposed to hide this?" I asked when suddenly in a flash of light, the staff turned into a small gold key that had the birds head on it "Woah…" I said.
"Yeah, that's its dormant form, that way you can carry it around without drawing too much attention." Kero said as I was able to attach the key to my moon necklace.
"That's good, though you'll probably have to act like a stuffed animal when other people are around, especially since I'm sharing a room with my older brother and sister Dipper and Mabel." I said.
"Sure, no problem. Are they nice?" Kero asked as he floated into my arms where I could hold him like a teddy bear while Stitch got on all fours as we were getting closer to the Shack.
"Yeah, well at least most of the time, Dipper doesn't like to play games with me cause I always win, and he won't share the Journal with me, and Mabel tends to make fun of him with Grunkle Stan." I said.
"What's a Grunkle?" asked Kero.
"It means Great Uncle, we just say Grunkle for short." I said as we finally came out of the trees and walked towards the door to the Shack.
"Kay, and what's the Journal you're talking about?" asked Kero.
I was about to answer when the door suddenly opened, causing Kero to go limp and act like a plushie, and Mabel and Grunkle Stan walked out.
"…He looks worse than when I left! Mabel! What in the world have you been doing!?" I asked as I looked at Grunkle Stan.
"No time little sister! We gotta go to town." Mabel said as she walked towards the car and Grunkle Stan stopped next to me.
"You comin' Duckling?" asked Grunkle Stan.
I stared at him for a moment before sighing in defeat and saying "Alright." Before walking towards the car and getting in, Stitch behind me, when I got in I set my satchel down beside me, gently setting Kero inside it, then buckling up as Stitch settled down on the floor at my feet, before realizing something "Wait, Grunkle Stan, why aren't you wearing pants?" I asked.
"Don't need 'em! Let's go!" Mabel said, throwing her hands in the air as Grunkle Stan started the car.
We drove back to the diner and walked in, finding Lazy Susan still on the stepladder and hitting the pie trolley.
"SPIN! SPIN!" said Lazy Susan.
"Well, gotta give her points for being persistent." I said as we walked up to her, Mabel pulling Grunkle Stan along.
"Lazy Susan. Listen: I know he's not much to look at, but you're always fixing stuff in the diner, and if you like fixing stuff, nothing can use more fixing than my Grunkle Stan! Also women live longer than men so your dating pool is smaller and you should really lower your standards." Said Mabel.
"So, Lazy Susan, what do you say?" Grunkle Stan asked as Lazy Susan looked at him for a moment before walking away "Uhhhh…" Grunkle Stan sighs as we turn around to leave before Lazy Susan comes back and calls after us.
"Heeeeyyyy! Here's my number. Why don't you give me a call some time?" Lazy Susan asks as she gives Grunkle Stan a slip of paper that had her phone number on it.
"Really?!" asks Grunkle Stan.
"REALLY! HAHA. Also: here's some pie. On the house. For YOU!" Lazy Susan says as she sets down a slice of pie on the table in the booth next to us before walking away.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEE! We did it! When are you gonna call? You wanna call now? I don't have a phone. Let's buy a phone! We can put it on a credit card. Let's get a credit card." Mabel said as we got into the booth, same seating arrangement as this morning, though slightly different with Kero in the satchel now next to me in between me and the window, as Grunkle Stan starts to eat his slice of pie.
"Mabel! Let a man enjoy his pie, huh?" asked Grunkle Stan.
"See Mabel, I was right, Grunkle Stan didn't need to change for Lazy Susan to like him." I said.
"Yeah, you saw what I didn't from the start, guess I shoulda listened to you." Said Mabel.
"Told ya so." I said, crossing my arms when Mabel and I suddenly see Dipper walking by the window.
"DIPPER! It's me, Mabel! I'm looking at you the glass! Right here! This is my voice! I'm talking to you from inside!" Mabel yells as she stands on the table and bangs on the window.
"Mabel, calm down." I giggle as Dipper nods at her then walks around to come inside then sits by me.
"Did you see me through the-?" asked Mabel.
"Yes." Dipper said shortly.
"What's wrong?" asked Mabel.
"I don't wat to talk about it." Said Dipper.
"Good." Said Grunkle Stan.
"It's just these half man half bull humanoids were hanging out with me…" said Dipper.
"Here we go." Said Grunkle Stan.
"But then they wanted me to do this really tough, horrible thing but it just wasn't right. So I said no." said Dipper.
"You were your own man and you stood up for yourself." Said Grunkle Stan.
"Huh?" asked Dipper.
"Well, you did what was right even when no one agreed with ya. Sounds pretty manly to me but, what do I know?" Grunkle Stan asked as Dipper and I smiled at him.
"Wait a minute, do my eyes deceive me? You have a chest hair!" Mabel said as she climbed over the table and pointed at Dipper who pulled down his shirt collar and revealed a chest hair.
"You're right! I do! Ha ha, this is amazing! I really do! Take that, man tester! Take that, Pituitor!" said Dipper.
"Pituitor?" asked Grunkle Stan.
"Dipper, I'm so happy for you!" I said excitedly, knowing this is what he wanted from the beginning.
"This guy has chest hair!" Dipper said…right before Mabel reached over with a pair of tweezers and pulled the chest hair off and put it in her scrapbook.
"Scrapbookertunity!" said Mabel.
"Mabel!" I groaned, putting my face in my hands.
"Don't worry, kid, if you're anything like me, there's more where that came from." Grunkle Stan said as he ripped his shirt open, revealing his hairy chest.
"OH, GROSS!" Dipper said as we all started laughing before Dipper stops and says. "Seriously that's disgusting."
Later on, I was leaning against the armchair with Stitch next to me and Kero in my lap, watching tv with Grunkle Stan when the phone suddenly rings.
"Oh, not again!" Grunkle Stan says as he stares at the phone as it goes to the answering machine.
"Message number: 36." Said the answering machine.
"Hey, handsome! It's me, Lazy Susan, calling to say hi: Hi! My cats also wanted to say hi! Say hi, Donald!" Lazy Susan said over the answering machine.
"Meow." Said Donald.
"Good, Sandy, you say hi!" said Lazy Susan.
"Meow." Said Sandy.
"Mr. Cat-face, now it's your turn to say-" Lazy Susan started to say.
"MOOWW!" Mr. Cat-face screeched.
"Mr. Cat-face!" said Lazy Susan.
"MEEEEEOWW!" Mr. Cat-face screeched.
"Well, anyway call me! Call me back!" Lazy Susan said before hanging up.
"How do I get out of this?!" Grunkle Stan asked as Stitch and I wince at each other and Kero practically shaking in my lap, trying not to laugh.