Me: So, I will be updating more often for right now. The school year's winding down and it's before my summer summons. And yet again Firefox fails me. I lost about 500 words trying to save. :(
Kukai: *walks in* Hello, Meyumi-chan!
Me: Playing nice won't get you anywhere, Kukai.
Kukai: But I came but to say thanks to Mysterious Angel Girl and Taeniaea.
Chiyoko: *walks in* Meyumi-chaaaaaan!
Me: Chiyoko! Check Episode 66 if you don't remember her.
Chiyoko: My turn for the disclaimer?
Kukai: .
Me: Yup!
Kukai: .
Chiyoko: Meyumi-chan doesn't own Shugo chara!
Kukai: *gets dark aura*
Me: Kukai, I told you. Playing nice won't get you anywhere. Go find Utau or something.
Muddled Monday
Last Chapter...
Black Joker, huh? It ought to be blacker than black if what he had guessed was true.
With Komichu...
All the pieces were in place. The set up had been brilliant. Well, mostly spotless. Komichu touched the empty key at his belt. Soon it would be in its former glory. Soon he would unlock the Embryo. Soon, he thought. Soon. So tantalizing were the pieces so close yet just out of his grasp.
No, Komichu had not gone crazy. The little guy was just a tad impatient. It had been a good four days since the pieces appeared to him.
Four days since the pieces came in their glorious cardboard box of sharpie and bubble wrap. Oh, that bubble wrap...how wonderful..I love bubble wrap! He shook his head Quiet, subconscious. I need to work. I'm not a child.
Three since the kidnapping of the fortune teller. Fool he had been who had such a remote sanctuary. A small little planetarium, ivy growth nearly covering the 'special resource wing' sign. So easy to go in without anyone knowing...
Two since the attempt on the Guardian to get the pieces he wanted. Nothing more. Just a little itty bitty stone. A stone who had gone unnoticed for half a week. A stone none but him, catboy, and astrologist knew how to use. The same he had locked up.
And one day. One day since they had taken the parents. A whole day. The troublesome girl who held the Humpty Lock would not stay in their way long after that; Komichu was quite sure she could be convinced. She had known what they did to children-she was there when the old Easter fought the Guardians. Easter was superior in every way. How should a small group of meddlesome kids defeat such? The god damn boss was a kid. Scarcely into elementary school.
Not only that, but Komichu had heard he had never been to a school in his life. So, in retrospect, it was no wonder that the old Easter had lost.
No wonder at all...
Komichu's mind turned to other things, all having to do with the one intricate plan fabricated to keep the Guardians where Easter wanted them. To watch their every move. To create strife where there was once friendship. That was all they had-friendship. Little real power.
They had bugged the place, of course. The little dense kiddies would never guess that Easter had put sound and visual devices in every crevice. Every plan of theirs foiled. Every secret ferreted out. And nowhere to turn to blame but within.
Conflict within, Conflict without. Which burnest thy fires bright. See thou shall. Un'er the moon and un'er the stars. Light obscure with clouds of Kami. A canopy of song grown old and worn and torn with mold. Bewitched were their very souls. And what shall they doest, with their hearts alone, abroad. In the sea of lonesome despair. (Err...)
Keeping that catboy under control proved to be its own problem. He had already broken his chain loose once. But he was alone at the time. The other effect of the kidnapping of Tsukasa was that he kept Ikuto under control. Komichu had assumed they knew each other from the way Ikuto reacted to seeing him there. Now that he thought of it, they had a similar look.
He shook his head again. That wasn't the point. He had done even more to ensure the demise of the Guardians of Seiyo Elementary. Sure, there were other chapters, but this one had been particularly against them. Others had been fighting Easter without knowing who they were fighting, only what. Others still knew not that there was anyone shifting the feelings of the hearts eggs in town. Some thought it was merely depressed kids and braced for that. Moreover, there were some still delightfully and deliciously oblivious.
That one note should do the trick. The rift it would create between the Lock and the outsider. They had their own conflict, but Easter had no clue as to what it was as of yet. Soon they would find out, of course. They would treat the Guardians as proper enemies. Then they would finish them with the sheer power of Easter's superiority.
The Guardians ought to be flattered that Komichu alone thought this highly of them, to put such effort into their demise. A thorn stuck in the skin is painless enough, but many tend to hurt. The Guardians were no more than common thorns to be brought out and discarded.
The only question he had to think of right at that moment was where to put the parents. He had not honestly thought that that plan would be successful. He did not know the Guardians were even so weak as not to be able to save them. And that girl was supposed to be the powerful one. If she was indeed that weak, the others should not be a problem.
The Easter he worked for was stronger and better than ever. Of course, it had proper management. No children to run the company astray and amuck. Komichu belonged to the faction that had broken away from Easter upon the realization that some child was supposed to be their better. They had just left, most of the company.
Those who tended to like kids stayed with the Ichinomiras. That meant the cruel sadists who would do anything-absolutely anything to get their hands on the Embryo was with them. Upon the split, old Easter loyalists took the name Easter Sunday while new Easter supporters sneered and simply decided to call themselves Easter Monday. The general public was absolutely clueless.
Oh well, he thought. It would be time to deal with the other Hinamoris. Easter could mess with just about anyone. Why not a up and coming patissier and his model wife? Easter doesn't do anything by halves. If they were going to mess with someone, they would mess with them-thoroughly.
Though the Hinamoris did not seem to be normal...
Flashback
Komichu saw to it that the Hinamoris were thrown in the same room as the catboy and the atronomer. He turned around and stalked down the hallway with an evil smirk on his face. Then he heard the wailing. He walked back to the room out of curiosity. The father was sitting on the ground wailing his eyes out. No one seemed to care, so it seemed like it was normal.
He could hear it from his office. At that point he slinked back down the hallway, dragged Mr. Hinamori out by his ear, and put him in a soundproof holding room for the present. He went back to the desk to resume his work. It had been a long day.
End Flashback
It had sure been one long day,
With Tsumugu...
WAAAAAAH! AMU-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU? (*sweatdrop*)
With Midori, Ami, Tsukasa, and Ikuto...
Ami clung to her mother. "Mama, where are we?"
"Ami-chan, let's go to sleep."
"But I wanna know where we are!"
"In the morning, Ami, dear,"
After a while of the adults staring at the black Joker which remained on the floor, Midori looked up. Ami had been sleeping quietly on her shoulder for a few hours. She moved the figure of the five year old to her lap and asked the very same question that Ami had before she left in her peaceful slumber. "Where are we?"
Ikuto looked up. "Easter."
Midori looked confused. "Easter? You mean the famous music company?"
"The very same. But it's not all music."
"Oh?"
Ikuto didn't respond. Neither did Tsukasa. Neither knew what to say. Especially since the Guardians didn't exactly advertise the dark side of the job to their parents. With the whole 'charas are here but you just can't see them' and 'Oh, yeah. Mom? I'm going to go fight a world renowned company because they kidnapped my friend, and no you don't have to worry about me' lines it was just a tad unreasonable to ask of them. After all, they had done much good-and not just for him personally.
The silence stretched. "What is that card?" Midori asked.
This time Tsukasa responded. "The Black Joker."
"But what does it mean? Does it have any significance?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, it's randomly sitting on the floor and everyone's staring at it."
Tsukasa leaned back against the wall. Ikuto blurted "Amu."
"What about my Amu-chan?"
"The Joker. Amu. She's the Joker of the Guardians. So the card is her." Tsukasa continued.
"Joker? But...okay. Then why the black?" Midori thirstily asked questions and soaked up information like a sponge. But now she was up to where the rest of them were. And they had no clues to work off of.
"We're...not sure."
One of the screens flickered on. Video. Interesting.
On the screen was Amu, walking in the woods. She wasn't far from Seiyo Elementary-it was in the background behind her. She had a piece of paper in hand, that she was obviously reading. She froze. But Ikuto thought he could make out the stiffness to her steps and her stop. He could only wonder what it meant. The cameras...surely she didn't know. It would explain the skittishness though. On screen she crumpled up the paper. She threw it at a tree. Her charas came up to her. "Amu-chan, what's wrong? (~Desu)"
Amu stopped and leaned on a tree. "I can't believe she did that. I thought I could trust Utau."
"Amu-chan..." Her charas pressed on concernedly.
"Is it all a joke to her? I mean, she was the first one I went to. She doesn't take me seriously at all! I mean, she's one of my best friends. She should be there for me when stuff happens. That's what friends do. Kami-sama, if I can't trust her then who can I trust?"
A few others flickered on. Suddenly the panel was shining. The three of them stared at the screen where Amu was. None of them spoke a word. Midori was paling. Ami was still snoring lightly in that childish manner. Tsukasa and Ikuto both looked at the card face up on the floor between them. They looked up and uneasily made eye contact. So that's what was up. The joker and the Joker both were obviously and inobtrusively connected. It seemed as if Tsukasa's fortune telling was right-again-to their utmost dismay.
Soon they noticed Utau on another screen. She looked confused and angry. She was heard saying "What was Amu thinking? What happened to her? I thought we were friends-then why did she accuse me like that for no rhyme or reason!"
"Utau-chan" Her charas cooed from beside her. She sat down on a bench. Soon she heard footsteps.
"OYYY! IDOL-SAN!" Kukai was running up to her, panting. When he reached her, he made a show of putting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily.
"What do you want, kid. Is it about Amu?" Utau inquired softly.
"Amu?" Kukai looked confused.
"Yes, Amu. I suppose from your reaction she hasn't told you yet."
"What hasn't she told me?"
"I-"
Amu's screens started flashing, and they tuned out the rest of Kukai and Utau's conversation for now to pay attention to the flashing lights of the technology.
With Tsumugu...
WAAAAAAH! AMI-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU?
Back with the normal people...
Amu herself was slumping down on the tree. Suddenly, the ground disappeared from beneath her feet. Her charas tried to follow her fall, but failed as a metal covering came onto place on top of where she fallen, blocking their entrance. Some fake grass moved to cover it.
Instantly, the charas began to freak out. "Amu-chan!"
Miki was a tad more collected than her sisters. She motioned to them to stop their useless waste of energy. She then floated over to the tree and put her finger to her chin.
Taking out her drawing notepad, she drew a rough sketch of the tree and where Amu had been standing. After scrutinizing the picture, she floated over to the tree and ran her fingers along the bark. She motioned her sisters to follow her.
About a half hour later they had given up hope. Amu's voice didn't come clear too loudly. But it was there, authoritative, as she spelled out a plan to her charas.
"Ran, go find Rima, Yaya, and/or Tadase. Tell them that I need help only, and have them come here." Ran nodded. "Be fast, Ran."
"Hai, Amu-chan!" Ran said
"Now, Miki. I want you to go to Utau-and Kukai because he's probably with her. Ask them for help, and stage it if need be." Miki nodded "Be creative with your fight, Miki."
"Hai, Amu-chan" Miki replied.
"Su...stay here."
"Why-desu?"
"Well, I don't want you getting lost. Plus, Ran and Miki are talking to everyone we need to talk to. Three, I want you to mark where I am. If someone comes, I'd like them to be able to find me. And with a chara that Easter can't see, they won't know I'm here."
"Hai, Amu-chan ~Desu"
The charas floated off to do their various jobs. Amu sighed. It looked as if she might be there awhile. She curled up in a nook near where she had originally fallen and promptly fell asleep.
Luckily for her, that tunnel into which she had fallen was not equipped with a camera and the victims of Easter could only see what happened at the surface.
Tsukasa's forehead creased and his eyes took on the glazed disposition of thought.
"-kasa"
"-ukasa!"
"FOR THE SAKE OF CATNIP, TSUKASA CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Ikuto practically screamed in Tsukasa's ear.
Tsukasa ignored it. Well, he said nothing. But he was thinking about that tree. Could it be? Had she stumbled upon that ancient place?
"Penny for your thoughts?" Midori said softly. Both men looked at her. She had barely spoken since she questioned them. "You seem to have many."
Tsukasa turned as to be situated towards her. "I think I know the place Amu fell into."
"One of your tunnels?" Ikuto inquired.
"Yes, I suppose it is. It isn't finished though, and that's the problem. I refused to finish that one."
"Refused to finish it?"
"Yes." Tsukasa would say no more. "But why is another matter for another time." He picked another deck of face cards out of his pocket and put them face down on the floor. He gestured at Midori to pick one of them up.
She did and turned it over. It was blank.
Me: I feel like ending it here.
Nagihiko: What do you mean, feel like ending it here?
Me: I dunno.
Rima: It's probably because she promised her friends it would be up yesterday and it's late today.
Me: I need to go to sleep. Gah. And...
Tsumugu: WAAH! *cries*
All: Okay then...*sweatdrop*
Me: Moving right along...O_o
Nagihiko: And she wanted a cliffie.
Me: Yup! Now, Read and Review to find out what the blank card means.