Hey Everyone!
How's it going? Spring break is just around the corner for me so I'll be updating almost everyday! But I wanted to get this story updated for you so you can enjoy reading it! So without further ado…
Battle in the Basement! Sky versus Ice.
"Hello, Dragneel residence."
"Hey Wendy."
"Oh hey dad!"
"Can you see if there's a blue envelope on top of the dining table?" His voice sounded tense, and Wendy moved into the next room to check.
"There's one."
"Sorry, but can you bring that to the bus stop? Everything that I'm presenting today is inside that envelope."
"I'll be right there!" She hung up and proceeded to strap on her rollerblades. "Happy, I have to step out for a bit!"
Happy was toting the laundry upstairs and heard her call out something, but didn't bother to ask for clarification. All he had to do now was hang the laundry, and he would be free and in the clear.
Downstairs, the sunlight from one tiny high-up window fell across the desk and the two Cards. They had fled Wendy's mind completely for the time being, and there was no one to see a pale blue light begin to throb from the second half of the Card. Slowly, the ink began to melt away.
Wendy waved at the departing bus, and her father returned the wave before he disappeared from view.
"See you later!"
"Thanks sweetheart!"
The bus turned the corner, and someone addressed her from behind.
"Oh hey Wendy!" She whirled at the familiar voice, and felt the blush spread across her cheeks.
"Jellal!"
"That was your father, right? Were you running errands?"
"Y-yeah. He forgot something at home."
"So you brought it over here. You're such a good girl." She ducked her head bashfully, and for the first time noticed the blue blazer and tie.
"Oh, your uniform?"
"The basketball team had a game today. I was helping out a little bit."
Jellal didn't actually belong to any of the school teams. But he was often asked to fill in for games, just for his sheer raw talent at sports. Wendy thought he could do anything if he really wanted to.
"Hey, Wendy, have you had lunch yet?"
"I haven't yet."
"Would you like to have lunch with me? Over there?" He nodded toward the cafe window next to them, and Wendy flushed bright red. A meal with Jellal? How could she ever say no to that!
In less time than it took to tell, the two of them were seated in the booth next to the window and digging in. The waiter was, surprisingly, her brother, and he leaned down to set another plate in front of Jellal.
"Three extra large plates," she murmured in awe.
"He eats at least three times as much as I do," Natsu commented wryly.
"Three times?"
"Go ahead and have some too," Jellal offered between mouthfuls. "It's my treat."
"Happy is waiting for me at home, so -"
"Happy?" Wendy winced and mentally kicked herself at the puzzled expression in his brown eyes.
"Oh it's nothing. I-it's good to eat a lot. It's very healthy."
"Hard on my allowance though," Jellal laughed.
Lunch ended far too quickly, and Wendy skated home in a haze of bliss. Yes, it had been entirely worth it to stay home today; everything was working out great!
Lunch ended far too quickly, and Wendy skated home in a haze of bliss. Yes, it had been entirely worth it to stay home today; everything was working out great!
"Jellal he's so cool! I was able to see Jellal today!" She dumped her blades on the porch and entered the house again. "I'm home!" The laundry was already hanging on the upper balcony, she'd seen, and in vain she looked for Happy to thank him. At last she found him crashed out on her bed, snoring lightly. "Thanks a lot Happy. I'll get ready for lunch right away."
She made to turn away from the bed, but froze at the ominous rumble underneath her. What was that?
"Happy?"
There was another menacing gurgle, and the sound of something creaking.
"Happy!"
"Wha...lunch already?" Groggily he sat up and rubbed his head.
"Shh! This sound..." There was another mysterious groan, and she clutched him tightly to her chest. "I wonder if it's a burglar."
"It seems to be coming from downstairs," he said, slightly muffled.
"Could it be a ghost?"
"They wouldn't appear in broad daylight."
"Maybe some do," she quavered.
At last he managed to persuade her to go downstairs, where the noises seemed louder but still no source could be seen.
"It's from the basement," he declared at last, and put his fuzzy ear to the door. "Definitely from in here. Now." He gestured at her to open the door, and this she did, though fearfully. Though there should have been some light from the open window, Wendy could only see darkness beyond. "I can't see clearly -"
Abruptly, a long icicle shot up from underneath her. Wendy yelped as she avoid getting pierced. She shrieked and pushed the door shut, snapping off the end of the icicle off with a crack.
"What in the world was that?" She struggled to say.
"It looked like an icicle to me." Happy answered.
"Why is there an icicle in my basement?!"
"This is the doing of the Ice Card!"
"A Fiore Card?" She clapped her hand over her mouth as she remembered. "Oh, that's right, today -" Downstairs, icicles started to stretch from the bottom off the stairs and cracking the doorway. At the bottom of the stairs, the raven haired boy faced the door.
"Is she going to keep that door closed or what?" He wondered aloud.
"What? You left a Fiore Card alone without writing your name on it?"
"Because I found it as a card, and I got that phone call -"
"This is bad! Fiore Cards start listening to their owners after the owner's name is inscribed onto them."
"But it was in the house for all this time. Nothing had happened until now."
"Well you've got a point. The Ice Card doesn't do much damage if it's in a stable condition." Happy reasoned.
"Then, why?"
"Hmm..." He crossed his arms and began to twitch his tail in thought.
"Don't let go, Happy!" The force behind the door pushed it open a crack, and before either could do anything thick icicles had snaked around Wendy's ankle and Happy's waist. "Aah! What should we do?"
"I'm in a bind myself!" he snapped, struggling to pry himself free.
"Well aren't you two in a mess." The raven haired guy said coolly.
"OMG! Why is that guy not wearing a shirt?" Wendy shrieked.
"What the heck!? I was just wearing one!" As Gray searched frantically for his clothes, Happy filled Wendy in.
"Yeah the Ice Card a.k.a Gray has a distinct habit of stripping his clothing at times."
"Oh so he loses his shirt?" Wendy asked.
"Sometimes his whole assemble."
Wendy grimaced and found herself numbed by the pain of being frozen in ice. Gray had a stranglehold on them both, and was freezing mercilessly. Both were trapped, and she was sure that it couldn't get any worse.
She was wrong.
The doorbell rang.
Again and again it rang, as Wendy struggled to rid herself of the encumbrance around her ankle and simultaneously push against the door.
"Who is it?"
"We'd know who it was if we answered the door."
"If they saw us like this, we would be the talk of the town. You too, Happy. They might sell you off somewhere as a talking plush toy!"
"I wouldn't like that."
Again and again the visitor pressed on the doorbell. Its chime resonated throughout the house.
"Yes?" Wendy called out, then clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Why are you answering?"
"Habit."
"Well, for now, I'll -" His head dropped down and he ceased struggling, his paws hanging listlessly at his sides.
"Happy?"
"Don't talk to plush toys," he muttered out of the side of his mouth.
"No fair!" The massive strength she was fighting against would be contained no longer, and with a slam the basement door swung wide open. Huge thick Icicles spilled through the open doorway, and Wendy let out an involuntary scream as Gray kept the cold coming. He uses his hands to generate ice from hands and frankly, she wasn't enjoying being a human popsicle.
"Aw come on…if this is what the Cardcaptor is like, then I'm going to die of boredom." Gray complained.
"Oh no..." With dread twisting in her stomach, Wendy watched the shadow on the other side of the frosted glass, and the doorknob begin to turn. The game was up, and she couldn't think of any way out. Helplessly she covered her eyes and waited for the end to come.
"Hello," greeted a familiar voice.
"Chelia!"
Her friend stood just inside the door, taking in the scene with raised eyebrows.
"I thought I'd help you with your chores." Chelia then took notice of Gray, who was equally surprised to see her. Chelia then went towards Wendy and broke her and Happy from the ice. "Did you guys crank up the AC or something? It's freezing in here."
"No, it's a Fiore Card. It's Gray's fault!" Wendy pointed to the raven haired teen.
"Wendy, seal it off now!" happy shouted.
She nodded and pulled the key out from under her blouse, running through the chant quickly.
"Release! Return to the guise you were meant to be in. Fiore Card!"
Gray frowned and put his hands together. A blast of cold air surrounded them and he was gone.
"You looked lovely." Chelia already had her camera out, and together they watched the icicles glow blue before fading away completely. Wendy smiled, and then looked around with a puzzled expression. "Is something wrong?"
"The Card is missing."
"That can't be," Happy denied. But it was true; there was no sign of the sealed Card anywhere. "Are you sure it's not around here somewhere?"
"Perhaps the room over there?" Chelia suggested. Wendy snapped her fingers.
"Gray must've escaped downstairs to the basement! But how do we fight him?" Wendy asked.
Happy smiled. "There's one way to capture him. All we need is a little water."
"All right, let's go get the Card then." No one even had the chance to take a step when there was another rumble, which quickly grew into a deafening roar. A horde of ice crystals shot their way and Wendy had to block them all with her staff. They ventured further and saw Gray standing in the middle of the fray.
"So are we going to fight or what?" He asked, taking off his shirt.
"Um…why did he just take off his shirt?" Chelia asked.
"We have no idea. Let's just let Gray be Gray." Happy sighed. "It's time for Cardcaptor Wendy!"
"But first.." Chelia grinned.
"No, why did you have these clothes right now?" Wendy queried, flabbergasted as always. This time it was a pink and white feathers theme, complete with a feathered headband for her hair. The flamboyant pink skirt would have been bad enough, but the fact that it was rubber and squeaked with every move just made it that much worse. Chelia paid no attention to her expression and zoomed in to focus on the pink high-tops.
"I was planning to film 'Wendy Dances in the Jungle' at the park today."
"And that's why you had this lunch prepared?" Happy questioned through a mouthful of sandwich. Wendy didn't know how he could think of food at a time like this, but sure enough he managed to polish off an entire fish sandwich even while telling them the battle plans.
"We can beat him if we try that okay? "
"Let's hurry," Chelia encouraged, bringing out her camera.
Gray got into a battle stance. "Just so you know, I'm not going easy on you."
Wendy smiled. "Well I've got a surprise up my sleeve too!" Wendy plucked her latest Card from the deck and tossed it into the air.
"I summon the Water Card, Juvia!" Sure enough, as soon as she touched the card, Juvia emerged. She took one look at Gray who's face paled.
"You've got to be kidding-"He didn't get to finish his sentence before Juvia embraced him in a tight hug.
"GRAY-SAMA! JUVIA HAS MISSED YOU! SHE WAITING FOR YOU AND SHE FINALLY GOT HER WISH!" Juvia kept Gray bounded tight in her arms and poor Gray couldn't do anything.
"All right, way to go Juvia!" Happy cheered. "We did it!"
"Return to the guise you were meant to be in. Fiore Card!" Juvia pouted, but released Gray so that Wendy could seal him. He dissipated in a wave of magic as he was sucked toward the beak of Wendy's staff, and then the Card formed once more.
The icicles disappeared and a warm breeze entered the basement. Wendy, Chelia, and Happy watched as the crystal shards form a beautiful sight.
"Hey, take a look at that!" Wendy exclaimed. All of them turned to see a faint band of color in the sunlight from the window.
"A rainbow!" Happy said.
"How pretty." Chelia whispered.
"We-nd-y," she said aloud, and then put her pen down. "There."
"The Card becomes your own for the first time after you come this far," Happy lectured from over her shoulder.
"Yes, I learned the hard way."
"Well, I'll be taking a small nap now."
"Good night." She pocketed her two new Cards and smiled guiltily at Chelia. "I'm sorry about today."
"No, I'm happy that I got even better footage than what I would have gotten at the forest park."
"Really?"
"Wendy!" Happy's anguished wail carried clearly through the doorway. "We're in trouble!"
For a moment Wendy thought there was yet another Card wreaking havoc. Then she joined Happy in the living room and realized it was far, far worse than that.
The room, and probably the rest of the house too, had been entirely demolished by Ice's frantic growing. Chairs were toppled over and crystal fragments scattered everywhere; some dishes had been smashed. It was a horrible mess.
"Aah! I have to clean the house all over again."
"I'll help you," Chelia offered, in an automatic gesture of friendship. To her it was a little thing, but Wendy and Happy threw themselves at her feet in gratitude.
"Thank you!" they sobbed.
"We're home" both Igneel and Natsu called out that evening. They'd arrived at the same time, and kicked off their shoes in the hallway. Right away Natsu noticed how sparkling clean the floor was, and how neatly everything had been arranged in the living room. But of the monster there was no sign.
They finally found her upstairs, on her bed and out for the count, clutching one of her stuffed animals to her as she slept.
"Thank you for doing all the chores today," Igneel said softly. "We'll have some cake later."
"But if you don't put your name on the cake," Natsu threatened, "I'll eat it."
They both backed away and left her in peace, and neither saw her twitch and turn in her sleep at the noise. Neither heard her murmur into her pillow.
"I... wrote my name down properly..."
And with that ends an exhausting Sunday morning. Next time: Puppets and Babies? The Strange Case of the Jump Card!
Review if you please and anticipate the next chapter!