A/N: What is this? She's an entire day early? Blasphemy! Burn the witch, burn her!
Well, see, I'm leaving to go to a place on Sunday, so instead I'm posting (at about 1:50 AM) on Saturday, since I won't have time on Sunday. Also, you know how I said last time that this chapter would be great since I'd spend a week with nothing to do in Minnesota at a figure skating cometition? Well, it turns out, I lied. I ended up having more events than I thought, and I spent a lot of time at the rink watching other people skate, or drawing, or reading, or swimming in the hotel pool, or not writing. So instead I rushed to finish this for the past few hours and ended up with less than 1,000 words of filler. Sorrrrry~! It's not TOTAL filler, but it seems like it. And, one more piece of disappointing news before I end this absurdly long author's note: I will be on several vacations for the next few weeks and the next chapter will not be up until September 3. Sorry~! I'll try to make it enjoyable and long and I might even throw in some fluff! I feel like I need to say something else but I can't remember what…. Well, enjoy! Or, at least, try to!
T w e l v e;
The rest of the day wasn't very monumental, and I was soon off to the training session. "Okay," Amu-chan was telling me, "We just have to let the other Guardians know we're here, and then we can get started."
"Alright."
We quickly popped our heads into the Royal Garden, before Amu-chan took me out to a big empty field. "I'm going to teach you about X-Eggs."
"Um, okay. What are 'X-Eggs'?"
"Well, you remember the Heart's Egg your Guardian Character was born from, right? Everyone has one, even non-chara bearers. Usually they're just invisible and dormant, but sometimes they're born as Guardian Characters, as you know. However, when a kid gets discouraged and gives up on their dreams, they can also be born as X-Eggs. If these eggs hatch into X-Characters, they'll cause chaos and, overall, bad things," Amu-chan explained.
"Got it. Do we have to destroy them before they hatch?" I guessed.
"No, definitely not. It's my job to purify them, and return them to normal Heart's Eggs, since I'm the Joker."
"How do you do that? Are you going to teach me?" I questioned. Since any one of the Guardians could move away at any time, I figured I'd have to know all their jobs.
"You aren't going to be able to do it, but I'm going to show you anyway, so you understand the process. If you ever find an X-Egg, you'll just have to bring it to me and I'll take care of it. When I do what's known as a Character Transformation, I can use something called 'Open Heart' to purify them. Character Transformation is difficult, and it took the other Guardians a while to learn how, so I don't expect you to learn that. Anyway, I'm the only one who can purify X-Eggs. Just watch, okay?"
"Okay…" I agreed warily. I could barely remember everything she said—Character Transformation? Open Heart? It was all a strange language to me (well, yeah, she did say it in Japanese, so that might be part of it, but still. Even in English I would have been confused).
"Ran, let's go!" She called to one of her charas, who was decked out in a pink cheerleading outfit. "My heart, unlock!" She positioned her forefingers and thumbs in a box around a lock she wore on a chain around her neck and then flipped the box, so the hand she had on the bottom was on the top and vice-versa.
She was soon engulfed in a pink sparkly light. Ran returned to her egg, and the egg merged with Amu-chan's heart. She was suddenly wearing a bigger version of Ran's cheerleading outfit. The light died down and she cried, "Character Transformation, Amulet Heart!" Relaxing from her pose, Amu-chan continued, "So, yeah, that's a Character Transformation. Do you guys sense any X-Eggs nearby?" She aimed her question at the charas.
"Yeah," another one of her charas, whose name was Miki, piped up, "it's that way!" She pointed to the north.
"Alright! C'mon, Taylor-kun, I'm gonna show you how to catch an X-Egg!" We ran in the direction Miki pointed. Quite quickly, we came upon a floating egg that was all black with a white X on it. It mumbled "muri", which is Japanese for "impossible" or "useless", and the X was facing slightly away from us, as if the egg couldn't "see" us. "Ready? I'm gonna show you how I purify X-Eggs, now."
"Okay…."
"Open Heart!" she cried, making a heart with her fingers and pushing it outward towards the egg. By the time the egg realized we were there, it was being immersed in a sparkly light, like the one which surrounded Amu-chan when she character transformed, and the X disappeared. It became white with a gold wing design on it. It floated away, presumably to return to its owner. "See? That's how it's done. So, if you ever run into one, just Character Change and get it to me. Don't try to destroy it or anything, got it?"
"Yup. Say, um, how do I Character Change?" I asked. I was a bit nervous doing so would expose me, but I really wanted to know.
"That's tomorrow's lesson. Actually, I don't know who you're even going to working be with tomorrow; we should go back to the Royal Garden and ask."
We trekked back to the glass dome and soon joined the others. "Hey guys!" Amu-chan and I both waved to everyone.
"Hi!" they chorused.
"So, who's going to be working with Taylor-kun tomorrow?" Amu-chan inquired.
"I think I was going to, is that okay?" Nagihiko-kun spoke up. Oh, yes, it is more than okay. In fact, it's perfect. Not only would he be the only one to see my inevitably girly Character Change, it meant more time with Nagihiko-kun. Which is always good. I didn't care if he was evil—he was so handsome and just being in the same room as him sent little flutters up my spine. I couldn't imagine how amazing spending an hour with just him would be.
"Yeah, he was wondering. So, I guess we're done for the day, Taylor-kun." Amu-chan told me.
"Great. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Oh! Before I forget, Nagihiko-kun, Amu-chan tells me you do well in Japanese. After training tomorrow or something, is there a chance you could, maybe, tutor me? If it's not too much of a bother. I'm just having a little trouble."
"I'd be happy to."
Squeeee~!
Oh, gosh, I think Keira's rubbing off on me.
Ahh, yeah. I'll try to make the next chapter longer and more substantial! Also, I think Amu was a little OOC in this one, but it's so late that I just wanna post it. Reviewsies? Even criticism is okay!
