Hello everyone, happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far! Welcome back for chapter 2 of Card Captor Megumi! I hope you like it! Thanks to Penguin Lord0029 for the review last chapter! I don't really have anything else to say this time around, so let's dive right in!

Chapter 2: Jumping Into Things

"Hello? Anyone home?" The little yellow creature said to Megumi who was frozen in place, it waved an arm in front of her face, trying to get her attention. The creature got what it wanted as the dam burst at that point.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and fell backwards onto her butt and scrambled away. The little yellow thing screamed too and tumbled backwards through the air and hit a wall with a thud.

"What the heck did you do that for!?" It yelled at her, shaking its tiny fist in her direction. It flew up to Megumi and got in her face. "Is that anyway to treat someone as cool and awesome as me!?" Megumi suddenly grabbed the creature and started poking and prodding it. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" It yelled out.

"Where are the batteries!?" Megumi cried out. Despite the protests of the squirming creature in her hands she continued to squeeze and examine it. "I don't get it! Where's the hardware? There's no seams! No one can make a toy this good!" Her searching became more frantic, but no matter how much she squeezed the creature she couldn't find any motors, metal frames or a hover unit to make it fly.

"Knock it off already!" The creature finally managed to squirm free and fly away from Megumi. "I'm not a toy! I'm Keroberos! The totally awesome and cool guardian seal beast!" The creature, or Keroberos as it was calling itself, struck what Megumi thought was supposed to be a heroic pose. It just sat there midair looking at her expectantly. But when Megumi just continued to stare at him blankly he just dropped the pose and let out a disappointed sigh. "Really? Not even a little polite golf clap? I mean, I know I'm not all that impressive looking right now, but still."

"I've got to be hallucinating." Megumi said. "Maybe I breathed in some kind of fungus spores or caught a virus. Or maybe I'm dreaming. A really weird dream."

"If I was a dream, could I could do this?" Megumi cried out in surprise when the mysterious creature grabbed her ear and gave a sharp tug.

"Okay, so not a dream." Megumi wasn't sure if she should feel better or worse that this was for real. "So, if you aren't a toy then what are you?"

"I told you, I'm the guardian seal…"

"Yeah, that doesn't really help me."

"Okay, why don't we try and start over. I'm Keroberos, or Kero for short if you like. And you are?"

"Megumi, Megumi Ishida."

"Nice to meet you Megumi."

"So, uh, what are you doing down here?"

"Why doing my job of course! Guarding the book of Clow and the Sakura Cards!"

"The book of who and the what cards?" Instead of things getting clearer for her Megumi was becoming even more confused. Kero let out another sigh.

"The book of Clow. See a long time ago there was this really powerful wizard named Clow Reed. He was the most powerful mage in the world back then. And he made these magic cards he called the Clow Cards that could do all kinds of amazing things. And then he made the book of Clow to hold them and made me to be its protector so his cards didn't fall into the wrong hands. When he died, he put me to sleep with the book in order to protect it."

"Wait, didn't you say that the book held the Sakura cards?"

"I was just getting to that part. Anyways, after a long time this girl named Sakura Kinomoto comes along, opens the book and accidently set all the cards free." Megumi had an involuntary twitch at this, her eyes shifting to the book for a moment.

"Oh, really?" She asked as calmly as she could.

"Yep, so with my amazing skills to help her she recaptured the cards and became their new master and eventually transformed them into the Sakura cards. That's the basics anyway. I left out all the great feats I performed along the way to save time. Speaking of which, what's the year?"

"2195."

"Wow, so it's been over a hundred years then." Kero had a bit of a sad note to his voice, but before Megumi could ask Kero charged on. "So now the question is why I woke up in the first place. Where is that dang book?" Kero spied it and gasped when he saw it was open and empty.

"Oh no! Oh no! Not again! The cards are all gone! What the heck happened! This is a disaster!" he flew back to Megumi and got in her face. "Was the book like this when you got here?!"

"Well, not exactly…" Megumi said deciding to come clean. "See, I came down here because I heard a noise. But there was nothing down here but rotted bookcases and dirt. Then I saw the book back there in the corner and when I opened it up there were all these pink cards inside and when I read the name off of one this wind came out of nowhere and the rest of the cards kind of… disappeared." Kero's jaw dropped and he just stared at Megumi. "Uh… sorry?"

"You're sorry!? This is not good at all! Those cards can cause all kinds of trouble when they're on the loose! We've got to get them back!"

"What do you mean we? This is crazy! It sounds like these things are really dangerous! I'm not old enough to do something like this!"

"How are old are you exactly?"

"Twelve."

"Ha! Sakura was only ten when she started capturing the cards!"

"But, but… how am I supposed to capture these cards? I don't know the first thing about magic! Up until a few minutes ago I didn't even think magic was real!" Megumi got up and started walking back and forth, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "I can't believe I'm even admitting magic is real! I must be losing my mind!"

"Ok, ok! Calm down! We'll get this figured out! Now, the first thing is we're going to have to do is form a pact! So first come on over here and stand in front of me! C'mon now, we haven't got all day! I don't bite! No need to be shy!" Megumi stopped her pacing and stood in front of Kero. She couldn't understand why she was doing what this strange little creature was telling her to do. Maybe it was the shock of it all. As she stood there a glowing circle appeared under her feet. "Don't worry, just a magic circle." Kero said when Megumi gasped in shock. "Okay, here we go!" Megumi refrained from telling him it was too late for her to not be worried. Kero got a look of intense concentration on his face and a ball of light appeared in front of Megumi's face. As it faded away what looked like an old-fashioned key with a what looked like a bird's head on one end floated there for a moment before gently falling into her outstretched hand.

"What's this?"

"That's the capture staff, in its sealed form of course. Also referred to as the Key of Clow when it's in this state. You'll need to summon it in order to use it. Just give it a try." Kero just looked at her expectantly. Megumi was doubtful, but tried it anyway. The words just coming to her out of nowhere.

"Key of Clow! Under the terms of our pact, I command you to come forth! Release!" The key rose out of her hand and began to grow. She watched in awe as it stretched and grew into a wand like staff maybe three feet long. The handle was light green as was the top of the staff which was still shaped like a bird's head. The bulbous eyes and the beak were made out of some sort of crystal that was a deep blue which set off the white wings behind the eyes quite nicely. Megumi turned in her hand examining it a bit.

"Hunh, it's different colors then when Sakura had it, it was all pink then. Must change to suit whoever has it."

"Good, I'm not that really fond of pink." Megumi said with a bit of a disgusted look. "So, what exactly am I supposed to do with this? I told you, I don't know the first thing about magic."

"Well, you may not know anything, but you must have a lot of natural talent. It's the only way you could have opened the book in the first place. Otherwise, no matter what you did the clasp would have remained locked and you wouldn't have been able to open the book." Megumi just gave him another blank look. "Right, don't worry about that now. It's not really important anyways. It feels like one of the cards is still here." Kero took off and started looking around the ruined bookcases. He gave a victory cry and came back holding a pink card that was almost his size.

"Here we go! Should have known this card wouldn't have gone far! It's a real lucky break too!" Kero gave the card to Megumi.

"Hey, this is the card I found when I opened the book! When I spoke its name that's when all the other cards got blown away!"

"That's no surprise. That's Windy, one of the four elemental cards. It has a real gentle spirt, so that's why it didn't take off like the rest of them did."

"You make it sound like these cards are alive."

"Well in a way they are. They all have their own personalities. Some are really gentle and playful while others can do a lot of damage if they're left unchecked. Some are smart, while others aren't. So that's why we need to find and capture them as soon as possible. You got a pen on you?" Megumi just nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak at that moment. She was starting to get more than a little freaked out. "Good. Sign your name on the back of the card. That will let you command it. Otherwise it could do whatever it wants." Megumi didn't like the sound of that, so she quickly wrote her name on the back.

"So now what? How do we find these cards?"

"Well, for the most part we're going to have to track them down. There might be another one nearby. I can kind of feel it."

"Kind of?"

"Well, my senses aren't that sharp yet. I did just wake up from a hundred-year nap after all. It should still be close by. If we hurry we can catch it before it gets too far! Let's go!" Kero flew off up the stairs, forcing Megumi to scramble after him. "Wow, what happened here!? This place is trashed!" Kero said just as she got to the top of the stairs.

"No one has lived here for a long time. This whole neighborhood has been abandoned."

"Really? That sucks." Megumi started looking around for any sign of another card when she caught sight of something lying on the floor.

"Hey, that's weird. That picture wasn't on the floor earlier." Megumi bent down to pick it up when it rose into the air and shot across the room. Megumi let out a scream as it hit the wall and fell back to the ground.

"Watch out! That picture is possessed by one of the cards!" Kero shouted out.

"What!? Which one!?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think it's one of the dangerous ones because it tried to get away from you instead of attacking. Quick! Go after it while it's still in the corner! You might be able to catch it!"

"Here goes nothing!" Megumi, unsure what else to do, ran headlong at the possessed picture, screaming out loud with the staff raised over her head. She swung the staff down hard, but the picture flew into the air strait up.

"No! You almost had it! Don't let it get away!" The picture sailed over Megumi's head and went to the opposite corner. "I got it! That's got to be the Jump Card! Go at it one more time!" Megumi didn't bother to ask. She charged again, and like before the picture jumped into the air. But before it could fly over her head Kero got in front of it and blocked its path. The picture dropped back down and Megumi stepped on it. "Quick! Seal it!" Before she could a glowing rabbit looking creature popped out of the picture frame and jumped out the door.

"Now what am I supposed to do!?"

"Use Windy! It can grab other cards and hold them in place!" Megumi pulled out the card and ran out into the rain after the card sprite.

"Windy! Become the chains that bind! Release!" Megumi didn't know how she knew what to say or do, it was like some kind of instinct. Perhaps it was the magic telling her what to do. Either way she threw the card into the air and hit it with her staff. The card lit up and the girl on the card flowed out of it. Megumi was in awe of how pretty she was. Yellow tendrils of glowing air emerged from her hair and went after Jump. It tried to get away, but it was grabbed by Windy's air tendrils.

"Now! Just like I told you! Seal it before it can escape!" A magic circle appeared below Megumi's feet and she raised the sealing staff.

"Sakura card! Return to your true form! Jump card!" She swung the staff hard and it stopped in midair. Ripples of magic energy spread out from the end of the beak and a card shape appeared in the air. The rabbit sprite began to dissolve into a mist that flowed to the staff and solidified into a pink card. The card twisted and twirled through the air into Megumi's hand. The winged rabbit creature was on the front poised mid-jump.

"Way to go Megumi!" Kero said as he came up behind her. "Let's go back inside. No sense staying out in the rain and getting anymore wet."

"That wasn't too bad." Megumi said back in the house. She had already signed the Jump Card.

"They won't all be that easy. Jump isn't exactly very bright, plus it's one of the cards under Windy, so it isn't hard to catch it that way. But it is one of the more useful cards. It lets you jump really high and land safely from high falls."

"Why was it in the picture to begin with?"

"Not sure." Kero went over to the picture to check it out. "Ah, I think I know why it possessed it." He picked it up and carried it over to Megumi. It was the picture of the young woman she had looked at when she had first entered the house. "That's Sakura. When she was about twenty-two if I remember correctly."

"She's beautiful. But I still don't understand why Jump latched on to the picture."

"Well, like I said, jump isn't the brightest bulb. It probably missed Sakura. She always treated the cards with respect and thought of them as friends. Jump was especially loyal to her. So, when it couldn't find her after it woke up it latched on to the next best thing, her picture." Once again there was that hint of sadness to Kero's voice, but it was gone again as soon as it appeared. "Well, I'll just take this with us. No sense in leaving it here." Without asking Kero shoved the picture of Sakura into Megumi's bag. "Now where is the other one?" He flew up to the table by the door and started checking the remaining pictures. "Hunh, it's not here. I know it was here with the rest of the photos. If the rest of them are still here why isn't that one? Did someone take it?"

"Okay, uh not to be rude. But what do you mean by us?"

"What, you don't expect me to stay here do you?" Kero said with his back towards Megumi. "There's nothing to eat here and this place is falling apart. Where could it have gotten to? Oh, well. So, shall we get going? No sense in sticking around here." Megumi could only wonder at the strange direction her life had just gone in.

And with that chapter two is complete! As always reviews are welcome and appreciated! Chapter three is mostly done, just need to complete some editing and rewrites. My plan is to release it on the ninth of December, but it might change depending on a few things. Keep an eye on my profile page for any updates or changes.

Next Chapter: We get to learn about Megumi's family as she returns home with Kero in tow who has a less then pleasant encounter with a couple of Megumi's younger siblings. This and more as Megumi's story continues!

Till next time, this is Shocklance, signing out!