Summary: Monday's here and school is finally out for the day. So our characters decide to take a side trip to Maggie's, which quickly leads into another look at the past.
Key:
"~* Thoughts *~" = Thoughts
"[NAME:]" = Character voiceover
Episode 9- Recalling the Jump Card and a New Toy Store
As soon as the bell rang, Sakura waited for her friends to come out. Madison was out a minute later, but Li and Meilin were taking a while.
"Where do you think they're at, Madison?" Sakura asked.
"Well, Li's probably stopping at the parking lot," Madison guessed. "Force of habit, you know."
Sakura knew that had to be it. Li hadn't exactly been the same this last week since his driving privileges were suspended. One day, Li took one of Madison's cars out for a drive while his car was in the shop. Sure enough, an hour later he came back with the front hood dented and the sides scratched. Li said it was from crashing into an 18-wheeler. Madison's mom was less than thrilled and punished Li by revoking his driving privileges. Yes, it was true that Li severed ties to his own family, but Madison's mom raised Li like he was her own and that included handing out the occasional punishment.
Sure enough, Li and Meilin came out. Li obviously looked distraught.
"Sorry," Li sighed. "I was looking for…MY CAR!"
Sakura put her arm around him. "Li, it's ok. You'll drive again…someday."
"Thanks, Sakura."
"Just don't drive around anymore 18-wheelers."
Li sweatdropped. "Yeah…thanks, Sakura."
"Well, as long as we're walking, should we take a small detour?" Meilin suggested.
"Where to?" Madison asked.
"I was thinking a quick stop at Maggie's."
Sakura liked that idea. "Sounds good. I think Maggie just got a new shipment in this morning. You know, for her seventh anniversary."
Meilin thought about that. "Seven years? Has it really been that long? I can hardly even remember when the shop first opened."
"Actually…you weren't here when the shop first opened," Madison replied. "But Sakura and I remember that day, seven years ago."
"Oh, boy," Kero sighed from Sakura's backpack. "I smell a story coming."
"That's right," Sakura said fondly. "Seven years ago, Maggie had her grand opening. Everyone wanted to celebrate it: Me, Madison, Chelsea, Rita, Nikki, and…a Clow Card…"
Flashback: Maggie's Grand Opening
P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon
Sakura knew this place looked familiar. She saw this place earlier this morning and had already met the shopkeeper, Maggie. Sakura helped her carry a few boxes in before school and she had agreed to come back after school with her group of friends. So there they were: Sakura, Madison, Chelsea, Rita, and Nikki all arrived at the grand opening of Maggie's. But when Sakura walked in, she didn't know if the store was actually open or not. It was because the store was a mess.
"I'm sorry, girls," Maggie apologized. "But I'm still setting up shop. It's taking a lot longer than I thought."
Sakura suddenly felt compelled to help this woman out. She turned to look at her friends who seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"We'll help you, Maggie," Sakura smiled.
Of course, they all had their ulterior motives. Sakura was hoping to use this chance to help and admire the cute toys that were here. Everyone else had that in mind as well. So they all got started cleaning up, occasionally stopping to look at some of the new toys.
~----------~
[Madison: Weren't those toys just the cutest, Sakura?]
[Sakura: I know. The first time I saw them, I could hardly contain myself. But we did and after a few hours, we finished up. That's when the trouble started. To think it all began with a harmless little bear…]
Flashback: A much cleaner Maggie's
P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon
Sakura happily ate her snacks, helpfully supplied by Maggie after a few hours of hard work. That's when the five girls started talking about the inventory.
"So what did you guys think of the toys in there?" Rita asked.
"They look wonderful," Nikki replied. "Maybe we should buy some."
"That sounds like a good idea," Madison added. "We can be Maggie's first customers."
The conversation went on like that, but out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw a stuffed bear rolling towards Chelsea. It rolled up to her leg and stopped.
Chelsea picked up the bear and examined it. "Oh, this looks so cute! It'll be perfect for my collection. What do you guys think?"
"I like it!" Sakura grinned.
"You should definitely get it, Chelsea!" Nikki added.
"I only wish I saw it first," Rita said.
Sakura couldn't help but admire the little stuffed bear. But something popped into her head.
~* I…feel funny. I can…sense something here. What's this feeling I'm getting? Does it have something to do with…that bear? *~
Sakura didn't know what to think. So she shook it off and kept eating.
~----------~
[Sakura: I didn't know it at the time, but things would get more bizarre after that. It turned out that Chelsea's bear disappeared. We all wondered what happened to it…until the next day…]
Flashback: The next day at Maggie's
P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon
School was out again, but it wasn't pretty. Sakura hated to see her friend, Chelsea, so sad. Her little stuffed bear had been stolen. Then rumors began to spread. People began spreading stories that Maggie's gave bad luck. Sakura didn't quite buy that, though. So she and Madison headed over to Maggie's right after school.
"What…exactly are we looking for, Sakura?" Madison asked.
Sakura didn't say anything at first, but then she gasped. "THAT!"
Sakura looked up on top of a pile of toys to see a very familiar-looking stuffed bear.
~* That has to be Chelsea's. But how did it get here? *~
Sakura took the bear and took it up to the register, where Maggie was standing. "Maggie, this is the exact same bear we got for Chelsea yesterday. But it was stolen and now…it's back here."
Maggie moaned. "Oh, it's happening again. This isn't the first time something like this has happened."
"It's happened before?" Madison asked.
Maggie nodded. "Toys that get bought one day often wind up back here the next. Now people have begun spreading rumors. Some say that my store brings bad luck and others even think I steal the toys myself. Oh…I really didn't want this to happen. My fiancé wanted me to open up a shop where I could sell toys he made. But so far, our dream is turning into a nightmare."
Sakura listened, but got lost somewhere at the end. She was getting that feeling again.
~* It's happening again. Why am I getting this feeling? Is something wrong with me? What is that? *~
"Um…can we take a look around, Maggie?"
"Sure. I don't see why not."
Sakura walked over to one of the shelves, with Madison right behind her. That sense she had was getting stronger. Was it something about this shop? Maybe Kero would know.
~----------~
[Sakura: We went home to talk it over with Kero and he guessed it was a Clow Card. So we went back to Maggie's later that night. I tried to find the Clow Card while Madison created a diversion.]
[Kero: Oh, I remember this. I won't forget that night…]
Flashback: Maggie's later that night
P.O.V.: Kero
~* Hmm…can't sense anything yet. No…wait…the sense is getting stronger. There IS a Clow Card here. *~
There wouldn't be any better chance to look around. Madison had the shopkeeper distracted and Sakura and Kero moved in. They looked around through each shelf while the sense began to get stronger.
"Kero, can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is it, Sakura?"
"I keep getting this funny feeling," she told him. "It's like some strange sense I feel deep inside me."
"That means you're sensing a Clow Card," Kero replied. "Don't worry. You'll feel that a lot."
~* She's already getting the sense. Maybe she's not such an amateur anymore. *~
Sakura then stopped at one of the shelves and picked up a pink little toy. It was bouncing around wildly.
~* The sense is off the page. Could it be…? *~
"This is pretty lively for a toy," Sakura said.
Kero gasped. "That's no toy! That's the Jump Card!"
"Huh? It is?"
The Jump Card slipped out of Sakura's hand and started bouncing its way out of the store.
"Hey!" Sakura shouted. "Come back here!"
Sakura ran after the Jump Card. Kero tried to give chase, but he looked above him to see a pile of toys on the edge of the shelf.
"Uh…oh…"
Before Kero could make his move, the pile of toys fell right on top of him. He was stuck…for the moment.
~----------~
[Kero: Um…maybe this isn't the best place for me to tell the story. I might have been a little tied up at the moment.]
[Madison: Fine, then I'll tell the story. After I distracted Maggie, I saw Sakura running after the Jump Card. And there was no way I was going to miss taping a card capture…]
Flashback: Outside Maggie's
P.O.V.: Madison Taylor
It didn't take Madison long to spot Sakura. She saw her chasing after what looked like a little pink toy. It was definitely something she should get on tape, so she took out her video camera and started rolling.
The little pink toy was fast, but Sakura was always the athletic type. She could catch it. Then she dove for it and she grabbed it. The little pink toy wasn't going quietly, though. It jumped up HIGH into the sky.
~* Sakura! What are you doing? I can't zoom in that far! *~
Sakura faded far into the sky, so Madison paused her camera. She waited to see if Sakura would ever come down. Sure enough, there she was, dropping out of the sky. But Sakura had no parachute, nor did she have anything to break her long fall. Madison cringed, but she almost forgot how resourceful Sakura was.
"Fly! Release and dispel!"
Sakura got on her flying wand, narrowly avoiding crashing on the ground with a sickening thud. She landed gently and saw the little pink toy in front of her again. As Madison turned her camera on again, the little pink toy started bouncing away.
~* Can't that thing hold still? I can't get a good shot! *~
Sakura was probably thinking the same thing. So she took out one of her cards.
"Wood Card! Release and dispel! Wood!"
She tossed the card down and just like on that exhausting Sunday, branches began to grow out. The little pink toy bounced around the branches, stumbling around. It was stuck. It did try one last defense, though. The toys from the store were gathering around the little pink toy to make a HUGE toy. It tried to move forward…but fell. Madison quickly got a snapshot in as the big toy fell and came apart. Feeling more than fed up with all this, Sakura went over to seal the card.
"Jump Card! Return to your power confined! Jump!"
Sakura had finally sealed the Jump Card, just as Kero finally arrived on the scene. Madison knew it was time to congratulate her Cardcaptor. So she walked out with her camera, and almost instinctively, Sakura did her trademark pose.
"That never gets old," Madison giggled.
Kero tried to say something. "Um…Sakura?"
"That was a great capture, Sakura." Madison said cheerfully.
"Um…Sakura?"
"It was one of my tougher ones, though," Sakura said. "Maybe I'm not as good at this as I thought I was."
"Um…Sakura?"
"What do you mean?" Madison asked. "You did great! And you helped save Maggie's shop. Now she won't have to deal with bouncing toys anymore."
"SAKURA!!"
"What is it, Kero?" both girls asked.
"Who's cleaning all this up?"
Sakura and Madison looked around them and sweatdropped. There was a mess of toys everywhere.
~----------~
[Madison: Well, technically it was our mess. So we helped clean it up.]
[Sakura: All in all, it was just another night for me.]
An hour later, Sakura and her friends finally made it up to the register. Maggie's was packed that day, which made Sakura feel happy for the shop owner. She never would've dreamed a turnout like this seven years ago.
"Hello, Sakura," Maggie smiled. "One of my first customers. Will this be all for today?"
"Yeah, just for today," Sakura answered. "Happy anniversary, Maggie!"
"Thank you, Sakura. Here you go, but…I wanted to give you a little something my husband made for you."
"What is it?" Sakura asked curiously.
Maggie reached under the counter and handed Sakura…a little pink toy. Sakura couldn't believe it. It looked just like the Jump Card.
"I hope you like it," Maggie grinned.
Sakura hesitated at first, but then beamed. "I do! I…kinda had a toy like this once…a long time ago."
Any comments? I love feedback, so mail me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com and don't forget to review below! I want to hear from you! ^_^
