Last Time: To keep things tidy, Kero suggested that Sakura call out the Bubbles Card. After a brief obstacle with a construction site, the three sick patients fell asleep with the aid of the Sleep Card. But unfortunately, everyone forgot about Bubbles who proceeded to go overboard and leave the entire mansion practically flooded with bubbles. Deciding not to wake Sakura, Keroberos, Yue, and Mirror all decided to seek the mischievous Bubbles themselves.


Sick Day: Part 4


After slipping and sliding many times, Keroberos finally found it best to just hover above the ground while he went searching for the loose Bubbles Card. He soon found it a simple task of just following the trail of suds.

"I don't see her anywhere," the guardian beast said. He soon noticed silence. "Um…are you guys behind me?"

"We're right behind you, Keroberos," Mirror replied.

"Unfortunately, we have to help clean the suds Bubbles left out," Yue added.

Keroberos turned around and saw Mirror and Yue scrubbing frantically to try and clean up the mess of bubbles. Of course, every storm had its silver lining.

"Well…at least the mansion's clean," Keroberos grinned.

Yue groaned. "Look, maybe it's a good idea if we just split up. It's an awfully big mansion and Bubbles could be anywhere."

"That's a good idea," Keroberos concurred. "You look outside, I'll take the second floor, and Mirror can take the first floor and basement."

With that plan set, everyone started heading their separate ways. Keroberos looked for the nearest staircase and started going up, where he saw even more suds. He had to admit this much, Bubbles DID work fast.

But she needed to be found before things got chaotic.

After about 20 minutes of scouring the entire first floor, Mirror finally headed for the basement. And when she got down there, she saw it was virtually flooded with bubbles. To her dismay (and what was sure to be Madison's as well) even the bookshelves were covered in bubbles. The book covers were being ruined by the sudsy material.

Mirror treaded carefully, making sure not to slip and fall like Keroberos did so many times earlier. And when she turned the basement's corner, she saw a certain someone spreading bubbles all over the walls. It was Bubbles. Mirror had found her.

"Bubbles!" Mirror called out.

Bubbles turned around to see Mirror. Then she casually went about going back to work, as if Mirror wasn't even there.

Hating to be ignored, Mirror walked up to Bubbles. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Bubbles let out an exasperated sigh and turned towards Mirror with her hands on her hips.

"I think you went just a LITTLE too far here," Mirror said bluntly. "Nobody's faulting you for your work ethic. In fact, it's something I can definitely grow to admire. But you did too much! We're already done cleaning and the mansion has enough bubbles. You can go ahead and stop now."

Bubbles shook her head.

"What do you mean 'no'?!" Mirror demanded. "You're only making things more difficult! You have to STOP!"

Bubbles calmly walked up to Mirror and started whispering in her ear. After hearing what Bubbles had to say, Mirror groaned.

"What do you mean you're only supposed to listen to Kero or Yue?! What am I, chop liver?!"

Bubbles nodded. Mirror fell over anime-style.

Mirror picked herself up. "Come on, Bubbles! We're all cards here. You can listen to me. Who do you think sent me down here to come get you?"

Bubbles whispered something else in Mirror's ear.

Mirror groaned. "What do you mean 'orders are orders'?! Do you have to take everything so literally?!"

Bubbles nodded again. Mirror just slapped herself on the forehead.

"Don't MAKE me have to drag you out myself!" Mirror said indignantly. "Now you're coming with me or else!"

Bubbles frowned and shook her head again. She turned her head and concentrated on spreading bubbles again. Mirror didn't appreciate her fellow Sakura Card being so stubborn, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. She grabbed the troublesome card by the arm, but Bubbles just shook herself free and shoved Mirror down. Before Mirror could get back to her feet, Bubbles was off and running. But she made sure to turn back on last time and stick her tongue out at Mirror.

Mirror growled and quickly started chasing after her runaway colleague. But when she climbed up the staircase and out of the basement, she inadvertently slipped on a trail of sudsy bubbles. And much like a slip-n-slide, Mirror slid all the way down the hallway until she hit the wall head-first.

Mirror looked up with swirling eyes. "HOE…"

After taking that little word out of her mistress's vocabulary, Mirror shook off the cobwebs. But by the time she regained her senses, she noticed that Bubbles was gone.

Keroberos searched all over the second floor, but found no sign of Bubbles. Cleaning shouldn't have been such a chore, but the mischievous Sakura Card was only making things more difficult. The guardian beast was starting to think that Bubbles wasn't there. So he flew over towards the staircase…but someone unexpectedly bumped into him.

It was Bubbles and upon seeing Keroberos, she stopped in her tracks.

"You take your work seriously, don't you?" the guardian beast grinned.

Right behind Bubbles, Mirror scrambled to catch up. She leaned on the staircase's rail and panted heavily.

"I…found…her," Mirror said tiredly. "But she won't listen to me!"

Keroberos turned his attention to Bubbles. "You did a…fine job, Bubbles. But you can go ahead and stop now."

Bubbles shook her head.

"No? What do you mean 'no'?"

Bubbles whispered something into Keroberos's ear.

Keroberos sweatdropped. "You must be joking. Do you have to follow every order to the letter?"

Bubbles responded by whispering something else into the guardian beast's ear.

Keroberos nodded. "Ok, ok. Orders are orders. I know, I know."

With that, Keroberos changed back into his false form. And he made sure to shoot Bubbles a cold stare.

"Ok, I look like this again. NOW will you listen?!"

Bubbles nodded cheerfully.

"Ok then. YOU CAN STOP NOW!!"

Having heard that, Bubbles just casually shrugged and headed back to the living room. Kero and Mirror could only look around now…and see the mess of bubbles still around them.

"So how are we cleaning this up?" Mirror gulped.

"It appears that it's up to me," a voice said from outside.

Kero looked over and saw Yue by the window. Mirror ran over and opened the window, allowing the guardian to fly in. He looked around and sighed deeply.

Yue hung his head down and held his hand out. "Mop."

Mirror handed Yue the mop. Yue motioned for Kero and Mirror to walk away. Kero and Mirror took the hint and started walking down the stairs. Kero knew how Yue operated. He always liked to clean in private.

Of course, by the time Kero and Mirror finished walking down the stairs, Yue had caught up to them.

Kero shook his head. "Uh-uh. No way. There's no way you could have finished that fast."

Yue casually motioned towards the second floor. "See for yourself."

Kero flew up the stairs and to his amazement, the whole floor was spotless. Even more astonishing was the fact that the soap hadn't worn out the walls. But that's when something hit Kero like a ton of bricks. He flew over into one of the rooms and into one of the closets. Unfortunately the overzealous nature of Bubbles resulted in several wardrobes getting washed unexpectedly. And that meant these clothes would have to go in a dryer.

He'd worry that a little later, though. In the meantime, he'd go back downstairs. But by the time he got downstairs, Kero noticed that now the first floor was also spotless. Yue had worked wonders yet again. By the time Kero got back down, Yue was already finished and was calmly leaning over the mop.

"Now THAT was quite a sight!" Mirror smiled.

"So are we finished?" Yue sighed.

"We've got a little problem," Kero answered. "Bubbles left all the clothes wet. She probably left some other things wet, but…we'll just hope Madison and her mom don't notice. For right now, we'll just worry about the clothes."

Mirror was the first to volunteer. "I'll do it! Where's the dryer?"

"Probably in the basement," Kero replied. "Good luck."

Mirror knew her task now, so she headed up the stairs to get what had to be piles and piles of wet clothes. As quickly as that, it was just Kero and Yue.

"We've handled this pretty well, haven't we?" Kero asked.

"We do make a good team…even if we DO argue quite a bit."

"So I guess we're finally done. Nothing left to do but…help Mirror, I guess."

"That's a good idea. The Sleep Card can be very powerful. It's safe to say we have a lot of time."

Kero paid attention to the sounds of the living room. The three patients were still asleep. So it looked like there was still lots of time. So Kero and Yue rushed up the stairs and went to help Mirror.

It was a long night, but it was all over. Kero had never felt so tired in his whole existence. He couldn't help but envy Yue, who didn't need to sleep. Yue wasn't the type who slept. It was always Julian who did the sleeping for both of them. Mirror, on the other hand, looked like she was tuckered out.

"Why won't she wake up?" Mirror moaned. "I'm tired. I want to get some rest."

Kero knew Mirror was just itching for Sakura to wake up and recall her. But the three patients just slept soundly. That is, until someone finally started stirring. It was Sakura.

"She's waking up," Yue noted.

Sakura opened her eyes and coughed loudly, waking everybody around her up. It didn't look like she was feeling any better. Looking absolutely exhausted, Mirror slowly approached Sakura.

"I really hope you feel better, Mistress. But can I PLEASE go home now? I feel so tired."

Sakura looked around and saw all the cards she had released. Sleep was still lying down right beside her and Bubbles was keeping to herself in the corner. And then Sakura saw how tired the Mirror Card looked.

Sakura nodded. "Thank you so much, Mirror! I don't know where I'd be without you. You can take a long break."

Sakura recalled Mirror, Bubbles, and Sleep. With the cards returned, Sakura fell back and sniffled loudly. Kero decided to test the waters. He put a hand on Sakura's forehead and didn't like what he was feeling.

"Still burning," Kero sighed.

"You mean I'm not better?" Sakura moaned.

Kero decided to ignore that question for the moment and flew over to Madison. He also noticed the fever hadn't left her, either. And before Li could fully wake up, Kero flew over and felt his forehead. He didn't feel so good, either.

"You're all still sick!" Kero huffed.

"I'm not sick!" Li slurred.

"I see we're going to have to take more drastic measures!" Kero continued, ignoring Li. "Yue, where's that book?"

Yue reached over and grabbed the book he was looking at earlier. Kero perched himself on Yue's shoulder as the guardian browsed through the pages. Finally, they stopped at a page that would be sure to help out all involved.

"This is perfect!" Kero exclaimed.

"What is it?" both Sakura and Madison asked.

Kero grinned. "Home remedies!"


Next Time: We return to the kitchen with Kero and Yue as they try to fix a fresh home remedy for our flu- stricken CCS characters. But…how will it taste? And…will they be willing to take it?


Any comments? Then mail me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com and don't forget to review below!