Card Captors-- ???
Chapter 2- Spirit of Flame
Crystal was still sleeping. I felt terrible… I had really worn her out the previous night. But then again, it was for a good cause. I picked up the Book of Aurora and removed the Evolve card, the first card that Crystal and I had captured together. Looking at it made me feel a little better, but not much.
Life was taking a major downfall. Living alone in some big mansion sounds fun at first, but wait until you have to do it for five months. I'm surprised they haven't bothered me for taxes yet. The worst part, however, is knowing that all of your family is gone. And now, I get stuck with the responsibility of capturing some wild, magical cards that I unknowingly created. Then, I go and hurt one of them. Great life, huh?
Just then, an almost silent stirring came from under my blanket. Crystal crawled out from under the material and waved a sleepy hello.
"Good morning," I said, trying to sound more cheerful than I was.
"Yeah…" she sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I'm hungry…"
I smiled. Of course, if anyone could put me in a good mood, it had to be Crystal. "If you want, I can make some waffles," I offered. "How about it?"
"Sounds yummy," she said, smiling happily as if she was daydreaming.
"You're so funny," I commented, picking her up. "Well, let's go eat."
I had slaved over the waffle maker for a good hour now, making a huge stack of waffles for Crystal and I. I had them all piled up on a fancy, transparent pink plate; I smeared them with butter and fruit-flavored syrup and carried them to the oversized living room along with two forks.
"Finally," Crystal said, settling herself on the rainbow-colored beanbag chair that I had brought down from the attic. "I was STARVING!"
"Oh, so am I," I returned, jumping onto the couch while somehow balancing the stack of waffles. Crystal grabbed a fork off of the plate and stabbed it into the stack, taking a large bite for such a small girl.
"Yummm," she sighed as she swallowed. "You're such a good cook."
"Hey, don't thank me," I said. "Thank the waffle iron."
"Thank you, waffle iron!" Crystal yelled in the direction of the kitchen. I laughed, and almost spit out a bite of food. Once I had regained my composure, I picked up the television remote and flicked it on.
"Let's see," I said, rapidly channel surfing. Finally, I came across a movie on one of those higher channels; some digital monster thing.
"Cool," I said, replacing the remote on the small table beside the couch. I sat back and prepared to indulge myself in the tasty, syrup-covered waffles.
"Hey, check this out," Crystal said, pointing to the screen. Just as a red creature had released a fireball from its mouth, the TV crackled, and something new came on, like a test pattern.
"We interrupt your morning matinee to bring you this mysterious news report," said an anchorman dressed in a gray suit. "Approximately an hour ago, a house on Tokyo Boulevard was suddenly engulfed in flames. The entire family made it out alive, but the house was not saved."
"What?" I said in amazement, jumping up. "A fire? But everything was soaked last night in the rainstorm. How could a house catch fire?"
"The family members say that there were no electronic devices on in the house that could cause a fire," the anchorman continued. "And there were no suspicious people in the area that could have lit it from the outside. So far, this mystery has yet to be explained to any extent."
"Do you understand him?" Crystal asked. "He uses too many big words."
"That's not the most important thing," I said. "It looks like we have another Aurora Card to seal. Shall we go check it out?"
The police were blocking off the site of the burning when we got there, so we couldn't get close enough to do any real searching. Still, I couldn't sense the card anymore, and neither could Crystal.
"It's moved," I said, looking up at the sky. "It can't have gone far."
"No, it hasn't gone far at all," Crystal said. "Look, there!"
I looked where Crystal's finger was pointing. A blue and turquoise house across the street from the burnt one was beginning to emit a cloud of black smoke from one of its windows.
"Hey!" I called to the police and the firemen who were standing around the burnt house. "Another fire!"
"Whoa," said one officer. "Get the hoses over here, pronto! We'll evacuate the house."
"Right," replied one of the firefighters. As the policemen ran by Crystal and I, they thanked us for warning them of the fire.
"Be careful," I called back to them as they walked up the front step to loudly knock on the door. It turned out that the family had already escaped through the back door, so that had been a wasted effort. But as soon as the policemen got out of the way, the fire trucks blasted the house with water, saving it before any major damage was done.
"Oh, thank you," cried a black-haired woman who had just come from the back yard. "You saved my lovely house! I can't thank you enough!"
"It was all thanks to these courageous girls here," said the police officer that I had spoken to. "They were the ones who saw this incident first."
"Thank you," the woman said to Crystal and I. "I just don't know what Jessica and I would do if our house was to burn down." With these words, a young girl with identical black hair skipped out of the back yard. She looked very shaky, but relieved.
"Mommy, who are these people?" little Jessica asked.
"These brave girls saved our home," she said, cradling her daughter.
"Yes, you're welcome," I said. "But may I ask you something? Did you see anything strange before you noticed the fire?"
"Sure," Jessica said. "There was a lady wearing a red outfit in the house. And she touched the wall to make it light on fire."
"Now, Jessie, let's not start that again," said her mother. "There was nobody in the house," she whispered to us. "I think the smoke made little Jessie a bit confused, but she'll be fine."
"Well," I began, but suddenly I was cut off by a loud sound coming from the house. A beam of fire shot up from the roof and disappeared into the distance, leaving the house in flames once again.
Jessica's mother screamed as the firefighters activated the hose again. The flames were out in no time at all, but all of the people there besides Crystal and I were very confused.
"Um, we have to go," I said, taking Crystal into my arms. I took off before anyone could respond, running as fast as I could toward my house.
"It is most definitely the Kaki* card," I explained to Crystal as we cleaned up the living room. "It's a swift card, so we have to locate it again and chase it down somewhere where we can capture it."
"It'll be hard," she replied, eating the last of the waffles. "There must be some way of tracking it…"
"Evolve can probably do it," I replied. "Remember, he not only gives power to other cards, he can draw power from other cards as well. Kaki is one of he four cards that represent the four main elements, which means it has a lot of energy. Evolve can track it down."
"Well, it's worth a shot," Crystal said. "Do we really have to clean up?"
"No, forget it. Let's just leave and find this card before it damages any more buildings," I finished. I quickly ran up to my room and grabbed the Evolve card and my key before Crystal and I left, locking the door of our huge house.
We decided to start in the area in which Kaki had appeared first, thinking that it might still be close and Evolve would be able to track it more easily. There were still a lot of people and authorities crowded around the two houses on Tokyo Boulevard, so we hung back a bit so that no one would see us.
"Ready?" I asked Crystal, holding the key in my hand.
"Go for it!" she said excitedly. I held the key higher, lifting my palm toward the sky. "Key in the name of Crystal! I, Kaita of Aurora, command you to release your powers!" I said, invoking the magic from within my soul. The key expanded into the beautiful gold and blue staff for the third time, and it floated in front of my face, awaiting my command.
"Evolve card!" I shouted, raising the staff to the card. "Locate the energy of the Kaki card and track it down!" With one tap, the tiny brown fox took off like a shot, jetting into a nearby field of trees. "Let's go," I called, running after the streak with Crystal following. We followed it into a deep clearing, where it stopped and pointed its body at a small creek. Frogs were jumping upon the damp green lily pads floating on its surface, and I could also see some tiny fish and bugs under the water.
"Water?" I said confusedly, staring into the creek. "How can the Kaki card survive in that?"
Evolve looked up at me, still seeming to point me toward the water. It made some sort of cute sound that probably meant, "It is there!" As if on cue, steam started rising from the water. A huge explosion surrounded us, and the hot water splashed all over Crystal, Evolve and I. A frog landed on my head…
"Look!" Crystal shouted. She pointed up at a girl who was floating above the dry creek. The girl had golden hair that fell loosely around her body, highlights of crimson flowing through the locks like blood. She wore a red sporty shirt and shorts, with thin strings running down her legs to connect the shorts to flared material that almost covered her feet. Two aura-like lines of energy surrounded her body; one was of pure red light, while the other held a chain or bright rubies.
"Excuse me, I was resting," said Kaki angrily.
"You almost hurt some innocent people!" I shouted at the card. "I won't let you get away this time! Crystal, you up for this?"
"Okay," she said, returning herself to her card form. I picked up the card and held the tip of my staff to it, concentrating my energy into the card.
"Crystal card!" I commanded. "Trap Kaki in a cage of crystal! Go!"
The card released energy in a burst of violet light, swirling around the Kaki and creating a box. As it settled, I could see the flames blazing through the blue walls. I raised my staff to the card, preparing to seal Kaki. But before I could, the walls of crystal began to tremble and fall apart. Kaki jumped out and floated in front of me.
"Nice try," she smirked. "I guess it's my turn." She lifted her hand, creating a ball of fire in her palm. Then, with a single movement of her wrist, she flung it at me; it went over my shoulder, just barely missing.
"Whoa, okay," I said, backing up a few steps. "Crystal, where are you?"
"I'm here," she said, swaggering up to me with a dazed look on her face.
Kaki must have been too much for her to handle, I thought to myself. I knew I shouldn't have put her up against an Elemental card. Now what are we going to do?
Kaki smiled evilly, staring at the chibi Crystal card. "Is that one of us?" she questioned. "She used up all of her power on you? What a waste. Now she's just a useless little girl." As if to confirm her loathing, she released one of her fireballs at Crystal, knocking her down in a burst of heat.
"Leave her alone!" I screamed at Kaki. "Crystal is not useless! She's doing the best she can to help me, and that's more than I can say for you!"
The Kaki card scowled at me, apparently enraged by the remark. "Well, I won't go back to you. I like being a free card, and I won't be confined with out a fight!" With this, she released a stream of fire in my direction, aiming so that there was no way I could dodge it. I braced myself… and felt a small wave if heat brush by me. I looked up to see a shield of diamond floating before me, blocking the flames. It was Crystal.
"Use Evolve," she whispered to me. "That will give me the strength I need to hold Kaki in place for you."
"Right!" I said. The Evolve card was still sitting by the dry patch of ground, very afraid and confused. Since I had signed my name on the card, he knew he couldn't leave me, so he wasn't sure exactly what to do. "Evolve, return to me!" I called to it. Instantly, the card floated into my hands.
"Now, Evolve," I said, tapping the card with my staff. "Release you energy into the Crystal card!"
Once again the brown and black fox emerged; this time he broke down into a wave of light and entered the blue shield that was still in front of me. "Now, Crystal, try again to contain Kaki!" I shouted, raising my staff. The shield expanded, coating Kaki in a blue and violet cage of liquid crystal. There was no movement from the cards.
"Kaki card! Return to the form you were meant to be!" I shouted, holding the golden end of my staff over the blue statue. "AURORA CARD!" All of the energy surrounding the Kaki card split and two cards floated into my grasp. I thanked Evolve and took a long look at the Kaki card, admiring its beauty. Then, I realized that Crystal was nowhere in sight.
"Crystal?" I called, looking around.
"Present," said a groggy voice behind me. I spun around; Crystal was lying in a small patch of grass, half-asleep.
"Oh… Crystal, not again," I said, taking her into my arms.
"I'm sleepy," she said, blinking rapidly. She fell asleep in an instant, going completely limp in my arms. "Aww," I cooed, partly in contentment but mostly in sadness. She looked cute, but badly hurt; at that moment I felt very ashamed to call myself a card captor.
This is the second time, I thought to myself as I walked out of the forest. If I keep up like this, Crystal will lose all of her power. And then I don't know what will happen to her.
It was midnight, and once again I couldn't sleep. The two signed cards, Evolve and Kaki, were resting on the headboard of my bed, and Crystal was sleeping on her pillow. I looked at her, and then at the other two; suddenly I felt really angry at the cards. I had strained Crystal's abilities to the limit, all because Kaki was destroying lives and I had to stop it. This was all happening too fast for my liking.
I turned over on my pillow, facing the dresser on the left side of my bed. The book was sitting there, looking very innocent in the middle of a moonbeam. This was too much… As these words ran through my head, I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
It was one o'clock in the morning; the city was eerily quiet. Not a soul walked the streets… everyone was asleep in their homes or alleyways. Well, almost everyone.
A black streak cut across the night sky, landing swiftly atop a tall building. The male looked down upon the darkened city, grasping the long staff in his hand.
"What is this new power?" he asked himself, staring deeply, almost trying to see something that was invisible. He let out a short breath, like a frustrated sigh. "Well, whatever it is," he whispered, "it had better not stand in the way of me reclaiming my prize."
And with these words, he disappeared as quickly as he had come.