Chapter Three:
I smiled waking up the next morning; Loretta was already awake listening to the beautiful music coming from downstairs and the smell of breakfast. I quickly got dressed into my uniform and saw my mom making waffles and humming to herself. She turned to see me and smiled.
"Breakfast is ready," she told me gesturing to the table.
"It smells great," I smiled and sat down.
"Doesn't it?" she agreed laughing.
We both sat down and I started to eat the waffles. She sat staring at me still a smile on her face.
"I got a call last night," she started. "From your school."
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked almost choking on my food.
"Not technically," she said. "It was the superintendent who called and said you had turned down an invite from the Guardians?"
"Well," I bit my bottom lip. "I didn't turn down an invite. I flat out rejected it," I sighed.
"Then it's a good thing he called because I want you to go. And I told him you would," she replied. "It'll give you a way to make new friends with people. I want you to be happy and have friends who you're happy with."
"I have to?" I asked. "I mean I really have to?" I tried to weasel out of it not wanting to go.
"You really have to," she replied. "It'll be fun."
"Fine," I mumbled then looked at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. "I have to get to school so I'll come home as soon as I can."
"Don't forget to go see the Guardians!" she called as I walked out the door.
~*..*~
After School:
"I can't believe I'm doing this," I muttered to myself standing outside the giant green house.
"You can do it Eve!" Loretta cheered.
"Maybe I should just leave," I turned quickly not noticing the person who was running to where I was standing.
I tripped, he fell and I squeezed my eyes shut waiting for the ground to meet my face. But it didn't happen and I opened my eyes to come face to face with a blushing boy. His brown eyes were wide and his indigo hair was sprawled out all over the place. I blinked twice then blood started to rush to my face and I stood up.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I wasn't paying attention."
"No it was my fault," he replied. "I wasn't paying attention and you were here and I didn't see you. Are you here for something important?"
"Well you see," I paused. "Not really."
"Nagehiko!" someone called running towards us. It was Amu, her pink hair in a ponytail today. "And Eve. Have you decided to join us?"
"Not re—" I was cut off.
"We're going to have a new member?" Nagehiko asked looking at Amu.
"It was the caretaker's idea. He said she was going to be an important person to the Guardians and maybe it was time to change five to six," she said.
"Really?" he wondered as I was about to walk away.
"So let's go in," right when I was about to take the first few steps she grabbed my arm and led me into the greenhouse.
Inside was huge, there were plants everywhere. Amu was still leading me towards a gazebo in the middle of the building. There were four people already there. One was Tadase, the lolita, a younger girl and an older boy.
"Kukai!" Amu waved happily. "You're here again!"
"Yeah Tadase said he wanted to talk with me about something," he replied. "Who's this?" he pointed at me.
"This is Eve. She's going to be a new Guardian," she pulled me up the steps to the table everyone was sitting at.
Nagehiko was already taking a seat next to Tadase as the younger girl stared at me. She then slammed her hands on the table.
"I've seen you before!" she yelled loudly in a baby voice.
"Um. I don't know what you're talking about," I said trying to look away so she wouldn't say it…
"You're Evangeline Story! The daughter of Tom Story the owner of the biggest technology industry in the world and Miranda Reed the world famous actress!" she pointed. "I can tell because you're the spitting image of your mom. She's such a pretty woman!"
"Thanks," I mumbled my blush rushing back to my face.
"She does look like her mommy doesn't she?" Loretta popped out from behind me. "Her mom says the same thing at home."
"Who is this?" the baby voiced girl asked.
"I'm Loretta," she waved. "And who are you?"
"I'm Yaya!" she waved back as a small character came from behind her with a binky in its mouth. "And this is Pepe."
"It's nice to meet you Yaya and Pepe," Loretta smiled.
"Ha! I told you a new peasant was coming!" another one came with tons more.
"Let me introduce," Amu started. "The one with the crown that's Kiseki he thinks he's king of the Shugo Charas and he's Tadase's, the one in pink is Ran, the one in green is Su and the one in blue is Miki their my Shugo Charas. Then that one that looks like a clown is Kusukusu and she's Rima's. And last there's Daichi whose Kukai's Shugo Chara."
"That's a lot to remember," I was overwhelmed. "Does everyone have a Shugo Chara?"
"No not everyone," Yaya answered. "Just us Guardians."
There was something that I noticed and it was Nagehiko, he looked away. If I was remembering correctly then he doesn't have one.
"Please have a seat," Tadase invited gesturing at the seat across from him.
I sat and looked down at my phone which had three missed messages. I flipped open the phone and they were texts from my mom making sure I was here with the Guardians. I looked up to see everyone staring at me.
"So," I started. "What am I doing here?"
"You're the new Joker chair," Tadase said.
"What?!" the whole table yelled at once, except for Rima.
"Am I being fired?" Amu asked confused.
"No, no. It's not like that," Tadase added. "She's the Second Joker chair. At least that's what the caretaker has been explaining to me. She's another person to help us in our search for the embryo."
"You mean the egg that grants wishes?" I asked out of nowhere.
"How do you know about that?" Kukai asked.
"When I was younger and I talked on the phone with my mom a lot she used to tell me a story about an embryo. It grants a wish to whoever gets it," I said.
"Your mom knew about it?" Yaya asked. "Where did she learn it from?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. Why would I know something about that?
"Moving on then," Tadase said. "You know about the embryo but do you know about Easter?"
"You mean once every year a bunny comes and hides eggs for kids to find?" I asked.
"Not that Easter," he replied. "They're a huge company that is trying to capture the embryo for who knows what reasons."
"So we're trying to catch it first," Amu added in.
"Wait," I started eyeing them suspiciously. "What do you guys want with the embryo?"
"That's… Eh…" Amu looked confused again. "I think…"
"What?" I asked her.
"She wants to show people the honest girl she really is!" the little pink Shugo Chara, known as Ran, jumped up.
"Is that it?" I ran my fingers through my hair. "I mean you couldn't go for something like ending world hunger? Or to stop war?"
"We're elementary school kids," Yaya said. "We want our own things."
"Talk about being selfish," I mumbled.
"Well what do you want?" Nagehiko asked.
"I want," I looked down to my hands that Loretta had jumped into and smiled warmly. "I want the ones I love to be happy and safe. I want to be able to stay with my mom forever."
"Isn't that selfish too?" Kukai asked bursting my love bubble. "I mean those are what you want."
"Well what do you want?"
"I want to be a famous athlete!" he grinned doing an athletic pose.
"Whatever," I replied. "Look I have to get home so I'm leaving."
I got up and headed out the door. A girl with blonde hair and wearing a blue dress was with one of the girls from class. Saaya I think was the girl she was with. She was grinning mischievously.
"Who are you?" she asked. Suddenly the pin in her hair turned to an oversized flower.
"You're lost, aren't you?" she asked. "The boy you hold most dear has rejected you again."
"How did you know?" she asked confused.
"I will make your dream come true," she pulled out a red pendant necklace. "If you put this on then your love will be yours."
With that an egg came from Saaya and it turned purple with a question mark on it.
"Let your dreams become reality!" the blue dressed girl exclaimed then disappeared.
"What the—?" I wondered making my way closer.
"Eve watch out!" Loretta called out to me as a giant beam almost hit me. I did a back flip out of the way thanking my dad for at least putting me in gymnastics.
"That was close," I whispered. "Got to watch out where I'm going."
"Eve say 'my own heart unlock!'" she yelled.
"What?" I asked. "That's an embarrassing line to yell out in the middle of nowhere!"
"Just say it!" she replied.
"My own heart, UNLOCK!" I yelled.
It was an amazing experience as sparkles floated around me and lifted me up off the ground. Loretta came towards me and went back to being an egg. Then it felt as if the egg went into me, into my heart and then it felt like I was flying and before I knew it I was in a new outfit.
I was in a dress that had music notes on the bottom then the notes looked like vines making the dress go from black at the bottom to white on the top, the notes also created a picture of a heart with wings and two swords crossing on it.
"Character: Victor's Breath!" I said and I could hear Loretta yell it with me.
"Come on Eve," Loretta sounded as if she was in my head. "Let's beat this thing!"
"Alright!" I agreed as a long sword appeared in my hand. "Well that's a little violent isn't it?"
"What do you want then?" Loretta asked confused.
"I don't know maybe a cool looking guitar that I can pulverize her with my notes with," I said.
"Well the best I got for music is this," the sword changed to a baton that would make Link from Zelda jealous.
"What am I supposed to do with it?" I asked. "Throw it?"
"Oh! Do you want a bow and arrow?" she asked. "Or maybe we should just stick with the sword."
"Is it going to hurt anyone?"
"No," she replied.
"Then what's the point of it?" she was very confusing. "How about a gun?"
"Alright," she replied sounding as if she wasn't sure then baton turned to two hand guns. I smiled.
"Love Attack!" I looked up to see Saaya had changed too and she was shooting crazy pink hearts at me. I pointed my guns at her.
"Final Combustion!" I yelled and fired.
"What are you doing?!" I heard a voice and turned to see the Guardians standing behind me.
"You can't just shoot an innocent person!" Amy yelled at me.
"It's not going to hurt her!" I yelled back.
"How do you know?" she demanded.
"I don't! I'm just believing!" I answered.
I looked back to Saaya and the bullets had gotten to her and sucked her into a bubble looking thing. She looked around funny and tried her attacks on it but it wouldn't work.
"Why won't he love me?" Saaya cried, the question mark on her head turning to an x.
"Not everyone can get the ones they love!" I yelled at her. "But believe me, if you keep loving him maybe one day he'll love you back!"
She looked sad and the Loretta yelled in my head again. Loretta told me to point at her.
"Negative Heart Lock On!" I recited. Then I place my hands in front of me forming a heart with my hands. "Open Heart!" I yelled pushing my arms away from me keeping the heart formation with my hands and a beam went towards Saaya in the bubble still.
She then turned back to normal and her egg turned back to the white it once was before. She then blacked out. I jumped into the air and grabbed her before she could fall and set her on the ground.
"She can Open Heart?!" Amu yelled. "She is taking my job isn't she?!"
"I'm not taking anyone's job," I suddenly turned back into my uniform and Loretta was floating by me. "I don't even know what's happening."
"You've just become the Second Joker," Tadase smiled.
Note: Eve's character transform isn't the name of someone. It's like a winner but instead of using the word winner its victor, which makes it Victor's Breath.