" Hey! Who were you talking to? I don't want to be late for school again because of you." Jeremy shouted angrily, tapping his toes.
"all right, all right!" Todd snapped back, "Let's go!"
Todd whipped out his roller blades and bladed to school. Things haven't changed since June of the last school year. The kids were still bickering over who is "it" on the playground, the teachers and their startlingly pleasant moods and Mrs. Grotesqure and her cafeteria lunches served with just the right amount of muskrat. Todd then remembered his class mates...back at his old school. Todd was a new student but the school was pretty much the same there as it is here. "Now...which class am I in?" Todd wondered as he approached the school. Todd wondered what it would be like here, will his classmates like him? Will he fit in? Was there really a melted chocolate bar in his jacket? Apparently there was and Todd wretched in disgust. He started running to a washroom where he could wash out his now ruined pocket. On the way he bumped into Sakura and she said "Watch where you're going! Hey, aren't you Todd?"
"Oh great, I'm already famous..." Todd grumbled. "I wonder what I did wrong?"
"Nothing..." Sakura replied, then gained a mystified look at Todd. "Why? Did you do something?"
"Nope, but I'm sure I'll do something stupid in the future."
"Oh, don't talk like that..."
"What?"
Sakura gave him a puzzled look and Li caught up to her, out of breath.
"Sakura, wait up! Hey, who are you." Li asked Todd with a hint of disapproval in his voice.
Todd took a look at Sakura, then took a look at Li. Todd then begin thinking and finally gave them both a warm smile. "You guys are in..." He said knowingly, trailing off. "Well, I must go to my class list now. See you guys later."
Todd ran off and Sakura gave a smile in his direction. Li however, glared at Todd. Todd walked into the classroom and said "This must be it, Ms. Mackenzie's room." He noticed a familiar voice. Sakura was waving at him and Todd sat in the desk in front of her.
"Welcome to Ms. Mackenzie's room." Sakura said warmly. "I didn't know you were going to be in my class..."
"Well, that makes me a lucky guy then..." He mused to himself.
"What did you say?" Sakura asked quickly.
"Nothing!"
"Really?"
Madison entered the bright class room and sauntered to her desk, sitting right beside Sakura, as always. "You new?"
"Sure, I moved here from California on exchange." Todd stared at Madison which caused her to blink and stare back.
Zachary walked up with his usual cheerful expression and leaned on Todd's desk. "It's customary for all new people to get the honor jobs, like cleaning the erasers. Come, I'll get you acquainted with the black board."
"Hey!!" Called a familiar voice, Chelsea ran up to Zachary and gave an apologetic bow to Todd and told him. "Zachary likes to tell tall tales..." She grabbed Zachary by the ear and lead him away. "Sorry again!"
Li walked into the room and instantly looked at Todd and gave a tiny look of jealousy. Then walked up to Todd and said in a slightly arrogant way "It's needed that you clean up the erasers."
"Heh, that girl over there told me it's just a fib that Zachary makes up." He said frankly as he pointed in Chelsea's direction. He smiled behind Li's back as he sat behind Sakura.
Ms. Mackenzie walked into the room and called attendance. The lesson began with a 600 word essay on what you did on the summer vacation. Then she told the class that there will be a trip to the university where Sakura's Dad works to get a history lesson on the library. She got up and opened the door so the students could escape the classroom to the outside world. The bus was ready for them when they got to the front courtyard. The kids piled into the bus with Li and Sakura sitting in one seat and Jeremy and Todd in the back of the bus.
"Lots of cute girls here eh?" Jeremy joked as he started poking Todd in the ribs.
"Yeah, like..." Todd trailed off, blushing.
"You aren't going to tell me?" Jeremy asked, acting as though he had been horribly insulted.
"Nope, you stole the last girlfriend I had..." Todd replied bitterly. "I'm not going to tell you who I like."
"Oh well, I'll try my luck with...Sakura!" He said maliciously.
"You wouldn't!" Todd snapped, and then slapped his forehead, realizing what he just did.
"You like Sakura don't you? I can tell...too bad she's already hooked up with Li." Jeremy said with a great fake sadness.
"That isn't 100% accurate..." Todd sighed.
"Are you joking? It's sooo obvious that Li is crazy about her."
"But is Sakura crazy about Li?"
"I'm not exactly sure..."
"So I do have a chance."
"Well, I wouldn't go that far."
The bus jerked and the brakes heaved an exasperated sigh. The bus came to a complete stop and the students hopped off the bus and looked around the vast university grounds. Todd looked around in amazement at the brick buildings and thought of them as ancient shrines of knowledge. Todd and the others went into the main building to hear Mr. Avalon's lecture on the library's history.
"Psst...Todd, this looks majorly boring, so let's sneak off." Jeremy hissed in Todd's ear.
"I don't know..." Todd murmured.
"Come on, it'll be worlds better then that dumb lecture." Jeremy murmured.
"Well, okay. We'll meet up with the others toward the lecture's end." Todd replied.
The students followed the university hand to the main area with Todd and Jeremy trailing behind, waiting for the right moment. The walk was actually quite dusty and full of cobwebs. Books hung on the edge of the shelves waiting to be touched, even slightly, so they would leap off and create a horrible mess. The globes that rested on the ancient shelves were ridiculously out of date. The student crowd passed hundreds of old parchment papers that would seriously make excellent kindling. Todd and Jeremy were anxiously waiting to escape the boring and dusty lecture by Mr. Avalon.
"Hey Sakura, isn't this where you hid the Clow Book?" Madison asked Sakura.
"I hid the book in the deepest part of the library, under a pile of books so it would never be disturbed again. I'll bet Kero is having a wonderful sleep, now that I caught all the Clow Cards." Sakura said with pride.
"I'll bet Kero misses you and your puddings..." Madison replied narrowing her eyes to the floor. "We'll always have my movies that I made of you catching clow cards, it's been...a year since we've gone card hunting..."
"I know..." Sakura replied, now very depressed. "I wonder what Kero would say to me now...hey, where did Todd and his friend go? They were just here...a moment ago."
Sakura and Madison began looking around for them. They had no luck though as they stared down the dark corridors of the library. They then spun around to notice their group was absent.
"Hey, you don't suppose...that the two left the group to explore the library, do you?" Madison asked, a little worried.
"That's a fair assumption Madison...let's go find them."
"But we could get lost!"
"This is a huge library and each room looks the same, they actually could be lost for hours...maybe even days!" Sakura mentioned, worried. "Besides, I know the library pretty well, so don't worry."
Todd and Jeremy checked around the dusty rooms and took the stairs down to the basement. Todd checked out the ancient artifacts. "This place is spooky...like an old ghost house."
Jeremy made an annoyed face. "You scaredy cat..."
They heard a sound, a sound like shuffling and scurrying. "What was that? A rat?" Todd wondered and continued down the gloomy hallway. They noticed piles of books everywhere. Todd also noticed a red and gold rimmed book under all the junk. They heard another sound, like hissing and screeching. Little did Jeremy know is that he had stumbled into a nest of bats. The bats screeched and started flying about in every direction,
"Aaagghhh!! Bats! Get them away, they'll attack me! Suck out my blood! They'll turn me into a zombie!!" Jeremy screamed and ran clear upstairs and into the wall crashing and burning. The crash caused an avalanche of old building materials to cover the door into the room.
"...You are the one who is the scaredy cat...the bats here can't hurt you!" Todd said to the exit of the room which is now leaden with chunks of doorway and drywall. "Now...what's this book about?" He asked to himself as he began playing with the seal. "Inscribed...C...L...O...W...? What's Clow mean, maybe it explains it in this book..." There was no apparent way to break the seal without something to pry the book open with. Todd then espied a spear hanging on the wall. "That'll do." Todd took the spear from the arrangement and began to pry the book open, using the spear like a crowbar.
Madison and Sakura were walking down a hallway when they were confronted by a terrified Jeremy. They blocked his path.
"Where are you going? Where is Todd?" Sakura interrogated.
"Uh..Um..Maybe with the vampire bats.." Jeremy panted.
"Vampire bats?" Madison asked with a confused look. "Where is Todd?"
"He's downstairs, I'll lead the way..."
They walked to a stair case that was covered with junk and building garbage. They trudged down the steps to a door that was blocked by junk. "Through here?" Sakura demanded.
"Y-Yeah" Jeremy stammered.
Madison began whispering in Sakura's ear. "Isn't this where you hid the Clow Book and the Clow Cards."
Sakura turned white. Jeremy asked what was wrong but Sakura silenced him. Sakura began maniacally kicking the door to get it open. "Help me Madison, he may open the you-know-what..."
Madison nodded and both began ramming the door.
Todd almost got the seal open, he removed the spear and whacked the book three times.
"Don't tell me he's hitting the book with something." Sakura griped as they rammed the door. "All right! The door is starting to give."
Inside the room, Todd jammed the spear into the seal and started opening it up. Just then, Sakura and Madison burst into the room just as the seal on the Clow Book broke. Todd opens the book and finds a key inside. "So the key was locked inside the book huh? Boy the person who locked this book up really didn't want anybody opening it huh?"
Todd took a card from the book and examined it. Sakura was nearly in tears, when Todd read the name "Windy" on the card. He then said "Hey! These things are like tarot cards."
Sakura was silently chanting to herself "Please don't say 'windy release and dispel'...please don't say 'windy release and dispel...please don't say 'windy release and dispel."
Todd interrupted Sakura and said. "What? Windy release and dispel? Was that what you were saying?" Suddenly the card flashed and created a powerful wind and all the Clow Cards shot through the roof, blown to a window and shot into the sky, fifty one cards in a short second, were released into their forms and flew into the sky.
Sakura then said to Todd. "You have a lot of work to do now...but I'll help you capture those cards that you so thoughtlessly released... ... ..." Emphases on the word thoughtlessly.
"... ... oops ... ..." Todd murmured.
A burst of light escaped the Clow Book and so rose a tiny figure which looked like a winged lion-teddy bear like creature. The creature let out a mighty little yawn and opened his eyes to reveal Sakura in front of him and said sleepily "...hey kid... ... ..."
"Kero!" Sakura shouted happily and rushed to squeeze him. "You are back to your little form..."
"That's because someone has released all the Clow cards into the world again...was that you?" Keroberos asked. "I feel so weak..."
"Sorry sir or madam or...thing." Todd murmured "I released the Cloud Cards by accident."
"First off, they're called Clow Cards and second, I don't think you were allowed in this area of the library." Kero said. "You released me and the spirits though..."
"Spirits? I don't believe in magic though!"
"You aren't making this much easier..." Kero interrupted. "This is powerful magic that you've unleashed. So you must take me home with you so you can learn about the secrets of the Clow."
"Aww man, first a 600 word essay on the summer and now this!" Todd complained bitterly. "Okay Keropolus..."
"My name is Keroberos...Kee...Row...Bee...Row...SSS!"
"Whatever...let's get out of this dump." Todd said as he hurried for the door.
"You seem to be forgetting...the clow book?"
"I have to lug that thing home?"
"Sure."
Todd put the book in his backpack and noticed that the spear he used was now pocket sized. Thinking profusely, he turned around to ask what happened.
"You didn't touch the sealing wand when you released the Clow Spirits, so the spear you used will be your sealing weapon. That's actually a good choice because you can ride it like a broomstick when you use the 'fly' card." Sakura said.
"'Fly' card?"
Todd and his friends have left the building only to see the students pile onto the bus. The others quickly got into the bus before it left for the school. The bus eased into the plaza and the students went back into the school, only to realize that it is 3:02 pm. Everyone was let out early that day as the students of this school leave at 3:10 pm.
Sakura and Madison caught up to Todd as he was sauntering home, thinking about the task that was bestowed upon him. "Well, I guess we are now friends. We'll have to be, since you are now a card captor." Sakura said.
"That won't be so bad, after all it's always good to be friends with a pretty girl." Todd said and blushed.
"You think I'm pretty?" Sakura asked, flattered.
"Sure, but that doesn't mean I like you...in that sense...or...uh." Todd began jabbering, but Sakura looked at him strangely and that silenced him.
As Sakura and Todd walked home, Madison ambushed them. Madison was wielding her outspoken little camera and saying. "Are you guys an item? What about Li? Don't you think he'll be jealous? Do you think you'll look good in this?" She handed Todd a small picture of his first battle costume.
Todd looked at it and went into a look of aberrance. "What is it?"
"No... no Madison, not him. I may have liked those battle costumes but he's a boy! Boys don't...go for this sort of thing." Sakura said in an annoyed voice.
Todd, Sakura and Madison all reached the Kyodon Manor where Todd's apartment is. They entered the elevator and they reached the top floor. Madison and Sakura look in amazement at Todd's beautiful apartment.
The whole thing was open as a single room, very large with curtains dividing the sleeping areas. There were two, one for Todd and one for his Mother, Arcana. The kitchen was open as well with crystal cupboards and pristine counters. The Bathroom is the only walled room in the apartment, and has a beautiful whirlpool in the back area. The large entertainment system in the living room area complemented the leather furniture and the marble coffee table.
"Now this is what I call an apartment with panache!" Madison complimented.
"Wow..." Sakura said in almost an amazed whisper.
"It's decorated by my mom, she's nice but a bit of a materialist. At least she gets me the best games..." Todd added.
"Games?!" Said a voice from his backpack. "What kind of games?"
"Monster Battle 2000 X and..." Todd got interrupted by Kero who busted out of his back pack, and loaded up the game.
"Woo hoo! Last I heard, this game was still in development!" Kero shouted happily.
"Where is your mom?" Sakura asked.
"Off doing an environmental case. She's a lawyer, one who does cases involving the environment and stuff." Todd replied. "She mostly does big anti pollution cases. She is often gone for months."
"Who stays here with you?"
"A new guy that mom hired to keep me under raps, his name is Julian." Todd replied.
"The same Julian who..." Sakura said before Todd interrupted.
"He's teen young but has hair that's like, grey. He also cooks like you wouldn't believe." Todd replies unemotionally. "He's a great guy."
"That's my Julian." Sakura smiles, "I'll bet he eats like you wouldn't believe as well."
"Yeah, he needs to go shopping again."
"Anyway..." Sakura said "The Clow Cards, they are spirits whom Clow Reed created as a new form of magic thousands of years ago. Li is a descendant from Clow Reed, and often boasts it to me. He probably will to you once he finds out that you released the clow cards, that is, once he beats you to a pulp for releasing them."
"He's gonna be mad isn't he?"
"Steamed..."
Madison was snooping around in the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator, noticing it was nearly empty. There was only orange juice left as a drink.
"Can I have some orange juice?"
Todd walked up to Madison and said, "Sure thing, but that's all we have left. Julian is going shopping and will be home any minute. Oh! Kero, you'll have to keep a low profile while you're here."
"Julian knows about me."
"Huh?"
"Kero was Sakura's until she caught all the clow cards, Julian is also known as Yue, the ultimate tester for magic ability." Madison cheerfully said while sipping her orange juice.
"Am I going to be tested?"
"Probably not by Julian, I don't know who's going to test you." Sakura replied, thinking about what Todd said. "Anyway, you don't need to worry about that right now, he won't test you for awhile."
Kero saved his game and flew into Todd's backpack and lugged out the clow book. Kero then opened it to the front pages. "You'd better start reading, find out a little bit about the clow cards and their weaknesses. I'll help you out as well."
"Thanks."
"Don't worry."
Madison looked at her watch and it read 4:39 PM. She then picked up her school stuff and headed for the door. "I've got to go prepare your battle costume, see you later."
"Do I actually have to wear a battle costume."
"No, but I think that outfit will look cute on you!" She said, laughing. "This helps Madison, I think she also likes you."
"No way."
Sakura stared at her watch and gasped, "Whoa! I gotta go home to eat! Dad'll kill me for being late again!" Sakura rushed to the door, "I'll tell Li what you did and he'll help you also."
"That's a lot better then killing me."
"Oho, I haven't told him. So watch out."
Sakura left and Todd went to work on his essay. Julian came into the apartment with his arms full of groceries. Julian looked at the clow book and said, "Hey Todd, become a card captor? Sakura was one..."
"Yeah, I'm a card captor, but not by choice..."
"Oh?" Julian asked as he began unloading his groceries. He put each food item in its special little spot. Then his whipped out what was necessary. A pot, some vegetables, some lean beef and some onions. "I'm going to make stir fry."
"Are you known also as Yue? Sakura and Kero told me..."
"Yeah, but I probably won't be testing you. I did know that the spirits were released again though, I saw an odd looking Cat on my way home. It looked like the dash card but at that time, I didn't think it was a clow spirit..."
The meat and the vegetables were already sizzling with the aid of the spices that added extra flavor and smell to the dish. Within about 10 minutes, the food was ready to eat. Julian added extra everything, as usual.
"What is the dash card? Is it dangerous?"
"No, and that's why you can eat a nice supper with me!" Julian cheerfully replied as he set the table, putting the dishes on in the perfect locations for them. "After you do your homework, you can fight it."
Todd gained a sarcastic and mystified look and asked. "So some cards will wait for you to do your homework huh?"
"You actually should fight it. What do you have for homework?"
"600 word essay on what I did during the summer. It's not due tomorrow though, so I'll do it later." Todd replied while eating some beef.
"It'll be okay. Kero, why don't you show him the ropes of card hunting, after you two eat some dessert." Julian asked with his infinite pleasantness.
"Sure! I never pass up food."
They ate some delicious pudding and called Sakura on phone.
"Me, Madison and Li are coming over, I talked to Li and Li got very excited that the clow cards were released. This gives him an excuse to not go back home to Hong Kong to marry Meilin, I'm happy too, this will be a great experience for us all. Bye." With a click, the phone hung up and Todd waited about five minutes for Sakura and Madison to arrive. Madison had Todd's costume ready. It was a blue vest with white parachute pants and a metal hard hat like hat with white bird wings on the sides and a lightning bolt stamped on the front.
'This looks really stupid' Todd thought. 'But If I wear this, maybe Sakura will like me more.'
Todd put the clothes on and Madison whipped out her video camera. Todd strutted out and posed, model style, and said. "I don't know whether to fight a clow card or become an M-C hammer impersonator."
Sakura and Madison laughed and got their gear together. "Li said that he would be at the park, where he's been following the dash card."
The three made it to the park at the twilight time. The park was smaller, but still had it's charm. The penguin statue has been replaced, since the power card. The grass had been recently re-sodded, because of cinch bugs. The trees still looked good and had nice healthy leaves. Little has changed, except some park land was lost to the zoo when it expanded.
The dash card was grooming itself on the top of the penguin statue. Li, dressed in his traditional green and golden robes, walked up to Todd and pointed at the Dash Card. "That's the dash card, I had to race it in order to get it. Do you know the neighborhood yet?"
"Sure, I've been walking around and finding shortcuts."
"Good, then you'll have an advantage."
The dash card looked in their direction, and jumped off the slide and slunk up to them. Todd then spoke to the clow card and stated "Let's have a race. If I win, I will confine you."
"Force...know my plight...release the light!" At that, Li released his sword and drew a line in the dirt. "Will both contestants please stand at the line. Each will race around the block. And who ever gets to the line again, wins." Li raised his sword to the sky and shouted. "Force...know my plight...release the light...lightning!" Li shot a bolt of lightning into the sky, starting the race.
Todd, bladed ahead of the Dash card but Dash speeded up to Todd. Dash started biting Todd on the ankles. Todd cried out and kicked it, and Dash speeded ahead. Todd skated like a madman up to Dash, but Dash stopped and lunged at Todd and Todd tried to smack it to a side.
"This is strange behavior for the dash card. I've never seen it act this violent." Li said with worry. "I hope Todd knows what he's doing!"
Todd threw dash ahead and bladed to what looked like a metal fence. The others shielded their eyes, thinking that Todd will crash. Todd put his hand up, lifting the fence up like a valve. He bladed a hypotenuse that got him ahead of Dash, but was screeching toward a parked car. The three shielded their eyes again, thinking Todd will crash but with a daring leap, he flipped his whole body by supporting his weight by his hands and sprung himself over the car.
"Wow, you should take some lessons Sakura!" Madison said cheerfully. "I've got the jump on tape!"
Dash was far behind, Todd bladed as fast as he can, and reached the third part of the block, almost out of breath. Todd gained a happy aura as he cheered "I'll win, I'll win, I'll..." Todd tripped over a broken piece of concrete, and fell flat on his face. Todd watched Dash saunter past him and Todd leaped up and bladed feverishly to catch up to Dash. Dash stopped and lunged at Todd again but missed him slightly, allowing Todd a fatal advantage in the race. Todd crossed the finish line, and smirked at Dash, whom just crossed after him.
"Woo Hoo! I win! Now honor your part of the bargain...how do I confine this?"
"Well, what worked for me was: "Return to your Power Confined." It might work for you." Sakura replied warmly.
"Okey dokey, return to your power confined ... dash card." Todd said as he position his spear to receive a clow card.
With a swirl of light and mist, a glowing clow card appeared on the point of Todd's spear, then Dash broke into a swirl of ropey energy and filtered into the card on the Spear. The picture formed and the card slipped into Todd's hand.
"A clow card..." Todd whispered in awe.
"Good Work! You definitely have potential to be a great card captor." Kero said proudly.
"...hopeless." Li murmured as he ambled off.
"Thanks! I'm so happy you think I'm great!" Todd sarcastically yelled at Li.
That night, Todd has a dream that he's on the top of a building dressed in a white suit with a white cape, topped with a plumed white hat. Kero was floating close by, and they were staring at the radio tower. There was a figure at the top, staring back at them. The figure flew off of the radio tower to meet Todd and Kero.
"Who are you? What do you look like? All I see is a silhouette." Todd asked in a dreamy sort of way.
"You'll find out later, but more importantly...the clow cards." The figure replied dreamily. "I'll show you my form when you catch 10 clow spirits."
"Five clow cards? Why...?"
Just then, Ms. Mackenzie walked into the room with her usual cheery
expression.
She calmly sat in her desk and called attendance. She then announced.
"We have a
new student in our class, please welcome...Tatea Nightshade."
Tatea walked in and instantly stared at Todd. Todd then leaned toward
Sakura and
asked. "Do I have a weird piece of food in my face? 'Cause she's staring
at me."
* * *
"I noticed something weird today... the kids didn't have any shadows.
I know there
is very little shadow at noon but today I noticed that no one had any
shadows at
all." Todd commented, worried. "Now, is this a clow card?"
"...unfortunately, it is." Kero murmured quietly. "This is the Shadow
Card. The
Shadow Card is very strong, I'm not sure you are ready to tackle it..."
* * *
From a distance, you hear a chant. "Force...know my plight...I don't
wanna
fight...but evil doesn't care...emerald flare." Out of the distance
a glowing emerald
shuriken flew towards the monsters and landed in the middle, exploding
into a
emerald energy surge that engulfs the demons advancing on Todd and
Li.
* * *
The Masked Stranger walked up to Todd and stated. "You did quite well...for
a
novice."
"Novice?! Who do you think you are?" Todd snapped. "I caught a card already!"
"I've been studying magic for a long time. I know more about the clow
cards then
nearly anyone." The Stranger continued. "I went to sorcerer's school
in Hong
Kong." The Figure then ran off into the dark night.
Todd stared in the Figure's direction and said. "I have a rival now...?"