"Gentle forest spirit?!" Todd said in disbelief, "That gentle forest spirit almost broke my ribs!"
Kero woke up and stretched. Kero floated up behind Kero and started reading what Todd was reading. Todd then said. "You know I hate it when you hover over my shoulder so cut it out."
Kero floats in front of Todd and looks down at what he was reading. "You're reading about the wood card huh? Kind of late for that, don't you think?"
"Todd? Are you talking to someone? I thought I heard you talking to someone in a funny voice..." Todd's Mom interrupted, from behind the curtain.
Todd gained a embarrassed, petrified look and then quickly said. "I was...thinking aloud!"
"What? Why was there a voice talking back?"
"It was the alarm clock Mom, they always having funny sounding voices. It may have sounded that way but it has nothing to do with what I said..." Todd hastily put together.
Todd got up from his bed area and poured himself some frosted flakes. He tasted them and gagged a little. He then went into the pantry and took some white sugar from the cupboard, he put three spoonfuls and stirred it in. He tasted it then and muttered. "That's a little less sugar then I'm used to, but oh well."
Todd's Mom sleepily got out of her curtained bed area and sighed. "Good morning, sweetie."
Todd then replied as he was chewing his ultra sugary cereal. "Morning Mom, I have a gym test today but it shouldn't be too tough. You have to jump over a vault and if you can't, you'll mess up your test. You get two chances but I'll only need one."
"That's nice, how are you doing in your other subjects?"
"Well, I'm doing awesome well in English...Not too bad in Math and Japanese...Not great in Music...but good in Social Studies. I'm great in Gym, I love it." Todd replied.
"That's great, I guess." Todd's Mom said. "You have school soon, are you ready?"
"Nope, but I always take time..." Todd replied as he went into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and hair and walked out. "How do I look?"
"Very handsome, Todd."
"I'm off, I may not come home today, I might go to Sakura's house."
"Have a good day, but be home for supper. Tonight I'm ordering pizza."
Todd strapped on his in line skates and skated to school. He saw Sakura wave to him and she asked. "What's up?"
"I caught a clow card on Saturday night. I caught the wood card." Todd replied.
"Really? How come you didn't tell us about it so we could come." Sakura asked, a little miffed. "You wanted to test yourself?"
"No...I had no idea that the clow card would strike at the Old guy's plant shop. I went back there to return the plant because it wasn't the right one. The card took the form of the blue blossomed plant that the guy got in but didn't know anything about. Wood was very difficult to capture." Todd replied, then pointed to his left ribs. "She got me with a root right here, It almost broke those ribs."
"That's awful, but I thought the Wood card was a gentle one." Sakura replied.
"We also thought Dash was a gentle one...we also thought fly was a gentle one also. I'm starting to think that all of the clow cards are violent little brutes." Todd commented, worried.
"Well, let's go inside..." Sakura said as she started walking towards the main building.
They walked into Ms. Mackenzie's room and sat in their usual spots. Li and Madison were already seated. Li was humming, he was in a good mood. Madison asked Todd. "Anything interesting happen to you since we went shopping?"
"Yeah, I caught a clow card."
Li and Madison instantly looked at Todd and Todd said. "It was in the Old Guy's Plant Shop. The card was the Wood card. I don't want to go into it though...it was actually quite terrible."
Li then thought about what Todd said and replied. "Wood is a gentle card though, I fail to see what was so terrible. It's an easy capture...Sakura caught it about the same time you did and it didn't do very much to her..."
"Yeah well Fly and Dash weren't days at the beach either, remember Li?"
"Well...they were pretty vicious...but you're hopeless too."
Todd then glared at him and growled. "Yeah well I haven't seen you capture any cards lately."
They both glared at each other and Madison and Sakura could almost see sparks flying between the two. Sakura then snapped. "Stop it, both of you...If Todd says that the capture was difficult, then it was difficult. We have captured all of the clow cards, Li. Todd has only captured four of them so lay off."
Ms. Mackenzie walked in and all clow thoughts were pushed aside as the lesson began. The lesson was boring and caused Todd's mind to wander. He thought of Li having no faith in him as a cardcaptor and thought of Sakura and how cute she'd look in a bikini. He thought of Madison's battle costumes and her videos. He also thought of Kero and what havoc he could be wreaking at home.
The bell rang for lunch and Sakura, Li and Madison went to their usual spot, Todd followed but got stopped by Jeremy. Jeremy then greeted. "Hey Todd, what's the haps?"
"Do you come up with a new greeting every time you want to talk to me?"
"Yep, I come up with them during social studies."
"You should actually pay attention, that way you'll get more then a sixty five on a test." Todd replied, knowingly.
"Say, do you know about the test on Gym? When is it?" Jeremy asked.
"It's today, didn't you know that?"
Jeremy went mystified and Todd looked at him weirdly. Jeremy then sauntered around Todd and asked. "I have a favor to ask of you Toddy."
"What?"
"I want you to say that I'm sick."
"Pardon me?" Todd asked. "I'm not going to do that."
"Rats, I'll just have to take the test and hope for the best." Jeremy groaned. "Are you sitting with those guys?"
"Yeah, sit with them now. Do you want to join me?"
"Naw, I've got other plans." Jeremy murmured.
"Okay... 'fess up Jeremy. Why won't you sit with my friends?" Todd asked as he blocked Jeremy's path. "Is it Li?"
"Naw, I just don't think I'm their type...well, later days..." Jeremy replied as he ran out the door.
Todd ran to their table. They greeted him and he sat down. Todd then ate his sandwich and asked Li. "Did you do something to Jeremy in the past? I think he's scared of you."
Li then stared at Todd, Todd's question caught him off guard. "No, why is he scared of me?"
"I think it's because you're bigger then him and you're aggressive. He's afraid of being pounded." Todd wondered. "It's just a guess..."
The bell sounded and everyone started to go inside. Tatea finished her lunch and started for the door. She stopped to look at the sky and went back into the school.
The class after was Gym. The Gym teacher then called attendance. Everyone then formed a line and the vaulting test began. Sakura said to Madison "Nervous?"
"I think I'll be okay, I never failed anything in my whole life. I don't intend to start now." Madison replied.
After Rita and Chelsie went through the test, it was Sakura's turn. Sakura did a running start and leaped over the vault. Sakura got up from the gym pad and Madison tried. Madison did the jump all right as well. Zackary went after and he went over with relative ease. Li decided to show off and upon jumping, he did a handstand while on the vault. He held it up for ten seconds before he sprung over to the other side. Todd then runs up to the vault and does a cartwheel over the vault and lands smoothly, showing off his talent. Tatea then went, she ran up to the vault and sprung up, she gripped the vault handle and did a somersault and landed smoothly. Everyone was impressed by Tatea's effort and applauded her. The only one left to do this event was Jeremy. Jeremy was so nervous that he was shaking. He took a deep breath and ran up to the vault. He tried to leap over the vault like Sakura, only to get stuck half way. All of the students chucked to themselves as Jeremy slunk back to his seat on the bench, embarrased. The teacher marked everyone who did it right the first time and walked up to Jeremy and said. "You can try it again at noon tomorrow."
Class was dismissed after school, and the four walked home together. Sakura said "You guys were great!"
Todd replied. "You also did awesome."
They all thought of Jeremy. They thought of his fear of Li and Todd said. "I wonder why Jeremy was so nervous. Perhaps it was because of you, Li."
Madison then joked. "Yeah, it was because of Li, the big nasty giant."
They all laughed and reached the turnoff. Todd then said. "I told my Mom I might go to your house today, so I'll come with you if you want." Todd thought about it and decided to go with Sakura, Madison and Li into Sakura's house.
Jeremy approached the turnoff after the gang had left. Jeremy was depressed but then saw something in an alley. The thing looked like a pink rabbit with a jagged tail. Jeremy followed the rabbit to a dead end. He noticed a pair of sneakers laying against the wall. Jeremy moved in closer and picked up the sneakers and checked them out. The sneakers looked brand new and there was a tag on them. The tag read jumpers and Jeremy was overjoyed. He put them on to notice that they were an exact fit. The lanky boy then ran a circle and noticed the nice spring to the run. Jeremy then tried to jump in them and with only a little effort, cleared three feet off the ground. "Wow, these are so cool. These must belong to someone.." but noticed no tread marks on the soles. He then jumped five feet up and said "Wow! These will definitely help me win the retest!" He put his old shoes in his backpack and ran home, running like he had springs attached to his feet.
Todd entered Sakura's house for the first time. He noticed Sakura's brother in the video arcade uniform and immediately Sakura asked. "New job? What's wrong with the old one?"
"The job sucked so I quit." Tori replied. "I'm thinking about babysitting, seeing that this new job is starting to look lame."
"You haven't even started working for this job yet!" Sakura replied, irritated.
"You wouldn't understand, Squirt." SIZE=+1>"Whatever..."
Sakura then turns to her guests and opened the fridge. "Time for pudding!"
Todd's backpack responded and Kero bursted out. "Pudding!"
"Kero!" Sakura cried. "I didn't know that you came with Todd."
"I was wondering why my banana disappeared..." Todd replied, looking at Kero suspiciously. "This little cretin eats like a pig."
"That's my Kero for you!" Sakura replied cheerily. "How are you, Kero?"
"It's terrible...he keeps me locked up in a closet all day and hardly ever feeds me. When he does, it's only crusts of bread and old water. He then tortures me when he comes home from school. It's barbaric the way he yells at me and hits me." Kero sniffed, acting in an almost (but not quite) realism.
Todd stares at him and gains a mystified look. Kero laughs and said. "Just kidding, I'm great. You?"
"I'm fine, but I miss being a cardcaptor. Lucky Toddie opened the clow book so I could see you again. I missed you." Sakura replied.
"Oh, speaking of which..." Li interrupted and asked Todd. "How were you able to open the clow book? I thought that only the worthy ones could open it with a single touch...?"
"Well..." Todd replied, scratching his head. "I didn't know how to open the seal. I tried prying it open and may have actually touched it with my hand while I was wiping my brow."
"So let me get this straight." Sakura replied, irritated. "You didn't try to open the seal with you hands...you just went to get that spear and pryed the book open with it...here we go again...trying to use brute strength the solve problems."
"How did you open it?" Todd asked intently.
"I simply touched it with my hands."
"Rats, if I had of known it was that easy, I would have done it."
Then stared at his watch and said. "Wait, it's time for me to go home. See you guys later."
Todd left Sakura's house and ran home to notice Jeremy on his way home. He was running and jumping around. Todd then ran over to him and stared as he performed somersaults in the air. Jeremy was leaping around and finally stopped to greet Todd. "Hey Todd, check this out." Jeremy then dashed to a fence and jumped clear over it. He jumped back and hopped to Todd and said. "Cool huh? I practiced for the retest! Everyone laughed at me when I messed up but I'll show them. Yee Hah!" He began leaping around, doing flips in the air.
Todd was astounded and stared at Jeremy as he did his leaping. Todd stepped back as Jeremy did a roundoff and three back hand springs. Todd then commented. "Excellent work Jeremy, I have to go home for supper...bye."
Todd rushed to the Kyoden parking lot and burst into the building. He then pressed the button for up and went inside the elevator. He listened to the elevator music and noticed the door open on the 2 mark of the gauge on the top of the elevator. Tatea stepped into the elevator. Todd then asked. "How was school today?"
"None of your business." She replied. "Why do you care anyway."
"I just wanted to make conversation..."
"Then talk to that stuffed toy that you keep in your backpack. You realize that keeping a stuffed animal in your pack makes you pathetic, right?" She growled.
She left the elevator and got off at the third floor. "I can't stand being around you."
"Oh like you're pleasant to be around..."
From behind the locked elevator door she calls out. "I heard that!"
Todd ate the takeout pizza and started reading the clow book that evening. Todd then turns the pages of the book. "There are more then fifty clow cards. I have serious work to do." Todd remarked.
"Right, the clow cards are still out there, five have been caught but there's still some left." Kero replied. "It's late,"
Todd then yawned and stretched. Todd went to sleep and woke up early the next morning. Todd got out of bed and looked at the cupboards. He thought about breakfast but ended up eating a pop tart while playing Monster Battle 2000x and thought about the day. The Gym retest was at noon that day but only Jeremy was doing it. Todd decided to pack up and go to school early, in hopes of discussing the clow cards and hopefully to learn more of what Sakura's likes and dislikes.
Kero, jumped into Todd's backpack and said. "Time to go to School! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
"You want to see Sakura don't you?"
"You want to see her too, right? I think you like her."
"I do not..."
"Liar!"
Todd then got dressed and flew out the window of his sleeping area and rode the drainpipe like a fireman's pole to the ground. He skated to school and noticed Sakura was not there.
"Oh man! Sakura is not here." Todd complained. "Guess, I'll talk to Li...he's always here at the crack of dawn."
Todd was bored out of his head from listening to Li's long winded explanations of what the clow cards meant. Todd noticed Sakura running up to Todd saying. "You'd better come quick, Jeremy is bouncing out of control!"
Todd and Li run after Sakura to see that Jeremy is leaping around. Todd then asks "Hey! Jeremy! What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm jumping around! Can you please stop me?"
"Why can't you stop yourself? You looked pretty cool yesterday..."
"I can't get these sneakers off my feet! I got into them this morning and I started bouncing uncontrollably!" I leaped out of my house and started bounding more then ten feet high and...ouch!" Jeremy cried out as he hit a tree branch with his head.
"Okay, Jeremy we're going to have to get you to crash into us..." Todd replied.
"What?" Sakura gasped.
"You crazy?" Li stammered.
"Trust me on this, we'll catch him and try to get those shoes off." Todd said as he got the others to prepare themselves for a gift from above.
Jeremy then jumped up and spread himself out. The others caught him and then tried to wrestle the shoes off the feet. Todd and Li tried to take the shoes off of Jeremy's feet. Jeremy kicked Todd away from him, knocking Todd back some distance.
"Ow! You aren't helping, Jeremy!" Todd shouted angrily.
"Think I'm doing this on purpose?" Jeremy asked and then started grasping his own leg to keep it from kicking up. "Help me out!"
Todd then leapt back to Jeremy's feet. They all started to jerk at Jeremy's feet and almost got the shoes off when Ms. Mackenzie walked out. Ms. Mackenzie stared at Sakura, Li and Todd trying insanely to get Jeremy's sneakers off. Ms. Mackenzie ran out shouting. "Sakura, Li, Todd...what are you doing? Leave Jeremy's shoes alone!"
"It's all right teach'...they're actually helping me out." Jeremy replied.
"What?" She asked, totally Mystified at what Jeremy said.
"Okay guys, a little more and we can throw these demon shoes in the garbage." Jeremy cried. "Heave ho, heave ho!"
"Demon shoes? I'm going back inside...the games these kids think of nowadays..." She chuckled and walked back into the school.
"Okay...there!!" They all cried as they pried the shoes off Jeremy's feet. They threw the shoes over to the wall and Jeremy got up. Jeremy joked. "Got any sandals?"
They all cupped their faces into their hands and screamed into them, because of Jeremy's joke. Jeremy then pointed to the shoes lying on the ground and cried. "Whoa! Watch out! The shoes are going berserk!"
The shoes did a leaping attack that slammed Sakura the face, but she protected it with her arms. The shock sent her to the ground. The shoes then leapt to the ground and scraped up some dirt. The shoes then leapt at Li but he caught them and shoved them into his backpack. The shoes began leaping while inside, but Li held them down. Li then shouted to the rest of the gang. "Let's go somewhere secluded to deal with these shoes!"
As the rest ran off to a quieter place, Todd stayed and asked Jeremy. "Are you all right?"
Jeremy dug into the backpack and got out his old shoes. He put them on and smiled. "I always pack a spare pair..."
"Jeremy, you amaze me sometimes..." Todd replied as he ran off after the others.
As Todd was running off Jeremy called after him. "Be Careful Todd...those shoes mean business. Now...why were they doing that? I guess the person who said "there's no such thing as a free lunch" must be onto something..."
Todd, Li and Sakura raced to the park where there was no one around. The sneakers stopped leaping in Li's backpack and gained a different feel to them. The kids then set the bag down and stepped away. Todd then tells them. "I think this is a clow card."
Kero busted out of Todd's backpack and shouted. "All right! This is the Jump card!"
Todd took his pocket spear out and chanted. "Spear of Todd...power of magic..." The spear then flashed and glowed in a little orb of light. "Power of light...surrender the staff...the force ignite...release!" The spear then began spinning in the orb of light and as it span, the orb got bigger and bursted to reveal the spear at full size. "Okay, Li...pull the zipper..."
Li pulled the zipper and a little pink meatball with scraggly ears and a jagged tail jumped up and jumped around the bag, it perched on the backpack and stared Todd in the face.
Todd stared back and thought for a second and finally said... "Whoa! That has to be the ugliest rabbit I've ever seen!"
Jump then glared at Todd and leaped at him. Jump struck Todd in the chest, causing him to tumble backward. Jump jumped up thirty feet and landed on Li, causing him to crash to the ground. Jump jumped backward and chuckled to itself.
Todd got up and positioned his spear and chanted "Return to your power confined...hey!" Jump leaped over Todd and started to hop away.
"Come back here you little cretin!" Todd snapped as he gave chase. Todd raced after the Jump card as he went over the foothills...down the penguin slide and through the patches of garden, messing up all the flowers. "You won't get away so easily!!"
Todd threw windy up and slammed it with his spear head. "Windy...release and dispel. Help me capture this little monster before he makes me a nervous wreck!" The card changed into a cloud of glowing energy and the cloud swirled into Windy's shape. Windy then raced after Jump and tried to bind it. Jump leaped up, avoiding Windy and finally landing on Windy's face. Windy crashed to the ground. Windy got up and tried again, only to narrowly miss Jump each time. Jump then turned and Leapt at Windy again, smashing her face with Jump's big feet. Windy crashes to the ground. Todd sees this display and growls. "This card is such a pain! Okay... new plan..." Todd turned to Sakura and replied. "Come on, how did you catch this thing?"
"I used Wood...actually this scene is pretty deja vu..."
"Okey dokey...Windy return to your power confined." He commanded as he resealed Windy. "Now Wood...it's time to shine...Wood card! Release and dispel, trap Jump with a set of vines. The card then glowed green as Todd impaled it and the card turned into a mess of vines with Wood in the center. Wood burst out and followed Jump to a small clearing. Wood then raised her arm to cause a barrage of vines to conceal and trap Jump by creating a sphere of wood vines and tree brush. Jump hit the roof of the vine ceiling and fell flat in its back.
"Return to your power confined...Jump Card!" Todd commanded as he thrust his spear upward.A glowing clow card silhouette appeared under Jump. Jump then broke into a mess of light beams, each filtering into the card shape on the ground. The card then shrunk to normal clow card size and floated up to Todd, picture of jump on the card's face. Todd then grabbed the card and peered at it.
The vine sphere disappeared as Wood turned into normal card mode. Li and Sakura ran up to Todd. Sakura then complimented. "Well done, Todd. You captured the Jump card. It's really useful and it got me out of many a jam."
"Awesome work Todd!" Kero replied cheerily. "You're getting a knack for this!"
Todd turned to Li and Li turned away. "Hopeless...you were all over the place. I certainly hope that your next capture is more organized."
"That was easy!" Todd said proudly. "Despite what you said, I think I'm improving."
"You'd better. You have plenty of room for improvement." Li replied as he ran off. "We'd better go, we're late for school!"
Todd and Sakura then ran back to school. They didn't know that they were being watched by Miiko. Miiko then looked towards the Kyoden manor across from the lake. He finally said to himself. "So, Keroberos is here too. He must see something in this Todd kid..." He looked up. "This affair is only beginning...I must report this to my master..." He flew off back to the Kyoden manor.
Todd, Sakura and Li ran into the class while Ms. Mackenzie was writing something down on the chalkboard. She looked at them and smiled warmly. "Welcome to my class guys...why were you late?"
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you anyway..." Todd grimaced.
"I won't punish you, I'll let you off with a warning. Jeremy told me that you were late because you were helping him." She Replied.
They sat down at their usual spots. Madison greeted Sakura when she sat down. "Good morning oh late one..."
"We were late because we were capturing the Jump card. Sorry for not telling you...but you weren't here." Sakura replied.
"I also missed wood...oh well, I'll get a head start on the next one...I've begun thinking of new battle costumes for Todd."
Everyone quieted down as Ms. Mackenzie began her lesson. She handed back the spelling tests that they did before. Sakura got an 88, Li got a 92, Madison got a 84 and Todd got a 72. The class was over for lunch and Todd, Li, and Madison headed for lunch. Todd was once again stopped by Jeremy. "Hey Toddo...I'm going to do the retest now, do you want to come with?"
"Sure...I'm going to bring my friends. Do you mind?"
"Uh oh...I now have an audience..."
"Don't worry, I think you'll do fine. I'll bet that my friends will think so too!"
Jeremy then stared at Todd. Todd smiled back and Jeremy finally said. "...Thanks Todd! I'll do my best."
They all met at the gym and the gym teacher smiled. "You came, Jeremy."
"Yeah, I want to give the vault another shot."
The equipment was set up and Jeremy was standing at the beginning of the run area. He stared at the group.
"Go for it!" Todd shouted.
"You can do it!" Sakura shouted.
"You can achieve it if you put your mind to it!" Li shouted.
"Concentrate!" Madison shouted.
"All right..." Jeremy gulped and started running. He sprung up and jumped over the vault. Landing on his butt on the matt. They all rushed to him and said. "Good work, You did it!"
"Thanks Todd." Jeremy replied.
"No Problem." Todd said as Jeremy ran off, happy.
"Do you think it was the jump card?" Sakura asked.
"No..." Todd replied, smiling.
Tori walked in and sat on the couch. Todd was still talking with Sakura. "Tori's here. Was that the only reason you called me?"
"No, Chelsea invited both of us to a party..."
"That's good, are you going?"
"Chelsea wants me to go with you."
Todd then rolled his eyes and blushed. "Yeah so? You want to go with me? I'd love to."
"That's great, the party starts at six tomorrow. Can I need to see you after school too, it's about the clow cards."
"Sure. Li should come over too and we'll discuss the you-know-whats, bye. *Click*"
Todd then blushed and turned to Tori. Tori took one look at Todd and said. "Got a thing for my sister, squirt ?"
"No...She asked me to a party." Todd replied, blushing.
Tori smiled. "That's how it starts."
* * *
The News reporter evened his papers as he sat in his desk. "In other news...tests from the Reidenton reservoir have come back unsatisfactory. The water has yielded traces of bacteria, and a boil order has been issued for the town. Next, time for sports! Starting with baseball!"
"A boil order?" Todd asked. "Well, I guess tap water is out of a question for the next few days..."
Sakura then thought to herself. She then stated. "I drank water yesterday and I'm fine...I wonder why the reservoir is polluted now...?"
* * *
Todd bent over to notice the crystal clear water. "This water is quiet...a little too quiet and clean..." Todd picked up some water in his hands. "This is not the same...this is not normal water!" He began to shout as the water in his hands sloshed up in Todd's hands and leaped back into the water. The water itself began to swirl and spiral upward. The water then lunged at Todd and grabbed him. The water then plunged him into the pool and tried to keep him down. Sakaura and Li gasped as they realized that the water was trying to drown Todd. Todd struggled up from the water and shouted. "Whoa! The water is all the clow card! Hey!"