"Okay," Lance said, and he unclasped the locked and opened it. Inside was a deck of cards, face down.
The back of the cards had the same design as the book cover, except it had a golden boarder and a six-pointed star in each corner. The rest was red, with a brown circle in the center, inside the brown circle was a yellow circle, with a golden sun in it. Surrounding the brown circle were the rays of a many pointed star. Around the star's rays were two golden circles, the closest circle to the star was the thickest. The lower right side of the brown circle had a golden circle with a crescent moon on the upper right side inside of it. Before anyone could say, "Who'd put a deck of cards in a book?" the top card began to quiver and move, as if it was alive. Suddenly, the cards jolted out of the book! The blast from the cards forced Lance to drop the book as he was pushed back by the flying cards as they left the book. The other guys were pushed to the ground, as the cards flew around them. Lance felt a stinging sensation in his heart, as the cards circled around. Suddenly the cards zipped outside, through the walls and windows, as the book closed itself shut.
'N Sync was still in shock as they got up, and came closer to the book. As they regrouped near the book, they looked at each other in wonder. Before anyone could ask anything, the book glowed, the cover shimmered and rippled like water. Soon a strange creature floated from the center of the ripples and up to them. As the creature reached their eye level, the book and the creature stopped glowing and the guys saw what the creature looked like. It was small, about the size of a typical doll and looked a cross between a bear cub and a lion cub. It was golden-yellow in color, and had a tuff of white fur on the tip of it's long tail. It also had a pair of small white wings, and a tiny black nose. It's eyes were closed, and it's head was drooped down, like it was sleeping. Soon the creature began to stir and lifted it's head. It blinked opened it's bright black eyes and then it yawned. It then stared at 'N Sync.
"Good afternoon," the creature said, in a friendly tone. The guys stared at each other and then at the creature.
"Hi," Lance said, softly. The creature began examining itself.
"Uh-oh," it said, in a voice that sounded like a teenage boy, and flew down to the book. He opened it and looked in. "This is a problem." The creature looked up at 'N Sync. "I don't suppose you've seen any cards around here, have you?" he asked them.
"Well, yeah, they flew around here and then they left," Joey said, a little nervously.
"Did you see where they went?" the creature asked, closing the book.
"No, sorry," Chris said.
"This is a problem," the creature said, and began to pace around on two feet. He then flew up to their level, and looked at them and smiled.
"I'm sorry, allow me to introduce myself," he said, and bowed to them. "My name Kero, well you can call me that in this form."
"What do you mean by that?" Chris asked.
"Who are you anyway?" J. C. asked.
"What's the deal with the cards?" Joey asked.
"Why are they so inportant?" Justin asked.
"How do you fit in with this?" Lance asked. Kero waved his hands silence 'N Sync.
"Hold on! One question at a time," Kero said, and the guys stopped. Kero examined the room. "Let's sit down. I have a long story to tell you. By the way, I didn't catch your names. What are they?"
The guys introduced themselves to Kero as they sat down.
"Nice to meet you," Kero said, as he sat down. "Now here's my story. A long time ago, people used magic to create many powerful objects. So powerful, that they had devastating side effects."
"Couldn't people get rid of them?" Joey asked.
"They tried, but to do so was nearly impossible, and the only way to do it could lead to death," Kero said. "So one day, a sorceress named Clowina Reed created the Clow Cards. These cards held an aspect of magic, and could be used to stop the powerful objects, if used properly. She put the Clow Cards inside a book called "The Clow" for safety. She then made me, Kero, to guard "The Clow." Unfortunately, 30 years ago I got a little sleepy and took a nap."
"You slept for 30 years?" Chris exclaimed, Kero nodded.
"Yeah, I was still sleeping when you open "The Clow" improperly," Kero said, embarrassed.
"Whoa, what's that supposed to mean?" Justin exclaimed.
"You see, if I was awake, I would have to test you to see if you were worthy to receive the power of the cards," Kero said. "Unfortunately, this didn't happen, and now the powers inside the cards are released. These powers which were released will cause disastrous effects to the world."
"Can't you do anything about it?" J. C. asked.
"I could, but my real power is in the Clow Cards," Kero said. "Without their powers I'm stuck this. . .unless. . ."
"Unless what?" Lance asked.
"You could help me," Kero said, looking up at them.
"US?" 'N Sync asked, Kero nodded.
"Yeah, you can do it," Kero said. "I need you to capture the Clow Cards."
"Wait, why us?" Justin asked.
"Because you witnessed their escape," Kero said.
"He does have a point," Lance said.
"Please?" Kero said, looking at them with pleading eyes.
"I'll do it," Lance said, the rest of the guys stared at them.
"You?" they asked.
"Somebody has too," Lance said.
"I'm in," Joey said. "It might be fun."
"Well if you're doing it, so will I," Justin said. "Count me in."
"I'm joining as well," J. C. said. "Somebody has to keep an eye on you two."
"If I don't help, the world will be destroyed by magical powers," Chris said. "So I'll help. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hadn't help."
"Thank you all, very much," Kero said, smiling. "Now where do I start?"
"Want us to fill you in on what happened in the last 30 years?" Lance asked. Kero shook his head.
"No, I dreamt about what has happened," Kero said. "Taking a nap for 30 years made my memory a little fuzzy. So you boys go on with your lives, while I remember some stuff."
The guys nodded and left Kero alone to remember. The rest of the night was normal to 'N Sync, they didn't even notice that Kero was still there.
=
The next morning, Justin woke up as the alarm went off. He put his head under his pillow and reached to turn it off. He thought about yesterday. It seemed like a weird dream. He grumbled as he sat up and looked around.
"Everyone rise and shine," Justin said, groggily. He was answered by the complaints of the others, but they got up relunctly, followed by Justin.
"Wake up Lance," Justin said, drowsily, tapping the sleeping Lance, hardly noticing the stuffed animal that was sleeping on top of Lance, which looked like Kero. Justin walked sleepily to the kitchen area, but he was suddenly awakened when he heard a scream from the kitchen. He rushed to the kitchen where he found Joey, J. C., and Chris surrounding the table.
"What is it?" Justin asked.
"This is," Chris said, and showed Justin the table. There was a dirty dish, with crumbs of french toast, butter, and powdered sugar on it, a glass coated with milk, a bowl with cheery pits and stems, sitting on the table.
"Who did this?" Chris demanded.
"I didn't," Justin said, and J. C. and Joey also denied it as well.
"Did what?" Lance asked, yawning walking toward them, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The other didn't seem to notice that Kero was on Lance's shoulder, still sleeping.
"This!" Justin said, showing Lance the mess.
"I didn't do it," Lance said.
"Okay, then who did?" Joey asked. They looked at each other, looking for an answer. Just then somebody yawned, but it wasn't anybody from 'N Sync, it came from Lance's shoulder. Kero yawned again, and blinked opened his eyes, looking at the guys.
"Good morning," Kero said, happily, looking at the surprised faces of the guys.
"Great! What happened yesterday wasn't a weird dream," Joey said.
"Of course not," Kero said, and stretched and flew around, as the guys watched him.
Part Three
Part One
Story Index