Chapter 3: Chapter Three
(by Arcademan, added on 2012-03-12 12:59:21 AEST) [Discussion Topic]
CHAPTER THREE
SEVERAL DAYS EARLIER BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF ARCADEMAN AT THE FOREST FIRE...
What started out as an apparent leftover campfire and then a few acres of flames
suddenly grew into several hundreds of thousands of acres of raging
out-of-control fire that threatened several mountainous communities. Unknown to
anyone a battle of sorts was going on in the middle of the inferno. What
appeared to be a young girl, roughly ten years old wearing a dress and waving
what looked like a long pole or stick. Strangely enough, she seem unaffected by
the fire or heat as if a protective shield surrounded her body. As she ran
around, she saw a glimpse of something rising in the wall of flames...almost in
a shape of a person.
"There it is!" she said out loud to herself. "The one that calls itself The
Firey." Hold still and soon you'll be added to my collection of cards!" The girl
stood her ground and began to chant an incantation as the firey being turned and
headed straight for her.
"Return to the form that you were meant to be..." However before she could
finish, the firey creature struck her at full force. Though the shield protected
her from the hellish heat and blast, the concussion of the strike knocked her
back nearly a hundred feet right into a burned out tree. Then the creature took
off straight into the sky and disappeared from sight.
"Damn! Firey got away...AGAIN! I wasn't able to catch Windy, Watery, Earth or
Thunder either! I'd probably be fried if it wasn't for the Shield Card I
possess. Still, that attack hurt a bit." She looked and noticed the edges of her
dress were scorched, her knee was scraped up and slightly bleeding but the worse
part...
"Another pair of sandals ruined. I really need to get sturdier ones but what can
I say, I like dressing up the cute little girl." She noticed the heat and the
smokey air more around her.
"Uh-oh! Losing power. I better get out of here and head home or I'll be stuck
here and I don't want that to happen again, like in North Dakota and the flood."
She fumbles around in her pocket and pulls out a card marked 'Return'. Flipping
it out in the air, she strikes it with what is now apparently a wand and fades
away, as if she or the being made of fire even existed. As the dejected girl
slowly disappears, she thinks to herself...
"No one must know the terrible danger that I unwittingly released...at least
until I capture more of them and bring then under control. It's like that book
said 'If their seal is broken...disaster will befall this world..."
As the girl disappears from the fires in southeastern Arizona, she slowly
reappears in a posh house outside of the city of San Francisco. She looks at
herself in the mirror. "I look like I've been wrestling with Smokey the
Bear...and smell like it too. Better shower and change before mother or any of
the servants come home."
After cleaning up, she slips into a shirt and pants combo complete with a ball
cap where once was long flowing hair is now pinned out and hidden under the cap.
At a glance, one would think that the young girl was actually a young boy but in
reality a tomboy. She hears the front door open.
"Cher? Are you home?" On cue, she pops out of her room and runs downstairs to
greet her mom.
"Welcome home, mom! How was your trip to Egypt? Find anything new and exciting
during your archeological trip and more importantly, did you bring me a
present?" she gave a sly grin when saying that.
"You know me, Cher. While I love my work, I'm so glad to be home if only for a
couple of days. I missed you so much!" and hugged her.
"I'll have the cook make us something real special for dinner. Speaking of cook,
do you smell something burning?"
FLASHBACK TO THE PRESENT...
Arcademan got on his communicator to the other members of the Arcade Brigade
investing several sites of what had been perceived as natural disasters.
"Look for residual mystical energies. I have a working theory that these
disasters may not be so natural. Meanwhile I think I'll take a little trip over
to Japan. Let me know what you guys find. Arcademan out!"
As the hero takes to the sky and starts to head east toward the Pacific Ocean
and then to Japan, Arcademan is alone with his thoughts.
"If this is Clow Reed's magic indeed, what connection, if any...have to do with
Sakura Kinomoto?" |
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