The Guardian's of the Crystals

Kathleen woke up one morning, just like every other morning and got ready to leave for high school. She was completely unaware what fate would throw her today.
The doorbell rang and Kathleen ran to get it. It was her two best friends, Rianna and Dakota. They walked to school together everyday.
“Rianna, do you have a date for the homecoming next month yet?” asked Kathleen as they walked.
“Nah. I don’t really like those things. I take it you’re going with Julian?”
“Yeah.” She answered dreamily. Kathleen and Julian had been dating for four months and they were hardly ever apart. Kathleen had had a crush on him since fifth grade and it had been a dream come true when he had asked her out this past summer.
Suddenly, Kathleen was snapped out of her daydream when a huge laser light beam shot in front of them and blew up an empty car. A stunned Kathleen looked back to see what had caused the blast. What she saw was the strangest thing she had ever seen. There was a black chariot flying through the sky. Pulling it were what looked like penguins, but Kathleen noticed with a chill down her spine that they seemed to be transparent like ghosts. The rider of the chariot was a beautiful lady wearing a long black dress and a silver crown on her head that was decorated with onyx. Her hair was as deep black as the darkest night.
“Who is that?” wondered Kathleen out loud.
Hearing this, the lady came closer and replied, “I am the all powerful Queen Nefaria, Ruler of Darkness, and future Queen of all the Universe. Now hand over the crystals if you value your life.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“We will never give you them, you evil witch!” shouted Rianna.
“Oh well, in that case, I believe I should introduce you to my new friends.” Queen Nefaria replied pointing to the scary looking penguins. “These are the ghost-guins. They used to be penguins, but as you can see, I have improved them. If you refuse to obey my orders, they have the power to destroy your entire town.”
“I am so confused,” said Kathleen.
Dakota stepped up and replied, “You will have to get through us first!” And with that she held out a red colored crystal and shouted “Fire Crystal Power!” Suddenly she was wearing sleeveless dress the color of fire, which was even shaped like flames on the bottom. The crystal she had been holding became a part of her belt. She ran toward the ghost-guins, but was quickly shot down by another blast of dark energy from the ghost-guin’s mouth.
“I’ll help you!” Rianna shouted. She took out a smooth brown crystal and yelled, “Earth Crystal Power!” Then her school uniform turned into a light brown kimono with a green under robe and obi. Her crystal became part of an armband.
Kathleen watched with amazement, not having a clue what was going on.
         A huge blast of fire issued from Dakota’s hands and struck one of the ghost-guins. Rianna took advantage of their distraction and summoned a giant boulder to throw at them. One of the ghost-guins was destroyed.
“Oh no! You stupid kids! You’ve destroyed one of my beautiful creations!” shouted Queen Nefaria angrily. She then gathered up her remaining ghost-guins and flew off with a warning yell.  “You haven’t seen the last of me! Mark my words, those crystals will belong to me!”
“Whew! I’m glad that’s over,” said Rianna.
“Could someone please tell me what in the world is going on?” inquired Kathleen.
“Oh, of course,” answered Rianna, “you have a right to know, especially because it concerns you a great deal. Thousands of years ago the earth was ruled by 6 beautiful queens. Each queen guarded her own magical crystal. The crystals gave the queens phenomenal powers, which they used in times of trouble to save the earth. There were 6 crystals in all, one for each queen. They each had their own power: earth, fire, water, wind, light, and dark. They all lived happily together until one day when the queen in charge of the crystal of darkness turned on the rest of them and tried to take over the world. That’s the evil woman you just saw,” she signaled into the distance. “In the past she had been sealed away but there was a prophecy that one day she would again return, so the crystals were kept hidden safe and were handed down from mother to daughter in the event the Dark Queen should return.
Your mother was the guardian of the crystal of wind, but then she passed away, and you were too young to possess a crystal yet. And anyway there was no great danger at the time, so my mother, being close friends with your family, kept it safe until you needed it.” She took out a light blue crystal and handed it to Kathleen. “Here, take the crystal of Wind. It rightfully belongs to you.” Kathleen, amazed, took the crystal from her. Examining it closely, it almost looked like there was a real wind swirling around inside of it. As Kathleen held it she had a sudden great feeling flow through her, like she had the power to do anything in the world.
         Later that day at lunch, Kathleen sat down to eat with her friends Andréa, Dakota, Violet, and Rianna.
         “Hey Kathleen,” said Violet in a low voice, “Sakura told us that you own one of the crystals. We all do too! Isn’t it great?”
         “Really?” answered Kathleen, “That’s so neat, though to be honest I’m still not quite over the shock.”
         “You’ll get over it soon,” replied Rianna smiling.
         “Shh!” interrupted Andréa, “Kris is coming.”
Kris was another one of their friends. He was really short for his age and Dakota loved to tease him about his height, but Kathleen felt sorry for him, because she was almost as short as him. But what he lacked in height, he gained in knowledge. No one knew more about animals than he did. There was not a doubt in anyone’s mind that one day he would become a top zoologist.
“Hello, everyone,” he said sitting down. “Oh look at that!” he exclaimed pointing to a nearby tree, “it’s a yellow warbler. Isn’t she cute?” And sure enough a small yellow bird was sitting in the tree.
“How can you tell that it’s a girl?” asked Violet.
“The male has reddish streaks on it’s back, and the female is a duller color. See, she’s all yellow except for those brownish stripes on her wings.”
“Okay, that’s great,” said Dakota, hoping to get him to stop talking. Sometimes he could go on or hours just talking about one animal species and it’s dieting habits, and it’s habitat, and so on.
“Hey cupcake!” said a voice from behind them. Kathleen spun around and found herself facing the guy that always makes her heart melt. Julian had the coolest light brown hair, gelled back so that not a hair was out of place, and the cutest blue eyes. He came up and gave Kathleen a peck on the cheek.
“I’m really sorry, but I can’t have dinner with you tonight. I have a track meet.” Julian was one of the fastest runners on the track team and totally dedicated to his sport.
“That’s okay,” replied Kathleen, “I kind of wanted to go shopping with Andréa and Violet anyway.”
“Okay, I promise that we’ll go out tomorrow night,” he said lovingly. “See you later, cupcake.” And after another peck on the cheek, he left.
“You’re so lucky, Kathleen,” said Violet, “I wish I had a boyfriend like him.”
“What’s so special about him?” asked Kris jealously.
“He’s cute,”
“And tall,” added Rianna.
“And on the track team,” replied Andréa.
“Plus, he doesn’t jabber on about yellow waglers,” added Dakota.
“That’s WARBLER!” shouted Kris, “and at least I don’t confuse Kathleen for a dessert!”

Beep! Beep! Beep! The school bell rang signaling the end of classes. Kathleen met up with Andréa and Violet and they walked together to the mall.
“Oh! Look at this dress!” exclaimed Andréa, holding up a blue formal gown with sequins. “It’s perfect for the homecoming dance!”
“Don’t you feel weird going without a date?” asked Kathleen.
“Not really, Violet will be there to keep me company.”
“And so will Dakota,” put in Violet.
“But she actually has a date,” commented Kathleen. “What’s his name? Mike?”
“No she was going out with Mike last week. Now she’s dating John.”
“Did you already buy your dress, Kathleen?” asked Andréa.
“Yes. It’s really pretty! It’s as deep magenta with spaghetti straps studded with diamonds. And I found the perfect earrings to match. Their…”
She was interrupted by a loud crashing noise coming from the store across the hall. They ran out to see what happened.
“Ghost-guin’s!” exclaimed Kathleen, remembering the events from earlier that morning.
“Let’s transform,” said Violet, taking out a clear white stone, as Andréa grabbed a deep blue crystal. “Light Crystal Power.”
“Water Crystal Power.”
Suddenly Violet was wearing a long white dress with a crown inlaid with diamonds. Andréa now had on a blue bathing suit with a blue sarong. She also had what looked like fins coming out of her head.
“What are you waiting for?” questioned Andréa. “Transform!”
Kathleen took out her beautiful blue crystal and once again felt invincible. “Wind Crystal Power!” she shouted. The next thing she knew, she was wearing a light blue jumper with a very fluffy skirt over many puffy lace slips. But when she looked at her reflection in the store window, she noticed the most amazing thing of all: she had wings! A pair of white feathery wings, extended almost as long as Kathleen was tall.
“Let’s get ‘em!” shouted Andréa. Then a beam of water issued from her hand and slammed into the ghost-guin nearest her destroying it. The ghost-guins, realizing they were under attack, turned on the three girls. One shot a dark beam of energy at Kathleen, but her reflexes kicked in and she flew up to avoid the hit. Flying was amazing. Looking below her, Kathleen saw a big crater where the blast had hit.
Violet created a powerful blast of light and succeeded in knocking out two. However, there were still five ghost-guins left. Kathleen realized her friends needed her help. She was a bit unsure of what she should do, so she flew quickly at one of the ghost-guin, but then a blast from it’s beak hit her and she was sent tumbling to the ground. Andréa created a whirlpool that sucked up the remaining ghost-guins.
“Are you okay?” asked Violet, running up to Kathleen.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied. She was back in her everyday clothes, her wings had disappeared, and the crystal lay at her side. She picked it up and put it into her pocket. When she looked up both Violet and Andréa were back in their normal clothes and were putting away their crystals too.
“That wasn’t so hard,” said Andréa . “It’s cool having you on our team, Kathleen. Kathleen?” Kathleen was staring past them at the opposite wall. “What is it?”
“I just thought I saw Michael. You know, that really quiet guy in our World History class.”
“I don’t see anyone,” replied Violet, “everyone ran from the ghost-guins.”
“Maybe you were just seeing things because of that bump on your head.”
“Maybe,” she replied, uncertainly. 

The next evening Kathleen spent a long time getting ready for her date with Julian. She wanted to look really nice, so she wore one of her favorite dresses. It was green with spaghetti straps and had a diagonally cut bottom. She walked to Tagliani’s and found Julian waiting outside with a bouquet of red roses.
“You look beautiful,” he said as he handed her the roses and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. “I reserved us a table outside, cupcake.” Her heart was absolutely fluttering.
The table was set up beautifully. It was outside on a balcony decorated with white strands of lights along the edge. There was a white tablecloth over the table and in the center was a vase with a single rose in it.
“Have a seat,” he said pulling out her chair.
“Thanks,” she replied sitting down. The waiter came to take their orders and Kathleen ordered the lasagna dinner. Julian decided to only have a salad. He explained that he was going on a diet so he could be slimmer for track.
Dinner was absolutely delicious and Kathleen couldn’t have been happier. Sitting with Julian, having delicious lasagna under the stars, it was turning out to be such a perfect night.
“So, I bet you can’t wait ‘til the homecoming, huh?” asked Julian.
“Yea,” Kathleen replied dreamily.
“I arranged for a limo to—wha?” He was cut off short as a huge noise like a bomb going off was heard from within the restaurant. Suddenly a hole was blown in the wall as a ghost-guin emerged with its beam of dark energy.
“Why here?” Kathleen moaned, as the table was blasted to bits; her perfect dinner ruined.
“Ahh!” screamed Julian jumping over the balcony and running down the field. “Run away! Ahhh!” he screamed again, as he ran into some more ghost-guins.
Kathleen held up her crystal; she would not allow her night to be ruined. “Wind Crystal Power!” She instantly transformed into her blue jumper and wings once again.
She smacked the ghost-guin nearest her with her staff, and then flew up to help Julian. Searching for the power within herself to save her dear boyfriend, she was able to create a huge blast of air that blew the ghost-guins away.
“Be right back!” she shouted to a stunned Julian, as she flew back to save the restaurant. With a sharp gust of wind created by Kathleen’s wings, the remaining ghost-guins were disposed of. Too bad the restaurant was a wreck, but right now she needed to make sure Julian was all right. She flew back and landed softly on the grass in front of him.
Julian looked a mixture of scared and shocked.
“Are you okay?” Kathleen asked him, concerned.
“S-stay away!” he choked out.
“It’s just me, Kathleen. See…” she allowed her magic to fade and was back wearing normal clothes and wingless. “Are you hurt at all?” she asked, leaning toward him.
“No! Go away!” he yelled, shoving her aside. “You’re a freak! Ew! I can’t believe I ever thought you were pretty! You’re nothing more than a stupid deformed dork with wings!”
“Wha—?” Kathleen asked, stunned.
“You and those freaky floating bird things!” continued Julian, ignoring the pained look on her face. “You’re not normal! I never want to see you again! And you can forget about the homecoming dance!” And with that he stormed off, leaving a shocked and saddened Kathleen staring after him.
The immense sorrow that Kathleen felt at that moment was as if someone had just ripped out her insides. She had just saved Julian’s life. Why? Why did he just discard her like that? She knelt on the grass and began to cry. The tears just wouldn’t stop. “Why do I have to be a stupid crystal guardian?” she asked herself.
Suddenly, she felt a light hand on her shoulder and looked up. Though her tears she could make out Michael standing over her with a compassionate expression on his face. “Don’t cry,” he said gently, handing her a tissue. Kathleen took it, and dried her tears, though she still felt horrible.
When she looked up again, however, Michael was gone and Kathleen was left wondering if she was simply going crazy.

Kathleen went home that night in a very depressed mood. She kept thinking about how Julian had completely rejected her and called her a freak.
“What’s wrong?” her sister asked, upon seeing Kathleen’s sorrowful expression.
“Julian broke up with me,” she responded, and than began to cry again.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she said, giving her a big hug to cheer her up.
Their father, overhearing their conversation, cut in. “Don’t worry about it, there will be plenty other guys for you. But if it will make you feel better, how about I take you and your friends to Disneyland this weekend?”
“Really? That would be nice,” said Kathleen through her tears.
When Kathleen went to school the next day, she told her friends the news over lunch.
“How dare he?” said Rianna, crushing her milk carton in anger.
“Ah, he wasn’t deserving of you anyway,” was Dakota’s response.
“I never liked the guy anyway,” commented Kris, “he had all the brains of a frilled sea anemone.”
“But anyway,” continued Kathleen, a tiny bit cheerier, “my dad’s going to take us all to Disneyland tomorrow.”
“How cool!” exclaimed Violet.
Their conversation was interrupted by the bell. “Oh well, time for class,” said Kathleen, “but I’ll meet you guys outside Disneyland tomorrow at 8.”
“That’s awesome,” said Dakota, “see you then.”
“And don’t worry yourself about that jerk,” added Rianna.
“Thanks.”

The next day Kathleen, and her family arrived outside Disneyland early to meet the rest of the group. Rianna and Dakota were already there.
“Hi guys!” Shouted Kathleen running up to them.
“Hi!” replied Rianna running up and giving her friend a hug. They chatted for a bit while they waited for Andréa, Kris, and Violet to arrive. When every one was present Kathleen’s dad told them they could split into groups if they wanted to go on different rides, as long as no one went alone, and they would meet up for dinner at the corner of Main Street, at 8pm.
Kathleen’s dad took her sister to go on Cinderella’s Carousel; Andréa and Violet opted for the Indiana Jones ride; and Kathleen, Dakota, Rianna, and Kris all ran for Space Mountain. 
Rianna made it to the line first. “What do they mean there’s an hour wait?” she complained, “the park just opened.” They waited in the line for what seemed like an excruciatingly long time. Finally they were nearing the entrance into the building.
“Did you know they’ve sent silk worms into space?” Kris was starting to go off on one of his tangents. “The most common species is the–”
“Yeah…thanks for the info.” Interrupted Dakota.
An announcement came on the intercom, “We’re sorry to inform everyone that Space Mountain is experiencing technical difficulties. We are not sure as to how long it will be until it is fixed. You may continue to wait or feel free to exit the line at this time.”
“Well, I don’t want to wait around if they don’t know how long it’ll be,” said Kris.
“I really want to go on it though,” complained Riana, “I’ll stay.”
“I’ll go with Kris, then,” said Kathleen. She and Kris made their way back through the line and then decided to head over to the Honey We Shrunk the Audience show.
                   They were turning a corner, when a shadow crossed over them from above. Kathleen had a feeling of foreboding and as she looked up, she saw her fear was justified. Hovering above them in her chariot was Queen Nefaria.
         The Dark Queen gave out an evil laugh, and swooped down and grabbed a stunned Kris before anyone could react.
         “Hey put me down you gorgon!” he yelled. In response she used her dark magic to create a chain and tie him up. Kathleen stared frozen in horror. She wanted to go help her friend, but she was so worried about him hating her because of her wings just as Julian had. And besides that the Queen was so powerful, there was no way she could take her alone.
         “What’s wrong? Not going to fight?” taunted the Queen. “If you want your little friend back, come to my castle in the center of Antarctica. And you may trade all your crystals for his life.” She laughed and flew away.
         Kathleen felt tears go to her eyes, and she fell to her knees sobbing. Why did this have to happen? Why couldn’t she save him? She began to hate herself for not only being a winged freak, but for being unable to save someone she cared about.
         About an hour later Dakota and Rianna came looking for them and found Kathleen sitting on the ground crying. Rianna ran up to her and gave her a hug.
         “What’s wrong?”
         “Kris…” She couldn’t finish her sentence without crying again.
         “Where’s Kris?” asked Dakota.
         “Kidnapped…”
         “It’ll be alright,” said Rianna trying to comfort her friend. “Tell us what happened.”
         Eventually they were able to get the gist of what had happened from Kathleen. They agreed they needed to gather everyone together and head for the Queen’s castle as soon as possible. They met up with Andréa and Violet and decided to take Violet’s father’s boat right away and go save Kris.
         They got to Antarctica pretty fast with the help of their powers. When they landed a group of ghost-guins signaled them to follow them, and while the girls were sure it was a trap, they really had no choice.
         There were led through a giant door and into a throne room where Queen Nefaria waited for them. She stood high on a pedestal and glared contemptuously at them.
         “So you’ve decided to give me the crystals in exchange for your friend’s life.”
         “Where is Kris?” demanded Dakota.
         “He’s being held in my dungeon. Now hand over the crystals.”
         “Not until he’s released to us.”
         “He will be freed once the crystals are in my possession.” Queen Nefaria replied growing angrier.
         “You need to cool off,” shouted Andréa and shot a huge blast of water at her. Queen Nefaria dodged it, and retaliated by shooting a blast of dark energy at the girls. In the confusion, the Dark Queen didn’t notice Kathleen sneak off.
         Kathleen wandered till she found a staircase and on a hunch, followed it down to the bottom floor. After wandering around for a while she was able to find the dungeons. She found Kris in a cell in the back, locked up with magical chains.
         She blew a gust of wind at the bars and broke open the cell. Kris had been sleeping and awoke with a start and stood up shakily crowding the back of the room.
         “It’s ok,” she said calmingly. “It’s me, Kathleen.” She stepped into view, a bit nervously.
         Kris stared for about a minute, then stammered out, “you…you have wings?”
         “Yeah.”
         “I-it looks like the wings of a mute swan…can I feel them?”
         “Um, sure,” she replied, relieved that he wasn’t disgusted by her. She started laughing when he ran his hands across her wings. “That tickles.”
         “You’re beautiful,” he whispered.
         She felt the blood rush to her face, a feeling she’d missed since her breakup flowed through her. She felt she should say something, but no words would come.
         Just then she spotted a figure down the hall. It was Michael, from her class. Except he had wings. Though unlike Kathleen’s wings his were rainbow colored. Kathleen was so confused once again.
         “Your friends need your help,” he told her.
         “I’m amazed that after what I’ve been through, something like this still surprises me, but could you tell me who or…um what you are while we go?” They started hurrying back to the throne room.
         “I’m a celestial being sent to watch over those that guard the magic crystals. At a time like this, you girls are most in need of my help.”
         “Wow, that’s nice,”
         “But we really must hurry now.”
         When the reached the throne room they saw a horrible sight. Queen Nefaria was standing over the lifeless bodies of Kathleen’s friends. Kathleen started crying, Kris’s arm around her was the only thing keeping her from falling to the ground in anguish.
         Michael put a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Don’t despair, all’s not lost for your friends. Just trust me and do as I say.”
         Kathleen stopped herself from crying, she needed to be strong, not the same unsure helpless girl who watched her friend get kidnapped. “Okay.”
         “When your friends come back to life you need to join all the powers of the crystal together.”
         “They’ll come back to life? How?”
         “You’ll see. But you must use that power to seal away Queen Nefaria.”
         “Okay, I’ll do that.”
         Michael stepped into the center of the room, receiving a glare and blast of dark energy from the Dark Queen, but was able to dodge it. He took out a golden dagger and plunged it through his own heart.
         All the onlookers, Queen Nefaria included, were to stunned to do anything for a moment. Then Queen Nefaria spoke up, “Ha, at least one of you has seen how futile resistance is—” Her sentence ended abruptly with a bit of a surprised tone, for she saw something that left her speechless. The crystal guardians she had killed were getting up, coming back to life. She couldn’t comprehend that someone would take his own life for the sake of others, and while she stood there the girls were able to act.
         “Join our powers together!” Shouted Kathleen, while tears of joy rose to her eyes.
         Everyone did as she said, shouting the name of their crystal until a great rainbow of power was collected in the center of the room. Kathleen willed the power to seal away Queen Nefaria and the dark crystal, as Michael had said.
         In a brilliant flash of light the power moved to the Dark Queen, and encased her in a rainbow colored block of magical ice. Her evil ghost-guins and the palace itself all faded away. The girls had accomplished their seemingly impossible task.

         The next month Kathleen walked into the Homecoming dance, surrounded by her friends and hand in hand with Kris. He had become more than a friend in the time following the fight with Queen Nefaria, and had shown her great acceptance and loving that she had never known with Julian. As she looked at everyone, even Rianna had come, and saw them all smiling, Kathleen felt that she had never been so happy in her life.