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Tarot Elementary West

July 23rd X281

Florian was lost in thought walking down the hallway of her school. Her classmate Alexander was having some trouble reaching for something in his locker. The locker was an utter mess. His monkey soul hopped off his head and ran up his arm, leaping into it. It tapped a book as if trying to knock it down.

Florian subconsciously assisted the boy.

“Whoa. Thank you,” Alex said.

Florian shrugged. “You’re welcome.”

“How did you know I needed this book? I have like thirty books stuffed up there,” Alex said.

“I could tell just by looking.” Florian walked away, thinking about other more important things.

“Hey, Flori. What’s with you? You’ve been acting strange,” Amalia, the bat girl, said.

“Yeah, she’s acting more grown-up. I don’t like it,” Alex said.

“Yeah, Flori, we like your normal self,” Amalia said.

“I am my normal self,” Florian said.

Florian was thinking about what Dr. Ronaldo had asked of her. He had tasked her to write down any goals she wanted to achieve.

“Big goals, small goals, and any in between. Whatever you want. It doesn’t matter if you can’t complete them. All that matters is writing down as many as possible,” Ronaldo had said.

Florian was already doing that with her Spirit Journal. Even if the tasks were exclusively spirit-related, she thought that wasn’t what the doctor was asking for. Florian thought the doctor was asking for more normal goals. Maybe, just maybe . . . she could ask about the old man in the hospital.

“Flori, my birthday party’s tomorrow. Don’t bring anything weird this time, okay,” Alex said.

“That’s it!” Florian shouted. Alex’s monkey spirit shot up through the ceiling.

Florian wrote down to get a gift, go to a party, eat cake, and have fun. She remembered Alex had an older sister, only a year older than him. Florian could get some advice from Alex’s sister about being an older sister.

🙠🙢

Alex’s birthday party was held at his father’s house this year. However, Alex was not there yet.

Florian had gotten Alex a pair of boxing gloves and wrapped them herself. She couldn’t wait for the look on Alex’s spirit’s face. She bet the monkey would smile and spring about like an out-of-control bouncy ball.

Alex’s father was hard at work, ensuring everyone was entertained, trying to stall until the birthday boy arrived. His spirit was a three-foot elephant with small ears. It extended its trunk as it was trying to assist him in handing out party favors.

The party went silent when a motor revved from outside. It got louder and louder as if a vehicle was approaching the home at an incredible speed. The sound of the engine got so loud everyone rushed outside.

A parked motorcycle roared at full blast. The motor sound was loud, clean, and pleasant to the ear. Its blue paint shimmered without a single smudge or dent.

Three passengers were nested on the bike, wearing tight leather suits and tinted helmets. Based on their builds, they were two adult females and one child. The kid was tightly squeezed in between the driver and handlebars.

A giant cat was panting next to the motorcycle. A five-foot cheetah, bulky, covered in scars and bloodstains. It stood on all fours without fear.

The kid hopped off the bike and removed his helmet; it was Alex, the birthday boy. The monkey spirit peeked its head out from inside Alex’s leather suit.

The female driver stayed on the bike without removing her helmet.

“Thank you for the present.” Alex blushed as he fist-bumped the female driver he had been squeezed up against.

“S dnyom rozhdeniya, kid. Happy birthday,” the driver said.

The woman on the rear hopped off too. It was Alex’s mom. She swayed her long hair free from the biker helmet, revealing her elegant face. Her hourglass figure was enhanced by the biker suit, and she carried herself with utmost confidence and pride.

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She kissed her son on the cheek. “Happy birthday, Alex. Call if you need anything.”

“Knock it off, Mom. Embarrassing me,” Alex said.

Alex’s mother had an octopus gently nestled behind her head concealed within her hair. It wrapped its many arms around Alex and the monkey, squeezing them tightly. Both were calm and collected. They shared a deep bond, that was certain.

The mother waved goodbye and hopped back on the bike. The two women drove off as quickly as they had come.

Alex went upstairs to change, and his sister came down.

“Finally! I finished it!” she shouted. She had been writing a song for her brother.

Her name was Sera Rodriguez. She was one year older than Alex, and she adored music. She was always wearing some kind of hat, usually with something cat-related on it. Her spirit was an orange goldfish that grew twice its size every year.

She turned on the TV and connected her phone to it. She started singing the lyrics to the song without warning anyone. Her brother wasn’t even there to hear it.

Whenever she sang, her goldfish soul would swim around her and the audience. Her music captivated the other spirit animals.

“Oops, Alex isn’t here yet. Guess I’ll sing it again!” Sera said, laughing maniacally.

Florian waited for the right moment to ask her about being an older sister. She wondered if all older sisters acted the way Sera did.

Alex came down and opened his presents.

“Boxing gloves? Whatever,” Alex said. He tossed Florian’s gift aside.

Florian’s jaw dropped, shocked that Alex didn’t like the gift.

“I would rather take another ride on the motorcycle with Mom’s hottie friend,” Alex said. His monkey spirit rubbed its face in delight.

“What did you say?” Florian picked up the boxing gloves Alex had tossed aside and put them on. She furiously approached him.

“That was your gift, Flori?” Alex said. He took off running.

“You forgot your gift!” Florian shrieked as she chased Alex around the house.

“Hold it right there, Flori,” Sera said. She had boxing gloves of her own. “That’s my little brother. I can’t have you terrorizing him on his birthday.”

“I don’t want to fight you,” Florian said.

“Any fight involving my brother is my fight too. That’s what it means to be an older sister,” Sera said.

“He said he would rather ride motorcycles with hotties instead of getting our gifts,” Florian said.

“Yeah!” “How dare he!” “Teach him a lesson!” Amalia and the other friends said.

“Is that true? Alex!?” Sera glared and hissed at Alex. Her goldfish spirit swam aggressively through Alex’s face.

“Uh oh.” Alex started running again.

After some time, they caught the birthday boy.

Sera announced to the party, “It’s unfair to beat him up like this. It’s time for a boxing tournament. We’ll see who’s the strongest, and that person gets to face him in the final round.”

It was a three-round ring-out tournament with six boys and two girls. The only girls confident enough to face the boys were Florian and Sera. The goal was to make the opponent step out of bounds.

Each round went by quickly. Sera was the oldest, so she made short work of her first bout.

Florian took her time observing her opponents. The first boy was shorter than her. He had a small penguin spirit animal that charged at Florian two seconds before the boy did. She could predict what he was going to do. He ended up running out of the ring on his own.

Her second opponent had some boxing experience from a local kid’s gym. He had a skunk spirit animal that wagged its tail as he swung his punches. Once Florian got his rhythm, the boy’s arms could no longer reach her. She was able to dodge every swing. Florian punched the kid right on the head. The soft glove padded the blow, but it scared the boy so much he tripped and fell out of bounds.

Sera had one more match to get to the final round. She was facing a boy who was taking karate classes. Sera was taller, but the boy planted his feet into the ground. He took a low stance that made it difficult for anyone to move him. Sera had no luck. The boy found an opening and tripped her out of bounds.

“Yes, I’m one step closer to facing Alex. How dare he ride such a cool motorcycle with two hotties,” the boy said.

“Gross! One of them was my mom!” Alex said.

“Florian, you must win. Our pride of being older sisters is at stake,” Sera said as she dramatically closed her eyes.

The final round. No matter who won, Alex was going down.

The karate boy grounded his stance again. His kangaroo spirit mirrored him. Florian tried copying the boy too. She lowered her posture and crept closer to him. The kangaroo waved its paws wildly as the boy flailed his arms. Florian closed her eyes and flailed her arms too. They weren’t hitting each other.

“I didn’t want to use real karate moves, but since these boxing gloves are soft, I guess it won’t hurt too much,” the boy said.

He pulled his right arm inward and shot his left arm outward in perfect unison.

Florian had observed the kangaroo’s paw jutting outward a second earlier.

The boy’s punch was fast and hit its target. But Florian had blocked his blow. The boy staggered.

Florian punched the boy in the face, ringing him out.

Florian was the winner.

Alex was no match for Florian in the final round.

The party settled down, and Florian had a chance to ask Sera about being an older sister.

Sera said, “There’s nothing to it. I just do my best and have fun.”

Florian remembered to write about her day in her journal. She’d had a blast.

🙠🙢

After the party, the karate boy approached Florian and her parents.

“Hello, my name is Samuel, and I wanted to ask if you take karate lessons,” he said, stumbling a few times.

“No, I don’t,” Florian said.

“What!? No way. I must ask you to join our gym. I think you would do really well. When I first started, there was no way I could have blocked or dodged a fist. Please consider joining karate lessons. I’m sure you would be great at it.” The karate boy with his kangaroo spirit left with his parents.