Sitting up in her bed, Sarah stretched out her arms. She dressed, then headed downstairs for breakfast. After finishing the morning meal, Sarah went outside, and headed next door. She knocked at the door. Samuel’s father opened the door, and he told Sarah that Samuel went to the park earlier. Sarah thanked him, and headed for the park.
At the part, Sarah looked around. No one else was in the park around her. She walked the winding path up the tall hill in the center of the park, and from there she looked all arounnd. She spotted a person on the tennis court, hitting a ball against a wall. She hurried down to ask the person if they wanted a partner to play against.
On the inside of the chainlink fence, the blond-haired teenage boy took no notice of Sarah. He continued to swing his racket at the ball each time it bounced off the wall. He didn’t pay attention to the sound of the gate as Sarah opened it, entered, and closed it again.
“Wanna’ play against someone?” Sarah asked.
The teenager didn’t acknowledge her. He continued hitting the ball against the wall.
“Um, excuse me,” Sarah said, walking up near the teenager. “I thought maybe you’d like someone to play against.”
The teenager turned suddenly, startling Sarah. He threw his racket to the side, and grabbed Sarah’s wrists in his hands. He demanded something of her, but Sarah couldn’t understand what he said. He repeated himself, louder.
“He wants the jewel,” a voice said. Alfalfa appeared inside of the gate, walking toward the two. His patch-style outfit faded into a t-shirt and shorts, his round hat into a visor over his curly brown hair. Tall socks and tennis shoes completed the outfit. “We know you have the green jewel. You match the general description of the Lucid Dreamer with the green jewel, and you live next door to the Lucid Dreamer with the blue jewel. There’s no point in denying it. We’re not going to let you wake up this time until we have that jewel.”
Sarah struggled, but the blond-haired teenager’s grip held tight. “My neighbor’s around here somewhere. He’ll teach you a lesson if you don’t let me go.”
“I’m afraid not,” Alfalfa said. Sarah looked back at him. “Your friend has become a dragon’s dinner. Oh gracious, such a look on your face at this moment. You can’t help but know it to be true. He put up a valiant fight–your friend, I mean, although the dragon wasn’t too bad in battle. In the end, there was no contest. A human against a dragon? There was never a chance.”
“Actually,” Shamrock said as he and Arle appeared behind Alfalfa, “I’d say stories of my loss have been heavily exaggerated.” Their outfits became tennis uniforms.
“Samuel!” Sarah cried out. “They’re back. They won’t let me go!”
“I knew,” Shamrock started, “that tailing this phony bard would lead me here. Your mistake was trying to get my glove. If you had only kept stalling, I probably wouldn’t have figured anything out. Not that it would have done you any good. Sarah doesn’t have the jewel.”
“If she doesn’t have it,” Alfalfa asked, “then who does?”
“We took a detour to my house. Go ahead, Arle.”
Arle closed her eyes. She concentrated, and a green glow flashed around her. Her hair and eyes turned green, as did her outfit.
“Meet the honorary Clover,” Shamrock said, holding an arm out to present her to the group.
“What’s going on,” the blond-haired teenager asked in the language of his land.
“Wait, I know you,” the honorary Clover said. “You’re Bernard Medic. You’re not supposed to be here. What are you doing here?”
“Piñole didn’t trust you not to mess up, so she sent me here.” Bernard released Sarah’s wrists, pushing her back. Sarah stumbled back, but stayed standing. Keeping his eyes on the Alsike princess, Bernard walked in a straight line for her. Passing by with Shamrock on his right, Bernard’s eyes shifted to the side. The jewel on the earring hanging from Shamrock’s right ear instantly caught Bernard’s eye. Bernard reached out, and pulled the earring off of Shamrock’s ear. Shamrock instantly transformed back into Samuel in a blue flash. Bernard continued walked.
“Stop,” Samuel called out. Bernard stopped. He looked back. Samuel crouched a little, getting into a stance. He prepared to attack, but flinched, holding himself back.
“Get him, Samuel,” Sarah shouted.
“I can’t,” Samuel said. He dropped to his knees, sulking. “I can’t disobey my teachings.” He looked at the ground. “I can’t use my martial arts for offensive reasons.” Samuel heard Arle cry out, causing him too look back up.
Bernard checked reached into the princess’s pockets. “Where is it?”
Samuel pushed himself back up to his feet. He hurried over to Bernard, and pushed him back. “You already have my jewel, so just go!”
Paying to attention, Bernard reached back for the princess’s pockets. In response to this, Samuel hit Bernard’s hand down with a chop. He resumed his stance. “I can’t attack offensively, but I’ll be unstoppable defensively. I’ll use whatever means are necessary to protect Clover, both Sarah as Clover and Arle as Clover.” Bernard swung a fist at Samuel, but Samuel dodged, turning the attack back at him. In the process, Samuel grabbed the blue jewel, and knocked Bernard to the ground.
The princess reached down and removed an anklet from her left ankle. She concentrated, the item returning to its original jewel form in a green glow. Arle handed the stone to Samuel. Alfalfa simply stood and watched as Samuel walked by, and Bernard slowly sat up. Samuel stopped in front of Sarah.
“I return this to you.”
“What is it?” Sarah asked.
“It’s your magical jewel. With this, you are Clover, a magical girl.”
“Wasn’t she Clover?” Sarah asked, pointing toward Arle.
“She only stepped in as an honorary Clover. She was supposed to use magic to get you out of here, but it didn’t quite work out that way.”
“Well, I was going to,” Arle said, “but I forgot what to do when Bernard took your earring. Sorry…”
“No worries,” Samuel said back to her. “I guess there’s really only one Clover after all. That’s you, Sarah.” He held took Sarah’s hand in his, and placed the green jewel on her palm. “You are the one and the only Clover.” He wrapped his hands around Sarah’s hand, closing her fist around the jewel. “Concentrate. Close your eyes, and concentrate.”
Sarah’s eyes closed, and she breathed out. Samuel slowly release his hands, and he took a step back. Sarah breathed in, and out again. In her mind, she could see a field of green grass, and a green tinted sky. A breeze slid across her face. Sarah opened her eyes just as a glow appeared from between her fingers. Green flashed all around Sarah, then died away.
“Look at your clothes,” Samuel instructed.
The green-haired girl looked at her shirt and skirt, then at her socks and her shoes, all green. She looked up at Samuel.
He nodded. “Your hair, and your eyes, too. You are Clover again.”
“There’s something familiar about this,” Clover said. The jewel flashed again, vanishing from her hand. It reappeared on a brooch at her chest.
By now Bernard has stood, and regained his balance, and composure. “Come, Alfalfa, we leave. We’ll report Arle’s treachery upon our return.” Bernard faded away.
“Coming, Master.” Alfalfa turned to Arle. “My apologizes, Princess. We are only following the orders of your sister, Princess Alsike the elder.” He, too, faded away.
“Um, I have to go now,” Arle said to Samuel and Clover. “It’s really urgent, but I’ll be back to see you both again. Bye-bye!” She faded the same as the two before her.
