The Spark of Hope, Kaleido’s Arrival Part 1

In the 1900s the people of Scope City were always busy with some kind of business.

No matter the social class it was possible for anyone to achieve their dream.

As night fell, however, the sleep of some children would be at a stand still as they gathered themselves for night school even after a hard day’s work while others would go peacefully to bed.

A child whose bed is decorated with the finest linen, filled with toys and given the high privilege of a private tutor as to not go to night school like other children…had a nightmare. Shaking in his covers, sweat cast on his forehead, the young lad was running after someone.

“Father! Don’t go! Please don’t leave me alone! Father!” he yelped, gripping the sheets.

In a hurry, footsteps clamored the pearly stairs that lead to the lad’s room.

Right in the young boy’s arms was his father Mr. Worthington doing his best to comfort him.

“Father...is that you?” Lou hiccuped from his father’s embrace.

“Yes, Louie my boy...I’m here, papa is right here.”

“I thought you were working late again…,” Lou sniffed.

“I won’t be til tomorrow.”

“I don’t want you to go, please stay here with me,” Lou clenched his father tightly.

“Louie, you know I can’t do that but don’t fear I have a surprise that will cover my many absences.”

Lou pouted in his mind, “What will that be? Another toy? Money? More than anything, I just want you...”

His father rubbed his hair tenderly, “You will see first thing tomorrow morning. Now get your rest...”

As his father left, he tried to go back to sleep but was too afraid of going back to the same nightmare.

He did a routine his late mother taught him whenever he felt this way.

Kneeling on his cumbersome bed, he prayed, “Father in heaven, please help me not to be afraid. I must be well rested if I am to attend to father’s surprise. Help me Father not to be afraid….in your Son’s name. Amen.”

Lou settled himself back into his bed, holding his sheets and plethora of plush animals.

Next morning, March’s winter wind blew over and chilled the people of Scope City while Lou was getting dressed by his personal tailor in his warm home as the rest of the caretakers were doing their duties.

Then their was a knock at front door and immediately Lou ran to the door but disheveled his outfit quickly he fixed himself as to not look undone.

The doorkeeper opens the door, in an instance he sees his father who is shaking from the cold.

“Brrr! Watch out Louie or you might get a cold!” Mr. Worthington rubbed his frigid shoulders.

Lou giggled.

“Your father is right, young sir.”

Lou stopped laughing after hearing that deep voice that came behind his father.

Looking up he saw the tall, tanned, man with piercing eyes like an owl.

The man scared Lou from his nightly appearance and dreadful height, he hid behind his father’s leg.

His father gave a compassionate smile and knelt to his son’s level, “Louie. This is Mr. Frore, your personal valet and your surprise gift! He is one of the best valets from what I gathered.”

Lou’s soul dropped, he couldn't believe this man was his father’s surprise!

“And from now on, he will accompany and take care of anything you need or wish.”

Lou held his father leg tighter still frighten, his father noticed his trembling as did Mr. Frore.

Mr. Frore put his hand on his chest and slightly bowed, “Lord Worthington, if you please sir, I would like to see the rest of your humble abode.”

“Ah! Yes, of course. Lou…”

Immediately, Lou let go of his father and stood uprightly.

His father smiled but whispered in his ear, “Lou, I want you to know that I fully trust Mr. Frore, despite his appearance, he is a very good man. However, do not hesitate, if he ever crosses you or falters in his duties, he will immediately be replaced with another that is suitable...understood?”

Lou nodded and at the same moment, a sneaky plan brewed in his mind.

At around the afternoon, his private tutor would give one of his long lectures that would leave Lou bored as he struggled to keep up with his teachings.

However, knowing how happy his father gets when he does well in his lessons, he tries to keep himself awake by pinching his skin time after time.

He takes a peek outside as he sees kids playing in the snow and having fun.

While inside he felt miserable not just because of today’s lesson or even last night’s ordeal but rather Mr. Frore’s arrival.

His thoughts simmered in his head, “Of all the gifts father gave me, this must be the worst of them all. I do not care if he is the best of the best, I do not want him here, maybe if I make a ruckus of some sort, he will leave immediately. Then father will have to come back home.”

Lou decided to set his sneaky plan in action after his last lesson for the day.

Mr. Frore looked at Lou puzzled, “You want to take a stroll around town?”

“Yes, I want to get some fresh air. I’m tired of being cooped up at home, you will accompany won’t you?”

“Of course, young sir. Let me arrange our outings attire.”

Within a few short moments, Mr. Frore and Lou walked around the icy ground of downtown Scope City.

The streets were loud and somewhat crowded, which was to Lou’s advantage.

“Now, all I have to do is have Mr. Frore lose sight of me among the crowd and he is gone for good!”

However, Mr. Frore never let Lou out of his sight. This made Lou very frustrated that he made a last ditch effort and dashed into crowd only to slip on the icy ground.

He would bump hard into a drunkard that had bag of expensive liquor now smashed into bits on the ground.

The drunkard was furious, “You little twerp that was only bottle I had left!” and swung his leg to kick Lou in the face. Lou tried to shield himself but was too slow, the kick made contact...but not at him.

In front of him was Mr. Frore, he blocked the kick with his elbow then counterattacked by slamming the drunkard to the snow. This made a scene to which Mr. Frore quickly picked up Lou and headed back home.

Lou now disheveled, slightly scratched and cold caught the attention of the house servants. Already rumors spread within the walls of the Worthington villa as Mr. Frore took Lou to his room overhearing them.

“First day at the job and the young master is hurt?” one of the servants said.

“Better Mr. Frore than me,” another spouted.

“Serves him right, he’s spoiled to the bone anyhow…”

Mr. Frore held his peace as he made his way to Lou’s room. Inside, Mr. Frore cleaned and mended Lou’s slight scratches, while Lou sitting on his bed felt something hurt him more inside.

“There you are, all fixed.” Mr. Frore sighed.

“Aren’t you afraid?” Lou spoke lowly.

“Afraid?”

Lou huffed angrily, “Yes, afraid! After what just happened you can get fired for what happened to me!”

Mr. Frore glared at him then barked, “No, young sir, but what you did today was foolish and dangerous! What’s gotten into you for you to behave so incidentally, what would your father say?!”

Mr. Frore’s response shocked Lou. He thought of what his father would say hearing how poorly he acted especially in public. His father always told him to be a proper boy. He realized what he did was utterly shameful. He broke into tears stammered, “I’m sorry...so very sorry.”

Mr. Frore took out his handkerchief to wipe his tears, “Tell me, young one, what made you run away like that?”

“I- I- just wanted father back…I thought if I gave him a bad report on you..h-he would return home,” Lou choked.

Mr. Frore continued wiping Lou’s tears, “You wish for me to leave that badly?”

Lou spouted, “N-no! That is...my true wish was to have father back at home…but I acted poorly and foolishly like you said...and instead was dreadfully rude to you and caused much trouble…please Mr. Frore, forgive me for I have wronged you so.”

Lou sniffed as Mr. Frore sat beside him. In a way he felt pity for the young lad, from what he gathered before coming to Worthington villa, the boy was brought up mostly isolated from others. His closest relation was only his father, who was not only busy all-the-time but reluctant in keeping him put and out of harm’s way. There was no one really around him but adults who could care less about his well-being. The thought of it hurt Mr. Frore.

Mr. Frore sighed, “I will amend you from punishment this time and I forgive you, young sir…”

Lou looked up at Mr. Frore tear-stained and confused, “You won’t tell father?”

“No, however, this won’t do, tomorrow after your lesson we will venture the town in a proper manner. There are lots of goods and places that might pique your curiosity and perhaps lessen your boredom.”

Lou blushed, “Who said I was bored?”

Mr. Frore grin slightly as he got up and made his way to exit Lou’s room, “Any child cooped up in a house this grand and alone will tire from it sooner or later, and in your case young sir, it is high-time you really looked at the world outside these walls…”

The following night, the reassuring words of Mr. Frore sparked delight in Lou. For the longest time, he always wanted to go out in town more but his father wouldn’t let him. Either way, Lou was determined to get a good’s night rest for tomorrow as he really wanted to be awake for his “proper” day out with Mr. Frore.

Morning came fast and Lou wanted to make sure that everything went well, he prayed for the day to go well, not knowing his room door was open. Lou didn’t notice until he heard the footsteps. At the front of Lou’s doorpost was Mr. Frore who had his attire for today. He jumped back from his sudden appearance to which puzzled Mr. Frore.

“Forgive me for surprising you, young sir, I was coming up to have you dressed for today.”

Lou quickly got up and closed his door now trembling.

Mr. Frore noticed Lou suddenly trembling, “Young sir, is there something troubling you?”

Lou nodded then spoke softly, “Please don’t tell father, I’ve been praying! H-he gets mad sometimes when I do it especially in front of him...I don’t know why but he says it bothers him.”

Mr. Frore eyebrows went high for a moment but spoke softly back, “No, need to fret I won’t tattle on you, besides I also say my daily morning prayers before I start the day as well…”

Mr. Frore closed the door and knelt beside Lou. They prayed together and inside Lou felt more trusting of Mr. Frore. The rest of the day was a blur and soon as his lessons were done Lou was ready to go out even dressed himself much to Mr. Frore’s surprise.

As they left the villa, Lou made sure to stay close to Mr. Frore. Walking about the frosty ground, Lou noticed two young girls. One was soft-spoken and the other shouting like a trumpet and around them was a box-like booth.

“Mr. Frore? What are those girls doing over there at that boxy booth?”

Mr. Frore looked at the direction Lou pointed with his finger at the girls.

“Ah, I know one of them. They seem to be selling some flowers.” Mr. Frore mused.

“Selling flowers? At this time of year?”

“Yes, it would seem so, how about we see these wintry flowers?”

Lou nodded as they made their way to the girls.

“Flowers of bloom! Real flowers!” the girl boomed as she waved them in the air enthusiastically.

“F-flowers for s-sale! T-these can stand the c-cold,” the other girl tried to incite the crowd.

The girl waving the flowers noticed Lou and Mr. Frore.

“Mr. Frore! Mighty fine to see you this beautiful afternoon!”

Lou eyebrow went high and thought, “She knows Mr. Frore personally?”

“Likewise, Penny and beg my pardon but who is the young lady you are helping?”

Penny held the girl’s hand with her head lowered to the ground.

“This is one of my classmates from school, Rebecca is her name. I came out to help her sell these amazing flowers her family has.”

“I see, well hello Rebecca. My name is Mr. Frore and this young man is Lou.”

Lou came out from behind Mr. Frore, “Good afternoon.”

Rebecca nodded, “G-good a-afternoon.”

Lou looked at the flowers with doubt, “Rebecca is it? Can you tell me why you and your friend are selling flowers in a season like this? I mean, the flowers you have are they not fakes?”

Penny fumed, “No, their not fake! These are real flowers!”

Lou stood back a bit from Penny’s exclamation.

“S-she’s r-right, my ma and pa are honest farming folk. They wouldn’t lie about s-seedlings,” Rebecca went inside her dress pocket to reveal in her hand the seeds of the wintry flower.

Penny peeped, “Also mister smarty-pants, touch these petals they are as soft as a cloud, no ways we could ever fake one of God’s creations…” she shoved a small, broken pot with the flowers inside it in front of him.

Lou was going to retort on how the pot could have been a fake too but feeling the anger of Penny ablaze. He decided it was not worth the trouble.

“How much for one?” Mr. Frore chimed much to Lou’s surprise.

“I-it’s three c-cents sir.”

Penny smiled, “See, Rebecca? I told you if we keep our hopes up someone is bound to buy them.”

Rebecca tear-up and smiled, “Mh-hm. I am glad my idea w-worked s-so well.”

“Yep! And sure’s enough you’ll live your dream as a botanist, or a plant whisperer like Mr. Evergrows.”

Rebecca grinned slightly, “Oh, I do love t-that thought but really just planting these seeds and own flower garden would do me well. Its my dream.”

Penny nodded, “That is quite the dream, Rebecca!”

Lou however was not convinced, a poor girl like her wanting to just plant these so-called flowers and on top of all that live well was completely baffling to him.

“Well, I think you’ll need to do better on your booth, nobody will want to buy your “flowers””with a set-up like this...”

Penny was getting peeved by Lou’s smart words,”Well, not everyone can have luxury things like an actual booth.”

Lou retorted bluntly, “What about her parents? Surely, they can come up with at least that.”

Rebecca started to cry, which startled Lou.

Mr. Frore glared at Lou, immediately Lou knew he was in some sort of trouble.

Penny tried to comfort her and remarked to Lou, “Her parents ain’t in the greatest shape. One is sick and the other is caring for the other. So, to help we’re selling these flowers to help them out for the time being.”

Lou felt awful, “Forgive me then, for my rude tongue. I am sorry about your predicament.”

Penny slightly grin, “I’ll take your apology, how about you Rebecca?”

Rebecca softly nodded still teary-eyed.

Lou looked at the flowers and thought about Rebecca’s parents, “If father was sick...I would do anything to help him get back to health, she must be working very hard in order for that to happen....”

Without a second thought, Lou took out all the money he had in his jacket and handed it to Penny, “This is all I have with me. It’s not much but-”

Penny hugged Lou as did Rebecca to Lou’s surprise.

“This means so much, thank you,” Rebecca smiled and sighed with relief.

“Yes, thank you so much!” Penny cried and shaked Lou’s hand profusely that Lou hand started to get sore.

Mr. Frore grinned, pleased at Lou’s generous gesture.

“Will have to get more flowers from your house since Mr. Lou bought ’em all” Penny smiled.

Rebecca nodded in agreement.

“Hope we see you around Lou!” Penny waved goodbye.

Lou gave a slight wave goodbye to Penny and Rebecca, “Maybe...”

As the girls left, Mr. Frore sensed that Lou was rather restless and decided that this would be the end of their endeavor through town. Both returned back at the Worthington villa.

Soon it would be nightfall but Lou wasn’t as sleepy as he would normally be. At times like these he would go to his personal treasure box of special things hidden under his bed, he opened it and inside were rare findings his dad found, silly and funny doodles he made during his class and a broken but beautiful pocket watch from his late-mother. He would wind it up time from time and look at the torn photograph of her. Feeling bored he ranged for Mr. Frore to tell him a story. Mr. Frore who was settling to go to sleep, made an effort to tell at least one story to Lou after his gesture of generosity from earlier.

“With in the many moons and starry nights, lies the fantastic Kaleido, a courageous knight that dwell in the land of dreams. When evil nightmares would emerge he stopped them all with his restoring powers and silver rapier…”

Lou fell asleep after a few with his treasure box and its belongings scattered on his bed, Mr. Frore carefully put them back in the chest except the item which was hidden in his hands, the pocketwatch. Finished he blew Lou’s room candle out and returned to his room.

…

Within a few hours, Lou was dreaming as he felt a surge of energy and light take him up like the wind to a kite.

He was inside a vortex that was shiny and speckled like colorful confetti, “Wow! I’m flying in the air!”

The whimsical ride would sadly end as he passed through a portal and landed on some kind of sturdy ground much to his disappointment, “Well, that was a short flight...”

He tried to get up but found out he was stuck in some kind of clear capsule, he thought, “I wish I could escape out of this small prison…!”

Immediately, the capsule opened up and Lou toppled over as lights lit up all round him. It showed he was in a room with many outlandish things, Lou couldn’t believe what he saw, there was a television machine but its form was wide and enormous. In it he could see his reflection but to this surprise, he looked exactly like Kaleido from the storybook Mr. Frore read to him!

“What an amazing thing! I am Kaleido in this dream of mine!” he jumped around and tried to take out his sword but noticed, it was not there.

“Oh, phooey. It’s Kaleido’s civilian form and not his knight form. Oh well…” Lou pouted.

Then the larger than life television turned itself on. Lou looked at its glowing screen showing a fight in progress with strange characters and jesters.

...

In the real battlefield, the fight escalated as spawns of jester-like monsters overcame the characters fighting them.

“Everyone, keep your ground! Bazooka, Yo-Yo keep the monsters at bay!” a young boy with a tall, black top hat shouted amongst the chaos as he threw playing cards like daggers. Making direct hits to the jester monsters heads.

On the same fighting area, two teddy bears, one yellow and the other pink were fighting side-by-side trying to keep a distance from the monsters.

“Easier said than done Hint! Take fire, jesters!” the yellow bear shouted gleefully spewing fiery projectiles.

“Ah! Watch where you’re shooting at Bazooka!” the pink bear hollered as she made a spinning shield with her yo-yo to protect her and Bazooka from incoming attacks.

When one of the jester monsters was about to jump on the teddy bears from above, a circus acrobat swinging in the air, saw it and shouted, “Bazooka, Yo-yo duck!”

He made a wide sweeping double kick to the jumping monster, “You two should join me, swinging in that air is far better than being on the ground,” he joked knocking the monster out cold.

“Not all of us can “swing” like a monkey Brio,” Bazooka grunted.

“Bazooka! 5 o’ clock!” Yo-yo shouted as she twirled and tangled a monster’s foot and made it lose its footing.

“Good show Yo-yo but I can do much better!” Bazooka snickered much to Yo-yo’s annoyance.

Hint was now beside another character fighter that was taller than him wearing a train conductor’s cap and a long cape reporting to him, “Hint, this isn’t going well. There’s more jesters here than usual…”

Hint sighed irritated, “I know Captain Merit, they must be thwarting us away from their true intentions…”

Immediately the two saw a clump of jesters transformed into a bigger jester, its gigantic fist hurdling at them. Captain Merit stands in front of Hint and catches the monster’s fist and pummeled it back to the small clump of jesters it once was.

From the screen, Lou stared with astonishment at the people on the screen, thinking “Amazing, I wish I had a closer look what’s happening in there…” his desire to go where the battle was being held triggered a light that shined and overcame him as he was being transported to the battle.

At the battlefield, things started to slow down and the team regrouped.

Until Captain Merit felt a vibration, “Hint, everyone, you won’t believe this but someone or some thing just transported from Hope Suite dream lines...”

“What?! How is that possible?!” Bazooka retorted.

Yo-yo chimed, “Mhm, besides us, no one else has entry unless...!”

Hint was caught surprised by Captain Merit’s report, “Is this a new attack from Pavor?”

Brio saw a light shine in the dream sky, “Well whatever it is...they’re coming in for a landing! Get out the way folks!”

The group fled the scene as Lou crashed landed to the ground face first.

“Ow ow ow ow ow!” Lou cried, “That really hurt, why is this dream so painful?!”

The group were shocked, except Bazooka who decided to get some answers from all this commotion, “Hey, you with the weird hairdo!”

Lou looked around but couldn't see where the voice was coming from.

“Down here dummy!”

Lou looked down to see a talking yet cute yellow teddy bear but was pounced by it with its entire body covering his face.

“I got him! I got him! He ain’t so tough!” Bazooka tried to hold him down.

Lou was in a panic and scrambling to get Bazooka off of him, “Unhand me, you wild animal!”

Bazooka didn’t let up, “Over my dead body!”

The rest of the group would soon circle around Lou. Bazooka jumped back and joined the group’s circle, “Ha! Got you surrounded!”

Lou was shocked from seeing the people that were on the screen now surrounding him.

Lou pleaded, “Please, I’m not here to fight. I come in peace!”

“Then who are you?” Captain Merit asked with his looming appearance which scared Lou.

“I’m…I-!” Lou was about to reveal his name when a rumble from the dream ground shook everyone.

Captain Merit eyes widened, “Hint, the portal to the nightmare gate is near here!”

“What?!” the group clamored as jesters emerged again but this time with someone out the portal.

Lou shuddered when he recognized who it was, “R-rebecca?!”’

Hint looked at Kaleido, “It couldn’t be...Lou? Here?!”

End of Part 1