Please Save My Planet
by Nike

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there lived two young girls named Nickie and Myla. Nickie had green eyes and long fiery red hair that was tied to a pigtail while Myla had silver-streaked violet blue shoulder-length hair and sky blue eyes that turns silver when sunlight hits it. They were best friends. They both were studying in St. Sinclair's College. There was nothing special about them, they were just like your ordinary grade school students.
One day, as they were walking home together beside the park, they came upon a young boy about eight years old, with silvery white hair, dancing a few steps away from them. He was holding a small thin wooden stick, with a long green ribbon fastened to the end. The young boy saw them and came dancing around the two girls, twirling the ribbon as he danced. Nickie and Myla smiled as they watched him dance.
"He's good." Nickie whispered softly at her friend.
Myla nodded. "I wonder, who is he?"
Nickie shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea."
The boy danced a few more steps before stopping before Nickie and Myla. Then he bowed on one knee before them.
Nickie clapped her hands. "Bravo!!!"
Myla got down and faced the boy. She noticed that he had golden yellow eyes as well. "What's your name?"
The boy smiled. "Kurama."
Nickie got down beside her friend. "Kurama? What a strange name !" she exclaimed at the boy.
The boy got up and walked a few steps away before turning around to face them. He smiled. "I am not an ordinary boy."
Myla got up on her feet, followed by Nickie, and brushed dirt off her midnight-blue skirt. She frowned and studied the boy's face. She couldn't remember seeing him around here before. "Do you live around here ?"
Kurama thought for a few minutes before speaking up. "You could say that."
"Why were you dancing here alone ?" Nickie asked him. She frowned, boys his age are not usually left alone by themselves. They were usually with adults. But there was no one nearby except for Myla and herself.
"I was waiting for you," the boy replied as his young face grew sad. He looked up at them and held out his hand. " Myla and Nickie."
"How did you know our names ?" Myla asked in surprise. "Who are you ?"
Kurama sadly bowed his head. "I had been watching the two of you pass this way for a long time." He quietly replied and took back his hand and placed it in his pocket. "I need your help."
Nickie and Myla glanced at each other before speaking up. "Why?" Nickie asked.
The boy faced them and held the stick tightly in his hand. "I'll show you." He replied and twirled the long green ribbon around them.
All of a sudden, silvery white dust emerged from ribbon and surrounded the two girls. The boy sadly stared at them as they both vanished into thin air.
Instantly, they found themselves in a strange room. The walls resembled giant leaves that were bound together. Up above were leafy vines that were woven tightly to form some sort of ceiling. Rainbow-colored bubbles floated in the air surrounding them. The lamps were a hundred fireflies clustered in a small corner while the curtains that divided the room were made of butterfly wings of many colors.
"Uh Myla," Nickie began as the two girls looked around. "I don't think we are in Manila any more."
Myla stared at the bubbles. "Where do you suppose are we?"
"I'll try to explain," A soft voice whispered from behind. Myla and Nickie turned around and saw a beautiful young woman with light long green hair inside a giant bubble. She was holding a small ball in her hands that resembled some sort of globe. The lady turned her eyes the were as blue as the ocean at dawn. "I am Princess Eartha, the last fairy of this blue planet known as Earth."
Nickie widened her eyes, in wonder. "You mean a real fairy?"
Myla frowned. "But I thought that there are no such things as fairies,"
The lady sadly glanced at them. "A wrong belief proclaimed by grown-ups. Once, there were millions of us in this world. Now, I am the last."
"Wait a minute," Nickie began, scratching her head. "If you are a fairy, then who is that boy who brought us here? What is this place?"
The lady smiled sadly. "You must forgive Kurama. I had ordered that elf to bring the two of you here in my domain because I had needed your help."
"Us ?" Myla began, "Why us? We are just kids !"
"It is written that you children are the hope of the future." The lady replied and then smiled. "Don't be hard on yourselves. The two of you hold some special gifts that no one else has. I need your help, children. Take a look at the future of your planet." She pointed to a bubble floating nearby.
The two girls stared at the bubble and saw the figure of an enormous old tree standing alone on a bare rocky ground.
"This is the tree of life," the woman continued, "The last living tree of the future Earth. The final reminder of what this world had been before Man came."
"What happened to the other trees?" Myla asked.
"All had been cut down to make way for buildings, cities and roads. Nature has been pushed up to the limits. In this future, there are no place left for birds, insects, trees and animals. There no flowers that grow on the rocky soil."
"But aren't cities and roads good ?" Nickie asked, "I mean don't they help make our lives easier?"
The lady nodded. "True. But there should be a balance between nature and development. That is why I ask for your help, children." She waved her hand and a figure of a gigantic smoke monster appeared on the bubble. "Ungsok, the spirit of destruction wishes to kill the tree. He had ordered some men and monsters to cut down the tree. I need you to protect it from any harm."
"What happens if the tree is cut?" Myla asked,
Princess Eartha closed her eyes. " Then I and this blue planet will die." She replied and then bowed her head.
Nickie stared at the fairy. "I don't understand. It's only a tree."
The lady opened her eyes. "Only a tree?" she began. "Trees and plants provide us with everything. The air we breathe. The food we eat. The clothes we wear and the home we live in. This is the last tree alive in this world. You have no idea what terrible things will happen if this one is chopped down." The fairy held the small blue globe up in the air and a bright bluish light filled the room. "I am sending you in that future to protect the tree. Please, I beg you my children. Save my planet!"
Instantly, Myla and Nickie found themselves standing beside the old tree. They sat under its shade as they waited.
"Myla?" Nickie began as she glanced at her friend. "Do you really think we could do it ? We are just kids, right? What could we do against monsters?"
Myla frowned. "I don't know. Maybe we could at least do something to save this tree." She replied as she felt the rough bark. "I still find it hard to believe that a single tree could mean a lot to the world."
Nickie sat up as they heard a loud roaring sound getting closer. "Myla! Look!" she pointed up ahead. "They're coming!"
The men came, armed with bulldozers, saws and axes. They were surrounded by the black smoke monster and they stopped a few steps away from Myla and Nickie.
One of the men stepped forward. "Out of the way!" he shouted at them. "This tree has to be cut to make way for a highway that is to be built soon!"
The two girls stood before the tree. "We won't let you !" Nickie exclaimed. "This is the last tree standing! You can't just chop it down! What about us!"
"Foolish children! You are only kids! What can you do?" Ungsok roared and sent a cloud of thick black smog towards them.
Nickie and Myla fell to the ground as the smog surrounded them, making it hard for them to breathe. "I can't breathe in this smog!" Myla exclaimed.
Ungsok pointed at them. "Tie those children up!" the monster ordered as the men tied them to a nearby metal pole. "I don't want them to interfere!"
Nickie and Myla watched in horror as the men began chopping the tree with their axes. "No! Please, stop!" Nickie shouted as they struggled from the ropes that tied them.
Ungsok gave out an evil laugh. "Soon the last of the trees will no more! I will be free to destroy this world!" the smoke monster began as the men continued to hack the tree.
The fairy gave out a pained shriek as the tree fell to the ground. She raised the small model of the earth up in the air in anguish. "Please, save my planet!"
A bright white light filled the entire surrounding. Myla and Nickie found themselves back at the sidewalk beside the park.
"We are back!" Nickie exclaimed. "But how?"
"Did we just imagine everything?" Myla asked.
"Perhaps," a voice came from behind. It was the boy that they had met earlier and he was sitting on the metal fence, holding the long green ribbon in both hands. "Who could tell? Do you really believe that in the future Earth would be destroyed?"
"I don't understand," Nickie began.
"In you, lies the future." The boy replied. "Whatever that will happen to it, is set on what we do in the present. Goodbye, Myla. Goodbye, Nickie. Never forget what you have seen. Princess Eartha wishes it." Kurama added as he slowly vanished into thin air.
"Wait!" Myla began. "Come back!"
The boy gave them a sad smile and in a moment he was gone.

Seven years later......
A young girl with long braided red hair and green eyes stood quietly on the sidewalk and stared at the park. She had always came here on the way home after school even though she could barely remember why. All she knew was that something important had happened here that included her and her best friend.
"Nickie?" a familiar voice came from behind. Nickie turned around and saw Myla walking towards her with a sad expression on her face. "What are you doing?" she asked as the girl with the black hair and eyes stood beside her friend.
Nickie shook her head as she stared blankly at the park. "I know its strange, but I don't see that boy we met long ago. I don't think I even remember his name anymore."
Myla nodded. "I feel the same way. You know, I think I could still remember a woman inside a bubble. I think she was pleading for something I can't remember what." She glanced at Nickie. "How about you? Do you believe that what happened seven years ago really happened ?"
Nickie bowed her head. "I don't believe in anything anymore." She replied and then glanced at her friend. "Are your family still leaving for Australia?"
Myla nodded. "Yes, I tried to talk Mom and Dad out of it but how can I convince them when I don't even know what makes me want to stay here ?" she glanced at the sky. It was getting dark. "Well, I'd better be going now. Goodbye, Nickie." She began as she started walking away.
Nickie stood there and stared at the park. A faint image of a lady inside a huge bubble and holding a ball that resembled a small model of the earth in her hands flashed in her mind. She bowed her head and walked back home as a faint whisper could be heard from the trees nearby.
"Please, save my planet."