Here's a fifteen-year-old boy, looking around at the multitude of objects. His eyes fall upon an old tapestry, which depicts a nice little countryside setting, and he keeps listening to the tour.

The tapestry, named “Nothing More Interesting Than The Countryside,” was commissioned by Mr. Reed with the explicit purpose of causing people to wonder why anyone would possess such a tapestry. The unknown artist declined to sign it.

The other students seem to mostly agree with Mr. Reed’s opinion on the tapestry, moving on to other pieces that seem to be organised without much thought to pattern or fit: a Greek statue (with the colours restored) side-by-side with an Egyptian vase, both sitting next to a small sculpture of a bonsai.

Trailing behind the others a bit, Theo moves on past the less interesting displays (a random metal spoon? Really?) and reads a bit about the statue and vase, ignoring the weirdly-positioned bonsai. He's not exactly a history buff, but he does find ancient cultures kinda interesting.

The statue and bonsai are in fact genuine antiquities, at least, although there has been some controversy over the vase.

And a noise. It sounds almost like... someone's snoring? Coming from a more out of the way display over there, not very well illuminated.

Huh. That's weird.

He wanders over in that direction, looking at a few displays on the way – it doesn't seem like anyone's looking at it, so it's probably nothing interesting.

It's actually a really pretty book, with an actual gemstone engraved on its cover and details in what looks suspiciously like actual gold.

It's propped on a bookstand with a "Do Not Touch" sign hanging from it.

And no-one's looking at it? That's bizarre. It looks really neat.

The Clow Book, his electronic tour guide explains, is one of the museum's most interesting objects. Clow Reed himself manufactured it, and when the museum was opened, he requested that it be displayed in this exact spot and that no one ever attempt to open it. Should this condition not be respected, the part of his fortune dedicated to maintaining the museum will be diverted to one of his other causes. As such, no one knows the contents of the book.

Oh, wow. That's... particular. Is that why no-one else is here?

Theo looks around for the source of the snoring, but finds nothing. He leans over the book, studying its 3D surface and the jewel embedded into the forehead of the lion on the cover.

The snoring seems to have stopped.

On the other hand, when Theo peers at the book it—clicks—and opens on its own.

He stands up quickly and looks around. He's pretty sure the book's not supposed to do that.

No one seems to have noticed it. The book opens veeeeery slowly, and inside—

cards. About twelve inches long and four inches wide, the pages of the book have a rectangular hole in them with several cards like that one.

Well, if no one seems to have noticed, he's not going to draw attention to the fact that the unopened book has now opened.

He looks back at the book and the cards, and looks at the top one. Is there any writing there? Does the book have some sort of information on what this is? He makes sure not to touch it – he hasn't done anything wrong yet.

The cards are large enough compared to the pages that there is very little space for anything to be written on them. Well, the top page, at least, is blank.

That's not particularly helpful then. Is there any indication what the cards might be for?

He looks at the diagram on the card a bit more closely. What's it about?

It doesn’t seem to really be about anything. It’s this strange circle, except flattened, with a sun and a moon and a geometric star around them. All around very unhelpful.

Oh, that's curious. He's pretty sure he recognises these as either Chinese or Japanese cardinal directions, at least the characters in the left and bottom circles on the diagram (North and... probably West, if it's like a compass layout).

It really doesn't look like there's much information here about what the cards are, the warning only mentioned that nobody attempt to open it, and there's no one about. After a quick check for cameras, he decides to go pick up the top card and look at the second one.

The second card looks exactly like the first one—except for the fact that it turns out that the weird circle symbol thing was the back of the card. The previously hidden side of the card Theo took has something—different.

He compares the two cards' sides that were originally facing upwards, notices that they're identical, then turns over the first one to look at the other side. "The Windy," he reads aloud, laughing slightly—

It glows. A whirlwind forms around his body and the book, coming from the ground and reaching the ceiling. And the cards—all of the cards—are scattered by this mystical wind. Flying through the ceiling as if it wasn’t there, one by one they escape from the book, leaving it completely empty.

Another consequence of a mystical wind that scatters magic cards? It’s strong enough to topple the book stand, drop the book, and produce a reasonable amount of noise.

"Whoa, what the hell?" he shouts. Panicking a little, he tries to grab some cards as they fly away, and starts in alarm when the stand falls over.

Too little, too late, too magically slippery. The cards all escape, except for the one in his hand, ‘The Windy.’ Such a bizarre name seems to fit the general humour one can glean from the tour guide’s descriptions of Clow Reed, lending credence to the idea the book was made by him. And of course, the fact that the book was filled with magical cards might suggest Mr. Reed was even more eccentric than one would naively expect.

And of course, Theo can hear hurried steps quickly approaching.

Theo darts away from the display, trying to avoid anyone in his path. What the hell was that?

Well, clearly that was—

“You! Boy! Where are you going?” The voice belongs to a security guard coming from the place Theo had been going to. What a great day.

Oh crap, seriously?

He runs back the way he came, then heads off into a different room, hoping there's a crowd he can get lost in.

Not quite a crowd, it's the middle of the week, but there's the group of students from his school amongst whom he can hide, probably.

He moves quickly to a display near the school group that blocks him from view of the room's entrance, then takes off his jacket and starts looking at some of the other museum displays, trying to act like he's been there all along.

He apparently succeeds. The security guard finds the teacher and questions her, which causes her to question the students. None of them seemed to have noticed Theo's absence, and none admit to having seen any 'Clow Book' anywhere.

Phew.

Now that the action is over, he wonders why he was so intent on getting away. Surely they'd notice it wasn't his fault?

Not like he'd want to risk it, though.

Well, whichever way, they seem to not find him.

And he still has that card.

Indeed he does, though by now he's put it in his backpack - a 12" by 4" card is pretty conspicuous.

Eventually the school trip ends and he goes home.

Someone eventually closes the book and puts it back, and when no one's looking, something happens.

Theo's in his bedroom, earphones in, listening to music. He's sitting on his bed, back against the wall.

His room is rectangular, with his bed, a chest of drawers, and a window on one side, and a desk and bookshelf on the other side, with a door opposite a window in the middle of the long edges.

There is a soft tapping on the window by the bedroom, probably too soft for Theo to hear.

La-la-la.

Definitely too soft for Theo to hear.

The tapping becomes a bit more insistent.

Nope. Still not loud enough for Theo to hear it.

Maybe the tapping should try the other window.

The tapping unfortunately does not come up with that idea. Instead it becomes even more insistent and loud. Rather like a bird headbutting the glass.

Oh, well, if it's that loud it might get a response out of Theo.

"Yeah, Dad, what? I'm busy!" he shouts, in the direction of the door.

Dad does not respond, apparently.

The tapping, on the other hand, becomes loud enough that it's pretty clear even with the music on that it's coming from the window.

That causes Theo to take notice, and pull off his headphones, looking in the direction of the window with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

Tap tap TAP.

It's too dark to really make out whatever's causing the noise, at least at that angle.

Continuing to look worried, he goes to turn the light on, then walks closer to the window, trying to get a glimpse of the source of the tapping.

...it looks like an orange ping pong ball, in the gloom, repeatedly banging against the glass.

... What.

"Haha, so funny." he says to whoever's moving the ping pong ball. Obviously it's someone who thinks they're very funny. "Get away from my window or I'll call the police."

Either the person can't hear him or they're choosing to ignore him, for the orange ping pong ball keeps hitting the glass.

"No, seriously," he says, as he starts looking around for the person. "Get away from my window."

He looks around for the person from a few different angles.

No person.

... Well, that was unexpected. Though it probably would have been more so yesterday.

He decides he'll tap back against the window, in the spot the ping pong ball is hitting, and see if that does anything.

It does! Instead of an orange ping pong ball hitting the window, a very angry orange stuffed winged bear appears and makes gestures that might just indicate he wants the window to be opened.

Okay, well, on the one hand that's frightening and he's really not sure he wants to let whatever that is into his room.

On the other hand... It's probably not random chance that two weird things happen to him in the same day, and this might help explain whatever it is.

He goes to his bookshelf, grabs a heavy book, then returns to the window, quickly opens it, and backs away.

"Are you deaf? I've been trying to get you to open this forever! What were you even doing?" the stuffed toy complains with a high childish voice.

"I was listening to music," responds Theo in a somewhat hostile voice, eyeing the creature warily. "What are you doing? What are you, and why are you here?"

"I am Cerberus, guardian of the Clow Cards, and you have one!" He stops and holds his head between his paws. "Ooowww it hurts!" he says as he floats in—the wings are apparently merely decorative. "Look what you made me do!"

"... What I made you do? How is you hitting your head against my window my fault? ... And what are the Clow Cards?" (He's pretty sure he can guess, but just in case this is, for some reason, a totally unrelated weird occurrence...)

Cerberus starts zipping around very quickly, looking for it. "I know you have it! Windy! And where are the others?"

"Windy? 'The others'? Are those the 'Clow Cards'?"

He floats over toward Theo. "You really don't know?"

"Know what? Because I know lots of things, but what the 'Clow Cards' are isn't one of them." (Or maybe it is, but he's not willing to give information without getting some first.)

He slowly moves over to his bed for no obvious reason.

He sighs and sits on the bed. "I woke up in this museum and the Book was open and all the Clow Cards were gone. I tried to find them and could only sense Windy but it's not here..."

"You woke up in a museum? What were you doing before that, and what do you mean you could 'sense Windy'?"

He stops before he gets to the bed, still maintaining some distance from Cerberus. Still somewhat wary, he hasn't put the book down, but fortunately it doesn't seem he'll need to attack.

"...I was actually supposed to be guarding the cards but I... fell asleep."

"... Oh." – that's not really what he was expecting. "So why'd you come here?"

He's starting to feel a little sympathetic towards this creature.

"I told you, I was looking for the cards! If the Clow Cards aren't all collected and sealed again, a great catastrophe will befall the world!"

"A great catastrophe? Can you be more specific? And why were you looking here for the cards? Did you 'sense Windy' and come here?"

Yeah, perhaps "hostile and withholding information" wasn't the best way to go about this. In fairness: weird creature, at night, after a weird day.

"I—" His ears twitch, and he looks around.

Theo looks suspiciously at the bear, then looks around as well. "What?"

"I am still sensing Windy here. It's not usually this quiet."

"Quiet? Didn't you say it was a card...? Or is it... special; like, have I mentioned that you're a winged, talking bear? You do know that, right?"

Cerberus inches his way in the general direction of Theo's pillow.

Theo runs over to the pillow, attempting to block Cerberus from reaching it.

"You have it!" Cerberus accuses.

He grabs hold of the card, stands up, and holds the book at the ready again. "Yeah, I do, but how do I know you're who you say you are? Even if there is a 'Guardian of the Clow Cards', how do I know you're them?"

"You were the one who scattered them! Why should I trust you to have it?"

"I didn't scatter them, I stood near a book and then touched a card! How should I know that'd scatter some magical cards? Magical cards don't exist!"

"You're holding one! And now you've brought catastrophe into the world!"

"Well obviously they do exist, but they didn't, not when I was in that museum, at least not as far as I knew! And it's not my fault that they cause catastrophe!"

"But it's your fault they've been released, and you keep being so unhelpful!"

"Well maybe we should stop shouting at each other and try to–" He's interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Theo, are you okay in there?" asks his dad.

He drops the card and quickly grabs the winged bear, muffling any noises it might make.
"Yeah, Dad, everything's fine!" he says... somewhat convincingly.

Cerberus bites Theo's hand.

"Ow!" he exclaims, trying to be quiet.

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah, I am! Good night!" he says, and he waits to hear his dad's footsteps before continuing.

"What was that for? I was just keeping you quiet!" he hisses at the bear, dropping him on the bed.

Cerberus immediately flops onto the ground and grabs the card.

Well. Hugs the card. It's rather larger than he is. "Okay! One down, fifty two to go!"

"Hey, no!" Theo says, and tries to grab the card. "Tell me what this is about! Magical cards and a catastrophe – what do you mean!?"

Cerberus is lifted off the ground when Theo grabs the card, still hugging it and wagging his tiny legs, ineffectually trying to take the card from Theo.

Eventually he gives up and floats back down to the bed. "Those cards were special cards made by an amazing sorcerer named Clow Reed. Each card is alive, and possesses incredible powers, but they all like acting on their own, and normal forces are no match for them. So, Reed himself created this book and placed me, the Beast of the Seal, on its front cover."

Theo snatches the card away from Cerberus as soon as he can, and decides to finally put the book down; it looks like he's strong enough to fend the bear off without it.

"So are you the lion from the cover? Why did Clow create them, and why with rebellious personalities? Are they alive?" he asks, sounding somewhat disturbed.

"Yes, I am, it's magic, Clow didn't choose to create their personalities, and yes, they're alive!"

"What, so you can't create magical artifacts without giving them personalities and making them alive? And why would you imprison them all in a book in a library?" And no offense but you don't look much like a lion, he thinks but doesn't add.

He shakes his head. "The more magic, the more alive and the more personality. And they were imprisoned to keep from destroying the world!"

Theo squints at him. "So they're the catastrophe? You mean that none of them happen to be nice and actually want to help? Does the fact that they're magic automatically make them into horrible... people...?"

"Not exactly. They won't be trying to destroy the world, catastrophe is just what happens when they exist and don't have a master. Each of them does its thing, because it is their nature."

"So how do you stop it? Just go pick up a bunch of cards? How long does it take before they actually start destroying things, and why isn't this one doing it yet?"

"If you used this one to scatter the others, then it recognises you as its master; Windy is very agreeable. And the cards will be dormant until they're not, and then they'll be in their true forms, which are not cards, and which you must subdue, capture, and turn back into cards." He stands up. Given his size, that's not much of a difference. "You will have to do it!"

'They'll be dormant until they're not'... Wow, funny, that.

"I didn't exactly use it on purpose." he grouches. "How bad are they when in their 'true forms'? And what do you mean 'its master'...? I don't exactly want to become a slave-master."

"...what?"

"'What' to what part? I picked the card up, laughed at the name, then a gust of wind took the cards; that wasn't my intention. And I happen to have some issues with being the master to a bunch of slaves."

"Slaves? But—they're cards!"

"Yeah, magical cards. Which have been trapped in a book for a long while, and that you say have enough free will to be able to decide to use the magic on their own, and apparently cause a catastrophe!"

Cerberus blinks and sits again. "No, that's not how they work," he says, shaking his head a bit. "They don't decide to use magic, they are the magic. Windy doesn't decide to do anything any more than wind does. Wind is, and so is Windy. The same is true of all other cards. Like—" He fumbles for an example, looks around, then points at Theo's shadow. "Does your shadow decide to follow you around?"

"... No? But it doesn't display signs of being intelligent, just mirroring me and doing exactly nothing else, whereas it sounds like these cards do other things? Especially since you're talking about them recognising me as their master."

"Well, but—dogs! Dogs recognise people as their master, and they do other things!"

"Yeah, and do you see me trying to enslave a dog? Imprisoning it in a little box somewhere, without any interaction with the outside world?"

...Cerberus sighs. "No, but it's different. Look, I've been in that book for a hundred years and you don't see me complaining, do you? It's different."

"... Did you not volunteer for the job? Did the magic guy just enslave you, too? Surely there was a better option than imprisoning a bunch of cards with personalities and then enslaving a magical creature to keep guard."

"No, he made me! Keeping guard is what I'm for!" He stands up again and starts pacing, which is quite a comical sight. "I don't know how to explain this," he says, scratching his head. Pause. "I know!" he says, turning to look at Theo and pointing at him. "You will talk to Windy."

"They can talk? How exactly does that make them like dogs!?" he shouts, probably a bit loudly.

"You'll see what I mean!"

"Ugh! Fine," he growls. "How do I talk to Windy?"

"Stand over there!" he says, pointing at an empty spot in the middle of the floor.

He walks over there, mostly keeping his eyes on Cerberus.

"Now wait!"

...and after a few seconds, Cerberus starts glowing around the edges, eyes closed. Waiting.

Theo keeps looking on suspiciously, but doesn't seem too startled; if magic looks a bit magical, it's not exactly the most surprising thing in the world.

Then something in the distance... a falling star?

...that's approaching pretty fast. Before Theo can react, a glowing point of light has entered his room through his window and is floating in front of him. As it stops glowing, it's recognisable as... a rather peculiar key.

"What's your name?" Cerberus asks.

"What, me? Or does this key also have a personality? Perhaps you're asking it," he says sarcastically.

"This is no time for jokes! Yes, you!"

"Theo."

Cerberus nods, then starts intoning. "Key of the Seal, there is someone wishing for a contract with you."

Theo waves.

"A boy! His name is Theo. Oh, Key, grant him the power. RELEASE!"

Suddenly, Theo's room disappears. He's standing in a void, the only things present being himself, Cerberus, the Key, and a glowing circle much like the one on the back of the Clow Cards where the "ground" should be. A strong wind starts pressing against Theo as the Key starts glowing again, almost too bright to look at.

Okay, no, this is a little more extreme than glowing. He stumbles a little, then looks around a bit, trying not to fall over.

The Key grows and changes shape, becoming a staff.

"Now, Theo! Grab it!"

The wind is stronger, coming from the magical floating staff in the middle of the circle, working against Theo's attempt at doing it.

He struggles against the wind, which is seemingly getting stronger as he gets closer, then reaches for the staff, eventually seizing hold of it.

The wind stops, the glowing circle disappears, and they're back in his room. "That's it! The birth of a Cardcaptor!"

"What happened to talking to Windy?"

"Yes!" He points at the card. "You must will it then ask it to manifest before you. You throw it in front of you, and then you touch it with the point of your staff," he says, pointing at the "beak" of the staff, "and you call its name."

"What the hell's a Cardcaptor? Does it have any side effects?" he says, looking angry. "And what's gonna happen if I call upon Windy how you said? Perhaps there'll be a hurricane that you forgot to mention?"

"I just said, you're its master, now, it won't do anything you don't want it to do! Besides, you're not strong enough to create a hurricane yet."

"What!? I thought it was clear that I didn't want to become a slave master!"

He tries to get Windy to manifest, saying aloud "Windy", dropping the card in front of himself, and then touching it with the staff. He is not okay with having a trapped personality under his control.

The card twirls in the air a few times, floating, before stopping while facing Theo and allowing him to touch it with the staff. That magical circle appears again on the floor, but the bedroom doesn't disappear, and the card glows white, releasing as it disappears tendrils of visible air that coalesce into—

a woman. She's slightly translucent, her legs dissolving into each other, her arms turning to wings, and there's no difference between skin and hair. She smiles at him.

"Hi! Can you understand me?" he asks, still seeming worried but smiling a bit in response.

She nods.

That definitely seems like a person, and it seems rude to ask something like can you comment on your intelligence...

"Apparently I used your power to scatter some cards. Do you remember that?"

She nods again.

"Do you have any idea where they might be found?" he asks, somehow doubting the answer will be as simple as 'right over there'.

She shakes her head.

"I hope I haven't upset you by just leaving you under my pillow... I didn't realise you were alive." he apologises.

She just keeps smiling.

"... Do you speak?"

She shakes her head.

Well, that's somewhat inconvenient. "Oh okay," he says.

He looks at a bit of a loss for what to do next. "Are you okay? Is there anything you think I should know?" he tries.

She tilts her head, as if not understanding the question.

Cerberus looks a bit smug.

He shoots a quick glare at Cerberus.

Now's the time to be potentially insensitive, he supposes. "Are you... a person? Sentient? Do you have emotions?" he asks Windy.

Her head remains tilted, the soft smile still on her face. The barest of shrugs touches her shoulders, or perhaps it's just the wind rippling them.

"They do not have feelings, they are feelings."

At that, Windy nods.

Oh. That's... sad, in a way.

He looks a bit guilty, and asks her anyway, "Do you mind if I dismiss you?"

Again the head shake.

"How do I do it?" he asks Cerberus, subdued.

"You just need to will it and it will happen."

He wishes that she turn back into her card, picks her up and places her and the staff on his desk, then sits on his bed, head in hands.

He might be like this for a while.

Turning back into a card is somewhat less spectacular than the converse: tendrils of magic air leave Windy's body as she dissolves, reconvening in a glowing card-shaped patch of nothing that eventually becomes the card again.

...Cerberus floats up to him, his wings flapping in a movement that had nothing to do with how he's flying. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess, I just... It seems sad? Like they're some sort of helpless creature, that just causes damage without meaning to, and she seemed so nice!"

He's definitely going to be sad for a while, but there might be some guilt creeping in for the way he treated Cerberus earlier.

Cerberus nods. "That's what I meant. They are what they are, you don't blame the wind for toppling a building, you don't blame the water for drowning someone."

"Can we maybe continue this some other time? I will help you, I get what you mean about it needing to be done, but I just need a bit."

"...yes."

He opens the window for Cerberus, then returns to his bed, this time curling up. This day's been a pretty big shock.

Cerberus—

completely misses the point, and finds somewhere snuggly to sleep.

Oh well. It doesn't matter that much, so long as Cerberus didn't pick the bed.

He picked a cushion on the couch by the window.

Theo's not going to get to sleep for a bit, but if it's quiet long enough, he'll eventually fall asleep.

And Cerberus sleeps.

And in the morning, Theo wakes up, though he's quite quiet about it, then decides he's a bit more okay than he was last night.

He checks to see if Cerberus is awake yet.

He is! He's floating above Theo's desk, sitting cross-legged and glowing.

"What are you doing?"

He stops glowing and sighs. "Trying to look for the other cards, but no luck."

"Oh. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not really, if the cards are dormant they can't be found." He looks up. "But when they show up, as Cardcaptor it's your responsibility to find and capture them."

"Does being Cardcaptor have any... magical effects or... something?"

He shakes his head. "None you'll notice now. You already had magical aptitude, before, and it'll only grow as you capture more cards, but other than sometimes having prophetic dreams you won't feel any differences."

"Prophetic dreams? How do they work?"

"You'll have dreams of things that haven't happened yet. Pictures and pieces, nothing complete, and learning to interpret them is part of your magical training."

"Are you my magical tutor, then?"

"Yes! And you need to learn how to use your powers." He points at the small key that used to be Theo's staff. "You should always have that close to you."

"Why?" he asks as he goes to pick it up. "In case I get attacked a random card? Or decide to attack one, I suppose..."

"Yes! Now hold it in your hand, extend it in front of you with your palm up, and repeat after me."

"Wait, no, first tell me what this is gonna do."

"It's gonna become your staff."

"Oh, right."

He holds it out and prepares to repeat some words.

"Now say: The Key which hides the powers of the Dark! Show your true powers before me! I, Theo, command you under our contract! RELEASE!"

"Oh, yay, a great catch phrase to go with the magic." – Sarcastic enough? – "The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Theo, command you under our contract. Release," he continues, not sounding particularly enthusiastic.

The key glows again, not nearly as brightly as yesterday, and grows into the staff. "You'll use that staff to channel your magic and control your cards."

"Do I really have to use that phrase each time? Can't I just 'will it' to become a staff, like I 'willed' Windy to manifest and then dissipate?" At the mention of Windy, he looks briefly sad again, but tries not to show it too much.

"Not yet," he shakes his head. "Just like you have to call Windy's name to manifest it, you need the incantation to make the key obey. And if you want to use a card for a specific purpose, you should tell it so before saying its name."

"What happens if I don't tell the cards what I want them for?" He hardly thinks it's just a politeness thing.

"The same thing that happened yesterday: they manifest. Not all of them will be as friendly as Windy when they do, at least until you've proven yourself to them."

"So they're forced to obey me if I give them an order when I summon them?"

"No. If they still don't trust you they can refuse to obey and even attack you. But if you do that they'll at least think you know what you're doing."

"Oh, right."

“Some cards are more unruly than others, and some cards will only respect you after you master other cards. There is a hierarchy.”

"Which cards are more docile, then?"

“Like I said, that depends. And none of them will be immediately docile, before you capture them. There are fifty-three cards in total, divided in seven groups. Windy is the head of one of those groups, as are Watery, Earthy, Firey, Light, and Dark. The seventh group, Nothing, only has that card, to counterbalance all the others. It is the most powerful of the cards.”

"Oh, I would've thought some would be more docile than others, as a general rule. What can the cards actually do? I know Windy can create a gust of wind, but how precise can she be with them? Can she do a really small blast of air? I know you said it also depends on me, so I guess it's a matter of what she and I could do right now."

"Some of them are more docile than others, yes, but they're fifty-three cards! I'm not about to make a list of them. And it doesn't always even make sense so call one docile or not." He shrugs his tiny shoulders. "The cards embody concepts and embed magic. They can do anything under their concept. You can get more power, and more precision, by becoming more powerful yourself and by having a better relationship with your cards. Right now, you can do a very strong gust of wind, and you can use Windy to entrap some other cards that don't have a fixed physical form."

Oh, wow. "Anything under their concept? Does that depend on what I think is part of their concept, or are there hard limits set out?"

"Both."

"Can Windy, for example, control sound? And if so, how precisely?"

"It can, but not very precisely. Voice and Song are better at that than Windy is."

"Ah, okay. Can I change the colour of this staff?" He waves the pink thing around, not seeming totally thrilled by the new persona implied by it and his new catch phrase. "And I'm guessing there's magic other than the cards, if they were created by someone in the first place."

"You will be able to change your staff once you're powerful enough. And yes, there is magic other than the cards, but the cards are amongst the most powerful artefacts in the world, combining both Western and Eastern magic."

Theo has a quick look at his watch, then looks back over at Cerberus, then realises what the watch actually showed.

"Oh, crap! Right, I've got to go for school – can you just wait here and not... do anything?" He starts moving around the room, collecting his stuff together, finding the staff gets in the way a little. "And how do I shrink this back to a key?"

"...what, all day?"

And apparently Theo is willing the staff back into a key with enough strength, for that's what it does.

"Well unless you can turn invisible and plan on hanging out around me all day? I'm sure you know how to open a window, anyway, so you can go fly around outside for a bit?"

Yep, so it does. He shoves it into his pocket.

"I'll be in your bag, to help you recognise a Clow Card if it appears!"

"And you think that'll be more interesting, cooped up in a small bag all day, than staying in my room and maybe flying outside? Really? Do you think you can be quiet for that long?"

It's pretty clear Theo doesn't have much confidence in the idea.

"Of course!"

... Of course.

Well, what's the worst that can happen? People find him and just think Theo has a weird toy in his bag that's making noises? That's not too bad, and it would be pretty terrible if he encountered a card without any help.

"I guess that's okay. C'mon, hurry up."

Cerberus scurries into Theo's bag.

Meanwhile, Theo's gone down to the kitchen for some toast. Breakfast: a necessity.

When he comes back upstairs, he grabs his bag, tells Cerberus one more time: "Make sure you're quiet," and then proceeds schoolwards.

Cerberus was good for most of the day, but there was an incident at lunch in which Theo's bag was tipped over when the bear complained about not being given any food.

Theo was right next to his bag at lunch, and quickly moved to pick up his stuff when it tipped over, looking a bit anxious, which is somewhat out of character for him. If a sandwich happened to be dropped into his bag afterwards, it was probably just an accident, not in response to the request of any magical, winged bear or anything.

... Obviously.

The completely nonexistent winged bear is most definitely not making some soft appreciative munchy noises in his bag. Because there's no such winged bear.

And the day continues with no problems.

Theo's just making his way out the front gates of the school, saying goodbye to a couple of friends.

Theo feels something.

Oh, that's curious.

He can't really tell much more than... that there's a something.

Now past the gates and away from other people, he nudges Cerberus through his bag. "Hey, Cerberus... do you feel that?"

His head pops out of the bag. "Feel w—oh." He looks around. "Something's here."

...a very loud noise like a bird—an eagle—can be heard in the distance.

No one else seems to hear it.

"Clow Card!"

"Oh, this is ridiculous!"

He grabs out his key. "The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Theo, command you under our contract. Release!" He tries to get through it as quickly as possible, then grabs Windy from his bag.

"Do you know what card it is? What can it do?"

"Not y—"

A very large bird appears overhead, the flap of its wings creating very strong winds.

(No, seriously, it's incredibly large. Beak to toe, it's more than forty feet long, with long legs and a long neck, uniformly bluish-white and made of wispy magic similar to Windy.)

"It's Fly!"

"Fly? What the hell kind of powers does it have?"

Placing Windy in front of him, he summons her and taps the card with his staff. "Windy! Stop the winds that Fly's creating, and try to bring it down!"

"It makes things fly!" he says, as if it was obvious.

...well it kinda is.

Windy is summoned from the card, and flies after the giant freaking bird, trying to undo the winds it's creating—

—only to be buffeted down by a particularly strong gust from a wing flap as the giant freaking bird continues flying away from where they are.

Well, yeah, it kinda is.

"No shit! So does Windy – remember the museum? That's not helpful!"

Theo runs along the road, trying to keep up with the bird, and keeps watch over Windy – did she fall to the ground, or just get knocked about a bit?

She fell to the ground, and is now keeping up with Theo and looking at Fly but not doing anything else.

"Fly is under Windy! Use her to bind it!"

"Windy, aim for the wings! Stop it from moving!"

He asks Cerberus, "How do I stop it? Even if it's held in place, it's still doing damage!"

"You just need to stop it for long enough to be able to capture it!"

Windy goes after Fly's wings, dividing in two and hitting them.

She's not strong enough to take it down, but she does affect it enough to cause it to stumble, stop flying away, turn around, and screech at them.

Whoa. Windy can split in two?

"Windy, try to distract it and keep it in one place!"

To Cerberus: "Is it stopped enough!? How do I capture it?"

"You have to get close to it and use your staff while you say, 'I command you to return to your power confined! Fly!'"

The Windies start hitting it in the face and wings, trying to force it in the opposite direction it's going.

The bird struggles and screams at them, then uses its wings to swat them away. It looks at Theo, screams again, and flies right at him.

He really hopes this works.

He waits until it's nearly upon him, holding his staff at the ready, then dodges out of the way, striking out and repeating the words, "I command you to return to your power confined! Fly!"

The beak of his staff hits the air and forms the glowing card that starts absorbing tendrils of magic off the bird, but it breaks away from it as it flies high up into the sky, before falling back down towards Theo.

"It's too fast! Try jumping on it when it attacks so you'll be able to stay close!"

Oookay.

Psyching himself up for it, he reminds himself: He's a Cardcaptor. He can do this.

He waits until the bird is nearly upon him, then smoothly side-steps and grabs hold of it in one fluid movement, looking a bit surprised.

The bird is likewise surprised, and tries shaking Theo off.

One of the Windies helps hold Theo up, however, and the other starts encircling Fly, extending its tendrils into magical ropes, trying to tie its wings close to its body so it can't take off.

"I command you to return to your power confined, FLY!" he shouts, swinging his staff against the bird.

It falls bodily onto the floor, unable to move its wings with Windy holding them. The staff hits a hard surface in the air before reaching the bird, and the glowing card appears there. The magic is drawn back into it, making the giant bird lose its shape and consistency until its been completely sealed back into its card form.

Theo falls a short distance to the ground when the bird disappears, but gets up pretty quickly, going over to grab the card, then says thanks to the Windies and wills them to disappear.

Walking a short distance so he's not in the middle of the street, he then proceeds to ask Cerberus, "Are they all going to be like that?"

"Like what?"

"'Like what'. Like what. You saw that bird, flying around in clear view of all those people! I didn't think they were going to be as obvious as that!"

He quickly focuses on his staff to shrink it into the Key, then puts it back into his bag.

"Fly isn't visible unless you have magical potential. Other people just felt strange winds."

"... And you didn't think to mention this earlier? Sure, not in the fight, but just before or something?"

He's pissed, even if it's pretty unfair, so he just starts walking without waiting for an answer.

Cerberus is carried along in the bag. "Sorry."

Well that's nice and all, but it doesn't help mitigate the panicking that he was doing in the fight.

"...this may be a good time to tell you that you'll need to eventually get the Clow Book from that museum."

Oh, might it.

"There's not some easier way to retrieve it? Like saying 'Clow Book, Clow Book, come to me' three times in a row? Maybe I'll also throw my staff into the air, and there will be some mysterious noise, and then everything fades to black, and suddenly: Clow Book! ... No?"

He might be venting. It's so hard to tell.

"No, it's protected against magic."

Cerberus can't tell.

"Oh, that's just perfect."

"... Actually, does that mean I can protect things against magic? Things like clothing?"

"Eventually."

Right. So nothing's easy, but things will get easier.

"Anything useful I can do in the short term?"

"Useful?"

"Magical...? Something that might help to protect me when this happens again? Or maybe something I should be doing to practice my magical abilities?"

“Well, now you can fly! And you can also meditate to learn more about your power.”

"Is Fly really docile enough to use? And if it is, and I can fly with it, does it have telekinesis or what? Why wasn't it flinging things around?"

"...Fly's not very smart. Or independent. It'll do what you tell it. And no, it doesn't have telekinesis. Look, try to use it with your staff."

"If you're sure..."

Theo gets the Key out of his bag again, says the words to enlarge it – "The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Theo, command you under our contract. Release!" – then drops the Fly card in front of him, and says "Fly, help me fly," feeling ridiculous, tapping it with the staff.

The staff's wings grow and become real, with feathers and a wingspan of about three metres.

"You can mount on that to fly!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Why would I? The wings are decorative, it'll support your weight."

"You seriously expect me to ride the pink staff like it's a broomstick with wings?"

"Yes!"

Theo starts walking again.

"...you're not gonna fly?"

"Take a guess."

"Why not?"

"I don't like the aesthetic."

"But the staff is fine?"

"Apparently so."

"I don't understand."

Theo just keeps walking, winged staff in hand.

Cerberus follows, confused.

Eventually they get back to Theo's house, and he dismisses Fly and wills his staff into the Key, putting the Key into his jacket pocket and the card into his bag.

He says hi to his dad, walks up to his room, puts the bag down, and then sits at his desk, thinking.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I guess. I mean, I kind of have to be, don't I?"

"I guess?" He shrugs. "I don't understand."

"If I'm the Cardcaptor, and I released the cards that are going to cause the great catastrophe you keep talking about, then it's my fault, and I have the ability to fix it, so I kinda have to."

"Yes!"

"It just seems like a lot of responsibility, and I'm not exactly the best person for it."

"Well, you were the one who could open the Seal and wake me up. If the Book didn't think you were worthy it wouldn't have opened."

"I suppose," he says, looking a bit cheered at that.

"Can you sense any more cards?" he asks Cerberus, while turning on his laptop to look at the news.

Cerberus crosses his legs and starts glowing with his eyes closed.

The local news comments on the freaky winds today.

Well that's only to be expected. It's good that Cerberus was right; there seems to be no mention of a huge bird, and you'd think that'd get a mention if anyone had seen it.

Cerberus frowns. "There's something... like someone else has used a card."

"... Someone else? How common is it for people to be able to use cards?"

"Not common at all. For someone else to have caught a card without the wand..."

"Is there anything else you can tell about it? What direction or how far it is, maybe what card it is?"

"No. It's not active right now, I can only feel traces of magic that's different than yours."

Aagh.

"Well I guess there's nothing we can do at this stage," he says, looking a bit worried at the idea of another confrontation.

"Not about the cards, no. But you could meditate!"

"Uh... Okay...? How do I do that? Sit cross-legged on the floor? Maybe start focusing on 'the magic within me'?"

"Exactly! It helps if your staff is on your lap and your cards are around you."

"Really? ... Okay," he says, moving to grab the cards from his bag, and pulling out his key. "The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Theo, command you under our contract. Release!"

It seems he has a new catch phrase.

"What does that even mean? 'Hides the powers of the Dark'?" he asks Cerberus, then sits on the floor, putting the cards on either side of him, and his staff across his legs, closing his eyes and trying to "focus on the magic" within him.

"Sun and Moon, Light and Dark, Western and Eastern magic," he explains. "All magic is under one or the other. Clow was under the Moon, so his staff has the power of the Dark."

"Oh, right," he says, and then continues to try to focus on the magic.

Is there some sort of feeling he should get? Or is he just going to be sitting here for 20 minutes, getting more and more bored?

It apparently starts out as the latter. "You're not doing it right. You need to empty your thoughts, focus on your breathing. Think about the feeling you got when you noticed the Fly was around."

"What, the surprise at seeing the huge bird?"

"No. The other feeling. Snark doesn't help with meditation, you know."

"Okay, okay. So I just... focus on my breathing, and try to think about nothing but the weird feeling. Got it."

He closes his eyes again and tries really hard to empty his mind. It's pretty difficult when his reaction to each thought is 'No, empty,' which is... making his mind still not empty. Eventually, though, he succeeds, and he then tries to focus on the feeling.

And unlike regular meditation, magical meditation has feedback. His eyes are still quite closed, but he can see:

There's nothing there, his room is gone. The magical circle is under him, where the ground should be, glowing white against the black void. Not even Cerberus is there, but his cards are, floating to either side of him.

Theo jerks a little, rather surprised that he's seeing things with his eyes shut.

Well, he's not anymore.

"You need to keep focused."

"Yeah, I was trying, but I didn't expect to see things."

He tries to focus again, this time prepared for seeing things. It takes him much less time to clear his mind, this time, and again he focuses on his magic.

The scene soon appears before his non-eyes again.

And as he spends more time in there, more details can be made out. The two cards aren't just cards, it's obvious they're not. He can see the cards, and he can see their true forms, Windy smiling softly at him and Fly perched regally on an unseen object, both occupying non-spaces both larger and smaller than anything else.

And they're not just that, either. They're so much more—magic, pure and shaped, potential and power. There are... emotions, feelings, beliefs, there...

That's... inspiring. Theo manages to keep focusing on the magic, just about, but is somewhat overwhelmed by the experience.

Fly... it's subdued, yes, but not by Theo. It respects Windy. And it's slightly hurt, emotionally.

Windy doesn't see Theo as her master either, but is willing to help. Her feelings for him are an alien, almost incomprehensible version of grandmotherly; she is the wind itself, powerful, big, all-encompassing, and she's bowing to him out of—pity? love?

Well, Theo feels a little guilty about Fly, but not enough to use it for a winged broomstick. And as before, Theo feels a bit sad about Windy, but doesn't linger on that too much.

He decides to wake out of the trance, focusing back on his breathing instead of the magic, then opening his eyes.

He doesn't even need to do that; the moment he drops out of relaxation, trance ends.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I don't know, really. I saw the cards, or, like... a weird version of them, and... I'm not sure?"

"What?"

"The point of meditating is getting better at perceiving magic, and developing a good relationship with it."

"Oh, right. I didn't realise. I thought you just wanted me to see what the cards were like."

He closes his eyes again and focuses again, since that's what he's supposed to do.

Yep, there the cards are again. It takes exactly the same amount of time it did before for the various layers of details to become apparent.

Theo keeps focusing on his magic, trying to take everything in.

And more details become apparent.

The first one is Cerberus, glowing golden where his physical body would be in relation to Theo, in the bedroom. It starts out small, winged-bear-shaped, but it—grows. There's a clear sense of great power, there, but it's dormant, its shape fuzzier. In the same way the cards are simultaneously card and something else, Cerberus is bear and something else, but the something else isn't crisp enough to be made out.

Well that's potentially worrying, but it's something to deal with later. Theo tries to put it out of his mind and waits for new details.

Having potentially worried thoughts means:

he drops out of the trance.

He makes a noise of frustration.

Cerberus is looking around at Theo's room.

In that case, he tries mediating again.

Once again, same. The longer he stays, the more layers of meaning and detail he gets from the things around him. He knows Fly is under Windy, and both of them are under Moon. He knows Cerberus is under Sun. He sees... a connection, after a bit. A faint connection between the cards and himself, and a similar connection between Cerberus and himself.

Interesting. He keeps focusing.

For a while, it looks as if he's maxed out. No more details are forthcoming, and the cards are still there, moving every now and then, but otherwise dormant. A great peace falls on him, and if he's not asleep, that's only because he's aware.

And then there's—something. In the distance. Reminiscent of the two cards, dormant as well, but unrecognisable. Too far. Inactive.

He takes a while to actually respond properly, but opens his eyes.

"I think I saw the other card," he says to Cerberus.

Cerberus—

—is asleep on a cushion.

And snoring much more loudly than one would naively expect, given his size.

Oh.

Theo goes and gets some food, then back upstairs for a shower.

Still asleep.

He re-enters the room, notices Cerberus is still sleeping, and gets out his headphones to listen to some music. He might be able to meditate some more, but the music will probably distract him, so maybe he'll just fall asleep.

And the next morning:

"Goooooood moooorning Theeeeeoooo!"

"Ungh. Good morning, Cerberus," says Theo, a bit unintelligibly but quickly waking up.

"It's breakfast time! What's for breakfast? Can you bring me something?"

"Uhh... I was just gonna have cereal? What do you even eat? Besides, Dad's going to work today, so you won't have to hide up here all morning."

"Do you have something sweet?"

"Like what? A milkshake?" he asks.

"Yes! That's a great idea!"

"Okay. Wait here a minute; my dad should be gone in a sec," says Theo, and he goes downstairs to start on a milkshake.

Fortunately, his dad was just waiting for Theo to wake up before he left, and leaves.

Theo notices and waves him over. "Your milkshake's over there," he says, putting the ice cream way, then sits down and starts eating his cereal.

"Ooooh!" he says as he floats down towards it. He eyes the cup, taller than he is. "Is there a straw?"

"No?"

"...alright."

And he tips the cup over a bit so he can drink from it, and he's surprisingly strong for his size.

He's still shaped like a tiny stuffed bear, however, one without thumbs at that, so this goes predictably.

Theo sees the glass tip over, fall off the edge of the table, and start dropping.

Theo lunges for the glass, making his way out of his chair and across the table, grabbing the glass before it hits the ground.

Theo then slides across the floor a bit.

"Oops."

"Yeah," he says, picking himself up off the floor. Looking down at his clothes, they're a bit... covered in milkshake.

He puts the glass down, fetches a plastic cup, fills it with some milk, and finds a straw for it. After placing a towel down over the spill, he then disappears upstairs to have a shower and get a change of clothes.

Slurp!

Theo's back down shortly. He picks up the towel and mops the floor.

Cerberus has finished drinking!

He has also managed to open the refrigerator and is analysing its contents.

Theo watches him suspiciously, making sure he doesn't try to grab anything fragile.

Eventually he decides there's nothing there he wants, so he floats over to Theo. "So, how was meditating yesterday?"

"I think I saw the other card you were talking about," he responds.

Oh, and that reminds him. "There were also some connections from me to you and the cards...? What were they?"