Chapter 4: Winds of Change

The next six years were even harder on Koran as he grew even older, especially since he had to deal with his now crippled left leg. Lloyd continued to train with his new weapons and watched as his father grew weaker each day, always feeling the guilt that he had been responsible for Koran's permanent limp. Despite this, Lloyd continued to train every day so he would be ready to take on the Clow Cards, building up both his physical strength, agility, and his magical powers.

Finally one day at the end of spring when Lloyd was 17, Koran lay on what would soon be his death bed, a layer of moss spread thick on an area of the ground. Lloyd crouched down beside his father, trying hard to hold back his tears. Koran reached up and placed a hand fondly on his adopted son's cheek.

"No tears Lloyd, you aren't done yet, you still have one task left to perform," he said slowly.

"What do I have to do?" Lloyd asked.

"Go into the forest, you will know once you get there." Lloyd wiped away a couple of tears that had formed in his eyes then got up to do what his father had bidden him to do. As Lloyd left, Koran smiled.

"I know you can succeed but you must do this yourself."

Lloyd walked through the forest for almost an hour. He still could not figure out what exactly Koran wanted him to do, but he had never doubted his father's advice so he moved doggedly onwards. After a while, he stopped and sat down on a tree stump, a bit tired but not enough that he'd have to stop for long. He sat down, thinking over the events of his life, still dwelling on his accident almost 6 years ago, that is until the wind began to pick up and he felt something nearby in the back of his head.

"This feeling, it has to be a Clow Card," he said, his senses having been honed over the past 6 years to the point where he would be able to sense the cards himself. Lloyd reached into one of the pockets of his vest and pulled the Clow Medallion. He closed his eyes and began to focus, sending energy into the medallion causing the sword to appear. The green bear held the sword in his right hand as the wind began to blow even faster.

"It's coming from, over there!" he turned to face the direction that the wind was coming from and saw a small tornado that the wind was emanating from.

"That has to be it!" the green bear said. He held the sword up parallel to his body and put his index and middle fingers on the flat of the blade next to the hilt.

"Force, know my plight, release the light!" he raised the sword over his head and shouted the last word of his incantation, "LIGHTNING!" he swung the sword in a vertical arc and a pulse of yellow lightning flew at the whirlwind. As soon as the pulse hit the whirlwind began to be electrocuted and the wind reduced to a fairly low speed.

"Now for the final blow," he pulled an O-fuda paper from one of his vest pockets and threw it forwards holding his sword straight up again.

"Now, element Lightning! Come to my aid!" he twisted the sword to be flat in front of him and slammed it against the O-fuda paper. As soon as he did so the paper burst forth in a blast of 9 bolts of lightning that arced towards the whirlwind and encircled it, completely halting the wind.

"Now's my chance," he dropped his sword point into the ground and quickly lifted the amulet off of his neck and held the key in the palm of his hand while speaking another incantation.

"Oh key of clow,

Power of magic,

Power of light,

Surrender the wand,

The force ignite,

Release!"

The cord attached to the key vanished as the key itself was surrounded in a blue sphere of light and floated above his hand. The key began to grow and extend eventually forming a staff about as long as the green bear's sword with the same bird like head at the top that had been on the key. He charged at the whirlwind as the electricity wore down and raised the staff above his head, jumping as the gap between him and his target closed.

"Clow Card, I command you to return to your power confined, CLOW CARD!" as soon as he said this, he swung the staff down with the "beak" facing the whirlwind. A card shaped piece of light formed at the "beak" and the whirlwind began to get sucked into it; the whirlwind changed into a woman clothed in clothing made of feathers and light clothing as she was fully sucked into the card. As the process finished, the green bear landed on the ground and the card now solid floated up, then into the green bear's hand. The glow faded and the card turned fully solid. The card had a picture that took up almost then entire side of the card of the woman from moment before on the front with the words "The Windy" across the bottom. Lloyd gritted his teeth, his lips still closed, as he saw the card.

"The Windy Card, one of the four element cards, and the card that started all of this. The same card I accidentally unleashed 12 years ago," the green bear said. The green bear stood up and pulled out a pen from one of the pockets of his vest and wrote his name "Lloyd Terada" across the bottom of the card, below the card's name. He then resealed his staff and hung it around his neck as the key one again and retrieved his sword, resealing it into its medallion form and sticking back in one of the pockets of his vest. He then turned and dashed back to the cave where he lived, clutching the card he had just captured in his hand.

When Lloyd returned to the cave, he found his father still lying on his soon to be deathbed.

"Koran, are you alright?" he asked, kneeling by his father's side. Ignoring the question, Koran asked one of his own.

"What did you find?" Lloyd held the card forwards.

"I found and fought the Windy Card, and I was able to capture it." Koran Terada smiled.

"Good, then my work is done," Koran closed his eyes. Lloyd could feel his father slipping away and clasped his hand in his own. Before he could say anything, Koran spoke.

"Don't be sad, everything must go sometime and now that I know you can do your duty, I can pass on in peace." At the end of that sentence, Lloyd felt Koran, the man who had raised him and taught him everything he knew, slip away into his eternal rest. Overcome with grief, Lloyd lay over his father's body, and cried himself to sleep.