"So what kind of cards could I be dealing with?" Rad asked Kero as the guardian was eating a slice of birthday cake.
"Hmm, what exactly happened when you encountered them?" Kero questioned.
"Well, I felt uneasy, and before I went into the lake; I saw…my parents." Rad explained quietly, making Kero and Raven wince while Bluestreak grabbed his hand in comfort. "Then when I was in reach, they pushed me under and I felt cold, like before when Watery tried to drown me." He finished.
Kero was silent for a moment. "Rad, before you saw your 'parents,' what were you thinking about?"
"How my parents couldn't be here for my birthday, even though they promised." Rad muttered.
"I see." Kero replied just as quietly. "I believe that your vision was the work of Illusion, and the other card may be Wave."
"How do I beat them?" Rad questioned.
Kero did smile slightly at that. "It's quite simple really. You see, you cannot capture a card unless they are in their true form, and the only way to do that is to make them reveal their real forms, fulfil a requirement, or call out their names." He explained.
"That does sound simple." Rad smirked and moved to stand, only for Raven to keep him in place by grabbing his arm.
"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" she questioned sternly.
Rad awkwardly sat back down. "Uh, going to capture the card?" he offered and winced slightly when Raven narrowed her eyes. Wrong answer it seemed.
"After what happened before? No way!" she exclaimed. "I'm not letting you face them alone this time, what if you get sidetracked by the illusions again?" she pointed out.
"Raven is right; it would be more practical to have back-up in case you get distracted again to snap you out of it." Kero agreed.
"Alright." Rad relented. "Bluestreak, reform in the forest, Raven and I need to tell Cliff we're taking a walk, Kero, you stay here."
Kero made a sound of indignation, but wished them a good luck nonetheless.
"They're right in up ahead." Rad murmured with a feeling of trepidation.
What if he saw his parents again? Could he resist this time to walk out to them? He tried not to shudder as he remembered the fact he had nearly been drowned twice now. He really needed to stay away from deep bodies of water.
"Achoo!" he sneezed. "Achoo! Achoo!"
"You alright?" Raven asked concerned.
Rad nodded. "Yeah, probably just a sneezing fit, I'll be fine."
"If you're sure…?" Bluestreak tried this time.
Rad nodded more forcefully. "Yes, I feel fine, really." He said and didn't give them time to reply when he walked on ahead. The three of them came to the lake side and it didn't take long for an image of Mr. and Mrs. White to appear, smiling and holding their hands out to Rad.
"It's not them." Raven said as she put her hand on Rad's shoulder when she saw his face shift to uncertainty.
The look vanished into one of determination as Rad released the Sealing Wand and held it before him. "I know what you really are, Illusion!" he yelled and the image of his parents shifted into a strange kaleidoscope pattern. Rad lifted the staff above him. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" he shouted and brought the staff down on a glowing shell card.
The Illusion was sucked in and the card floated down into Rad's hand. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing that." Bluestreak commented.
"Neither will I." Raven agreed.
Rad smiled at them both before pocketing the new card and turning his attention to the body of water. "Wave!" he shouted.
A glowing light blue wavy line appeared in the water, contrasting sharply with the dark blue water. Just as Rad was about to seal it, the line expanded and set the whole lake aglow.
"What's it doing?" Bluestreak questioned warily as the water suddenly began to violently move back and forth. The water all receded to move away from the three as it moved to the back.
Raven suddenly got a feeling of dread as she watched the water begin to move toward them, the water move toward them in a wave that got bigger the closer it got. "Tidal Wave! Run!" she yelled as she grabbed Rad's hand and began to hurriedly pull him along, Bluestreak following.
Rad's feet moved on their own as his aunt pulled him along, only looking back when a shadow fell over them and he gasped at the size of the tidal wave above them, and noticed with horror that it was arching over them and getting closer to them.
This was just like with Watery, only worse.
'Wait, that's it!' he thought and pulled the Windy card from his pocket and threw the card in front of him. "Windy, freeze the water!" he shouted, having to have stopped to cast the spell. He immediately though began to catch up with Bluestreak and his aunt, there was no way he was risking his neck just standing there like an idiot.
The trio only stopped running when the tidal wave had completely frozen and Windy was safely back in Rad's pocket. They stared up at the shimmering ice stature; the arch showed that it had been unnervingly close to drowning the two humans.
Rad, if a bit shakily, raised the wand and once again sealed another card in one night. He stared down at the wave patterned stream in the card and then pocketed it, turning back to look at his aunt as he grabbed a hold of Bluestreak's hand. "Let's go home, I should know how terrifying near death experiences are."
Raven looked at him sadly, but her shaking hands gave away just how scared she had been of Wave. "The cards really have grown more vicious." She muttered in a steady voice. "But yeah," she added as she hooked her arm around Rad's free side, "Let's go home."
The red colored cassetticon had been on his way to try and track down the organic when he had gotten a transmission from Soundwave saying that there was an active energy signature nearby and he had been advised to check it out.
It was only a matter of time before the organic he was looking for eventually stumbled upon it.
Which was why he was now searching through a store with odd trinkets and toys. The sign on the door said it was a toy shop, and he had to wonder briefly why any card would have wanted to hide out in here.
Frenzy snorted. "Who cares, so long as Rad comes here?" He immediately realized his error. "I can't believe I just called the fleshy by his name!" he growled as he began to more aggressively search through the rows of toys lining the shelves for anything that seemed to out of place. "Stupid fleshy, frag him for making me fall in love with him."
He tensed up as soon as the words slipped out. Still, no one was around to hear him make that little confession. A yellow glow made him look to one of the counters he'd passed to reveal a scale with a moon cut out on side, and a sun cut out on the other.
Frenzy grinned, his previous animosity forgotten when he realized that this was what he had been looking for. 'Looks like it really is my lucky day.'