"Here's another one of Meilin. She's in every picture that Li's in." "It's like she's his shadow or something." The episode opens with Sakura and Madison looking through a photo album of all of their friends. As they looked through it, Meilin suddenly walked into the classroom, but in a slump it seemed. "Hey Meilin!" Sakura and Madison greeted her, but Meilin failed to respond. She simply say down and stared off into space. Sakura started to worry, then tried something to perk up Meilin's spirits. "Madison brought in her photo album. You wanna see?" Still no response. Sakura's concern grew as she continued. "You know, there are some great shots of you in here . . .are you okay? What's wrong Meilin?" Meilin's eyes were completely filled with tears as she stared into nothing, causing Sakura and Madison to become very worried.
"You're going back home?!" Later on outside Sakura looked at her friend totally shocked, while Meilin stared at the ground as the two sat on the same bench. "I have to. My grandmother's sick. Our family needs us there." Sakura was able to tell how upset she was, so once again she attempted to cheer up Meilin. "But it's just a visit." Meilin just continued to stare at the ground with tear filled eyes. Sakura frowned, then asked again. Meilin replied with that she didn't know if it was just a visit or not.
Suddenly Sakura looked up to see Li. She said hi to him, then he turned his attention to Meilin and sai he heard about her departure. Meilin looked up at him and agreed, when Li suddenly began to speak again. "Actually, it's not such a big deal, Mei-Lin. And you don't have to worry about the Clow Cards or anything. We can handle them without you." Suddenly, Meilin stood up from the bench, but continued to look toward the ground. She said that she thought she was helping, and Li replied with that she couldn't help because she didn't have the magic needed. "I may not have the lineage . . ." She then turned to Li, her eyes filling up with even more tears and her lips quivering with despair before she spoke again to defend herself. "But I've been training hard my entire life!" "Yeah . . ." "I suppose you just think that I'm in the way." "Sometimes you are." That pushed Meilin over the edge. She suddenly ran off crying, while all Li could do was watch. Sakura became furious with him and asked why he had to do that. He walked away, commenting to himself about girls. Sakura watched him leave, wondering what would happen next.
Later on in the classroom, Miss Mackenzie announced Meilin's departure from Reidenton. The entire class turned to face her, wondering and asking why. Miss Mackenzie smiled, but showed sadness in her eyes at the same time. "We'll miss you, Mei-Lin. I hope you'll keep in touch."
After class ended, Li turned to Meilin as he packed his school bag. His face clearly showed guilt. "Still mad?" She turned her back to him and then began leaving, when Sakura suddenly spoke up and nervously asked if Meilin wanted to sleep over at her place that night. When Meilin asked why, Sakura commented about how her dad makes great pizza. Agreeing and liking the idea of pizza, Meilin left, leaving Sakura confused as to why she suddenly did that. Li was confused as well. "Got me . . ." "Hey, at least I'M making an effort, Mr. 'You're in the Way'." "Why bother pretending you're best friends now?" "Well . . cause she's leaving soon, and this may be our last chance to get to know each other, and..." Li looked up, waiting for her to continue. "And?" "And even if she doesn't actually have any magical powers, she's still one of us Li." Li felt defeat, but then attempted a final defense by telling Sakura to stay out of it.
That night the sleepover took place. Meilin seemed happy as Sakura poured two cups of tea. "Ahh, I am stuffed! Even if this sleepover was kind of late, it was still worth it for the pizza." "Great!" Sakura smiled, then handed her a cup of tea. Meilin thanked her, then looked around the room with curiosity. "Where's that silly stuffed animal thing of yours tonight?" "Kero? Oh, he's watching movies with Madison."
Not too far away, the streets were very quiet it seemed. Suddenly however, two beings which resembled kids, draped in yellow garments, snuck up toward a mailbox. the two looked totally identical, and they seemed to move identically as well as they reached out and touched the mail box. A flash of light was suddenly seen that seemed to disappear as quickly as it appeared.
"So, are you still mad at Li?" Getting late, the two decided to go to bed. Sakura was up in her bed whie Meilin took the floor in her sleeping bag. The lamp was still on as the two talked about the situations of the day. "Not mad, but sometimes, I feel that I just don't measure up." Meilin then did something which Sakura didn't see coming. She looked up at Sakura, and commented on how she was good at a lot of things too. Meilin then added that she still sometimes could be a klutz. Sakura tried to defend herself, but then Meilin commented on how she's grow out of it. After a second, Sakura decided to start a new conversation topic. "You and Li go way back, right?" "Way back? I suppose you could say that. . ."
"My grandfather was a student of Clow Reed's magic, so Li's family and my family have always been very close." A flashback began which took place back in their hometown of Hong Kong. Two younger versions of Li and Meilin were seen as they practiced martial arts moves with Wei. "I thought that if I studied with Li's teachers and worked really hard, I could be a magician too." Next, Meilin was up against a special wooden device which Wei controlled with his hands and feet. The logs which stuck out were to represent an opponent. Meilin successfully blocked and attacked each representation with ease. She then looked up and smiled at Wei, who became sneaky. She then moved the device again so it just barely touched Meilin. She expected a hit, but when she realized she wouldn't be, she stepped back and laughed it off. Looking toward Li, she smiled, but he didn't make a single facial movement at all. "Master Li . . ." Not looking at her, Li walked past Meilin then stepped up to the device, blocking and attacking with more skill than Meilin displayed it seemed.
"Li never smiled . . .never spoke . . ." Meilin and some of her friends were seen next, jumping rope like any normal kid their age did. Li however, was sitting on a nearby patio studying from a book. "He never said a single word to me." "I guess some things never change." "He was always so serious! I have to admit, I didn't like him very much. It wasn't because he was so serious, but he was arrogant and rude, too. But then, one day..."
The sky was filled with storm clouds as thunder was heard. Li and Wei were walking along a pathway when they suddenly heard a strange sound. Finding the source, they discovered Meilin was sitting on the porch crying. Behind her was an empty birdcage. Wei approached her with concern. "What's wrong Meilin?" Still crying, Meiin refused to show her face as she pointed toward the empty cage. ""My little bird . . .I opened the cage to feed it, and it flew away!" She continued to cry, when suddenly a hand held out a hankerchief. When Meilin looked up, she saw that it was Li who held it toward her. "Here . . .don't cry." After taking the hankerchief, Li suddenly turned and ran off in the opposite direction, disappearing in the distance.
"One hour passed . . .then two . . .but he didn't come back. It stared to rain, but still, no sign of him. And then, finally . . ."As it rained, Meilin was sitting on the porch of her house waiting for Li. Suddenly, she heard someone running through the puddles. "Who's that?" In the distance, Li finally appeared holding something. Meilin stood up from the porch and raced out to meet him. He panted, trying to catch his, breath, still concealing something in both his hands. Meilin asked what he had, and so he lifted the top hand to reveal a chirping bird. Meilin smiled as her eyes widened with joy. "It better be the right bird." With that, Meilin suddenly jumped forward and hugged Li tightly with him telling her to be careful of the bird. Wei then came out with an umbrella. "From that day on, I knew how big his heart really was. Course he didn't speak to me again for a month."
"That sounds like the Li I know." The scene changed to return to the bedroom. Sakura smiled after Meilin finished the story, then continued to listen as Meilin began talking. When my parent moved here, I thought, I was ready. I thought if I could help Li capture cards, maybe he'd finally see that I have special powers too, and want me around." "He does Meilin!" "I wanted to be one of you, but this whole time, I've just been in the way." Meilin started to cry after commenting on what Li said at school, which saddened Sakura for she hated seeing anyone that way. Once again, she attempted to cheer her up. "No, you're wrong. Remember the Fight card? That was one of the strongest, and you were the first to take her on."
As Sakura laughed nervously, there was a sudden splash as something leaped out from the nearby brook. Landing on the railing, it was revealed that this strange girl was the Fight Card. Suddenly, Fight opened her eyes and charged forward, leaping up and aiming her fist at Sakura and Meilin. The two leaped aside as Fight slammed her fist against the pavement. "That was close!" "Well yeah, that's why they call it the Fight card! It will only fight the strong opponents." Fight went into a battle stance, but then changed direction and faced Meilin. Sakura was surprised. "It wants to fight Meilin?" "Well, let's just hope she's as good as she think she is." "Come on, give me your best shot!"
Fight charged forward and threw a few punches, but Meilin successfully blocked them all. She then launched a counter attack, ending with a kick that sent Fight flying back toward the fence, causing her to slam her back against the railing. Everyone was amazed without a doubt. "Meilin...can fight!" Feeling confident, Meilin strolled on over to the others and placed her hands on her hips once she stopped. "IN CASE you had any doubt about who's the best fighter," Sakura suddenly frowned as she began her next part of her short speech. "SOME cardcaptor; you OBVIOUSLY can't handle this as well as I can!" Just then, Fight came back to life and tried to attack Meilin. She once again dodged, still pretty confident. "Wanna go again?" Meilin then began her barrage of punches and kicks, seeming like she was going to win for all Fight could do was block them all. When Meilin used a tornado kick. Fight grabbed her foot, surprising Meilin, and twisted it to slam her down against the ground.
"All that training came through for you!" Meilin frowned while Sakura watched her, hoping she would cheer up. "Yeah, but what good did it do? Because of me, the Fight card turned on Li." "Yeah, but you didn't back down once . . ."
Li leaped in front of her as Fight suddenly leaped out to attack. He was struck, causing him to fly back and slam against the railing. "LI! OH NO! He's hurt!" Everyone then rushed over to the lifeless form. Meilin kneeled down and genlty shook his shoulders, causing him to slowly awaken. Meilin's eyes then formed tears as she began to think the whole situation was her fault. Reality then sunk in, and she clenched her teeth as she got up from the ground and turned to face the Fight Card. "You may be a Clow card..." "No, wait!" "...But I'm MEILIN RAE!" She charged forward and attacked, kicking her in the chest. She then rushed forward again and began attacking Meilin suddenly missed a punch, allowing Fight to grab her and slam her onto the ground. she then raised her foot to slam it on her, but Meilin rolled away to safety.
"It still wasn't enough. Without your magical powers, I will never really help capture a card." Meilin was about to cry again, but Sakura managed to cut in with another attempt. You don't always need magic. Remember the Cloud Card? I was so sick I could barely get out of bed. If it weren't for you, we would've never captured it."
Li pulled his sword through the mass of clouds, then returned to land on the building where Sakura, Kero, and Meilin stood. The sky was engulfed with dark purple clouds, when suddenly a small child appeared from one of them with a curious expression. Sakura starred at it half awake, with a hint of red across her cheeks from a fever. "Is it Rain?" "No, it's the Cloud Card. Time to do your thing!" "Okay, Rain Card re . . ." Barely able to lift her wand, Sakura leaned toward the side and began to fall. Fortunately, Meilin rushed over to catch her. "Thank you Meilin . . ." "Are you okay?" After some coaching, Meilin got behind Sakura and grabbed the wand as well so both held it. "You CAN do it!" "Cloud Card, return to your power confined. Cloud Card!" The two lifted the wand and slammed it down, causing the square of energy to appear. Cloud's form transformed into energy and flowed into the square. When the card was form, it went over to Li who recieved it.
"Not exactly my best capture." "At least it was a capture. I guess I have to accept it. You both have the gift of Clow magic, and I don't. I don't belong here!" "Just because . . ." Suddenly, Sakura had a quick flash vision of the two mysterious beings dressed in yellow. Her eyes narrowed as she looked to the side. "A Clow Card! I've got call Kero!"
Kero flew through the skies finishing a barrel roll, hanging from his neck was a cell phone. His eyes were narrowed as he flew through the air. "Sakura, did you sense it? There's a Clow Card on the loose! It's heading for the art gallery! Where are you!" "We're on our way, Kero!" Outside of Sakura's house, the three girls stood at the door, with Sakura wearing yet another battle costume. "We'll meet you there soon!" Hanging up, Sakura and Madison headed for the street, but then turned back suddenly to see Meilin standing against the door with a sad expression on her face. "Mei-Lin, aren't you coming?" "What's the point?" Sakura frowned, wondering what she could do to lift Meilin's spirits.
Up above a sky window of the museum, Kero looked into it to see that all of the art displays seemed to have been cloned. "Either the museum is collecting doubles of all its sculptures, or this is the work of a Clow Card." Suddenly, his attention was caught to another aprt of the city where he saw a quick flash of light. "Ahh, there it is!" He then flew off after it hopnig there wouldn't be too much trouble.
"We need you Meilin! You're coming with us!" Just then, Sakura ran over to Meilin and grabbed her arm. She cried out in shock as she was dragged off toward the Clow Card scene. "But I'm not-" "We're a team, Mei-Lin! And as long as you're here, you're a part of it!"
This shocked Meilin, for she was being so nice to her after Meilin herself was rude to her in return. She allowed herself to be dragged along, wondering if Sakura was right or not.
Li was suddenly flung back to land on the ground. When he got up, he looked at the moon to see two figures dressed in yellow. The only different between the two was one had blue hair, while the other had pink. "There's two!" Just then, Kero appeared and floated over to be beside Li. He seemed excited at the discovery of the two figures. "Ah ha! Of course, it's the Twin card!" He suddenly freaked out at what he saw before him. Whoa, WHAT'S THAT!" The two looked at the section of town they were in, only to see that it seemed to have a mirror image. "They've cloned the whole town! There's two of everything!" "Master Showron!" Li suddenly looked up at his apartment, where Wei stood on the balcony. There was two of him, so when he spoke it sounded exactly as if his voice was an echo. "Are you all right?" "Whoa!" Kero couldn't help but freak out at the sight of this. "We've got to put a stop to this, kid!"
"We're here Kero!" Just then, Madison, Sakura, and Meilin appeared form around the corner and headed over to everyone. As Kero commented on their time spent to get there, Meilin panicked and rushed over to Li to see if he was okay. "Li! Are . . . you hurt?" "No . . ." Just then, the two twins jumped down from the building and attempted to attack Li. He scooped up Meilin into his arms and rushed forward, causing them to miss. However, he tripped and fell, with Meilin on top of him. "Are you all right?" Meilin was shocked, for Li usally didn't seem to care it seemed. She nodded, letting him know she was fine.
"Jump Card!" Suddenly, the twins went after Sakura, but she leaped up into the air to land on a tall building. She then leaped from building to buildings, followed behind by the twins. She then stopped and spun around, throwing out a Clow Card and raising her wand above her head. "Windy Card! Form a ribbon to contain the Twin card! Windy!" Slamming the card, Windy's form appeared and soared through the air. It then ensnared both of the twins, but one of them managed to escape. Sakura didn't seem to care for she lifted her wand again to prepare for the sealing of the card. "Twin card, return to your power confined!" Slamming the wand down, she prepared to recieve the sealed card. However, only half of the card appeared during the sealing. Suddenly a large burst of energy exploded, which sent Sakura flying back. Kero panicked, while Sakura remained totally confused. "What just happened?" "Sakura! You have to capture them both at once!" "What?!" "They're two parts of the same card! You have to capture them at exactly the same time!" "AT THNE SAME TIME?!"
Suddenly, the twins charged forard again, causing Sakura to once again summon Jump. She once again leaped from building to building with Twin in hot pursuit. Kero began panicking more as he watched her run from the card. "This does not look good at all!" "Hey!" Kero's attention was grabbed. He looked toward Li who was holding his sword. "The same time right?" "Go for it!" Li then rushed forward, grabbing an ofuda and holding it up toward Sakura. The twins suddenly looked toward Li who began his incantation. "Force, know my plight. Release the light!" Sakura suddenly looked toward Li, then smiled as she got what his idea was. She grabbed her wand and threw out another card as Li swung his sword at the twins. "Lightning!" "Thunder!" Sakura slammed the card with her wand, releasing Raiju. Li's attack slammed into one of the twins, while Raiju slammed into the other a split second later in the opposite direction. "That won't work!" After getting free from the lightning attacks, the twins landed on the building togehter, then went into a battle pose as the giggled. Kero's face became serious as he began to share his card wisdom once again. "Yo, listen up! You can't let them catch you exchanging signals! You've got to move together as one!" "Then we'll just try again!" "No it's too late! They're onto you!" Sakura looked toward Kero, with her wand raised above her head. She then began arguing with him. "We don't have any choice! We have to tr-" Suddenly, Sakura clued into something. She suddenly looked down at the ground and saw exactly what she had in mind. "Meilin we need you!"
Meilin appeared shocked as Sakura leaped over to a closer building, wondering what she had in mind. Sakura smiled as she continued on with explaining what her plan was. "Use Meilin! You've been training together since you were little kids. You can sense each others moves without signaling!" "But I can't!" "Yes you can! Meilin, you know Li's moves inside and out, don't you?" "I guess so . . ." Meilin frowned, then turned to Li who was looking straight at her with serious eyes. She was watching him, her eyes filling with tears. "But . . .I don't wanna get in the way." Li then placed his sword back in it's sheath, and stepped forward to go into a fighting stance. "We can do it Meilin!" Meilin seemed afraid at first, wondering if she should help, but still in doubt from what had already happened that day. Finally, she placed her foot forward and mimiced the same stance. "They're toast" The two glared at the twins, and they glared back with the sam intensity. It remained that way for a few moments, which made Sakura, Madison, and Kero a little nervous.
Just then, Li and Meilin charged forward and began attacking in perfect unison. First came a right punch followed by a left punch, twister kick, left block, right upper cut, and spring kic. The final attack sent the twins flying backwards from impact, allowing Sakura to cheer. "All right!" The two then backflipped toward the twins and went flying through the air. Landing on their shoulders, they began stomping on them, keeping their hands together for balance. The two smiled at each other, while at the same time the twins were about to let them have it. Swinging their arms off, they caught Li and Meilin off balance, but before they could strike, Windy came along and saved both of them. They then landed safely on the ground and Sakura asked if they were okay. Both nodded, then re-assumed their battle stances and faced off against the twins. After a moment, the two charged forward once again, and slammed the twins in the faces with the plans of their hands. They were sent sliding back against the ground on their backs, and when they stopped they remained completely stationary. Li and Meilin turned to Sakura quickly and both shouted in unison. "NOW!"
Sakura nodded, then raised her staff over her head as a light appeared around her. "Twin card, return to your power confined! TWIN!" Slamming the wand down, the twins bursted into energy wich flowed into a square energy block. When the card formed, it remained still for a second before sailing over to Li. He grabbed it and studied the image before looking up to Meilin. "Good work." Meilin smiled at the compliment and the gentlness of his voice. Li turned away, his face covered with calmness, and then continued to amaze. " I . . .I never really thought that you were in the way, Meilin." This made Meilin happier. Tears formed in her eyes and just before she was about to cry, she smiled once again. "Thank you Li." Sakura, Madison, and Kero watched in joy and relief, knowing Meilin was happy once again.
"So this is it." Some time later that week, Sakura, Madison, and Li were at the airport saying their final good-bye's to Meilin. She smiled at them, knowing she was glad everything was resolved beofre leaving. "You come back soon, right?" "You bet I will! You guys can't keep me away from here for anything!" Li smiled, knowing she was right. Wei called for her, saying it was time to go. Meilin replied, then leaned toward Sakura. "Better not let your guard down Avalon, cause I'll be back!" "Kay!" Meilin smiled, then raced over toward Wei and waved at her card captor friends. "See you later!" "Bye Meilin! Hurry back soon!" With that, Meilin waved one last time before boarding the plane. Hope to see you again soon Meilin!
That was such a sad episode in some parts. Meilin and Li were sooooooo cute as little kids, but why did they use the same voice for Li when he was younger? There is no kid that age that we know of with THAT deep a voice! Yikes! The battle against the Twin Card was very awesome! What a cool battle sequence with Li and Meilin fighting together! This is ranked among the best episodes, and it defiantly deserves it!
Ceaira's Rating
-*****
Faita's Rating
-
Kokkei's Rating
-****1/2
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