The Dash

The episode opens in the park with Sakura dressed in one of Tomoyo's costume creations. Sakura and Kero-chan are riding the sealing wand, which is powered by The Fly. They are chasing The Dash, which Kero says is very fast and good at running. That is why Sakura is having difficulty catching up to it. Kero tells her not to worry, because Dash is only good at running short distances. A form, presumably the card, shoots out from some bushes and across the night sky. Kero says that it is getting tired. Sakura summons Windy and tries to bind it, but Dash breaks free. Kero is worried that the card will hurt itself if it continues to fight like this. At that moment, a crash and the sound of something breaking can be heard in the direction the card fleed.

Sakura, Kero-chan and Tomoyo follow the noise. Sakura uses her powers and finds the direction the card went. Sakura tries to see over the large wall of where she senses the card, but has to jump many times to get a hold. Just as she grasps the wall, voices can be heard rounding the corner. The girls duck behind a bush and a pair of adults appear, discussing the strangely dressed girl they saw in the park. Tomoyo sulks and says that she thinks Sakura looks really cute.

One of the adults is a guard. He shines his flashlight about, searching for the girls but does not see them. Kero tells the girls to go home, since Dash can not move again until its injury is healed. They can come back the next day to capture it.

Just after they leave, a girl enters the backyard of the home Sakura was trying to look into. She sees Dash and thinks it is a hurt animal. She runs back into the house and reappears with bandages. Dash seems to trust her and lets itself be be bandaged. It chirps happily at her in a bright little voice as she rubs its chin.

The next day, Tomoyo dresses Sakura in a baseball uniform so that Sakura can pretend to have lost her ball in the house's yard. Sakura asks permission to look for her ball. The girl tells Sakura that they are not supposed to play baseball in that park. She returns Sakura's ball and promises not to tell. But Sakura can not go check the backyard. So she decides to come back during school the next day.

During sports practice the next day, Tomoyo prepares to tell Sakura her new plan to capture Dash. Just then, she notices a girl on the track team. It is the same girl who lives at the house where Dash is recouperating/hiding. The teacher calls the race and the girl runs down the track. She loses to her opponent.

Sakura and Tomoyo go up to her, but she is called away by the teacher to run again. THis time, there is a strange glow about the girl just before she runs. And this time, she is much faster and wins the race with her best-ever time. A whopping 20 seconds faster.

After school, Kero tells them that the girl must be under the influence of Dash. The card is making her faster. Sakura and Tomoyo are on their way to visit the girl's house. They are invited inside and have snacks with the girl. She tells them of a creature she found in her backyard that was injured. She has named it Pewei. The girl also expresses interest in Kero-chan, who Sakura passes off as a doll.

The girl offers to go get Pewwei and suddenly Sakura lurches to her feet, announcing she must go home for dinner. Wishing her new friend luck in the race the girls leave.

Kero chastises Sakura for leaving, she gave up a good chance. But Sakura aruges that she couldn't capture the card in front of the girl. Kero notes, that while that is true, they can not leave the card in a place like that. So he suggests they sneak into the house that night. Sakura looks troubled by this, but doesn't explain.

Flashing back to the mysterious girl, she has taken Dash out of its cage. It is shaking with fright and she soothes it, telling it that everything will be ok. It does not have to be afraid. It calms down and she snuggles it.

At school again, the girl is running even faster and breaking further records. Sakura, Tomoyo and others are watching from one of the school's upper windows. Chiharu suggests that the girl will take first place at the upcoming track competition. Mizuni-sensei approaches and reveals the girl's idenity as sixth grader Tachibana Rei (Rei being the first name, if you're confused.) Kaho tells the girls that Rei is very good and that the gym teacher has been praising her to her collegues. Sakura feels very guilty at this and attempts to sneak away. As she steps away, Sakura's friends tell her that they are scheduled to cheer at the next track competition. They want to do a special cheer for Rei. Yamazaki-kun hears this and comes over to tell a big lie about how cheering was invented. Sakura uses this opportunity to walk away.

Sakura goes down to the track and watches Rei run. Rei sees her, and tells her Pewei has improved. She invites Sakura oever to see him.

Walking home with Tomoyo, Sakura suggests that they wait to capture Dash until after the next week's competition. Kero is horrified by this idea because the next week Dash will be healed and able to run away again. Sakura ignores Kero and beings to stalk off. Kero follows her and says that while he understands her worries for her friend, using Dash to run fast is not fair. And cheating will not make a good victory for Rei.

Sakura goes home and her father asks whether Sakura will be cheering at Saturday's race. Sakura says yes, so he tells her he will make her a sack lunch for that day since he must be at the University. Touya and Yukito ask about the race and Sakura tells them about the sixth grader from her school (Rei) who will be running in it. Yukito comments that Touya had been selected to run in that same race. It turns out, though, that Touya didn't participate because it was on the same day as his part time job.

At school, Sakura and the other are practicing cheering for the race. Sakura sense Dash's presence as Rei begins to run. Syaoran and Meiling are passing and he sense it as well. Meiling, having no magic, does not and is confused by Syaoran's far off look. He does not explain about the card to her.

Later, at Rei's home, she takes Dash from the cage and notices that he is all healed. She tells him all about her sucess at the day's practice. Outside the house, Sakura and Tomoyo are passing. They notice Syaoran staring at Rei's house and that he has found Dash with his lasin board.

Rei is playing with Dash, who jumps very high into the air, enabling Syaoran to see him. Syaoran yells at the card, which immediately runs off. Syaoran chases the card and attacks it with his magic. Sakura is reluctant to give chase as well, until Kero tells her that using Dash's power to win the race would not make Rei happy. So Sakura seals the card, which is award to Syaoran because he weakened it with his magic. As it is done, they can hear Rei calling desperately for Pewei, who will not be found. Sakura is very sad about this.

Finally, the day of the race arrives. Just as Rei's turn has come, Pewei appears before her for a brief moment, at the finish line. Sakura sees him as well and yells encouragement to Rei. Rei wins the race and Sakura goes off to thank Syaoran . He tells her that he didn't use the card on Rei, but only brought Rei's friend to see her run.

The Card's Power:

To make things run very quickly over short distances.

Appearances and Uses in Other Episodes (up to ep. 31)

None.



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