Speaker 1: Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.
I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories,
the podcast that takes listener ideas and turns them into
bedtime stories. Tonight, we're headed back into my Cards of
Power universe because we got this suggestion that I feel
like making.
Speaker 2: I would like to suggest an episode about in the
Codes of Power universe where you go to a new
planet and find a talking salamander and find a head
village and a Courage of Power forest and they help
train with train Matlus's elemental powers.
Speaker 1: Well, that is an excellent idea. I'm just going to
have to do my best to work it into where
we are on the podcast already. Don't forget if you
like the podcast, there's lots of ways to support Rating
it and reviewing goes a long way. Join us on
Patreon obviously funds the podcast directly, or if you want
to be part of my New March contest to share
the podcast on social media, you could be entered in
a draw for a guaranteed story idea. That means that
if you win the draw, you pick the story and
I will make it as long as it's reasonable. All
you have to do is share the podcast, maybe a
favorite episode of your podcast, or a screenshot of the
podcast or whatever. Honestly, you can't do it wrong on
some form of social media, and then fill out my
Google form just so I know it happened. At the
end of the month, I'm going to be doing a
draw and the winner will get their guaranteed story idea
and even a little interview with me over like Google
Meet or something like that. All of the details should
be there in the show notes, including the Google form.
And again, you really can't do it wrong. I'll basically
trust you as long as you let me know you
shared the podcast. But now it's that time again. Time
to get as comfy as you can in that bed,
close your eyes, and imagine yourself doing what the kid
in the story does. Imagine yourself waking up inside your
cards of power spaceship. Wow, good morning, Sunshine, Magnus, your
little dragonling says, huh oh, good morning Magnus. Well what
do you want to do today? Well, since we're on
this battle planet, I thought maybe I could test out
my skills. Think you can get me like a match
or something, he asks, trying to work on a new
elemental powers, but well I haven't had much of a
chance to improve them. Oh yeah, that's a good point.
I'm sure we can get you a match. You respond,
and after eating a quick breakfast, you head out of
the spaceship through the parking lot, then over to boards,
the battle center you've been in many times. Inside, you
walk up to the desk. Hello, welcome back. Would you
like to participate in another battle of sorts? The person
at the desk asks, uh, yeah, well I was hoping
Magnus here could be matched up against someone or some
sort of creature that has like elemental powers. Ah, that
is an excellent idea. Let me see what we have. Yeah,
we have a ghost type and Broom one waiting for
a partner, and oh maybe right here Room five, then
elemental salamander of some kind. It seems to be a
deity level. Would that do she asks? I? Yeah, I
think it probably would, you say, looking at Magnus for reassurance.
Magnus nods in response, very good. Head on over to
room five. They've been waiting for an opponent for a while.
You walk down the hall until you get to the
big number five. Then you enter inside. Once again, you
find yourself in a gigantic battle arena. Only this one
seems to be a special arena for elemental type creatures.
The ground is made of rock, there's water streaming through,
there's a small forest of trees, and random fire all
over the place. Plus there seems to be real wind inside.
We're not sure exactly how they're doing that. On the
far side of the arena, you see a gigantic salamander
standing there in front of some other kid. Hey, the
kid says, ready for battle. My elemental salamander here is
looking for a good opponent. Yeah, you respond. Magnus here
is mostly a fire dragon, but as he evolves, he
actually got some types of earth bound powers. Recently, he
got a card that's supposed to slowly transfer for of
them into an elemental type. We're really looking for a
chance to practice all of that. Well, that's perfect, the
kid says, my name's Gabe, and this is a sal
sal the salamander.
Speaker 3: Let me know when you're ready.
Speaker 1: You step across the arena and into the protective circle
of force. Field appears around you, and you nod to Magnus.
He immediately begins to transform, stretching larger and larger and
larger until he becomes his deity level form, a black
dragon with pure sunlight energy flowing through his veins, the
purest type of heat one could possibly think of. Ready, three, two,
one go, Gabe announces, and immediately his salamander runs forward,
jumps into the air, performs a perfect front flip, and
unleashes little bolts of rock, just tiny pieces of rock,
but they fly at incredible speeds. They hit Magnus, causing
almost immediate wounds. That wow, Magnus says, that's not very nice.
In response, Magnus's veins begin to heat up. The room
itself suddenly lights a blaze. Every single tree around is
well on fire. With a huge blast of heat downward,
Magnus turns the ground instantly into lava and sends it
straight towards the little salamander just before it hits the creature.
The salamander reaches down into the ground and the stone
around him solidifies once more. Then he reaches his hands
out towards the streams of water, which are now steaming,
spins them around in the air, and splashes them down
on the rest of the lava floor. Before Magnus can respond,
the air starts to move around his head quickly circling
it like a tiny little tornado with a whole bunch
of dust in it. He probably can't see, you realize.
Vines burst out of the recently burnt ground and start
to wrap around Magnus's arms and legs. Magnus tries to
struggle free, but he still can't see anything do to
the little tornado around his head. Then the creature pulls
the water once again, forms it into spikes, and begins
launching them towards me. Ow, Magnus says. As the spikes
hit him. Magnus starts to heat up once again, making
the entire room incredibly hot, and the little tornado will
round his face. Does something else I ain't gonna Magnus says,
as if he's unable to catch a breath. Slowly, the
heat in the room begins to fade, and Magnus falls
over on the ground. The salamander releases the vines as
well as the little wind tornado. Well, I guess there
we have it. It looks like your companion there could
use a little more training with the elements, he says.
If he really had control of air, there's no reason
that attack should have worked. And cut off his ability
to breathe. That's what you did? You say, amazing? How man,
Magnus says, slowly waking up. What happened? Where'd he go?
Let me get him? Ah? The match is over, Magnus,
you lost I what?
Speaker 3: Ah?
Speaker 1: How? Uh? He got you some kind of air attack
that stopped you from being able to breathe and you
just sort of passed out. You explain what That's not fair?
And I'm sure I can find a way to deal
with that. Uh yeah, probably if you learn to use
your wind element you can. May I make a suggestion,
The elemental Salamander says, it's possible for you to come
and train with me back at my home base. Uh.
Where's that, you ask? A planet not far from here.
In fact, if you'd like to come, we should be
able to teleport you there, right, Gabe, Yeah, that's right.
We do have a teleport card back home. We can
go there and back here without any problem at all.
If you guys want to train, I'd totally be up
to taking you. You look over at Magnus, well, what
do you think should we go to a new strange
planet and train? You ask, Well, it couldn't hurt Magnus responds, okay,
you say, let's check out this training planet of yours.
All right, Well, just come on over here and I'll
activate the teleport card, Gabe says. You walk over to
wards Gabe and his salamander. That sounds kind of old
and wise or heady. Everyone his chest glows. A blue
card flies out, glows around all of you for a second,
and in an instant there's a flash of light and
you find yourself standing in the middle of a forest,
a very unique forest. You look around and see that
you're in some sort of valley, surrounded by mountains, a volcano,
and water and lakes of all different kinds. The valley
is lush and green, with tons of trees and plants
and fruit growing everywhere. It's kind of like the perfect
training place for elemental powers. Every different element is represented.
Welcome to the valley. This is where Salini trained when
we were practicing at first. It's the perfect place. We
actually like built a little home here in the village.
He points over towards a small log cabin off to
the side. You can stay with us if you want
to for a while, he says, at least until we
transport you back to your ship and all that. Oh,
I probably won't need that as long as you have
some space. I've got a sort of a log cabin
card of my own, you explain. Oh cool. Well, anyways,
you guys are ready to do some training, Gay asks.
You look over at Magnus. I guess so, Magnus says,
all right, then salads. Well, since the main thing that
seems to've tripped you up was the wind, I say
we start with the air element. Ah, all right, I'm listening.
Magnus responds. Well. The air element, though almost entirely invisible,
is one of the most powerful because it's everywhere, and
as you may have found out there, it's essential to
most life forms. When you learn to control the air itself,
you hold with you other people's power to breathe. On
top of that, it can become an incredibly destructive force
when moved at fast speeds. Have you ever seen a hurricane?
He asks, Ah, yeah, I have. They're crazy powerful. Indeed
they are. Most people have trouble with the air because
they can't see it, but it's always with you, which
is probably the reason it's so easy to ignore. The
fish in water probably doesn't actually notice the water very
much does it. It's just a natural part of its life.
The same is true for air for those of us
who live above ground. To control it, you must become
one with it. Sal explains, Now, sit on the ground
and meditate on that. Ah how kay, Magnus says, awkwardly,
putting himself in a sort of seated position that looks
kind of like a dog sitting up. The salamander sits
down on the ground, crosses his legs, and holds his
hands up on top of his knees in a sort
of meditation pose. Very good. Now, first, clear your mind
of all other things. Begin by focusing on your breath,
the air you already control, Sal says. Magnus begins to
breathe deeply in and out. Ah. I can feel it,
he says, Oh, and something inside me is connecting to it.
Very good. Beginning with your breath is the right way
to start, for it's something that you already have a
union with. Now, on your next breath out, I want
you to continue to focus on the air even after
it leieves your lungs, trace it through the sky and
move it around your body. Ah okay, Magnus says. Then
he takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it out.
His head begins spinning around in sort of little circles. Ah.
I think I got it. I'm moving it. I'm commanding
my own breath, or my old breath, or whatever this is,
he says. The wind brushes past you to sort of
demonstrate what he's doing, moving a small column of air around,
dancing it up and down and around in circles. Very good,
sal says. Now, allow your consciousness to expand to the
air around it as you move your breath, grab more
air as you go, and continue to move it in
a circle. Ah okay, Magnus says, practicing with the air,
moving it around and around, gathering more as he goes,
and before long you find yourself in a sort of
low powered tornado, the air spinning around and around and
around again, getting more and more powerful. Very good. You
have found your communion with the air. Now all you
must do is practice. Ah cool, Magnus says, Yeah, I
feel it like an extension of my body. That's amazing.
Very good. Now, your command of rocks was fairly solid.
I'd say, at least your ability to turn them into
lava and move them around. So I say, we move
on to water. Sal stands up and leads the others
towards a small lake in the little valley. Now, water
is much the same as the air, and just as
your body already has air inside it, it is made
up of water as well, a surprisingly high concentration of water. Actually, now,
it may be counterintuitive or a fire dragon like you,
but to be able to become one with the water,
you must first immerse yourself in it. Ah, I have
to get in there, Magnus says that I don't really
like water. It's okay, But if you don't like water,
or can't learn to exist with it, you will never
learn how to command it. Ah. Water's not getting up
that easy, Magnus says, and he begins to wade his
way into the lake. The lake hisses as he enters,
and it gets visibly warmer and even begins to boil
around him. Very good, Sal says. Now, the first step
is to move with the water, feel the way it flows.
Sal steps into the nail almost boiling water, and demonstrates
a set of movements, moving his hands gently from left
to right, pushing the water back and forth. You see
the water flows with you. Imagine the motion continuing after
you stop. Sal pushes the water to the right, and
the water continues to flow in a large wave before
splashing over the side of the lake. Ah how ka,
Magnus says, standing up on his hind legs and using
his dragon claws to start moving the water back and
forth left and right. Then he pushes it to one side,
and just as Cell did, a wave continues to flow,
splashing over the side of the lake.
Speaker 3: Very good.
Speaker 1: Now, a dragon like you should also understand how to
heat things up and cool them off in many ways.
You could think of heat as a faster vibration, the
particles moving quicker in the water itself, just as your
breath does when you command flames. But just as easily
the molecules in the water can stop vibrating, they can
freeze almost instantly with a thought. Use your mind to
imagine these things. Allow the water to flow, and then
stop it, command it to freeze in place. Sal demonstrates
by pushing another wave over to the side. It grows
larger and then freezes in place as a giant, floating
sort of iceberg. Then with another hand gesture, the entire
iceberg melts and splashes into the water again. Ah okay,
Magnus says. He begins moving his dragon claws back and
forth in the water once again. Then he pushes it
to the side, causes a large wave to rise, and
squeezes his fist, commanding it to freeze in place. It
doesn't work the first couple of times, but on the
tenth try it does. The wave moves up and solidifies
into a large wave of ice, which then falls over
on its side and splashes everyone. It wasn't that well balanced.
Apparently I did it. I froze the water. That is
so cool. Magnus continues to move waves of water to
the side, freezing them in place, and then letting go,
allowing them to turn back into water. After a few
hours of practice, he's moving water around in columns, spinning
around sal and Gabe and you, and turning it into
ice on command. Very good. Now, the last element which
I think we should probably work on is that of
nature itself. Now, well, you can command the water and
the air, and the rocks and the fire. None of
them have the their own form of life. Nature, on
the other hand, is partially conscious, not like you or I,
but in a way it is living. It can't be
commanded as water can, Sal explains as he walks out
of the lake and heads over towards a small cluster
of trees. Instead, you must connect with it on a
fundamental level. Many would explain that connection feeling a lot
like love, just as one truly appreciates themselves on a
fundamental level. You must learn to appreciate the nature around
you to see that you and it are already one
on some level. Once you are connected, you may ask
it to move, encourage it to grow, give it the
new tree as it needs to do so. Sal demonstrates
that by slowly moving his arms towards the tree. In response,
the branches of the tree suddenly shot out, grow larger,
and then develop little fruits which drop down. You see,
when it sees that you and it are one, it
will listen. Start by meditating again, only with at least
one hand on the tree, Sal says, sitting down beside
the tree and placing his hand on it. To demonstrate
Magnus awkwardly sits down beside it, places his hand on
the thing, and closes his eyes. Very good. Now, start
by finding your appreciation for the tree, he explains. Breathe
and feel as though the tree is breathing, as though
you and the tree are both part of the same organism. Okay,
Magnus says, trying to do just that, breathing slowly with
his hand on the tree and imagining the best he
can he in the tree becoming one. Wait a second,
I think I feel it, Magnus says. It's like the
tree is a part of me. It's like it's like
all nature is a part of me. Just because I
don't have roots doesn't mean I'm not part of the
same thing. I'm just a a mobile part of it,
connected in so many ways that aren't physical but are
still there. Very good, sal says, Now use that connection
to request the tree to grow. Magnus closes his eyes again,
takes a deep breath, and the tree begins to grow.
Then it starts to stretch up higher and higher into
the sky, its branches growing up and out, had its
trunk growing wider. I I did it, Magnus says, you
certainly did, But I'm getting tired. I don't know about
the rest of you. I'd say it's probably enough for
one day, all right, Well, thanks Sal. I've always wanted
to learn my elemental powers a little bit more, and
he really helped me out. Don't mention it, sal response.
I'm happy to do so. I suggest you practice these
connections and experiment. There are many ways to use these powers,
but for now, it's time for us to go to bed.
Yeah see you, guys, Gabe says as they walk off
towards their cabin. It's totally cool to set up your
cabin or whatever it is wherever you want here. Well,
you can teleport you back in the morning. So you
reach inside your card or summon your log cabin card
and watch as the energy from the card swirls through
the air, forms itself into a log cabin and solidifies
in front of you. You and Magnus head over to
the little log cabin, open up the door, and step inside. Again.
You're amazed at how large the thing is on the inside,
a sort of pocket dimension. You walk up to your bedroom,
You crawl into your bed, and you close your eyes.
With each breath, you allow your muscles to release a
little more tension, starting with your arms, letting them sink
into the mattress. Next, you notice any tension in your legs,
and with each breath you release that tension a little
bit more, you let go of the tension and your shoulders,
in your chest, your stomach, and even in your face,
allowing it to soften into a nice half smile as
your mind begins to wander off the thoughts of new dreams,
new elemental powers, and new adventures to come. Good Night.
Speaker 3: Everyone must.
Speaker 4: Never union, name a common in new more union kicking,
no
Speaker 1: Thing, no