DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Zatch Bell. The canon characters belong to the amazing Makoto Raiku.
A/N: Hello Readers! Okay, I suddenly I went nostalgic and re-watched the entire Zatch Bell series. I never realized how much I loved the show till now. The story, if you think of it, is very compelling: excellent characters, exciting action, intriguing stories, and even tear-jerking moments. (got me teary eyed) Anyways, to get it out of my system, I initially wanted to write a one-shot but due to an amazing artist he or she got me all pumped up to write a multi-fic! Haha bare with me guys.
Shout out to DAsKeTcHeRZ for giving me the inspiration!
P.S I decided with this story I'm going to do something different, such as writing each chapter as an episode, and several arcs probably containing within it. I already have two, (maybe three?) but yeah that's it really. Hopefully if I can get better at online graphics I can make an animated opening! Oh the dream…if I could I would SO make more for my other fics on this site. This fic's first opening theme song is Future Map by I-Rabbits. Please listen to it! Type it on youtube but with its Japanese name 未来地図. If not just type in I-Rabbits and it will pop up with the Japanese title.
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"As we stated previously, it was for sure that the idea would be vetoed against the party, since the judge will be declared as the only –" the older male heightened a brow, ceasing his vigorous writing on the chalkboard. Within the congested space of literature and methodical shelving, the Mamondo Earth was teaching a young demon the decorous manner of a ruler, and that demon my friend was the recent winner of the thousand-year-old battle, Zatch Bell.
"Are you understanding anything Zatch?" Earth queried once more, now stepping toward the child, wondering if his daze-like eyes was him lost in thought or his common expression. And when he was to ask again, a voice suddenly mumbled a word and a haphazard lightning bolt shot straight out.
"UOOO!" he jumped out of the way, sliding gracefully to the side. His face beaded in disapproval. "Please Zatch, stop that habit of using spells to pass the time!"
Zatch itched his head, chuckling at his mistake. "Unuu, sorry, I was just remembering Kiyo a bit." It seemed he was pondering about something. " Like how back then, if Kiyo didn't have heart energy or didn't have the book, I couldn't use any spells."
"Yes," Earth answered, tidying himself. "Now we can use our demonic powers to cast spells ourselves. Hence that is why," His eyes directed to Zatch's hand, and the boy lifted the golden staff, "That 'wand' if you want to call it that, is so important. If you have that, you can make demons within a radius of 50 meters unable to cast spells. And only the one who holds the wand will be able to cast spells. It is an absolute shield to protect the King."
He then leaned against Zatch's desk, making the boy fully attentive. "So if you playfully shot Zakeru around, I would have no means of defending myself. At worst, I could be killed. So please be careful," his eyes turned warning like a scolding elder, "My-King."
"Unu," Zatch felt sweat beading at his forehead, laughing nervously. "there's something I don't like about the way you called me "My king."
"Anyways!" Earth thrust his finger upward, turning around and returning to the board, "Back to our lessons."
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OPENING – Future Map by I-Rabbits
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Under chirping birds and brilliant sun, the estate of the grand Mamodo School was now being used, and as usual, teachers were, well, teaching their students. One, in particular, was being assiduous with his methods, for there was one student he absolutely had to please.
Zatch lifted his hand. "Sensei! I, um, don't understand that problem…"
"HAH?!" his was face was aghast. "I'm sorry, my King! I must've taught it poorly!" And he quickly bowed.
Zatch sweat-dropped. "No… you don't need to apologize or…"
"I will reconsider the method of teaching this!" and he erased all the work on the board. "It must be horrible if the King does not understand!"
Zatch stood there dumbfounded. 'Nuu, Sensei is acting weird.'
"H-How about this class!" he suddenly suggested, whipping out a hat full of numbers scribbled on paper. "We'll go into group discussion now…" his hands fumbled near Zatch's desk. "With the King picking his number first, of course."
"Uh?" he blinked at the request, but with the teacher sweating profusely and eyes horribly anxious, Zatch dug his hand into the hat and took out a number.
One by one, (or more like a dozen at a time) the children chose their numbers and the classroom itself became a heavily noisy place.
After the deranged assembly of groups, Zatch patiently observed everyone's number when he could as everyone gathered into their assigned troupes. While he was getting concerned that he didn't have a group, from the corner of his eye he noticed two Mamodos standing to each other, holding some crumpled paper that said four. Zatch looked to his number. Four? Four! That was his number. He ran off to where they were sitting, now at a round table.
"Ah ha!" He smiled when he finally reached them. " So you guys have four as well?"
The two turned to him as Zatch sat down, his oblivious grin still so strong, and one of the children instantly jumped when he looked between his paper and Zatch's.
"You're the King!"
"Uh?"
Uwa! I'm in the same group as the King!" the Mamodo began panicking. "If I do anything weird, I'll get killed by Zeon!"
Zatch sweat-dropped. Hehe, yeah, his brother wasn't the easiest to please, but Zatch was confident enough to know Zeon wouldn't do anything that extreme. Unuu, right?
"Don't mind him King Zatch." The other Mamodo added, patting his friend's back in a comforting manner. "He's just weird."
"Unuu," Zatch pondered though, glancing at his paper. Wait a minute. The assignment said four Mamodo were supposed to be in per group. Who was the last –
"Zatchie poo~~!"
He paled at the sound of his name. "P-P-PENNY?" She was in his group?!
"Ahh~! In the same group as my love~! This is fate~!" And she began to coo all over him, which Zatch began trembling in nervousness.
"Hey you can't touch the King Penny!" one of the members called, (the one who wasn't frazzled by the thought of Zeno) and he stood up and pointed at her, "You have to ask him permission to touch him, like my daddy says, and look! The King looks uncomfortable!"
"You can't tell me what to do!" Penny stood as well, facing off the accuser. "King Zatch is fine with me holding his hand!"
"As if! No one would like holding your hand!"
Snap.
"HOW DARE YOOOUUU!" and her distinctive deep voice came about, battling with the other individual who had the audacity to question her affections for the blonde.
With two arguing and one having a bit of hysteria, Zatch inwardly sighed.
How were they going to get work done now?
When the dilemma ended (and strangely enough the teacher giving Zatch a high mark for the group project despite the fact they didn't finish their work) the day continued in the typical fashion that became a normality of his life. Even though it had been several months since their return home, Zatch still was adjusting to this completely new lifestyle, especially with the title King. It often had the weirdest sound to him, or some bizarre disbelief in his head that this was all some elaborate dream, but when seeing his friends and laughing all freely, able to go to school and not worrying about a fierce battle, a warm feeling stirs within him, knowing he gave them a home to return to.
He intended to keep it that way.
When the bell last rang, and with the thought of his friends spinning in his mind, instantly the King searched for them, and to his luck, caught three of them walking together. He rushed to catch up.
"Guys!" He yelled, flailing his arms wildly, and they turned around, Zatch now in front of them. He smiled brightly at his next line. "Let's play together."
Two of the Mamono children, Kolulu and Ponygon, glanced at one another in a questioning manner, and the gentle girl asked, "But Zatch, don't you have King duties after school?"
"Uh?"
"Yeah." Another girl replied, and her annoyed tone definitely didn't go unnoticed by Zatch, especially since she stood there with hands on her hips. "You're too busy to play with us."
"Uwwa! Even a little bit? Like right, right now?"
"Ugh! Zaaatch! Stop being difficult!" Tia thrust a waggling finger at him, leaning forward. "A king has duties, so you gotta go do them! No work and no play!"
"Unuu…" He agreed mumbling, and when he glanced at Tia's watch, it was indeed time for him to leave soon. He gave a farewell to his friends and began walking away.
"That dork. He should have known being a king means having little time to do anything." Tia huffed, crossing her arms.
"It must be hard for Zatch." Kolulu added with a pout.
"Meru-meru-mie~~"
"Why is everyone so upset here?!" the raspy voice of the child said, and when hearing the squeaking sound of feet paddling slowly, the three children knew who it belonged to. He stood proudly. "Because Ironman Kanchomé is here to save the day!"
"Kanchomé?" Kolulu was the first to acknowledge him.
"Yes, say my name with shock and awe!" he shouted heroically, his hand in the air. "It's like a dream I'm here!"
Seconds flew by. "More like a nightmare." Tia commented dryly.
Kanchomé chose to ignore her comment, and he swore from the corner of his eye she stuck out her tongue mockingly.
"Meru-meru!" Ponygon cheered as a greeting.
"Hi Kanchomé!" Kolulu smiled sweetly. She then began explaining. "Zatch wanted to play with us… but he couldn't because of Kingly duties." She again pouted at the thought.
"That makes sense…" he seemed to ponder (him, pondering?) then suddenly a snarky thought popped in his head. "We're all upset, but I bet Tia is the most upset!"
Tia blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well," he began reminiscing all the events as a bubble appeared beside him, "Everytime Tia would visit Zatch she was always told he was too busy, and she always brought him food, especially anything with yellow-tail, because!"
All three leaned in, hanging by his sentence.
He began laughing, a giant grin lighting his face. "Zatch likes yellowtail, and Tia likes Zatch!"
Tia was mortified. And it didn't help her case as her entire face went into a beautiful cherry red. "Waahh?!" Her hair shock venomously with her denying headshake. "I-I-I d-do not l-l-like Z-Zatch! I don't! I-I don't! Not like that!"
"Haha sure Tia," Kanchomé didn't know when to stop, snickering at the reaction he riled up in Tia. Finally, he has something to use against her. "Even back in the human world you liked him! Always made him lunches, blush when he said something nice to you, hahaha it's so true! Don't you agree with me you guys?!" He turned to the others for support, but it seemed only Ponygon nodded his head enthusiastically. The duck boy began dancing around Tia and Ponygon joined him, chanting the not-so-secret secret out loud happily.
"Tia likes Zatch!"
"Meru-meru-mie!"
"Tia likes Zatch!"
"Meru-meru-mie!"
Kolulu tried to make them stop, but her passive and quiet nature didn't do much. "G-G-Guys, you're going to make Tia mad. Please – uh oh." She noticed Tia clenching her fist. The shy Mamodo wanted to curl into a ball and hide behind a bush, seeing the building anger within Tia positively bloom in rage. The boys didn't notice.
Tia likes Zatch!"
"Meru-meru-mie!"
"Tia likes Zatch!"
"Meru-meru-mie!"
Tia likes Za-!"
Meru-meru-m-!"
"I DARE YOU TO SAY IT AGAIN!" Anger clasped at their necks, and Tia mercilessly began to strangle them both. They struggled for air, but Tia made no effort to be easy, and tighten the hold when the wiggled. She saw nothing but red.
"Tia…" Kolulu said meekly. She knew once the girl was angered, it wouldn't stop, and usually, it was Kolulu who got her out of her rage. As she was trying again, suddenly, Tia released their stretched out necks and they plopped to the ground with a thud. They instantly ran off.
"Get away!" Kanchomé wailed.
"Meru-meru-mie!"
A stream of air zoomed off, and Kolulu sweatdropped. But then she giggled. "Boys are so silly." She turned to Tia, a naïve look on her face. "Do you want to go to the ice cream shop now? I'm sure after that they won't do anything else to upset you. Oh! There's a new flavor we should try. Strawberry ripple! Doesn't it sound yummy?" She continued on with her rambling ideas.
At first she didn't hear but the second time was as clear as day. Tia sighed heavily. "I'm not going Kolulu."
"And hehe it would be-" she blinked. "Eh? You don't want to go anymore?" she felt sad about this, and despite trying not to look to disappointed, her enlarged eyes and wobbling mouth made it very clear to Tia how she felt.
"Sorry Kolulu, I just, uh, need to do something. With my mom. I just remembered."
"Oh! I see." She smiled at that, obliviously believing Tia's word. "Would we see you later then?"
Tia sighed. "I don't think so."
"O-Okay,"
"And don't be upset! Tell you what, we can go together another day."
"Really?" Kolulu was happy at that. "Okay, hehe, we'll see you then."
"Yup, see you!" Just as she was walking away, she heard the soft voice call her out.
"Wait, Tia!"
She turned, a look of confusion on her face. "Yeah?"
"I'm very sure Zatch would have liked it very much if he knew what you did. He is our kind king after all!"
Tia's face faltered a bit into a dejected smile, averting her eyes from the innocent girl. "Yeah, that's Zatch."
"Zatch?"
"A dork alright. He wouldn't realize that if it hit him in the face."
"No, Zatch is up there!" Her eyes widened in shock, but Tia saw how Kolulu's checks were pink, and she was…blushing? Tia turned to look where but instead her sprouting a pretty pink hers was a flaming red.
Zatch was up in the sky, possibly forgetting that using his cape to fly to places meant any lower body parts were, uh, exposed for anyone under him. And Tia saw with her horrid eyes his underwear. A striped one too.
"ZATCH!" she yelled, angry more than embarrassment. "This is why we don't want to play with you! You never change!" her face was still protruding a powerful blush, and she inwardly growled, stomping away to her house. All she heard around her were other Mamodo pointing up and gawking, and that just sped up her pace to head home sooner.
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"Unnu! Finally I'm done!" Zatch stretched out his arms, content with his lesson ending. Law and Politics made his head spin erratically, but he earnestly tried to pay attention and understand the material. Yes, Earth was a very strict teacher, but Zatch knew everything he did was for his best intention. And now he could spare a few moments of freedom before heading to advance financing - he grimaced – (how much more math could he take?) and strangely enough royal etiquette. That last class was a world of its own.
He sat up staring at his immaculate ceiling above, counting the tiniest details of the deep rustic carving before plowing himself down on the bed, face first. He soon lifted it though when he heard a knock at his door.
"Zatch? Sweetie?" a female struck gently once more before she gracefully entered the room, clapping her hands in front of her dress in a proper position. Walking through the young king's room, she noticed how the boy cushioned himself in the comfort of his grand bed, and she smiled, peering at him. "Zatch?"
"Oh, Mother!" Zatch grinned brightly at the sight of her, as she made her way to sit at the edge of the bed. It was strange for him believing one moment he had no family to now having a father, mother and brother, all living with him in an enormous castle. Such a contrast to the life he knew before joining the battle for King. "I didn't see you there."
She smiled. His mother…he remembered back in the human world he cried for his mother, even though he didn't remember what she looked like. But he knew she was kind, beautiful, wonderful, and all those good things, and yes, she was. She had long snow hair, down to her feet, yet always tucked into a soft bun, and purple eyes, with skin like winter. In fact, Zeon took a lot of traits from their mother, except for the eyes (he believed Zeon got that from their father) and while the twin boys had lines down their cheeks like their father, their mother had none. She was flawless, Zatch believed, inside and out.
Their relationship too was comforting. When he first met her months ago she stood there with wide teary eyes and instantly threw him into her arms for a hug, crying her heart out. Zatch too sobbed suddenly, and since then, the two became close, as she wanted to make up the time they were separated. He didn't mind when she came to him in his room or barged in whenever, (he loved talking to her) but she was still in a way hesitant to intrude on him. Or shameful.
Like right now.
She was the edge of the bed, possibly the farthest corner she could have picked, but she still had eyes full of kindness and concern.
"Tired?" she asked lightly, assuming from his lax position but she still wanted to confirm it.
He nodded. "Unn, just a bit." He answered, now sitting up. "But nothing I can't handle!"
She laughed. "Well, I know you're busy with all your lessons, but dinner will be starting soon. I'll let your teachers know that the young king needs to eat."
"Would Father be there?" Zatch suddenly asked before he stopped himself.
Her face evidently went into a small frown. "Oh, no, not today. He's still finishing on some diplomatic matters concerning the Eastern Gate."
"Oh. Okay!" Zatch tried to brush it off. It was often he didn't see his father, even if technically Zatch was King. For being in power for 1000 years it was going to be a long transitional period before all the responsibilities were to be handled by him. He was still a junior King, and needed to learn the ways of running the kingdom before actually, well, running it.
"Don't worry, your Father is coming back in a few days. He'll be happy to see you and Zeon."
"Unnu!"
"But that's not bothering you, isn't it Zatch?"
He was caught by surprise. For someone so friendly and loving she was awfully observant. "Uh? No, nothing's wrong Mother! Why do you ask?"
"Because you seem distracted." She offered gently. "Be honest with me sweetie, are your studies becoming too much for you?"
"Not at all Mother!" he interjected strongly, perhaps a bit too hard. He didn't want her to worry. "I manage, just like I said before. I want to this in order to become the kind king that this word needs."
She smiled at that. "But you are one Zatch." She clasped his face with her hands. "And you're doing a great job."
His mouth was wide in reply -
"...But a kind king doesn't have to be a lonely king."
He blinked, stumped at her answer.
"I know you rarely see your friends anymore, especially that your schedule is filling up with nothing but school and king duties. Tell me the truth: you want to spend time with them."
He really wanted to pour his feelings and agree, say being a king was harder than it looked and sometimes wanted to be back to a kid with nothing but fun and playing games, but these few months he became a bit more disciplined with his feelings (as Earth told him, a kind king needed to be emotionally strong too, whatever that meant) so he bit his tongue and tried to deny it. It failed.
"Zatch…" her stern look made it obvious she wanted him to tell her.
"Unnu…well, I do miss playing with my friends Mother. They all get to play with each other after school while I, well, have to do more work. I only really see them at school, and even that we don't play much. They look like they don't mind, but I do! I miss them. Tia, Ponygon, Kanchomé, Kolulu, Ted, Kido, everyone."
She stayed quiet, letting him continue on.
"And I feel like I'm losing them too. Especially Tia. She always seems mad when she sees me. And she seems madder when I can't see her when she visits. I ask her if she wants to hang out with me in between my classes but she says she can't. I don't get it." His question was truly full of confusion and innocence.
However, Queen Bell understood it quite clearly. For awhile now. She saw the young girl a few times when she wanted to visit Zatch, and sometimes a guard or somebody working for the castle would dismiss her (even though Queen Bell insisted they would allow her inside). Though the one time she did met Tia she was pleasantly surprised by the fierce and friendly nature she had.
She finally said, "Zatch, tomorrow there is no school except for your private lessons here right?"
"Unnu."
"Well, consider yourself free tomorrow. And it seems your friend Tia needs to see how much you still appreciate her as a friend. So you two will spend all day tomorrow to play, do whatever!"
His eyes sparkled in delight. "Really?!" Zatch immediately liked, no, loved that idea. A day to spend time with his friends? And Tia? He often did play with her when both of their human partners were busy. It would be like old times.
But then he questioned, "What about my studies?"
"I'll talk to your teachers. I'm sure they won't mind."
Zatch's mouth went into a gigantic innocent smile. "Hahaha! Thanks Mother!" It seemed he had full of energy now, jumping on his bed, his bed buzzing on what they should do tomorrow.
She laughed at his excitement, standing now. "I'll see you at the table soon." She strolled to the door, about to close it, but then she recalled.
"Oh, and Zatch,"
He looked to her, mid of his jumping.
She couldn't contain her grin. "We're having yellowtail today."
Queen Bell was sure the entire castle heard her son's fierce shout of excitement.
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ENDING – Upstream Children by Light Bringer
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A/N: I decided with this story I'm going to do something different, such as writing each chapter as an episode, and several arcs probably containing within it. I already have two, (maybe three?) but yeah that's it really. Hopefully if I can get better at online graphics I can make an animated opening! Oh the dream…if I could I would SO make more for my other fics on this site. This fic's first opening theme song is Future Map by I-Rabbits. Please listen to it! Type it on youtube but with its Japanese name 未来地図. If not just type in I-Rabbits and it will pop up with the Japanese title.
Thank you to all those who continuously read, comment and follow my work! (critique/suggestions are welcomed!) ^_^
P.S REVIEW!
Till next time,
mokocchii