Author's Note: What? An update? Without an entire month in between? What is this blasphemy? Well, I decided to get off of my lazy bum and do something. It's a staff reduction day, so that's the reason why I'm doing this on a Monday. Alright, happy reading! In this chapter, I decided to try out line breaks, so we'll see how that turns out. Also, Reikomu is Reycom, for those of you who have seen the English dub, but haven't seen the Japanese version or read the manga.
GASSHU BELL AND ZEON BELL: TWIN PRINCE CHRONICLES
Chapter Nine: The First of Many Mamono Battles
Kiyomaro was reading various different language books in attempt to decipher the characters in the red spellbook. "Nothing again! The only lines I can read are the ones in red..." Kiyomaro wondered. 'Gasshu was right about the spells not appearing without some sort of experience.' he thought.
"Hey, Kiyomaro!" Gasshu said
"What is it?"
"I think we should go and train."
"If you mean going out and making friends, no thanks."
"I mean for the Mamono battle."
"Since when did I volunteer myself for this battle of yours?" Kiyomaro yelled, frustrated.
"It wouldn't matter if you did or not. Either way, once the other Mamono come the battle us, there's no way out of fighting them." Gasshu answered.
"Fine" Kiyomaro sighed. This was going to be a long day.
Kiyomaro and Gasshu were headed to the school. Gasshu stopped for a moment when he saw the river frozen. "Kiyomaro. look at that!" he instructed.
Once he did, he made note of it. "Why is the river frozen? It's warm out here!"
Gasshu felt an odd feeling. "Kiyomaro, I can sense a Mamono in this area." Gasshu told.
"Wha..."
They heard a car screeching and saw a husky man with a small kid. Suddenly. Ice came from the kid's body and stopped a car. They pulled the person who was inside the car out, got in themselves, and drove off.
Suzume was reading her horoscope while inside of a bank. Afterwards, she went to deposit some money, but then, a robbery began to happen.
"Kiyomaro, we need to prepare." Gasshu said
"No! Find someone else who can read your book!" Kiyomaro returned.
"I told you this already: No one else can read my book except for my one human partner, which is you."
"Whatever!" Kiyomaro said. He turned on the television and saw a news flash. It showed a picture of a bank.
"A burglar at the Mochinoki bank has taken himself hostages." the reporter said. The camera panned to the inside of the bank, in which Suzume was shown.
"Hey, Kiyomaro! Isn't that the girl who wanted to be your friend?"
"Oh, no. How many times can that girl get into danger?" Kiyomaro wondered. The robber could also be seen in the shot, and Gasshu saw someone vaguely familiar.
"Kiyomaro! It's that guy who stole that car! I sensed a Mamono in the area before too. That kid has to be him!"
'What if he can use that ice power, and Gasshu's electricity won't come out?' Kiyomaro thought to himself, worried.
"Kiyomaro, let's go!"
"Forget it, Gasshu! It's too dangerous! Let's leave it to the police."
"But if that kid is a Mamono, then none of the cops stand a chance!" Gasshu rebelled. Just then, the news reporter said that a police officer was shot. "Come on Kiyomar! Let's go! Don't just sit there and think anymore! Just act!"
'It's not as easy as you think, Gasshu. The truth is that I'm scared.'
"...Alright, Gasshu! Let's do this!"
Kiyomaro was on a bike, rushing to the bank. Gasshu rode in the bike's basket. They eventually turned a corner, and saw a fleet of officers surrounding the bank.
"Kiyomaro, how are we supposed to get in?" Gasshu asked, unaware that Kiyomaro had already constructed a plan.
"Just follow my lead, Gasshu!" Kiyomaro yelled, attempting to throw Gasshu.
"What?" Gasshu said, grabbing onto Kiyomaro's shirt. The bike then hit a bump, which caused the bike to throw them into the bank...behind a desk.
"Whoever you are, come out now!" the man shouted.
"Kiyomaro, you should have told me your plan before trying to throw me." Gasshu whispered.
"Well, we had to act quickly!"
"Come on out already!" the robber demanded.
"Gasshu, can we attack them without harming the hostages?"
"Yeah. If we don't use Zakeru at its full strength."
"Alright, then I want you to distract the guards without giving away our position. Go! Quietly!" Kiyomaro instructed as Gasshu got up onto the desk.
"My name is Gasshu Beru, and I'm here to rescue all of you!"
"Reikomu, do you know who this kid is?" the robber asked the kid.
'One of the princes...'
"...Hey, I know who you are! You were with Kiyomaro!" Suzume said, taking off the tape covering her mouth.
"Suzume! I'd like to talk, but you should just move back!"
"Kiyomaro, are you with him?" she shouted.
'Alright. Here goes our plan.' Kiyomaro thought, jumping up from behind the desk. The book was open. "Zakeru!" he shouted. Nothing happened, which left Gasshu confused.
"Kiyomaro, if you don't read the spell with any emotion, it won't be cast! Remember what I told you on the roof?"
The robber saw the red book Kiyomaro was holding and turned to Gasshu.
"How disappointing. You two barely have any communication with each other. Right, Hosokawa?" Reikomu said and asked.
"Yeah, you two are just wasting time if you don't know how to read the book. Now hand it over, or I'll take it from you."
"Suit yourself," Hosokawa said, opening the blue book. It began to glow. "Gikoru!" he shouted. Then, any icy wind came from Reikomu's mouth. Gasshu dodged it, and large icicles appeared where Gasshu had been standing.
"You'll need to do more than that in order to stop me!" Gasshu said, knocking the gun out of Hosokawa's hand.
"Gikoru!" Hosokawa shouted again. Reikomu's ice attack hit Gasshu this time, freezing him. "Alright! Now let's get out of here!" he instructed. The two burst out a window and used their Gikoru spell to block off the alleyway that they ran away from.
"Gasshu! Damn! They got away!" Kiyomaro growled. "Zakeru!" he shouted, causing Gasshu to shoot lightning, freeing himself from the ice. "Why couldn't that have worked the first time?!" The two then announced that it was safe. There was massive applause as they exited the bank. They were interviewed, which took a while, and then released to go home.
When they finished crossing the bridge, they heard a familiar voice.
"Furizedo!" Suddenly, Kiyomaro couldn't move anymore. His feet up to his knees were trapped in ice!
"Well, well. Look who it is. That shrimp prince of the other world, Gasshu!" Reikomu said.
"Says the person who had to run away!" Kiyomaro yelled. "Zakeru!"
"Gikoru!" Hosokawa yelled. The two attacks collided, almost breaking even. The Zakeru was stronger though, breaking through the Gikoru, sending it straight towards the duo. "Gishirudo!" he yelled again. A shield of swirling ice came out of Reikomu's mouth, protecting them from the blast. "Ha! How do you like that? You have seen barely anything of our power! "Gikoru Garugo!" he cried. At first, nothing happened, leaving Gasshu and Kiyomaro confused.
"Well, if nothing's going to happen, we'll end this now! Zake..." he couldn't finish before spikes of ice rose up from the ground beneath Gasshu, which hurt him a lot.
"D-D-Da-Damn it..." Gasshu cursed. He had been cut and bruised in many places, causing him to bleed. "Ki-Kiyomaro, you need to figure out a way to get out of that ice! I can't use Zakeru, because I'll shock you!" Just then, the book began to glow as Kiyomaro's hatred for the ice that bounded him began to boil.
"Furizedo!" Hosokawa shouted. The attack was aimed at Gasshu, and it froze him, all the way up to his head on the right side, as he wasn't prepared for an attack once again.
"Now me too! Those guys have an unfair advantage with have four spells, instead of our one!" Gasshu complained.
"Gasshu, the book is glowing, but in a different way!" Kiyomaro told Gasshu.
"Really? Check the pages!"
Kiyomaro flipped through the pages, and saw something amazing. "Gasshu, the second spell! It's appeared!"
"What's the spell?"
"Rashirudo!"
"Oh, I know what that does! It's a shield spell!"
"...Are you guys just going to sit there and have a tea party or are you going to battle us? We'll finish this with the next attack. And we're serious this time!" Reikomu yelled.
"Wait, hold on! You! The kid!" Kiyomaro started. "Why are you with that guy? Why haven't you ran away? Just take one look at yourself. You're wearing ragged clothes that have holes and patches in them, and your partner has nice clothes on! Why is that?"
"It's because this little guy here is a tool. Before I met him, I was poor, and barely had any living. But now, with his power, I'm able to have anything that I want!"
"Is that all that he is to you? A tool! That's unforgivable!" Gasshu yelled.
"Well, the truth is that the stronger his feelings of greed, hatred and self-indulgence get, the stronger and more spells I get! I like this guy! It doesn't matter what I look like, as well as it makes me stronger!" Reikomu stated. That statement made Kiyomaro cringe.
"That kid's as messed up as that maniac! Alright, Gasshu, let's end this!"
"Unu!"
"Ganzu Gikoru!" Hosokawa shouted. A barrage of icicles came from Reikomu's mouth.
"There's no way a Zakeru will protect against that! We need a stronger spell!" Kiyomaro yelled.
"Use the second spell! We have it to use, do we not? Just trust that it will work!"
"Alright. Here goes nothing! The second spell, Rashirudo!" Then, a medium sized shield came out of the ground. It had a lightning bolt on it, and it appeared to have a steel frame.
Many of the blasts from the Ganzu Gikoru spell missed the shield and went past, but some of them hit the shield. When they did, they bounced back, with lightning surrounding them. The spell hit the enemy, one of them lightly scathing their book, causing it to start to burn. By this time, the Furizedo that was cast on the two had melted. Kiyomaro went over to Reikomu and picked him up.
"Hey, kid, are you alright?" he asked. Reikomu looked at Kiyomaro, and then he saw his book burning. When that happened, he kicked Kiyomaro, causing him to drop. He ran over to his book.
"No! No! Put it out!" he began, crying, and starting to dissipate. "Put it out! The book! The book..." he said, finally disappearing.
"W-W-What just happened to him?" Kiyomaro asked, confused.
"When a Mamono's book is burned, they are disqualified from the battle and sent back to the Mamono world." Gasshu explained.
"Alright. Let's go, Gasshu."
"...Reikomu..." Hosokawa said, too shocked to do anything.
Back at home, Kiyomaro and Gasshu were watching their interviews on television. Then, Gasshu said something. "Hey, Kiyomaro, the next time that we battle, let's not have any of it involve innocent people. We got lucky this time that no one got hurt from our first battle." Gasshu proposed.
"Alright. I will make sure that we don't fight in public the next time." Kiyomaro agreed.
In England, Zeon and Dyufou didn't recieve the news, as they were in the middle of their own first battle.
"Zakeru!" Dyufou shouted. The attack fired from Zeon's hand, and hit the Mamono they were fighting against. A spark from the Mamono's body hit their spellbook, burning it.
"That was entertaining," Zeon said. Dyufou had noticed a silver glow in the book during their battle. Without having to worry about an enemy, at least for the moment, Dyufou opened the book to find a new spell.
"Zeon, a new spell appeared."
"Well, what is it?"
"Rashirudo."
"Oh, that spell. Now, this battle is finally going to start to becoming interesting." Zeon replied.
