Chapter 12: In My Own Voice
I, Coffee, the incredibly unconfident in her own abilities, welcome you to the horribly horrible Chapter Twelve of my story! I might have overlooked a typo or two in here… Today was a little tiring. (Stupid pep rallies…) And I know the title sucks…. Whetever Since I have nothing else even semi-related to this story to say, on to the disclaimer everyone just loves!
Disclaimer: If you think I own anything I may mention (ex: Konjiki no Gash Bell, the Mushrooms of Time), you are sadly mistaken, my friend. I do, however own my OCs.
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The four set down the bags they had recently bought bags and looked about the clearing. It was quiet and not many (if any) hikers used any of the trails around it. It was perfect for practicing spells.
"Let's get this done soon so we can do down to the beach by Mount Baldy, okay?" said Hyphae, clearly excited.
"I don't want to hear your voice ever again," Brago said rather coldly. He was still shaken from Hyphae's statement at the hotel restaurant. That girl had to be the most twisted, sick-minded eight-year-old in existence… To just say something like that, that loudly in public…
"So, your relationship with Sherry is secret, then?" Hyphae asked, twirling the strand of her short blonde hair that fell in the front of her ears. This question served to annoy Brago even more than he already was. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about your love for each other." Where in hell did this girl get her ideas?
"Shut up, will you?" asked Brago, obviously incredibly irritated. Upon saying this, he threw a punch at Hyphae. This started a fight that went unnoticed by the bookkeepers (as did the previous conversation) until not-too-nice words such as "I'll strangle you using poison oak, which is way worse than poison ivy!" and "You'll get it on yourself, too, moron!" started to come into use.
Amaya stormed over to Hyphae with a notebook reading, "What did you say to him?" in handwhereas Sherry blamed Brago for starting the fight.
"You hit her, didn't you? Why did you do it?" Sherry asked, as Hyphae explained to Amaya that Brago had started it by throwing the punch.
"She provoked me," said Brago, who stuck his hands into the pockets of his black overalls.
After a few minutes of pointless arguments with their demon partners, both the bookkeepers decided to give up.
"Should we get this started? It's about time we do." Amaya wrote, and she turned the notebook so Sherry could read it. Sherry agreed with this statement, and suggested that Amaya and Hyphae go first, and do whatever they were going to do.
"Ho do we start?" asked Hyphae.
Amaya pointed at a log and took the pale red book from the bag hanging at her side.
How is she going to do this, wondered Sherry. Amaya's mute, right?
The Japanese girl took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.
"Hyphare!" she shouted. Amaya had spoken.
Some sort of tendril shot from Hyphae's hand and wrapped around the log, throwing it a considerable distance. They looked weak and thin, and seemed to be made of rubber or something else soft.
"The hell?" voiced Brago, "I could rip those things in half with my bare hands."
"I told you my first spell was weak, idiot!" said Hyphae, having the tendrils veer towards Brago and stay an inch away from his face. The dark demon tried to grab at them and tear them, but Hyphae maneuvered them so he couldn't grab them, giggling a little the entire time.
Soon, the rubbery ropes retracted back into Hyphae's hands. "What the hell are those things, anyways?" Brago asked.
"Here's the dummy's version of it," explained Hyphae. "All fungi are made of these things called hyphae, singular hypha, which, of course, are my namesake. Those 'things' are the beautiful materials mushrooms and my other precious fungi are composed of!"
Beautiful? Precious? It was now obvious Hyphae really liked fungus, which most people despised.
"Now, show us what you can do," said Hyphae, putting her hands on her hips.
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It was lunchtime. Amaya unpacked the sandwiches they had bought earlier from her bag, and brought them over to the three others. So much for Hyphae's buffet. Brago turned his down, and Hyphae agreed to eat it.
"Amaya, may I ask you a question?" Sherry said.
"Okay, you can," Amaya wrote, opening her lunch. (At this point, Hyphae had already finished all of her food and was tormenting Brago.)
"How can you cast the spells? You are mute, aren't you?" Upon hearing this, Amaya began to write.
"We think it has to do with the magic of the book, but we're not so sure. Hyphae and I are never so sure of anything. And yes, I am mute. I was born that way. I might be getting surgery in my vocal box next year to fix it the problem."
"That's good," said Sherry, watching the fight of the midgets proceed before her.
The two continued eating a while more, and then Amaya started to write again. She tilted the notebook towards Sherry when she was finished.
"Why are you fighting this battle, if it's not too big of a deal? We all have out reasons, more or less, right?"
"It's okay, I can tell you but I'll make it quick," said Sherry, turning towards Amaya. "My friend Koko is under the control of an evil demon named Zophise," Sherry's voice almost dripped with hate as she uttered the name, "and I want to save her from him. I happen to owe my life to Koko…"
"Best of luck kicking Zophise's ass," Amaya wrote.
"Why are you fighting, Amaya?" Sherry asked.
"My reasons aren't as great as yours," scribbled Amaya. "I only decided to fight alongside Hyphae (who is not a choice companion due to her" Amaya paused here, and then sort of made up a word, "annoying-ness) because when I read the book, it was the first time in my life I could speak in my own voice. It's a stupid reason, I know." Strangely, Amaya seemed sort of sad as she said this, as if it was a bad thing that this was her reason.
"It isn't stupid," said Sherry in an almost reassuring tone.
Suddenly, a certain someone started screaming quite loudly. "Sherry! Get your boyfriend off of me!"
The two girls turned towards the fight. Apparently, once Brago found he was evenly matched in strength with Hyphae (another reason he desperately needed the mushroom), he resorted to pulling her hair, which proved quite effective.
As Sherry opened her mouth to lecture Brago, Amaya gave Sherry a note reading "Let her suffer, she deserves it. You don't know her well enough."
This, however, did not stop Sherry from storming over to make Brago let go. "Can't you two just try and get along?" Sherry asked.
After a bit of silence and staring, Hyphae opened her mouth, and said, "We really should get back to training. But, before that, I have suggestions on what to do!"
"You see," she continued, "Gatler's power is guns. They cause a bunch of pain, way more than those stupid things humans use. Those don't even hurt all that much."
Sherry blinked. Don't hurt? Guns? And how would she know?
"Hyphae pisses off everyone, including nut-jobs with guns," wrote Amaya, as if to answer the question Sherry had been asking mentally.
"Anyways, I say we practice dodging," said Hyphae. "Because if his spells hit us, we're screwed, and we can't be using bunches of spells up just to block the stupid things."
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"Hey, quit it!" yelled Brago, trying to block the water that Hyphae was splashing on him. That didn't stop her, of course.
"You're glad you're wearing the bathing suit now, aren't you?" asked Hyphae, splashing around a little in the water of the lake.
"No," he replied. "I think I'm going to get dressed and go on a walk."
"Aaw, but if you'll do that, I'll have no one to tor— I mean play with!" whined Hyphae.
This earned the girl a glare as Brago walked to the bag and fished out his overalls, shoes, socks and striped shirt from between some jeans and a pink dress.
Brago really wished that that he didn't need Hyphae's help. He swore he would punch her in the face once he got back to being fourteen…
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The end! I need to think of better threats to make people review. So… Yeah.
Review, please! Even if it isn't all that good.
