Chapter 7: The Search for Klug's Father Begins
Me and Ringo prepared for the new week of school. My wounds dissipated from sight and my damaged uniform was fixed up, thank God. As we walked over to Suzuran High, I kept thinking about what transpired during Saturday. "What's wrong, Dave?" Ringo asked with concern. "I was just remembering the events that happened then…" She seemed to know what I meant. "You mean the stuff involving Klug and his dad?" She asked me. "*sigh* Yes Ringo, We all have to find his father soon, who knows what evil plot he may very well be up to…" Ringo stopped for a second to give me something. "Uh... Ringo?" "Here, take this." She said. It was a cell phone, it was black and completely new too. "It already has my number on it, in case if you need to call me." "Gee, thanks Ringo, I'm sure it'll come in handy." We both continued onward, staying silent for the rest of the way and entered the cafeteria. We saw Lemres wave to us off in the distance. "Yo! Over here guys!" He yelled. We walked over to him where the others were at too, Feli, Maguro, and Risukuma. "So, I guess that your wounds are now healed, Dave?" He asked. "Yeah Lemres, it hurt so much from Saturday night, but after that it really went away. Anyway, is Klug okay? We need to help him ASAP, so that he can live as a normal person." "Uuuuh, what are you guys talkin' about?" Maguro asked. "It's a long story Maguro, basically…" Ringo explained to him and Risukuma. "Well, I would see why he would become upset by this…" Maguro said. I expected a bit of a bigger reaction out of him, he was acting awfully calm about this. "Well, we can start lookin' into this after school…" Lemres suggested. "But where do we start though…?" Feli questioned. "Feli is right Lemres, we don't have any leads on this guy, he could be anywhere for all we know… it's going to be very difficult to track him down." I said. Everyone else agreed with nods. "Damn, what are we gonna to do then?" Lemres asked. "I'm not sure, I'll have to see if Klug has any ideas, if anyone does, it would be him." I concluded as Ringo, Lemres, and Feli nodded to me.
The rest of the day, up to seeing Klug again, went by as normal. After my last class in Accord's room ended, I gestured Klug to come over to me. "So, do you know where your father might be, Klug? Even a wild guess will help at this point, all so we can find him. "Well, I don't know for sure, but maybe Ms. Accord knows something. You see, my father used to come to this school, so records should be kept on him somewhere." He said. "Huh, that's not a bad idea... you might be onto something." I said. We headed towards Accord. "Uh, Ms. Accord, me and Klug request your assistance with a problem of ours." She spun her head to us in confusion. "My, what seems to be the issue you two?" We explained everything that occurred Saturday to Accord. Her innocent face soon turned to a more stern and serious look. "I see… Kiddies, I think you should watch this, I recorded it on a tape." She pointed us to a TV screen, it displayed a news feed. "Last night, as Primp Town Bank was being robbed, we saw a figure of tall proportions with broad shoulders. Authorities are saying that it is a grown man in his thirties. He fled to the forest surrounding Primp, so we have not found the man who is responsible. Plus, no other clues further pinpoint to who this might be." Accord shuts off the TV. "This happened late during later in the night of that day…" The next thing I knew, Klug was kneeling on one knee, baffled by this. "I-It can't be… but I know that stature from anywhere…!" He clearly was surprised from this. "Well… at least we have some sort of lead on him now, Klug…" I said on the bright side. "Wait, don't tell me that you two are going to find out where he is, he's a dangerous criminal though… I don't want you kiddies to get hurt." I assured Accord with a plan of mine. "Don't worry Ms. Accord, we aren't doing this by ourselves, we have plenty of friends willing to help us out. Isn't that right, Klug?" I nudged him for comfortable. "Y-yes, we do indeed." We thanked Accord for helping us and we left to find our friends.
We saw Lemres and Feli sitting on a bench together talking. "Hey, Lemres!" I yelled. "Oh hey, Dave n' Klug, found anythin' out?" He asked. "Yeah, quite the shocker actually." I said. "Sh-shocker?" Feli asked. I elaborated the news feed to them. "Well… shit. Never would've expected that to happen, on the same day no less." Lemres frowned. Feli perked up with a theory of hers. "Maybe it's fate fucking around with us… why else would these two specific things happen in conjunction with one another?" I would have agreed with her, had I believed in fate and destiny. "Hm, there has to be a reason for this to be… regardless, this not what we are here to do. Lemres, can you get Amitie and the others from Accord's class here? In the meantime, I'll get Ringo and her friends too." He nodded in approval and left. I pulled out my new cell phone and called Ringo. "Hello, Ringo? No... answer? I know that this is her number… *gasp* something bad must have happened to her! There's no way that she would miss a call at a time like this!" I realized. "What?!" Feli and Klug exclaimed. "Feli, can you stay here and alert everyone of this when they arrive? That would be great if you did." "Sure Dave, as a friend, I can't let you down." I nodded to her. "Thanks! C'mon Klug, we need to find Ringo, make a portal to Suzuran High for us." "Sure! Anything to help me in the end. If this is what it takes, then I'll help you help me." He creates the portal and we traveled through. What we saw next would horrify us heavily. "W-what happened here?!" I exclaimed. The sky was dark and eerie, the school was also on fire. "Look, Dave! Someone's on the ground, injured!" Klug yelled. It was Risukuma, his fur was torn and he had bruises all over. "Oh my God! Risukuma, speak to me, what happened here?!" He opens his eyes slightly. "D-Dave, is that you?" "Ris, where's Ringo? She didn't answer my call and now I'm worried for her." Risukuma mustered in more words. "Dave, Ringo is still inside the school, but… watch out… for… him…" He passes out after that. "Wait, watch out for who?!" It was too late though, I couldn't get another word out of him. "Damnit, when I find out who did this… Klug, we need to enter that school." He agreed and we went in hoping to find Ringo.
I decided that we should check the junior locker area, especially since that's where most of the fire was burning from. We were close enough that we began to pick up on a conversation between two people. "I don't understand, why would you do all of this... I thought we were... best friends… all throughout childhood." That was Ringo talking, but I didn't know who was the other person, at first. I silently tried looking over from a corner when my eyes widened in sheer terror. The other person was Maguro, but he didn't look the same as before. His face showed an evil grin moving across his face, and I saw Ringo on the floor, mortified. She also had heavy bruises, mostly on her cheeks. She was tearing up too from it. For once, I saw his eyes, they were a deep red, almost like blood. Ringo was going to get hurt from whatever this guy would throw at her. I grew angry as a result from this. Klug saw it too, getting hit just as hard by this revelation. I gestured to Klug that I would strike Maguro while he was unaware of my presence. I waited until Maguro's back was turned, then I went. Running up behind him as quietly as I could and… "Yah!" I punched him hard. "Oof! Argh… Who the hell did that to my lovely mug…?" "What do you think you're doing to Ringo, you bastard?!" I yelled at him. "D-Dave… it's you…" Ringo whimpered. He turned around to look at me. "Oh… hehehe… hahahahahaha! So the new guy thinks that he can save dear Ringo from me." I was pissed at this point. "I said… What. The. Hell. Were. You. Doing. To. Ringo?! Answer the question, asshole!" He can only grin and laugh at my horror and anger. Klug remained close to Ringo, taking care of her for me. "Fine, I'll answer your question, "Hero of Justice". Y'see, Ringo has been all too oblivious of my love for her all these years… neglectin' me even. She always friend zoned me completely, but why though? She always went on adventures with Arle and Amitie. As for me, she never invited me to be with her for these things. Being pushed over to the sidelines every time…! I can't tell ya how infuriating it is! This is especially true when you came along… Dave!" He gave me a such a piercing glare, I shot up for a second. "Wh-what?! What are you insinuating?!" I asked. "C'mon, I know that you're too smart to not to notice the problem with your recent appearance…" I paused for a few gathering up my thoughts. "I see, you became jealous of me because you presumed that I won over Ringo's heart, despite me being a recent outsider to this world." He then smiled devilishly and started clapping slowly. "That's the ticket… give the young man a prize." "But, I do have to ask Maguro, why go so far with this when you could have just confessed your love to Ringo? Why beat her up like this, and who helped you burn this school?" I asked. His smile soon faded and instead turned into hatred. "Fool! I would've confessed to her by now if I hadn't already! She rejected me, but I didn't let that stop me this time… As for the fire that started here, you can trace that back to Dioge Stanford. I happen to work for him as a matter of fact..." Klug couldn't believe it. "What?! But that's my father's name! Where the hell is he?! I seek revenge on him!"
Maguro grinned again. "So you are his alleged son, Klug Stanford. Your dad told me a great deal about you a several days ago. And so, I told him my story too...we eventually came up with a way to compromise a plan. A plan where I can get my love at long last... as well as have me take you down for him… since you were a disgrace to the Stanford family, right Klug?" "I should have known, you were too calm when "reacting" to what happened on Saturday. You didn't sound too surprised by it. That must have meant to you that I was distracted and couldn't see Ringo much today. You took full advantage of the situation and created another problem that is currently standing in my way!" I deduced. He was impressed with me deducing all of this. "Very perceptive of you…" He then dashed past me and tackled Klug. "Ow!" Klug yelped. "Klug, no!" I yelled. Maguro grabbed hold of Ringo with one arm. "Ah!" Ringo screamed. "RINGO! You son of a bitch, let her go now!" I demanded. His evil grin stretched deeper on his face. "Hehehe… she's all mine, no way I'll ever let go of this beauty. To make sure you won't steal her from me, I'll take her virginity!" "M-Maguro, no!" Ringo yelled He used his free hand to reach down and go under her skirt. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Are you seriously wanting to go this far... BY SEXUALLY ASSAULTING AN INNOCENT GIRL?!" I exclaimed. He laughed at me uncontrollably. "HAHAHAHAHA! Maybe now, Ringo can respect me the way that I want to be respected!" He laughed. Ringo rejected the thought of Maguro's, I could from her face. "Hell… no Maguro, you betrayed our friendship!" "Ah, but you betrayed my love for you first, it's only fair, Ringo…" The two spoke for a bit. "Gravity's…" Klug muttered before… "Ack-!" "Ah, ah, ah… that's a big no-no. I won't be havin' anymore surprise attacks thrown at me." Maguro waved his finger. "D-damn you…!" Klug struggled.
There was nothing that I could do to stop Maguro. If I tried to use my own spells on him myself, he would have most likely used Ringo as a shield to save his own hide. I didn't want to hurt her accidentally, not after the emotional and physical pain that she had already gone through. I kept staring at the shit-bag as he stood still. Then, something neither of us expected came to light. "Hrgh!" We heard a voice, it was one I recognized, Jace's voice. "Arghghghghghgh!" Maguro screamed as he was being electrocuted. He fell to the floor on his back and Ringo was finally safe. "J-Jace! How long were you here for?" I wondered. "Since this garbage held onto Ms. Ando here." Jace was agitated with this whole thing cause by Maguro. "Now, since Maguro committed not one, but two crimes on school grounds... he will be arrested by Suzuran police. I'll get on with calling 991, right now." I had to ask Jace a simple question first before he called. "Hold on, Jace... I have something to ask... Can I interrogate the guy for one question before he is arrested. I, as well as Klug here, we want... specific information from him." He seemed rather perplexed by this. "Wait, what do you mean? What the hell is going on here?!" He asked, looking as stern as ever.
I explained everything to Jace that involved Klug's father being a criminal. "I'm beginning to see your agenda… however, don't you think this is a bit out of your authority, if you even have any that is…" "Jace, I have more friends around who are going to help us look for Mr. Stanford. And when we do, we'll pin him down and let authorities handle things from there. That's what the plan is anyway, we found a lead that he is somewhere in the forest of Primp. That is the question that I'll be asking him. So Maguro tell me, where is Dioge Stanford exactly? And don't lie either, if you do not tell the truth, you will receive another dose of that stun gun from Jace. Isn't that right Jace?" I turned my head over to where Jace was. He started to agree with me, knowing that I wanted further leads to stop Dioge. "Yes, if you do not comply, you will get shocked until you do tell truthfully." He said. Maguro gave up at that point. "Alright, I'll tell you... There's a structure in the inner part of the forest by the largest tree of all." I was pleased with his lack of rebelling against me. "Very well... Jace, you can have him arrested now... I'll be sure to make this up to you somehow." I said.
Ringo was still in fear from all that crazy shit, so I comforted her. "S-so, Maguro will be arrested for life?" She asked. "Most likely, he was an accomplice in burning the school and tried to sexually assault you, technically two crimes." I told her. She wasn't taking this well at all. "Okay... look Ringo, Maguro was living as a selfish person. I'm sure that you two had some good memories from your childhood, but I think that it's best to forget about them. You don't want to be reminding yourself of this day, do you?" I said before asking. Ringo hesitated for a moment. "N-no, I realize now that he was driving himself down a dark path. There was no saving him after what he did today." She said. I was happy with the response she gave me. "Ringo, I think you're one step closer to becoming an adult. Sometimes, you have to realize that you must move on from stuff that are very hurtful… and just keep trucking forward." I smiled. Ringo smiled back as I helped her up. "Speaking of moving on... shouldn't we be going somewhere else, Dave?" Klug suggested. "Ah, that's right… Ringo, I called you earlier, but you didn't pick up. That's how I found you here, in this hellhole. As to why I called you…" I explained everything to her. "I see, so that's why you were interrogating Maguro... you found out that this "Dioge" fled to the forest of Primp." "That's right and we need to get there and stop him. Now, I need you to go home Ringo, you're hurt and I don't want your family to panic. Risukuma might still be laying down outside the school, so do me a favor and help him out too, okay?" Her eyes were widened for a minute, but soon understood how Ris might have been injured. "'Kay, I got you Dave. I'll do what you have said." She pushed along away from us. "Okay, Klug, let's go back to the others. They might have been waiting longer than anticipated." I said to him. He nodded and made a portal back to Primp Magic School.
Author's Notes: Dave, Klug, and Ringo found a truth they did not expect. Maguro, the supposed best friend of Ringo's, goes rogue by being a lackey for Dioge Stanford. He tries to get his way with Ringo after many years prior. However, he and his plan were foiled by Jace. Maguro is now planned to be arrested for his crimes. Although despite that, the justice delivery is not over yet. Now it will be time for Dioge to fall at the hands of Dave and Klug. Next chapter, Chapter 8: Revenge and Justice.