Hello, i am back! Y'know... I just looked at something, and noticed that without the author's notes in this chapter, this one is exactly 3,000 words long! That's cool:D OK, i'm entertained by simple things, i admit it.
OK, well, seeing that i'm bored and want reviews quickly, i'm just gonna get this over with. 'Kay?
Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch bell OR Sleeping Beauty. SO LEAVE ME ALONE!
Sleeping Beauty
Chapter 3
Berry Picking – NOT
Lightning striked across the sky and rolls of thunder echoed afterwards. The storm around Zophise's castle boomed with the loud sounds of, not just the thunder, but his wrath as well.
The being scowled down upon his servants and let out a roar of anger. "Incredible! Absolutely incredible!" he yelled. "Sixteen years! Sixteen good-for-nothing years have passed and there isn't a damn trace of her! She couldn't have vanished. Have you two searched everywhere?"
Fein and Reycom stood before Zophise, taking in the insults. Fein cowered and closed his eyes, not wanting to look at the master as he yelled. Reycom, however, stood wondering where the heck he was.
Wasn't I supposed to be in the mamodo world? thought Reycom to himself, I know I should have been… And who's the idiot screaming at us?
He dared not to actually call Zophise an idiot, for he could sense that he was very powerful. And what could he do, anyway? He was one of the first to battle for king and lose…
That thought stayed in his mind for quite a while before he really pondered about it. Wait… if he could sense that the one before him was powerful, then that meant he was a mamodo… But where was his spell book? He looked around and didn't see it. It had to be hidden somewhere… this was obviously a new chance for him!
"Reycom, what are you doing? Wake up!" Zophise's words snapped the mamodo out of his daydreaming and he started to pay attention.
"Oh, uh…" Reycom didn't really know what to say so he kept silent.
Zophise saw that he was going to say no more, so he went back onto his ranting. "Now, have you two searched everywhere?"
"Yes, we have searched everywhere!" said Fein proudly. He began counting in an arrogant manner to himself. "Let's see… the mountains, the forests, and even all the houses! Let's not forget every cradle that is in the town." The clown look-alike gave a smug smile and Zophise stared.
"You were looking… in all the cradles…?" Zophise almost didn't want to believe this. His mouth hung slightly open in a dumb way which made him look somewhat less intelligent.
"Yep, all the cradles!" Fein's smile widened. Reycom continued to wonder what he meant by 'searching for cradles' but soon went back to daydreaming.
"FOOLS!" Zophise screeched and everyone winced at his volume. His angered look soon lessened and he turned to the possessed Koko next to him. "Did you hear that, my dear? They've been looking in all the cradles in the land. They've been looking for a baby!"
He began to let out horrid laughs and soon Fein began to join. Koko and Reycom were the only ones not laughing. The blue-haired mamodo was too busy daydreaming and Koko was just staring… Really, this wasn't that funny. Why was her master laughing? Didn't he dislike the fact that they couldn't find the princess?
She only shrugged to herself and watched as Zophise turned his wrath back on the other two servants. "Idiots!" he cried, sending a Radom attack without the need of Koko at Fein. The purple-haired one gave a squeak and jumped backwards. Reycom let out a yell of surprise as he was woken up from his inattention. "Get out of here, you good-for-nothings!"
He sent out another attack and they were sent running away, Fein crying like an infant and Reycom now wondering if there were any frozen fish nearby. Zophise gave out his last irritated sigh and turned to Koko.
"Oh, they're such idiots," he said. "Gives evil a bad name. Now my dear, you're my last hope. Go search far and wide for a maid of sixteen with golden hair and rose-red lips. Do not fail me, my slave."
Koko smiled, now knowing that she could at least do something now, and then she bowed. "I shall not fail you." With that she ran off to go search for the princess.
-o-o-o-o-o-
And so for sixteen long years the whereabouts of the princess remained a mystery, while deep within the forest, in a woodcutter's cottage, the good fairies carried out their plan. Living like mortals, they had raised the child as their own and called her Rosy. And on this, her sixteenth birthday, the good fairies were planning a party and something extra special for her surprise.
Currently, Tia and Kolulu were looking over dresses in a book. Zatch Bell was sitting on a couch asleep and dreaming about fish. Drool was clearly seen dripping from his open mouth and he would occasionally make strange "aah" and "ooh" and "look at that yummy..." noises and comments. Plus a few extra but that's not very important.
Tia looked down at a dress and smiled. "Ooh, how about this one?" she asked Kolulu, pointing to the one she was referring to.
"Oh, she'd look beautiful in it!" Kolulu smiled and clasped her hands together. "But there would need to be a few changes right here… Oh, and a pretty bow around right there…"
"Make it a gem," said Tia. "A gem tied somewhere around the neck… It'd look better and not a bow."
"Hmm… Yes, you're right."
Zatch rolled over off the couch and landed on the floor, still sleeping. "I'm the yellow tail king…" Tia and Kolulu stared at him and soon went back to looking at dresses.
They looked over the dress, talking about what to change about it and what to keep the same. "How are we going to make the dress with Rosy around?" asked Kolulu finally.
"Well… we'll think of a way." reassured Tia and she went back to staring at the book. Kolulu joined her while Zatch continued drooling.
Soon after a while Sherry walked down the steps, still humming to herself. She looked over and saw the fairies. With a smile she walked up to them.
"So, what are you two up to?" she asked and the two girls jumped. They turned around, hiding the book of dresses behind them.
"Up to? We're up to nothing!" said Tia quickly. Kolulu nodded her head in agreement and smiled.
"But what are you up to?" asked the pink-haired one. Sherry only smile and shrugged.
"Seeing what you are up to, that's all." Sherry turned her head around only to face Zatch, who was now upside down with his feet on the couch and his head on the floor. Drool was all over his face and he was making strange noises. "Ah… OK then…"
Tia walked up to where Zatch was and looked down at Zatch. "Hello…?"
He woke up suddenly with a yelp and cried out, "I DIDN'T EAT THE FISH PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Sherry freaked and jumped backwards at his sudden movement and relaxed when he stared with a confused expression around the room.
"Wha…? What happened?" He looked up at Sherry and smiled. "Hi, Rosy."
"Um, hi Zatch." Sherry smiled and turned around to face Tia and Kolulu. "So, what were you two doing?"
"Um… we were…" Tia stammered. "We were…"
"We were thinking of asking you to go pick some berries!" Tia turned around to face Kolulu and smiled at her idea.
"Yes, that's it. We want you to pick berries." The red-head walked over to pick up a basket and hand it to the blonde.
"Berries?" inquired Sherry. "Didn't I pick some yesterday…?"
"Well, we want some more," said Kolulu. "A lot more!"
"Any yellow tail?" asked Zatch, but unfortunately for him he was ignored. So he sighed to himself and pouted. He really, really, REALLY wanted some yellow tail…
"Now, go and pick some berries." started Tia. "Make sure there is a lot! And don't speak to strangers!" She began to push the blonde out the door and smiled. "Goodbye!" she called and the blonde was gone.
Tia closed the door and sighed. Kolulu walked over to her and peeked out the door window. "I wonder if she suspects anything…"
"Of course not," said Tia, now walking back over to the other room. "But boy will she be surprised with a real birthday cake and party!"
Zatch, who was still clueless as to where he was, only knew a few things. First off, Tia and Kolulu were here, so it wasn't that bad and it mustn't mean anything wrong. Although he had no idea where Kiyo was… and where was his red spell book? He still wondered where it was everyday, if it was about to be burned or was completely safe. But after a long time of being with the now strange Tia and Kolulu, he 'learned' a few things. He was to never call Sherry her real name, just Rosy, or the others would get very mad at him. Something about hiding her came to mind but he never paid attention very much anymore. Oh well.
Kolulu smiled to herself. "I'll go get the wands!" She ran off to go fetch the three sticks to assist them all in the preparations.
"Yes… yes… Go get the wands." Tia nodded her head but then she suddenly froze. "Oh, no! KOLULU!" She ran over to stop the pink being. "No magic! No wands!"
The other gave a pleading look. "But the sixteen years are almost over. Can't we please?"
"No!"
"Fine!" With a sad sigh Kolulu stopped trying to get the wands and walked over to where the cake batter and mixes were. "Well, I guess I'll start on the cake!"
The red-head nodded and smiled. "Right, we don't want any chances."
"Chances for what?" Zatch looked at her confused. He had been daydreaming about yellow tail again and had no idea what everybody was talking about.
"For being seen, idiot!" With a quick, hit-the-Zatch, Tia walked over and began to pull out fabric to start making the dress. "Come on, Zatch, you're going to help me with this."
The golden-eyed mamodo stared at the fabric. It was as pink as Kolulu! He hated pink! With a sigh, he walked over to where Tia was and she threw the cloth over him.
Evil pink…
-o-o-o-o-o-
Brago sighed as he looked up into the sky. It was another horrid day in this even more horrid world. Sixteen years had passes… at least he was no longer a chibi. He glanced down at his black outfit. And somehow he had managed to find his fuzzy black attire somewhere within the castle that this 'Zeon' person had brought him to.
He absolutely refused to where that ridiculous orange cape and colorful design. It was too… too… cheerful looking. These sixteen years had been horrifying and confusing to him. Everyone called him 'Prince Brago' or 'Your Highness'. Since when was he a prince? Sure, he wanted to be king, but a prince? That rank wasn't nearly as powerful as a king. It would not do!
Zeon walked up to him without him realizing it and spoke. "Now Brago, we have a new horse for you. Please don't eat this one."
The dark mamodo glared at the horse that was following the so called 'king'. It was strange looking. Very small, had somewhat spiked hair on its back and had an unusually long nose. It kept making strange noises that sounded like "Meru meru mei!"
"And I want you to actually ride this horse." continued Zeon. Brago just rolled his eyes and snorted.
"You think I'm going to ride that pathetically small thing?" he asked and the horse gave a whimper. Somehow it understood what he said. "I'll just eat it later on."
"No you will not! This is a horse, not food!"
The mamodo rolled his eyes. "Same thing."
"Brago, I'll punish you if you don't keep shut!" snapped Zeon. "You are a prince, not one who—"
"Just shut up already, will you?" The mamodo had had enough of this rambling. "I'm going out, so leave me alone." As quickly as he could, Brago ran out of the grounds while Zeon stared dumbstruck behind.
The white Zatch look-alike turned to the strange horse. "I guess he's not riding you, Ponygon."
"Meru meru mei…"
"Yeah… what you said…"
Meanwhile, Brago was running deep into the forest outside the castle. After a while he slowed down and glared at everything in sight. Oh, when was he ever going to find Sherry and continue on his quest for king? And just what the hell was going on, anyway?
First, around sixteen years ago, he finds himself dress up strangely and in a room with Zatch and the look alike named Zeon. Then this Kiyo person continues to follow him around everywhere back at the castle. Wasn't he supposed to be with Zatch…?
Then he is taken to this castle, and Zeon acts as if he was his son. He only stared at him strangely and shrugged. Didn't he know that his parents were dead?
There were so many other strange things that went on. He was given a few horses before… and they didn't taste all that bad…
Brago mused to himself, when suddenly he heard signing. He froze, ears and eyes alert. That voice… it sounded… familiar… could it be?
He twisted his head around when he heard the signing continue. That's it, it was definitely who he thought it was. He began to run as fast as he could to find the certain blonde. "Sherry!"
-o-o-o-o-o-
"Oh, why am I still treated by a child by them?" Sherry pondered to herself as she walked along.
Somehow, the animals in the forest seemed to understand her, so she held conversations with her. Well… actually, it was she who talked to them and they only listened. Animals don't speak English, y'know.
"They never want me to meet anyone!" said the blonde, and an owl nearby looked up to her and made its infamous hooting noise. "Tia, Kolulu, and Zatch." responded Sherry. "Well… actually it's just Tia and Kolulu. Zatch just talks about fish all the time and really doesn't do anything." She sighed and continued. "But you know I have met someone!"
The owl made its noise again.
Sherry smiled dreamily to herself and then sighed. "Well… he's a prince. Not one of the tallest people in the world… but he is dark, handsome… so romantic! We'll walk and talk together… and just before we say goodbye… he'll take me in his arms and… I wake up." The owl seemed to be disappointed, and the blonde sighed. "Yes, it's only in my dreams."
If there was anybody who was watching her, they would have thought her mental. At least… the part of her talking to an owl would make her seem so. The fact that she had a lover that was not real and only existed in her dreams was actually quite common around here…
The blonde gave another sigh and shook her head, but then raised it with a smile and continued talking to the bird. "But you know… they say that if you keep dreaming of something, it's supposed to come true!" She smiled. "And I've seen him oh so many times! Not to mention a few stranger dreams where he'll be shooting weird stuff out of his hands… but that's not important."
The blonde continued to muse about her dream and closed her eyes with a sigh. The owl looked around and continued to do whatever owls do. Meanwhile…
Brago looked around. The singing had stopped and he couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. He cursed under his breath and gave an irritated look to all the happy flowers and animals abound. This place was too cheerful for his liking…
He then spotted a small pond nearby and realized that he was rather hungry. The last time he ate was sometime yesterday when he ran away from that cursed castle with Zeon. Don't they know that food is disgusting when it is cooked? Not to mention raw food was better and made you stronger. Didn't people know these things? And wasn't Zeon a mamodo? Then how come he didn't eat raw food? So strange…
A thought occurred to him: When were things going to turn normal? And when was he going to find Sherry?
He shrugged and decided to go find some fish in the pond. So he took off his shirt, cape and shoes and dived in. There was a large 'splash!' as he flung himself in head first. 'Twas a shame that he didn't realize that the water was only about a foot deep…
Naturally he hit his head, which hurt quite badly. He sat up in the water and clutched his head tightly. With a curse and a grumble he glared at the water. "Damn shallowness…
Suddenly he heard the same voice of Sherry singing. Quickly, Brago turned his head around only to see an owl flying off with his other clothes. What the…?
He growled and stood up out of the water but ended up slipping on the slimy, muddy bottom of the shallow pond. With a grumble the dark mamodo fell down and landed on his rear end, causing another splash. A piercing glare was emitted from him as he saw the bird fly off with his shoes.
'GET BACK HERE!" he bellowed and stood up. Luckily for him he didn't slip this time, but came dreadfully near to it. So as fast as he could, Brago dashed after the owl that was having a difficult time carrying all his clothing, but somehow managed it. There was NO WAY he was going to run around shirtless!
He chased after the owl, and stopped soon as he came to a clearing. Brago's eyes widened in horror as he saw the blonde dancing around with the owl dressed up in his clothing. And for a very odd reason, two rabbits were hoping about in his shoes. Since when did animals take up puppetry?
His mouth hung slightly opened and he gaped. What the hell was Sherry doing singing and dancing with animals? And what was she singing? A love song!
Brago stared with even more horror as Sherry started singing about dreams. This was NOT happening!
I'm sure a lot of you are happy now that Brago has made another appearance again in this chapter! Heheh, n' i know that there's a certain scene that quite a few of you are waiting for... (snickers) The word starts with a "K" and ends with an "S"... :3
Anyway, ON TO MY REVIEWERS!
Crying White Wolf: Here's the next chapter.
Blood of the Wolf: More Prince Brago comin' up! (stares at Brago) There is NO WAY he is going near my cats! Besides, how could he be pleased about it when they're both very nearby and sleeping? Hm, maybe Brago's either pleased about what he did with a certain cat in a certain story or he's done a certain something with a certain spell-caster who's blonde. What do you think?
Sara: Well i'm glad you like it! Do you like parodies? I think they're fun! Well, hope ya can read this soon! Don't worry, the kiss scene will come sooner than ya know it.
anonimize: Here's the next chapter.
PsychicLunar: Nope, it's none of them! It's REYCOM! I wanted to have a villian be aware of what's going on so i chose him. I don't even have a part planned for Apollo... Honestly, he hadn't even aired on Zatch Bell when i thought of all the character roles. I'm going to do a KokoZophise one or something similar to it soon. Summary n' whatnot is in my profile... But before i write it i'm just going to wait for episode 48 when they show up again... Cuz i don't exactly know how they act very well from just seeing episode 12. -.- Oh well. I'll be patient coughnotcough and wait.
Hiei's ice angel: Oh well... Just as long as school doesn't keep me completely away from fanfics n' stuff i like, i'm happy. :-)
Luminara Windu: I know! I was squealing, too! Or at least... trying not to freak out too much considering i wasn't the only one in my family in the room during the time. -.- My dad would have thought me strange if i was going completely nuts... Yeah, it stopped right as Brago said something like, "They'll keep coming for the battle for king has begun"... or something like that. I have it recorded but i really don't wanna go check it n' see what he says. Maybe later... XD Hmm... Sherry will be singing (as she has been in this chapter) but i really don't think Brago will want to sing along. Ah well.
curiaculon: Here's the next chappy.
caslspirit15: Yeah.. i was wondering why you read it so fast. Well, i am glad ya like it:-) Do you like parodies?
Computerfreak101: They'll kiss soon! Don't worry! I know, there's exactly 20 episodes until he appears again. (cries) WHY are they NOT showing him? Oh well... I hope that they show a lot of him in episode 48 like they had done with Sherry in episode 12. (sigh) N' Zeon even shows up before Brago and Sherry do again! (steams) Isn't that not fair? Brago and Sherry were introduced first! THAT'S NOT RIGHT! I'll try to update soon...
10 reviews! YAY! Well, i'm just really bored now n' i'm going to post this story up. Please tell me if you have any funny ideas!
And please review! Pweese? (puppy-dog eyes) Well, if you're one who doesn't review stories...(sticks tongue out at you) Nyaha! I'm signing off. BYE!