Kasek: I am SO sorry this took so long. I got sidetracked. Nathan, the disclaimer, please.
Peerin: Hey! How come I'm not doing it this time?
Nathan: Because, you always have to put something about yourself in.
Peerin: No I don't!
Nathan: Prove it then.
Peerin: Fine, I'll prove it. Kasek does not own Zatch Bell, merely hisown OCs. Happy now?
Kasek: Yes, very. Now, on with the chapter!
Chapter 4: The Battle Begins!
It was a sunny afternoon in Mochinoki. There were few clouds, all widely scattered on the blue canvas of the sky. Down by the Mochinoki train station, by the river that flowed under the bridge, four figures could be seen…
Kiyo looked at his watch. Its little display proudly showed that the current time was 3:30. A look of anger came over Kiyo's face.
"Where are those two? They said they would be here at three O'clock! This is so aggravating!" Kiyo continued his little rant, while Megumi and Tia sat a ways to the side, also slightly annoyed.
Megumi gave a sigh. "Where are they? They knew where the fight was, they're the ones who told us where it was."
Tia just sat there, looking at the few clouds that were visible. "Peerin probably got lost. He was infamous for having a bad sense of direction. He probably couldn't find his way out of a cardboard box."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Mochinoki…
"Peerin, are you sure we're going in the right direction? I could've sworn we've been here before…"
"Of course we've been here before! We came through here on our way from the train station! Only a little bit farther, now."
Back to the group of four…
Kiyo tried to take his mind off of Peerin and Nathan by thinking about other things. The first things that came to mind were the memories of the battles he had had there before. This was the place where they had fought their very first Mamodo battle, against Reycom and Hosokawa. This was also the same place they had soundly defeated Dr. Riddles using the sixth spell. Hopefully, history would repeat itself and grant Zatch and Kiyo yet another victory…
"FIROW!" Kiyo barely had enough time to grab Zatch and jump out of the way. When he looked back, the spot they had been had been incinerated by a giant blaze. The inferno quickly died out, revealing an arrow sticking out of the ashes. Kiyo quickly calculated where the arrow had come from, and looking up, spotted Nathan and Peerin.
Tia quickly rose up. "How dare you do something like that, Peerin? I always knew you were kind of low, but I didn't think you'd ever sink further!"
Peerin gave Tia a death-glare. "One of the first rules of a Mamodo battle: always be on guard, for you never know when another Mamodo will attack you." Peerin and Nathan then quickly slid down the grassy hillside, and then walked to the halfway point between the hill and the river, placing Kiyo and Zatch between them and the train bridge. (A/n: I know it's not really a river, but any other name just sounds weird.) They turned to face Kiyo and Zatch.
Kiyo pointed at them, his face in "demon-mode". "You said you'd get here at three! It's quarter 'till four now! What do you have to say for yourselves!"
Nathan and Peerin both sweatdropped. Nathan was the one to answer, a look of complete innocence on his face. "Sorry, we just got lost on the path of life"
Peerin stomped on his partner's foot. Apparently, this wasn't the first time he had said that. Peerin then spoke. "Well, if you must know, we are not only suffering from a case of jetlag, but we got lost on the way here. It was only thanks to my keen sense of direction that we got here."
Tia was next to speak. "You were probably the one that got lost in the first place!"
Peerin sweatdropped. He then quickly turned to Nathan. "Let's just get this over with. Nathan, let's just start them off easy. After all we don't want them to lose that fast."
Peerin took out an arrow from his bow, drawing out the bowstring as much as he could, pointing it at Zatch and Kiyo. Nathan than opened their light green spellbook, which started to glow intensely.
"FIROW!" He yelled again, and Peerin let he arrow fly. The arrow tip suddenly burst into flames, leaving a burning trail in its wake. Having seen this one coming, Kiyo and Zatch were able to dodge it more easily than the last one. When the arrow missed, Nathan closed his spellbook, preventing the spell from doing too much damage to the environment.
"It looks like this battle is going to be tougher than you thought, Peerin. Get ready for their counter-attack."
"I know, I know," the elfin Mamodo retorted, already drawing another arrow.
Kiyo decided to counter-attack while he still good. He pointed his fingers towards the opposing team, a red glow emanating from the book. "ZAKER!"
Zatch's eyes rolled up into his head, and his mouth opened wide, releasing a great burst of lightning. Peerin smirked as Nathan called out the second spell.
"ROWSHIELD!" Yet another arrow flew from the bow, but instead of bursting into flames like the last one, the tip rapidly grew larger, transforming into a giant shield. When the two spells met, Zaker was deflected in various directions. As Kiyo watched, he could swear the shield was getting bigger and bigger. He realized what was happening just in time to grab Zatch and roll out of the way before they were smashed by the flying shield. Again, as the spell missed, Nathan closed the book, stopping the spell before it hit the bridge. Kiyo took notice of this.
"So, Megumi was right, Mr. Fletcher. You are a nice guy. Why are you even in this battle, anyways?"
Nathan looked surprised that not only did his opponent know who he was, he was starting up a conversation in the middle of a battle. "Uh, well, I guess my reason is the same reason that any human is in this battle. I'm here to help my Mamodo's dreams come true."
Zatch looked at Peerin. "Why do you want to be king, Peerin?"
Peerin gave Zatch a cold glare. "King? I don't care about that title. I never did."
Everyone had a look of shock on their face. He didn't care about the battle for king? Zatch looked confused. "W-wait, if you don't care about the battle, then why are you fighting me? You said you knew me from the Mamodo world. Were we enemies back then?"
Peerin's expression changed; he almost looked sad. "No we weren't. You know Zatch, You and I are kind of alike. We were both known to be very weak. I was a bit more popular than you though, because I was a prankster. When it came to pranks, no Mamodo had me beat. It was the only thing I was good at back then. However, sometimes I went a bit too far…" At this he glanced at Tia quickly. "One day, the day I met you, I found some of my so-called "friends" beating up on you. I tried to pry them off of you, but ended up looking worse than you. It turned out you had been protecting some flowers. You seemed sad that I had gotten hurt. I didn't care, because it meant that you weren't hurt as much. We quickly became friends because of it. I'm sorry; I'm rambling, aren't I? Let me answer your first question, Zatch, right after this. Nathan!"
"ROWSHIELD!" The large shield flew straight at Kiyo and Zatch. They rolled out of the way, only to find that Peerin and Nathan were gone.
"W-where'd they go?" As they looked around frantically, Peerin and Nathan appeared right behind them.
"Surprise!" "FIROW!" Zatch leaped in the way, taking the hit for Kiyo. The force of the spell sent him flying, the flames giving a meteoric look. Nathan closed his book to prevent the flames from spreading. Kiyo quickly ran over to Zatch.
"Zatch! Are you alright?" Zatch sat up, the pain in his eyes. He pulled out the arrow sticking out from his right shoulder.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. The important thing is that you're okay, Kiyo."
Peerin stared at the scene in front of him. It was just like what he had done for Zatch. "I guess I should answer that question of yours, Zatch. Why do I fight, if not for the crown? I have two words for you: target practice."
All four-Kiyo, Megumi, Zatch, and Tia- looked at Peerin horrified. "T-target practice?" Kiyo stammered out.
"Yes, target practice. You see, my goal is to become the greatest archer of all time. But this is a time of peace, and truly great archers need to forge their skills in the heat of battle. And shooting random people isn't the best idea in the world. So, we've been tracking down Mamodo, seeing just how far I can push myself. But I must say…" A wide grin appeared on his face. "… moving targets are so much more fun than those old boards! The thrill of shooting an unpredictable target… and the sight of the sheer terror in their eyes… it's so much fun, I don't even burn my opponent's books, just so I can do it again and again!"
A look of pure hatred came onto the Zatch and Kiyo's faces. Zatch stood up, determined more than ever to win. "You… you monster! I can't believe I ever called you my friend! There's no way I'll let you continue your reign of terror! It stops right here!"
Kasek: There, it's finally done. Sheesh, each chapter is longer and longer. I need to start controlling the length of these things. Oh, well, please read and review.