FINALLY i can update! Sorry folks for the long wait, I've been busy with school n' other stories n' all this other good whatnot. Hm... I hope you peeps enjoy this chapter! Heheheh.. You'll wanna read it to find out something at the end! Oops did i just say that? (smirks) Yeah... well... Just read it, 'kay?

N' it turns out that a lot of people thought that the mamodo who just appeared last chapter was Sugino... Well... You're all wrong! Muwahaha! For theselect couplewho guessed it right, congrats:) Just a hint... the mamodoappeared in episode 12...

Well let's get on with this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell or ANYTHING related to it! But I DO own Kalu! She's mine:)


Gift from the Dark

Chapter 17

Cry…

Kalu gave a scream of fright and landed on the ground with a thud. She gasped as pain shot through her small body and she howled. The other mamodo's tree roots backed away as he saw her lying on the ground.

"Kalu!" shouted Brago. He turned to look at her on the ground, and then his attention averted to the plant mamodo a few yards off. Now why did this have to happen, he though to himself, and why were these mamodos attacking Kalu?

The mamodo that was controlling the roots gave a sinister grin and laughed. Brago stared at him and suddenly remembered back to one of his fights for Mamodo King. He and Sherry had been out in the forest, fighting a mamodo and his partner. They defeated them that day, and that was also when Sherry had collapsed in battle. Brago carried her back to safety soon as it was all over.

So was this mamodo after revenge or something else? This seemed like a good reason for Brago, although he still didn't understand why there had been another mamodo not too long ago that tried to take Kalu away. That was when all the trouble started…

Sitting up, Kalu stared across at the other mamodo. Her eyes widened and she said nothing. Zatch just looked at her with his golden eyes and asked, "Are you alright?"

She nodded, but was still silent. Brago gave Zatch an odd look but was gone unnoticed. His attention was quickly drawn back to the mamodo.

"Pokkeiro, what are you doing?" shouted Zatch, now facing the plant mamodo. The mamodo now identified as Pokkeiro just laughed.

"What I want to do," was all he said. Then, he raised his hand into the air and plunged it into the ground again. The ground slightly shook and many more roots sprouted and rose into the air.

"Kalu, get back!" commanded Brago. His daughter nodded slightly and scooted backwards a few inches. Zatch ran up beside the dark mamodo to help him out.

Suddenly, without warning, the roots lunged forward, aiming towards the group of three. Brago quickly raised his hand which was soon engulfed in a purple aura. The trees were sent crashing to the ground as the gravity increased. Zatch ran around the fallen roots and opened his mouth as lightning emerged. It reached Pokkeiro and hit him, knocking him to the ground.

Brago then darted over to where the plant mamodo was and thrusted his fist at his face. Pokkeiro dodged his assault by jumping backwards. The other growled and chased after him. Zatch watched as the dark mamodo ran after Pokkeiro. He was waiting for a right moment to strike so he wouldn't hit Brago.

Then his time came when Pokkeiro ran behind a tree which turned out to be one of his tree warriors disguised as real tree. Brago was knocked backwards as the minion swiped at him with its arm-like branches.

The mamodo king took this as an opportunity to blast the other. He opened his mouth and a powered up version of his Zaker attack shot out, hitting Pokkeiro. This sent the plant mamodo flying backwards as he hit his back against a small boulder.

A cry of pain slipped through Pokkeiro's lips as he fell forwards. It was at this moment that Brago, whom had just finished fighting off the tree warrior, ran over and grabbed the mamodo by the arms. With a growl, Pokkeiro glared up at Brago.

"Now tell me this," began the dark mamodo, "Why is it that you are after my daughter?"

Pokkeiro squirmed a little, trying to break free from the other's tight grasp. But he soon gave up and just snarled back. "Haven't you heard the rumors here?" he asked smartly.

Growling, Brago squeezed the plant mamodo's arms together tighter. Not this again… What were these rumors he kept hearing about?

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Chuckling, Pokkeiro shook his head. "Oh… everything. The fact that one of the coldest mamodos known in this world had offspring with a human… It's very uncanny, you know." A surge of pain shot through his body as Brago's grip tightened on his tree-like arms.

"Tell me more," hissed Brago.

"I'm not saying anything."

Amber eyes watched as the scene went on, and then Zatch frowned. He walked up to where Pokkeiro and Brago were standing. "I think that I can take care of this, Brago," he said. "I'll take him in and talk to him, find out what's going on. You should go take care of Kalu."

Brago only stared at him, and then averted his crimson gaze over to where his daughter was. Kalu was sitting on the ground, tears swelling up in her eyes. She was sitting beside a tree and had her legs curled up to her chest.

"Daddy…" she whimpered. "Stop the fighting…" Finally, one of the tears under her eyes trickled down her cheek. "Just… Stop it…"

He was silent. Brago had nothing to say, but when he suddenly felt a sharp pain bolt right up his arm he let go of Pokkeiro. A growl of pain escaped from his lips and he glared as Pokkeiro ran a few feet away. Turns out he had bitten him, forcing him to let go while he was distracted.

"Damn…" sputtered Brago and he glared. His ruby eyes disappeared into his eyes and he cursed under his breath. Both Brago and Zatch eyes Pokkeiro carefully, whom was standing still, grinning wickedly.

Suddenly there was a scream, and the dark mamodo and king turned their heads around only to see Kalu wrapped up in the arms of a tree warrior. Her face was paler than usual with fear and her clouded purple eyes were wide.

"Daddy, Zatch!" she screamed. "Help me!" She gasped as the minion's branches for arms tightened around her. The girl could feel the arms of it slowly starting to squeeze her and she began to cry. "It hurts, make it stop!"

Brago stood still, not knowing what to do. If he attacked the tree then he'd end up attacking Kalu as well – and that was the last thing he wanted to do. His mind began to think quickly, but there was only one idea that came to mind that could work without hurting Kalu…

"Kalu," began Brago, and the little girl stared at him from where she was. "You have to use your Reis spell!" he shouted. Zatch's golden head spun around to face him and his eyes gave a flash.

"But… Daddy, I can't!" cried the girl. The grip around her waist tightened and she began to wail even more.

Growling, Brago turned his head to face where Pokkeiro was but noticed that he was gone. Just great… Now what?

"Zatch," began the mamodo, "do you know where Pokkeiro is?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't know…"

This was news that the dark mamodo didn't like. His gaze switched back to his daughter and he called back to her. "Kalu, you can do it!"

"No I can't!"

Brago was about to go and try to help his daughter, but as he began to run forward he tripped and landed face-down on the ground. There was something tugging at his feet… He looked over and saw two roots twisted around and grasping onto his legs.

He couldn't budge.

Over to the side Brago saw that King Zatch Bell had the exact same problem. The dark mamodo tried to tug at the roots but they wouldn't move an inch. Quickly he looked back over to where his daughter was. She was struggling to get her arm free, but it was difficult for her.

"Come on, Kalu!" said Zatch as he tried to pull at his own roots. "You can do it, I know you can! Your father knows that, too!"

Tears were falling down the upset girls face, and she closed her eyes tightly as she yanked her arm from the tree warrior's grasp. Slowly she managed to pull herself around.

Squeezing even tighter, the tree minion tightened its grip around the half mamodo girl. Crying, Kalu raised her hand up to the tree as a purple aura began to glow around her hand. A Reis ball soon formed and shot out rapidly at the tree, sending it to the ground.

It let go of Kalu and she fell from its grasp. Gasping, Kalu hit the ground and began breathing hard as tears strolled down her face. Suddenly the roots around Zatch and Brago let go and they could finally stand up.

The king noticed the tree warrior had disappeared, along with all the roots. He turned his tawny eyes to Brago, whom was walking over to comfort Kalu.

Holding her in his arms, Brago sat on the ground as Kalu cried into his shirt. "It's alright, Kalu… It's alright…"

A somewhat sad look overwhelmed Zatch's features as he saw the little girl crying. Her pale face was tear-stained and she had scratches on her body and clothes. She had a cut on her left arm and he could see a small hint of blood emerging from the cloth.

"What are you going to do now?" asked the king, and Brago was silent.

Finally, the mamodo spoke. "It's not what I'm going to do… It's what are you going to do? You saw that that mamodo attacked my daughter and I; and I have even told you before about one other mamodo who had done so as well. So what are you going to do about all of this?"

This time it was Zatch's turn to be silent. He turned his head over to the side and sighed. "I'll have to think about that. Right now I really don't know." His amber gaze shifted downwards to face Kalu. She looked back up at him and sniffed. "You'll be alright, OK Kalu?"

She nodded solemnly and held onto her father tighter, who began to speak to her. "Now Kalu… Do you understand why I want you to train?"

Nodding her head, Kalu spoke to Brago in a quiet voice. "Yes…"

"So now you know. And I want you to get stronger so you may defend yourself." said Brago and Kalu nodded again. Standing up, Brago picked up the girl and faced the king. "I should really be going now… Sherry is probably wondering where we are."

Bobbing his head, Zatch agreed. "Alright… I'll try to figure out what's going on around here. When I finally do, I'll let you know."

Brago then disappeared, along with Kalu. Zatch was left back alone in the mamodo world and he soon began to walk off. However, deep in the shadows, two beings were talking…

"I thought that you would succeed in that mission." said a voice.

"I did, too! But how was I supposed to know that his girl would also help in the fight?"

"You tell me, you were supposed to win!"

"I'm sorry, I truly am!"

"ENOUGH!" The figure slapped the other one, and Pokkeiro fell out of the shadows. Looking up, the plant mamodo shivered with fright.

The figure in the shadows emerged, revealing a pale-skinned mamodo with a strange outfit and a hood over his shoulder-length orange hair. His frown then turned into a wicked smile as he grinned devilishly at Pokkeiro.

"W-what are you going to do t-to me?" asked Pokkeiro as he shook with fright.

The figure grinned. "Oh, you'll see… Your punishment for failing with shall be very severe, just like that other pathetic mamodo that failed last time as well."

"Lord Zophise, I am sorry!" cried the other but it was too late. Zophise raised his hand and a pink light and beam started to form. It shot out at Pokkeiro and he screamed as the other laughed.

"Ha-ha! Now do you see why one should never fail me?" asked the evil one as Pokkeiro lay unconscious. "I'll come back to deal with you later… Right now I have to plan a few things." So with that, Zophise turned around and walked away.


There's the end! N' it's Zophise! HAHA! Now lemme get on with the reviewers...

Wolf of the Blue Moon: Eh, i s'pose she will be - or already is. Well, here's the next chappy.

ShadowVixen: Heh, here is the next chappy!

Rae: Heh, yeah, long time no review. :) Yes, life is pretty good. Ya just gotta look on the bright side of things. :)

PsychicLunar: You are one of the couple that DID guess that it was Pokkeiro and not Sugino. How 'bout that? Hope this chapter had enough fighting with Brago and Zatch for ya!

anonimize: Yeah... I was given a poster n' magazine (can't read it, though) in Japanese about the new movie... There's hardly any English in it... (sigh) The 2nd one is called Attack of the Mega Vulcan... Gee, i wonder what happens in it. XD Um.. I have never had ramen.

Yamia Ishtar: Yeah... that's when he and Sherry appear again. But that's like... a few months from now. (cries) But then Koko and Zophise appear the week after they do again. That'll be interesting...

brago's little sis Veronica: The next chapter is updated!

caslspirit15: Well you certainly get to find out who's in the shadows in this chapter. Heh, yeah, talk to ya later!

Computerfreak101: You were one of the only people to guess that it was Pokkeiro and not Sugino. Sugino doesn't look like a tre... -.- I thought that when he carried her back was SO cute! What about you? I still have the episode recorded on my TV n' i'm not deleting it until episode 47 airs... which won't be for a while. So now i have almost the entire episode memorized n' its scary... You're looking for another site? I don't know if there's any with anything to promise for... Yes, i know that there's an episode where they fight n' he's shirtles... But i sawonly ONE pic n'Brago's back was facing thescreen! (pouts) Do you know what episode it is?Well here's the next chappy.

rahkshi500: Well here's the next chappy! See, things have worked out!

angel61991: Here's the next chappy.

Kari Mezmaru: Well, it certainly limits me from updating as much as i'd like to. At least it gives me something to do so i'm not always bored out of my mind although i don't like school... -.-

Sara: Nope, it's Pokkeiro! You know... the mamodo that appeared in episode 12 when we learned about Sherry's past and Koko. That guy. N' here's the next chapter!

There ya have it, folks! The next chapter! I'll try to update soon... but i have school to think about and this major project in Technology class that i really need to work on. (sigh) So... yeah...

N' just a few more months 'til Brago and Sherry appear again:) YEAH!

Well i'm signing off. BYE!