Chapter Three: Heating Things Up

The moon had moved past its highpoint of the night, and clouds began to form, blocking out what little light it was able to get through the leafy treetops. The forest was now dark, quiet and dark. This caused Jacob Crooger to curse and reach for the radio to make a call that he knew he would regret. He hesitated for awhile though. First because he thought he heard voices. Crooger soon disregarded this as his mind playing tricks on him. Then he thought about not calling at all. If he did, all Tempest would do would be to yell and that was something he could do without. He waited for about ten minutes before he gave in and spoke into the radio. "Sir, we have lost visibility….. No Sir, I am sure he is still there. It is just without the moon, we have no light source and I don't want to risk a flashlight…. Yes Sir, I understand, but I don't think it is the best…… Yes Sir, understood."

Crooger sighed and put away his radio. He then turned to Miles and Hamond. "Alright, The Storm wants us to move in closer. I know it is risky, but it is much safer than disobeying a direct order. Just stay down and be quiet. I would rather not be spotted. We just have to get close enough to see him. It shouldn't be too hard as long as we…. Miles are you paying attention to anything I am saying?"

Miles gave a nervous smile and pointed to where Woodsworth had been standing. "I think our problem has been solved." Miles spoke true. The area was now lit up perfectly. At first, it looked as if Woodsworth had lit some kind of fire. Then the flames began to move around and float in the air. Curiosity got the best of Crooger and he stood up to see what it was. His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open.

"You have got to be kidding me. That's only a…." Crooger froze mid-sentence. The flames stopped dancing and instead, chose to fly straight at the bush where they were hiding. The last things Crooger could see before he and his group burst into flames were a shocked Woodsworth and a laughing child.

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I wonder how close they are. If I just knew where they were I could get out of here in a second. Shaden Woodsworth was still leaning against his tree with smoke drifting slowly upwards from the end of his much shorter cigarette. For the past hour he had been trying to think of ways to escape with the least amount of trouble. So far he had not even figured out a way to get out period. It was his fault though. Shaden knew he relaxed too early. I should have figured that the good officer would chase me here. Because I waited, I am now surrounded. Hmhm, and they call me "the best bandit alive." He was outnumbered and outgunned; at least if he knew Officer Storm as good as he thought he did. And he knew the man quite well

Shaden had a few prior meeting with Officer Tempest. Each time, Shaden was able to escape and make Tempest look like a fool in the process. Tempest prided himself on not letting anyone get away from him and it killed him that Woodsworth was still free. It had become a sort of game to Shaden. He tried to see just how close he could let Tempest get to him before he got away. This time however, he let the officer too close. Shaden shook his head and sighed. "I would do anything to get out of this mess."

"Anything, do you really mean that?" The dull voice came from behind him. Shaden quickly turned around and pulled out a dagger to face his enemy. The figure that he saw, however, was more surprising than if it had been Officer Tempest in a dress. The source of the voice was a mere child. He had fiery red hair that fell neatly down his body to the middle of his waist. The boy's eyes dance like fire with a color that constantly changed from red to orange to yellow. Following the rest of the theme on the face, the boy also had tattoos of flames on each of his cheeks and moving back around his neck. He was dressed in what look like a white monk's robe, leaving no part of his body visible. His feet, covered with white socks, were fitted with only simple wooden sandals. He was standing on the lowest branch of the tree that Shaden had been leaning on. The boy's eyes, never wavering, stared straight into Shaden's. "Did you mean what you said?"

"What do you mean by that? Who are you? How did you get here? How long have you…. Wait a minute. You're that kid from the alley. You are the one who got me into all this mess." Shaden had gone from a state of shock, to a state of confusion, to a state of anger in less than a span of thirty seconds. It is a feat that, for your information, is quite hard to do.

"One thing at a time, you humans can be quite annoying." The boy jumped down from the tree with ease and landed only a few feet from Shaden. The boy only came up to Shaden's waist. Walking towards him, the boy put both of his hands over his head. Shaden noticed that they too had flame-like tattoos. "The first question is very simple. I want to know if you meant it when you said you would do anything to get out of this mess." Shaden nodded in silence as the boy continued. "Secondly, I am a mamodo. I can tell by the blank look on you face that you have no idea what that is." Shaden nodded in agreement. "Mamodo are creatures from a different world, the Mamodo World. We are sent here every one thousand years to fight to see who will be our king. Once all the other mamodo are defeated, the winner becomes king and reigns until the next battle. It is pretty simple. And as for getting you into all this mess, you were the one who stole my book. I think you have only yourself to blame"

Shaden disregarded the last statement and focused more of the fight for king. "No offense kid, but you don't look like the warrior type. I can't see you holding your own in a fight."

The boy looked at Shaden as if he was an idiot. "We don't use our fists to fight. Well, some of the mamodo do but not me. Most mamodo use their spell book." The boy pointed to the red book that was on Shaden's jacket. "When the book owner reads a spell from that book, the mamodo is able to perform it." The boy sounded as if none of what he said seemed crazy. Shaden on the other hand was a bit different.

"What kind of shows does you mother let you watch little guy," Shaden said rubbing the boys head. He quickly had his hand knocked away. "You need to get out more." Shaden looked back into the trees. "Now get on out of here before you get hurt. I got some people after me and I don't want you to get involved." Shaden turned and walked to the opposite side of his tree. When he leaned back on the trunk, he was surprised to see the boy right in front of him. "Didn't I just tell you to get out of here? You are going to get yourself hurt."

The boy ignored him and pick up the red covered book. "You didn't believe a thing I said did you?" Shaden shook his head and went back to staring into the tree. "I can prove it to you." Handing the book to Shaden, the boy opened it to the first page. "Alright, just read the first spell and I will show you what I can do."

Shaden just stared at the boy. "Kid, I don't even know what language this is in. How the heck am I supposed to read it? Look, I am sure your mother is worried sick about you. Let's get you home and then…." Shaden stopped as he heard something from the nearby bushes. It sounded like the crackling of a radio. It was soon followed by voices. "Shoot! They are already here. We got to go kid."

"Just read the first spell and we will be fine." The boy seemed so sure about the idea. Shaden was just about to loose it with the boy when something odd happened. The book began to glow. Then some of the words that were unreadable, turned into a language that he could understand.

Shaden shook his head. "This day is getting weirder by the second. What did you want me to do with this?" The boy didn't say a word but just pointed to the newly changed words. Shaden looked down and took a deep breath. "Whatever, it's worth a shot. Quegar!" Instantly, fire sprang up from the boy's hands. He quickly formed it into four fire balls and made them spin over his head. Then, taking three of the flames, he formed them back into a single fire ball and then launched it at the bushes where the noises had come from. Right before the hit, Shaden noticed someone sticking their head out from the brush. The boy started to laugh at his success. In the next instant, the bush, along with the three men who were behind it burst into flames. Shaden was so shocked that he dropped his cigarette. Reaching into his pocket, he quickly put another in his mouth only to realize he was out of matches. Shaden groaned and looked back at the kid in amazement.

"So, tell me more about the Mamodo World. Ummmm, what's your name anyways?" The boy smiled and snapped his fingers. The last flame flew at Shaden and lit his cigarette.

"Call me, Match" The boy turned and starred into the darkness of the forest. "And as for you first question: I will tell you all about the Mamodo World and Battle for King in due time. First, however,let's give the rest of our company a ... warm welcome.

Shaden walked up beside Match and rubbed the kid's head for a moment before having his hand, again, knocked away. "I like the way you think little guy." Looking back into the blackness of the night, Shaden began to laugh."Hmhmhmhm, this is going to be the start of an interesting friendship. Hmhmhm, Hahahahahha." With that, Shaden Woodsworth threw open the book. "Come out; come out wherever you are. I have a little surprise for you, Tempest. Hahahaha, QUEGAR!"

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Woodsworth: Alright guys, I hope you are enjoying the story. As always, feedback would be wonderful. The next chapter will take longer than the first three since I already has those made. Hopefully, I will have it up soon. Peace out.