Chapter II: Firefighting
"So, do you accept?" I asked Cachuma.
"Sounds good to me," he replied. He extended his hand, and I took it in mine. A firm handshake linked our bond.
We both climbed down the stepladder and stepped onto the damp pine needles. Apparently the storm had stopped during our business discussions in the tree house. The house's camouflage probably deterred any trackers that the Microsoft executive may have sent as well. However, night was still all about us.
I heard someone shout something on the other side of the tree, and an immense wave of heat followed soon after it. When we walked around the tree to see what had happened, the whole half of the tree had caught on fire, and the flames were spreading quickly! Cachuma and I turned to each other, acknowledging the plan wordlessly with a nod of our heads. He drew his sword, jumped into the higher branches of the tree, and started slashing of parts of the burning tree as I doused them with water or struck down other parts with my shuriken. The dampness of the pine needles also helped to prevent the fire from spreading.
When the last spark of fire was put out, one half of the tree was charcoal, while the other half was a healthy green. Hopefully this wouldn't cause the executive to send any more of his dogs or bodyguards. However, if the fire hadn't caught the executive's attention, the crack that split the tree in half just then would. Due to the tree's uneven weight distribution, a large crack split it in half along its base. There was nothing we could have done to prevent the crack or the further spread of the crack that caused the tree to topple over. Branches, tree limbs, and even the tree house splintered under the force of the fall. All that work we did to save the tree seemed pointless now.
As we looked at the fallen timber, we heard a mocking laugh come from behind us. We turned around and saw another boy around Cachuma's age. He had spiky red hair and wore a white tank top and brownish-green pants. Sandals adorned his feet. Behind him stood a man older than me with a black leather jacket, jeans, and thick boots on. An orange book was in his hand.
This man took out a comb, brushed it through his thick and greasy hair, and said, "We've been looking all over for you, Cachuma, ever since what you did to my bar."
"What, that run-down shack that serves beers from the garbage can?" replied Cachuma, a coy smirk on his face. "I only renovated it after you tried to slip me a flat martini instead of my soda."
"You thrashed my bar to pieces after a practical joke!"
"Whatever, Martin; you serve your customers a bad drink, he has the right to complain."
"Besides," I added, "you look like you should be on the customer's side of the table, you drunken 70's punk!"
Martin wasn't amused. "Stay out of this! This argument is between me and the kid."
"I beg to differ," I replied. I held up the blue book in front of his face and added, "This book signifies a bond that Cachuma and I made. We'll do anything to help each other out, especially when it comes to dealing with other spell books! So en guard! Saphelumus!"
Cachuma drew his sword, and flames once again leapt from the metal.
Martin only laughed at this. "So your mamodo also has firepower? Well, you know what they say: 'Play with fire, you're going to get burned.'"
"I was about to say the same thing." I nodded to Cachuma, and he rushed at the other child, blade prepared to strike.
Martin countered this attack by calling out "Blashell!!" Instantly, a sphere of solid fire encased his partner. Cachuma's attack struck the shield, causing the shield to blow up on contact! Cachuma was thrown back, sliding along pine needles until his spine collided with the trunk of the fallen tree.
To the dismay of our opponents, Cachuma shakily stood up, sword still in hand. He pointed the blade at Martin's partner and said, "Is that all you got, Hothead? You're just as pathetic as you were back at home!"
"And you're just as snippy as ever," Hothead replied. His eyes shifted to Martin as he added, "At least my partner's old enough to cut it in life."
"My partner doesn't need to cut it in life, for I cut anything just fine!" Cachuma shot me a glance and slightly nodded his head.
That's all I needed to see. Cachuma had come up with a plan. I called out the name of the spell again. The flames on Cachuma's sword died down, but I knew what Cachuma was planning. He didn't need the flames.
Cachuma rushed at Hothead again, his sword preparing to skewer the other "mamodo," as I now knew them to be called. However, Martin rose up the Blashell to cancel his attack. This is exactly what Cachuma wanted from them. He leapt up into the air above Hothead and threw his sword down into the Blashell. It pierced the ball of fire, causing it to explode as Cachuma fell. The sword was launched up into Cachuma's hand. Using the momentum from his fall, Cachuma collided with Hothead. A cloud of pine needles flew up, but both Martin and I were able to hear the struggle. Metal dug into soft tissue, a punch was thrown, and a scuffle resulted in silence.
When the pine needles settled, Hothead was flat on the ground, Cachuma's sword at his throat. Using his other hand, Cachuma wiped the blood from his bleeding mouth as he stood triumphant over his opponent.
Martin actually seemed excited about this. "We have them right where we want 'em! Frainytrox!!"
Hothead opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and blew a fire train at Cachuma! He ducked out of the way, allowing Hothead to regain his feet. You could almost see the steam as Cachuma's icy glare met Hothead's fiery eyes.
"He has a second spell," Cachuma muttered to himself. This complicates matters."
Martin took advantage of this momentary distraction to launch another "Frainyrtox!!" attack. Cachuma ducked out of the way, leaving the fire to burn the water off of the pine needles. Martin didn't care. Instead, he kept launching fire, but continued missing. Slowly, Cachuma was tiring. It wasn't apparent, but I could feel it. I had to help him.
Martin laughed maniacally and taunted me, saying, "So much for your pathetic bond, rookie. You need experience as well as trust to win your battles, and your little friend here is about to learn that lesson the hard way! Frain-" He never got the chance to finish, for his book flew out of his hand. It stuck in the tree behind him. A kunai, slightly bloodied, nailed the book in place.
"Starting to feel the burn, eh Martin?" I shot back at him. "Well, you know what they say: 'Can't take the heat? Stay out of the oven!'"
Cachuma turned to me and said, "Give me the spell; it's time to end this."
I nodded in reply and yelled, "Saphelumus!!" Cachuma's sword became enflamed again, almost more so brighter than the prior flames. He didn't waste any time in running towards the book. As he rushed past Martin, he leapt at the book, sword ready to strike. Metal bit the binding of the book, and it instantly caught fire. Cachuma leapt back as the book fell to the pine needles.
Hothead stared in horror as his book disappeared in the green fire, the ashes scattering to the winds. He started to disappear as well. As the book burned, he faded from existence. Both completely vanished simultaneously, fading into nothing more than a memory.
Martin sank to the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. He hid his face in his hands and sobbed, "How could you be so cruel to him? He was like the little brother I never had!"
"He's a mamodo, a partner not a brother. We could never be family." Cachuma's grip on his sword tightened as he said this. He stared down at his feet, but his eyes grew glassy. He was staring past his feet into the vast pools of his memories, into the shallow polluted waters of the past. He just wanted these pools to vanish, to freeze in time and completely shatter…
His eyes focused on the present again, viewing the sobbing bartender in front of him. In him he saw himself, before the fateful incident that froze his tears forever. He frowned at this crying baby scornfully and raised his sword over his right shoulder.
As he did, my book glowed again, particularly on one page. I quickly and confusedly turned to this page and laid eyes on the glowing text. This wasn't the original spell; it was a new one entirely. I carefully read and reread the spell and sounded it out: "Fas-cue-lec-tus."
Instantly, the sword in Cachuma's hand flashed white. It morphed into a completely different blade, one with a row of three rectangular hollows and curves near the detailed guard to make it look like a flat, rigid icicle with its tip chipped off. The guard was a hexagonal plate with four miniature ice crystals pointing from four of the outlier corners.
Cachuma was completely unaware of this change. He followed through with his attack, cutting off Martin's head with one clean stroke accompanied by a battle cry for emphasis. What happened next completely astounded Cachuma as well as me. As the head fell to the ground, it transformed into a solid block of ice. The body had frozen solid as well. Even the few drops of blood that leaked out from the decapitated head had frozen.
Cachuma looked at his sword and the blood frozen to it; a smile curled his lips. "Ah, Icicle, it's been awhile."
I stared at Cachuma and his new sword. He looked as if he hadn't seen it in years. I could tell from the sparkle in his icy eyes. I walked up to him, kicking Martin's family jewels clean off as I passed. He didn't deserve them. I continued on my way and stopped in front of Cachuma. I glared at him with friendly impatience, my arms crossed over my chest.
Cachuma only stared at me with his sparkling eyes. "Thank you for this," he said to me, holding up his blade. "I never thought I'd see it again. It was always one of my favorites."
"Do you have any others that you can remember?"
"Yeah, I have seven in all, including the three I have access to now."
At that moment, a solitary ray pierced the night sky. I looked up, and the black was slowly reddening. Morning was taking over. "We have to get going," I told Cachuma, an edge of urgency in my voice.
"I agree," Cachuma replied with a nod. "There's nothing left for us to do here, anyway." His sword changed back into its original form, allowing him to sheathe it. He followed me as I trekked back into the woods, always on a ruler-straight path.
Finally, after walking for about a half-hour, we came to the edge of the woods. Morning was in full bloom now. Tucked away amongst a thick patch of pine branches was the back wheel of a motorcycle. I ran up to it and pushed it out. It was fairly big for a motorcycle, despite the fact that it only had one wheel. The engine was completely exposed on the front of it; it had to be. A V800 customized engine wasn't easy to keep locked under the hood. The red-flame paint job reflected the speeds this beast could obtain.
Cachuma stared at this motorcycle with awe. "Is this your ride?"
"Yep. I've had her for about two years now, if I remember correctly." I walked around it to the port side, to the passenger's seat. On its underside was an antigravity coil used to balance out the weight. I took a helmet out of this seat and threw it to Cachuma. I took another one and strapped it on my head. I straddled the driver's seat as Cachuma hopped into the passenger's.
With a turn of the key and a rev of the engine, the beast roared to life. "Hold onto your ass, Cachuma. This demon has only two speeds: 'turbo' and 'around the world in eight seconds.'" I gave a heartily eerie laugh and hit the accelerator. The bike skidded for a second, pine needles being kicked up like dust in the desert; and we were off.
We raced down the leveled plain before us as if we were at the head of a stampede, and it certainly looked it. A dust cloud covered our wake. We almost seemed to trace the shadow of the horizon as we made our way to the road at the base of the mountains looming before us.
It felt good to be on this bike again.
