Hmmn... the FFnet email doesn't seem to be working again... -hasn't gotten any email from FFnet in a week-. GAH! Why must we be tortured this way??! DAMMIT... this sucks.
But... on another note... even if y'all probably didn't get my review replies (yet), i still updated. :D -does a dance- Sorry if it's not all that good, but i absolutely hate writing fight scenes. 'Tis a reason why i have not updated in so long. .-. I have absolutely no inspiration to write when i have to do battles, so i tend to not update as quickly. But as soon as the story gets out of the fight scenes and into the more kinky stuff, i'll update quicker. :3
Oh, and i know it's extremely late by now, or at least somewhat, but happy belated new year and Christmas! xD I finally got that .hack//G.U. game i wanted and a scanner:3
Oh, and a lil' spoiler about the story... okay, not spoiler, but whatever: Kiyomaro and Gash will make more than one appearance, not just in the Zophise ark. :3 Kiyomaro also becomes suspicious of Brago and Sherry's relationship, nyeheheh!
.-.;;;; Right, anyway... Read on, if you insist, and happy reviewing. :3
Disclaimer: What gave you the incredulous thought that i actually owned something as great as Konjiki no Gash Bell?
Lost and Found
5
Fight on the Ruins
My heart rapidly beat against my chest upon seeing that wretched demon hovering there in the air, laughing as a swarm of mamono crowded around Gash Bell and his group from the ground as well from the skies. Suddenly, one of the demons riding on the back of one of the winged ones shouted some orders and the next thing I knew, everyone was attacking the group below.
I snapped out of my trance as Kiyomaro, Gash's bookkeeper, screamed a curse as he and the others began to run from the energy blasts. Out of instinct, I grabbed the black book and opened it to a page, calling out a spell.
"Aian Gurabirei!"
Brago whipped out his hand as he sent a powerful blast of gravity headed directly towards the blasts, dispersing them with our power and protecting the other group. Everyone turned around to see where the sudden blast of gravity came from as I closed the black book, ending the spell.
"Let's go," I said as Brago nodded with a smirk and we both jumped, landing on the next lowest floor of the ruins, which wasn't too far below.
We both landed on the hard surface of the next rooftop and everyone redirected their attention to where Brago and I now stood. Turning my gaze upon every one of them, I then glanced in Zophise's direction and smirked while he shot back a nasty glare. As I glanced around, a sudden wind swept past us, blowing my hair and dress as well as Brago's cape. One could easily tell everyone was shocked to see us.
Well, it was certainly somewhat of a shock to see them. Didn't think that they would really come this early like Brago and I did… Even though we did get lost. Oh, well, it didn't matter. They could always be pushed out of the way…
I watched silently as Gash then realized the situation and turned back around, shouting at his bookkeeper and questioning if he was all right. Along with him ran a mamono I had never seen before. He resembled somewhat of a horse, or perhaps a unicorn from a child's fairytale book. But as the two ran over to their bookkeepers, I could see the unfamiliar demon transform into what I assumed was his normal form; he was a simple horse-demon.
Then I noticed there was an unconscious human with a pink scarf to the side where their bookkeepers were, which caused me to wonder if there had been another team here previously. No doubt they lost.
Turning my gaze directly downwards, I then noticed the height we were up at was very far up… in fact, too far up for me to jump. Turning around, I redirected my gaze to my own mamono partner and inquired what we do.
He smirked before murmuring, "Easy." I stared at him blankly, not quite understanding what he meant. But before I could question him, he suddenly slipped his arm around my waist, making me suppress a large blush (to which I rather failed at) as he jumped, taking me with him.
I had to get a better grip upon his book and the decorated staff I had brought along with me for fighting as he jumped. A strange feeling settled in my stomach as we seemingly soared through the air and then landed on the ground with an unusually gentle tip-tap, directly in front of Gash Bell and his companions. Brago then let go of me, but I could have sworn he was almost feeling the side of my waist, as his hand lingered there much too long and brushed against my side, causing me to blush even deeper.
Don't think such thoughts Sherry, no matter how nice it feels…There was a small moment of silence as I felt myself tensing somewhat, but I relaxed as soon as the silence ended when I heard the familiar, high-pitched voice of a young demon boy behind me.
"It's you!"
The eager and full-of-excitement voice, one of which could only belong to none other than Gash Bell himself. I released the breath I realized that I had been holding and turned around to face the blonde-headed child and couldn't help but weakly smile as he beamed back at me.
"So… you're still alive, child of the red book?" I murmured with a ghost of a smile tracing across my lips. I could sense the happiness radiating off this child, it was almost overwhelming at how he could be so cheerful at such intense moments.
"Unuu!" he said bubbly with a nod of his head. "And Sherry is alive too!"
My faint smile lingered, but I felt that the chatting needed to end. The urge to defeat Zophise was also becoming overwhelming, and the fact that he was hovering overhead, staring down at us, did not help.
"Have you come to help us?" questioned Kiyomaro with a hint of hope within his voice. At this, my smile changed to a smirk, and I turned my head away for a moment to where I caught Brago's gaze. There was a slight pause. "H-have you…?"
"Sorry," I murmured, "but no."
Brago seemed to sense what I was aiming for, as he took a step forward and raised his hand into the air. Everyone else let out a surprised gasp as I called out the first spell: "Reisu!"
A bright, purple ball of spiraling gravity formed in Brago's palm and he sent out the powerful blast towards the four allies. They all shrieked as the energy pushed them backwards towards the other end of the rooftop as they swept past all the different groups of millennium mamono. The spell landed and they were thrown down, sprawled out on their backs as they glanced up to where Brago and I stood.
Looking down, I picked up the unconscious human that was on the ground by the scruff of his back shirt, dragging him with me as I walked towards Gash Bell while Brago silently followed.
Throwing the human down next to the dumbfounded group, I took my staff that I was carrying and gave it a motioning swing into the air. The lustrous, green jewel atop the rod detached but stayed connected with a rope attached to the end. Swinging it again, I dragged the said hard jewel upon the ground, creating a long, distinguished line.
As the dust cleared, the jewel reattached to the top of the staff and I turned to look at the group with a stern look, my smile completely gone.
"W-what's this?" stammered the Japanese boy in front of me as he looked up at me with curious, chocolate brown eyes.
"This is the line you shall stay behind," I said shortly, "unless you want to die."
Kiyomaro paled a little as he blinked while I turned away. "Matte! What do you mean by that? Tell me! Sherry! Sherry!!"
I walked over and stood next to Brago, turning to look at him in the eye with a blank expression. His deep red orbs locked with my blue and I had to suppress another blush as I tensed. I still hadn't really gotten over him holding me like that…
Though suddenly I could sense someone staring at me from behind, and when I turned to look, Kiyomaro flinched and immediately redirected his gaze. Did he notice…?
"Sherry," murmured Brago lowly and I too somewhat jumped, though I immediately regained my composure afterwards. He looked at me funny before saying, "Let's go."
"…Right." I nodded my head in confirmation as my companion turned around to face the millennium teams we had been ignoring for a few minutes. They had all been staring at us with odd expressions, some in disbelief, but the only demon that had been staring at us the hardest was none other than Zophise. At this, I couldn't help but smirk. He was going down…
"So this is how you want to play, huh, Miss Sherry?" called out the demon from above, and I glared at him harshly as he smirked, chuckling lightly as well. "All right then. Attack them, my thousand-year-old warriors! Kill them off!"
A sudden uproar was then heard in the direction of the millennium mamono and Brago and I turned to look. All of them, each one a different shape, size, and color, were stampeding towards where we stood.
My companion smirked as I took out his black book, opening it to a page. And right on cue, a spell was called out from the crowd as a demon that almost resembled a hammerhead shark shot a powerful spell in our direction that almost resembled a pyramid, while another simply shot out a powerful blast of pink energy.
I took a step back, shouting, "Aian Gurabirei!" as Brago jumped forward, shooting out the powerful gravity blast to cancel out the spells.
"You idiots, that's not how we're going to play!" shouted Zophise with irritation. "I summoned you all for a reason, now go fight them together with your numbers! Overwhelm them with your power!"
With that, they all nodded, and more spells were being called out. I grasped onto the black book tighter as they all rushed out towards where we stood. "Girudoruku!" one of the mind-controlled humans called, and the mamono came forth with his own body flying at a rapid speed.
Brago smirked, and I was able to catch a thrilled look in his eye as he jumped forward, stopping the enemy with just one hand as I took a step back. Suddenly, the shark-resembling demon jumped out from behind and bared its many teeth at me, grinning evilly.
"You fool, can't hide now!"
I smirked as I spun around and ducked while Brago chucked the demon he stopped in the other's direction, hitting them as they flew across the field, screaming all the way.
"You're the fool!" Brago snarled as he jerked his head in my direction and I nodded, whipping out the black book in front of me, calling out the Giganoreisu spell. The even more powerful blast of energy shot out and hit the two mamono as they shrieked even louder.
Once the spell ended, I had to turn around and dodge another barrage of attacks coming forth our way as I ran to a different spot. Brago ended up going to a different section of the rooftop to battle more mamono so we were separated, but I wasn't concerned. I could handle myself and I certainly knew Brago could as well.
I had to snap out of my thoughts as a mamono with a large green hat jumped out at me, grinning as he swept forward. His bookkeeper called out a spell and his hand glowed with energy as he flung his fist forward. I jumped backwards just in time to kick his hand away as he stared at me in disbelief. Taking the staff I had brought with me, I hit him a couple of times upside the head and kicked him away once more.
He landed on his stomach, sputtering out some blood as he turned around and snarled. "You stupid human, you shouldn't be able to…" He stopped in mid sentence as his eyes widened. Right in front of him stood Brago.
My companion smirked. "Idiot."
"Giganoreisu!" I shouted, and Brago knocked the demon out of the way with the powerful discharge of gravity.
The both of us turned around, glancing at the many demons and mind-controlled humans there. Some of the mamono flinched when we gave them eye contact, but their nerves were settled by a little more 'word of confidence' from Zophise up above.
"You idiots, don't be afraid of them, didn't I tell you to use your numbers to attack them? Defeat them, now!"
After that, everything was clear. They wouldn't let us go so easily, but then again, neither would we. I turned to Brago, holding out the book in front of me, and said, "Brago, get rid of every one of them!"
He chuckled lowly before running towards the crowd of oncoming demons. I ran after him, holding onto his book just a little tighter as I dodged one of the mamono that could fly as he shot some gun-like spell at me. I avoided the blasts easily and called out to Brago, to which he turned around so I could cast another spell towards the demon.
I watched as he was thrown backwards and landed atop another demon, which Brago and I ignored as we headed towards the larger group. One of the demons from earlier that shot out the pink blast then started to throw more in the darker demon's direction, but as I watched him run, I couldn't help but feel glad that he was on my team.
Shaking away the thoughts, I decided to keep focused on the battle. Brago had already beaten up that mamono a little and a much larger one that almost resembled a worm was heading in my direction. It threw itself down upon the ground and I had to jump out of the way before I was hit, but I spun back around and cast another spell, to which Brago used to knock away the demon.
"Gou Gairon!"
Another spell came forth, this time in the form of many whips. I used my dance practice lessons from many years ago to help me, and I managed to jump over all of the whips and avoid every swift attack made in order to reach the demon that performed the spell. Again, I used the staff I held to whack the mamono around a little as I dodged even more of his allies coming forth, fighting them back a little as I kicked them around.
I threw my staff around me, causing the emerald atop it to detach again, only to have it hit the heads of a couple more demons that were jumping forth.
When they were thrown backwards, clutching their faces, I turned and looked at all the others that had surrounded me. I smirked, clicked the button on my staff to make the jewel return to the top, and held out the rod.
"Who's next…?"
There was a whisper amongst the demons as some took a step back from me. To the side, I could see Brago throw down another demon and step on his back, but then he shouted, "Sherry, above!" and I turned to look.
Up in the sky above where the flying millennium demons were came forth many more attacks. Unfortunately, I had forgotten all about them, and my mouth hung somewhat open as the different spells came forth.
I watched blankly as Brago ran forth, climbing onto one of the taller demons that stood on ground as he grabbed his head and somehow flung him into the air only to have the demon take the hit of the attacks himself. I turned to look at him. During times like these… I had forgotten just how powerful he was. I wonder… did I really hold him back when my personality had been removed?
"Sherry, wake up already!" Brago snarled as I blinked and looked at him. "We're in the middle of a battle!"
Blinking, I shook my head, snapping back to reality. "R-right!" I took a step forward next to him and opened up the book while the demons in the air stared at us in disbelief and turned a page in the black book, glancing down at the spells we had.
A smile traced my lips as my eyes landed upon one of the new spells we had acquired. In reality, we had obtained this spell very shortly after the Dioga Gurabidon. Even though Brago said we had to start over from spell one when my memory and personality were stolen, I had a hunch that my even if this was true, we were still gaining spells even if we couldn't see them.
"Now," I murmured, "We should end this. Bidomu Gurabirei!"
Brago raised his hands into the air as the new spell began to take place. He shot out an energy, but it wasn't seen until all the demons (save Zophise) hovering in the air were quickly thrown to the grown as they all crashed. The ground rattled and Brago smirked as he ran forward to fight the new found prey.
But the two demons he had been aiming for jumped out of the way and ran towards me in a blind fury. Maybe Brago hadn't let them go, he knew we had obtained more than just one new spell. In fact, there was one that was perfect for this situation.
Throwing out the black book once more, I called out the next new spell: "Rioru Reisu!"
With that, Brago spun around and launched a double shot of Reisu, except this time the two blasts were green instead of the tradition purple I always saw. The blasts of Reisu hit the demons as they were thrown past me on both sides, and I stood up to watch them as they fell.
Brago turned around to face me and smirked before running off to battle more of the mamono, which I joined in afterwards. Now that all of the demons were weakened, I would be able to knock the humans out of the way… That is, if we were to do that spell at the end…
So Brago and I continued fighting with all our might, throwing the humans onto the other side of the line I had drawn and burning some of the books if I could. After a few more minutes of fighting, it finally came to a point where all of the millennium mamono were so weakened that they all fell down, exhausted, while I used weaker spells such as Reisu to move the humans onto the side where, Gash and the others were.
Finally, I used one more Reisu to throw the last human onto the other side, where I motioned Brago to follow as we ran over to the border.
Standing behind the line, I held the black book in front of me as Brago stood with this arm outstretched. I nodded my head, and, flipping through the pages until I landed on the spell we needed, began to muster all the strength I could find within myself.
I had to use as much power as I could in this spell, I had to—we needed the power!
Through all the commotion, I could barely hear Kiyomaro shriek out to his companions to move, obviously sensing the power of the spell that I was about to summon. I inhaled a deep breath before calling the most powerful spell we had to date:
"Baberuga Gurabidon!"
There was a slight pause in the air as soon as the spell's name escaped my lips. In a frightening speed, everything seemed to be sucked forward as the sudden surge of energy escaped Brago's hands and all gravity was pushed downwards in a swift movement. I could feel the sudden rumble of the ruins beneath me as sections of the stone were crushed to ashes with Brago's power, and I gave forth all my energy into keeping that strength going.
Almost going temporarily deaf and the pounding noise this energy brought out, I watched with an intense glare as the millennium demons shrieked as they were immediately forced down. I knew their books were automatically burning upon seeing a few begin to quickly disappear, and before I knew it, the spell was over.
I closed my eyes as I caught my breath briefly; the dust was clearing and I could hear the whimpering of Gash and his friends behind me. Glancing behind me, I could see that they were all huddled together, inching away from the line I had created with my staff and at the large, open hole that was created from the newly revealed spell.
Turning away, I looked up into the air and met Zophise's gaze. The corners of my lips gently turned upwards into a smirk and I laughed softly, only adding to the demon's aggravation.
"Zophise, I never fully introduced myself that day we met," I said calmly, my eyes glittering as my brows slowly began to turn down into a slight frown. "Bonjour, my name is Sherry Belmond, and I'm here to take back Koko."