IMPORTANT NOTE: Ummn... yeah... because i couldn't think of a good ending for the previous chapter and i now have, the ending to the last chapter has been changed. I highly reccomend going over the ending before you read this chapter. XD; THANKIES:3

Anyway... o.o; Sorry for the late update. I've been extremely busy with school and fanart over on DA. Speaking of fanart...

Roz (EtherealSinger/Fiwen) drew an awesome picture from a scene in Erased. GO SEE IT OR I'LL THROW THIS SHOE AT YOU. :3 Y'all should recognize the scene if you read Erased. XD (Oh, and i WOULD put the link to it in here, but some of the symbols wouldn't show up so y'all just have to go and find it yourselves. XD)

o.o ... And has ANYBODY scene the horrid Spanish dub of Zatch Bell? BRAGO HAS A FREAKIN' HIGH PITCHED VOICE! EVEN SHERRY'S IS DEEPER THAN HIS! SOMEBODY SAVE ME! ;-;

-screams and hides in a corner-

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Gash Bell or even that wonderful piece of art that Roz so kindly drew. And i'm so happy i don't own the Spanish dub, as it is capable of giving me nightmares. o-o

Lost and Found

6

Confrontation

Zophise was irritated beyond comprehension, I could easily tell. His hands were curled into tight fists and he was gritting his teeth together tightly, looking as though he didn't know what to say as he stumbled upon his words. "You—you bastards—you—how—how—you damned, you!!"

I laughed softly at his agitation, the wind blowing my blonde hair past my f ace just a little as I took a step forward. My golden brows lowered just a little as I spoke, marveling at how I could see the irritation hidden behind those evil orbs.

"Zophise, you have still yet to tell me where Koko is."

The demon hovering above glared at me still as he straitened his back, taking a deep breath as he slowly regained his composure. "You really want to see that unrecognizable friend of yours?" he said after a moment, resting his hands behind his back as his eyes slowly converted back to that dark, black color.

My golden brows lowered even more as a deep feeling of fury began to overwhelm me; it was difficult to keep control, but I managed, yet I couldn't help but glare at the demon as the feelings of hate were quickly aroused.

There was a long, steady moment of silence as the feeling of pressure overwhelmed everyone standing in the area. I paused for a moment before briefly glancing over at Brago and then to where Gash and his group was behind us; they were all staring at us with wide, curious eyes.

"You four stay here," I commanded sternly, soon afterwards turning back around as I redirected my gaze to the ground, mentally imaging Zophise being defeated by my hands. "We'll take care of Zophise."

An immediate rush of voices soon followed.

"But how will you—?"

"Sherry!"

"Meru mei!"

"I can't let you!"

My eyes widened as I turned around to face the group, my azure eyes staring at them intensely as Gash immediately ran up in front of his allies. He gritted his teeth before shaking his head and clenching his fists, speaking to me in a quick and determined voice.

"Sherry! Zophise is everyone's enemy, you can't just fight him by yourself!" the demon child said quickly, his golden eyes wide. "We aren't here for no reason—we're here to fight him together, so we can free those that are put under his spell! You can't run off and fight him alone!"

Kiyomaro and the others seemed to be more encouraged when they heard the small demon's little speech, as his Japanese bookkeeper then turned around with a wide smile on his face, determined to help prove the point. "Yes! Sherry, there's a reason why we're here, and we're going to help y—"

"I don't need your help!" I said angrily, my brows furrowing even deeper together. My annoyance was rising to its peak and the child's speech was beginning to bore me.

Brago, who also seemed to be rather tense with the tedious situation, must have sensed my feelings, as he walked in front of me, his hands still in his pockets, facing the others. "If you're so stupid, you'll have to fight me first!" he said irritably, bearing his teeth as he smirked when Gash gasped.

"Child of the red book," I began to state simply, but then paused. "No… Gash, yes? I understand you want to fight Zophise because of the others he's hurt. But there's someone very precious to me that I must save, you can't possibly understand how I feel."

I lowered my gaze for a moment, the emotion beginning to well up inside me again as I tried not to get carried away. I held back the tears forming and shot my head up, my eyes ablaze with every feeling of hatred and despise for the creature that had stolen my friend.

"Even if I die, I'll take her back for sure!" I said heatedly, clenching my fists tightly together. "I cannot allow her to be in the hands of Zophise any longer!"

"But—!" whined Gash as he held his breath, but then suddenly his bookkeeper interjected, now standing up.

"You can't blame him if he wants to help!" shouted the angry teen, his light brown eyes mixed with a furious fire. "He's not the only one, we all want to help too!"

"Kiyomaro!"

Everyone turned his or her gaze towards the other man beside Gash's bookkeeper, his green eyes fixated upon the Japanese teen. I eyed him suspiciously as he began to talk, his voice dripping with assurance.

"Kiyomaro, you have to let Sherry and Brago be," he said, holding onto who I suspected was his mamono, the strange horse demon I noticed before. The demon glanced at the man as well as everyone else, all curious to what else he had to say. "Do you have anymore strength of heart yet? Do you have it?"

The other froze as his eyes widened, stammering a little as he glanced away. "I-iie…"

"Then let the two be as we go for the Moon Stone!" said the blonde haired man, now standing up with his demon partner. "Then we can come back and help as soon as our strength of heart is recovered!"

"That won't be necessary, nonetheless possible," I quickly intervened, and everyone looked at me as I continued to glare. "Zophise is going to be dead by the time you come back, don't bother coming back."

"You're all a bunch of fools!" the said demon hovering above shouted out, clenching his fists even tighter together. "You think you can beat me so easily, Miss Sherry? I'll think not! Come, I'll take you to the battlefield, to your so called friend!"

The demon started to float higher into the sky and away from where we stood, and it was then I realized if we didn't catch up, then Zophise would leave us. I quickly said this to Brago and he nodded as he suddenly wrapped his arm around my waist again, causing me to blush, and jumped over the large hole we created onto the other side.

Just as we landed onto the cold, hard stone floor, I glanced back behind me and saw that same, curious expression upon Kiyomaro's face. My face flushed a little and I quickly faced forward to where Zophise was flying off, and to where Brago had already gotten a head start.

"Sherry!" my mamono companion said angrily, turning to look at me. "Hurry up!!"

I nodded my head and quickly pushed away the thoughts I had only moments ago and ran forward, forgetting about the questionable look Kiyomaro had on his face, or why Brago kept wrapping his arm around my waist to pick me up. Instead, I sprinted forth, attempting to catch up with the two demons ahead of me. A long and harsh tiresome battle was ahead of me and I couldn't let Zophise escape. To win this, all of my effort to get here and strength within had to be used; there was no such thing as losing this time.

It was win or die.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Radomu!"

My ears twitched at the familiar voice that echoed throughout the cliffs, bouncing off the rocky walls surrounding Brago and I as we dashed forth, chasing after Zophise. The said demon raised his hand into the air and shot a pink beam of energy towards us, which we both avoided easily.

For perhaps about ten minutes now, Brago and I had been following Zophise as he led us deep into the bare, rocky mountains outside of the ruins, separated from the lush forests. I had no idea where we were going or how much longer more it'd take to get there, but no matter what it took, I was willing! Koko's happiness was at stake!

There was an explosion behind us where the spell hit contact but Brago and I ignored this and continued forth, chasing after the demon flying through the air. Scowling, I whipped out the black book and called out the Reisu spell. My companion shot forth the spiraling ball of gravity towards the other mamono, who dodged it easily and chuckled.

"My, my, is that all you've got?" laughed Zophise cruelly as he continued to fly ahead; he turned around to face us as he flew backwards, eyeing us with a sly grin. "Even Koko is stronger than you, Miss Sherry!"

I felt the anger rising within me. "Shut up!" I screamed, and flipped the page in Brago's book. "Giganoreisu!"

Brago launched another ball of gravity, except this time it was much larger and more powerful. The Giganoreisu spell quickly formed in the palm of his hand and increased to a large size before it was set off towards the flying demon. My ears twitched and my heart skipped a beat when I heard that familiar voice again…

"Rondo Radomu!"

A green, whip-like spell formed in Zophise's palm as he smirked, throwing the whip down at the Giganoreisu spell, causing them both to explode upon contact. Brago and I both stopped for a moment to block the swift, oncoming dust from the two spells' collision as we moved our hands to our faces. When the smoke cleared we both looked up and saw Zophise hovering up above, smirking wickedly.

"Ah, you two have been so close together with your hearts united, yet you can't even hit me with your simplest spells," Zophise sneered and my eyes widened. "Such a shame."

I didn't chase after him but instead froze in my standing place, my azure eyes wide. The demon chuckled mirthlessly as he stared down at me, bearing his pointed teeth in a smirk.

"W-what do you mean by that?!" I asked quickly, taking a slight step forward as my eyebrows pulled down into a frown.

The demon chuckled, his sinister voice echoing throughout the area, ringing in my ears—taunting me. My eyes widened even more at his next words. "Don't think I'm that stupid, I've seen your intimate moments together. Nothing can escape my eye, I can see everything!"

Immediately I felt a blush take over my features as ma warm feeling spread over my face, my heart slightly pounding against my chest just a little harder. The grip on my staff loosened just slightly as my hands moistened, and I tried to regain control of myself.

Before I could do anything, however, of all people, or demons in this case, it was Brago who stepped forward first. "Tell me what you're saying, you bastard!" yelled the dark demon. I saw how his ruby red orbs had disappeared, only leaving white within his eyes. There was no doubt he seemed angry about this… frankly, I was still speechless, and was helplessly left to just stare at the two.

The other demon chuckled even more, only before floating away, forcing us to resume the chase. "I think you know very well what I mean!" he shouted so we could hear him as he flew off in the same direction again.

For a moment I stalled, still dumbstruck. How… how could he know what happened between Brago and I?! That… that's impossible! That… it…!

"Sherry, hurry up!" said my dark companion angrily, tugging at my arm. "We'll lose him if you don't move it!"

I nodded dumbly before running forward, my mind still fogged up from what he said. Shaking my head and pushing all thoughts away again, I continued forth, following Brago and the cruel demon before us. No, no, I just won't think about it, I won't at all! I won't…

"Like I said, it's a shame really," called Zophise from above and the only thing I could hear was his voice as everything else was blocked out. My eyes widened still and I stared at him as he turned around and grinned at me, bearing a sinister, mocking grin… "Miss Sherry, you could have lost your innocence to your own mamono partner, and you wouldn't have even known it!"

"Shut the hell up!" I heard Brago call, and I blankly turned to get a glimpse of his face as we ran forward. His crimson orbs were still gone and his features were pulled into a deep, angry frown, he was extremely agitated at this point, that was something anyone could have stated.

"Oh, but it's true! You're the one who took control of your own bookkeeper," said Zophise tauntingly and my heart pounded even faster. What was he talking about?? "It's just like you, Brago, to never know when to stop yourself. You're so ignorant about things!"

"Sherry, cast a spell!" Brago's words woke me up from my trance and I quickly glanced down to the black spell book in my hands, the strange words already glowing from the emotion stirring inside of me.

"G-Giganoreisu!"

I wasn't even paying attention as Brago shot out the same spell from before, or when Zophise dodged it yet again. My mind was still muddled with the sudden and new thoughts swimming through my head, the feeling of confusion overwhelming me. Obviously Zophise was referring to something that had happened while my other personality had been in control, but… just what else was there that went on? When I woke up that first time… Brago had been furiously kissing me… What could have… could he have gone overboard if I didn't wake up?! Just what the hell had been going on here?

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Miss Sherry, we are at the battlefield, I hope you know."

I blankly stared up at where Zophise was floating high into the air, now slowly starting to drift down to the ground, a little ways off from where Brago and I stood. It was then I noticed that there was a strange looking helmet set upon a large rock. Straining my eyes to get a better look at it, I noticed that there was a beautiful gem placed on the forehead of the thing. Right there, Zophise then picked up the helmet and placed it onto his head, afterwards turning to face both Brago and I.

"This will hold you off for a while," said the demon with another smirk as he began to rise into the air. I couldn't help but not pay attention as the images of what had happened that night when I woke up in Brago's embrace slowly drift into my mind… I was forced to shake them away.

"Sherry," Brago called, somewhat startling me as I jumped and stared in his direction. "Get ready," he stated, and turned to glance up at Zophise again. "There's something odd going on…"

"Where's Koko?" I suddenly blurted out when I finally snapped back to reality. Glancing around, I didn't see a single sign of her. Up to where the other demon was, there was a chuckle, and then a series of laughter.

"Oh, Koko's not here right now. In fact, she won't have to be here. Your end is now."