Chapter Nine – More Training

It was late that night that Dylan was woken from his sleep by Jacob's sleep-talking, though it wasn't all talking, some of it were sound effects, as though the mamodo was having a dream straight out of an action movie.

"Bchooom!" Jacob imitated an explosion, "Now your on the ground!"

"Wha…?" Dylan slowly looked up, blinking his eyes to try to see without his glasses.

"Pymara!" Jacob shouted, imitating Dylan's voice, "Bchooow! Boom!"

Dylan decided to play along with Jacobs dream, "Nice one Jacob! Look you hit their book! We won!"

"Yeah! So who were we fighting, anyways?" Jacob asked, "I'll go look…"

A second a passed, and Jacobs enthusiastic smile vanished quickly. A tear formed in his eye.

"It was…Tanjit. We burned Tanjit's book…" Jacob sobbed, still mostly asleep.

Dylan was shocked, 'Jacob is having these dreams too?! We must really be worried self-consciously about battling our best friends…'

Jacob's sobbing slowly ended, and Dylan fell back asleep.

The Next Day

Dylan was finishing up a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich he had made for lunch. He sat and waited for Jacob to finish his sandwich, but Jacob usually took his time eating, except for when he needed to re-gain his energy after battling.

"How is it?" Dylan asked, seeing that Jacob had only finished about 45% of his sandwich.

"Fu gan rewy mac uh guhd famwith!" Jacob said through a mouthful.

"No thanks. I keep my lampshades at 240 degrees Fahrenheit in the back of my pickup truck." Dylan teased.

Jacob gulped, "Hahaha! No, I said 'You can really make a good sandwich!'"

"I know." Dylan smiled.

The door opened, and in came Victor – who collapsed on the couch, and Tanjit – who just hit the floor.

"Vut haffin tuh fu yeyes?" Jacob asked, his mouth full again.

"Huh?" Victor moaned through the couch cushions.

"What happened to you guys?" Dylan asked clearly.

"We're worn out. We were training all morning." Victor explained, still muffled.

"Well you guys get some rest while Jacob and I go train." Dylan said, picking up his and Jacob's plates and placing them in the sink.

"But what about my sandwich?" Jacob asked.

"Bring it. Let's go!" Dylan grabbed his mamodo and pulled him out the door.

Soon, Dylan and Jacob arrived at the same training spot that had been at before. It was still scorched in some spots from the last time. Jacob was licking his fingers, unknown that Dylan was quietly pulling out the spellbook.

"Pymara!" Dylan called out suddenly.

Jacob's arms extended outwards and fired the attack.

"Whoa! That was close! I almost blasted my own face!" Jacob sighed.

"That was the point. You need to be ready for anything. I bet there are some mamodos out there with some pretty sneaky abilities." Dylan told Jacob, "I know you wont be able to block them all, but we have to get you as prepared as possible! Now, Zecloid!"

Jacob just stood there as the big wall of colors rose in front of him slowly, shaking the ground as it did so.

"No, no, no. You cannot pull the shield up that slow, the attack will hit you before you can use it!" Dylan complained.

"What can I do to make it come up faster?" Jacob asked, upset at the thought of his spell not working correctly.

Dylan walked over by Jacob and stood by him, the book in his arm, "Do as I do."

Dylan then took a defensive stance – one he had learned by taking three days of karate when he was only five years old. Jacob imitated the position.

"Now hold your arms down. Act as if you're holding the wall in your hands, and pulling it up from the ground. Don't just use the spell, be it's host" Dylan explained.

"Oh, I see!" Jacob curled his fingers up as if the wall really were in his hands.

"Good. Keep that position for a while until – Zecloid!" Dylan called out, suddenly.

The ground began to shake and Jacob's eyes were glowing, but no wall!

"Be the host, Jacob!" Dylan commanded, "Pull it up from the ground!"

So Jacob started to slowly stand back up, pulling his arms up at the same time. The big shield rose from the ground, just like if Jacob were really pulling it up!

"Faster! The attack is coming quickly!" Dylan shouted.

Jacob stood all the way up and raised his arms over his head, keeping his hands in the holding-position. The wall shot up along with his arms.

"Great! Fantastic!" Dylan exclaimed, proud that his idea had worked.

Jacob let the wall fade away and crouched down, panting.

"That was tough." He remarked.

"Then it worked!" Dylan stated.

"Man I need to cool off!" Jacob said, fanning himself with his hand.

"I know just the thing!" Dylan said, grabbing Jacob's arm.

They arrived back into town minutes later, but on a different street. Dylan walked Jacob to a rather small little shop. A bell rang as they entered.

Jacob whiffed the air, "Mmm…"

"Jacob, this is an Ice Cream Parlor. Here, you can buy some ice cream. Have you ever had ice cream before?" Dylan asked, looking down at Jacob.

"No, but the air smells delicious! Here, have some!" Jacob said, fanning air into Dylan's face.

"If you think the air is nice, I can't wait to see you try the ice cream!" Dylan laughed, turning to the woman behind the ice cream display counter, "One scoop of chocolate, and one of vanilla, please!"

"Oki Doki!" Said the girl.

She handed the cones over to Dylan, who then walked over to the cash register to pay. The girl stood where she was, staring down at Jacob. Jacob didn't notice right away, but then became creeped out by the girl. She looked about the same age as Dylan. Her nametag read "Samantha."

Dylan and Jacob sat down at a table. Dylan handed his mamodo the chocolate ice cream cone.

"Lick it with your tounge. Like this." Dylan licked the vanilla sitting on his cone.

Jacob licked his chocolate ice cream. His eyes lit up immediately!

"Oh wow! It's amazing!" Jacob exclaimed, "It reminds me of winter time, except all of the snow that falls is sweet!"

"Well, that's a pretty way to look at it." Dylan chuckled.

The two finished their treats and walked outside the store. Jacob had enjoyed his cone especially. They began to walk back in the direction of Dylan's apartment building when something got in their way – a little girl.

"Hi!" She said.

The girl was dressed in pinks and reds and whites only. She had very cute eyes, and pretty white hair.

"…Hi?" Dylan answered curiously.

"I'm Kait!" The little girl introduced herself.

"Well…um…Kait…can we help you?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Jacob remarked rudely.

"I want…a battle…with you guys…" Kait replied, smiling cutely.

"What?!?!" Jacob stepped backwards.

"You heard me. I wanna battle with you two. You are a mamodo, right?" She asked Jacob, staring at him with her big, cute eyes.

Jacob stepped back another step.

"Yeah, he's a mamodo…but how did you know?" Dylan asked.

"Well it couldn't be more obvious to another mamodo…" Kait explained.

"So where is your book owner, then, huh? You can't cast your own spells!" Jacob said.

Kait high-pitched a high-pitched laugh, "She'll join us as soon as she gets off of work in about an hour."

"An hour?" Dylan said.

"Yeah. I was thinking I'd just hang out with you guys until then…" Kait smiled cutely at them.

"Well…I guess it couldn't hurt…" Dylan said, nervous.

"Dylan!" Jacob whispered, "I don't trust her! Tell her to get lost!"

"Jacob, look at her. She won't do anything. Besides, her book owner is working – she can't do anything!" Dylan whispered back.

"So what do you wanna do first?" Kait asked the two boys.

"Uhm…well we could go play in the park…" Dylan suggested.

"Yeah! Let's go do that!" Kait exclaimed.

"Ugh." Jacob groaned as he and Dylan followed Kait to towards the park.

'What's her deal? Mamodos are never this nice…except me and Tanjit…' Jacob thought to himself, 'I guess it's best to keep an eye on her…on the swings…having tons of fun…'

Jacob picked up his pace a little, eager to get on the swings. But he still wasn't going to let Kait out of his sight. She was still an enemy.