Okay, I decided to split this in half....or 75-25, I don't know, but now its a little longer. Man this story is 7 chapters bigger than I thought it be.
Brago " That's what happens when..."
-WAM!-
Oh crud! *runs away*
Brago gets up fuming "GET BACK HERE!" *chases*
Stripes appears and flashes the peace sign "On with the story!"
Ch. 9
Unexpected Acquaintance
After a few minutes, they began their walk, but had to stop abruptly when Stripes started whining about food. Brago didn't really mind, he needed an excuse to find something to eat himself and Sherry, who was also hungry, just stood back and enjoyed how lenient Brago was being.
Stripes quickly ran over to the oddly large pond and peered in happily "I can't see the bottom. I wonder what kind of fish are in here?"
"Well, there's only one way to find out" Sherry said as she sat down under a nearby tree.
Stripes nodded in agreement and turned back to jump into the pond when she was suddenly pulled backwards and thrown to the ground.
"Ow" she said before looking up at Brago as he peered down at her "What was that for?"
Brago grunted "You go rest by Sherry; I want to continue as soon as we finish eating and I don't need you lagging behind"
"I'm not going to lag, I'm just as tough as you" she pouted
Brago crossed his arms and groaned in annoyance "…Maybe so, but you tire faster"
Stripes stood up in protest, but knew he was right. Unlike Brago, she slept every day, but only because she enjoyed it, at least that what she told herself. "So, I can catch a few fish just fine"
"What are you two fighting about now?" Sherry asked with a hand on her empty stomach.
They both looked over at her to protest, but their stomachs growled simultaneously, ending the conversation.
Stripes took the moment to run past a distracted Brago, but he caught her hand at the last second and refused to let her go any farther. Stripes whined and refused to stop, running in a complete circle. Because of her actions, Brago was forced to spin and lost his balance, sending them both into the pond.
Brago emerged first and looked over at Stripes as she surfaced "What did you do that for?!"
Stripes just smiled at him "Hey, you're the one who grabbed me. At least we can both fish now"
Just then, a shadow nearby caught her attention and she grabbed it with incredible speed and pulled it out of the water, revealing a small fish.
Brago looked at her in disbelief "Is that really the best you can do?"
Stripes took her eyes off her wiggling prize to look at Brago "What's wrong with it?"
"At that rate, it'll take all day" Brago said.
Before she could respond, he dove under the water. She waited a minute before he came back up with a decent size fish. Stripes looked at it inwardly amazed, but outwardly unimpressed.
"Is that the best you can do Brago?" she taunted before diving under and coming back up with a slightly larger fish than his in her other hand.
Brago let out a low growl and Stripes met it with her own playful growl.
"I see where this is going" Sherry said as she laid out a cloth to hold the fish.
The two stared each other down briefly before simultaneously diving under. They emerged several times with a catch, throwing them towards the cloth that Sherry had lain out. She stared down at them in amazement, at some point, the sizes leveled out, but they were all a unique color.
After a while, they emerged from the pond soaking wet and annoyed; their contest had ended in a tie. Sherry ate her fill of fish amused at Stripes and Brago little competition. They then continued their walk while Stripes finished her meal; she was having a little trouble since it wouldn't stop wiggling.
Sherry walked besides Brago and quietly studied him while he seemed lost in thought. He kept his eyes fixed on Stripes and even though his expression was the same blank gaze, he seemed troubled.
"Is something wrong?" he asked in an annoyed tone, turning to look at his book keeper.
Sherry continued to look at him puzzled "I should be asking you that"
Brago grunted and looked ahead again "Why would anything be wrong?"
"Oh I don't know, you seem a little depressed" she replied.
Brago grunted again as his response. To his annoyance, she kept looking at him.
He turned again to face her, this time with a glare "What?"
"You like her don't you?" she said calmly
Brago's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to reply, but Sherry continued.
"I mean as a friend"
Brago resumed his glare before looking ahead again.
Sherry folded her hands behind her back in slight amusement and glanced at Stripes "Don't worry, she's not listening"
Brago glanced at her "And how do you know that?"
Sherry looked down at him with a warm smile "Because she's not the kind of person that would ease drop" she chuckled a little "And she seems pretty busy trying to eat that fish"
Brago looked ahead, she was right. Upon seeing Stripes' razor sharp teeth, the fish began to struggle with amazing strength, making it hard to hold on to since it was still wet.
"You know, we don't have to fight her right now. We could wait to the end…" Sherry started, but was cut off.
"Sherry, this is a battle. I can't leave a powerful demon be…"
"So you admit that she's your friend?" Sherry interrupted with a big smile
"No! Where…" Brago turned to look at her with wide eyes and a little more color on his face than usual.
"Then why did it matter if she heard us or not?" Sherry added with a matter of fact tone.
Brago, having nothing to say, turned to look ahead again.
Sherry also looked ahead, but kept her victorious smile "I knew it"
"You know nothing!" Brago growled. A strange sensation struck him and he stopped to look off to his right.
Sherry immediately stopped and looked at him concerned "What is it?"
Brago stayed like that a moment longer before shaking his head and continuing "It's gone, probably another weak demon fleeing the area"
"Hey!"
They both looked ahead at Stripes, who was quite a distance away.
She waved her hand happily "We're almost there!" with that, she turned and ran off.
"Wait!" Sherry yelled, but it was no use.
"Damn girl" Brago growled before taking off after her, leaving Sherry alone.
She watched him go before sighing "And I was hoping for an easy day"
Elsewhere, Olivia and Taylor walked down a busy street going nowhere in particular as they ate their breakfast.
Taylor finished first and looked up at the bright blue cloudless sky "So, what do you want to do today?" she waited a moment for an answer, and when she never got one, turned to look at her depressed sister. "Still thinking about her?"
Olivia nodded "Yeah, I just can't shake off the feeling that she's doing something stupid or going to anyway"
Taylor frowned in acknowledgement, but then smiled "She's really changed you"
Olivia looked at her puzzled "Really?"
Taylor nodded "Yup, before you met her, you were kinda a…"
Olivia pointed a finger at her warningly "Don't say it!"
Taylor stopped and smiled "Don't worry, you'll see her again and I'll get to meet her"
"You can't guarantee that" Olivia said with a dull tone.
Taylor crossed her arms behind her back and looked ahead "I can't, but I'm sure it'll happened" She glanced over and with a big smile "I just hope she'll live through it"
Olivia quietly nodded before the meaning actually set in and she turned to strangle her sister, who had foreseen this and was halfway down the block already, "GET BACK HERE!" she yelled and ran off after her.
A few minutes later, Brago had closed the distance between him and Stripes and they had both slowed down so that Sherry could keep up. Judging by the sounds, Brago could tell that they were near a town, but it was Sherry that gasped in surprise.
"We're close to the airport!"
Brago glanced back at her surprised before glaring ahead at a smiling demon.
"What, did you really feel like running halfway across the land?" Stripes said
"Country" Sherry corrected
Stripes groaned and looked ahead again "Whatever"
After another minute or so, they came to a stop. Brago and Sherry looked around, but didn't see any signs of the book.
"Don't bother" Stripes said. "I didn't leave it in plain sight" she walked a little more and then stooped down to dig.
Brago grunted and crossed his arms "At least you're not as stupid as you look"
Stripes hesitated for a moment at his statement, causing Brago to feel a pang of guilt, but he ignored it and she continued. After moving a few handfuls of dirt, Stripes grabbed the book and turned triumphantly to show them.
Brago inwardly rolled his eyes "What, does she want a treat?" he thought to himself as he stepped forward to take it from her, but that strange feeling came back.
"Dizoru!"
The three turned in surprise to look as dark tentacles crawled out from the ground to attack them. Brago, cursing to himself, turned back, grabbed Sherry and leapt to safety. Stripes jumped up into the tree and watched the tentacles squirm back into the ground.
Brago stopped a few feet away and looked back at the retreating spell, not bothering to put Sherry down "Tch, I can't believe I let my guard down"
Sherry looked up at him concerned "Brago, the book"
"Its fine" he said with an aggravated tone.
He quickly scanned the area looking for Stripes.
"Dizoru!"
Stripes leapt out of a tree just as the tentacle came and broke it in two. Brago wasted no time running to her. Stripes weaved in and out of tentacles, but there were a lot and coming at her fast. Just as one was about to hit her, Brago jumped in front of her and hit it away.
"Thanks" Stripes said in relief.
Brago grunted in response, putting Sherry down "It's not over yet"
"So that's who I was sensing" a voice coming from seemingly nowhere boomed.
The three focused on a pair walking into the open. One was Drake, holding the same book as before and the other, clearly a demon around the same age and height as Brago and Stripes. He was Sherry's complexion with a grey shirt and black pants. He had silverish white needle like hair jutting back and down to his mid back. He appeared human, but Brago could feel a dark aura emanating from him and his cold grey eyes sent a chill up his spine.
"Sherry" Brago practically whispered to get her attention.
"I know" she replied and took the book from Stripes' offering hands.
The demon ignored this and smiled, showing off his sharp teeth and placed a hand on his hip "I'm not surprised to have run into you, Brago, but I would have never expected you to be traveling with some amateur. Maybe the stories I've heard are wrong"
Brago smirked at his statement "Maybe"
Stripes pouted quietly behind him "Amateur?"
The demon shrugged "Oh well, at least I'll get half of a fight"
Sherry opened the book in her hand, immediately pumping energy into it "We'll see about that. Gigano Reis!"
Brago held his hand out and shot out the large gravity bullet at his enemy. The demon looked at it disapprovingly and held out his hand.
"Dizoru!"
The all too familiar tentacles shot out of the ground in front of him, acting as a wall to block the attack, but quickly went on the offensive. The trio quickly moved out of the way, causing the tentacles to hit the ground and vanish.
Stripes looked over at Brago anxiously "Brago…"
"Stay back. You're of no use without your book keeper" he stated; Stripes fell silent.
The demon smiled in amusement "Oh, so you protect demons that haven't found there book keepers yet, how chivalrous. I assume that her book is in that bag then" he added with a quick point.
Sherry, feeling a little protective, gripped the bag and swung it so it was behind her out of view, gaining a larger smirk from the demon.
Brago stepped forward "You should worry about the fight at hand"
"Ah, so you don't recognize me, then you would know that I have nothing to worry about" the demon said cockily. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Demo"
Brago and Stripes' eyes widened in surprise, inflating the demons ego some more.
Sherry looked back and forth between the two "So he's another prodigy…"
"No" they both replied.
Stripes stopped, allowing Brago to explain "Demo, the child of darkness. There are rumors…"
"Oh I assure you, those rumors are true, though a little inflated" the demon chimed. "My favorite is when I slaughtered a whole village for some amusement, though they were a bunch of weaklings"
Sherry looked at him in shock and disbelief, but that quickly turned to glare of rage as he continued to talk about killing others in amusement and pumped even more energy into the book, causing its glow to make the book appear purple.
Stripes stepped up besides Brago glancing over to express her point. Brago met her glance and reluctantly nodded in approval.
"Gigano Reis!"
Brago sent the attack out before running behind it, Stripes close behind.
The demon's smirk grew in his arrogance "Oh, so you both plan to fight now. Fine by me, the quicker I can get this over with"
Once the attack was in range, the demon lifted his hand sluggishly in front of him and hit it away, immediately raising the other to block Brago's attack. Stripes stepped from behind him and through a kick, forcing the demon to release Brago and dodge.
"Gravirie!"
A purple aura appeared around Brago's hand and he thrusted it down, catching the demon in a gravity field. The demon took a moment to analyze the attack before pulling against it, successfully destroying the field. Before he could do anything, Stripes came running at him at a slower pace than she would normally.
The demon looked at her amused, feeling superior "Oh, so you'd like another try. Go ahead, I won't move"
Stripes looked up at him with fear in her eyes and a sheepish smile "O-Okay, thanks".
She continued at him, but once she balled her strong hand into a fist, the fear in her eyes was replaced with an unwavering confidence and her sheepish smile morphed in to a grin that all too well called him a sucker. Not noticing this change, the demon stayed true to his word. Stripes fists connected with his face at an unknown speed and he was thrown back a couple of yards, landing on his stomach and sliding further.
He dug his hand into the ground, bringing himself to a stop before looking up at Stripes with an aggravated and dirty face "You B…"
"Ion Gravirie!"
Demo was forced back down by a stronger force.
Brago walked up to stand besides Stripes, but didn't get the chance.
"Dizorendo!"
An ominous aura visibly appeared around Demo and he stood up almost instantly, breaking the field with ease. Both demons stared at him in amazement as he glowered at them.
"So you think you can beat me, filth like you beat me! Never; you'll regret this day, the day you pissed me off!" he ranted.
Brago dropped into a fighting stance, ready to continue, but Stripes looked up at the sky; the area around them was becoming unnaturally dark.