Zatch Bell: Kolulu Story
By:CleruSonofShintetsu
[Chapter 10: Silver Scars]
It was close to sunset now, and several teams were making their move. Kolulu and Lori with Kiyo in tow would arrive at the village, shocked at the sight of the damaged town. Constables were all over the place, rebuilding efforts were being made, it would recover in good time but things were not looking so hot at all.
The trio asked around town for information on the attack, all while Kolulu felt sorry for the people of the town, her empathy kicking in hard.
"Why...? Why would anyone do such a thing?" She said to herself, looking at the various cracked and broken windows, broken walls, and any leftover blood from wounds across town. Meanwhile, her evil half was sharpening her claws in glee, eager as ever to fight something. She's been at it for a while, and thankfully Kolulu didn't have to hear it in the real world.
Every constable told them similar information, and nothing of Kiyo's specific needs; an army of ghost knights marched in, rolled over what little resistance they found, and kidnapped many women, a few men, and beat down or ignored the rest as needed. Nobody died, but it was painful on all fronts. Kiyo needed to accept that his father was probably kidnapped, much to his anger.
"Grah! Damn it! First I lose Zatch and now I gotta worry about losing my father!?" He yelled to himself by a tree nearby. He punched that tree and reeled his hand back in pain. "Oww..."
Lori jogged over to him with concern. "Kiyo, Kiyo, please relax at once!" she urged, holding his wrist and checking his hand. "Goodness, you could have gotten a splinter from that...let's just take a break and rest by the hill overhead. We've spent our whole day running around like this, left and right and all around..."
Kiyo sighed, begrudgingly conceding to Lori. "Alright alright...I'll...try to relax. Besides, I'm getting hungry at this point, and the nearest restaurant can't be for another few miles at LEAST."
Lori sat down beneath the tree, patting the ground beside her. "Sit, I think I have something." she urged, Kiyo sitting down next to her and laying an arm over his knee.
Kolulu joined them soon after, sitting in Lori's lap and taking out her doll, Tina, snuggling it close. She had nothing to add, all she cared about right now was relaxing with the two teens.
"You know, Lori..." Kiyo started, staring out at the sunset, "...I know I can be a bit serious sometimes...but I do value the friendships I do get. I mean...most of my friends are deranged weirdos in some way, but they're all good people...I think." he said, trying to bring light to the situation.
"Deranged...?" Lori asked, "How are they deranged?"
Kiyo brushed a hand through his hair and groaned. "Okay, how about the poster girl, Suzy? Suzy does NOT know up from down, she trips over pebbles all the time, and her brain is a sponge cake! She also draws my face on fruit which is...okay I admit it, its funny really..." he said, surprised he's even being so nice about it.
Lori held a hand over her mouth, awkwardly trying to stifle laughter. She felt a mix of amusement and genuine concern, and glanced away trying to make these thoughts go away. "C-continue, please..."
"Alright, and then there's Kane, the school bully who immediately pulled a 180 into being more awkward than me once Zatch and I had a scuffle with him." he continued, resting his cheek in his hand.
The two continue chatting for the next ten minutes, before Kolulu yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Loriiiii...I'm sleepy...can we go to bed?" she asked, staring up into Lori's eyes.
Lori nodded, carrying her piggy-back style and motioning for Kiyo to get up. "Come, let's be off then." she said, to which the three began walking back from where they came and stopping at their temporary residence to rest.
[Meanwhile...in the sky above the Forest of Spirits]
Hyde and Eido were flying over the so-called Fairy Woods on their way to THEIR residence, which was a clearing they planned to set up camp at. The only reason Eido wasn't falling off the board was due to minimal camp packing and Hyde's great control over his wind powers.
However, it seems they flew into dangerous skies, as they began to approach the general location of where a peculiar Mamodo was perched.
"Hmph..." grunted Hyde, starting to strain from the constant wind blasting he's doing, not helped by having to balance Eido and prevent him from meeting a grisley end via falling off the board.
"I know I know, I'm landing us now, lower us on THAT clearing, it's closest to a source of fresh water." he said, pointing down at a particular location. It was indeed a smart choice, a nice spacious clearing and only half a mile away from a river.
Unfortunately, they found themselves being noticed by the perched Mamodo, who raised his hand out and took aim.
"...I won't tolerate the sight of such trash..." the Mamodo sneered.
"ZAKER!" called his book owner, as Zeno shot out a stream of blue lightning at Hyde and Eido's board.
Hyde heard this, recognizing the spell name, but feeling greatly disturbed and noticing a difference in both the voice and the energy behind it. Before he could respond, the board was zapped and both were badly jolted for a brief yet VERY painful moment, crashing down into the woods below. They were lucky, then, that the wind that remained slowed their fall enough for them to survive the ensuing tumble down a tree.
Their bodies are scraped and burned by the branches and lightning respectively, and the book was gracefully spared a burning all the same. Coughing as he rose to his feet, Eido groaned in pain.
"A-aaargh...! What the actual- gah, my back!" he said, dropping to his side and slipping his camping bag off and relieving himself of the weight.
Hyde was limp and tangled in his own limbs, but eventually got up and panted in both fear and relief. "What...that...that was NOT the same lightning we got fried by back in Japan. Eido, we need to lay low, we're going to be in SERIOUS trouble if we stay in these woods too long!"
Eido got up and sat cross-legged, staring at Hyde. "We CAN'T run! We...we just can't, we're way too injured, and that sucks...so lets set up camp instead..." he said, already beginning to unpack, to Hyde's annoyance.
"Fine...I hate to say it but you're right, for once." Hyde concedes, helping to set up the camp.
While they did this, the duo that shot them down would gracefully let them go, already forgetting about the two and caring not if their book was burned or not.
"Dufort, let's go, we're already running late for our meeting with the teams in the castle. I want to make sure this plan of ours causes as much suffering for the one who claimed his book as possible...he had no right going home so early!" he said, his silver cloak swaying in the wind as he walked ahead of the book owner beside him.
"Do you even know who took his book, Zeno?" Dufort asked, not out of sass but out of cold logic.
"No, but I just...have a feeling, the energy of the one who claimed him...maybe its a hyper-fixation, but several book owners arrived on this Gods forsaken rainy island, and I wanna know which one burned his book. If I can't make him suffer, then I'll take it out on the one who spoiled my fun...!" he said, seething all the while.
"Fair enough...so you're counting on at least ONE of them being the book burner. Know that like always, you have my power, Zeno..." he reassured with his typical blank expression.
Zeno smirked, "Good...your loyalty will never cease to be appreciated, I promise you Dufort, you WILL be rewarded a glorious bounty when I take my father's throne. You deserve it, after all..." he said genuinely, turning his head and glancing back Dufort. "That little speed bump will be flattened before long, and I'll do to them what I did to Zatch in good time."
[Meanwhile...at the Dark Lord's Castle]
"DANCE BLONDIE DANCE!" instructed Steng, Folgore currently staring up at Baltro...or rather, Baltro's suit.
"E-ehh...yes-a sir! Ooooh-" but he was cut off by Baltro's voice.
"Be mindful, worm! If you so much as TWITCH in the direction of an exit, you'll be crushed by either my mech, the trap chambers, or gutted by a swarm of criminals who will gladly accept THOUSANDS for your life, understood!?" he warned, causing Folgore to shudder, but ultimately give him a wink.
"Yes-a sir, Lord Steng, Lord Baltro! Hit it!" he asked, to which his famous song came on, and he began to move to the beat.
"Chi, Chi-Chi Chi Oppai! Boing Boing!" he said, dancing to the...quirky version of the song. The criminals who spectated called back, "BOING BOING!"
So began a call and response between Folgore and his audience. He thought to himself, ("Heeeeeeyyy...for a bunch of-a criminals, they're a shockingly good audience! I do-a hope they can reform one day.").
So he danced, dancing away to numerous songs, glancing around whenever he could for any potential escape routes in the room. Every song he finished, he was cheered to do more. He had energy to spare, though, so what would exhaust most celebrities by now, he endured, much to Steng and even Baltro's collective amusement.
Meanwhile, a pair of servants were waiting tables, a man and woman to be exact. The man looked back at his trembling wife and gripped her shoulder gently.
"Easy love...I know you're scared...so am I, but Kory's always been a strong boy...when we get out of here, and we will, everything will be okay." he reassured.
The woman looked back, looking around before kissing him quickly on the cheek. "Of course, stay strong my love..." she said, before rushing to meet another table's order.
Elsewhere, a middle aged Japanese man with glasses had been reduced from his professional attire to a similar dirty manservant's garb. "What kind of strange world have I been born in where I get kidnapped by something out of a fantasy novel...? This HAS to be the work of other Mamodo...if only I could be here under the lense of research. Photography, writing sketches, I-" but he was cut off by one of the human guards smacking him across the back of the head.
"STOP YAPPIN', FOREIGNER! Back to work at once, move move move!" he yelled, threatening to hit him with a club next time.
Seitaro got the memo and rushed to complete his duties. "Darn...this does NOT look good. This must be the entire criminal underworld of at LEAST three cities...unless I'm being optimistic." he noted, before moving on without another word.
British Gentleman and Steng were overlooking the event from a higher platform, higher than even the grunts on the second floor where the main dining areas were. British Gentleman stood firm beside Steng, who sat on his throne with Kikuropu standing menacingly behind them both, hidden in the shadows.
Folgore knew they were there, and felt so terribly powerless. He did everything he could to keep his appearance up, and never lost hope, but he knew when he was in a sticky situation, and he cannot think of any outside his movies that he's been in in ages.
At last, the festivities were over and Folgore was escorted back to his cell, where he was thrown in roughly by the men that took him down there.
"S-so that is-a how you treat-a your superstar...?" he asked sadly, though a bit exaggerated in tone.
The guards glanced at each other and then back to Folgore. They shrugged, one saying, "Sorry mate...gotta do our job."
The smaller guard glanced up to the larger one, "Yeah Brucie, maybe we should be more delicate with one of the PRIZED PRISONERS, or do you WANT Baltro to step on us?"
Brucie grit his teeth and went wide eyed with fear. "S-s-sorry Larry! I'm beefy but I don't fancy my chances at surviving the flapjack treatment at all!"
Larry threw his arms in the air, "Fine fine! Just don't start cryin' again!"
Folgore stared at them both intensely, a feeling of familiarity coming over him for some strange reason...
However, they noticed and Larry kicked the cage, snapping him out of it.
"S-s-sorry sorry! I just...I have a question for you gentlemen!" Folgore stammered out.
Larry rolled his eyes. "Make it quick, superstar..."
Folgore sighed in relief, before asking, "W-why exactly do you-a serve that man Steng? Isn't he just-a using you all? What makes him so different from other notorious bad guys?"
"You mean BESIDES the freakin' demons surrounding him? Well he has treasure to spare and knows what we're all worth! Not all bosses, be they criminal or otherwise, are as cheap as a rich man who dare not dream of buying one less yacht than usual...the horror the horror!" he joked, waving his hands in a faux-scared motion.
Brucie chuckled, "Yeah, Steng's just a safe, secure boss to serve as crooks! He pays well, he respects us, and we dare not question further! The demons are a bit strange, but we don't mind it."
Folgore scratched his chin in curiosity, admiring the organization of these criminals, yet also feeling...off about it. Steng was no idiot, but how could he alone, some disgruntled boxer, rally so many? Was it just Steng's sheer charisma? What about the British Gentleman? Surely HE had something to do with it, right? No...he was intelligent too, perhaps more so than Steng, yet he seemed born for the second fiddle. Then...what was it? What could be the reason behind the sheer size of this castle-bound gang of marauders and thieves? These thoughts flooded his mind, and as the criminals bid him farewell, he said one more thing as he ran up and gripped the bars.
"Wait! I'll do you a favor if you answer my last-a question!" he called out, the two backtracking for one more moment and waiting for him to ask.
"...Do you know if Steng himself has a boss? A boss behind the boss if you will...a man higher than the top...?"
This caused Larry to turn pale, he was one of the few who were already aware of Zeno, while Brucie also turned pale in turn as his brain caught up to the realization.
"Y-yeah...uhh, it's just some short silver-haired guy with big...hateful...lavender eyes. That's all I know, sorry we need to get to bed now LETS GO!" he said, freaking out and running off. Brucie fumbled after him, as if both had panic attacks at that moment.
Folgore sat back in his bed, more scared now than he was previously. More information...more dark omens...what the HECK was going on? Whatever it was, he hoped that, through all of this, Kanchome was happy and safe.