Unintentional hiatus aside, following this chapter we'll start getting into more of the meat of this story arc! So enjoy and PLEASE let me know how you all feel about the story, any and all feedback is appreciated!
"Scopo!"
Another blast rocketed out of the rat Mamodo's cannon barrel and towards Windsor, who dodged the projectile with a graceful barrel roll. Adrian crept towards the wall of the room as he readied his spellbook.
"Ventir!"
Windsor released the navy blue sphere from his mouth, aiming right at his rodent enemy. Josh retaliated with another usage of his spell, repeating the phrase several times despite his partner being unable to fire rapidly. The two attacks collided with each other, bursting into a cloud of smoke with a massive boom.
"Ah man, it's just like in one of those weird anime things..." Josh grumbled. "Come on, keep firing! Scopo!"
The smoke created by the explosion gave Adrian the perfect cover he needed to get in close to Josh, with neither him nor his Mamodo noticing his presence. Windsor's wing flaps helped clear the smoke and restore visibility to the room. Trying to remain as quiet as he could, Adrian waved his arms around once their eyes met, Adrian raised his right index finger to his lips. Windsor nodded his head as he looked back at Josh and his rat just as he called for another spell.
With Adrian still holding the spellbook and in such close proximity to Josh, the bespectacled student could not cast any more spells without giving away his position. Instead, Windsor was forced to continue on the defensive by avoiding Josh's continued barrage of spells.
From down below on the field, the battle between Rook and Kolm had reached somewhat of a stalemate as Hannah continued to recite the Burox spell with Brendan and Kolm responding with Zeruk.
"This isn't working." Kolm said to his keeper, keeping his voice low to ensure their opponents couldn't hear them.
"Right, but if you get in close then they'll probably try aiming at me. I can't dodge forever and if I go back inside looking like I just rolled around in the dirt it'll definitely raise some eyebrows. But keeping at a distance will just keep this going on forever." Kolm was about to respond but the delinquent girl spoke out first.
"Tick tock, Walker!" She began. "Either give up and get out or we keep this up forever. I'm fine with skipping out on class, but if the rest of the teachers see what's going on right now, you'll be the one having to explain everything."
"Ohhhh, someone's gonna be in troubleeee!" Aliyah giggled.
Brendan's eyes widened as the thought of what would happen if they were all seen fighting and how it would affect him raced through his mind. "Would you two not get into trouble as well?" Kolm asked.
"I just said I don't care what they do." Hannah replied with a scoff. "I'll just say Walker brought us out here."
"Woah, wait..." The tanned girl added, her jovial attitude completely shutting down. "I'd rather not get detention or something because we're out here. I mean I don't care if he gets in trouble but my parents would kill me if I got in trouble again."
"Relax!" The pink haired girl assured. "We'll be fine! All I gotta do is beat this schmuck and we'll head back inside before lunch is over!" The two girls went back and forth for a moment before Kolm spoke up.
"You are assuming that you are going to win." He said, as Brendan stood behind him.
"How are we actually going to do damage though? He's sturdy enough to take your punches and tries to keep a distance. I can't keep dodging his attacks either." The young man said.
"You have not recited the second spell yet. We have to use that before we consider the rest of our options. We should also be thankful of Adrian and Windsor keeping that second team preoccupied."
"Um, hello?! You can't just talk trash and then ignore me!" Hannah shouted with a clear scowl on her face. "Burox!"
The hulking mass of bricks launched another volley of blocks at the duo. Just as he had been for the past few minutes, Kolm managed to punch most of the projectiles and shatter most of them, any that managed to get by him were avoided by Brendan or missed their mark. Once the assault was over, Kolm dashed forward towards Rook and delivered a fierce combo of jabs and a right hook to the beast before jumping back when the Mamodo tried to push him away with a backhand. Despite landing a good number of hits, Kolm shook his hands with a grimace as he kept his eyes on his targets.
"Even with my arms covered in armor his body is still too solid for me to make any significant damage. I feel like I'm hurting myself more than him."
"And you can't go after the book if he's covering Hannah." Brendan added as he looked at his own spellbook, specifically at the second spell, which he could now read...
Josh recited his spell again, his Mamodo breathing a bit more laboriously as it fired another shot at Windsor, who pushed himself to avoid the attack as the bird was also beginning to run out of breath.
"Come on, hold still you bird brain!" The student growled, his rat friend made a whining chirp sound as he looked to his bookkeeper. "Huh? What, are you getting tired?" The rat nodded its head solemnly as it gave off one last whine. "Come on, I know you got more in you! All we gotta do is burn that loser's book right?"
Josh then looked at the other side of the room with a determined smirk. "Hey Adrian, why don't you quit stallin' and fight back!"
It was then that Josh had noticed that his opponent was nowhere to be seen, as he looked around more frantically, the confidence that Josh had vanished.
"Wha-? Where did that wimp go?!" He called out.
With a nervous gulp, Adrian dashed at Josh and tackled him with as much force as the young man could muster. The force of Adrian's move pushed Josh onto the ground, his book slipping out of his hands and onto the floor. Without missing a beat, Adrian regained his footing with a firm grip on his book.
"Windsor!" The bespectacled boy called out as he pointed to Josh's vulnerable book. "Ventir!"
Windsor quickly took advantage of the situation and charged up his spell and with gusto, fired it at the spellbook. Josh tried to reach out for his book, but all he could do was watch as the navy piece of literature was blasted in a baby blue flare. When the Ventir spell finally cleared up, the sight of Josh's book burning elicited a cry of shock from both Josh and his Mamodo.
The rat scurried over to his burning book and looked back and forth between it and his master, crying out in squeaks of sadness and fear while his body began to fade away.
"What?! NO! Speedy! Wh-What's happening?!"
"I'm afraid his time in this battle is over." Windsor answered as he finally landed by Adrian's side. Josh slowly rose to his knees as he watched the last of the book burn to ashes and his rat companion finally vanish.
"You guys are jerks..." Josh grumbled.
"You've picked on me for four years, Josh! Burning your book was the least I could do! I didn't even know you had a Mamodo until today and you fired the first shot both metaphorically and literally!"
"He was my friend! I'm already low on those..."
The three of them stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity until Windsor finally broke it.
"We should go check on Brendan and Kolm, if they happen to be struggling we can use our advantage of numbers to our advantage."
"That is a redundant statement, Windsor." Adrian sighed before returning his gaze to Josh. "You're coming down with us. We need to talk and if you go down the long way you'll probably get in trouble for being up here."
Before Josh could protest and Adrian could say anything else, Windsor grabbed them both in his talons and flew out of the window with the two boys in tow. As they left, the door to the tower opened and two male teachers stepped in. The first was a Caucasian male with brown hair along the sides and back of his head as he was balding on top and a mustache of the same color. He wore a grey tracksuit with white sneakers and was just a tad bit overweight. The second teacher was African-American and more heavy-set. He wore a neatly pressed white button down shirt with tan slacks with a navy blue jacket. His head was completely shaved but there was a hint of dark brown hair creeping in.
The two men entered the clock tower and looked around for a bit before giving each other a confused look and heading back downstairs.
Brendan looked at the second spell with awe and a hint of apprehension. On one hand, they had never used or tested this spell before and the risk of it hurting Brendan, or worse, Hannah, was serious. Yet if they didn't use it, they would run the risk of prolonging their stalemate and getting all of them into a whole heap of trouble. Brendan looked up and managed to see Hannah about to say something when the unexpected sound of Adrian's voice caught all of them off guard.
"Brendan!"
The four fighters and the spectator looked up to the sight of Windsor descending to the field. Adrian had his spellbook open and ready while Josh had a deflated look on his face.
"So you're the sniper." Brendan noted.
"He was, but his Mamodo has been neutralized." Adrian replied.
"Neutralized?" Hannah scoffed. "Just say he's dead, you dork."
"He's not dead." Kolm butted in. "If a Mamodo's book is burned then they simply return to the Mamodo World. However I wouldn't worry about that since you have two enemies before you now."
"He is correct." Windsor added. "The key to winning this battle is to ensure your book is not burned and be the last Mamodo in the end. However, we are willing to spare your book if you will assist us."
"Screw that!" Hannah scowled, Rook nodded his head as he took a deep breath in anticipation. "Burox!" Rook reached his hand towards Adrian, another barrage of blocks shooting out from his fingertips and speeding towards the student's spellbook.
"Ventir!"
With a huff, Windsor let out another blast to meet the launched bricks. Rather predictably, the attacks collided and exploded, leaving nothing but dust and smoke in their wake.
'It's no use.' Brendan thought to himself. 'She's not going to stop until we go down even though she's the one against the wall. She really must hate me that much. She'll hate me more if I do this, but I have no other choice.'
Without a second thought, Brendan prepared himself as the bronze book began to glow.
"Amusen!"
Kolm raised his still armored hand up and slowly clenched it into a fist. A burning red glow began to form in the Mamodo's hand and with a swift punch to the air, the red energy was launched forward as a blast of energy resembling a fireball with what looked to be a fist in the center of it. Brendan had to quickly look at Kolm's hand to confirm it was still attached and sighed in relief when he confirmed it was.
By the time Hannah and Rook noticed the attack speeding towards them, the fireball hit the upper portion of Hannah's spellbook with enough force to knock it out of her hands and igniting it right on the field they were fighting on. Rook let out a gasp as he hurried over to the burning book.
"No... no! No! No!" He cried out as he tried patting his book to put out the fire.
"Put it out! Put it out!" Hannah pleaded. "We have to beat these creeps!"
"That won't do you any good." Kolm said sternly. "Once a Mamodo's spellbook has caught flame it cannot be put out. This fight is over for him and soon he will return to the Mamodo World."
"That's... not fair..." Rook whined as the last of his form vanished. Hannah stood in silence at the empty space where Rook was before dropping to her knees.
"Darn it!... Argh!" She growled, slamming her fists onto the ground. "You really are as bad as they are, Walker!"
Hannah turned her face to Brendan and looked him in the eyes with her face red with anger and tears welling up in her eyes. Brendan himself raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked.
"Hannah's... had some bad experiences with some of the teachers here." Josh answered. "Let's just leave it at that."
"I'm afraid I can't just 'leave it at that'." Brendan responded. "Look, I'm not asking any of you to trust me as a teacher, and I'm not going to pry about your own personal issues. But I'm not here just to sit and watch how the teachers operate in the classrooms. I came here for three reasons; first, to learn how to be a proper teacher. Second; to find out about the bookkeepers that are in this school. Lastly, and what I think is the most important; to help the students in any way that I can!"
The four students looked at the man with varying emotions; Adrian and Windsor shared a proud smile, Josh looked stunned, Aliyah looked like she had stars in her eyes with awe, and Hannah appeared to be experiencing a whirlwind of different feelings. Even Kolm looked to be impressed with his bookkeeper's resolve.
"I know all of that sounds cliche, but if helping out my students means jumping through hoops and weathering the storm, then that's fine with me!"
"Hell of a speech, Walker." The pink haired girl sniffled as she stood up and wiped a few tears out of her eyes. "I'll give you one chance. I'll give you one chance to prove that you actually mean what you say. If you screw up then I promise you, I will make your time here a living hell. Got it!"
Brendan nodded silently as Kolm appeared to share in his sentiment. Aliyah squealed to herself in joy.
"Oh man that was so awesome!" She began. "The action was wicked and intense! Adrian and his bird zooming into the bell tower and then that speech that Mr. Walker gave! Chills! Having a Mamodo looks like it would be so much fun!" The girl reached into her book and took out a white spellbook that appeared to be noticeably less thick than the ones the others used.
"I can't wait until I find my Mamodo!"
Windsor audibly gasped as Hannah and Josh looked stunned. Brendan and Adrian looked confused as Kolm approached the girl.
"Let me see that book!" He exclaimed as Aliyah shielded the book from the larger warrior.
"No way!" She protested. "I don't want you to burn it like you did with Hannah's! I haven't even summoned my Mamodo yet!"
"Hold on, what do you mean 'summon your Mamodo'?" Adrian inquired
"There's this guy that's been hanging out in the school basement recently selling these books." Aliyah explained, opening the book and showing everyone the first page, which was nearly empty except for a few words in the center. "When I bought one, he said that if I read this incantation then I'll be able to summon my very own Mamodo! That's when my book will change color like the rest of you!"
"Aliyah that's... that's not how this works...!" Josh remarked, his eyes wide in shock while Hannah's jaw flopped open.
"What do you mean?" The naive girl asked. Hannah shook her head as she brought her hand to her forehead.
"You don't summon Mamodo. They pretty much come to you, or at least you're drawn to the one you're meant to be with somehow." Hannah explained. "They're not like some cheap party trick or game!"
"The spellbooks are also in a unique Mamodo language that doesn't resemble any that people know of. Every Mamodo comes with a book unique to them that only the person that is destined to be their bookkeeper can read." Adrian explained before showing Aliyah the incantation again. "This is just Latin, and it doesn't even mean anything either. It's just a bunch of random words."
"Wait, so... so that means that..."
"It means you got ripped off!" Josh yelled.
"Ali, how much did you pay for that book?" Hannah asked, taking the tanned girl by her shoulders.
"T-Twenty dollars..." She cried.
"Twenty bucks?!" Josh gasped incredulously at the revelation. "That's like two whole weeks worth of allowances! You were basically robbed!" Hannah and Adrian looked at the boy in disbelief before turning back to Aliyah, who had fully broken down into sobs as she sank to her knees. Kolm and Windsor looked to each other, unsure of what to do while the rest of the students had no idea what else to say. Brendan was the first to do something as he went down to one knee and placed a gentle hand on Aliyah's shoulder.
"Aliyah, look at me." He began, the man could see the poor girl's eyes already turning red as tears stained her cheeks. Despite his growing anger at the situation, he remained as calm and composed as he could. "I need you to tell me how long this guy has been doing this and how many of the student's he's ripped off."
"He's... He's been selling books for about... about a week. I don't know how many of the others he did this to. I'm sorry!" She said in between sobs.
"Don't apologize. None of this is your fault and you're not in trouble. But I want you to come with all of us when we go down to the basement after school. We're going to make sure everyone gets their money back and that he never does this again!"
"O-Okay..." Aliyah nodded as she wiped away some of her tears.
"Wait, what do you mean all of us?" Josh asked. "We're coming, too?"
Brendan gave the two the same firm, but gentle look he gave Aliyah. "Yeah, I need you all to warn any students that might be down there that the guy selling books is scamming them."
"The fact that he's selling fake spell books modeled after the real ones suggests that he also has a Mamodo of his own. This means we'll have to be prepared in case of a fight." Adrian added.
"Right." Brendan nodded as the school bell began to ring. "But we'll focus on that after classes are over. We can meet at this shed once everyone's left the school." With their next course of action now set, the two Mamodo returned to the shed while the four humans entered the building.
"I'm back!"
A young girl who couldn't have been older and 11 or 12 years old opened an air vent that lead into a small section of a rather large room that had fluorescent lights that were beginning to fade in power. A large, empty sewer pit that was about 15 feet deep took up most of the space in the center of the room with a large chain-link fence circling the perimeter of the pit. Within the fence was a door that could be opened and allow access to a ladder leading into the pit. A rather long hallway sprawled opposite of the chain door with more poor lighting illuminating the way to a door.
The girl heaved a burlap sack that was almost as big as she was over to a man who was counting bills by a folding table and smoking a cigarette. The girl herself had messy brown hair and green eyes. She wore a tattered and dirty grey hoodie, dark grey pants and no shoes or socks.
"Took you long enough." The man said, letting out a puff of smoke and tapping the ashes off of the cigarette. His voice sounded rough and coarse as he coughed ever so slightly. "You and that mutt ain't exactly the best kinda help for a gig like this."
"Well there's only so much an eleven year old girl can carry! You're lucky Aspen is as strong as he is!"
At the mention of his name, a white dog with a single line of black hair running along his sides resembling a scratch mark and one more line running from his tail to the top of his head and onto his eyes came running to the girl's side. The hair on Aspen's left eye resembled a moon while the hair on the right resembled a star. The dog let out an excited bark with his tail happily wagging as the little girl pet him with a serene smile.
"Whatever." The man grumbled. "Your group must be full of some real nutjobs if they're letting a kid run around for them. What's their name again, Dolores?"
"You better watch your tongue, Cain, Aspen and I are a lot tougher than you realize! You should also be thankful that the boss or even the rest of the Council aren't here to hear you say something like that. You wouldn't live to regret it, and the name of the organization is D.O.L.R.E.S.."
"Right, right, D.O.L.R.E.S., whatever. Here's your cut." Cain shrugged, handing the girl a small stack of bills that was rather paltry in comparison to Cain's stack.
"Um, excuse me?" The girl scoffed at the meager pay. "I think you're forgetting some!"
"You think I'm gonna let some homeless little skank get a bigger cut of my earnings?! This is MY GIG and you're lucky I'm even giving you anything! Now beat it! You're starting to make this place stink worse than it already does!"
The girl grit her teeth and clenched her fists as she stormed over to the man and jumped onto the table to meet him eye to eye.
"What is it with you grown-ups think that you can push me around and act like you know everything just because you're bigger than me!" She began as she pulled at Cain's face so that he was really looking at her. "Listen here, you chain-smoking, greaseball bastard! All it takes is one call. One call to the Council is all it takes for your book is burnt to a crisp and for you to end up out in the middle of nowhere, beaten half to death, in nothing but your tighty-whities! Do I make myself clear?!"
Cain gave the girl a look of absolute fury, but before he could act, the little ball of sass had already jumped off the table and headed for the vent she came in from with Aspen snarling at Cain. The dog's teeth bared, showing the man the beast's surprisingly sharp fangs. With one last curse at the child, Cain grumbled to himself and resumed counting his money, allowing Aspen to follow the girl.
The two crawled until they exited out of an opening at the side of the school with a dumpster blocking the sight of the vent. Once Aspen was outside, the girl reached into her hood pocket and pulled out an additional set of bills.
"Hehe, what an idiot!" She laughed as she resumed petting the dog. "Alright, Puppy, let's see here... two hundred and thirtyyyy seven! Either he put some of his own money in that stack or he's doing some overtime outside of this dump! Either way, we just scored some actual food for the week!" The dog yelped happily at the sight of his owner's wide eyes smile.
"Come on Aspen, I heard there's this new place at the mall that has the same fish you really like!"
The plot thickens! Looks like Cain is going to be in for a return on Aliyah's extended warranty! That strange duo of the girl and her dog look like they're definitely tougher than they look, especially since they seem to be art of a group called D.O.L.R.E.S.
Who or what is D.O.L.R.E.S. you may ask? You'll have to keep reading to find out!
