Confrontation time! Get ready for another battle and some more important character interactions. This will also likely be the last "set-up" chapter, after this chapter every major character aside from the main antagonist(s) for this arc will have been introduced.

"I'm surprised! I didn't expect you to be so prepared for your first day!"

Brendan couldn't help but blush just a little bit at the praise as he smiled at Ms. Steinberg.

"Thanks! But I'm really just doing what I've been taught to do in school!"

"Well it's nice to see a college student so excited to teach. I can give you a ride home if you need one." The teacher stated, Brendan politely shook his head.

"No, thank you, but I was hoping to ask the principal about the after-school program and if they need any other help."

"That's very nice of you to offer! Well, I'll be seeing you on Friday then." Brendan waved at the teacher as she left. Once she was far enough away, the young man hurried over to the closet leading to the fight pit, taking his book out along the way. As he arrived at the door, he found the three of the four students there waiting for him.

"Took you long enough." Hannah scoffed.

"Where's Adrian?" The student teacher asked.

"Right here." The group all turned to see the young scholar approaching them, both Windsor and Kolm right behind him. "So how exactly are we going to go about this? We can't exactly just barge in there and ask whoever's doing this to stop."

Brendan brought a hand to his chin as he thought for a moment. Kolm, however, appeared to like the direct approach, as evident with the crack of his knuckles. This sentiment seemed to be shared with Josh, with a cocky grin growing on his face.

"Why not?" The brash student asked. "We've got four pissed off teenagers, a grown-up, and two Mamodo all ready to kick some butt! What's stopping us?"

"I get where you're coming from, but there's too much risk involved in doing that. We don't know if this person's working alone or has a group with them or if they have weapons. I don't want any of you getting hurt while we're down there." Brendan explained. Hannah raised an eyebrow as she gave the student teacher a skeptical look.

"We basically tried to kill you earlier, you do remember that, right?" She asked, her skeptical expression now being met with Brendan's firm one.

"I know." He said flatly. "I'm also aware that you two have an issue with the teachers here. Look, it's not my place to ask why you two feel that way, and I'm not here to be your friend, but I'm here to help both the teachers and the students. That means doing what I can right now to put a stop to what's going on with these fake books. Now come on, let's get this guy."

Aliyah's looked at the man in starry-eyed awe as the other students nodded. The seven of them entered the room, it was fairly small but large enough to fit them all, various cleaning supplies lined the walls and a broom, mop and bucket were in the corner. What the group approached though was the second, unmarked door at the end of the room. Once entering this second room, Brendan and the Mamodo saw the school's heating system, sending hot water throughout the school via a set of pipes sprawling the ceiling. A hallway went further into the depths of the basement and the three followed the students down the hallway and to an old door at the end of the hall. The sound of excited voices growing louder as they made their way down the hall. Hannah grabbed the doorknob and turned to face the others.

"Alright, this is the place." She began. "So here's what I say we do; Walker and Adrian will take on this creep and anyone he might have with him, they're the only ones who still have Mamodo that can fight. Josh and I will see if he has everyone's money stashed somewhere in there and Aliyah will tell everyone about the fake books."

The group nodded before opening the door and entering The Pit. The large room was populated by mostly teenagers either talking about their school day, drama, or the books everyone was infatuated with. Some of the students appeared to have just purchased one of the fakes and was excitedly showing their friends. A large line had formed leading to a desk with a staircase behind it. Sitting at the desk was a Caucasian man that was a bit on the hefty side. He had short brown hair and a five-o'clock shadow wearing a brown jacket over a dirty blue shirt and grey sweatpants with brown boots.

"That's him!" Aliyah announced, pointing at the man. "That's the guy who sold me the fake book!"

"Was there anyone else with him the last time you saw him?" Brendan asked.

"No, it was just him." Aliyah shook her head.

"Perfect, then that means no one's gonna care if we beat him!" Josh smirked. The group forced themselves to the front of the line, much to the dismay of the students waiting in line who audibly voiced their displeasure at those cutting or went pale at the sight of the student teacher. Adrian could hear some of the onlookers making snide remarks about how a dork like him could get a Mamodo while they haven't 'summoned their own' yet.

"Hey, if you want a book you gotta wait your turn!" The man said before noticing Aliyah, upon seeing the girl and the angry looks from the rest of the group, the man's eyes widened as he flipped the table upwards.

"No refunds, we're closed!" He shouted, springing to his feet and pulling out a lime green spellbook. "Oslo, get over here!"

A heavy clanking sound reverberated through the area as the two book wielders prepared themselves. A heavy-set Mamodo dropped down from the ceiling. It looked like an androgynous yellow robot with blue tinted glass on its abdomen, an unidentifiable liquid swishing around inside of it. The automaton's eyes gave off an ominous red glow as it looked at the gang.

"Halt." It spoke, it's voice also androgynous. "None shall harm Master Cain."

"Well tell your 'Master' that he shouldn't tell fake books!" Josh spat. The mention of the fakes stunned some of the other students.

"Fakes?!" Cain huffed. "Sounds like you're just mad you couldn't summon your Mamodo, kid! Or could you just not afford a book?"

"Oh they're definitely fakes." Hannah interjected. "We had our own, sadly they got burnt, but we still have two real books we can show for reference!"

"Give everyone their money back!" Aliyah demanded.

"I said no refunds!" The vendor hissed as he opened his book, but before he could recite a spell...

"Hold it!" Adrian spoke out. "If you want a fight, then I'll take you on. One on one in The Pit."

"What are you doing?" Brendan asked.

"Don't worry, I can handle this." Adrian assured, Windsor huffed with pride at his keeper's confidence. "You guys just check if he has everyone's money stashed somewhere."

"We can most definitely beat this ruffian!" The bird added. "After all, we're going to continue our wining streak!"

"Alright, it's your funeral." Hannah shrugged. The book seller grimaced and watched the heroes carefully as he and Oslo entered The Pit. The room fell silent as they watched the man look around the makeshift arena, the sound of his boots hitting the floor echoed along with the squishing of his foot hitting the puddles that still lingered. Oslo's eyes remained focused on Adrian and Windsor as the two followed them inside. Once all four of them were inside, Josh hurried over and removed the ladder before shutting the cage door. Brendan gave him and the other students a confused look.

"What?" Josh asked. "It's tradition!"

"Nobody's allowed out of the pit until they either give up or get get knocked out." Hannah explained. "In this case, I guess it's until someone's book gets burned. Come on, we've got more important things to worry about though."

"Right." Kolm nodded. "We still need to do something about these fake books."

"Okay." Brendan began. "Girls, you two go and get the books from everyone. Josh, you and I will search the table and get everyone's money back. I'll also have to be ready just in case Adrian and Windsor lose..."

"Right!" "I'm on it!" "Okay!" The three students agreed. All of the onlookers were completely focused on the fight in The Pit, their attention only shifting when the two girls approached them and requested the fake books. Kolm placed the table right-side up, allowing the three boys to search it and the floor around it for the students' money, though it was difficult with all the fake books strews about everywhere.

"Hey, I think I found some if it!" Josh exclaimed, taking out a small box that had been flung from the table. Brendan and Kolm walked over to look as the student opened it, revealing a small set of dollar bills. "Doesn't look like there's that much here though."

"Aliyah said he's been doing this for about a week now, that means he's probably already pocketed or spent some of the money already."

"So we can't really give everyone their money back..." Josh stated, the humanoid Mamodo huffed at the revelation.

"Hmph, then that just means we must make him suffer more for his sins!"

The door leading to the nearby staircase going outside opened, the scruffy looking girl entered the room with Aspen right behind her. The moment she saw the three searching the desk and heard the fight going on, her eyes immediately widened.

"A kid?" Josh let out before the girl slammed the door shut. Brendan's eyes furrows as Kolm placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Did you see what she was carrying with her?" The Mamodo asked.

"I did." Brendan nodded. "Josh."

"Yeah?"

"Give everyone who bought a book their money back. I'm going after that kid."

"Uh, okay." Josh shrugged. The remaining team headed for the staircase, forcing the door open and beginning their ascent up the stairs. The larger bodies of the two men allowed them to cover more ground more quickly. Brendan was able to catch a glimpse of the child as she opened another door at the top of the stairwell leading outside. As the two men reached the door, they saw the girl trip and fall just a short distance away from them. As she turned to see the two of them approaching her, the young girl began to panic as she reached for a sapphire blue book. Aspen ran to her side and growled at the duo.

"Woah woah woah." Brendan raised his hands in defense. "I don't want to fight you. I just want to talk."

"I don't!" The girl snapped. "You grown-ups are all the same! The second I say something you don't like you're just going to attack me, it always happens!"

Brendan's eyes widened as he could see the mix of fear and hate in the girl's face. She had the book in her hands, which were beginning to tremble. Without a spell being recited, Aspen lunged forward at Brendan, Kolm grabbed the pooch and shifted his position to where he had the dog's mouth clasped shut and used his body weight to keep the beast in place.

"Don't hurt him!" She pleaded.

"Then call off your Mamodo and answer the questions!" Kolm asserted.

"Let the dog go!" Brendan demanded, confusing his partner who gave raised an eyebrow at the man. The girl looked between the three of them, before relenting.

"Fine..." She grumbled. "Aspen, come." Kolm reluctantly released the dog, who slowly walked back over to his owner and kept a firm look on the two men. The girl sat on the ground, eyes focused on the pair as she tried petting Aspen for comfort.

"Alright, first thing's first." Brendan began. "What are you doing here? You look too young to be a high school student. Plus a fight pit is no place for a kid to be!"

"...My name is Emily." She answered, giving the student teacher a raised eyebrow. "I'm here to see the guy who's in that pit, and I think you should be more worried about why a school has a fight pit to begin with. "

"Believe me, I'm not happy about that fact and I'll see what I can do to handle that. Now why do you need to see him, is he hurting you in any way?"

"He... He pays me for bringing him those fake books you probably know about by now... and thankfully he's been smart enough to not lay a hand on me since both me and my bosses would kill him if he did."

"He pays you?" Kolm repeated.

"What do you mean 'your bosses'?"

"Hey, do I look like I have money?" Emily couldn't help but laugh. "A girl's gotta eat!" Her expression grew serious when she began to address Brendan's next question. "As for them, they're the ones supplying the fake books. The plan was that if more people have these fake books, it'll be easier for their people to actually go around and handle their business without attracting too much attention. At least I think that was their plan, they don't really tell me much aside from 'do this thing and don't ask too many questions'."

"But why have a child do this? You should be in school, with other kids your age! Not..." Brendan stopped himself, growing upset at Emily's appearance. "Not looking like you haven't had a good meal in weeks..."

Emily looked down with a sadness in her eyes that stunned Kolm. As she opened her mouth to say something, a black colored sphere rocketed into the ground between the four of them. The sphere burst upon impact and clouded the area in a black smoke. Emily could feel someone grab on to her.

"Hang on, we're getting you two out of here." A female voice whispered to her. As they coughed from the smoke, Brendan and Kolm fanned away as much of the smoke as they could before it finally faded, revealing that Emily and Aspen were gone...

"That child... for a moment she looked just like..." Kolm said softly.

"Like who?" Brendan looked at his partner with a curious expression as Kolm looked away.

"I-It's nothing... We should go and check on the others."

Brendan watched Kolm open the door going to the basement with concern before following him inside...

Adrian and Windsor had still been fighting Cain and Oslo as the confrontation outside had been going on. Various blue stains lined the walls of the pit as a result of the ongoing fight that joined the red, green and brown stains that already existed.

"Acido!"

Oslo's eyes lit up as a result of Cain reading the spell. The robot opened its mouth and spit out a blue glob of whatever substance was in its abdomen at Windsor. The bird flying along the perimeter of the arena, avoiding the splashes and sludge balls as they hit the walls and began staining them with a sickening sizzling sound. Just like his partner, Adrian ran to avoid the attacks.

As he avoided another glob, Adrian silently thanked the heavens that his opponent's attack pattern was rather easy to predict. He didn't know or want to know what the substance may have been but what he did know was that Oslo's attacks could only move straight forward. However, the same could be said for Windsor's spell... at least the one he had been using.

At the start of this fight Adrian had noticed that the second spell in his book had been unlocked, presumably after his victory over Josh. However, while he'd love to use this new spell, he had no idea what it would do. He couldn't risk hurting any of his peers, no matter how much they taunted and insulted him. Still, if he didn't use it then the four of them would continue this stalemate for who knows how long.

As Adrian looked over at the second spell once again, his face still full of hesitancy.

'This spell definitely sounds like it's defensive, but if it has a chance to redirect the attack back at them then we might have a chance. If it just sends it in a random direction we might hurt someone...'

"Acido!"

Adrian was nearly hit by another stray splash of the strange liquid with a quick reaction being the only thing that ensured his safety.

"Focus, Adrian!" Windsor called out, flying over to his right to avoid another chemical spit attack.

"What's wrong kid? Gettin' tired already?" Cain taunted. Adrian grimaced at the man's words as his eyes returned to his spellbook. The second spell now matching the same baby blue color as the first spell instead of the dark blue it previously held enticed him to recite it just to shut him and the onlookers up.

"Adrian, I'm not sure how much longer we can continue this childish back-and-forth." Windsor sighed, his breath a bit labored as he roosted by his bookkeeper's side.

"Acido!" Cain read, his Mamodo launching another attack that sped towards Adrian like a speeding water balloon. Adrian's book began to glow softly as he made his move.

"Uishiru!"

Windsor's eyes glowed baby blue as he opened his mouth, exhaling a tornado into the air in front of the pair. The gust of wind took the form of a large circular shield that spiraled even after Windsor stopped blowing out air. The acid attack hit the shield, but instead of stopping, the liquid was completely overtaken by the wind as it spiraled in a counter-clockwise direction. The wind shield almost looked as though a part of it had changed color from the white and grey it had started out as to having a portion of it turning an off-blue.

In an instant, the chemical rocketed out of the storm and back at the enemy with a nearly breakneck speed! However, Cain and his Mamodo jumped away before the attack could hit them, making another mark on the wall. The book peddler looked back at the missed attack with a smirk, Oslo looking at his master expectantly.

"Hah! Did you really think you had me there?" Cain asked as he looked back at Adrian, who had disappeared! "The hell?!" The man cursed as he and his partner looked around.

"Ventir!"

Another blast from Windsor descended upon Cain from above, blasting him in the abdomen and knocking him back with enough force for him to let go of his spellbook.

"Finish it, dude!" Josh shouted from the crowd, who had began to cheer and shout in excitement at the sight of the spellbook flying through the air.

"Ventir!" Adrian read again, Oslo let out a scream that sounded like a machine whirring as he watched Windsor let loose one last blast that struck the book directly. The burning literature fluttered through the air, embers from the flames drifting off into the air as pages tore themselves free from the flames only to burn into ashes in the air.

Oslo gave off a mechanized scream as it watched the book fall and ultimately land on the unsanitary floor of the arena before disappearing completely. Cain slowly rose back to his feet, rubbing his head in pain after the attack. The man gasped in shock when he realized he was no longer holding the spellbook, he looked around the caged area frantically only to discover the faint scorch mark the burned book left.

With a scowl and a grunt, Cain cursed to himself as he looked to the floor in defeat.

"Now." Adrian began. "Give everyone their money back!"

The book peddler looked back up at the student with anger with his hands balled up into fists.

"I'll make you pay for that, you little-"

"I do not think so!"

Everyone turned to watch Kolm jump down into the arena, Josh and Hannah watching from the now open gate as Brendan placed the ladder back by the door and climbed down to join his partner.

"You've already lost the battle." Kolm continued. "If you press on you will only hurt yourself."

"The police are on their way, too." Brendan added. "You're done."

"I'm sorry we couldn't get your money back..." Hannah said solemnly, looking at Aliyah with the first sympathetic look Brendan had seen her give all day.

"It's okay." The tan student replied with a sad smile. "At least he won't scam any more people. I... I just wish I actually had a Mamodo partner of my own, you know? I understand that it's not all fun and games. You guys are in a fight, after all. I just figured if I had one then maybe I wouldn't be so..."

"So... what?" Josh asked.

"So lonely." Aliyah looked down, her smile now completely falling into a frown. "My parents aren't exactly around much and Hannah's the only person I really talk to here at school. Even then I only stick with her because we've known each other since the first day of school." The students and Mamodo were silent, though the silence was quickly broken by the student-teacher.

"And look at you now." He began, giving the group a warm smile. "You have more friends by your side now and you've managed to work together as a team to stop a creep from hurting your peers. You all should feel proud of yourselves."

Adrian and Hannah were almost forced together by Josh, who brought them into a group hug with his arms over their shoulders. "Heck yeah! We kicked butt back there!" He said as Aliyah looked at Brendan with the same starry-eyed smile she wore earlier.

"So what do we do now?" Adrian asked, Brendan's expression grew serious as all eyes turned to him and Kolm, who appeared to be lost in his own thoughts.

"Well... there are some things I need to look into. That guy was apparently employed by someone and we're going to try and find out who. Until I do, you kids just focus on school and staying safe. I'll let you know when I find out anything."

Adrian and Aliyah waved Brendan and Kolm off as they exited the school. The four students and Windsor made their own way out of the school, content with their success (though Hannah was certainly still miffed about her book getting burnt).

"So, I guess I'll see you all tomorrow?"

"Not yet." A voice called out from behind them. The four students turned around to see the very same Asian girl who had been following Adrian and Brendan earlier in the morning.

"Oh, hey Asuka. What's up?" Aliyah greeted as the new girl's gaze was fixed solely on Adrian.

"I saw everything that happened back in The Pit and I know that Mr. Walker is involved. I want all the details." She explained, her tone cold as ice. Hannah huffed as she gave Asuka a nasty glare.

"Why should we tell you anything?"

"Because I'm sure the teachers and the principal would love to hear about a strange man selling things in the secret fight pit that was settled by a group of kids and a student-teacher who just started."

"Tch, teacher's pet..." Hannah scoffed, causing Asuka to grimace.

"If only you knew..." She sighed under her breath.

"So all you want is information?" Adrian asked. Asuka nodded, her gaze holding firm.

"Ten bucks." Hannah blurted out, Josh raised an eyebrow and grinned, excited to see what the response would be. Asuka's right eye twitched as she hesitantly reached into her pocket and pulled out the cash...

"There!" She huffed. "Now spill it!"

"Pleasure doing business with you!" Hannah smirked, taking the money while Josh watched on in awe while Aliyah was shocked. Adrian shook his head with a sigh while Windsor watched this entire transaction with an unsure and confused look. Both the bird and his bookkeeper were snapped at attention when Hannah addressed the bespectacled boy. "Adrian, you've been with Walker the longest, so you tell her."

"Fine, fine..." Adrian groaned before looking at Asuka. "So, here's what happened..."

As Adrian began to explain everything, a pair of purple colored eyes watched the students. The streetlights began to turn on as the sun began to set, revealing that the eyes belonged to a young girl with long, purple hair. The girl held a dark purple book spellbook close to her chest...

Ok so I sort of lied about all the major protagonists being introduced (but not exactly). We'll learn more about these new characters and what happened to Cain and Emily in the next chapter, so stay tuned!