With a clear objective now set, how will our two heroes prepare for the upcoming battles ahead?
"Yes. I am looking for a specific Mamodo..."
The look on Kolm's face held a variance of emotion which Brendan could see as being a mix of concern, longing, and anxiety that had definitely piqued his curiosity. Heck, the entire story he had just been told gave him similar feelings. Two hundred super-powered beings scattered around the world in a massive free-for-all for the title of king. This was the sort of thing you'd see in comic books or one of those Japanese anime. It was all just so much to take in...
"So... who is this Mamodo that you're looking for?" Brendan asked, sipping a bit of the juice he had served. Kolm sat in silence for a moment before looking as though he was about to answer before the sound of a phone ringing interrupted him.
"Excuse me for a sec." Brendan asked, heading over to a house phone mounted on the wall close to the bedroom. Part of him wanted to silently curse the phone for ringing at such a horribly cliche time but since he lived alone normally, there was little reason why he couldn't answer it. "Hello?"
"Hey, Benny!" A female voice greeted cheerfully from the other end. "Hope I'm not interrupting you right now!"
"Uhh..." Brendan replied, looking over at Kolm who sniffed at the dinner in front of him for a moment before beginning to eat. "Well... I was just getting my, uh, new roommate settled in..."
"Roommate?!" The woman asked in excitement. "That makes this better then, I was hoping we could go to the mall tomorrow! I heard from JT that you guys have the day off so I was hoping we could hang out! You could bring your new friend and we could get him some new clothes and some good food to help him get settled in!"
Brendan looked over at Kolm again, this time the Mamodo noticing and looking back at him with a blank expression. Brendan looked over the man again, especially his outfit. Aside from his cloak, he could see him wearing a simple tan shirt and brown cloth pants with no shoes.
'Ah man, this guy looks like he just crawled out of a dumpster!' Brendan thought. 'A new outfit would definitely help him look less weird, but what would JT and Zoey think of him?'
"Hello, Brendan?"
"Y-yeah, sorry about that Zoey. I, uh- Yeah. Yeah, we'll be there tomorrow."
"Awesome! Can't wait to see you and meet your friend!"
With a silent sigh, Brendan hung up the phone after the other end disconnected. As he turned back to the table, he saw Kolm still looking towards him, his plate clean and glass empty.
"What was that?" He asked.
"That was a friend of mine. She invited me, or I suppose us, to go out to the mall." Brendan replied, the Mamodo recoiled in confusion at the answer.
"What do you mean by us, and what is a mall?"
"A mall is a large building where people go to shop. Do they have markets in your world?"
"Yes. The village I live in supplies the marketplace with the best fruit in the kingdom."
"Then that's essentially what a mall is. Just with everything inside one big building with more variety than what you might be used to."
"I see. But to what purpose am I going to be joining you?" Kolm asked.
"Well I can't exactly leave you here on your own. Plus this would be an opportunity for us to help you blend in with other people here so you don't end up causing a scene and maybe even find another Mamodo. You did say Mamodo are more or less drawn to each other, right?"
"I did indeed say that. But for what reason would I need to blend in with your people?"
"Look, even though a lot of crazy stuff does go on around here with some people. But there are no people in this world that have the same power that you do, and I'd rather not risk us getting into any trouble with the police like with what happened earlier." Brendan explained, the unamused expression on his companion's face told Brendan nothing, and yet everything, about how much Kolm understood or cared.
"Think of it as a way to prevent an enemy Mamodo ambushing us..."
"Very well..." Kolm sighed. "I suppose I will join you and your friends. However, if at any point we run into an enemy, we must face them."
"That's something else I wanted to talk about. We mentioned allying ourselves with other teams if a situation like that happens. We don't have to burn the book of every Mamodo we meet."
"That may be true, but we must also be wary of not letting our guard down. Many Mamodo are more than ready to stab allies in the back."
Brendan sighed again and placed a hand on his forehead in frustration. He had expected this; both Kolm's reaction and the point he was trying to make. In a game like this trust would be a very rare commodity, allies might be very worthwhile but getting back-stabbed could be dangerous and perhaps even deadly.
"Alright." Brendan said flatly. "I suppose we'll cross that bridge if and when we get to it. Just promise me you won't hurt the bookkeeper unless they really deserve it, can you do that?"
"You have my word." The Mamodo replied.
"Great." Brendan looked outside to see the sky had gone dark as the lights of several apartments and cars lit up the darkness of the city. The view was somehow serene for Brendan as it cleared his mind of the mess he was currently dealing with. It was then that the soreness from his ordeal earlier caught up with him. With a groan, the young man tried massaging some of the spots he had been hit as he went over to get an ice pack.
"You are injured?" Kolm asked.
"Just a bit sore after dealing with that kid. I'll be fine after taking it easy for a while. For now, let's just set up your bed." Brendan replied as he placed the ice on his shoulder for a moment before heading over to the couch and pulling it back, retracting the furniture into a bed before he headed over to a closet.
"It ain't the most luxurious thing to sleep on but it gets the job done." Brendan explained, placing a blanket on the couch-bed. "Knowing my friends, or rather one of them specifically, she'll be a bit late but I'm sure she'll be excited to meet you."
"Hmm..." Kolm approached the furniture in intrigue before laying on it. "It feels similar to what I have back in my home so I suppose this will be fine. But I have never seen a wide throne like this transform into a bed such as this."
"I wouldn't exactly call it a throne, but thanks I guess." Brendan laughed as he went to wash the used dishes.. "Guess there's a lot of new things you're going to be seeing tomorrow."
"I suppose there is." Kolm replied as he looked outside the window as Brendan got ready for bed. The thought of the Mamodo he was looking for still stuck in his mind.
"Alright, well, I'm heading to bed. If you need anything just knock, I guess." Brendan stated.
"Sleep well. We will need as much energy as possible for the battles up ahead."
"Right." Brendan moaned. "One Mamodo down, one hundred and ninety-eight to go..."
Brendan closed the door to his room and collapsed onto his bed, this was officially the weirdest day of his life part of him wished it was just a dream but he knew it was far too real. Thoughts of what JT and Zoey would think of Kolm and if they would even believe his story. Should he even tell them? Even if he did what if something happened to them?
He wasn't sure how he would be able to sleep with all of these thoughts spiraling inside his mind. Whether it was because of the comfort of his bed after such a long day but soon the young man drifted off to sleep.
While his bookkeeper slept, Kolm stared up a the ceiling, alone with his thoughts.
'One hundred and ninety-eight, and amongst those is you. Rest assured, I will find you and make sure that it is you who wins in the end.'
With one deep breath, Mamodo with the bronze book shut his eyes for the night.
The sound of a soft but forceful knock on Brendan's bedroom door caused the young adult to stir in his sleep before he finally sat up and looked at his clock.
'It's five-thirty in the morning... Don't tell me he's up already...' Brendan thought as he groggily opened the door. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw Kolm standing at his door with a wide awake look in his eyes.
"You slept in a bit so I decided to wake you up." Kolm said sternly.
"Slept in?" Brendan responded. "It's not even six in the morning, nobody's really awake yet!"
"In my village, adults that work in the fields must awaken at the first sign of morning light. It helps us get the most out of our day."
Brendan looked at the Mamodo as if he had just sprouted four more arms. The more he looked at Kolm though, the more his words made sense, considering the natural muscle Kolm had. With yet another groan, Brendan relented.
"Alright, alright, let me just take a shower and I'll get breakfast ready. You want anything specific?"
"Anything is fine."
"Cool. Gimme a few minutes and I'll get to it." Brendan said as he grabbed a towel from his closet and headed over to the bathroom. As he stepped into the shower and turned on the cold water to help him wake up, Brendan took some more time to think.
'Man this guy is intense, he might look like a homeless guy but he definitely looks like he works hard. Hopefully he doesn't freak out anyone before, during, or after we meet up with JT and Zoey and I definitely hope he doesn't scare those two especially! But this is all definitely real... I have to deal with almost two hundred monsters like him and that kid... And they're all over the world too. If I'm going to do this then at the very least the semester is almost over. I don't want to do it this way but I definitely have to deal with this as it comes, especially when it comes to Kolm. If I tick him off I might not even live to see the end of the semester. What if some innocent person accidentally makes him mad too? We had to deal with the police yesterday, what if I go to jail?! I can't have that happen! I don't even have my Associate's yet!'
Brendan shook his head and slapped himself to regain his composure.
'I shouldn't be thinking like this. Even if I have to take things as they come right now, I still have my friends, my job, and my home.'
Turning the shower off, Brendan dried himself off and got dressed before exiting the room. Breakfast consisted of simple omelettes and coffee which Kolm seemed to recognize faster than the food from last night, though he wolfed it down just as quickly. Time seemed to pass fairly quickly despite the early hour the two woke up at. Just slightly after the clock struck 11, Brendan and Kolm prepared to exit the apartment, the former wearing a navy blue t-shirt and black jeans with grey sneakers and an olive green backpack.
"Alright." Brendan announced. "The city's big but getting to the mall from here is about a twenty minute walk. I'll keep your book in my bag so I can get to it quickly in case we run into another Mamodo."
"Understood." Kolm nodded. "Though I must apologize as I had neglected to mention one thing last night. The majority of Mamodo look human, just as I appear to, however some look more humanoid than others. Some may have one major feature that differentiates them from your species while others may look like animals."
"So there could be a Mamodo that looks like a dog, or a bird, or like another person?"
"Precisely. You must always remain on guard."
"This is New York." Brendan chuckled. "You kind of always have to be on guard here."
With one last deep breath, Brendan opened the door with a feeling of anxiety and a bit of excitement; for him, the battle had officially begun.
The walk to the mall was quick, just as Brendan said it would be. Kolm looked at the building in awe as it sprawled the wide area as far as he could see. Brendan looked around through the crowd of people entering and exiting the mall for his friends.
"Yo, B!"
Brendan bumped fists with his friend as he walked up to the two. His coworker wore a white long sleeved shirt with a black drawing of the side profile of a man with the word 'Legacy' under it, blue jeans, gold sneakers and a black cap with NY in white letters on it.
"Hey, JT. Glad you could make it. You seen Zoey?"
"Nah, not yet, she said she'd be here though." JT explained as he looked over to Kolm. "You Brendan's new roommate? Name's Jayvon but you can call me JT."
JT offered a fist bump to Kolm who looked at it in a bit of confusion before returning the fist bump.
"Heyyyyy!"
The three men looked over to see a young woman that looked to be somewhere around 19 or 20 heading over to them. Her hair was clearly dyed green but it looked to be well done though one could still see just a slight hint of her naturally blonde hair underneath it. She wore a yellow t-shirt with elbow-length sleeves, light blue jeans and yellow sneakers.
Her eyes immediately went to Kolm, with the Mamodo able to see the joy and wonder in her eyes.
"WOW!" She exclaimed, shaking Kolm's hand. "You must be Brendan's roommate, you're a lot bigger than I imagined! I'm Zoey, nice to meet you!"
"Well met." Kolm replied. "My name is Kolm."
"Kolm?" Zoey asked. "That sounds exotic! Where are you from? You look like you're from somewhere with a lot of mountains or farms."
"Uh, yeah." Brendan interjected. "He's, um... a distant cousin of mine from Norway. He's studied a lot of English before coming here but he's more used to the country life. He's here to see what the city's like and I offered to let him stay with me for a while."
"Aww, that's so sweet!" Zoey squeaked. "Well, he definitely looks like a country boy, but a new set of clothes really helps someone adjust to the city! So let's go!"
Grabbing his hand, Zoey hurried into the mall with Kolm in tow.
"That girl really needs to lay off the coffee." JT shook his head.
"I just hope Zoey doesn't drive him crazy..." Brendan added with a laugh as the two followed their friend.
The inside of the mall proved to be more interesting to Kolm than the outside was. He had realized Brendan was right when he said that this mall had many more things than Kolm had been expecting and part of him wanted to look everywhere. However that wasn't entirely possible with the excited girl that was almost literally dragging him everywhere.
"Okay, first things first." Zoey began, finally letting Kolm go from her grip as she closed her left eye and put her hands together like they were a makeshift camera. "If we're going to get you some new clothes, we need to know what suits your style."
"Perhaps it would be best if we stick with something simple." Kolm suggested.
"Simple's good." JT replied. "But trust us, we'll make sure you look good. Oh, gimme a sec, I think I see something that might look good on you."
"I'm with them." Brendan added as JT headed into one of the stores. "You've seen that I like simple too, but these two know what makes a good outfit."
"Very well..." Kolm relented as he looked around a bit more. One thing that caught his eye was what appeared to be a teenager looking at him with a stern focus in his eyes and some sort of remote control in his hands. Next to him was a large blue bird that appeared to have a set of feathers on top of its head that vaguely resembled a pompadour hairstyle. The bird kept its head forward but stared at Kolm from the corner of its eye. From its neck it had a sign that said 'Science Project: Do not touch!'. Once the two noticed that Kolm was looking back at them, the boy turned away and appeared to use the remote to control the bird and have it walk away.
"Hey, you alright?" Brendan asked, looking in the direction Kolm had just been staring at.
"I fear we may have just been spotted by an enemy." Kolm replied.
"What, here?! But we can't just fight them with all these people around!"
"Is there anywhere in this 'mall' that is less populated?"
"Well there's the two parking lots here, but I don't want to risk damaging people's property in one of them and the other is closed for construction." Brendan answered.
"The closed off area may be our only chance to avoid any unnecessary harm." Kolm stated.
"Right." Brendan sighed. "Well we still need to lure them over there, and I can't just abandon my friends either."
"Our enemy does not appear to want unnecessary damage to these innocents either. Otherwise they would have just attacked the moment they spotted us."
"Well if they're following us then maybe we just need to make sure Zoey and JT are away from us once the fight starts."
"Heyyy, guys I think you might like these!" Zoey suddenly called out as she waved to the two from one of the stores, JT was standing with her carrying an excessive amounts of clothes that the two had picked out.
As the four finally exited the store, Brendan and JT had several bags containing their purchases while Kolm now had a completely new outfit on which consisted of a plain white t-shirt underneath a light brown jacket, dark brown jeans and black work boots. Zoey was once again looking over Kolm like a mother who had just dressed her child.
"Well, it's not the fanciest set of clothes, but it's a step in the right direction. We have your nicer clothes saved for another time anyway!"
"Man, these are going to look fire on you!" JT added. We ain't gonna be dragging all of these around with us all day though. Let me put everything in my car."
"You finally signed off on it?" Brendan asked.
"Yeah boy! I don't need the bus anymore! I can get mad about traffic by myself now!" JT laughed as he took all the bags and headed to the parking lot. The sound of a stomach growling caught the attention of the remaining three.
"Oops." Zoey giggled. "Sorry, I went light on breakfast today." Seizing the opportunity, Brendan spoke up.
"Why don't you go ahead and look for good spot for lunch, I'll show Kolm around a bit more and then you can text us when you've found someplace nice."
"Can do!" Zoey said, hurrying over to the food court. As she went, Brendan spotted the boy with the remote watching them again, the large bird he was with tried walking robotically forward though its eyes were also locked onto him and Kolm.
"Alright, let's move." Brendan said in a low, but stern tone. The two hurried over to a section of the mall that was blocked off by tape that was clearly labelled as being under construction. Looking around, Brendan was able to see that the construction workers were not there nor were any people that they could see watching them. Quickly, the two ducked under the tape and ran into the unfinished parking lot. The lot would have been a three-story addition to the building but the upper floors were not yet complete, making the parking lot look like an empty aircraft hangar with various support beams marked for where the structure would be supported.
"Alright, this place is definitely empty." Brendan stated. "Let's hope we can get this done as quickly and painlessly as possible."
"Yes, let's do that!" A young man's voice rang out. The two looked up to see the boy that had been following them with a baby blue book in his hands, his avian companion no longer pretending to be a robot, but instead flying in the air right behind him. "I didn't expect to find another Mamodo so quickly, but I'm more than ready to take you two down!"
"Oh how utterly delightful!" The bird chirped, surprising Brendan, who was not expecting it to be capable of speech. "My first opponent and the first Mamodo who's book I will burn as I begin my wondrous ascension to glory!"
With a gulp and a bead of sweat coming from the side of his head, Brendan pulled out the bronze book as Kolm readied himself.
"Alright." Brendan said. "Here we go!"
Cliffhanger!
This chapter is a bit longer than the previous two, though they are meant to be mostly seen as an introduction to the story. Now we're getting a bit deeper in so get ready for more action! I look forward to any feedback you all may have and I'll do my best to learn from it. Until then!