Authors Note: So don't worry, Zatch and Allies' actions in the Mamodo World will return eventually, but for now, we will concentrate on the Main story characters. To those new to my storytelling, it is a pleasure to have you on board. I hope you will like the tale I weave in this narrative. Technically, it is a two-sided story, with the first side concentrating on the newer generation Mamodo characters and the other on how Zatch tries to figure out the mystery of the 50 irregular spell books and how they were able to break into the King's Festival. Also, welcome to the new year, everyone x3.

To those who stick around, I only post on Thursdays and Fridays, though not every week, as I do have to work. lol. At any time, if there is a massive gap of time, check out my profile page, which I update monthly about things going on with updates on the stories at hand. Also, welcome to the new year x3.

Extra Note: HOLY HELL... Ahem, I didn't expect the prologue to get so many views so irking fast.

P.S.A I hope to see some reviews, and remember to leave a like or follow if this story hooks ya x3. Be safe out there, fellow writers/readers. Also, is it just me, or has the wave of "Hi, I like your story. Reach out to me to make art" scam folk gotten a lot wilder in the past two months o3o? Please be cautious and do not respond/react to these profiles, fellow Writers. They are scam accounts.

Zatch Bell: The Silver Star

The Broken Starry Telescope Arc

Chapter 1: The Archer of the Stars

Year: 3000 / Month: March / Time passed since the beginning of the King's Festival: 2 Months Ago...

The human world hadn't advanced as much as people expected in the last century. Flying cars are still not a thing; teleportation hasn't been made a reality; space travel has made it to Mars, though the concept of Terraforming is still a pipe dream. Medicine has significantly advanced, yet nowhere near a perfected state; a lot of harm done to the planet is still in the works of being undone, and frankly, humanity is still divided, though in a better position of peace than it has been in a long time. Atop that, most people usually joked about the past, thanking that things never took the strange futuristic turn people expected with the weird chrome vision of all things being shiny.

With all that said, things were still known to be an influx of change, a lesson well learned by one individual currently walking the bright yellow sidewalks of Pulley, Washington. A rather average, ruffled mess, brown-haired nineteen-year-old was trying to block the sun from his already baggy eyes, shielding his grey-colored orbs from the wrath of the sunny day. The lean caucasian individual was slow, though, and if one were to look closer, notably dangerously close to being too skinny, potentially from a lack of eating. The sidewalk he was traversing was one he had walked many a time to and through which each hologram or real sign and digital board was known down to the smallest detail in his mind that even a tiny change would have been locked down in his sights in a millisecond.

As he neared a bus stop near the four-way street section, he lowered his hand, getting a perfect view of the hillside port town. Pulley was a vibrant brick-based structural town mixed with a fishing town seafood ecosystem and an artistic, cultural vibrancy aesthetic. It was topped with a very successful college town income from Pulley University, a leading Astronomy school in the USA.

The people were very hospitable and nurturing, with the town holding a school charm to its streets where one could walk all the way down, witnessing beautiful mural-colored buildings all the way down to the lively fish market. All the vibrancy, joys, and community charm were ash to the young man's mind. He felt disconnected from it all, really. In truth, part of him... was starting to hate, but in the same mind, he knew it didn't deserve those thoughts. No one or anything else had done him wrong here, but each time he saw something in the realm of passion and driven effort... he felt sick to his stomach.

"Caleb, is that you? I haven't seen you in a hot minute... HEH..," a voice called out to the teenager as another teen noticed the near sickly boy having tried to catch up to them. They were shocked when Caleb bolted down the road, leaving the bystanders vexed. Having witnessed the scene, a few other teenagers caught up to their friend, patting him sympathetically on the shoulder.

"That's right. You just got back from your overseas studies, didn't you, Robby? Been gone for what a year now," one of the girls asked, causing the short lime green dyed-haired teen fingers drenched in gothic jewelry with a skull lip piercing to turn to the group in confusion, raising an eyebrow.

"Ya. I was working the solar pillar project in Mexico. Kept me really busy to the point I had to go no contact for a few months," Robby admitted hesitantly, rubbing his head, confused as to why his best friend had bolted at the very sound of his voice and why he looked sickly for that matter. Yet when he turned back to the group, he was met with many uncomfortable looks everywhere but him. As if something big had happened, Robby turned to them in full in his black jeans and short-sleeved shirt with his signature burning skull logo on it.

"You didn't hear what happened six months ago then, have you?" The girl asked weakly.

...

Caleb kept running until it felt like he would collapse, so much so that he had caused some minor chaos running across roads without looking while moving traffic. Thankfully, he had enough time to halt before nearing him. Yet he didn't care as he looked up, feeling like he could throw up. It was Saturday, and he needed to update the log on time. He looked down, his hands latched onto a star-tracking calendar folder. When he turned around, he didn't see any sign of Robby... good that... that wasn't something he could be distracted by now.

He wasn't even sure if he could look at Robby the same way anymore; it would be better for him to be a memory of the times before it happened. With sluggish, bright red baggy pants and a silver shirt, he dragged himself towards his destination, Pulley University. He could see the state's seaside down the road with a few boats out and about near the harbor, tugging along like they always had. The University itself was not too far off in the distance, being settled around a major cliff plot of land. Well, the school itself was safely on the more solid ground, but there were notable buildings up the cliff.

Each building was rather well simplified in a red sand color scheme mixed with brown edges and ends. The school colors were obviously red and brown, as was notable in all the buildings that made up the popular college. Each was, however, diverse in designs, matching the programs they belonged to. Given the insane amount of astronomy fields, it was like looking at a space-faring terraforming community. Until you notice the more gothic-designed school dorms all the way in the back, further from the cliff itself.

Caleb found his eyes latching onto the dorms for quite a while before he turned to the most essential structure. Those mentioned before didn't matter, though. The most important was the one on the top of the hill nearing the cliff... the Pulley Telescope. The imposing telescope was one of the most advanced today, a large metal structure, unlike the more brick-layer buildings of the primary school, vastly as tall as a lighthouse. Many scientific celebrities and leads in the field have helped fund its creation and occasionally used it for significant events.

It was used for several fundraiser projects, a few of which Caleb had helped with... he immediately closed his eyes, shaking off those thoughts. He didn't want to remember that bit, and right now, he would crumble if he did. As he reached the college's main gate, he noticed an unusual collection of people past the steely rails. Turning in, he was surprised by a police presence further out, as many people were currently around the central fountain. He paused in shock at the paved area around the fountains, destruction ripped apart by spikes of earth jutting out and abnormal wavy deep cuts in the ground all around. The Fountain itself was also strangely weak, appearing to have difficulty pushing up water for an unknown reason.

The police were baffled by it all as the campus staff and college residents looked at it in pure confusion and wonder. Though distracted for a moment himself, Caleb was about to move on before bumping into an older student rather abruptly, being nearly knocked onto his ass. Caleb looked up, noticing a rather irritated linebacker-sized male student in full college uniform. Much like Caleb himself, it seemed the Filipino male hadn't slept much as of late and seemed rather filled with an intense hatred of something.

The tackler in question looked at Caleb, and for a moment, that hatred seemed to dissipate with a half-hearted apology before running off with a rather big military green-sized duffle bag that seemed to shack rather aggressively with each step. Once he was gone, Caleb pulled himself up slowly as the people around hadn't seen what had happened. Not caring about it himself, Caleb moved on toward the hill, taking one last look as he picked up the pace.

With everyone congregating near the entrance, it didn't take long to make his way up the hill to the Telescope facility. There were still the students and technicians inside, but most of them just gave gentle hello and nods to Caleb's presence; with none trying to stop him, he got to the stairs pretty quickly, getting to the highest floor where the main controls were. As he entered, he picked up on some noises... It seemed the telescope was busy and abuzz with activity today... that's what he got for not being here yesterday when it would be dead.

The room was filled with advanced tracking tech, star maps, desks, boards with plans along with schedules, a coffee machine, and numerous other devices. Yet the star of the show was the telescope guiding controls and the massive computer board connected to them. Ignoring everything else around him, Caleb went straight for the board, taking an ID card out and inserting it into the machine as he typed in a password. Within minutes, he started to pull up last night's imagery of the night sky as he laid out the star tracking calendar, which only had two more pages to be updated.

It would be over soon... he just had to wait two more weeks. Fourteen more entries, and then it would be done, allowing whatever leads up after to be free from any chains of promises. As he mapped everything out, an aggressive hand suddenly pulled him away from the drawings, turning him towards a rather intense-looking adult. Quickly standing six feet, imposing Caleb's five-foot-nine-inch stature, the teen's grey eyes locked with the annoyed, analytical blue eyes of someone in full lab coat scientific dressings. With sleek, combed blonde hair, the scientist looked over at Caleb before speaking about the star map projections on the screen.

"You're definitely not one of mine, and though you wear... the pants of the college, you're clearly not a student with the rest of your wares. It's rather illegal to enter a college facility without authorization or the credentials for school programming," the unknown scientist exclaimed, taking a step forward with the intent to apprehend the teen, as he added.

"Just as it's rather serious to steal someone's clearance card. The consequences of one action are very bitter lessons to learn, a young man. It's too bad you chose to learn that today. Cause this is definitely not you," the Scientist nabbed the card in the console, revealing a face that wasn't Caleb's but of a female student. Caleb was frantic when the man grabbed the card, shooting to take it back. The taller man lifted it into the air, using the action to grab Caleb's hand in a painful vice grip rather roughly.

"Guards we have..."

"Hold your horses fancy pants. He's one of mine, so please let him go, Dr. Ragnet. However, he will get a stern lecture for using someone else's ID. Just cause you accidentally swapped it with someone else's does not give you permission to be impatient," a woman in her late thirties with long dark gray hair tied in a ponytail interrupted the situation, nabbing the card from Dr. Ragnet as she slapped his gripping hand, causing him to wince and let go of Caleb. Scowling at the woman's audacity to strike him like a child, Dr. Ragnet mumbled something momentarily before he halted his response at the sight of the woman hitting Caleb a few times on top of the head with the same card.

"I see. I wasn't aware you had a kiddy program, but I should have mentioned that. Besides, the telescope has been scheduled for fully legitimate research use only today. He shouldn't be here regardless if he does have... some leeway Dr. Sinclair," Dr. Ragnet "politely" put it to the hazel-eyed astronomer who was also dressed in full lab coat attire except hers was of the red and brown coloring of the schools design. Giving Caleb one last piercing look, the man with a mission walked away, leaving his associate to handle the "problem". Once he was out of sight, Dr. Sinclair hit him with the card again, causing him to flinch as she didn't stop, causing him to use his hands like a shield.

"Okay, okay, okay, I should have called back. I am sorry...," Caleb pleaded weakly, not having the strength to really resist or fight back.

"Damn, right, you should have. You didn't show up yesterday. Had me all worried when you didn't answer my calls about why you hadn't arrived for your weekly visit," Dr. Sinclair seethed through her teeth, finally halting her assault on the poor boy; having punished him enough for now, she sighed a concern very evident as she looked him over. He was getting frail again.

"You promised you would eat more!" she exclaimed, giving Caleb a moment to collect himself. He stared at the floor, not wanting to meet her gaze. She put a hand on her sides, revealing a somewhat curvy form hidden behind her coat.

"I know... I will," he spoke, uncertain if he was being honest about that, as he walked back to the computer, closing the calendar map and turning to her. He refused to meet her eyes... he knew it would hurt to see her concern. He reached his hand out towards her for the card. She was stern for a few minutes, expecting him to give her eye contact, but when he didn't show any signs of causing people to notice, she again sighed in defeat, looking at the picture of the girl to who the ID belonged. She defeatedly closed her eyes, gently placing the card in his hands.

"For the rest of this week and next week, that fancy guy has full use of the facility. So best not to make a daily visit, okay? If you gimme a call next week, I can get you in for a night view, okay?" She spoke, making it clear how this rough exchange was going to be around for a while, making his daily viewings rough if he didn't plan ahead... and worse interaction with others to get what he wanted.

"...Fine," he took the card and was about to leave before Dr. Sinclair.

"Hey, mind getting in the seat before you go and helping me adjust the lens. The close-range team said they were noticing a lot of blur yesterday. Don't fix it now. It could make the next few days unable to get data for the long-range views you love so much," with a bit of resentment, having been caught by the good doctor, he knew what she meant. Either help out, or she will get more push. A tiny bit of interaction for the price of keeping his promise.

"Alright," Caleb mulled, moving towards the observation chair near the telescope's main screen feed. Once he was positioned, the team could be heard pushing a few buttons as the chair and telescope started to rise. The dome top started to split, and the telescope expanded out.

"We're going to use the Noviria 7 construction sight for imagery," Dr. Sinclair called out to Caleb as the telescope lowered down and turned towards the town. As the whole room moved, Caleb's thoughts were blank momentarily. Once he heard the name of the site, they would be using his thoughts, which tilted to Robby. Robby had been cut off on contact from the rest of the world from his passion project... things might have been easier if he hadn't, but Caleb didn't hold that against him. He shook his head as he returned to the site and task at hand. Robby was a passionate friend; in fact, his best friend was obsessed with improving clean energy, especially solar energy. Yet that was why he couldn't dare to look Robby in the face... that passion could make him hate Robby.

Robby had been cut off on contact from the rest of the world from his passion project... things might have been easier if he hadn't, but Caleb didn't hold that against him. He shook his head as he returned to the site, and task at hand.

Noviria 7 was a solar panel facility aiming to make one of the most popular ideas in the field. Solar pillars. An all-around solar paneled-infused pillar with the goal to constantly be charged by solar energy no matter where the sunlight shined. It was a positive idea, and thanks to the project in Mexico's proof of concept, many places in the world had offered to attempt some smaller versions before the big one took off in a few months to test out any potential bugs on a smaller scale.

As the screen started to get feedback, Caleb was indeed met with a blurry field of vision. Pressing a few buttons, he adjusted the equations for Dr. Sinclair, who quickly made more advanced adjustments. Little by little, the blur started to clear out as Caleb heard some people talking.

"Did you hear about the anime expo downtown? apparently, it's going to clog the main road for a bit?"

"Ohhhh ya my man, I got tickets."

"Why? You don't even like anime?"

"Dude, have you seen the chicks that cosplay for that stuff? Heaven set, my man."

"Until you try to talk them up, and they realize you're a poser, thus deflating the god amongst men dream you think you will be achieving."

"You think I can't sell myself off... ah fuck, your right; I'll sink the moment I open my big mouth."

"No doubt. Well, I heard some popular cosplayers will be there. apparently, he's got a kick-ass wolf robot he uses with his cosplay."

"Eh, fair enough. An advanced robotic dog might heal the pain of my inability to not think things through..."

"You're still going to try to hook up with a cosplayer, aren't you?"

"You know it."

"And this is why you'll forever be alone."

"Micky, Ronney, stop blabbing. I really don't want to hear Dr. Ragnet complain again and threaten to kick me and my team out of my own damn facility," Dr. Sinclair shouted, shutting up the two males who apologetically got back to their assigned tasks. As Caleb returned to the screen, he was met by a rather odd sight, not of a blurry image; no, the imagery was perfect. Caleb could see the whole construction sight with human and robotic workers hard at work.

No, what caught the teen's sight was a girl sitting atop the piled-up pipes... seeming to stare straight at him. She had mid-length bright pink hair with two strange red half-orb-like accessories, one on each side. She had delicate facial features, and what he swore held ruby-red eyes like a camera lens. With a red cloak covering the rest of her body, it was hard to discern any other details... was she a cosplayer? Caleb hadn't heard when the event was happening, so it was possible, right?

Yet as she sat on the pipes, looking like a mysterious character from a book cover, Caleb was bothered by her eyes, which seemed to be peering into his soul. She just stared off into the distance, never moving, right into Caleb's eyes. For a moment, he swore she was, in fact, making eye contact with him, but he felt bothered by the idea.

That wasn't possible, though. The more he looked at the screen, the more he felt an unnatural pull forcing him to keep eye contact. He was jolted by the sudden feeling of human contact on his left shoulder. He had not noticed that he and the chair had been lowered back down, and he only had a moment to catch himself from making eye contact with Dr. Sinclair, who wrinkled her nose at his... understandable rudeness.

"Everything okay," she looked at the screen, seeing the construction project at work, wondering what he had been so fixated on. As Caleb himself turned back to the screen, the girl was gone... it had clearly been in his imagination. No one sane would let a civilian onto a construction sight looking like they stepped out of a fantasy book. Rubbing his eyes, he stood up.

"Ya. Listen, Dr. Sinclair... I'll call tomorrow. Just gimme a little more time. I'll get myself situated eventually," he promised, saddening Dr. Sinclair as the words Caleb had used nonstop as of late escaped meekly from his lips... each time, it was more obviously a lie than the next.

"Okay... hey... did you hear from your parents yet," she asked.

"You know I won't," Caleb addressed, getting up as he walked away.

"Damn, that kid used to be so full of energy. Cassy tells me he hasn't been seen on any group community lead projects since... well, you know," Ronny spoke up behind Dr. Sinclair as he watched the teen leave.

"He just needs time and some support. He'll figure himself out. We just got to be there for him when he does," Dr. Sinclair sighed, hoping she was right. As Caleb returned to the open, the sun again assaulted his eyes as he headed down the hill.

"Congrats on the government contract Bosch. I can't believe you'll graduate a year early with an entire career red carpeting towards you... I still can't believe Isagani tried to rip your project down to the letter, though... that's messed up... It goes to show how desperate people can get when their grades are on the decline," some students were talking rather loudly, as it seemed the excitement of the bizarre scene at the gates had cooled down. Barely able to see, he saw a group of technicians and students passing by, circling around a rather pampered male in the center. From the looks of the robot arm logos on the shoulders of their jackets, they belonged to the robotics field.

"Ya, well, when you talk all big and can't deliver, the most despicable step is to leech off someone else. I thought a lot more highly of him, though he was the teacher's favorite after all... guess his luck ran out. Though that's not a guarantee on the contract, I gotta put my money where my mouth is, though that won't be a problem thanks to last night," the voice emitting from the popular student was laced with sickening layers of undertones. However, that didn't mean much many voices were...

"Hey kid, you dropped this," the very voice Caleb was gauging was disturbingly close as a hand offered up a pen that had fallen out of Caleb's pant pocket.

"Thanks," he says, eating his own words. Caleb didn't look the good simaritan in the face that he had gauged wrongly. So that's how out of wack he was now? Caleb could usually get a feel for someone on their voice alone, but even that talent had slipped into an unhealthy standard.

"No prob. Spread the word tomorrow; Bosch Gallen is going to spin some heads tomorrow," he laughed triumphantly with his posse getting hyped with him. That drive of passion for what the next day brought... made Caleb Archer, the broken spirit, sick to his stomach.