Chapter 3 - Three-Way Battle

Zatch flopped down on the floor of Kiyo’s room next to the Vulcan 300. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about his newest friend. Yakune was a sweet little mamodo. But what did that mean? His mind kept flashing back to Kolulu and Golfore.
“She could be one of those mamodos that has a second soul,” he said to no one. “That means that if her human counterpart reads a spell, she could turn into a monster.” He considered the thought and then sat up. “What do you think, Vulcan 300?” Silence. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking.” He slammed back down on the floor, his blonde hair splaying across the wood.
“Hey, Zatch!” Kiyo called from downstairs. “You might want to see this!” There was a hint of panic in his voice. Zatch cocked his head, grabbed the Vulcan 300, and ran downstairs. Once there, he found Kiyo in front of the TV.
“What’s the matter, Kiyo?” he asked. “Oh! Don’t tell me my soaps have changed their time slots!!” He was panicking by this point. Kiyo shot him a grim look.
“No,” he huffed, “your precious soaps are fine.” He narrowed his eyes when Zatch gave a relieved sigh. He pointed to the TV. “It’s what’s on the news,” he explained. “See this? Looks familiar, doesn’t it?”
Zatch looked at the screen and agreed that the scene resembled that of when Kolulu attacked. He let his jaw drop and his eyes tear. “GAH!!!” he shouted. “W-what kind of thing could have done this?? A thief? A murderer?? A bounty hunter??”
“Try a mamodo,” Kiyo replied flatly, still pointing at the scene. The people were slouched over and appeared to be in great pain. Kiyo observed the area until he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He gasped.
“What is it??” Zatch shouted, jumping up and down in his spot. “Oh, no! The time slot for my soaps really WAS changed, wasn’t it??”
“WOULD YOU SHUT UP ABOUT THOSE SOAPS???!!!”
“Be honest, Kiyo! Were they changed or not?!”
“OF COURSE NOT!!!”
Zatch heaved another great sigh of relief and grinned. “Well, nothing could be as bad as that, right? I mean, what’s the worst that could possibly happen? What could a mamodo do?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It could be Reycom or Sugino or Kolulu all over again! Didn’t that ever cross your mind?”
Zatch thought about this for a moment and then finally realized something. “One of my soaps IS on!!”
Kiyo twitched.

“If you’re joining us just now, then you’ll see that the city is suffering from a serious disease right now that could become an epidemic if left untreated. The only things known about this disease are there are three different symptoms for three different forms of the disease. Victims suffer from extreme chest pain, extreme head pain, or extreme overall body pain. Right now, the most deadly of the three forms is the overall body pain. The least deadly is the chest pain. Women and children are urged to stay indoors and away from any doors, windows, or other ways out of homes. In fact, I have just received notice that the safest place for people to stay is in their basements. Please take whatever precautions to protect yourself from this mysterious disease.”
“There are no precautions. No one is safe. MINDAKU!!!”
The news reporter fell over from the impact and began cringing in pain. He held his head and doubled over, not being able to stand so much suffering all at once. The camera crew for the news channel exchanged worried looks and then ran off in all different directions to avoid the impacts.
“Useless. BODAKU!!!”
The camera crew fell from the shock. They were all suffering from the worst case of the disease. Their entire bodies shook from the blast, and some began rolling around in hopes of stopping any of the pain.
Within the trees of the nearby park, two people stood. One of them held a book. The other was a tiny being. The little one, although she was the one inflicting the damage, seemed to be in the most pain of all.
“I don’t want to anymore,” she mumbled. “Let’s stop and go home.”
Another small child passed by the forest at the same time she had spoken those words. The book holder smirked and gave the book the emotion it desired--hatred. “HEARTAKU!!!” The child fell over and grabbed at his chest. The smaller of the two people was moaning with hurt.
“Stop it!” she cried. “Please! No more hurting these innocent people!”
“ZAKER!!!”
A giant bolt of lightning shot between the woods and zapped the smaller person. She flew off to the middle of the playground and into the hot sand. The taller one gritted her teeth and ran off to help the smaller one.
“Oh, no you don’t! JIKERDOR!!!”
The taller one flew up into the air and slammed against the metal chains of the swings. She struggled against the magnetic force and still gripped her book with much power. She shut her eyes in an attempt to avoid the yelling that was bound to come next.
“Heh, I knew it!” Kiyo announced. “This was the work of a mamodo! Now let’s see what we’re dealing with!” He and Zatch jumped from the forest and stared down at their opponents. They gasped at what they saw.
“I-it’s Yakune!” Zatch cried. “And…Suzie??!!” He and Kiyo exchanged shocked looks towards each other and back to the battlefield. Kiyo was trembling.
“There’s no way Suzie could have found a mamodo,” he whispered. “All this time?? Then why didn’t she attack us before? All one hundred mamodos…or at least the ones left on earth, should have found a human counterpart all ready…”
“You’re confused, aren’t you, Kiyo?” Suzie asked. The book began to glow. Allow me to explain. HUMANAKU!!!”
Yakune screamed as a bright yellow light wrapped around her. Compared to the spells she had been casting before, this pain was much worse. She was groaning when she was not crying out for help. And finally, her body began to change. She grew much, much taller and finally stopped when she reached about five and a half feet. The glow stopped, and Yakune stood as a normal human girl.
Kiyo and Zatch were at a loss for words. Just a moment ago, Yakune had been a mamodo with spells and all. But now she was a normal human. What did that mean?
“GAH!!!” Zatch screamed. “Where did Yakune go?? She was here just a second ago!!”
“You idiot!” Kiyo scolded. “Yakune is both a human AND a mamodo! But how is that possible?! Is this a new spell??”
“Something like that,” Suzie explained. “See, I came across Yakune for the first time a few days ago right before school started. I decided to turn her into a mamodo after you met her, Kiyo, so she could meet Zatch. And when she did I transformed her back. See, Yakune does have two forms. When in her human state, I can only cast one spell, and that’s the one to transform her into a mamodo. But when she’s a mamodo, I can cast many other spells as well as transform her back into a human.” She stopped short and stared at Kiyo. “Now could you get me away from this sticky chain?!”
“Stop!” Yakune cried. She turned to Kiyo and Zatch. “You must not release her! If you do, she’ll just keep casting spells! I don’t want anyone else getting hurt…”
Suzie narrowed her eyes and snickered. “You think so? MAMODAKU!!!”
The yellow light appeared again, and Yakune once again broke the sound barrier with her screams of pain. Kiyo watched in horror the whole time as his friend suffered the consequences of defying her counterpart. She was shrinking this time. And as soon as she was Zatch’s height, the light disappeared. She sat there as a mamodo.
Kiyo began shaking and losing his grip on the red book. It was too much too fast. All this time, that sweet girl he had met was a mamodo. But the real issue was whether or not she had planned this all along. Or was it Suzie’s doing?
“Suzie!” he cried. “Why are you doing this?? You’re one of the nicest, sweetest girls I know. You wouldn’t harm a fly! So why are you using a mamodo to inflict pain upon innocent people?! It’s not right!!” He let the tears run down his cheeks in big droplets. Suzie was silent.
“GRAVIREI!!!”
In an instant, everyone and everything in the park was smacked down to the ground by a dense force. Of course, this undid Zatch’s spell on Suzie, which kept her pinned to the swings. But now everyone had a new problem. They were all pinned to the ground with no way to get up. And that meant no defenses.
“Did you really think the Half-Breed Mamodo would be good for anything other than destruction?” Brago asked as he and Sherry walked out to the battlefield. He crossed his arms. “She’s worthless. A nothing. I don’t know how she was chosen for the battle to become king.”
“I wasn’t!” Yakune screamed under the force. “I came to earth by my own free will!!”
Now it was Sherry and Brago’s turn to be shocked. They stared at her, at each other, and then back at her. Sherry’s face was turning ruby red with anger. She did not want any other mamodos other than the one hundred sent included in the battle.
“How were you able to do that?!” she called. “The mamodos must be sent to earth by the current king! I don’t understand how you could have possibly made it here by yourself. And you have a book! Explain that to me!”
“It’s more obvious than you think,” Brago explained. “Yakune is the Half-Breed Mamodo. That means she has a spell in her book to change back and forth between her human and mamodo form. When still in the Mamodo World, she can change on her own. She must have come to earth as a human. That is the only logical explanation.”
Brago stopped the spell and allowed the opponents to stand. Zatch jumped up to his feet and cleaned his dress of the sand and dirt of the playground. Kiyo held on to his book, which was not glowing with the need to fight the others. In fact, it was not glowing at all. That was a big deal considering a three-way fight was soon beginning.
“I just can’t believe…” he began, whispering, “…that Yakune, that sweet girl, is a mamodo. And the Half-Breed Mamodo at that. I wonder what the spells in her book truly are.” He thought about his life for a second and tried to remember if anything that had occurred in the last week would give him a hint. The first time he met Yakune was when she was being bullied for her money. And then he shared his lunch with her. But before that, he had been aching in his chest. As soon as the aching had stopped, Yakune appeared on the roof.
“I’ll show you how special our spells are!” Suzie shouted. “HEARTAKU!!!”
Yakune thrust her hands out, but no force seemed to be coming from them. The other two teams exchanged confused looks. That is, until Zatch fell over, rolling in agony.
“Zatch!” Kiyo cried. “It’s Yakune’s spell! What the matter?!”
“It’s my chest!”
“Your chest?”
“It feels like it’s going to explode!!”
Kiyo looked up in horror and saw Sherry and Brago both falling to the power. Even Brago, one of the most powerful and feared of the mamodos, was succumbing to the force. It was not long before Kiyo grabbed himself around his chest.
“Yakune is able to affect us all!” he realized, doing hid best to stand up straight. “This power…this is unlike anything we’ve faced before. It’s invisible, and it can effect both the mamodo and the human!”
“Why was I so blind?” Brago asked himself. “In exchange for all the taunts and torture she received because of her mixed blood, Yakune received powers beyond any the regular mamodos have.” He looked at Kiyo and directed his voice towards him. “Yakune’s powers all have to do with the darker side of love. The heart, mind, and body are all things humans take into consideration when they search for love, right? Well, because Yakune’s spells have that suffix on the end, they are immediately transferred to evil spells. I’m sure you understand why.”
“Because ‘aku’ is Japanese for ‘evil’…” It suddenly made sense. The spell that was affecting the four of them was torturing their hearts, and that was why those hit with this spell felt a pain in their chests. The others must have been hit in their minds, and some people’s entire bodies were undergoing the torture. Kiyo had no more reason to be confused or stunned.
“Zatch, try to stand up,” he grunted, struggling himself. “Listen. I don’t want to fight Suzie, but she’s obviously mad about something. We have to defeat her, even if it means sending Yakune back to the Mamodo World.”
Kiyo stopped short right there, and he remembered Brago’s words. What exactly did he mean by “taunts and torture”? Was Yakune made fun of because of the fact that she was a Half-Breed Mamodo? That would make sense. But he found himself in a stalemate. Letting her stay on Earth would mean Suzie go on hurting people, but sending her back to the Mamodo World would only send her back to the teasing.
“I have no choice…ZAKER!!!” A lightning bolt shot from Zatch’s mouth and hit Yakune. Her spell stopped, and the pain suddenly disappeared. Sherry and Brago stood and regained their strength. Brago was angrier than ever, and Sherry was not a step behind.
“REIS!!!” she cried. Brago stretched out his hand and shot a black ball of energy towards Yakune. But those plans were suddenly stopped short.
“RASHIELD!!!” The bright yellow shield popped from the ground and interrupted the energy ball’s path, sending it back from whence it came. Sherry and Brago jumped out of the way at the last minute, letting the blast destroy the trees behind them.
“THAT WAS A STUPID THING TO DO!!!” Sherry screamed at the top of her lungs. “We’re trying to DEFEAT the Half-Breed, not rescue her!” Her eyes were two angry black slits, and her rage even made Brago take a step or two back.
When the lights faded, Kiyo and Zatch could only look at the dark team with serious eyes. “We don’t want to fight these two” Kiyo announced. “We just want to talk.” HE and Zatch turned towards Suzie and Yakune. “Why are you doing this, Suzie? Why are you making so many people suffer? It isn’t right!”
“Don’t you tell me what’s right!” Suzie shot back. “MINDAKU!!!” This time, only Kiyo and Zatch fell to the agony of their minds throbbing in pain. “Despite what you think, there are people in this world who only want you to be happy. That’s all I want! I know it may not seem like it, but I can’t stand it when you ignore me, and it makes me angry to see you push people away!” She paused. “But most of all…YOU DON’T EVEN CARE IF OTHER PEOPLE GET HURT!!!” She was crying by now. Angry tears.
Kiyo gasped and tried to think back to what he did that could have gotten Suzie so upset. But what was it? Was it back before he met Zatch? No, she did not care since she hardly saw Kiyo anyway. But what was it?
Suddenly, it hit him. A few days earlier, he had been in a bad mood due to the weather. He had not wanted to face anyone during that day, but Suzie happened to come along at the wrong time. He yelled at her, but was that really it? No, he had yelled at her before. After she dropped her umbrella, he completely ignored her.
“Wait a second…” Kiyo whispered, processing his thoughts. His voice was louder when he said, “Suzie! I’m sorry about whatever I did to you! I really am! Please stop hurting these innocent people!” He stopped for a second. “You’re hurting Yakune more than anyone!”
Suzie suddenly stopped, and her tears turned sad. “That was…the first time…Kiyo ever said he was sorry…” She dropped the spell book and fell to her knees. Her palms slapped up against her eyes, and the salty water fell from her eyes in large drops.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zatch saw Sherry and Brago’s book glowing. Now that the pain in his head had ceased, he was able to understand what was happening. “WAIT!!!” he screamed, running towards the two of them. “Please!! Don’t cast a spell on them!!”
“SUZIE!!!” Kiyo screamed. “RULE NUMBER ONE OF THIS BATTLE: NEVER LET GO OF THE BOOK!!!”
“REIS!!!”
Once again, a giant ball of energy appeared in Brago’s hand, and it flew towards Suzie and Yakune. The blast was so huge with a purple and black light show. No one was able to see through the thick, bright light, but they did not need to in order to understand what was happening.
Slowly, the light began to fade. Soon, the four of them were able to see the result of the blast. Suzie was lying off to the side near the crushed slide on the other side of the playground. Bruises and cuts covered her body, and the bottom of her skirt was ripped. Kiyo’s first instinct was to run over to her, but Zatch saw something different.
“Yakune!” he called. Yakune was lying similarly to Suzie, covered in scrapes and gashes. And her book was next to her. Burning. “Your book! You have to stop your book from burning up!!” His shrill voice awoke Yakune, but she did not make any movements to prevent the upcoming ashes. She simply closed her eyes and began to fade.
“Yakune!” Kiyo called from where he was. “What are you doing?! Please don’t leave us!”
“It’s okay,” Yakune whispered. “I don’t belong here anyway.”
With that, Yakune disappeared into a small line of tiny sparkles. Kiyo and Zatch stared at the now-empty spot and the small pile of ashes next to it. They felt dampness at the corner of their eyes, and before they knew it, they were crying.
“You!” Zatch cried, looking at Sherry and Brago. “You two! You made her disappear!!” He ran over to them and shouted into Brago’s face, “Bring her back!”
“And who would you be helping by bringing that poor, pathetic creature back into this world?” the dark mamodo hissed back, tossing Zatch off him. “You may not remember it that well, but Yakune was an outcast. Half human, half mamodo. You do the math.” He gave the small mamodo a dangerous look and turned. “Let’s go.” He and Sherry began walking back to their limo.
Kiyo held on to Suzie’s unconscious body. The tears fell faster, and all he could do was hold her close to him. “Suzie…” he breathed, “…I’m so sorry…”

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