Book2 Ch1

Chapter 1
Wave of Excitement

The new year arrived at an unexpected rate; with the arrival of new beginnings came another boost in the population of Koudo. As usual, the target characters remained secluded for the most part. It was silent—it almost seemed like the television was not turned on, or that the huge gusts of wind were not present. The calm rush of silence soothed the four demons, Kumori, Kona, Midori, and Zatch. But the soothing feeling was merely the calm before the storm.

Inside the cozy little house, a meal was being slowly cooked while Kona and Midori talked, and Kumori shined his blade. Zatch was pacing upstairs, noticed only by the two girls whenever he appeared at the top of the staircase. He was heard mumbling something partially inaudible. Their conversation was interrupted by curiosity about his pacing.

“Any idea what he’s doing?” asked Kona, leaning to Midori while staring at Zatch who finally stopped, pressing his fist to his hand.

“I don’t know. He kinda woke me up this morning because I heard him say ‘c’mon, c’mon’.” said Midori, who also stared at his position.

“It’s weird. He’s been having mood swings, did you notice?” asked Kona.

“He’s been mad and then happy, on and off for the past several days.” said Kumori, listening to the squeak on his sword. “Why don’t we ask him?”

“Ask me what?” Zatch finally came down the stairs with a natural look—he made no emotion in his face and had a straight mouth.

“What were you doing up there? All you’ve been doing since you got up is pacing around upstairs.” Midori said recalling his movements. The pot with food cooking inside it bubbled a bit and secreted steam; Midori hurried to tend to the food before it burned.

“Just what are you up to?” asked Kona, raising a brow.

“I guess the truth has gotta come out.” Zatch said, retrieving a folded up paper in his pocket and laying it out on the table where she sat at. He spoke as she read it. “It’s a tournament. Koudo is, quote ‘starting off the New Year with a bang, a boom, and quite possibly a crash’.” Zatch continued with a squeeze of his first two fingers and a little excited emotion in his eyes. Zatch’s sarcastic quote was returned with raised eyebrows. Zatch sweated a little. “Tough crowd…”

“A tournament? We haven’t been to one of those since the last town we stopped at.” Kumori said kicking his legs over the couch to stand. Midori brought the pot to the middle of the table where Kona sat; Kumori and Zatch sat down opposite to each other.

“So are we to assume this would be your first tournament, Zatch?” asked Midori giving him a bowl to put his food on.

“Thank you. Yes, this would be my first tournament, but I know what one is. It sounds really interesting.” He placed some of the chef’s food in his bowl.

“You’d really like it, Zatch. Tournaments have to be the absolute most genius thing created by people.” said Kumori excitedly. “To see all the opponents there, brimming with skill and different powers, is incredible.”

“Yeah, I competed in one before I met Kumori and Midori. Give or take a few worms, it’s a great way to test one’s ability.” Kona said, releasing a burp afterwards. Midori finally sat down to eat with her friends.

“Where I lived, tournaments loved to be held on a regular basis.” she said smiling.

Zatch was becoming excited just listening to all their reflections on past tournaments. Now they became excited to go, but there was still the reason why Zatch was pacing. The truth was that he was worried that Zakourma might receive word about the event and attempt to sabotage it. As fun as it sounded, Zatch questioned going because his own attending of the fights might immediately summon Zakourma and create a bigger problem that could not be masked by the dark of night. But then an idea came to…

“Come on! It’s starting in a couple minutes!!!” said Midori, gripping his wrist harshly and pulling him out the door with the other following right next to her.

Too late, the dragging demon lost his train of thought as he tried matching his steps to her, tripping over a rock a while or two. But even in the five minutes it took to gain footing, he never regained his original plan.

They arrived to the opening of the tournament. It was a classical setting; a large square course with slate grey tiles laid fifty by fifty as the battleground, a crowd of a large amount ready to either compete or watch, and with perfect weather of partly cloudy with mild heat.

Zatch scanned the crowd for signs of his evil creation, but he found nobody that looked like him. He drew a heavy breath, smiling with content as he waited for the announcement of the fighters who were to go up.

A thin man wearing a loose sky blue t-shirt, with long sleeves and a large collar, and army green shorts, going only done to the middle of his thighs, with a coal black cap on came to the center of the ring. He raised a hand in the air, letting the long sleeve fall to his bicep and widening his eyes.

“How’s it goin everyone?” he said in a clear, yet sleepy voice that boomed, as if altered by a microphone. It was apparent, by a small morph in his mouth that made it seem like a circular wavelength, that he was using a Sound ability. “Anyways, welcome to the sixty-fifth annual Koudo tournament of demons.”

The crowd responded with numerous shouts and howls. Zatch smiled, patting a hand over his opposite one while his three friends look onward with no emotion. Zatch frowned at their display.

“Hey, why do you guys look like that?” asked Zatch. The other three turned to him.

“You honestly believe we show any type of reaction whatsoever?” asked Kona, keeping her serious look. “Using Kumori’s ability to sense the power of enemies, we can figure out whether we should take enemies seriously or not.” she explained.

“Before we came within ten miles, I sensed the collection of power of everyone here. They’re all small fries.” Kumori said with a snort.

“You would have found out too, if you would have stayed around with us instead rushing on ahead, baka.” Midori said putting her hands up and shrugging.
Zatch sweated and moaned.

“Then…I suppose that means we have to—” he started.

“We have to keep our power to a minimum, sorry.” Kumori said.

“Ugh.” The demon’s head fell, along with his excitement. “How very dull.” Suddenly he straightened up, puffing his chest out and lowering his head. With a soft breath, he slowly changed the color of his eyes to a cyber green. His vision changed; all the people now had a fairly regular blue flame within the silhouette of their body. But then, he noticed a flame that was smaller than the others. It was odd because this stood out among the other blue flames which acted as the spirits within the contestants and people.

The minuscule spirit, as well as the other ones, disappeared as Zatch’s vision returned to normal. The spirit was owned by a hooded figure, whose sole color was purple and had the chin as the only visible part of the body with skin. The eyes shrouded in shadow turned to meet his. Although he was too late to activate his Sound power, the movement of shut lips said:

“What are you looking at?”

Zatch averted his attention at the assumed remark. He closed off his thoughts from the crowd surrounding him.

“<Why did that person have such a small spirit? Either he truly had a weak power, or he was just hiding it. He also looked at me like he knew about my ability, like he knew I was sensing his power.>” He looked back at the place where the hooded figure was, but he was gone. “<Who was that?>”

“Now, now, guys calm down.” The man with the Sound power spoke again with his relaxed tone. He chuckled and continued once the loud cheering died to a small murmur. “It’s time for the battles to begin. May we all fight with equal determination,” The man formed a misshapen transparent ball in his hand that glowed lightly. “but also with unequal power.” The man smiled with his eyes kept natural. He threw the ball against the ground near the edge of some of the crowd. Zatch’s eyes widened as a smile gleamed on his face once more.

“Well, these people might be fairly weak, but they sure have alotta heart, huh?” the excited demon commented.

“Hmph, heart never got anyone stronger.” Kumori said, drawing his sword and resting on its hilt.

“You shouldn’t say that. Look how strong Zatch became trying to defend Midori.” Kona replied, smirking. Midori and Zatch both turned red. He tried to defend his self.

“How do you know it was just her?” he asked quickly. Midori’s mouth gaped.

“Oh, I see how it is now.” she crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks.

“No! No! That’s not what I…Ugh!” Zatch’s body slumped in defeat.

“Don’t be so naïve, Zatch.” Kona said reassuring them both with a finger and her nose held high. “Although I was slightly unconscious, I seem to recall you referring to Midori as, ‘love’, am I right?” She grinned evilly.

“Care to explain that, Zatch?” asked Kumori, raising an eyebrow. They came closer to his face.

“You guys are just trying to tease me!” he said just loud enough to push their faces away. Midori kind of chuckled.

“And you referred to him as Zatch-kun, not to mention the kiss that you already gave to him.” Kona said in a sly tone.

“Now, you’re pushing it, Kona-chan.” Midori said, becoming serious.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you two were a coup—”

“Kona, stop already!” the two said together. Kona whined as a reaction. But then she continued.

“That’s...what…I’m…talking about…” Kona waved her finger to the sides with her words.

“STOP!” they said again. She whined once more. During the conversation, Kumori just chuckled his way out of it, finishing with a big hearty laugh in which Zatch joined in.

“Anyway…” Zatch said, looking up to Kumori with his eyes.

“The matches are starting right now. Look.” He pointed to the ring, where two thin figures, a male and a female, performed traditional martial arts fighting, most likely of an Asian descent. “While we were talking about Zatch and Midori’s love life, they already finished one fight and started the other.”

“Oh? The first one finished already? I wished I could’ve seen the opponents.” Zatch said, pouting.

“Don’t worry about it. They were so fast I didn’t even catch what happened. Actually, only one of them was fast.” Kumori said with crossed arms.

“One? Who was that?” Kumori pointed a finger strongly at the opponent. Zatch’s eyebrow lifted at the sight of the target.

“You aren’t serious are you? I just looked at his power, it was weak.” The target was the hooded figure, looking as if he had not lifted a finger or moved out of the spot in years; a statue amidst the cheering spectators.

“I am. I saw him walk in the ring. They didn’t reveal his name though.” Kumori continued.

“Anonymous?” Zatch tilted his head to the left.

“He didn’t even take off that cloak he’s wearing. His identity remains a mystery.” said Kona finally.

“We would do well to keep an eye on him.” Midori said nodding.

“Then no more of this love life talk. We got it?” asked Zatch. They all nodded in comprehension, although none of them took him seriously, while Midori blushed a small bit. “Fine, if you guys won’t take me seriously…”

“Next opponent. Mr. Zatch, please walk up to the ring please.” said the man with the Sound power in a mystifying voice.

Zatch’s eyes widened with shock as his three friends pushed into the ring with laughter circling around him. He sighed from the embarrassment of having to be pushed in.

“<That wasn’t necessary…>” he thought staring back at them.

“Oh, nice to see you again. I didn’t actually think we’d be fighting so soon.” said the man crouching a bit with his head hunched. Zatch stared back at him with a lifted brow.

“Huh? I’m sorry, but did you say ‘again’?” he asked, straightening up. The man grinned in a manner to show his confusion.

“Don’t you remember me? We met earlier today, before the big crowd came here. I gave you a friendly hello while you greeted me in a rude manner that I’d rather not repeat.” said the man, suddenly lowering his crouch. “Or maybe, you’re just trying to trick me into lowering my guard. Ho ho, how very clever. Too bad I’ve caught onto your little game.”

“<Meeting again? A rude manner… Maybe Zakourma is here after all. Sneaky bastard must have planned on me searching for him. Regardless I have to fi—>” His eyes widened. “WAIT! YOU’RE A FIGHTER TOO?!”