Chapter 27: The Gathering

"We're here," Taylor stated. Chris and Dijon looked over his shoulders at their destination. Rising in front of them was an ancient castle. Shorun leapt over the wall and into the courtyard. "It looks like we're the first back," Taylor observed as they all slipped off of Shorun's back.

"That doesn't sound good," Chris said, worriedly. Dijon also looked nervous, but Taylor and Shorun didn't seem concerned in the slightest.

"They'll be back," Taylor said confidently. "We just found you guys quick. There's still plenty of time for the others to arrive."

"I'm staying here, near the entrance, until they get back," Chris replied.

"Suit yourself," Taylor said. He and Shorun walked off into the castle.

At first Dijon planned on staying with Chris but soon his curiosity got the better of him and he wandered off. The castle was massive; he knew that much from the outside, but when he got to the entrance hall he gasped in amazement. It was huge! He could see all ten stories from here! The stained glass ceiling glimmered in the far distance.

"Wow," Dijon whispered.

"It is amazing, isn't it?" Dijon spun around. Standing a few feet behind him was a small, dark haired girl wearing a white dress. She smiled at him. "Do you want to play with me?" she asked.

"What?" Dijon asked in confusion.

The girl suddenly floated into the air and shot down the corridor. She looked back over shoulder at Dijon and waved. "Come on!" She flew around and corner and vanished.

"W-wait!" Dijon shouted. He ran down the corridor and spun around the corner. The girl was already on the other side of the passage zipping down the tunnel. Dijon charged after her, running through the castle. Somehow, the girl was always out of his reach, laughing gleefully as he chased her.

Finally Dijon turned a corner to find the girl had stopped. She floated next to another girl, but this one was obviously human. She was tall, and had blond hair. She wore a yellow t-shirt and jeans. She also held a pink spell book.

"Oh, there you are," she said to the Mamodo. "You know I don't like it when you run off, Pasha." She said this very severely, but Dijon could see that she was trying hard not to smile. "Oh well. Here, I know you'll want this." She handed her Mamodo an orange and the little girl grabbed it and began to eat it. "I see you found a new friend this time," the human said when she noticed Dijon.

"Yeah," Pasha said between bites. "We played chase and he's fun!"

"Hello," the girl said to Dijon. "I'm Misty and of course you've already met Pasha. Who are you?"

"I'm Dijon," he explained.

Misty nodded. "I've heard of you. So, you're one of the Mamodo that the professor and the others went to go get. By the way, where's your book keeper?"

"He's waiting for the others to get here," Dijon explained. Then he frowned. "Who's the professor?"

"You don't know?" Misty asked. "So you got back first huh?" Dijon nodded. "Well, he's the one who formed our team," Misty explained. "We're here to train to fight the Ultimates."

Dijon frowned. "The Ultimates. They're definitely a threat."

While they were talking, Pasha finished her orange. She floated into the air and began to fly around the room excitedly.

"Come fly with me!" she shouted to Dijon.

Dijon looked at Misty curiously. "Fly? What does she mean?"

Misty opened her book and it began to glow. "She wants me to cast a spell that will temporarily give you the power of flight." Misty laughed when Dijon looked uncertain. "Don't worry," she told him. "It doesn't hurt. Do you want to try it?"

Dijon shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Okay," Misty said. "Ready?" Pogoruk Pasha pointed her palm, with her hand open wide, at Dijon. A stream of bubbles materialized in front of her hand and they all struck Dijon, covering him in a light pink film.

"Hey, that wasn't so bad," Dijon said, as he examined the covering curiously. "So what happens n-WHOA!" His feet suddenly lifted off the ground and he began to float gently through the air.

"Try leaning," Misty called to him.

Dijon carefully leaned forward. He began to move forward. "Hey, this is easy!" he said excitedly. He swung his arms in a downward stroke and he shot upward.

"Follow me!" Pasha yelled at him. Dijon angled himself towards her and the two Mamodo shot through the air laughing together.

Thirty Minutes Later

Chris sat in the courtyard of the caste, anxiously waiting for the arrival of his friends. He was oblivious to his surroundings as he sat there, motionless.

"Are you okay Chris?" Chris looked over his shoulder. It was Taylor.

"Not really," Chris sighed.

"What's wrong?" Taylor asked.

Chris took a moment before answering him. "I-It was my fault. I got us all together. I made us such an easy target for them! When they attacked, there was nothing I could do, and now…there's nothing I can do to help find them…" Chris hung his head in shame. "I feel useless."

"Don't think that way," Taylor said quietly. "You did what you could. Besides, all you're doing now is helping the Ultimates."

"What?" Chris snapped. "How can you say that? I-" Taylor held up a hand, silencing him.

"Let me finish," Taylor said. "You're moping about an accident that wasn't your fault. I can tell you now, I have friends out there too and I know they will help your friends. Trust me on this. Your friends will be safe." They fell into silence then. After several minutes Taylor cupped a hand over his ear. "Do you hear that?" he asked softly.

Chris listened carefully. His heart began to beat faster. "Footsteps. They're coming from outside. Someone's coming!" He ran to the gate with Taylor close behind. He began to open the gate, but Taylor stopped him.

"Hold up," Taylor said. "We need a Mamodo. Just a safety precaution." Taylor whistled and Shorun ran out of the castle, to his side. "Okay, now open it."

Chris pulled the door open to reveal a tall, middle-aged man and Lumoss, who was holding Tobias upright. "It's them!" Chris said excitedly. He ran out to help Lumoss carry Tobias into the castle.

"It's good to see you, professor," Taylor said to the older man.

"It's good to be back," the professor replied. "Are the others here yet?"

"No," Taylor shook his head. "They're still out there somewhere."

"This isn't good," the professor mused. "If they're not back in an hour we're going after them."

"What happened to Tobias?" Chris asked Lumoss.

"He's just tired," the wolf explained. "He should be okay."

"We'll have to find the others," the professor was saying to Taylor.

"Shorun and me can go," Taylor suggested.

"No, that's alright," the professor said. "Maquis will do it." The small, white haired boy stepped out from behind the professor. Taylor shivered as the boy's blood-red eyes passed over him. The professor turned to the boy and nodded to him. "You will do it. Right?" The boy nodded and walked back out of the castle. "Good now that's settled," the professor spun around to face Lumoss, Tobias, and Chris. Suddenly, the professor stopped. He looked back at Chris slowly. "I know you," he said quietly.

Chris looked back at the professor blankly for a moment. Then a memory stirred, and Chris realized who this was. "Uncle Daniel?" Chris asked slowly.

The professor's eyes widened. "So it is you! I knew one of you was named Chris, but I thought it was all a coincidence! I never imagined my own nephew would have a Mamodo too!"

Lumoss slipped Tobias off of Chris. When the boy looked at him, he smiled. "Go and talk with your uncle," he said. "I can carry him."

Chris gave him a thankful smile, and then he walked off with his uncle, the two of them chatting away about everything that had happened since they had last met. Taylor and Shorun watched them go.

"Well that's nice," Taylor said testily. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"First, you could tell me where I can put my book keeper," Lumoss answered him.

"Hmmm?" Taylor looked over at him. "Oh, follow me. There's an empty room over here."

A Few Minutes Later

Chris smiled. It was nice to see his uncle again after so long. Then he sighed. His uncle had called a meeting of all the Mamodo teams and Chris was looking for Dijon, but his Mamodo had vanished.

"Dijon?" he called. "Where are you Dijon?" Then he heard giggling. He looked up to see Dijon and a small black haired girl fly around the corner over his head.

"Catch me if you can!" the girl said to Dijon, just before shooting down the corridor.

"Hey Dijon!" Chris shouted. "Get down here!" Dijon spotted him and flew down to his side. Chris noticed a slight pink covering around his partner.

"Hey Chris!" Dijon said happily.

"Where have you been?" Chris snapped. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Sorry. I was just worried about you." He looked up at the girl flying over their heads. "Who's you're friend?"

"That's Pasha," Dijon said. "And this is her book keeper, Misty."

"Who-" Chris began. He stopped when he saw the blond haired girl standing behind Dijon.

"I'm Misty," she said. "So you're Dijon's book keeper."

"Yeah," Chris said quietly. "Well, the professor called a meeting for all the teams. We better get down there Dijon."

"Okay," Dijon replied brightly. "Are you guys coming?" he asked Misty and Pasha.

"Yep," Misty nodded. "Let's go." They all walked back through the passageways. As they got near the entrance hall, they heard shouting. Misty frowned. "That doesn't sound good. I wonder what's going on?" As they got nearer to the entrance room, they began to make out some of what was being said.

"Look, I told you already. I'm a friend of Chris and Tobias! Their Mamodo are Dijon and Lumoss. I don't know why that's so hard to understand!"

"That's Reuben!" Chris said with a grin. "So they found him to!"

"There's an imposter here," now it was the professor who was talking. "Something isn't right. There was only supposed to be two boys at that meeting! Two boys and one girl. You were supposed to get the girl Takumi! How could you make a mistake like this?"

"I thought you had made a mistake, for once, and sent me after one of the boys!" a voice snapped back. "He was right there and they WERE chasing him!"

As Chris and the others came around the corner and into the room, the professor looked up at them. He was holding Reuben's spell book. "Oh, there you are," he said. "Chris, can you identify this boy for us? Is he really one of your friends?" He pointed at Reuben and Raspel who were sitting on the floor back to back. (Taylor stood nearby. His orange spell book glowed faintly.)

"Yep," Chris said while nodding. "His name is Reuben and his Mamodo is Raspel. He's okay."

"Finally!" Reuben growled. "Now give it back!" The professor sighed, then handed him his spell book.

The professor looked over at Chris sadly. "We were monitoring the phone services of known book owners. When you sent that message for the meeting we tracked it. We soon learned that you had sent it to three people. Further investigation led to us finding out that you had sent it to one boy and one girl. We then learned from one of the Ultimates messages that they were also tracking information and they were coming to destroy your books, so we came to help you. I gave everyone their own team to save, and as I can see you know now, we left one behind to protect the base. That was Misty."

"So what you're saying is that…" Chris voice drifted off.

"It means that Rachel is still out there," Reuben said.