Chapter 7 – Schneider


So, minor plothole time. I just re-read some of the early chapters of Zatch Bell, and I realized there are a lot of Mamodo living on the British Isles, where Zeno just came from, meaning Zeno should have started his search there, not Japan. Since I hadn't read it in a while, I forgot about the 'school trip' Kiyo's class took, so I just thought most of those encounters happened in Japan. But no – Robnos, Yopopo, Umagon, Balto, and a few villains all came from England, though Robnos traveled to Japan specifically to crush Zatch. I knew about Robnos and Balto, but not the other two. Plus, Tia encountered Zeno in England as well before she encountered Zatch. So can we all just imagine Umagon started his search for his human partner in Japan instead of England? And that those other demons only arrived at England after Zeno left? Yes? Good.

Proceed.


"Well, that was a headache," Zeno said as he and Dufort walked away from Lori's house.

After Kolulu had calmed down again, it took hours to get everything sorted – first the inner-Kolulu discussion, then the Clear discussion, and then training regimes, therapy sessions, and meeting times on top of that. Zeno had almost decided it was more trouble than it was worth and burned her book...

But honestly, the case of Kolulu was just too interesting to resolve that way.

He had to remind himself, multiple times, of the disappointment he'd felt when he'd seen how pathetic inner-Kolulu could become, just from his saying a few phrases suggested by Dufort. He'd already established himself as inner-Kolulu's hero (ugh), so he might as well use that to inspire her to become something that wasn't a pathetic eyesore.

Sending her back to the orphanage in her current state would be a missed opportunity. Not to mention he'd be unleashing a menace on society for no particular reason if he burned her book now. Again, he was fine with mayhem motivated by malice and destruction motivated by self-interest, but pointless chaos wasn't his style.

They'd given Megumi's phone number to Lori so outer Kolulu would have a play mate, but inner Kolulu – who had participated in the conversation thanks to a few "Zeruk" casts – demanded that Zeno spend some time with her. And if it wasn't for the fact that she had potential, Zeno would have shocked her for the insult and burned her book. Instead, he agreed that he would find time to spar with her, to measure her progress, and that had seemed to satisfy her.

Now he and Dufort were headed to "Kyoto". Specifically, they were headed to a high but inconspicuous vantage point that would let him teleport without drawing attention.

When he arrived and saw the object of his search with his eyes, he was mildly surprised.

It was a member of Horse Clan. There were only two of those in this whole competition.

By the looks of it, this one was not only a complete coward, but hadn't even found his human partner yet. But then again, there wasn't too much an individual demon could do about that second part... though the cowardice would be completely unacceptable if the horse becomes his ally. He'd have to stamp it out of him.

This time Zeno didn't flare his power when he introduced himself, remembering what had happened the last few times. He simply stepped into line-of-sight so the horse would see him.

"Meru meru me!" the horse said excitedly, appearing happy to see him.

"You can't even talk yet?" Zeno groaned. "This is going to be annoying." He walked forward and placed his hand on the horse's forehead. "I'm going to establish a psychic connection to speed things along."

...

"Hi! I'm Schneider! You look like Zatch. Are you his friend?"

That was, perhaps, the absolute worst thing anyone could ever ask Zeno... unless this horse didn't like Zatch and was trying to gauge Zeno's own level of hatred for that idiot. That possibility seemed plausible enough.

"No," Zeno sneered. "I'm not his friend. In fact, his was the first book I burned. After I stole his memories, of course."

The horse started biting his arm.

"Zaker," said Dufort, strong enough to singe the book on the demon's back, along with the ropes that bound it in place.

"Stupid horse," Zeno sneered. And ugly, too, he thought.

The horse, even as it cried in pain, pathetically attempted to mend the ropes, completely ignoring the book that was now on fire...


The feeling of freedom was beginning to lose its novelty. The serotonin influencing his mood was beginning to diminish. His brain's cortisol levels were beginning to return to normal. Happiness was over, stress was back.

His subconscious adapted to its new circumstances. Freedom has become the new normal. His brain had finally finished that process. His brain had also finished the process responsible for processing the thoughts, emotions, and memories associated with the laboratory.

As he knew it would.

Boy D had finally disappeared forever.

All that was left now was Dufort.


"Zaker."

"What?" Zeno said as another spell involuntarily shot from his hand, which was still aimed at the horse's book.

And the horse disappeared entirely, still crying.

Zeno turned to face his partner. "What was that second spell for, Dufort?"

Dufort looked dispassionately at the soot on the ground. The human said nothing.

Zeno stared at his partner for a moment, then shrugged. He hadn't thought of it himself, but the second Zaker was a good idea. Now he didn't have to listen to that annoying horse cry while the book burned out naturally. Maybe he would double cast against books in the future.


Yeah, sorry for any Ponygon/Umagon/Schneider fans out there. This scene basically wrote itself. Besides, Umagon's story and character arc were handled so beautifully in the original manga, I'm not even going to try to do them justice here. I mean, making it to the final four and there's that awesome frame where he's strong, fully grown, and happily carrying Zatch to the final showdown against Clear? Yeah, not a chance I can do better.

But fear not. Don't forget there's another horse clan member in this competition. One with whom I can empathize much better, for I, too, hate gankers.