Chapter 6: Spelling It Out

Mao Mao hurried after Momo after picking the magic blaster back up again. Making sure to keep her in his sights, he followed her until he reached what was apparently the school's gymnasium. He made sure to keep reminding himself once he got there to try and apologize to Momo for the misunderstanding back at the classroom. He knew a saddened heart when he heard the downcast tone in Momo's voice. He didn't mean to hurt her feelings, to let his own feelings towards a thing that Momo likely took great pride in get in the way of his own judgment. It's just that his refusal to see magic as a trustworthy tool in the long-term was what he knew and understood; maybe it was something he had been taught by his father or in the Hero's Code. But that was him, and Momo didn't grow up the same way. He didn't know how Momo lived with magic in her life, but it was clear from how she fought the ghosts that it really was part of her. If she could see the good in such an art and do actual good with it, he was in no place to judge her at all.

When he saw Momo, she was already waving her wand furiously at a wave of ghosts that was coming at her much faster than all the other masses of ghosts that had been dealt with on other parts of the school earlier. Even more so, as she was dealing with one wave, another wave was already approaching her from another direction. Mao Mao growled, tightly grasping the blaster and dashing into the middle of the gym where Momo stood.

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Badgerclops and Adorabat had made their way through the halls of the school until they got to a towering open area on the second floor near the front of the building marked by its windows. From what Badgerclops could deduce based on seeing the assorted sofas, cushioned chairs, short tables, and tropical houseplants, they were both in some sort of lounge.

"Gee, for a place this nice to have just five students, where'd it all go wrong?" Badgerclops muttered out loud. "It's probably the ghosts." He looked around the see that the area was empty, but he could still hear the sounds and voices of ghosts echoing across its walls. Ordinarily, one might think that if they heard sounds coming from some other place, they should follow the sounds to where they think is the origin, but Badgerclops knew better. He pointed his upgraded arm cannon towards the ceiling and with a small short-burst charge, fired upwards, momentarily drowning out the ghostly wails with the bang of an energy blast.

"Alright, ghosties! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he announced rather loudly. He waited, and so did Adorabat who was perched on his shoulder. No ghosts showed up. Badgerclops huffed, raising his robot arm to fire another shot, one that he charged up with more energy before firing. When he did shoot, it created a louder bang and echo that he was sure he might have blasted a dent in the ceiling above.

When it seemed like it didn't work either, Badgerclops turned the settings up to max and almost fired again when Adorabat intervened. "Wait!" she interrupted, "Let me try something!" She flew off the badger's shoulder and in the middle of the air, took a deep breath and opened her mouth really wide to let out a piercing shriek. Her shriek was so loud and drawn out that Badgerclops was sure the windows were rattling and starting to crack, at least it's what he could judge while blocking his ears. It felt like a long time, but Adorabat finally stopped. As soon as she did, following the remainder of her scream echoing off the walls, a couple thumps came from behind the neighboring lounge chairs, prompting Badgerclops to point his arm cannon at the source of the sound.

He carefully tiptoed his way to the lounge chairs, making sure to keep his robot arm poised and ready to fire, while Adorabat hovered close to him just as carefully. As soon as they circled around the chairs, they saw two little robed students huddled on the floor behind the chairs. One was an owl while the other had a pumpkin for a head, and they were both curled up in a ball and shaking while clutching their heads with their eyes shut tight, likely from Adorabat's mighty scream. "Hey, you guys go to school here?" he loudly called to the two in case they weren't listening. The pumpkin-headed student slowly lifted his head to stare up at Badgerclops, who lowered his arm cannon to ease the other's nerves, and gave a slow nod. The owl student also followed suit shortly after, only to look over Badgerclops's shoulder and give off a frightened hoot.

Badgerclops and Adorabat swung around to where the owl was looking wide-eyed at to see a mass of ghosts drifting from around a nearby corner. Unlike how one would expect a ghost to drift, these ghosts were approaching the four of them rather rapidly, looking as though they were trying to charge at them. Badgerclops redirected his arm cannon and charged it up. "Okay then! Now we're answering the call!" he commented boastfully, feeling the energy in him charging up alongside that in his robot arm.

"We're gonna bust you up!" Adorabat crowed at the ghosts with a mutual excitement. Both Adorabat and Badgerclops then launched forward, charging at the ghosts as those ghosts did the same thing, both sides aiming for a head-on collision.

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Mao Mao fired as quickly as he could, making sure not to shoot the ghosts at full blast as to make the blaster cool down and reload faster. This was because, as he observed, the ghosts that were coming into the gym were a lot faster, both in movements and the rate they restored their numbers. So far, the strategy was working as he found himself able to keep up with both the ghosts and Momo who was still dispatching the phantoms just as elegantly with her wand. Mao Mao could yet still see that even Momo was beginning to tire herself out as she continued using her magic nonstop; Mao Mao couldn't help but brag inwardly about his own analytical ability. At a split-second from the corner of his eye, a ghost was inches from taking a bite out of him when he immediately pointed the blaster and fired in a flash.

"Hah! Some ghost you are!" Mao Mao taunted right after he finished vaporizing the ghost and simultaneously did the same to another ghost in the same proximity. He no longer felt like he had to worry as he saw that he was on a roll. It was when he looked to his side to see Momo on the verge of being swamped with a tall pile of ghosts, and by that, it meant that Momo was being approached by more ghosts than he was. Now normally, Mao Mao would have jumped to the other's aid by now, but he instead thought that Momo knew what she was doing and decided to finish off all the ghosts coming for him first before moving on to helping her.

He immediately came to regret that the moment he heard a cry of pain from Momo herself. He turned his head to spot the little black cat girl getting bit into by the clamping jaws of several ghosts. Not only had she gotten hurt, she had gotten hit by the ghosts so hard that she simultaneously fell to the gym floor and dropped her wand. Mao Mao dashed to her the moment he heard her wand clatter loudly on the floor's surface. Aiming the blaster carefully as he ran, he fired another shot to disperse the ghosts dogpiling on top of Momo. He slid to his knees to examine her fallen form once the ghosts were gone.

"Hey! Momo, you okay? Talk to me." Mao Mao called to her quietly, softly nudging her on the shoulders with his gloved paws. Momo immediately moved to get back up, meaning she wasn't knocked unconscious or in too much pain. Mao Mao sighed in relief but was then met with confusion as Momo scrambled away from him to pick up her wand. "Hey," he called to her again, "hey, what's going on?" When Momo didn't answer him, he tried again. "Did those ghosts get to you?"

"No, I'm fine," Momo said, "I just got knocked down." She brandished her wand as she faced off against another wave of ghosts. She waved her wand and created another pattern to shoot another magic spell, but saw that Mao Mao had fired his blaster at the exact same ghost she was attacking. "Hey! I had that!" she exclaimed in annoyance.

Mao Mao gave a little chuckle. "Yeah, that's what I said back in the potions classroom when you did the same thing." Hearing that made Momo narrow her eyes and push out her lower lip. She turned back to fire her magic at ghosts in some other direction. Mao Mao thought it was a good time to try and get to the point of his opening stunt. "Hey, Momo? I, uh, just wanted to say thanks again for having my back in the classroom…and also, sorry for hurting your feelings."

"Yeah, I know. You're sorry," Momo remarked without even turning to look at the sheriff, her focus still solely on the hostile ghosts. She and Mao Mao could see a much bigger ghost entering the gymnasium – it resembled a bloated upside-down teardrop with a grey bushy moustache, a brown pointy hat on top of its head, wore a whistle around its neck, and had a floating clipboard next to it. Momo held up her wand and Mao Mao pointed his blaster, and both started firing away at it.

"Are you upset that I don't see your magic as something good?" Mao Mao tried to ask Momo over the magical noise they were both making.

"No," Momo panted, "it's that every time I see you watch me use it, I feel like you don't trust me." She flourished more magical patterns at the giant ghost, which proved incredibly resilient. "When I see that look in your eyes, when I hear you talking to me with that tone, I get the feeling you're waiting for me to go berserk, go power mad, turn into a witch or something!"

Mao Mao frowned as he turned his blaster away to fire at some smaller ghosts that were herding into the gym, likely to distract him and Momo away from the bigger ghost. He was about to say something in response to Momo's claim, but felt the words stuck in his throat as he was unsure on how to speak to her without making her react badly. He had only just met Momo and known her for a little while, but in that short span of time, he already felt a connection. Now it wasn't simply because Momo was a black cat like him, though that was a major factor. He could see from the way she engrossed herself in her reading and studies along with how she was so quick to try and stop the ghost threat on her own, making use of her magic training in the process, that he wondered if she was that eager to prove herself. In his own case, he set out to prove himself a legendary hero, and in Momo's case, she wanted to use her magic for good. In that way, they were both the same. So…why couldn't he trust it?

"I-I'm sorry if I made you feel that way," Mao Mao apologized once more with clarity, "I understand you love learning magic and you want to do a lot of good." He took another shot at the smaller ghosts to allow Momo more time to attack the giant one. "You probably grew up with that being normal to you." He visibly winced, chastising himself for his choice of words while hoping Momo didn't notice. "I mean, I don't know magic like you do."

"Yeah?" Momo chipped in while in the middle of another wand wave, "So what do you know about magic then?"

Mao Mao wasted no time in explaining himself. "Well, you know, growing up to be a hero, I was always taught to be brave and honorable, to always face danger head on with all of your strength, and especially with only hard work and no shortcuts."

"And you thought using magic was cheating, like one big shortcut?" Momo shot some multicolored geometric from her wand at the giant ghost.

"Well yeah, kinda," Mao Mao answered, "I mean, I see you waving your wand and shooting out sparkly stuff like it's nothing. At least you make it look easy…"

"Well yeah, of course," Momo quipped, "Anyone who's learned to be good at what they do makes whatever they do look easy to everyone else!" She shot magic at an approaching smaller ghost shortly after casting another spell at the giant ghost's hat previously. "Did you think I was reading that spell book in the library for fun?"

"Well, a ghost did steal it from you, you know?"

"Not my fault!" Momo said defensively. "Ghosts steal whatever interests them no matter what it is! It just so happens that the book I was reading was a pretty powerful object!"

"A powerful magic item that's fallen into the wrong hands," Mao Mao felt the need to clarify. "Need I say more?"

"Look, if magic is such a copout for you, why are you even using that thing?" Momo retorted, gesturing to the old clunky blaster in Mao Mao's hands. Mao Mao was stunned into silence. Momo didn't just have a point, she was absolutely right. Who was he to complain when he found himself outed as a hypocrite? The question alone made Mao Mao's eye twitch.

"Y-y-y-you…you're…" Mao Mao stuttered, trying to regain his verbal footing, "I-I'm…you're…you're…!" He felt the pressure inside him rapidly rising, like the steam within his kettle was steadily whistling louder and louder, and Momo didn't notice it until the sheriff was at the critical point in his attempt to contain his response. It was all for naught as Mao Mao literally exploded in a cat-shaped mushroom cloud of radiant golden smoke, sweeping away every ghost in the gym, his voice reverberating across the walls with the words, "YOU'RE! RIGHT!"

Momo, after seeing that the emotional explosion knocked the big hatted ghost away, was now staring wide-eyed at the display, partially shielding her face from the smoky winds that blew to all corners of the gym. The smoke dissipated after a short while for Momo to see the sheriff hunched over with his hands on his knees, seeming a little tuckered out. She could only listen to him trying to speak to her again. "You're right," Mao Mao panted, "You're so completely right. I thought I was too good for magic, that I was better than it, but I was wrong." He then looked Momo in the eye, "You proved me wrong." He picked the magic blaster back off the floor where he dropped it, fiddling with a few loose parts on the barrel. Momo turned back to face the ghosts that were recovering from Mao Mao's outburst, the big one included.

"Okay, you go for the giant ghost and I'll take care of the smaller ones," Momo said to Mao Mao. "That thing in your hands is big and kinda slows you down, so go after the big and slow ghost there."

Mao Mao was rapidly doing as she said despite simultaneously objecting, "Hey! I am not slow!" He took a shot at the bigger ghost, stunning it a little by firing close to its brown hat. "I'm a crackshot!"

Both black cats, big and little, kept persisting in their attacks against the ghosts while the ghosts did the same. Mao Mao could see that the big hatted ghost was looking more disheveled with each hit it took from him. Meanwhile, Momo was juggling the assorted forms and shapes she was tracing with her wand as she struck at the ghosts going for Mao Mao with rapid fire in her waves. As she saw herself using her magic, she thought about everything she discussed with Mao Mao.

She did appreciate magic, loved it even. She was using it for good and not evil like the sheriff thought she would, and anything evil that was magic-related was not her doing. She also didn't find anything easy about using magic as most outsiders would think. There was more to it than just the swinging of a wand or reciting a spell – she only became a student when the magic school board, with the approval of the king himself, deemed her as having the potential necessary for accessing and harnessing this rare power. The spells she was required to learn in order to refine her affinity for magic were actually super-complicated – she was only able to use them in a regular way after intensive drilling over what each individual part of each spell meant and how they contributed to making a spell the way it is, coupled with how the way one moves their wand and the rest of their body when actually performing the spell affects the result. It was a lot harder and more complicated than it appeared on the surface, and sheriff Mao Mao was a clear example of that common misconception. But even after all that, Momo worked hard to be able to use her magic to do the work of a hero; it may seem effortless now, but she had the experience of the climb on her side. She did as much as however the sheriff did to earn her gift, and she was going to make the best use of it to be a blessing to her beloved school and home that was Pure Heart Valley.

Mao Mao had just fired a beam at the hatted ghost, pressing and holding the trigger in order to fire a continuous stream of energy for maximum damage. The hat the ghost was wearing seemed to slip a little further off its head, but that was cut short as the energy beam suddenly fizzled out. "What? Why did it -?" Mao Mao gasped, his eyes widening as he looked at the blaster to see it smoking a bit. He pressed the trigger again to fire it, but it didn't. He even smacked the barrel to try and jolt it back to working order, but it didn't fire. He looked at a little gauge on the side. "Oh, come one! No power?" he growled loudly. He noticed the big ghost regaining its bearings and drifting straight for him, a glare in its eyes. He got ready to draw out his sword again, even though by that point, he was aware that he couldn't hurt ghosts with it at all. But he was going to try anyway.

"Mr. Sheriff, use your blaster again!" Momo called to Mao Mao.

Mao Mao arched an eyebrow despite the pressing matter at hand. "I can't! It's out of juice!"

That prompted Momo to look at him directly in the eye with the strictest expression she could form, which Mao Mao noticed, making him shuffle back. "Trust me," was all she said.

Mao Mao paused for a nanosecond, briefly thinking about telling Momo that she better know what she was doing but pushed that thought away, and then pointed the blaster back at the big ghost. He immediately spotted Momo in the corner of his eye shooting a magic beam out of her wand that went straight for the weapon he held. The magic hit and engulfed the blaster, causing it to whir and the little lights on the buttons to brighten up again. The implication was not lost on Mao Mao, who then pressed and held the trigger once again, causing an even larger beam of energy to blast right out of the weapon and hit the ghost with the force of a cannonball; the recoil nearly knocked Mao Mao over backwards. Fortunately, the refreshed magic blast was powerful enough that it left a hole in the middle of the giant ghost's corporeal form. The spirit trembled, its clipboard falling onto the floor with a clatter. Its moustache also drifted off its face, exposing its frown and little nose underneath. The ghost silently stared downwards at the fallen features, one of its eyes leaking out a teardrop, and then poofed away.

With the big ghost's defeat, the gym was finally clear of all ghosts. Momo and Mao Mao took a moment to sit on the floor, taking a rest from the physically and emotionally intense session they had just undergone. Mao Mao was looking over the blaster that Momo had just charmed, inwardly marveling at the effect Momo was able to produce from her own training. He could very well see more of himself in her than he liked. "You stuck your neck out for me again," he said to Momo, "another thanks to you."

"We all gotta help each other, Mr. Sheriff," Momo chimed in response. "I'm just doing my best here."

"That, you are," Mao Mao nodded.

Their close moment was interrupted by an echoing laugh. Both black cats swung their heads in the same direction to spot a familiar ghost with a book floating next to it. It was the first ghost from the library, the same one that rallied the other ghosts to invade the school, the one that stole Momo's spell book – that ghost was the instigator behind this whole mess.

"You!" Momo exclaimed angrily, getting back onto her feet. But the ghost gave her no time to attack as it immediately sped away, shooting upward and phasing through the gym ceiling with the book in tow. "It went for the roof!" Momo cried. Instead of immediately proceeding with the chase, she turned around to wait for Mao Mao to get back onto his feet as well. "We have to go after it! If that ghost uses the book, things might get worse than just a swarm of ghosts!"

Mao Mao nodded, swinging the magic blaster over his shoulder. "Well, that ghost is the reason for this whole mess, so let's make it pay!" He then readied himself in a running position. "Care for a ride, Ms. Momo?"

Momo blinked. "Sure, Mr. Sheriff. Let's get to it!" She hopped on to the bigger black cat's extended arm, allowing herself to be pulled into a cradle as the sheriff took a flying pounce towards the gym door, sprinting to wherever led to the rooftop based on Momo's direction.